Discipleship Network Forum

I went through the unimaginable over the past week and a half. My computer hard drive crashed. Luckily, I had backed up everything so I didn't lose much. There are messages and files that were sent to me that never arrived, but everything on my desktop survived.

The bad part for me was just being without my computer. For more than a week, I had: no email, no facebook, no calendar, no address book, and no way to do my work. I was lost. My entire life is now connected with my computer. Without it, I was lost.

That got me thinking (because there wasn't much else I could do!). I have become so attached to my computer as my means for communicating, that I was unable to keep up with most of my relationships without my computer.

Ouch! Shame on me! Isn't that taking the easy way out?

I email and chat on-line with friends and collegues because that's the easiest and most efficient way to keep in touch.

I keep track of Facebook so I'll know how my hundreds of friends are doing, even though I seldom interact with them.

Being without my computer for a week was a good reminder for me that I need to make sure that I intentionally put others first instead of relying on what's easiest and most efficient.

Oops. Sorry!

Margie Williamson

Community Manager 

In church on Sunday, before the service started, myself and one other lady were in the santuary listening to praise music and praising Him.

I felt the Lord speak  and say "Jane did you know that one wild thought can wreck your life. "

I pondered that for a minute, what do you mean Lord? "Well, if you have a wild or unhealthy thought and you dwell on it long enough, you will start to believe it and the next thing you know sin is crouching at your door. "

Yikes! I was led to a passage in 2 Corinthians.

2 Corinthians 10:4-6 (New International Version,)

 ⁴ The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. ⁵ We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. ⁶ And we will be ready to punish every act of disobedience, once your obedience is complete.

“Make sure you are very strong and brave! Carefully obey all the law my servant Moses charged you to keep! Do not swerve from it to the right or to the left, so that you may be successful in all you do. This law scroll must not leave your lips! You must memorize it day and night so you can carefully obey all that is written in it. Then you will prosper and be successful.^”

-Joshua 1:7,8

      When Joshua and the nation of Israel was about to cross over to the Promised Land, ADONAI made specific commands that Joshua and every Israelite must obey in order to live long and successfully occupy the land.  They were not to swerve from it to the right or to the left but their lives must be characterized by complete trust on the word of ADONAI.

      The Israelites were confronted with the harsh realities of the power of the enemy at Jericho.  The enemy lived in a well-fortified city.  Its gates were strong, made to withstand a long siege that Israel was about to attempt.  There were a lot of giants living within the city and its warriors were seasoned because war was a way of life at that time.  The wall surrounding the city was so thick and wide, chariots could run on top of it.  From atop the wall, the enemy could easily rain down arrows, spears, large stones and even boiling oil as Israel attacks.  The enemy was ready.   These were the hard facts.

      What did Joshua have?  A ragtag army who were fed and nurtured by ADONAI in the desert.  They had plenty of women andchildren who were marching along with them.  Their weapons were those that were plundered from previous war campaigns, otherwise, many had farm implements.  These were the facts.  BUT, they had the word of ADONAI – the promise of victory!  As long as they obey His word, they would have success and prosperity.  This is the Truth!  They had seen the works of wonder that ADONAI performed in their midst and no god among the Canaanites and even Egypt had ever done anything like it. 

      What was ADONAI’s strategy?  All the warriors  of Israel must march around the city silently for six days and on the seventh day, as they were marching around the city seven times, while the priests were blowing their trumpets, Joshua was to give a signal and all the army was to give a shout of victory and the walls would collapse and the warriors were to charge into the city straight ahead.  In short, ADONAI already wrote the history of the campaign against Jericho and He has given them victory.

      In the natural mind, no sane general would follow such an outrageous plan.  There were too many uncertainties.  What if the wall won’t collapse?  As they ran to attack the city, the enemy could easily shoot them down with arrows and spears; and as they scale the wall, hot boiling oil would surely be poured on the helpless warriors.  Can they risk such a loss?  Joshua would be the laughingstock of the whole Canaanite world! 

      Either trust the word of ADONAI ELOHIM or withdraw.  What’s the cost?  In the natural mind, the enemy had all the advantage.  Isn’t this always the dilema of every believer?  To be or not to be…that is the question!

      Fact – what you can see with your eyes, hear with your ears, smell with your nose, taste with your tongue and feel with your hands.  Truth – every atom, particle, molecule in the whole of creation were made by the word of ADONAI and He sustains all of it by the word of His power.  He is the only One who can suspend the natural laws.  What He created, He can uncreate.

      Joshua must have remembered when ADONAI parted  the Sea of Reeds.  He must have remembered the sun standing still until he defeated the army of Amalek.  Most recently, he witnessed ADONAI parting the Jordan river so Israel could cross over on dry ground into the Promised Land.  His own clothes did not wear out and his sandals remained good for the whole 40 years of wandering.  He saw ADONAI’s faithfulness as He fed them daily with manna and provided water from the Rock who was YESHUA the Messiah.  Is there any doubt at all that ADONAI would fulfill His promise?

      This is the difference between knowledge on facts and the living experience of Truth.  Knowledge just makes people arrogant but Truth sets people free!  Free to do the right thing.  Free to be supernatural and divine!

      Have you experienced the Truth? To experience Truth is to experience true life.  If all you have are facts, then all you have might be true lies!

          מלאך

“Make sure you are very strong and brave! Carefully obey all the law my servant Moses charged you to keep! Do not swerve from it to the right or to the left, so that you may be successful in all you do. This law scroll must not leave your lips! You must memorize it day and night so you can carefully obey all that is written in it. Then you will prosper and be successful.^”

-Joshua 1:7,8

      When Joshua and the nation of Israel was about to cross over to the Promised Land, ADONAI made specific commands that Joshua and every Israelite must obey in order to live long and successfully occupy the land.  They were not to swerve from it to the right or to the left but their lives must be characterized by complete trust on the word of ADONAI.

      The Israelites were confronted with the harsh realities of the power of the enemy at Jericho.  The enemy lived in a well-fortified city.  Its gates were strong, made to withstand a long siege that Israel was about to attempt.  There were a lot of giants living within the city and its warriors were seasoned because war was a way of life at that time.  The wall surrounding the city was so thick and wide, chariots could run on top of it.  From atop the wall, the enemy could easily rain down arrows, spears, large stones and even boiling oil as Israel attacks.  The enemy was ready.   These were the hard facts.

      What did Joshua have?  A ragtag army who were fed and nurtured by ADONAI in the desert.  They had plenty of women andchildren who were marching along with them.  Their weapons were those that were plundered from previous war campaigns, otherwise, many had farm implements.  These were the facts.  BUT, they had the word of ADONAI – the promise of victory!  As long as they obey His word, they would have success and prosperity.  This is the Truth!  They had seen the works of wonder that ADONAI performed in their midst and no god among the Canaanites and even Egypt had ever done anything like it. 

      What was ADONAI’s strategy?  All the warriors  of Israel must march around the city silently for six days and on the seventh day, as they were marching around the city seven times, while the priests were blowing their trumpets, Joshua was to give a signal and all the army was to give a shout of victory and the walls would collapse and the warriors were to charge into the city straight ahead.  In short, ADONAI already wrote the history of the campaign against Jericho and He has given them victory.

      In the natural mind, no sane general would follow such an outrageous plan.  There were too many uncertainties.  What if the wall won’t collapse?  As they ran to attack the city, the enemy could easily shoot them down with arrows and spears; and as they scale the wall, hot boiling oil would surely be poured on the helpless warriors.  Can they risk such a loss?  Joshua would be the laughingstock of the whole Canaanite world! 

      Either trust the word of ADONAI ELOHIM or withdraw.  What’s the cost?  In the natural mind, the enemy had all the advantage.  Isn’t this always the dilema of every believer?  To be or not to be…that is the question!

      Fact – what you can see with your eyes, hear with your ears, smell with your nose, taste with your tongue and feel with your hands.  Truth – every atom, particle, molecule in the whole of creation were made by the word of ADONAI and He sustains all of it by the word of His power.  He is the only One who can suspend the natural laws.  What He created, He can uncreate.

      Joshua must have remembered when ADONAI parted  the Sea of Reeds.  He must have remembered the sun standing still until he defeated the army of Amalek.  Most recently, he witnessed ADONAI parting the Jordan river so Israel could cross over on dry ground into the Promised Land.  His own clothes did not wear out and his sandals remained good for the whole 40 years of wandering.  He saw ADONAI’s faithfulness as He fed them daily with manna and provided water from the Rock who was YESHUA the Messiah.  Is there any doubt at all that ADONAI would fulfill His promise?

      This is the difference between knowledge on facts and the living experience of Truth.  Knowledge just makes people arrogant but Truth sets people free!  Free to do the right thing.  Free to be supernatural and divine!

      Have you experienced the Truth? To experience Truth is to experience true life.  If all you have are facts, then all you have might be true lies!

          מלאך

Ready For the Road Ahead

            No matter how long you stare at the picture below, your brain will tell you that the smaller circle pattern has a larger center and the larger circle pattern has a smaller center.  In reality, it's an optical illusion.  Both centers are the same size.  Optical illusions are brain teasers.  Some are geometric, like the one below.  Others are illustrations which have hidden objects, or subjects that change appearance depending on which side of the brain is active when you view the picture.  Whatever shape or form they take, optical illusions are just that- illusions.  They are not what they appear to be.

            The Bible tells us there is a grand and dangerous optical illusion in our life and we run into it on a daily basis.  It is the temptation of sin.  Proverbs is so mindful of this illusion, it repeats the warning two separate times (Prov. 14:12; 16:25).  Sin looks harmless at first glance, even good at times, but in the end, its reality is death.  And like optical illusions which dazzle our eyes and override the brain's rational process, our eyes are the instruments which introduce both godly and sinful thoughts into our lives.  Jesus illustrated it in this way, "The lamp of the body is the eye; if therefore your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.  If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great the darkness!"  (Matt. 6:22-23).  What goes into you through your eyes, has a direct effect on both your heart and mind.  So, as the children's song goes, "Be careful little eyes what you see".

            One time, when my sister and I were in high school and our parents were out for the evening, we stayed up late to watch a Rod Serling show (somewhat like the Twilight Zone).  It just so happened to be a dark and stormy night, so the stage was set for nerves to be on edge.  I've never really liked watching scary things, but my sister had talked me into it.  As the climax approached, a bolt of lightning and a clap of thunder sent us into each other's arms and a split second later to the TV's OFF button!  We never watched another episode.   What had appeared to be fun, turned out to be anything but fun.  It was an optical illusion.

            The greatest scene of temptation in the New Testament is the encounter between Satan and Jesus (Matt. 4:1-11; Mk. 1:12-13; Lk. 4:1-13).  No matter what Satan enticed Jesus with, fame, power or pleasure, Jesus steadfastly refuted those temptations with God's Word.  It is the most powerful lens by which to view the optical illusion of sin.  Jesus knew that Satan's promises were optical illusions and what was true could only be found in God's Word.  Like a lamp turned on in a dark room, God's Word dispenses light which shows everything for what it truly is.  If you are being fooled by the optical illusion of sin, immerse yourself in God's Word and surround yourself with His people (Ecc. 4:9-12).  This is the way a disciple keeps his/her eyes healthy.

Ann H. LeFevre                                                                                                 2-27-2011

It seems that in just about every religion created by people, either in fiction or the real world, any masculine deity has a feminine counterpart.  For every god there must be a goddess to act as counterpoint and consort.  Yet, the one religion that comes from God to man portrays God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three in one, using masculine pronouns and masculine relational identities.  There is one God, who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  There is no need for a goddess, because God is a complete totality of all identity and personality traits.  He does not need a counterpoint separate from Himself, a yin to His yang.  He is a symphony complete in Himself, containing all the melody, harmony, and rhythm necessary to resonate the music of the spheres.

That does not mean He does not desire a consort on whom to lavish His love.  However, the bride He seeks is not His equal in power, wisdom, or longevity.  Instead, this infinite Being seeks to craft His bride from the frail, foolish, finite creatures He has created.  No wonder human beings cannot conceive of this sort of cosmic union.  Sure the gods of the Greeks and Romans were known to dally with humans, but not to raise them up as a Bride, fit to consort with, and even reign with, for eternity.  That is unfathomable to the human imagination!  How could this fairy tale of epic proportions have ever originated in the minds of men?  Would they ever dare to reach so high as to think God would desire them for His Bride? 

Yet, He clearly is reaching down to us "frail children of dust" to raise us up, mold us, and breathe life into us so that we can stand beside Him in the New Jerusalem as His "pure, spotless bride."  Mind-boggling.  Only God could have conceived and orchestrated this plan.  I am so glad to be part of His beloved Bride to be.  I just can't wait for the wedding!! 

ADONAI said to Moses, “Speak to Aaron and his sons, and tell them that this is how you are to bless the people of Israel:  you are to say to them,

             ‘May ADONAI bless you and keep you.

              May ADONAI make His face shine on you and show you His favor.

              May ADONAI lift up His face toward you and give you peace.’

              In this way, they are to put My Name on the people of Israel, so that I will bless them.”

-         Numbers 6:22-27

             In my previous blog, I submitted to you that ADONAI ELOHIM created by the spoken word.  The Word of ADONAI is Truth and spiritual reality.  The Word is the very ingredient of the invisible which ADONAI made visible.  Therefore, every Word of ADONAI contains the spiritual force that created everything that we see in our world today.

              When we realize how important the Word of ADONAI is, there is a longing within our inner man that begins to desire to know more and experience the reality of His Word.  This is the very reason why ADONAI instructed us to keep the Word in our hearts.  We are to teach them carefully to our children.  We are to talk about them when we are at home, when we are travelling on the road, when we lie down and when we get up.  The Word should become so real that we apply them in everything we do as our spiritual service of worship.  We are to remind ourselves with them by inscribing them not only in memory but even on the walls of our houses and especially our doorframes and gates (Deut 6:6-9).  Why?  Because the Word is our life.  Even the smallest particle in all of creation was made by the Word of ADONAI.

              So, today, as a family, I strongly suggest to the head of the household, especially the men, to pray a verbal blessing to your entire family.  You are the priest of ADONAI to your household, so I strongly recommend that you pray the Aaronic blessing upon your family as written on Numbers 6:22-26.  Please study it carefully so you may appreciate what ADONAI wants to happen to your family.  Bear in mind that it is important to pray it aloud so everyone can hear it because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of ADONAI (Rom 10:17).  It also warns the enemy to beware of your family and it puts a hedge of protection around them. 

              Please pray with me, the prayer of the Psalmist:

                                          “Teach me, ADONAI, the way of your laws;

Keeping them will be its own reward for me.

Give me understanding; then I will keep your Torah;

I will observe it with all my heart.

Guide me on the path of your commands,

For I take pleasure in it.

Bend my heart toward your instructions

and not toward selfish gain.

Turn my eyes away from worthless things;

with your ways, give me life.

Fulfill your promise, which you made to your servant.

which you made to those who fear you.”

-Psalms 119:33-38

              מלאך

ADONAI, GOD, gave Adam this order: “You may freely eat

from every tree in the garden except the tree of the

knowledge of good and evil.  You are not to eat from it,

because on the day that you eat from it,

it will become certain that you will die.”

-         Gen 2:16,17

               Today, people examine facts and their beliefs are founded on it.  Their perception is purely based on their sense of sight, smell, hear, touch and taste.  In short, man has to translate everything he encounters in concrete terms.  The problem is, western education has taught us to think in abstract ways,  Western education was heavily influenced by the Greek model of thinking.  It was the ambition of Alexander the Great to change the language of every people he conquered because if he succeeded, it wouldchange the cultural climate.  After all, the words of every language express the thoughts of every man.  The new concepts and ideas of the Greek language would force a shift in the mindset of the man and thus influence his behavior.  As a man thinks, so he is!

              Introducing a new language or rather the idea that embodies words and a language was not Alexander’s unique idea.  It was actually concocted by the old Serpent in Eden when he told Eve, “Did GOD really say…?”  To prove his point, he appealed to Eve’s five physical senses to discredit the truthfulness of GOD’s word.  He pointed out the facts:  the fruit was beautiful to behold, smells good and would probably taste delicious.  It was nutritious and would make her wise, even spiritually wise, discerning good from evil.  So she took some and ate, and also gave some to Adam (Gen 3:1-6).  However, we all know that we don’t always ‘get’ what we ‘see’.  Physical beauty is just skin deep.  The Serpent’s words can mean many things but GOD’s word can only mean one thing.  Welcome to the murky world of crafty deception!  Facts can be totally different from Truth.

              When ADONAI ELOHIM created, He spoke the word.  When Satan temps, he twists GOD’s word by using it in a different light.  The word of ADONAI is Truth.  The devil uses facts or even invents facts to affect the mindset of man.  An example would be the Theory of Evolution.  The Theory of Evolution espouses that all living things evolved from simple one-cell blob.  Modern science tells us through extensive empirical research that even a one-cell animal is quite complex in structure with each part functioning with precision in a highly developed system.  In fact, studies in microbiology have concluded that every living thing that has been discovered, even in fossil form, was already quite complex contrary to Darwin’s claim.  The missing link is still missing and the theory of evolution has never been empirically tested and proven.  But it is taught in schools, even by well-known professors as fact; even though science has debunked the theory so many times.  The enemy would like us to believe that we came from the apes and the chimpanzee is our cousin.  The Truth is, man was created in the image of GOD.

              The Truth is, all believers are adopted sons of ADONAI through their union with YESHUA the Messiah (Gal 4:5-6; Eph 1:5).  ADONAI created each living thing according to its kind (Gen 1:24-25).  All believers are ADONAI’s kind through the blood of YESHUA which was shed on the cross (Jn 1:12; Eph 2:19).  All believers are partakers of the divine nature through YESHUA (2Pet 1:4).  All believers have the mind of YESHUA the Messiah (1Cor 2:16b).  The mind of CHRIST only operates in ADONAI’s presence.  All believers are blessed with all the blessings in the heavenly places (Eph 1:3) and with all the blessings of Abraham (Gal 3:14).

              The Truth is, all believers are complete in YESHUA the Messiah (Col 2:10)and He holds us together and upholds us by the word of His power (Col 1:17; Heb 1:3).  Nothing can separate us from the love of ADONAI!(Rom 8:38-39)

              The Truth is, history is already written (Is 44:6-8) and in the Name of YESHUA, all believers have already won!(Rev 17:14)

מלאך

Yesterday, I attended a funeral for a older gentlemen who passed away suddenly. I barely knew him. He and his wife had recently come to the church and were just beginning to find their places of service. In fact, he had taught a Bible Study class on Sunday, felt bad, and had a stroke on the way to the hospital. He never recovered. I went to the service to support my mom who had taken the death hard.

His service was a celebration.

I cried my eyes out throughout the service.

As always, God used the experience to show me the depth of His love. One of the things that was presented as part of the service was the Andrew Lloyd Webber song, "Love Changes Everything." One line kept resonating for me:  "Love changes everything, how you LIVE and how you DIE." I've been through so many funerals recently that God used the song and the grief to remind me of three things.

First, I cried my eyes out because the service was in the same room that my dad's funeral was in 1982. I haven't been in that room since his service (he was only 55 when he died) and I wasn't expecting the overwhelming grief that I felt for him. It came out of nowhere. I was reminded again the depth of God's love for us. The deep love that we have for a lost parent or child or friend can only make sense when considered through the lens of God's love for us. Because He loves, we can love. Because He loves us deeply, passionately, eternally, we, too, are able to experience that type of love. I love my daddy, and the love doesn't diminish through time. Neither does God's love for us. No wonder heaven will be so full of love.

Second, as I considered how much I could still grieve anew over the death of my dad, I couldn't help but think of the grief the Father felt when He had to watch the agony of humiliation and the pain of death as His Son died on a cross. I know God planned from the beginning of time for His Son to fulfill His promises to us. I don't think the knowing lessened the Father's grief and agony as He watched His Son suffer physically and spiritually as He took on the sins of the world. The more I understand the depth of God's love, the more I realize the depth of the Father's grief during that horrible day when Jesus suffered and died.

Third, I went to the service to support my mom. My mom and step-dad are best friends with the man who died and his wife. They have been best friends for the past 13 years and have traveled extensively together. What I didn't know until the night before the service was that this man's grandsons were members of my youth group when I served as a youth minister. Isn't it amazing when God shows us that as disciples, we're all connected. We're like heavy chain links that are soddered together with the Father's love and the Son's sacrifice into an unbreakable safety chain. We're all connected. Maybe that is the way that we can most feel the love of the Father and the Son and the Spirit.

Love changes everything . . . how we live and how we die.

Margie Williamson

Community Manager

Ready For the Road Ahead

            Outside my kitchen window there hangs a small birdfeeder filled with a homemade suet mixture.  A number of birds like to visit this feeder throughout the day, but, the most consistent patrons are a pair of Downy Woodpeckers.  It's always fun to watch them maneuver their way across the feeder.  As the suet gets lower, they must find some pretty acrobatic poses in order to keep their balance while feeding.  Many times they will use their tail feathers, making a V formation with their body, to accomplish this.  Who would have ever thought a bird would use its tail like that?

            Sometimes our lives demand that we perform a balancing act.  All sorts of things can fight for our attention and pull us off balance.  Demands at work, home, and our own desires can cause us to tilt, slip or fall into unbalanced and unhealthy behaviors.  The Bible says there is only one way to keep our lives balanced and that is to seek God and His ways first (Ps. 123: 1-2; Prov. 2: 1-7; Is. 55:6; Matt. 6:33; Col. 3:1-2; Phil. 4:18).  The concept here is not much different than unbalanced wheels on a car.  Wheels that are balanced assure you that your vehicle is safe.  But unbalanced wheels not only wear out faster, they can even cause accidents.  If your inner life is not balanced, your outer life will not be either.

            So how about a spiritual check up this week?  Ask yourself some of the following questions to see if your life is balanced as it should be.  If it is, GREAT!  If it isn't, ask the Holy Spirit to guide you to healthier choices for the balance in your life and seek out a Christian friend whom you can trust and ask them to keep you accountable as you fine tune your balance.

            1.  How is my relationship with God?

            2.  Have I been reading my Bible?

            3.  What has God been saying to me as I read His Word?

            4.  Where have I been resisting Him these days?

            5.  What is the state of your perspective and desires?  Tempted?  Dealing with fantasies?  Entertainment?

            6.  What challenges do you see yourself facing in the coming week or month?  In what ways will you meet that challenge?

            7.  What things take priority over spiritual matters in your life?  Why?

            8.  Are there any unresolved conflicts in your circle of relationships right now?  Are you able to reconcile them in a Biblical manner?

            Gordon MacDonald wrote, "If the private world of a person is in order, it will be because they are convinced that the inner world of the spiritual must govern the outer world of activity."  No one knew this principle better than King David.  After a disastrous encounter with Bathsheba, he was confronted by the prophet Nathan and then wrote Psalm 51.  If you should find yourself "unbalanced", follow David's footsteps and then rest on the promise of 1 John 1:9.  No one said the path of a disciple would be easy, but with God's grace, it can be balanced.

Ann LeFevre  2/20/2011

                                                      Wait patiently for the LORD!

                                                            Wait confidently for him!

                         -Psalm 37:7

            We live in a world filled with impatient people.  Current advancement in technology only

       serve to push everyone to hurry up more.  We can be reached at any time, anywhere via email or direct mobile to mobile connection.  We are taught to multi-task as if we are an octopus with eight tentacles, with each tentacle having its own mind.  At the same time, we are expected to work as a team but please hurry up because we are working on a deadline and the boss wants it yesterday! 

              The LORD knows that man left on his own will work himself to death.  So He wisely separated day from night, even determining their set times and the fixed limits of the places where they would live (Acts 17:26).  Unfortunately, man has advanced so much that he has learned to transgress the boundaries of his location and the appropriate times of rest.  Instead of resting as darkness falls, many decide to go out to eat, drink and be merry to the detriment of their physical well-being.  This generation will rather not wait in line or postpone their enjoyment.  Everyone wants instant gratification!  The vendo culture is here to stay.  As much as possible, we just want to push a button to get what we want, at warp speed.  If we don’t, we cry out like babies, or raise a tantrum.

            As a Christian, there is one thing that we need to appreciate.  ADONAI is in control of every aspect of life, even the minutest detail.  There is nothing that has happened that did not pass through His scrutiny.  He declares:

This is what the LORD, your protector, says,

the one who formed you in the womb:

"I am the LORD, who made everything,

who alone stretched out the sky,

who fashioned the earth all by myself,

  who frustrates the omens of the empty talkers

and humiliates the omen readers,

who overturns the counsel of the wise men

and makes their advice seem foolish,

 who fulfills the oracles of his prophetic servants

and brings to pass the announcements of his messengers…”

-         Isaiah 44:24-26

“I do this so people will recognize from east to west

that there is no GOD but me;

I am the LORD, I have no peer.

I am the one who forms

and creates darkness;

the one who brings about peace

and creates calamity.

I am the LORD, who accomplishes all these things.”

-         Isaiah 45:6,7

          So, the next time you want to get ahead in traffic, remember, GOD has a purpose for the situation.  We may not know what it is, but rest assured, all is well when we follow His leading.  I recall the story of the man who was hurrying to work at the World Trade Center.  He passed by the coffee shop to get a cup and unfortunately spilled the coffee on his shirt.  He had to run back home to change his shirt.  He was running late.  But because he was late, he was not destroyed along with the World Trade Center 0n9/11.  Remember, you don’t know the future.  It’s like walking backwards because you can’t see.  It is better to hold fast to the hand of the FATHER as He personally guides you along the way.  No shortcuts.  No mess ups. 

          The word “wait patiently” in Hebrews is “damam”, meaning to be dumb, and by implication, to stop, to hold your peace, to be still.  And the repetition, “wait confidently” in Hebrew is “khool, kheel”, meaning to twist or writhe in pain.  ADONAI is telling us that He wants our complete trust even in the face of apparent lack or apparent defeat.  He knows exactly what we are going through and He won’t let His word fall to the ground.  He will rescue us from all trouble!

          Somehow, in the course of the day, GOD has appointed several events in our lives.  We may or may not like some of them; but for sure, it will be a great learning adventure!

Patience is a virtue of the godly

but people pretend to be blind to it

in the guise of freedom of expression!

מלאך

My husband and I were just talking about free will and how it is a common theme in Science Fiction for a group of explorers to come across a perfectly peaceful, happy, well-ordered society where there was no free will.    The explorers want to "liberate" the poor people, and, in the process of introducing free will, totally ruin the society.  He then asked me if I would like to love in a society with no free will.

I replied that heaven will pretty much be the ultimate utopia of a people who have completely surrendered their wills and, as C.S. Lewis put it, "Are no longer capable of wanting wrong things."  A song song by Chris Rice states, "Freedom from myself will be the sweetest rest I've ever known."  So, yes, not only would I want to live in a society with no free will, I am looking forward to it!

The biggest difference here from a world where there never was free will is that Heaven will be a place of people who had free will and surrendered it to the Love of Jesus, letting His Spirit take control  in greater and greater measure until the day when they passed through the veil of earthly struggles and found the heavenly bliss of total surrender of all their own self will. 

God gave us free will because He wanted our wills returned freely as a gift.  He wanted "glad vassals"  who are slaves of love, walking in the freedom of surrender, rather than slaves who never knew the freedom of giving over what they thought was rightfully theirs.  God's gift of free will as allowed us to make a hell for ourselves, but we need to live in the dank slave dungeon of self-will to understand the free and spacious paradise of surrendering to God's will.

Last week my friend Rick Howerton opened up his new blogwith a post entitled: "When to Abandon a Small-Group Member." Here was the full text of his post:

     Never! There is…
    

     No sin to too decadent
     No opinion too controversial
     No revelation too disturbing
     No sickness too time consuming
     No need too costly
     No conflict too intense
     No addiction too immoral. 
    

     Luke 15:11 - 24

I thought that was a pretty cool sentiment, and so I re-tweeted the link to the post. A few of you re-tweeted it as well.

But then I got the following email from another SmallGroups.com reader:

"Nice sentiment in Howerton’s blog post, but I have to disagree with him. I had to ask a group member to leave once because she would go into rages during the group. I tried meeting with her personally, but she would fly into rages against me. I finally blocked her phone calls because they were giving me panic attacks."

 
So, before I give my opinion on this matter, I thought I would open things up to all of you. Is there ever a time when a group leader should "abandon" a group member?

 Sometimes I get discouraged.  I make plans but they don’t turn out quite as I had hoped or expected.  A friend disappoints me.  My job feels mundane.  In spite of praying and waiting (and occasional bouts of whining), I’m still single.  My body reminds me every day that I am indeed growing older and slowing down.   I long for more out of church.  More out of life.  Something richer.  More meaningful.  Less lonely.  I wonder, “Am I wasting my life?  Have I missed God’s purposes for me?” (I confess I am a high idealist with strong melancholy tendencies.  Undoubtedly, this is a bad combination.)  I pray.  I do my duty.  Yet, each day feels increasingly like a long walk in the desert with little evidence of progress.   

Because I grew up in New Mexico, I appreciate the beauty of the desert.  A desert sunset is unequaled in color and hue.  The mountains on the horizon are both rugged and elegant.   But, I have also felt the desert’s arid assault.  A hot desert wind can gust for days filling the air with grit until it’s everywhere – in your ears, your eyes, your food.  It makes you irritable.  People snap at each other or else pass without a word, their heads tucked inside the edges of their jackets.  I know the feel of grit in my teeth.  When life is hard and discouragement blows in like a desert wind, I know the feel of grit in my soul. 

I have recently been captured by one little sentence I read.  Upon the recommendation of C.S. Lewis, I decided to read George MacDonald’s fantasy work, Phantastes.  The young wanderer, Anodos, comes upon a little spring where he stops to refresh himself.  After he drinks from the “cheerful little stream” he says:  

“It was born in a desert; but it seemed to say to itself, ‘I will flow and sing, and lave my banks, till I make my desert a paradise.’”

Oh, how I long to live like that!  You see, when life gets hard, my tendency is to withdraw.  I prefer to shrink back as if to conserve mental and emotional energy.  I tuck my head inside my jacket and head for home.  I begin to feel dried up – as if I have nothing to offer.  That’s not what Anodos’ little stream did.  No!  It was flowing freely and seeking to bless everything in its path.  I wonder if it’s possible for me to live with such freedom and generosity and joy that I could actually alter the world that surrounds me?  Could I love so well that what was once an arid desert could become a lush place? 

I once heard a speaker at a conference talk about the difference between living with an “abundance mentality” and living with a “scarcity mentality.”  I don’t remember much of what he said, but the concept stuck with me.  When I’m discouraged I begin to live with a mentality of scarcity, as if to say: “I don’t have much.  As a matter of fact, what little I have feels like it’s in jeopardy; so I must hoard it and hold onto it.” 

I’ve been wondering what it might look like as a follower of Jesus to live with a mentality of abundance: 

• These are lean economic times.  So, I will be even more generous than usual, because my Father is the one who provides for me.

• Do I feel like people are not meeting my needs?  Friends?  My husband?  I will work even more energetically and joyfully to meet their needs, because Jesus himself will be to me what I most need from others.

• I’m lonely.  I will pursue other people and love them lavishly because God has pursued me, never given up on me, and has loved me with an everlasting love.   

That is how Betsie ten Boom chose to live.  You may remember her story as told by her sister Corrie in the book The Hiding Place.  They were arrested for hiding Jews in their home during the German occupation of Holland in 1944.  Nine months later, Betsie died in Ravensbruck concentration camp.  Corrie tells how, through Jesus, and with Betsie’s prayers and influence, the barracks were transformed into a place of kindness and joy in the midst of terrible deprivation and misery. 

Jesus said in Matthew 10:8, “Freely you have received, freely give.”  That is how Betsie ten Boom lived.  It is the message of the little stream in MacDonald’s tale.  And that is exactly how I want to live as well.  I can afford to live with hope and with joy and with great generosity toward others – even when I’m in the desert.  Who knows?  God might use my little life to radically change the landscape! 

“I will flow and sing, and lave my banks, till I make my desert a paradise.”

I fell today on the stairs in my house. Unfortunately, that's not really an unusual occurrence. I have had several falls before and I guess they'll continue. Today's seemed different to me.

I was carry a load of sheets downstairs in one hand and a partially filled cup of coffee in the other. One of the sheets dropped out of my grasp and tangled around my foot. With the cup of coffee in one hand and the laundry in the other, I didn't have a chance . . . I missed a step, hit my back on the corner of the wall, and landed on the slate tile below. It hurt. My husband has become amazingly calm with my falls.

You're probably wondering why in the wold I'm sharing the details. It's not because I'm looking for sympathy, but rather because I couldn't help think today about how much my fall is like the Christian life. I was doing the things I needed to do today, but lost my focus. It was only for a second, but that's all it took. And the baggage I carried––in this case the laundry and the coffee––prevented me from stopping what was an inevitable fall.

It's so easy to look out for the big things that can take our eyes off God––those ethical and moral failures that are so big that it's easy to think, "But I'd never fail like that!" It's not as easy to look out for the little things that can creep into our lives––like pride or anger.

I'm battered and a little bruised tonight. I've spent much of the day in my bed taking pain killers to help ease the pain. All because I lost my focus for just a second. Tonight, I pray that God will help me keep my spiritual focus on Him. It only takes a second to lose focus on Him.

Margie Williamson

Community Manager

Last week I was meeting with one of our pastors about my passion for Discipleship.  In a prior meeting, I had shared some things with him that caused him to go away with a check in his spirit about whether I would be okay with the leadership structure at my church, so he brought that up and we discussed it.  I was open and honest about some trust issues that I have because of abuse of authority in other churches  and acknowledged that there was some healing that yet needed to be done.  I thought the conversation went well.  I didn't feel defensive and I really wasn't worried about the issue, until I was driving home that night.  I wrestled with that and other issues for 3 or 4 days and was tempted to give up on any desires to be involved in Discipleship at my church.  After some concentrated time in prayer last weekend, I believe that God helped me to address this issue and to come to a level of peace that I did not have before.  I enjoy journaling prayer but I don't particularly enjoy poetry.  Yet I recently realized that God seems to give me a poem when I'm struggling with something that I cannot quite resolve in traditional prayer.  When I shared this with a friend, he told me that I should post the poem somewhere.  So here it is, maybe you can relate...

Into Your Refining Fire

I choose to go

How I'll turn out

I do not know

Mold me and make me

Fit for your plan

Even if it means

I must submit to a man

Re-direct and protect me

From those who'd abuse

Help me see clearly

How to serve those you choose

Your purposes are so much greater

Than all my fear and pain

Help me serve you freely

And bring honor to Your name

You've given me a vision

And you've mapped out a plan

To go and make disciples

Who will do all that You command

Obedience, Surrender,

Your will is my desire

So consume me, then fill me

And release me with fire

---Jenni Biegler (February 9, 2011)

Commit your way to ADONAI;

Trust in Him, and He will act.

He will make your vindication shine forth like light,

The justice of your cause like the noonday sun.

                                            -Psalm 37:5,6

            Have you been waiting for a long time for the answer to your prayer?  Does it seem like GOD has not heard you or has forgotten about you? 

            Not all my prayers have been granted…yet.  But I continue to pray and persevere in hope, mainly because I know Him who I have placed my faith on.  Many times I don’t know the particular reason why I have to wait long, but do I really have to understand everything before I continue in faith?

            David encouraged us to commit our way to ADONAI.  To commit in Hebrew is ‘galal’ meaning to roll (figuratively or literally).  We are to roll our daily practices & habits toward the way of ADONAI.  From our thought patterns (perceptions), to our words and to the work of our hands, the godly are instructed to align all his ways to the way of YHWH.  By trusting Him, we will see him act on our behalf.  By trusting Him, we confess that we are weak , but in our weakness, ADONAI is strong and powerful.  By trusting Him, we declare that our GOD is almighty and sovereign over all the affairs of men.

            ADONAI will not allow His reputation and character in you to suffer suspicion, so He will make righteousness come to pass and people will see His greatness in you when they witness your vindication.  To surrender future circumstances to ADONAI is therefore the best thing that could ever happen to any believer. 

            When we remember that ADONAI creates circumstances in our favor by His holy word, we become armed with His presence and surrounded with His light.  We are assured that no matter what happens, all is well with our souls!

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