The Christian Walk

Deception  Debating with someone on social media these days feels sort of like this! (see video)Nobody is really listening and everyone just wants their point heard. The truth is, many will be deceived. For example; (in summary, 1 Kings 22) In the OT there is a story about the King of Israel. His reputation was one of wickedness. He despised the word of the Lord and was evil. His time was up! Anyway him and another king, Jehoshaphat were going to go to war but Jehoshaphat said wait, let's ask the prophets and inquire if this is even a good idea and if we will be successful. So they inquire to 400 prophets and all these prophets say, "12 .. “ Go up to Ramoth Gilead and prosper, for the Lord will deliver it into the king’s hand. ” But Jeposphaphat is still unsure so he says is there any other prophet we can ask? And Ahab says yes, but I hate him he always prophesies disaster. So they call for the prophet Micaiah anyway, and of course he prophesies that the king Ahab would di

I started watching the Walking Dead series. I was bored one evening and for entertainment purposes I watched it. Im hooked. Im on season 6. It completely fascinates me and I love the characters. It is extremely violent and bloody though. During some scenes I close my eyes, open them a minute later and its still happening! Its a movie about warfare and how to survive. Also about loyalty, integrity, and fearlessness in the midst of incredible opposition and evil. The odds are against them yet they continue, they fight and they suffer loss and destruction. They learn to recognize the enemy and through grit, starvation, pure pain and with an amazing skill set they overcome the evil around them. You know what I like about this series? They fight together and they fight for one another. As Christians we fight a different kind of battle- a spiritual one. One that we can't see. Currently I am reading the book The Bondage Breaker. Our culture has bought into the idea that

Leadership I have a masters in family therapy and so I have some knowledge about human ideas, how people heal and grow and now I have an opportunity to work with clients in a Christian environment. I am able to integrate some of the things that I've learned from school but more importantly, I've seen the power of the Gospel work in my clients lives and transform them.  One of my students, a DV victim, has had her children taken away, was suicidal, and homeless, is now a transformed person. One day I sat with her and she asked me, "are you saying that I need to put all my eggs in one basket and believe all this?" I responded YES! Slowly she began to believe and accept the word of God as truth and she grew in a community of other believers. She said that she can't believe she has joy, hope, and contentment. She went from trying to kill herself to finding joy in the Lord and strength from His word. My students amaze me. She is still homeless, without a

Recently I came across a book called "Jesus Calling." Actually I've heard of this book a long time ago and while I was at the Christian book store I picked it up with the intention of possibly purchasing the book but as I went through the pages I felt uneasy, and so I put the book down. My mother in law brought up the book this past month and how much she loves it. So I decided to do some research. I found out that the author, Sarah Young was inspired by another book called, God calling. This book was written in the 1930's and is a known new age book. In the early version of the book, Jesus calling, Sarah Young said that she receives messages from God and writes them down. She also credits this book, God Calling,  for her inspiration. They have since edited the book and decided they better call it a prayer journal instead. They also removed the reference to the book God calling. She also uses the word Presence capitalized to refer to God over 80 times.

                                                                 Folsom Lake 2014 There was a particular time in my life when I felt God telling me to humble myself. And of course God presented an opportunity to do such. It was a Sunday morning at church. My husband happened to be giving his testimony this day. The band was singing and at this particular time, the band would call people up to kneel at the front of the church as they felt led. I was feeling led and knew that God was telling me to go forward. What I did instead was sit there frozen in my seat. My pride got in the way. I didn't think much of the event until about a month later when I began to have all sorts of problems that eventually led me to experience complete brokenness. Then I remembered what God had told me to do. We are faithless but God remains faithful! We are living in a lawless society where we believe that everything is a choice. And honestly we have lots of choices and it has affected how we t

If you will not believe, Surely you shall not be established Isaiah 7:9 In this particular passage of scripture God is warning the King Ahaz through the prophet Isaiah that if he doesn't believe that God is going to protect him and that his enemy will not defeat him, that will eventually be what happens!  God commanded Isaiah to say these words; Tell him to stop worrying. Tell him he doesn’t need to fear the fierce anger of those two burned-out embers,... Isaiah 7 We know that Ahaz didn't truly believe in the words that God spoke and in fact turned to man to be rescued.  So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who rise up against me.” And Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasuries of the king’s house, and sent it as a present to the king of Assyri