WHEN THE HOLY SPIRIT PUTS AN URGING ON OUR HEARTS

I finished doing a sample for one company and on the way home I felt an inner urging to go by and pick up my check from my sculptor friend Evgeni. When I got there he said he just got another job and asked if I wanted to help. I said yes and started painting immediately. The great thing is that I didn’t have another job lined up yet, so the timing was perfect.

My experience wasn’t earth shattering but it did make a big difference in my finances for this week and that’s important enough to me and to God.

People who don’t know better might want to call this a coincidence. But I don’t believe in coincidence. Did you know that in the Hebrew language there isn’t even a word for coincidence? The Bible says we’re either walking by the flesh or walking by the spirit. Nothing happens by chance.

One of my good friends is being investigated and falsely accused in a certain sheriff’s department. She needed some encouragement and advice. A few Sunday’s ago she felt led to check out a new church and as she was heading home, “I saw a girl I know on her front porch, who worked at and left the Sheriff’s Office before I started working there.” This girl had also been harassed by the same people who were accusing my friend, so they got to talk about some details that will be very helpful to my friend as she wisely maneuvers through this difficult situation.

When we pray for help in walking by the spirit, and we do it, the results are always positive because the Lord Jesus always wants the best for us. And all Christians can walk by the spirit.

God gives us a great example in Simeon. He didn’t have a degree or title and he was a pretty regular Jewish believer. Luke 2:25 says, “There was a man whose name was Simeon; just and devout.” This tells me he was doing his best to be a fair man and he was faithful in his heart to God.

The Holy Spirit had revealed to him that before he died he would get to see God’s messiah. Then on one ordinary day, “he came by the spirit into the temple” (Lk 2:27). It was the exact day and time that Joseph and Mary brought the young child Jesus! Simeon “took him up in his arms, blessed God and said, ‘Lord now lettest they servant depart in peace, for my eyes have seen thy salvation’” (vss. 28-29). The Holy Spirit inspired Simeon and he went on to give an awesome prophecy over Mary, Joseph and the child Jesus.

We don’t hear any more about this man Simeon and in fact this happened near the end of his life here on earth. But I believe God had this record put in the Bible so that we could learn how important and wonderful it is to respond to the urgings of the spirit from within our hearts. One author calls these incidents “God Winks.” Positive results come from just one ordinary person endeavoring to walk by the spirit.

For me, it increased my finances for the week. For my friend, it encouraged her and will aid her in a possible court case. For Simeon it was how he got to meet Jesus face to face.

Galatians 5:25 says, “Let us also walk in the Spirit.” And Romans 8:14, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”

We can pray, “Lord Jesus, help me to walk by the spirit today.”

Love, Carolyn

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THE REAL AMERICAN HUSTLE IS ON CHRISTIANS

“You give me five thousand I’ll give you fifty.” – from the movie, The American Hustle

We started on our Christian walk, saw miracles in the beginning, amazing signs and wonders, great friends, great teachings and all was glorious. It was marvelous at first. But then times got tough. Where’s all the abundance of Ephesians 3:20 (“exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think”)? Or the riches of Proverbs 10:22 (“the blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it”)? Two things happened: time and trouble.

Sound like the Israelites’ flight out of Egypt? Exactly my point. They saw all kinds of amazing things like the parting of the Red Sea, the jewelry and riches God told them to take from the Egyptians, the miraculous way their shoes didn’t wear out and the manna from heaven every day.

Like the Israelites, we got tired of eating manna every day, so we prayed for real meat. When we got it we couldn’t handle it and we threw it up and went back to manna. But we just kept complaining and focusing on lack. Instead of growing closer to a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus we started to murmur and get angry. We wanted what He promised and we wanted it NOW.

Our leader, the Lord Jesus, left us alone, or so we thought. But rather, our murmuring and complaining drove him off in our own minds, just like when Moses went up to the mountain. We made the mistake of trying to venture on without him. We got tired of waiting. Then some leaders among us had bright ideas of their own – very clever and radiant as gold.

They thought like the Israelites, “We have some gold jewelry we took out of Egypt (never mind that God may have a plan for it later like maybe buying food or trading for land). Shame on God for not telling us ahead of time. What are we supposed to do, wait forever?”

A few of our trusted Christian leaders suggested we pool our resources. They decided we should send in our gold jewelry. They’ll coordinate it and if we give it to them, they’ll build a beautiful empire, a golden calf, and we’ll all share in the glory and it’ll be great.

They said, “Just give us a tenth of your wealth and we’ll give you a little something. And the more you give, the more you’ll get and maybe you’ll even get to be as big as we are. You’ll share in the glory we have. Isn’t it going to be wonderful? And anyway, Jesus went to the mountain and hasn’t really come through for you. This plan will give you the life you want.”

Thousands of Christians fell for it, sending their money to the big televangelists, expecting great financial blessings to come. I got tricked myself. I sent money to one minister for a plane he wanted, but then when he was coming to Las Vegas for a meeting, the Holy Spirit told me not to go. That was the first shocker!

Then I also sent a special offering directly to a popular prosperity preacher. He’d been using scripture all along to back up his erroneous teachings and it sounded Bible-based and pretty good. But any good con is based on some truth and that’s how they hustle innocent, well-meaning people in the first place. When I didn’t get any expected results from my supposed “first fruits” giving, I asked God about it and He said, “I never told you to do that.” OMG!

Bit by bit I was deceived and fell prey to wrong teaching. But don’t judge me. God already forgave me. We’ve probably all been conned a time or two and it feels awful. Once we start down the wrong road, the further we go, the harder it is to stop and go back. The devil is slick with this stuff: Pick some Bible scriptures to back up your error and introduce it a little at a time—smooth as silk, and pretty soon you’ve got ‘em. You know the rest of the story.

Fortunately for me, by the love and grace of God I woke up and started over with my tithe and giving. Each time I got money, I took it to the Lord, asked and did as I felt He directed. And to be absolutely honest, He didn’t always tell me to give it away. (How many times have you heard anyone say that? Not too many, I bet.) But I’m required of God to be honest with you so there it is.

The thing is, how many of the thousands of individual Christians who’ve sent to these big televangelist prosperity-teaching ministries have profited financially in the way they thought they were being promised? Jesus said the proof is in the fruit. Yes, some have profited and those are the stories you see on TV and in the magazines, but I would say the majority have not.

Giving is good and I know these ministries that are pushing their prosperity teachings are doing some great things with the money, no doubt. But how many innocent followers will fall along the way?

Jeremiah 7: 22 says, “For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices.” God was not asking them to give large offerings and sacrifices.  “But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you” (vs. 23).

A lot of good Christians have been hustled and conned by errors or misunderstandings concerning the prosperity teachings. We need to wake up. Individual obedience and relationship with the Lord is way more important than blindly sending our money to someone we don’t really know. I’m asking you to just think about it.

With the Almighty God and the Lord Jesus Christ, it’s never been about giving to get. We have to take a closer look at where the Lord wants us to give. We have Holy Spirit in us and the ability to hear and obey. Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27). That’s you and me.

And Jesus also said, “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you” (John 16:13-14). Now that’s the kind of relationship we already have. We just need to get better at it.

We’ve been so programmed to go along with the crowd when it comes to the tithe, we’ve strayed from “as the spirit of truth will guide.”

Let’s learn to honor the spirit of Truth, the Lord Jesus Christ, by sharing of the money He gives us, in the way He directs. So what if we make some mistakes? It’s better to be brave and take some new baby steps than to be caught in the religious hustle and con of a Pharisee or misinformed preacher.

“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Rom 8:14). You are that person.

Love, Carolyn

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