Overwhelming Challenges?

From Judges 6 - 8

 Gideon was a man with some big areas of insecurity, but God was out to change him; to build faith. As is usually the case, it was done as he encountered overwhelming odds. That's because faith tends to lie dormant without overwhelming challenges and, because our Father never gives up on us, the challenges continue all the way through life!
We're called to unequal fights (health, relationships, finances, etc.) where Satan whispers: "You don't have what it takes."

We need to learn to respond: "You're right - and that's a good thing!"

Why?

Take a look at 2 Corinthians 12:7-10

    ⁷And to keep me from being puffed up and too much elated by the exceeding greatness (preeminence) of these revelations, there was given me a thorn (a splinter) in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to rack and buffet and harass me, to keep me from being excessively exalted. [Job. 2:6.]

    ⁸Three times I called upon the Lord and besought [Him] about this and begged that it might depart from me;

    ⁹But He said to me, My grace (My favor and loving-kindness and mercy) is enough for you [sufficient against any danger and enables you to bear the trouble manfully]; for My strength and power are made perfect (fulfilled and completed) and show themselves most effective in [your] weakness. Therefore, I will all the more gladly glory in my weaknesses and infirmities, that the strength and power of Christ (the Messiah) may rest (yes, may pitch a tent over and dwell) upon me!

    ¹⁰So for the sake of Christ, I am well pleased and take pleasure in infirmities, insults, hardships, persecutions, perplexities and distresses; for when I am weak [in human strength], then am I [truly] strong (able, powerful in divine strength).

God says His power is perfected in our weakness.

As we combine a humility that acknowledges we don't have what it takes, with an unshakeable confidence that God does, miracles happen!


Blessings,

Melissa
Melissa Slagle

Is God Shaking Us?

I don't know how many of you hear from Voice of the Martyrs, but I just read their latest publication and had myself a good cry. This issue is on North Korea and anytime I read about the people featured in these articles I am totally convicted. How many of you wear a cross around your neck or have a few Bibles around? In North Korea you would be executed for this.

There are people all over this world who would give anything to have one of our many Bibles that we have lying around the house. I am convicted that I don't read and cherish mine any more than I do.

"Testimonies gathered by Christian workers indicate that North Koreans who evangelize have a life expectancy of about three months." I am convicted that I do not share my faith with my neighbors, family, or friends and I don't even have to worry about being killed for that--yet.

"Transformed believers in captive nations do not persuade their friends and enemies to change religions or follow a new moral code; they unleash the majesty of Jesus by sharing how he has made them a new creature." Hebrews 12:27-28 says, And this word, yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear."

"Jesus wants us to focus on his unshakable, unmovable kingdom no matter what the cost."

"For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God." I Corinthians 1:18

"Today, the suicide bombings, terrorism in the skies and general eroding of our culture have caused many Christians to worry about the future. God is not the author of evil, of the horrible acts we hear about on the evening news. Yet God allows our way of life to be threatened so that we will wake up and focus our energies on sharing the hope of eternal life."

I don't know about you, but I am challenged to be better at letting people in my life know what Jesus has done for me and to lift him up to those with whom I come in contact.

KEEP ON KEEPIN' ON

KAREN

Dancing to the Music of Life

Often we merely exist in a world that was meant for living. Frequently we let the world revolve around us, when we should be part of the motion. Too many times we sit when we should be dancing. It is easy to watch from the stands, cheering for a winning team, when we could be one of the players.

Fear, lack of motivation, and anxiousness suffocates us and puts out the fire, stifling our willingness to embrace all of life that is available to us. We watch the picture play out on a real life screen, placing ourselves in the scenes merely by wishful thinking, not by motivational endeavors. Our theater seats have become too comfortable.

How many times have you watched others do what you long to do?

How many times have you desired to venture out where other people have traveled?

How many times have you wished to see more, do more, and become more than you are?

There is always risk. There are always the jitters and nervous stress that precedes anything unknown. An eagle does not fly, reaching heights of grandeur, if he does not leave the nest. No, to reach heights of grandeur, one must step forward, reach out and leave the spot that is comfortable. It is leaving the secure for the unknown that has enabled man to fly, to break the sound barrier and to walk on the moon.

It was with determination and repeated attempts after denials and rejections that great novels have been published. It is with training and hard work, after defeats, that records have been broken. After conquering an endeavor, new goals have been set for others to achieve.

Often, a step out results in the next step being a step backwards and people tend to fear regression when they experience motion. Not all falling away or pruning is failure. Sometimes it is when one has trimmed off the nonessentials, clipped the mistakes, looked at situations from other angles, that growth is speedy and branches out with a new vigor. Yes, sometimes even regression can be progression.

When we slow down and make a change we are often able to reach our goals even quicker, for it is then we are able to see more clearly. To conquer, you must risk defeat. To gain, one must risk loss. To achieve, one has to realize there is failure; defeat, loss and failure or not in and of themselves the end. No - quitting is the end. To quit, in essence, is to stop living.

To just exist in a world where there is great potential would be like dying a slow agonizing death, if life to you simply means breathing and not enthusiastically participating. Why not try dancing? Maybe you've never danced before and at first you'll miss a few steps - that's okay; you're working on forward motion, not perfection!

Great strides are not made without a few stumbles, a few missteps. A person can not dance to a song without feeling the beat; so move with the music. Make life a song! Life is ever moving; you decide the direction. Are you moving forward or is the world revolving around you? Life cannot be lived to completeness when you are not part of the motion.

Forward motion does not necessarily mean vigorous activity or boisterous verbal proclamations. It can be doing big things in small ways. It can be doing significant activities in a quiet unassuming manner. It can be making great strides doing for other people and taking no credit.

Look at the way Mother Teresa and Rosa Parks lived their lives; they made a difference in this world. They were mild-mannered soft spoken people who did not seek notoriety for themselves. They did, though, take giant steps forward that made a difference in so many other people's lives, for generations to come. Mother Teresa and Rosa Parks danced to the tune of a dedicated life, in steps taken for others, to make a better life for so many people. Their music will live on in history books.

Most of us will not be recorded in history books, we will not win the Nobel Peace Prize, or perhaps even have our name recognized, but we can dance to the music of life and make a difference for ourselves and other people in this world.

Are you letting the world revolve around you, watching others make a difference?

Do you just exist in a world that is made for living?

Why not get out of your theater seats and join in the motion - try dancing to the music of life. You can make a difference; play your own special tune, dance your own special dance!

When your day on this earth has ended, let it be said "You Made a Difference," you lived life and "You Danced Your Own Special Dance!"



from Betty King
Betty King is the author of two books, It Takes Two Mountains to Make a Valley, and But - It Was in the Valley's I Grew. She is also a Life Style and Devotional newspaper columnist and freelance writer and speaker. Her writings can be found in several Chicken Soup books. Her website is www.bettyking.net

RUN!!!!!!!!!!

In our pluralistic society we as Christians need to be completely aware of those who would attempt to lead us astray from the Gospel message of Jesus crucified, risen, and coming again. Watching "Family Feud" yesterday for a brief few moments the question was asked, "Of all the classic rockers, who would you want to visit with first when you get to Heaven?" One name caught my eye and that was John Lennon. He specifically denounced God and unless he had a "death-bed" experience I doubt very much that he will be there to talk with. This is what I am worried about as a Christian. Our culture has continued to embrace all religions and assumes everyone is going to Heaven. One can get in a lot of "trouble" saying that Jesus is the only way of salvation.

We are supposed to be "tolerant" of everything. Am I saying that we go up to someone who embraces another religion and tell them that they are going to Hell? No, but as Ezekiel says in 3:18 "When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand." The next verse says: "Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul."

Am I saying people of other religions are wicked? Yes, and we were too, before we came to a saving knowledge of Jesus. Romans 3:23 says, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Psalms 51:5 says, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death."

Something that I heard on TV the other night refutes what I just quoted. This person said that we are born with "light" in us and that we receive more "light' as we are taught, etc. I have no problem with receiving more "light" as we progress as Christians and mature in the faith. However, the light they were talking about was supposed to be in us at birth and all people of all religions had some of this "light." Well, if Romans and Psalms are true, I understand that there is none righteous. Only Jesus was righteous and He was the light and because of what He did, can we become righteous.

In his book The Deceivers Josh McDowell states, "Rather than obeying God's Word, cults always contradict it with their new message." (p. 23) He goes on to talk about several who have added writings and works. "Thus, the Bible is not truly their final source of authority." (p. 23) As a Christian, I think we need to be extremely careful and aware how clever Satan is.

One of the things I believe Satan tries to do is convince us that we can obtain Heaven through a variety of means; good works, religious rituals, living a "good" life, loving people, being "tolerant", and in the case of some radical Muslims--committing suicide and killing others. I believe that he tries to do anything and everything to take attention away from the main premise of Christianity--Jesus died for our sins. We were sinners and we needed salvation that could only come through Him. Most don't teach repentance anymore which is being sorry for the sins we have committed. Some don't even acknowledge that we are sinners in need of a Savior.

Dr. D. James Kennedy once gave this analogy. A man fell in a pit with a snake after him. A Buddhist walked by and said, "The reason you are unhappy, is because you need to not want anything that you can't get. So, accept where you are and do not want to get out of the pit and do not want to get away from the serpent and you will be happy."

A Hindu says that nothing is real. The pit doesn't exist and the serpent doesn't exist. The Confusionist is all about wisdom. "It is not wise to fall into pit with serpent. You will learn from mistake and never fall in pit again."

Jesus jumped into the pit and stood between the snake and the man. He threw the man out of the pit and was bitten by the serpent and died. Only Jesus gave Himself. Christianity is the only religion that has a Savior Who took our sins on Himself for us because we were inadequate.

Be extremely cautious of anything that sounds good, but adds or takes away from the Word, or rewrites scripture to eliminate those things which the Word says are sins. Satan is very slick and he will convince you that you are loving and kind while you are being "tolerant," but you are not showing true love if you do not warn those who think that salvation comes any other way than through Jesus Christ. "As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to those who believe on His name." John 1:12 (italics mine) That includes daughters!


I know that those who speak of Jesus being the only way are often pictured as bigoted, hateful, intolerant, etc. Those of you who are parents--do you allow your children to do everything they want to do so that you can be "tolerant" of them? I would hope not. We protect our children from things that could harm them and we do it out of love for them. I am writing this out of love. I do not want anyone to be deceived by Satan. He knows how to use our particular ways of thinking to lead us down the path away from Jesus and His Word.

I was raised in the church and for many years I was a very self-righteous person. I have since been made aware of how deceived I was. I was "okay." I didn't really need a Savior. I went to church 3 times a week. I tithed. I was a good citizen. I, I, I. The Lord had to break me and show me that I did need a Savior all the while showing me how much He loved me. It wasn't enough to do religious and "good" things. I didn't deserve salvation any more than anyone else. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works lest any man should boast." Ephesians 2:8-9

In cults, the cult leader becomes the "savior." Run away from anything that takes away from the message of Jesus as our Savior or adds any man's writings to the Word of God, or offers any way to Heaven other than Jesus. RUN!!!!!!!!!

KEEP ON KEEPIN' ON
KAREN

Miracles Still Happen!

Memories of God’s Divine Interventions

When I was two weeks shy of being eighteen years old, Paul and I were involved in a car accident . The driver of the car we were riding in lost control of the vehicle and we left the road going over a 15 foot embankment, landing in a river.

Although the car should have rolled end over end down the embankment, it appeared to have grown wings and floated out over the river and sat down right side up on a boulder. (We were told that if the car had landed 6 feet in either direction we would have been in water over our heads.)

I received a compound fracture of my left upper arm. The bone was so shattered and the arm so mangled that the doctor felt it was impossible to save it and wanted to amputate it immediately. Due to the fact that my parents weren’t in town and couldn’t get there for several hours and I was not yet of age (18 years old) to sign my own surgery release papers, my father had to send a Western Union to the hospital to give them ‘permission to operate’ on me. The doctor was disgusted when he received the telegram because the word ‘operate’ didn’t give him the authority to ‘amputate’. (Again, the Lord had divinely intervened in the wording of that telegram so that my arm was saved!)

I was taken to surgery where steel plates were bolted in my arm to hold the bone together and several stitches were done to close up some of the torn flesh (although a gaping 3” hole was still left). Also, I awoke from surgery to find myself in a body cast from my neck to my waist.

I remained this way for two weeks, when one night my arm began to hurt in a way it had not hurt before; all the while a smelly, greenish-black fluid started running down my side under the cast from the open wound in the arm. When the doctor took off the body cast, there was my arm three times its normal size and the open wound stinking of gangrene! The doctor told my father, “I told you two weeks ago that arm could not be saved. Now, we must amputate it or your daughter will die.”

Surgery was scheduled for 8:00a.m. the next morning. My parents, Paul, and the church that Paul attended began to pray - - - and by the time the doctor came in several hours later to check me before surgery, my arm had regained its natural flesh coloring, the swelling had gone down, and the stinking gangrene fluid had vanished!

Needless to say, the doctor was surprised with what he saw and upon realizing that my arm was all right, except it being broken, he elected to put a body cast back on it and let it heal. There was no need to amputate! (For the third time, a divine intervention was made in my behalf and my arm was saved!)

Is this the end of the story? No! After three months no bone had grown to close up the gap where it was shattered. The only thing to do, I was told, was to take bone from my leg and graft it in my arm and see if it would start the process. Again, the saints in Paul’s church were called to pray in my behalf......and, in less than a week, X-rays showed a ‘sprout’ of bone starting to grow and that surgery was cancelled! (Another visit from the divine Hand of God!)

About a year later, after going through months of therapy treatments to try to get me back the full use of my arm (it had frozen at a 90 degree angle due to the ligaments and tendines shrinking over the time in I was in a body cast) I was standing in church singing a song, with my good arm and hand raised up in the air in praise to God....when a ‘voice’ said very clearly to me, “Why don’t you raise the left arm and hand.?” I don’t remember even questioning the fact that I could not do such a thing. But I simply put down my right arm and hand and, not only lifted my left arm and hand, but stretched it completely out! I have had full use of this arm since that day - it has been 45 years! I definitely have a miracle arm, thanks to the almighty, divine, presence and intervention of a living God!

I Am Blessed!
Dorothy

No Orphans of God - Free Download

Empty Self

Never having Fasted, or really never considering a purpose to fasting for me (even though I knew people who Fasted that seemed to get a LOT out of it) - I promised the Lord I would agree to a Fast with a Women's Intercessory Prayer group I am a part of.

Prior to this commitment, I was 'doing better' in my recovery from almost total exhaustion from some circumstances and situations that had taken a toll on me physically, mentally and emtionally. Then, on Sunday (Valentine's Day), before the fast was to begin, I had rested up - prayed up - partied up with Valentine calls, cards and food........ Love and Life was in the air!!

I went to church that Sunday, and due to memories of the  PAST- and the reality of the PRESENT (as my husband is living with some dementia), great fear of loosing all the 'history of our memories' come over me. Grief and despair and tears were overwhelming. To top it off, the evening Church service made the pain worse - as I seemed to find no comfort to 'my feelings and needs'. I was dealing with some very distrubing thoughts of what I thought I understood of God's Mercy and Grace....

I tired to 'prepare myself' for the Fast that was beginning the next day and God just wouldn't listen to my confusion, hurt, questions, feelings.....My great complaint was that the past life was fading until I would not (and nobody else would) know or care or value our 'Life Story' -- I asked the Lord to Touch me and Nothing!!

I told the Lord I would go ahead with the Fast even without feeling it was something for me...and gave up and stopped trying to feel or hear God....VERY Disappointed.

THEN, the Lord said, "Empty Out SELF".........and as I literally breathed out, I was truly empty of all the conflict and stress and confusion. Then the Lord said, 'I have your Remembrance"  - "I have it ALL". I was totally filled with PEACE and I remembered that I had been promised in the past that a Book of Remembrance was written by the Lord. I went to my Bible and found it in Malachi 3:14-18: "Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another; and the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they will be mine, saith the Lord of Hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him."

At the side of this scripture I had written in my Bible: "I have a book. God knows my every thought, care, act, prayer and tears--HE KNOWS AND HE CARES--THAT IS ALL THAT IS IMPORTANT!"

I then prayed in the Spirit and asked the Lord to not only empty out 'Self', but to fill me, rest me, use me and bless me. I renewed my committment to God and to the Prayer Intercessory Group's mission:  "We are committed to being Spiritual Intercessors to shake the heavens and the earth for God".

Then, I brought before the Lord the ones who have given their prayer needs to our Women's Intercessors Prayer group  (as God brought to my memory). So many and so many situations and needs. I thanked him for allowing me to have a Part His Plan and Plans for Others...I called out the names of the wonderful prayer partners, friends, family,and PRAISED HIM!!

It was a wonderful Spiritual Experience. I was restored, refreshed and READY TO FAST!!The Day of Fasting was Wonderful in the WORD, SPIRIT AND PRAYERS! I DIDN'T NEED OR EVEN THINK OF FOOD -I HAD MORE ENERGY THAN I NEEDED.....and I was JUST FILLED WITH JOY!!


Wanetta

Calleth Those Things Which Are Not as Though They Were

Romans 4:17-24 (KJV)

17(As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.

18Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.

19And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb:

20He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;

21And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.

22And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.

23Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;

24But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;

God's Adoption Papers

Mark Buchanan, in his book Things Unseen, told of an experience where he and his wife visited an orphanage in Bangkok, Thailand. Following are his description and thoughts of the visit.

The children came to us, ran to us, clung to us. They were starved for touch and voice. They could not get close enough to us. We each carried around several children, while others hung onto our legs and arms. . .

But that wasn't all. That morning in the orphange, we visited another building . . . There were several cribs crowded together, and in each was a child. . . . They had been alone so long . . . that they had closed up inside themselves. All that was left, or all that seeped out, was the groaning.

What is this groaning except, at root, a longing for heaven? A longing that no father on earth, no matter how attentive and affectionate, can quite satisfy?

We hear the groaning in all things. In orphans. . . . In housewives, in businessmen . . . In the sated. In the famished. We hear it in country-and-western laments. . . We hear it in the rocks beneath the earth's crust . . . in the wood joists of our houses at night . . .in the bones of our bodies. . . We hear it . . .

This is my eager expectation: that one day, the Father will come through the door, adoption papers in hand. And He won't leave without me.

Until then, homesick, I groan.

KEEP ON KEEPIN' ON

KAREN

My Failures~~God's Focus

There have been many times in my life when I have felt or have been made to feel like a failure. Most of us have had instances when this has happened. Because of these insecurities this prayer came to me. "Help me to listen to You and focus on You and not my failures. God, by focusing on my failures I'm putting You in a box that says that You're not big enough to help me and to change me."

"That in everything you are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge; Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ."I Corinthians 1:5,8

What sets Christianity apart from all other religions is that other religions are based on what the person does. This puts the emphasis on what the PERSON does--not on what has been done by God, through Jesus Christ. The religion is about ME and what I do to go to Heaven, not about what Jesus did to give us life eternal.

Focus on God. He's taken care of the failures by having a relationship with us, not by us having a religion.


KEEP ON KEEPIN' ON,
KAREN

Women Mentoring Women

Women Mentoring Women