Do Not Be Afraid!

Do Not Be Afraid!

“In God I have put my trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” Psalm 56:11

“Do not be afraid; only believe.” Mark 5:36

The Bible tells us 286 times, “Do not be afraid”.  That is surely easy enough to say but sometimes it doesn’t seem to be enough.  There is surely enough going on in this world for people to be scared out of their wits; if they are not a Christian.  Notice, I said if they are not Christians.

Two weeks ago I wrote a teaching on my blog, “I Will Never Leave You” and the theme of it was that God would never leave you or forsake you. In other words, you have nothing to fear.  When we are fearful, we need to remember that “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]  Ask yourself this question, ‘if God hasn’t given us fear, who has?’ Fear comes from the enemy of our soul; Satan.  It is one of his strongest tools. When we are bound by fear we become vulnerable and helpless, but we can overcome that.   

I have to admit that I have some fears, a couple that I have to use all my faith to handle.  One of those fears is of flying; my heart races and my imagination takes hold, but I have done it several times by praying and reading the Bible.  I can do all things through Christ; therefore I have conquered it, but I still prefer driving.  The other thing where I come to the point of losing control, is the fear of mice.  God help me!  My mother instilled this in me and I have lived with it my whole life.  Reason tells me they are very small harmless creatures, but reason leaves me when I see one; dead or alive.

These fears are emotional ones and this is not what I’m talking about.  I am talking about the fear of the physical body; our own or that of our loved ones.  Let me explain:  some people cannot watch the news, hear anything about terrorists, or be told Isis is cutting off people’s heads.  That is a lack of faith.  Faith tells me that God will be with me in any situation; even death.  Paul tells us that “to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.”  We know Jesus said, “Do not be afraid” many times, because he would be there to help us and strengthen us.

Believers, there may be dark days ahead of us; trust in God, no man can steal your soul.  To be honest, if I was about to have my head cut off, I would be terrified, but I would be calling on Almighty God to deliver me from evil.  That doesn’t mean I wouldn’t die, but God would take me to heaven and I would live there forever. 

If you have received Jesus as your Savior, your soul has nothing to fear.  If you are not born again, you should be terrified when you die, because your soul will be headed straight to hell.  Hell is a real place and it will never end.  Where you go when you die is your choice; not God’s. 

Jesus was not talking to unbelievers when he said, “Do not be afraid”.  He was talking to those who believed in him and accepted him as their Savior.  If you know there is a God and a Jesus, remember, the enemy of your soul also knows that.  Just knowing is not enough, you need to turn your life over to the Lord and let him lead you on the right road to salvation.

In Psalm 56:11, “In God I have put my trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”   If you trust in God, he asks the question, “What can man do to you?”  What God is telling you is not that you will escape pain or death, but that your soul is safe with him.  “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.” [Hebrews 9:27]  We will all die someday unless Jesus takes us in the rapture and that could happen, but otherwise we will all die of something.  

 

In the meanwhile, we must live for God to the best of our ability and be ready to meet Jesus face to face. No matter how evil this world becomes; no matter what destruction may come, hold on to the Lord.  Do not be afraid. “When these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”   [Luke 21:28] 

 

 

 

Then and Now

THEN AND NOW

“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God;

 and those who are the called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28

 

Can you imagine what life would be like if everything went exactly the way we wanted it to? So many times throughout our life we have wanted things that would surely cause disaster in the long run.  There have been times for all of us that we went against God’s plans and did our own thing.  What a mess that was! 

Looking back, I wondered how I even survived all of it.  However, behind the scenes, there was a loving Father in heaven who was watching over me and without my help, turned things around.  I have loved God for a very long time, but in my younger years chose to step out of His will.  Did I know better? Yes I did, but did it anyway.  I’m sure most of you have gone through the same thing in your life. 

There are those who may question this scripture in Romans 8:28 and ask, “How does my loved one who dies of cancer work for good”?  “How does it work for good that I have a sickly and crippled child?”  “My finances are so bad and I lost my job; how does that work for good?” How does it work for good that I have had so many surgeries and still need more and I hurt every day?”  I have an answer for each of these questions!  How do I have an answer, because I have lived through each of these painful times? 

My younger sister had a rare brain tumor and passed away 4 years ago.  She lived 9 months after they discovered the tumor and we spent that time sharing memories of childhood, sharing the love of Jesus and just loving each other.  It was a terrible tragedy for me and I miss her and think about her every day, but I will be forever grateful knowing she left this earth totally trusting in her Savior and knowing she is enjoying heaven today with our mother and many others.  Our family grew so close during that time and others I know received Jesus as their Savior.  It was bitter-sweet, but others grew from her strength and faith and someday I will join her in her heavenly home.  All things work together for the good. 

My eldest daughter was only a few months old when they found she had meningitis and following that she had polio. (Her story was in Guideposts, “Mysterious Ways” magazine.)  Those were sad and difficult years for my crippled and sickly daughter and for our young family. There were many who prayed for her and today she and her husband have two daughters, five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.  She has made 9 missions trips around the world.  She is still very active at her church where she and her husband are pastors. All things work together for the good. If you want to read her story, email me and I will send you a copy. 

Years later when I turned my life over to the Lord in a miraculous healing of body and soul, instead of things getting better, they got worse.  Our finances were in terrible shape and we were on the verge of losing everything, when I lost my job.  My husband was still working, but we had so much debt we couldn’t keep up.  We sold our home to get out from under our bills and moved into an apartment and a job opened up for me.  It was then the Lord put on our hearts to tithe.  We could barely make it as it was, but by this time our faith was building and so we thought we would try it.  The first Sunday we tithed, there was nothing left for groceries or car gas to get back and forth to work.  By Wednesday, I was pretty scared because both cars were nudging empty.  I made it home from work and grabbed the mail and there was a check inside that was owed to us from our house selling and we didn’t even know about it.  We have never stopped tithing and God has met our every need. All things work together for the good.   

I am the one who has had so many surgeries; I’m like the bionic woman.  I still need a knee replacement, but it can wait a while yet.  I’m too busy writing my blogs; teaching others about the love of God; occasionally preaching Sunday service; being the accountant for my church and spending quality time with my many family members.  Yes, I know I’ll be 81 in April, but I’m on God’s business for as long as He will use me and that is probably until my last breath.  After all, all things work together for those who love God and are called according to his purpose.  I’m traveling on God’s plan, not mine. 

There is an old saying, “When the going gets tough; the tough get going.”  I’d like to change that to, “when life gets rough; the Believer hangs in there.”

 

 

 

AM I FORGIVEN?

Am I Forgiven?

“But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.” Matt. 6:15 (NLT)

One day I watched two children playing together with a little truck.  One of them grabbed the truck and pushed the other child.  The mom came up and said, “That wasn’t nice, now you say you’re sorry.”  Her son just gave the other child a mean look and finally, in a low voice said, “Sorry”.  He threw the truck down on the floor and stomped away. According to his actions, he wasn’t sorry at all. 

How like many of us at times.  We do or say things that are not kind and loving and then go on about our business.  I have found it very easy to say I’m sorry, but my heart doesn’t always agree with my words.  Believe me when I tell you that God, the Father sees and knows where our hearts are in all matters. 

It doesn’t take much to say you are sorry, but it takes a lot more to follow through with it.  There is a word in the Bible that carries a lot of weight and the word is: ‘Repentance’.  Repentance means “to change; to turn away from”.  To put it plainer, don’t do it again.

Someone once told me that although she was a Christian, she would never forgive a person for something they did to her.  This is a very dangerous place to be in because the Word states clearly that if you don’t forgive others, God will not forgive you!  In Luke 6:37, it reads, “Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”  I explained this to the person and after prayer she asked God for forgiveness and forgave the other person.

Luke 17:3 gives a warning to those who sin: “So watch yourselves! “If another believer sins, rebuke that person; then if there is repentance, forgive.”  This goes both ways; if you sin repent, because without repentance, there is no forgiveness.  If you see another believer in sin, rebuke them and explain they need to repent so they will be forgiven.   

I think of the woman who was about to be stoned and Jesus came to her rescue and then he said to her, “Go and sin no more”.  [John 8:11]  Jesus forgave her, but he warned her to never again do what she had been doing.  God has not changed; He wants to forgive all of our sins, but to go back to what we were doing before is a greater sin.  It’s like turning around and slapping Jesus in the face.  “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” [Ephesians 1:7]  Remember what He did for you. 

“Don’t sin by letting anger control you. Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry.”           [Ephesians 4:26]  If there is someone in your life that you have not forgiven, please pray about it and in your heart of hearts forgive them.  God knows and will forgive you for not dealing with it sooner.  God loves you and wants the very best for you, including happiness.  Happiness cannot be had if you are holding un-forgiveness in your heart.

 

 

When the Light Went Out

When the Light Went Out

 “Before the lamp of God went out in the tabernacle of the LORD where the ark of God was.” 1 Samuel 3:3

In the days when the Tabernacle was at Shiloh [the gathering place of the people], Eli was the Priest.  This was the place where the boy, Samuel, lived and where God spoke to him and called him out to be a prophet.  The tabernacle was lit by lamps which burned almost all night until they ran out of oil and this was where the Ark of the Covenant was kept.  The ‘Lamp of God’ also meant the ‘Glory of God’.

Old Eli had 2 sons and they were evil men.  Israel was at war with the Philistines at that time and Eli’s sons went out to kill them.  However, they decided to take the Ark of the Covenant along with them for a ‘good luck charm’. God was not with them and Eli’s sons were killed and the ‘Ark’ was taken by the Philistines. When Eli heard the news he fell over and died.  His daughter-in-law, gave birth to a son and gave him the name, “Ichabod”, meaning “Where is the Glory?”  The Glory of God departed from the Tabernacle at Shiloh that day and never returned there again.

Today, the world is at war and the reason is, that many are falling away from God.  We have many great churches in America, but some are also teaching a false doctrine. How do I know this?  Look at Matthew 24:22-24: “And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened. Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There!' do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.”

During these times, people are looking for messages that tickle their ears, because they want to do things that are against the Word of God, so they listen to messages about hyper-grace.  Quoting Sid Roth, “This teaching of hyper-grace is from the pit of Hell!”  Even Christians will get excited and say, “Let’s go where this is being taught. I don’t ever have to worry about asking for forgiveness again.  I can do what I want and its okay.”  Others will run all over the country looking for things like, teeth being filled with gold fillings, or people barking like dogs.  They will tell you these are manifestations of the Holy Spirit. 

Are these things in the Bible?  No!  When people gather together in the name of Jesus, why would the attention be on the actions of people and not on Jesus Christ?  Are these things possible?  Of course God can do whatever he wants and I have seen God’s healing power and miracles that take place. However, when Jesus walked this earth, his focus was not on miracles, even though he did miracles.  It was because he had compassion for the people.  He did not come to earth for manifestations; he came so people could be saved for the Kingdom of God.   Luke 4:43 “But He said to them, "I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent.”

Today we hear about places where there is a ‘great move of God’ and everyone wants to run there.  Those places are a hot-spot for a length of time and then they die out. Now let’s look at the last part of this scripture again: “do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.”  

What has this to do with the lamp of God going out?  When the shepherds of the Church stray away from the Word of God and allow false teachings to come into their church, the Lamp of God begins to dim.  As in the time of Samuel, the lamp of God will go out and the Glory of God will leave, never to return.  Even the ‘elect’, God’s chosen ones, are beginning to turn away from the truth of God’s Word.  The world is becoming ripe for the Anti-Christ to rise up.

As Christians, we can no longer ignore what is happening in the Body of Christ.  We must make a stand and proclaim to others: “Then if anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There!' do not believe it.”  Don’t be afraid you’ll offend someone; like our President is.  He tells us to not offend Muslims and that only 99.9% of them believe in Jihad.  Yet he also thinks that it’s okay to offend Christians; is there something wrong with this picture?  Let your congressmen and other government officials know it is not all right to offend Christians and then lift up the wonderful, peaceful Muslims. 

Christians, listen, there is One God; “Therefore know this day, and consider it in your heart that the LORD Himself is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other.” [Deuteronomy 4:39]  Allah is not God Almighty!  Muhammad is not Jesus Christ our Savior, or anyone’s Savior.  So, “Choose you this day whom ye will serve”.  [Joshua 24:15]  You may not think so kindly about it when the jihadist start cutting off heads and burning people alive in our own country. 

As a child, I learned this song in Bible School and it didn’t mean much then, but today, I see the truth in it.  Let this be your song, it’s called:  “Stand up For Jesus”

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, you soldiers of the cross.

Lift high the Royal banner; it must not suffer loss.

From victory unto victory, His army shall He lead,

Till every foe is vanquished and Christ is Lord indeed.

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, The strife will not be long;

This day the noise of battle, the next, the victor’s song;

To him that overcometh, a crown of life shall be;

He with the King of glory shall reign eternally.

 

 

 

When I’ve Lost My Way

When I’ve Lost My Way

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”  Psalm 119:105

 When I was a child I wandered down a path in the Jack Pines of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  I don’t know if you have ever been alone in the woods of the UP, but it’s pretty scary.  Let me tell you how it happened. 

My father was a fur buyer (back when people wore fur coats) and once a year he would go up north to buy fur from the ‘backwoods trappers’.  My mother and I went along (with my schoolwork) and stayed for about a month.  My father also liked to trap along the Indian River and sometimes he took me along.  I learned to help him skin muskrats and mink.  I had a little pearl handle knife and I scraped the fat off the inside of the fur when he stretched them on boards. (I still have my knife and one of the stretching boards.) 

We rented a cabin at a place called Jack Pine Lodge and that’s where we were when I decided to have an adventure by myself.  My father was a deer hunter and so I heard a lot about his hunting episodes. One day I took my Red Ryder BB gun and went out into the Jack Pine woods looking for deer. (Yes, I can shoot a real gun.  Ask my husband who took me with him to show me how to target shoot.  Imagine his surprise when I shot a dime off a tree.) 

Back to my adventure, I wandered around out there and didn’t know how far it was from the cabin. I realized I was lost when off in the distance I heard people calling my name.  Then I got scared because I was supposed to be right by the cabin and was disobedient, so I didn’t answer their calls.  I hid behind a tree, but I think my red hat and gloves gave me away and before long I was found.  I didn’t get punished, but I sure got a ‘talking to’ and also a lot of hugs and kisses.  I did learn my lesson and never wandered off again.  

However, growing up, I often wandered away from God’s calling.  It took many years of wandering through the desert, just as the Israelites did, before I decided to follow God’s pathway.  As God’s children, we often wander off the path away from Him, but He continues to call to us even when we are disobedient.  

When we wander away from God, we can really get into a lot of trouble.  Some of us have found ourselves on pathways of destruction, and have been saved from them by the Grace of God.  If you were saved from destruction the way you were headed, it wasn’t by chance.  Listen to the Words of Psalm 40:2, “He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps.”  That’s what he did for me. 

After that, God did an amazing thing, “You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”  Psalm 16:11.  Then he followed up by not only showing me the path of life, but he did this: “He restored my soul; He led me in the paths of righteousness For His name's sake.”  Psalm 23:3  

To summarize all of this, God saved me, brought me out of destruction, established my steps, showed me the path of life and then led me in His paths of righteousness. Then he gave me an amazing truth; to study His Word and when we do it’s like a light comes on and shows us the way to continue on our journey of life.   

He is calling you and if you are far from Him, he wants to direct you to the right pathway.  Answer His call and you will find He is waiting with arms open wide.

 

 

 

 

Overcoming Worry!

Overcoming Worry

Luke 12:22-23

“Then He said to His disciples, "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on.  Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing.”

 That sounds easy, doesn’t it?  Well, it isn’t easy to not worry and Jesus knew we were human and had emotions that could easily get out of control.  If you say you don’t worry then you are either lying or deceiving yourself.  Here are a few signs that tell you if you are anxious about something.

Number 1 – You feel calm, but when you get in bed, you can’t fall asleep, or if you do, you are constantly tossing and turning.

Number 2 – Your blood pressure climbs higher than usual.

Number 3 - You find yourself going over and over again about a situation or problem with you or your loved ones.

Number 4 – You find yourself getting ill thinking about something and maybe getting headaches, or sick stomachs.

Number 5 – You can’t see any way out of a situation and feel hopeless about it.

I’m sure you get the picture; worry affects a person far more than we know.  I’ve heard people say, “I just can’t get any peace about this situation.”  Then you are anxious about it and worrying.  So what can we do to relieve this worry from us?

The first thing Jesus says Matthew 11:28-30 (NLT) is “Come to me”.  How do we come to him; by prayer, of course? Then he says he wants to give us rest; rest from all this worry.  “Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”  Here is the answer he gives us, but underlying that fact is this - worry is ‘lack of faith’.

Jesus gives us a good example of this in Matthew 17:20.  “So Jesus said to them, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you.”  I think that most of us don’t have that kind of faith, but if we did we would never worry again. 

In Mark 9:21-24, Jesus was about to pray for the healing of a child who had seizures and Jesus told the father that if he had faith anything was possible.  The father understood what Jesus was saying and knew his faith was small so he cried to Jesus, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.”

How often we need to cry out to the Lord, “Help my unbelief”.  God knows our every weakness and wants to strengthen us to do his will.  In Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT), he tells us so simply, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.”

When you go to bed tonight, pray about the situation and tell the Lord to help your ‘unbelief’.  Pray that he gives you peace in whatever situation it is.  Help is there for each one of us.  He knows what you are going through, but we need to turn to him and not try to handle it by yourself.  The answer is there for you, just call on Jesus, he will give you rest.

Once I Was Young and Now I am Old

Once I Was Young and Now I am Old

“I have been young, and now am old; yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken,

Nor his descendants begging bread.”   Psalm 37:25

 

It doesn’t matter if you are 20, 50, or 80+ years old, there will be a time you look in the mirror and ask yourself how you got to be this age.  You may age gracefully or very hard; it depends on a lot of things, but you are going to age.   

I remember some years ago of hearing my 80-year old mother look at me and say, “How did I ever get this old?”  Her body had greatly aged, but her mind was still sharp and swift to think.  I remember thinking that was a strange thing to say because I was very active, working a full time job and running an antique store with my younger sister. I was busy in my church and looking forward to so many things. 

Today, I look in the mirror and hear myself saying, “How did I get this old?” Then I begin thinking of all the things I did in my life.  I had 4 children and now have 10 grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren and 2 great-great-grandchildren.  I produced a TV show, had my own radio program, spoke at many, many churches, was a minister of music, wrote and directed musicals, played piano for many years, taught Bible classes for 27 years and now write this weekly Blog.  There were so many more things I did, but don’t have room to mention.   

On top of that, I have had many physical things such as a hip replacement, knee surgery, spinal fusion, 3 foot surgeries, cancer, not to mention a broken shoulder and that is just part of the list.  Wow!  Now I’m wondering how I did so much in those years and still keep going.  I think I may be like the Every-ready battery bunny; I just keep going and going and going. 

Most of you at any age have things you once did, but can’t do now.  Did you know that we start aging at 20 to 25 years old?  Our bones, muscles and even our brains begin to age; knees lose cartilage and grows thinner.  At first you don’t notice the changes; they are so gradual, but time moves on and suddenly it’s there. 

God has his hand on you no matter the age and he hasn’t told you to stop doing this or that; he may redirect your life’s pathway.  It’s hard to recognize when you are young that God doesn’t care as much about your looks as you do; he has a greater plan in mind.  That plan is to share the Gospel with as many people as you can.  His plan is for you to follow Jesus to the best of your ability and be an example for others so they will want to follow Jesus. 

Even if we are old and crippled up, we can still be a witness to others.  Psalm 92:14 tells us, “They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing.”  ‘Bearing fruit’ does not mean having babies, but it means we should be sharing the Gospel and leading others to Jesus.  I want to give you an example. 

There was a man, Bill Hawkins, witnessed to everyone he could.  He got cancer really bad and was in the hospital for very serious and dangerous surgery.  My husband and I were there to pray with him before he was taken to surgery.  A nurse came into his room and he didn’t waste any time asking her if she knew Jesus and gave her the whole salvation message.  Then the doctor walked in and Bill again asked him if he knew Jesus and the doctor said yes, so Bill invited him to pray for him, which he did.  The presence of God filled that hospital room. 

There was another man, Art Knapp, who was in a hospice home.  Up until the very last he was sharing Jesus with every visitor.  He was so excited about going to be with Jesus, he couldn’t wait.  There was such a glow on his face, I will never forget it.  He was still ‘bearing fruit’ on his death bed. 

I pray that God will keep my mind and at the end of my life, I too, will be sharing the love and mighty works of Almighty God.  Don’t give thought to what you used to do, but on what you can still do. “But Jesus told him, “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.” [Luke 9:62]  You see, if you are longing for what is in your past, you can’t keep your mind on God and what is waiting in your future. 

God loves you at any age you are and he wants you to be one of his warriors that stand up and face the battles of life and continue on to the end.  Won’t you listen to him and become like the disciples of old and follow Jesus’ Great Commission to go out and preach the Gospel to everyone you can?