Daily Archives: September 10, 2011

Confessions of a Christian Wife, Proven Path Ministries

But God

If anyone has taken a class with me they have heard me comment about how much I love the “but’s” in the Bible.

“But God” is a phrase that encompasses the hope that is within the veil that is the anchor of our very souls.

We were in the depravity of our minds, the deceitfulness of our hearts, and the wickedness of our actions… BUT GOD!

How beautiful these words are as we look up from the pits we have dug with our own hands… but God 🙂 

Below is a letter from an email prayer update I receive from a beautiful woman of God who leads precept classes in a women’s prison… don’t miss the “but God” and when you finish reading please also lift Mary Alice up in prayer as she goes to the front lines to teach the Word of God to those that a lot of us would never even consider as having hope of repentance and entrance into the kingdom of Light… but God… 

“For while we were still helpless,
at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 
For one will hardly die for a righteous man;
though perhaps for the good man
someone would dare even to die. 
But God demonstrates His own love toward us,
in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us.
Romans 5:6-8

Dear Praying Friends,

2:30pm class:  Before class I noticed Virginia’s gigantic smile and couldn’t help but ask, “Virginia, what’s up?”

You won’t believe what the Lord has done!  I have been down (incarcerated) for 39 years!  I’m 73 years old!  They wouldn’t even give me a parole date!  The chairman of the parole board told me last time that I was lucky she was retiring because, there was no way she would grant me parole!  Well, there she was, sitting on the board again.

My lawyer leaned over to me and said, ‘This doesn’t look good, she’s back.’

And I told him, ‘God is in control of my future, not this board.’

Virginia said, “When I entered the room, I smiled at everyone….they smiled back!”

“It’s such a wonderful feeling when you know God is in charge,” she noted to me with absolute assurance. “Much to everyone’s surprise, they observed the change in me and granted me parole, my date is in March 2012!”

She continued her story, “I did some really bad things in the 60’s, she hung her head and whispered something about teamsters, Jimmy Hoffa, smuggling drugs and guns to Mexico.  I hurt everybody I came in contact with and if I do get out, somehow I want to make it up to them.  Especially my family and friends.  I caused a lot of pain, MaryAlice.  I caused a lot of pain.”

“Virginia,” I comforted, “We can’t make up for the pain we’ve caused people.  But what we can do is received God’s forgiveness and offer our sincere apologies.”

“Oh, I have,” she interrupted, “Everyone of them have forgiven me.  But I just feel like I need to do something for all I’ve done.”

“You can, Virginia,” I encouraged, “Please God by growing in Him and serving Him and He will take care of the rest!”

She proceeded to tell me about how mean she was and that she was sent to different prisons all over the US to house her.  “Some states didn’t want me,” she recounted.  “I was really bad.  I would slash officers if they got even close to me and if I couldn’t reach them I would slash myself,” she said as she held up her arms so I could see the scars.  “I was a wild man,” she shook her head, “But God….”

“Oooh, my favorite two words,” I interrupted!

“Mine too,” Virginia agreed.  “But God kept sending officers and health workers and even a warden to me who didn’t give up on me.  Who were compassionate and kind.  I would get even meaner, but they just kept being kind until I couldn’t take it anymore…I couldn’t be mean…how can you be mean to so much compassion and kindness?  It broke me!  I cried and cried.” (That’s a BIG deal in prison, no one admits to crying!)

I thought to myself…the love of God compels me…His mercies are new every morning…

Virginia changed from that day forward…it’s been 10 years since that day, but the last year has been a huge change!  She is totally sold out to our Jesus!  She handles the Word with accuracy and can make application.   Wow!  But there’s more…

When you break a law in prison,  “Bad points” are applied against you on your record.  The most “good points” you can earn in a year to remove the “bad points” are 8.  Virginia has over 400 bad points against her still but the parole board intentionally overlooked those due to the remarkable transformation!  “It’s God, MaryAlice, it’s God!  There’s just no other explanation for it!  I didn’t ask for anything, I was content with ‘whatever you want, Lord’  and look what He did!”

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ,
he is a new creature;
the old things passed away; behold,
new things have come.” 
2 Corinthians 5:17
 
Devotional Studies Through the Bible, Uncategorized

>Must Be Alive To Die

>

Adam had relations with his wife again;
and she gave birth to a son,
and named him Seth.
Genesis 4:25
God’s mercies are new every morning. Adam and Eve grieved over the death of Abel, and in their grief, God blessed them with Seth. Seth called upon the name of the Lord.
A distinction was now made between those who would go the way of Cain and those who, like Seth, would call upon the name of the Lord. The distinction is so great and so evident that when God inspired Moses to write the book of Genesis, there is no mention of the death of Cain or the death of his children.
On the other hand, with the generations of Seth and his descendants, beginning with Seth’s father, Adam, God made the point to say, “And he died.” For someone to die, he must first live. Cain never lived.
There are many like Cain who appear to be alive but are not connected to the life, and so therefore, are already dead.
An illustration of those without Christ can be seen in a vase. We can see a beautiful vase of flowers on a table. The flowers appear to be alive and thriving. You can even smell their fragrance and touch the softness of their petals, but if you return to that same vase of flowers a week or so later, the truth is made evident. Those flowers in that vase are now wilted and slimy, and they stink. Death has made itself evident.
The flowers only appeared alive for a short time because they had been cut off from their life-giving source. Now, someone who knows more about flowers than I do could have taken those cut-off flowers and placed them back into their life-giving source and those flowers would have lived.
We are like those flowers.
In the garden, when sin entered the world, we were cut off from our life-giving source; we were separated from our Creator. We may appear alive, but left without him, we too become wilted, slimy, and we stink. Death makes itself evident. Cain remained dead in spirit, and his children followed him. Never coming to God to receive life, they merely existed, and then existed no more.
Oh Father,
The death of your children is precious in your sight (Psalm 116:15); the death of the righteous, those who have called upon your name and waited for your promise. Even though they did not receive it in this life, they waited. Father, your Word is true, and they died believing your Word was true. They believed in the promised seed before he came in the flesh, and that faith, that belief, brought them life then as it does me now. Father, I pray that my life will count. Thank you for my life in Christ, for I did not even know I was dead until I finally lived.
In Jesus’ name I pray,
Amen.

[Since the publication of this book I have continued my research and study in the Scriptures. I would like to share some insight that I have gleaned concerning the verse that speaks of Seth calling upon the name of the Lord. At first I interpreted this verse to mean that Seth began the generation of prayer communication between man and God, but after further study, I believe it is much more. As we study further in the Word we discover that when men called upon the name of the Lord it was usually a cry for Him to move on their behalf, to deliver them from an enemy or an oppressor, it was a cry for help. If we consider the placement of this chapter in God’s Holy Word we have to notice that this reference of calling upon the name of the Lord, precedes the chapter of the flood and follows the chapter that speaks of the murders of Cain and Lamech. I believe that Seth’s call upon the name of the Lord was the righteous ones calling upon God to deliver them from the great oppression of the wicked that now filled the earth… thus the flood. Seth’s calling on the name of the Lord was much more than a simply prayer of fellowship it was the same cry we see over and over again in the Word of God clear up to Revelation 6:9-10 “I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” ]