WINGS:

A Journey in Faith from the Earthly to the Heavenly

Part 4

Chapters 38 - 52

Carolyn Molica

Copyright 2012

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DEDICATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTERS

38. SATISFIED FROM THE INSIDE OUT

39. MIRACLE OF BETTER EYESIGHT

40. LENDING MONEY TO JESUS

41. DIG AND DUNG

42. THE LORD OF SABAOTH STILL ROARS!

43. BOISTEROUS WINDS AND ROARING LIONS

44. WHEN EVERYTHING GOES WRONG

45. JEHOVAH-NISSI TO THE RESCUE

46. FIGHTING NEGATIVE ANTICIPATION

47. GENERATIONAL CURSES

48. SPEAKING OUR FUTURE

49. GOSSIP AND HEALING

50. HOW FAST CAN YOU OBEY?

51. A DIFFERENT TAKE ON ANGER AND FORGIVENESS

52. I LOVE YOU, NO NAGGING NECESSARY

DEDICATION

This book is dedicated to my best friend Jane. Thanks for listening to all my musings, ponderings, and preachings before they ever hit the page. I couldn’t have done this without you.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

My deepest appreciation to:

God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for everything You’ve done in my life and especially for this first book.

Jane Muha. She listened to my every idea, doubt, inspiration and revelation with patience and love. Her knowledge of the Bible is extensive and her insight is that of a prophet. For her many gifts I am eternally grateful. Love you Jane.

Wendy Eberhardt Petrick. When I was e-mailing a monthly preach letter, Wendy was the one who encouraged me to put these writings into book form. She offered to put them on a PDF file so I could see what it would look like. She’s been my faithful, kind, tender-hearted friend for many years. Thanks Wendy.

Maarit Miller. When I needed someone to help me edit, I knew Maarit was that person. I could count on her to be honest and direct without partiality. Many times Maarit needed to cut into my sensitive parts, but she managed to do it without causing too much pain and at the same time somehow showed me that she had no doubt as to my commitment or ability. My writing and my confidence as a writer is stronger because of Maarit’s uncompromising and loving help. Thanks from the bottom of my heart.

Cover: Original painting by Carolyn Molica - See http://carolynmolica.tripod.com/

INTRODUCTION

I’m sitting in my recliner at 5 a.m. with a cup of coffee and my pj’s still on. I look over at my dozing roommate in the other chair and say, “Did you know there are as many nerves in your intestines as in your brain and they work the same way?”

Eyes half-opened, she peers over the top of her raised coffee cup. Those eyes are saying, “It’s 5 a.m. and too early for this!” She gets up and starts backing down the hallway as I continue to expound on the spiritual aspect of my latest exciting discovery. She’s almost disappeared from sight when she politely offers, “You need to share this stuff with a bigger audience than just me.”

That was the start of my preach letters. WINGS: A Journey in Faith from the Earthly to the Heavenly is a compilation of those letters—thoughts, musing, insights, revelations and guidance gathered from my experiences living as a Christian in Las Vegas.

It’s a thrilling adventure. I’m not a gambler but I really enjoy going down to the casinos where I’m surrounded by happy people on vacation. I sit there and get into my Bible and my study books and let God talk to me. I open my heart to Him and soon I’m soaring to new heights of spiritual understanding and wisdom.

The truths I find are not unique to Las Vegas; they’re just magnified here. We live in the middle of a desert. Survival here, whether in Red Rock Canyon or the casinos, is dependent upon preparedness, insight and wisdom. Learn quickly or die. Soar high or get crushed under foot.

I’ve put together this book to use as a workbook. There are 52 chapters, one for each week of the year, and separate chapters for special holidays. This section is PART 4 and contains chapters 38-52.

Reading each chapter will give insight into the spiritual forces behind everyday decisions and explore the key ingredients for empowerment. Answering the questions at the end of each chapter will help you to locate where you are on your spiritual journey and to make action plans for going further and higher.

Have on hand a Bible that appeals to you. Visit a bookstore and look through the different versions to find one you can relate to. I use the King James Version but I also like to refer to the Amplified Bible, the New International Version, The Message and others. If you are unfamiliar with the Bible, topical resources can be helpful. I suggest Scripture Keys for Kingdom Living by June Newman Davis.

In order to understand and apply the Word of God to your life it’s a good idea to look at the scriptures in context. Also you will spiritually discern more truth by examining the individual words in a passage. Words translated from one language to another can lose their original meaning. A good example of this is the word “fear” in the King James Version. When this translation was written, “fear” meant “respect,” but now we think of “fear” as “being afraid of.” You can see how this mistranslation would change things!

When reading the Bible, a word or phrase may seem confusing. Often a better understanding comes by looking at where it is first used. A concordance can help do this.  Three that I use are Young’s Analytical Concordance to the Bible, Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible and biblegateway.com. A concordance gives every word in the Bible, a definition of the word, and every place it’s used.

There are many resources available to help us in our spiritual growth process, but the most important thing is to go to the Bible expecting to get something from the living Lord. Whether you’re new at this, or a veteran Christian, I suggest sitting down with a Bible and praying this prayer first: “God show me something I need to know, in Jesus’ name. Amen.” God is our loving Father and He’s always right there and ready to help us, especially when it comes to getting revelation from His Word.

I believe that you are a person who’s seeking new insight and I’m grateful to God for His leading you to my book.

It is my prayer that WINGS: A Journey in Faith from the Earthly to the Heavenly will inspire you and take you to new heights of spiritual understanding and wisdom and help you to become a more confident and powerful Christian.

Love, Carolyn

CHAPTER 38

SATISFIED FROM THE INSIDE OUT

We’ve all tried to make ourselves stop a bad habit or change the way we respond to something, but when we try to change major things of the flesh with the flesh, well, it just doesn’t last. But there’s great news: God made it so that we don’t have to chase after things that don’t get results, and we don’t have to work really hard to change either.

Instead, we can really be fully satisfied in this life without repeating the same non-productive habits over and over again. When we get born again, we receive a new nature on the inside. We have a human nature, and a Godly spirit nature. So, every Christian always has two choices: to either go by the fleshly nature or by the spirit nature.

This spirit person on the inside is born the minute a person accepts Jesus as Lord and believes He was raised from the dead. Since the spirit person is born in us, it is at first a baby. When we initially got the spirit on the inside, we most likely didn’t even recognize it, like a baby first discovering his or her toes. Those toes are pretty interesting and fun to grab at, but then the baby realizes that they are actually a part of him or her—they’re attached. It’s the same way with the spirit person on the inside of us. The spiritual person is part of us, just as the natural man is part of us.

The great thing about the spirit part of us is that he/she is perfect. Second Peter 1:4 records that we are “partakers of the divine nature.” The divine is perfect; it’s superior to the mind and the flesh, and we have it in us and with us at all times. The spirit part of us integrates with every part of our bodies and souls. All the things that spirit is and all the attributes of perfection and satisfaction are in that spirit part of us. The perfect, wonderful answers to our lives already have their start inside of us right now.

Galatians 5:22 tells us of the fruit of that spirit: “But the fruit of the [Holy] Spirit [the work which His presence within accomplishes] is love, joy (gladness), peace, patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness, gentleness (meekness, humility), self-control (self-restraint, continence). Against such things there is no law [that can bring a charge]” (Gal 5:22 AMP).

Besides the fruit of the Holy Spirit, there’s wisdom, good health, prosperity, children, miracles of all sorts, just to name a few of the things we already have.

These attributes are in us, in that spirit person part of us. We don’t get these spiritual fruits by trying to be loving, forgiving, wise, self-controlled, kind, and full of joy. They are all good things, but it’s not by the works of the flesh or mind that we can force these attributes to be manifest in our lives. How many of us have gone on diets and been really disciplined for awhile, then couldn’t keep it up? It’s the same with getting rid of the phantoms, idols and the vices. We can try to do it on our own and it may work for awhile, but then the old temptations and habits come back and we give in.

The answer is not in giving in, but in giving up. Up to God, that is—yielding to the spirit of God who has already given of Himself to us. We have the supernatural ability to surrender to those divine attributes that we already have on the inside. We can make a decision right now to cooperate with our new divine spirit person, giving Christ-in-us permission to override our old nature. We can say, for example, “Okay, I concede to you. Your love for me is already in me. I allow love to take over. I believe and I receive.”

God makes sure in His Word that this message gets said in many places and in many ways: “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21); “This mystery, which is Christ in you” (Col 1:27); “If any person is [ingrafted] in Christ he is a new creation (a new creature altogether)” (2 Cor 5:17 AMP); “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Phil 2:13). We are to believe this. We can humbly accept what God has said about us and who He has given to us on the inside.

But we can’t do this by our flesh or our strong will power. Flesh can’t change flesh. We still have a human nature. Paul illustrates this so well as he wrote:

For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (Rom 7:19, 24)

It was a punishment for criminals that a dead body was strapped to their back and they had to carry it around. As the dead body corrupted and putrefied, it eventually would kill the live person it was bound to. Rather gruesome picture isn’t it?

But Paul answers the question of who will deliver him from this dead body: “I thank God [it’s] through Jesus Christ our Lord.” We can’t just muscle our way through. It’s not an “I can do it if I really try hard, if I pray more, if I read the Bible more, if I make myself stop doing what I’m doing more.” All these acts of the mind and flesh might help, but the real answer is just the opposite of what the world has taught us.

The real answer is not in doing. It’s in truly accepting what’s already been done. We have that new spirit person on the inside. We need to give in to that part of us, not by trying to change things in our flesh, but by yielding to the good spiritual qualities that are already a part of the real us. James says, “Submit yourselves therefore to God” (James 4:7). Peter wrote: “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time” (1 Pet 5:6). That due time is now.

When we surrender to our spirit, we’ll find ourselves being kind to someone we don’t even like. And we’ll say, “Wow, that sure wasn’t my flesh that was being kind. It must be the spirit.” The spirit is stronger than the mind or the flesh.

Our spirit on the inside is already faithful. When we make a decision to defer to it, we find that it’s all of a sudden easy to be self-controlled because our spirit part is self-controlled. We can rely on, and give priority to the Christ-in-us.

By conceding to the spirit we start to have real results. Our spirit person is loved. We accept. We say, “I am loved.” Forgiveness is in us; we comply. Peace is in us; we waive our ego’s desire to be stressed and instead abandon ourselves to “the peace of God, which passeth all understanding” (Phil 4:7). Prosperity is in us; we retire all worry and listen to the spirit instead. We practice ditching our ego’s will to go by the dictates of our mind and body and opt for permitting our spirit to be in charge. Our spirit self is rich, super-loved, free from all disease, free from oppression, happy, generous, forgiving, successful in everything good, fruitful in every good way, helpful, wise, fully alive, fully taken care of and fully satisfied. “[Our] cup runneth over” (Ps 23:5b).

We’ll change from the inside out—like a caterpillar when it stops moving in its old ways. It makes a cocoon and goes inside for awhile, then it emerges as a beautiful butterfly. At first we will hardly recognize ourselves, but then the spirit person will be the biggest part of who we really are. The phantoms will drop away and the satisfied radiant person who is left will be the real me and the real you.

But how do we surrender?  Many times it means confessing the opposite of what we feel.  “Let the weak say I am strong” (Joel 3:10) [Emphasis mine.] I was in a situation once when a good friend passed away. I felt really weak but I surrendered my weakness and became strong enough to minister to several of the people there.

In another example let’s say someone’s hurt me. It may not be in my fleshly nature to turn around and think I love the person, but I know that in my spirit I love like Jesus did. I dump my ego and I permit my spirit to be in charge. I get my mouth to say, “I love them.” Once I do that, I can pray and receive the wisdom of what to do about it: whether to avoid the person or confront him or her—our perfect spirit person knows exactly what to do.

To be temperate and self-controlled when it comes to food, forget it; it’s not in my carnal flesh, I can’t do it. But in my spirit, I do have temperance, ah ha! I yield to the spirit and say, “I’m self-controlled!”

Saying something like this may be really hard at first, and seem hypocritical, but that’s because we’re so used to letting our egos have the last word. Letting the Christ-in-us have the last word takes humility and lots of practice.

I found a verse recently that has really helped me:  “My yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matt 11:30). When I was faced with the temptation to feel overwhelmed the other day, this verse came to mind and I knew it was from my spirit on the inside, so I started saying it, and sure enough, the “overwhelm” left. My spirit won over my flesh. The spirit will win every time if we will take hold of it. We find who God says we are and what He says we have and surrender to it. We need to quit arguing with God—quit letting our own ego take charge and let the Holy Spirit take charge. The Holy Spirit will never hijack our own will. We have to give Him our permission to change us, to override our fleshly nature. Even Jesus, who was a perfect man, said, “Not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42). In situations where we may not be sure if our will and God’s are the same, we need to take Jesus’ example, and that way we can trust in the outcome.

Often when we defer to the spirit, our satisfaction is closer than we thought. It’s like when Abraham took his son Isaac up to the mountain to sacrifice him. Human sacrifice was something the culture of the day was into, but when the angel came, he stopped Abraham and had him just turn his head and there in the thicket was a ram to sacrifice, instead of his son. It was right there all along. (See Gen 22:1-19). In yielding to the spirit (an angel in this case) Abraham didn’t have to lose anything.

Second Kings 4 speaks of a woman who was so much in debt that the officials were going to come and take her sons away, which would have devastated her. She turned to the man of God and when he got there he asked, “What do you have in your house?" (2 Kgs 4: 2 NIV). She yielded to the spirit via the words coming from the prophet of God and the answer to her debt and loss of her sons was right there in her house. She had a little bit of oil and from that she was able to not only get out of debt, but keep her sons and herself prosperous for the whole rest of her life.

God has done an amazing miracle in our day and time by giving each one of us a divine perfect spirit person on the inside. By acceding to that part of us we will start seeing some real true wonderful changes and blessings in our lives: Satisfaction guaranteed from a loving Heavenly Father.

Love, Carolyn

QUESTIONS FOR PONDERING OR DISCUSSION (chpt. 38)

1.       In what aspects of your life have you gone from a baby-like inner spirit to more of a grown-up?

2.       In what areas are you still burdened by the “dead corpse” on your back? What attributes of your spirit can you yield to, to rid yourself of the rot?

3.       How have you yielded to the fruits of the spirit listed in Galatians 5? What was the result?

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Psalm 36:8

Psalm 37:19

Psalm 90:14

Psalm 91:16

Proverbs 12:14

Proverbs 19:23

Isaiah 58:11

Jeremiah 31:14

Matthew 7:18

Mark 4:8, 20

John 4:35-36

John 14:1, 27

John 15:8, 16

Romans 5:1

Romans 6: 3, 16, 19, 22

Romans 8:6

Romans 14:17

Romans 15:13

1 Corinthians 12:7

Philippians 4:7

CHAPTER 39

MIRACLE OF BETTER EYESIGHT

About two weeks ago it was on my heart to start claiming some health scriptures for myself.  I remembered one about Moses’ eyes not being dim when he died. “And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died; his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated” (Deut 34:7). The Message Bible translates this: “Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eyesight was sharp; he still walked with a spring in his step.”

The other health scripture I looked up was about Caleb:

I am this day fourscore and five years old [eighty-five]. As yet I am as strong this day as I was in the day that Moses sent me: as my strength was then [at the age of forty], even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out and to come in. (Josh 14:11-12)

I told God I would be very glad to have the same eyesight when I’m a hundred years old and be as strong then as I am now to fight spiritual battles for myself and my friends. I went to the eye doctor a week later.

The doctor looked at my eyes and told me that I would be thrilled because my eyes were better than they were three and a half years ago at my last exam! The fuzziness I thought I was getting was not because my eyes were worse, but because they were better, and my glasses were too strong. The doctor was surprised but told me that he does see this sometimes. I was thrilled and of course I had to tell him that I was claiming the scripture in the Bible about Moses’ eyes. He looked at me a little funny, but said, “Oh!” and kept on smiling. It was great.

God’s love and willingness to bless us doesn’t change. Even though I had only looked up those scriptures a week before my eye exam, in my heart I had believed. This time I didn’t have to read them out loud over and over for a long period of time. I only thought about them all week long at different times during the day, and spoke them out loud a few times. I have to say that I was a little surprised myself at how quickly the Word of God worked. I am starting to see that consistency is valuable, and that not giving up has great rewards. I can go along and go along and think that nothing much is happening and then suddenly my eyesight is reversed back to better than three years ago.

Being consistent in reading the Bible and letting those words get into our minds, then into our hearts, is like planting seeds. You plant them and give them water and sunshine, some fertilizer, and pull out the weeds. Then you wait. While waiting, you keep up your watering, fertilizing, and weeding routine, even though you can’t see what’s happening down in that soil. Then suddenly the sprout breaks through.

The original seed has been growing and doing something even though we couldn’t see it. The words of God are like that. Jesus said, “So is the kingdom of God [God’s way of doing things] as if a man should cast seed into the ground; And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow up, he knoweth not how” (Mark 4:26-27). Our work is to put the words into our minds by speaking them, but then the words of God themselves start doing the work on the inside of us, in our hearts, in our innermost selves. You may surprise yourself, like I did, to find out what tremendous believing you really do have, if you just stick with it.

Love, Carolyn

QUESTIONS FOR PONDERING OR DISCUSSION (chpt. 39)

1. What value have you seen in being consistent?

2. What spiritual seeds have you seen all the way through to the harvest? What seeds have you planted where you’re still waiting for a harvest?

FOR FURTHER STUDY

2 Samuel 7:28

Psalm 119:160

Isaiah 55:11

Jeremiah 29:11 KJV, NIV

Daniel 4:2

Micah 6:8

Luke 8:11

Luke 18:1

Romans 10:9-10

2 Corinthians 4:1

2 Corinthians 9:10

Galatians 6:9

Hebrews 13:8

Revelation 21:5

CHAPTER 40

LENDING MONEY TO JESUS

I wanted to give something to my favorite bank teller who’s having her first baby. I didn’t know exactly what, but then the Lord Jesus told me to give her $100. He didn’t tell me in an audible voice, but more like an urging or prompting from within. It shocked me because that was a big amount for someone I didn’t really know that well. I questioned Jesus, “Are you sure? Am I just making this up?” This time I heard the words in my heart, “No, you’re not making this up. Give her a hundred dollar bill and a card.” I was still a little doubtful, and my mind was saying things like, “You don’t even give that much to the people you know. This is weird. You don’t need to give her that much. You need that money.” But I’m working on trusting Jesus Christ with all my financial decisions, so I figured this was part of the testing of my trust.

Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” In all thy ways. Well, spending money is one of my ways, so I’m making a conscious effort to really involve the Lord with every bit of it.

I answered Him, “Okay, I’m going to do this.” The Lord’s desire was to bless my bank teller. Proverbs 19:17 says, “He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.” I knew that when she opened that card and found the hundred dollar bill she would be totally shocked. She would never expect money from such an unusual and unexpected source. Then the thought hit me and I said out loud, “As long as I’m giving it, I think I’ll plant it as seed for money coming back to me from an unusual source too.” The very day I gave her the envelope with the hundred dollar bill.

The Lord didn’t waste any time in getting me back the money I let Him borrow to bless this girl! When I came home my roommate gave me exactly $100; she knew nothing about me giving my teller $100. Then, the very next day I got a check in the mail from my mortgage company for $108. Now that was an unusual source! I also received another $100 that day that didn’t come from my paycheck. Trusting the Lord Jesus Christ with my money decisions has sure been a blessing and I can hardly wait to see what other magnificent money maneuvers He has in store for me.

Love, Carolyn

QUESTIONS FOR PONDERING OR DISCUSSION (chpt. 40)

1. Have you had times when the Lord asked you to give money to someone or something unusual? Did you do it? What was the outcome?

2. Can you recall receiving money from unusual places? What about times you didn’t have to pay as much as you thought or you received an item for free that you thought you were going to have to pay for?

3. In what other ways has the Lord blessed you financially?

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Deuteronomy 15:7-8

2 Kings 8:6

Nehemiah 5:11-12

Psalm 126:1-6

Proverbs 22:9

Proverbs 19:17

Proverbs 28:27

Ecclesiastes 11:1

Isaiah 1:19

Luke 6:38

2 Corinthians 9:6, 9

CHAPTER 41

DIG AND DUNG

God often compares people to trees. “The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon” (Ps 92:12). “And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper” (Ps 1:3). Prosperous trees need some attention.

I was reading in the Gospels last weekend and the Holy Spirit directed me to this passage:

He [Jesus] spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none.

Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?

And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down. (Luke 13:6-9)

If our lives are spiritually dull, not vibrant, and not producing the kind of fruit we desire, then it’s probably a good time for us to do some digging and some dunging.

I have a fig tree in my yard that I’ve had for 13 years. I’ve been pretty good about fertilizing it every year, but this year when I thought about doing it, I remembered how hard it was last year to dig up the ground around the tree to even be able to put some fertilizer in there. After a period of time, the ground gets so compacted that it’s a difficult job to put anything new into it.

That’s how our spiritual lives get sometimes—compacted and hard. We need to stir things up, breaking up some of our old ways of thinking and old ways of spending our time. We need to ask some new questions, read some sections of the Bible that we’re not familiar with, do a word study on something other than the normal things we’re interested in, test out new principles from the Bible that we’ve not tried yet. When a person digs around a tree, he or she aerates the ground and gets things moving. Paul tells Timothy:

Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. (2 Tim 1:6-7)

We can never be afraid of digging. It may be exactly what we need to get us ready to receive the boost we need to be more fulfilled in our lives.

Then there’s the matter of dunging. I thought about what it means to dung a tree. Dung is manure, a type of fertilizer. It’s organic, alive, not watered down, not genetically engineered, but good, rich, hot manure. The dictionary defines “fertilize” as “to make fertile; make fruitful or productive; enrich.” Fertilizer is “any material put on or in the soil to improve the quality or quantity of plant growth.”1 When a person fertilizes a tree, he gives it an extra boost. Right now is the time to give our lives that extra boost of the Word of God, whether it be in study or application.

There are choices we make every day on how to spend our time. A good gardener digs and dungs at least once a year. The man in Jesus’ parable hadn’t done either in three years, so his tree had quit producing fruit. Let’s be diligent to take better care of our spiritual trees so that new fresh delicious fruit is produced.

Love, Carolyn

QUESTIONS FOR PONDERING OR DISCUSSION (chpt. 41)

1.       What new sections of the Bible do you think you’d like to look at this week?

2.       When was the last time you took a word from the scriptures and did a word study on it? Did you look up where it was first used? What did you learn?

3.       How about asking, “What do I really believe about Jesus? God? Holy Spirit? Angels? Devil spirits? Healing? Miracles? Wonders? End times? The Bible?” And, “Why do I believe this way?”

4.       Have you taken some time in the past six months to go to a bookstore, Christian or otherwise, to look at some new Christian inspirational books? What about new Christian websites? Have you ordered any new CDs or DVDs on subjects you may not know too much about?

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Exodus 35:31

Judges 20:22

1 Samuel 30:6

1 Kings 3:11

Nehemiah 10:28

Psalm 119:130

Proverbs 1:5

Proverbs 3:13

Isaiah 61:3

Daniel 1:17, 20

Luke 2:52

Luke 24:45

Romans 6:4

Colossians 1:10

CHAPTER 42

THE LORD OF SABAOTH STILL ROARS!

There are several names used in the Bible to describe the nature of God. In the New Testament “God is love” stands out predominantly. In the Old Testament there are more names used to describe God. It’s kind of like the word “snow.” In English we have one word for snow. We put adjectives in front of the word to describe it, like “slushy” or “wet.” But the Inuit have several names for snow, to describe the many facets, the many details of just exactly what kind of snow it is. It’s the same with the names for God in the Bible. One of the names for God is Jehovah-Sabaoth (săb'ā-ŏth'), the Lord of hosts.

If you have a concordance and want to study this out, you will find that “hosts” are all the physical elements of the earth and beyond, and also angels. Whenever God reveals himself as the Lord of Sabaoth, the Lord of hosts, watch out. This is where people get the idea of “the fear of the Lord” or the “anger of the Lord.” Yes, God does get angry even though He is still love. He gets furious when his people get hurt, when his people are oppressed and treated wrongly. He gets angry when leaders of His people keep on doing evil things in His name—acting real religious but totally against His will. He’ll put up with it for awhile, waiting for someone to do something, but even God can only take so much and then the Lord of Sabaoth comes into the situation and the effect is extremely powerful.

I want to give you a very practical example of the Lord of Sabaoth working in everyday life. James 5:4 says, “Behold, the hire [money] of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.” In other words, the money is trying to get to the workers and the workers are crying out to God for their rightful money. The Lord of Sabaoth doesn’t like His children to be cheated.

This is what happened:  I had worked a full week and it was pay day and I was going out of town for a few days. When it came to getting my check, my boss said he didn’t get paid, so I wouldn’t get paid. I was shocked and depressed. I told my friend who had been studying the Lord of Sabaoth with me. She was very quiet at first and then she exploded.

All of a sudden she opened her mouth and she was furious, so mad that it even scared me. I tried to get her to calm down but she wouldn’t. The fire came out, and kept on coming in peals of anger, fury and roaring; it escalated. Then we both stopped and realized: This is the Lord of hosts. This is the Lord of Sabaoth who’s really angry! The message was to call my boss and demand my money. He actually drove across town to give me the money I’d worked for. He never tried to pull that again. Once we realized what was going on and took the appropriate action, the Lord of Sabaoth was quiet.

Another time when I lived in Chicago, before I knew how the Lord of Sabaoth works, a friend and I were riding the elevated train and a girl who was much taller and bigger than me was sitting across from us. She got this evil look on her face and she started throwing lit cigarettes at my friend. I asked her to stop, which just got her doing it more. A fury grew up in me that was not me. I got up from the seat, grabbed this big tall girl by the front of her shirt and physically pushed her up against the wall. She stopped and that was the end of the story.

Knowing about the Lord of Sabaoth is certainly not an excuse for justifying anger. The only way to really know if it’s your anger or God’s is to study the Lord of Sabaoth from the Bible and ask God to show you in your own life experience.

There are lots of examples in the Bible of how the Lord of Sabaoth works. Take the record of what happened with Sodom and Gomorrah as recorded in Genesis 18 and 19, for instance. Abraham’s nephew, Lot, was living there. He allowed all kinds of evil to take place and he never stood against it. Finally it got so bad that even the earth itself couldn’t take it. The Lord of Sabaoth, the Lord of hosts, was there and only Lot and his children were saved. Paul states: “Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodom, and been made like unto Gomorrah” (Rom 9:29).

It was the Lord of Sabaoth, the Lord of hosts, behind the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and the saving of Lot. The hosts in this situation were the physical elements of destruction—fire and brimstone—in and above the earth, and the angels that came to get Lot out.

Another example is with Noah: “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (Gen 6:5). Man became so evil that he corrupted everything, including the earth itself. Man was given dominion over the earth and man’s sin continues to affect it in a destructive way. The Lord of hosts was there for Noah, to allow the flood and save Noah and his family.

There’s a section of scripture that I just love, where God gets really fired up for David’s sake:

I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies. The sorrows of death compassed me, and the floods of ungodly men made me afraid. The sorrows of hell compassed me about: the snares of death prevented [were before] me.

In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears. Then the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth.

There went up a smoke out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it. He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and the darkness was under his feet.

And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind…. The Lord also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire…. He sent from above, he took me; he drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from them which hated me: for they were too strong for me. (Ps 18:3-17)

Yes, there are times when things or people are too much for us. We can’t handle everything. Some things are too much for even the strongest of us and God can only put up with so much abuse toward His people. It is then that the attributes of God as the Lord of Sabaoth goes into full action.

So how does this apply today? The Lord of Sabaoth still roars. As Christians, we have God in Christ in us. That means that every aspect, every characteristic of God, is in us, including the Lord of Sabaoth. David didn’t have this. God, in Christ, in an individual, wasn’t available in Old Testament times, but He is now. Think about it. Have you ever felt so angry that you could hardly contain it? I’m not talking about fleshly anger. I’m talking about a spiritual anger, a holy anger, an anger that rises up from deep inside you, an anger that is unusual, kind of just out of nowhere. You might even wonder “Why am I sooo angry?” That’s the Lord of Sabaoth.

We’ve got to get to where we recognize the Lord of Sabaoth. If no one has the guts to allow the Lord of Sabaoth to operate, then the devil will just continue to walk all over God’s people and hurt them and abuse them just like with Lot, Noah and David, and the devil will have the opportunity to win in their lives.

In Isaiah and Jeremiah God says we are the watchmen on the towers of the walls of the cities, there to watch and sound the alarm when the enemy comes against God’s people. In Ezekiel 22:30 God said He looked for someone to stand up for His people but there was no one. Philippians 2:13 says: “For it is God which worketh in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” His good pleasure is to protect, save, and deliver, as well as give hugs and kisses. Adam didn’t protect in the Garden of Eden. He was a wimp and look what a mess became of that.

When God works through us or someone we know in the capacity of the Lord of Sabaoth, it’s strong and often scary and uncomfortable. I have seen two friends allow the Lord of Sabaoth to work in them. One friend is very aware of the Lord of Sabaoth and has studied this aspect of God and experientially knows when the Lord of Sabaoth is brewing in her and ready to roar. The other friend may be more like the rest of us who have experienced the Lord of Sabaoth at times but haven’t really known what it was. The second friend is generally a quiet person, but one day I heard her just get so supernaturally angry that the guy she spoke to backed off and left her alone with a new respect for her from that day on!

Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:26: “Be ye angry and sin not.” In the notes for The Companion Bible, E.W. Bullinger explains that the word “angry” is in the imperative mood, [which indicates a command or strong request] and it is a positive command showing that righteous indignation is referred to. We are to allow the Lord of Sabaoth to work in us and not be afraid of it, or second guess ourselves. We need to just let it fly, knowing that it is in love that we act, to defend and protect and rescue. The Lord is willing to teach us how to know the difference between our own anger and His. Our part is to believe and step out in faith.

Recognizing and allowing the workings of the Lord of Sabaoth in our lives is an important aspect of our spiritual growth.

Love, Carolyn

QUESTIONS FOR PONDERING OR DISCUSSION (chpt. 42)

1.       What other events, besides the ones I’ve mentioned, can you find in the scriptures that invite the workings of the Lord of Sabaoth?

2.       Can you recall times when you’ve recognized the workings of the Lord of Sabaoth in yourself or others? What was the outcome?

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Lord of Sabaoth, Lord of Hosts:

1 Samuel 1:11

1 Samuel 15:1-3

1 Samuel 17:45

2 Samuel 5:10

2 Kings 19:31

1 Chronicles 11:9

Psalm 24:10

Psalm 46:7

Psalm 59:5

Psalm 84:12

Isaiah 1:24

Isaiah 3:15

Isaiah 9:7

Isaiah 10:33-34

Isaiah 13:4, 13

Isaiah 14:27

Amos 4:13

Amos 5:15

Zephaniah 2:9

Haggai 2:6, 8

Malachi 1:14

Watchmen:

Isaiah 56:10

Isaiah 62:6

Jeremiah 6”17

Jeremiah 51:12

Ezekiel 22:30

Power in us:

John 17:23

Galatians 2:2

Philippians 2:13

Colossians 1:27

Ephesians 1:18-20

CHAPTER 43

BOISTEROUS WINDS AND ROARING LIONS

“Teach me, and I will hold my tongue: and cause me to understand wherein I have erred” (Job 6:24).

Too often believers get sucked into what the world is saying and then get trapped into thinking like the unbelieving world thinks, instead of how God thinks. In 2 Corinthians the devil is called “the god of this world,” so it makes sense that the things of this world will try to take us down. But the Lord gives us instructions through Paul:

Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you]. (Rom 12:2 AMP)

We need to stop listening to people constantly saying how bad things are. If we start talking about it and agreeing with them, we’re going to bring it into our own life, even if we actually have it pretty good. If we continue to look at and believe all the negatives that the media propounds, we won’t recognize the good when it does come. I experienced this recently.

The construction business in Las Vegas had slacked off. New casinos weren’t being built, so a lot of people, including me, were sitting at home waiting for the business to pick back up. I was off of work from my union painting job for a few months and had to hustle to make ends meet. I began to get somewhat fearful and depressed. I had things that I needed and I didn’t have the extra money in the bank to pay for those things. I was doing well and then what happened? I prayed for the money but I wasn’t seeing quick results and I still had the needs. I felt like I was sinking like Peter in Matthew 14:

And in the fourth watch of the night Jesus went unto them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.

But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good cheer; it is I; be not afraid.

And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.

But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. (Matthew 14:25-30)

Peter was walking on top of the water, spiritually on top of the world, but when he started paying attention to the blowing wind, he began to sink. We’ve heard the phrase, “full of hot air,” or being a “blow-hard,” which refers to someone who is just spouting off absurdities, ridiculousness, nonsensical foolishness. When Peter looked at and listened to the blow-hard wind, he got afraid and began to sink.

1 Peter 5:8 says: “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” Like the boisterous wind that Peter heard, the roar of a lion is loud, deep and horrifying. But it is still just a noise and it really can’t hurt anyone. However, since fear is believing on the negative side, if a person lets it take hold, the lion will definitely come to maim or kill. In actuality, the roar could be only a recording, totally deceptive and no lion there at all! That’s how God wants us to react to the present roaring of financial distress.

When I started listening to and looking at the roaring of financial instability, it said, “You can’t have what you need because you don’t have the money.” I began to sink just like Peter did. I was getting fearful of the boisterous wind, fearful of the roaring of not enough money. But I immersed myself in teachings and scriptures about God being my supply and I began to say, “The Lord is my only source.” Then I followed His instructions to me.

I thought I needed money for a medical bill, but the insurance decided to pay the whole thing. I thought I needed money for a portable DVD player to listen to Bible teachings on the way to work; the Holy Spirit told me I could use a laptop instead. I thought I needed money to buy a new oven since mine had quit working. The Lord told me to call the home insurance I have. They said they would cover it and I only had to pay $55. The boisterous wind and the roaring of the lion vanished entirely. God had totally answered my financial needs with very little of my own money.

John 10:10 says the devil is a thief and his mission is to steal, kill and destroy. The Lord’s mission is to give us an abundant wonderful life. Our God is diametrically opposed to the god of this world and we need to be too. We have to stop looking at circumstances the way the devil wants us to and put our focus on the Lord’s ways instead. If we spend too much time watching TV, reading the newspaper, listening to what people say, we are going to end up in the same mess they’re in. We start to become what we look at and listen to.

What if just for one or two weeks we didn’t read a newspaper or watch the news on TV, and refused to participate in negative conversation? Instead we started concentrating on reading the Bible, listening to teachings on CD, watching good preaching on TV or DVD and downloading great inspirational Bible stuff from the internet? While doing this, we would also be praying for the Lord’s guidance and instruction as we focused on what we were learning.

Think how much could be changed in our own life and the many lives we touch. The boisterous winds that predict our sinking and the roaring that says, “There’s not going to be enough,” can be replaced with walking victoriously in spite of the storms and turning off the sound track of the lions every time.

Love, Carolyn

QUESTIONS FOR PONDERING OR DISCUSSION (chpt. 43)

1. Can you think of a situation in which you started to get fearful because of something you heard or read? Were you able to reverse the situation?

2. Can you recall a time or two when someone started talking negatively about current circumstances and you joined in? How did you feel afterward? Was it profitable or would you consider reacting differently in a similar situation?

3. Have you had times when you’ve thought God should answer your prayer in one way and He answers it in a totally different way from what you expected? Explain.

4. Have you ever taken a week or two at a retreat or on you own to just focus on the Lord and not look at or listen to worldly things? If you haven’t done this, or if you are thinking about doing it again, how would you plan your week/s? Would you pick certain teachings from preachers you like? Would you read particular sections from the Bible? What subjects would you focus on?

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Deuteronomy 8:13-18

Psalm 23

Isaiah 55:9

Mark 4:19

John 10:10

1 Corinthians 1:27

2 Corinthians 4:3-5

2 Corinthians 10:5

1 Timothy 6:17

Revelation 12:9

CHAPTER 44

WHEN EVERYTHING GOES WRONG

Sometimes I’m reminded of how thankful I am to have a buildup of God’s Word in me!  In the last two weeks, it sustained me through a lot of not-so-great things. First my truck broke down and I was stuck for four hours, from 2:30p.m. to 6:30p.m., waiting for a tow truck that never came. I called the Car Doctor and he came, but the damage was too much for him to fix, so then another tow truck was called and finally at 8:30p.m. I left the gas station for home. I reached home at 9:00p.m., at the end of a day that had started at 3:30a.m!

On top of that I had two days to re-register the truck. I found out that I couldn’t re-register until I got an inspection, because someone had rear-ended me a year ago and the insurance called my truck a total loss, even though it was only the bed that got pushed in so I couldn’t freely let down the gate. I went through the process of getting a salvage title (I’m not even going to go into how complicated that was!) but still the DMV wanted an inspection paper that the original repair guy was supposed to have filled out for me.

When I went back to the repair guy, he wouldn’t give the paper to me unless I gave him four large paintings for free. He was trying to bribe me, just what I didn’t need at that point. When I got home, I called another repair place and found out how much my repairs would cost me—yikes! It was expensive, but at least the new place would fill out the paperwork for the inspection so I didn’t have to go back to the creepy guy. I was barely hanging on at that point, trying to manage getting a ride to work at 4:15a.m., getting the money for repairs, the DMV, the rental car, etc.

God faithfully assured me that I had the money to pay for all this, but it was close. Then the next morning before I had to return the rental car, I decided to take my truck to work instead of the rental car, and as I was backing out of the garage I backed right into the front side fender of the rental car. By this time, my nerves were frayed and although I’d been holding it together until then, the moment I hit the rental car with my own truck, I was taken over the edge. I was physically and emotionally exhausted and my faith was shaken and broken. I burst into uncontrollable sobs and crying.

I knew that God had provided all the money I’d needed so far, but then the rental car, I just couldn’t see how I could take one more thing. I didn’t think I could possibly have the money for that too. It was the last straw and I lost it. I got out of the truck with my head hanging low as I slowly walked across the front lawn in the dark to my front door. I stood there, heaving, sobbing, gasping for air in between the crying, and I rang the bell.

My roommate came to the door. What a sight I must have been! She brought me inside and put her arm around me as I was crying, gasping and trying to tell her what happened all at the same time. She calmly said, “You need to just sit down.” I promptly said, “I can’t, I have to go to work,” but she got me to sit down a second and then I blurted out, at the top of my lungs, “I just can’t take any more!” She comfortingly said, “It’s okay; I understand; it’s going to be okay.” And then it was!

Sometimes we just can’t take another inspirational teaching, another prayer to say, another scripture to quote, another preaching. Sometimes we just need a hug, an “I understand.” A little mercy and a little loving kindness in this situation could do more than anything else.

True compassion from the innermost part of my roommate welled up in her and I was fixed. Hebrews 4:15 says that the Lord Jesus is like that: he feels our pain, our hurts. He understands. He took on the nature of man so he understands that part of us intimately. “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.” The Greek word for “touched” is sumpatheo, which means to identify with and understand another’s situation and feelings.

Hebrews 2:18 says: “He himself hath suffered, and he is able to succor us.” The word “succor” in the Greek translation means “he runs up at a cry for help.” There are so many places recorded in the Bible where God’s compassion for people is shown. He feels our pains just like a true friend does, or like a parent does when a child is in pain or hurting. It’s recorded in Isaiah 63:9: “In all their affliction he [God] was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them, and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.”

We’ve all probably read and seen the “footprints in the sand” poem and picture, and sometimes that’s exactly what we need: someone to carry us when we can’t do it ourselves, someone to just put their arm around us and say, “I understand.” God worked in my roommate, and that’s the way the family of God is supposed to work. God delights in that. As it turned out, God blessed me with all the money I needed for the car repairs, so I wouldn’t have to be concerned about that either.

Love, Carolyn

QUESTIONS FOR PONDERING OR DISCUSSION (chpt. 44)

1.       Can you recall times when you’ve needed a little extra loving comfort and kindness? Did you get it? From whom?

2.       Can you recall times when you’ve been the one to give the comfort, understanding and kindness?

FOR FURTHER STUDY

2 Samuel 17:25-29

Psalm 25:1, 2, 6

Psalm 31:21

Psalm 36:7

Psalm 51:1

Psalm 69:16

Psalm 86:15

Psalm 111:4

Psalm 112:4

Psalm 117:2

Psalm 119:76

Psalm 143:8

Proverbs 19:22

Isaiah 49:15

Isaiah 50:4

Jeremiah 30:17

Lamentations 3:22-24

Mathew 9:9:36

Mark 1:41

Mark 9:22

Luke 7:13

Luke 15:20

Ephesians 4:16

Colossians 3:12

1 Peter 3:8

Jude 1:21-23

CHAPTER 45

JEHOVAH-NISSI TO THE RESCUE

There’s a type of deliverance which is more like pulling out cactus thorns than putting on a comforting salve. Paul was inspired to write, “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). The Bible says Holy Spirit can work through people: “For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Phil 4:13). The devil works through people too. They may or may not be aware of the source of their actions, but he will use them to come against the members of the body of Christ. We don’t have to put up with this. If we prayed about the situation and prayed for the person or group of people, and there is no change, we may have to call on Jehovah-nissi to remove them from our presence, and that’s the most loving thing we can do.

Jehovah-nissi is one of the Old Testament names for God. When the title Jehovah is used it is not referring to God the creator but rather God in his covenant relationship with those whom he has created. (See The Companion Bible, Appendix 4.) Nissi comes from a Hebrew word meaning “flag, banner, pole, standard or sail.” Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary describes Jehovah-nissi: “The Lord is my banner. The name of God was considered a banner under which Israel could rally for victory. The Lord’s name was the battle cry.”

Isaiah 59:19 says: “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.” A note in the King James Bible on this verse says: “put him to flight.” When we get to know Jehovah-nissi, He will put to flight any enemy that comes against us.

There was a family of three who moved into the house across from us. The number of people grew until there were four families living there. They began to play loud music at all hours of the day and night, and then they started parking their cars in front of my house to do work on them. Our corner became very chaotic. God had no desire that we move, so the neighbors had to go. It says in Romans 4:17 that we are to be like God who “calleth those things that be not as though they were,” so we began to say, “We call you gone, in Jesus’ name.”

It took almost a year of repeating our confession and standing on it without letting doubt or discouragement get the best of us, but sure enough last week they left, and there is peace on our corner again. Jehovah-nissi had worked on our behalf and gave us victory.

Exodus 17 is where we see the first mention of Jehovah-nissi:

Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.

So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.

But Moses hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.

And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi: For he said, Because the Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation. (Exod 17:8-16)

Some of the important points are: (1)Amalek was doing the attacking. (2) The Lord has sworn war with Amalek. (3) Moses had to be vigilant in holding up the rod of God. (4) Moses needed help to do it. (5) Joshua fought with the sword. (6) Amalek was defeated. And (7) Moses recognized Jehovah-nissi.

“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matt 4:4). Every word God inspired has significance. In the passage about the Amalekites we need to look at the word “Amalek.” It means “warlike, dwellers in the vale [low places].” The Amalekites were a semi-nomadic tribe. They were a formidable people, plunderers, attacking and stealing whatever they could. They would attack from the rear or the side, rarely straight on. (See Deut 25:17-18.) They were fierce, determined, and experienced in guerrilla warfare.

The Israelites were just a few days into their freedom from slavery in Egypt, going toward their land of milk and honey, when Amalek attacked. The Amalekites continued to attack Israel from generation to generation.

Those same spirits that worked in the Amalekites continue to attack God’s people to this day. “There is nothing new under the sun” (Eccl 1:9 NIV).

The Stone Edition of the Hebrew Chumash has some interesting things to say about the Amalekites of Exodus 17:8-16:

This passage outlines the first confrontation between Israel and Amalek, and it shows Amalek’s treachery in launching an unprovoked sneak attack. As descendants of Esau, the Amalekites knew the boundaries of the land that had been promised to the offspring of Jacob. They knew that they had no rational cause to attack, for their land was not endangered, either then or later. Nor had there been any prior battle between the two nations.

The Amalekite spirits that work in people just seem to come out of nowhere and try to steal your peace, take your land, steal your job, annoy you at your weakest points. They attack repeatedly and plunder what they can. They are constantly pestering, badgering and provoking. They are devious. Their attacks are indirect, sneaky and unwarranted. The Amalekite spirits are schemers, shrewd, insidious and hostile for no real reason. They encroach on your territory, often with the intent of taking whatever they can from you. While they may seem to be a friend, they are not. They create chaos on all sides so as to distract God’s people from what they are doing, causing them to make errors and look bad.

The very nature of the Amalekite spirit is to pester, annoy, attack, steal from, and ravage God’s people. But Jehovah-nissi is always available to defeat this enemy.

Exodus 17:13 says: “Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge [Hebrew, “mouth”] of the sword.” The Hebrew word for “discomfit” is chalash and it means “to prostrate, to overthrow, decay, waste away.” Webster’s New World Dictionary defines “discomfit” as “to defeat; overthrow; put to flight,” and that is exactly what we do when we believe in and call on God as Jehovah-nissi. Jehovah-nissi is our rod like with Moses, our banner, our victory. He will put to flight and defeat any Amalekite spirit that comes against us.

Defeat doesn’t happen automatically. There are two things required: In Exodus we were told that Joshua fought with a sword and Moses’ part was to stand at the top of the hill and hold up the rod of God. As long as Moses held up the banner of God, the battle was in their favor, but when he started to get tired and let down the rod, the enemy started winning. In our times we take “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Eph 6:17). The rod we hold up is having faith in Jehovah-nissi, that He will do for us what He did for them.

When the attacks come, we call on Jehovah-nissi and expect those who have come against us to be discomfited, defeated, overthrown, and put to flight. The Word says we call them gone first, before we see them gone. (See Rom 4:17 and Heb 11:1.) At the same time we keep holding up the rod of God. That means we have respect to God. We believe God will really make these enemies go, because the Word says so. When we get tired, weary, or in unbelief, we get help, like Moses did. We talk to someone spiritual; we ask someone to pray with us; we ask for someone to help us understand.

As long as we live on the earth, we will have enemies, but it’s great to know we have the victory banner of Jehovah-nissi on our side.

Love, Carolyn

QUESTIONS FOR PONDERING OR DISCUSSION (chpt. 45)

1.       Have you ever felt that you were in the place God wanted you to be, but certain people kept coming against you? In what ways did this Amalekite spirit attack you? Did you call on Jehovah-nissi? What was the outcome?

2.       Do you recall situations where you needed to ask for help in holding up the banner of Jehovah-nissi?

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Amalek or Amalekite:

Numbers 24:20

Deuteronomy 25:17-19

1 Samuel 15:1-23

1 Samuel 30:1-19

Banner or Standard:

Psalm 60:3-5

Isaiah 13:2

Jeremiah 50:1-3

Jeremiah 51:11-13

Jeremiah 51: 23-29

Calling on God:

Psalm 18:6

Psalm 35:10-28

Psalm 40:1-3

Psalm 86:7

Psalm 91:15

Calling things before we see them:

Romans 4:17

Hebrews 11:1

Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Manners & Customs pgs. 100 and 190 for more info on the Amalekites.

CHAPTER 46

FIGHTING NEGATIVE ANTICIPATION

I’m sure we’ve all been stressed out at one time or another over some future event that we were pretty certain wasn’t going to turn out very good. We’d think about it and go over in our minds all the possible scenarios and how to react to them, and what we could possibly do to avoid the worst case scenario. I call the experience: negative anticipation. I experienced this at Christmas this year, and so did a good friend of mine. In each of our situations, God came through with a wonderful solution and some good revelation on how to deal with this particular kind of dilemma.

There’s a woman my family has known for many years. She’s not a pleasant person to be around. My mom has kindly befriended her and every so often they meet for lunch. However, over the past few years this woman has started inviting herself to our family’s Christmas. No one in my family likes it when she comes because traditionally she starts bad-mouthing people right after she walks in the door and says her first “hello.” Last year she started in with, “Wow, you’ve gained weight!” Then she started in on my sister, “Why hasn’t your daughter come over to help me in my yard?!” She would just go from person to person with the derogatory remarks.

The Bible says in Luke 6:44 “For every tree is known by his own fruit.” This woman is 90 years old now, but instead of growing sweeter with age, she’s turned out to be very sour grapes. I do feel sorry for her sometimes, because she probably doesn’t realize how distasteful she has become. And she doesn’t have many friends. But just because I feel sorry for her, it certainly doesn’t make me want her to come over on Christmas day. Maybe some other time, but not Christmas.

In anticipation of her coming, most everyone tries to ignore her by either getting involved in a board game, or whatever happens to be on TV. The unfortunate one who has not figured it out, or has decided not to get involved in the board game or TV, gets stuck with Edith. Actually I’m usually that person, playing interference so that others can be left free to enjoy the day. I rack my brain and try to come up with as many questions as possible to ask her about the past and letting her talk about herself.

My sister and I thought that this year we were going to be free of Edith. She hadn’t talked to my mom in awhile and, as of the third week in December, had not called to invite herself to Christmas. We held our breath. It was about a week before Christmas and I had driven up from Las Vegas. I decided to stop at the local store before going up to mom’s. Guess who I saw at the store? No, not Edith, but my sister. She looked down at the ground and told me the bad news, “Edith’s coming for Christmas.”

“Oh no, this is not good,” I thought. “Yet another year where Christmas day was not one of relaxing, but of fending off Edith and her foul mouth.” I started to picture myself getting Edith off in a corner of the room away from others and engaging in conversation. I anticipated the work of coming up with questions and keeping her going as long as possible, and trying to direct the talking toward funny stories and good memories. I was living out the whole dreary scenario in my head. I spent quite a lot of mental and emotional time trying to anticipate how it might be.

Then God gave me a revelation and a new thought popped into my mind: “This hasn’t even happened yet. It doesn’t really have to happen at all!” I was anticipating and running through scenarios and living through an event of the future, as if it were certain. It wasn’t. I realized that I was basing my plans totally on what someone else had said about what was to happen. It was an event that was only predicted with words so far, but I had mentally already made it a reality.

In an instant, I realized that with God there is no time, so instead of making plans and mental attitudes for something based solely on what others said, I could say something different and my words would have just as much impact on the future as anyone else’s. In fact, concerning this particular event, I knew that my words would have more impact, because God was letting me know that I could do it. I could spiritually stop the event that would bring the devil’s division and confusion to our family Christmas.

So I prayed, saying, “I come against those words that said she’s coming and I send out angels to stop her at every turn, in Jesus’ name.”

Two days later my sister told me, “Edith’s not coming.”

I’m pretty sure all of us have been in situations where we have anticipated how things would be in the future. For instance: “If he says this, then I will say this. Then he will probably say that, and I will say this. Then he’ll get mad, and then I’ll do such and such,” and it goes on. Often we’ve made up not only one scenario but many different ones to handle all the possibilities.

What if we stopped doing that?

So many anticipated miseries could be avoided, and so much more time could be restored to us, time that we would enjoy thinking about other things, rather than wasting time going over and over things that have not even happened! And the awesome thing is that the anticipated misery may not have to happen at all!

When so much of our thought is going into what we’re going to say or do in an anticipated future situation, we aren’t really living to the fullest in the present. We can only think one thought at a time, and how much of the present do we miss by spending so much wasted thought on an anticipated event that may or may not even need to take place at all. By giving energy to it with our thoughts and words, we give it life. We help cause negative events to take place because we allow, anticipate and participate in them mentally—we live them before they exist.

We can certainly stop ourselves. Negative anticipation is one of the devil’s best setups. If he can trap us into thinking in the future, he can get us to set up our own negative future events. In my situation, God gave me revelation to let me know that my words would be more powerful than the other words I heard, and that with the assistance of angels (Heb 1:14) I could put a stop to the devil’s setup.

But what about when we can’t stop the actual scenario?

My friend had this experience when anticipating a miserable Thanksgiving. She didn’t get a revelation to reverse the event, like I did. Instead, the grace of God had a surprise in store for her, and her Thanksgiving ended up being a great one. Read about it in: http://almost-like-real-life.blogspot.com/2010/11.

She had gotten so worked up over the perceived happenings, that it pushed her over the edge. She made the decision to stop caring entirely. With that decision, she could just drop the negative anticipation and face whatever scenario presented itself at the moment of its manifestation. “Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you” (1 Pet 5:7)

My friend decided to do what it says in Luke 12: 11-12. “And when they bring you unto the synagogues, and unto magistrates, and powers, take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say: For the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say.”

Whenever we come into a situation where there’s a chance we may not do the right thing, where we think that we may be judged, or judge ourselves, we need to have enough of a sense of our God-given righteousness and trust in the Holy Spirit to give us the words and actions we need for that particular event. Instead of anticipating negatives, we can expect the help of the Lord to give us total victory. “But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 15: 57).

Often we get ourselves into a mess by caring too much about the wrong things. In my situation I could have thought I had to be more caring about Ruth’s desire to be with us at Christmas. But that would have been wrong. What about caring more about what God wanted, and about the feelings of my family? The Apostle Paul tells us: “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith” (Gal 6:10). Too often we put unbelievers and others who are outside the household, first. We become more thoughtful and kind to others than we are to ourselves, our spouses and our family members.

Caring too much about a situation makes us anxious about it. Matthew 6:34 says: “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” The Greek word for “thought” in this verse is the word merimneo. It means to “be full of anxiety which divides up and distracts the mind.” If we allow ourselves to go with negative anticipation, we get over-anxious and distracted. I also looked up the word “evil” in this verse and it is the Greek word kakia, which means malignity or malice. Malice is “evil intent, active ill will, desire to harm.” And malignity “suggests extreme and virulent malevolence that is relentless in expressing itself.” The devil is called the thief in John 10:10 and he comes “to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.” If he can get us to “take [over-anxious] thought” about anticipated events, he will be relentless in bringing up dozens of possible scenarios, stealing our mental time, destroying our emotions and killing our soul. The devil would like to take over our every day with his malice.

It is our right to take charge of situations for God’s sake, for the sake of the greater good. To do that, we have to believe in our righteousness before God. “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor 5:21). “And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness” (Eph 4:24).

Philippians 4:6 records: “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” The Greek word for “careful” in this verse is the same word (merimneo) as the word for “thought” from Matthew 6:34, meaning over-anxious. God doesn’t want us to anxious about anything.

We need to become aware of the times when we get consumed and overly anxious about an anticipated negative situation. We need to stop ourselves from being a victim of the devil’s malignant nature to steal, kill and destroy our thought time, our emotions, our happiness and our futures. We are not “sheep for the slaughter” (Rom 8:36).

Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom 8:37-39) [Emphasis mine.]

We always have the victory over anticipated negatives when we claim our right to stop them or drop them.

Love, Carolyn

QUESTIONS FOR PONDERING OR DISCUSSION (chpt. 46)

1. Can you find more examples in the Bible where people were able to stop anticipated negative situations before they actually happened? What about in your own life, or in the lives of others you know?

2. Can you think of examples in the Bible of people having just the perfect thing to say right in the midst of an uncomfortable circumstance? What about examples from your own life or the life of someone you know?

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Merimnao (translated: care or careful)

Matthew 13:22

Luke 10:41

Luke 21:34

Merimnao (translated: thought)

Matthew 6:25, 27, 28, 31, 34

Mark 13:11

Luke 12:22, 25, 26

Syrian army on way to destroy Samaria – stopped

2 Kings 6:24, 7:4, 7-16

CHAPTER 47

GENERATIONAL CURSES

God is love, but the Bible translators often make it look like God punishes people for not doing His will, which is inaccurate. What God did was to set up the rules of how to live a good, blessed, healthy life. Before Jesus came, God’s people had the Law of Moses and the prophets to direct their lives and keep them on the right path of God’s perfect will and blessing. If they strayed from those laws, the consequences were detrimental.

The following hypothetical example illustrates this principle: I tell my child to stay on the sidewalk the whole way to school. She obeys for about two blocks then decides to cross the street to the other side and gets hit by a car. I wasn’t the one who hit her. I lovingly gave her the instructions to keep her safe, but by disobeying she took herself out of my protection and got hurt. That’s how God’s relationship with mankind works. God doesn’t need to punish, but He will not go across one’s freedom to choose. The Old Testament calls the consequences of making choices against God’s will, “curses.”

Exodus 20:5 says: “Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me.” Again, it’s the translators’ error to say God visited the iniquity on people. God only set up the standard, but the people’s rebellion was so grave that the consequences went through the blood line to three and four generations. The disobedience of one person opened the door to generational curses.

We can recognize a generational curse by looking at our family histories. Do we see a pattern? Is there a common thread of sickness or circumstances that pass from generation to generation? Instances of molested children becoming molesters, children of adulterous parents becoming adulterers, children of hypochondriacs becoming hypochondriacs, alcoholic parents bearing children who become alcoholics—these are only a few of the disorders referred to as generational curses. Other examples of family curses are being passive-aggressive, contrariness, children born out of wedlock, drug abuse, eating disorders, addictions to sex, gambling and pornography, obsessive-compulsive disorders and many more.

A generational curse can start with one incident, or it can be a devil spirit that has put certain influences around a person and moves from generation to generation. People who are plagued by these things can’t make sense of them and seem not to be able to escape from them. That is because they are caused by unseen spiritual forces which have to be eliminated spiritually. Repeated business failures, early deaths (such as in the Kennedy family), irrational fears, homosexuality, stealing, cheating, and lying are more examples of generational curses.

Poverty can be a generational curse. A mother may get divorced three or four times. Then it happens to her children and the cycle of bad marriages and broken families continues. It’s not because people are bad, but because a generational curse is on their family.

Deuteronomy 28:15-49 lists many of the curses the devil put in place to attack God’s precious ones when they didn’t obey God’s laws, but Galatians 3:13 says that “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.”

If Christ redeemed us from family curses, why do we still see them? God gives us part of the answer in Hosea 4:6. “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” If people don’t know how to recognize a generational curse for what it is, they won’t know how to put a stop to it.

The book of Revelation tells us that the devil is a great deceiver: “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world” (Rev 12:9). He has tried to convince us that we must live with our curses. He doesn’t want us to believe that we don’t have to live with any of them any more!

The generational curses going through the blood line to three and four generations was a result of not obeying Old Testament laws, but we aren’t bound by the Old Testament laws any longer. Once Jesus came to earth, died, and was raised, it was available to enter into a new era—an era of grace, forgiveness, redemption and release from all generational curses.

Many Christians have continued to be held in bondage to generational curses and have not sought help because they’ve felt ashamed. But God says, “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (Jas 5:16).

The use of the word “fault” in this verse is important. A fault is a weakness in the earth, a hidden crack beneath the surface. When the pressure and circumstances line up, those faults wreak damage. It’s the same in our lives. Generational curses rise up just at the wrong time to destroy our dreams, our relationships, our finances, our work for God, and swallow up the blessings He’s prepared for us.

This passage in James was not written to unbelievers. James was telling believers that they are not perfect and shouldn’t be ashamed to go to someone and confess their faults: “I’ve got a problem and I need help.” If we haven’t got the strength or believing to help ourselves, then we need to understand that it’s okay to admit to problems as long as we desire to be freed from them. That’s the whole purpose of admitting them—so that we can get healed.

Our old tendency or weakness to let the devil spirit behind the curse overcome and make us bow down to it is replaced by Christ’s power in us, making us overcomers:

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all [new] things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. (2 Cor 5:17-18)

We have the right to bring the blood of Jesus up in the face of all devil spirits behind any generational curse, and they have to flee from us. Jesus Christ is our Lord and our brother. We are in a new family that has no generational curses. His blood has set us free from the Old Testament curses. Any generational curse that has come to us or our children through our human blood line is a horrible deception. It can be removed forever as we believe and take a stand on the protection and deliverance we get from the blood of Jesus.

Love, Carolyn

QUESTIONS FOR PONDERING OR DISCUSSION (chpt. 47)

1. What habits or ways of thinking get you in trouble, make you disappointed or sad? Are these tendencies something you see in your parents, grandparents or other relatives? (You may want to discuss this with a spouse or close friend who knows you and your family. They may be able to see things that you aren’t aware of.)

2. What kinds of negative circumstances seem to always happen to you? Could these be generational curses?

3. Have you given much thought to the significance of the lamb’s blood that kept the angel of death away from the Israelites, just before they left Egypt? Have you ever spiritually applied the blood of Jesus to a situation to protect yourself, your family, or your children? Have you ever spiritually used the blood of Jesus to get rid of any devil spirit curse or attack? Explain.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Exodus 12:22-23

Deuteronomy 27:26

Deuteronomy 28: 15-49

Isaiah 53:5

Daniel 9:11

Matthew 11:28

John 8:31-32

Galatians 3:9-14

Ephesians 6:12

James 4:7

Free At Last: Breaking the cycle of Family Curses by Larry Huch

CHAPTER 48

SPEAKING OUR FUTURE

The company I worked for had a lot of painting to do for one of the casinos so they were hiring new people. I heard someone tell one of the new girls not to ask me questions because “When she gets to talking she goes on and on.”  It really hurt my feelings, but I did give it some thought, and decided to wear my respirator so I couldn’t talk as much. What was interesting was what I heard myself say when I did take the respirator off. I was horrified.

The first word out of my mouth was in response to a goofy paint thing that happened, and I heard myself say, “Magic.” It was just plain foolish of me. With what I know about words and how powerful they are, I instantly knew that if I called magic out loud, even if it was only in jest, it would absolutely come. I expect a lot from my words. When I say and pray in the name of Jesus Christ, I absolutely expect results and get them. That’s not boasting, it’s just the truth. So when I heard myself say, “Magic,” I immediately realized what I’d done.

I went into the restroom and told God I was sorry. I know that with real magic there are devil spirits involved and I didn’t want to bring any part of that world into my work place. I asked God for forgiveness and said, “I stop that word now and anything that has to do with it, in the name of Jesus Christ!”

Words have the power to hurt and to heal. Proverbs 16:29 says: “A violent man shutteth his eyes to devise evil things; moving his lips he bringeth evil to pass.” Proverbs 18:7 states: “A fool’s mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul.” Proverbs 16:24 tells us what good effects words can have: “Pleasant words are as a honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones” The ultimate power of the words we speak is declared in Proverbs 20:21: “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.”

Numbers 13 gives us the record of when Moses sent twelve spies over the hill into Canaan, into the land that God said was theirs. He told them to check it out and come back with their report. They had been wandering around in the desert wilderness with only unfamiliar food called manna to eat day after day after day. Their environment was hot, dry and uncomfortable. God told them He had prepared for them a land of milk and honey.

If they were going to get milk, there had to be herds and having herds most likely meant good grass for those herds to feed on. If they were going to have honey, there had to be flowers and plants for the bees. In contrast to their harsh wilderness experience, the land of milk and honey sounded smooth and sweet. I like to call it “the creamy place.” God had prepared a special kind of creamy place for His people.

The twelve Israelite spies went over and sure enough they found wonderful things. The produce was so abundant that it took two men to carry back one cluster of grapes. “We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it” (Num 13: 27). God already told them that this beautiful and abundant land was theirs, but ten out of the twelve began to look by their five senses and they got afraid. Out of their mouths poured the words of their own destruction. They cried:

We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.

And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.

And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight. (Num 13: 31-33)

When they looked away from God’s promise, they saw gigantic obstacles that they felt surely would keep them from ever having their creamy place. And compared to the giants, they saw themselves as mere grasshoppers.

It was only Caleb and Joshua who said, “Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it” (Num 13:30). Caleb and Joshua decided to believe God’s promise that this land—which they had seen and tasted the fruit of—was really theirs, and they didn’t have to wait for it until they got to heaven. It was a place on earth that God had set up for them to be blessed by.

As it turned out, every one of the men that said they couldn’t do it, didn’t do it. They died in the wilderness, never having gone any further into the Promised Land than they did just that one time. But Caleb and Joshua did go in, just like they said they could.

We continue every day to make our future by our spoken words. I know I’m going to be paying much closer attention to the words that come out of my mouth. I’ve seen and experienced the creamy place myself and want to be there much more often.

Love, Carolyn

QUESTIONS FOR PONDERING OR DISCUSSION (chpt. 48)

1. Can you remember hearing yourself say something and the minute it came out of your mouth you regretted saying it? What can you do to change the effect once the words have been spoken?

2. In Number 13 the twelve spies went into the land of milk and honey. They saw wonderful things and brought back a sample of the fruit. What have you seen or experienced from your land of milk and honey?

3. Have you dared to say yes to those things (from question 2), like Joshua and Caleb or have you shied away like the others who thought the obstacles were too gigantic, and themselves too small?

4. If you’ve given into discouragement regarding your creamy place, what are some things you can you do to strengthen your believing and your vision?

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Exodus 3:8, 17

Exodus 12:23-27

Leviticus 20:24

Numbers 13:1-14:10, 30

Numbers 26:65

Deuteronomy 6:3

Deuteronomy 26:15

Deuteronomy 27:3

Joshua 5:4

Nehemiah 9:23

Job 16:5

Psalm 31:18

Psalm 34:13

Psalm 63:5

Psalm 141:3

Proverbs 8:6

Song of Solomon 4:11

Isaiah 57:19

Jeremiah 11:5

Romans 8:37

1 Corinthians 15:57

Ephesians 3:16

Ephesians 5:18-20

Hebrews 13:15

CHAPTER 49

GOSSIP AND HEALING

It was right before Christmas and I was doing last minute painting in the Smith Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Las Vegas, scooting along on my hands and knees looking for smudges to paint over, when from somewhere near the stage a man's voice bellowed out a song: “Better watch out, better not cry, better not pout, I'm telling you why, Santa Claus is coming to town.” A pause, then “He sees you when you're sleeping. He knows when you're awake. He knows if you've been bad or good so be good for goodness sake. Ohhhh....” And then silence and we all went back to work. It was funny because I'd just read something similar in the Bible the day before:

For there is nothing covered, that shall not be revealed; neither hid, that shall not be known. Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops. (Luke 12:2-3)

Sometimes when I go to Facebook I see people posting things that really annoy me and I feel like gossiping about it. When I saw something the other day it just put me in a flap and I said to the Lord, “They're a good person. Why do they keep posting so much hate?” He spoke right back, “Don't focus on that. I don't. Focus on love.” Then he showed me why the person was angry and I understood.

When I first started to get annoyed with the postings, I spoke of my irritation to a couple people and that's when I came across the scriptures in Luke. I started thinking, “What if the negative things I said in private were announced and proclaimed on the housetops like the scriptures said? I'd feel pretty bad about it.” So I told myself that I needed to really think about what I said about other people and ask myself, “Would I want them to hear this?”

The trouble with gossiping is that the person doing the gossiping never seems to think that what is said will be heard by the person. But that's not a good way to think. If we wouldn't say it out loud to the person, then we shouldn't be spreading it around!

Proverbs 26:22 says: “The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.” Do we really want to be a part of ripping the wound open even further, or do we want to be on the healing end, which is what our Father, God, wants?

One of my favorite verses is Jeremiah 30:17 “For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.” Could it be that a person acts in a way we don't like because of something we have no idea about? If we ever want to get to the place we can minister healing like Jesus did, then refraining from gossip could be one of the first steps in that process.

Proverbs 26:20 says: “Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth.” Gossiping causes strife and James 3:16 tells us: “For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.” If a person wants to be more like Christ, but

continues to gossip about people, it creates strife and confusion. Confusion because on the one hand the person wants to be a part of the healing ministry of Christ, but on the other hand she is continuing to open wounds with her gossiping.

Let's stop the gossip and take our complaints and irritations to the Lord instead. He sees it all anyway, like Santa in the song, but He can actually do something about every situation and keep us on the healing side of life.

Love, Carolyn

QUESTIONS FOR PONDERING OR DISCUSSION (chpt. 49)

1.       What are some things you could say in a group or to an individual who starts gossiping and wants to get you involved?

2.       If you're someone who is tempted to gossip, can you think of something that might help you to stop before you start?

3.       What do you think might be some of the root causes that make a person want to gossip? What answers from God's Word can you apply to those root causes?

4.       Can you find some examples from the Bible where love or healing was given to someone who you might have been tempted to gossip about?

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Leviticus 19:16

2 Samuel 19:9

Psalm 31:20

Psalm 80:6-7

Proverbs 10:12

Proverbs 11:13

Proverbs 15:18

Proverbs 16:28

Proverbs 20:19

Mark 10:21

John 11:5

Romans 13:13

1 Corinthians 3:3

2 Corinthians 12:20

Philippians 2:3

2 Thessalonians 2:16

CHAPTER 50

HOW FAST CAN YOU OBEY?

I’ve noticed that the older people get, the less amenable to reproof and correction they are. Children learn the benefit of obeying. They get told when they say or do something wrong and make changes easily. They remain flexible and grow. We need to be more like children in this way. “The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise” (Prov 15:31).

A wise person quickly accepts when he's wrong and starts to make the appropriate changes, no matter how difficult it may seem at first. Romans 12:1 says:

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

When we are reproved or found wrong in our thinking, we can renew our minds to the truth and right thinking. We can change our minds in a minute. We can only think one thought at a time and we have the power to choose those thoughts. “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Prov 23:7). What gets into the heart starts with one thought. An obedient thought is just one thought away from a rebellious one.

“He who being often reproved hardens his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.” (Prov 29:1) Some people know they are not doing God’s will, but they think they can continue to ignore God and it will be okay, because they’ll get back to Him later. This is a dangerous mistake. When someone continually refuses to take God’s guidance, his or her heart grows hard. It isn’t that God’s grace isn’t there anymore, but they wouldn’t know it because their heart has become calloused.

That’s what happened to the Israelites. God told them what they needed to do so they could be totally blessed, but they refused. It was only a short while in the wilderness before they had the opportunity to go into the Promised Land. Had they been obedient immediately, they would have had many years of God’s abundance to enjoy. But they wouldn’t obey. Instead, they wandered in the wilderness and took more and more opportunities to disobey God.

The Israelites’ continual disobedience kept them wandering and eventually they just grew to be old disobedient people, rather than young ones. After forty years, all but two of the original group died. The ones who refused to obey never got to experience the Promised Land.

Of course they had good excuses as to why they didn’t want to obey. They even thought that if they obeyed God, they would be destroyed. But it doesn’t matter what a person’s reasons are for disobeying. Disobedience to God will get results: It will harden a person’s heart.

“He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding” (Prov 15:32). God doesn’t want us to continue in sin. When he tells us what we need to do, we need to not put Him off thinking it will be easier to do it later. It won’t be. It will be harder.

When the Spirit of God comes to correct us, let’s follow His instructions and follow them quickly. We’ll keep our hearts tender that way and grow in the Lord.

Love, Carolyn

QUESTIONS FOR PONDERING OR DISCUSSION (chpt. 50)

1.       Can you name specific situations where you’ve seen either your child or some else’s child responding quickly to correction? Can you name situations in which you as an adult have responded as quickly?

2. What are some manifestations you’ve seen of hardening one’s heart when it comes to correction from God?

3. What are some manifestations you’ve seen of quick obedience to God?

4. Have you ever found yourself on a downward path of thinking, then stopped yourself and renewed your mind by putting in a new thought from the Lord? Explain.

FOR FURTHER STUDY

2 Chronicles 36:12-14

Psalm 95:8

Proverbs 1:22-33

Proverbs 3:11-12

Proverbs 6:20-28

Proverbs13:18

Proverbs 15:10

Proverbs 28:13-15

Proverbs 29:15

Daniel 5:18-21

Mark 6:52

Mark 8:16-18

2 Corinthians 10:5

Philippians 4:8

CHAPTER 51

A DIFFERENT TAKE ON ANGER AND FORGIVENESS

I was in a long line of traffic coming home the other day, when I had a guy pull out of the line behind me, go up to the front of the line and cut back in. I was furious and was telling him what I thought of him, though of course he couldn’t hear a word of it. Then all of a sudden I stopped and I asked myself, “Why are you taking this so personally, and why are you soooo angry?”

God clearly tells us that we are to love and to forgive. But what does that mean in practical everyday situations? I was asking for answers on this and here’s what I got:  When Jesus was on the cross and all those people were against him He said out loud, “Father forgive them for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

We have to understand that often people really don’t know what they’re doing or why they’re doing it. They may have never learned what it means to be courteous. They may have never been taught to think about treating others the way they want to be treated. They may have just made a mistake. But when all those people were against Jesus on the cross, He couldn’t just get down from that cross and teach them, or get angry at them for being stupid, mean, disrespectful, and vicious. But He could do one thing and that was to forgive. He gave them to God.

The word “forgive” is made up of two words: “for” and “give.” We are to be for (in favor of) giving them to God. He can handle the people that we can’t. When we are in favor of giving the people who anger us to God, we get the negative influence of those people off of us. As long as we do not give them over to God, the negative thoughts, hurtful thoughts, bitter, offensive, angry thoughts and emotions stay attached to us. The thoughts come out in our words to pollute our lives.

When we assign those critical thoughts and words to an individual, it diminishes the person’s chances of changing. Those grievances and accusations (whether true or not) put a dark cloud around the person—so much so that without even knowing that person, a contrary reaction is already in motion. I’m sure we’ve all been in the situation of meeting a person face to face and finding out they weren’t nearly as despicable as the rumors made them out to be.

Revelation 12:10 tells us:

And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

The accuser of our brethren is the devil, but the ammunition he uses to accuse people before God is the negative, slanderous, and unforgiving words that people have spoken against each other. The devil can’t know our thoughts, but he can see our actions and hear our words. We all have enough to deal with in our lives, that we don’t need the extra burden of the devil accusing us to God. If the devil isn’t supplied with verbal defamation, he has no ammunition, as was the case with Job. The devil tried to accuse Job, but he couldn’t. So he set up situations to bring fear into Job’s life, and then the destruction came, along with all the bad-mouthing from his so-called friends.

What about when we really feel we have a right to be angry, a right to be bitter? We still need to forgive. We have to give people who wrong us over to God. He knows just what to do. Romans 12:19 says: “Vengeance is mine, I will repay saith the Lord.” God’s vengeance is going to have a lot heftier effect than anything you or I could muster up. And there is a righteous anger, but we’ll never understand righteous anger until we’ve made a habit of being a forgiver.

We may say, “I can’t forgive what they did; I can’t forgive that person; I just can’t let it go.” But you can because you have “Christ in you: the hope of glory” (Col 1:27). The forgiver is already a true part of the real you. “Old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Cor 5:17).

I know that anger is a strong defense and can make us look and feel powerful on the outside, even if we don’t feel it on the inside. If we think we have to let anger go, we may feel naked, defenseless, vulnerable and weak. But, in fact, it takes more guts to be a forgiver.

We have to be the stronger person to stand tall and say out loud, “I forgive; right now I give them to you, God. Lord, if they didn’t realize what they did, then I give them to You and I believe that You will get them to someone to teach them. If they did it on purpose, I still give them to You and I know vengeance is Yours. Either way, I give them up, and I am free.” Just because you forgive someone doesn’t all of a sudden mean you have to hang out with them. If you’ve truly forgiven them, God will tell you what to do next.

We will start to see ourselves changing and see others changing around us too. Forgiving takes boldness, courage, determination, and practice, practice, practice! We have to make forgiving so much of a habit that we do it automatically, every time, all the time. Compared to forgiveness, anger is puny and only worthy of pity. Forgiving is empowering, mighty and what a true believer does.

Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.

But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses. (Mark 11:24-26)

When we don’t forgive, we are actually choosing to be connected to evil. God can’t get the exact perfect answers back to us until we get that barrier of unforgiveness out of His way.

Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.

Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.

The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.

But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.

Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.

So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses. (Matthew 18:21-35)

In this section of scripture, the first servant desperately wanted to receive forgiveness and he did, but he wasn’t willing to give it. It reminded me of an end-of-the-year exercise I started doing to help me to forgive:

1. I first make a list of every grief, minor and major, caused by others to me.

2. Then I add to the list any other personal offenses that continue to linger from years past.

3. Next I go through the list and categorize the grievances. Some of the categories were:

       I was offended by people going along with the crowd rather than taking a stand on what was right.

       I was offended by people’s insensitivity to others’ hurts or needs.

       I was angered by people who were pushy.

       I was annoyed by people who wanted to take everything so seriously.

       I was irritated by people who talked and acted like they were better than others.

       I was angered by people who consciously or unknowingly chose the devil’s ways.

       I was grieved by greedy people.

       I was sickened by the lack of boldness and commitment.

4. Then for each of the categories I ask myself, “Have you ever acted in that way toward God?”

When I realized the answer was yes to every one of them, I knew that I was an even bigger sinner than those who I was still mad at. As I acknowledged what God forgave me for, I knew I had no right to withhold forgiveness. I had no right to think I was any better than anyone on my list. It is much easier to forgive when I know what God has forgiven me for!

The servant in Matthew 18 wouldn’t forgive, but we must. Unforgiveness is a tormentor. Evil words out of our mouths will turn back on us and even God cannot go against the power of our spoken words, if we never forgive or ask Him to forgive us.

God is love. It is because of our freedom of will that He cannot make us do anything that we don’t choose to do. It’s like a child whose parent has told him, “Don’t touch the stove top; it’s hot and it could burn you.” The parent isn’t the one who would do the burning. He or she just wants to protect the child. But if the child chooses to go against the words of the loving parent, and puts his fingers on the fire, he will get burned. That’s exactly the way it works with God, His Word, and our freedom of will to choose to follow it, or go against it. The results are a matter of our own choosing.

Choosing unforgiveness will torment us. But we really can be victorious and free by practicing forgiveness. “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Phil 4:13).

Love, Carolyn

QUESTIONS FOR PONDERING OR DISCUSSION (chpt. 51)

1. Who have you forgiven this week? (yourself included)

2. Can you recall times when you had negative pre-conceived thoughts about a person and after meeting them you felt differently? Where did the derogatory thoughts come from?

3. After doing the end-of-year exercise I mentioned, did you find out some things about yourself that you didn’t realize before?

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Job 1:1-12

Job 3:25

Psalm 85:2

Psalm 86:5

Psalm 103:3

Matthew 5:43-44

Matthew 6:12-15

Luke 6:31 KJV, NIV, AMP, MSG

Luke 6:37

Luke 7:47-48

Luke 23:34

Acts 5:31

Acts 13:38

Acts 26:18

Romans 13:10

2 Corinthians 2:4-8 KJV, NIV, NCV

2 Corinthians 2:10

Galatians 5:14

www.visionforum.com/news/onlineemail//vision-forum/2010/12/29_how_end_year

CHAPTER 52

I LOVE YOU, NO NAGGING NECESSARY

We were having our work break on the construction site when the safety guy came at noon to take our pictures for a card that would list all our certifications. Several of us got our pictures taken. Then other workers showed up. I told one of the guys and he didn’t respond, so I repeated myself. He said, “I heard you the first time.” At first my feelings were hurt but then I realized—I repeat things a lot.

God used this incident to show me something about myself. Somewhere in my childhood I picked up the idea that no one really listened to me. I would say something or ask for something and get no response so I’d say it again. If I didn’t get the response I wanted, I’d start nagging. That worked sometimes, so I carried it over into adult life. God revealed to me that I not only used this with people, but I was also using this with Him. Ouch!

This made me realize that all my seemingly unanswered prayers were probably unanswered because I didn’t really believe that He heard me when I prayed the first time. This was all in my subconscious and I was totally unaware of my error until God gave me revelation on it. The eyes of my understanding were enlightened like it says in Ephesians 1:18. God heard my prayer. He really heard me, and since He loves me and listens to me, He already had the answer rolling my way, but my unbelief was blocking my answer from arriving. He heard me every single time. He was not too busy, nor did He think I was asking for too much. He was not ignoring me or thinking it was a silly request or a stupid one.

The other day I was listening to a teaching on faith and prayer. The teacher gave an example of how to pray, saying: “Father I thank You for You have heard. I believe that I have received.” I knew that we are to pray as if we already have the thing we’re praying about. Then it struck me that God heard me the very first time I prayed about something. Logically, if He loves me and He’s already heard my prayer, then He has already started in getting the answer to me.

All of a sudden I felt I understood King David more. Many phrases from his Psalms came to mind, such as: “I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears” (Ps 34:4), and “The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their troubles” (Ps 34:17). I thought of the verse in Ephesians where it says God chose us:

Even as [in His love] He chose us [actually picked us out for Himself as His own] in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy (consecrated and set apart for Him) and blameless in His sight, even above reproach, before Him in love. For He foreordained us (destined us, planned in love for us) to be adopted (revealed) as His own children through Jesus Christ, in accordance with the purpose of His will [because it pleased Him and was His kind intent]. (Eph 1:4-5 AMP)

This verse talks about God adopting us. When parents adopt, they make a deliberate decision to care for and love the child they hand pick. God hand picked us, and even though we have many faults, He chose us to love us individually, just as we are. He still desires to spoil us with all the great things He created for us to enjoy.

Zechariah 2:8 says we are the apple of God’s eye. There’s not a single thing we say or think or do that goes unnoticed to God who loves us. He even knows what our hearts are longing for and He has those things stored up for us. He listens to every little thing we think we might like to have and He gets busy in finding a way to get it to us for we are his precious ones.

Now that I know God hears me and listens to me all the time, even to my unspoken thoughts and desires, I have a new feeling of rest in my soul. I have peace with God. For the first time I know for a certainty that all my prayers have been heard and the answers are there and are already coming into manifestation. I have an overwhelming trust in God as my source and He will be the one to answer all my new requests through Christ, so I don’t have to nag people either.

He heard me. He answered. I have peace, assurance, and rest in my soul.

Love, Carolyn

QUESTIONS FOR PONDERING OR DISCUSSION (chpt. 52)

1.       Recall when you’ve felt like someone wasn’t listening to you. How did it make you feel?

2.       Do you ever get the feeling God’s not listening? How does that impact your relationship with Him?

3.       Take a day, or even a couple hours, and made a note of your thoughts, prayer requests, complaints, and other things you say, then consider that the Lord is hearing everything you noted. What are some ways in which you might act, speak, or think differently?

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Genesis 21:17

Exodus 4:30-31

Exodus 6:5

Exodus 16:6-8

1 Kings 8:35-43

Psalm 4:3

Psalm 10:17

Psalm 17:6

Psalm 20:6

Psalm 38:15

Table of Contents

DEDICATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 38 SATISFIED FROM THE INSIDE OUT

CHAPTER 39 MIRACLE OF BETTER EYESIGHT

CHAPTER 40 LENDING MONEY TO JESUS

CHAPTER 41 DIG AND DUNG

CHAPTER 42 THE LORD OF SABAOTH STILL ROARS!

CHAPTER 43 BOISTEROUS WINDS AND ROARING LIONS

CHAPTER 44 WHEN EVERYTHING GOES WRONG

CHAPTER 45 JEHOVAH-NISSI TO THE RESCUE

CHAPTER 46 FIGHTING NEGATIVE ANTICIPATION

CHAPTER 47 GENERATIONAL CURSES

CHAPTER 48 SPEAKING OUR FUTURE

CHAPTER 49 GOSSIP AND HEALING

CHAPTER 50 HOW FAST CAN YOU OBEY?

CHAPTER 51 A DIFFERENT TAKE ON ANGER AND FORGIVENESS

CHAPTER 52 I LOVE YOU, NO NAGGING NECESSARY