Author Archives: Nicole Vaughn

>My Deliverer Is Coming

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“So God heard their groaning;
and God remembered His covenant
with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”  
Exodus 2:24
When we say we remember something, it is usually after having forgotten it first. We can read this verse and possibly get a picture of God up in heaven taking care of business and then looking down upon earth and saying with surprise, “oh my I forgot all about that covenant I made with Abraham, look down there at the mess they are in!”
Friend, God is not a man that He should forget. When God says He remembers, it just simply means that it is now the time to put His Word into action.
In Genesis 15:13-14 before God cut His covenant with Abram, He told Abram that his descendants would be strangers in a foreign land and that they would be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years. God also said that He would judge the nation who had enslaved them, and Abram’s descendants would walk out of that nation with many possessions.
What God says, God accomplishes.
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
And do not return there without watering the earth
And making it bear and sprout,
And furnishing seed to the sower
and bread to the eater;
So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth;
It will not return to Me empty,
Without accomplishing what I desire,
And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.
Isaiah 55:10-11                                      
When God says that He has remembered His covenant with Abraham, He means it is time for His Word to be fulfilled. He means that the enslavement time is accomplished and now it is time for the deliverance. The judgment of the nation is at hand. We have the privilege to be able to look back and see that God does in fact, judge this nation.
We will look at this judgment, this deliverance of Abraham’s descendants, as we walk through Exodus together. My prayer dear friend is that you get a firm grasp on this truth: God doesn’t change. Malachi 3:6 says “For I, the LORD, do not change:…” Hebrews 13:8 says “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
We can trust that if God fulfilled His covenant, His Word to Abraham, He will fulfill His Word to us. God does not pick and choose which promises He is going to keep. His Word is solid and true.
Oh precious one there is another great and mighty judgment to come. A spiritual nation that that has held the people of God in bondage and oppressed them since the beginning. This nation that has at times controlled other nations through “…the world forces of this darkness…” (Ephesians 6:12).
This nation will one day manifest itself on this earth, and quickly after it does, this nation will be destroyed and all who willingly serve in her. In Revelation 18:4-5 the Word declares, “…Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues; for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.”
We are all born into this nation, this domain of darkness. We are natural descendants of her, but glory and praise be to God, in and through Christ, we are rescued from this domain of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of God (Colossians 1:13).
As citizens of heaven and followers of Christ, “Therefore, ‘COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE’, says the Lord…” (2 Corinthians 6:17)
Oh Father,
How thankful I am for Your deliverance. How thankful I am that in a world that is constantly changing You remain the same. How thankful I am that I can take You at Your Word, that I can, with confidence, cling to Your promises.
Oh Father as You made a promise to Abram, that one day his descendants would be free from their enslavement and they would live in the land that You had designated for them, so You too have promised those who are Abraham’s descendants through faith in Christ. We are first delivered from this earthly domain of darkness and one day we will be delivered from this domain of flesh. “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory…” (Philippians 3:20-21).
In 1 John 3:2 I read “…We know that when He appears,we will be like Him…” Oh Father how I long for the day that I will be like Him. Free now from sin’s power, free then from sin’s presence. Yes, that will be a day of great deliverance. Until that day, as I have this hope fixed on Christ, may I purify myself as He is pure (1 John 3:3).
May I come out from this domain of darkness and not live according to this domain of flesh. May I abide in Christ and live according to the Holy Spirit within me so that when He appears I may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame (1 John 2:28).
My Jesus I love You,
It is in Your name I pray,
Amen

Man of My Dreams

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The evidence of a man who loves Jesus is not found in conquering a specific sin struggle, but rather in his endurance in the fight.

Don’t look for the perfectly healed champion.  He’s already waiting for you in Heaven.

Look for they guy who is covered with scars from the fight.  Look for the guy who is bloody and bleeding with this huge grin on his face because he’s confident that the war is already won.  Don’t stare at each other too long.  Link arms or get back-to-back so you can make each other stronger before the next attack.
Then fight your way home to your true Hero.

~ thoughts from fabs

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I read this and I was reminded of a poem I wrote on October 14, 1998. This poem I wrote about my husband when he was still just my boyfriend 🙂

I feel myself falling
I feel myself letting go
I feel myself trusting in a way that I’ve never trusted before
I feel myself loving
I feel it deep in my soul
I feel my heart completed in a way that I’ve never known
I feel strong hands
I feel strong arms
I feel I now have a shoulder I can rely and lean on
I feel complete
I feel whole
I feel I have finally found what I’ve always searched for.

When I penned this little poem as a head-over-heels-in-love young girl I thought I knew what love was… but in truth… I had a lot to learn… and my God has been faithful to teach me. 

I can truly say that I still feel this same way about my husband today. However there have been moments when I have not always felt that way. Our marriage has been a roller coaster ride… but we were both thrill seekers when we met and I guess we just carried that adrenaline junkie mess right into our marriage somehow.  

We didn’t start out as friends either… we just… well started out. So it has taken a while to build the friendship area of our marriage… because I didn’t really make friends easy… I could make acquaintances all day but friends, that was a different story. Really letting someone in is scary.So our marriage has been a roller coaster ride of emotion at times… something I have chosen to call passion. My husband thinks that is quite funny. So he says that from now on whenever we have a “heated discussion” he is just going to look at me and say “it’s passion, baby” and well who could keep a straight face at that? I believe love comes with passion.

Not the Hollywood movie rated X (or pg-13 theses days) passion… but the suffering of Christ passion.
Love is about sacrifice… and suffering… and salvation.

My husband was used by God to bring me unto salvation. I have no doubt about that. Had I not have met this man and been swept off my feet by him… I cannot even imagine the depths of depravity I might have entered into. I was wide open to Satan himself because I was convinced God would never want me again.

One of my God’s steps in opening my eyes to His love for me was sending me this man.At the same time, had this man managed to be able to meet all my needs, and comfort me at all times, and never leave in me want, hungering from something deeper, and even more real… well I don’t think I would have responded to the calling of my Savior. I would have been comfortable in my temporary pleasures.As I was wrapped up in this man’s arms and resting in his strength and warmth about me last night, he had work early the next morning and was heading to bed early, and I still had rippin’ and rompin’ kids to get settled and in bed, but he said, “You know we had to be meant for each other because I still am not tired of holding you, You know sometimes you just get tired of being around people when you have been around them alot, but I am not tired of you.”

Yes, I still love this man.
No, life has not been perfect… but it’s been “passion” packed 🙂

When I look at him and think about our marriage I sit at the feet of my Christ in an utter amazement at the beauty He was able to make out of the mess of us.

Two messed up souls… doing things all wrong… but some how God’s grace poured out on us and His divine intervention came down in floods of mercy and we are choosing to trust Christ to keep it all running somehow.

We are far from perfect.
Our marriage is far from perfect.
But it truly gets sweeter and sweeter with each leap of faith of saying “I do” again one more day…

We do life together.
For better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health…
We both carry our battle scars but we both have chosen to stay and stand and fight.
Remembering that we battle not against flesh and blood but against spiritual forces of darkness.

This is my man.
The man of my dreams.
And each day He becomes more and more what I was always searching for because with each day he becomes more and more like my Jesus.

>Let the Fruit Be the Proof

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“Now it came about in those days,
when Moses had grown up,
that he went out to his brethren
and looked on their hard labors;
and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew,
one of his brethren.” 
Exodus 2:11
In most of the storybook versions of Moses we are given the impression that Moses had no idea he was a Hebrew until much later in his life. Scripture, however seems to point to the fact that he always knew he was Hebrew.
In Exodus 2:7-10 we read that it was Jochebed who was hired by the Pharoah’s daughter to nurse Moses until he was of age to be weaned. In this day a child was not weaned until around the age of two or three. Anyone who has, or has just been around, a child at this age knows their amazing intelligence level. I have to believe that as Jochebed, this mother whose name meant Jehovah-glorified, nursed her son, she must have been whispering the promises of God to him.
I imagine she rocked him and told him of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. I imagine she told him of Joseph and how he saved the world from famine because he trusted in Jehovah. I imagine that she told him about the covenant. I imagine she told him about circumcision, the seal and sign of that covenant. I bet she talked of the flaming torch and the smoking oven that passed between the pieces. I am sure she shared with Moses how Abraham took Isaac up to Mt Moriah and how God provided. I know she must have spoke of the day that Jacob became Israel.
So I believe that even if his heritage was never spoken of again once he was weaned and became the Pharoah’s daughter’s son, in his heart these truths remained.                                                               
Now we learn from Acts 7:23 that Moses was approaching the age of forty when it entered his heart to visit his brethren. Forty years is a long time to watch your people suffer. We learn in the book of Hebrews that this must have been the time when Moses finally understood that he needed to do something. 
By faith Moses, when he had grown up,
refused to be called the son of Pharoah’s daughter,
choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God
than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin,
considering the reproach of Christ
greater riches than the treasures of Egypt;
for he was looking to the reward.           
Hebrews 12:24-26
Moses had watched his people endure much suffering and when he witnessed up close and personal the abuse of one of his brethren he took matters in his own hands and killed the Egyptian. Moses appeared to think that his people would rejoice at what he had done, but they did not. They were not impressed by this man who had spent his life in the palace while they where slaves. “…Who made you a prince or a judge over us?…” (Exodus 2:14)
Little did this man who made this statement in Exodus 2:14 know that God Himself had made this man judge over him, and the entire nation of Israel. Jesus said in Luke 4:24 “…no prophet is welcome in his hometown.” Moses is just one of the examples of the truth of this statement.
Perhaps you have experienced it yourself. Perhaps the glorious truths of faith in Christ were taught to you when you were young and as you grew you were taken from these truths and consumed with other things. Perhaps the people around saw the way you lived just like them and they mock you when you come and share with them about the gospel of God.
Perhaps you lived many years in disobedience and rebellion to the God of your youth, and then one day God called you to salvation, to receive these truths by faith. He didn’t just call you to come home, but he called you to go out, to preach, to teach, to reach those who needed God’s salvation in Christ. Where do you first desire to go? Who does your heart first burn for to share eternity with?
Most likely you started with those closest to you, your parents, your children, your brothers and sisters. Maybe you felt like Moses. Maybe you have heard theses very words, “who made you a prince or judge over us?” come from the mouths of your brethren. Maybe your earthly father mocks you. Maybe your brothers and sisters get angry with you. Maybe your children refuse to listen now because they lived years under you in your unredeemed state and they bare the scars…  
Oh precious one, don’t give up. Walk in obedience to the calling of God. Remember those who walked before you, and walk on. Endure the mockings. Persevere through the anger. Show mercy, be quick to forgive, and speak always with grace. Let them see the fruit that proves that you are indeed new in Him.
Don’t try to take matters in your hand as Moses did. God will never bring deliverance or salvation through the works of our flesh, but only through the power of His might. It is His life and death that changes people, our life and death are just the evidence before men that it’s true. Don’t tamper with the evidence. Don’t let it be destroyed or discredited. Evidence is there to prove the truth, we never need to prove the evidence. We just simply let the evidence speak for itself.

Oh Father,
Help me to never give up. Help me Father to not turn and run when You have called me to stay, but also Father help me to be obedient when You have said it is time to step away. Let me remember that “The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome,…” (2 Timothy 2:24). Yet also let me remember that You have not given me a spirit of timidity, but one of power, love, and discipline (2 Timothy 1:7). Help me to act in wisdom and not according to my emotions. Let me not allow the enemy of my soul to heap condemnation on me because of a rebellious past, but let me return this condemnation with the memory of my wondrous justification by faith in Christ. Let me remember and boldly share how I am a new creation in Christ Jesus, that I am born again, that I am being conformed to the image of my Savior. May I, for the glory of Christ and for the hope set before me, press on. May I press on through hurtful words, through difficult people and circumstances, through the stand of Satan himself, might I press on to the victory in Christ Jesus my Lord.
My Jesus, it’s in Your name I pray,
Amen

Names of God – Jehovah-rapha

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It’s time for another post in the Names of God series. We have done a little study on the names Elohim, El Elyon, El Roi, El Shaddai, El Olam, Adonia, Jehovah, and Jehovah-jireh. And now we move onto a new name… Jehovah-rapha.

We are introduced to this name of God and discover its meaning in the book Exodus. To set our context the children of Israel have just been set free from Pharoah’s hold by the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob… and the God of Moses. We are introduced to this name, this attribute of God right after they have crossed the Red Sea.

Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea,
and they went out into the wilderness of Shur;
 and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. 
When they came to Marah,
they could not drink the waters of Marah,
for they were bitter; therefore it was named Marah. 
So the people grumbled at Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” 
Then he cried out to the LORD,
and the LORD showed him a tree;
and he threw it into the waters, and the waters became sweet.
   There He made for them a statute and regulation,
and there He tested them. 
And He said,
“If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the LORD your God,
and do what is right in His sight,
and give ear to His commandments,
and keep all His statutes,
I will put none of the diseases on you
which I have put on the Egyptians;
for I, the LORD, am your healer.”
Exodus 15:22-26

Here God let the children of Israel know that “for I, the LORD, am your healer” or for I am Jehovah-rapha. He wanted them, and us, to know that He is the God who heals.

Now lets go back a little further and look at our context a little more.

The LORD was going before them
in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way,
and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light,
that they might travel by day and by night. 
He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day,
nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.
Exodus 13:21-22

Here in this passage we discover that God himself was leading them. He led them in the day and He led them in the night. Never at any time did He remove the pillar of His leadership. If that is true then what also must be true?

Do you think that God just led the thirsty children of Israel to a spring that He thought would be good for drinking and then got there and was shocked that it was bitter and had to figure out what to do next to appease a bunch of grumbling and complaining kids?

Nope. God is God. Remember?

Therefore, He had to have led them to these bitter waters on purpose for a purpose.

He had a lesson to teach them. It was test time.

This is true with us as well. Sometimes God leads us to bitter waters. We may not like it, but it is true. But if we will submit to His will and trust Him in surrendered obedience, He will indeed make those bitter waters sweet.

Our God is Jehovah-rapha.

He is Healer.

Our God heals.

He heals our land.

and My people who are called by My name
humble themselves and pray and seek My face
and turn from their wicked ways,
then I will hear from heaven,
will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14

He heals our sin.

and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross,
so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; f
or by His wounds you were healed. 
For you were continually straying like sheep,
but now you have returned to the Shepherd
and Guardian of your souls.
2 Peter 2:24-25

He heals our broken heart.

He heals the brokenhearted
And binds up their wounds.
Psalm 147:3

He heals our diseases.

Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And forget none of His benefits;
Who pardons all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases;
Psalm 103:2-3

As we look at God’s introduction to this name Jehovah-rapha we must take note of the instructions that came before He shared this name. We must remember the “if“

“If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the LORD your God,
and do what is right in His sight,
and give ear to His commandments,
and keep all His statutes,…

There was a prerequisite for experiencing God as Jehovah-rapha… and was obedience and submission to Him. That obedience includes confession of disobedience and repentance when God makes it known to us.

 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.
Psalm 139:23-24

Many times before God will heal us we need to first take care of our sin. Sometimes that sin is simply to obey Him in His simple request to trust Him. Jesus commanded us not to worry. He beckons us to cast our burdens on Him. When we choose not to… we have stress. It is a proven medical fact that stress kills. Stress leads to depression. It leads to obesity. It leads to blood-pressure issues. It leads to countless other ailments. God would heal us of all these if we would trust Him with our problems and our anxieties and our regrets and our fears and our failures. If we would simply obey Him and surrender our will to His will.

God commands us to share our problems, our sin, with others. Holding onto unconfessed sins and unforgiveness can make us sick. Holding onto our struggles because we fear the shame of them being exposed can easily lead to death. God tells us to find someone, a fellow believer, to share these things with. we must expose the things hiding in the dark so that the Light of Christ can shine on them. A germ likes to grow in the dark, so does mold, all things that kill, steal, and destroy like the darkness. They like to hide. Let us bring them to the Light.

Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray.
Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises. 
Is anyone among you sick?
Then he must call for the elders of the church
and they are to pray over him,
anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; 
and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick,
and the Lord will raise him up,
and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. 
Therefore, confess your sins to one another,
and pray for one another so that you may be healed.
The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.
James 5:13-16

However, not all sickness is due to a personal sin. Jesus makes that very clear in His Word.

As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. 
And His disciples asked Him,
“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents,
that he would be born blind?” 
Jesus answered,
“It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents;
but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.
John 9:1-3

I must share that the day that I shared about this beautiful name of God in our co-op chapel time I was sick. I mean flat-out could lose my pop-tart any minute sick. However the Lord sustained me through the chapel time and through my zoology class and through one daughter’s piano lessons and another daughter’s violin lessons and I didn’t lose my pop-tart until safe at home in the sanctuary of my own bathroom. So I am thankful that as I studied this name of God I was able to rest in the truth that not all sickness is due to personal sin… but in all honesty Psalm 139:23-24  is where I began my evaluation when I realized sickness had hit me.

If it was an attempt to get my attention to fix a division between me and my God then I wanted to seek that out. I want to know every wicked way that there is within me so that I can confess it before my God and lay it at the foot of my Saviors cross. I want to live a life of repentance not a life of regrets.

When God brings me to bitter waters and I am thirsty… I pray that instead of grumbling and complaining I will look at those bitter waters and ask my God what He is wanting to teach me. What lesson do I need to learn? How, my God, will you make these bitter waters sweet? I pray that I will look for the tree…  and always remember that my God is Jehovah-rapha, my God is Healer.

Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed;
Save me and I will be saved,
For You are my praise.
Jeremiah 17:14

>Waiting Room Thoughts

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>I am sitting here in the surgery waiting room as my sister is back in surgery having the steel plate removed from her leg and as many screws from her knee that the doctor can safely remove. I spent a lot of time here a little over a year ago. On the way here I was listening to Way-FM and they were doing a listener call in to the question “What was the worst day of your life? How did God get you through it? Did good end up coming from it?”

As I answered the question to myself on this drive to the hospital… my mind went to this first trip that I made to this hospital to get to my sister. I have had more “worst days” that God has seen me through, but today my mind took me to this one.

This was the worst day because it was the first time that I was faced with asking God whether or not I could ask for a loved one’s life to be spared. Every other time before, I just simply selfishly asked for the life to be spared… 

This is the car that my sister’s life was spared from. This is the death that our God delivered her from. Every bone in her body was broken… except her skull. Her brain and all internal organs with the exception of her lungs were safe. Both her lungs were punctured. However the One who breathed life into her in the beginning continued to breathe life into her despite punctured lungs.
You can read her journey here: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/tracysmith3
If you have a loved one fighting a medical condition Caring Bridge is wonderful site to keep loved ones updated and it was a great strength to my sister to be able to read the prayers that were covering her during her trial.
What I know is that God sustained my sister during this trial and He sustained our entire family and yes He received glory from this worst day.  
Take courage our Jesus has overcome the world! 

>Choose Life

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“…And she named him Moses, and said, ‘Because I drew him out of the water.'”
Exodus 2:10                                                                               
 
Moses, his name in Hebrew is Mosheh, which means rescued. It comes from mashas which means to pull out or draw out. In Exodus 2:10 we read that the Pharoah’s daughter named him Moses because she drew him out of the water, but precious one, God named him Moses for a much bigger reason.
 
This Moses who the Pharoah’s daughter rescued from the reeds of the Nile, God will one day use to rescue an entire nation by pulling them through the divided waters of the Red Sea. Are we not grateful that the mother of Moses chose to trust God.
 
The mother of Moses, Jochebed, was a woman of great faith. In Hebrew Jochebed means Jehovah-glorified. This was a woman who knew that a child was a gift from God. “Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward.” (Psalm 127)
 
Jochebed was a woman, who even though a death sentence had been placed over her son, she chose to hide and protect her son. This was a woman who did not fear the words of man, but trusted in her sovereign God. This was a woman who instead of allowing her son to be killed, she chose to allow another woman to raise him as her own.
 
When Jochebed looked into the eyes of her newborn son she did not see the burden of sleepless nights, she did not see the fear of society coming to kill him, she saw that he was beautiful. She looked into her baby’s eyes and she saw a hope. She saw a child that had a future and she did all that she could to give him life so that he might walk in that future and in that hope. She sacrificed her own heart, that he might live.
 
Yes, Jochebed also was rightly named as she glorified her Jehovah with her choice for life. How we need more Jochebeds in our world today. How we too need more Pharoah’s daughters. This daughter of Pharoah took a known Hebrew child into her arms to love and raise. A Hebrew child that her father, the ruler of all Egypt wanted dead. This woman stood up against her family and her society, to rescue a three month old child.
 
Oh where are the daughters of Pharoah today?
Where are the Jochebeds?
Where are the women who are ready to take a stand for life?
 
During the days of Hitler, their where many women who took this stand, some very young girls. I was a told of a young girl, unwed, who in the 1940’s bore the shame of an illegitimate child to be able to claim a Jewish baby as her own in order to save his life.
 
Where are these women today when the abortion clinic doors stand wide like an open grave calling out for death to enter? Where are the women who look into the eyes of a child and see a beautiful future and hope, not just for themselves, but for a family, a community, a nation, even the world? Where are the women who will look into an other’s eyes and share the beautiful possibilities of the glorious hope that is found in Jesus Christ?
 
Oh precious one, will you be that woman?
 
 
Oh Father,
 
Forgive me for my complacency. Oh Father, how I desire to be one who glorifies Your name. How I desire to be someone who stands for life. My Father in heaven, show me how to stand not just for this life but to stand for the eternal life that is found only in Christ. Teach me how to be one who draws the sentenced to death out of the Nile of the world. “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death” (Romans 8:2) Oh Father I know the One who is able to set free from the body of this death (Romans 6:4). Help me to go out and, in the confidence that is mine in Christ, share without shame the ministry of life. Let me not miss an opportunity to share the hope that is within me (1 Peter 3:15).
 
My Jesus it is in Your name I pray,
Amen

>Will the True Church Please Stand Up

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“But the midwives feared God,”
Exodus 1:17
 
Psalm 111:10 tells us that “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments;…” How much damage has been done by those who feared man more than they feared God? 
 
In my travel with the March of Remembrance and Hope I was reminded of what atrocities can occur when mere men cause us to tremble. Hitler rose to power and men feared him. I sat in a room filled with every race, every religion, and listened while this woman shared her experience and studies of the “church” during the Holocaust. In my stomach grew a knot and anger rose up within me as this woman shared the truths of the lack of action of the “church” as a whole.
 
My anger came from the fact that this woman had lumped the “church” all in one. These men ,who by the world were considered the church because of there position, misrepresented the kingdom of God. Thus the reason for my quotation marks. The true church is not a building, it is Holy Spirit filled believers.
 
In Romans 6:6 we are told that in Christ we are freed from sin’s power, these men were not free. In 2 Timothy 1:7 we are told that God has not given His children a spirit of timidity, but one of power. These men did not walk in the power of God. There is a difference between those who profess Christ and those who possess Christ.
 
Oh precious one if sin still controls you, check yourself. Make sure that you are indeed in the faith. The leaders of this “church” coward in thier fear. In this fear they allowed Hitler to do horrible things. Not just in his close knit circle, but throughout the nation of Germany and throughout the world. They turned their backs and a blind eye to his hate in order to protect themselves. Evil men rise to power and rule because good men stay silent.
 
In Acts 5:27-32 Peter and the apostles have just been set free from jail by an angel of the Lord. They were in prison because they shared the testimony of Christ. When they are freed they go right back to preaching Christ. The Jewish Council rises against them again but Peter and the apostles do not tremble before them. They simply answer, “…We must obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29)
 
Jesus Himself said, “I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:4-5)
 
Oh precious one these mid-wives stood against the most powerful man in the world, they stood against Satan himself. This slaughter of the Hebrew boys was not just a Pharoah’s idea to protect his power, it was instigated by the enemy of the people of God, Satan himself, as only one of his many attempts to destroy the promised seed of Genesis 3:15.
 
My friend, if the day comes where you are in such a predicament, will you be one who cowars before men or will you be like these mid-wives, like the apostles, and stand and obey your God?
 
Oh Father,
 
May I be as strong as these mid-wives. May I be as strong as those who in the days of the Holocaust did not bow to Hitler, but worked against his evil to protect others, not themselves. In these last days, may I share “…the whole message of this Life.” (Acts 5:20) with boldness. Oh Father might I work out my salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12), before You and You alone. Give me strength my God and confidence to stand against all evil, knowing that if You are with me who could be against me (Romans 8:31). May I say with assurance the words of David, “…What can mere men do to me.” (Psalm 56:4)
 
My Jesus, it is in Your name I pray,
Amen
 

>Instruments of Your Grace

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>Revive us O Lord…
Wake us up from our slumber.
Let us not be content in our comfort.
Nor be consumed with the pleasures of this world.
Let us spend less on entertainment and more on eternal attainment.
Let us see past our own noses into the depth of the eyes of others… Let us be willing to step into their hurts and see past their defences and introduce them to Jehovah-rapha, the LORD our Healer…  Let us be willing to stop and listen… Let us be purposeful to smile through even our own pain and bad days and not take our own frustrations out on others…
Let us, O LORD, be instruments of Your grace.

Revive us O Lord.
Teach us in Your ways.
Let us not continue to wander in our wilderness…
Nor grumble and complain.
Let us be renewed in our commitments and focused on Your face.
Let us see past our own selfish desires and submit our hearts unto Your lead… Let us be willing to die to ourselves and take up our own cross.
Let us follow You alone and not the ideas and philosophies and traditions of man… Let us be reminded of our blessing of the forgiveness of our sin and let us be willing to forgive as we have been forgiven…
Let us, O LORD, be instruments of Your grace

Revive us O Lord…
Let us, O LORD, be instruments of Your grace

>Affluence vs Affliction

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>

“But the more they afflicted them,
the more they multiplied
 and the more they spread out,”
Exodus 1:12
 
There is this amazing thing about the people of God, we grow in and through persecution. We may not like to admit it, we may not enjoy being in the midst of it, yet when we look back we cannot deny it.
 
Acts 8:1-8 tells us of the beginning of a great persecution against the church. This persecution began with the intentions of destroying and ending the message of the church, which was and is the gospel of God, salvation by faith in Jesus Christ. Once again the words of Joseph should ring in our ears, “you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good…”(Genesis 50:20).
 
This new king who arose in Egypt persecuted the children of Israel in hope of destroying them, overpowering them, controlling them, but the more he afflicted them the more God blessed them. This truth is just not for us as a whole, but it also pertains to each of us individually. The old saying that “it is in the valley that we grow”
 
When do you spend the most time in prayer? Is it when life is good or is it when life is not so good? I think quite possibly Satan might have finally figured something out here in these last days. After all these years of trying to destroy the gospel of God and those who carry and spread the Way of salvation through persecution I think quite possibly the serpent of old has realized that affluence works much better than affliction.
 
I think he has realized if he can keep us appeased and happy, enraptured with the pleasures of the flesh, not wanting for any necessity of life, surrounded with comfort and entertainment, then he can control us.
 
I believe he finally has figured out that pain just causes us to look up and out for our one, true, living God, but it is pleasure that keeps us focused on ourselves and leaves us desiring to be our own god. Can you see this being played out in our world today? Can you see it being played out in your own heart? Oh precious one do not be deceived!
 
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.
 2 Timothy 3:1-4
 
Oh Father,
 
Help me to not fall prey to the enemy’s schemes. Oh Father keep my eyes opened and my ears attentive to Your Holy Spirit. Help me oh God to pay close attention to You and Your Word. My Jesus help me to keep my eyes focused on You and the glory of Your kingdom. Let me not get caught up in the pleasures of this world. Forgive me, my God, for when I have lost focus and gotten caught up in building my own kingdom instead of Yours. Help me to lay aside every encumbrance and sin that so easily entangles me (Hebrews 12:1). Oh Father, might my heart see affluence as affliction and may the disease of apathy stay far from me. Oh Father, help me to remember that I lay not my treasures up on this earth where moth and rust destroy but my treasure is You. My treasure is Jesus Christ. My treasure is the crown that I will lay at my Saviors feet when face to face we finally meet!
 
My Jesus it is in Your name I pray,
Amen
 

>Fast Accountability (2)

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>It is 7:40pm and I have been successful in my fast today as in the not caving part… However, I still ponder the point of the fast… and why God has called me to it.

I am at the point now where I am having to fight little irritations that normally would not bother me. In all honesty I know I am far from starving. But at the same time I know that I could easily open the refrigerator door and consume every leftover that I know is in there.

So it seems that what God is teaching me is self-control and patience. Sometimes and opportunity is right there, easy and ready for the taking. But maybe I shouldn’t dive into old leftovers when quite possibly my God has something new and fresh for me if I will just be patient and wait on Him. Maybe what God is teaching me with this fast is the crucifixion of my flesh. Maybe He is simply strengthening me in my prayer to be kind and to love and to respond with grace. I still am not sure if the fast is over… or if it continues into tomorrow… my God will let me know.

I still am searching and seeking His face as I wait on answers to questions that have entered my head and heart during this day of fasting. Questions that pertain to future opportunities and directions of ministry. Life is about to kick back into full gear and the full gear comes with new studies, new speaking engagements, and new ministry opportunities. It comes with decisions regarding our home and family. I must trust God to open doors and close them and not barge through demanding my way… when it might not be His plan at all. 

I have stopped to write this post and my girls have interrupted me at least three times each… once to describe the jelly on their sandwhich, once to ask me if I knew that their pj’s were fireproof, once to ask if I would play a game, and etc… so I am saying goodnight to the blog and am heading into the living room to participate in a hardcore game of Phase 10 played our way before I send my youngens off to bed and then pour my eyes over and over the wisdom of the Word of my God.