Proven Path Ministries

Let Your Light Shine

Well… here we go… the election is over.

Now what?

I tell you the truth I woke up this morning with mixed emotions… in one moment I thought vindictively… in another moment I thought downtroddenly… in another moment I thought expectantly… in other I thought hopefully… but at the end of it all I thought on God’s sovereignty.

I close my eyes and I see the 2012 election map I see that the heart of our nation is red…

 

The heart of our nation still stands on morality and the value of life and the fear of God. The blue is all on the surrounding outside… I look at this picture and I can’t help but see it as a reflection of the majority of the hearts of the American Church.

 So circumcise your heart, and stiffen your neck no longer.

Deuteronomy 10:16

Circumcise yourselves to the LORD

And remove the foreskins of your heart,

Men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,

Or else My wrath will go forth like fire

And burn with none to quench it,

Because of the evil of your deeds.

Jeremiah 4:4

 

I wonder how many of us really humbled ourselves and sought forgiveness of our sins and turned our face toward heaven? How many of us are really willing to circumcise our hearts.

As we look at these blue states what do we see…  We see California represented by Hollywood. We see Nevada represented by “Sin City”. We see New York represented by Wall Street and Letterman and Broadway. We see Massachusetts represented by  the promotion of Homosexual Marriage. We see Washington DC represented by the fight to keep abortion legal and profitable. We see Connecticut represented by “Higher Education” that is dead set on abolishing all acknowledgment of God in American education.

So now I wonder as an American Christian… how many of these above do we support through our own life choices?

How many of us need to circumcise our heart?

What would happen if the American Christian stopped going to the movies, cancelled all their HBO, Cinemax  Showtime package, stopped watching Letterman, stopped going to Vegas, pulled all their money out of the stock market and put it in the lives of the people of their community, pulled all their children out of the public school system and placed them in private Christian schools, and stopped using birth control in order to birth and raise up more God fearing children in our nation?

I have to say that like Matt I also am excited… in a weird kind of way.

I wonder what God is up to… because I know He is always up to something.

Today I know that no matter what the future of America might be I will keep teaching the Word and going out and making as many disciples as Christ allows me to make. And if one day this nation tries to shut me up and stop me from preaching the gospel then I will rejoice for the privilege to suffer for His sake because just like Matt said, light shines its brightest in the darkness.

 

They took his advice; and after calling the apostles in, they flogged them

and ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus,

and then released them. 

So they went on their way from the presence of the Council,

rejoicing that they had been considered worthy

to suffer shame for His name. 

And every day, in the temple and from house to house,

they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.

Acts 5:40-42

 

Proven Path Ministries

Thankful For A Preparing Pastor

I had truly planned on a November Thankful Blogfest. I was going to post everyday about something I was thankful for… and well, I haven’t even made the thankful fb post or tweet, so ummm nope, the November Thankful Blogfest is not gonna happen. Instead it shall be the November Thankful WhenIgetachancefest.

So today I am thankful for Pastors who prepare.

Sometimes you just don’t realize how blessed you are until you experience something outside of what you have been spoiled with.

I once saw a pastor of a very large church be invited to come and preach as a guest at another very large church… This pastor proudly took his place at the podium and laughingly announced to the congregation how his wife had asked him if he knew what he was going to “preach” on earlier in the week and he said, “No.” Then he laughed even more as he shared how in the car on the way there she asked again, and again he said, “No.”

I was shocked as I listened to the congregation laugh at this… I was appalled. How could a man know that he was going to stand accountable before God for the words that would come out of his mouth and into the ears and souls of the hundreds that sat before him and not be prepared? I knew at that moment that the Word of God would only be “referred to” in this “message” it would not be taught… and I was right.

I have a pet peeve with pastors that tell you to open up your Bibles to a certain passage and then they talk for an hour and never even read the passage of Scripture they asked you to turn to.

So today I am thankful for preparing pastors. I am thankful for men of God who stand behind a pulpit or before a group of gathered souls and have actually considered their eternity and the opportunity sacred and important enough to actually prepare and share the Word of God.

I am not saying this pastor above didn’t share a great story, a good life lesson, but great stories don’t lead one to salvation… the gospel does. Good life lessons don’t lead to repentance, the Scriptures do.

It’s the Word of God that is the double-edged sword that divides the soul and spirit.

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Hebrews 4:12

I am thankful that I sit under a preparing pastor. He doesn’t throw a sermon together five minutes before he steps on the stage… he studies the Word and he teaches the Word. He says “would you open God’s precious and holy Word” and then, when you open it… he reads it and he teaches it. He knows that his own words do not have life… but God’s do.

Names of God Series, Proven Path Ministries

Names of God: Artos

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The last name of Christ we looked at in our names of God study was Aletheia and today we are going to be introduced to our Savior through His name Artos.

Artos is the Greek word for Bread. It means, food composed of flour mixed with water and baked. The Israelites made it in the form of an oblong or round cake, as thick as one’s thumb, and as large as a plate or platter hence it was not to be cut but broken. Loaves were consecrated to the Lord and it also speaks of the bread used at the love-feasts and at the Lord’s Table. It can also mean food of any kind.

We have this name of our Savior revealed to us in John 6. This chapter begins with the miracle of Jesus feeding a multitude with the five barley loaves and two fish of one young boy. Jesus gave them bread to fill their bellies and a miracle to fill their eyes… but what He desired was to fill their souls with eternal life.

Jesus saw that the people where not responding to the miracle of the bread in the spirit… they were all flesh. They wanted more bread and they wanted this Jesus to be King over them now… I mean really a man who could feed the nation with the breaking of a few loaves of bread. So Jesus retreated to the mountains alone. He was not after an earthly political kingdom… His kingdom was not of this world.

The very next day the crowd returned to get more free food from Jesus. Where there is free food the people will come. That has never changed. The crowd discovers that He is not where He was… (God rarely lingers in the past, He is a moving forward kinda God)… and well they chase Him down in Capernaum.

When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, “Rabbi, when did You get here?” Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not work for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you, for on Him the Father, God, has set His seal.” Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?” (John 6:26-28)

Oh this, is so funny to me… can you see it…

Have you ever had a child (or even an adult) who was wanting something, a toy, a happy meal, to go somewhere… and they knew the people who could make it happen… like Grandmothers and Papaws… and they walk in the door and they see them and it’s like “Hey, when did you get here?” And you know that tone, you know that this child has just seen the ones who can get them exactly what they want…

Here is the crowd… Hey, Jesus, when did you get here? Ummm hello. They were searching Him out, but they speak to Him as though they had been there all along and Jesus just showed up. And you know what they are thinking is, Dude we’re hungry and we know you can like break bread like crazy! And well we want you to show us how to do cool stuff like that!

Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” So they said to Him, “What then do You do for a sign, so that we may see, and believe You? What work do You perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’” John 6:29-31

Really? The crowd had just searched Him out and followed Him across the river to another town because they knew about the miracle of the bread and the multitude and then they come and have the audacity to ask Jesus to show them a sign… to prove Himself to them… when my guess is that it really had nothing to do with Jesus proving Himself, they just wanted to try and manipulate Him into some more free bread. Our God just does not fall for the tricks of man…

Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, 

it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven,

but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven.

John 6:32

Jesus takes this opportunity to remind these people that Moses was not the one who gave the bread in the wilderness God was… and He is letting them know that He is not just a prophet… He is not just a man doing works for God. He is God.

For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven,

and gives life to the world.

John 6:33

The bread of God is that which comes down out heaven… which means its origin, its home, is not of this earth. That which is of this earth can never give life because this earth is dying, only that which is of God has life and can give life. Only that which is of God can truly satisfy.

Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life;

he who comes to Me will not hunger,
John 6:35

Jesus looks at the crowd and he looks at us and He says I am the Bread of Life. I am the Artos.

You know we live in a day we are surrounded by fakeness. We have fake hair, fake faces, fake clothes, fake boobs, and we have fake food.

You know I can be hungry. And I grab me a handful of the skittles pictured above and it will stop my stomach from growling. I can taste the rainbow and get filled up on the fruity flavors, but how beneficial is this handful of skittles to the health and life of my body? If this was all I ate, what quality of life would I have?

If I take these handful of skittles and plant them in the earth can I come back weeks later and see a new birth of skittles springing forth?

No, I can’t. I can’t because skittles are dead. They are fake food. This food is man-made. It is not God-made. God-made food is made with life. It is made with seed. it is made to produce life after itself. If we eat living food… we receive life.

Not only do we have fake food… but we have fake gods.

Jesus, however, is not a fake. He is the Living God. If we eat of Him we will have life because He is life. He is the Bread of Life.

Now lets look at the process of bread becoming bread…

Bread begins here. It grows up from seeds planted.

And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel.

Genesis 3:15

Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed.

He does not say, “And to seeds,”

as referring to many, but rather to one,

“And to your seed,” that is, Christ.

Galatians 3:16

Then that wheat is cut down.

Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing

Daniel 9:26

 Then that wheat is beat…

 

 

and threshed and slung…

 

and beat and beat and beat.

The wheat goes through all this in order that from it we might receive life.

 

But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him

Isaiah 53:5

After the wheat is cut down, threshed, and beat it is ground

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the Praetorium

and gathered the whole Roman cohort around Him.  

They stripped Him and put a scarlet robe on Him. 

And after twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on His head,

and a reed in His right hand; and they knelt down before Him

and mocked Him,

saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” 

They spat on Him,

and took the reed and began to beat Him on the head. 

After they had mocked Him,

they took the scarlet robe off Him and put His own garments back on Him,

and led Him away to crucify Him.

Matthew 27:27-31

…and then the broken, beat, threshed, ground wheat is mixed with a liquid and its placed in an oven… shut up in a hot tomb to wait until it’s ready.

When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph,

who himself had also become a disciple of Jesus. 

This man went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus.

Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. 

And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, 

and laid it in his own new tomb,

which he had hewn out in the rock;

and he rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb and went away.

Matthew 27:57-60

Then the bread comes out of the oven and it comes ready to give life to all who will eat of it.

I am the bread of life.

Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.

This is the bread which comes down out of heaven,

so that one may eat of it and not die.

I am the living bread that came down out of heaven;

if anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever;

and the bread also which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh.”
John 6:48-51

 

So when Jesus says that He is the Bread of Life.

He is the Artos.

He gives life because He is Life.

 

 

 

Proven Path Ministries

Cut

 

The other day I jumped in the shower to get the grime of life scrubbed off of me and to just be physically refreshed and revived by the cleansing spray of the hot water (I never cease to give got thanks for the hot showers I am blessed to receive, there are so many in this world who never receive such a luxury) and if I shower I shave…

I needed a fresh razor so I grabbed one out of the box and stepped into the steam of the shower.

As I began to shave the razor cut me (note to the women, if the razor cuts you on its first shave, trash it immediately, it will only get worse if you don’t).

So the razor cuts through my flesh with a sting and then the blood begins to pour out of the wound and mix with the water and run down my leg. I saw the blood and water flowing and immediately my heart went to the cross…

But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, 

and immediately blood and water came out.

John 19:34

Then within that very moment my heart went to…

And according to the Law, one may almost say,

all things are cleansed with blood,

and without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

Hebrews 9:22

This moment happened as I was standing in the steam of the shower going over the Hell Scene in my church’s fall drama. I asked for people to send me the lies that Satan whispered in their ears to keep them bound in their sins… I took these lies and wrote them on the walls of hell. That’s where all lies belong. They belong in hell with the father of lies… they have no place in the minds of those who belong to the Father of Truth.

I shaved as I went over the lies I had used and the ones I still needed to write. As I felt the sting of the water on the open wound and watched the blood pour out and as these verses of Scripture pierced my heart, my mind went to the cutter.

My mind went to the cutter and my heart broke.

Dear precious cutter… it is a lie.

Yes, all things are cleansed with blood and there is no forgiveness without the shedding of blood, but the shedding of your blood will never remove the pain you feel deep within you.  The shedding of your blood will never cleanse you of what you are trying to remove from you. This is a lie straight from the pits of hell. There is only One who was cut whose blood offers cleansing and forgiveness… only One whose cut eases the pain within you… only One whose cut will remove the shame you carry… only One.

He was cut so that you didn’t have to be.

Job sat in his pain and his confusion and he cut himself with a potsherd and he cried out…

 In truth I know that this is so;
But how can a man be in the right before God?

Job 9:2

Job knew the words the truth… but I believe in his pain he felt a disconnect between what he knew to be true in his mind and soul and the pain he was experiencing in his body and heart… God never explains all this to Job… but He does explain more of Himself to Job and in this He basically says, I AM GOD, TRUST ME!

As Job trusted in the truth of who knew God to be, and as he grew in his knowledge of his God, he found hope and healing and life.

 So precious one, trust Him, it His TRUTH that always sets you free… and His TRUTH is living and breathing and life giving because His Truth is His Son (John 14:6), His Spirit (1 John 5:6), His very self (1 John 5:20). So keep on walking in it, trusting in it, holding on to it…

And send the lie to hell with the Liar…

Proven Path Ministries

No Room For Doubt

 

There are times in life when there is room for doubt.

Eternity just is not one of them.

There is no room for doubt in eternity.

He has also set eternity in their heart,

Ecclesiastes 3:11

Each of us wonders about eternity. I don’t care who you are or where you live, it doesn’t matter your sex, age, race, religion, or region… at some point in time you have asked yourself what happens when this thing we call life is over…

Every human being on this planet has considered death.

Every religion or anti-religion has a plan for death… they have a plan because it has been an issue of great consideration in their minds. The sad thing is that in those plans there remains doubt. There is no certainty as to what becomes of them after this life.

There is only ONE who removes this doubt.

There is only ONE who has given us certainty… if we choose to believe Him.

Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

John 5:24

Jesus said to them, “ I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.

John 6:35

He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’”

John 7:38

Jesus said to her, “ I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this? 

John 11:25-26

Jesus leaves us no room for doubt. He never speaks with mights, or maybes, or my opinions, or me thinks. He always speaks with authority and certainty.

He has given us no room for doubt.

Jesus + Belief = Eternal Life

Then to make sure that we would have no room for doubt in our belief upon Him… He seals us with His Spirit… and the clear evidence of that Spirit appears in our changed and changing life. He doesn’t stop there… He also gives us His Word of promise.

These things I have written

to you who believe in the name of the Son of God,

so that you may know that you have eternal life.

1 John 5:13

He has given us an entire Book of promises, in 1 John alone, we have 5 chapters of assurance… if we doubt we turn here and we discover that there is no room for doubt…

Our world is full of doubt-givers and false hope-offerers… Jesus is not one of them.

You are either for Him or against Him.

When you hear Him, read Him, learn of Him, and examine your own life in light of Him you have to make a choice. If you are not who He claims you should be if you do in fact know Him… then you know Him not… and you have a choice at that very moment.

Call on Him…

Or  walk away from Him.

Next week my church will be presenting our annual fall drama, The Judgment Seat. In this drama we present the truth that Hell is a reality. Our desire is that no one walks out the doors with doubt as to whether or not they know where they will spend eternity.  And it is our desire that no true Believer will walk out our doors with a flippant attitude about the eternal lives of the people in their areas of influence.

When was the last time you were truly concerned if the person you just said “Hi” to knew Jesus Christ?

Our desire is not to offer the false hope of the world, “well maybe if I am good enough I will make it“, “well maybe at the very end we all get another chance to accept Christ if He’s really the way“, “well maybe their heart is okay even if their actions don’t look like it“, “well who am I to judge their heart or question their actions“, “well I don’t want to offend them“, “it’s really not my place to push my religion on them“

We intentionally write characters who display the spectrum of believer and non-believer according to the descriptions given us in Scripture. We intentionally want to lead people to realize that they must get off the fence… the fence is imaginary anyway… there is no fence in reality. If you are not all in Christ, then you are indeed all out. 

If you have no assurance that you are IN HIM, then you are left with assurance that you are out of Him.

Jesus leaves us no room for doubt.

And I don’t know about you… but when it comes to eternity, when it comes to breathing my last breath on this earth… I don’t want to have any doubts.

If you have doubts then open up the Book. Find your knees. Seek Him. He will let you know one way or the other…

Proven Path Ministries

Even If

 

I sit here this morning with tears rolling down my face as I think on the “even if’s” of life… I have so many things rambling on in my brain this morning and bouncing around in my heart and weighing on my soul… how thankful I am for my God who does not leave us to carry all our burdens alone.

This life is so very hard sometimes.

We make mistakes that we can’t take back no matter how hard we try… and even though forgiveness comes and God redeems those mistakes and uses them to bring glory to the kingdom of God and testify to His amazing grace… the memories remain and we have to choose, sometimes daily, to forsake those and move forward in faith.

We have things that are out of our control that come and t-bone us out of no where and almost destroy us and break all our bones and leave us gasping for every breathe and hanging on a thread of hope… and even though our life is spared our life is changed forever. We may have to live with physical pain, sometimes daily, for the rest of our life and we have to choose to give thanks for the pain because the pain testifies to the truth that we are indeed still alive.

We live under the turmoil of hurt and walk in the shadow of condemnation that may even come from places that are are supposed to be love and comfort. We feel the burden of oppression and look for the light and find it… and then its darkness again… and we wonder why we can’t find a safe place… and even if that safe place is found we discover that the hurt and turmoil show back up, almost playing hide and seek with us, and even if we choose to jump out and scream “I am not hiding anymore“, the hurt sometimes remains… and we have to choose to trust that God is sovereign and somehow He has a work to do in us and He is using this and in His hands all works for glory and good.

We receive news that a battle we have been fighting for years just has made a surge on us like the USA military on the beaches of Normandy and all we know to do is just grab our weapons of warfare and run head on and strong into the fight knowing that our life, this mission, this fight, this battle will be remembered by those who come behind us for generations to come… and it will be honored.

We live this life and the mistakes, pains, sufferings, and battles of life can seem relentless… and they are… and if we try to think of them as “this is how it is going to be forever, for the rest of my life” we will crumble under the weight of them.

I have learned in my almost 36 years of life, and I praise God that those last 10 have been in Him, I have learned that we can’t live in the unknown future of tomorrow.

WE CAN ONLY LIVE IN TODAY.

Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have deceived me these three times and have not told me where your great strength is.” It came about when she pressed him daily with her words and urged him, that his soul was annoyed to death. So he told her all that was in his heart and said to her, “A razor has never come on my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will leave me and I will become weak and be like any other man.” 

Judges 16:15-17

Issues of life come upon us daily… they come and they press on us… and they annoy our soul to death… and they come and finally we tell, we express, we shout out what is in our hearts…

What will come out of our hearts?

Will we speak as Job’s wife spoke “Curse God and die…”

Will we speak as Job did “Though He slay me yet will I praise Him...”

Will we run from Christ?

As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore

John 6:66 

Or will we run to Him because we realize we have no where else to go to find help, hope, life?

Jesus never asked us to live in tomorrow. He actually commanded us not to.

So do not worry about tomorrow; 

for tomorrow will care for itself.

Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Matthew 6:34

At least eight times in the Scriptures we are commanded “do not worry“

We are commanded to not worry about tomorrow, to not worry about our life, to not worry about our future, to not worry… we are commanded to remember.

Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden,

The God who is our salvation.

Psalm 68:19

We are to remember that we are His workmanship, created in Christ, prepared beforehand (Ephesians 2:10). He has a plan, a purpose, and He has the power to carry it out… we may not understand today… but one day we will see and we will know and we will praise Him and thank Him for our sufferings… we will cry out in overwhelming joy that the “even ifs” did not deter us, destroy us, derail us, or lead us to demean, defy, or denounce Him our Savior, our Lord, our King.

We will see the mighty result of our sufferings and how we were perfected in them and how many came to know Christ as they watched us walk in and through them. I have learned that facing suffering head on. Walking by faith. Walking in the knowledge that God is sovereign. Walking in the sheer truth that my life is hidden with Christ in God and Christ is in me (Colossians 1:27, 3:3). And if I am hidden with Christ in God then nothing can get to me unless it has first passed through Him and if He has allowed it through it has a purpose in Christ and for Christ for the glory of Christ.

 

 

Children's Ministry, Proven Path Ministries

Step of Faith

There are moments when my heart is so full of God and His grace that I feel like I am going to pop with Jesus awesomeness. Tonight is one of those moments… and well I am just full… full of Him… and so very thankful for all He is.

When I felt the call to Children’s Ministry and told God yes, I would go…

I first went with one foot in… I suppose…

I kept my ties in the youth and held fast to my precept ministry. As a matter of fact, I just taught all three. College on Sunday mornings, Children during worship, and adult Precept on Sunday nights…

However God would continue to grow in my heart a desire for children’s ministry that I could not deny…

It’s funny.

Most see the children’s ministry as the starting point for a new believer to get their feet wet in and then progress  to teaching the “harder stuff” to the adults… but God did the opposite in me.

He trained me up in precept and in teaching college and adults so that I could come back and be a better teacher of Biblical truth to these children.

In the children’s ministry is where we lay the foundation of all Biblical truth… therefore it is very important that this is a foundation of Rock and not slippery silly sand. It may seem strange to some, but I study just as hard to teach the two year olds as I did the 22 year olds. I have even had people comment on how I must be enjoying the lighter study load… ummm nope. I dig just as deep… and I don’t teach less depth just because they are two or ten.

Tomorrow I will be taking close to 40 precious souls into the day that Abraham walked with Isaac up the Mount to offer him as a sacrifice unto God. Yes, Father Abraham had many sons… but he also was asked to sacrifice one of those. He was asked, Abraham how much do you trust Me?

Then their small group leaders will be taking them even deeper. Last week the kids left the large group class saying, “Mrs Nicole I got my shovel! We’re going to go dig a little deeper!” And they walked out the room making shovel motions and chanting “dig a little deeper, dig a little deeper”

LOVE IT!

Then in Children’s Church I will take almost 30 kids 4yrs old to 12 yrs old into the depths of Revelation as we look at the great harlot riding on a beast drinking a cup full of immorality and abominations…

This is serious study. I take it seriously. I want to send these kids up and out into the world fully equipped with sword bearing truth. These kids today are facing hard things. Lies are every where they look. They need truth. They need people who will speak truth over them and to them.

When I became Children’s Ministry Director, my heart was very pulled toward a bold recommended decision that I would make concerning this ministry. It would be something that would be different… but I felt very strongly about it… even though it was scary.

The decision would be a No Volunteer Policy for the new children’s ministry department.

There would be no announcements begging for help. No sign up sheets begging for teachers or helpers. I had seen this too many times… Too many times I had seen kids walk by an empty sign up sheet and heard them say… “no one wants us”

Nope, not under me. Because I wanted them. I wanted every last one of them. And I would trust God to provide me with teachers and leaders that wanted them too. If God could use Moses to lead over 2 million Israelites then surely He could use me to lead 1 children’s ministry.

So I took this leap of faith.

Sign up sheets would be for one time activities only.

Then I personally invited those that God had put on my heart to join me in this mission… I didn’t want anyone serving out of guilt or out of a martyrs complex… I wanted full hearted service. Service out of obedience to the call of God and the desire to plant seeds of truth and water them and cultivate them and love them.

And then a need would arise and time would be running out and my heart would catch in my throat as I thought I am going to have to stand and ask… and then God would remind me that He was in control

In one of these moments I was reading a book by Francis Chan and he asked something like “what are you doing in your life that if God doesn’t pull through for you, you’re in trouble” and so I said, Okay God, I got it… I will wait. Guess what, He never failed to bring someone to my mind… or to someone else’s mind who would come and share that name with me. And every time when that person was asked they would say that God had already began the process of moving them into this ministry

Every time He has provided the worker.

Yes the fields are white for harvest, and yes the workers are few, but when we beseech the Lord of the harvest… He provides.

He has been faithful to provide people who love these kids and see this ministry as a priority. I walk down the halls and have conversations with my workers and I hear their passion for the kids… as a whole and as individuals. I hear their desire to teach the kids the Truth of the Word of God. I see the excitement in their eyes when they share something that happened in class or they share an idea they had to help illustrate the lesson. I don’t know if they know that I am listening or catching these moments, but I am, and I thank God for them.

Every act of obedience is a step of faith.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel,

for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes,

to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed 

from faith to faith;

as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.”

Romans 1:16-18

Faith to faith, step of faith to step of faith, Jesus awesomeness just pops out all over us when we choose to just believe.

Names of God Series

Names of God: Aletheia

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Last week we looked at the name Phos. This name of Christ taught us that Jesus is the Light and in this name of Christ we learned how very infinite He is…

This past Monday in Co-op chapel we looked at Aletheia.

This is another favorite name of my Jesus…

Aletheia is Greek for Truth. Jesus is the Son, He is the Last Adam, He is the Tree of Life, He is the Light, and He is the Truth.

 

And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us,

and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father,

full of grace and truth.
John 1:14

For the Law was given through Moses;

grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ.
John 1:17

Now let me take a little side trip here as we look at this verse… the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Christ… grace and truth does not mean that Jesus came to give us permission to ignore and break the Law with a grace override… Titus 2:11-12 makes it pretty clear, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,” You see the grace and truth realized in Christ is the power to walk in the Law not the permission to break it.

Jesus came to show us that truth is not an opinion… it is not a law… it is indeed a person… He is the Truth in the flesh. When He stood before Pilate after He had been accused and abused… Pilate questioned Him and Jesus answered him and told him that He came into the world to testify to the truth and everyone who is of the truth hears His voice… Pilate looked at Him and asked “What is truth?”

We have no record of Jesus’ reply… Jesus remained silent…  the Truth was looking Pilate in the face… Truth was standing right in front of him…

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life ;

no one comes to the Father but through Me.
John 14:6

Jesus is Aletheia. 

The definition of Aletheia is this:

objectively
what is true in any matter under consideration
truly, in truth, according to truth
of a truth, in reality, in fact, certainly

what is true in things appertaining to God and the duties of man, moral and religious truth
in the greatest latitude
the true notions of God which are open to human reason without his supernatural intervention

the truth as taught in the Christian religion, respecting God and the execution of his purposes through Christ, and respecting the duties of man, opposing alike to the superstitions of the Gentiles and the inventions of the Jews, and the corrupt opinions and precepts of false teachers even among Christians

and here’s my favorite…

subjectively
truth as a personal excellence
that candour of mind which is free from affection, pretence, simulation, falsehood, deceit

We live in a day that sings to us from childhood to let our “heart” be our guide… to let our “feelings” make our decisions for us… Truth is not dictated by our hearts or feelings… our hearts and feelings are usually way off from truth… they are the very last things on this earth that we should be letting guide us.

He who trusts in his own heart is a fool,

But he who walks wisely will be delivered.

Proverbs 28:26

The heart is more deceitful than all else
And is desperately sick;
Who can understand it?

Jeremiah 17:9

 

We have to let the Truth come in and renew our mind and then let this renewed mind direct our hearts… if the Truth is not driving our hearts we are in trouble.

It is the Truth that sets us free…

and you will know the truth,
and the truth will make you free
John 8:32

It is the truth that sets us free because it was believing the lie that first put us in bondage.

Indeed, has God said…
Genesis 3:1

Indeed has God said…

God had said and a sneaky serpent snuck up and said has God said? He offered up a lie. He gave Eve an ultimatum… believe God or believe him. She believed the lie. She shared the lie… and Adam believed the lie instead of God… and in bondage to sin the world became. Chains.

It all goes back to the same lie… I love how Voddie Bauchman put it…

That’s what it goes back to. God is just not enough. “I need ???, regardless of whether ??? meets these requirements that God has set, because God is just not enough. God just doesn’t understand, and I need something other than God. There is something out there that is more powerful than God, and I’m answering to that and not to God.
~ Voddie Bauchman

Satan offered up the lie that God was holding out on Eve… that God was not enough… what He had supplied them was not enough… they needed more. They needed something outside of God to be satisfied. He offered up that God was the one who was lying… that His Word was not enough.

Eve bought it. Adam bought it… I bought it… Maybe you have bought it.

 

He feeds on ashes; a deceived heart has turned him aside.

And he cannot deliver himself, nor say,

“Is there not a lie in my right hand?”

Isaiah 44:20

This passage in Isaiah is from a chapter that breaks down the worship of idols. Anything we hold in our hands and depend on beside God is a lie.

For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie,

and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator…
Romans 1:25

Anything that controls us that is not God is a lie. Anything that we obey that is not God is a lie… and we are enslaved to it and we cannot deliver ourselves.

We are captivated, caught, and controlled by the liar.

You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father.

He was a murderer from the beginning,

and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him.

Whenever he speaks a lie,

he speaks from his own nature,

for he is a liar and the father of lies.
John 8:44

So we are here today… we have a lie in our right hand… and Jesus, the Truth, Aletheia, stands right in front of us. He has came to testify to the truth. He has came to set you free. You will know the truth and the truth will set you free. Believing the truth breaks the chains.

So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him,

“If you continue in My word,

then you are truly disciples of Mine;

and you will know the truth,

and the truth will make you free.”
John 8:31-32

When we believe Aletheia, then we are set free. When we choose to believe the Word of God rather than the lie of satan we find freedom. We are redeemed out of slavery… but in our redemption lies still are thrown at us from our previous owner. Jesus tells us that if we will continue to believe in Him, in His Word, then we will continue to be set free from every lie that binds us.

He prays over us…

Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.
John 17:17

He equips us…

in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith

with which you will be able to extinguish

all the flaming arrows of the evil one.

And take the helmet of salvation,

and the sword of the Spirit,

which is the word of God.
Ephesians 6:16-17

He empowers us…

For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword,

and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit,

of both joints and marrow,

and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

And there is no creature hidden from His sight,

but all things are open and laid bare

to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.
Hebrews 4:12-13

Did you catch that?

No creature is hidden from His sight!

When we believe the lie… we find ourselves worshiping the creature…

For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie,

and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator…
Romans 1:25

But here’s the thing… no matter how deep, no matter how dark, no matter how hidden, no matter how tightly the grip of the creature, no matter how powerful and mighty it might be, no matter the depth of the lie we have believed and been bound… the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, the Truth, the Aletheia, Jesus our God will lay it bare.

Yield that sword precious one!

Stop bowing down to that lie, whatever it might be, speak the TRUTH, believe the TRUTH, and be set free!

Proven Path Ministries

This I Know

 

I teach the Word of God… I have the opportunity to teach the Book and its beauty here on this blog and through my book Devotions From Genesis.  I have the opportunity to teach at least 40 children every Sunday and probably close to 75 children and adults every Monday in Co-op Chapel… and have had the opportunity to speak and teach before others many other times in schools and other churches and even in hotel floors in Poland and standing among the graves of the slain in concentration camps… It never ceases to stop my heart in almost pure confusion and befuddlement that God manages to use this woman with such a tainted past to teach such holy things…

But in all these public teaching opportunities none of those moments compare to when I jump in the bed in the morning with my 11 year old and have my one-on-one devo time with her and then go and pull my 8 yr old up in my lap, simply because I still can, and have my one-on-one time with her…

Nothing compares to being able to look them in the eyes and read to them and teach them who their God is and how very much He loves them and desires to guide them every day of their life.

Nothing compares to being curled up in our pj’s together with our bedheads and morning breathe and reading aloud:

 

You have taken account of my wanderings;
Put my tears in Your bottle.
Are they not in Your book?
Then my enemies will turn back in the day when I call;
This I know, that God is for me.
In God, whose word I praise,
In the Lord, whose word I praise,
In God I have put my trust, I shall not be afraid.
What can man do to me?

Psalm 56:8-11

To be able to show them that every tear that they have ever cried or will ever cry their God has caught… He has stored them in a bottle and recorded the reason for them in His book… and then to be able to remind them that not only does He catch and record every tear He also keeps every prayer we have ever prayed before His throne…

Another angel came and stood at the altar,

holding a golden censer;

and much incense was given to him,

so that he might add it to the prayers of all the saints

on the golden altar which was before the throne. 

And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints,

went up before God out of the angel’s hand.

Revelation 8:3-4

To be able to look in their eyes, the two souls formed in my womb, the two souls God entrusted to me to lead them as they lay down and as they rise, the two souls who watch me daily to see if I actually live what I claim to believe…

To be able to first thing in the morning, before the sleepy is even out of their eyes, to be able to open this Book of books and turn to its truth and speak over my children….

This I know, that God is for me.

Psalm 56:9

To be able to remind them that even if the whole world is against them God is for them. If they they will always put their trust in Him and praise His word… they never have any reason to be afraid… because if God is for them… what can man do to them?

My goal as their mother is for them to know, that they know that they know, that God is for them.

Even if they are going through something hard that they don’t understand, or even if they have been taken to the Holy Ghost woodshed because they have chosen disobedience and it may seem to them that God is against them… they must remember that God is always for them.

Now I must confess that there are mornings when the devo time is missed… but that doesn’t mean we quit… we just shoot for tomorrow. But I say that as a mom who teaches her children at home and is able to tie Biblical truth into every subject… even using the covenant of marriage to explain fractions… I have this privileged and open door daily with my girls.

If your child attends public school you don’t have that opportunity… so precious one, does your child know that God is for them? Can he face the lies of the world head on because he is armed with his freshly sharpened sword of truth?

I would be so bold as to say that you can’t afford to miss these morning opportunities to speak truth over your child. Not only will it arm your child… it will arm you.

Do you know, that you know that you know, that God is for you? Do you know that he has caught every tear you have ever cried and recorded them in His book? Do you know that He gathers every prayer that you have ever cried out to Him and they are stored at the altar before His throne? Do you know that He is for you?

Can you say with David, “This I know, that God is for me.“

Book Reviews, Proven Path Ministries

Review for “Becoming the Bride of Christ”

 

I was contacted by Marilynn and asked if I would be interested in doing a book review for her… and well I love reading and research into the Word of God and so of course I said yes.

So I began flipping through the pdf format of Becoming the Bride of Christ.

I have to admit at first it seemed like it would be slow read… but I read on and received a blessing for doing so as I read,

The Psalmist chooses the path that pleases God by choosing to be humble
before Him. The Psalmist goes so far as to say that the circumstances God
has allowed in his life, have humbled him. How many of us would say the
same thing if we were honest with ourselves? That the circumstances God
has allowed have humbled us? I know I have to say that. I can point to time
after time when God has had to humble me for various reasons, to remind
me that I am completely and totally dependent upon Him and not anything I
can say or do of myself. 

~ Marilynn Dawson

As I read further I found myself in tears… and then in praise… and then in tears… and then in praise again.

Marilynn intertwines this book with her own personal story, a fairy tale type story that is used to illustrate our relationship with Christ, music lyrics of praise and worship, and Scriptural references meant to lead from her book into the Book of all books…

This book is one that I would recommend sitting down with pen or pencil. It could even be used as a group study. I could easily see taking the songs she shares and playing them within the study time as you poured into the Scriptures.

I love the heart that is behind this book, Marilynn’s desire is that you would be able to love Christ deeply and obey Him out of that great love for Him.

If you struggle with God’s love for you… then this book is the book for you.

If you fear that God could not deeply love because of your past, because of your choices, because of your current circumstances… then I recommend this book to you.

If you doubt that God wants you to experience His love in a real and tangible way and have been taught that He is a far off, distant, cold and legalistic God… then please open the pages of this book… and learn to see your God through the pages of His book as you discover more of who He is and how He feels about those who are His.

 The LORD your God is in your midst,

A victorious warrior.

He will exult over you with joy,

He will be quiet in His love,

He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy  

Zephaniah 3:17 

The writing and teachings of Nicole Love Halbrooks Vaughn