PRAYER WORKS GOD'S WILL

PRAYER WORKS GOD’S WILL

My heart thrilled when I received this unexpected message: “You prayed for me in 1979 when I was pregnant with my oldest daughter. I had health issues, which caused me to fear that I would lose her.” It wasn’t long after I ministered to this girl that I was sent to a different city and lost contact. I never heard the results of my prayer until 34 years later! The message went on to say, “You said you saw a clear, healthy embryo. Today, she is 33, the mother of two.” Wow, what a blessing! So often we don’t hear back what God did for the people we prayed for or ministered healing to. So how do we know if it worked or not?

I remember when I was living in South Africa and prayed for a friend of ours, Sammy. I laid hands on him and prayed that his kidney stones would dissolve. He ended up in the hospital with appendicitis!

That bothered me for years. I wondered why I didn’t get it right. When I ministered to people after that, I seemed always to have this little doubt coming up, wondering if I got it right. One day the Holy Spirit stopped me from doubting and gave me the answer.

The Lord explained to me, “When you prayed for Sammy, I dissolved the kidney stones instantly. He did have them. You didn’t get it wrong. There was just more, that’s all, and he got that taken care of in the hospital.” Wow, what a simple answer and it set me free! I’ve never doubted myself in this category since.

The answer is simple: When we pray or minister in faith, from our hearts, and do the best we know how then we can be assured that it works. Healing is always God’s will.

In the Old Testament: “For I am the Lord that healeth [is healing] thee” (Exod. 15:26). And in the Gospels, “Jesus went about healing every sickness, and every disease among the people” (Matt. 9:35) and Jesus said, “they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover” (Mark 16:18).

In the Epistles: “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth [is prospering]” (3 John 2) and “the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he has committed sins, they shall be forgiven him” (James 5:15).

There are hundreds of scriptures about healing, and many that address specific ailments. We need to look them up, meditate on them, and believe. And if our faith is small in some categories, be assured, with persistence, it will grow.

Paul wrote about the Christians in Thessalonica, “Your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing” (2 Thess. 1:3). Let’s be like the Thessalonians.

No matter how old or young you are, don’t ever doubt yourself when it comes to praying or ministering healing to others. Even if you don’t hear the good results right away, trust God that He has given you the heart of His love and that when you pray or minister, it does work!

Love, Carolyn

QUESTIONS AND EASY CHALLENGES

1. Have you ever had the experience of helping someone or ministering healing, and much later they let you know how much you helped them?

2. Is there anyone in your past you’d like to thank now for something they did to help you? Take a couple of minutes to write out what you want to say, then later send them a letter, e-mail or some communication to let them know.

3. When you ministered healing to someone or prayed for someone, and nothing seemed to happen, did you remember to ask the Lord why not? If you’ve had this happen recall one incident and ask the Lord right now. What’s He telling you?

4. Cite at least two verses in the New Testament about our Lord Jesus that are connected with healing.

5. What verse in the New Testament tells us our faith can grow?

My book, WINGS: A Journey in Faith – an excellent spiritual adventure and great introspective workbook. Find it on Amazon in paperback or Kindle.

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BEING FLEXIBLE FOR GOD

BEING FLEXIBLE FOR GOD

Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about being mentally flexible. My best friend Jane does my promotional work, and I call her a river; every time Facebook blocks her from going one way, she believes for the Lord to show her a different way around. Our dance with disappointment is brief. We believe “God will make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert” (Isaiah 43:19). He always does. That’s why we know we need to be open to the Holy Spirit guiding us in a different direction if necessary.

When we feel that we’re on the right track and it’s God’s will, nothing can stop us, but we may have to be a little flexible in our ideas about how it happens. We can’t be making all kinds of our own rules about how we think we should always be doing things, or always be thinking. We need to open our hearts to God and let Him direct our steps.

Proverbs 16:9 says: “A man's heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.” In other words, we can get to know what’s really in our hearts, what we truly want, but only the Lord can help us get there. If we try to direct our ways, without asking for the Lord’s guidance, it’s not going to work out as well. The Lord knows the end from the beginning, and we don’t. Jesus Christ is the leader; we follow. He is very concerned about each individual’s path.

When we make too many rules for ourselves, we can become too brittle we break. When something new comes up, we halt and get mad or scared or both. We get even more determined to defend our firm beliefs instead of being willing to look at something in a new way. Instead of staying tender-hearted toward God, we get hard-hearted and refuse to budge.

That’s what happened to the Pharisees. They knew it was God’s will to heal people, but they also knew that the Law of Moses said they weren’t supposed to do any work on the Sabbath. They became overbearingly inflexible about not working on the Sabbath to the point that when Jesus went to heal a man on the Sabbath, they couldn’t take it. They were not going to be flexible about their rules, even when it came to someone who desperately needed help. They wouldn’t even listen to Jesus:

“And he [Jesus] entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand. And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him. And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, ‘Stand forth.’

“And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness [blindness] of their hearts, he saith unto the man, ‘Stretch forth thine hand.’ And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other. And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.  But Jesus withdrew himself with his disciples to the sea” (Mark 3:1-7).

I know none of us would want to be as rigid and ridiculous as the Pharisees. We don’t want to lose sight of the bigger picture. When obstacles come up against the traditions and rules we’ve set up, we want to let the Holy Spirit take us around some new bends in the stream and teach us some new things. It may be more thrilling and more satisfying than we ever imagined.

Let’s keep our hearts tender and flexible, open to Lord’s leading, even if it means going in a slightly different direction or considering something we haven’t taken into account before. Let the Lord open new doors. The Bible tells us there will always be things for us to discover if we’re willing. We never know it all, and that’s a good thing.

Life is to be a flow, not a stagnant pool. And God delights in being our father, teaching us new things. He wants us to be thankful to Him for the new things we learn. Just like any father wants his child to look up to him and appreciate what he teaches him. God wants the same from us. God will always know more than we do, so we need to be humble and flexible in our thinking.

Isaiah speaks God’s message to the people of Israel: “I have shown thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them. They are created now, and not from the beginning; even before the day when thou heardest them not; lest thou shouldest say, Behold, I knew them.”

Let’s keep moving forward as children of a loving father, God, without fear. He will continue to teach those of us who are willing to be flexible. He’ll guide us, take care of us, and show us new things.

Love, Carolyn

QUESTIONS AND EASY CHALLENGES

1. Have you ever gotten stiff from standing, sitting, or sleeping in one position for a long time? Describe it. What action did you take to alleviate the stiffness?

2. Describe a situation where you had to be more flexible than you maybe wanted to be.

3. Have you been in a situation where you believed something was right and much later found out it wasn’t? Describe it.

4. Recall a circumstance where you or someone you know remained rigid like the Pharisees on some rule that was kind of foolish.

5. How have you been flexible in the past month?

6. Are you exploring anything new in the Bible at the moment? Or anything new in life in general? What are you learning?

7. Have you ever put unreasonably rigid rules on yourself? How did it make you feel? What did you do about it?

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This is a sample book with 6 of the 61 chapters from the complete book. These chapters are true life stories about the tremendous and varied benefits you can receive from making a commitment to the Lord. There are pertinent questions at the end of each inspiring story to help you see where you can apply what you've learned for a more exciting and satisfying life.

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WORDS MOVE MOLECULES

WORDS MOVE MOLECULES

On the drive to work, I was praying out loud, and I noticed tiny wet spit flecks shooting out of my mouth. As I spoke words aloud, they were literally moving air molecules in the car. How far would these molecules travel? Who knows but God? I picture this process working like when people are playing dominoes, and one domino hits the next and makes the whole row fall down. Words move molecules like that, impacting our lives and other people’s lives as well. That’s how prayer works across the miles too, or words spoken into a phone.

Scientific research has been done to test the results of the phrases we speak. Kevin Trudeau, in his book, Natural Cures, says: “Words have power. Most people speak words that increase body stress and turn the body’s pH from alkaline to acidic. Words can change the way we think and feel. Researchers have concluded that speaking the correct form of words and thinking the correct thoughts actually changes a person’s DNA.”  

Nazi scientists after WWII did experiments using sound frequencies and words to brainwash ordinary people into thinking and acting in ways that were contrary to the way they would typically think and act. Words sung or broadcast in specific frequencies produce anger and frustration in listeners. That’s happening today. That’s why Jesus warned us: “Take heed therefore how ye hear” (Luke 8:18). “For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad” (Luke 8:17).

Masaru Emoto, a Japanese scientist, experimented to prove how words and frequencies affect water crystals. If they affected water crystals in the experiments, then they’re affecting us too because our bodies are made up of a large percentage of water. In children’s bodies, it’s 75 percent and in adults, about 60 percent!

In the experiment, people spoke different phrases in different tones, to water crystals, and then they took photos of the crystals. Harsh and mean words made the particles look very different from those that received gentler words. The water molecules in this experiment responded to words and frequencies, and so do the water molecules in our bodies.

We probably all could use a little work on what we say and how we say it. Don’t you agree?

God knows a lot about words, and the Bible has important things to say along these lines. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Prov. 18:21). “Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth” (Prov. 6:2). “A fool’s mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul” (Prov. 18:7).  

We shouldn’t be so frivolous about what we say. How often, if confronted, would we say, “Oh, I didn’t really mean it”? But if we continue saying things like, “It blew my mind,” or “My foot is killing me,” or “It scares me to death,” our brains start to believe what we say, and then send those messages to the rest of our body. Our body parts start to respond accordingly.  Just one example would be if our body thinks it’s being threatened, it could start to over-produce cortisol, the fight or flight hormone, and begin shutting down other vital activities. In other words, speaking puts these things in motion. God says if we keep speaking it, or allow ourselves to continue to hear certain words, they will come to pass.

God’s Word says that speaking something is a law of life, just like the law of gravity: The minute you drop it, it’s going to move.

Here are some good word things from the Bible to think about:

“Hear, for I will speak excellent and princely things; and the opening of my lips shall be for right things” (Prov. 8:6).

“A soft answer turns away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger” (Prov. 15:1).

“A gentle tongue is a tree of life” (Prov. 15:4).

“Set a guard, O Lord, before my mouth; keep watch at the door of my lips” (Ps. 141:3).

Let’s move some good things around with our words, and remove the bad ones.

Love, Carolyn

HONOR

HONOR

Exodus 20: 12 “Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.”

As a teenager, I was upset because my mom wouldn’t buy me school clothes at the expensive stores like the other girls’ moms did. Instead, my mom took me to the stores and let me pick out the dresses I liked best, and she would make them for me. We lived on the edge of an affluent community, and I always felt like an outsider. What I didn’t know was that my parents chose our place to live because they could send their kids to good schools without having to pay the higher prices of homes in a community they couldn’t afford. My parents were more interested in our education than our material accumulations, but at the time I didn’t know it.

Recently I discovered that a coworker, 30 years old, doesn’t know how to put words in alphabetical order. I asked if he’d been taught in school and found out that he had not. I was shocked—naïve, I guess. He’s a smart man and a good worker, but never learned to alphabetize. How many other things aren’t being taught in school? I guess I just figured that everyone who went to public school learned the same things I did. Wow, was I wrong!  I feel a little stupid about how blind I was, but this new awareness made me smarter and more compassionate.  

The “alphabet incident” also woke me up to something God wanted to show me about my parents, and probably many other parents as well: They don’t always tell their kids why they make the decisions they do, but for the most part, they try to do their best for us. Like the Bible says, we need to honor them, no matter what.

At the least, they gave us life. That little sperm was the strongest one, and our mothers took us from that conception day all the way through to delivery. And here we are, alive, thinking, breathing, and hopefully honoring the God who created life itself.

There are so many reasons to honor our parents. One reason is what God says in Exodus: “That thy days may be long upon the land.” When we realize some of what our parents did and still do for us, and we know what we do and have done for our children, we have to recognize patience and perseverance make for a rich and complex life. We can live a good long life because we understand that things take time.

And most of all, we recognize that faith and trust in the Lord are essential to long life and peace.

If people don’t honor their parents, they are missing a big life lesson. If people decide to do what the Bible says, and honor them even if they don’t really want to, then God will open their eyes as to why it’s important.  

And for those of you whose children don’t honor you now, don’t worry, one day they will.

Love, Carolyn

My book, WINGS: A Journey in Faith – an awesome spiritual adventure and great interactive workbook. Find it on Amazon in paperback or Kindle.

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WE CAN BE PATIENT BECAUSE THE LORD IS FAITHFUL

  

WE CAN BE PATIENT BECAUSE THE LORD IS FAITHFUL

In May of 2017, it was slow at work, but I was able to find a few things to do to keep busy. However, in about a week and a half, I started to get low on new ideas. It’s a good thing the Lord is faithful. He took this opportunity to teach me to be patient. It’s not that my boss doesn’t want me to work; He does. But I like to do tasks that will be profitable. We didn’t have any samples to work on, and I hate standing around trying to look like I’m busy. So Jesus came through for me and gave me new tasks to do.

Isaiah 48:6-7 says: “I have shown thee new things from this time, even hidden things, and thou didst not know them. They are created now and not from the beginning, even before the day when thou heardest them not, lest thou shouldest say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’” I sure couldn’t brag about coming up with the new projects to make our work easier or more efficient. It was the Lord who gave me ideas, one at a time, and as I got started on one, He led me step by step into the next part, or into an entirely new project. It was amazing.

At the beginning of this slow time, I had no idea of the ideas He would give me. One after another, the innovations came. There was the rattle can inventory—over 100 cans of spray paint! I wanted to be able to see what they’d look like once sprayed, but how was I going to do it in a neat and useful way? Ephesians 1:8 says: “He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom.” I love the way The Amplified Version puts it: “In all wisdom and understanding with practical insight.” I needed that practical insight in this situation.

The Holy Spirit gave me the idea to make a template with a small square-shaped opening just big enough to spray the paint through and show what the color looked like. So I divided up the colors in different categories and had three templates going at once. (In dry time, I experimented with some wild color spray paint covers for my new books.)

Once I finished that project, I wondered what would be next. Lamentations 3:22-26 says:  

“It is through the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Thy faithfulness.

“‘The Lord is my portion,’ saith my soul, ‘Therefore will I hope in Him.’ The Lord is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him.

“It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.”

The word “salvation” also means “satisfaction.” When we seek the Lord and quietly wait, when we are patient, we will experience satisfaction. I was learning to believe in God’s faithfulness to me. He would keep me working, keep giving me new things to do, not just to busy my time, but things that would be helpful to us in the shop later on. So I was patient.

Again the Lord got me started on another task I didn’t see coming. I looked around and saw that I could organize the cans of paint on the shelves and label the shelves so that it would be easier and faster to find what we needed. When I started marking the shelves, one thing led to another; the labeling got more detailed, making the task of finding things even more efficient. It made me happy to be doing something that was going to be beneficial, something that in normal working mode, we would never have the time to accomplish. But, of course, Jesus knew that!

In this slow time at work, the Lord is taking the opportunity to teach me about His faithfulness to me and showing me that I really can be patient and like it.

Love, Carolyn

WINGS: A JOURNEY WITH JESUS. You’ll love the stories. You’ll laugh and cry and be invigorated and inspired.

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DIVINE APPOINTMENTS

DIVINE APPOINTMENTS

A few years ago I finished a project for one company, and on the way home I felt an inner urging to go by and see a friend. When I got there, he offered me a job. I didn’t have another job lined up yet, the timing was perfect, and I started immediately.

People who don’t know better might call this a coincidence. Did you know that in the Hebrew language there isn’t even a word for coincidence? The Bible says we’re either walking by the flesh or walking by the Spirit. Nothing happens by chance.

When we even have the slightest inkling to do something, and it doesn’t go against what the Bible says, then we are taking another step of faith along the good path the Lord has for us. Walking by faith gets us to these special times I call divine appointments.

Just like a doctor appointment, or the hairdresser or any other type of meeting in the natural, we don’t want to be late. When the appointments are set up by the Lord, they are going to be successful ones, so we need to respond immediately.

My experience wasn’t earth-shattering, but it did make a big difference in my finances for that week, and that’s important enough to me and to God.

When we pray for help in walking by the Spirit, and we determine to be aware of the Lord’s guidance to us, the results are always positive because the Lord Jesus and his Father God want the best for us. All Christians can walk by the Spirit.

God gives us a great example in Simeon. He didn’t have a degree or title, and he was a pretty regular Jewish believer. Luke 2:25 says, “There was a man whose name was Simeon; just and devout.” This tells me he was doing his best to be a fair man and he was determined in his heart to follow God.

The Holy Spirit had revealed to him that before he died, he would get to see God’s Messiah. Then on one ordinary day, “he came by the spirit into the temple” (Luke 2:27). There it is! He came “by the spirit”—the Spirit of God gave him the idea to go to the temple; he did it and met his godly appointment.

It was the exact day and time that Joseph and Mary brought the young child Jesus to the temple! Simeon “took him up in his arms, blessed God and said, ‘Lord now lettest thy servant depart in peace, for my eyes have seen thy salvation’” (vv. 28-29). The Holy Spirit inspired Simeon, and he went on to give a remarkable prophecy over Mary, Joseph and the child Jesus.

We don’t hear any more about this man Simeon, and in fact, this happened near the end of his life here on earth. But I believe God had this record put in the Bible so that we could learn how important and wonderful it is to respond to the urgings of the Spirit.

For me, it increased my finances for the week. For Simeon, it was how he got to meet Jesus face to face.

Galatians 5:25 says, “Let us also walk in the Spirit.” And Romans 8:14, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God; they are the sons of God.”

We can pray, “Lord Jesus, help me to walk by the Spirit today and delight in those divine appointments.”

Love, Carolyn

Free Download 5/3-7/2019. Wings - Sample G - Spiritual Eyes

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GOD CARES ABOUT EACH INDIVIDUAL PERSON

GOD CARES ABOUT EACH INDIVIDUAL PERSON

Some may think that because I’m a dedicated Christian, I’m against homosexuals, but that’s not true. In 1984 God sent Jane and me all the way to Johannesburg South Africa for two reasons. One reason was that He loved each of us enough to get us far away from the trauma going on in our Church group. But the second reason was to get one gay guy, Neville, born again into God’s kingdom. We didn’t go to convince him to renounce or condemn homosexuality, but rather, to embrace the Lord Jesus Christ. And he did. After being friends for four years, Neville got into some trouble and called me. We talked, and he accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior. Consequently, he became aware of the things God was doing in his life, and he always liked telling me how God was blessing him. A few years back, Neville died of complications from aids, but we look forward to seeing him in glory.

God loves everyone and wants everyone to accept the gift of His son Jesus Christ. He will go to extremes to reach anyone who looks for Him. God sent a beautiful Chinese woman in the tourist trade, all the way from Shanghai China to Las Vegas to meet Jane and me. Dinah had a degree in Hotel and Hospitality and came to the University here for a semester, to learn about how American hotels were managed. Her hostess at the University had an emergency and was hospitalized, so Jane stepped in to help. It was during the Christmas season so we asked if Dinah would like to go to a Children’s Christmas program at a local church.

She told us there were many different kinds of church buildings in Shanghai so that tourists would see them. But no one went to them. So when Dinah went into the church with us to see the program, she was astounded to see all the people. The children’s program was beautiful and inspirational. Dinah told us she wanted to get to know Jesus, and she accepted Him as her Lord and Savior that day. Shortly after, she returned to China to share her new-found faith with her family.

God will go to any extreme to reach His children. Jesus told this parable:

“How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?

“And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.

“Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish” (Matt. 18:12-14).

We don’t have to run all over the place, preaching, unless the Lord is calling us individually to do it. We live our lives every day the best we can and then God brings the preacher and sheep together the way He sees fit.

God took Jane and me to South Africa to find one guy, Neville; God brought one Chinese woman to Las Vegas to meet us and go to the Children’s program to get born again.

The Word of God says that anyone who is seeking Him with their heart will find Him. If you’re willing, He just may lead you to them, or them to you.

Love, Carolyn