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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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Leading Yourself IN Success Part 1
A Different Definition of Success
Spread the news! Success is defined by Jesus Christ not by man. We will work for the next five weeks, on this blog, and on the Pursuing Biblical Direction podcasts redefining success. At the end of this time period, you will understand what success means to and for the Kingdom of God. Why are we afraid of success? Is it the work, the courage you need, the world and all of its goods, the time it takes, the amount of planning required or is it just that word itself? What is it that makes you afraid to go after success in your life?
I have days when I don’t feel successful, no matter what I have accomplished. I feel like I am in a whirlwind of shame, guilt and depression. I want to give up on everything I am doing, and just live as if I have nothing to do but breath. Inside of me is changing but everything I see on the outside is the same as it was yesterday, last week, last month, last year, last decade. My life has not changed one iota. I feel very unsuccessful. There are those days.
I have days when I think everything I am doing has been successful and will lead to greater success. I feel like I am at my peak of success but know there is more waiting for me. I have hope that Jesus will do everything He says He will do in my life. I dream of being in the middle of my success therefore it is real to me in my dream but not in life as of yet. All is good in the world. There are those days.
I have days when neither one of these matter. Life is good today and I don’t care about tomorrow or yesterday. Whatever happens, happens. My life is on track, today, and we will just see about tomorrow. I can deal with tomorrow when it comes and forget what happens yesterday. I am happy and content with who I am and where I am. There are those days.
Which day do you think I am the most successful? Can you believe, every single one of them? We are Christians who have the hope of Jesus Christ. He leads us each and every day. What does success mean to Him? Proverbs 3:5-6 gives us our first clue and most important aspect of success. “Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your path.”
Obedience to God is the definition of success, no matter how big or small. My obedience to Him is how I should gage success. It is how He gages success. Proverbs 3:5-6 is going to be our mantra for the next five weeks because everything we are going to learn is covered inside this small but powerful sentence. You will know you have been successful, when you meet Jesus, and He says to you, “Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord.” (Matthew 25:21) If your definition of success matched God’s definition, this is your hope.
I feel unsuccessful at times because I cannot see the result of the work I am doing. The question is not, “How do I feel?” It is, “Am I following Jesus?” Am I being obedient to Him? This is how you can gage whether you are successful or not. This is good information because what you have, what you have done and where you are in your desires, has no bearing on success. Obedience to Jesus Christ is what success looks like for a Christian. If you are obeying Him each and every day you are successful.
Obedience doesn’t have to be Jesus constantly telling you what to do every minute of the day. It is you obeying what He has told you to do every single day. An example would be speeding. Jesus told me many years ago to get my speeding under control. Even though that was many years ago does that count for obedience today? Absolutely. Should I speed, I am disobeying God’s directive to me to quit speeding. None of us have to be in constant communication with God to be in, or out of obedience. If Jesus told you to stop doing something that you are still doing today – you are in disobedience to God. This is why you do not feel successful.
I forget “success” is not about His vision for my future, it is about my daily obedience to Him. I have to believe I am successful because I am in obedience to God, today. I have to stop looking at what I think I should have and start looking at what I am successfully doing for Him. What I am doing will have an impact on the people around me. What I am doing has an impact on ME. What you are doing will have an impact on the people around you. What you are doing will have an impact on YOU.
I have successfully changed my definition of success. I will continue to speak about success and teach you everything I know, so you are successful at changing your definition as well. This is all within the scope of working out your salvation. The Father was successful raising our Saviour to life and He will be successful raising you to life too in Jesus Christ. Do you have this hope? Are you doing EVERYTHING Jesus has directed you to do?
Success depends on our definition of success. Our mission here, on earth, is to teach people of this hope in Jesus Christ to live an abundant life. To accomplish that mission you must have the hope yourself. The success of His mission is contingent on your hope first. Then, when you have it, you can spread it. The Leading Yourself IN Success Workshop is how I am spreading that news. How will you spread it? You can start by changing your definition of success.
