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The Holy in Me is Hearkened by the Holy
I know for a fact that knowing the Bible has been my staying power. The more I know it the more power I have to hang onto the Holy left behind during the worst of the storms.
My first five years of Christianity were the worst years of my Christianity. They have not been the worst years of my life but they are the ones I remember most because my spirit went from stagnant to stimulated and my soul had to catch up. The Lord gave me a hunger for reading the Bible and my soul also resisted it during the storm too.
Stimulated Sense of Hearing
During those five years the Lord was teaching me how I would be able to sense His presence so I could hear His voice. This was the most ironic thing I have ever been because my ears where full of worldly wax.
I was new at this Christian thing, therefore I didn’t even know that the Lord spoke to people through the Bible. The Lord stimulated my sense of right and wrong, Selfish Ambition and Divine Ambition, deafness and hearing by giving me the ability to remember the stories in the Bible.
Soul fully Stimulated
He used family ties in the Bible to set my soul on fire for more. Those five years where extremely painful because my ears where filled with worldly wax. The Lord had to remove the wax first then make my soul believe what He was saying through my spirit.
It was a hard sell on me because I had the misguided impression that my life would become better with Christianity, not worse. I thought, with my whole soul, that the Lord was going to change me into someone everyone would love including my family. In stead I got trained to love myself in spite of the unconditional love I did not know.
The voice of the Lord was present with me for the whole five years even when I refused to hear it. He knew I was not listening so His voice got louder. He stimulated my spirit until I could not ignore Him any more.
I was hearkened by the Holy and I know you are too. Join me in Midlife Ministry Makers Wednesday to start your own story of being Hearkened by the Holy.
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The Old is gone the New has Come
I have been thinking about my challenge to you last week, in my live, to allow the storms of life to test your holiness instead of your ugliness.
Biblical Power Tool #180 was so powerful to me because it not only allowed me to talk about the ugliness God washes away but it gave me permission, as well as you, to let it go.
Who am I without the Ugly
There is some stuff I have been hanging onto for dear life thinking I need it. I need the pain to survive. Who am I without it? I need the bitterness to bite me. Who am I without it?
I have had ugly seeds planted around in my brain for so long that I cannot picture who I am without them.
Who can I be without the Ugly
The problem with not knowing who I am in Christ, or identifying myself with Jesus rather, is the holy can never surface. The old me will always win out over the new me.
The storm that was meant to change me, blinds me instead. I cannot recognize that Jesus is making me look more like Him. So, I act selfish and testy watching my ugly float away creating more ugly to be removed.
Defined by the Divine
The holy in me is the divine in me. There is so much more to me than the ugly I want to cling too. I put that to the test all the time even today. I have lived through the Lord washing away the ugly that has lead to the holy in me.
I am a new Kathleen who hears Him speak to me, who sees His work around me and who wants what He desires for me. I am defined by the divine more than decrepit.
It is only in this work that I am able to identify with Jesus, because I have lost my worldly identity to the storms.
The winds of change are always blowing. Will we allow the seeds God is planting in us to change us?
Watch a collection of lives on this subject here.
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The Highway of Heeding
In the past I have not understood the Lord’s direction for me so I refused to heed it. There is a great need for me to understand why I am going into a directions I cannot see the need to go.
You see, I am a bit of a freak when it comes to knowing something. Mystery belongs in a one hour show not a lifetime of serving. I want to know where I am going and how I am getting there.
The Holy Unknown
As I was chasing my Upward Call of God my biggest frustration was the Holy Unknown. The mystery that loomed before me was not something I could accept. The Lord’s lack of future revelation for my ministry was a hindrance to me chasing it.
I eventually learned that if I was obedient to the Lord today, my future followers will benefit from it and so would I. The Holy Unknown, that made me uncomfortable, began to make me comfortable.
Me Following Helped my Following
When I started to heed the Lord’s direction, for this minute, it began to lead me into the Holy Unknown. The place where I follow Jesus and begin to understand the why.
Why am I going this way?
For you and your followers.
Why am I climbing this hill?
For you and your followers.
Why am I parked here?
For you and your followers.
Why is this wall here?
For you and your followers.
Why do I keep falling in this same pit?
For you and your followers.
Every time I asked a question about my Divine Direction the answer was vague but got clearer as I obeyed. For 10 years now I have devoted my life to following the Lord’s direction for me and my ministry. It has finally been revealed to me who my followers are and what they are following me to accomplish.
Years is the more common time frame for obedience and understanding so don’t get discouraged about how long it is taking you.
Time is not the answer to all of your why’s. “Follow Me” is the answer to all of your why’s.
Just as I have learned to heed the Lord’s direction by heeding His direction so must all women called to make a ministry heed the Lord’s direction. In doing that your Upward Call will meet His people where they are and do what it is meant to do.
Meet me in Midlife Ministry Makers this week to dive deep for diving direction into how to heed the Lord’s direction so you can meet your followers where they are.
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Moulded by Fire
It is not about just knowing who you are in Christ or boldly being who you are in Christ but also your ability to overcome the life challenges that will mould you into the Woman of Vision you are.
The World is Watching
There has been so much controversy over women in ministry that every move Woman of Vision make is placed under a microscope. This microscope reveals our character whether they like our character or not.
Whether we like our character or not…
But doesn’t that spur you on to make sure that you take the seeds the Lord is planting in you and set them on fire for Him before you plant them into another?
Jesus is Watching
Of course, Jesus knows that you will spew, vomit and spit out some seeds that are ineffective for the saints but He wants you to keep planting them so they can be improved every time you release them.
The only bad seed is the seed that never sees the light of day to grow the ground it lands on. Even our bad seeds are meant to grow something.
Growing through Fire
Some seeds fly out of us without us having much control over whether they have been sifted through the Bible or not. This happens when we don’t read the Bible or know the commandments of God.
Some seeds fly on fire because we know who we are in Christ and we are boldly walking out who we are in Christ. This happens because we read the Bible and set our face on being like Christ.
Some seeds never leave us nor ever grow in us. Some we buried in infertile ground. This is because we never intend to be or do what Christ has made us live for.
Don’t be offended, be convicted if this is you.
For whatever reason someone would choose not to do the most exciting thing they will ever do in their life that will set them on fire for the Lord and their vision.
Our job as Women of Vision is to plant seeds around that reflect the fire inside us to live our vision as highly effective Christians.
My Visionary Living Advice 💦 for you this week is to avoid being the 2 Timothy 3 woman and adopt the zeal of the Proverbs 31 woman to have effective Personal Life Stewardship and Ministry Life Stewardship without disobeying the Lord.
Join us this week in Midlife Ministry Makers for A Soul on Fire to discuss how you are able to change the way you think about overcoming adversity so you can always leave an example of freedom as a seed.
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When the Seeds Fly, the Effect is Fire
For as long as we stifle our gifts and talent, that is how long it will be before we can live a highly effective Christian life.
I know that people have a sly way of making it sound like you are not gifted with teaching and preaching, or even the big one, speaking the words of God.
For many years women have been teaching on this subject, so I recommend that you read their books. More so recommend you start by looking for evidence in the Bible of women doing what you are called to do.
The Silencing of the Lambs
Jesus spoke clearly and in parables during His whole time in ministry. He spoke truth to the Pharisees and truth to His disciples. He wasn’t silent about truth.
If burying your gifts and talents was His plan for women, would He not have said that clearly in the three years He was preaching the good news to those who needed to hear it.
He called ALL of us His sheep. All of us are to follow Him. All of us are to use our gifts and talents to equip the Body of Christ. There should be no silent sheep.
Evidence Abounds in Scripture
Imagine if Esther kept silence. Imagine if Deborah did not prophecy to Barak. Imagine if Priscilla had not taught Apollos. Imagine if Mary (mother of Jesus) had not been obedient. Imagine how everything would sound without the voice of women relaying the voice of God to anyone.
Our voice is heard loud and clear in Scripture but the hard heart hears it not.
I know that your voice is screaming inside of you but your fearful spirit is turning it off. Or maybe your voice is screaming out loudly but anyone listening is turning it off. We can go from one extreme to another sometimes trying to be effective Christians.
Join me this week in Midlife Ministry Makers as we lay out the Biblical Power Tools for setting your home fires burning without burning every bridge you come across even if it is against you.
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The Matter of Growth
No matter how you feel about yourself, the Lord is in the business of making you new. He is going to plant you by the River of Life and make you grow.
I have told you before that I felt stupid growing up. There has always been a sense of not knowing or understanding in everything that I have learned.
I have spent many brain cells sitting in front of a book wrestling with the pages to put them into order so I was able to fully understand the action I was about to take. I was looking for the hidden path to reveal the mysterious answer hidden from me.
A Woman with Answers
I wanted to be smart at math, at music, at French, at my latest craze but I would hit a road block and have to hunker in to keep it going. Most of the time I quit saying it wasn’t meant to be.
But that wasn’t really the answer. The answer was that the Lord was not shining His light on that for me. The answer was that it was not a need but a want. The answer was that it was not part of my vision from God to play an instrument, speak French or be a scientist.
A Woman with a Conflict
I was conflicted because there was really nothing I was good at that the Lord shined His light for me to excel with. I had no natural abilities to speak of. This created a zeal in me to know who I am and what I am naturally gifted to do.
I tried everything that I could think of but my life conflicted with my need to know. I got better at designing cars when the computer age came. So, obviously I am going to excel at that and I did. What I really got better at was listening to this still small voice I kept hearing.
A Woman with a Passion
The most amazing thing that has ever happened in my life happened right under my nose. I became a Christian. I began reading the Bible. My brain was open to every story, every line, every word. I became passionate about reading and learning the Bible.
I excelled at remembering every detail of the stories I read. Then I excelled at relaying what I learned. Then I excelled at giving women hope. Then I excelled at making Christian living a priority in my life and doing what the Lord has assigned to me.
A Woman Called
This became the only subject calling my name for continuous growth. The River of Life is the only place I felt free to learn. The only thing I became passionate about. I had no idea what reading the Bible was going to do in my life. I didn’t know it was alive.
I just knew I was called to dive deep into it.
I knew I had to swallow it.
I knew I had to be planted by the River of Life to feel alive.
The still small voice I heard before I was a Christian became understandable to me as a Christian. The Holy Spirit was and still is directing me into His vision for me in every area of my life.
I knew I has a called to this.
A Grown Woman
This passion for knowing and following Jesus has lead me into many situation where I have had to use His words to break free from it. Even this morning I had to use them to break free from bitterness.
His word is a lamp for my feet and the light to my path (Psalm 119:105).
There has not been one day since, when I read the Bible, that I don’t hear the Lord preaching, teaching and leading me into me to grow into my vision in every area of my life and ministry.
Join me in Midlife Ministry Makers for The Peaceful Pace Part 4: Peace in Growth, A Firm Foundation this week to discuss make every day a day of growth in your life and ministry (Lifistry) using the Lifistry Disciplines as a guide.
We are diving deep for divine direction into Tool #170 Every day has an Appointment with God to Grow You.
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The Seeds have already been Planted
It has all been for a reason and the seeds have already been planted for your Upward Call of God. How are you able to grow them so you become the ministry leader you are meant to be.
Now all you have to do is say YES to them and you growing into your Upward Call of God.
How can you take the things you have learned in your life and rePurpose those into your Upward Call of God to lead? Or even vise versa?
You might never have thought, in your lifetime, that the Lord would call you lead, but He has and you are freaking out. Don’t worry I’ve got you.
You might already be in a leadership role but are doing the waiting game with Jesus for THE fulfilling leadership role linked completely to your Upward Call of God.
Either way, every detail of your Life Stewardship, your Kingdom Works (volunteer or leadership work to prepare you for your Upward Call) and your Upward Call of God have been planned out perfectly by Jesus. The pre-panted seeds…
It’s now time to rePurpose your time, talents and treasures in the direction the Lord is sending you from that vision. The one you have been thinking about and day dreaming about for as long as you can remember. You know…that one!
The How is the Solution
How do you take what you have learned, while that dream was on hold, raising your kids, washing your dishes or working for that paycheck, fully into the Kingdom of God?
It takes a bit of juggling the knowledge and the way you think about that knowledge plus creating some new Upward Call Habits. Join me on my Facebook page a plan of attack.
And if you have the understand that – everything you have been doing is for your Upward Call of God – it will be a lot easier.
You can always join us in the Midlife Ministry Makers for our monthly discussions. This Month our topic is Biblical Happiness = Contentment.
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Hope is my Upward Call Habit
Over the years I have not chased my calling to lead very hard because I did not trust that it would be. I trusted what my circumstance was saying and not what the Lord was saying.
What I did not realize was that all those leadership roles I garnered and lost were tests of training. Would I accept it?
I did at first, but when it was over, I failed. I wallowed in my “Downward Fall” from leadership and that caused my character to go right along with it.
A Life Fuelled by Emotion
I have a ton of Demonic Diva’s (emotions that overcome sound judgment) living inside me. They want the centre stage in my leadership. I had gotten in the habit of letting my circumstances control my emotions. As a result the Diva’s would take control of who I am.
My wallowing gave the Diva’s life. I have turned aside from worshipping the Lord and made my emotions kings.
The Journey Fuelled by Hope
The King of my life is Jesus and He brought with Him a whole host of heavenly character traits that I have available to me. I called them “Heavenly Hosts”.
I had to become aware that “Wallowing Wilma” (one of my Diva’s) had to be decreased with in me daily so I can begin fuelling my life with habits that move me to chase my “Upward Call”.
Going uphill needs lots of fuel. If I am to gain my “City on the Hill” (predestined leadership role) I must be fuelled by hope.
Shifting to Hope
Hope can be accomplish with just a one degree shift in thinking daily. As a result our actions make the shift as well.
We might have been rolling downhill with nothing to grab onto. Shifting to hope grows a branch large enough to grab onto. It stops the “Downward Fall” just long enough for us to pick up steam and shift upward again.
Just a tiny shift to hope will make a huge difference in your life some day. Meet “Shifting Shawna” right where you are today. She will get you closer to Jesus and your vision.
The Midlife Ministry Makers community will meet you right where you are and build you up as you shift your direction to your vision from God. We build up our “Everyday Christian Living” skills to make our uphill journey unshakable. Join us today and start climbing toward your City on the Hill tomorrow.
Kathleen derbyshire, everyday Christian living mentor -
Ministry thinking Complete for Now
This week started out slow but picked up speed until today. I had been looking for words. Ones that would impact and ones that I too can relate too.
I am not much of a word person but the Lord has taught me over the past couple of months that the more I practice saying words the more I will master their use and meaning in my life.
Over the last year the word “leadership” and “Christian Living” have been my go to words yet there was still something missing. One word or maybe two.
I created my courses and did my lives but I still knew something was missing. Something that would give me peace in my musing and teaching.
The last word came last Thursday and the other one came about 30 days ago. They are “Aspiring” and “Everyday”.
My thinking is complete.
My message is for women called into leadership but have not yet realized their full potential as a leader.
My message is about “Everyday Christian Living”. In your social life, your family life, your financial life, your personal health, personal growth and your works. All under the worship of the Lord.
Lifistry Sphere of Living by Kathleen Derbyshire I thought those words where missing but I now know that I was not ready to have them yet.
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How to tell if God has a Plan for you
I remember my first time going to a church. It was not the kind of church I would attend forever but it was the kind of church the Lord could use as a teaching for me.
That church was responsible for raising up all kinds of happy sinful people including Sooth Sayers in the choir and promoting their services to the congregation. Whatever makes people happy, they where doing it.
I was looking for happy then so I fit right in.
Why would the Devil reveal Your Plan?
The big question on my mind was always, “Why do I think and act the way I do?” It is just so much different than anyone else I knew. That made me odd and I did not want to be odd.
To be honest I didn’t like myself very much because of the way I acted. I longed for a better, deeper life than what I was currently living but my actions opposed that. I didn’t know what to do so I went to psychics and astrologers to find out what my future looked like so I could live it NOW.
One of them told me my dad would die which came true. One of them told me, my then 14 year old twins, would be heavy equipment operators which also came into being. But none of them where correct about MY future. Not one thing they said about me was correct.
Now, why would the Devil give sooth sayers information about how I would fight him for the souls of Lady Leaders and help prepare them for the work of the Lord.
Your Actions Reveal Your Plan
The Devil knows a lot about who we are and how we will work for Jesus. He can tell by the way you act that Jesus is going to bring you into salvation. He can also tell by the longings you have for leading that you will be successful for Jesus. He can tell by what motivates you how he can deflate you.
He can tell by your actions that you want a deeper life. Every one of our days has been a sign for him of impending doom. He is going to put up a fight just like a hooked fish puts up a fight.
He could tell by my actions that the Lord was going to use me to propel women into leadership faster. He could tell by the way I was fighting to be an effective Christian that I would provide those tools to other women gifted with leadership so they will be effective as well.
It is all about God’s Plan
As I continued seeking the Lord He taught me why I think and act the way I do. It is all about His plan for me. And because of this plan, the Devil has no power over me or my plan. My God anointed ministry is what powers me into the arms of Jesus and into a wrestling match with the Devil.
Ooo yes! Let’s wrestle over Lady Leaders, Devil.
Your lies about women in leadership are ineffective in my ministry. Your lies about women being subordinate to men have no effect over us. Your lies about male power, abuse and shame have no bearing over our ministries.
We are part of God’s plan for the future and only God can reveal that to us. For us it’s all about God’s plan not your lies.
Lead or Bust Workshop September 29th @2pm EST
To find out if you are part of God’s leadership plan you can register for “Lead or Bust” to get a free assessment. You will learn if you are a “Visionary Leader” or a “Commissary Leader” and how those tie into your plan from God.
Email me today to fill one of the 10 ZOOM spots available at kathleen@kathleenderbyshire.com for more information.
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3 ways to grow into your Visionary Leadership Faster than Most.
Learning the truth about how we are gifted by God, for women, is not always something to celebrate especially if it is the gift of leadership and/or administration but we can learn it.
There are three significant acts you can take now to begin growing into your visionary leadership faster than most will.
- Don’t ignore your gift of leadership.
- Accept it as a Small Portion of Your Gifts.
- Follow Jesus in this Freedom.
Ignorance is NOT Bliss
I spent a lot of celebrating my leadership gift then hating it then celebrating then hating. It was a long process of back and forth so the Lord could work the hatred out of me.
I ignored my longing to lead to grow my vision yet how was I able to grow into my vision without activating my leadership gifts.
Just a Small Portion of my Gifts
It was impossible to be who I was created to be when I ignored how God has gifted me. I wasn’t being real because I wasn’t using every gift the Lord has given me.
Until I accepted my gifts I would never be free to accomplish them. I would never be free to be real and genuine in my service to the Lord or to women.
I learned that although Lady Leaders are controversial, leadership is only a small portion of my giftings.
Freedom to Follow Jesus
Once I got past the doubt of reality I was able to accept those male dominated gifts and actually activate my whole vision from God.
The freedom I felt to just follow Jesus and not man was so freeing. The opposition did not stop but the freedom to ignore it was more powerful than their opposition.
“Lead or Bust” Workshop
Ignoring opinions is much more appropriate than ignoring my gifts because they busted out of me anyway. It was so much harder to hold myself back from leading than it was to ignore peoples opinions about women leaders in the Kingdom.
Knowing the truth and allowing it to sink into freedom is imperative because you will always have a longing to lead.
This workshop is just in time for all of us. Lady Leaders are much more powerful when they accept their role and grow into it with freedom.
Email me at kathleen@kathleenderbyshire.com to be one of the few who leads the pack, in your church, toward accomplishing what you are assigned.
Thursday September 29, 2022 @2-4pm EST. Presented to a few on Zoom plus run live in the Midlife Ministry Makers Community on Facebook. Secure the knowledge of your gift in this workshop and where to go from here.
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Defined by Progress
I had been wondering about putting my strengths, experiences and knowledge to work for the Kingdom of God. I go back and forth with what they are worth and what they are not worth. Don’t you?
For three years I have been focusing on putting them to work and learning how they will work for the Kingdom of God. It is not like I have graduated from theological school or business school or even social work school.
Those are not the experience and knowledge I have. It is the experience of living my life in ministry with Jesus that gives me the strengths that I have.
What I DO have
By putting those strengths to work I have gained tons of experience training myself and others to live the mission God has built for them by empowering them to be more purposeful about their own vision from God. This experience has given me special insight into how to create an amazing process to get this done.
I have been and will continue to be an influence to thousands of women since I began yet today I still question my abilities to do this. And I think my lack of confidence sometimes is based on the newness of what God is calling me to do every single day.
I get complacent when I know how to do something well and want to live in that for a while.
Every day is a new day with a new commandment and a new lesson to learn to perfect it. This new commandment is riddled with error until such time as I have perfected its use in my life.
MY Mistakes don’t define me MY Progress does.
I don’t like making mistakes and I have had mental breakdowns for days after discovering one. I am learning to expect and thrive from my mistakes because they lead to progress. I am not allowing my mistakes or my breakdowns afterwards to define who I am.
My three fold Mission (Commission, Ambition, Transition) depend on the progress I make with every directive from God. Therefore I am willing to endure it because I am not willing to end it.
P.S. – If this blog moves you to advance your vision from God — share it with your friends so together we can create a movement of middle aged mothers dedicated to putting our strengths, experiences and knowledge to work for the Kingdom of God.
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Leading the Way with Real Fruit
I have been to the fruit store and been perplexed about what apples to buy because there are so many choices.
It becomes a process of elimination first then turns into a choice between the few I know I like. It is the same when I am leading myself into a choice of who I want to be in any given situation.
The truth about who I am may not be evident to most people but it is evident to Jesus therefore my goal is to blaze a trial to her, the good apple. I don’t always love my current self but I know I am going to long for this good apple that God is transforming me into.
The Lake of Laxi-Daisy is not for ME
As a path finder for the Kingdom of God, my true pathway is created for the authentic me. I don’t want to drift around in the ‘Lake of Laxi-Daisy”.
I want to find my way to shore with every new adventure from God and blaze the trail to it’s fruit.
How do I Come Ashore
The constant choice between becoming the good apple or remaining the bad apple is driven by the connection I have to Jesus and the connection I have to my true self. I know who she is. She is a fulfilled genuine woman of God that He knows I am. He has given me a picture of her that I will never forget.
To come ashore I need to throw the bad apples overboard and just start paddling toward the good apples. As long as I can see the shore, it is an easy target. And if a fog rolls in, making it hard to see the shore, I have the image of my target burned into my soul – Kathleen Victoria Derbyshire. I can lead the way to my City on the Hill (my vision realized) with the real fruit of who I am.
Are you coming?
If this blog moves you to the true you, share it with your friends and together we can create a Midlife Ministry Movement for women of faith to advance the Kingdom of God.
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Fitting in and Not by Force.
You can only do what the Lord created you to be able to do.
I spent a lot of time praying the Lord my plan to apprehend. Because sometimes I want the Lord to push me into the position He has for me. I had been sitting around for so long in this room I now refer to as my jail for Jesus.
I don’t want to leave and when I do leave I don’t want to come back.
But I do come back because I am the elect of God, holy and beloved. I am required to put on tender mercies toward the people I serve and when I do that I am thrilled to come back.
It isn’t by force that I am fitting into my vision from God or into the Kingdom. No force is required when I put on tender mercy.
It is by putting on the tender mercies I have for women in middle age. Those women whose need is great to fit into the Kingdom of God for their own well being, for their own fulfillment and to thrive in their own vision from God. I am tender toward them.
Your Tender Mercy is Needed
What people group are you to put on tender mercy for?
What problem do they have that you are called to be tender toward?
What problem do you have putting on that tender mercy?
The Problem I Solve
Do you want to understand how you can thrive in the Kingdom of God in your midlife?
I can help you solve the mystery of “What do I have to offer the Kingdom?”
Contact me at kathleen@kathleenderbyshire.com for a free “Visionary Living Consult” to discuss how I can empower you to recall your commission, grow into your vision and chase your ambition toward the body of Christ.
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Breaking Old Dreams
When I was younger I had great plans or should I say great childish dreams.
I was going to marry a rancher down south in the United States and have kids. I was going to be a master horse woman and sought after teacher. The best part of this was I am going to live where is was warm.
I am sorry to say that is not exactly what happened. Actually, none of that happened because I didn’t make it happen. It was just a dream because I did not plan how I was going to get it. But it made me happy as I slugged my way through high school.
When I graduated that dream found its way into a trash can as I struggled to find work and enough money to put good food on the table.
rePurposing Old Dreams
The old dream came to life again this past year as I binged watched “Homestead Rescue” on Discovery+.
There was a reason why I was dreaming that dream in my youth. I was dreaming it because I wanted to have a purpose in my life. Something I can focus on. Something with meaning.
When that dream disappeared, so did my focus. Watching “Homestead Rescue” revived a vision I was given when I was a child in Christ. Seeing the Raney family help homesteaders revive what they started and making their homesteading dreams into a vivid reality set my soul on fire for my own vision.
Preach New Life into Old Dreams
That rancher ended up being an automotive worker. The ranch is an English Tutor house on one acre of property in a city of 22,000. There are no horses in our yard but there are deer, squirrel, raccoon, coyote, skunk and the neighbours dog.
I am not sought out for my horse training skills but I am sought out for my insight regarding Christian living reEnvisioned.
Revival began with re-purposing my old dreams into my new vision from God. The old is dead and the new will live. The Lord called me to preach new life into my old dreams. To preach new life into my old bones.
He has eventually called me to preach new life, through the gospel of Christ, into women who have aged out of the life they loved.
I guess you can call it “Christian Vision Rescue” coming soon to “Re-Discovery+”.
Do you need confirmation that God fully intends to use your time, talents and treasures even though you have aged out of all the works He has previously assigned to you?
Register for the “Your Way” Series here to re-envision a new life from dead dreams.
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Introducing the new blog “rePurpose”
This weekly blog is for vintage (over 40) Christian women who have a growing desire to rePurpose their time, treasures and talents to serve the Kingdom of God without feeling overwhelmed.
My most passionate day is when a woman tells me she is setting time aside to reDisover Jesus. There is a reason I get so excited about that.
I get excited because I know that when you discover who Jesus is you WILL discover who you are and what the Lord has called you into salvation to accomplish.
This thing that you are born to accomplish will make you feel alive and it will make the people you serve come to life too. There is nothing better than that.
Don’t waste another ounce of your time going in unfulfilling directions. Connect with Jesus and reDiscover His plan for you. Connect with yourself and reEnvision your passion. Connect with believers and reVisualize your Kingdom purpose.
The Kingdom of God is a vast place with plenty of room for every single one of us to fulfill our God given vision. It is for this reason that you were called.
Connect with me if you are driven to rePurpose your time, treasures and talents for the Kingdom and let’s do this thing “Your Way”.
Look for rePurpose every Thursday to blaze your visionary vintage trail to your city in the Kingdom.
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Dang, I’m Old
Recently I have been losing my energy a lot faster than I used too and I noticed in the summer that I cannot handle the heat like I used too.
I thought I would just be able to do what I want when I want but my body is telling me that that is not possible.
I wonder if I can do what Jesus has planned for me now that I am old. I worry He will be done with me before He even got started with me.
Then I am reminded of all the things I have been teaching.
Jesus knows me better than any one else does and I know Him too. If He has put the desire in me to live for Him than it will be fulfilled. I don’t remember Him giving me an age cap.
Phew!
Now I am okay with being old. Thank you Jesus.
I invite you to take my complimentary course called
Knowing Jesus is Knowing Me: A Practical Introduction to who You are in Christ.
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The Musings about Knowing what I Know
It has been just over the past three months that Jesus has helped me to clarify how to articulate that ministry He has been preparing my life for.
Have you ever been so unenlightened about His path for you?
I wanna call it confused but Jesus is not the author of confusion so I cannot. It is just a matter of not knowing or having the correct words to use to say what I know I already know.
I have known that I am gifted to teach, speak and make clear the life lessons found in the Bible. BUT can I articulate that in one little sentence or phrase that says it all. I have not been able too for many years until just recently.
I have known that I would live my whole life in ministry to Jesus whether it is talking to family, a complete stranger or my boss. It was only at the beginning that I did it without any fear. (When you do it without fear it usually turns out bad.)
The Beginning of Musing
My beginning was rocky and hard to follow because I needed to get to a place where I was actually walking in ministry to Jesus. I needed to be trained in everything from morning routines to money management, from goal setting to boundary defending, from how I thought about myself to how I thought about others.
All of that training put me in position to live in my ministry to Jesus. It all started with understanding that the more I knew Jesus the more I began to know about who I am.
This is a small part of the journey I will never regret and will never forget because it had a profound impact on who I thought I was.
I was that small tree I kept seeing on my path to my “City on the Hill” (my vision from God).
https://kathleenderbyshire.com/register/knowing-jesus-is-knowing-me/ -
Priscilla, A Woman who Does!
Is there people who are telling you that God’s calling on you is not something He would actually call you to do?
Are you standing still because of what people are saying or what you think they are going to say?
Biblical Ground Work: Acts 18, Romans 16:3, 1 Corinthians 16:19, 2 Timothy 4:19
Priscilla would be, or could be held back by that kind of a thing but she wasn’t. She was born into a time where women were not given the time of day.
They were not adored by any man.
They were neglected and left behind.
Her husband was a devout man of God and he understood that his wife was created in the image of God.
She is a great example of a woman doing what the Lord requires of her even if people try to stop her.
The Biblical Strategy for Living this out: Look for the motives of people to prepare yourself to either partner with them or go through them, around them or over them.
Would you like to continue this conversation with us?
Watch the Live here
In The Bible Gals we talk about the women of God because we need to know that Jesus loves us, He gifts us and He expects us to do what He has called us to do.
The Bible does not tell us we cannot — people do!
There is plenty of evidence in the Bible that we deserve to talk to the Body of Christ with the authority of Scripture, lead them with zeal and teach them with wisdom even if you have been told “NO” all of your life.
Join us as we work through this tense subject every week. I promise you will walk away with a renewed mind about what you can do for Jesus.
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Keep these Things in Your Heart
I know that enduring to the end doesn’t sound very sexy nor does it put your mind at ease about doing the will of God.
Like you, I want to live a life of great happiness all the time. I do not want to build up my resistance to trials but when we keep the things of the Lord in our heart it does build up our resistance.
Biblical Ground Work: Luke
Jesus Himself said, “In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33) His mother can testify to every inch of this.
Mary did not have an easy life or one without trials even before she had Jesus. She lived in Nazareth where the Romans came to collect taxes and their work was for the Roman Empire. They were not their own.
She became pregnant before marriage and gave birth in a town that was not her own. She went to the Synagogue out of duty and was told her heart would be broken. It was broken and fixed.
Biblical Life Lesson: Keeping these things in your heart will show you the power of Jesus in your life.
In A Soul on Fire we discussed Enduring to the End for the past four weeks and no one can attest to endurance than Mary the mother of Jesus.
From her birth until her death she had to endure some pretty awful stuff. From being pregnant to a missing child; from watching Jesus’ works to watching Him die. She saw Him die then she saw Him alive.
Let’s see what we should make of this in light of our Biblical Power Tools from “A Soul on Fire” in The Bible Gals. You can click on the links below to watch the four consecutive videos.
Endure to the End Part 1 https://www.facebook.com/kathleenderbyshireauthor/videos/270673751399723 Endure to the End Part 2 https://www.facebook.com/theholyproductivewoman/videos/297055762041757 Endure to the End Part 3 https://www.facebook.com/theholyproductivewoman/videos/924718554979590 Endure to the End Part 4 https://www.facebook.com/100328951852611/videos/314810416687428 Enduring to the End Teachings from the Kathleen Derbyshire Page on Facebook Join me in The Bible Gals Monday’s at 2pm EST for “His Women in Our World” Live Discussions. The study of how women can be effective in changing our world by simply choosing to live for Jesus.
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A History that cannot be Denied
To be able to endure to the end it will be about collecting evidence that Jesus has been where you are going but what will be more important is creating a bond with the evidence.
The bond you create with your evidence will deepen your relationship with Jesus and cause you to understand you.
Biblical Ground Work: Matthew; Mark; Luke; John; Acts
The glue that holds these book of the Bible together is the Lord. The glue that will hold you together will be the Lord.
Each of these books have a purpose of their own but the Lord has one purpose for them for us – evidence that draws us to Him. The more evidence we have of the work of Jesus in His Kingdom the more we will think about how this can affect our lives.
We will question what has happened in our life and why it happened. If Jesus is in charge, what could be the cause of this? If there is a cause, is their a purpose? If there is a purpose for events could that mean there is a purpose for me?
Biblical Life Lesson: The events in your own life are understandable when you take your vision into account.
Every trail you follow will end up at your vision, if you wish to attend to it. If your time and talents are aimed at your vision you will not be able to miss it.
Your aim gets better with more evidence. The more evidence you collect, the better the chance for you to endure.
The evidence in the Bible has a lot to tell us about holy productive Christian living. Join me in The Bible Gals Monday’s at 2pm EST for “His Women in Our World” Live Discussions. The study of how women can be effective in changing our world by simply choosing to read the Bible.
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Why Martha chose the Dishes.
If Jesus was sitting in front of you, what would you chose?
Would you choose duty? Would you choose purpose?
I guess it would just be what you have been habitually choosing.
Biblical Ground Work: Luke 10:38-42
Jesus is around the villages teaching, “The Kingdom of Heaven has come,” when He enters the house of Martha. He sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word.
Martha comes to Jesus and complains about Mary not helping her do her work but Jesus tells her that she needs to choose something more important – sitting at the feet of Jesus.
Choosing that good part which will not be taken away is why we have been chosen.
Biblical Life Lesson: Consistently choosing Jesus after He chooses you is not as easy as it looks.
We are busy people, more so we think, than back in the day of Jesus. The times actually don’t make a difference – BUSY is BUSY. Your choices have to be made quickly, and if you don’t know what choice to make, Jesus wants you to choose that which will not be taken away.
The Lord’s women in the Bible have a lot to tell us about effective Christian Living. Join me in The Bible Gals Monday’s at 2pm EST for “His Women in Our World” LIVE Discussions. The study of how women can be effective in changing the world by simply choosing to live for Jesus.
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What Can your Eyes See?
What can you see when you look at your world from God?
Job was listening well about God but his hearing did not equate to vision. His saw with his own eyes and with his cultural eyes.
Our Biblical Ground Work: Job 42:12-17
Job has been through the ringer and so has Job’s wife. He has had all of his livestock taken away and all of his children. What he was able to get out of this was boils and bad breath and God’s vision.
When God was done talking to him he was able to see. In Job 42:5 he said something significant that will reflect in his view of life from this day forward. “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees You.” His hearing was tuned in but he was blind.
He is now viewing his life through the Lord’s eyes instead of his own. This new vision created a new way of seeing that reflected on how he sees his new daughters as well. They were beautiful but what he actually saw was they were equal to his sons.
Our Biblical Life Lesson: Equality can only be seen through the eyes of God.
Equality is a subjective word because humans are not equal to look at. We are uniquely gifted and called to do something differently. We are male and female. We are Canadian and American. We are so different we cannot even explain our differences to each other. Our eyes are limited to what we can see in front of us but God can give us full vision.
What is, has been and will be equal is the Lords treatment of His children. He sees us based on our birthright in the Kingdom. We are born for a reason and that reason is unique to each of us. Equality, in God’s economy, is each of us doing God’s work with His zeal.
Join me in The Bible Gals Monday’s at 2pm EST for His Women in Our World Live Discussions.
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Speaking the Thoughts of Satan
Has a thought come into your head and out of your mouth before you thought of where it comes from or even if you agree with it?
Join the club…
Our Biblical Ground Work: Job 1:11; Job 2:9
The story of Job is one that a lot of people would refer you to if you are going through a tough time. Job and his wife both voice their sadness. Satan goes after Job with God’s blessing and uses his wife as a tool to get him to curse the Lord.
To be fair, Job’s wife has seen her life go straight into a pit:
- she has lost 10 children and the spouses that I am sure she had grown to love.
- the family fortune disappeared with all it’s creature comforts
- her husband Job has a rather nasty disease and bad breath to boot
Ultimately Job’s reward for “seeing the Lord” (Job 42:5) becomes her reward for remaining with Job during this trying time in their life. He understood the reason for this time and so did his wife.
Our Biblical Life Lesson: Our thoughts do not have to become words.
You will read throughout Job, thought becoming word. You will read throughout the whole of the Bible, thought becoming word.
The Lord says that every one of His words will not come back void and it shall prosper in the thing in which He has sent it (Isaiah 55:11) because His words are righteous (Psalm 119:123). The thoughts of the Lord are for us to live in hope (Jeremiah 29:11).
Satan, on the other hand, is the father of all lies and speaks from his own resources (John 8:44). His main resource is pride (Isaiah 14:12-17) so every word he utters will result in the pride of life being protected. The thoughts of the Devil are for us to die in despair.
Join me in The Bible Gals Monday’s at 2pm EST for “His Women in Our World” Live Discussions.
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Zeresh: One of Haman’s Herd Followers
Have you ever followed someone because they are popular regardless of how they lead?
Jeresh, Haman’s wife, is a great example of a woman who did just that.
Our Biblical Ground Work: Esther 5:14-10:3
Haman was of the a tribe of people (the Amalekites) who hated the Jews already but Mordecai stirred the hatred pot by not bowing down when Haman became second in command in the kingdom. Haman was told he was a Jew and the digging of his pit begins.
Zeresh comes onto the scene in Esther 5 when Haman needed to brag about all he has and tell of his hatred for Mordecai. The plot to kill the Jews was already hatched but the plot to kill Mordecai came from his wife and friends.
Haman is emboldened by his simple herd of followers to go to the king and ask to hang Mordecai but God is at work outside of Haman and his herd. The king sends Haman on a mission to immortalize Mordecai and his herd followers tell him of his downfall.
Our Biblical Life Lesson: Follow the Leader who creates a loyal follower.
Haman’s self serving actions caused great harm to himself, his family and the people of God. He himself was hung, his sons were hung and the rest of them just hung their heads. The weakness of their follow-ship makes us all shake our heads in shame because we have done this before. We have been followers who pamper our leader.
Simple followers think with the herd and follow the leader with a pampering mentality so as not to cause any opposition. They revere him for his popularity and feed his emotions. They are using him just as much as he is using them. They want what he has but are unwilling to do what he is doing.
Everyone follows leaders regardless of how they feel about being a follower. Following a leader whose intent is to hurt God’s people, whether through oppression or genocide, will cause God’s followers to come out of the woodwork. Esther is one of those followers.
Join me in The Bible Gals Monday’s at 2pm EST for His Women in Our World Live Discussions.
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A Time for Blooming
Can you think of a time when you bloomed into what you where doing?
What happened to cause it?
Our Biblical Ground Work: Esther 2:5-5:14
Ahasuerus (in Greek Zerxes) has put away his wife Vashti because she disobeyed him in not coming to parade herself in front of his party guests. This act of defiance created a situation for Ahasuerus – he no longer had a queen.
When his anger was abated, the same people who told him to put his wife out of his sight told him to collect women in the kingdom. He needed to have a queen. A decree went out and 100 women were collected including Esther. A Jew who was cared for by her cousin Mordecai after her parents were dead.
Her and Mordecai build up reputations for themselves among the people around them. Esther in the castle and Mordecai outside the palace gates. Esther as lovely inside and out, Mordecai dedicated to God inside and out. Mordecai’s dedication to God is why Esther has to sacrifice her life.
Our Biblical Life Lesson: You will bloom into who the Lord created you to be when you allow the old to die.
There will be a time that the Lord will bring you to a place in your life where you are going to have to choose between the old you and the new you. The reason He does that is so you become who He created you to be. The old you has 98% of you and He wants the new you to have 98% of you.
This transfer of power has to be done by us being put in a position where a choice has to be made – good or evil. If you have been raised up for such a time as this, to choose good, you will have the power to do it. BUT if you choose evil, God will raise another to do what you have refused to do but the consequences will be grave.
Join me in The Bible Gals here Monday’s at 2pm EST for His Women in Our World Live Discussion.
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The Beauty and the Feast
We have all seen them. They are called eye candy. Those women who are super beautiful married to the rich guys. They haul them around from party to party showing them off.
Have you ever seen one refuse to be flaunted?
Biblical Ground Work: Read the Book of Esther; Esther 1:1-2:4
The king of Persia named Ahasuerus (in Greek Zerxes) was having a party. He was known for his parties and this one was no different but something that would change the course of history was going to happen at this one. Ahasuerus sent for his wife, Vashti, to come in full queenly gear with her crown. This might be a simple request for him but not so simple for her.
Vashti was also having a party for the female guests. She would be busy entertaining them at the time of his request. Vashti was not going to parade herself as the beauty at his feast so she refused his request. The King was not impressed and neither were his advisors. To avoid this same atrocity happening to all the husbands, who wanted to parade their wives, she was punished. Ironic enough, her punishment was exactly what she wanted, to never come before the king.
Biblical Life Lesson: Our strength to do what is right comes with time.
The first woman we read about in Esther has a bold strength that can only come with time in her knowledge own situation. She knew her husband and his advisors well. She also knew exactly what he was thinking in this situation. The boldness and the strength Vashti utilized, in refusing to be ogled and groped by drunken married men, was evidence she had been in this situation before.
The husbands of the women she entertained were also at her husbands party. Although we don’t know her reasoning for refusing, we can make some educated guesses based on how women are used back in 480 B.C. or even today. She could have refused for her own protection, or for the women’s protection, or it could have been her own pride.
We are going to split this book in three and talk about three very different women from the same story. Read all of Esther each week so you can get a clear picture of these three women (Vashti, Esther & Zeresh).
Join me tomorrow at 2pm EST in The Bible Gals for our first meeting about the Book of Esther.
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How to prepare yourself for Extraordinary Service to God.
Would you like to be used of God for something extraordinary? Huldah, the Prophetess, spent many years growing into her vision from God to prepare for this extraordinary event written in this Book forever.
Biblical Ground Work: 2 Kings 22:14-20; 2 Chronicles 34:22-28
Israel and Judah were under the wrath of God at this moment in time for their worship of false gods. Josiah was the king of Judah and he was known as having a zeal for the Law of God. He sought the word of the Lord multiple times in his reign over Judah.
The Book of the Law was found in Solomon’s temple during its repairs and brought to Josiah. He wanted to know God’s opinion about this find, so he sent the priest to find it. They went straight to Huldah the Prophetess.
How does one prepare for the kind of extraordinary works Huldah was known for?
Biblical Life Lesson: Everything you do, in obedience to God, will get you ready for the extraordinary service you are called to do.
Huldah was known to be a prophetess accustomed to speaking the word of God directly to high priests and royal officials.
- She told kings and nations of their fate.
- She had the authority to determine what was and was not the genuine Law.
- She spoke in a manner of stern command when acting as a prophetess.
No one gains this much respect and honour by sitting in her house ignoring the Law and call of God for her life. Huldah prepared for her extraordinary vision from God to be a prophetess by stepping out, one mundane task at a time, and doing what the Lord tells her to do with diligence.
Join us Monday’s at 2pm EST for a live discussion in The Bible Gals here for the Biblical Power Tools that will help you follow in the steps of Huldah.
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Could Death be the Consequence of Living?
Have you ever been called by God to do something that might cause your death? It you just think about the Lord doing that, would you continue in the doing?
Biblical Ground Work: 2 Kings 11:1-20; 2 Chronicles 22:11
Judah and Israel were on shaky ground once more because of their pagan worshipping. King after king was leading Israel away from the Lord so the Lord allowed kingdom after kingdom to invade them but this invasion was not from another kingdom. It was from within.
Athaliah, the mother of King Ahaziah, took control of Judah by force destroying the royal heirs minus one. Jehosheba, sister of King Ahaziah, took Joash, the kings son, and hid him away with his nanny within the temple for six years.
She has access to the temple because Jehoiada the priest is her husband. It is him that creates the rebellion against Athaliah. He makes Joash king and has her killed.
Biblical Life Lesson: The Lord is worth living for even in the face of death.
Jehosheba was in a position to give her life by doing something that she knew was the right thing to do. Did the Lord promise her He would keep her safe while she kept a covenant king alive? Not that we read.
She went forward not knowing whether it would cost her life or even her husbands life. I am sure that she did not regret one single moment of her private rebellion but I am sure that she was scared.
Join us Tuesday’s at 6pm EST for a live discussion in The Bible Gals here.
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The Hearts Condition is Put to the Test
A Hebrew girl is captured in a raid of Israel and brought to Syria. She is placed in the house of Naaman, commander of the army for the King of Syria. He was a great and honourable man in his masters sight, but not greater nor more honourable than God.
Our Biblical Ground Work: 2 Kings 5
Naaman, the might man of valour, has leprosy. The Hebrew maidservant of his wife said, “If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! For he would heal him of his leprosy.” A brave thing to say. Her submissive heart was in good condition because Hebrews typically hated gentiles plus she is one of his slaves. All the more reason for her heart to be hurt.
Naaman seeks permission to go to Israel and he goes carrying a letter with loads of gifts. He first goes to the King but the king does not possess the power to heal. Elisha sends for Naaman but he is surprised by what he has to do to become clean. He is told, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean.” His entitled heart was revealed in his resistance.
The servants reveals their loving heart for him, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” His entitled heart was changed into a submissive heart and he was healed.
He offered a gift and Elisha refused to be rewarded for the work of the Lord, but Gehazi’s greedy heart saw the reward. He went after Naaman and claimed the reward while Elisha’s eyes were with him. Naaman’s leprosy became the consequence for his heart for deception.
Our Bible Life Lesson: The Fruit of your doings reveals your heart.
Our hearts are open only to the Lord. No one can see your heart but they can see your doings. The world is filled with things our heart longs for but can never satisfy. We can work hard but still not have what we want. When your wrong hearted wants becomes a lust then we will do what it takes to get it.
Our heart will be revealed in our doings. When the lust of the eye is more important than the Lord or the needs of others the consequences can be staggering. But know this for sure – you cannot hide your heart from your doings.
Join me in The Bible Gals community tomorrow at 2pm EST for the Biblical Power Tools to ensure the fruit of your doings is according to God’s vision for you.
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You are Invited into the Upper Room
Have you created an upper room for those whom you are to serve?
Elisha blessed the Shunammite woman more than she could have ever imagined because she showed him ongoing hospitality.
Biblical Ground Work: 2 Kings 4:8-37; 8:1-6
The Shunammite woman was a prominent woman married to an older gentleman. When she met Elisha she urged him to have a meal with her. They obviously enjoyed each others company because she built an upper room for Elisha to stay when he came into the area.
Elisha travelled around the nation a lot because he was the Man of God, not just to this woman, but the whole nation. He ran a school for prophets and went where the Lord sent him. He was someone who expected hospitality and got it.
Her hospitality opened doors for her that she believed were shut forever. She had no children but soon she did. She continued to be hospitable to Elisha after her son was born but then, he died. She had a problem on her hands but she still said, “Everything is all right,” three times. Her faith in Elisha’s ability to keep his promises is endless.
Our Biblical Life Lesson: Hospitality leads to untold blessings
Hospitality is “the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers.” (dictionary.com) Your “home” or your “home base” can be a place for you to become hospitable. My husbands home is his castle, so I am not allowed to entertain in our home. I entertain in my “home base”, The Bible Gals sisterhood.
This virus has changed the way we think about hospitality, and everything else, as a matter of fact. We do hospitality differently and we think differently about it. We are in touch with people today we probably would not be in touch with usually. We don’t see people we would usually see. I see my mother more and my grandkids less.
At this time we are redefining ministry and life. The Shunammite woman was just doing life when she invited Elisha over for a meal and extended the invitation to every time he passed by. Then, she offered him a place to rest and sleep. This is hospitality at its best with a deep friendship as a reward.
Join me in The Bible Gals community tomorrow at 2pm EST for the Biblical Power Tools to use hospitality as your entry into deep relationships.
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Jars of Hope
Have you ever cried out for help but not known what exactly to ask for?
So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.” 2 Kings 4:2
Did she know hope would come in a jar of oil?
Our Biblical Groundwork: 2 Kings 4:1-7
Elijah has been taken to heaven by chariot and Elisha is in his place as a prophet of God. He is running a school to train the prophets but one of them has passed away.
Somehow the prophet acquired debt and the widow could not pay restitution. By law the children would be required to work off the debt of their father. There mother was beside herself so she went to Elisha for assistance not knowing how he could assist but that she needed him to so she would not lose her sons to slavery.
Elisha asks her what she has in the house. She tells him she has nothing save one jar of oil. Good enough but she will need more to pay off the debt. He instructs her to go borrow more jars, bring them into the house and close the door.
She closes the door and fills all of the borrowed jars using her small jar of oil. When she sees they are all full she tells her sons to get more but there is no more, so the miracle ceases. She tells Elisha it is done and he gives her more instruction.
Biblical Life Lesson: A Miracle is never without instruction.
This story reminds of the times Jesus healed someone or performed a miracle in their sight. None of it was done without instruction regarding either how to get it or how to keep it.
When you first cry out to Jesus in need you really don’t know what you need because you need everything. You feel lost and alone. You need Him, yourself and others. It is all far away.
He will ask you what you have and show Him your tiny jar of oil. But that jar of oil is exactly what He has in mind for you but bigger. There is hope in that jar of oil.
The has been a biblical life lesson to live life to.
Join me in The Bible Gals community tomorrow at 2pm EST for the Biblical Power Tools to keep offering up that little jar of oil to keep pouring out hope for the future.
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How to abandon fear for an abundant life!
Jezebel set up an environment that bred fear and since that went against the teachings of the prophets of God she had to eliminate those who went against what she stood for.
Our Biblical Background: 1 Kings 18, 19, 21; 2 Kings 9
Jezebel is introduced to us in 1 Kings 16:29-31 as being King Ahab’s wife, the daughter of a Sidonian King. The Bible tells us that it wasn’t bad enough that Ahab followed in Jeroboam’s foot steps but he married Jezebel and began worshiping Baal.
Jeroboam was the first king of the Northern kingdom of Israel and set up high places for the Israelite’s to worship so they would not go to Jerusalem which was now in the southern kingdom of Israel called Judah. Now, you are all caught up! 😏
Since Ahab was a pansy, Jezebel was actually running the country. She usurped the power from Ahab by catering to his every desire. She kept him so busy creating new desires that she was able to run the country with an iron fist while he was occupied fulfilling his own desires.
She had control of the 400 plus prophets of Baal and Asherah. She had control of the whole of Israel including God’s people but God was not going to let her and Ahab have complete control. He created an environment of fear for them too using Elijah.
Biblical Life Lesson: If you are not afraid to die, you can live without abandon for Jesus.
The people around Jezebel where afraid for their lives. They were complicit in their worship of false gods because they were afraid to die therefore afraid to live for God. There were still quite a few people that the Lord saved for Himself who were not afraid to die including Elijah. The Lord might not use you to go after Jezebel but He does have a vision for you that will fill your life with wonder.
Last week we talked about killing the old you so the new you will live for Jesus with everything she has. Being afraid to die holds you back from living your life with abandon. There is nothing on this earth worth hanging onto that will cost you your soul. Elijah had nothing and lived without abandon.
The Lord showed His power to Elijah by feeding him using birds. Then the Lord used Elijah to show His power to all of Israel. He was the opposite of Jezebel and that is why she wanted to kill him.
Join me in The Bible Gals Monday at 2pm EST to discuss the Biblical Power Tools for how to abandoned fear for an abundant life.
I have exciting news for you as well. I am running a FREE Biblical Goal Bootcamp to help you plan a future with Jesus in The Bible Gals from February 22-26th. You can learn how to set biblical goals even if you don’t know your vision from God yet. Sign up here and make sure you join The Bible Gals.
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Death Makes you Alive
Have you had a near death experience or heard one that changed you?
The Widow of Zarepath thought she and her son would die but then her son actually did die. This experience could do nothing but change her forever.
Our Biblical Background: 1 Kings 17
Elijah, a prophet of God, rose up in the Land of Israel to tell Ahab there would be a famine in the land for three years. Ahab had allowed his wife Jezebel to set up Baal and Asherah high places for people to worship.
The Lord fed Elijah with the birds until the water dried up then He sent him to a widow in Zarepath, a suburb of Sidon. She was at the gate collecting twigs when Elijah showed up. He asked for a drink and a morsel of bread. She told him she had only a little and then her and her son were going to die.
That was not part of God’s plan for her so she lived. Elijah stayed with her but while he was there her son took ill and died. Elijah brought him up to his room and begged the Lord to put his soul back inside him. The Lord answered him and the boy lived. A miracle offered to all of us.
Our Biblical Lesson: Living begins when our old self dies.
The widow was willing to die physically when Elijah got to her but was her old self willing to die as well. The death of the widows son was enough sorrow for her old self to take up her cross. All the teachings Elijah gave her during the time that he was with her were confirmed for her.
As Jesus followers we understand this concept and can get behind it but are we living it? Are we carrying our old self around with us and giving her licence to lead? Are you alive in Christ or are you dead in self? Paul said in Philippians 1:21, “For me, to live is Christ, to die is gain.”
Join me in The Bible Gals Monday at 2pm EST to discuss the Biblical Power Tools for how to live for Christ and die to self.
I have exciting news for you as well. I am running a FREE Biblical Goal Bootcamp to help you plan a future with Jesus in The Bible Gals from February 22-26th. You can learn how to set biblical goals even if you don’t know your vision from God yet. Sign up here and make sure you join The Bible Gals.
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A Mixture of Confusion
Was Solomon so bored in his world that he needed to mix it with the pagan world?
Solomon asked for wisdom to lead the Lord’s people but did He come to the end of His wisdom of these people and went seeking the wisdom of all the world by marrying pagan wives?
Our Biblical Ground work: 1 Kings 11
Solomon was surrounded by paganism as a way of testing the Israelites. He obviously was intrigued by it because he collected women like he would collect rocks. He also collected horses, land, wood and every little thing he could get his hands on. He was a collector, especially of knowledge by wisdom. See the book of Proverbs for evidence of his collection of wisdom.
In his collection were many pagan wives, for whom he built high places and alters. These women would worship their “man made” gods and the Lord would not punish them on this earth. This, and a lot of other life’s issues intrigued him, so he added them all to his personal growth list.
This pursuit caused Solomon to be drawn away from the One True God, who provided him everything he had. As a result, the Lord rose up Hadad the Edomite, Rezon the son of Eliadah, and one of his own, Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who would also lead his followers into paganism, but for a different reason than Solomon.
Our Biblical Lesson to Live Life to: Taking the pathway to Jesus leads to wisdom and any other pathways, mixed in with it, will only confuse you.
Solomon got himself into trouble because he his purpose and vision from God as the king of Israel with woman he was intrigued with. What he did not consider is that mixing their pathways to man made gods with Israel’s pathway to Elohim created confusion in Israel. This confusion created strife and the subsequent separation of the Jews from God.
Ecclesiastes is a look into Solomon’s personal journal, after the Lord spoke to him, revealing how powerful the Lord is compared to the man made gods of his pagan wives. They exerted their power over him due to his intrigue. When he gave his power to deep intrigue of paganism, his pagan wives took advantage and required him to build worship places for them on the promised land of God.
These pagan wives went on a mission to turn Solomon’s heart away for God and they were successful. Instead of gaining more knowledge about the God of Israel, he set his heart on gaining more knowledge about life and the pagan gods his wives worshipped. Mankind’s purpose of life had to be understood and Solomon was just the wise man to do it (Ecclesiastes 1:13). He pursued this to the detriment of the Israelite people.
Join me in The Bible Gals Monday at 2pm EST to discuss the Biblical Power Tools for how to remain focused on your purpose in life.
I have exciting news for you as well. I am running a FREE Biblical Goal Bootcamp in The Bible Gals from February 22-26th. You can learn how to set biblical goals even if you don’t know your vision from God yet. You can sign up here
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Who do you think you are, the Queen of Sheba?
Have you ever been asked this before? What was your response? Why did they ask this question of you?
Biblical Groundwork – 1 Kings 10
Solomon is king of Israel and he asks for wisdom to rule God’s people. He gets it all and then some. The queen of Sheba (located in Ethiopia) hears about Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, so she came to test him with hard questions.
Once she was done testing him with all of her hard questions and saw the wisdom in which he operated, she looked at the rest. She saw his house, the food on his table, all the things he had and all the people who served him. She saw how prosperous he and his were, she said it was more than what she had heard.
She tells him how blessed he is and how blessed all of his people are to hear his wisdom all the day long. Then, she blesses the Lord for delighting in Solomon, setting him over Israel because, she says, the Lord has loved Israel forever.
She gave him many more gifts and left to go back to her country but not before Solomon gave her everything she desired. Her and her servants left and were never heard from again.
Our biblical lesson to live life to: Freely ask questions of the wise because that makes you wise.
If you have seen any of my Facebook LIVES you will discover that I am a questions asker. I ask tons of questions to clarify what I already know, and to understand, more clearly, what I don’t know. The queen of Sheba heard something that intrigued her. She wanted to find out if it was true. Turns out what she heard was less than what she saw for herself, and understood to be true.
Our eyes are not good judges of what is happening because there is so many factors involved in every situation. We tend to jump to a hyper focused vision of what is happening, but it is based on our history, and what we tend to look for with the people involved. We look at every situation in that same manner.
This is why you need to know more about Jesus before you go where you think He is leading you. From our larger vision (the mental image of God’s destination for you) from God, he will give us a hyper focused vision to learn more so we can move closer to that larger destination. The Lord will use His hyper focused vision for you to lead you to some personal works for Him.
Join us LIVE in The Bible Gals here Monday 2pm EST to discuss the Biblical Power Tools to give you a more hyper focused vision for Jesus and from Jesus.
For The 2F’s of Christian Living Show click here
Christian living is both frustrating and fascinating (the 2F’s) all at the same time. This show is going to take you from being frustrated about what is happening to you to being fascinated by what you are learning from it in just 4 weeks.
The current topic is Temptation. Who would have known that temptation can actually be fascinating? YOU CAN! Join us every Monday at 11am EST.
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Keeping the Buzzards Away
Have you let the buzzards eat the things you love?
Your Biblical Groundwork – 2 Samuel 21
We have discussed this famine before but we are coming back to it for Rizpah’s sake. She is the concubine of Saul and the mother of his two sons, Armoni and Mephibosheth.
There was famine in the land (Israel) for three consecutive years before David enquired of the Lord what the issue was. He told him that the Gibeonites had been killed by Saul (read Joshua 9-10 for more information) and his bloodthirsty ways.
For repayment of Saul’s actions they asked for seven of Saul’s sons so they can hang them. David chose the seven sons of which two were Rizpah’s and five from Michal (whom we discussed in the “Bitterness Grows Deep into on Michal” blog).
Rizpah went to where they hung her sons and spent five months shooing away the birds and the animals from devouring their bodies until finally David came and buried their bones. There was no way Rizpah was going to allow the thing she loved to be devoured by buzzards.
A Biblical Lesson the you can live life to: Even though what you love looks dead, the Lord can revive it.
According to the Bible these men where not brought back to life again but the Lord still looked out for these dead men by sending Rizpah to take care of them. Then, He sent someone to tell David what she was doing so he would bury these loved men where they belong.
Have you spend dozens of hours honing your gifts from God only to be have the work related to those gift ripped right out of your hands?
I can relate to this, if you said yes. I am not sure there is a Christian alive today who can say, “I have always been working in my giftings.” Every woman I know has either ignored their gifting or put their heart and soul into perfecting it only to have it ripped away suddenly.
What is up with that?
Join us LIVE in The Bible Gals Monday 2pm EST to discuss the Biblical Power Tools to keep the buzzards from eating the thing you love.
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Will no one Protect Tamar?
No matter how nice we are or how loving we can be, someone is going to take advantage of our loving character.
Biblical Background – 2 Samuel 13
Remember the curse that David was under for what he did to Bathsheba and her husband Uriah? Thus says the Lord: ‘Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. (2 Samuel 12:11) Absalom, his son, is this adversary from within his house. 2 Samuel chapters 14-19 tell the whole story.
He became the adversary because of the lack of protection his father extended to his sister, David’s daughter, against Amnon their brother. Amon, with his cousins advice (David’s brothers son), got permission to have Tamar bake bread for him while he played sick. The scheming has given me a knot in my stomach.
As Tamar told him. This horrible thing, he is about to do will ruin her and make her ineligible to marry. She gave him a couple of outs but he did not want them. He wanted what he wanted and he took it. Absalom will also get what he wants as well.
Our Biblical Life Lesson: We can protect women without taking an avenging stance.
Tamar was raised in a wealthy house, with a powerful father, yet that did not protect her from the misdeeds of someone in her own family. Family is supposed to protect us from the outside world but a lot of us were in need of protection from our families.
Tamar’s brother, Absalom, did just that for her, but his protection consisted also of murder and treason. This resulted in his death and the embarrassment of David. It was also the fulfillment of a prophecy spoken to him by Nathan just one chapter before.
There has to be a way to protect each other without ending up on the wrong side of the law or dead.
Join us in The Bible Gals Sisterhood here Monday at 1:30pm for the “Biblical Power Tools” to learn a biblical lesson to live life to.
Read an article here in the Huffington Post especially point number 6 which talks about the staggering and rising stats about sibling sexual abuse.
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The Big Cover-Up that Revealed a Warrior Woman
Biblical Background – 2 Samuel 11:1-12:25
Nathan tells a story about a rich man and a poor man. The rich man, who has everything he needs, betrays the poor man who has only one thing. That one thing is the thing the rich man wanted, so he took it. David listened to this story, only to get angry at the rich man, and demand his death.
David creates a cover up that wasn’t hidden from the Lord. He might have been trying to cover it up from humans but he is unable to hide it from the Lord. Nathan was the Lord’s mouth to David to let him know his actions were not covered as well as he had hoped. The consequence will be family strife, and boy, was there ever family strife.
Approximately 20% of women today experience some sort of sexual harassment by a superior, but I expect it was much higher when David was king. David used his influence to do something despicable. Not just one thing, but two. He knew what he should do, and he knew what he should not do. He was a smart man.
He saw Bathsheba attending to her purification and asked for information about her. He knew well in advance who she was, the daughter of a warrior and the wife of one, but that didn’t stop his plan. She was with powerful men all day long and was used to them but was she used to what David was about to do, using his power and influence?
Bathsheba was in a precarious position. Called by the king. Sexually assaulted by the king. Pregnant by the king. Married to one of his mighty warriors. And plenty more that we just don’t know about but we can feel. The knot in her stomach that will not go away. The fear of being blamed for this whole event and being stoned. Can you feel the tension she is feeling?
A messenger has asked for her, on this day, the worst of them all but there was more to come. The knot, is not just a knot anymore, it is a baby. The kings baby. As she stands in front of the messenger numb, he tells her the message for a second time because her heart pounding in her ears has marred her hearing. He is sorry to inform her that her husband, Uriah, has died in battle. Sorrow and relief hit her at the same time.
Our Biblical Life Lesson: We already have the skills we need to become a warrior woman.
Bathsheba must have been born with, and mastered some character traits of the warriors attitude from her father and husband. In spite of what has happened to her from being used for sexual gratification by the king to that child dying. She would raise king Solomon who would build the most beautiful temple, for God, of all time. Obviously her life did not come to a standstill because of these events.
Not only did she raise the wisest king but she has had Psalm 31’s instructions for men, attributed to her.
Do you want to be more confident that Jesus can and will heal your heart so you can become a warrior women?
Join The Bible Gals Sisterhood here to enjoy the easiest pathways to becoming the fulfilled genuine woman of God you are, while going after your vision from God. Your vision from God is closer than you think.
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Bitterness Grows Deep into Michal
When you make a choice, do you plant yourself in the Bible first or do you make it and check later?
We all know it is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. Michal made her decision regardless of her surroundings and annoyed her daddy who had much to much power over her.
Our Biblical Ground Work: 1 & 2 Samuel
Michal is the younger of Saul’s two daughters. Does she display the younger ones characteristics? Not at the beginning but near the end of our story you will see she does. She got away with deceiving her father and she never had to live up to any standard as her older sister would have to. Although I do have to say that she went through quite a bit because she was used, by her father, as a pawn in his game.
As soon as Saul discovered that David and Michal were in love, the games began. She was offered as reward for battle (1 Samuel 18:27) not thinking that David would succeed where he failed. David and Michal were married, but during their days together Saul was of the mind to kill David. Not knowing what love actually means, Saul was surprised his daughter would save his enemy alive (1 Samuel 19:11-17).
Saul gets angry again at David and gives Michal, his wife, to another man (1 Samuel 25:44). War breaks out between the Philistines and Israel again. Saul is killed and David begins to take ownership of his anointing but before he will take control of Israel he asks for his wife back but he is not getting the same woman back he left.
She moves into the kings castle with all his other wives, going from being the one wife of one man into the harem of wives David has collected (2 Samuel 3:13-14). As she is living in the castle, David is called to bring the Ark into the City of David. She sees him dancing and whirling and despises him in her heart. This would be the end of her life as she knew it (2 Samuel 6:16-23) because he put her away.
O no, that is not all. There was famine in the land so David went to the Lord to inquired about it. Turns out the Gibeonites wanted payment for what Saul had done to them, against their past covenant with the Israelites, and again Michal is thrown under the proverbial bus again (2 Samuel 21:1-14). How much can one queen take?
Our Biblical Life Lesson: Bitterness becomes a deep root because we don’t repent from the very first seed.
There was a lot of things that happened to Michal as you can read rom her story above. Her father taught her well about bitterness. Saul was bitter against David because he stole his accolades. That original weed of bitterness was never repented of, so all the rest of the reasons Saul hated David grew from that one bitter experience.
I can be a Bitter Batilda too. I have had some very nasty stuff happen to me but is that what the Lord wants from me. I say, “NO!” he doesn’t want that for any of His children so He leads you over some pretty big sink holes so when you are at the bottom of one you will realize how deep your bitterness root runs.
Join us in The Bible Gals Sisterhood Wednesday as we discuss the Biblical Power Tools to help you see the root and spray some Weed-X on it.
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What it is like to have a desire met by God
Have you been asking the Lord for something for a long time? Do you believe your Christian life will be fulfilled upon receipt of it?
You and Hannah have something great in common. The Lord has given you a desire that only He can fulfill. He does that with each and every one of us so that we can see clearly what He desires for us. Let’s see how He lead Hannah to Himself and fulfilled His desire for her.
Our Biblical Ground Work: 1 Samuel 1-6
Around 1200 B.C., in the mountains of Ephraim, lived a man named Elkanah. He had two wives and loved one more than the other, Hannah (sound familiar). Pininnah, his second wife, began a rivalry with Hannah because Hannah was barren.
Elkanah brought his family from his city yearly to worship and sacrifice to the Lord of hosts in Shiloh. On this particular year Hannah was at her very lowest emotionally and brought her petition to the Lord at the tabernacle. She couldn’t eat and cried bitterly. Her husband was of no consolation and Pininnah was torturing her because of her barrenness.
She went to the tabernacle to pray, alone, to the Lord of Hosts to beg Him for a child, a son. “O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head.” 1 Samuel 1:11
The Lord was indeed gracious to her and she became pregnant with a son. She cared for him and weaned him. She brought him to the tabernacle of God and gave him to the service of the Lord when he was approximately three years old. She continued to care for him by bringing him clothing every year. This child grew in favour of God and man. His name is Samuel, the greatest prophet to God in all of history.
Our Biblical Life Lesson: As His desire for you grows, so will your desperate need for Him.
There is nothing that we desire that the Lord has not put into our heart to desire. He gives us a deeper desire for it and the eyes to see that only He can provide it. He then rewards us with it and many more after that. Hannah was rewarded with three more sons and two daughters (1 Samuel 2:21) for going to the Lord.
Her great work for the Lord has never been forgotten. Hannah’s name means grace and it was God’s grace that brought her to the tabernacle to pray. And His grace that gave her peace as she walk away from Shiloh. He was with her all long. Using Pininnah’s chastisement to want Samuel more. Using her husband to drive her to the tabernacle to pray. Using Eli to bless her.
Every bit of it was God’s grace. I don’t know where you are at today but God is behind it all. What are your desires? Is everything happening right now driving you to desire it more? Come to the throne and boldly ask for it.
I invite you to come in deeper with me in The Bible Gals community this week as we learn the Biblical Power Tools for valuing our integrity while valuing people.
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Ruth, A Daughter with Integrity
What kind of woman do you think you are? Does your life compare to Ruth? Would you describe yourself as a daughter with integrity toward Jesus?
We compare ourselves to others to much these days. How we deal with mother. How we deal with children. How we deal with illegals. How we deal with ethnic backgrounds. We are stressed out by these dealings. Let’s see how did Ruth dealt with all of this?
Our Biblical Ground Work: Ruth
Ruth comes onto the scene as the wife of one of Naomi’s sons. He dies and his brother dies as well. Ruth is a young widow living with another young widow and her widowed mother-in-law. There is no men left and in those days men were the bread winners.
It is repeated to us over and over again that Ruth is a Moabite. A foreigner to the people of Israel. A relative of the people of Israel through Lot but a foreigner all the same. A relative of Naomi through marriage but nonetheless a foreigner.
Naomi was brought to Moab by her husband but is going home to Bethlehem without him. Ruth was born in Moab, but linked to Bethlehem through her husband family. She chose to remain linked to Bethlehem through her mother-in-law and she goes with Naomi to live in Bethlehem as a foreigner.
Ruth and Naomi need food so Ruth goes to glean in the fields. She is noticed because Boaz is supposed to notice her. He tells her to stay and work with his women and men so she does. We are told she works hard to provide for herself and her mother-in-law. She is mentored about Israelite living by her mother-in-law and soon lands herself a husband.
She is not only a foreign woman added to the lineage of her father-in-law’s family but into the lineage of king David and Jesus. Her whole identity was transformed for us with this story.
Our Biblical Life Lesson: If your whole identity is based in your integrity, your story can be as brilliant as Ruth’s.
On the surface it looks like Ruth has lost everything, her husband, her land, her family, her gods. We equate that lose to losing self. Ruth did not lose who she was in the process of serving Naomi. She was being herself. Her story is that of love, friendship, servant-hood and integrity.
We can learn to fill our relationships with integrity and still hang onto self in the process. There is great value in serving people with integrity but we need to place value on them first. All people have value but not always do we value them for the role they play in our lives.
I invite you to come in deeper with me in The Bible Gals community this week as we learn the Biblical Power Tools for valuing our integrity while valuing people.
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Naomi, A Mother of Integrity
Have you ever been in an environment where integrity is the last thing on the administrators mind? It’s a hard place to thrive.
Have you even been in an environment where integrity is the first thing on the administrators mine? It’s a place where you can thrive.
Naomi created such a place. She was the mother of integrity. She created an environment where her daughter-in-law’s united with her to maintain a stable and cohesive home in which to live. Let’s read the story.
Our Biblical Ground Work: Ruth
Elimelech, Naomi’s husband, moved the family to Moab because there was famine in the land of Israel. He died and so did both of Naomi’s sons, Mahlon and Chilion. Her sons married Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth. It is at this point, the story really begins for us. Naomi hears that there is provision in Israel again, so she packs up her clothes to leave Moab for Israel.
Her daughter-in-law’s follow her but she becomes realistic with them. She tells them she cannot provide husbands for them and sends them back to their own families. Ruth is determined to stay with Naomi, so they head back to Israel where they are greeted by the women of the Bethlehem. Naomi no longer wants to be called pleasant, she wants them to think she is bitter.
Naomi and Ruth live together with meagre supplements. Ruth gets permission from Naomi to glean in a field for supplies. She ends up gleaning in Boaz’s field and he notices her. As we all know, towns can talk, so he was already aware of who she was but had not met her until this day. He gives her favour and she goes home with much more than Naomi expected. She wants to know whose field Ruth gleaned in. She knows Boaz and his family ties to her dead husband.
Naomi councils Ruth on the rules of asking Boaz to redeem her family name, and she does exactly what Naomi tells her to do. She comes back with more grains and tells Naomi the whole story. Naomi reassures Ruth that Boaz will not stop working on this very day until this matter is solved. Naomi also does not stop working until her family is taken care of by the best people under God.
Our Biblical Life Lesson: Creating an environment of integrity gives your villagers a place of refuge.
As the city on the hill (Matthew 5:14-16) we are surrounded by people (villagers) who look to us for direction about how the Lord works in Christian lives. We are creating an environment that reflects the Lord Jesus Christ and His direction for us. This environment needs to be a safe place for them.
Creating an environment of integrity gives your villagers a safe place they might not have in their own city. They see cohesion among your villagers that is absent with theirs. They feel honoured by everyone and that makes them long to come back. They know you are who you say you are, because you do what you said you’d do. Your villagers love you because of it.
Do you want to know how to be like Naomi?
I invite you to go deeper with me with The Bible Gals this week as we learn the Biblical Power Tools for creating an environment of integrity.
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The Amazing Vision for Samson’s Mother
My first vision from God was not a burning 🔥 bush moment nor was it from an Angel of the Lord appearing before me. It was simply a picture of what is to come. A two dimensional picture followed by many years of shifting my direction to walk in it.
That is why I love reading these amazing stories of God Himself appearing 💦 before people in the Bible. They show me the possibility of my own story. The evidence of my own vision from God becoming a reality.
Our Biblical Ground Work: Judges 13
The wife of Manoah was barren and the Angel of the Lord ✝️ appeared to her to tell her she is barren but will bear a son. The Angel gave her instructions in what she should do during her pregnancy because this boy would be a Nazarite from conception.
After the Angel was gone she went to tell her husband what had happened. She describe Him as a Man of God with the countenance of the Angel of God 🌟🌟 very awesome 🌟🌟 but that is all she knows. She did not get His Name or ask where He was from.
Manoah asked God to allow Him to return and God listened to Him. As his wife was sitting in the field again the Angel of God came to her. This time she ran and retrieved Manoah.
Manoah questioned Him and was told the whole vision again by the Angel of the Lord. He believed and wanted to worship the Angel when the vision became reality. The Angel shifted Manoah’s direction toward 🔀 God and as he obediently gave to the Lord, he was rewarded with a vision he will never forget.
Our Biblical Life Lesson: The Rewards of shifting our direction are not always tangible but will always be memorable.
If you look at my life, and probably other women’s lives, you would not call us successful but we have rewarding lives. We might have been barren in our own eyes of the visible fruit of God. We have not had that burning bush experience when God tells us what we are going to do in understandable English. There have been small victories 🥳 that got us just a bit closer to our vision than yesterday because we shifted our direction just a hair.
I don’t know why Manoah’s wife was sitting out in the field those two times but when I am sitting out in the field, I feel like I am watching seeds grow. Watching something grow is pain staking and slow. More than once I have gotten up from my seat to plant something faster growing, only to end up back in the field watching the original seeds 🌱 grow again.
With almost every amazing story in the Bible 📖, waiting on the Lord’s plan to grow in you takes just a small shift in direction and obedience to that direction. Just as Manoah and his wife received a great reward, you will reap great reward as well. It may not have been tangible but it will be something they will have NEVER 🤩 forgotten.
Join The Bible Gals here to discuss the 3 Biblical Power Tools for shifting your direction toward Jesus.
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A Brilliant Idea to make Your Promises more Honourable
I raised my kids without making promises to them because I didn’t trust myself to honour them. I knew that there would be times when I would not follow through, for one reason or another, on that promise. The lack of follow through would then be what I was known for rather than all of my other good characteristics.
This idea was not wise because I did not even honour the promises I made to myself. My excuse was that I didn’t know if I would be able to follow through but it was more because I didn’t want to be “expected” to honour them. I learned through this that no one has to say, “I promise,” for people to take it as a promise. When you tell someone you will do something for them, they take that as a promise and expect you to honour it. By the way, so does the Lord, as you will discover with Jephthah and his daughter.
Our Biblical 📖 Ground Work Judges 11:1-12:7
Jephthah was a great warrior who was driven out by his family because he was a product of his father Gilead’s sexual sin. He hung out with lawless men and went about raiding. His great warrior status was remembered by the Israelite elders when the Ammonites wanted to go to war over the land.
They made Jephthah their commander and went to war with the Ammonites. They were successful because the Lord gave them over to them. For Jephthah this victory was going to cost. And He will pay the price out of honour to the Lord. For his daughter though the cost was dearer but she too would honour the Lord by paying the price.
Jephthah made a vow to the Lord that if He would give the Ammonites into his hands, and Jephthah comes back in peace, whatever comes out of his house first, he would give to the Lord as a burnt sacrifice (a tribute to honour God for what He has done). This a vow that would cost him his daughter and both of them would honour it with tremendous hurt. One because he doubted and the other because she wanted to honour it.
Our Biblical 📖 Life Lesson
You can learn how to honour your promises by learning how to make better promises.
The result of me never making promises to people is that I never learned how to take responsibility for following through on my promises. Jephthah’s daughter obviously learned how to do that from her parents. Honour is a great thing to have but honour hurts sometimes. We are avoiding the hurt by never making any promises or we can learn how to make promises that lead us into God vision for us.
Jephthah’s daughter fully understands your dilemma. She was put in an impossible situation by someone else’s vow. Then she answered that vow with a vow of her own. She promised she would return after two months of morning her virginity with her friends. She could have stayed in the mountains, never to be seen again, but she came back to honour God and her father. But mostly she honoured herself and is remembered still today.
Her father did not have to make that vow. As Jephthah was on his way to war the Spirit of the Lord came upon Him and He knew it. You cannot have something like that happen and not feel it. BUT he is still human and doubted his ability to take on the Ammonites. He bargained with the Lord because of his doubt and lost.
If you want a promise that you can honour, make if from a positive mindset, not a negative one. The difference between Jephthah and his daughter was the mindset. He vowed because he didn’t believe and she vowed because she was grateful to the Lord. Which one of them, do you think is easier to follow through with? If you learn how to make your promises from a positive state of mind, your follow through will cause you to be honoured by those around you.
Join us in The Bible Gals as we continue this discussion with The 3 Ways to Follow through on Every Promise Study and 🎥 LIVE.
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3 Reasons to Enjoy those Periods of Adjustments
We have special insight into the life the Lord wants us to live. He reveals information about who He is to us and transforms us using that knowledge. It is during that transformation time that we find ourselves inside a “period of adjustment”.
I know sometimes we see this period as mundane and boring because it is a time of reflection and growth. There isn’t too much going on because we are learning how to be, who this new knowledge requires us to be.
If we allow ourselves to linger, just long enough, in each period of adjustment we will grow into our vision significantly faster than someone who is bucking the change. We can enjoy those periods of adjustment as much as we enjoy the work involved in the working out of our vision. We always need reasons to comply with the Lord so here are three.
Reason 1: Enjoy Your Heart Receiving the Head Knowledge
Remember back to the day you were saved or the time period (I have to use time period because I cannot remember the date.) You walked away from that so stoked and ready to be a Christian BUT you just began a “period of adjustment”.
You have no knowledge about how to act or what to do, so you go back to what you do know, secular living. Christian living is not even on your radar let alone a setting on your GPS. You begin to ask questions about how to live as a Christian. As you ponder the answers to your questions the Lord starts moving some of the answers down into your heart. It becomes a truth building experience with Him.
Reason 2: Enjoy a Wonderful Understanding of Your New Relationships
There is not doubt about salvation changing relationships. The first relational change is your relationships with Jesus. Before there wasn’t one and now there is. Adding a relationship with Jesus tends to complicate. Who are you in this new Christian life with Jesus? Who are you with your spouse, kids and family members? Who are you in every aspect of life?
This period of adjustment gives you the time to ponder who this person is who has this knowledge and how you will relate to others with this new knowledge. Your relationship with Jesus, self and others can be wonderful when you take every period of adjustment as a time to obtain an accurate understanding of theses relationships. It becomes a relationship building experience with Jesus.
Reason 3: Enjoy a Faith Empowered by Jesus
As you spend time in any period of adjustment Jesus has an opportunity to grow you into the person you need to be. Each session of adjusting you go through your faith grows. As your faith grows your vision for the future you grows as well.
Knowing this alone is enough for me to want to sit with Jesus for a period of adjustment, but that is not what is required of us. We are becoming who He created us to be so we can do what He has created us to do. This faith building experience with Jesus is just what we are going to need to move into our vision.
When we walk away from these periods of adjustments we are changed beyond measure. We have had a truth building adjustment, a relationship building adjustment and a faith building adjustment. That is what they are meant to do.
Each adjustment made in your life is a change in direction toward knowing your vision, growing into your vision or growing from your vision. They are all measured and calculated by Jesus to get us into each place we need to be.
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Let me Show you the Secret of Deborah
Do you feel alone and scattered from the Body of Christ?
Were you exiled because you became a Christian but then feel alone still because you are misunderstood even by Christians? Or have you wandering around the fringes of Christianity because you feel like you don’t belong?
Deborah, a biblical Judge, was called to gather the people of Israel together and establish it as a village again.
Our Biblical Ground Work
Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, judged Israel around 1250 B.C. She sat under the “Palm Tree of Deborah” and the children of Israel came to her for judgement. While she was judging she sent for Barak.
Barak was a general who had previously been told by God the he would go to war against Sisera but He obviously needed to be told again because Deborah had to remind him, “Has not the Lord God of Israel commanded…” After they finished with the war we find out more about Deborah in her song about the victory in Chapter 5.
Village life had ceased until she became a Judge. People did not travel the main roads. They were in hiding. There was no war implements among the 40,000 in Israel. She gathered volunteers, reestablished village life and formed an army with Barak. Then she sent him out to defeat Sisera, and ultimately cause the destruction of Jaban, the king of Canaan. All while judging Israel.
Our Biblical Life Lesson
When everyone is scattered, Deborah did what every leader should do, establish village life again.
You can call Deborah many things, judge, general, prophet, leader, councillor, and mother but she is the one thing that is a secret to most, the builder of a village. In Judges 5:7, Deborah says, “Village life ceased, it ceased in Israel, Until I, Deborah, arose, Arose a mother in Israel.”
She lead them into establishing the village life again, with a protective army as well. Barak was the General in the village army but he was not as secure in his role without Deborah but she, obviously, was secure in her role as the village leader, prophet of God, and judge of the Law for Israel.
Do those roles sound familiar to you? Are you establishing a village for God?
Being secure in your role as the leader of your “Village” is not dependent on people putting you into place, it is dependent on God putting you into place. Establishing a village is a strong place to be but highly misunderstood by most people. They call you wife and mother but you are the Village leader.
You are also a part of other villages therefore you fall under other village leaders. The Body of Christ is a nation with many villages. Establishing a village of Christians takes many leaders, working together, to put everyone in the place the Lord wants them to be in.
Deborah, under God’s leadership, established village life again from an oppressed Nation of Israel. They learned to love each other and protect each other under her guidance. How are you guiding your village?
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Spiritual Strength
I have been going to church for 15 years. There have been times when I have not attended due to circumstances beyond my control but overall I have attended one church or another for that time frame. I have been teaching Bible Studies for at least 10 of those 15 years. I claim my blessing from God, for the great understanding of the Holy Bible, and the great zeal for applying it into my life, even when it hurts.
The application of the Bible is how we can gage our maturity in the words preached to us by the Holy Spirit and by the Book that is meant to teach us maturity. The Holy Bible is a circular book. It gives us information to apply into our life, then, to do it Biblically, we have to go back into the Bible to understand how to apply it. Do we see the people in our church doing it that way? Are our fellow pew warmers and example of that?
Let’s look at what kind of people are sitting in the pews next to us right now. As I see it there are three: those who love Jesus but don’t know Him, those who know Jesus but don’t love Him and those who love Jesus and know Him.
Those who love Jesus but don’t know Him are those who are sitting beside you because their mom sat beside you. They love Jesus because their mom loved Jesus. They love Him because people told them loving stories about Him. They may have seen His work or heard about His work in the lives of others but they know it not in their own life because they know Him not. It’s sad but very common. Is this you?
Or maybe this is you. Those who do not love Jesus but know Him are also sitting beside us in the pews. They are the ones who know Jesus but do not believe who He is. They have also been in the church for a long time based on their knowledge of Jesus. But the more they know Him the more they hate Him. Their hatred is not something they keep to themselves, they want us to hate Jesus too. They are the false prophets among us. They love Him not.
And then there are the people who love Jesus and know Jesus. These are the ones sitting beside you who worship Jesus with all their being. They want to know Jesus and they want to love Him more. They are addicted to the way they feel about Jesus. They have the spiritual strength we envy.
Guess what. You don’t have to envy it, you can have it too. You can know those who love Jesus for no reason of their own and those who hate Jesus because their knowledge is not perfected about Him. It is all about your knowledge.
We know that it takes time to learn. Knowledge lingering around in our heads without pondering its importance to our life causes our knowledge to be incomplete. No mystery is solved, no problem worked out, no advanced knowledge gained, no spiritual growth resulting in no spiritual strength.
A Christian without spiritual strength is a weak Christian. Someone who is swayed by a false prophet into hating Jesus. Someone who is lulled into thinking, the Jesus they love, is their Jesus and not their parents. We got out of the mud with our spiritual strength would it be a good thing to land back in there again. It would be tragic to say the very least.
Spiritual strength comes from loving Jesus and knowing Him or vise versa knowing Jesus and loving Him. Any other way will not give us the strength we need because we will not even know we have it. Do a search this week on strength in the Bible. Learn about the strength we have in us as a result of the Holy Spirit bringing it with Him. Then believe it so you can use it to ward off deception.
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The mud
One of the questions I spent my life trying to answer was, why am I here? I felt so insignificant. It wasn’t just the family I was brought up in, but also the way I was living my life, too. I knew when I became an adult I was no long able to blame my family for my inactivity in my own life. Because I was not an active participant in my own life, I was buried in the lives of others, my friends, then my man and then my kids.
What I did not know, until I knew Jesus, was although I was wallowing in the mud, I am not an ameba in the mud. My life has purpose just as your life has purpose, otherwise we would not ask the question. We are here at this time in history for a reason despite what the evolutionist believes. Do not believe that we are the result of a destructive explosion the actually created life in some million year old mud puddle. We are not meant to dwell in the mud while waiting for death. We are meant to see and know the purpose of our life and move toward it.
I am pondering the future therefore I must ponder the past. I ponder it with amusement and amazement. I laugh at how invisible I thought I was and how invisible I must be in the future. My purpose has brought me full circle in my thinking. I believed that I was invisible in the past and it hurt me, but I know that I must be invisible in the future to glorify Christ which excites me. My past was painful, but my future is hopeful. How does one reconcile this phenomenon?
This very morning it came to me. In the past I was invisible because I was in mud. I believed that you looked at me, but you did not see me because of the mud (life’s mistakes, worldly views of beauty, you know that MUCK) I was covered in. I was sinking quick in this mud and had no way of pulling myself out. I knew one thing though, you could not pull me out because you were human too. At one point in my life I would love for you to join me in the mud but time in the mud made me empathetic toward everyone in the mud.
I needed spiritual strength to get out of the mud, eternal strength. Earthly strength was not going to do it, it couldn’t. Eternal strength was the power I needed to understand what chosen invisibility should look like. The eternal strength I have is Jesus. I am in Him (I am invisible) and He is the strength I need to do anything He has anointed me to do. I become invisible because I want you to see Him. My purpose was given to me by Him to glorify Him. When He is glorified, souls are saved. The most important part of being a Christian.
If you are in the mud today, know that you must come out. You are not meant to wallow in the mud but be invisible while you learn from your anointing. My time and effort as a Christian is to show you the way out. I am annointed to do that therefore I too learn from my anointing. That is why I live. Jesus will be found, and He will be glorified whether you follow His purpose or not BUT what wonders you will behold if you do. COME OUT OF THE MUD.
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The tongue’s direction
I started reading James yesterday, in my personal time with Jesus. If any book of the Bible stops me in my tracks and causes me to ponder my past, it is this book. I even pondered where James came from. I read the introduction to this book first in my Archeological Study Biblewhich caused me to ponder this man, James, the brother of Jesus. He is His brother of a different father. Raised in the same household but grew up with different ideas and characteristics. James even mocked Jesus (John 7:3) as brothers would.
Now, here is this same James telling us who to be, with faith in his Brother, Jesus. This is a 180-degree change, mocking to loving, disobeying to obeying. Do we think that he did not grow up hearing the story of his mother’s immaculate conception? Did Mary not tell him and Jude about the miraculous conversations they have had with people about their Son? I am not sure about you, but I would have told all and obviously Mary did because otherwise how would the writers of the Gospels have known.
James became a prominent figure in the Jewish Christian Church in Jerusalem (Acts 15) but he too was not without fault. He had the same fault as all of us, mocking what he did not understand. O, you have never done that? Lucky you, I am guilty as sin from doing that. I have thought it and I have spoke what I thought into existence. My mouth has been the bane of my existence, from the very moment I was born.
Prosperity teachers tells us that we can speak something into existence like a car, or money, or friendship or love. God is the only one who can speak something into existence, all the rest of us can only speak encouragement or discouragement into existence. As I read James I am reminded of my existence before, and even after, Jesus claimed my life. I cringe at the hurt I have caused with my rudder.
Today, I am making new friends and am reminded that they do not know who I was. They see me completely different as the people from back then. Most of the friends I had back then are no longer my friends today, but some still are. I have hurt many people with the thoughts I have chosen to think, then to mouth. Words that have meant to discourage AND also words meant to encourage.
Either way, my words have been the deciding factor of our friendship and they will continue in that manner. If we back our words up with our actions, we will either gather people or repel them. James says that the man who has mastered bridling his tongue can also bridle his body (James 3:2). This has been my goal throughout all of my walk with Jesus. I want to bridle my soul which in turn can bridle my body, faith perfected.
Whether you are an introvert or an extrovert, you need to bridle your tongue. For introverts you need to speak when someone needs you to speak and for extroverts you need to just shut up. We all have this issue, hence the book of James, and we all need to bridle our tongues and make it go where the Spirit wants it to go.
You ask, “Where is that?” Psalm 145 tells us exactly where our tongue should go. It should proclaim the works of God rather than our own because we are all a work of faith in progress. Hearing about the works of God will strengthen our faith and progress our works of faith. Remember the works of God in your life and tell of them. I share as much as I can with my new friends because they need to hear it. I am not proud of who I was, but I am proud of who I am. The Lord has done a great work in me and my tongue’s direction is the Spirits direction.
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New Nanosecond, New Me
Have you heard the saying, new year new you? My son, Alex, said it the other day while referring to one of his friends. As I was reading the Bible this morning, in Hebrews, my mind was going nuts about the new information I was understanding. I am also reading another book called The Subtle Art of not giving a [bleep] by Mark Manson. This book is also adding new understanding to my repertoire. I will never get tired of knowing something new. I will never get tired of caring for the new me.
The most fascinating thing about “new” is that it replaces”old”. Don’t miss this. It REPLACES the old. Old is boring and [don’t mind my lack of diction] OLD. It is stale and unproductive. No matter what you believe, it is not right, it is wrong. I know you are thinking, “Hey, I like the old! It’s comfortable. It’s sustainable. It works for me. It’s EASY.” Well, despite you’re comfort level in the old, every nanosecond you are becoming new. Every nanosecond the world is becoming new and you are staying old.
Since I became a Christian, the Lord has been changing me. Sometimes, to be nakedly honest, I hated it. I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord in February of 2003. In 2019, it will be 16 years of change, more change, and even more change. It has been filled with sorrow, pain and trials giving birth to this new me. Using the world’s standards, I see this new me as a failure. I have done nothing significant. I spend a significant amount of time changing my mind. From the outside [since no one can see my mind, except Jesus] it looks, to me and to you, as if I have done nothing and as a result gone nowhere. I fight the battle of the “failed life” every day. I spend a lot of time thinking about who I am NOT.
2019 will be my naked “who I am” year. I am throwing off the old black outfit. Don’t get me wrong, I have been nakedly honest all my life, but only about my negative experiences. I do not mind getting naked about my failures, but my successes are a whole new outfit. I care about my failures because they lead me straight into my success, but they are old, moth eaten and not a flattering colour for me. Every nanosecond I am made new by Jesus. Every nanosecond His mercy covers me. He created me to be clothed in white, but I am continually dressing myself in black. I am going to be a success, throwing off the black this year, and clothing myself every nanosecond in white.
I will remember the black pile of clothing on the floor behind me but will look upon the white I wear. I want you to see the white also, knowing that it came from stripping off the black, thread by thread. I break Jesus’ heart every time I sew black threads through my white garments. How am I going to combat this habitual sewing of blackness? I think I will end the day with a “Note to Self” answering the question, “What have you been successful doing today?” Since I hate not knowing the answer to any question, I will be sure to provide myself with an answer.
Happy New Year everyone. What were you successful doing today?
Kathleen is a Christian who has been improving her life skills since her life with Jesus began. In her own revolutionary style, she is using this knowledge to teach and to write novels that teach.
Happy is she, preparing for 2019. She is beginning the Hope Devoted Women’s Ministry this year to serve the women of Essex county with what she has learned from Jesus about living the abundant life through improving her own life skills. Her first book in the “Crown for Life” series entitled The White Picket Fence, Crown for Life Pursues Biblical Boundaries has been published and she is writing her second book The Path to Somewheresville, Crown for Life Pursues Biblical Planning in LaSalle, Ontario, Canada.
Kathleen has raised four children and is now spending time loving on her grandchildren. Each day she learns something new about Jesus and her relationships with her family and friends. She has a full life and is proud to be called a child of God.
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Living on the Fence
Before my kids were old enough to ask questions about Santa Claus I was still living that pagan ritual but now I am saved and being asked questions by my grandson. I had no idea what to say. How do you encourage imagination without lies? This is the question all Christians are faced with this time of year. Here is what I encourage you to do, and what Jesus has put on my heart about Christmas, and every day, that you would know the truth.
There was a real man, named Nicholas, who did what the Spirit moved him to do. He fed the poor, gave gifts to the orphans and helped the widows. He did what the Lord told him to do and as a result the spirit of what he did lives today, his fruit. We can believe this story and know that it was ordained by God because it lives in our knowledge. You need to bring this whole story home with the story of Jesus.
There is nothing wrong with children knowing the story of Nicholas, especially if they know who Jesus is. It is those who do not believe in Jesus who perpetuate the inflated story of St. Nick or Santa Claus. They know there is something out there, that is spiritual, and they attribute it to Santa this time of year and any other timely mythical character that man has created. The Devil is at work convincing people of the validity of these characters, so those people do not have to believe the Holy Spirit or the Spirit of God is active all year round. The fence is erected.
Now, read the Bible, Ephesians 3:15-4:3. This is a prayer for those who have jumped up onto the fence. This is a prayer that each of us who believe, should put to work each day, and be reminded of, when we are tempted to kick someone off the fence. The Lord put them up onto the fence, in our presence, for us to support Him in His work. Our calling, to support Jesus in His work on this earth gathering His people together, is more important than telling people what we know. He gives us the knowledge we need, even if it is secular knowledge, to bring His people down off the fence into the faith. All knowledge can be used to help someone who is on the fence.
If you are saved and still on the fence I say to you, keep asking questions of Jesus and He will answer them using people and the Bible. If you are talking with people who are on the fence do your best to make sure you don’t kick them off because they will not come down on the side of Jesus. You will have bruised them and left a nasty taste in their mouth about the Body of Christ. If you are saved and keep jumping up onto the fence about specific topics, stop it. Mature Christians don’t jump up on the fence because of a topic they are pondering. They question Jesus, asking for the truth, knowing they will receive it and believe it.
People on the fence are asking questions looking for the truth. We ask questions of Jesus, as mature Christians, expecting Him to answer them. We ask question, of mature Christians, expecting them to know the answer from the Bible or help us find the answer from the Bible. The goal for every Christian is to get off the fence and believe God.
I pray this prayer over you and every person who is on the fence about the truth. Pray this prayer over yourself if you are on the fence. If you are a mature Christian, pray this prayer every time you are tempted to hop up onto that fence. There is no grey area with God only with humans. When we are in that grey area we need to make sure we don’t climb up on the fence. The Spirit, in the inner man, has the strength you need to know the truth and you will be filled with all the fullness of God. Isn’t that what we all want?
Merry Christmas
May the Lord bless you this Christmas with His fullness through your faith.
Kathleen Derbyshire
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Come Down
It is my goal alone to help you handle life better. Life can, and will, bring us to a breaking point. People will shatter your expectations of them and they will go beyond your expectations. In my personal Bible reading time today I came across a set of verses that knocked me to the grounded again.
I have been playing with who I am and what God wants me to do. I have deemed myself ineffective, unworthy and unequipped to perform my duties. I have tried to redefine myself multiple times, without success, because I am who He created me to be, regardless of how I feel. I must say, “He is so wonderful to allow me time to play and to learn.” I adore Him more for it.
In my wandering, I came to a see-through mountain that I could not climb, nor could I traverse it. I had to simple stand in front of it and look at what everyone else was doing on the other side. It made me sorrowful to have to watch others serve Jesus while I wait. It made me jealous to see women leading women while I learn. It made me want to prove I am capable, but am I?
Today, I discerned, that I am not. I still have much to learn about serving Jesus. Take a look at the verses that made me come down off my pedestal. Read with me 2 Corinthians 6:3-10. These verses scream from the other side of that mountain; invisibility. I have spent my whole life trying to prove myself, to many people. People who don’t know me at all, to people who have access but chose not to know me. I even get wrapped up in proving myself to me. I must continue learning, there is no one who knows me better than Jesus does. He consistently proves that to me.
There is no one who knows you better than Jesus either. The offense we feel when someone, who doesn’t know us and who doesn’t care to know us, causes us harm, belongs within these verses. No matter what our feelings, we are to give no offense, so our ministry is not blamed. I am still working this out. I need to learn “confident invisibility” knowing, that I am known by Jesus.
My ministry is to show you everything God has taught me, from the Bible, through my own tribulations, needs, distresses, imprisonments, tumults, labours and sleepless nights using patience, purity, knowledge, kindness, the Holy Spirit and sincere love. I stood before a Holy mountain therefore I removed my shoes. While my shoes are off, I will learn and when He makes my feet ready to spread the good news, I will be ready to go.
My story, is the story that will prove to you, that our God is the God of hope (Romans 15:13). He is the Way, the Truth and the Life (John 14:6). He shows us what perfect love looks like because He loves us perfectly (1 John 4:18). He calls us to love each other deeply, because that kind of love covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8).
I cannot tell you enough how getting through the hard times with Jesus, will help you reap the rewards in this life. I already have the hope of heaven instilled in me. Steadfastly remaining in the hope on earth is where I faulter. 2019 will be the year I learn to sustain hope on earth by using 2 Corinthians 6:3-10 as my guide.
I invite you to join me in the pursuit of hope on earth. There is nothing that can happen to me on this earth that will change my hope in heaven. Jesus Christ is my Lord and Saviour. He will always be my Lord and I will always be His bondservant. Let me help you, in 2019, make this claim as well. Together, we can come down from our pedestals, and raise Jesus up instead.
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Our Place has the Perfect Way
If it was up to me I would make my way perfect for me. I would have not drama, no trials, no tribulation, no pain, no sorrow and absolutely no confrontation.
Yet, if I look at what Jesus did, from the time He was born, He had plenty of all of those things even before He exited Mary’s womb. The brutal Romans where the government that was on His shoulders (Isaiah 9:6) constantly.
There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about what He went through to die for me, so why should I ever think that the place He has for me, here on earth, should be any different than the place the Father prepared for His only Son.
Unlike Jesus, I have a lot to learn about myself and others.
He knew all man, and did not ruminate about what they would do, or say, about His plan. He was headed in the perfect direction which happened to be the worst direction for His disciples.
Once they got on board, they headed in the same direction.
The perfect way to glorify the Lord.
My Visionary Living Advice 💦 for you this week is to not discount the gravel road because it leads to the perfect road to your place.
Watch Biblical Power Tool #184 here then Join me in Midlife Ministry Makers this week to Behold Your Way.
#lifistrydisciplines #lifistrydiscipline_4 #beprepared #Its_about_time #Liveyourvision #yourway
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Am I Able in my Place?
It is not good enough to know your place here on earth but we have to practice it as well. I don’t like practicing either. I would just rather have the ability zapped into me.
Well, guess what? It has been zapped but not by some wish granting genie but our God, who also gives us spiritual eyes to recognize Him at work. That is where the troubled heart comes from.
Did I see that correctly?
Did I hear that correctly?
Am I going in the right direction?
I am supposed to do this?
I put way to much pressure on myself to be perfect at the task I am doing that I don’t want to spend time practising to get better I just want to be better.
My greatest accomplishments where born out of hours and hours and hours of practicing something to get it right. “They” say that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to be called an expert at something.
I am a, “can I have it now” kinda gal but I know the best things happen to those who practice what God has assigned to them here on earth.
I want to be an expert at my Vision from God so I can be highly effective at it. When I am highly effective at it here on earth I am also storing up treasures in heaven.
I know there is a place for me here and there. Practice is the gap between me and any place I have down here.
My Visionary Living Advice 💦 for this week is to enhance your place down here with practice as you store your treasures up in Heaven.
#lifistrydisciplines #lifistrydiscipline_4 #beprepared #Its_about_time #Liveyourvision #yourway
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Behold, the Beauty of the Meantime
The most beautiful sight for me at Christmas is the lights. The warm and cool glow of them, the flashing and the tracing, the colourful and the white. All of their characteristics bring me tremendous joy each year.
Currently, we have a tree in our basement that I am looking at from where I write this blog entry. It has both white and colourful lights on it. The warm white lights glow continuously and the coloured ones glow with in a slow to powerful song. The one thing it is missing is its decorations.
It’s a new tree for us this year. It came with my daughter who is biding her time with us until she moves to another city to begin university. It will be regaled with her decorations when she gets around to it.
While I am waiting for her to decorate, I enjoy the flashing coloured lights and the warm white lights without any obstructions.
In the Meantime
The lights on the tree can barely be seen in the day time so the tree looks naked until my daughter covers it with her colourful decor. In the meantime, I will plug it in and enjoy how it shines with a breath taking, mind soothing, glow.
The tree is living in a state of readiness for the decorations, just as we are living in a state of readiness for our place to be revealed to us. When I sit before the Lord to grow up into His Woman of Vision, I am preparing to come to His place for me in Heaven.
Yet not only I am preparing myself to meet Him in the sky when the horn blows, but I am preparing myself to meet His expectation of me for my next “Upward Call of God” to move toward my “Vision of God”.
What can I do in the Meantime?
Continue doing what I know to do, as well as prepare myself for what is to come, the return of Jesus or my next “Upward Call of God” to move.
My Visionary Living Advice 💦 for you this week is to lead yourself through each day with a mind to return to Jesus for how to get ready.
Are you ready to work hard for your place on earth so you can enjoy the reward in your place with Jesus?
Meet me in Midlife Ministry Makers this month to discuss the reasons to celebrate and enjoy the place the Lord has for you.
#lifistrydisciplines #lifistrydiscipline_4 #beprepared #Its_about_time #Liveyourvision #yourway
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Escaping the World for the Sake of Your Vision
In the last couple of weeks we have seen the Lord’s holiness and heard from the Holy. There is nothing left for us to do but to take action because of this Holy.
We are going to dive deep for divine direction this week into Biblical Power Tool #182 – Take action in His Holiness.
Have you ever been listening to a movie or a sermon or read a book and had something stand out so vividly that you think about it for days or even weeks.
This is how God gets my attention.
I am an Intellectual Connector to Jesus. He knows that because He knit me together that way. He created my inner most parts with that in mind. He knows how to get my attention and how to change me into the new woman He desires me to be.
He knows I am going to take action in this new wiser woman. He has sent me to a destination and I have to be a new wiser woman to get there. He shows me my destination (my Vision from God) more clearly and vividly through the fog to this new wiser woman.
This is how God gets me to my Vision.
I can be this new wiser woman and make peace at the same time. I can journey to my vision and make allies of my enemies at the same time. I can be encourage by the successes of leaders and surpass them at the same time.
Taking action takes seeing and hearing the Lord on the journey. As I identify with Jesus more I can journey for longer and work harder toward my vision each time.
The place I am going with the LORD is waiting for the Woman of Vision I have and will continue to grow up into.
Join me in Midlife Ministry Makers this week as we discuss taking action to live in His holy so we can be holy for the sake of our ministry and the glorification of the Lord.
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The Storm reveals the Holy in Me
I tend to go into the negative when I hear the word “storm” but that was definitely the old me way of seeing a storm. The more storms I go through the more holiness is revealed in me.
It wasn’t always this way. When I was hit with a storm I could see the ugly very clearly. The more significant the storm the more ugly was revealed.
Luke 6:46-49 is a story that Jesus told that describes me in progress perfectly. I was of the belief that the storm only revealed the ugly but it also reveals the “Holy in Me” as well.
The Perfect Storm
The ugly in me creates the perfect storm that could blow my house down every day. I know what I should do yet I procrastinate, I whine, I complain. When I get busy doing the Lord’s work for me I feel accomplished, happy and content even in the middle of a storm.
There is such a stark difference between me and this other storm chaser. I can easily identify myself with Jesus because I hear Him and do what He says. The feeling of overwhelm in the storm goes away and the calm invades.
Rebuild on the Rock
Jesus shows me the ugly in the storm, I can hear His divine direction for me, as I obey I again feel accomplished, happy and contented. I know my Lifistry is built on the Rock because I know what to do when a storm rocks my world.
They come at us like the full circle of a hurricane. The storm reveals every one of the weaknesses in the life and ministry we are building. Although this is a painful process, it is a good thing to go through with the Lord.
When I can see my weaknesses I can deal with them, by going back to examine the foundational truth in which I had failed to build on, and rebuild it on the Rock.
My Visionary Living Advice 💦 for this week is not to be afraid of the cracks and gaps in your foundation. Ask the Lord to reveal them so you can make sure to rebuild on the Rock.
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Questions Require Answers; Answers Require Jesus
I don’t know about you but not having the answer to a question drives me crazy. I will make them up if I have too.
A great example is when I am wondering why someone did something I will make up an answer just so I can be content. It could be the biggest lie in the world but it is still an answer.
The problem with that is I begin to believe people are not what they are.
The Bible is God’s Answers for Me
I was doing the same old same old, making up answers but I was at a loss for why someone in authority over me was doing what he was doing. I finally talked to the Lord about it and He sent me to 1 Samuel. I was perplexed but okay.
This was the first time for two things. One, I went to the Lord for answers and two, He answered me by sending me to the Bible.
I began reading 1 Samuel in the first chapter. I was still perplexed until I got to the story of Saul. Then, I understood His answer to me. Peace came over me and I was ready for warfare.
No one around me was able to answer my question because they had all been deceived by this man. It was only the Lord who was able to put this into perspective.
Perspective is Key to Answer Appeasement
Sometimes, I don’t like the answers I get from God but when I put them into perspective I am appeased by the answer. I know sometimes you don’t like the answers God gives you either.
We are all required to understand the sovereignty of our God in His right to do what He wants to do. But if you put the answer into perspective of the whole picture of God, it is easier to be appeased by it.
This week is Q&A week in Midlife Ministry Makers because I know how hard it is to have unanswered questions.
Our topic this month has been “Open the Eyes of my Heart” and you can see all the lives/videos/excerpts here. This month we focused our growth as a “Highly Effective Christian Making a Ministry” on Lifistry Discipline #6 – Live in Your Vision with Moxie.
You can ask any questions about any of the Lifistry Disciplines (Personal Life Stewardship & Ministry Life Stewardship) we have talked about.
The 4 Lifistry Disciplines previously discussed
Lifistry Discipline #1 – Thrive in this Time
Lifistry Discipline #3 – Identify Yourself as a Christian
Lifistry Discipline #5 – Keep Company with Thriving Christians
Lifistry Discipline #6 – Live in Your Vision with Moxie
Or even the 2 Lifistry Disciplines left to discuss in November and December will have topics focused on…
Lifistry Discipline #2 – Identify Yourself with Jesus
Lifistry Discipline #4 – Live in a State of Readiness
Why don’t you join us and get all your questions answered from a biblical world view in a Facebook group filled with moxie.
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Talking that Exceeds the Walking
Speaking Excitement into your Upward Call brings you closer to God and your vision which fills your life with such vivid colour even you will be blinded by it.
God’s talk can sometimes be in black and white for us because our eyes are not opened to see it in action. As we work our way into believing His words to us, colour begins to appear. The same can be true of our own talk, helping us walk our way into believing in our own Upward Call of God.
According to Ephesians 1:18-19 the eyes of our heart need to be opened, which means we have to hear the truth to have our eyes opened into the living colour of it. And if you are anything like me, you need to hear it more than once before the colour appears.
None to Some
My first experience with unbelief intimidated me. I was a new Christian with a fresh, although colourless vision for my future. I spoke it to hearts that were not opened to hear it.
I was to intimidated to talk about it, and began to think I was not worthy of it. Of course, I already thought I wasn’t worthy, so this was just more confirmation that I am a chump rather than a champion. I was lifeless and colourless.
This colourful vision needed a champion, therefore I was not God’s gal.
Some to More
The Lord kept leading me into it, and I kept following. I still believed myself to be lifeless and colourless but He was teaching me to be less of a chump. He gave me more confidence to talk about my vision in colour and that met with more resistance that I could actually handle.
I was beginning to rest in His plan for me. I also became more confident in my Upward Call of God, and the Visionary Ministry given to me by God, because He was putting a deeper array of colours into my heart for it.
I was still selective about who I painted the picture for.
More is Better
My chumpish ways were still looming over me even as colour enters the picture. I would speak of my Vision from God but still kept the life giving vivid information back. People would say, “We need this Vision of yours.” in one breath and with another say, “BUT go take it somewhere else.”
Chump Kathleen would shut her mouth, even when life giving,colourful Kathleen was longing to reveal herself. Finally, after many colourful conversations, Champion Kathleen won and put her chumpish ways aside. She began speaking about her Vision from God as the Lord added more colourful life to it.
The more I talked the better I got at talking about my Upward Call of God.
Better for All
I was becoming the champion of my colourful cause even though it still wasn’t in full colour but chump Kathleen was still waiting in the wings to take advantage of any confusion.
Colour was constantly coming into the black and white of my Upward Call because the more I talked about my vision the clearer it became. The clearer it became the more excited I became about it. The more excited I got, the better it was for all.
I was talking about my Upward Call of God as it grew more colourfully into my Visionary Ministry.
All of us are called by God to be steadfast verbalizing our Upward Call of God. The more we talk about it the more articulate we become about it. We will recognize the Lord’s hand in it and it will open the eyes of our heart to bring it forth in living colour.
Silence is not golden when it comes to your Upward Call of God. Silence is golden when it comes to how intimidated you feel when you talk about it. Talking about it, before it happens, will always exceed your walk in it.
God’s talk exceeds your walk. Why shouldn’t yours?
Join Kathleen this week in Midlife Ministry Makers to for The Impending: Speaking Excitement into your Upward Call that brings you closer to God and your vision.
And to vote on the November topic. Have your say about how your grow into your vision from God.
#lifistrydisciplines #lifistrydiscipline_6 #ChasingmyUpwardCall #its_about_time #liveyourvision #yourway
