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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.
