In October of this year I realized that my plate was a little full- and it would remain pretty full throughout the rest of the year… so I had to let go of a few things. One of those was writing for Eternal Encouragement magazine’s Gabby Moms program.
I truly enjoyed every product that I ever received and reviewed; and because I chose to take to heart and to apply the wisdom that Lorrie was offering me, I had to surrender my place in the Gabby Mom line-up in order to be the wife and mom that my family needed and deserved.
The last EE product I received was focused on ATTITUDE.
My attitude is indeed something that God worked on this year.
As I battled with houses, and banks, and realtors, and lawyers, and at&t. As I transferred into the ministry of a paid staffer in my church accepting the call as Children’s Ministry Director. As I struggled with walking away from my dreams of further book publications because I felt I was a failure due to the books not flying off the shelves and my calendar not being filled with teaching engagements- to then receiving an email from my publisher requesting I move forward with book two in my devotional series through the Torah. As I have realized through my trivial trials and my blazing battles how much of my flesh I have yet to crucify and how very much of the glory of my God I still have yet to behold… yes… God has worked on my attitude this year.
So how fitting it was for me to remember that my crashed laptop was not the only device that held my October Eternal Encouragement downloads for review…
I grabbed my Kindle and my youngest daughter’s earphones and multitasked, as I so often do, and while I prepared dinner for my family I listened to Lorrie share about the power of a positive attitude.
As I listened I was reminded of my 2012. I was reminded of all the lessons I had learned about my attitude and how my attitude affects the atmosphere of my home. I was reminded and encouraged as I always am when I listen to Lorrie share.
You can listen to Lorrie as well… or read her blog. The info that brought me encouragement and peace as I listened can be yours here at Attention Moms. Lorrie has an entire training package you can use to help refocus your thinking and adjust your attitude.
Here’s Lorrie’s Top Ten Reasons To Do This Training.
You learn how to be positive, focused, and goal orientated
You achieve goals by the minute, hour and day
Every small achievement is one more step towards your dream life
You start to feel better about yourself
Your self esteem rises
You save time and become proactive
You stop zigging in your life… and start zagging to your dreams
You learn how to train your thoughts
You concentrate on things you love in your life
You put God first in your life!
The attitude we are supposed to have:
Therefore if there is any encouragement in Christ,
if there is any consolation of love,
if there is any fellowship of the Spirit,
if any affection and compassion,
make my joy complete by being of the same mind,
maintaining the same love,
united in spirit, intent on one purpose.
Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit,
but with humility of mind regard one another
as more important than yourselves;
do not merely look out for your own personal interests,
but also for the interests of others.
Have this attitude in yourselves
which was also in Christ Jesus,
who, although He existed in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant,
and being made in the likeness of men.
Being found in appearance as a man,
He humbled Himself
by becoming obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross.
Philippians 2:1-8
The thinking we are supposed to have:
Finally, brethren,
whatever is true,
whatever is honorable,
whatever is right,
whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely,
whatever is of good repute,
if there is any excellence
and if anything worthy of praise,
dwell on these things.
Philippians 4:8
I don’t know about you, but it is very easy for me to jump on the pity train to woe-is-me city. It is so easy to dwell on the things that are yucky, hurtful, frustrating, irritating, nerve-wracking, and anger building. It is so easy to have an attitude of entitlement and selfishness. Our flesh screams it at us and the enemy of our souls is right there beside us cheering our flesh on. So if this is a place you find yourself as well… I would recommend these audio chats.
The pity train to woe-is-me city is a train you climb aboard by choice. You don’t have to ride it. Pull that emergency stop cord and scream out for that grace train. The Holy Spirit is always more than happy to give you lift. 🙂
*** I received this product for an honest review from EE magazine
Today as I was just doing life… nothing big… nothing extraordinarily special… just regular old life. Sweeping, reading, cooking, listening to a bunch of preteen girls giggle… and as I did this life I realized how very filled with joy I am… a joy unspeakable.
There is a joy that fills me that brings a peace that I cannot even comprehend. It is a joy that exists regardless of surrounding circumstances or world events. It is a joy that I can find every time I breathe deep. It is a joy that I can find every time I bow my knees.
And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them,
and the glory of the Lord shone around them;
and they were terribly frightened.
But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid;
for behold, I bring you good news of great joy
which will be for all the people;
for today in the city of David
there has been born for you a Savior,
who is Christ the Lord.
Luke 2:9-11
This great joy is mine only because of Christ.
The word joy used in Luke 2 in the Greek is Chara and it means joy, gladness, the joy received from you, the cause or occasion of joy, of persons who are one’s joy…
Jesus is the cause and occasion of our joy. He is the One who is our joy. He is the joy that we can give to another because God first gave Him to us.
The last time this word for joy is used is in 3 John…
I have no greater joy than this,
to hear of my children walking in the truth.
3 John 1:4
We are able to maintain this joy of ours only as long as we walk in truth. The moment we step outside of truth we begin to lose our joy. The moment we choose to entertain the liar or rebel against the Word of God… our joy begins to slip away from us.
Joy is something that only believers know.
Joy is something that only believers who are in fellowship with the Cause of joy and Occasion of joy can know.
Joy is a fruit of the Spirit of God… and when Mary conceived by the Spirit of God she gave birth to Love, to Joy, to Peace, to Patience, to Kindness, to Goodness, to Faithfulness, to Gentleness, to Self-control… she gave birth to Christ the Lord.
She received the Son, the Christ by faith. She believed God. She simply took God at His Word and received the Word.
And Mary said, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord;
may it be done to me according to your word.”
Luke 1:38
We to0 receive this Son, this Christ by faith. We too just have to believe God. We just have to take Him at His Word and receive the Word. When we receive Him and He grows within us, we too will give birth to love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
The thing is… just as Mary gave birth to Jesus- to Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-control through pain, the pain and labor of childbirth… we too must go through pains and labor in order to give birth to these things of Him… because they are not naturally of us… they are of our God and we can not truly possess them until we first possess Him.
I have Him, so therefore I have this joy, this unspeakable joy… this joy that I can find with every deep breath and with every bowed knee…
and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
and having shod your feet
with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
Ephesians 6:14-15
Do you know Christ? Have you came to the cross and looked up into the beaten, plucked, swollen face of the Lamb of God who came and died to take away your sin? Your past sin, your present sin, and any future sin you ever commit. Have you partaken of Him?
I ask this because if you have, if you know Him, if He knows you, if He has sealed you with His Spirit… then do you know what that means?
Have the eyes of your heart been enlightened, so that you would know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe (Ephesians 1:18-19) ?
Do you know what the surpassing greatness of His power is that is yours simply because you are one with Christ?
Do you know that God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, (Ephesians 2:4-6) ?
Do you know that when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven you all your transgressions, having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against you, which was hostile to you; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them throughHim. (Colossians 2:13-15) ?
Precious one if you know Him, do you know what that really means? Do you believe Him when He says you sit WITH Him in heavenly places far above all rule and authority?
Precious one, do you understand your position in Christ?
Let me show you…
GOD
Christ
Man (alive in Christ/filled with Holy Spirit)
Satan/Spiritual forces of darkness
Man (still dead in sins)
If you are alive in Christ and thus filled and sealed with the Holy Spirit at the moment of your salvation then you, precious one, have been raised from the dead with Christ and have been set with Christ far above all demonic rule and authority. Your flesh is no longer master over you, sin is no longer master over you, and Satan is no longer master over you. The power of God that raised Christ out of the grave has also raised you into a new life.
This power of God in this new life gives you the power to not only say no to things you once couldn’t help, but it also gives you the power to love those you once could never love…
Walking in the Spirit is walking in love and bearing fruit that tastes of love, gentleness, kindness, joy, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control.
As Satan watches our eyes open for the first time, when he sees us turn from his kingdom of darkness and to the kingdom of Light, when he sees us open our mouth in response to our open eyes and open heart and cry out to Jesus for His forgiveness in full unabashed repentance… he, Satan, knows he has lost us for eternity.
However, he is not through with us.
He now sicks his hounds of hell on us. He wants to cover the Light that is within you. He wants to wollar out the saltiness of this life of yours in Christ. He wants to knock your feet out from under you and pin your shoulders to the ground so that he might render you useless in this present world.
But our God tells us…
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.
Put on the full armor of God,
so that you will be able to stand firm
against the schemes of the devil.
Ephesians 6:10-11
God commands us to be strong in the strength of His might not ours…
Our chief enemy is the lie that says sin will make our future happier. Our chief weapon is the truth that says God will make our future happier. And faith is the victory that overcomes the lie, because faith is satisfied with God.
~ John Piper
Our victory over our enemies- Satan, our flesh, sin,- is not won through passive hand wringing “waiting on God” on to move it is won in our aggressive stance against sin and our faith in the Word of God.
If I’m going to stand I’m going to stand by knowing truth and by walking in truth and living according to the truth. I’m going to live and stand against the enemy in righteousness by keeping my life righteous because its sin that gives the devil an advantage over us, because sin is not to be in the child of God’s life. And that’s why we are to forsake sin and that’s why we’re to [“take our members and yield them as instruments of righteousness,”] as Romans 6 says, [“and not as instruments of sin.”] (PARAPHRASE, Romans 6:13)
~ Kay Arthur
Here’s the deal, my friend, God has supplied the armor… but it is your responsibility to put it on. It is your responsibility to stand in the authority that has been given you by God in and through Christ… no matter how many times the enemy comes against you.
My husband’s all time favorite movie is Lonesome Dove. Towards the very end of this movie is one of my favorite scenes.
Newt, played by Rick Schroder, has grown up in the home of Woodrow, played by Tommy Lee Jones. Newt never really knew his real father was, because his mother was a saloon girl. As the movie progresses it becomes more and more evident that this young Newt really is the son of Woodrow. Woodrow watches him all through out the movie and you see that he begins to see, that yes, Newt just might be his son. Newt, however, is wanting to hear exactly the words out of Woodrow’s mouth that let him know that he indeed is the accepted son of Woodrow. Woodrow gives Newt a watch that was his fathers and he gives him his horse. In this act, this bestowing of gifts that only passes through the family of Woodrow, he is showing Newt that he is claiming him as his son.
Then at the end of the movie, one of my favorite scenes, it comes time for Woodrow to head out on a journey and leaves the entire ranch under the authority of Newt. This does not sit well with the other hands, because in their eyes Newt is just a kid and no different than any of them. One of the smart mouthed ranch hands, Jasper, attacks Newt. Woodrow sits high on his horse as he watches the attack on his son. Newt fights back. He gets knocked down over and over but every time he gets back up on his feet… Woodrow does not get off his horse but he watches close by. Finally, Jasper sends a punch that sends Newt flying through the air and landing flat of his back. Newt his bleeding and out of breath, but here’s the awesome part. The other ranch hands help Newt to his feet and Newt walks up to Jasper in the authority that he knows is his given him by his father and he says, “Get on your horse, Jasper, we got cattle to drive.”
The look on Woodrow’s face is classic. It’s the look of a proud father.
You see Newt might have gotten knocked down by his attacker, but his character and his integrity led the other hands to respect him and they picked him up and looked at Jasper with contempt not Newt. It was in the authority that Newt knew he had been given by his father, that he walked up to Jasper and did not speak with hate, or bitterness, or wrath, but with firm conviction and he told him to get on his horse…
Friend, we have been given a gift by our Father. We have been given the right to call Him “Abba”
For you have not received a spirit of slavery
leading to fear again,
but you have received a spirit of adoption
as sons by which we cry out, “ Abba! Father!”
Romans 8:15
So precious one, it doesn’t matter how many times you get knocked down, get up! Stand! Stand firm!
Read though Ephesians 6:10-20 and underline every “you will“.
You will – be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil
You will– be able to resist in the evil day
You will– be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one
You will be able, my friend, you will if you will put that armor on by living in accordance with who you are in Christ. Hold your positon. Stand firm. Believe God.
The Gospel of Christ, it’s a messy, bloody thing and this is how God was born, bloody and bruised, and that’s how God chose to die, bloody and beaten. And our God, He knows the comings and goings of our blackest bloody battles, and this is exactly where He meets us.
The Gospel is good news in the eye of the worst news.
~ Ann Voskamp
How easy it is to forget that we are at war. This church thing is not a game. This life is not a game. It’s a real battle. A battle between good and evil, between God and Satan, between light and darkness, and whether you like it or not you are involved. The question is which side of the battle lines do you take your stand?
I am here in this world, 2012, a follower of Christ, the same Christ that came in the flesh as baby, allowing Himself to become dependent upon the hands of a first time mother and newlywed father, the same Christ that died on a Roman cross over 2000 years ago and rose from the grave 3 days later, the same Christ that ascended to the heavens and sent His Spirit down to indwell those who confess Him as Lord.
I follow that Jesus.
That Jesus that said the gates of hell could not prevail against His church.
That Jesus that said the world would hate me.
That Jesus that said I could overwhelmingly conquer in and through Him.
That Jesus that said I would receive power from high.
That Jesus that said I would be used by Him to set the prisoners free.
That Jesus that said nothing, absolutely NOTHING, could separate me from Him.
That Jesus that loved me while I was wollaring in my sin.
I follow that Jesus.
Are you with me?
Precious one, I ask you… who is crushing who?
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.
The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.
Romans 16:20
Notice precious one that in the armor of God you are to shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace…
Are your feet getting ready to crush Satan under them?
Or does he have you on your back, pinned to the ground?
If he does my friend, the only way he can pin you is if you choose flesh over faith, lie over truth… So make war precious one, make war!
Remember the authority that is yours in Christ. Look to your fellow believers and let them help you to your feet and stand firm in the authority that has been given you by your Father… you’ve got cattle to drive.
For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh,
for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh,
but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.
We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing
raised up against the knowledge of God,
and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,
and we are ready to punish all disobedience,
whenever your obedience is complete.
2 Corinthians 10:3-6
God has directed my heart to studying up on prayer and spiritual warfare… He has done so and I am obeying. I believe our nation and our church has progressed to where it is because we have forgotten we are at war. We have forgotten in this blessed land of the free that a spiritual battle wages against our minds. We have forgotten that we are still in the evil day…
Sadly many of us have left our armor lying on the floor. We have decided that we will be just fine without it. We have decided that we can fill our minds with csi miami, pretty little liars, and spongebob square pants. We can play halo and fantasy football. We have actually decided that we can fill our minds through our eyes and ears with sin of all sorts for our own entertainment purposes and actually expect it not to affect our souls.
When the salt loses its saltiness it is good for nothing…
Christian we have the mind of Christ. So of course Satan is after our mind. He wants to build a fortress of lies and accusations in our mind. He knows that if he can inflict a head wound, it can be fatal. When the head is sick, weak, confused, or distracted it affects the whole body.
We must put on the helmet of salvation. We must protect our mind! We must not be passive in this area of our life. WE MUST BE AGGRESSIVE AND DECISIVE!
He put on righteousness like a breastplate, And a helmet of salvation on His head; And He put on garments of vengeance for clothing And wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle.
Isaiah 59:17
And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION,
and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Ephesians 6:17
But since we are of the day, let us be sober,
having put on the breastplate of faith and love,
and as a helmet, the hope of salvation.
1 Thessalonians 5:8
When we look at the description of the last days that our God gives us in His Word it all points to social and mental digression…
But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money,boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; Avoid such men as these.For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men of depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. But they will not make further progress; for their folly will be obvious to all, just as Jannes’s and Jambres’s folly was also.
2 Timothy 3:1-9
I am currently teaching through the book of Revelation and studying with Kay Arthur through the book of Ephesians and my extracurricular reading has been on prayer and spiritual warfare. I am tired of seeing the enemy win battles in my own life. I am tired of him pinning me to the ground. I am tired of allowing him to almost convince me to quit writing, teaching, serving because I get caught up in emotional turmoil through Satan’s ability to use another’s battle to inflict a wound on me.
We must never forget that our battle is not against flesh and blood…
And we must also never forget that evil is also within our hearts.
But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.
Matthew 15:18-20
It’s time we stop making excuses and address reality…
There is evil in this world and there is evil in our hearts… and no amount of man’s knowledge, education, or fantasy utopias are going to change that… only Christ can.
As my heart breaks for this mother… I wonder is she supplying her son with the only weapon that he has to stand against this battle in his mind?
I have a very dear friend whose son is struggling with a mental illness and what I know is that she is preparingher son and herself for the battles ahead.
She has let other believers know her sons struggles so that men and women of God can cover him and their family in prayer.
She has removed the things in his life that feed his flesh. Monitoring more closely the things that go in his ears, his eyes, as well his mouth.
She is teaching him how to recognize the enemy.
She is teaching him the Word of God, because she knows that only the knowledge of God and the love of Christ can defeat our flesh and only the Word of God and standing on faith can cast Satan and his demons out of our life and minds.
My friend knows that her sons victory is in Christ.
My friend has had many attacks, many judgments, many hurts brought against her. She could have many times chosen to grab her son and hide him away in their home and keep him and herself from the church simply because sometimes it hurts too much to experience the judgments and glances and whispers of man, whether they be real or assumed… but my friend has chosen to believe God. She has chosen to prove the Word by her faith.
And guess what her son is watching.
And so am I.
Her obedience to the Word will bear fruit in her son… and her courage will bear fruit in those who are watching her stand.
But the lovingkindness of the Lord
is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children’s children, To those who keep His covenant And remember His precepts to do them.
Psalm 103:17-18
In the fear of the LORD there is strong confidence,
And his children will have refuge.
Proverbs 14:26
As our nation continues to wonder why… and how… what happened at Newton can happen… it is quite simple… apart from Christ that shooter could have been any of us. He was not some rare monster that popped up on the earth.
While in Poland, standing within the Lodz ghetto beside a railcar that carried Jews from there homes to concentration/death camps one of the survivors shared with us how these men who did this were not monsters, they were men. To say they were monsters was wrong. To say they were monsters removed the reality that this could happen again and it removed their responsibility. This was evil done by evil men who chose to do evil.
Precious one, we are depraved evil hearted people living in a world ruled by the evil one… We are an arrogant prideful people living in a world ruled by the one who was so filled with arrogance and pride that he actually attempted to set himself up above the Most High God. We are hopeless, helpless, and godless apart from Christ and there is no limit to our madness when we stand opening stand against our Creator in our grumbling rebellion. It doesn’t matter how good we make our outside environment if we don’t deal with our heart and mind then our evil deeds will abound… and the only One who can deal with our heart and minds is Christ.
There is only one way to overcome evil, whether it be within us or outside of us and that is by faith.
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world;
and this is the victory that has overcome the world—
our faith.
1 John 5:4
Faith is simply believing God.
In hope against hope he believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb;yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.
Romans 4:18-21
We have a choice ever day, with every thought… who will we believe?
Will we believe God?
And precious one, how can you recognize His voice if you do not know His Word? God does not move us with emotion, He moves us with Truth.
In these last days, in our increased “knowledge” and day of technology, Satan will be full force frontal attack on our minds. He is raising up every speculation he can up against the knowledge of God and he is throwing them full force up against our minds.
I love what Kay said in one of her teachings in Ephesians 6-Frisk every thought with Philippians 4:8, if it doesn’t line up, then reject it.
It is time we recognize that we are in a battle. Their is a spiritual realm and we are at war with the enemy. Put a name on the lie and send it to hell!
God, all I can assume is that I have a spirit of immorality coming against me. And God I don’t want that.” now listen to me very carefully, “God this is your body, this is your body, you redeemed it. This is your mind, you have given me the mind of Jesus Christ. And God, I am standing against the enemy, in the name of Jesus Christ and by the blood of Jesus Christ I command all these spirits, any spirit of immorality to be gone from me. You have no place here. This body has been redeemed by Jesus Christ. And I want the Holy Spirit to fill every nook and cranny. And so I command you in the authority that is mine in Christ Jesus. [“Greater is he that’s in me than he that’s in the world.”] ~ Kay Arthur
If there is a spirit of immorality… then could there be other spirits as well?
Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Galatians 5:19-21
If it is not of God it is either our flesh or Satan… if it is our flesh you better believe that Satan is right there cheering our flesh on… he wants you to be controlled by your flesh because then he can control you because he knows your flesh well. He’s been devouring it for thousands of years.
Either we believe God or we do not.
Our desires, our dispositions, our temptations, our imaginations, are NOT to control us.
Only the love of Christ!
For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.
and this is the victory that has overcome the world–our faith.
Who is the one who overcomes the world,
but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God…
(1 John 5:4-5)
I haven’t shared my thoughts here yet concerning the shooting in Connecticut. I haven’t shared because the truth is I haven’t cried. With no tears falling I have battled whether I had become callous and cold or if it was something else… and well my conclusion…
I haven’t cried not because I am not sad… but because I am flat out MAD.
There is a time for tears… but these acts of evil no longer make me cry… they inflame my inner being with a passionate resolve to fight Satan with every fiber of my being. I hate him… I mean I HATE HIM!
I hate the way I see his slimy hands weave around the throats and hearts of the people of God… the way I see him blind and deceive and manipulate and twist and distort and how he manages to convince people that it was never him at work…
Evil is as evil does.
Evil is not an illness.
Evil is an open unabashed attack by Satan and the demons of hell. It’s a demonic possession on a soul that refuses the Light and loves the darkness. It’s Satan with an open door that he can walk through because he has so oppressed and blinded so many in one place that he now has the advantage… This is the evil day, the whole world lies in the power of the evil one…
People of God… believer in Christ… keeper of the Gospel… proclaimer of the Word… have you went AWOL on your fellow soldiers in the army of Christ?
There is a time for tears…
But today I am not crying. My eyes will not be blurred by the emotional turmoil of this tragedy. My God is keeping them clear. I will not wring my hands with a woe is me and woe is them. I am angry with a righteous anger. I am filled with a godly jealousy for the souls of children.
Satan has always made his strongest and most brazen attacks on the children.
Just like a lion.
When a lion is taking over a new territory the first thing he does is kill all the cubs in the pride. Any cub fathered by the former lion is destroyed and then the lion gets busy mating with the lioness to produce his own offspring…
CHRISTIAN THINK!
And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth,
so that when she gave birth he might devour her child…
So the dragon was enraged with the woman,
and went off to make war with the rest of her children,
who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.
Revelation 12:4, 17
Satan has always went after the children.
Pharaoh sent out a decree, Herod sent out a decree, Hitler sent out a decree, the Supreme Court of the United States of America sent out a decree…
Here’s the thing Satan… I’M AFTER THE CHILDREN TOO!!!!!!!!!
Just keep making this red-head angry… go ahead… make my day! I am not crying anymore. When a woman stops crying, she means business. I am not playing games at the foot of the cross… I am at war.
Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
Honor your father and mother
(which is the first commandment with a promise),
so that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth.
Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger,
but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
Ephesians 6:1-4
I was studying in Ephesians again this morning with Kay Arthur and this mornings lesson began with Ephesians 6:1-4. She shared how through these verses and as we look at other verses throughout Scripture it is quite clear that God has placed the responsibility of rearing children on the father… the head of the household. The Scripture is clearly addressed to the Father.
I was blessed to be raised by a man who was and is a teaching father. He managed to work at least two jobs my whole childhood and still managed to coach me in softball and basketball. He never shirked his responsibilities as head of the household. We always knew he was boss. He backed up my mother and demanded that we respected and honored her at all times and she in turn always backed the decisions of my father. They were on the same team… even when we three girls backed them into a tough spot… if they disagreed they did it in private not in front of us. They would make changes in private and would reveal any changes to discipline as a united front. They were one and we girls knew it.
My girls are blessed to be raised by such a father as well… He is a teaching father too. He works twelve hour swing shifts but just like my father was, if he is not at work providing for his family he is with is family. He doesn’t miss the opportunities to teach his children and to be there as a pillar of support in there lives… I don’t know if they realize that now… but one day they will.
He has been there since their beginning…
He has worked off a twelve hour night shift and instead of heading home for bed he has stood outside in 100 degree southern heat to fix hair before he watches his middle daughter put on an archery show…
and to hold his youngest daughter up high so she can see over the crowd…
or to watch her twirl around in play while she is all dolled up in her ballerina outfit…
He’s been there to teach them how to shoot and how to hunt…
He’s there to celebrate with them in all there accomplishments.
Whether it be a softball tournament…
or to lead his daughter out, looking so very handsome, dressed in his first tux at her Senior Prom…
He is there to provide them instruction and is not afraid to get down on their level, eye to eye, heart to heart, in order to make sure they understand what he is trying to teach them…
and well he’s there to give that “daddy look” when they hit those years when they think know more and better than him…
and he is always a part of their life to offer solid practical advice…
He is there to help them conquer fears and reach new heights and push them and encourage them to accomplish their dreams…
He is a man that does not just provide his children with fish…
but he teaches them how to fish so that they might be able to teach others…
and he is even there to teach them how to cook the fish 🙂
He is a man that is not afraid to be silly with his kids…
and he is a man who takes the opportunity to take hold of their hands and kick off his shows and walk with them a while…
You can tell by the way his girls look at him that he is there hero…
Not only has he been there in these practical ways, but he has been there to take them to church, to encourage them to pray, to support them as they study the Word of God for themselves. He has been there to not just tell them to help others but he has shown them. He doesn’t sugar coat the truth and he doesn’t pretend something is right when he knows it is not. He keeps his word even when its hard and hurts.
So in a day, in a society, in a culture, where fathers are demoralized and made a joke in media, and where so many children live in fatherless homes… I hope and pray my girls always understand how very blessed they are to have this man in their life. I thank God for him.
If you are father and you are reading this… know that every effort matters.
I remember well the lessons I learned with my father. I remember well his words of encouragement. I remember well the things he has taught me. I remember well the things he showed me. He didn’t just tell me how to shoot a basketball, he showed me. He didn’t just tell me to mow the yard, he showed me. He didn’t just tell me how to keep a checkbook, he showed me.
My father didn’t just tell me that he loved me, he showed me.
So I am thankful for godly fathers. Fathers that love their children with a sacrificial love. Fathers that are willing to make a hands on investment in the lives of their children. Fathers that train their children up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord…
So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies.
He who loves his own wife loves himself;
for no one ever hated his own flesh,
but nourishes and cherishes it,
just as Christ also does the church,
Ephesians 5:28-29
Marriages are designed by God to make us better. Husbands are to sacrifice just as Christ for his wife and the wife will respond when she understands his love for her is genuine. The wife is a reflection of her husband’s love for her. (Precepts for Life)
Yesterday was my birthday. My man came home from work with a card and with my favorite candy (Twizzlers) and he sat down in front of me as I read the card and he said, “You have been married to me your entire adult life. You entered this marriage as a mere child.”
I didn’t just enter this marriage as “a mere child”, but also as a damaged girl, a girl who considered herself damaged. I had a wall up around my heart higher and wider than the one that encircled Jericho. I loved my husband, but I know now that for a long time I didn’t really believe that he could love me.
Then on my husband’s side… he also was a man with his own hurts and his own walls.
So you had two people who came together in marriage but we shouted at each other over and through our walls. Walls that we hid behind for our own self-protection. Walls that kept us from truly becoming one with each other in all things. Walls that kept us from really trusting each other to defend and protect and provide and share and rely and unite.
Two years into our marriage I surrendered my life to my Heavenly Bridegroom. As my Jesus sent His Holy Spirit to move in with me and prepare me for my great wedding day to Him, His Spirit began to weaken my Jericho wall.
As my Jesus circled my walled heart in His sovereign silence I watched in wonder. I watched as He marched around and around my walls. I watched in horror and fear. I watched with caution and concern. I watched because at the same time I could not turn away. I watched as terror gripped my throat in my thought of a life without these walls…
I would never be safe…
How badly could I be hurt…
I will be completely destroyed…
I can’t handle anymore plunders…
There were times that I stood at the top of my wall, as my Jesus marched around in silence, that I considered the best option would be to just jump off the top of the wall and be done before the unknown came upon me… but I never could get my feet to leave the safety of my wall. So I paced my wall, and I peered over my wall at the walled city next to me and wondered if my wall fell would that city destroy me. So I paced, and wondered, and feared, and wrung my hands, and watched my Jesus march…
Then one day my Jesus shouted a great shout and my wall shook under my feet. My great Jericho wall crumbled underneath me and I slid with stumbling feet grasping for something to hold onto but my arms just flailed wildly as the broken crumbling wall carried me and slammed me with unmeasurable force into the walled city beside me… my wall had crumbled and my Jesus had just used the destruction of my wall to slam me into the walls of my husband that needed destroyed until I came to a sliding, scratching, skiding halt into the wall of the heart of my man.
It shall besiege you in all your towns
until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted
come down throughout your land…
Deuteronomy 28:52
I feared destruction…
But instead my man lifted me up and set me within the safety of his wall. Inside this wall of my husband I was able to see him in a new light… I was able to get a glimpse, an understanding as to why he had his walls. We now, no longer had to shout at each other over and through our walls… and my husband began to see the things that my walls were hiding from him before.
Its much easier to talk with each other and really get to know one another when you don’t have to shout over walls.
Many times I would begin construction on a new wall inside his walls and many times he would begin to try and rebuild his own torn down walls… but that Jesus of ours would find a way in every time and sabotage every dividing wall and again and again they would crumble down around us.
My Jesus wanted me to know and understand that I was safe within my husbands walls. My husbands walls would protect me and provide for me. My husband had always wanted me in his wall, I just didn’t have the assurance to leave the safety of my own and I believe my husband probably feared that I would destroy his last standing wall instead of resting securely within it.
As I have gone from a “mere child” in this marriage to a maturing woman, I can honestly say that I am better today than I was the day I married my husband. In the same way, I look at my husband and I can honestly say he is a better man today than he was the day I married him. God has used our marriage to make us better.
The hard part of becoming better is that sometimes in order to make something better you have to first tear it down and break it apart. Usually it has to be deconstructed in order to be reconstructed.
Kay Arthur shared in her lesson on Ephesians that “a woman is a responder“… and that is so very true. Love begets love and when a man chooses to love his wife as Christ loved the church, as he chooses to make genuine sacrifices for her, it will eventually show in her response to him. Kay also shared that “when you look at the way a man treats his wife you’re looking at what he thinks of himself if you’re looking at it biblically.”
So wife… how does your husband treat you?
How is knowing that the way he treats you is really how he deep down feels about himself change your response to his treatment? How does it change the way you in turn treat him.
And husband since your wife is a reflection of your treatment and love toward her… take a long look at her… what does her reflection say about the way you are loving her? Do you know that you are supposed to be her savior? Just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her? In manifested and practical and real ways… in deed not just in words.
A couple of weeks ago our youngest daughter and myself were sick. Our daughter came into our room about 1am with a stomach ache and so we both ended up downstairs on the couch during the night… we stayed down stairs so as not to wake my husband who had to be at work at 6am. My husband came in from work that night after a 12 hour shift on the railroad and that night, knowing that our sick daughter wanted to stay close to her mother during the night, he sent us both upstairs to our bed and he slept on the couch. The couch that he openly hates to sleep on because it is a foot shorter than him.
He made this practical sacrifice out of love for me… putting my needs before his.
He at that moment loved me as Christ loved the church… and gave Himself up for her. He didn’t have to stop a speeding a bullet with his teeth to prove his manhood and love for me… he just had to sleep on the couch… and this simple act rocked my world and caused me to love even more.
He couldn’t do these things when I lived behind my own wall trying to protect myself.
I am so glad that my Jesus would not allow me to trust in my walls. I am so thankful that He marched around the walls of my heart and shouted a great shout and sent my walls crumbling around my feet and caused me to crash into the walls of my man…
He needed me and I so needed him.
I need his walls around me and he needs my heart around him…
This marriage thing is designed by God to represent His image to the world, His love to the world, and His love to us… and within this marriage we learn to love as Christ loves. Within this holy covenant… this life commitment… this promise of “I do”… we can mature and become better when we choose to trust the Word of God and put our faith and love into action.
We now work on one wall together, this one wall that protects our city, our marriage.
So we built the wall and the whole wall was joined together…
Nehemiah 4:6
God has laid a proven path out before us in His Word… and when a man and woman come together in marriage with their lives built on the foundation of Christ and both surrender to the destructing and reconstructing hand of the Potter… choosing to obey the Word and walk according to the Spirit… the only walls that will fall will be the ones that separate, not the ones that protect.
And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain,
Today is 12-12-12 and it’s also my 36th birthday… It’s amazing what you can learn in 36 years. I have made a lot of mistakes… I mean a lot. I have said and done things that I wish I would have never done. I have so many things I would go back and change if I could… but I never can. Once a choice is made it is made.
How thankful I am that I am loved by a Redeeming God.
The past can’t be changed.
But the past can be redeemed.
He has redeemed my soul from going to the pit,
And my life shall see the light.
Job 33:28
But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob,
And He who formed you, O Israel,
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name; you are Mine!
Isaiah 43:1
When I think of all He has redeemed me of and from and when I think of the life He has given me… this life He has allowed me… this humble opportunity to attempt to bring Him glory with this crazy red-headed Spirit-filled body of mine that wars with flesh and hormones and emotions but desires with all my heart to walk in obedience to His Word and spread the gospel of Christ and the amazing grace that saved a wretch like me… I can’t help but be filled with praise and thanksgiving and this strange combination of undeserved righteousness and unworthy godliness that brings me to my knees as I think upon my sinful flesh but yanks my head up and lifts my eyes up on the beauty of His cross that causes me to stand to my feet and stand clothed not in shame but in His holiness…
This thing I’ve got going on with my Jesus… it’s amazing.
I know that I will never see another 12/12/12 and I will never turn 36 again… but the truth is I am not promised that I will see the clock strike 12:12 again either. So I must choose to walk as a wise woman, making the most of my time. Living each day like there is no tomorrow… because today I am alive.
Today I have an amazing husband that I grow more in love with each day.
Today I have beautiful daughters that I am so grateful to call mine.
Today I have a family, a huge extended family, that loves the LORD and loves me.
Today I have a church that I am beyond blessed to be allowed to serve.
My girls know today that I love the Lord. They jokingly and lovingly call me a “Jesus freak”. As far as they knew I had always loved God and loved Jesus and loved the church and studied and taught the Word of God… they had never known me not to.
In the back of my mind I have always dreaded the day that my children would learn of who I once was…
However the day I dreaded came.
When riding home with my youngest child one day, just me and her in the car, our conversation turned to my past… I can’t remember how… this happened a couple of months ago… through the conversation my child realized that I was 24 years old before I began to walk with the Lord.
My precious eight year old grabbed my hand and tears began to roll down her face as the thought of all the years I missed with the Jesus that she loves so very much hit her… and even though I did not discuss with her all the many mistakes and horrible choices I made during these Christ-less years she knows enough about the difference of lifestyles between those who love God and those who do not, that instinctively she knew more than I had to tell her…
So as her little heart broke over my sin… my heart broke all over again.
She grabbed my hand and her eyes teared up and I could see her disappointment in me… and I could see her tears begin to fall and she turned her face away from me and to the window… but she never let go of my hand.
I asked her why she was crying… even though I knew… but I knew she needed to tell me. She didn’t want to… I could tell she didn’t want to say anything to hurt me, she said, “It makes me sad that you didn’t know Jesus until you were 24 and I know Him already…“
I then explained to her that I wish I had known Him when I was her age to… but I know Him now… and I have known Him for over ten years now… and I encouraged her to keep walking with Him and to never walk away from Him.
This is why I am so passionate about learning the Word and about sharing the Word and the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Please…
Please…
Please… do not think that the choices you are making today will not affect the hearts of your children tomorrow… even the children you have yet to have. I will never forget the look on her face when the reality of my past disobedience to God hit her… and it wasn’t my sins… it was the loss of the time of the relationship with my Jesus who she knows I so love that her broke her heart… and precious one this is what breaks God’s heart.
It’s not our sins… it’s the fact that our sins separate us from Him.
It’s the separation. The broken relationship that breaks His heart.
He doesn’t want you to lose a moment of fellowship with Him… precious one stop and think about your choices… your walk… and know that someone’s heart is always breaking over your sin.
Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion,
seeking someone to devour.
1 Peter 5:8
Last night I was lying on the couch with my man watching the National Geographic channel… it’s sometime of cat week and my husband explained to me that if you are a man and you are flipping through the channels and see lion chasing down to kill… you just have to stop and see what happens. So therefore he watched and I peeked through my fingers while gagging and “awww-ing”.
There was one part of the show that struck a huge cord of truth.
God is very clear with us that we have an adversary. Our adversary’s name is the devil, the serpent of old, Satan. He comes to kill, steal, and destroy. He comes to lie, deceive, and distort. The sad thing is so many believers are so weak in the Word of God and choose to walk by their own understanding instead of God’s… that that stinking adversary wins many battles… or at the very least manages a many crippling wounds.
As we were watching the lion vs cheetah’s in the below clip, we saw it as the two men were trying to figure out the why’s that the narrator in the clip uses. What the two men saw was four cheetah’s. Three of the cheetah’s were brothers. They had grew up together never separating after they were weaned. These three brothers saw this one female. This one female was in heat… so these three brothers begin the chase after her.
These three brothers are so consumed with fighting over this object of their desire they have no clue that the lion is creeping up on them. All they can see is what they want and they are willing to fight each other to the death until they get it. So the three brothers are fighting over the one female and the female is trying to fight off all three brothers… and they are all consumed with lust and mere survival.
The lion finally rushes in on the fighting four and the three cheetah brothers flee the bush as the lion steps out with the female cheetah between his teeth, crushing her skull.
And here’s the sad part…
The three brothers have just survived a lion attack, but they are so consumed with lust that they are still fighting over the now dead female. The lion is standing there with a dead sister cheetah in his teeth and they continue to fight with each other instead of fleeing the scene.
The lion then rushes them again… and they still FIGHT WITH EACH OTHER!
Finally the lion brings in a reinforcement and they kill another brother cheetah… this one having been wounded by his brother cheetahs in the fight with each other.
Oh precious one do you see the picture?
Our adversary the devil is out…
Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,
and do not give the devil an opportunity.
Ephesians 4:26-27
How many times in the church, I mean the whole church, the body of Christ, and our individual community church… how many times are we so consumed with fighting with each other to get what we want that we are completely oblivious to the creeping roaring attack of Satan. He can come up on us roaring because we are so stinking loud and crazed with having our own way that we are not watching our own backs much less the backs of the brother or sister in Christ we are fighting with…
Flee immorality.
Every other sin that a man commits is outside the body,
but the immoral man sins against his own body.
1 Corin 6:18
How many times have we seen a brother or sister in Christ with their head between the teeth of Satan while he crushes their skull because they were caught in the snare of immorality, sexual sin, whether it be fornication, adultery, homosexuality, pornography… whatever… we see them dead in his teeth. Caught. Destroyed. Damaged. Broken. Yet we stand there and are so consumed with our own lust… with getting the object of our desire… that we don’t flee our own immorality.
Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
1 Corin 10:14
How many times do we see our brothers and sisters crushed under the weight of the world because they chose to put their trust in someone or something besides the One True Living God and instead of running to God ourselves, instead of stopping and examining our lives for idolatry… instead of fleeing we stay in our sin. Choosing to trust in our jobs, our money, our health, our minds. Choosing to worship at the football field, at the Lazyboy, at the Sealy, instead of the altar of our Creator God
But flee from these things, you man of God,
and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love,
perseverance and gentleness.
1 Timothy 6:11
Oh church, beautiful bride of Christ, let us flee these things!
Let us stop fighting with each other and instead stand ready, firm, watchful, keeping vigilant as we prepare to fight the attack of our enemy. Let us be ready to pick up and defend a wounded brother not leave him to be destroyed… and for the love of Christ let us not be the ones who wounded because we were so consumed with our lust and desires that we didn’t care who we hurt in the process. Let us number our days and be mindful that our adversary is out and about seeking whom he may devour.
We are supposed to be fighting FOR each other not WITH each other.
How many attacks of the adversary would never be accomplished if we were not consumed with fighting with each other but with praying for each other?
What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you?
Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?
You lust and do not have; so you commit murder.
You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel.
You do not have because you do not ask.
You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives,
so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?
Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose:
“He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”?
But He gives a greater grace.
Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
Submit therefore to God.
Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
James 4:1-7
The writing and teachings of Nicole Love Halbrooks Vaughn
