SEEING FROM ANOTHER POINT FO VIEW

 

SEEING FROM ANOTHER POINT OF VIEW

Yesterday I was watching the sparrows pluck sunflower seeds out of the ripe flower. One little bird kept trying to get the seeds and couldn’t. He stood up straight and cocked his head as if to question, “Why isn’t this working for me?” Then he figured it out. He had to see it from a different direction. He had to hang upside down on the flower, and then he could get all the seeds he wanted. Sometimes God urges us to see things from a different perspective, to get the blessing He’s got for us.

I understood what God was showing me: At work when people made errors, I got to fix them. When details weren’t carried out, I got to finish them up. When things got sloppy, I got to clean them up. All these things used to get me irritated, but now I realize it’s not my job to change the way people are; only God can do that. So instead of getting irritated, I take it as a blessing because it just makes my prosperity grow.

I’ve heard lots of teachings on Proverbs 13:22: “The wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just.” In Hebrew, the word “sinner” is defined as “one who misses the way, misses the goal or path of right, one who wanders from the way, forfeits something good, misses the mark, like an archer missing the goal.” I always thought it was only talking about cash money that a sinner might have stored up, that would eventually, miraculously come our way. I’m sure it can happen, but God showed me another way of looking at it.

The Holy Spirit prompted me: “What else can a sinner be wealthy in?” I answered: “Laziness, sloppiness, little attention to detail, fear.” There are many other things included in a sinner’s wealth. Try to name a few. But keep in mind we all sin, so others are going to make extra cash off our mistakes too. It’s a universal thing. We don’t want to sin, but it’s great to know that the Lord has already provided a rather nice circle of fixing up each other’s messes. This circular process makes for the distribution of prosperity.

Now, instead of getting irritated or disgusted at people’s errors or perceived faults, I see them as a way the Lord is getting me more prosperity, and I’m thankful to receive. I have a friend who works in auditing. Her entire income is based on her ability to find mistakes and problems. It’s great to see ourselves as the ones who search for and find solutions.

I’ve always believed Philippians 4:13: “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Where the supply comes from, or how it comes, or what we are to do to facilitate our blessing, may require us to understand events from a different perspective.

We may be the ones, who like the little bird, discover that the seeds of blessing come when we are hanging upside down. From that perspective, the goodies come from looking up.

Love, Carolyn

WHAT'S SO IMPORTANT ABOUT REST?

WHAT’S SO IMPORTANT ABOUT REST?

“There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God” (Heb. 4:9). We have rest when we learn to discern between what is God’s job and what is ours. Sometimes we look at the godly things we’re praying for, and we think God is working too slowly in getting them done. We get tricked into trying to help God out, taking on burdens and tasks that are not ours. When we do that, we discard any rest we might have had. Our actions bring frustration, stress, sore muscles, and various pains. In the case of the Hebrews who escaped Egypt, their weariness with God’s timing ended in death. God planned a great future for them in a beautiful land, but their impatience and arrogance kept them out. Arrogance hardened their hearts, and they could no longer rest in God.

Moses was in direct communication with God and went up the mountain to receive God’s will for the people. But the people got annoyed.

“And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, ‘Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him’” (Ex. 32:1)

Aaron and the people were quick to come up with their own solutions.

“So Aaron said to them, ‘Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf.

“And they said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’ (Ex. 32:2-4).

That was a big lie. The one true God brought them out of Egypt, a God who they couldn’t see with their eyes. Instead of trusting Him, they took matters into their own hands, thinking they had a better way to get themselves through the wilderness and to a better place. They wanted something they could see with their physical eyes, so they sacrificed their precious possessions and made a golden calf.

When we try to do God’s job, we sacrifice our precious possessions as well. We sacrifice our peace and replace it with anxiety. We sacrifice our rest and replace it with strained and worried muscles. We sacrifice a healthy mind for a pained body. These things are not good.

“And the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves” (Ex. 32:7).  The people became corrupted because they lacked patience. We’ve all been there when we forge ahead with our ideas and try to force God’s hand. We don’t do this on purpose, but we need to beware if we start.

When a thing gets corrupted, it gets perverted and doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do. The corruption can be either be a diminishing or an addition. Rust is an example of addition. Rust perverts a good clean pipe by growing on it, distorting it, and it eventually takes over. Once I had a plumber take out a rusted u-joint. It had so much rust on it that the pipe’s interior was barely an eighth of an inch opening. Arthritis is a corruption of bone cells where it grows extensions that shouldn’t be there.

We need to keep corruption out of our prayer life and our thought life. A good way to do that is to come into the rest of God. Let God do His work. Be patient and trust Him to do His work.

Genesis 2:2 tells us: “And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.” God rested from His work, and that’s a good lesson for us.

Hebrews 4:9-10 tells us: “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.  For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.”

The Bible is telling us we need to cease from pushing our ways and trust His ways instead. Don’t get impatient with God; it will corrupt us.  “Wherefore as the Holy Ghost saith, ‘Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness’” (Heb. 3:7-9). The Hebrews brought calamity and catastrophe to themselves by trying to do what they thought God wanted instead of doing what He actually wanted.  

The Lord already knows that impatience comes easily, while rest does not. When we get started on a thing, it’s hard to stop, especially if we think it’s a righteous, God-ordained thing.

We need to know when to pray and when to stop and let God do what He does. Impatient, pushy prayer doesn’t move God any faster. It just backfires on us, and God doesn’t want that. Like His plan for the Hebrews, to go to a good place, God has a good plan for our health and welfare too. It’s vital for us to be open to when God says for us to rest. Trust Him, don’t push Him.

Love, Carolyn

I hope you’ll take a look at my book. You can see some of the writing when you “Look Inside” on the Amazon page. 😊

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ISAIAH 61 AND THE LITTLE FAUN

 

ISAIAH 61 AND THE LITTLE FAUN

My niece, Sarah, rescued a faun that was out in the road and may have been hit by a car. It now it's at her house. The little guy sleeps inside at night and goes free outside in the day to hang out in the woods. The little guy is on bottled milk still. He follows their dog everywhere, and they are great friends. That's my grand nephew, Jordan, bottle feeding him.

 

Sarah tried to give the little faun to a couple of different places that do deer rescues and that kind of thing, but because of the COVID, they wouldn't take him, so now he has a new home that he loves. It's so amazing.

 

The buck that was born on mom's property passed away soon after mom's memorial and came to her oak tree and laid down to die there. Soon after, this little guy showed up to take away the sadness 🙂! 

 

Isn’t that just like the Lord, to give joy where there was sadness?! It says as much in the Bible. Isaiah 61 tells us why God insisted on sending Jesus to us. What He did for Sarah and my family is what He wants to do for all of us.

 

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. . .

“To comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;

“That they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified” (Isa. 61:1-4).

 

Love, Carolyn

 

 

 

THE MAN AT THE POOL OF BETHESDA

THE MAN AT THE POOL OF BETHESDA

Satan would like to keep us discouraged and sad as long and as often as possible. But we can’t let him! I started off this morning by telling myself Psalm 118:24: “This is the day which the Lord hath made; I will rejoice and be glad in it.”  I also told myself: “I’m going to have a great day.” I had to say it three times before I even partially believed it. Then I got up and just started doing things. I went outside and turned the water on the lawn, went online and did my unemployment, got my laundry ready, and I started to feel a little better, but I was still feeling a little dejected. You know that feeling when you know that whatever happened was really a good thing, but you still feel sorry for yourself anyway? That was me.   

We all get disappointed and discouraged at times and sometimes want to indulge in a bit of self-pity over one thing or another. It’s just human nature. We get tired of always fighting and working and fighting and working, and it just gets us down sometimes.

Jesus’ disciples had the same problem.

Jesus took them to the Mount of Olives just before his crucifixion. He told them to pray while he went off a little way to pray by himself. But when he “rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow” (Luke 22:45).

But Jesus “said unto them, ‘Why sleep ye? Rise and pray, lest ye enter into temptation’” (vs.46). Jesus knows human nature so well!  And isn’t that just so true? If we stay in our “poor me, I just want to sleep” state, we’re much more likely to fall into deeper temptations that get harder and harder to escape. Satan is definitely looking for that. First, Peter 5:8 tells us: “Your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.”

A great example of someone who let the “poor me” temptation escalate into years of sorrow, was the crippled man at the pool of Bethesda. He’d been coming down to the pool to get his healing for 38 years!

Jesus asked him: “Do you want to become well? Are you really in earnest about getting well?” (John 5:6). The man didn’t say yes. Instead, he answered by blaming other people, saying it was their fault he wasn’t getting healed because they’d push themselves ahead of him, and he didn’t have the mobility they had, and no one ever helped him.  It’s easy to blame others for our lack of joy, health, and happiness. But like this feeble man, our lack of physical mobility or skill is not the real problem. And blaming others is not an acceptable excuse in Jesus’ eyes.

Jesus told the crippled man he had to take the forward action himself. “Jesus saith unto him, ‘Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.’ And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked” (John 5:.8-9). When Jesus says something is available, it is. He’s saying the same thing to us today: “Rise, take up thy bed and walk.”

When there’s no one around to lift us up out of our slump, we have to do it ourselves with God’s Word. And because God already knew we’d have some problems with this, He put lots of scriptures throughout the Bible to help us.

Hebrews 12:12 is a good one: “Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; And make straight paths for your feet.”

And 1 Timothy 1:6-7 says: “Stir up the gift of God, which is in thee. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”

Isaiah 61:3 tells us the Lord gives us “the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.” But we’re the ones who have to put it on. When we’re feeling burdened, the last thing we want to do is get up, go to the closet and put on something bright and happy. But I’ll never forget the words of Rose Marie, a church secretary I once met. I complimented her on how pretty she looked one day. She replied, “I always try to look my best when I feel my worst.” Great advice.

The Word of God is true, no matter what we feel. When we agree with what God says and believe it with our whole heart, and we start to act on it, then it becomes a reality and manifests in our natural world. All things in the natural world will respond favorably to God’s Word because He’s the one who created all these things in the first place. He spoke words in the beginning (Genesis 1-2) that created everything in our natural world. And His spoken Word is still creating for us when we believe it.

The weakened man at the pool of Bethesda was coming to the pool, hoping for healing. He was at least trying. He was going to the right place, but when Jesus spoke God’s specific Word to him, he connected, he believed, and he rose up and was made whole. He was released from whatever caused him to be crippled, and he walked out a new man.

Some of us older people have been waiting many years, like this man, in the right place, but we haven’t yet connected to the right creative Word from God to get our wholeness. But some of you are young, and you’re not even 38 years old yet. Don’t wait 38 years to get your healing and deliverance. Take it now. Believe with your whole heart that what God’s creative Word says to you, all of it is true. Believe what Jesus says. Rise up and walk.

Love, Carolyn

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GOING TO THE SECRET PLACE OF THE MOST HIGH

GOING TO THE SECRET PLACE OF THE MOST HIGH
When I woke up this morning, I was feeling kind of punkish. I didn’t really know if it was physical or emotional. I just felt like crawling back under the covers.

I didn’t, though. I got up. I still wasn’t feeling that great when the Lord directed me to read something I’d written in my WINGS book. It helped me and comforted me more thoroughly than getting back in bed would have done. So I’m sharing it with you for those times when you too may feel more inclined to hide than face the world:

“Psalm 91:1. ‘He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.’ I looked up the original Hebrew words to get a deeper understanding of this verse, and I took the time to meditate on their meanings. The word for ‘dwelleth’ means to sit down with, remain with, settle down with, continue with, marry, be still with. 

The Hebrew word for ‘secret place’ is defined as a place where you are covered, a hiding place, a place where you’re protected. ‘The most High’ is El Elyon, the highest, supreme, uppermost. There is no one and nothing higher.

The next word, ‘abide,’ is really interesting. It means to stop and stay, usually overnight, implying a more permanent stay, remaining and continuing. In the phrase ‘shadow of the Almighty,’ the ‘Almighty’ is El Shaddai, defined as the God of overflow, constant supply, and source of all sufficiency.

When I meditated on those definitions from the original Hebrew and put it all together, this is how I spoke it to myself: ‘Carolyn, sit down a few minutes and make yourself relax. Settle down, be still, and picture yourself snuggled up in the protected hiding place of God, up next to the One Who is the highest being ever to exist. He wants you there.

You can stay overnight, and then in the morning, you’ll be right by His side and go where He goes. You’re close enough that you are in His shade, enjoying a constant overflow from Him. This is where you are always protected and where the source of everything good comes from, and it’s YOUR SPECIAL PLACE. No one and nothing bad is allowed to get to you here.’”

When I read this and let the words soak into me this morning, my whole body, mind, and emotions felt at ease. I’m okay now. I hope you will remember to take a look at this the next time you’re feeling a little funky and need a big God hug like I did.

Love, Carolyn

WINGS: VOLUME 2

60 EXCITING INSPIRATIONAL SHORT STORIES – You’ll LAUGH, CRY, LEARN, and LOVE

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AMALEKITES LOSE, WE WIN

AMALEKITES LOSE, WE WIN

In 2013 my home was attacked by bugs. I got up at 3:30 a.m., went into the kitchen to make coffee, and when I turned on the light, I noticed two small bugs (about 1/16^th to 1/8^th inch at most) scurrying across the counter.  I smashed them and didn’t think much more about it. The next morning as I turned on the light, I saw a couple more.  Then the next morning, more. I opened up the dishwasher and OMG! More than just a couple hiding at the top. I freaked out, called the exterminator, and put some dead ones in a jar for him. I had no idea what was coming next.

My kitchen was being attacked. Now there were bigger ones too, about ¾ inch long, and they looked like some kind of weird roach. They seemed to be hiding everywhere. I’d turn on the light, and they’d scurry away, then I’d see them dropping down by the dog’s dish, coming out of the corners by the oven and going up the wall by the cabinets.

I lifted the lid of my beautiful new Keurig coffee pot to make my morning coffee, and one was staring back at me from inside. I could see its eyes, and it seemed to be defying me in an almost human way. It was horrifying! That was the last straw, and I was totally freaked out. I called the exterminator, he came over and determined they were German roaches. Together we took up the fight against these quickly multiplying attackers. It was a much longer fight than I wanted it to be, and there were times I honestly didn’t know if I would win.

Early in the battle, I asked God what the heck was going on.  He directed me to start studying the Amalekites in the Bible, and He would show me the spiritual background of this attack and what to do about it.

I learned that the Amalekites were a semi-nomadic tribe. They moved around, but if they found a cozy place to take over, they would. They were a formidable people. The devil spirits acting through these people were schemers and shrewd. Their method was to attack in devious ways from all sides, like in guerilla warfare, in a way that wouldn’t be noticed until it was too late. They were driven and didn’t give up. They would wear the Israelites down by relentless attacks, stealing their peace of mind along with anything else they could get their hands on.

In Exodus, God says He is at war with Amalek from generation to generation. (Ex 17:16). I call these types of devil spirits “Amalekite spirits,” whether they work through people, animals, objects, or horrible roaches.

From Exodus 17, we learn that it takes vigilance to defeat Amalekites. Joshua was at the head of the battle, but Moses was in charge. When Moses lifted up the rod of God, Israel prevailed. When he got weary and let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. Moses had to have two other guys help him to hold up the banner of God to the very end of the battle and to victory.

That is such a lesson for us today. In the middle of a fight against this type of spiritual attack, we may get really tired, but we don’t give up. Even Moses needed help.

Later in history, the Amalekites show up again. God tells Saul that the only way to get rid of them is to “utterly destroy the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed” (1 Sam. 15:18).

Saul apparently thought that it would be okay to keep the king alive and keep the sheep and oxen and some other spoils as well. But God knew the Amalekite spirits could occupy much more than just the warriors, so all the people, the livestock and the possessions were to be destroyed. Saul didn’t obey, and the consequences were devastating. He lost his kingship, his sanity, his kingdom, and his life. His disobedience even had devastating consequences on the generations to come.

That’s why it’s so important to obey God now, no matter what it takes: perseverance, patience, help from friends, help from the Lord Jesus himself. How we react now to Amalekite spirits effects not only the rest of our lives but the lives of our children and our children’s children to come.

The same Amalekite spirits attacked King David’s family about seven years after Saul died. They came against a city that David lived in, while David was out of town, burning it to the ground and kidnapping his wives and children.

Remember, in Moses’ case, God told him to hold up the banner and claim the victory and get help from friends. But in this situation, God told David he had to get involved on the front lines. He told David to go after them.

“And David smote them from the twilight even unto the evening of the next day: and there escaped not a man of them, save four hundred young men, which rode upon camels, and fled. And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away: and David rescued his two wives. And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor any thing that they had taken to them: David recovered all” (1 Sam. 30:17-19).

The four hundred Amalekites who escaped from David continued to plague God’s people until finally, David’s grandkids wiped them out. “And they smote the rest of the Amalekites that were escaped, and dwelt there unto this day” (1 Chron. 4:43).

The bugs that attacked my kitchen were of the same spiritual ilk as the Amalekites that attacked Israel. 

I did get weary, like Moses, but Jane and I kept claiming the victory no matter how awful it looked. It took determination and diligence and more patience than I thought I could muster. At first, we waited for the exterminator to do the job while we claimed victory. But then we needed to get involved ourselves. It took months to finally get rid of them all. Like Moses, I had to get more help, and the exterminator ended up leaving his “special spray” with us so I could go after the bugs in between his visits.

And I knew that God’s instructions to Saul applied to us as well. We had to not only destroy the roaches, but we also had to destroy every item they touched. We didn’t want to end up like Saul. We had to obey. So we got rid of the dishwasher, coffee machine, other electrical appliances (the roaches liked warm cozy places), and much more, but it was totally worth it.

When the very last bug was destroyed, I realized that they had started eating each other, and the toxins in the insecticide had utterly consumed them until every last one was dead. Gross, but true. That was several years ago, and they have never returned. Thank God!

When we’re being attacked by this type of Amalekite spirit, God’s Word assures us that we can win by being intimately obedient to what He asks of us. He will give us the how of getting through and the ultimate victory in the end. Moses needed the help of friends, David had to rebuild his city and his life, and finally, his grandkids wiped out the enemy and lived peaceably in the land. We take comfort and hope from the Words of our God, and we’re going to be okay.

Love, Carolyn

DON'T BE TRICKED BY THE "SHOULDS"

DON’T BE TRICKED BY “THE SHOULDS”

Wanting to be a good citizen, I’ve been paying more attention to politics. It’s a good thing to be aware of what’s going on, but this morning, as I was listening to a pastor who is very involved in politics, I found myself being overwhelmed by the “shoulds.” I “should” be more outspoken; I “should” learn how to debate; I “should,” I should,” I “should.” I started feeling bad about myself until the Lord gave me a revelation from the Bible, where David got tricked by the “shoulds.” The record is found in 1 Samuel 27-30.

 

King Saul of Israel was coming after David to kill him, so David found refuge with the Philistines. They gave him a whole city, Ziklag, where he brought his wives, children, his men, and his wealth. But then there was going to be a war between Israel and the Philistines. David felt that he “should” get involved in the fight. He took his men and stayed in the back, close to the man who befriended him—Achish, the Philistine King’s son. But while David and his men were away, intending to do what they thought they “should” be doing—their politically correct thing to do—another enemy went after David’s own city, Ziklag.

 

Even though David wanted to be involved, and his Philistine friend, Achish, thought it was a good idea, the other Philistine leaders weren’t receptive to David. They didn’t trust him and didn’t want him there, so “David and his men rose up early to depart in the morning to return” (1 Sam. 29:11).

 

“And it came to pass when David and his men were come to Ziklag, that the Amalekites had invaded, and smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire; And had taken the women captives, that were therein: they slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away, and went on their way.

 

“So David and his men came to the city, and, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captives. Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept until they had no more power to weep” (1 Sam. 30:1-4).

 

Because David had stepped into the land of the “shoulds,” he wasn’t walking in the light of what the Lord really wanted him to be doing. The consequences were devastating, but not a total loss. David hadn’t intentionally disobeyed God, so the Lord made a way for him to recover his losses. He went after the Amalekites.

 

“And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away, and David rescued his two wives. And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil nor any thing that they had taken to them: David recovered all” (1 Sam. 30:18-19).

 

It would take some time to rebuild the burned city, but at least no one was killed, and they got back their form of income in the goods that were stolen. Thank God the goods went with them because if they had been left in Ziklag, they would have been destroyed in the fire. In God’s foresight, He knew that David had made an error in judgment, but not in heart. And if in our hearts we truly want to always to do His will, He will find a way to always provide for us, even when we mess up.

 

When things in our world present themselves, and we get emotionally upset about them, we tend to want to do something about them, and that’s good. But wisdom, it says in God’s Word, is the principal thing, and wisdom comes from God. We don’t want to be tricked liked David into taking action on something just because of some false feeling of responsibility or obligation. The “shoulds” can be tricky.

 

Don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying that pastors, preachers, Christian leaders, or Christian people at large are not supposed to get involved with politics—quite the opposite. I feel that more of us need to be actively involved. We definitely have opinions, and we need to express them. Christians are never going to all agree on politics, or Biblical doctrine for that matter, either. But that’s okay. We do our best to assess and discern.

 

Honestly, a lot of Christian leaders in America don’t speak their opinions because of the Johnson Act that gives them tax exemption if they incorporate. But then their church and its leaders are responsible to follow the “shoulds” that are dictated by their state political leadership. That often means keeping their mouths shut about politics. Personally, I’m praying to see pastors and preachers be bold enough to voluntarily opt-out of the 501 C3 corporate tax exemption so that they can freely speak on anything the Lord wants saying. They can still take offerings, so they don’t really benefit from the state incorporations anyway.

 

Let’s not be tricked by the “shoulds” in any category. David felt he “should” go to war on the side of the Philistines, but it wasn’t what God wanted him to do, so he ended up having to start over and rebuild his whole city. We don’t want to be in a place where we have to rebuild something in our lives that we’ve already spent good time doing. I started to feel I should do more politically, but that doesn’t mean I have to get totally immersed.

 

I need to only follow the Lord, detail by detail. When I feel He directs me to be more politically outspoken, I do it. When not, I don’t. Simple. We can’t let other people dictate how we “should” act. Only the Lord has the right to direct us, and in Him, we walk freely, just like Him.

 

Love, Carolyn

 

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