STAND TALL

         

STAND TALL

The Lord is involved in everything we do, including our choices politically, socially, and emotionally. When we voice our choices publicly, we better be ready to be criticized. Nobody craves criticism. It can be hurtful, but we need to learn to deal with it. It’s better to stand for something and be criticized than remain apathetic and fearful. Even in olden times, kings respected strong enemies brave enough to stand tall for what they believed. God’s Word has a strong Word for those who He deems lukewarm:

 

“I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth” (Rev. 3:15-16).

 

Wow, that’s powerful!  I used to fear offending friends and family more than offending God. I wanted people to like me, and I didn’t want to argue or get into any debates where I had to defend what I thought. But after a while, I learned that no matter what I did, I wasn’t going to please everyone. Many adults are still trying to get their parents’ approval like they did when they were children, but it doesn’t seem to work. I was one of them.

 

Finally, in my mid-forties, I realized I didn’t have to try to please my parents anymore. The very middle verse of the Bible says: “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man” (Ps. 118:8). When I changed my focus to pleasing God, it was shortly afterward that my parents began to totally respect me as an adult person and not as a needy child anymore.

 

I was taught to be polite (which I think is a good thing), but polite became timid, and timid became fearful. I’m not fearful now; you don’t have to be either. We can speak our minds openly and disagree. Paul and Peter disagreed about certain things but didn’t hate each other. They were loud and proud. I’d rather say what I think and be criticized than be lukewarm and have God’s opinion be that I’m too “milk toast” to even swallow!

 

Peter was a bold guy. He boldly told Jesus that He shouldn’t have to die. Well, Jesus rebuked him. But Jesus didn’t forsake Peter. He just corrected him, and they went on being friends. If we think that not voicing what we think is going to make us a better person, it’s not. We all have opinions, and God knows what they are. When we don’t speak them out, we might not be fully aware of what we think.

 

Putting a pen or a voice to our thoughts helps us articulate what we think. When we know what we think, we can either keep thinking it or we can change it. Changing what we think is part of growth. People change what they think all the time. There’s no fault in that.

 

But when our thoughts are fuzzy and unspoken, they aren’t clear, and they aren’t cold or hot. They become lukewarm like the Bible says.

 

Taking a stand, hot or cold, on what we think requires boldness. Boldness is a quality God admires. Look at your concordance to see how many times the word “bold” is used in the Bible!

 

Let’s be brave. Let’s step out without fear and voice our opinions, not just mimicking or agreeing with what others think, but what we truly think. Our true friends will remain friends, just like Peter and Jesus. Right or wrong, we’ll find out right or wrong later, which means that sometimes we will definitely be wrong. But so what? We’ll be right sometimes too. And don’t even think for one minute that you have to wait until you’re totally right before you speak up. The last totally right all the time person got up and out of here over 2000 years ago!

 

Stand and be grand!

 

Love, Carolyn

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SIN, REPENTANCE, AND A CLEAN HEART

SIN, REPENTANCE, AND A CLEAN HEART

I let myself get emotionally distraught by the way someone was acting, and what did I do about it? The wrong thing! I started bad-mouthing the person in my mind, and then it came out of my mouth. By the end of the day, I realized I’d really messed up. But then the Lord reminded me of the times people had said about me that I had a pure heart. Being emotionally mean and having a pure heart just don’t go together. So I repented. I was totally carnal in how I reacted. You know how certain things people do really set you off, and sometimes you just don’t even know exactly why? Well, that was me. I was mad and didn’t even bother to ask myself why I was so riled up.

 

Maybe it was because I was reacting to something in myself I didn’t like? That’s often the case. We see something we dislike about ourselves in someone else, and we react to them because it’s easier than taking the time to examine the same thing in ourselves! But the Lord constantly gives us opportunities to change lingering sins from the past and become the new creation in Christ that He’s called us to be.  

 

And by the way, we have at least one angel or two, from the time of our birth, to help us to get to our final destinies. In Matthew 18:10, Jesus tells us: “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.’” Angels minister to us as children, and the Bible never says they’re taken away. Think about that for a minute.

 

Back to my story. I felt bad about being so weak as to let my emotions get to me, and God urged me to go back in my mind to a time when I was around 15 years old, reading the Beatitudes in the Bible. I read Jesus teaching his disciples, saying:

 

“³Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ⁴Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. ⁵Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth. ⁶Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. ⁷Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

 

⁸ “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (Matt 5:3-8).

 

I remember thinking, “I want to be blessed,” and then asking, “Which of these do I want the most?” Verse 8 rushed into my heart. I wanted to see God more than anything, so I wanted to have a pure heart.

 

So, when I was awful last week, and God reminded me of my desire from so many years ago, I went to Psalm 51. Many of the times when I don’t act in a Godly way, the Lord has taken me to these passages that David wrote after his sin of coveting Bathsheba and purposely setting up her husband to be killed.

 

Psalm 51:

 

“Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. ³ For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.

 

“Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

 

“Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities” (vv. 1-9).

 

The next verse is the one that, for me, speaks louder than all the rest: “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me” (v.10).

 ^“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise” (v.17).

  

The shepherd David, who became the King of Israel, had a heart of repentance. He trusted what he learned about God, which was that God would not only forgive him, but create a clean heart in him, renew a right spirit within him, and make him strong again. We have the same privilege from the same God who cares for us.

 

Love, Carolyn

 

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EL SHADDAI - ALMIGHTY AND ALL SUFFICIENCY

 

EL SHADDAI - ALMIGHTY AND ALL SUFFICIENCY

In the Bible, El Shaddai is one of the names used for God. It’s mostly translated “Almighty,” but that doesn’t give the full picture. Wilson’s Old Testament Word Studies tells us that many Hebrew scholars say El Shaddai is derived from two words, “sufficiency” and the prefix “who is,” showing God’s infinite sufficiency for all beings. Other scholars say El Shaddai is derived from a word meaning “breast,” indicating that God is All Bountiful. Think about it. When a baby breastfeeds, what does the little one get? Plenty of good nourishment, for one thing, until he or she is satisfied. The baby also gets antibodies that protect the baby from getting diseases and fight the disease if it attacks. The breast of the mother also gives great comfort to the little one and a connection with one who deeply loves them.

 

Whenever we are studying a word or phrase in the Bible, God set it up so that we learn a great deal about the meaning of the word by looking at the first place it’s used. The first usage of the Hebrew El Shaddai is found in Genesis 17:1:

 

“When Abram was 99 years old, the Lord appeared to him. He said to Abram, ‘I am God Almighty. Live in my presence with integrity.’”

 

The word “Almighty” here is El Shaddai. The Almighty God told Abram to live in God’s presence with integrity. Like the phrase my grandparents often used, “Honest to God.” Other translations read: “Always do what’s right,” “Be blameless.”

 

God was telling Abram to be honest and do what’s right because He, El Shaddai, was going to take care of all the things Abram needed. It wasn’t worthwhile for Abram to have to live any other way. Nothing he could get by fraud, stealing, or lack of honesty would be better than what El Shaddai would give him.

 

El Shaddai was going to be his sufficiency in all things. El Shaddai would be more than bountiful to him; He would supply endless nourishment; He would give Abram every weapon he would need to triumph over any enemy. And El Shaddai was going to be Abram’s intimate companion forever. What in the world could be better than that?!

 

But like in any generation or nation, we are continually presented with opportunities to serve other gods: Indian, Buddhist, and, more recently, the sly insertion of self as a god.

 

Abram, too, was presented with many opportunities to choose another god. In fact, he came from a family that worshipped other gods: “Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, ‘Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods’” (Josh. 24:2).

 

But Abraham chose our God, El Shaddai, and our God promised to be his strength, protection, and endless sufficiency.

 

Choosing to serve our God is a free-will choice. In New Testament times, just like in any other time, people turned away from the one true God and began to mix their attention and loyalties to other activities and ties that were not connected to the will and ways of the true God.

 

We find in 2 Corinthians 6 that Paul is inspired by God to remind the followers of Christ to turn back to El Shaddai. In this passage, Paul speaks the words of our God. First, he gives them instructions on what to do and then the why. And the why includes the very same usage of the word used for God in the Old Testament with Abram: El Shaddai, translated Lord Almighty in the following passage. God wants His followers to come back to Him as their father, provider, protecter, and all sufficiency in all things.

 

So Paul prophesies: “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, ‘I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty’” (2 Cor. 6:14-18).

 

Let’s heed the Apostle Paul's prophecy and get back to recognizing and knowing our wonderful father, El Shaddai, like Abraham did—All sufficiency, All Bountiful, Endless nourishment, Supplying every weapon we would ever need, and lntimate companion forever.

 

Love, Carolyn

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OUR ONE TRUE GOD

OUR ONE TRUE GOD

The USA was founded as one nation under one God, the God of the Bible. As citizens of the USA, people can believe in just about anything they want, as long as they recognize that the government of this country is based on the belief system given by the Bible, the words and principles of the Judeo-Christian God, who we believe is the One True God. He is Elohim, The one and only divine creator of all of us. And there are inalienable rights under His system of love and rules for life. He is El Elyon: The Most High God, higher and wiser than any other god. We are not to be a nation governed by multiple gods.

 

Before the Revolutionary War in America, Bibles written in English came exclusively from England. But with the war, Bible imports stopped. Congress resolved to import 20,000 Bibles from Holland, Scotland, and elsewhere into the different parts of the States of the Union. Becoming a new country without reliance on the precepts of the Bible was unthinkable.

 

What makes the United States a Christian nation? Many people think it’s because of our nation’s founders, but that’s not it. Not all of them were born-again Christians. Some think it’s because the people of our nation are primarily Christian, but that’s not it either.

 

Our country is a Christian nation because of its form of government. The ideas embodied in the Constitution stem primarily from the Bible. At one point in modern history, this was challenged.

 

Consequently, a ten-year research study was done of the political documents of the Founders’ Era (1760-1805), and every quote or reference to a source outside the Bible was documented. The research was published in 1983, which showed that 94% of the ideas in our Constitution are based directly or indirectly on the Bible.

 

What we believe as Christians are the words of our God, the God of the Bible. He has been challenged in the past, both the far-reaching past and the past still lingering on our breath. I have to admit that in some categories, I’ve been lulled into complacency, not even realizing it’s happened.

 

It’s like the story of the frog. It will immediately jump out if it’s put into a pot of boiling water. If it’s put into a pot of cool water and the heat is gradually turned up, it will cook and die. (Horrible story, I know, but it gets the point across).

 

The deterioration of truth is slow and calculated perfectly to the human condition, to a person’s mental, emotional, and social state. Scientists probably know exactly how long it takes and the conditions for a carefully placed erroneous idea to infiltrate and begin to infect the mind of a normally sound person.

 

This infiltration happened to the Israelites of the Old Testament over and over, as well as to those who walked with Jesus on earth and those believers of the first-century church. The twisting of truth by the Leviathan spirit talked about in the Bible, has not stopped. That’s why we must continually refresh ourselves with the truth from God’s Word.

 

God’s will is to “have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 2: 4-5). God formed our bodies.

 

Isaiah 44:24 tells us: “Thus saith the Lord, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the Lord that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself.”

 

He gave us the amazing brains we have. The Most High God placed the nearly incredulous gamut of emotions within us and the triggers that set them on fire. (Love, passion, grief, anger, jealousy, power).

 

Only the God of the Bible created us as everlasting spirit beings with the ability to speak and the will to make choices. Numbers 16:22 tells us that the God of the Bible is “the God of the spirits of all flesh.”

 

Nebuchadnezzar knew and worshipped many gods, but when he witnessed the three men walking in the fire, he recognized that their God was greater than his.

 

“Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace, and spake, and said, ‘Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the most high God, come forth, and come hither.’ Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came forth out of the midst of the fire.

 

“And the princes, governors, and captains, and the king’s counselors, being gathered together, saw these men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them” (Dan. 3: 26-27).

 

The God of the Bible is greater than any other god in so many ways. Do we know Him? Not just His acts, but His ways? And what about His First begotten son, Jesus Christ? We have read and studied many great men and women and many great teachers, but there’s only One First begotten son of the One and only Creator of everything we know and don’t know. Do we know Jesus? I mean, really know Him?

 

I remember a marquee in front of a local church that read: “God sent His only begotten son, not a committee.”

 

The principles taught in the Bible are the ones that have been put in place as a contractual agreement for the government of the people of the United States of America. As Christians, let’s get better acquainted with the principles and, more importantly, with the God who authored them and the Son who showed us how to apply them.

 

Love, Carolyn

 

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WE ARE THE DAVIDS AND SAMSONS OF OUR TIME

WE ARE THE DAVIDS AND SAMSONS OF OUR TIME

The Apostle Paul told the Corinthians: “We are ambassadors who represent Christ” (2 Cor. 5:20). Because we have Christ in us, we all have the opportunity to be ambassadors for Him in our fields of influence: in our work, our family, our school, our neighborhoods and all the places close to us. But the Lord also needs people who accept positions bigger than their perceived ability.

 

One morning, the Lord gave Jane and me a new spiritual realm of influence. He inspired us to pray for the shaking up of the judges in the United States. It’s the judges who interpret the laws. They are supposed to interpret the laws according to the intent of the Constitution, which is based on the Bible. But many have strayed; instead, they make up their own interpretations biased by peer pressure and personal agendas.

 

Jesus said this about the interpreters of the law in His day: “O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things” (Matt. 12: 34).

 

So the Lord gave us some things to pray concerning judges. We are to pray that the evil ones either get turned back around to good or, if they refuse, their mouths are stopped, their mental capacity scrambled, and their influence blocked.

 

Though I know very little about judges, I do know something about prayer, and I do know something about taking down a devil spirit influence. And I do know that the Lord never gives us anything He won’t show us how to do and how to do well. We may think we are mere shepherds, but we all have a warrior on the inside!

 

The shepherd boy David’s only job was to take care of his flock of sheep. In his small realm of influence, he had to fight off a bear and a lion who came after his sheep, and he did it. This small boy was called by God later to defeat the giant Goliath, who threatened Israel’s whole existence, and he did it. (See 1 Sam. 17).

 

Samson was just a regular guy. Before the incident with Delilah, he had married a Philistine woman. One day, he went off, and the wife’s father thought he abandoned her. The Philistine father kidnapped her and gave her to another guy to marry. Samson went after her and burned up fields of corn and vineyards as retribution for the evil they had done. They came after him, arrested him, bound him up, and then God worked in this regular guy to do something amazing.

 

“And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax [linen] that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands. And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith.

 

“And Samson said, ‘With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men’” (Judges 15:14-16).

 

One person who believed in our God wiped out a thousand men with only the jawbone of a donkey. That’s miraculous, but no more miraculous than what our Lord is asking us to do in these times.

 

You and I are the Davids and the Samsons of our day. We may think we only have influence over a few, and those few are highly important to God, but He may be asking us to step it up a notch. By revelation, He may ask us to go into some very new areas of life, even physically. But whether or not our jobs are to fight physically, we can never forget that our ultimate battle is always spiritual, and the spiritual is what affects the physical results the Lord wants.

 

Second Corinthians 10:4 tells us: “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.”

 

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (Eph. 6:12).

 

Believing and acting from a spiritual point of view will always manifest in a material way. Let’s expect the Lord to expand our spiritual realms of influence and be ready to say yes to whatever He asks. It might be a little scary, but more than that, it’s exciting, wonderful, and such an awesome privilege! The Lord is thrilled to have us; He loves us, and He never gives us something He won’t show us how to accomplish.

 

Love, Carolyn

 

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