ISIS AND JONAH'S NINEVEH 2800 YEARS AGO

ISIS AND JONAH’S NINEVEH 2800 YEARS AGO

I studied for an article on Jonah when the Lord jolted me with two instructions. The first was to look up the location of Jonah’s Nineveh and see if it is the same as where ISIS is murdering people today. It is. And the demons are just as viscous now as they were over 2800 years ago in Jonah’s time.

I read the following in Holman’s Bible Dictionary about the people of Nineveh in Jonah’s time: “They fought with the Israelites continually, their brutality renowned. They impaled their enemies on stakes in front of their towns, hung their heads from trees and covered city walls with the skins of their victims. And when they took prisoners they tortured them—men, women and children—by hacking off body parts, gouging out their eyes or tearing off their lips or hands.” Horrendous inhumane deeds, then and now: same evil brought about by the same demons.

Now I see why Jonah ran the other way when God told him to go to Nineveh. And that brings me to the second instruction God gave me: pray for the soldiers of ISIS. Some of them will turn. I sure wasn’t expecting that!

Right after I got both instructions I looked at the news on the computer and saw a video of an ISIS defector. It was God’s assurance to me and I know there will be more.

Jonah didn’t want God to do anything good for any of those murderers. And I wasn’t all that thrilled about praying for any of them either. But we have to remember who our God is. He “has no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God.” He says, “wherefore turn yourselves, and live” (Eze 18:32). We can pray that some will turn. The defectors are doing just that.

Another scripture we can pray is Isaiah 55:7 “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” I pray some will see and witness firsthand the greatness of our God and change allegiance.

But some will need a heftier impetus and motivation to change. Some will need to be brought to their knees and stripped of their power before they would even think of changing. God has put scriptures in the Bible for that too.

We know that people committing such horrendous crimes against humanity serve Satan, even if they don’t call it that. And Satan protects them, often pays them well, and gives them a false sense of security.

But when we pray verses like “their bows shall be broken” (Ps 37:15), “his violent dealing shall come down upon his own head” (Ps 7:16), “let the creditor seize all that he has and let strangers plunder his labor. Let there be none to extend mercy to him” (Ps 109:6-13), “let their eyes be darkened so that they do not see; and make their loins shake continually” (Ps 69:23), “let the angel of the Lord chase them. Let their way be dark and slippery” (Ps 35:4-6); and from the New Testament, let envy and strife be among them, “for where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work” (James 3:16). I pray to God that the above things run rampant among the ISIS ranks.

Praying these scriptures is powerful prayer. God’s mighty angels, who “excel in strength, do his commandments and hearken to voice of his word” (Ps 103:20) will attack the demons who are protecting ISIS and working in them. God’s wonderful mighty angels will wreak havoc and destruction upon the plans and devices of the enemy, stripping them of their demon protectors and bringing them to their knees—putting them in the best place possible for switching allegiance.

God’s will has always been to save even the vilest of men. Have we forgotten how rotten the Apostle Paul was before his conversion?

He was a murderer of Christians just like ISIS followers and soldiers. Acts 9:1 says he was “breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord.” He was in charge, the leader who called for many to be murdered. Paul was one of those who Jesus called “children of hell” (Matt 23:15) and one of the generation of vipers. “Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” (Matt 23:33).

The Christians in the first century church were powerful in prayer. I believe Jesus taught his disciples to pray for their enemies the way David did, the way I’ve shown you in this article. Paul’s miraculous change of allegiance, I believe, is an indication of this.

His conversion was astonishing. It didn’t come about by the Christians praying nice things for him or being extra kind to him. It came about by him being struck suddenly blind, thrown down from his horse and having a volatile encounter with Jesus himself!

Once Paul turned, the Christians in the area had peace. And that’s certainly what we want for the current day areas where ISIS is working.

Jesus said, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matt 5:44). I don’t think we’ve fully understood this verse. In situations where someone is committed to doing the devil’s work, the only good we can do for is pray for confrontation just like the Apostle Paul got; or that they be stripped of their power and see that the power of our God is greater.

I believe that if some of us will take these scriptures and pray them over the ISIS soldiers, we will see more turn from their evil actions.

I will pray for defection and astounding conversion, but I don’t stop there. I also pray strongly that if they don’t turn or are not going to turn, then I pray Ps 139:19 “Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God.”  I pray, “Destroy their plans and allow strife among their members and let them even kill each other and be killed, in Jesus name. Amen.”

Jonah went to Nineveh and they changed their ways. Jesus confronted Paul and he changed. Some of you will confront the evil in these ISIS soldiers with the scriptures I’ve shared.  God bless you for that. You are making the world a better place through scriptural prayer and obedience.

Love, Carolyn

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GRABBING WHAT THE LORD IS SHOWING US

GRABBING WHAT THE LORD IS SHOWING US

The double slit experiment in Quantum Mechanics has shown that a photon of light existing in a wave form changes into a particle form when observed.

In the same way, the Lord tries to get His messages to us. But they can be floating around, waving at us for days, even weeks and we don’t even know they are there. To get those messages from a wave, to a particle of concrete truth, we need to be able to observe the message. But how?

The answer is Meditation. Lots of Christians will balk at this answer, but remember, the Bible is an Eastern book. It was written in a culture where meditation was common practice. Though most people associate meditation with Hinduism or Buddhism, it’s just as much a Christian thing.

The dictionary defines “meditation” as “to think about, contemplate; think deeply and continuously; reflect; ponder; muse.”

We will be able to capture more of those messages from our Lord if we will make the time to meditate. It doesn’t have to be a long period of time and we don’t have to get in a certain bodily position, wear special clothes or have special music going.

These things may or may not help to get us to a place of quiet thinking, depending on our different personalities.

The main thing is JUST DO IT. Even if we take only 5 minutes at the beginning or end of the day or even on a break in the middle of the day.

Genesis 24:63 tells us “Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide.” Eventide is early evening.

Psalm 119:148 tells us David meditated morning and night, “My eyes anticipate the night watches and I awake before the call of the watchman, That I may meditate on Your word.”

Notice in this scripture David also tells us what he is meditating on: God’s Word. I don’t think he had a scroll out there with him, so he was probably thinking deeply about, and reflecting on the scriptures he knew by memory. We have a written Bible available to us, but either way would be a good way to meditate.

We can also meditate on the work of God or the Lord Jesus Christ. How has He been working in your life lately? How has He worked before? How do we see Him working in the Bible? Psalm 77:12 says, “I will meditate also of all thy work.”

Joshua 1:8 tells us “Thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do.”

There’s three things going on here. First Joshua is to meditate. By musing on the words of God, pondering them, he is making himself observe. In prayerful meditation, a person can read a verse or section from the Bible and be shown by the Lord the message He wants us to get. Then once Joshua observes the message, he is to do it.

That’s the goal for all of us: Meditate on the scripture, think about it, ponder it, muse about it. Then we will catch what the Lord wants us to observe. We stop the fleeting wave and it becomes a particle. Then we do it, we apply it.

Look at what the end of the verse in Joshua says, “For then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

We want to grab those important messages the Lord is telling us, so let’s be like David, “I will meditate in thy precepts, and have respect unto thy ways” (Ps 119:15).

Love, Carolyn

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JESUS HAS BEEN THERE AND CAN LEAD US THROUGH

JESUS HAS BEEN THERE AND CAN LEAD US THROUGH

It was summer at the Bible college and we were paired up for an outreach challenge. We had two days to get from our campus in Kansas down to an onion farm in Texas. On my team neither of us had cars so we had to hitchhike. An 18-wheeler stopped and up we innocently climbed.

My partner folded up his white stick and felt his way up into the back seat. I got in on the passenger side of the front seat.

The driver was a burly, unshaven man, around fifty-something I guessed. He seemed okay at first. In a low gravelly voice he barked, “Where you kids goin’”?

“Down to harvest onions on a farm in Texas,” I answered.

“Uh huh, Uh huh.” He wasn’t much of a talker so we just drove on in an uncomfortable silence. The A/C was on but his forehead was red and sweaty and his brown hair was all greasy looking and sweaty too. He was getting fidgety and I could hear him breathing louder and louder. His hand snaked down under the seat between us and I saw the gun come up in slow motion and pointed right at my face.

He drawled, “You’re gunna do whatever I want.”

I stiffened and gasped, holding my breath as my body froze for what seemed like forever. At that point I had no cognizance of my blind partner in the back seat. I was all alone, physically frozen in time, but my mind was racing frantically, “Jesus! Jesus! Jesus! Help me!”

My body seemed to melt and strengthen at the same time, as a palpable peace poured down over me and through my soul. I drew in a deep breath and slowly made myself as tall as I could as I turned sideways in the seat to face my aggressor.

My action obviously confused him and he turned a little frantic himself, trying to hold the gun at my face and watch me and the road at the same time.

I spoke with loud and clear authority, “You put that down right now in the name of Jesus Christ!” He did it, obeying my words like a robot. “Now pull over.” He did. I knew he didn’t want to let us go, but under the authority of the Lord, it was like he was a prisoner to my words and he couldn’t do anything but. “Now we’re getting out!” and we did.

Even as I write this today, I’m a little amazed that it was real, but I shouldn’t be. Jesus was in the midst of a crowd who wanted to kill him and He walked right through. “Jesus replied, ‘I assure you and most solemnly say to you, before Abraham was born, I Am.’ So they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus concealed Himself and left the temple” (John 8:58-59). He had peace.

On the Lord’s instruction, Paul and Silas walked right out of prison. They had peace. (Acts 16:24-34)

Jesus said, “My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John14:27)

Psalm 23:4 says: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me.”

We can’t always avoid trouble, but we can walk through it with the peace of Jesus Christ in us.

Jesus lived on earth as a man. He knows how to do it. As our Lord and leader, He will guide us away from trouble and if we get into trouble He will do amazing things to rescue us out of it. He loves us and we can trust Him.

Reading about his life in the gospels, we learn that He was able to get around and through every kind of situation. And Hebrews 2:18 tells us “Because He Himself [in His humanity] has suffered in being tempted, He is able to help and provide immediate assistance to those who are being tempted and exposed to suffering.”

Let’s pray to get to know Him better and trust Him more.

Love, Carolyn

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NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION

Hebrews 12:12 says, “LIFT UP THE HANDS THAT HANG DOWN.”

Wendy shared this with me -- a short lecture from the internet on nonverbal communication that totally confirmed this Bible truth in an amazing way!

Watch how even the small gesture of lifting up your arms in victory for only 2 minutes INCREASES CONFIDENCE by changing the hormones in our blood. 

All this is in the Bible for us to discover and confirm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks-_Mh1QhMc

Love, Carolyn

FROM DROWNING TO VICTORY - PETER AND THE GIRGASHITE SPIRIT

FROM DROWNING TO VICTORY – PETER AND THE GIRGASHITE SPIRIT

I talked about sons of Belial (SOBs) in the workplace in previous articles. (See posts from 7.7.2013,4.24,26 and 29.2015). They are people who are committed to serving Satan in one or another of his forms. The Bible tells us we are not to try to fight them in hand to hand combat. They must be battled spiritually from a distance. When believers come too close to those who are either SOBs or people who are servants of the SOBs, they often end up in a horrible mess. The good thing is that God has a rescue plan.

God gives us the perfect example in Peter of what happens when Christians get too close to SOBs, then how restoration is possible.

Let’s look at John 18. Peter was trying to see what was happening with Jesus after the officials bound him and took him out of the garden of Gethsemane. He followed them to the gates of the inner circle of those servants of the high priest. The high priest Caiaphas was a dedicated follower of the wishes of Satan. He was the Son of Belial in this situation, determined to get rid of Jesus in whatever devilish way Satan showed him.

One of Jesus’ disciples already knew the high priest and was not effected by him or his evil ways, so he was able to go into the palace where they took Jesus. Only people with a special anointing from the Lord can be in this position and survive. The majority of Christians, including the great apostle Peter are not called to do this.

“But Peter was standing outside at the door” (John 18:16). Right at that point, Peter should have turned around and left. But he didn’t and he was in big trouble after that.

There was a woman that kept guard at the door. Peter’s friend talked to her and she opened the door for Peter to come into the palace courtyard where the evil priest’s servants were congregated. Peter knew he was going into enemy territory and he hadn’t prepared himself. But there he was inside the gates. “Then the servant girl who kept the door said to Peter, “You are not one of this man’s disciples, are you?” He panicked and answered wrong, something I think we’ve all done under stress. “I am not” is what he said (vs 17). The influence of the SOB was already getting to him and he denied being a follower of Jesus.

Then Peter sidled up to the fire and sat down among the followers of Caiaphas, probably trying to mix in and be anonymous. But we are never anonymous when it comes to demons. They know who we are and Peter was now in a spiritual trap. 

Peter had no business being there. The influence of that SOB started to wear him down quickly. Someone else asked Peter if he’d been with Jesus and he denied him for the second time. The third denial—the final blow and most important for our understanding is when “one of the high priest’s servants, a relative of the one whose ear Peter cut off, said, “Did I not see you with Him in the garden?” (vs 26). By this time, it’s almost like Peter was under a horrible spell. His head just wasn’t right and he denied his Lord again. But there’s something more to this third accusation.

The accuser used the phrase “I see you in the garden.” “Garden” refers to the earth and here it’s connected with the physical, cultural and spiritual influence of where Peter grew up. It’s where the Girgashites lived in Old Testament times and the Gadarenes in the New Testament. It wasn’t a well-thought-of area.

The guy was telling Peter to get back to the slum he came from. He was telling Peter he was a failure, he wasn’t worthy to be an evangelist for Jesus; he was just a fraud and he ought to admit it and get back to the only thing he was good at, fishing. And Peter believed it. His strength and confidence as a believer was annihilated. After all, he knew he hadn’t stood up for Jesus even after he was given three chances to speak the truth.

A little background on Girgashites and Gadarenes will help us to see the bigger picture here. The word “Girgashite” means “clay dweller.” They focus on things that are visible, natural things they can see. The Gadarenes who came from the Girgashites were pig herders. It’s said that it’s physically impossible for pigs to look up at the sky. (Somebody who knows more about pigs than I do will have to confirm that). But the spiritual aspect of Girgashites is that they only believe what they can physically see and they lead people away from focusing on heavenly things, eternal things, things bigger than what’s in front of their noses.

When Jesus delivered the Gadarene man in Matthew 8, the demons went into the pigs and they ran off the cliffs and drowned in the waters below. Drowned animals in the Bible were called an abomination because they died without shedding their blood. “The life is in the blood” (Lev 17:11). This Girgashite/Gadarene spirit is still in the world today causing good wonderful people to be drowned before they’re able to live the greater life the Lord’s called them to. They can start off great, but in calculated methods, over time they are hit with things they can’t control.

The many SOBs who’ve risen to the top of businesses, universities, government agencies and other areas of life are crushing the life blood out of good Christians and sending them back to the spiritual slums of living like the Gadarenes, in the tombs, in empty places where they hide and have little influence. They settle for a “small” life. 

When Jesus found Peter, he was a practical fisherman carrying out the traditional Girgashite way. But Jesus broke him out. He called him out to be a bold evangelist, a “fisher of men” (Lk 5:1-11).

But when Peter got into the presence of those who served a demonic ruler, he crashed hard. The influence of the evil Son of Belial priest was too much for him. The demons worked on him with words and accusations to the point Peter could no longer see himself as the Lord saw him. Peter was deflated and became little. He lost all his confidence in a very short time.

Then when the rooster crowed, Peter realized how low he had sunk—he’d denied his Lord Jesus and that ruined him.

Matthew 26: 75 says, “And Peter remembered the [prophetic] words of Jesus, when He had said, ‘Before a rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.’ And he went outside and wept bitterly [in repentance].”

Most of the Christians I’ve seen who’ve been too close to an SOB have gone the same way as Peter. They’ve been demoralized, cut down, abused, falsely accused, their confidence totally ripped from them. Some have been threatened with going to jail.  Instead of being the gregarious social leader, they shrink to a very small group of close trusted family or friends. Instead of reaching outward, they go inward and lack the energy they once had.

It’s totally understandable. They are not alone. Look at Peter again. He was a weakened man. After Jesus was crucified, Peter still hung out with the disciples but it wasn’t the same. One of the saddest scriptures I know comes during this time. Jesus was raised from the dead and reappeared on earth to check on his disciples. Were they preaching the gospel to all nations? Healing? Casting out demons? Nope. They were back up in the area of the Girgashites doing small work.

A dejected man, “Simon Peter said to them, ‘I am going fishing.’ They said, “And we are coming with you.” So they went out and got into the boat; and they caught nothing” (John 21:3).

THANK GOD THE STORY DOESN’T STOP THERE!

Even though the disciples had forty days with Jesus, that didn’t instantly save or restore the gregarious and bold peter we once knew. There was only one event after the debacle with the SOB, that saved Peter and got him back to his right mind: He did what Jesus told him to do.

When Jesus said to get up out of the land of the Gadarenes and go to Jerusalem, he did it. Jesus told them to wait there and in just a few days they’d receive the promise.

They obeyed. They went. The big change came. Jesus told them, “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you” (Acts 1:8). “Power” here is the Greek word “dunamis.” It’s a root word of dynamite. It means miracle-working power, excellence of soul, the ability to think the right things, have the right emotions, and make the right choices.

From watching Peter up to this point, we can see that he really needed some dynamite. Anyone attacked by SOBs needs to be restored to a place of being filled with the miracle power of Jesus. It’s the only thing that gets people out of drowning with the Gadarene pigs and back to a free and happy and empowered life.

Acts 2 tells us the disciples were together and they were expecting the freeing power to come into them. It did. “And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues” (vs 4). When we read a little further to verse 14 we see that the real Peter is back!! Peter stood up and lifted his voice and belted out with boldness about the true power of the Holy Spirit. He was experiencing it and he never went back to lack the confidence he regained on that day.

I know a couple believers who have regained their vitality and vigor after being attacked like Peter. They did it the same way Peter did. They obeyed the Lord even though they were downtrodden. Then they believed and received the “dunamis” miracle freedom that Jesus gave them and they are now strong as dynamite in doing the will of the Lord. (Their individual stories are for another time – this material is hefty enough to take in as is.)

If you or someone you love has been effected by SOBs and they have not recovered yet, please be understanding and pray for them. Help them to receive dunamis power from Jesus. It’s so important.

Love, Carolyn

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OUR YOUTH IS RENEWED LIKE THE EAGLE'S

OUR YOUTH IS RENEWED LIKE THE EAGLE’S

It’s the beginning of 2016 and I’m feeling great. I’ve been blessed with good health. Partly it’s genetic, but a lot of my strength and youthfulness I attribute to quoting Psalm 103:5 every morning. It says, “He satisfies my mouth with good things so that my youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”

As the eagle goes through the different stages of its life, molting takes place and the new feathers are graciously provided. God created a way for this majestic bird to grow the necessary new youthful and beautiful feathers as it grows older. We need the same thing, brand new feathers to keep us youthful and strong as we also mature.

In my opinion, this scripture is not only talking about God providing good physical food we can eat that can renew our youthfulness, but even more important is the bread of life God’s given us to eat—His living word. As we take the truths of the Bible into us and as we speak them out of our mouth, we get new insight, answers that weren’t there before, fresh understanding and youthful excitement.

I believe that taking delight in God’s Word, both the written word and the awesomeness of the Lord’s presence in our everyday lives keeps us strong and our youth truly is renewed like the eagle’s.

Love, Carolyn

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MORE THAN A STILL SMALL VOICE

MORE THAN A STILL SMALL VOICE

This is so amazing! I knew that today the Lord wanted me to share more about recognizing how He communicates with us by our spiritual 5 senses. Then I opened up my e-mail and it was confirmed by this awesome message I just got from my friend Yvonne:

“One of the most practiced evidence I have in listening to God is in visions. When myself or someone else is looking for something they lost, I ask God to show me where it is & He shows me where it is. This never fails! I’m learning to ask God FIRST to save me a lot of time & trouble. His voice is always soft & patient....and I know He is guiding me & I should trust Him only. But there are times when I’m with toxic people or situations that put me to the test & I don't always heed His voice. AND I do pay for it. God bless you, girlfriend!”

The Lord can communicate through all of our 5 senses. In Yvonne’s situation of looking for lost things, the Lord shows her through pictures. I know several people who get the Lord’s answers this way.

When I was first introduced to this idea, I was working as a nurse’s aide in a hospital. I could smell terminal cancer. At first I thought it was just a natural smell that came with the cancer, but when I asked, I found out that others couldn’t smell it. That’s one way to test the spirit (see my last article on hearing from the Lord). I asked people if they smelled it and since they didn’t, I knew it was my spiritual “nose” that was working. Jesus the Messiah was teaching me different ways He would communicate to me.

What about our sense of taste? There are times when I’ve taken a taste of something and though it didn’t annoy my taste buds, I just knew I wasn’t supposed to eat it. One time I got the message, but I took a couple extra bites anyway and my stomach was upset all afternoon.

As for the spiritual sense of touch, there have been times when I’ve nearly jumped away from someone who wanted to touch me and pass on something bad. On the other hand, the spiritual sense of touch comes into play in a really great and good way often when I minister healing to someone or even if I just am led to touch them when I pray for them.

The Lord can and does work through any of the five senses, or even a combination of them.

He finds the perfect ways to communicate with us, depending on what He knows we will be able to believe and receive. We can ask the Lord in prayer to teach us more about this and of course He will.

If you haven’t read my last article, HOW DO WE KNOW IF IT’S REALLY THE LORD, go ahead and read it. I think you’ll like it and I’d love to hear back from you.

Love, Carolyn

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HOW DO WE KNOW IF IT'S REALLY THE LORD?

HOW DO WE KNOW IF IT’S REALLY THE LORD?

Let’s say we meet someone for the first time and we say hello. Then we don’t see that person for a while and one day they walk into the room and say hello, but we don’t see them. If we’ve only met them once, we most likely wouldn’t recognize their voice and wouldn’t know who it was. But if we worked with that person for a week and they did the same thing—came into the room and said hello when we had our back turned, we’d know exactly who it was. It’s the same with the voice from the Lord.

We get to know the “voice” of the Lord by getting familiar with it and that comes by practice and testing.

Hebrews 5:14 tells us, “But solid food is for the [spiritually] mature, whose senses are trained by practice to distinguish between what is morally good and what is evil.” This is talking about growing up spiritually, which all of us want. Solid food is for adults, not small children. All of us have our regular 5 senses and then there are our spiritual five senses and it’s in the spiritual senses that we need training. So how do we do that?

Start practicing. 1 John 4:1 says “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but test the spirits whether they are of God.” Okay, so not everything we feel or hear is going to be from the Lord, but instead of getting fearful, let’s remember that He loves us and since we are doing our best to follow Him, He is going to help us. We are going to get a lot more right things than wrong ones. It’s the adversary, the devil, demons, Satan, whatever you want to call it who wants to make us afraid of going forward with testing the voices.

When we’re first starting out with this and even when we’ve practiced our faith for a long time, one of the most important things to remember is that the Lord is not going to tell us to do anything that is not in agreement with what He says in the Bible.

With small things like asking whether we should wear red socks or blue it’s probably not going to make a whole lot of difference to the Lord, but if you feel like the Lord is telling you to go have sex with your married co-worker who told you she no longer loves her husband, well . . . That doesn’t jive with the Bible teachings so there you go, not the voice of the Lord. That voice was from a different mouth.

In the Old Testament we see God Himself training Elijah how to hear His voice: “And he [God] said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

“And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave” (1Kgs 19:11-13). And the story goes on about how God talked with him and showed him what to do next. It’s awesome.

We will start to recognize His voice when we hang out with Him more in conversation. The simplest is to start with yes and no questions. Then listen for the quietest answer. Go with the first answer before the rationalization comes in. If we make a mistake, we’ll find out soon enough.

I’ve heard it said, “The holy spirit is a gentleman.” In other words, He doesn’t yell and get outrageous with us. Some people feel just a silent urging, or a “feeling” they have to do something a certain way. Some people call it a niggling feeling, or a gentle nudge or even like a “knowing” feeling. He waits till we turn to Him and listen.

A good way to start practicing how to hear from the Lord is to ask small questions. “What should I wear today?” Then pick what first comes to mind. Don’t’ second guess yourself. Just do the very first thought. If you have several errands to do and you have choices as to the order, ask the Lord, “What should I do first?” Then be quiet for a second, listen, then do the very first thing you feel you’re being led to do.

The Lord isn’t going to let us make some massive mistake. HE WANTS US TO HEAR HIS VOICE!

Practice. Practice. Practice. Test. Test. Test. Every day. It’s not grueling, it’s fun. AND it changes our lives. We start off with the little things but quickly learn that the little urgings of the Lord can make even the BIGGEST differences in our lives and in the lives of those around us.

Love, Carolyn

Check out the great stories in WINGS Volume 1. I’m editing the 52 chapters for Volume 2 and it should be out by April this year. You can put this in your prayers if you would. Thanks. http://www.amazon.com/gp/search?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&index=aps&keywords=WINGS%20Carolyn%20molica&linkCode=ur2&tag=jmbcsds-20&linkId=XQMVLVZYNBLYAGEM

EXTRA BAGGAGE COSTS TOO MUCH

EXTRA BAGGAGE COSTS TOO MUCH

This Christmas I traveled by airlines to see my family. I brought some baggage and these days you have to pay for extra baggage. It’s the same with our lives—and it costs too much. So let’s see if we can get rid of some of that. Let’s lighten up our load.

We can’t really move forward if we keep adding to the pile of stuff that we take with us from year to year.

So this is what we can do: First thing is to think about, then write down one temptation that took you away from doing God’s will this past year. Look at that thing and forgive yourself for doing it. Guess what? We’re not perfect Christians; nobody is. As hard as we may try to be “good,” sometimes we don’t even really know what “good” is. So we make mistakes. We have to admit that we’ve messed up. We may even have to admit that according to what the Bible says, we’ve sinned. There I said it.

But that’s why Jesus is our savior. We mess up, we admit it, He picks us up. He forgives us and we forgive us. Done. But how do we stop from messing up in the same way again?

We need to ask ourselves, “Why?” “Why did I allow it?” “What is it in me that may have contributed to bringing this thing to pass?” Once we can see the answer to this “why” question and we have an understanding of it, we can forgive ourselves and get healed.

Any mistakes we make are not in our spirit man—that’s perfect. But mistakes are in our thinking, emotions and decisions—all soul-related.

God said, “For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds” (Jer 30:17). There are no wounds in our spirit, only in our soul. God sent Jesus to earth to show us how to get our souls healed and drop the baggage that is so hard to drag around with us. The older we get the heavier and more cumbersome the bags get.

Paul tells us his deep desire in Philippians 3:10, “That I may know him (Jesus Christ) and the power of his resurrection.” The original Greek word for “power” in this verse is “dunamis.” Dunamis is defined as “miracle-working power, moral power, excellence of soul.”

The resurrection power of Jesus Christ is the miraculous power that refreshes and changes our souls.

It’s in our souls that we err against God, but we’ve been given “dunamis,” which is excellence of soul. We have excellence of soul. Say it, “I have excellence of soul. I have moral power, by the grace of Jesus Christ and the love of God to me.” It’s the same miraculous power that it took to raise Jesus from the bonds of hell, that will miraculously break us free from the bonds of sins and errors in judgement in our soul lives.

We have that miracle-working power of dunamis in us. We can release it by soaking in the light of Jesus Christ. Light dispels darkness. We can release it by letting the light of dunamis power invade our souls. Like it says many times in the Old Testament, “open the gates.” We say, “I have miracle-working power in me I have excellence of soul and moral power because God gave it to me.” Excellence of soul is to make the right decisions, right choices, the right thoughts according to the spirit of God in Christ in us.

We soak in dunamis like we’d soak a stained piece of clothing. We don’t just dip it in and take it out. It needs to be immersed for a while. We soak our innermost being by meditating on the truth that Jesus Christ wants to heal our souls and is miraculously changing the effects of what’s happened to us.

Second Timothy 2: 24-26 tells us that when we don’t have excellence of soul in a category of life, we are opposing our own selves and that we are to “awake ourselves out of the snare of the devil.”

As we start to claim our right to exhibit excellence of soul and moral power we will begin to see in our lives where the origins of our errors came from.

Did something make you feel rejected as a child? Did you feel you had to close the door on your real self in order to protect yourself? Did something or someone make you so angry you did things to hurt yourself? Did you hide in pain killers or alcohol to protect yourself after a car accident you caused?

When we see where the beginning of our hurts and errors in judgment started, we have the power and backup to confront them and the miracle dunamis power will nullify them and make that baggage drop away, deteriorate. It will no longer be ours. It won’t be us carrying around those old suitcases and backpacks.

Instead those things will be flat lined, more as if we are watching a movie about someone else’s life. It’s not us anymore because we are free.

Welcome to a new life, 2016.

Love, Carolyn

EXCITING LIFE-CHANGING STORIES:

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