Tomorrow, Saturday, is the last day to get the FREE booklet
on COMFORT. There are some really good messages here that I think will really
bless you. Get your copy today :-) Love in Christ, Carolyn
Tomorrow, Saturday, is the last day to get the FREE booklet
on COMFORT. There are some really good messages here that I think will really
bless you. Get your copy today :-) Love in Christ, Carolyn
My booklet, WINGS: Sample D: COMFORT, is this week from Tuesday,
June 30th through Saturday, July 4th. .
This booklet contains 7 of the 61 chapters from the
complete book. These chapters are true-life stories about the various ways God
provides comfort to His people in the midst of chaos. Chapters include 1. RISE
LIKE THE EAGLE 2. DO WE HAVE TO WAIT TIL
WE DIE TO GET SOME HEAVEN? 3. HOLDING YOUR GROUND 4. LEARN FROM THE CICADA 5.
WHEN EVERYTHING GOES WRONG 6. NO NAGGING NECESSARY 7. WHAT DOES JESUS WANT FOR
HIS BIRTHDAY?
I was telling my friend that I get a little nervous every
time I go to write one of these preach letters, and sometimes have no idea
what’s going to come out. I told her: “I do know this much, if I just show up,
He shows up.” Later, I got to thinking about that statement. We all have
certain places we can go where the Lord meets us, a certain chair we like, a
bench out in the yard, a path in the woods, or behind the wheel of the car on a
favorite roadway. For me, it’s in my chair where I sit and pray every morning.
If we show up, He will be there every time.
Our Lord Jesus had His favorite places to go, where He
could talk to God alone. One of those places was a mountain. “And when he had
sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart
to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone” (Matt. 14:23).
And John 6:14: “When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take
him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself
alone.”
John 7:53 to John 8:1 tells us that after a long day of
preaching and ministering to the people, “every man went unto his own
house. Jesus went unto the mount of Olives.”
Just think about it a few minutes. When you're facing a
really tough situation, where do you go to calm down or clear your head? Jesus
had his favorite locations. You do too. You may not have recognized it as such,
but let’s start paying attention to what touches our souls. Intimacy with the
Lord has to look like something in our natural realm.
Jesus went to a mountain, and sometimes He went to a
garden. “When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples
over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into the which he entered, and his
disciples” (John 18:1). “Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place
called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, ‘Sit ye here, while I go
and pray yonder’” (Matt. 26:36).
Where is it that you feel the closest to God? Sitting in
your bed in the middle of the afternoon, when there’s no one else around? Or is
it on a brisk walk around the block in your neighborhood? Or is it sitting
quietly in your church on a day and time when hardly any people are around?
Inside of you, you already know where one of your special
places is, a physical place where the Lord has met you before. If you are
really trying to think of where it is, and you don’t really think you have one,
that’s okay; this will be a new adventure for you to find it.
Prayerfully ask the Lord to show you, and then do the
first thing that comes to mind. Often when we’re learning to hear the voice of
the Lord, we practice by asking a simple question and then just doing the first
thing that comes to mind. 99% of the time, it will be the Lord. You can even
just walk around your house or be in a place that makes you feel comfortable
and ask a simple yes-or-no question: “Is this the place?”
The Lord wants you to hear His voice even more than you
do! Don’t second-guess yourself. Take the first thought and go for it. Don’t be
afraid. If you just show up, He’ll be there the first time and every time
after.
Our real-life intimate locations already exist. They are
within easy reach of where we are. Recognize and report for duty. The Lord is
waiting for you.
God is everywhere, but intimacy with Him needs to look
like something. The relationship needs to be real to us.
Love, Carolyn
S26 IS IT ENOUGH? GIDEON
Sometimes I’ve wondered if I was doing enough for God. Was
I doing enough for the world? I told the Lord, “What I do is put out weekly
Preach Letters, and I pray a particular prayer every day to rid the world of
the spiritual “rulers of the darkness of this world” (Eph.6:12). But being a
60s child, I sometimes got tempted to think maybe what I’m doing now is too
small. Should I be out there protesting or going to rallies like I did in the
60s and 70s?
But the Lord’s answer was always the same: “No, you are
doing exactly what I want you to do, and you are changing the world from right
where you are, and I’ll show you if there’s more.” I was satisfied with His
answer, even though I can’t tell you how often I asked Him to repeat it! I’m
sure some of you have asked the same questions: Am I doing enough? What else
can I do? Lord, what is it you want me to do?
There are just some things we’ll not be able to get
fully answered until we go through them. We’ve heard the phrase: “There’s a
reason for everything.” But the second half of that should be: “But we don’t
get to know all the reasons ahead of time.” That’s where trust and pure
obedience come in. The story of Gideon and his small band of Bible heroes
teaches us about trusting God, doing what He says, and seeing the great results
we never knew would be our destiny.
The story of Gideon's life begins with God allowing the
Israelites to be dominated for seven years by the Midianites. Why? Because “the
children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord” (Judg. 6:1), The
Midianites were a wandering band of nomads who, with help from the Amalekites
and others, would make regular attacks on the Israelites.
“They encamped against them, and destroyed the increase
of the earth, till thou come unto Gaza, and left no sustenance for Israel,
neither sheep, nor ox, nor ass. For they came up with their cattle and their
tents, and they came as grasshoppers for multitude; for both they and
their camels were without number: and they entered into the land to destroy it”
(Judg. 6:4-5).
The Israelites were hiding in caves, and they were in
poverty. So God sent an angel to a young man named Gideon, who was threshing
wheat near a winepress to avoid detection at the time of the angel’s visit. The
angel came to him and said: “The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man
of valour” (Judg. 6:12). Gideon was only a young man, definitely not
a man of valour. But God saw him differently from how he saw himself. And
that’s an excellent lesson for us. We must see ourselves through the eyes of
the Lord only.
Then Gideon questioned: “Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with
us, why then is all this befallen us? And where be all his miracles which our
fathers told us of, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ but now
the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites”
(v.13).
But the angel didn’t bother to explain why it was
happening. He just told Gideon what to do next and said: “Go in this thy
might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have not I
sent thee?” (v.14)
“And he [Gideon] said unto him, ‘Oh my Lord, wherewith
shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least
in my father’s house.’ And the Lord said unto him, ‘Surely I will be with thee,
and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one man’” (vv.15-16).
Judges 8:10 tells us that the enemy had 135,000 fighting
men! (Judg. 8:10). Gideon only had 32,000.
“The Lord said unto Gideon, ‘The people
that are with thee are too many for me to give the
Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying,
‘Mine own hand hath saved me.’
“Now, therefore, go to, proclaim in the ears of the
people, saying, ‘Whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and
depart early from mount Gilead’. And there returned of the people twenty and
two thousand; and there remained ten thousand” (Judg. 7:2-3).
So, out of 32,000 men, 22,000 turned back! Now Gideon
only had 10,000 to fight the 135,000 enemy soldiers. But God knew something
more about those men who remained. Though they may have thought they were ready
to fight, God knew better. So the Lord instructed Gideon to give the 10,000 men
a simple test.
“And the Lord said unto Gideon, ‘The
people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water,
and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I
say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of
whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not
go.’
“So he brought down the people unto the water: and the
Lord said unto Gideon, ‘Every one that lappeth of the water with his
tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one
that boweth down upon his knees to drink.”
“And the number of them that
lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were three hundred men:
but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water.”
“And the Lord said unto Gideon, ‘By the three
hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine
hand: and let all the other people go every man unto his place”
(vv.4-7).
I never understood the big deal about two different ways
of drinking water. But a Christian friend explained it to me. If a person goes
down to drink water and brings it up to his mouth, he can still be on guard
with his eyes looking out for the enemy. But if a person gets down on his knees
and slurps the water, his eyes would not look out, but down! So out of the
10,000 men, only 300 were truly battle-ready!
Gideon may have been apprehensive, to say the least,
about going against a multitude of blood-thirsty enemies with such a small
number of men, but God knew what He was doing. So Gideon trusted and obeyed,
and he saved the whole nation of Israel.
“Thus was Midian subdued before the children of Israel,
so that they lifted up their heads no more. And the country was in quietness
forty years in the days of Gideon” (Judg. 8:28).
With God, it’s never about the numbers; it’s about a
person’s heart. So we have to get used to doing spiritual things without always
having to know why. And if we sometimes feel we are less than able,
remember this story of Gideon. It’s not about the big numbers; it’s about each
of us doing our small part to stay alert, trust, and obey. That’s how the world
becomes a better place. Because of that young man’s heart and willingness to
trust and obey, the whole nation of Israel had true peace in the land for 40
years.
Love, Carolyn
If you have mature children, family members, or friends
who might like to receive my Preach Letters via email, let me know. carolynmolica@hotmail.com
TRUST AND OBEY
It was a rough day. I could feel it in the air. I was
fine, but I could feel it all around me: People weren’t happy. It was hot;
their favorite team didn’t win; and it just felt out of whack. I had my errands
to do, but even driving was difficult: traffic jams, people going through red
lights, very chaotic. I’m sure you have had similar experiences and similar situations.
My errands took me to varied parts of the city, and the
Lord led me just fine, but the streets he had me go on were different from my
usual routes, so I knew something was off.
I finished my errands and, on the way home, a couple of
miles from the house, I was in another line of traffic coming up to the intersection.
Then I saw it: A very big car crash on the corner. One car facing out into the
road had its front and both sides smashed in several places. Then another car
had jumped a 3-foot cinderblock-and-metal fence and landed upside down in a
mess of broken fence and scattered piles of bricks, cinder blocks, and debris.
I could see all that because the traffic was moving so slowly as it got through
the intersection.
The Lord whispered: “That’s why I had to take you on the
route I did—to keep you from being in this accident, and there were others
along the way earlier that you didn’t see, because I got you away from them.”
I know many of you have had similar experiences to mine.
The Lord’s way is not always smooth for us, but he keeps
us out of trouble when we trust and obey!
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and
lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he
shall direct thy paths” (Prov. 3:5-6).
Don’t fight him; yield and trust. He sees what we don’t.
Love, Carolyn
HEAVEN
For those of us who are fighters, what’s more thrilling
than winning a battle against the enemy of God’s people? Not much, right? And
yet Jesus tells us in Luke 10 that there is something even greater.
“And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord,
even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto them,
Behold, I give unto you power over all the power of the enemy. Notwithstanding
in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice,
because your names are written in heaven” (Lk 10:17-20).
What does that mean? Well, for one thing, there will be
no more battles to fight in heaven! Everyone who’s born again has true peace
and joy to look forward to forever.
Revelation 21:4 tells us, “And God shall wipe away all
tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor
crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed
away.”
And Isaiah 65:25 paints a beautiful picture for those of
us who are animal lovers: “The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the
lion shall eat straw like the bullock.” In the Bible, there was a donkey who
talked to a prophet, so many of us believe that in heaven, animals will be able
to talk too, and what stories they will tell!
According to our Lord, heaven is something we as
Christians need to focus on at least as much as we focus on fighting those
battles.
It’s dangerous to be a warrior without taking time to
revel in the hope of heaven.
If we spend most of our time getting all hyped up over
the battles, what about when there are no more battles? If we’ve not practiced
just being happy in the Lord’s presence, we might not know what to do with all
the free time.
King David of the Bible was a warrior, and yet his psalms
are salted with verses in which he basks in the visions of heaven. Look at
Psalm 16:8-9, “I have set the Lord always before me: Therefore my
heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.”
The concept of going to heaven is not a new one. David,
way back in Old Testament times, knew from God and His written Word that he
would be with the Lord forever. “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all
the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for
ever (Psalm 23:6).
And in Psalm 21: 4, David refers to himself when he says:
“He [I, David] asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days
forever and ever.” David knew he had
forever with the Lord, and we need to be equally at peace, knowing it too.
And lastly, “Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for
his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God” (Psa. 146:5).
It’s no secret that the world’s in a mess, and we are the
ones letting God work in us to fight against Satan for the health, deliverance,
and blessing of God’s people. But let’s take at least as much time to be happy
in the Lord, focusing on the great reality of being with the Lord forever in
heaven. It’s what Jesus said we should do.
In fact, it wouldn’t even be a bad idea for us to
memorize some of those verses about heaven and about being with the Lord
forever. We can put one or two in our list of scriptures we pray every day, or
we can write them out and put them up in the bathroom. With all the negatives
that bombard us each week, we might benefit from having some heaven to focus on!
Love, Carolyn
Discover how the principles of the Bible still apply to
our lives today. The short, true stories in my books address current issues in
a Biblical way.
HOW TO GET BETTER AT LISTENING TO THE LORD
I went with a friend to a Bible Study. I didn’t know anyone
except the person who invited me. Haven’t been around new people in quite a
while, so I made a big effort to remember people’s names, but out of five, I
only remembered two. But I’m glad I made the effort because it means a lot to a
person when you remember their name. The Lord remembers all of our names, and
the Apostle Paul tells us: “Therefore become imitators of God [copy Him and
follow His example], as well-beloved children [imitate their father] (Eph. 5:1
AMP). So I want to get much better at remembering people’s names!
We let ourselves get distracted by our own thoughts,
rather than listening with our full attention to what the other person is
saying. God puts certain people in our paths for many reasons: to bless us, to
teach us, to wake us up to something new, or so that we can be a blessing back
to that person.
Many times, we get so busy thinking about so many things
that our brains either race into the future or reflect on the past, instead of
staying in the present. The result is that we miss out on quality time just
listening to each other. We’ve forgotten how to have a conversation.
What if we slow down enough to really listen to each
other? Besides practicing consideration and love for each other, it’s great
practice for listening to the Lord.
First John 4:20 says: “For he that loveth not his brother
whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” I could say:
“For he that listens not to his brother who he sees, how can he listen to God
who he doesn’t see?”
Listening is an act of love. If we want to get better at
hearing from the Lord, we can take steps in the right direction by practicing
listening to one another.
When we make the effort to listen to someone, we don’t
want to let our minds take a selfish trip to the past or an anticipatory trip
to the future. We want to do our best to let our hearts and minds engage in the
present. A conversation with another person is not all about us. It should be
about learning about the other person and loving them with God's love. Getting
to know their name is a good first step in showing them God’s love.
Love, Carolyn
My books are all about BIBLE PRINCIPLES FOR EVERYDAY
LIVING.