Or Olam

“The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light; but the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.”

Isaiah 60:19

One of my favorite things to do at Christmas time is to see the Christmas lights.  I squeal like a young child when our lights go up outside in our tree and bushes.  Last year, I added a lighted angel to our meager yard decorations.  I drive my family in our van through some of the nicer neighborhoods to see their lights.  We enjoy lights of all colors – white, blue, green, and red.  Some houses have stars, lights on Christmas wreaths, or a candle burning in every window.  My friend Bobbie was telling me at lunch today about the Christmas lights she saw in San Francisco when she visited her daughter.  They had lights on the trees the colors of fall leaves – orange, red, and yellow.  Some buildings were outlined in lights and made to look like Christmas presents.  The splendor of the lights delights me.

As I have been preparing my heart for Christmas, Jesus’ birthday, I ran across Isaiah 60:19, and God captured my attention right there.  Like a sparkling diamond, my eyes stared and reread this verse.  “The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light; but the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.”  So I had to read the rest of the chapter to get it into context.

I discovered that Isaiah 60 is a chapter of promise for a time to come.  It tells us that some day our loved ones will be reunited from the distance or death that separates us (v.4).  We will no longer receive our “economic lot in life,” second-hand gifts, or the mere bare necessities, but we will receive the riches of God (v.17).  This chapter tells us that some day there will be no more violence, robberies, vandalism, or crime (v.18).  Some day salvation will dwell in the streets.  We will live in a country of peace.  Praise will ring all over town for the one true God (v.18).

Isaiah 60 is also a chapter of the promise about the Light of God.  It begins by saying, "Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you.”  It was not until I studied it in detail that I realized this chapter is one of the most packed chapters in the Bible about the Everlasting Light.  Isaiah says darkness covers the earth, but the nations will come to the light of the city of God.  God’s glory will appear over us.  His beauty and splendor will radiate and glitter in magnificence that will dazzle us.  The sun will no longer be the light by day, and the moon will no longer shine at light.  Isaiah 24:23 tells us that they would be embarrassed and ashamed for the LORD of hosts reigns on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and His glory will be before His elders.

Of course, I studied the Hebrew words for Everlasting Light.  “Everlasting” in the Hebrew is olam.  It means “forever, evermore, everlasting, perpetual, ancient, always, continuous existence, perpetual, lasting, indefinite or unending future, eternity.”  The Hebrew word for “light” is or.  It means “light, shine, bright, illuminate.”  Our God is perpetual brightness, evermore shining, and unending illumination filled with beauty and glory.

God created the sun, moon, and the stars so that we might have light in order to live.  We think of them as timeless and unshakable.  However, they have merely been a substitute until we can have the one true Light, the Everlasting Light.  In the city of God, these heavenly bodies will no longer be required.

Then, God reminded me of some verses about light in the New Testament.  You see, Jesus, the Son of God, was the Light of the World.  This Light came into the world (John 8:12), but the darkness did not understand it (John 1:5).  Jesus said when He healed the blind man in John 9:4-5, ^“As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me.  Night is coming, when no one can work.  While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."  Even as the Son of Man who took on flesh, Jesus exhibited the family characteristics as the Everlasting Light.  In Him, there is no darkness.  There is nothing hidden.  In Him, beauty and majesty divine shines everywhere.  Unlike the sun and the moon which are substitutes for the one true Light, Jesus came as a preview of the Everlasting Light.  Although the sun and moon are quite lovely, Jesus’ compassion, love, and protectiveness of those He loves makes me long to dwell in this place of beauty. 

Some day, the Everlasting Light will be revealed to us, and we will bask in His presence forever.  We will behold His majesty that currently surpasses our wildest imagination.  Oh, beloved, how I pray that when you look at the lights this Christmas that it will make you long for the day when we will behold Him, our beautiful Or Olam!

Pray with me:  Or Olam, we praise You!  God, You are the Everlasting Light. Your presence captures our attention, and we are drawn to the Light.  You dazzle and radiate.  Your appearance is breath-taking.  In You, there will be no more dreary days for You are Light.  Thank You, Jesus, for coming to give us life so that we might dwell in the city of God, a place of eternal beauty and splendor.  Thank You for being the Light of the World and being the most stunning Light of all.  It’s in Your precious Name, Jesus, we pray, Amen.

Immanuel

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”

Isaiah 7:14

The prophet Isaiah gives more rich prophecies of Jesus, His ministry, and His coming than any other prophet in the Old Testament.  So today we return again to Isaiah.  Maybe you are familiar with Isaiah 7:14, maybe you are not.  Isaiah prophesied that LORD would give a sign - a sign that was impossible for man to fulfill.  “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”  Roughly 700 years before Jesus was born, God spoke through His prophet Isaiah about His precious Son, the nature of His birth, and His Name.

To understand this significance of the prophecy, let’s talk about the context that it was given in Isaiah 7.  Ahaz was the King of Judah.  The kings of Aram and Israel joined forces to come against Jerusalem.  The hearts of King Ahaz and his people were shaken.  The Lord sent Isaiah to Ahaz to tell him to not be afraid and to not lose heart.  Now was Ahaz a good king who deserved to have the Lord’s protection and deliverance?  Not at all.

Ahaz was an evil king who did not do what was right in the eyes of the LORD.  He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, made cast idols for worshipping Baal.  He offered sacrifices and burned incense at the high places.  The last one crushes me to even say.  He sacrificed his sons in the fire.

So in his time of great need, God reaches out to him.  King Ahaz had rejected the God of Israel, Yahweh, but God did not severe the relationship.  No, God wanted to show Himself mighty to King Ahaz so God’s beloved chosen people would be delivered and restored to Him.  They would know that He is the one true God.

God offers to deliver King Ahaz and his people and tells Ahaz to ask for a sign, “whether in the deepest depths or in the highest heights.”  God wanted Ahaz to turn his heart to him.  How does Ahaz respond?  He says, “I will not ask; I will not put the LORD to the test.”

Ahaz had the God of the universe giving him permission to ask him for help yet he didn’t accept it.  He didn’t know the God of Israel so he could not believe the God of Israel. He preferred to ask the king of Assyria.  He sought the help of an untrustworthy human over the Almighty God that he could not believe.  God outstretched His arms to Ahaz, but Ahaz rejected God and would not embrace Him.  So God didn’t just give a heavenly sign of His power.  God didn’t miraculously sweep through the enemy’s camp and deliver Israel from this attack.  God’s sign to him would change the course of mankind for all generations.

God gave the sign of His ultimate deliverance.  The virgin would give birth to a son.  She would give birth to God’s Son.  He was to be named Immanuel which means “God with us.”  Jesus came to be with us.  The Son of God came as a man so He could experience everything that we experience.  He came to relate to us.  You see precious one, ever since Adam and Eve were thrown out of the garden, God’s deepest longing was to deliver man from sin and to be with man.  We see it when the Israelites were delivered from slavery in Egypt, and God directs them to set up a tabernacle so that He could meet with them.  We see it time after time with the kings of Judah and Israel.  They forsake God and worship other gods.  Yet, God remains faithful to His covenant and to them.  He waits, and He woos them back to Him.  He is the God of relationships, and He is the God loves us and longs to be with us.

Because I now understand deliverance and God’s desire to be with us, “O, Come, O Come, Immanuel” has become one of my favorite Christmas carols.  Jesus coming as Immanuel is the biggest reason of all to rejoice and to celebrate.  It’s not the temporary gifts of the materialistic Christmas we have created.  It’s the eternity that we have with our God.  Hallelujah!  I’m bursting with joy!  Aren’t you?  Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to make this year the most special Christmas ever because we choose to focus on our Savior and worship Him.   

Pray with me:  Almighty God, thank You for sending Your Son Jesus to deliver us.  Thank You for delivering us from captivity.  Thank You for extending Your arms to us and asking us to believe in You.  You are a with-us God.  You will never leave nor forsake us.  All You have ever wanted was to be with us.  So we give you our hearts and affections this Christmas season.  We celebrate Your deliverance and Your love.  Thank You for Jesus, Your ultimate plan for deliverance.  In the mighty Name of Jesus, our Immanuel, we pray.  Amen!

For to Us

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.  And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.  He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.  The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.”

Isaiah 9:6-7

Are you ready for Christmas?  Did you start on your shopping list for your loved ones months ago or were you one of those crazy people out the day after Thanksgiving to get those bargains?  Have you started putting up your Christmas tree?  Have you started either the “sweet reminding” or hearing the “gentle nag” to put up your outdoor Christmas lights?  What are you hoping will happen this Christmas?  Are you hoping to receive that Pampered Chef stoneware, new camera, gift cards to your favorite store, a cruise, or even a diamond ring? 


Many of us have Christmas traditions and have some idea in our head of what Christmas should be like.  God is asking me to take a step back and think about if I am really celebrating Christmas in a way that honors Him.  I am not ready for Christmas in any sense that the Americans celebrate it today.  I haven’t bought a present, written a Christmas card, put up a tree, scheduled Christmas pictures, or made a shopping list.  Do you know where I’m starting first this year?  I’m starting in my heart.  I’m reading all of the Christmas passages, you will be seeing what God has shown me over the next few weeks. 

Today we start with Isaiah 9:6-7.  Isn’t it amazing that God revealed to His prophet hundreds of years earlier about His Son?  God told him that His Son came to set up an everlasting government and peace.  He rules on David’s throne.  He has dominion over all creation.

Isaiah says that He will be called Wonderful.  He is a wonder to me still.  He never ceases to make me marvel at Him.  His works are magnificent.  He is the thorough and caring physician.  I’m astonished that He loves me.  I’m flabbergasted that He uses me for His kingdom.  It renders me speechless when someone else’s life is touched through what He does through mine. 

He is our Counselor.  He is my confidant and my very best friend.  He always listens and always gives the perfect advice.  He has never been wrong.

Isaiah says He will be called Mighty God.  He is stronger than any human and more valiant than the bravest soldier.  He is God of all.  He is mighty to save.  No one is too far out of His reach.  He saves! 

He is Everlasting Father.  He will exist forever!  From the Hebrew, He is father, chief, and the head of the family.  He deserves respect and honor.

Lastly, He is the Prince of Peace!  He gives peace in any circumstance.  Through Him, we can rejoice always.  His peace transcends human understanding.  I understand it greatly today as my husband recovers from his surgery and has had some bumpy complications.  He has been my peace when I could have just been so tired or not known how to speak to the doctor or pack an open wound.  He is my peace through anything!

Precious one, let’s remember make this the most special Christmas ever because we choose to focus on our Savior and worship Him.  Let’s celebrate those blessed words, “for to us a child is born!” 

Pray with me:  Almighty God, thank You for sending Your Son to have the government on His shoulders and to rule over all.  Thank You Jesus, for being Wonderful, our Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.  Thank You for coming to save us and not condemn us (John 3:17).  In Your precious Name, we pray.  Amen!

Thank You!

“I will give thanks to the LORD because of his righteousness and will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.”

Psalm 7:17

The first Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621 sometime between September 21 and November 1.  After the first harvest, Governor William Bradford proclaimed a day of thanksgiving and prayer for all the colonists and neighboring Indians.  In the American Revolution, an annual day of national thanksgiving was suggested by the Continental Congress.  By the middle of the 19^th century, many states had adopted a Thanksgiving Day.  In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln appointed the Thanksgiving Day to be the last Thursday in November.  He proclaimed that on this day we were "to observe the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father Who dwelleth in the heavens.” President Franklin D. Roosevelt adjusted it to the fourth Thursday in November in 1939.

Today’s government has distanced itself from the true reason why this holiday was created – thanksgiving and prayer.  Although the president still issues a proclamation of thanksgiving, the one true God is not attributed as the Giver of our blessings.

So as we celebrate this day, let’s be leaders of our family and loved ones.  Let’s demonstrate the principles of our faith that politically correct people shun.  God has been leading me to count my blessings even more this year.  He has opened my eyes more to the wonderful husband that I have who takes care of his family, protects us, and tends to our physical needs.  I have realized that when I focus on frustrations and desire a “better life,” ungratefulness grows in my prideful heart.  I am left empty because I have let my blessings slip away and leak out through the holes that ingratitude leaves in my heart.  When I am thankful, then I am Spirit-filled and Spirit-led.  Thankfulness stems from what thoughts I choose to focus on in my mind.

Take the time today to count your blessings.  Review the past year and write down 10 things that you would finish this sentence with, “I thank God for _____________”  Your list doesn’t need to be grand nor grammar perfect.  Then take the time to think about the people who have helped you get this far in your life.  Who has shaped you?  Who has mentored you?  Take the time to thank them and encourage them.  This will fan the flame in them so they will be encouraged to keep pouring into others.

Precious friend, as I counted my blessings, you have to know that I thank God for you all the time.  I don’t take you for granted.  God has given me a supernatural love for you.  Know that if you were the only one reading this that I would still write just for you.  Thank you for your diligence to read these writings from our hearts.  Thank you for wanting more of God in your life.  Know that He sees your desire, and He knows that you want an intimate relationship with Him.  God always responds to someone who truly just wants Him affirmatively.  Have a great Thanksgiving where you really celebrate it in a way that honors our God!

Pray with me:  Father God, we give You thanks!  You have poured out Your storehouses of heaven and given us Your best.  You inhabit the praise of Your people so hear our praise for You.  Thank YOU!  We thank You for all that You have done in our lives.  We choose to let You remove fretting, whining, murmuring, and complaining!  No more holes left behind by ingratitude -  only joyous thankfulness.  Thank You for adopting us as Your children and making us heirs.  It’s in Your precious Son’s Name, Yeshua’s Name, we pray.  Amen.

Unfailing and Unshakable

Tuesday's Memory Verse

“ ‘ Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,’ says the LORD, who has compassion on you.”

Isaiah 54:10

This is a verse to hold onto when your world turns upside down.  Hold onto it when the stock market is tumbling, the economy is rattled, and your job is uncertain.  Hold onto it when your health is deteriorating and the doctor throws up his hands.  Hold onto it when your ministry is barren and you question if God really called you to step out in faith.  Hold onto it when your marriage seems to be crumbling and has no human hope.  Hold onto it when you don’t think you can make it one more day in such agony.  When our lives are shaken and our comfort zones are removed, remember this verse.  God’s love for you will never be unstable.  He will never take away His peace.

God’s love is unfailing.   His supernatural love will never let us down.  He loves us no matter what we do.  If we sin greatly, He still loves us.  If we lose our determination to follow Him no matter the cost, He still loves us.  He doesn’t love us conditional like humans do.  If we hurt Him, He still loves us.  If we lose our physical beauty, He still thinks we are gorgeous.  If we lose our mental abilities, He still loves us.

If our worlds turn upside down, we still have God’s peace.  We can be confident of the days to come that nothing comes to us that has not come through the filter of His loving fingers.  His love for us is unshakable even though the world may fall apart.  His covenant of peace is irrevocable even though the times may be turbulent.  We have a compassionate God who will never fail us or remove Himself from our lives.  This is our blessed hope and assurance as children of the Living God!  Carry this verse with you wherever you go this week – be it written on an index card, recorded on your smartphone, or imprinted in your heart.  Study it, pulverize it, and memorize it!

Memorization Reminders:

Please join me in memorizing these verses and implanting God’s thoughts into our minds.  I’m expecting for God to radically change our lives if we do this.  Redeem your time to make room for memorizing God’s Word.  Take this verse with you wherever you go.  Meditate on it, and pulverize it.

We are blessed to live in a time where we can have the Bible at our fingertips even through the internet or an actual Bible in our hands.  Yet, this blessing can become a curse if we do not treat the Bible with such honor to savor every word of it as those through the centuries who have longed to have His Word so much. They had to memorize every Scripture they had ever been given because their own copy of the Scripture was not possible.

Most of us probably don’t memorize Scripture because we think that we do not have the time.  However, our minds have a lot of wasted space that can be given to God.  We have to redeem the time.  For women, we can use the time while putting on our make-up or blow drying our hair.  For men, use the time while shaving.  For both genders, we can use the time while we shower, stop at red lights, do the laundry, wash the dishes, and mow the lawn.  Let’s face it:  our minds are thinking about something during this time.  Instead of being focused on our obsessions, worries, cares, to-do’s, and problems, give this time to God.

Take your verse(s) with you wherever you go.  You can type your verse out and put it on beautiful sheets of your choice.  You can write it out on index cards.  Many people prefer index cards spiral bound to keep them together.  For iphone users, I’m sure there is an app.  You can write it on your iphone notepad or record your voice speaking it and replay it throughout the day.

Now that we have the verse and we have found the time, let’s focus on the method.  We don’t just memorize it by saying it over and over; we meditate on it.  We spend time thinking about what each word means and what it doesn’t mean. 

Then one of my favorite techniques as taught by Waylon Moore is to pulverize the verse.  Say the verse over and over each time focusing on a different word in the verse to emphasize.  For example, say Isaiah 54:10 (today’s verse) aloud and say with more umph the underlined and bolded word:

“ ‘ Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,’ says the LORD, who has compassion on you.”

Isaiah 54:10

“ ‘ Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,’ says the LORD, who has compassion on you.”

Isaiah 54:10

“ ‘ Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,’ says the LORD, who has compassion on you.”

Isaiah 54:10

 “ ‘ Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,’ says the LORD, who has compassion on you.”

Isaiah 54:10

“ ‘ Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,’ says the LORD, who has compassion on you.”

Isaiah 54:10

Repeat this process until each word in the verse has been emphasized.

After meditating and pulverizing the verse continuously for a week, the seed planted in our hearts will begin to germinate.  You and I will no longer be merely short-term memorizing, but the Word will dwell within us.  When God’s Word dwells within us, something miraculous happens.  Our minds are renewed and transformed into the mind of Christ.  We worry and fret less.  We are armed for the attacks of the enemy.  Our lips will be full of praise for our God.  My friend, I’m ready for that kind of transformation!

Dull, but Loved

“And He said, ‘Are you also even yet dull and ignorant (without understanding and unable to put things together)?’ ”

Matthew 15:16 (Amp)

“One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him.”

John 13:23

In John Mac Arthur’s book Twelve Ordinary Men, he says that Jesus “chose to work through the instrumentality of those few fallible individuals rather than advance His agenda through mob force, military might, personal popularity, or a public – relations campaign.” Jesus was not about using strategies to enlarge His group of followers. He did not use marketing techniques. He preached the truth, confronted the religious establishment, and focused on transforming individual lives.

The most amazing part of His strategy is that not only did He use twelve disciples who were not perfect, at times, they were difficult to tolerate. In Luke 8, the disciples wake up Jesus who is sleeping through the storm because they think they are going to drown. Jesus rebuked the wind and the raging waters, and the storm subsides. Then He asked them disappointedly, “Where is your faith?” In Luke 9, when Jesus comes down from the Mountain of Transfiguration with Peter, James, and John, the other nine disciples cannot cast the demon out of the boy – even though they had cast out evil spirits previously. Jesus said, “O unbelieving and perverse generation. How long shall I stay with you and put up with you?” Also in Luke 9, the disciples argued about who would be the greatest. Jesus tells them that whoever is the least will be the greatest. In Matthew 15 when the disciples do not understand the parable, Jesus asked them, “Are you still so dull?” In John 14, on Jesus’ last night with them, Philip asked Him to show them the Father and that would be enough. Jesus answered him, “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.”

They were slow learners. They could be spiritually dense. They made mistakes. Their faith failed. They may have frustrated Him and abandoned Him when He needed them the most, but they were His disciples. And He loved them. They knew it. Above all other emotions, the prevailing one Jesus demonstrated to them was love.

The disciple John refers to himself by a title which underscores Jesus’ prevailing attitude toward this group of frustrating men. He repeatedly calls himself, “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23, John 20:2, John 21:7, John 21:20).

In a recently released movie, a man is recounting the love story of two young people to a lovely woman with Alzheimer’s disease in a nursing home where they live. The man is her husband telling her the story of how they fell in love. Every day, he tells it to her in the hope that she will remember him for a few moments. The majority of the movie is scenes from their youth when they fell in love. However, by the end of the movie, the interesting part of the story is no longer the couple in their youth but the couple at the end of their days. The love of the elderly couple had built a life together, endured time, survived hardships, and the loss of physical and mental abilities. While the circumstances of their physical life had worsened, their love for each other had grown even deeper. The love between a man and a woman can be different from God’s love in some ways. In other ways, it gives us a picture of God’s heart for us and our response to His love. Usually, the love in movies is a dream. No person can love another like that! However, God can. He can love us better than our dreams.

John was taught much about love. He changed from one fighting to be the greatest to one who talked repeatedly about Jesus’ love and loving each other. Decades after Jesus left, John still identified himself in his writings by the description meaning the most to him throughout his life - “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” This love grew deep roots and invaded his entire being. This love endured time. This love deepened through the hardships. This love built a life together. This love defined who he had become.

Oh, precious one, do we really understand Jesus loves us this deeply, too? He wants His love and our love in return to grow deep roots. He wants this love between Him and you and between Him and me to invade our entire being. This love should sustain us through hardships. This love should build a life together. This love should define who I am and who you are. Does it? Has it invaded you? Is it shaping who you are becoming? Oh, how I pray that we let this love shape every part of our being.

Pray with me: Almighty God, thank You for loving us so much! We know that we can be frustrating at times. We know we can be slow, dull, and faithless. Thank You for being patient with us. Thank You for loving us more than we can imagine. May this love build a life together with You, define who we are, and last a lifetime. It’s in the Name above all names, in Jesus’ Name, Yeshua’s Name, we pray. Amen.

Excerpt from the Jesus Lives Bible study

In the World, not of It

“My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”

John 17:15-17

On Jesus’ last night as a man on earth, He prayed fervently for His disciples and for all who would believe in Him through their message. He did not pray for us to be taken from the world to a safe place. Instead, He prayed for the Father’s protection for us from the evil one. He prayed for us to not be of the world, just like He was not of it.

We are not to blend in with the world. Part of our identity in Christ is to be peculiar. We are not to participate in the gossip at our workplace. I remember when my friend Paige was a teenager. In regard to her stand against the peer pressure to watch certain movies, she said, “How can I possibly watch that movie and serve God?”

We must guard our minds against the world. We are to be in the world but not of the world. We can’t silo ourselves from the world. Remember our God “so loved the WORLD that He gave His only Son” to it. He loves these people so we must love them, too. He hates the sin. He hates cultures where lawlessness abounds, violence invades, and immorality proliferates. If we don’t guard ourselves, we will become just like them. The world will lure us and ensnare us.

I will never forget the first time I realized how many of the world’s lies that I had bought. In my years of drifting far from God, I had bought everything that the world had to sell. My clothing, my lifestyle, my activities, and my attitudes toward relationships were all the world’s opinions. When I learned I was pregnant with my first daughter, I returned to God realizing my desperate need for Him and longing to raise my child to know Him. I stopped watching all TV because I was barely surviving each day. My daughter kept me up all night with feedings, and I worked outside the home. However, I had been feeding on the Word of God, listening to every Christian preacher on the radio as I drove, participating in Bible study (not doing my homework completely but getting there!), and listening attentively to my preacher at church. After my daughter was about eight months old, I finally had settled into the mom role. Then I watched my favorite TV program, the number one show of that day. Within the first five minutes of the show, the Holy Spirit inside of me was grieved. I looked at the clothes the girls wore. I saw their callous attitudes toward sex. I was so saddened that I stood up, pointed my finger at the TV set, and said aloud, “That’s a LIE!” I shook as I realized I had bought their entire way of life. I was very upset that I had been deceived to think they were so cute and so hip. I had bought into their beliefs that this was how a woman was to live.

This moment changed me. Now, I assess whatever I put in front of me. You and I must be alert to what we watch on television, listen to on the radio, read in magazines, and surf on the internet. We should ask ourselves, “Is this beneficial for me? Will this please God? Where will this lead me? Will this build me up and make me whom I desire to be in Christ? Can I share this with my Bible study friends?”

Beloved, can you describe a time when you blended in with the world or made a choice to be “peculiar?” Are you living like Jesus commanded us to live “in” the world and not “of” the world? I ask for both of us to allow the Holy Spirit access to even the most restricted places of our hearts and minds so He can reveal to us the areas of our lives where we need to make choices that clearly show we are not blended in but “peculiar” people who are set apart for God.

Pray with me: Oh, God, You are our God! We worship You and exalt Your Name. You are magnificent. You are the sweetest thing that we have ever known. Give us, Lord, the passion we need to be in the world but not of the world. Strengthen us. Make us courageous and unyielding to temptation. May we protect our eyes from the worldly things that we see. Make we cover our ears from ungodly things that we might hear. It’s in the Name above all names, in Jesus’ Name, Yeshua’s Name, I pray. Amen.

Excerpt from the Jesus Lives Bible study

Perfect Peace

“You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast because he trusts in you.”

Isaiah 26:3

Do you know what it is like to live without peace? Every now and then, I get a taste of life without peace, and it makes me cling closer to our God. The lack of peace is crushing and oppressive. I don’t want to live that way.

God’s Word tells us that there is a way to experience perfect peace. Actually the Hebrew says, “He will keep them in peace peace.” The Hebrew word for peace is shalom which means “completeness, safety, soundness, peace, health, prosperity.” Many times in the Hebrew a word is repeated twice for emphasis. In the English language, we may use the word “very.” In this case the word “perfect” is used to tell us that God keeps the one who trusts in Him in complete peace.

Even though we may walk through a valley, we can experience a peace that surpasses all human understanding. Even though tears may stream down our faces, we can know that God never asks us to experience a valley that will not bring a kingdom harvest one day.

Now who keeps us in perfect peace? God does. The Hebrew word for peace is nasar which means “to guard, protect, keep, to guard from dangers, to blockade, to guard with fidelity, watchman.” As intelligent and mature Christians that we think we are, we don’t have the ability to keep ourselves in perfect peace. We need someone stronger. God is our watchman who guards us with fidelity and blocks us from dangers. In heaven, I believe we will see how many dangers God blockaded from happening to us. Praise You, God, for Your protection.

Lastly, the Hebrew word for mind is yester which means “frame, pattern, imagination, purpose, device, intellectual framework.” This word is talking about how our minds put a picture frame around every incident, situation, temptation, trial, and crisis. We see every circumstance from our perspective. I can’t tell you how many times I have prayed for God to give me His throne room viewpoint in general and about specific situations. I don’t want to view things from my own limited context and wrap my own frame around it. I want to see it through His picture frame.

So God will guard the mind and the frame of the person whose mind is steadfast and trusts in Him. A steadfast mind is one that leans on God. It is someone who lays herself before God and lays her hands on His Word. To trust Him is to attach oneself to Him and not let Him go.

The key to this perfect peace is simply to trust God. Can you? Can you trust Him? You’ve trusted Him with your eternal destination. Now it’s time to take your trust of Him to a new level on planet earth. Trust your watchman! Carry this verse with you wherever you go this week – be it written on an index card, recorded on your smartphone, or imprinted in your heart. Study it, pulverize it, and memorize it!

Memorization Reminders:

Please join me in memorizing these verses and implanting God’s thoughts into our minds. I’m expecting for God to radically change our lives if we do this. Redeem your time to make room for memorizing God’s Word. Take this verse with you wherever you go. Meditate on it, and pulverize it.

We are blessed to live in a time where we can have the Bible at our fingertips even through the internet or an actual Bible in our hands. Yet, this blessing can become a curse if we do not treat the Bible with such honor to savor every word of it as those through the centuries who have longed to have His Word so much. They had to memorize every Scripture they had ever been given because their own copy of the Scripture was not possible.

Most of us probably don’t memorize Scripture because we think that we do not have the time. However, our minds have a lot of wasted space that can be given to God. We have to redeem the time. For women, we can use the time while putting on our make-up or blow drying our hair. For men, use the time while shaving. For both genders, we can use the time while we shower, stop at red lights, do the laundry, wash the dishes, and mow the lawn. Let’s face it: our minds are thinking about something during this time. Instead of being focused on our obsessions, worries, cares, to-do’s, and problems, give this time to God.

Take your verse(s) with you wherever you go. You can type your verse out and put it on beautiful sheets of your choice. You can write it out on index cards. Many people prefer index cards spiral bound to keep them together. For iphone users, I’m sure there is an app. You can write it on your iphone notepad or record your voice speaking it and replay it throughout the day.

Now that we have the verse and we have found the time, let’s focus on the method. We don’t just memorize it by saying it over and over; we meditate on it. We spend time thinking about what each word means and what it doesn’t mean.

Then one of my favorite techniques as taught by Waylon Moore is to pulverize the verse. Say the verse over and over each time focusing on a different word in the verse to emphasize. For example, say Isaiah 26:3 (today’s verse) aloud and say with more umph the underlined and bolded word:

“You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast because he trusts in you.”

Isaiah 26:3

“You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast because he trusts in you.”

Isaiah 26:3

“You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast because he trusts in you.”

Isaiah 26:3

Repeat this process until each word in the verse has been emphasized.

After meditating and pulverizing the verse continuously for a week, the seed planted in our hearts will begin to germinate. You and I will no longer be merely short-term memorizing, but the Word will dwell within us. When God’s Word dwells within us, something miraculous happens. Our minds are renewed and transformed into the mind of Christ. We worry and fret less. We are armed for the attacks of the enemy. Our lips will be full of praise for our God. My friend, I’m ready for that kind of transformation!

Headed for Trouble

“I call to you, O God, for you will answer me; give ear to me and hear my prayer.  Show the wonder of your great love, you who save by your right hand those who take refuge in you from their foes.”

Psalm 17:6-7

I couldn’t stop it!  I was caught and being pulled up somewhere that I should not be going.  I didn’t mean for this to happen!  The forces of fluid dynamics were working against me.  I tried to remember what my scuba instructor told me to do in such situations, but I couldn’t think fast enough or act fast enough. 

Deep under water, there are no sounds.  So I couldn’t cry out.  My scuba instructor was too far away for me to grab.  I tried to make motion so he might see something, but I couldn’t get his attention. 

Slowly, my body drifted to the surface of Agana Bay, Guam.  Slowly, I knew I was headed to a surface where there were jet skiers, kayakers, and boaters all out for their Saturday fun on the water.  I didn’t know what would meet me at the surface.  I was caught by the natural laws of buoyancy and couldn’t remember how to work my scuba gear to protect myself.

I’ve never forgotten those moments of feeling like I was out of control and headed for trouble.  While being stationed with the Navy on the Pacific Island of Guam, I learned how to scuba dive.  Within my first week of being on the island, many of the other military officers told me that I must learn to scuba dive.  Guam was known for its excellent dive spots with amazing coral reefs and sunken ships from previous wars.  I had come there for adventure and to learn new things so I was game to try it.  In fact, I did more than try.  I purchased all the scuba gear before my first lesson.  I had the wet suit, goggles, and the BCD (buoyancy control device) with my favorite colors – purple and yellow.

My first lesson was a group lesson where we only went 15 feet down.  It was a test of our gear and how well we followed the instructor’s words.  Knowing I needed more, I asked my instructor for a private lesson so he took me to Agana Bay.  He reviewed the basics and underwater we went.  If you have never been scuba diving, then let me tell you the underwater world is further proof of God’s creative design.  The colors are breath-taking and the order of the ecosystem is perfect.  After we swam a while, my instructor turned his back on me.  That’s when I did something to my BCD that caused air to get into it, and I headed against my will to the surface.  At first, I couldn’t remember what to do.  Then when I remembered to press the air out, I couldn’t do it.  My poor instructor was horrified when he came to the surface and found me.  He never took his eye off me again.

Have you ever felt like you were on a path that you couldn’t leave?  Maybe it is that unsatisfying job that you are thankful that you have, but you know it is not God’s plan for you.  Maybe it is that addiction that you don’t know how to stop.  Maybe it is that man that you know that you should not be dating much less marrying.  Maybe it’s your mouth that you never learned to tame that causes so much strife in your relationships.  How do we stop being sucked into something that is less than God’s plan for us or possibly even dangerous for us?  How?

Unlike my scuba instructor who couldn’t hear me, our God hears.  Many Scriptures in the Bible describe people calling out to gods who cannot hear.  They have no ability to hear cries for help.  Not only are they deaf, they are powerless to save.  If we cry out to God, He will hear us.  When He hears, He acts on our behalf.  Sometimes He literally saves us from the clutches of the immediate danger.  Always, He seeks a long-term spiritual rescue.  Because God is more concerned about our holiness than our happiness, He prioritizes our spiritual needs over earthly needs.

Do you need help getting off the wrong path and onto the right path?  God is one sincere cry for help away.  Believe Him that He will hear.  Believe Him that He will come to your aid.  Believe Him that He will work in your life.  Ask and believe!

Pray with me:  Oh, God, we cry out to You!  Father, some of us are on the wrong path.  We have either stayed on the right path too long and not been willing to leave it when You were leading us in a new direction, or we were on a path that we never should have taken.  We need You!  Hear us when we cry!  When You hear, You act.  Take us down Your paths of righteousness.  It is in Jesus’ Name, the Name above all names that we pray, Amen.

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