The way.

He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. (2 Thessalonians 1:8 NIV)

On The cross Jesus forgave our sins.

In Baptism he washes our sins away!

It's Good news .. The gospel ... Because he made the way possible ... Thats good news .... The Gospel... Matthew, Mark, Luke, John ... But once Jesus went back to heaven things changed, because Gods work was accomplished! He had made the way ... He gives us the opportunity for salvation but we must act in obedience to follow the way ... James says, faith without works is dead ... The sad news is that many have been blinded ... Not the disciples, they knew the way ... The preached, taught it, lived it, They obeyed the plan ... Jesus said that he gave Peter the Keys to the Kingdom and when Peter was asked "what must we do to be saved" he showed them the way, the keys to the kingdom! (Acts 2)

You believe? The devils also believe and Trimble ....James2:22-26

The truth is that It's not acts of the Law. It's acts of Love. I obey because I love him I love him so much that I act upon his word in obedience!

This is about what the WORD says ... Not what I think!
The word says ...
Mark 16:16
Jesus HiMSELF "he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved
Matthew 28:19
Go teaching all nations, baptizing them in the name ...
Colossians 2:12
Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him trough the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead."
Acts 2:38
Repent, baptized in Jesus name for the remission of sin (remission is a HuGE word to be linked with baptism)
Galatians 3:26-27
You are all sons of God trough faith in Jesus Christ FOR ALL of you who were BAPTIZED into CHrIST have clothes yourselves with Christ
Acts 22:16
Be baptized and wash your sins away calling on his name (again we see in his word that baptism washes our sins away ... Not just believing)
James2:22-26
The devils also believe and Trimble (so just believing can't be all can it?)

****The bible is the Word of God and warns us of taking away and adding too ... It also says that it is not given to private interpretation. By saying baptism is not necessary something is missing for each of these scriptures and many more (see previous letter for more verses to read).

These are not my thoughts on the matter. This is the infallible word of God. Doctrine established in the Witness of two or three (2corinthians 13:1, deut 17:6, mathew 18:16)

Therefore the doctrine of salvation is clear in the scripture. Scripture does not contradict itself. Nor is it confusing (God is not the author of confusion).

Grace, faith, believing, baptism all work hand in hand through the scriptures ... But by leaving one ingredient out you begin to take away from the word of God ... This my friend is a dangerous place to be. (Reprobate mind). (Romans 1:28, 2 Timothy 3:8)

Some things must die

Valley of Shadow of Death

If God gives you things easily ... Healing, freedom ... It can be a curse. Because we need to die to our flesh ... We need to walk through the valley of the shadow of death where we kill this flesh.

God your will ... Not what I Want, but what I need!

Psalm 103:1-7

Build alters - something has to die ... The sacrifice! Us. Our pride. The hurts. We have to die before being healed. It's the process that profits and brings forth good fruit.

It is easy to look at the spec in our brothers/sis eye and try to ignore our own plank .. Matt 7:3

We must take care of our issues .. Anger, pain, past, insecurities, vanity, and Then we will be able to see properly to help others ... Once wee made the journey to the valley and died to some things we are able to help guide others in the way to healing ...

Perfection and Control

Perfection and Control
When women wanted to take control they also strived for perfection. (1920s)

Loosing control is a testimony to those around us ... Winning our husbands by our "good works" ... Adorned with "good works"

It's not about control and accomplishing, or looking, or living like the magazines and movies say ... It's not about "making it happen"

As women we can "do it!" The problem is that we become so focused on the goal, the perfection, the image that we are blinded to the consequences that follow.

Distance from those around us (family and friends).
Judgmental

Insecure

Self righteous

It's important to trust God an align ourselves to his word and will!

Loose control - die to ourselves
Become a servant to all (start with our families). When we loom at our lives first of all we have to be honest with ourselves and then take deep analyzing reflective look are my priorities: God and Family? Everything that follows is our own choice, but these too MUST be our priority. God must be our focus, our heart must beat for Him. Secondly our families. As a mother, a wife it is my responsibility to set the stage for the home. My ultimate goal is to live a life of Christ centered sacrifice, serving, love, and joy - to set the atmosphere in the home as I teach and train my children and help my husband.

Perfection is impossible ... Maybe your surroundings look perfect(every thing is in order), but somewhere your priorities are suffering because of it. We all know the stress and anxiety that comes from striving for perfection. ... Let go! Let God be in control.

This is one of the most important things for us to realize in order to have healthy relationships with God, our creator - the one who longs to walk with us. Our relationship with him is to model a Friendship ... What kind of friend are you?

I don't want to be a social friend. I want to be a friend that hides with him in a secret place. The kind that pours her heart out and trust without reserve. I want to be not only the talker but the listener. I want to hear his heartbeat.

Wounded Spirits. Healing rain.

Shatter the mirror. Take off that mask. 

By His stripes we are healed. We are free - We are able to be free, but most of us do not know what freedom looks like. (Isaiah 61:1-3, Luke 4:18) I want us to keep the last part of Is. 61:1 in mind, “He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners”.

The problem is that we learn to wear mask from an early age. We wear them so well that we begin to believe that is who we really are, sometimes we even wear them so well that we begin to find our identity in them. It’s possible that we become blinded to who we really are, prisoners, because of the heart ache and disappointment life brings. It’s very easy for us to begin to think that when God see us he also sees us the way we see ourselves. The truth is, He doesn’t. He looks through the mask and right down into the depths of our broken hearts. He understands why we think the way we do, why we act the way we do, why we feel the way we do, why we push for or run from perfection the way we do, why we want to control, why we can not trust, and He sees the past that has shaped us. Ultimately, He knows what He has placed inside each of us ... a longing that only He can fill. 

Let me just share something I read a while back in a book titled Captivating by John and Stasi Eldridge: “given to the world as the incarnation of a beautiful, captivating God - a life offering, life saving lover, a relationship specialist, full of tender mercy, and hope. She brought strength to the world, but not a striving, sharped edged strength. She was inviting, alluring. captivating.” One day things changed. Eve believed a lie. The serpent said, “of course you can eat it, you will not die...” We all know the story. She ate and in doing so she stepped out of her God ordained role. She violated her very essence.

As we hide from the longing that is crying out from within we begin to loose touch with that longing. It’s a yearning for something greater, something more, something that is missing. There is something that fills the void, the voices, the lie - but it’s easier to run than face it. Because coming face to face with truth can be a terrifying thing. God is truth, He is light, and in Him dwells no darkness. When we find ourselves in the presence of the creator of the world He begins to revel those hidden things. He wants us to see who we are - for real - not what you see in the mirror. Mask removed. Are you willing? Being vulnerable is something we run from ...

The woman fallen from grace replaces her vulnerability - a beauty that invites life with something. We tend to call them “bad habits.” I like what Brent Curtis calls them, “Little Affairs of the Heart”. We try to fill the emptiness, longing, and questions on our own. Deep down in our hearts we often question who we are on some level. We are often times unhappy, grasping, reaching, bending, controlling, and we are often enchanted just like Eve. We become prey to the lies of the enemy. We feel that we must take life into our own hands - We ache with an emptiness nothing seems to fill - Nothing ever will! In our culture today more than ever women are left search for ways to “better” themselves. New hair colors, styles, self help books, how to organize your house, and the list goes on! We all have an answer to our questions ... it has been answered by life - our past experiences. It often comes from our youth and shapes us if we allow it. The way you see yourself has been shaped from an early age. Women learn from their mothers what it means to be a woman, and from their fathers their value. A woman who is confident in her own femininity and natural beauty will most likely raise a daughter who is as well. On the other hand our sense of worth comes from our relationship with our father, and later in life our husbands. 

What was your childhood like...honestly? Many are a far cry from what we would have chosen or even dreamed of. The stories are different the effects are the same. Wounded. 

Our wounds shape us. They came with a message. They struck us at the core of our hearts. Wounds strike at the core of our femininity. These wounds are made worse by the things we come to believe as a result of the wound. Children believe adults to be right: abuse, belittled, hurt, anger we somehow believe it was our fault. 

1. Rachel’s Story
2. Example: Debbie’s father had an affair. 

Message: You’d better do more than your mother did or you wont keep your man. 

*After this a man who pursued Debbie left  for no apparent reason.

*She is always trying to fix something to “improve” herself: prayer, exercise, finances, more discipline. She doesn’t     see how wonderful and amazing she is.

1. Chris
2. Sandy - The vows made as children can be understandable, and very damaging. They shut our heart down, we become calloused, and stoney hearted.

Many women feel deep down inside (although maybe never vocalized) they feel that something is terribly wrong. That they can never be enough and that they are at fault for the abuse, rejection, and not feeling love!

Because of our wounds shame enters (Heb. 12:2). Shame makes us avoid eye contact with strangers and friends. It is a feeling that haunts us. It makes us feel and believe we do not measure up ... Instead of coming up for a breath of grace and asking God what he sees in us we stay pinned down with shame. It causes us to put protective walls to keep our distance. We begin to believe the lies that came with our wounds - “I can’t trust, If only I were good enough, this is what I deserve, all men are the same, It’s my fault, If I were only ...” We begin to vow to never allow “THAT” to happen again. In order to protect ourselves we keep building those walls! We adopt strategies for protecting ourselves from hurt.

A Woman living life with wounds is a woman living a self protected life.

To fill that emptiness we are missing due to the walls we indulge in what pleases us. The wounds we received and the message they brought formed a sort of unholy alliance with our fallen nature as a women.

Take a minute and think about it. Are you willing to be honest with God? 

Where do run you instead of God when your heart ache begins to make itself known? 

Shopping sprees? Work? Obsessive cleaning? Eating? Purging? Cutting? Self doubt? Condemning thoughts? Shame? Anger? Depression? Isolation? Where do you hide?

Wounds do not stop when we grow up. some of the worst come then. The truth is there is a theme to our wounds. the come from one who knows what you are suppose to be and he fears you. He fears who you are, what you are, and what you will become when you see yourself through your Father, your creator, your saviors eyes - the one who earnestly seeks you! (Jer 30:16-17)

You will not understand your life as a woman until you understand this:

1. You are passionately loved by the God of the universe.
2. You are hated by his enemy

We are all wounded. On some level, there are wounds buried deep down in those dark secret places. Why don’t you just enter into His presence, His throne room and be honest with him. Ask him to show you what he sees when he looks at you. Take off that mask and just be real with him, let free you from the pain. Let him feel the emptiness as he speaks to your broken heart. Let him create a new heart, a whole heart. Let His mind be in you! Let his heart towards you be the mirror you look to! 

He has after you. Hosea says it like this “ Come let us return He will heal us. He will bandage our wounds. In a short time He will restore us”

Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else guard your heart out of it are the issues of life.” Lets return to the heart {feminine, vaulnerable, sensitive} that God intended.

Pray:::

1. God would open your eyes to wounds, lies, and messages that have a hold on your life.
2. The Themes (know how to watch for an attack)
3. Surrender to God, Loose control
4. Find confidence and worth as the women God intended for you to be!

*notes and thoughts while reading "CAPTIVATING" by John and Stasi Eldridge.

Choked out by LIFE

The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life's worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. (Luke 8:14 NIV)

Revelation 3:14-22

Before the throne.

Before the Throne::
Before entering the throne room Esther had a process of purification. She was separated from all she had ever known. Months were spent in rose baths and oils. She was dressed in royal appeal and was offered anything she wanted. Yet she took nothing to adorn herself.

As she entered the throne room she found favor in the King's sight.

God had appointed her for "such a time as this" to save a generation her people.

Today God has appointed each of us as mothers and wives to enter into the throne room and intercede on behalf of a Generation ... Our children.

He has told us that whatever we ask according to His will - will be done!

He has also given us authority to bind and loose!

As mothers and wives we must be alert, eyes wide open, and sensitive to the things that go on in our homes!

Examples:
Bind - spirits of alcoholism, pornography, drug, anger, depression, homosexuality, insecurity, desires that are not pleasing to God, false doctrine, spirits of confusion, self complacency, ect.

Loose - angels to work and minister freely, forgiveness, peace, sound mind, godly boldness, LOVE, compassion, gentleness, pure hearts, pure minds, a desire for God!

LOOSE truth!!!

When we are aligned with Gods will and prepared to enter the throne room ... A generation can be saved ...

God give us wisdom and discernment as mothers and wives to come into your presence not just to feel you, but to enter that secret place - the throne room and make intersection on behalf of our families!!

Goliath Hunter in the House!

Nelson just came around the corner into the kitchen ninja style with a drum stick. I surprisingly said O what are you doing. He kinda growled back "I'm tryin ta find Goliath!" I said, oh no! I'm not Goliath! And he replied, "yes you are!" .... I got a little scared! Haha