“WHOSOEVER WILL MAY COME”

The most costly building, for its size, ever erected, was the TABERNACLE

[1]. It was only 15 ft. wide, 45 ft. long, 15 ft. high (675 sq. ft. of floor space, only two rooms).
[2]. The cost of materials was [...]]]>

The Tabernacle Exodus 26; 27:9- 18; 38:9-20 “WHOSOEVER WILL MAY COME” The most costly building, for its size, ever erected, was the TABERNACLE [1]. It was only 15 ft. wide, 45 ft. long, 15 ft. high (675 sq. ft. of floor space, only two rooms). [2]. The cost of materials was over $10,000,000.00 (not counting labor). [3]. It stood WITHIN A COURT which was the size of an average city lot (75 x 150): and was enclosed by a FENCE (7 1/2 ft. high).  I. THE TABERNACLE WAS ALWAYS IN THE CENTER OF THE CAMP  [1]. God is, and always has been, the GOD OF ORDER (Tribes around Tabernacle). [2]. The beauty and significance of this arrangement is GOD IS THEIR “CHIEF” (as the Bedouin camps in the desert). [3]. The CENTER, then was a PLACE OF SAFETY (Psalms 91).  B. The TABERNACLE – Always faced EAST – looking toward the SUNRISE (Matt. 24:27). [1]. It is not suggested by tints that our churches face East today, but our hearts should! [2]. The Tabernacle floor was sand – all the beauty was up (Col. 3:2 ) church is also in the wilderness. [3]. The temple floor was gold (I Kings 6:30) (speaking of Christ on earth during the millennium).  II. THE MATERIALS OF THE FENCE The FENCE was of FINE, TWINED LINEN suspended on sixty pillars (posts) of brass resting on sockets of brass, caped with chapiters (crowns of silver), held in place with linen cords and pins of brass. A. One of the more prominent materials – (fence, gate, door, veil, covering). [1]. Approximately 6,000 sq. ft. used in the Tabemacle and priest robes. [2]. Linen suggested two things: (a). The righteousness of God (Heb. 7:26; Rev. 19:8). (b). “Good Works” of the saved (Eph. 2: 10) Both thoughts are Joined in (Is. 61:10). [3]. What a wonderful exhibition of RIGHTEOUSNESS. [4]. How the LINEN FENCE must have stood out in CONTRAST to the hundreds of BLACK TENTS (Solomon 1:5) pitched around it – Christ’s RIGHTEOUSNESS in a perverse and crooked generation (Deut. 32:5; Phil. 2:15). B. THE HARVEST OF LINEN - [1]. For seven years the soil is prepared before the flax seed is sown for this high grade, finely twined linen (other crops are raised and plowed back into the soil – this is the work of the Holy Spirit preparing our hearts to receive the Word (seed) of God. [2]. The special seed is sown (flax will grow anywhere, in contrast to cotton or silk: God’s righteousness is universally available). (The blood of Christ can meet the needs of any sinner anywhere). [3].Harvesting is done by hand, (flax has been sown closely together ) to preserve the fine texture (individual salvation) and laid in pools of water for the flax plant to die and the linen fibers to “come alive-separated” (baptism of the believer). [4].Cleansing and combing come next, much rough treatment, but many short hairy bits are removed (testing, trials). [5].Finer, and finer combing brings soft, silky finish (Rom. 5:3-51). [6].Spun into thread, wetted and spread in the sun to bleach. (1 Pet. 1:6-7). C. THE PILLARS – (posts) Sixty in number, made of brass sockets, silver chapiters. [1]. 60 – composed of five twelves. [2]. 100 cubits long. [3]. 50 cubits wide (Lev. 25:5-17). [4]. Brass – divine judgment – Christ took the divine judgment of sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21). [5].The CHAPITERS of SILVER (Ex. 30:11-16). Silver is discriptive of REDEMPTION, although condemned and deserving of death, the believer has been judged and redeemed in Christ’s death.  III. THE PURPOSE OF THE FENCE The Fence was continuous, except for the One Gate in front. A. It was a BARRIER – Unlawful entrance is prevented. B. It was PROTECTION – Kept enemies of righteousness at a distance, but inside you are surrounded by righteousness. C. It was a LINE – The camp outside, the Tabernacle inside; a positive mark (righteousness) separating the Church and the World. D. It was a WAY OF APPROACH – man must come God’s way, God’s provided way in Christ.  IV. THE GATE There was only ONE OPENING in the FENCE – THE GATE A. THREE ENTRANCES – Gate, Door, Veil - [1]. VEIL – Downward from God. [2]. DOOR – Outward from God to man. [3]. GATE – Upward from man to God. [4]. ALL THREE equal in size – 100 cubits square; Gate (5×20); Door, Veil (10x 10). [5]. EXTRA WIDE – WHOSOEVER WILL.  B. DESCRIPTION OF THE GATE - [1]. 20 cubits wide, 5 cubits high, supported on 4 pillars. [2]. Fine twined linen embroidered with blue, purple and scarlet. [3]. BLUE – Heavenly origin, nature (JOHN – Son of God). [4]. PURPLE – Royalty (MATTHEW - King of the Jews). [5]. SCARLET – Sacrifice, death (MARK – suffering servant). [6]. LINEN – Righteousness (LUKE – (Perfect) Son of Man). [7]. FOUR PILLARS – (North, East, South, West) – The WORLD NUMBER (three openings In pillars – The WAY, The TRUTH, The LIFE).  C. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE GATE - [1]. It was an ONLY GATE – One way (Acts 4:12). [2]. It was a WIDE GATE – “Whosoever will” (Rom. 10:13). [3]. It was an ACCESSIBLE GATE – No locks, no bars, (no cherubims). [4]. It was an ATTRACTIVE GATE – A beautiful blend of colors. [5]. It was a WELL SUPPORTED GATE – Holding forth God’s righteous demands.  THE GATE is the FIRST STEP TO GOD: “WHOSOEVER WILL MAY COME”  MULTIPLES OF FIVE IN THE MEASUREMENTS A large number of the measurements are multiples of fives. What does this mean? FIVE is the number of Death or Grace! THE COURT: THE ENTRANCE: 60 pillars (12×5) Gate 20 cubits wide (4×5) 60 chapiters (12×50 Gate 5 cubits high (1×5) 60 sockets (12×5) Door 10 cubits wide (2×5) 20 pins (24×5) Door 10 cubits wide (2×5) 100 cubits long (20×5) Door 5 pillars (1×5)     THE TABERNACLE: HOLY OF HOLIES: 30 cubits long (6×5) 10 x 10 x 10 (2×5) 10 cubits wide (2×5)   10 cubits wide (2×5) BRAZEN ALTAR: 100 silver sockets (20×5) 5 x 5 cubits (1×5) 15 bars (3×5) 5 vessels (1×5) 5 bars each side (1×5) 5 animals (1×5) 10 curtains (2×5) 5 offerings (1×5) 50 taches (10×5) In the Ark: 100 blue loops (20×5) 10 commandments (2×5)     HOLY PLACE:   20 cubits long (4×5)   10 cubits wide (2×5)   10 cubits high (2×5)   ESTIMATED VALUE (Exodus 38:24-31) With the change in monetary values, it is difficult to accurately evaluate the Tabernacle. However, the Scriptural listing was: GOLD 29 talents 730 shekels = 1 1/4 tons SILVER 100 talents 1,775 shekels = 4 1/4 tons BRASS 70 talents 2,400 shekels = 4 tons A talent of gold was about 120 pounds, a talent of silver about 100 pounds, a shekel was one-half ounce. Adding to this the cost of the wood, fabrics, priestly garments, precious stones, it has been estimated to be valued at $10,000,000.00 without labor. Where did they get this wealth? (Exodus 12:35,36)  Notes:

]]> http://lifelongdisciples.com/2010/07/10/lesson-two-the-fence-and-the-outer-court/feed/ 0 http://lifelongdisciples.com/2010/06/05/keys-to-god%e2%80%99s-kingdom-introduction-new-lessons/ http://lifelongdisciples.com/2010/06/05/keys-to-god%e2%80%99s-kingdom-introduction-new-lessons/#comments Sun, 06 Jun 2010 03:09:31 +0000 RSB http://lifelongdisciples.com/?p=1508

Unlocking Faith-Filled Belief

Introduction

We are going to start an adventure!  Learning Keys to the Kingdom is a subject brought up quiet often in the Bible.  So much so, I began to pray and ask God to reveal His complete Truth concerning the keys to His kingdom to me.  I don’t know [...]]]>

Unlocking Faith-Filled Belief

Introduction

We are going to start an adventure!  Learning Keys to the Kingdom is a subject brought up quiet often in the Bible.  So much so, I began to pray and ask God to reveal His complete Truth concerning the keys to His kingdom to me.  I don’t know about you, but I want everything God has for me as a Christian.  Not crumbs, not just enough to get by, but really pumping it up to learn more about our wonderful God!  So, here we go learning together about some keys to God’s kingdom. 

 Matthew 16:19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind (declare to be improper and unlawful) on earth must be what is already bound in heaven; and whatever you loose (declare lawful) on earth must be what is already loosed in heaven.

Of course to use these keys we must be first birth from above (salvation).  Not church membership, not talking to a pastor for counsel, not leaning on family traditions, nor is it a crutch to use when life kicks us hard.   Birthing from above is an intimate introduction to the Creator of the world, God the Father, through the blood sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  When this happens to us at God’s timing and purpose then we enter into God’s kingdom.  A kingdom has a King and it is a territory the King has usually fought a battle for to win or take a territory back from another ruler who was not treating the people of the territory good, so the good King comes and fights a war and wins, and the Kingdom is His and the ruler must surrender his title to the King and be under authority to the victorious King.

We have to learn about the kingdom and its beginnings the Bible speaks of.  This is a simple analogy I wrote to kind of give us the idea of living in God’s Kingdom.

God created the earth and His presence was               Verses                             Satan wanted to be equal to God

With  His Creation.                                                                                                                    he hated God’s Creation, so He

                                                                                                                                                                stole  man’s position with God.

God gave Adam authority in His Kingdom. —————————————Satan, was in the very

but Adam lost the kingdom due to his                                                           presence of God,  because he

disobedience and sin.                                                                                      was created by God.  But due

to his disobedience he was    kicked out of God’s headquarters and cast down to earth.  Not satisfied with this position, he desired to be equal with God so He lied and Adam chose to believe Satan rather than God, so therefore Satan took the Kingdom and became the evil ruler, who used his power in the earth to kill, steal and destroy.

.The kingdom suffered at the hand ———————————————–Satan worked hard through

Its  new evil ruler.                                                                                                                 the very ones who were the

chosen ones of God  (religious rulers) of the Kingdom.  They took the commandments of God and made them personal preferences.  The love the ruled God’s kingdom was turned into lies which enslaved the people God loved.

Centuries pasted but God never————————————————–The evil ruler, Satan, knew

forgot the promise He made to regain                                                                              the battle was coming, so he

the  kingdom by the battle God was                                                                                   looked through the earth for

planning between His Son, Prince Jesus                                                                            people to help him when the

and the evil ruler, Satan.                                                                                                          battle came.  And he found

                                                                                                                                                            them among the very ones who

                                                                                                                                                             said they loved God and was

                                                                                                                                                            waiting for Jesus too.

Time was right and the expected——————————————————–The evil ruler, Satan, drew his

Prince came into the fallen kingdom.                                                                                      chosen ones close too.  He blinded

He lived in the evil ruler’s kingdom and                                                                                  them to the true identity of Prince

chose his knights (disciples) carefully.                                                                                    Jesus.  Causing them to divide the

                                                                                                                                                                   earth’s people.

Prince Jesus took time to train and arm His——————————————-While the evil ruler caused

knights and also did good among the common                                                                  confusion and even attacked the

people.  The battle would come and He was listening                                                    Prince knights and caused them to

his Father God’s instructions and joining Him in plans                                                 doubt their loyalty to Him.

to seek and save the lost in the earth.

The time drew near for the Prince’s intense——————————————The evil ruler, knew the knight’s

battle to take back the kingdom from the evil ruler.                                                      weaknesses from his spies.  He even

He was ready, His knights were in place, tho’ they                                                          divided them so he could have the

were weak Prince Jesus knew what He had                                                                         Prince killed and his authority would

taught them would help win the battle.                                                                                 continue in the fallen kingdom.                                                                                                                                                                         His plan worked!  And he thought

                                                                                                                                                              was secure in the earth

The Prince died at the hand of the ones———————————————The evil ruler, Satan, even made sure

the evil ruler had used to set up the                                                                                  the body of the Prince was guarded

assassination of Prince Jesus. The                                                                                     Just in case, someone was not on his

religious who had said they were waiting                                                                       side.  But the joke was on the

for Prince Jesus.                                                                                                                       religious traders because they didn’t

                                                                                                                                                         realize they would be slaves to the                                                                                                                                                            evil Satan for centuries to come.

But God had a secret plan the evil ruler didn’t————————————-The evil ruler, was not prepared for

know about.  Prince Jesus was given power by                                                             the Prince invading his private palace.

God to come back to life, to never die again.  But                                                          Much less taking the keys he had

not only did Prince Jesus come back  to life, He                                                             worked and schemed over to get!!

went to the headquarters of the evil ruler (hell)                                                             He was left without a fallen kingdom,

and took the keys back for the Kingdom God had                                                           and had to work extra hard to

created.  The Prince was now the King of the                                                                      convince the great big powerful

Kingdom He had won.!                                                                                                                  leader he once was!  

Prince Jesus set up His Kingdom with authority———————————–The evil Satan wouldn’t give up, he

and promises to His people.  He returned to                                                                  knew there would be a second

His headquarters (heaven) and He and God rules                                                        battle and this one he would win.

the Kingdom today.  There are many  who God                                                            So he started his strategy for this

has invited to be in the kingdom with Him and                                                              battle and once again he send spies

they enjoy all the blessing, protection and benefits                                                    into the kingdom and they gathered

of their King Jesus.                                                                                                                     information.

Satan knew he wouldhave to divide the Good King’s kingdom, so he came again to the religious rulers in the New Kingdom and many listened to him and decided to leave the Good King’s kingdom.  Some stayed but were loyal to the evil Satan’s lies.  So much that they took them to the streets and tried to get the Kingdom dwellers to believe them and become powerless to the Good King.

 The Good King Jesus assured His people in the————————————-The evil Satan knew he had to steal

Kingdom through His Pastors and Teachers, that                                                          the people’s joy and devotion from

His promises for them was true and all they had to                                                      from King Jesus.  So he set out to

do was believe Him and take Him at His word and                                                       kill, steal and destroy on every level

pledge their loyalty to Him.  The Good King Jesus                                                       he could. 

But King Jesus had giventold them, He would take care of them as long as those in His kingdom weapons and

they stayed in His Kingdom.  King Jesus told them  armor to fight with but  Satan knew He was preparing for the final battle and that                                                                 he must use his weapons, which had

the evil Satan would be completely judged and                                                              worked in the past to destroy the

held captive for eternity.  King Jesus would be                                                               citizens of the Kingdom, who had

victorious again and His Kingdom would be forever.                                    power to destroy him.  So he told half truths, and brought up their past and accused them on every hand.  He caused them to fear lies and doubt the goodness of their King.   It render many powerless and by doing so there weren’t so many coming into the Good King’s Kingdom.  He killed off others by sickness and diseased before their time because of lack of the experience of faith in the promises the King had made.  It was working!

Now let’s ask these questions—have you been invited into this Kingdom by King Jesus?  If you have you are a citizen of God’s Kingdom that is forever.   Are you ready to be a warrior for Him or will you live on the out-skirts of the Kingdom and be a powerless and fearful citizen? Do you believe the promises the King has made?  Have you surrendered your personal rights to your King?  Is He Lord of your life?

Be watchful, Satan, will tell you lies and you will become prideful and desire to be like God, and chose to reason with the King.  But a King you do not reason with, but rather surrender to.

You may think this is a silly analogy of our place in God’s kingdom, but it’s not, it’s the Truth.  We will begin to study the Keys to the Kingdom each week.

Luke 12:31 Only aim at and strive for and seek His kingdom, and all these things shall be supplied to you also.

The study of the Tabernacle is a thrilling [...]]]>

A Study of the Tabernacle

This lesson from the Old Testament is on the Jewish Tabernacle during the time of Moses.

Inspired by God as a Type and Shadow of Christ & His Bride and Taught by Rhonda Brooks.    Written by Dr. James Modlish 

The study of the Tabernacle is a thrilling story: GOD’S DESIRE TO DWELL WITH MAN, and TO BRING REDEMPTION TO MAN.

The first in depth study God lead me into was the study of the Tabernacle.  I always thought it was interesting when I read the Bible, but never saw the depth of the Tabernacle in the Wilderness as it related to Christ our Lord, nor did I see the symbolism when it came to me as a Christian.  The study will give you and I great insight to who we are in Christ and give us focus on ourselves as the “temple of God not made by human hands…”  My goal and prayer is for everyone who joins us in study with this will see that every word in the Bible is there for a reason and may it challenge you to dig deep and find the MEAT of the word of God!!   

The Word of God is like a multiple layered revelation.  Some shallow Christians find studies like this one….Boring…because they don’t realize the importance of EVERY WORD in the Word of God, because it is our Lord Jesus!!  But if you are up for spiritual growth and depth in your walk with God then I urge you to come join our class or stay on line for this revelation into our Coming King and the joy of discovering yourselves and the place you have in God’s Kingdom.        Humbly His, Rhonda

THE TABERNACLE WAS:

[1]. The dwelling place of God in Israel (in the Wilderness and Canaan).
[2]. A picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, and God’s salvation in Him.

WHY STUDY?

There are 50 chapters in the Bible on The Tabernacle:

[1]. The TABERNACLE and the Tabernacle FORM OF WORSHIP are FIGURES of that which was to come (Heb 9:8,9,24; 10:1); God’s future plans.
[2]. The TABERNACLE and EXPERIENCES OF THE ISRAELITES were EXAMPLES and PATTERNS established by God for us (1 Cor 10:11; Heb 8:5).
[3]. The TABERNACLE pictures THE LORD JESUS CHRIST in such perfect detail that it thrills the believer as the study unfolds (Lk 24:27) Every detail of the Tabernacle points to some aspect of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:14).

 I. THE TABERNACLE – The Dwelling Place of God.

The word ‘tabernacle’ means “temporary dwelling place”:

[1]. THE TABERNACLE OF THE O.T. was temporary – used only 400 years (Ex 25:8).
[2]. Then, THE TEMPLE (2 Chr 5:14) was for a time the dwelling place of God here on the earth, (will be restored for the Millennium).
[3]. While JESUS was on the earth during His ministry, He was the dwelling place of God, in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily (Col 2:9).
[4]. After which Christ took up abode in THE HEART OF THE BELIEVER (1 Cor 3:16). The word CHURCH means “that which is called out”, and does not apply to the building, but the BELIEVERS. Therefore, the Tabernacle is also a picture of the believer, the place where Christ dwells. The Believer (“in Christ”) is the dwelling place, the temple of God (Holy Spirit); the body is the outer court, the soul is the holy place, and the spirit is the holy of holies.
[5]. Finally, IN HEAVEN (He 8:1,2; 9:23, 24; Rev 11:19; 21:3).

 II. THE TABERNACLE TELLS MORE - THE COMPLETE PICTURE OF SALVATION

The Tabernacle is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, and a picture of the believer “in Christ”, and also a complete picture of the PLAN OF SALVATION. In

God’s redemption there are seven steps:

[1]. As sinners on the outside, we must first ENTER and STOP at the ALTAR (the cross).
[2]. Next comes SEPARATION and DAILY CLEANSING at the LAVER.
[3]. We enter into FELLOWSHIP of the Lord at the TABLE.
[4]. We learn to WALK in the LIGHT of the Golden CANDLESTICK.
[5]. Then, and only then, comes POWER in PRAYER at the TABLE OF INCENSE.
[6]. We are then ready to enter the HOLY OF HOLIES of HIGHEST SERVICE (the personal power and communion of the Holy Spirit).
[7]. Thus, we reach PERFECT REST and PEACE at the blood-sprinkled MERCY SEAT under the shadow of the cherubim.

THE SUBJECT OF THE TABERNACLE IS INEXHAUSTIBLE, and as we permit the Holy Spirit to help us to understand these truths, we are then to be drawn closer to the Lord Jesus, and by knowing more about Him from this study, we will love Him more, and in loving Him more we will serve Him more. STUDY THEN SHOULD RESULT IN LOVING SERVICE!!!!

 III. THE TABERNACLE PATTERN - Three fold Division – the number of divine perfection (John 14:6).

[1]. THE OUTER COURT – The fence, the brazen altar, the laver.
[2]. THE HOLY PLACE - The table of shewbread, the candlestick, the altar of incense.
[3]. THE HOLY OF HOLIES – The ark and the mercy seat.

 IV. THE FOURTEEN MATERIALS

Fourteen is the number of TESTIMONY. The Tabernacle is a place of fellowship, communion, and TESTIMONY. Each material has a typical meaning, the meanings are the same wherever they are found in the Tabernacle. Christ is seen in them all:

[1]. GOLD – Deity (Ex. 25:3).
[2]. SILVER – Redemption (Ex 25:3).
[3]. BRASS – Judgment (Ex 25:3; Num 21:6-9).
[4]. BLUE – Heavenly nature and origin (Ex. 25:4).
[5]. PURPLE – Royalty (Ex 25:4).
[6]. SCARLET – Sacrificed blood (Ex 25:4).
[7]. FINE LINEN – Spotless righteousness (Ex 25:4; Rev 19:8).
[8]. GOAT’S HAIR – The sinbearer (Ex 25:4; Lev 16:20-22).
[9]. RAM’S SKINS DYED RED – The suffering of Christ, the depth and devotion of Christ (Ex 25:5 Luke 22:44).
[10]. BADGER’S SKINS – Humility of Christ (Ex 25:5; Isa 53:2), a common, ordinary-looking skin.
[11]. SHITTIM WOOD (Acacia) – Humanity of Christ (Ex. 25:5).
[12]. OIL for the LIGHT – The Holy Spirit (Ex 25:5).
[13]. SPICES for Anointing, OIL – Sweetness and preciousness of Christ (Ex 25:6).
[14]. ONXY STONES – Speaks of the Glory of Christ (Ex 25:7; John 17:5).

 V. SEVEN ARTICLES OF FURNITURE -

Seven is the number of perfection: ARK, MERCY SEAT, ALTAR OF INCENSE, TABLE OF SHEWBREAD, CANDLESTICK, LAVER, BRAZEN ALTAR

 VI. “THE HOUSE OF BLOOD“ -

THE TABERNACLE has been called “THE HOUSE OF BLOOD” (Lesson 4), because of the blood of the sacrifices required by God. But, all of this blood was merely prophetic, typical, and a shadow of the blood of the coming Lamb of God, His Son:

[1]. We have redemption through the blood (Eph 1:7).
[2]. We have forgiveness through the blood (Eph 1:7).
[3]. We have justification through the blood (Rom 5:9).
[4]. We have sanctification through the blood (Heb 10:10).
[5]. We have cleansing through the blood (I John 1:7).
[6]. We have peace through the blood (Col 1:20).
[7]. We have victory through the blood (Rev 12:11).

There are two hand-outs that go with this lesson.  If you would like these please request one by sending a self-addressed stamped envelope to St. Stephens’ Church, 2601  Double Churches Road, Columbus, GA 31906–or you may come by and pick one up on Sunday Mornings at 10:00 at St. Stephens Church.  Please feel free to leave you comments and let Mrs. Brooks know you are studying on line.

Ladies, I studied this in 1998.  It drew me close to our wonderful Lord Jesus in so many ways.  There are different seasons in our lives.  We must learn to embrace each for the instruction of the Lord.  It doesn’t depend on “how we feel” but our loyalty to our Lord and King Jesus.  May [...]]]>

Ladies, I studied this in 1998.  It drew me close to our wonderful Lord Jesus in so many ways.  There are different seasons in our lives.  We must learn to embrace each for the instruction of the Lord.  It doesn’t depend on “how we feel” but our loyalty to our Lord and King Jesus.  May you grow in grace in knowledge of our Lord as we study this over the next few weeks.  Come just as you are-we are all welcome….

Identified in Death

A lady once showed the famous artist Buskin a costly handkerchief on which a blot of ink had been dropped. The handkerchief, she complained, was ruined. Nothing was left but to throw it away. Buskin said nothing, but took the handkerchief away from her. Shortly afterward the lady received it back, but so changed that she could hardly belief it was the original. Using the ink blot as the basis, he had worked around it a beautiful and artistic design, changing what was valueless into a thing of beauty and joy.1

So it is with Christ. He takes the blots and failures of our lives and transforms them into valuable assets. Those hurts, disappointments and failures that appear to us as obstacles and threaten to ruin us become perfect opportunities for the Son of God to make new, if only we will let Him.

• 1. What is different from us, as Godly women and other women of the world who are morally good? From your heart tell us what you think is the difference.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

• 2. Where is the words of our Lord Jesus found stating He will give us beauty for ashes?

_________________________________________

Understanding God’s Way

Why does He allow us to experience this kind of pain? All life is the result of some form of brokenness. The earth must be broken before the seed can be planted. The seed must be broken before the plant can grow. And the earth must once again be broken before new plant life can emerge upon it. Brokenness then is a life birthing process that must precede every area of growth in our lives. This is especially true as God develops our spiritual lives. Any spiritual fruitfulness will require the breaking of the outer person so the spirit can commune with the Spirit of Christ in us.

Prayer is the key! As we collapse into the arms of God, the outer person sloughs off like grave clothes. In prayer we see:

The absolute holiness of God (see Rev. 15:4)
Taste the joy of heaven (see John 16:7)
Understand the reality of His Word (see Ps. 119:103)

Recognizing how Christ works in our lives is vitally important. Unless we understand the process, the journey can be quite discouraging. As a matter of fact, if we fail to understand the process, at the point where the Lord Jesus wants to draw us into a deeper experience with Himself, we will struggle against the journey toward intimacy, not realizing that we are actually being freed from the domination of our souls. We are being delivered daily from our carnal minds, our self-determined wills and the earthly emotions that enslave us. When we realize how very much unlike Jesus we are, our spirit cries out for His overcoming power.

We can experience this overcoming power if we are willing to yield to Him. Our human nature, however, resists surrendering to the will of another. And because of our stubborn, carnal love for self, the Father must break us so we may follow Jesus’ example of becoming “broken bread” and “poured out wine” for His sake (see 1 Cor. 11: 23-27). Broken bread is needful for life-giving service and poured out wine is needful to bring comfort to those who are hurting and perishing. Notice that the bread must be broken and the wine must be poured out.

As we reach the end of soul strength and begin to surrender to the process of spiritual maturity, we experience a freedom, a peace and a power yet unknown to us. This process can take a few years, even a lifetime. The stages of this spiritual journey usually occur gradually and are often a combination of many crises.

We must reach the end of our _______________  _________________ and __________________to the ______________________ of spiritual maturity.

The dynamics of being drawn into intimacy are much like those of a midwife during the birth process. When the crises heightens by nature’s demands, the breaking of the water bag reassures us that one phase of life is ending to produce greater life. God’s promise is that out of what has been broken will come greater life if we do not abort His process. Though it is difficult to understand why we need such agony, God proves the inner strength needed to take us through the labor to complete the work.

The BREAKING of the water bag reassures us that one phase of life is __________________ to produce _____________________  ____________________.  Our ______________________inner strength is needed to take us through the labor to complete the ___________________________.

In every stage of our spiritual growth, new opportunities can strip away our soul’s domination. The primary way of dealing with the “soul man” (commonly called flesh) is to deny it. We deny it any authority in our lives. The soul tries to rationalize, reason, figure and conclude what God is doing. But the Christian life is not to be a life of reasoning; it is to be a life of faith. And because it is a faith walk, any attempt to exercise willpower against the plan of God will only bring frustration.

Every stage of our spiritual growth or new _________________ can strip away our soul’s domination. 

What if we decided the pain of labor would be too hard, so we aborted our baby?  We would lose the gift of giving LIFE.  We can’t afford to _______________________ but rather we must walk by _______________________.

Seeking the opinions of others will often delay the Spirit’s work, as well. The heavenly Bridegroom is wooing His Bride by destroying all her other lovers, with self being the biggest of all.

What is the danger or going to others to get their opinion?  ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

God’s plan begins as we elect to die to ourselves so the Lord can bring resurrection. I am not referring to the “new birth” of salvation. I am describing a metamorphosis in the life of a believer that precedes Christ’s life flowing freely through that person.

Salvation is the entrance to the tabernacle but there is a journey from the entrance to the veil which God desires us to step behind.  Is God flowing freely through us? _________ Have you ever given this much thought? ____

What could be holding us back?  List some possibilities: __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Psalm 42:8 says, “By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me – a prayer to the God of my life.” Nothing can disturb the peace of lessen the passion that is present in the person who is walking in resurrection life because resurrection life produces the fruit of deepest love and intimacy with the Lord.

Resurrection from what?   How?______________________________________________________________________________

What do you think “by day the Lord directs his love” means?________________________________________________________________________

And “at night his song is with me-a prayer to the God of my life” mean?  ______________________________________________________________________________
Antoine De Saint-Exupery once said, “Love does not consist in gazing at each other but in looking outward
together in the same direction.”

 Which direction are we looking? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Soulish Approaches to God

If only believers would gaze upward instead of inward, we would understand God’s way and we would not seek intimacy with Him in our own soulish ways. However, God says, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55:9). The following are three ways that we believers often approach God:

1. Volitionally
2. Emotionally
3. Intellectually

Come back for more next week!!  Same place—Same TRUTH coming your way!

Lovingly, Rhonda

An excerpt from Beyond the Veil published by Regal Books (October 1997).

During our lessons on Fearless have you seen how being fearful can cripple you and bring under satan’s lies?

With all my heart I truly want to be fearless…am I all the time…NO…am I trying and striving to that goal…YES!

Have you came to a conclusion about which you will pursue with all your heart? 

Lesson 6

The news is full of fearful thoughts on our financial future.  What is a person suppose to do—why it looks like any moment we will have a great depression.  I mean…look at the people who have lost jobs and can’t find work!!  It strikes FEAR in our hearts, doesn’t it?

Let’s look [...]]]>

Lesson 6

The news is full of fearful thoughts on our financial future.  What is a person suppose to do—why it looks like any moment we will have a great depression.  I mean…look at the people who have lost jobs and can’t find work!!  It strikes FEAR in our hearts, doesn’t it?

Let’s look at this in a different light for a moment.   Who gave you that job to begin with?  Who answered your prayers for the job you now have…God.   Is God in all your tomorrows—yesterday…YES!  Does He know what is in your bank book also…Yes!  If you have lost your job, don’t you think God allowed it to happen for a purpose…Yes!  Read Roman 8:28

Money or job must not be our god…Never. 

Read Luke 12:16-21

This man made his money (crops and barnes) his god.  This man left God out of his plans.  He never asked God what to do with the wealth he had.  It is God who gives us the wisdom to get wealth.  Everything is God’s to begin with!  And God loves us more than we can think or imagine.

A very wise woman (my best friend, in her 50’s and I was in my 20’s) told me “God will never give your more money than you can handle, honey.  So be wise with what you have even if it is small.  Always pay your tithes if its only 50 cents.   Always give to the poor and don’t hold back because you don’t have much.” 

When we are gripped with the fear of losing our money or income it’s like slapping God in the face.  For the last 10 years Ronnie has been threatened with this very thing,  in company buy outs and turn-overs, but we never saw the job as our source—God is the source and the job is the vehicle he has chosen.  We know God loves us and He says in his word that He will give us everything we need for life (livelihood) and godliness.  Praise His holy Name.  Someone say AMEN!

Trust God—Not Stuff!

When can you tell you are not trusting God more than money or things?

1.  You become anxious and covet what someone else has and you don’t.
2. You become self pitying about your lack.
3. You complain about what you don’t have and don’t praise God for what you do have.
4. You find fault in your husband/wives’ ability to bring home more in a pay check.
5. You forget to give sacrificially to someone or a need because you don’t think you have enough yourself.
6. ________________________________________________________________________

 Abundance of Blessings!

OK Let’s say you have been blessed beyond most people.  You are wealthy or at least very financially comfortable, you realize in the beginning God gave you His blessing in this area…BUT….something creeps in.  It’s sin!  You don’t even see it but it’s there.  Israel faced this very problem.  God told them He would give them abundance, but He warned them about a sin that would knock at their door.  This sin will rob them and us of spiritual blessings.  You have the abundances of blessings-which is not evil in God’s eyes because He has giving you this journey.  What could happen?  The FEAR of remembering the days you didn’t have enough and you were a nobody, and you listen to yourself or satan tell you a lie, that stuff and money will make you a “somebody”.  These thoughts or lies will give money more power that it deserves.  You begin to spend money to have just “things.”  Fearful thoughts of the hard days behind can cause us to depend on things to gain friendships, influence and power.  Undetected this fear can bring on PRIDE;  the sin that goes before a fall.  

How could this fear and the sin that follows eclipse our dependence on God and our Christian testimony?

The Fear of Hoarding

 How can the poor be addicted to money, when seemly they don’t have any?  It’s the same fear without money.  Ronnie and I knew a father who was a hoarder.  He worked long hours at minimum wage, and as raises came through the years it still wasn’t enough and the fear of being a nobody, caused him to put everything in saving.  That sounds good, but he wouldn’t spend anything to bring any happiness into his wife or children’s lives.  The grandparents ended up clothing and buying Christmas every year, because of this fear.  When his wife would ask for something needful for the children, he would get angry and verbally abuse her, so she finally gave up.  The marriage fell apart the children grew up and moved out, and he remained in a small shack with untold thousands in the bank.  Now he is well into his 60’s and dresses in rags and still works.  Because his fear of being a nobody held him captive and left him lonely.  When speaking of his death, he has said, “people, will say how rich I really was.  I will show them who I am.”

We as Christians should see money as only a vehicle to bring us a livelihood and to give to those God directs us to help.

How much do you fear not having money and the stuff you can get with it?

How can you reduce those fears?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Here is a fun mind game to play.  Pretend real money is Monopoly money.  When the game is over it goes back in the box.  It is given to you by God to be a vehicle to provide for your family and others.  Money is not a big deal to God…why not?

Here is a story-This person dies and goes to Heaven carrying a heavy bag of gold over their shoulder.  St. Peter is at the gate and welcomes the person into heaven.  Then St. Peter notices how tired the person looks carrying this heavy bag over their shoulder. 

“Can I ask you what is in the bag?” asked St. Peter.

“Oh, yes I am very proud of this.  I worked all my life for this.  It is very important to me.  I had my family bury this with me and I am so glad I arrived here with it.  I want to show Jesus what I worked so hard for all my life.”

St. Peter asked with great excitement, “May I look inside!” 

He slowly opened the bag and looked inside and then look back at the person will confusion written all over his face, to which he said, “PAVEMENT??”

Let’s expose the Fear!!

In our scripture in Luke 12:16-21 Why did Jesus call this man a fool?

What does it mean to be rich toward God?  Explain

Read 1 Tim. 6:6-10, 17-19

What kind of contentment is described in verses 6-8?  How can this contentment destroy FEAR?

What should we be aware of if God should call us to be rich?  What instructions does Paul give in 17-19 when we are rich or financially comfortable?

Read Proverbs 23:4-5

What should our attitude be toward being rich?

Why are we warned about setting our hearts on getting rich?

Read Mark 12:41-44

Why do you suppose Jesus watched people put money in the temple treasury?  What does this mean to us in 2010?

Why did Jesus single out the widow for praise?  What does this teach us in 2010?

Battling FEAR in the real world:

Regardless of your financial position, this week give generously–more than you can simply afford—to someone or a cause that you know will advance the cause of Christ.  Write in note how this giving effected you and your family.  Share with the class next week if you like.  The amount doesn’t matter.

Pray and seek God’s direction and revelation if you have any of these fears about money or stuff.  Seek God forgiveness and ask Him to create in you a clean heart in this area and give you the power through the Holy Spirit to change.

Lesson 5

 God told us to be fruitful and multiply and we’ve been doing it since the commandment was spoken.  With great excitement we bring our bundles of joy home!  Then we go through years and I do mean years of  FEAR!  No matter how small it’s still FEAR.

 Our [...]]]>

Lesson 5

 God told us to be fruitful and multiply and we’ve been doing it since the commandment was spoken.  With great excitement we bring our bundles of joy home!  Then we go through years and I do mean years of  FEAR!  No matter how small it’s still FEAR.

 Our fears can deal greatly with sickness and disease.  We hear of children today who are diagnosed with fatal childhood diseases and pray fearfully that it will pass over our children.  Then with the crazies today, we fear sexual predictors who just might live in our neighborhoods.  We see parents weeping on the television begging for their child to be returned home.  Well, I have written enough just in the beginning of this paragraph to get us to step over the line of trust God with our children to absolute panic!  But let’s get this settled once and for all or it will eat at us the entire time we are parents, which by the way is decades.  Parenting doesn’t stop when our children leave home.  Every age of our children can bring on different circumstances, but the root we are talking about into today’s lesson is FEAR of not being my child’s everything.

 Have you been—are you there now—will you be one day?  Some in the list below may seem silly to many of you, but to others you will check the boxes and totally understand.

 Early childhood:

1Your child is diagnosed with a life threaten disease.

1Your child isn’t eating properly and doesn’t rest well.

1Your child has only one parent to be both mother and father.

1Your child shy and doesn’t make friends well, others pick on him/her.

1Your child isn’t as “shape” in school as his/her brother or sister.

1You have to tell your child he/she can’t have something like other children because of lack of money.

1Others _____________________________________________________________________________

 Pre-Teen childhood:

1Your child seem fearful especially at night and has nightmares, could there be something going on?

1Your child seems to have a gender problem.

1Your child is beginning to not talk to you about everything going on.

1Your child is staying more and more in their room and less time with the family.

1Your child wants to grow up too fast…why?

1Others _____________________________________________________________________________

 Teen childhood:

1Your teen is driving and you know how crazy drivers are.

1Your teen is mixed up with the wrong crowd and where is this leading.

1Your teen is not truthful with you and you don’t know what to believe.

1Your teen is sneaking out at night and has been returned home by the police.

1Your teen is not doing well in school and has such a short time to turn things around.

1Your teen has a questionable girl/boyfriend.

1Your teen has chosen to live with your husband/wife and you are so hurt.

1Others_____________________________________________________________________

 Adult children:

1She/he has left home over an argument over character values.

1He/she is out of church and shows no interest in what you raised them to believe.

1She/he is on drugs and you don’t know where they are today or if they will ever change.

1He/she is living with someone who is not a believer and is sexually involved.

1She/he will be leaving for deployment in a dangerous situation.  The enemy is real will they die?

1He/she can’t manage money very well and he/she is putting a strange on you financially.

1Others_____________________________________________________________________

 Jesus encountered parents who were in deep distress over a real situation and listened to their pain.  They begged, pleaded and gave their best case to Him.  Knowing He could do something about it.

 Mark 5:22-23 (Amplified Bible)

²²Then one of the rulers of the synagogue came up, Jairus by name; and seeing Him, he prostrated himself at His feet

    ²³And begged Him earnestly, saying, My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay Your hands on her, so that she may be healed and live.

 Matthew 15:22 (Amplified Bible)

²²And behold, a woman who was a Canaanite from that district came out and, with a [loud, troublesomely urgent] cry, begged, Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is miserably and distressingly and cruelly possessed by a demon!

 Mark 9:24 (Amplified Bible)

²⁴At once the father of the boy gave [an eager, piercing, inarticulate] cry with tears, and he said, Lord, I believe! [Constantly] help my weakness of faith!

 Satan knows the bond God creates between parent and child.  He knows this can become a fear that is acceptable to society.  Acceptable– how?  Because we are suppose to worry about our children.  We are suppose to be prepared to answer all the “what ifs” in their lifetimes…right? 

WRONG!  Of course we are to be responsible; their teacher, protector, and guide.  But we are not to become fearful to the point we blame ourselves for decisions their make, even as small children.  God gave them a free will also.

 A child is born a sinner.  A beautiful toddler given the right situation will tell you a lie.  Why are you shocked, why do you blame yourself?  When your child fails to the family rules no matter what age and does the opposite, why do we immediately become anger/frustrated?  Anger and frustration is an outward showing of FEAR…fear of nothing being our child’s everything.  For some reason they must not respect us as parents or are just doing it to be disobedient.  And that is probably true, but our response must not come out of FEAR of our failure and how it reflects on us.  It’s not personal most of the time.  Even at a young age they are doing what a sinner does best….SIN!

 Remember this…our children were first God’s in heaven.  He knew them before they were formed in our bodies.  He loves them more than we can possibly love them.

So what can we do to relieve this fear?   If we aren’t a woman of prayer, FEAR will overcome us at different stages of our children’s lives?  We become their trainer; we become their advocates before God…just as Jesus is our advocate before the Father God for us as parents.

Satan doesn’t want you to pray because it stirs within you HOPE which brings you to FAITH, and FAITH not fear please God

We as parents will face some of the situations mentioned in the lists in the beginning.  And we will be afraid.  We will hear the whispered words of despair and hopelessness, but we can’t afford to pray FEARFULLY.  We must pull out the sword of the Lord and ask for strength from the Holy Spirit and meet in the battlefield with our Lord Jesus as Captain of the Host and let Him fight for us.  Know what God’s will is for your child in the word of God and stand on it.

What if you find yourself in a cemetery standing over your child’s grave.  Nothing could be so awful for a parent.  No pain so deep.  Remember God loves your child more than you do…why would He let you go through that?  Well, God knows the future and He knows what is best for all involved.  God watched His Son suffer at the hands of evil people.  Jesus was made fun of and humiliated before the crowds.  Our Lord even went to the house of drunks and whores and kept Himself on the mission of His Father God.  

God never dismisses parents’ prayers!

Dear Father God,

Its me________________________, here I am praying for my child ____________________.

You know her/him better than I do.  You have been in all their tomorrows…yesterday, and I praise You for that.  I can’t be my child’s conscience neither their “everything”.  I gave them to You when they were just babies.  You are my everything and also theirs.

But today/tonight I place them in Your loving hands with this situation __________________________.  I admit I don’t know what to do, but You, my Lord, do.  Please according to Your unchangeable Word found in________________________________________ (read it back to Him and put your child’s name in it).  I depend on You to hear my prayer and do Your perfect will in ___________ life.  I won’t let go of Your Word and I praise You that today it is still ALIVE and ACTIVE in ________________________________situation.

I bind __________________________________to Your will, and I loose him/her from the problem of ______________________________________.  Bring me and my family peace that passes all understanding so we can be an example to all around us.  I am Your child and so is my son/daughter _________________________________________.

We love and trust Your holy wisdom and word.  May we learn from this and share with others the journey we are on.    In Jesus’ name, blood and resurrection I pray….AMEN

Now take this prayer and tape it up where you go regularly (refrig., bathroom mirror, car) and when you hear words of discouragement from yourself or satan you begin to praise God when you look it over again.

1. Proverbs 22:6
   Train up a child in the way he should go [and in keeping with his individual gift or bent], and when he is old he will not depart from it.
   Proverbs 22:5-7 (in Context) Proverbs 22
2. Galatians 3:25
   But now that the faith has come, we are no longer under a trainer (the guardian of our childhood).
   Galatians 3:24-26 (in Context) Galatians 3
3. Ephesians 6:4
   Fathers, do not irritate and provoke your children to anger [do not exasperate them to resentment], but rear them [tenderly] in the training and discipline and the counsel and admonition of the Lord.
   Ephesians 6:3-5 (in Context) Ephesians 6
4. Titus 1:6
   [These elders should be] men who are of unquestionable integrity and are irreproachable, the husband of [but] one wife, whose children are [well trained and are] believers, not open to the accusation of being loose in morals and conduct or unruly and disorderly.
   Titus 1:5-7 (in Context) Titus 1
5. Titus 2:4
   So that they will wisely train the young women to be sane and sober of mind (temperate, disciplined) and to love their husbands and their children,
   Titus 2:3-5 (in Context) Titus 2
6. 2 Peter 2:14
   They have eyes full of harlotry, insatiable for sin. They beguile and bait and lure away unstable souls. Their hearts are trained in covetousness (lust, greed), [they are] children of a curse [ exposed to cursing]!
   2 Peter 2:13-15 (in Context) 2 Peter 2

Rhonda’s comments are in burgandy 

My comments will be in Burgundy-Rhonda

Lesson 2

Here the pdf, Fearless – The fear of not mattering

My comments will be in Burgundy-Rhonda

The fear of not mattering is like a small mouse that roars like a lion. No one wants to admit they feel insignificant—it appears to be too small to even mention and if we [...]]]>

Lesson 2

Here the pdf, Fearless – The fear of not mattering

My comments will be in Burgundy-Rhonda

The fear of not mattering is like a small mouse that roars like a lion. No one wants to admit they feel insignificant—it appears to be too small to even mention and if we do then it will causes others to know we insignificant! So we appear to be on top of that game in our churches today. But we see underline tones of if when we’re asked to do something for the good of the body of Christ. We will answer in many ways:
• I’ve never done that before…I think someone else could probably be better than me.
• I am not comfort around that age people.
• _________________________________________________
• _________________________________________________

Everyone wants to be accepted. But there are worldly rules that have set standards for us. Beginning as children we heard comparison between siblings, grades, and even parents. Then add materialism to the equation; designer clothes with labels, hair styles, and friends (peers) who wear the “best”. But styles changes, and what we thought would make us significant is yesterday’s news, so we are back to square one, because we can’t keep up.

Read:
Proverbs 8:17
17I love those who love me, and those who seek me early and diligently shall find me

Maybe we have attached our significance with people or a person. If we can just get into the group…you know the “click”. It happens in the best of churches. But it started even as children. Wanting to be chosen to be on someone’s team, if only we could be a cheerleader/football star, or even if we could just be ask to sit at that special table during lunch THEN we could be somebody everyone would look up to.
We feel like a square peg trying to fit into a circular hole.

Read Matt. 10:29-31
29Are not two little sparrows sold for a penny? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s leave (consent) and notice.
30But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
31Fear not, then; you are of more value than many sparrows.

So we go through our child hood either confident in who we are, or we become aware, by the world’s standard who we AREN’T! Time passes we have already labeled ourselves and we will continue our thoughts of not mattering into our young adulthood.

Then we think, ok my childhood is behind me so I will try to be something now. If I can get a great job, marry the right person and have children I will find my significance…I will matter. We get in debt to look great, we attend the right school, because we look the part we are invited to the right places and we meet the right people who are very superficial and we deny ourselves the truth of God’s word once again for several years.And there he/she is…perfect in our opinion because they MATTER to everyone! So obviously if I marry her/him I will be somebody. And because I am not sure of who I am I will do ANYTHING to get her/him…this is very IMPORTANT in defining who I am. Whatever he/she wants you will do, no matter what you have been taught or what it makes you feel like afterwards.

Read:
Isaiah 40:11
11He will feed His flock like a shepherd: He will gather the lambs in His arm, He will carry them in His bosom and will gently lead those that have their young.

So wedding bells ring. Children are born and we find our idenity in her/him and them. Because we don’t matter. Every now and then we see glimpies of the TRUTH but it’s too tiring to deal with and time goes by. We don’t even think about it as much, because you are still basing your significance on others and things.

Then one day you are at church and we actually hear the word of God that says we are very important to God. He loves us more than anyone of anything!! We begin to cry—we feel those old feelings of being a NOBODY and NOT MATTERING. But we are finally hearing the TRUTH. We look at your children sitting beside us…one day they will be gone. Our husband looks at us strangly not knowing why we are crying. He should know why we are crying—he should know us like the back of his hand, why doesn’t he know why we are hurting so? Because….because we are significant to him and the children. He can’t imagine our pain.

Here is the good news for all of us…WE DO MATTER! WE WERE CREATED TO MATTER. WE WERE BORN WITH A PLAN AND A PURPOSE.

Jeremiah 29:11 (Amplified Bible)
11For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome.

We are very important. Truth begins to crack our child like hearts. We see clearly all the past lies satan told us. Truth will set us free and let’s look at some scriptures that will prove we are more significant than we have deceived ourselves to believe.

In Max’s book, Fearless, on page 26, paragraph 1 & 2a, let’s see a mirror before us:
Fear of insignificance creates the result of dreads, arrives at the destination it tries to avoid, facilitates the scenario lit disdains. If a basketball player stands at the foul line repeating, “I’ll never make the shot, I’ll never make the shot,” guess what? He’ll never make the shot. If you pass your days mumbling, I’ll never make a difference; I’m not worth anything,” guess what? You will be sentenced yourself to a life of gloom without parole.
Even more, you are disagreeing with God. Questioning His judgement. Second guessing his taste. According to Him you were “skillfully wrought.” (Ps. 139:15) He can’t stop thinking about us!!

Read Psalms 139: 14-18
14I will confess and praise You for You are fearful and wonderful and for the awful wonder of my birth! Wonderful are Your works, and that my inner self knows right well.
15My frame was not hidden from You when I was being formed in secret [and] intricately and curiously wrought [as if embroidered with various colors] in the depths of the earth [a region of darkness and mystery].
16Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in Your book all the days [of my life] were written before ever they took shape, when as yet there was none of them.
17How precious and weighty also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them!(A)
18If I could count them, they would be more in number than the sand. When I awoke, [could I count to the end] I would still be with You.

Read: Ephesians 2:10
10For we are God’s [own] handiwork (His workmanship), [a]recreated in Christ Jesus, [born anew] that we may do those good works which God predestined (planned beforehand) for us [taking paths which He prepared ahead of time], that we should walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us to live].

We must find our significance in God, first and foremost! Sure we may have made mistakes in the past because of the lies satan has told us, maybe we have deceived ourselves, but the Truth is WE ARE SET FREE! God say all things work together for the good and according to His purpose to bring Himself honor and glory. This can be your point A—your first day of the rest of your life. The final decision is ours… Let God’s word the sword of Truth cut the bonds that have held us captive for along time.

1 John 3:19
19By this we shall come to know (perceive, recognize, and understand) that we are of the Truth, and can reassure (quiet, conciliate, and pacify) our hearts in His presence,

1 John 4:18
18There is no fear in love [dread does not exist], but full-grown (complete, perfect) love turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror! For fear brings with it the thought of punishment, and [so] he who is afraid has not reached the full maturity of love [is not yet grown into love's complete perfection].

The Major Step In Progressive Sanctification-Lesson 1 – 4

In the sanctification process, one of the first things you will find that the Lord will want to do is to try and put right thinking into your thought process. Joyce Meyer has a very catchy phrase when describing this. She has [...]]]>

The Major Step In Progressive Sanctification-Lesson 1 – 4

In the sanctification process, one of the first things you will find that the Lord will want to do is to try and put right thinking into your thought process. Joyce Meyer has a very catchy phrase when describing this. She has said that too many people have “stinkin thinkin.”

What you choose to think about and dwell on in this life will make or break you as to what type of person you will end up becoming in this life. Leave it to God the Father to perfectly capture, in one simple one line sentence from the Bible, the secret to being able to have good mental health in this life. When I first saw this verse back in the Old Testament, it literally blew off the page at me. As soon as I saw it, I saw incredible amounts of revelation behind it.

Many Christians have never heard of or found this verse since it is back in the Old Testament in the Book of Proverbs. This powerful verse should be memorized by all Christians, as it is giving us a major spiritual secret in being able to acquire good mental health in the Lord.

Here is the New King James Version of this verse:

“For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7)

The key word in this verse is the word “thinks.” The word “thinks” is telling you that God is targeting your thought process – what you think about on a daily basis.

Interpretation – you are what you think!

This principle is easily seen in our world today. You can really tell who is properly operating on this principle in the way that the Lord has intended for us to operate with it and who is not.

The people who always seem to be more happy, more upbeat and more fulfilled with their lives are the people who have a good sound mind and who are always thinking about and dwelling on the more positive things in this life. They choose, with their own free wills, to dwell on the more positive side of this life as versus always thinking and dwelling on the darker and negative side of this life.

The people who are not happy, who are not fulfilled, who are always pessimistic and depressed all the time and have negative attitudes towards anybody and anything, are all choosing to think and dwell on the negative side of this life.

Granted, this cursed and fallen world in which we live in has a mixture of both life and death in it. Jesus Himself said that we would all have various trials and tribulations that we would have to go through from time to time. Storm clouds are all a part of this life, and no one will get by not having to go through various storm clouds from time to time.

However, there is a flip side to this coin. On the one side of the coin is the darker side of this life, but on the other side of this coin is the good, positive and brighter side of this life. It is not all death, doom and destruction. Even in the worse case scenarios and situations – there is always a hope and a light at the end of that storm cloud tunnel. As Christians, we all have God Almighty Himself on our side to help us take on any storm clouds that may come our way.

The difference between these two types of people is in their thought life. The people who are always happy, upbeat and positive have chosen to look on the bright side of things – even in some of the worse case scenarios imaginable.

The negative type of people have chosen to think and dwell on all of the bad and negative things that can happen or go wrong in this life. No matter what good may come their way, they will always think that something better could have come their way. As a result of this negative and morbid type of thinking in their thought process, nothing ever makes them happy or content because nothing is ever good enough for them.

The Bible is very clearly telling us in the above verse that we can all choose what to think about and dwell on. We don’t have to become slaves to negative and pessimistic type thinking. In other words, we can choose to think about what we want to think about!

Our thinking and thought process does not control us – we control it! Negative type thinking can be broken. For many, it has become an actual mental stronghold because they have been mired down into this type of negative thinking for such a long period of time.

However, as you will see in some of the Scripture verses I will list below, the Bible tells us that we can actually take “captive” what we think about. The verse that will give us this revelation says we have to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Jesus.

What this means is that we are directly responsible for choosing what we think about and dwell on – and then make sure that our thinking always lines up with the Word of God and how He wants us to think about things.

The power lies with us. We cannot blame anyone else, including God Himself, if we have chosen with our own free wills to constantly dwell on the negative and darker side of this life.

Bottom line – we all have to learn how to develop right thinking in our thought process. Our part is to do the best we can to try and think and dwell on the things that God wants us to be concentrating and focusing on. However, as we all know, most of us only have a certain amount of mental and psychological strength in this area. Some will naturally go farther in this realm than others will.

This is where the Holy Spirit will be coming in big time to help get your thinking process straightened out and grounded in the Lord in the way that He wants it to be. This is all part of the sanctification process that God wants to start with each one of us.

As I said in my article titled “Sanctification,” this process will not be accomplished overnight. If you have been operating in a negative type mindset for a long period time, God will start to gradually and progressively move you out of it into a better, clearer and healthier type of thinking.

Your job will be to work very closely with the Holy Spirit once He starts this sanctification process within you. You will see Him start to target specific areas in your thinking where you are really off. Once this revelation has been given to you by the Holy Spirit – then it will be up to you as to whether or not you will choose to work with Him to get this particular area cleaned up to the degree that the Lord would really like.

If He tells you that you are too judgmental and too critical of others – then your part will be to do the best you can to try and cast down these types of negative and destructive thoughts and replace them with more positive and godly types of thoughts.

As our site continues to grow, we will be adding additional articles going deeper into this wrestling match that will occur between you and the Holy Spirit once He starts to move in on you to try and get some of your wrong thinking straightened out. For many, this will be very painful process because you will be forced to admit that you have some character flaws and imperfections that need to be dealt with in your mind, soul and personality.

The Holy Spirit is the Master Surgeon – and He will be attempting to do inner spiritual surgery on you to take out what He does not want to be operating in your mind and thought process and put in what He does want to be operating in it.

Your job will be to choose, with your own free will, to work and cooperate with the Holy Spirit once He makes it very clear to you what specific changes He will want to make with you. He will not force these changes on you. He will let you know very clearly exactly what it is He wants to put in your system and exactly what it is He wants to take out.

If you choose to move and cooperate with the Holy Spirit on what specific changes He will want to make with you – then God the Father will allow the supernatural power of His Holy Spirit to truly begin to transform and sanctify you in the way and manner that will most pleasing to Him.

In the additional articles that will be listed in the Sanctification section of our site, I will be giving you some of the specific areas that the Lord will want to target so He can begin the immediate work of trying to getting you cleaned up and sanctified to the degree that He would really like in this lifetime.

And one of the areas that the Lord is definitely going to want to target is your private thinking and thought life – what you choose to think about on a daily basis. In other words, God wants to clean up and straighten out your thought life. With all of the different types of material and sexual lusts that are operating in our world today that are competing for our time and attention, for many, this will initially be a very big battle.

But if you are really wanting the Lord to help clean you up in some of these areas, especially in your private thought life, the Lord will only be too anxious to help get you over some of these mental hurdles through the incredible supernatural power of His Holy Spirit. This kind of inner transformation and sanctification can be accomplished in this life if you are willing to do your part by fully cooperating with the Lord once He starts it up.

Now I will give you some very specific verses from the Bible all showing you that God the Father really does want to come after your thought life and attempt to put right and positive type thinking into your mind.

Power of the Tongue

The Major Step In Progressive Sanctification Lesson 2

1. You Are What You Think

For those who like to scan read, I’m going to go ahead and restate the above verse under this specific caption so you can have it once again at a quick glance as you scan down on these bolded captions.

“For as he thinks in his heart, so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7)

This verse clearly sets the stage that God the Father really wants to come after our thought life and get it properly cleaned up.

2. You Are Transformed By the Renewing of Your Mind

These next two verses will again show you that God is really wanting to come after your mind. And part of your mind is your thought process – what you choose to think about and dwell on. Both of these verses are using the words “renewing” and “renewed” in reference to your mind.

In other words, part of the transformation and sanctification process with the Lord involves getting your mind properly renewed through His Word and by His Spirit.

1. “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Romans 12:1)
2. “… that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in righteousness and true holiness.” (Ephesians 4: 22-24)

Notice in this verse it tells you to “put on” the new man. This new man is what the apostle Paul calls the “inner man.” The old man is what he calls your outward man. Here is what Paul says about these two in the following verse:

1. “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.” (2 Corinthians 4:16)

Notice Paul says in this last verse that our inner man is being renewed day by day. He is using the same word “renewed” as the above two verses are using when they are talking about our minds being renewed. This means that God wants both our minds and our inner man to be renewed on a daily and progressive basis.

When God says that our inner spiritual transformation is done by getting our minds properly renewed in Him – He is giving all of us an incredible powerful spiritual secret. Again, this is all part of the sanctification process that the Lord wants to start with each and everyone of us.

3. We Now Have the Mind of Christ

This next verse is making one of the most profound statements in all of Scripture. The first verse I will list below says that we now have the “mind of Christ.” Think of the implications, ramifications and power of this statement.

As a result of having the Holy Spirit residing on the inside of us – we all now have direct access to both God and Jesus who live in heaven. As a result of having this direct access to Jesus through the Holy Spirit – we now have His mind, or to put it another way, we can now have His mind operating through us.

Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, can now start to impart His thoughts and His ways of thinking direct into our minds. This transmission of His thoughts direct to us through the Holy Spirit is so clear, so perfect and so powerful – that the Bible can now say that we have the “mind of Christ.”

So not only do we have the power of the Holy Spirit operating on the inside of us to help get our thought life cleaned up – but we now have the power of Jesus Christ Himself available to us since He will now allow us to have direct access into His own mind so that we can truly learn what His godly ways are in how we should act and how we should think.

The second verse I will list below says that we are to now “imitate Christ.” In other words, we are to act the way Jesus wants us to act. Put these two verses together side by side like two pieces of a jigsaw puzzle – and Jesus is telling all of us loud and clear that He wants us to think like He thinks and act like He acts. He now becomes our perfect role model in which to pattern our inner life and our outer life after.

Here are the two verses. They are both only one sentence long – but there is an incredible amount of powerful revelation being released in these two verses.

1. “But we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 2:16)
2. “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1)

Again, being able to be tapped into the mind of Jesus Christ so that His thoughts and His ways can be transmitted to us is all a part of the sanctification process that God can start with each and everyone one of us.

Power of the Tongue

The Major Step In Progressive Sanctification Lesson 3#

4. God Has Given Us a Sound Mind

This next verse is another major power verse, especially in the times we now live in. If you will notice, many nonbelievers, and even some carnal Christians, are not operating with very sound minds. All you have to do is spend five minutes with some people and you will be able to quickly tell who is operating with a sound mind and who is not.

The sexual and material lusts of this life have been so overwhelming for some of these people – that the only thing they have their minds constantly set on is trying to get as much sex, money and power as they possibly can. As a result of these types of material and lustful pursuits, their thinking has become totally distorted, warped, debased and downright unstable.

Many marriages and good friendships have been broken up as a result of these people’s minds becoming very unsound as a result of the corruption and deterioration that will occur in a person’s mind if he chases after these types of material and lustful pursuits for too long of a period of time.

I have personally seen some men in a 20 year period go from being very clear and sound thinking men to men who have become totally unstable and unsound in all of their ways. As a result of this deterioration in their minds, many of them have lost their marriages and their good relationships they had with their children and some of their close and better friends. Some of them had literally deteriorated down to the point where they had actually ended up committing suicide.

One of the most incredible blessings that we can be given as a Christian, especially in the type of world we live in today, is the blessing of being able to have a good, clear, sound mind in the Lord! For those who are walking very close with the Lord and have their act together with Him, the Holy Spirit will really move to impart this sound mind to you.

In this next verse, God is telling us that not only can we get a sound mind from Him, but we can also get a mind that has a spirit of power and love in it. This verse actually starts out by telling us that we have not been given a spirit of fear, but a spirit that is of power, love and sound mind.

Think about these 3 specific words – power, love and sound mind! God is really trying to drive home a major point in the way that He has worded this specific Scripture verse. Here it is:

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” (2 Timothy 1:7)

To those of you who are into memorizing certain Scripture verses, I would highly recommend that you add this one to your memorization list. With all of the crazy things that can hit us in this life, you really have to believe and ground on the promise of this verse.

No matter how severe a storm cloud you may be forced to face – realize that you now have the mind of Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit operating through you to help keep your thinking “sound” and “powerful.” This kind of mindset from the Lord is already in you. You just have to learn how to connect up to it, believe it, ground on it and act on it.

5. Your Thoughts Will Be Established by the Lord

Since God is all-knowing and all-powerful, then this means that He is the only One who has direct access into your thought life. Demons and other people cannot read your mind or your thoughts. This is your private area only.  However, since God can perfectly read into your thought life – this leaves you with not being able to hide anything from Him.

Many people are very good at hiding everything from those close around them, but you can never fool God or hide anything from Him, as He is always one step ahead of you – even in your own personal and private thought life and what you choose to think about and dwell on. This means that none of us will have any excuses when we have to answer to God for all of the things that we have ever done in this life – whether these things be good or bad on our own personal day of judgment with Him.

I’ll list two verses under this caption. The first verse will tell us that the “thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord.” This verse right here is telling us that God can literally read our thoughts since this verse is using the word “thoughts.” I believe the word “thoughts” is referring to the thoughts in our minds, which are our unspoken words.

Also notice the Lord is using a very intense word when describing the thoughts of people who are considered really wicked and evil – and that word is “abomination.”

The BTK serial killer in the state of Kansas has just been caught. He has now pleaded guilty and just got done telling the court and the rest of the world the horrific details of all of his crimes. His evil and wicked thought life, which eventually led to his horrible crime spree, is a perfect example of what God would find to be a complete abomination in His sight. And to think this man was part of a Christian Lutheran church!

Bottom line – God does see and watch our thought life. This is why each Christian should do the best they can to try and clean it up.

The second verse then gives us another very nice promise. It says that if we are willing to commit our works to the Lord – then our “thoughts will be established.”

If we are committing our works to the Lord, then we are operating in a full surrender with Him. And if we are operating in a full surrender with Him, then the Holy Spirit can really start to work with us in helping us to establish and solidify our thought life.

1. “The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord, but the words of the pure are pleasant.” (Proverbs 15:26)
   
2. “Commit your works to the Lord, and your thoughts will be established.” (Proverbs 16:3)

I’ll now end this list of Scripture verses with one last verse showing us that God now wants us to have the responsibility of trying to control our thought life and what we choose to think about.

Power of the Tongue

The Major Step In Progressive Sanctification Lesson  4#

Connected To The Word of God

6. Bring Every Thought Into Captivity to the Obedience of Jesus

This next verse is another powerful verse. This verse is telling us to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Jesus. What this means is that we are directly responsible for what we choose to think about and dwell on.

Here is a testimony about some dangerous ways to allow our minds to be exploited

A girl got herself into major trouble with the Lord when she went one time to see a hypnotist to try and quit smoking. When she came out after just this one session, she literally lost 50% of her ability to remember and retain things. Both her short and long term memory abilities were severely affected.

When she first came to work for me and told me what had happened, which had occurred a year before I had met her, I told her under no circumstances are we to ever blank our minds out to let a hypnotist gain control of what kinds of suggestions or thoughts he wants to plant into our minds – even if these are positive type suggestions.

I then gave her the Scripture verse that I will list below. In this verse, it says that we are the ones to bring every thought into “captivity” to Jesus – not anyone else – including any hypnotist who wants to plant his suggestions into your mind.

She violated a major spiritual law that is in operation in reference to our thought life and the privacy that we have with the Lord on this issue. As a result of violating this major spiritual law, she drew a demon on her and this demon was then allowed to cause this short and long term memory loss with her.

Once I found out how all of this occurred, I was then able to give her the correct advice on how to get the demon off of her and have her long and short term memory ability fully restored back to her.

Bottom line – we decide what we want to think about in the privacy of our own thinking. We can either choose to think about good and godly things – or we can choose to think about bad and evil things. The choice is ours.

God makes it very clear in His Word as to what kind of thoughts He would like us to be dwelling on. But not even God Himself will force His will on us in this realm of our being. We have to be the ones to make that choice.

When God uses the word “captivity” in the following verse, I believe He is trying to tell us that we have to make some kind of concerted effort on our end to try and control our thought life and not let it get out of control – especially in the area of bad and fleshly type thoughts. We are to grab a hold of our thoughts and make sure that our thinking and our thoughts always line up with the way that He would like us to be thinking about things.

Here is the verse:

“For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ …” (2 Corinthians 10:3)

With all of the material and sexual lusts of our world hitting us full force through the media and everything else we encounter on a daily basis, this is a real tall order for many of us to keep proper control of all the bad thoughts that can cross our minds.

But again, this is where the Holy Spirit can really help you out if you are willing to allow Him to enter you into this sanctification process with the Lord. Your job will be to do the best job you can in controlling your thought life. But where you will fail, and where you will have certain issues that will be harder to conquer using your own will power, is where the Holy Spirit will come in and supernaturally give you His help and His strength in order to help get you over some of these harder hurdles.

Conclusion

To those of you who would like to enter into a true sanctification process with the Lord – really expect the Lord to come after your mind in an attempt to properly renew it according to His Word and attempt to put right thinking into your thought process.

Again, as with other areas of this sanctification process, this will all be done on a very gradual and progressive basis. God will set the pace in which He will work with you in this realm. He will not overwhelm you. He will work you at a pace that He knows you will be comfortable with so He doesn’t overwhelm you with too much at one time.

Your mind is the battlefield in the area of spiritual warfare. Demons will try and come in on you from time to time to try and get you to move into their dark ways of thinking and living in this life – and God will move in on you to try to get you to move and live in His ways of thinking and living. The choice will always remain with you as to which side of the fence you will choose to live this life on.

Realize that just because a demon or your own imagination has caused a bad thought to float across your mind does not mean that you have to dwell on it for any length of time. We all gets tons of quick flashing thoughts that will cross into our minds over the course of a day.

It’s not the bad thought that may flash across your mind that will get you in trouble with the Lord – it is what you decide do with that bad thought once it crosses over into your mind. You can either choose to let that bad thought slide right out of your mind and not give it another thought, or you can choose to really start thinking about it and dwelling on it.

And once you start to really think and dwell on that bad thought – you will then start to feed it. And once you start to feed it – it will then start to grow. And once it starts to grow – it can then lead to a mental stronghold that you will then have a hard time in getting out of your thought process.

And once that mental stronghold starts to grow and get deeper and stronger in your thought process – you will then start to get a desire to want to act out on it. And once you start to act out on it, an actual addiction can start to form where you will then want to keep repeating the same behavior over and over again.

And then it is going to take the supernatural power of the Holy Spirit to help break you free from this addictive and compulsive behavior! And to think that all of this started with just one simple little thought crossing over into your mind and you then caused it to grow by constantly thinking about it and dwelling on it.

I believe this is how many addictions get started – especially those of the more aberrant type, such as the pedophiles we are constantly reading about in our local news stories across the nations.

No one is born a serial killer, a rapist or a pedophile. All of these types of abominable behaviors all had to start from something. And I believe that something may have been something that they may have seen early on in their lives, something they may have experienced, or something that may have caused them to start thinking about it and dwelling on it.

In either event, they all had a chance very early on to nip it in the bud by choosing not to think about it – thereby causing it not to grow any further into their thought process.

This is why the Scripture verse listed at the top is so important for everyone to really grab a hold of and ground on in our walk with the Lord. Once again, this verse states that as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. In other words, you can become what you think!

Let God help put right thinking into your mind. Let God help and show you how to get your mind properly renewed through His Word and by His Spirit. If you are willing to let the Lord work with you on the renewing of your mind as part of His sanctification process – then you can really start to progress into the true saint that God is calling you to become in Him in the power of the tongue.

Here are the Lessons for Acts

Acts Lesson #2

Acts Lesson #1

The links below are PDF documents with the notes from the Revelation Bible Study

General Overview of Revelation

Rev. 5;1-7;17 Seven Seals

Rev. 8;6-11;19 Seven Trumpets

Rev. 12-14 Wonders and Signs

Rev. 15;1-16;21 Seven Vials, Plagues

Rev. 17-18 Judgment of Babylon

Rev. 21;1-27 22;1-21 New Heavens and Earth

Suffering: God’s Design for the Church

Why is it that we willingly train our bodies, but not our souls? We give time and money to compete in marathons, push ourselves to the max at the gym, and travel to climb treacherous mountains with low oxygen. If these things were easy and didn’t require physical sacrifice [...]]]>

Suffering: God’s Design for the Church

Why is it that we willingly train our bodies, but not our souls? We give time and money to compete in marathons, push ourselves to the max at the gym, and travel to climb treacherous mountains with low oxygen. If these things were easy and didn’t require physical sacrifice and danger, they would lose their appeal. Yet, when we “freely” experience spiritual suffering, why can’t we seize the opportunity for internal growth?

After the fall, it was God’s design for us to be like Him through suffering. Yes, God allows those he loves to encounter difficult circumstances! Suffering is an opportunity to allow God to perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you (I Peter 5:10). However, it’s not the suffering itself that works to perfect you — it’s the faith produced when you humble yourself before the Lord. Anne Morrow Lindbergh writes, “If suffering alone taught, all the world would be wise, since everyone suffers.” Suffering doesn’t equal wisdom; and, moreover, wisdom isn’t a value of the world.

As believers, we should expect suffering, and willing accept what God wills. I Peter 5:2 explains that we should “voluntarily” and “ with eagerness” partake in glorifying the Lord. We are active participants, choosing to engage in His glory. Furthermore, we are to be joyful during these times! We have been chosen by the Father to be transformed into His image. James 1:2 exhorts us to “count it all joy.”

The terms “temptations” and “trials” come from the same Greek word, peirzo. However, in his April 5, 2009 sermon, Pastor David Hughes distinguished that peirzo manifests itself differently in a believer’s life. Temptations manifest themselves in our inner being. Trials are external circumstances that reveal the inside of man’s heart.

Suffering is a natural part of the body of Christ, His Church. The believers in 1 Peter were facing bodily persecution, yet were called to be “examples to the flock” through their perseverance. In chapter five verse nine Peter reminds them that brethren around the world were standing firm in their faith to the same persecutions. We can take comfort in the same way, that “no temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man ” (1 Cor. 10:13).

When we sin, our pride manifests itself in depravity. The actions that were latent in our lustful desires now lead us to death (James 1:15). We know our filth and are deceived by the Devil. He isolates us in shame, just as Adam and Eve hid in the garden. It can be concluded that if shame is equated to darkness, then the opposite of shame is community. Community with believers starves our sins by putting them in the light.

If one member suffers, then all members suffer (1 Cor. 12:26). We partake of the same cup of blessings, bread, and blood of Christ. Why should suffering, a God-given blessing, be experienced alone? We must realize that even our sufferings are not our own, they are for the benefit of making the body like Him for the day of glory.

Jesus Christ’s body endured trial and separation from the Father so that we, the Church, will never be apart from Him. His cleansing blood washes our sins away, and His salvific work on the cross provides a way to the overcome sufferings. This Easter may we worship Him for His death gives life to a hurting world.

-by Bethany Haegele