I'm amazed today by the number of people who have either written or called to ask me if the false teacher that I was made to study under for all of those years is the same false teacher that they studied under.
Praise You, Sweet Lord, for delivering them from the same bondage of lies!
Each has an interesting story as to how they were roped into the legalism, and of how hard it was to break away from it.
Of how cunning the evil one can be when he works through someone who supposedly knows the Word of God.
One told me of how she was introduced to it through her youth group years ago, and about how the guest speaker who arrived at their church to introduce this teaching to the teens used such foul language that she couldn't repeat it to me.
Years later, when invited to a reunion with her former youth group friends and leader, she couldn't will herself to go...the pain was still too deep.
I remember, many years ago on a forum about cults, a man from Australia found my post and asked if he could contact me about it. When we spoke, his broken heart was so apparent. He shared that his family had gotten mixed up with this man's lies, and that he was just broken over it.
He wondered if I had any suggestions on what to say to them to help them break free. My counsel was to ask them what they were learning about the LOVE of God, and then to pray like he'd never prayed before, because he was in a fight of great magnitude...a spiritual battle for them to know the truth, and to live in freedom in Christ Jesus.
I remember another time, meeting someone who was also a follower. Once involved in cult teaching, you can smell it from a mile away when someone else is involved.
One of the biggest signs with this group, is that they isolate....and so had this man.
When I asked him the same question, "Do you ever get the LOVE of God when you listen to his teaching," the man went blank. His best answer was, "Well, sometimes I'm in fellowship and sometimes I'm out of fellowship."
OH...ok...so whether or not you are loved by God is now dependent upon you?
I fully understood what he meant, though. I wasn't assured of God's love for me until I became His at the age of 29. I too, felt as the man above had felt...like I'd never, ever know if He truly loved me, and I'd certainly never be assured of His pleasure in me.
So heartbreaking!
The saddest one of all though, was when I asked a young man of about 35, who had grown up under this false teacher, the same question. "In all those years of listening to him, did you ever "get" the LOVE of God?"
He turned his head away for a moment, and then turned it back to me.
Tears were
S
T
R
E
A
M
I
N
G
down his cheeks, and it took him at least three attempts before he could finally mutter out the word.....
"never."
I've thought of him often, and my prayer for him is always this....
"God, my precious God. Wonderful. Mighty. Awesome. Compassionate.
God of lovingkindness and mercy. God of grace..... Lord, he hasn't turned his back on you, because if this was all he was ever taught, he never knew YOU!
Lord, he has turned his back on a false system of religion. He's turned his back on a pharisitical spirit, and Lord, GOOD FOR HIM!
Now Father, my prayer is that you will surround him with people who REALLY know and LOVE you, and who are certain of Your LOVE."
It's interesting to me that I haven't even had to write the name of this false teacher, yet those who were under his bondage for so long know without question of whom I am writing.
I'm praying for you...you who are still involved, and you who may fall upon this post and need prayer for healing.
I'm so very sorry that any of us had to be mixed up with it, but I rest in God's sovereignty. He will not waste any of this.
If you've turned away from God altogether, like the man I mentioned above, will you trust me when I tell you that He loves you dearly and that he longs to have a relationship with you based upon the truth of His Word?
I suppose that one of the reasons I am so very thankful for Precept Ministries, is that they have taught me how to study the Word of God for myself. After growing up in a cult that teaches that EVERYONE else is WRONG except for the man behind the podium, it was very hard for me to trust anyone's teaching for a long time.
Yet Precept helped me by giving me the tools to be able to find out for myself.
I'm praying for you tonight, that you might invest the time it will take, and yes...it will require time from you...to become a student of God's Word.
Discover Truth for Yourself!
Go Deeper With Others.
Disciple.
Now, I have a little pumpkin to tuck into bed, so I'm not going to proof read this post.
But I do hope that someone is encouraged to open up their Bible and learn direct from the Author.
Love to you tonight,
Jes
Thursday, July 08, 2010
Monday, July 05, 2010
On Providential Blog Posts and How I'm Mirroring Beth's
My Momma-Nan, as I think I'll begin to refer to her, is a devoted follower of Beth Moore's blog.
I like to read it too, but I'm fairly hit or miss on it.
I found it interesting that neither my husband nor Janan commented on my blog entry regarding me sharing my testimony, which you'll find here.
When I asked Shane about it, he said, "Is God leading you to share it?"
Never fails. That guy can nail just about any situation that stumps me with one sentence.
I love him dearly, and I dearly love seeing his gift of leadership at work. For me, as well as for his company.
Both of us are darn blessed to have him!
When I asked Momma-Nan if she was going to comment on it, she promptly said,
"No, I'm not going to comment on it!"
Huh?
I mean, she is my top comment gal. Why in the world would she not comment on that post?
So I asked her why...
"Because. When you're supposed to share it, you'll know it. You won't have to ask me or anyone else if you're to supposed to."
I do love having accountability in my life!
Though the next time I look for another partner, I'm considering searching for one with the soft approach.
I like to be balanced, that's all. ;)
Nah...God knows me too well. He knew my needs before I ever asked for them. (Matthew 6:8)
So then Momma-Nan tells me I need to read this blog post of Beth's.
Wow! Could Beth have any better said all that's been rolling around in this head of mine the past few days?
I seriously doubt it.
I'm going to break it down for you a bit. Part two will be in a few days. That will be the fun one...the one about my own grandmother.
But for now, I'll address the idea of being the Momma of this blog...
1. This is my blog. I've often considered securing a name for another one called,
"Any Idiot Can Have A Blog," simply because I think it's a hilarious name as well as a serious truth.
But alas, I didn't want to take the title from someone who might really need it. :)
Since this is my blog, I get publishing rights. And since I get publishing rights, I don't have to allow every comment that comes through to hit my blog. I get to reject the ones I choose to.
I use this right very judiciously. I've only had to use it a few times, but use it I will as I deem necessary.
Sadly, you wouldn't believe some of the ugly stuff that gets sent to me in the form of a comment, that is clearly spam. If you have a blog of your own, and you get comments like "lovely blog you have here...please visit mine at "anyidiotcanhaveablog" and become a follower"...know almost for certain that it's either an invite for a virus, or it will be a blog you don't want to open up to your sweet eyes.
If you're unsure, just Google the comment, or the name of the "blog"...if you quickly see that the same comment is posted on other blogs, just quickly reject that comment from your own, and don't visit the site.
Also, since I get publishing rights, and since the purpose of my blog is very clearly defined in my opening intro, I don't have to publish those comments from people who have what I believe to be a false understanding of Scripture, and want to use my blog to teach their own doctrines.
You see, I grew up under a false teacher. A person who skewed God's Word so bad, that it led to the heartache of many, many people.
He taught that abortion was a woman's right to choose, and he falsely used Scripture to support this lie from satan himself.
He pounded the fact that we were under grace and that if we sinned we just needed to "confess it and move on," yet he never once talked about what it means to grieve over sin, that we might not want to return to it. Heck, he didn't even teach that there was benefit in pausing to consider the sin...which led to a sin cycle of sin, confess, same sin, confess, same sin, tired of confessing...God must be tired of hearing from me...will I ever be free of this?...doubtful...God's out to get me anyway...He's a tyrant like this "pastor" is...I can't ever walk in victory...I might as well just forget God and submit to the sin once and for all...
This is what happens when we don't stop to consider the cost of our sin...when we don't ask God to make us grieve over it, to BEG Him to help us hate it the way that He hates sin, so we won't want to return to it.
He belittled and berated people who would dare to show up to his "Bible classes" even minutes late, waiting until they were seated and then stopping his "teaching" to call them to their feet and humiliate them in front of everyone present by telling them that they were distracting others from their study of the Word by being so inconsiderate. "What time does this class start?!," he'd yell from his bully pulpit.
To this day I can't believe that someone didn't stand up and give it right back to him! That no one took him to the book of James and showed him what true wisdom looks like:
James 3:13-18
Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy. And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
Or to Paul's admonition to Timothy to make sure that he taught others this way:
2 Timothy 4:1-2
I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judgethe living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.
Am I the only one who sees the irony in this man's words to his congregation, and Dear Lord, to their guests?!
Can you even IMAGINE Jesus doing that? Or the Apostle Paul? Peter? James? Timothy? John?
He built his army of followers by holding nightly classes....yes, nightly! There was only one day a week off from "Bible class." All true followers were to be there the other 6.
Hmmm...just wondering what kind of impact those dedicated followers made with their lost neighbors who needed Christ?
Pretty hard to impact the lost when you don't spend any time with them.
I know how we did...we isolated from just about everyone. Especially the Baptists in our town. I remember going to church with one of my little friends from school one night, and when the invitation was given, I was pierced to the heart...I went down front and told them that I wanted to have Jesus in my heart.
Then, I bawled uncontrollably all the way home, just terrified of what my parents were going to say because I went and let myself get "emotional" about Jesus. I'd been taught and taught that conversion wasn't an emotional thing, and here I'd gone and fallen for the "deceived" Baptists' bait!
As a child, I was made to listen to his lies by tape every night, and take notes on them. If I hadn't done a good enough job on my notes, they would be returned to me and I'd have to listen to his garbage all over again.
He taught me all about the impending war with Red China. He taught me that if I were to be captured by one of these communists in the war that we'd soon be in, I needed to be prepared to give only my name, my rank, and my serial number.
Uuuuh...I was 7. I didn't even have a social security number yet!
I suppose I should be happy that the Holy Spirit has erased all the "teaching" that this false teacher poured in, other than those lies that I can easily discern as such today.
Oh, my all time favorite....and I say this in jest.
He taught me that God is done with the Jews, until the 1,000 year reign.
Can you imagine God being "done" with His chosen people? Our covenant keeping God, done?
Our God who never lies...never breaks a promise...and Who, when He says, "everlasting,"...really means it?
He taught me that there is only 1 right man for every woman, and that if I should fall into sin outside of marriage, that the person I fell into that sin with would then become my right man, and I'd miss out on the real one God had for me.
Nice.
Now that, "we're under grace" teaching just fell apart at the seams. No grace for the person who commits sexual sin.
All other sins we just "confess and move on" from....but sexual sin...we'd be bound to that one for a lifetime..in the form of a spouse that might have been a horrid pick for us.
Oh, I forgot my other favorite...
Everyone who didn't believe his interpretation of the Bible was WRONG!
He graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary, but I'm told by some other DTS grads who have been my friends or pastors, that he is the black mark on the seminary.
When I tell them whose teaching I grew up under, they all get this very sad and heavy look on their face, and then they tell me oh...you were raised a "------ite. I'm so sorry! How are you doing now?"
Yes, they even have a name for his followers that some DTS people have coined. It's not Davidianites, but it's close, and the gist is certainly the same.
Seems they must discuss this man's false teaching ways at some time during the training at DTS, possibly to prepare them for how to minister to the desperately broken and hurting among the brethren who they may one day have in their own churches?
All that to say, if someone sends me a comment full of false teaching, I'm not required to post it.
I won't be posting it.
Because this is my blog for Jehovah God, and Jesus Messiah....and it will stand for truth!
I love how my friend little momma said, in her comment about whether or not to share my testimony,
"I think we must always use discretion and tell our stories in a way that is relatable and yet does not steal the innocence of our listeners..."
That's such great wisdom, and I find tonight that it also applies to how my blog is to be used.
God forbid that I should post someone's comments that I believe to be a false interpretation of the Word of God, and find that it has stolen the innocence of my reader...or been used of the evil one to bring confusion!
Nope. It won't be happening here.
Mini rant coming...rather a FIRM REBUKE, fully rooted in God's call on a given situation in my life...most readers may want to just skip the red lettering here...
And, when someone sets up a false blogger profile, under the name of one of their friends, in the hope that they'll fly under the radar and I won't be smart enough to figure out what's going on, you can be absolutely assured that I won't be posting those comments!
And, to the aforementioned person, in the heart of Christian charity, I rebuke you...who clearly cannot honor a single boundary Shane and I have laid down for you with regard to our family...to once and for all STOP IT!
Let it go.
Put it in God's hands.
Trust Him and His timing.
He is sovereign.
If you care for me or my family in even the least bit, STOP IT! The emotional energy that you steal from our lives is indescribable, inconsiderate, inexcusable!
YOU NEED TO QUIT!
Nope, I won't post false doctrine, and I won't post comments from fake blogger profiles.
Because this is my blog for Jehovah God, and Jesus Messiah...and it will stand for truth!
Can I get an "Amen?"
Seriously..."Amen" is a postable comment!
Now, I was going to move on to a lighter post about how being at the farm always brings back such sweet memories of my Grandmother...Nina Aline.
My daughter is named after her...she has her middle name.
Brennan Aline.
I love what Aline means...beautiful.
Brennan - brave.
Brave Beautiful Brennan.
Should've seen her out on the wave riding tube today, taking the wake of the boat in stride! She's as much of a lake girl as her Momma is! We've both agreed that we could LIVE on a boat for the REST of our LIVES!
How cool would it be to be on a houseboat in the middle of the lake, fishing off the side or skiing from behind, when the rapture happens?
Very cool!
Brave Beautiful Brennan...
In her black and white polka-dotted, pink trimmed bathing suit.
With her legs that go on for days, and days, and days....
And that curly hair with auburn highlights, just glistening in the sun..
You'd have found her to be Brave Beautiful Brennan, too!
Yes, my next post will be about my Grandmother, whose name Brennan bears....Nina Aline.
Nina has it's roots in the Hebrew language, and it means Grace.
Gracious and Beautiful.
That was definitely my grandmother!
I'll write about my gracious, beautiful grandmother soon.
Much love to you tonight in Messiah Yeshua...my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
Jes
I like to read it too, but I'm fairly hit or miss on it.
I found it interesting that neither my husband nor Janan commented on my blog entry regarding me sharing my testimony, which you'll find here.
When I asked Shane about it, he said, "Is God leading you to share it?"
Never fails. That guy can nail just about any situation that stumps me with one sentence.
I love him dearly, and I dearly love seeing his gift of leadership at work. For me, as well as for his company.
Both of us are darn blessed to have him!
When I asked Momma-Nan if she was going to comment on it, she promptly said,
"No, I'm not going to comment on it!"
Huh?
I mean, she is my top comment gal. Why in the world would she not comment on that post?
So I asked her why...
"Because. When you're supposed to share it, you'll know it. You won't have to ask me or anyone else if you're to supposed to."
I do love having accountability in my life!
Though the next time I look for another partner, I'm considering searching for one with the soft approach.
I like to be balanced, that's all. ;)
Nah...God knows me too well. He knew my needs before I ever asked for them. (Matthew 6:8)
So then Momma-Nan tells me I need to read this blog post of Beth's.
Wow! Could Beth have any better said all that's been rolling around in this head of mine the past few days?
I seriously doubt it.
I'm going to break it down for you a bit. Part two will be in a few days. That will be the fun one...the one about my own grandmother.
But for now, I'll address the idea of being the Momma of this blog...
1. This is my blog. I've often considered securing a name for another one called,
"Any Idiot Can Have A Blog," simply because I think it's a hilarious name as well as a serious truth.
But alas, I didn't want to take the title from someone who might really need it. :)
Since this is my blog, I get publishing rights. And since I get publishing rights, I don't have to allow every comment that comes through to hit my blog. I get to reject the ones I choose to.
I use this right very judiciously. I've only had to use it a few times, but use it I will as I deem necessary.
Sadly, you wouldn't believe some of the ugly stuff that gets sent to me in the form of a comment, that is clearly spam. If you have a blog of your own, and you get comments like "lovely blog you have here...please visit mine at "anyidiotcanhaveablog" and become a follower"...know almost for certain that it's either an invite for a virus, or it will be a blog you don't want to open up to your sweet eyes.
If you're unsure, just Google the comment, or the name of the "blog"...if you quickly see that the same comment is posted on other blogs, just quickly reject that comment from your own, and don't visit the site.
Also, since I get publishing rights, and since the purpose of my blog is very clearly defined in my opening intro, I don't have to publish those comments from people who have what I believe to be a false understanding of Scripture, and want to use my blog to teach their own doctrines.
You see, I grew up under a false teacher. A person who skewed God's Word so bad, that it led to the heartache of many, many people.
He taught that abortion was a woman's right to choose, and he falsely used Scripture to support this lie from satan himself.
He pounded the fact that we were under grace and that if we sinned we just needed to "confess it and move on," yet he never once talked about what it means to grieve over sin, that we might not want to return to it. Heck, he didn't even teach that there was benefit in pausing to consider the sin...which led to a sin cycle of sin, confess, same sin, confess, same sin, tired of confessing...God must be tired of hearing from me...will I ever be free of this?...doubtful...God's out to get me anyway...He's a tyrant like this "pastor" is...I can't ever walk in victory...I might as well just forget God and submit to the sin once and for all...
This is what happens when we don't stop to consider the cost of our sin...when we don't ask God to make us grieve over it, to BEG Him to help us hate it the way that He hates sin, so we won't want to return to it.
He belittled and berated people who would dare to show up to his "Bible classes" even minutes late, waiting until they were seated and then stopping his "teaching" to call them to their feet and humiliate them in front of everyone present by telling them that they were distracting others from their study of the Word by being so inconsiderate. "What time does this class start?!," he'd yell from his bully pulpit.
To this day I can't believe that someone didn't stand up and give it right back to him! That no one took him to the book of James and showed him what true wisdom looks like:
James 3:13-18
Who
Or to Paul's admonition to Timothy to make sure that he taught others this way:
2 Timothy 4:1-2
I solemnly
Am I the only one who sees the irony in this man's words to his congregation, and Dear Lord, to their guests?!
Can you even IMAGINE Jesus doing that? Or the Apostle Paul? Peter? James? Timothy? John?
He built his army of followers by holding nightly classes....yes, nightly! There was only one day a week off from "Bible class." All true followers were to be there the other 6.
Hmmm...just wondering what kind of impact those dedicated followers made with their lost neighbors who needed Christ?
Pretty hard to impact the lost when you don't spend any time with them.
I know how we did...we isolated from just about everyone. Especially the Baptists in our town. I remember going to church with one of my little friends from school one night, and when the invitation was given, I was pierced to the heart...I went down front and told them that I wanted to have Jesus in my heart.
Then, I bawled uncontrollably all the way home, just terrified of what my parents were going to say because I went and let myself get "emotional" about Jesus. I'd been taught and taught that conversion wasn't an emotional thing, and here I'd gone and fallen for the "deceived" Baptists' bait!
As a child, I was made to listen to his lies by tape every night, and take notes on them. If I hadn't done a good enough job on my notes, they would be returned to me and I'd have to listen to his garbage all over again.
He taught me all about the impending war with Red China. He taught me that if I were to be captured by one of these communists in the war that we'd soon be in, I needed to be prepared to give only my name, my rank, and my serial number.
Uuuuh...I was 7. I didn't even have a social security number yet!
I suppose I should be happy that the Holy Spirit has erased all the "teaching" that this false teacher poured in, other than those lies that I can easily discern as such today.
Oh, my all time favorite....and I say this in jest.
He taught me that God is done with the Jews, until the 1,000 year reign.
Can you imagine God being "done" with His chosen people? Our covenant keeping God, done?
Our God who never lies...never breaks a promise...and Who, when He says, "everlasting,"...really means it?
He taught me that there is only 1 right man for every woman, and that if I should fall into sin outside of marriage, that the person I fell into that sin with would then become my right man, and I'd miss out on the real one God had for me.
Nice.
Now that, "we're under grace" teaching just fell apart at the seams. No grace for the person who commits sexual sin.
All other sins we just "confess and move on" from....but sexual sin...we'd be bound to that one for a lifetime..in the form of a spouse that might have been a horrid pick for us.
Oh, I forgot my other favorite...
Everyone who didn't believe his interpretation of the Bible was WRONG!
He graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary, but I'm told by some other DTS grads who have been my friends or pastors, that he is the black mark on the seminary.
When I tell them whose teaching I grew up under, they all get this very sad and heavy look on their face, and then they tell me oh...you were raised a "------ite. I'm so sorry! How are you doing now?"
Yes, they even have a name for his followers that some DTS people have coined. It's not Davidianites, but it's close, and the gist is certainly the same.
Seems they must discuss this man's false teaching ways at some time during the training at DTS, possibly to prepare them for how to minister to the desperately broken and hurting among the brethren who they may one day have in their own churches?
All that to say, if someone sends me a comment full of false teaching, I'm not required to post it.
I won't be posting it.
Because this is my blog for Jehovah God, and Jesus Messiah....and it will stand for truth!
I love how my friend little momma said, in her comment about whether or not to share my testimony,
"I think we must always use discretion and tell our stories in a way that is relatable and yet does not steal the innocence of our listeners..."
That's such great wisdom, and I find tonight that it also applies to how my blog is to be used.
God forbid that I should post someone's comments that I believe to be a false interpretation of the Word of God, and find that it has stolen the innocence of my reader...or been used of the evil one to bring confusion!
Nope. It won't be happening here.
Mini rant coming...rather a FIRM REBUKE, fully rooted in God's call on a given situation in my life...most readers may want to just skip the red lettering here...
And, when someone sets up a false blogger profile, under the name of one of their friends, in the hope that they'll fly under the radar and I won't be smart enough to figure out what's going on, you can be absolutely assured that I won't be posting those comments!
And, to the aforementioned person, in the heart of Christian charity, I rebuke you...who clearly cannot honor a single boundary Shane and I have laid down for you with regard to our family...to once and for all STOP IT!
Let it go.
Put it in God's hands.
Trust Him and His timing.
He is sovereign.
If you care for me or my family in even the least bit, STOP IT! The emotional energy that you steal from our lives is indescribable, inconsiderate, inexcusable!
YOU NEED TO QUIT!
Nope, I won't post false doctrine, and I won't post comments from fake blogger profiles.
Because this is my blog for Jehovah God, and Jesus Messiah...and it will stand for truth!
Can I get an "Amen?"
Seriously..."Amen" is a postable comment!
Now, I was going to move on to a lighter post about how being at the farm always brings back such sweet memories of my Grandmother...Nina Aline.
My daughter is named after her...she has her middle name.
Brennan Aline.
I love what Aline means...beautiful.
Brennan - brave.
Brave Beautiful Brennan.
Should've seen her out on the wave riding tube today, taking the wake of the boat in stride! She's as much of a lake girl as her Momma is! We've both agreed that we could LIVE on a boat for the REST of our LIVES!
How cool would it be to be on a houseboat in the middle of the lake, fishing off the side or skiing from behind, when the rapture happens?
Very cool!
Brave Beautiful Brennan...
In her black and white polka-dotted, pink trimmed bathing suit.
With her legs that go on for days, and days, and days....
And that curly hair with auburn highlights, just glistening in the sun..
You'd have found her to be Brave Beautiful Brennan, too!
Yes, my next post will be about my Grandmother, whose name Brennan bears....Nina Aline.
Nina has it's roots in the Hebrew language, and it means Grace.
Gracious and Beautiful.
That was definitely my grandmother!
I'll write about my gracious, beautiful grandmother soon.
Much love to you tonight in Messiah Yeshua...my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,
Jes
Friday, July 02, 2010
In Reponse to banddear
Hi bandddear,
I tried to post this as a comment in response to yours regarding my question about sharing my testimony. However, blogger told me that I had too many characters, and so I'm just posting my comments as a post.
Thank you for your opinions, and for pointing me to the Word. I love it when people exhort me through His Word. :)
I disagree with you completely when you say that for someone to share their testimony, it is a sign of a self-image problem.
I am deeply thankful that Paul shared his own with us on repeated occasions throughout Scripture.
Where might I be today without Rahab's testimony, or the woman in Luke chapter 7's testimony, or even Ruth's for that matter?
There have been countless times that I have shared what the good hand of my God has done for me, at speaking engagements or in Bible studies, only to have women come forth with tears pouring down their precious cheeks to tell me that hearing my testimony gave them HOPE...and that they wanted to be forgiven of the Lord too.
Which, of course led us straight back into the Word...and even times when I had the great gift of seeing some of them drawn to God by His Spirit at those very moments.
I don't live in my past. I don't let my past beat me up. I am fully aware that it has been forgiven, and that I am to press on toward the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Praise God!
Yet, we do need to hear the testimonies of others. There is overcoming power in the testimony of those snatched from the pit of sin, to serve the Risen Savior!
I remember the first time that I heard Kay's testimony. I was absolutely amazed! I'd never heard a Christian share so openly and truthfully about who they had been, or how they had lived.
Yet, here was this woman of God...a woman passionately in love with studying His Word. A woman who was not even a shadow of the one whom she described in her testimony...and she was telling us the truth about what she'd once been like!
I realized in that moment that Christians don't talk about "those things," all to often.
I believe it's why we have people sitting in our churches, hearts broken, thinking they have nowhere to turn...no one they can talk to.
We're all so busy looking good for Sunday that we can't be transparent with one another.
Our divorce rate in church is now higher than in the secular world, I'm told.
Our kids don't look any different than the kids of the world.
Our men are in bondage to lust, playing itself out in any number of ways.
Our women cluck their Christians tongues in prayer meetings asking for prayer for so-n-so, when really it's just a safe place to gossip.
Yet when we can be honest with one another, as Paul was with his audience and with us, we can begin to see people grasp Jesus as the true life changer that He is!
I think of the number of people that I meet who won't even walk into a church because of all the "good church hypocrites" they've met.
I have dear friends and family members who fall into that very category, by their own admission.
Thank you also for the reminder exhortation too see myself as God does, through the imputed righteousness of His Son. Amen and amen!
I am sorry that your experience with the one class of Kay's that you took led you to believe that she thinks we are under law.
I would be interested to know what study you took?
What I love about Precept is that it teaches me a method, which teaches me to study God's Word through the tools of that method...inductively.
Kay would be the first to say that people either love her or hate her...but she'd also want you to know that it's not HER that she wants peoples' eyes on.
She wants their eyes on the Word of God.
Period.
I grew up being taught my whole life that we are under grace. Yet that grace was used as a license for sin in my home, many times.
And right in the midst of it, out would be thrown the very words of God, used so out of context..."we're not under law, we're under grace."
Yes, we are under grace.. were we not none of us would be able to have a relationship with God the Father.
Yet that grace...that COSTLY grace, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer so beautifully shows us in "The Cost of Discipleship" is to be used to point others to Christ, and never as an excuse for our sinful behavior.
"Shall we sin all the more that grace may increase?," the apostle asked...and then answered, "May it never be!"
The baton is now being passed from Jack and Kay to their son David, who will be the spiritual leader of the ministry within the next few years.
I especially love David's heart, (not to say that I don't love Kay's).
David is so dedicated to further commissioning an army of men and women who will go forth and teach others how to discover God's Word; go deeper in their studies with those students; and then see them raised up to disciple still others in the Truth of God's Word.
It's an exciting time in the ministry...I pray that you will consider trying inductive study again.
After all, any of us would tell you, it's the method that matters... not the messenger.
In the love of Messiah,
Jes
I tried to post this as a comment in response to yours regarding my question about sharing my testimony. However, blogger told me that I had too many characters, and so I'm just posting my comments as a post.
Thank you for your opinions, and for pointing me to the Word. I love it when people exhort me through His Word. :)
I disagree with you completely when you say that for someone to share their testimony, it is a sign of a self-image problem.
I am deeply thankful that Paul shared his own with us on repeated occasions throughout Scripture.
Where might I be today without Rahab's testimony, or the woman in Luke chapter 7's testimony, or even Ruth's for that matter?
There have been countless times that I have shared what the good hand of my God has done for me, at speaking engagements or in Bible studies, only to have women come forth with tears pouring down their precious cheeks to tell me that hearing my testimony gave them HOPE...and that they wanted to be forgiven of the Lord too.
Which, of course led us straight back into the Word...and even times when I had the great gift of seeing some of them drawn to God by His Spirit at those very moments.
I don't live in my past. I don't let my past beat me up. I am fully aware that it has been forgiven, and that I am to press on toward the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Praise God!
Yet, we do need to hear the testimonies of others. There is overcoming power in the testimony of those snatched from the pit of sin, to serve the Risen Savior!
I remember the first time that I heard Kay's testimony. I was absolutely amazed! I'd never heard a Christian share so openly and truthfully about who they had been, or how they had lived.
Yet, here was this woman of God...a woman passionately in love with studying His Word. A woman who was not even a shadow of the one whom she described in her testimony...and she was telling us the truth about what she'd once been like!
I realized in that moment that Christians don't talk about "those things," all to often.
I believe it's why we have people sitting in our churches, hearts broken, thinking they have nowhere to turn...no one they can talk to.
We're all so busy looking good for Sunday that we can't be transparent with one another.
Our divorce rate in church is now higher than in the secular world, I'm told.
Our kids don't look any different than the kids of the world.
Our men are in bondage to lust, playing itself out in any number of ways.
Our women cluck their Christians tongues in prayer meetings asking for prayer for so-n-so, when really it's just a safe place to gossip.
Yet when we can be honest with one another, as Paul was with his audience and with us, we can begin to see people grasp Jesus as the true life changer that He is!
I think of the number of people that I meet who won't even walk into a church because of all the "good church hypocrites" they've met.
I have dear friends and family members who fall into that very category, by their own admission.
Thank you also for the reminder exhortation too see myself as God does, through the imputed righteousness of His Son. Amen and amen!
I am sorry that your experience with the one class of Kay's that you took led you to believe that she thinks we are under law.
I would be interested to know what study you took?
What I love about Precept is that it teaches me a method, which teaches me to study God's Word through the tools of that method...inductively.
Kay would be the first to say that people either love her or hate her...but she'd also want you to know that it's not HER that she wants peoples' eyes on.
She wants their eyes on the Word of God.
Period.
I grew up being taught my whole life that we are under grace. Yet that grace was used as a license for sin in my home, many times.
And right in the midst of it, out would be thrown the very words of God, used so out of context..."we're not under law, we're under grace."
Yes, we are under grace.. were we not none of us would be able to have a relationship with God the Father.
Yet that grace...that COSTLY grace, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer so beautifully shows us in "The Cost of Discipleship" is to be used to point others to Christ, and never as an excuse for our sinful behavior.
"Shall we sin all the more that grace may increase?," the apostle asked...and then answered, "May it never be!"
The baton is now being passed from Jack and Kay to their son David, who will be the spiritual leader of the ministry within the next few years.
I especially love David's heart, (not to say that I don't love Kay's).
David is so dedicated to further commissioning an army of men and women who will go forth and teach others how to discover God's Word; go deeper in their studies with those students; and then see them raised up to disciple still others in the Truth of God's Word.
It's an exciting time in the ministry...I pray that you will consider trying inductive study again.
After all, any of us would tell you, it's the method that matters... not the messenger.
In the love of Messiah,
Jes
My Testimony
It's ugly.
The part before Jesus entered my life, that is.
It's worse than ugly.
It's hideous.
It grieves my heart when I think about my past.
But I find it often gives hope to other women.
Women who have believed the lies of the evil one.
He's brutal.
Hateful.
Cruel.
I've often wondered if I should share it here.
Should I have a little tab somewhere on my blog that would allow you to see who I was before Jesus...
Would you even care to read it?
Would it become fodder for gossip, or a huge opportunity for God to be glorified?
Would it make you focus on the slime pit of my sin, or stand in awe of the Savior of my soul?
Would you want more of Him, as a result of reading what He did for me?
Would He use it to draw someone else to salvation?
So many questions in my mind.
I would cherish your prayers as I consider sharing it, seeking Him and His wisdom on what to write, and what not to.
I'd also love to know your thoughts...your exhortations...
Much love to you tonight,
Jes
The part before Jesus entered my life, that is.
It's worse than ugly.
It's hideous.
It grieves my heart when I think about my past.
But I find it often gives hope to other women.
Women who have believed the lies of the evil one.
He's brutal.
Hateful.
Cruel.
I've often wondered if I should share it here.
Should I have a little tab somewhere on my blog that would allow you to see who I was before Jesus...
Would you even care to read it?
Would it become fodder for gossip, or a huge opportunity for God to be glorified?
Would it make you focus on the slime pit of my sin, or stand in awe of the Savior of my soul?
Would you want more of Him, as a result of reading what He did for me?
Would He use it to draw someone else to salvation?
So many questions in my mind.
I would cherish your prayers as I consider sharing it, seeking Him and His wisdom on what to write, and what not to.
I'd also love to know your thoughts...your exhortations...
Much love to you tonight,
Jes
Thursday, July 01, 2010
The Holy Spirit
Don't know why I've never put 2 and 2 together before, but this was SO cool to learn from the Word today...
Acts 1:1-5
Acts 1:1-5
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Three Important Questions, Can You Help Answer Them?
Hi Dear Friends,
I have three important questions that I need your help with. Would you please contribute?
Pretty please. The information that you give me could really be so vital.
1. Have you used Precept materials, any form of them, for your personal family study time, and if so, would you please describe what your family's experience was?
2. If you are a homeschooling parent, would you please tell me what curriculum(s) you've used for Bible, and what you liked about each, as well as what you found to be lacking in each?
3. If you were asked to volunteer your time to help promote Precept at a given event, would you be willing to do so?
If it meant talking with people about how using Precept materials had changed your life, what would you tell them?
Oops! I snuck a 4th question in there...it just flowed right out, couldn't stop it...
You may either leave your thoughts in the form of a comment here, on Facebook (just ask to friend me if we aren't friends already), or in an email to me at: whatilearnedfromthewordtoday@gmail.com
Thank you so very much for your time and help!
Love ya'll tonight,
Jes
I have three important questions that I need your help with. Would you please contribute?
Pretty please. The information that you give me could really be so vital.
1. Have you used Precept materials, any form of them, for your personal family study time, and if so, would you please describe what your family's experience was?
2. If you are a homeschooling parent, would you please tell me what curriculum(s) you've used for Bible, and what you liked about each, as well as what you found to be lacking in each?
3. If you were asked to volunteer your time to help promote Precept at a given event, would you be willing to do so?
If it meant talking with people about how using Precept materials had changed your life, what would you tell them?
Oops! I snuck a 4th question in there...it just flowed right out, couldn't stop it...
You may either leave your thoughts in the form of a comment here, on Facebook (just ask to friend me if we aren't friends already), or in an email to me at: whatilearnedfromthewordtoday@gmail.com
Thank you so very much for your time and help!
Love ya'll tonight,
Jes
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Is This How You Felt a Year Ago?
It's been a year...almost to the date, since I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis.
What a year it's been!
Were it not for this blog, I don't know that I'd truly be able to remember the myriad of emotions that I felt prior to, and just after being diagnosed.
I did such a poor job of looking outside myself during it all.
I still grieve deeply over the fact that after days in the hospital, and after having just missed their big choir performance at church that very day, my sweet children finally got to come and see me at the hospital one Sunday afternoon.
You see, each day the Doctor had been telling my husband that I'd be going home that day or the next...yet one day stretched to another, and my sweet children experienced heartache upon heartache as each day they realized I wasn't yet coming home.
I didn't know about any of this, because I'd been told from the start that it would be a 5 day stay.
So Sunday came, and my darling kiddos were finally able to come and see me. I'm sure they weren't prepared at all for what they'd find....Mommy full of wires and I.V. tubes, and pretty unlike herself.
They'd been there only minutes when other friends came in, and I devoted my time and focus to the friends, and not to my children.
They ended up piled on the couch watching a movie on the portable dvd player while I spent my time with our friends.
Oh, to rewind time and do it differently!
We've shed many a tear over that. I hurt them deeply.
It was unintentional, as I was on hospitality auto-pilot, and pretty drugged up, but they were little...just children. All they knew was that they were finally able to see Mommy, and Mommy seemed to care more about spending time with everyone else.
Breaks my heart, and likely always will.
I didn't think about the impact that all of this was having on my family!
I suppose that I was just trying so hard to make it through the life changing news of a diagnosis, that I also didn't give a lot of thought to how my friends were processing the news.
What I saw from all of them was love in action...I'm still amazed by how the precious people in our lives reached out to us and ministered to our every need!
But I never stopped to think much about how they might be feeling about what I was going through.
Until tonight.
Tonight I received "the call" from one of my closest and dearest friends.
The call that told me that all was not well in her world.
I heard it in her voice from the moment that I picked up the phone.
I know her.
I love her more than you could begin to imagine.
And I could tell...she had something to share with me, something that was going to deeply affect my heart, and my life.
So here I sit, my hands tied.
I can't fix it.
I can't research it enough to make it go away.
I can't offer my body as a sacrifice for hers.
I can't even love her enough to heal it all for her, although that's what my heart cries out in desire to do.
What I can do, and what I will do, is take great comfort in knowing that she knows and loves the Lord Jesus Christ, and that through Him she has been reconciled to God.
Whatever may come, she is His, and should He call her home, she is ready.
Now, I will go and cry myself to sleep, as I beg my Lord on behalf of my friend, to heal her and to restore her to health.
And through those tears, I will praise His Name for giving her to me.
Oh, to have the love of a friend like her in my life...she's amazing!
I see Jesus in her. :)
My prayer for you tonight, sweet reader, is that you may be blessed with even ONE friend like her.
________________________________________________________________
Is this how you felt a year ago?
It's a crummy place to be...this place of helplessness.
If so, I'm sorry that any of you had to go through it, and I'm sorry that I couldn't see outside of myself enough to consider how you might have been feeling.
Would you please pray for my friend....please?
I love you tonight,
Jes
What a year it's been!
Were it not for this blog, I don't know that I'd truly be able to remember the myriad of emotions that I felt prior to, and just after being diagnosed.
I did such a poor job of looking outside myself during it all.
I still grieve deeply over the fact that after days in the hospital, and after having just missed their big choir performance at church that very day, my sweet children finally got to come and see me at the hospital one Sunday afternoon.
You see, each day the Doctor had been telling my husband that I'd be going home that day or the next...yet one day stretched to another, and my sweet children experienced heartache upon heartache as each day they realized I wasn't yet coming home.
I didn't know about any of this, because I'd been told from the start that it would be a 5 day stay.
So Sunday came, and my darling kiddos were finally able to come and see me. I'm sure they weren't prepared at all for what they'd find....Mommy full of wires and I.V. tubes, and pretty unlike herself.
They'd been there only minutes when other friends came in, and I devoted my time and focus to the friends, and not to my children.
They ended up piled on the couch watching a movie on the portable dvd player while I spent my time with our friends.
Oh, to rewind time and do it differently!
We've shed many a tear over that. I hurt them deeply.
It was unintentional, as I was on hospitality auto-pilot, and pretty drugged up, but they were little...just children. All they knew was that they were finally able to see Mommy, and Mommy seemed to care more about spending time with everyone else.
Breaks my heart, and likely always will.
I didn't think about the impact that all of this was having on my family!
I suppose that I was just trying so hard to make it through the life changing news of a diagnosis, that I also didn't give a lot of thought to how my friends were processing the news.
What I saw from all of them was love in action...I'm still amazed by how the precious people in our lives reached out to us and ministered to our every need!
But I never stopped to think much about how they might be feeling about what I was going through.
Until tonight.
Tonight I received "the call" from one of my closest and dearest friends.
The call that told me that all was not well in her world.
I heard it in her voice from the moment that I picked up the phone.
I know her.
I love her more than you could begin to imagine.
And I could tell...she had something to share with me, something that was going to deeply affect my heart, and my life.
So here I sit, my hands tied.
I can't fix it.
I can't research it enough to make it go away.
I can't offer my body as a sacrifice for hers.
I can't even love her enough to heal it all for her, although that's what my heart cries out in desire to do.
What I can do, and what I will do, is take great comfort in knowing that she knows and loves the Lord Jesus Christ, and that through Him she has been reconciled to God.
Whatever may come, she is His, and should He call her home, she is ready.
Now, I will go and cry myself to sleep, as I beg my Lord on behalf of my friend, to heal her and to restore her to health.
And through those tears, I will praise His Name for giving her to me.
Oh, to have the love of a friend like her in my life...she's amazing!
I see Jesus in her. :)
My prayer for you tonight, sweet reader, is that you may be blessed with even ONE friend like her.
________________________________________________________________
Is this how you felt a year ago?
It's a crummy place to be...this place of helplessness.
If so, I'm sorry that any of you had to go through it, and I'm sorry that I couldn't see outside of myself enough to consider how you might have been feeling.
Would you please pray for my friend....please?
I love you tonight,
Jes
Wednesday, June 09, 2010
WHOO-HOO and a Quick Update
1. OUR FAMILY GETS TO GO TO BOSTON IN A FEW MONTHS! Whoo-hoo!
2. Our move to Chattanooga has helped my health improve by 80% or more. The past 3 days have shown some crippling of my hand and foot, which is terribly painful, but compared to how I'd be feeling in Phoenix right now, it's a marked difference.
3. God has placed the most precious new friend into my life. She is such an inspiration to me as I watch how lovingly and Biblically she mothers her children. She has such a tender heart, and is so very desperate for Jesus. What more could one ask for in a friend? I love her!
4. Our new church is such an answer to prayer. As you all know, I loved my church in AZ. I love the people there, the teaching, the worship, the youth, the pastor and his wife...the list goes on and on.
What's exciting is that so many of those same elements are here for us at our new church, just on a larger scale.
We have a new pastor, and I am so deeply in love with he and his wife's heart for the body, and for the lost in our community. There is scarcely a Sunday that he preaches, that he doesn't passionately remind the body of our responsibility to single mothers.
I LOVE THAT!
5. I'm happy here. We all are. The kids spend at least an hour a day just in awe of all of the bugs they have to choose from as play mates. I look out any window of my home and see GREEN. It's so pretty!
I get to see my Janan and Ed. Oh, how I love them! I could just bask in my time with Nanner!
6. I do miss my precious, amazing, breathtakingly gracious friends in AZ. Oh, how I miss them. Some days, the tears still come when I think about you all...and Brennan is known to have a good cry at least once a week, too.
Yet, we know that we are right where God has us.
If you would pray for these requests, I'd be so grateful:
1. God's hand of favor over the new Chattanooga office. That He would fling wide open the doors through which work will pour in.
2. For my health, my friend Anna's and my Facebook friend, Michelle's. We all have MS and are all battling right now.
3. For a Bible study on Forgiveness that I'm currently leading with 2 amazing young women in their very early 20s. These are amazing girls that I feel so blessed to be with, and I just want our time in God's Word to change all of us for His glory.
4. That I would know, that Shane would guide me, as to where my place of ministry within our new church is to be. And, am I to offer to lead a children's Bible Study at our local homeschool co-op?
5. For God to send some precious soul who loves to work with wallpaper, to come and rip all of this baby blue floweredie stuff OFF of my walls. (OK, I'm only joking about this one!)
Love ya'll tonight,
Jes
2. Our move to Chattanooga has helped my health improve by 80% or more. The past 3 days have shown some crippling of my hand and foot, which is terribly painful, but compared to how I'd be feeling in Phoenix right now, it's a marked difference.
3. God has placed the most precious new friend into my life. She is such an inspiration to me as I watch how lovingly and Biblically she mothers her children. She has such a tender heart, and is so very desperate for Jesus. What more could one ask for in a friend? I love her!
4. Our new church is such an answer to prayer. As you all know, I loved my church in AZ. I love the people there, the teaching, the worship, the youth, the pastor and his wife...the list goes on and on.
What's exciting is that so many of those same elements are here for us at our new church, just on a larger scale.
We have a new pastor, and I am so deeply in love with he and his wife's heart for the body, and for the lost in our community. There is scarcely a Sunday that he preaches, that he doesn't passionately remind the body of our responsibility to single mothers.
I LOVE THAT!
5. I'm happy here. We all are. The kids spend at least an hour a day just in awe of all of the bugs they have to choose from as play mates. I look out any window of my home and see GREEN. It's so pretty!
I get to see my Janan and Ed. Oh, how I love them! I could just bask in my time with Nanner!
6. I do miss my precious, amazing, breathtakingly gracious friends in AZ. Oh, how I miss them. Some days, the tears still come when I think about you all...and Brennan is known to have a good cry at least once a week, too.
Yet, we know that we are right where God has us.
If you would pray for these requests, I'd be so grateful:
1. God's hand of favor over the new Chattanooga office. That He would fling wide open the doors through which work will pour in.
2. For my health, my friend Anna's and my Facebook friend, Michelle's. We all have MS and are all battling right now.
3. For a Bible study on Forgiveness that I'm currently leading with 2 amazing young women in their very early 20s. These are amazing girls that I feel so blessed to be with, and I just want our time in God's Word to change all of us for His glory.
4. That I would know, that Shane would guide me, as to where my place of ministry within our new church is to be. And, am I to offer to lead a children's Bible Study at our local homeschool co-op?
5. For God to send some precious soul who loves to work with wallpaper, to come and rip all of this baby blue floweredie stuff OFF of my walls. (OK, I'm only joking about this one!)
Love ya'll tonight,
Jes
Saturday, June 05, 2010
Andrea Bocelli Ministered to Me Tonight...
I don't profess to know why, but I seem to have some of my sweetest times in prayer when I'm in the shower. Go figure.
I think it's the water. I'm a water girl...
Anyway, tonight as I was taking a shower, my heart was pricked to write another post about abortion.
Then I snuck into the office to do a little work, and took a break from it to hop over to Denny Burk's blog.
He shared this video with his readers, and it took my breath away.
Andrea Bocelli has long been one of my favorite artists. Listening to this man sing, reminds me afresh that God is the One who has intimately created us, and that our lives have intrinsic value...both to us, and to countless others.
Thank you, Lord, for creating Andrea Bocelli!
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