Help for the Holidays:

You are invited to participate in our 7th annual Help for the Holidays. We put together a store and people who need some help this time of year can go shopping for free. We are still in need of donations: clothing, toys, books, linen, etc., so if you are in and around Sacramento, we could arrange for a pick up. All donations are tax-deductible, so be sure to ask for a receipt. You can view more of the event on the events page. If you live out of the area and want to help, we are also providing twenty-five dinners, and need funds to purchase the food so your monetary donations will be very appreciated. And of course, we always can use your prayers. I hope that you can participate in some way so that we can stretch out our arm to help those in our communitiy. There is a scripture I just love found in Proverbs, "When you give to the poor you are lending to the Lord." (Proverbs 19:17) How awesome is that!

Revelation of life changing significance, but where to start!

October 26th - as written in my journal. Yesterday I wanted to cry because I felt sad. No reason I could think of at the time. Just all of a sudden I had an overwhelming feeling of sadness. I had been thinking that I was stupid because I didn't pass a promotional exam at my job. This all started after having lunch with a friend of mine who passed the exam. And for some reason I felt judged and "less than" when I was with her... but I know that's not what she was doing. But that's what I felt and that's how it started. But the fact remained I was feeling inadequate. So that afternoon I had that overwhelming sad feeling.

I began saying things like, "Why didn't I pass the test." "I really blew it by not studying for it, it won't be coming up again in my lifetime." Things like that. I was feeling regret and became resentful to others who passed and was getting promoted. I was feeling left behind.

Then this morning the truth came out. I was really blaming God for the outcome of my test. "He could have passed me, but He didn't." "I prayed during the test for the answers, but they were wrong." I came to the conclusion this morning that God allowed this to happen that caused me this dilemma. He didn't' help me, he left me to myself. I was accusing God all along. I was calling God evil because of the "evil" I was feeling.

When I realized this, and confessed to Him the blame and accusation and even thinking He was allowing evil to happen to me, I immediately asked for forgiveness.

Right after I asked for forgiveness I heard him say, "This seems like it's not going well, but I have better plans for you and they don't include working for the State." As I thought on this, if I would have done well on the exam, I would have tried going onto other things and staying in that environment. But now I realize that this is NOT to be my career. It is for others but mine is of a different path. I understand now and found the peace.

I'm in a transition - as Tom would call it - between this job and the next. Because I do want to work, just not for the State. So I'll be keeping my eyes open to what is out there and investigate all avenues of opportunities. I also want to learn more how to make an income on my teaching and ministering, and not feel like I'm selling God. That all has to be somehow worked in as well because in order for me to work in ministry I need to be compensated to support my life. There's nothing wrong with that, just how it's done is the issue.

Second revelation, the neighbor!

Yesterday as I was driving home from work (after still feeling somewhat sad from the first story) I saw my next door neighbor on the highway. At that point I believe I took on more junk. I totally resented him living next to us. I started saying things like, "God you allowed him to live by us, you knew he was going to cause us so much grief but you allowed it." Again, I realized I was calling God evil. So I confessed my blame and accusation toward God and received forgiveness.

Then I heard the Lord say, "Your neighbor is demonstrating evil, he knows not who is controlling his life." So what I realized was that my neighbor is a bully and is being used of the devil without even knowing it. I needed to forgive him for he knows not what he does. So with that, I released him, forgave him from my heart, confessed my resentment, anger and fear, and received forgiveness.

Then I heard the Lord say, "You are in a transition here as well. The best is yet to be, endure, stay strong, don't move, have love, compassion and peace, longsuffering for a time, and the end will be better than you could imagine." So I'm holding onto this Word from the Lord.

These two things situations were going on at the same time, and so when I got home I wanted to go for a motorcycle ride to clear the bats out of my belfry. (Of course, I didn't come into the healing part until the next morning but I knew I needed a little R@R) So we went for a ride, Tom drove and I enjoyed the view sitting on the back. At first I was a bit shaky and then found my peace. The stuff (as noted above) left me and we had a great ride. My husband even noticed it was gone too.

I realized that the enemy was trying to get in everywhere and anytime he had opportunity. I have lots of clean spaces in me now because of all the purging I've been going through for the past ten years, and he keeps coming back to see if he can get back in. Well, at times he does, but because I'm cleaner than I've ever been, I "sense" almost immediately when something has entered me that does not belong. But it's happening so much more than ever that it's a constant battle. So then I asked God what do I do? I began praying for God's love and peace, joy and all his attributes to flood my heart and fill me up. I just keep forgetting to do that!!! Because then there would be no room for the enemy to return!

I shared my blow-by-blow account because I am certain that there are those of you who have similiar things going on. Just like me, I'm confessing anything that I need to confess and then waiting on God to set me free. And in both cases I had the sin of "blaming God." When we blame God we put a wall between us and any blessings. Sometimes we don't even know we are doing it. So if you can relate to my stories and you see that you too may be blaming God, take the time like I did to confess to Him.

I can tell you that since these things happened to me my life is more peaceful than ever before. Tom would even comment to me, "Boy you are sure kickback." I'm quieter inside. I have the peace that passes all understanding. It's not that I'm immune from the mishaps of the day, it's just that I'm remaining in a constant state of peace regardless of what is going on, and that peace has come because of the purging that has taken place in my heart. All that junk of accuasation that was in there was blocking me from really finding the peace. I hope you find the time to talk to the Lord honestly from your heart and if you need to come clean before Him, do it. It's the best thing you could ever do!

Expectations of Jesus By Pete Plitt

What a different world this would be if we really understood the expectations Jesus has of us. The prevailing position today is not that dissimilar then when Jesus walked the earth long ago. Death made its way into family's lives with every nuance of grief and feeling of loss, yet Jesus seemed to react from another realm, as if He was impervious to the screaming finality of one's demise.

John 11 tells about a couple of distraught sisters who just lost their brother, Lazarus, to the grave. As the story unfolds, we see opposing expectations. Martha expects that had Jesus only been there sooner, her brother would not have died. Jesus expects that she would realize that since He is Resurrection personified, there's no "when He arrives" issue. When Jesus tries to pin her down to "NOW FAITH is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" she did what many of us do. Sure I believe my brother will rise again, "at the last day." Mary seems to have no expectations at all at that moment. She doesn't respond to the arrival of Jesus until Martha goes to get her. Then, in verse 32, we hear Mary say almost verbatim what Martha had said earlier - "if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." In verse 33, Jesus is surrounded by a crowd of weeping folks, understandably sadden by the loss of a loved one. According to some teachings, Jesus basically became an emotional wreck with the rest of them, evidenced by His groaning and weeping. Was He distraught with the rest? Perhaps the Greek will help to clarify His true demeanor.

John 11:20 - 44 "Then MARTHA, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house. Then said Martha unto Jesus, Lord, IF THOU HADST BEEN HERE, MY BROTHER HAD NOT DIED. But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee. Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again. Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said unto her, I AM THE RESURRECTION, AND THE LIFE: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world. And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee. As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto him. Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him. The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there. Then when MARY was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, IF THOU HADST BEEN HERE, MY BROTHER HAD NOT DIED."

John 11:33 - "When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he GROANED in the spirit, and was troubled [agitated]," To groan - [Greek - Embrimaomia] To snort with anger, to have indignation on, to blame, to sigh with chagrin [mortification].

In both verses 33 and 38, the word groan is not a sadness caused by loss, but an outward expression of anger and mortification. At what? At everyone else still acting like death was a done deal! Look at when Jesus again snorts in anger. ". . . And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him! And some of them said, COULD NOT THIS MAN, WHICH OPENED THE EYES OF THE BLIND, HAVE CAUSED THAT EVEN THIS MAN SHOULD NOT HAVE DIED?" John 11:38 "Jesus therefore again GROANING in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it."

Now agitated, Jesus just wants to take care of business. He says that He is the Resurrection and the Life. "But Jesus, take the stone away from the entrance of the tomb?" "Are you kidding?" That body is ripe by now." "Lazarus is gone." "Don't traumatize the girls with your miracle melodrama." Again, Jesus has to remind Martha what His expectations of her were, that is, to believe, and what she should be expecting from Him, that is, life.

John 11:39 cont - "Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days. Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God? Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go."

Along with other numerous examples of Jesus' expectations of those around Him, [faith from the blind that wanted to see, the lame that wanted to walk, etc.], Paul and Peter both demonstrated what they expected from God as His vessels, that is, results. In Acts 9:37-41, Peter prays, turns to the dead body before him and says, "Tabitha arise." This dead woman opens her eyes and sits up. No fanfare, no screaming at the devil for being such a cruel, inconsiderate jerk. Just two words and results. When we are presented with a lengthy sermon, we generally have a comfy pew to doze off in. In Acts 20:9-10, a young lad didn't fair as well. Eutychus fell asleep in an upper story window during one of Paul's long dissertations, fell out onto the ground below, dead. On the way down the stairs, I'm sure Paul said something to the effect that, "no one gets out of one of my meetings that easily," though his thoughts were not actually recorded. Once at the side of the corpse, Paul "fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves; for his life is in him."

In this life, death is always trying to push its way into ours lives. In Matthew 11:12 Jesus stated that the Kingdom of God suffers violence [since John the Baptist], and it is the violent that take it by force. In other words, this is not a playground, and the devil is not just a bully. He's a murderer and will force his poisonous intentions on us if we do not stand up in the power and expectations of our King. The devil usually fights us first in the realm of thought, trying to make it seem absurd that we have any say or authority over death, sickness, lack, etc. Again, this is the prevailing attitude today. As "evidence," he will bring up stories of that very Godly couple who lost their child, and if God would've answered anyone's prayer, it would've been theirs. If you are in dismal financial straights, the enemy will throw that in your face. If fighting for your health, he will oppose your every step. He is relentless, unfair, insane, and diabolical beyond imagination. Welcome to his world's system.

In II Timothy 4:6-8 Paul says his farewells, "For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing." But how can we possibly teach the walk of a full, finished course, when we ourselves are bombarded with lack, sickness and death having the final say? Expecting of ourselves the same that Jesus expects of us is an acquired taste. When we chose to wean our palette from the deadly sweets of the world's way of thinking, there is furious resistance. Martha and Mary met that religious devil while standing right in front of Jesus. The solid Food of victory over all dimensions of death becomes the norm when we choose to sit at the feet of Life. May it take some time to renew our mind in that direction? Probably. The principle of learning is the same for truth as it is for a lie. Line upon line, precept upon precept. Either way, it works over time. May we ever so consistently, learn to expect like Jesus.

I hope you have enjoyed this month's newsletters. See you next time!

Schedule of Events

Seminars

Your Comments

Back