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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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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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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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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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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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The Escape Hatch
One of the obstacles to changing bad habits into good is the length of time it takes to change it. I know all about this because I am trying to lose 30 pounds that do not want to go. I have been trying to lose this weight for 3 years. I have done everything I can to this point from monitoring my heart rate to adding extra protein to subtracting good foods. Nothing I have tried has worked up to this point. I weight trained for a year but gained more weight most likely because my heart rate monitor was lying to me. It was an expensive piece of equipment that counts steps and when I put the monitor on my chest it measures how many calories I have used during the work out. The monitor was telling me I was burning between 2,200 and 2,500 calories per day. As a result I increased my calorie intake to 1,800. 2,500 minus 1,800 still leaves 700 calories per day deficit. Each pound is 350 calories so that means at the very least I should have lost two pounds per week. O, my lovelies, how I wish that where so. This menopausal woman will not be beat though.
I have been tempted to throw in the towel. I have been tempted to eat everything my eyes behold. I have been tempted to stop exercising. I have been tempted to move on and just accept myself the way I am because I was made this way, was I not? No, I was not! I was made to be a conqueror. I was made to be free from every temptation. God has said to me, “no temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13) This verse tells me I can conquer any temptation. It tells me through seeing and listening I can overcome. This verse gives me hope and it gives me my plan.
The Hope
Our hope is twofold in this verse. First, it is that other people who live on this earth are tempted in the same way I am. I witness that daily. I go to the gym to witness many people who have begun the process of getting healthy and I see in the world those who have not started yet. The temptation to eat and sit is great for everyone. I have previously lost a lot of weight but have gained some back because I have not yet conquered this temptation. This is common to man so I am not alone in this struggle, my first hope. The second hope is God will not allow me to be tempted beyond what I can handle. What a wonderful piece of knowledge to have. When we are tempted by humans and the devil God steps in at the right time, in the right way, to help us overcome the temptation. He will let it get to the limit to build our strength and our resolve. There are sweet chips at the end of my table now from Thanksgiving weekend. I look at them and am tempted. I think to myself, “Why don’t I hide these chips?” Then I say to myself, “If I hide them the temptation will go away and when I see them in the cupboard I will not be able to overcome the temptation and eat some.” I am working out my overcomer muscles. I pray that God will strengthen my muscles so I will be able to flex it in public places where I cannot hide the food but must be able to resist it. I have my plan.
The Plan
The plan is to do what the Holy Spirit tells me to do. It is God’s plan to make an escape for me I just need to recognize it. My plan of escape before was to hide the sweets in the cupboard or at the back of the fridge but it did not work. I found them and ate them. I saw them and ate them. This time around I am relying on God for the plan of escape. He has been directing me to do what He wants me to do and I do it. Sometimes, it does not make sense in my limited mind but what He is doing is going to work because I have seen this work many times before. Leaving yummy chips on the table in full view did not make sense to me. I felt the purpose was being defeated but they have been there all week and I only picked them up once. When I did eat them guilt laid upon me like a fog. I could only eat five or six and my stomach began to ache. I thanked Jesus for the stomach ache, put the chips down and went to my Jesus Room to read the Life Skills Encyclopedia. The stomach ache was my escape on this day. His plan to build up my overcomer muscle worked on that day and every day since. I remember that ache every time I look at those chips. God used the same escape on me when He wanted me to quit drinking. When His plan works I allow it to deter me from future temptation.
The Hatch
The Life Skills Encyclopedia has plenty of information in it to help us escape from temptation yet we have to learn there is always hope and always a plan. Those people who do not have a hope continue in their sin for a lack of hope they will be free of it. Let that not be you because you have a hope and a plan for your future (Jeremiah 29:11). We need to learn to fall under that plan so we can see the escape. Would you have seen a painful stomach as an escape? What about a headache or a broken leg? There are plenty of stories on the net about how God has made an escape for someone in the oddest place at the oddest time. Sometimes, we don’t even know why the escape was made until one day God opens our eyes and viola, we see it. You see what could have been but wasn’t because God pushed you through the escape hatch. Test God this week. Ask Him what He wants you to do that you had previously been unable to overcome. Ask Him to open your eyes to your escape then take it. You must continue to take it because a habit is not formed in one day nor will a temptation be overcome in one day. My sore stomach deterred me from eating the chips to avoid the temptation of eating what I am not supposed to eat. I choose to not eat the food rather than eat through the sore stomach. The Lord has our back. He will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we can handle and with any temptation He provides an escape hatch. Recognize the hatch and keep using it until the temptation is not a temptation any more.
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Out of Real, Back to Story
Stories draw people
Jesus was the master at telling stories. He used them for the whole three years He was teaching. His stories were dynamic and filled with real life examples. For this reason when the Gospels were written they begin with a story and end with a story. God has created us to be story tellers and listeners. We are drawn by stories (true or false) because they reverberate with us. A good story will make us cry and a bad story will fill us with rage. Every story Jesus told was meant to fill us with life. I cannot tell you a story that fills you with life no matter how hard I try because I do not have that power. I can only tell you a story to point you into the direction of Jesus who is the life (John 14:6). My story will only effect those who are being drawn by the Father to the arms of Jesus (John 6:44) and once He has you He will never lose you (John 6:39).
It is for this reason I have begun telling stories and improving my writing skills for fiction. Jesus told fictional stories and true life stories to teach His truth. I have been learning to combine both fiction and truth into one under His direction to begin the writing of Crown for Life series of books. I love to write for Jesus because He has and will continue to give me wonderful ideas and interesting characters to share with you. The stories of each woman is meant to reverberate with you to encourage you just as the stories of women in the Bible are meant to draw your attention. We are the Samaritan woman, the sinful woman, the woman with the flow of blood, Deborah, Mary Magdalene, Mary sister of Lazarus, Huldah, Pricilla, and all the rest. We are women created by our God to do what He has created us to do but we are having issues getting to that point.
The Biblical Life Skills Strategist
For 12 years I have been dreaming about the day God’s words would come into fruition in my life. In those years I could not see how He could make it happen but now I can see it working out in my life. God revealed to me I would teach life skills so I created my first complete workshop called “Leading Yourself to Success” to teach women in 2005. I have created twenty different two hour sessions but not before He told me to work out my new name. The Life Skills Strategist was the name He gave me. We worked together on all of the sessions using Biblical Precepts reversing worldly complications. In this process He taught me how inherently involved His Word is in our everyday lives. He directed me to create secular sessions so I would taste how the world walks. Seeing this every day afforded me empathy for every unsaved woman as well as the saved.
Jesus taught me the difference between the saved and the unsaved, Him. Each one of us longs to live a life filled with joy but the world is getting in between us and that joy. John 10:10 contrasts the world and Jesus. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. The contrast of the Prince of the World (John 14:30) is intent on destroying our lives while Jesus has come to give us a life filled with abundance resulting in the joy we so long for. He has taught me to teach you what His abundance life means. It is a large topic and it will take the rest of my life to teach you about it. This is Kathleen V. Derbyshire’s story.
Leola’s Story
I have embroiled Leola Lurned into my blog to introduce you to the lead character of the Crown for Life Series. Her story is a mirror of mine. She is 70% me and 30% who I want to be. When you read about her you are reading about me, what I have learned and what I still have to learn will be in her character. Just as I long for someone to work with teaching life skills she has longed with one difference, she has a friend. Her name is Veronica Keene. Veronica’s character is 70% me as I was growing as a Christian and 30% my friend Jennifer Walker. She has the image of Jennifer but the character of immature Christian Kathleen. Jen sat with me for days going over the first book to make sure I was closing every gap and spelling every word correctly. I have known Jen for several years and as our relationship develops over the coming years so will Veronica and Leola’s.
For Such a time as this…
God continuously brings this verse to mind from Esther 4:14, For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” He is reminding me I am His child born at this time to serve Him by serving His women in Essex County. The prince of this world is after women (2 Timothy 3) by drawing them away from God by their many lusts for the world. These lusts are so ingrained in us we would do anything or go anywhere to satisfy the cravings. This leads to all manner of oppression for us, from addictions to human trafficking. I am going after the devil by training women to fight him with the Life Skills Encyclopedia, the Holy Bible. I will also go after the prince of this world by helping the unsaved too.
Satan’s name is Haman to me. When Haman’s plan to annihilate the Jews game into being the Jews fought back and people were drawn to God. Many people became Jews (Esther 8:17) in the land because they began to fear (be in awe of) God. In Acts every time tribulation comes upon the Saints and they endured through the power of Christ more souls are accounted to them. This is my time to help the saints endure so many more souls are saved as a result of their testimony.
Crown for Life Pursues Biblical Boundaries
It is time for me to move Leola out of real back into the pages of my stories. The Biblical Life Skills Strategist is my name in the real and hers only in the Crown for Life Stories. It is me who is born for this day to help women endure temptation by leading them through the Life Skills Encyclopedia to Jesus. When they find their way to Jesus they will find their way of escape from the prince of this world. This series of books will be a gateway to Jesus and His escape from sin, one book at a time.
The first book in the series, The White Picket Fence, available later this year, has Crown for Life owners pursuing information from the Life Skills Encyclopedia regarding personal boundaries. What are they and how does our God speak to them? You can follow along in the lives of five women who have enlisted the help of Crown for Life to pursue a solution for their particular dilemmas. There will be an instruction following this book should you too need to pursue Biblical boundaries. I am excited to go back to helping with your Biblical Life Skills rather than inventing stories. Let this new life begin and the old perish.
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Invisible Rewards
Invisible is She!
Leola is gifted with administration, which is causing her quite a bit of heartache because she sees issues with planning others just don’t see. Not only is this an issue for her in church but at work too. She needs to learn how to train herself to say what needs to be said then and not say more. She needs to understand what needs to be done when it absolutely needs to be done and not more. She also needs to learn to allow time for the people to catch up in their own mind without the “I told you so” stance. It is not about pride for Leola, at least in this situation, it is about not being listened too by leaders or people in authority. This plays right into her insecurities so she walks out of meetings or conversation with another crack in her heart. Leola has felt invisible all of her life. Each part of her life has brought a new season of feeling as if no one sees or hears her. Maybe it is this gift of administration from the Lord or maybe it is just her? She does know one thing – it is a horrible feeling not to be seen and she doesn’t like it very much!
When Leola feels invisible she ramps up her actions toward noticeability ultimately inflating her anger because she is getting nowhere. What she hadn’t noticed before is she is attempting to get rewarded by man! The premise of getting our reward from man is complicated and stealthy. At work she understands she is looking for the recognition of capability and at home she is looking for ignorant compliance to her demands. This is simple ten years later to understand, but at the time it was a struggle to work it all out. For as long as Leola can remember she has been one step ahead of most people with insight into the issues facing them. It has never been something she bragged about but it has always been a burden for her. She couldn’t understand why man could not see what she was seeing. It was simple to her! Maybe it was her! Maybe folks just didn’t see her. Oh, they saw her long enough to call her ugly but not long enough to take advice; long enough to tell her what to do but not long enough to listen. On her knees bawling like a baby, God would teach her He sees her and a lot more.
Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 6:1) This verse we read but don’t see it for what it really means to us on a daily basis! Our deep feelings of insecurity come from the rewards we are attempting to get from man and do not receive. Men, of all kinds, are trying to get rewards from men and it is highly promoted. Gifted leaders are rewarded by man with leadership but it goes to their head and they begin to accept the reward from man rather than Jesus. Gifted musicians take reward from man then fall prey to pride and start singing worship to the devil. People cross the line every day under the guise of getting rewards from men. We see it happening daily from the world and the church including people who love Jesus. We are just a little more subtle about it. We tell people how much money we gave, who we helped, what we do for others and the like. The minute we open our mouth we have our reward!
He Sees Her!
Leola, still on her knees, cried out to God telling Him everything she feels. She told God, people don’t see her and she isn’t sure He doesn’t see her either. He has removed everything important to her and here she was alone in her ‘Jesus Room’ with nothing left to lose. Her heart was broken beyond repair from being invisible all of her life. She couldn’t stop crying and her emotions were running the gamete. When she stopped crying there was no lightning bolt to knock her out of her chair. There was no angel standing in front of her to tell her face to face God sees her. She just felt relief from the tirade because she actually understood herself why she was so disappointed with God. She expected God to take from her because she had known no different. She expected God to be blind to her because she felt no other feeling. Leola placed a human standard on God. Up to that point there was no male figure in her life she could say had any favourable impact in her life and God, to her, had been no different. She loved Him dearly but she also wasn’t expecting much from Him either. She didn’t expect Him to meet her needs, meet her expectation or to meet any of His promises in her life. The year following this outburst was enlightening to say the very least. God transformed the way she saw Him but more over He transformed the way she saw herself. She loved Jesus with all of her heart and did everything possible to obey His every command but her invisibility had engulf her whole life even into her Spiritual life. It had permeated so deep she was even invisible to herself. God raised her from the dead and changed how she looked at herself through learning more about rewards from the Bible. Leola now understands the difference between the rewards from Heaven and the rewards from man! She works fervently for the rewards from Heaven knowing God sees her and is the rewarder of those who seek Him (Hebrews 11:6). They are invisible rewards!
We are made to want reward but not from people from God! He knew we would need this to be driven. He gifts us to be driven in specific directions yet He also knew that same gift is used in the world to make money to live on. There are poor Christians and there are filthy rich Christians and everything in between. Our reward is not the money, the accolades or the power because God can take all of that away in a minute. Our reward is the treasures we are storing up in Heaven where moth and rust do not destroy (Matthew 6:20). This week think about why you work so hard and for whom!
Meditation Verses this week: Matthew 6:1; Hebrews 11:6; Matthew 6:20
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Who Will Teach Me to be Mature?
When I first started improving my life skills my biggest question was who will teach me? I didn’t have many quality life skills because I didn’t pay much attention to having them. I wanted to pay attention because I was at my wits end. I had absolutely no idea how I was going to learn how to manage my life better without a mentor. I looked around and it was clear that a lot of people my age where in the same boat with me without a paddle.
When I started seeking answers God was available to answer my questions. I had so many questions that I couldn’t even sort them out myself. My difficulty was I asked the wrong persons and I was asked the wrong questions. I sought people to answer my question to no avail and all the while God was teaching me two very important commandments from Him to me! The first one is I am His child and He will raise me up and the second is like it, He will teach me!
The Father is My Father
When I was walking in the world I was lost and alone without mentors or real friends who could guide me through all of the mazes of my life. My body was in control so I was going to and fro looking for something to fill it. When I started to ask the questions I started getting better at asking and better at listening. The Words of God were starting to penetrate my soul and I was becoming more sensitive to the Holy Spirit as He relayed information to me from the Father. One of my biggest problems I discovered is I felt like a nobody – invisible. This is still an issue for me but God has planted in me a piece of information that I cannot forget. I am His child! John 1:12 tells me that when I accept Jesus Christ I am adopted as a child of God. Me, an orphan, a branch with no fruit, a harlot, an adulteress, a poor person, a tax collector, is a child of the Father! The Father is my Father! You can certainly understand how hard it was to believe but the Father kept enforcing it until I believed it deep in my soul. With that knowledge came the understanding He would raise me up as a child of God into whatever it is that He wanted me to be and I would get there by no other means. I finally asked, “Who is going to teach me because I need someone to teach me?”
He had made me recognize who He was to me
By the time I asked that question I was already being taught by the Father. I was going to church and listening to preachers more than I was actually reading through the Bible. I was tackling the Bible but not understanding. I was writing and teaching life skills workshops for the world; learning and using the Bible for answers but still not getting the Father was teaching me everything I knew. Each one of the workshops I wrote was Biblically based but secular in nature because I was still in the world. He continued to teach me without my full understanding. I was lonely and felt invisible. I was writing newsletters about what He was teaching me and losing friends. I was switching churches because the truth was compromised and losing more friends. In all this excitement it was becoming clear to me He had become my teacher. I would ask Him a question and He would send me to His Words for answers. I would read what He instructed me to read and be able to discern the times. He had made me recognize who He was to me – My Teacher!
He is My Father and He is My Teacher
It has been a long time since I knew that He was my Father and me His daughter but only a couple of years since I understood fully that He alone would teach me. I have learned from others but I become weary from listening to them and have to continue the study on my own in the Words of God. As a child of God we are to learn from God! (Psalm 119) There are jobs in the Body of Christ that we can learn from others but the Body of Christ belongs to God created in His image to take on His mind. We have only one Father and Teacher and that is Elohim. This puts us in a place of loneliness but that will pass because when we are in the secret place with Him our loneliness disappears and we cannot wait to be alone with Him again.
Be Presented Mature!
If you read these Words 1 Corinthians 2:9-16 you shall too understand revelation belongs to the Lord and everyone who teaches should be teaching in such a way that their students leave their tutelage and continue learning with the Lord. We are teaching to mature our students to present themselves mature to the Father (Colossians 1:28). I will present myself mature to the Father when the time comes because I have set my mind to it! Will you be able too present yourself mature? Have you become dependent on human teachers and not depended on the Father’ teachings? Do you know that the Father is your Father and you are His Child? Are you allowing the Father to teach you? Let us get into the secret place with the Father and learn from Him until we know who exactly is teaching us to be mature!
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A Soul in Sync
I want to first start with a description of what the soul is because I keep forgetting myself. Our soul is our life and defines who we are, what we believe and what we stand for. It is our volition (desire), our mind (intellect), and our emotion. Our soul is moulded by experience, knowledge and understanding. God gave us talents that we nurtured with our soul. The Bible talks incessantly about soul, heart and mind being something that we need to guard. Our soul is what the world is after. They want us to think like them and in doing that we become them. They will not be happy until we are all like them. We are called by Jesus Christ to think differently from the world.
One Foot in the World One Foot in the Church
Our soul is sanctified (separated) from the world for us to think like Jesus., to take on the mind of Jesus. This is not as easy as it sounds. We read in the Bible we are being called out of the world but the world will hate us (John 15:19). This is why some of us have one foot in the world and one foot in the body. There are some who are just dipping their toe in the body because their soul is weak. A weak soul is a direct result of quenching the Spirit. A weak soul will not be allowed in the New Jerusalem because a weak soul has a penchant for sin. It follows its flesh and makes the flesh its master instead of the Spirit (Galatians 5:19-21).
Sanctification Not a Choice; Soul Sync a Choice!
Being sanctified is not our choice, it belongs to God alone, but after salvation we have the choice to live in the world or live in the body of Christ. We can choose to have our mind changed by God or we can choose to have the same mind as the world. The choice is ours to sync our soul with His Spirit or to sync it with the World. When we sync our mind with the Spirit we can expect change, we can expect wisdom, we can expect understanding and we can expect Jesus to move in us. We cannot expect any of this with the world. I do not need to go into a list of things the world expects from us but God expects Jesus from us. We are to have the mind of Jesus (1 Corinthians 2:16) therefore the deeds of Jesus. We are to sync our mind with the Spirit and bring our body into submission with our soul (1 Corinthians 9:27).
A Mind Meld with the Master
I know you are reading this thinking how impossible it is to kick habits, change ways, and most ridiculous to think like Jesus! God sent His only Son as an example to us but He also wrote this great book called the Holy Bible that we would have a reference book. Paul told Timothy All Scripture is given by the inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be complete thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16). ALL Scripture can be used to train us up into the mind of God and that is exactly what we will do. We are going to create a mind meld with the Master that we will be equipped for every good work the Master sends us to do. God is more than willing to reveal Himself in the Scripture and reveal Himself in us to others. I pray that He reveal Himself in you just as He is revealed in me!
Action
For this week pray to the Master He would give you an open heart for knowledge while we mould our mind into the mind of Christ using Scripture to solve about worldly issues. Pray for me also to bring today’s problems to Him for solution. If you have an issue that keeps plaguing you please IM me or send me an email at Kathleen@thelifeskillsstrategist.com and I will point you in the direction of Jesus and His Word for correction advice.
I know that if we choose life in the Word we will find solid Biblical strategies to improve our life. I ask Jesus to reveal himself in you just as He is revealed in me.
