Day 6 of the 3:16 Tour...Let the Water's Part!

This might be one of my favorite passages of scripture. God is so faithful to his people and this passage shows his power over all things, AGAIN. You really need to read the whole chapter. God tells Joshua, that just as He was with Moses, He is also with Joshua! I love that, because just as He was with those servants of old, He is with US today. 

In Joshua chapter 3, the Israelites needed to cross the Jordan River, during the time of harvest, which is also the time of flood...they were worried about it. But, God had a plan already. (Funny how they forgot about the miracle He gave them when they crossed the Red Sea.)

So, God tells Joshua to have the priests, carrying the Ark of the Covenant, step into the waters of the Jordan River, which were overflowing their banks...and verse 3:16 tells us what happened when they obeyed. Sometimes, we just have to step into the water, no matter how much we don't understand what will happen next. 

Joshua 3:16 (NASB) the waters which were flowing down from above stood and rose up in one heap, a great distance away at Adam, the city that is beside Zarethan; and those which were flowing down toward the sea of the Arabah, the Salt Sea, were completely cut off. So the people crossed opposite Jericho.

Read Joshua Chapter 3 in context. 


Share your thoughts about this passage in the comments below. 







NOTE: Okay, this is day 6 and I didn't post day 5. I was just so excited about this one, that I totally forgot to put day 5 first. So, look for Deuteronomy 3:16 Tomorrow. :)

Ahh, quiet time with God. I would love to tell you that I get up every morning, an hour early, just so I can spend 60 blissful minutes in His presence, no distractions, no bunny trails, no thoughts of anything but the goodness of our Lord, and those I am lifting to him in prayer. I would love to tell you that, but I can't. It would be a lie.

In reality, I am a multitasker and mornings are not my favorite time of day. I tend to wake up early, but functioning on all cylinders comes much later in the day. My prayer time in the morning goes more like this...

The alarm on my phone goes off, I have it set on Jesus Loves Me, just so I wake up to that sweet reminder. I roll over and find my phone, usually on the nightstand, but sometimes hidden somewhere in my covers or under my pillow. I'm not sure how that happens, but it does. Once I silence the alarm and convince myself it's time to get out of bed, I greet the day with a whisper, "Good Morning, Lord. Thank you for waking me up this morning, and for the opportunities you are about to put in front of me today. Help me choose your will and your ways, lead me and guide me." 

That is followed by a fast trip downstairs to the restroom, I'm over 40, some things cannot wait. Minutes later, in the shower, hair full of shampoo, I often pray for my husband. It's important to pray for our husbands daily...Why in the shower? Why not? I pray for his safety, God's favor on his life, I pray that God will prosper and bless the work of his hands and that he will guard his mind and heart a world full of things that ensnare the desires of  men.

On my morning drive I love to sing praises or meditate on the Word. I have 30 minutes from my house to work. But, I have to admit, I also love to talk to my mom on speaker phone during my drive. So, often the 30 minutes is split between worship and mom-time.

To some people this admission of multitasking makes me an awful Christian, especially as a Christian speaker. I just can't schedule a, "daily quiet time." I tried for years, only to be filled with guilt when I missed it. That guilt made me avoid conversing with my Savior altogether sometimes, because it only made me feel worse, that I wasn't giving him that hour. 

I searched the scriptures for the place it told me to sit for an hour every morning, or every evening. I couldn't find it. Yes, there are plenty of times when God's word tells us to come into His presence, there are multiple scriptures that talk about being quiet before God and listening for His voice. As believers, we know that God wants a relationship with us. A give and take, speak and listen, hang out with us, relationship.
It was the revelation of freedom to me. I do hang out with him. In fact, my day is filled with speaking to Him, and listening for His voice. It's called being led by the Holy Spirit. I don't have to schedule an hour, I can abide in Him and He in me.
John 15:4 (NLT-2007) Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.


I don't need to schedule quiet time, I need to REMAIN there...not stopping the daily responsibilities, but doing them, with HIM. Remaining in constant communication is far more important than a daily appointment.

I don't know if any of you have ever felt guilty because an hour of quiet time doesn't fit your personality, but God created YOU to remain in Him. Sure, there are times of study, and there are times of deeper prayer, supplication, fasting, according to the leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives and hearts. But where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is FREEDOM, not condemnation.

So, if you are a scheduler, and love that hour, first thing in the morning, or right before bed, DO IT. But be sure you are remaining in Him outside of that time. If you are like me, and your prayer time, and conversations with God, are more scattered throughout your day, DO IT. But be sure you are remaining in Him, constantly, consistently, and not allowing the distractions of the world to take you out of His Word.

Blessings and Freedom come when we are in true and pure relationship with Jesus. And whatever that looks like in your life, God is the only one who knows your heart toward Him. And HE LOVES YOU, just the way HE created you.

Blessings and Joy to all, In Jesus Name. 

Pamela

When God Moves

Do you ever get discouraged praying for your loved ones? It can be so hard to watch them living outside of God's will for our lives, and trying not to overstep, or be preachy or judgmental when we see things they don't even recognize as sin in their lives. If we try to say anything, it is often met with hostility, or hurt feelings. So, what do we do? We keep praying, and we keep loving, and when we have to say something, we make sure it is 100% biblical, and not our opinion or pride. Then, we pray some more, and we stand back so that our imposing presence is not hindering the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. 

I know for a fact, if we are praying, God is working. 

Here is my brother's story. I and my family have been praying for this day for more than 20 years. He wrote this as his facebook status last week. I cannot read it, even now, without tears of joy splashing down my face. 

When God Moves

By Robert H. Gwinn

When God moves in your life, it changes you. The experience is real. It is a physical reality. If you are asking if there is a God based on what you can see and feel, I will tell you yes. I have both seen and felt him. I wasn't seeking him or expecting him, nor was I deserving of his intervention. My family had become increasingly aware of darkness in our lives. A "PRESENCE" had been felt in our home. My son had been telling us that dark things were in our home, lingering close to me, and disturbing his dreams at night. At first I played it off as a child's fantasy, a nightmare, or the illusion one sees when shadows interact with a shirt hanging on the back of a chair, and creates the illusion of someone sitting in the corner of your darkened room. It was the way he said it, that made us consider the possibility of something deeper, or more real, at least to his mind. 

The night it happened, he was at Grandma's house. I wasn't feeling very well, and had decided to sleep in his room, so I wouldn't disturb my wife. Not that she would miss me; I had taken to sleeping in the boy’s room or in my reclining chair most nights anyway, and had spent very few nights in our bed in the last several years. My wife and I hadn't really been connecting and apathy had settled into our relationship. That night she went into our (her) room and I had gone to bed with the dog and cats. 

Soon, I was in what would have seemed like a deep sleep and I found myself dreaming of an empty movie theater. There were no employees to be found and it was just my wife and I out for a quiet evening. She took a seat in the lobby in a row of plastic molded chairs bolted together and anchored to the floor. After several minutes I went to search for someone to sell us a ticket or provide us with concessions from the snack counter but the place was empty. I peeked through the space between the closed doors of one of the screening rooms, and could see a flicker of light, but the doors where just a facade and were quite immovable. A bit let down, I returned to the theater lobby to collect my wife and go home. There was a woman sitting beside my wife. She was an attractive black woman with a short Afro hair style and wearing a fuzzy white sweater, angora I think, that fit her loosely around the neck. She had her arm around my wife's shoulder. The woman smiled up at me but said nothing to me. My wife was crying quietly. "Let's just go." I said "You are obviously not having a good night, so let's just go home." Still without saying anything to me, my wife got up and followed me out to the car. As we left I glanced back at the black woman who was still smiling pleasantly at me as we left the building. The car was just outside the door, waiting by the curb and I opened the door and let my wife in. I walked around the car and opened the door, but couldn't sit because for some reason that wasn't clear at the time, my wife was taking up far more of the car than reality would dictate. "Scoot over." I grumbled. She didn't move. "Move" I said more forcefully. At this point I reached in and began to absurdly slap my wife on top of the head, fanning my hand rapidly, not in a particularly violent fashion, but the sort of short slapping motion you might associate with calling your dog to sit on your lap. 

It was all very clear to me, but I was aware that I was in a state of hyper-consciousness, watching this odd play from inside my own head. "What am I doing" I asked myself. "This isn't how I treat my wife. She is crying and I am being cruel. Where is all this negative energy coming from?" 

Just then something happened. In the corner of my mind’s eye something stirred, something dark, something mischievous and twisted in the worst possible context. It was as if I had caught a child with its hands in the cookie jar, or possibly like the moment when Toto pulled the curtain away to reveal Professor Marvel playing at being the wizard of Oz. It was exposed and was waiting to see what my reaction would be to it. For a moment I stared at it and it stared right back. 

Then, suddenly, I knew what I was dealing with. This small blackness was the dark thing that had been tormenting my son when I was sleeping. This was the thing dancing in our living room the night he had fallen asleep on the couch and me in my recliner, and he had woke in the night and said he had seen. And then I did something that neither of us expected. I demanded that it leave my home, and I ordered it in the name of Jesus Christ. I felt it shove me, mentally it was going to fight back, and it was angry and defiant. I tried to call out to my wife, who I knew in reality was across the hall in the bedroom getting ready for bed and I tasted bile as it tried to shut me up. Again I said "you have no authority here! I cast you out in the name of Christ!" 

The dark thing retreated and suddenly I heard a sound. It was coming from somewhere close, I couldn't hear the words, only a voice but I knew immediately what it was. My wife was in our bedroom listening to scripture from the Bible on her phone. I was hearing the word of God. The dark thing heard it too and suddenly a look of fright came over it, it glanced wildly from the source of the sound, to me, and back again and back to me, to see what my next move would be. Again I tried to call on my wife, but it grinned and stifled my physical voice from calling out in my sleep. I pushed back again with my mind and yelled, calling out as loud as I could from that psychic place at the core of my, from the very soul of me. "God... Jesus... I cannot drive this out on my own! Help me!" and with that I just started repeating "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus... Scripture, Scripture, Scripture!" 

Now the sound grew and the word or at least the voice grew louder, though still muted by the closed door separating the two rooms and the hallway. "In the name of Jesus Christ, Go!" I commanded, and a wave hit me... Now let me try to describe this as carefully as possible. It began at my feet, which were pointed toward the hall. It was the sort of tingle you might feel from a mild current passing through you, but instead of running through the circuitry of my body in tendrils of electricity, it began moving up my legs in a solid line. Imagine passing your hand through the surface of water but instead of the water moving out of the way it simply became a part of you on a molecular level right at the point of surface tension. I am afraid that even this description is vague at best compared to the actual sensation but it's the closest I can think of. This line of energy raced up my body, through the very core of me and out through the top of my head which was pointed at the window, and as it did, the darkness fled before it. As it surged through and out I regained control of myself and practically levitated off the bed and onto my feet. I dashed across the hall and burst into the master bedroom, "Scripture, Scripture, Scripture!" My wife was startled and reaching for her phone she apologized, saying "I didn't mean to disturb you. I'll turn it down." "NO!" I said, "Turn it up and bring it with you!" As we sat on our son’s bed, after listening to the Bible scriptures for several more minutes, I told her what I had just experienced. She told me that she had been crying in the shower, and praying. and then she told me that she had heard me moaning in my sleep. She told me she had gotten ready for bed and that just before I came leaping into the room she had been listening to Matthew 8:28-34

28 When he arrived at the other side in the region of the Gadarenes two demon-possessed men coming from the tombs met him. They were so violent that no one could pass that way.29 “What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?”30 Some distance from them a large herd of pigs was feeding.31 The demons begged Jesus, “If you drive us out, send us into the herd of pigs.”32 He said to them, “Go!” So they came out and went into the pigs, and the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and died in the water.33 Those tending the pigs ran off, went into the town and reported all this, including what had happened to the demon-possessed men. 34 Then the whole town went out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they pleaded with him to leave their region.

The next day, I told my mother and my son what had happened. The day after that, my son came home and went to his bedroom and began to cry. With tears in his eyes he grabbed me and hugged me, "It's gone" He cried joyfully "It's gone and it's really over". This was my experience on March 6th 2013. Take from it what your own spirit will. If I ever doubted, I don't now. I am forever changed. I know two things. I know I am saved (though I have a lot of work to do still) and I know beyond any scientific scrutiny that there is a God. After this event, the blessings have continued. My health has improved or at least I feel better. My Wife and I have grown much closer and her smile is back. (Most of you have no idea how BIG that is) and there is a calm and a lightness in our home for the most part that has been absent for a while. I still have a lot to pray about and get guidance for, but i finally feel I am headed in the right direction. I am not out to convert anyone, just to share this experience, and if someone’s spirit is touched by it, then it's a blessing and a gift to me as well.

*************************************


I don't know where God is going to take my brother,but I do know that from that day forward, he belongs to Jesus, the enemy of our souls has no dominion in his life, and our prayers have been answered. 

Please keep his family in prayer as they follow the leading of the Lord and the Word of God for their household of newly found faith. 

The First Sin

I started reading Genesis again today. Sometimes I like to go back to the beginning. It is interesting to see what you notice, when you read at different times of your life. As I read the second chapter, these verses jumped out at me. 

Genesis 2:15-24

New Living Translation (NLT)

¹⁵ The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. ¹⁶ But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden— ¹⁷ except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”
¹⁸ Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.” ¹⁹ So the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man^[a] to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one. ²⁰ He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him.
²¹ So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs^[d] and closed up the opening. ²² Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man.
²³ “At last!” the man exclaimed.

“This one is bone from my bone,
    and flesh from my flesh!
She will be called ‘woman,’
    because she was taken from ‘man.’”

²⁴ This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.

Yes, I have known this story since pre-K Sunday School. I always saw it as just the order of creation, but today I saw something else. 

Eve's sin was the first time a woman rebelled against her husband; she wasn't yet created when God told Adam what they could eat and to stay away from that particular tree. Adam was the one to pass that information on to Eve, because he heard from God and knew it was truth. As we know, Eve was beguiled by the serpent, and Adam was beguiled by his wife, but, as I read that, I thought of how often we, as wives, think we know better than our husbands, and even after he has made a decision, we not only disobey, but we work fervently to convince him why we are right. 

Why does scripture tell us repeatedly to submit to the authority of our husbands? Because, since the beginning of time, we have usurped that authority. What a crafty enemy was Satan to put a curse on women to cause us to believe we knew more than God, and more than our husbands, for whom God created us. 

As I speak across the country, I hear women say, "If my husband were more godly, it would be easier for me to submit." 

Really? Could we have a more godly husband than Adam, a man who had never known sin to that point. Let's look at the attributes of Adam for a moment. 

We know from scripture that he was made in the image of God by God's own hand. The only man we know of, to never pass through a mother's womb. We know he did not know sin. He didn't even know about sin, so there was no abuse, no neglect and no adultery in that relationship. He didn't struggle with pornography, overeating, or spending too much time at the office. He walked and talked with God in an extremely personal relationship. Adam was likely the most godly man in the history of the world, besides Jesus, of course. But, he was created, as we all are, with free-will. And, Adam loved his wife. 

What do we know about Eve? She was created from Adam's rib, she was lovely to him, and she also walked and talked with God. Like Adam, she was created with free-will. 
Then comes the third player - Satan. Some believe he took the form of a serpent, I rather believe he possessed the serpent. Either way, his plan was not simply to destroy Eve and lead her to eternal death. His plan was to destroy God's plan for mankind, and  he knew the destruction of the family God created was key to the stronghold he would place on all of us. He may not have known he was defeated, until the resurrection of Christ, many centuries later, but he knew he didn't want these newly created beings to spend eternity with God. He was already kicked out, already filled with rebellion and already the opposite of all that was good. 

God created women with a need to be loved and desired. It is that need that should draw us to our husbands in love and respect for them. When we honor the man God gives us, we are more likely to receive the kind of love we crave. But, we live in a fallen world and that isn't always what happens in our lives. Why? Is it because Eve at a piece of fruit and suddenly knew she was naked? Was it because she took the fruit to Adam, and he ate it too? 

I don't think so. I think the first sin was the rebellion of Eve against her husband; followed by the fact that she forgot her authority; the authority God gave mankind over the other creation in the Garden. A serpent should not have been able to convince her of anything, because she and Adam were given dominion over the animals. Finally, their sin of disobedience to God sealed the deal. God never wanted us to know sin. He wanted us to be protected from the pain and anguish that comes with spiritual death.

So what does that mean for me? For you? Ladies, we cannot take sin from the world. But, we can guard our hearts against the rebellion that tells us to usurp the authority God gave our husbands for our lives. We can honor the one to whom we are supposed to be the help mate (meet). We can stay in constant prayer and study of God's Word so that we can fight temptation from the enemy of our souls, no matter what form he takes or what beguiling thing he decides to possess. We who are in Christ,under the new covenant provided by Jesus, have authority over sin and death. We don't have to be bound by it. Jesus broke the curse that bound us to sin. Let's walk in it. 

Free To Be Clean

Sometimes we need to take a break, get alone with God and let Him show us areas of our life He wants to deal with. I was led to take a little hiatus this summer and really sit at the feet of the Lord and LISTEN. Well, some of it I liked a lot, some made me cry tears of repentance and some left me saying, "Wow God."

No matter who we are, or what we do, we all have a primary ministry if we are married or mothers or both. That is a ministry to our family. I have always known that, but knowing and doing is sometimes different. For example, praying for my husband and giving him encouragement from the Word is easy for me. Keeping a very clean, and organized home, is NOT easy for me. In all of my busyness over the past couple of years of conferences, new book releases and helping others start their ministries, I had neglected the thing that makes my husband happy; a clean and organized house. And boy, when you begin to let things go, they snowball pretty fast. Those were the tears of repentance. Personally, my home was a disaster and my family felt neglected.

Thankfully, God always provides what we need when He sends us to a task. He provided a wonderful friend, Tabatha, who is amazing at organization and cleaning, and she, Melissa (my personal assistant) and I went to work. We donated, we threw out, we organized, and we scrubbed. I cannot tell you how much freedom there is in a clean house. There are still a few nooks and crannies to de-clutter and clean, but overall, it is transformed to what it should have been in the first place. My husband is already happier and I am so much happier.  Now, rather than having a huge cloud hanging over my head when I walk in the door, exhausted, and see the mess. I can spend 15 minutes a day keeping things picked up, swept, etc. And when my husband walks in, he can see that I love him, even if I’m not here to tell him.

The summer hiatus for renewal is almost over and I will be back to writing and ministry full swing, with my short cleaning breaks in between.

I write this because I know I’m not alone. As I posted updates on facebook, there was an outcry from women saying how much they admired my energy, or organization. They wanted to get motivated, but they could not; they didn’t know where to start. The responses went on and on, often from women I thought were far better in this area than I am. Most of them were private messages because they were too ashamed to admit their lack of zeal for their homes in public.

It broke my heart for my friends and for women in general. When did we go from June Cleaver to master hoarders? How did we allow the enemy to inflict something into our homes that would burden us with such guilt and feelings of failure?

2 Corinthians 10:4-5

New King James Version (NKJV)

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

Does this scripture apply here? I believe it does. When the enemy of our souls uses something to heap guilt and shame upon our minds, it is spiritual warfare. Cleaning my house was not the weapon that freed my mind from the guilt. Time with God, time in His Word, and surrendering this area of my life to the Holy Spirit is what resulted in freedom. I then had the release to ask for help. It was only after the guilt was not holding me in chains that I could do the things in the physical that needed to be done. It all started in the spiritual.

 We, as women, get so busy doing all of the things we are supposed to be doing, that we often forget the most important parts of our life. We forget that everything in the natural is directly affected by things in the spiritual. It’s not a battle over dust-bunnies. It is a battle for our families. There are six things I have to do each day, no matter where I am or what is going on. When I allow God to lead my thoughts and actions toward my family, I defeat the attack of the enemy that says to neglect them before it even comes my way.

• 1.       I must pray for my heart to be right in every situation.
• 2.       I must forgive any offense I have encountered from my family.
• 3.       I must pray for my husband; that God would guard his heart, prosper his work and cover him with protection. (If you have children, pray the same for them.)
• 4.       I must consider first, what the needs of my home are for the day.
• 5.       I must communicate my love for my family in a language they will understand.
• 6.       I must take personal inventory of my heart and allow God to purge anything that would get in the way of what HE wants to do in me that day. 

As women, especially wives and mothers, we are given a responsibility to be the caregivers of those in our homes. It’s not just about a clean house.  It’s about showing them our love through the giving of our time and our commitment to them. It’s about knowing that they are the most important to us because they are so important to God. It is truly the ministry of being a wife, or a mother, or both. We are called and ordained to it, now, let’s do it.