Our first house had zero landscape when we first moved in. No trees at all, nothing. Today, many years later a huge oak tree sits firmly planted in the front yard. The tree stands as as sentinel. It owns the ground it stands on. Looking at that tree brings back fond memories for me. My children spent hours climbing it. They even camped out up in the tree and read many an afternoon. That tree had a part in my children’s development. As the tree grew, my kids grew right along with it. The Bible gives us similar pictures from nature which help to visually describe for us the nuances of spirit life. Here’s some thoughts from the Word of God along this line.
How Lilian B. Yeomans Was Healed of Drug Addiction
Dr. Yeomans said that if anyone would have asked her how she managed to become a drug addict she would have had one response: “Thorough my fault, through my most grievous fault.” She had experienced salvation in her younger days, but under the heavy stress of practicing medicine and doing surgery she would take morphine, or other drugs, so that she could sleep. She was extremely aware of the dangers of this habit, having treated addicts in her own practice. She believed that she had it under control, until the terrible day she discovered that the drug was the master and she was the slave. She was taking drugs at levels fifty times of those prescribed for an adult male. Dr. Yeomans tried to quit numerous times. She said that if she managed to go twenty-four hours without them that she would go into withdrawal where she had heart palpitations, hot and cold sweats, nausea, racking pain, mental delusions, intense cravings, and an inability to even stand. She made at least 57 attempts do break free of her addiction. She would throw away the drugs swearing to never use them again, only to be driven back into them. She sought medical help and attempted medical cures. None of which made any difference. Her health was disintegrating and one nurse described her as “a skeleton with a demon inside”. She prayed day and night to be delivered, but she did not believe that God really healed people. Dr. Yeomans came to the point where she was bedridden. Her doctors would not take away the drugs, for fear that she would just die. She came to John Alexander Dowie’s healing homes in Chicago in 1898. She was left alone for long stretches and turned to the Bible for solace. God began to speak to her, not just in a single verse but throughout the entire thing. She read in Job about healing, saw God’s heart in Genesis that God called us to walk in His image, saw in Exodus that there were “no feeble among them” in the wilderness, that Deuteronomy called for ritual cleansing of lepers, Numbers showed sickness being dealt with through prayer, sacrifice, and atonement, and many others. It became clear to her that the Word of God had healing as a part of every section, not just some but every section. She also came to the realization that she was healed. Her craving for drugs was gone and her health returned. She never again took drugs. The truth of God’s healing power became a reality, which she shared from that time on.
To read more see: http://healingandrevival.com/BioLYeomans.htm
What was your most memorable vacation? How did you plan for it? Did you check out all the places you were traveling to before you went? Sharon and I just came back from one. We spent time getting to know some of the places we we would be seeing. It’s part of the fun of traveling. What about the place you travel to when you pray? What about the Throne of God? What do you know about God’s Throne? It is the place that everybody wants to go to when they hit heaven! How many plan pilgrimages to religious places on earth every year? The Throne of God is the most important place in the universe that you can possibly go to. What’s so outstanding about the Throne of God? It’s a massive place.
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Christians In Cambodia Aid in Stopping Sex Traffic
Cambodia: What was once the world’s top destination for sex tourism has essentially eliminated child sex trafficking. A decade ago, 15 to 30 percent of Cambodia’s sex workers were 15 or younger, International Justice Mission (ijm) reports. The nation went from no laws and little social accountability to having an antitrafficking police unit in every province and a Christian-run reporting hotline. “The beauty of this story is that you have God’s people coming alongside a nation,” said Christa Hayden Sharpe, IJM’s Cambodia director. “That’s why so much has changed.”
From Christianity Today: http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2015/may/stopping-traffic.html?share=ARW1yQv%2faZpUmBgH3apf5IUfTyyJVVWQ
It only takes two and people have been pairing up and fighting since the fall of man. It started with Adam and Eve’s children. And so, siblings fight. Nations fight. Politicians fight. Neighbors get it on. Animals fight and documentaries are made of it. On and on it goes. But is it ever right to fight? Does a Christian lose ‘cool points’ for losing his cool?
Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing. — Helen Keller
See how this quote is used “Are You Willing to Give Jesus Everything?”
Jesus Visits ISIS Fighter in Dreams
Report: ISIS Fighter Who ‘Enjoyed’ Killing Christians Wants to Follow Jesus After Dreaming of Man in White Who Told Him ‘You Are Killing My People’
“One of our YWAM workers in the Middle East was contacted by a friend earlier this year and they met up and he was introduced to an ISIS fighter who had killed many Christians already. I mean that’s a horrible situation, and admittedly, he was probably on guard,” Gina Fadely, director of Youth With A Mission Frontier Missions, Inc. (YWAM), said during a recent appearance on The Voice of the Martyrs Radio Network.
Fadely, who appeared on the VOM radio program along with Kevin Sutter, another YWAM leader, went on to share that this Islamic State jihadi confessed not only to killing Christians but “that he had actually enjoyed doing so.””He told this YWAM leader that he had begun having dreams of this man in white who came to him and said, ‘You are killing my people.’ And he started to feel really sick and uneasy about what he was doing,” Fadely continued. “The fighter said just before he killed one Christian, the man said, ‘I know you will kill me, but I give to you my Bible.’ The Christian was killed and this ISIS fighter actually took the Bible and began to read it. In another dream, Jesus asked him to follow him and he was now asking to become a follower of Christ and to be discipled.”
Years ago there was a series on TV called “John Doe”. John Doe is about this person who wakes up on a desert island and has no idea who is. He suffers from retrograde amnesia. He has no clue about his past but he finds that has an extraordinary encyclopedic knowledge of everything else. If you name any town in the United States, he can tell you the population to the exact number. He can tell who the mayor was in that town, what year he was born and how much his tax return was the previous year to the exact dollar. He knows all about science; he knows all about plant life; he knows all about mechanics etc. and he uses this extraordinary encyclopedic knowledge of everything to help solve crimes. But all the while he is helping other people, he is trying to find out about his past. John Doe knows everything about everything except WHO HE IS. That is what this post is about – it is about the John Doe’s in the body of Christ, many of them know a lot – they know Bible stories – they can quote Bible verses – they have been church and Sunday School their whole lives. They know all this ‘churchy-anity’ but have no heavenly clue who they are and why God left them on this desert island called earth.
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Russell Wolfe, Producer of ‘God’s Not Dead,’ Dies at 50
Russell Wolfe, prolific producer of faith-based films such as recent hit “God’s Not Dead” through his Pure Flix studio, died May 27 in Scottsdale, Arizona of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis).
Russell produced and co-starred in 2014’s “God Not Dead,” which grossed $60 million dollars. He was diagnosed with ALS during the film’s release.
He continued to work during his illness, producing the sequel “God’s Not Dead 2,” planned for a spring 2016 release.
For more on this story see: http://variety.com/2015/film/news/russell-wolfe-dead-dies-gods-not-dead-1201508419/
We live in a time the Bible classifies as perilous times (2 Timothy 3:1). Terrorism is one factor that makes these days dangerous to live in. This hate religion is a fear based business. Believers in Jesus don’t have to be subject to a spirit of fear. You can overcome it. You can live in peace all your days. While your at it, you can turn the tables. You can terrorize the terrorist.
How to Display Spiritual Maturity as A Servant
The opening verse of James (James 1:1) shows the apostle’s penetrating humility. His maturity pops out like a pumped up vein. James knew Jesus. After all, brothers know brothers. The siblings flourished in the home of Joseph and Mary. They played and laughed together. They developed into men of God together. James shared his toothbrush with the Messiah. Except he didn’t know he was the Messiah then. Jesus was just his kid brother. Despite knowing the star maker, James chooses not to reference it. What he does mention is the link that mattered most to him. “James a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ”. Put yourself in his place. How would you write this opening? Would you have written, “James the half-brother of Jesus?” A mature Christian understands the spiritual is higher than the physical. Blood is not thicker than water, in the Spirit realm. The new birth fuses believers together into an everlasting inseparable family. Two blood washed disciples living unknown to each other on separate continents have a greater bond than the closet unsaved relatives living under the same roof. These opening words of James are a sharp picture of what maturity looks like, an image the world knows nothing about. Service is life. Those playing the world’s game would have taken advantage of knowing someone as famous as Jesus. Can’t you hear the worn expression, “it’s not what you know but who you know?” Name-dropping, networking for status and positioning “for self-promotion is the game. Call it Selfishness Inc.; against this, the words of James stand in stark contrast.
This podcast is a joint venture between my daughter Sophie West and I. We discuss her blog post
Words Have Power . The notes below are hers.
I suppose it’s only fitting that I introduce myself to you, as that is what most people do upon meeting each other. I am the youngest born to my father Emery and my mother Sharon. I’ve been called a lot of things in my life, but you may call me Sophie West, and I’m a twenty something year old whose passion revolves around three things; My God, my family and words. These areas that I have centered my life on are seemingly typical responses to the age old question “What is important to you?” Well the first two are in any happenstance. Americans the world over have professed a deep and abiding love for God and family. But the two that I’m going to focus on are My God, and my words.
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