One of my books is FREE today through Tuesday (2.9). Check
it out if you’d like. Thanks, Carolyn
Thursday, February 5, 2026
FREE BOOK - FEB. 5 THROUGH FEB. 9
Sunday, February 1, 2026
"GOD LIKES ME"
“GOD LIKES ME”
In my last Preach letter I referred to what David says in
Psalm 17:15b: “I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.” The
definition of the Hebrew word for “satisfied” is “to be filled, sated, and
enriched with abundance.” And what is David satisfied with? God’s likeness. But
what is God’s “likeness”?
In looking at some of the other Bible versions, I found
“likeness” translated as “to see you as you are, see you face to face.” But
these are not accurate.
Likeness is not a word we use very much, but here’s an
example of how most people would recognize it: If I was to meet my friend Helen
and she introduced me to her mother, I might say to her, “WOW, I can definitely
see the likeness,” and you would know that I’m talking about some physical way
Helen resembles her mom. It’s obvious that Helen is not her mom, but a progeny
of her mother, a human being produced from her mother’s womb.
And that’s how the Hebrew word for “likeness” is being
used in the Bible. It’s things we can see with our eyes. The actual Hebrew word
for “likeness” is “temuna” and it means “something fashioned, an image, a form,
a representation, an appearance, a manifestation of favor.”
In the context of Psalm 17:15 and in the other places the
word is used, it is referring to physical things, things you can see.
In the earlier verses of Psalm 17, David talks about the wicked
enemy that was surrounding him. They were all wealthy and very much satisfied in
the natural realm with all of their valuable possessions and their high-end living,
but they had no salvation from God. Verse 10 says: “They are inclosed in their
own fat; with their mouth they speak proudly.”
The Hebrew word for “fat” is “chelb,” and it means “to be fat, whether
literally or figuratively; hence, the richest or choice part, the best, finest,
grease, and marrow” (Strong’s Concordance).
Then a few verses later, in verse 14 we’re told that
these men are filled with hidden treasures, their children are satisfied, and
they leave the rest of their wealth to their babies—all talking about physical
things you can see. They had it made in the world, but David had something
better. He was fully satisfied, enriched, filled, and overflowed with the
physical things sourced by God. And we are to be that way too. But we need to
expect to see those things that our God is giving us. We look for them, recognize
them, talk about them, and give God the glory He deserves for favoring us with
them. What we see God do for us in the physical realm is Him showing us that He
likes us! (His Likeness!)
One of the keys to understanding the Bible is to take a
look at the first place a word is used and look at the context. The first place
we find “likeness” is in Exodus 20:4 “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven
image, or any likeness.”
And this is the context:
“I am the Lord thy God, which have
brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt
have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image,
or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or
that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under
the earth.”
The people were physically making their own images of
what they thought their pagan gods looked like, so they could admire those
images and worship them. We, on the other hand, don’t worship the physical
things, but only worship the true God. And He’s the one who gives us the
physical things, not the other way around!
The next place the word for likeness is used is in
Numbers 12:8. Here “temuna” is translated “similitude.” “With him [Moses] will
I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the
similitude of the Lord shall he behold.” Notice that God said He
would speak to Moses and He would show him something as well.
Numbers 12:8 takes place during the Israelites’ trek
across the wilderness. The people had already seen with their eyes what God did
in Egypt. Remember, God’s likenesses are those physical things which He
produces, forms, and fashions. God told Moses what He was going to produce,
Moses told Pharaoh, and all the people saw the Nile turn to blood; they saw
plagues of frogs, lice, physical diseases on animals, boils, darkness for three
days, and the death of all the first born. Then in the wilderness there were
many more things that God gave to Moses, and Moses shared them with the people.
But in spite of that, the people rebelled.
They started complaining about everything and even talked
about wanting to go back to Egypt. God provided everything for them, and even
when He produced quail for them to eat when they complained about manna, they
still complained. But the final straw was when Moses’ brother and sister, Aaron
and Miriam, started badmouthing Moses and griping about his leadership and the
fact that he married an Ethiopian woman.
Now, God was going to do another physical show of what he
could do as a manifestation of His favor for Moses. He, God, called for Moses,
Miriam, and Aaron to come out to the Tabernacle. “And the Lord spake
suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, ‘Come out ye three unto
the tabernacle of the congregation.’ And they three came out. And
the Lord came down in the pillar of the cloud, and
stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam: and
they both came forth” (Num. 12:4-5).
“And the anger of the Lord was kindled against
them; and he departed. And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and,
behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron
looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous” (Num. 12:9-10).
So, there it is. God told them He was going to show Moses
another “similitude,” a “likeness,” something they could see with their eyes,
something that would show God’s manifested favor toward Moses. He did it to
teach them a lesson, and then because Moses asked, God reversed it, and in 7
days Miriam was completely healed.
Another place where “temuna” is used is in Deuteronomy
4:12. “And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye
heard the voice of the words, but saw no “similitude;” only ye
heard a voice.” From this reference we learn that God wants us to receive more
than one of the benefits of what He has to offer. He wants us to not only hear
His voice, but He wants us to see with our eyes what He produces for us. The
people here in Deuteronomy were God’s children, but they had turned to making
their own things to worship. They could still hear God, but for some reason they
couldn’t see His fire.
I think we can step up our spiritual enlightenment and
blessing by expecting to see with our eyes the physical things God is more than
willing to show us. We want to see the fire, and we want to see God’s favor
like he showed to Moses, and we want to see more of things David was so
delighted to see when he awoke in the morning and knew that he would see the
likeness of God.
Pray with me, “Lord, let your mercy and grace be on me
and show me some of those things this week.”
And remember to tell yourself, “GOD LIKES ME!”
Love, Carolyn
You can find my books on Amazon, with more teachings from
God’s Word and HOW TO APPLY these truths in everyday life—
Monday, January 19, 2026
A POWERFUL SPIRITUAL WEAPON YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT
I’m sharing my response to one of my friends on FB regarding all the bad things going on now in our country. I have something to share that many Christians don’t know about, so I believe God is urging me to bring it forward now. Originally to one friend, and now to all you, my friends, as well:
“I'm not a bit surprised. It's about time people wake up
to the fact that the devil has manipulated many many people. When he saw a way
to open our American doors to Satan worshippers and other groups who worship
demonic idols, and the American Christian church was taught to be doormats and
taught many other contaminated ideologies, everything was setup to demolish the
spread of true Christianity, in America specifically.
Unfortunately, we are in a huge war that lots of people
don't even know about. Each of us does what we can, to do our part for our God
and our Savior and our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, and it's messy
for sure. But God will not let us fail. It's just taking more time than anyone
ever expected!
I remember hearing about 7-year wars, 10-year wars, etc.
etc., but I never expected we would be in one, but WE ARE, physical and
spiritual. The presidents, kings, and other country leaders don't seem to want
to call it war, but that's what makes it even harder.
WE WILL ABSOLUTELY WIN, because we know our God is
greater than any other. He's the one who created Lucifer and the Bible says in
Psalm 8 that the devil is less important than mankind, and that's what really
pissed him off.
I don't pretend to play chess (if you know what I mean).
I did before, but it's not my longsuit, so what I know is what I know, but I
focus on Ps 149:8 binding the kings and nobles of the demonic realm, the ones
who work in people at the highest levels.
The Bible tells us that binding these high-level demons
is our privilege, “this honor have all the saints. Praise ye the LORD”
(Ps.149:9). If we bind them "in chains and fetters of iron" like the
Bible says, then that tells me they can't operate like they would like to, not
bound up like that. They can't go where they want, communicate with who they
want, organize and torture like they want, etc. Just visualize a chain gang or
someone bound in chains in a dungeon and you get a bit of a visual of what
those verses in Ps. 149:8-9 are saying we can do to the top-level demons.
God gave us a big job with this binding, so I hope others
will join me in this spiritual warfare. I know each of us has a mission in this
war, and the binding is just one thing I wanted to share because I don't think
a lot of Christians even know that it's available. In every war, new weapons
get exposed, and this is an important one for Christians.
Love you, Carolyn
NOTE: I learned about this spiritual ability and honor
many years ago in a book by Dale Sides.
Sunday, January 18, 2026
NEW GROWTH - A BUTTERFLY BUSH AND THE HOLY SPIRIT
Photos 1.Seed pack and new
growth 2.Butterfly bush blooming
1.17.26
NEW GROWTH – A BUTTERFLY BUSH AND THE HOLY SPIRIT
It was sunny and cold when I went out to look around in
my backyard and see what was new. There were a few bright yellow daffodils
smiling, but what caught my eye was when I looked at my butterfly bush and saw
that it was already putting out new green leaves and flowering in the top
branches. (In the photo the butterfly bush is the one on the left, as tall as
my redbud tree on the right!)
It’s been a few years now, but when I first planted the
tiny seeds, I hadn’t looked at the back of the package that said it took 365
days for it to bloom! What?! And truthfully, I forgot about it because it
didn’t even send one sprout up out of the ground until a whole year went by—a
whole year for the seed to start to wake up and grow. But the result is
beautiful and I love that bush. Instantly I was struck with how the growth of
this bush is similar in some ways to how the spiritual seed of Christ grows in
us as individuals.
We received a miraculous spiritual package when we got
born again. We renounced our past and confessed allegiance to the Lord Jesus
Christ. And we believed that God raised him from the dead, all for our sake. At
that moment, God planted a spiritual seed in us. And we began a new life in
Christ and we now look to Jesus Christ as the one who shows us God’s way to
think and live. The seed gets planted right away, but like the seed of a
butterfly bush, the different aspects contained in that seed, sprout, grow and
blossom at different times, not all at once.
As Second Corinthians 5:17 tells us: “Therefore if any
man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old
things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
There are so many wonderful surprises and blessings that
are a result of that one seed, they show up and manifest in varied amazing ways
over the expanse of our whole lives!
Recently I’ve experienced new spiritual insight on some
of the names of God, that has changed my life entirely. And I’ve begun to
recognize demons and demon teams that I was unaware of before. Just because we
grow older, doesn’t mean we stop learning spiritually. In fact, Abraham didn’t
even begin his venture into a spiritually dynamic life until he was 75 years
old!
Whatever the Lord Jesus is showing you now, and whatever
the holy spirit is teaching you, embrace it, remember it, record it, because
the whole rest of your life will be filled with many new and wondrous spiritual
sprouts, leaves, and blossoms.
Endeavoring to walk by the spirit is sometimes quiet, but
it’s never boring. We keep seeking new insight and understanding, and there is
always more.
One of the scriptures I pray every morning is Isaiah
43:19, where God says: “Behold, I will do a new thing;
now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the
wilderness, and rivers in the desert.”
Every season, my beautiful butterfly bush sends up new
sprouts from its base, and they grow new, bright green leaves. Then later on,
they start sprouting small white flowers to feed the bees, butterflies, and
birds. And the process continues.
As we walk with God in our daily lives, continuing to
seek him and serve him, we grow spiritually, and new things are continually being
revealed to us. The seed of Christ-in-us lets us embrace those new things and
we continue to grow in the kingdom of our God all the days of our lives.
Love, Carolyn
More TEACHINGS from
God’s Word
And HOW
TO APPLY these truths in everyday living—
Sunday, January 11, 2026
RAHAB BELIEVES IN OUR GOD'S REPUTATION
RAHAB BELIEVES IN OUR GOD’S REPUTATION
In Psalm 46:10 God says: “I will be exalted among the
heathen.” The record of the Israelites when they first came into God’s promised
land is a great example of how that verse was manifested in real life.
“Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy
secretly, saying, ‘Go view the land, even Jericho.’ And they went, and came
into an harlot’s house, named Rahab, and lodged there. And it was told the king
of Jericho, saying, ‘Behold, there came men in hither tonight of the children
of Israel to search out the country.’ And the king of Jericho sent unto Rahab,
saying, ‘Bring forth the men that are come to thee’” (Joshua 2:1-3a).
But Rahab knew that the king
would kill the spies, and she chose to hide them instead, on the roof of her
dwelling.
“And before they were laid down, she came up unto them
upon the roof; and she said unto the men, ‘I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that
your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint
because of you’” (Joshua 2:8-9).
All the inhabitants of the land were terrified! Remember,
in Canaan was where the Israelites first saw the giants, and just their size
alone scared the Israelite leaders so much that they wouldn’t go into the
promised land back then, and ended up wandering in the desert many more years!
I wonder if the Canaanites back then weren’t really as scary as the Israelite
leaders thought they were!!
But now it was different. The Israelites, led by the
younger leaders, Joshua and Caleb, had come to the edge of the land God had
given them. And the inhabitants were very afraid! Why? Because when Rahab spoke
of the Israelite’s God, she used the name Jehovah (Yahweh), which indicated the
Israelites’ covenant relationship with their God.
Rahab and the Canaanites understood what covenant meant.
It was in their culture. And not only that, but they’d heard about what
happened in Egypt with the battle between the gods of the Egyptians and the covenant
God of the Hebrews! And that’s where it
gets interesting.
Each of the ten plagues in Egypt was a direct hit on one
of the Egyptian gods! And the Canaanites worshipped some of the Egyptian gods
as well! Hapi was the god of the Nile, their source of water. He was supposed
to bring fertility, but when the plague came, the water turned to blood. It’s
interesting that the magicians, who were a type of priests in the Egyptian
culture, could also turn the water sources to blood and they did so to
challenge the power of our God.
Heqet was a frog-headed goddess and she was the goddess
of fruitfulness, but in the second plague there were so many frogs everywhere:
“ And the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come
into thine house, and into thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed, and into the house
of thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thine ovens, and into thy
kneadingtroughs” (Exodus 8:3). Then just to prove they were powerful too, “the
magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land”
(Exod. 8:7). (Not too bright, those magicians!).
Set was the god of the desert and foreigners. He was
represented as lice or gnats. But when that plague came, “it became lice in
man, and in beast; all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land
of Egypt” (Exod. 8:17b). And the priest magicians tried to bring lice as
well. They “did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could
not: so there were lice upon man, and upon beast” (Exod. 8:18).
So, up through the first 2 of 10 plagues, the magicians
who called on their gods to compete with the power of our LORD (Jehovah, Yahweh), the God in covenant
with Moses, Aaron, and the Hebrews, could mimic our God’s plagues, but they
were stymied with the third plague and could not do it!
Then comes one of the greatest confessions of failure: “Then
the magicians said unto Pharaoh, ‘This is the finger of God’” (Exod.
19a). They had to admit that Moses’ God was more powerful than theirs.
In fact, the word ‘God’ in that scripture is ‘Elohim’,
which means the ultimate creator of all things, and the Supreme God, higher
than, and more powerful than any other god!
It’s worth noticing at this point that the magician
priests of Egypt could do the first and second plagues, turning all the water
to blood, and bringing the frogs up on the land and into every place, even the
bedrooms and kitchens. They were only able to bring the bad, but they weren’t
able to get rid of it. They couldn’t get rid of the blood, nor the frogs. Only
our God could do that, and the magician priests weren’t able to bring on any of
the other plagues either, nor could they stop them.
The reputation of what our God would do for His covenant
people spread far and wide. And the fact that other nations knew the rules of a
covenant, they then knew that the Hebrew God would be able to do anything
necessary to protect and prosper His own. Pharaohs, Kings, High priests, nor
any other person should even try to call on their gods to compete with ours!
So, back to Rahab and the two Hebrew spies that were
coming to claim the land God promised they would occupy. Rahab said, “For we
have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red sea for you,
when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites,
that were on the other side Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom ye utterly
destroyed” (Joshua 2:10).
“And as soon as we had heard these
things, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more courage in any
man, because of you: for the LORD (Jehovah,
Yahweh) [who is in covenant with you] your God, he is God in heaven
above, and in earth beneath” (Joshua 2:11). The last two “Gods” in this verse
are the Hebrew word Elohim, meaning He is the Supreme God and Creator of heaven
and the whole earth beneath.
Rahab told the Hebrew spies that the people of Jericho
were terrified, not of the Israelites, but of their God! They heard the
stories. The blessing and power was proven; she recognized it and said so.
“Now therefore, I pray you, swear unto
me by the LORD, since I have shewed
you kindness, that ye will also shew kindness unto my father’s house, and give
me a true token: and that ye will save alive my father, and my
mother, and my brethren, and my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver
our lives from death.’ And the men answered her, ‘Our life for yours, if ye
utter not this our business. And it shall be, when the LORD hath given us the land, that we will
deal kindly and truly with thee’” (Josh. 2:12-14).
Moses and Aaron let God’s light shine in Egypt because
they obeyed Him, and wow did God shine on their behalf! It was never about what
Moses or Aaron could do, or on a bigger scale, what the Hebrew nation could do.
It’s always been about what God does. And it’s still that way. We point to what
God does and we obey Him.
The good we do comes from what God created within us. “Let
your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works,
and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16). People should know
that we’re always going to point them to our God.
We get to shine because of God. We remember that “Every good gift and every perfect gift is
from above” (James 1:17a).
Love, Carolyn
NOTE: The story about Rahab was in a teaching by Sheila
Hitchcock and was on a video that my friend Kathy Stiles sent me about a month
ago. I thought Sheila made some really good points, and what caught my
attention was when she mentioned that Rahab told the 2 Israeli spies that the
people living there (the “ites”, the giants) were afraid, not of the
Israelites, but of the extent of the power of the covenant they had with their God,
who had the reputation of being THE SUPREME GOD! I’d just studied the importance
of covenant with Abraham and then with Moses, and how respected it is in
Eastern cultures, so it caught my attention with her mentioning what happened
later in Biblical history with Rahab and the Canaanites in Jericho.
MORE BIBLE LESSONS AND STORIES TO EMPOWER OUR LIVES:
Sunday, January 4, 2026
WHAT DO COVENANT RELATIONSHIPS REALLY MEAN?
WHAT DOES COVENANT RELATIONSHIP REALLY MEAN?
The record of Rahab and the Canaanites in the book of
Joshua is fascinating, and I thought I was going to talk about that here in
this Preach Letter. But as I got into it, the LORD
took me to what He wanted covered first. He showed me that before we can
understand the depth of the spiritual feast in the record of Rahab, we needed
to refresh and embrace what we know about the rank, reputation, and importance
of Covenant! So that’s what we’re going to do here, and even for those who
think they know a lot about it, I think you’ll pick up some new and exciting
aspects. I know I did! And next week we’ll get into the story of Rahab.
To understand
much of the Bible, we need to know that for the most part, Bible events took
place in an Eastern world. So, when people from the Eastern culture read about covenants
made between God and people or people and people, they understand its
significance, but Westerners for the most part, do not. So, here, I’m going to
take a little time to expound on a few things about Covenant relationships.
Many Christians
may have already learned about salt covenants, (so you can skip that part if
you want), but in my research the past few weeks, the LORD led me to amazing and wonderful new
insights on covenants that I believe will really enhance and energize our
spiritual lives even more.
Many of us first
read about salt covenants in a book by Bishop K.C. Pillai (c.1900-1970). He lived in India and grew up as a Hindu. His
conversion to Christianity is a lesson in one of the most significant Eastern
customs found in the Bible. When a Hindu child of the ruling class is born, a
little salt is rubbed on the baby who is then wrapped in swaddling cloth. This
custom invoked one of the oldest and strongest covenants in the Eastern world,
the “salt covenant.” In this particular instance, the child was salted for a
lifetime of dedication to the Hindu religion. The “salt covenant” is used in
like manner throughout the Bible to seal the deepest commitment.
As a result of the salt covenant, it is difficult for
Hindus to convert to Christianity. When they do, their family actually conducts
a funeral service to symbolize that the individual is dead to their family, the
community, and Hinduism. Their family will carry a portrait of the “deceased”
to the cemetery and bury it.
A salt covenant in the East carries over in to adult
life. As Bishop Pillai puts it: “In the East, the taking of salt is pledge, a
promise of fidelity. If I come to your house and eat food with you which has
been seasoned with salt, I can never betray you or do you harm. Even if you
commit a crime and I am asked to testify, I cannot do it because I have eaten
salt with you. Perhaps I may come to you and try to persuade you to do the
right thing, but I would die before I would break the covenant of salt. In fact,
the penalty for so doing, is death; Anything said while eating anything with
salt must never be broken.
A servant and master in the Eastern custom will exchange
the salt covenant to show the servant will be trustworthy. So the men eat
salted food such as an olive or something and say, ‘in the name of the salt on
the food I am eating, I will never betray you. I will never rob you. I will
never cause damage to your property as long as I am in charge, so help me God.’
The master says, ‘I will never treat you as a servant, I will treat you as my
equal, my brother. I will trust you.’”
And from Biblehub.com: “In the biblical context,
covenants between men are solemn agreements or promises made between
individuals or groups, often invoking God as a witness to the commitment. The
breach of such covenants is taken seriously in Scripture, as it reflects not
only a failure in human relationships but also a disregard for the divine
witness to the agreement.”
Now let’s look at two other examples in Genesis of physical
demonstrations of a covenant taking place. Both are with Abraham. The first is in
Genesis 14:22 “And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand
unto the LORD, the most high God,
the possessor of heaven and earth.” Notice that LORD
is capitalized, indicating Abram’s already existing covenant
relationship with God. This is Abram’s way of taking a solemn oath.
He swore before the King that he would not keep any of
the spoils of war that belonged to the King. Swearing with a raised hand before
God is similar to what witnesses are supposed to be doing in the modern
courtroom. This kind of covenant oath with the raising of the hand is also
found in Daniel 12:7 and Revelation 10:5-6.
The other example of one of the covenants of Abraham is
in Genesis 15. God made a covenant with Abram to bless him with land and
promised him seed from his own bowels to be his heir. At the time, Abram and
Sarai had no children. But that was no problem to God. What God promised in
covenant with Abram would come to pass. God told him: “Look now toward heaven,
and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, so
shall thy seed be” (Gen. 15:5).
To seal the covenant, Abram cut several sacrificial
animals into two-piece sections and walked between them. This signified a
solemn declaration of his intention to adhere to the covenant. Just as the two
separate pieces belonged to the same animal, the two parties of the covenant
were to be of one mind about the terms of the covenant.
When night fell, God did a miracle for Abram to show His
side of the covenant. He displayed a smoking furnace and a burning lamp that
passed between the two sections of the sacrificed animals! This was a huge sign
to Abram that God would forever keep His promise! (And WE are part of that
promise, as we are called the seed of Abraham in Gal. 3:29).
So, we see that with the cultures of the East, covenant
was a serious matter, not to be broken.
But God does give us have several examples of the
consequences of a broken covenant. I’ll just mention one here, with the
Gibeonites and Saul.
In Joshua 9:15 we see that the Gibeonites made a covenant of peace with Israel:
“And Joshua made peace with them, and made a league with them, to let them
live: and the princes of the congregation sware unto them.” However, Saul
violated this covenant by attempting to annihilate them.
As a result, God sent a famine upon Israel during the
reign of David as punishment for Saul's breach: “Then there was a famine in the
days of David three years, year after year; and David enquired of the LORD. And the LORD answered, ‘It
is for Saul, and for his bloody house, because he slew the
Gibeonites.’”
As my friend, Frank Fick, says, “A covenant is not a
contract. You can break a contract.” But when people break a covenant, it is
not merely a social or legal issue but a spiritual one. In the Biblical
worldview, such breaches are taken as offenses against God Himself, who is
often invoked as a witness to these agreements. The punishment we’ve just seen
passed down from David from his father Saul, for breaking a covenant, shows the
gravity of the offense and should serve as a red flag to us regarding making
casual promises.
From a moral and ethical standpoint, the breach of a covenant is a violation of
trust and integrity. It reflects failure to uphold one's word and a disregard
for the sacredness of promises made before God. The stories in the Bible
consistently present the importance of faithfulness and truthfulness in human
relationships, reflecting the character of God, who is always faithful to His
covenants.
Throughout the Bible, God always tells the truth, honoring His commitments and
covenants, no matter what. And Jesus came to show us even more about how to
live in righteousness, and He emphasizes the need for believers to honor their
promises and uphold the sanctity of their word. “Be ye therefore imitators of
God, as beloved children; and walk in love, even as Christ” (Eph. 2:1-2a).
For all of us born again confessed Christians, maybe it’s
time to renew and upgrade our covenant relationship with our God. When we got
born again, we chose God’s way and repented of our old ways. We accepted God’s
son Jesus as our Lord and Savior. God changed us on the inside and by the new
birth, we were brought into a covenant relationship with Him. We confessed with
our words that from that day forward Jesus would be our Lord.
But maybe we didn’t even know at the time that we were
promising with our mouths a covenant agreement with God. I was only eight years
old at the time and I admit, I had no idea of covenant and I bet there are many
others who didn’t know either. Well, God knew what His part of the covenant
was, and He kept it no matter what, and that’s how I believe many of us have
stayed alive for so long. But now it is high time for the body of Christ to
rise up and commit to being truer to our spoken covenant than ever before. What
do you think?
Love, Carolyn
Learn to grow more and more into the ways of God, as a
new person in Christ.
Sunday, December 28, 2025
WHAT IS INIQUITY AND WHY DID JESUS HAVE TO BE BORN PERFECT?
WHAT IS INIQUITY AND WHY DID JESUS HAVE TO BE BORN
PERFECT?
2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us: “If any man be in
Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all
things are become new.” And verse 18a tells us: “And all
things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ.”
How did Jesus, the Messiah, play a part in reconciling us to God?
A key to understanding how all this developed, is found
in Psalm 103:3a, which says God “forgiveth all thine iniquities.” Iniquities are
all the bad things that came from others in our past, passed down from
generation to generation through our family’s DNA all the way back to the first
human beings, Adam and Eve. Iniquities passed down are the left overs of all
the sins and results of sins passed on to you through the blood. They are NOT
you and God doesn’t want those iniquities to hang on to you!
He says He forgives them, and that means they can be
utterly gone! Vanished forever! But He had to find a legal way to accomplish
this and of course He already had it in mind.
Forgiving is not just saying, “I’m not going to look at
it anymore; I’m just letting it go.” Nope, it doesn’t work that way.
The word, forgiving, is made up of two words, “for” and
“giving.” God kept His own Word, as He always does. When it says “God
forgiveth”, we must understand that it means God is in favor of giving. He gave
his only begotten son, Jesus, a perfect human being with NO iniquity in his
blood, because his blood came from God Almighty, Elohim the creator!
Only a human being with a perfect bloodline, could take
on the iniquities and be a substitute for all of us! God gave all that iniquity
from all generations, and He was “for” “giving” it all to Jesus, because He
knew that a perfect human had to be sacrificed for the generational sins that
the devil inflicted on all humanity. And Jesus had to be born into the earth even
from conception to birth as a tiny baby, to cover for all iniquity that would
already be developing in the embryo.
We say, “But a baby is so innocent!” Yes, but all human
babies are born with issues; they’re called iniquities. They usually don’t
present until later in life but they are already there. We know that as innocent
as a baby is, there is a sin nature in the blood and even babies need to be
reared in a Godly way until they can understand spiritual matters and can make
ethical choices for God and against the devil. I’ve been told that the age a
child can begin to understand things outside of the natural is usually around
eight years old.
But God tells us right away in Genesis 8:21 that children
are not born innocent. “And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and
the Lord said in his heart, ‘I will not again curse the ground any
more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from
his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have
done.’”
God said He wouldn’t do another flood to wipe out
humanity, but He did give us a way to escape from evil, and that’s to accept
Jesus Christ as Lord and release all our sin and iniquity that Jesus already
knew about and took to the cross to be destroyed so that we could be free.
God tells us the raw truth in Isaiah 53:6 “All we like
sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and
the Lord hath laid on him [Jesus] the iniquity of
us all.” It had to be done this way.
God puts meaning to every word He’s inspired to be
written in His Holy Bible. And it’s interesting that in Isaiah 53:5b He says:
“He [Jesus] was bruised for our iniquities.” A bruise is when there
is bleeding that is under the skin, in a sense, hidden, not blood that is not freely
spurting out or running out on the surface, and that’s how iniquity is, under
the surface, and we are often unaware of personal tendencies toward sins and
iniquities that have been passed down to us from past generations.
But once we see those iniquities, we can call them out!
We recognize what they are and why they are, and we don’t have to carry out any
of it anymore. Jesus came to earth as a tiny baby so that he could take every
single thing that attacks us from conception to death, he took it, and it
doesn’t belong to us, so we can throw it back at the devil, where it originated
and where it belongs! No more false thinking, wrong reactions, demonic
influences, weaknesses of will – ALL of the fleshly garbage and all of the
demonic pestering from within, gone in Christ!
God knows that almost every addiction comes from a false
choice for some relief, almost every act of disobedience to God is because of
learned mistrust and fear of rejection, and stubbornness from fear of someone
putting you in bondage or oppression of some sort. God knows better than anyone
why we made the choices we did; it was in the blood, and when we chose wrongly,
He was already ready to forgive. But we had to ask.
Jesus willingly came to earth and knew he would have to take
it all. It was the only way we could get rid of generational sins and
iniquities, and be redeemed back to God. Jesus, like every human, had a choice,
and he chose to save us. Jesus chose God’s way, unlike Adam, who chose his own,
which in reality was not his own, but the one originated by the devil himself.
The devil’s plans were and still are to destroy the earth and the humans God
created.
But Jesus also knew that for himself and for us, even the
worst thing the devil could do to us, which the devil thought was death, would
not have to be destruction, if we only believed God’s truth.
So, our God offered Jesus. “For God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not
perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). “That if thou shalt confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath
raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Rom. 10:9).
Jesus chose to take our place, and he suffered all that
people would ever suffer here on earth! But he was raised from the dead, as we
will be too. And when we believe in Jesus and take him for our Lord, all sin
and iniquity is wiped out and we become new, able to grow in faith, love, and
wisdom throughout the rest of our lives if we so choose. So, every day we can
choose God’s ways.
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he
is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are
become new. And all things [these new things] are of God, who hath
reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of
reconciliation” (2 Cor. 5:17-18).
Love, Carolyn
Learn to grow more and more into the ways of God, as a
new person in Christ.
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