SENDING DEVIL SPIRITS INTO CHAINS OF DARKNESS

SENDING DEVIL SPIRITS INTO CHAINS OF DARKNESS

Psalm 149 gives us insight into one of the greatest and longest-lasting weapons we have against forces of evil.

Verse 6 tells us we have a two-edged sword in our hand to bind people’s “kings with chains, their nobles with fetters of iron.”

 

That’s not referring to human kings and nobles but to those principalities and powers in high places, i.e., devil spirits, demons. We are to “execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all his saints. Praise ye the Lord” (v. 9). When I show you the written judgment that you have a right to proclaim upon demons that

disobey, you will be praising the Lord too.

 

The written judgment comes directly from the Word of God. It says that if demons do not keep their first estate (Jude 1:6) but are disobedient (1 Pet. 3:19-20) and if they sin (2 Pet. 2:4), they are to be delivered into chains of darkness, in prison (1 Pet. 3:19), in everlasting chains (Jude 1:6) under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. That’s a lot to meditate on, and vital revelation.

 

So how do we know when demons are disobedient?

 

There are laws of God, lines that cannot be crossed. Two that I know of are 1) The power when we use the name of Jesus Christ, and 2) the power of the blood of Jesus. Devil spirits legally must bow to these two very strong commands.

 

If you’ve prayed for, spiritually poured, or applied the blood of Jesus for its protection over your children, for instance, and a demon is trying to hurt them, that demon has crossed the line. The demon isn’t regarding the legality of the blood of Jesus. The blood applied to the doorposts and lintels in Exodus even kept the destroying angel from having access to the believers. If you have by revelation and believing applied the blood of Jesus to any situation and an evil spirit has not backed down, you have the legal right to send that spirit to outer darkness to be imprisoned in “everlasting chains” until the final judgment day.

 

That means you’ve taken that demon or demons out of the world until the final judgment. Those particular ones are locked in prison with the ones Jesus showed Himself to when He went to hell and triumphed over them all. They are locked into everlasting darkness and unable to roam the earth and hurt anyone else. This is an awesomely good thing, and as Psalm 149:9 says: “This honour have all his saints. Praise the Lord.”

 

Can you imagine how much better the world will be as God’s family begins to exercise this privilege and right to chain up thousands of these demons that are so arrogant to think they can defy the laws of Almighty God?!

 

Another case of demon disobedience is one that my roommate Jane and I experienced with a house in our neighborhood.

 

The people were gone from the house, but the demons weren’t. We had been using the name of Jesus Christ against the cluster of demons that remained in the back part of the house. We looked directly at the house and spoke Philippians 2:10, which says: “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth.” I absolutely believe that verse, and when it didn’t work, I was baffled.

 

I looked over at the house, and I could see by revelation that the devils were trying to hide in that back corner, at the furthest point away from us.

 

The house is now unoccupied. I prayed no one would move in until we got totally rid of the demons; the house had a bad history. First, there was “Papa.” We found out he was illegally growing marijuana in the back area of the house. He was extremely arrogant and unfriendly. He was one of the jefes at a local landscape company and often had his guys come over with plants for his yard. They worked in the hot sun while he sat in the shade, swore at them and barked directions. The other neighbors would hear loud, vicious arguments he’d have with his wife. Whenever we saw his young children, which wasn’t very often, they seemed terrified. His wife was practically a prisoner in the house. They lived there for many years, but I wouldn’t recognize her at the store if I saw her. Finally, they left, and another couple moved in.

 

The new couple eventually invited friends. I rarely saw the friends, but one day I was out watering, and a girl arrogantly marched out the front door to the edge of the sidewalk and was calling someone on her cell phone. A guy ran out after her with a metal pipe held up in his hand, threatening her. It scared me, so I started to call 911, but then the girl went back inside, and it quieted down. About a month later, they all got evicted.

 

The demons were still there. I knew I had to do more.

 

One morning I knew in the Spirit that it was time to take the final action, and Jesus confirmed it in a big way. I’d first heard about believers putting demons in chains of darkness from Dr. Dale Sides. Then I heard more about it from Dr. Paul Norcross. This particular morning, after not hearing from Paul in over five months, I received a written message from him that reminded me of what to do in these kinds of situations. Also, I’d just the day before listened to a teaching about taking situations to the courtroom of God.

 

When I got ready to confront those demons across the street, I knew the courtroom of God would be the

appropriate venue to picture in my Spirit. In this particular situation, we had a legal case against these devil spirits.

 

I felt led to drive the car over and park in front of the house where we had the best view of the back corner where the evil spirits gathered. I started by reading Ezekiel 21:14-17 out loud and pounding my fists together a couple of times, like in the scripture.

 

Then I prayed and told the demons, “You have no right to be here. We’ve poured the blood of Jesus on this house and demanded you to leave in the name of Jesus Christ, according to Philippians 2:10, but you haven’t obeyed. You’ve broken and stood against the law of Almighty God. But God is the one who made you in the first place, and He is greater than you. The Bible says we can bind you in chains and send you to outer darkness for your disobedience. You get out of here. We’ll give you until we get back from our errands, and if you’re not gone, you’re going to chains of darkness until the final judgment. If you think you can arrogantly stand against God, you’re wrong.”

 

We prayed for God’s angels to carry out the job. We came back from our errands, and it felt like several of the larger demons had taken off. Four were still there. Two whined and tried to make themselves look small and pitiful: “We’re going. We’re going. Just a little more time.” But I could see right through their deception. These were the arrogant ones, and they rose large, angry, and vicious the minute I said, “NO! No more time. You’re going now!” Then there were only two more, less vicious and hiding as if we couldn’t see them.

 

Spiritually, I knew that they were thinking that they should be safe as long as they were tagging along with the bigger demons. None wanted to go, but God’s angels were there to arrest, chain, and lead them off.

 

The house is now just a house. God’s angels took the demons and paraded them across the expanse, like a victorious leader in battle marches his prisoners in chains down the main street for all to see.

 

No person will ever have to be abused or lured by those four demons ever again. They will be held in chains, in prison, in outer darkness until the final judgment.

 

My reaction surprised me. I was sad that they had chosen this fate. They had the choice. But still, I was so glad they were gone now. We prayed for good, wonderful people to move into the newly cleaned house.

 

The house stayed empty for many months, and that was fine. Then we saw a mother and her two school-aged boys move in. The place has been quiet and peaceful ever since.

 

We, as the body of believers, are the spiritual watchmen in the world today — what an awesome honor, blessing, and responsibility we have.

 

I hope you will take the time to look up the scriptures I’ve shared about what we can do when demons don’t obey. Let’s join together to get as many devils out of here as we can. Do you want to make the world a better place? Sending demons to outer darkness is a rock-solid way to be a part of making that happen. And don’t give up until they’re gone.

 

Love, Carolyn

 

This is a chapter from my second Wings book: WINGS: A Journey in Faith Vol. 2. If you’d like to read more, I have several different booklets on Amazon, including 2 specifically on devil spirits: A Devil on Every Doorknob – book 1 and book 2) https://www.amazon.com/s?k=A+Devil+on+Every+Doorknob+carolyn+molica&ref=nb_sb_noss

 

 

TEN VIRGINS AND THE OIL

TEN VIRGINS AND THE OIL

It was about 9p.m., and I was watching TV when all the lights went out. No electricity in the whole neighborhood. Thoughts were flying through my mind in rapid succession like bullets from an automatic rifle: “I have to get my flashlight. It’s dark. I won’t be able to see out there. Sh..t, I should have recharged the batteries the last time. Do I have any other flashlights? Yes, In my car. Phew!” I was just about to get up out of my chair, and all the lights and sounds came charging back to life.

 

A couple days later I thought about not having the batteries ready for my flashlight. It reminded me of the Bible story about the ten virgins with the oil lamps. They took their lamps to meet the bridegroom and go to the wedding. But only five took extra oil for their lamps so they’d be prepared. The bridegroom was late, so the five without extra oil were running out of light. They thought they could borrow some from the others, but that wasn’t going to happen.

 

“Five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.

 

“And at midnight there was a cry made: ‘Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.’ Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.

 

“And the foolish said unto the wise, ‘Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Not so, lest there be not enough for us and you; but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.’

 

“And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut” (Matt. 25:1-10).

 

We learn from this passage that each of us is responsible to get his or her own oil. No one else is responsible to read the Bible for us, and no one else can do our believing for us. An interesting point here is that the wise women didn’t give the foolish ones any of their extra oil. Wow, that’s seems pretty harsh, right? But the truth is that there comes a point when sharing what we have and giving to others comes to a God-ordained halt, and going any further is futile.

 

It’s hard sometimes to know when to stop with a person, but if we stay too long (longer than the Lord wants), we’re not really helping them, and we’re not helping ourselves either. Matthew 22:39 tells us: “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” We love ourselves by doing what the Lord wants, not what people want, and not necessarily what we want either. But God is in charge of the outcome, and He knows the best route to get there.

 

If a relationship is going nowhere, it’s probably time to get quiet with the Lord and ask Him to show us what to do about it.

 

The women who were prepared, went on to the party and the others missed out. The parable about the ten virgins is about being ready when Jesus comes back. Nobody knows when that will be, but there will be a day when Jesus returns and everything changes.

 

“The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (2 Pet. 3:10).

 

Jesus said that when the judgment day comes, every man will have to account for every idle word he speaks: “But I say unto you that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the Day of Judgment” (Matt. 12:36).

 

“That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 1:7).

 

Our works are to be built on the foundation of Jesus Christ. “If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss” (1 Cor. 3:13-15).

 

“Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be?” (2 Pet. 3:11).

 

People want to feel that their lives are meaningful and that they are contributing good things into this world. Once Jesus comes back, we don’t get the chance to do it over again. So let’s unload the burdens the Lord says to “leave and let go.”

 

We only have one life to live here on earth right now, no reincarnation. We need to make every day count to the best of our ability.

 

We don’t want to miss a chance to say something kind, do something significant for someone else, give a smile, help someone, minister healing, cast out a devil spirit, etc. “We are all the children of light” (1 Thess. 5:5), and we can “walk as children of light” (Eph. 5:8).

 

“Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel” (Matt. 5:15). Let your unique, God-inspired light shine.

 

The end of our world is imminent, and according to the Bible, it could be any day. Let’s make a difference here while we can. If we think more often about Jesus’ return, we will live our lives more like the women who carried extra oil, rather than the ones whose light ran out.

 

Like it says in Romans 13:12: “The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light.”

 

If we live like today could be our last, it just could be our best.

 

After the lights came back on that night, I recharged the batteries for my flashlight. Today I’m recharging my heart for the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Love, Carolyn

You can find my e-books and paperbacks on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=wings+carolyn+molica&crid=EZNJZZUP3KHG&linkCode=ll2&linkId=db88efb13727dcb484eb29f5b1683284&sprefix=wings+carolyn+molica%2Caps%2C353&tag=jmbcsds-20&ref=as_li_ss_tl

 

PRAISE HIM AHEAD

PRAISE HIM AHEAD

Sometimes when I wake up in the night, I find myself praising God and telling Him I love Him. Many Christians no longer go to a church building to praise and worship God. But praise and worship still need to be a part of our lives. Praise and worship are an important part of our interaction with the Lord God. To praise Him doesn’t change Him, but it changes us.

 

When Paul and Silas were thrown in prison, they prayed and sang praises to God. And what happened?

 

“At midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed” (Acts 16:25-26)

 

Paul and Silas were free.

 

David was being chased and pursued by Saul, who wanted to kill him. When David was alone, he praised God. And God rescued him and gave him insight on how to get away from Saul. “I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies” (Ps. 18:3).

 

There are many verses about praise, but these two show us that praise opens prison doors. Praise can free us. David shows us that praise can save us from our enemies.

 

So even if we don’t go to an actual church building, and even if our Christian fellowship is only online or only a small group of people or even if we are by ourselves, we still need to take time to praise and worship God. We praise and worship Him for who He is and how thankful we are for Him being in our lives.

 

Even in awful circumstances: hurricanes, fires, jail, or persecution, we still need to praise and worship God. It’s probably our one and only true escape from our own self-destruction.

 

David said: “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance” (Psalm 42:5). David was a smart man.

 

There’s a phrase we hear these day: “Pay it ahead.” But David knew that “Praise it ahead” was even better. He said: “I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving” (Ps. 69:30).

 

Praising God ahead is a way to show our honor toward God and our believing that He is the Most High God, above all and everything we see around us. He is the true miracle-worker, the true deliverer, our true love who will never betray us or try to cause us harm. We worship Him because He lifts us up when we don’t even ask; He inspires us to take another way around, so we don’t end up in the middle of a car crash; He sends the perfect helper to us when we need them the most; He brings peace in the storm and rain in the dry places. He crushes our enemies and showers us with delight when we least expect it. He is the creator of all things and the one who fixes things that go wrong. And He is paying attention to us always.

 

Though the world may seem to want to take us down, God has put a strength in us that we sometimes don’t think we have, but God knows us inside and out and knows He has inserted His very own strength into us through His son Jesus. We have more stamina and strength than we know, and sometimes we get tested beyond what we think we can bare. But God knows us better than we know ourselves. And as He tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:13:

“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”

 

He is the absolute most important one in our lives, and we only benefit by telling Him that more often!

 

Let’s be more like David, a man after God’s own heart:

 

¹ I will bless the Lord at all times:
his praise shall continually be in my mouth.
² My soul shall make her boast in the Lord:
the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad.
³ O magnify the Lord with me,
and let us exalt his name together.

 

Two great places to get more ideas of things to praise God for:  Job 38-41 and the Psalms.

 

Love, Carolyn

 

 

SHAKE OFF THE DUST

SHAKE OFF THE DUST

He stepped into the quicksand mud hole and sunk up to his neck. To free himself, he lifted his knees up as far as he could and crawled slowly with his arms and knees to the edge of the slime. Then he stood, shook himself off, and took off all his clothes. He had to do that because if he left the sand on himself, soon it would itch and tear at his skin and cause terrible infections.

 

This TV story reminded me of Jesus talking to his disciples: “Whosoever will not receive you, when ye go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet for a testimony against them” (Luke 9:5). The disciples listened.

 

Paul and Barnabas were preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ in what today is southern Turkey. “And the word of the Lord was published throughout all the region. But the Jews stirred up the devout and honourable women, and the chief men of the city, and raised persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them out of their coasts” (Acts 13:49-50).

 

Then Paul and Barnabas did what Jesus told them to do. They moved on. “They shook off the dust of their feet against them and came unto Iconium” (Acts 13:51).

 

When we let something go, we have room for something else to replace it. Shaking off the grit leaves an empty spot. The survivalist who crawled out of the quicksand barely made it out, and he had to expose himself. He got naked.

 

When we’re trapped in something, part of our deliverance may include being exposed. If we’re leaving something, we may not be assured of what we are going to do. We may turn our backs to being overly involved with certain people or certain organizations, and when we go, we sometimes don’t quite know what to do.

 

We let other people and groups give us our identity, and without them, we may not be entirely sure of who we are or what we want. But Jesus knows who we are and when we’ve lost something or have just crawled out of the quicksand and are standing there naked—well, that’s the perfect time to turn to Him. He is more than willing to show us the way. I love that verse in Revelation 3:20 where Jesus says: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”

 

Sometimes I feel like we just stay in the quicksand, or we get out and then stand there naked, instead of just going to the door and letting Jesus in to have a chit-chat over dinner and figure out our next move.  

 

Most of the time, we seem to stay in adverse situations longer than we should. Some of the reasons could be: We honestly don’t realize how bad they are. We know how bad they are, but we don’t want to acknowledge it. We are too afraid or too tired to think about having to change. We don’t have much hope in what’s ahead.

 

Or maybe we want to leave but for some reason need to stay a while longer in the situation. Often that’s the hardest position to be in, holding out till we actually reach the exit.

 

In the show about the guy in the quicksand, he had to have the presence of mind just to keep focused on what he needed to do—crawl slowly to the edge. He couldn’t move too fast, or he would be sucked down. So what do we do? We get discouraged or angry, or fearful and stay put. But we need just to keep moving toward our goals, even if it’s only a little at a time.

 

When we have to stay in the mud hole until the right time to get out, an excellent way to stay healthy is to open that Revelation 3:20 door to the Lord every day. We remember to ask that He shows us something new, teach us something we can use, give us some way to bless someone before we leave, things like that—things that keep our minds and hearts from being bitter. Instead of focusing entirely on the situation we’re in, we can focus on what He’s showing us without being a part of it.

 

I remember when I was about a month away from moving back to the States from South Africa. I worked at an insurance company doing some filing. Every day was drudgery. It was horrible and was making me sick and weak. I didn’t need the money. So why did I stay? Obligation? Loyalty? Habit? I have no idea, but when it was over, I was kicking myself for not leaving sooner.

 

Paul and Barnabas shook the dust off against the people that didn’t want them around, and they went to the next town. That’s what Jesus taught them to do, and Jesus knew what it was like to be unwanted. He knew how to just shake the dust off and move on.

 

In Luke 8, we see Jesus doing a great miracle by casting out a legion of demons from a man that no one else could help. But the people in the region were freaked and wanted Jesus out!

“Then the whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes round about besought him to depart from them; for they were taken with great fear.”

 

And what did Jesus do? “He went up into the ship, and returned back again [to the other side of the Sea of Galilee]” (Luke 8:37). He didn’t get mad or resentful like we do at times, but he just moved on to the next thing God wanted him to do. He knew that these people sowed bad seed by asking him to leave, and he knew they would get the results coming back on them. But that wasn’t his problem. He had better things to do.

 

The survivalist I was talking about shook and scraped off the quicksand, put his clothes back on, and took off for the next adventure.

 

I have several friends who have taken on new adventures over the past years, and I am so proud of them for having the boldness to move on. I pray they open the door for the real Jesus to come in, spend time with them and talk things over, then lead them in the next step of their lives. Sometimes that comes instantly, sometimes it takes a little time. But the Lord never forsakes us.

 

Everyone is going to end up in some quicksand at one point or another. But we can trust in Jesus to see us naked, clean us up, clothe us, and lead us on. Let’s be courageous, shaking off the dust and sowing some good seeds.

 

Galatians 6:7: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”

 

Love, Carolyn

 

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RELEASED FROM SHACKLES

RELEASED FROM SHACKLES

Some may be in prison and know what it feels like. But some who’ve never been in a physical prison can feel locked up as well; whether it’s a job or a relationship or a bad habit, it can feel as if we can’t get out, and we hate it and would do just about anything to escape. But what if immediate escape isn’t in the Lord’s perfect plan for us? You may think: “WHAT?! That can’t be right;” and yet sometimes it’s true. It was that way with Joseph.

 

The merchants brought their new slave, Joseph, to Egypt and sold him to Potiphar, the captain of the guard, and “the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand. And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him: and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand” (Gen. 39:3-4).

 

But then Potiphar’s wife set her sights on Joseph. “And it came to pass after these things, that his master's wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me” (Gen. 39:8). Joseph refused, and she kept coming after him until one day when there were no men in the house, she grabbed a piece of his clothing, and when he ran away from her, the clothing was still in her hand. She used this to accuse him to her husband Potiphar. When Potiphar heard this, he believed his wife’s story and locked Joseph up in prison.

 

Joseph found favor in prison and did well, as far as prison goes. Then he met two other men in prison who were servants of the King of Egypt. One was a butler and the other a baker. They had dreams they couldn’t interpret, so Joseph said he’d take it to God and see what the dreams meant. For the butler, it was good news – he was getting out of prison. He was thankful, but when he got out, he totally forgot about Joseph.

 

Here’s where the “what if” comes in. What if the butler had gotten Joseph out of prison at that time? What if Joseph had been kindly sent back to his country?

 

He would have gone back to a family where his brothers hated him, and his father thought he had been killed by a wild beast. Talk about a dysfunctional family! Can you imagine the strife between brothers and father in that family? Then put Joseph in the mix—yikes! And besides that, the country was descending into a huge gaping famine. God knew all this and already had a plan in mind. Unfortunately for Joseph, it meant he had to stay in prison a little longer.

 

So, as it turns out, the butler forgot about Joseph, and Joseph was in prison for two more years! But while he was there, he was promoted, and so he had the best position in the prison, and it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been.

 

“The Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there.

 

“The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph’s care because the Lord was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did” (Gen 39:21-23).

 

Not always, but sometimes maybe our prisons aren’t nearly as bad as they seem. Check with God for an answer to that. Just maybe they are temporary, just long enough to get us to the place on the other side, when the timing for greater things is perfect for us. That’s how it went with Joseph.

 

When the King of Egypt had a dream he couldn’t interpret, the butler remembered Joseph. He finally got him out of prison. And now, instead of working for the king’s captain, Potiphar, Joseph was working for the king himself! And in an instant, he was put in a wealthy position at the very head of the country. God gave him the revelation of how to store up huge amounts of sustainable food for many years to come. Not only did Egypt prosper under Joseph, but Joseph was able to reconcile with his family and save them from the famine as well.

 

So if we feel like we are in prison and we’ve prayed and done everything we can to get out, and it’s just not happening, what do we do? We ask God if it is where we are supposed to be for now. Then we ask Him to bless us somehow in the midst of prison if he hasn’t given us an escape yet. Our Lord will answer. When Paul and Silas were thrown in prison, they didn’t just stay quiet and acquiesce. They fought back, not physically, but loudly with the truth. They started praying and belted out a Bible tune at midnight! There was an earthquake, and everyone’s restraints were loosed, and then people got born again! They were overnight in the jail, but the next day or so, they were out and on their way to new adventures.

 

“And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed” (Acts 16:25-26). 

 

The Bible gives us many scenarios of life and God’s answers in each situation. We hope one of those good answers we see in the Bible will be our key out of prison too. And in Hebrews 11:1, the Lord tells us this: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Faith is substance; faith is a title deed to the hopes we have. We will be released from any shackles because God has placed faith in our genes through the seed He gave us when we accepted Jesus Christ into our lives, and that means into every good cell in our body and soul. Our cells were made to serve the Lord and Him alone.

                                 

Love, Carolyn

 

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SAYING THANK YOU

 SAYING THANK YOU

First of all, I want to say thank you to each of you who take the time to read my articles each week. I believe that our God is inspiring me to write them and put them out on the dates I do because someone needs to hear that particular message at that particular time. So thank you so much for opening them and reading them. I love you, the body of Christ, and those who join us in that body each and every day. And I pray that my messages are a help to you.  

 

It came to mind the other day that many people have never really been taught to say thank you for items or services rendered. People seem to believe that others do things because they WANT to do them. But Godly actions have a different motivation. They are things we do because they are right and honorable, and we do them for those reasons, whether or not we WANT to do them.

 

People have to be taught to WANT to do good things. If we aren’t taught to make a habit of doing honorable things, then by nature, we will serve our own desires first, above those desires of our Creator.  Very few people will put another person’s feelings or needs above their own, but God taught His people to do that very thing, and Jesus emphasized it to us in his actions. In Sunday school, we were taught what was called “The Golden Rule:” “Do unto others what you would want to be done unto you,” and the other old adage, “Put yourself in their shoes.” These concepts were not only taught in Christian churches but in other philosophies and religions as well.

 

Ethical and altruistic motivation and actions don’t seem to come automatically, and if they do, they are quickly overridden by selfishness as children grow and encounter opposition and look for ways to avoid or counter the perceived enemies. It is at this point that wisdom needs to be taught as a necessary component of love and giving. If we let the ideology of “doing what we want” take over, then we risk letting arbitrary ethics rule rather than the wisdom which is spoken and written by God.

 

Since our society has strayed from Biblical morality and abandoned many ethical and honorable ways of conducting our lives, many kindnesses and courtesies have been thrown to the realm of arbitrary, subjective, and random, rather than the normal way to interact as a Bible-believing human being.

 

This change in behavior has been a long and insidious process, and even those of us who were taught right have slipped into ways that are not Biblically correct. This new behavior is all to the detriment and deterioration of our cultures and society at large. Simply put, we need to bring back the Biblical kindnesses, ethics, and ways of Jesus in our own lives and the lives of our children. Saying “thank you” is only a miniscule start to taking back our lives with Biblical principles on purpose.

 

Being thankful shows APPRECIATION. If we aren’t thankful, DEPRECIATION sets in. Francine can show appreciation for her husband, but if she doesn’t, his value starts to depreciate in her eyes, and if it goes far enough, pretty soon, she’s asking for a divorce. At this point, Gerard, her husband, has little to no, hope for recovery. Fortunately, situations like this can often be prevented by the consistent application of two simple words in the relationship, “Thank you.”

 

Relationships appreciate or depreciate in proportion to thanksgiving.

 

When someone shows us how much they appreciate us, we’re willing to do more. God’s relationship with us is also better when we tell Him thank you. Awesome benefits come with expressing appreciation and thanksgiving.

 

By truly thanking the Lord from our hearts, He becomes bigger in our minds. We become more aware of the miracles, the mercy, the healing, and the deliverance He brings into our everyday lives. David says: “I will magnify him with thanksgiving” (Ps. 69:30). We know we can’t really make God any bigger than He already is, but we certainly can make Him bigger in our own thinking and believing. We make the Lord’s presence larger in our lives by saying thank you and showing appreciation.

 

How much better would we feel if people thanked us more often? Think about it. It means they, first of all, had to take notice of you. Saying “thank you” means a decision, effort, and positive action is made in your direction. Showing a little appreciation seems like a very small thing, but actually, it’s pretty great. It’s like a baby compliment for something you said or did, or are. And who doesn’t need a few more kudos and compliments now and then?

 

Ephesians 5 tells us how to be followers of God: “Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour (vv. 1-2).

 

“For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (vv. 8-11).

 

“Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is” (vv. 14-17).

 

“Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; submitting yourselves one to another in the fear [respect] of God” (vv. 20-21).

 

If you’re already keeping the “Golden Rule” toward others, and putting yourselves in others shoes in your mind, and always remembering to say thank you, then this message is not for you. But if you needed a little reminder, like most of us do at times, then I expect this will be a much better week than the last one, just because of you and God, and letting the Lord “work in us to will and to do of His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13-14).

 

I pray that we will see God bigger, our relationships with people will be richer, and our personal lives will be more blessed because of what we do with this message this week.

 

Love, Carolyn

 

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OBEDIENCE IS BETTER

 OBEDIENCE IS BETTER

God inspired me to do a new painting, so I got started yesterday with the prep work. The above photo is of an old painting before I took it off the frame and replaced it with a fresh canvas. The new painting God has inspired me to do is a combination of three-dimensional and fifth-dimensional concepts. I’m not sure I can pull it off since it’s much more abstract than my usual work. But the goal is obedience to the Father, plain and simple.

 

Who knows, it may not even be about the finished product at all, but rather, more about what God will be teaching me in the process. I just obey but starting, and then we’ll see. To God, our decision to be obedient to Him is so important. We obey Him in even the smallest things, and He overflows us with blessings. How happy are you parents when your children just happily obey you? God tells us and shows us the results of obeying Him. On the other hand, when you look up some of the verses that talk about obedience, you’ll also see what happens when we don’t obey God. Yikes! We definitely don’t want to take that path!

 

For some of you who have been visited by angels or are expecting to be visited by angels, God has something really interesting to say about obeying those messengers.

 

“Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared. Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him.

 

“But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries. For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off” (Exod. 23:20-23).

 

So here God is telling us if He sends us an angel to guide us and we obey the guidance, we can walk through enemy territory unscathed, and in fact, God will cut them off. As it says in Psalm 91: 7-8: “A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.”

 

In 1 Samuel 15:22, God tells us something about His priorities: “And Samuel said, ‘Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.’”

 

One of our favorite Bible heroes, Abraham, is one of the greatest examples of what true obedience looks like.

 

“By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.

 

By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Heb. 11:8-10).

 

Abraham obeyed God and followed His lead. He was seeking God’s city, a place built and made by God. Isn’t that what we all seek? A kingdom where we are free, and we are loved, and we are protected? The way to get there is the way God shows us. It’s a path we can only travel by being obedient to Him, one step at a time, on things as small as a painting or as big as Abraham’s moving to a whole different country.  

 

Love, Carolyn

 

What if you took an average ordinary person, gave them an incredible cache of weapons and skills to become extraordinary beyond their wildest dreams? Find those weapons and skill packages in the true-life stories of my books and booklets.

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NOT PULLED DOWN BUT LIFTED UP

 

NOT PULLED DOWN BY EVIL BUT LIFTED UP BY GOD

This week I saw and experienced some corrupt, disgusting, and evil things. I wanted to see what the Bible had to say about evil, but first I went to God in prayer. Only He can fully deliver us from the evil around us. Jesus gave his disciples, including us, a prayer and a promise in Matthew 6:13: “And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.” Knowing God delivers us from evil, I could then look at what He says about it.

 

In that scripture, the word “evil” is the Greek word “poneros.” It means “the active form of evil, in thoughts, speech, and actions. It is used when the Bible talks about the deeds of devil spirits and is used when talking about Satan as being “the malignant one.” We know what a malignant cell is. It is a normal cell that has been perverted into something else, something that grows, migrates, and destroys. Poneros is evil actions that are “harmful, lewd, and malicious.” But we pray like Jesus said: “Pray to thy Father. . .‘deliver us from evil’” (Matt. 6: 6, 13), and He does it.

 

Two other words that are used in the New Testament for bad or evil are “kakos” and “sapros.” Kakos means that a person or thing is “bad in character, morally, by way of thinking, bad company, bad desires, and all kinds of evil just for the sake of evil itself.” It is used in James 3:8 talking about a person’s tongue being a restless evil wanting to harm and injure. It is used in Titus 1:12 talking about when people take on demons having the nature of wild, vicious, biting beasts or venomous snakes, retiles or other predatory animal spirits.

 

Sapros, another word for bad, means corrupt or rotten, like rotting vegetables or dead, rotting carcasses. It expresses something that is very bad quality and unfit for use, putrid, also like rotten fruit, old, cooked chicken that’s been left out too long, or rotten fish. In Ephesians 4:29 the word “sapros” is used talking about “corrupt” speech, which tears away at a person, rather than lifting them up, as the rest of the verse tells us we should be doing.

 

God delivers us from these rotten and evil people and things, and brings us around to believing in what we have and are in Christ.

 

Here are some important verses that tell us what we have in Christ. Let’s take the time to look some of these up this week.

 

I am called in Christ (Rom. 1:6).

I have redemption in Christ (Rom. 3:24).

I reign in life by Christ (Rom. 5:17).

I am alive unto God through Christ (Rom. 6:11).

I have eternal life through Christ (Rom. 6:23).

I am a joint heir with Christ (Rom. 8:17).

I am sanctified in Christ (1 Cor. 1:2).

I am part of the body of Christ (1 Cor. 6:15).

I have victory through Christ (1 Cor. 15:57).

I triumph in Christ ((2 Cor. 2:14).

I am a new creature in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17).

I am the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Cor. 5:21).

I have liberty in Christ (Gal. 2:4).

I am crucified with Christ (Gal. 2:20).

I have put on Christ (Gal. 3:27).

I am an heir of God through Christ (Gal. 4:7).

I have been blessed with spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ (Eph. 1:3).

I have been chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, that I should be holy and without blame before Him (Eph. 1:4).

I have obtained an inheritance in Christ (Eph. 1:11).

I have been made alive with Christ (Eph. 2:5).

I am sitting in heavenly places in Christ (Eph. 2:6).

I have been created in Christ unto good works (Eph. 2:10).

I have boldness and access in Christ (Eph. 3:12).

God supplies all my needs through Christ (Phil. 4:19).

I am complete in Christ (Col. 2:10).

I am risen with Christ (Col. 3:1).

Christ is my life (Col. 3:4).

I have the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16).

I am preserved and called in Christ (Jude 1:1).

 

Love, Carolyn

 

Read my other stories about the victories of applying the Bible to our everyday lives:

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REMEMBER THE GOOD

REMEMBER THE GOOD

I was thinking about the great times I had at my grandma and grandpa’s house. It was such a delight and was good for my heart. Those wonderful times we remember are a blessing from the Lord, and recalling them can bring a sweetness to our souls.

 

Psalm 11:4 says: “He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered: The Lord is gracious and full of compassion.” God’s love and compassion is shown to us by a variety of His works: through sunrises and sunsets, through many aspects of the natural world, through good times with friends or family, through quiet times alone, and in so many other ways.

 

When we open our eyes and our hearts to Him, there are many amazing and wonderful works He’s already done for us, things that we can get pleasure from by just remembering them.

 

Psalm 77:11 says: “I will remember the works of the Lord: surely I will remember thy wonders of old.”

 

In bringing to mind some of the good times with my grandparents, I decided to write them down in some detail, and in doing so, it made me smile even more: “Some of my best memories are of gramma and grandpa’s house in Bakersfield, California. Many summer nights were spent sitting restfully under the grapefruit tree, while the blue neon-winged junebugs buzzed as they hit and clung to the screen door on the porch. That grapefruit tree was huge and widespread, giving shade to all of us, (sometimes seven, sometimes 16), seated comfortably on bouncing green metal chairs. It was delightful, about 70 degrees I imagine, just perfect.

 

The fence around the property was thin twisted metal wire, somewhat protective, decorative and a nice complement to the freshly cut green grass. I loved that house. Everything was intriguing to me at eight years old, including the small round RV parked under the wooden shelter. My sister and I would make mud pies and entertain ourselves at the tiny kitchen table in the trailer. There was a drinking fountain outside the trailer that shot way over the basin and onto the brick patio. Half the fun was trying to control the water and retrieve it to use for our mud pies.

 

The grapevine trellis: No one ate the grapes as far as I remember, but it provided a wonderfully cool resting spot for Midnight, the cat, when he wanted to watch me and grandma hanging laundry out on the line. Midnight and I had a special connection of a love, unspoken. I also loved climbing in the apricot and orange trees. In the fall, we would pile up the leaves under the trees and run and jump into them. My grandma had an orange juice squeezer made of porcelain, just big enough to put half an orange on and twist until the small gutter was full of fresh orange juice. I don’t know if I’ve tasted juice that good in over 50 years, but I’d know it’s distinctive bite if I did, for sure.

 

The fern on the front porch was spectacular: delicate and dangerous! Who could fathom such a conundrum? A soft feathery fern, with very sharp thorns on the long stems. But it was grandma and grandpa’s house after all: mysteries at every corner. I loved it, always an adventure. We’d take trips to the desert to dig up shark’s teeth from long ago, and my grandma would pick up interesting rocks and sticks that looked like birds or animals or other familiar things she thought they looked like.

 

We had all kinds of adventures but one of my favorite’s was Sunday school. I loved the stories of Jesus and I especially like the crafts we did to re-emphasize the story and make them stick in my eight-year-old mind. My grandma was the teacher and I remember the small wooden chairs with metal arms as we sat around a big rectangular maple-colored table, me being enthralled by the Bible stories. Then when I got to sit next to my grandma at the adult church, I sang very quietly so I could listen to her. She had the most beautiful voice. I thought she must sound like an angel.”

 

Those of you who have children or grandkids, I urge you to make your experience and influence on them as memorable as mine was. These wonderful acts don’t go unnoticed, believe me. They are such a wonderful secret gift, never even forgotten by God Himself!

 

Love, Carolyn

 

I put out two blogs a week, one on Wednesday and one on Sunday. And If you like books, I have several available on Amazon

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