As I was talking to my Father God this morning, I had to thank Him (once again) for who He is. I thought about what He had said to me a while back, “Give me more of you and I will give you more of Me.” The thought came this morning that ‘God is neither easy nor hard to know.’ 

Our relationship with the LORD of LIFE takes work on our part, just like a good marriage does.  It starts with commitment, then there is a daily work and progressive self-denial required. Some give up on their daily time in God’s Word and prayer. Most give up when “self-denial” is necessary. We tend to stay in our ‘lifestyle rut,’ or we expect more from the other (spouse or Lord) than of ourselves.  

When I first gave myself to the Lord Jesus out of love and gratitude for what He did for me, God’s Word became a hunger to me; I read it every day for hours till I had read through it all. Then I began reading it again! Once is never enough because the Word of God has new meaning to us each time we read through it because our life progresses with new experiences.  Every time I finish reading though the Bible, I buy another Bible so that it’s always FRESH to me each time I start reading God’s Word again. I write in my Bibles all that speaks to me at THAT time in my life. When I start over I want to hear from the LORD, who is the Holy Spirit, regarding my current life experiences.

As I look back over my almost 50 years of knowing the LORD GOD and journaling my ‘journey’ of learning to walk with Him, I am reminded of all that was required of me in order to know my God more and more. In this journey I have learned that God is neither easy nor hard to know; it depends on me really, in that, what am I willing to give up or die to, that is of my worldly/fleshly desires, habits, and of “the empty life passed down to us from our ancestors,” as the Apostle Peter put it. (1 Peter 1:18)  I know this is what separated me from my family; why they thought I had been taken away from them. But, as Jesus warned, “they will hate you because they hate Me.” They will not understand me because they do not know the LORD personally; they have yet to believe in the One who loves them with an everlasting love.

I can’t worry about what my extended family thinks! God gave me my priority with my husband, my children and my personal walk with the LORD who bought me with His own blood. I must care MORE for what Jesus did for me, than what my mother or father did for me. I must care MORE about what my LORD has for me to do, than what other people expect of me.   

As I have gotten into my 70’s I find it harder to make ‘adjustments’ in order to get closer to my Father God. I’m reminded of what John the Baptist said regarding the LORD JESUS: “He must become more important while I become less important. The One who comes from above is above all.” (John 3:30-31) And what Apostle Paul admitted, “I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have complete boldness so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is GAIN.” Philippians 1:20-21   

How can I “become more like Jesus” if I don’t keep in step with Him? What happens when I veer off His path with me? What happens when I run ahead of Him? What happens when I lag behind Him? I’ve done it all! I’ve also lived the consequences. (It’s all in my book “JUST WALK WITH ME.”) But here I am now in my “golden years” when ‘change’ is much harder.

I’m finding out that simply ‘offering myself’ to Him each morning is all He’s asking of this old gal. Will I be available, or not, at any given moment that He wants to use me, or just fellowship with Him? One thing I do know about my Lord, He understands my human weakness and tendency to worry or fear, and even to want things of this world. BUT! I must keep reminding myself of what He told me in His Word and in Prayer with Him; for His truth and love will always set me back on His path. His promises – I must cling to. His good purpose in this old woman is still mine to do. “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength!” (Philippians 4:13) AND! “The joy of the LORD is my strength!” Nehemiah 8:10  

I also remember what Caleb said (being 85 years old): “I was forty years old when Moses the servant of the LORD sent me…to spy out the land, and I brought back to him an honest report…..I remained loyal to the LORD my God….and He said: ‘Surely the land on which you have set foot will be an inheritance to you and your children forever, because you have wholly followed the LORD my God.’  Now behold, as the LORD promised, He has kept me alive these forty-five years since He spoke this word to Moses….So here I am today, eighty-five years old, still as strong today as I was the day Moses sent me out. As my strength was then, so it is now for the battle [against our enemies], for going out, and for coming in. Now therefore give me this hill country that the LORD promised me on that day.” Joshua 14:7-12

All that matters to God should matter to me and bring me closer to Him. God is neither easy nor hard to know.

I continually read through the Old Testament and the New Testament at the same time, going chapter to chapter, beginning to end, and then starting over again.

The main thing I see with the Old Testament that is different from New Testament is the way God deals with the heads of nations/governments whether they are democracies/monarchies/dictatorships. AND, that God deals with them according to if they fear God and how His people are being treated under their headships, whether Israel/Jews or the Church/Christians.

When it came to God’s people, Israel and Judah’s kings, depending on their obedience to God and His laws - their kingdoms were either blessed by God or not, and if not, then overtaken by other nations that God used.

“Rise up, O God, judge the earth, for all the nations are your inheritance.” Psalm 82:8

A nation’s ‘laws and culture’ is either rooted in God’s laws and principles of living peaceful and productively, or is not, by their laws and culture of worshipping ‘false gods,’ all that God hates and will judge very harshly You can go back in history and see this truth repeated with all nations, and now we see it with America. How can America be great again when our leaders worship other gods? Why should God work on behalf of believers in Jesus Christ who have fearfully compromised the truth from God?

Then with the New Testament I see the other side of the coin: God’s grace and mercy to all ‘individuals’ (in any nation and of any race) who will turn their eyes on Jesus Christ, call on His personal forgiveness, stay committed to a love relationship with Him and a bold living faith in His words to them in the Word of God.

We are called to pray for our nation’s leaders that God will impart His mercy and wisdom on them, so we can live peaceful and prosperous lives. A president doesn’t have to be a born-again believer either, to do what is right and just in God’s eyes. We see examples of this in the Old Testament. King Nebuchadnezzar, King Cyrus, King Xerxes as a few, and all whom did not know or worship the One True God.

After all that God did to empower King Nebuchadnezzar against Israel and Judah’s disobedient kings – he came to worship the One True God. But meanwhile God used him to kill wicked Israel and Judah kings and take into exile God’s people. God told His exiled people (through God’s prophets) the promise that they would be able to live peacefully in Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar.

Then came Cyrus king of Persia, whom God used to bring the Jews back to Jerusalem to rebuild all that had been destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar (under God’s doing – Ezra 5:12-15, 6:13-16).

Then after the Jews were living in obedience to God under God’s anointed priest Ezra, Satan uses Haman, the king’s right hand in a secret plan to kill them off. But God uses His faithful servant Mordecai and his godly niece Esther to deliver God’s people from the hands of Haman. God used Mordecai to protect the king from an attempted assassin and then Esther as one of Xerxes wives (and most favored for her humble godliness) to expose the evil Haman intended against God’s people. And the result was the death of Haman, by the king’s order, on Haman’s own gallows built for the Jews. God’s people enjoyed their freedom to live in this worldly king’s land peacefully.

All this partial history to say: As God’s obedient prayerful people in America – God will answer our prayers, but we may not like the way He does, maybe even surprised. Persecution brings the Lord’s wanderers back to Him wholeheartedly. Enemies within and without that are clearly at work to take America down – taking advantage of this current weak/ignorant/arrogant administration, can bring people to the Lord in faith, hope and love.

“Until the time of the end, many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand.” Daniel 12:9-10

“The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” James 5:16

“In keeping with HIS promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells…so then, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with God. Our Lord’s patience means salvation….So be on your guard, since you have been forewarned, so that you may not be carried away by the error of the lawless and fall from your secure position. Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To HIM be glory both now and forever!” 2 Peter 3:13-15,17-18

I was praying to my Father God about my regrets of all my failures as a believer – thinking that He must make adjustments for in His plan for me.  He reminded me that ALL my “failures” ARE INDEED PART OF HIS PLAN; no adjusting necessary. Oh how that frees me! And oh how that encourages me to confidently persevere in His perfect love and graciousness.

How can I think that God, in His FOREKNOWLEDGE, wasn’t already aware of all my failures, even the ones still ahead, before I was ever born? Our human weakness is NO surprise to God. My ‘occasional’ worldly choices have not altered His plan to bring me into His eternal Kingdom. Jesus told His disciples that He would NOT lose one that the Father gives Him.  And I know, without a doubt, that I am one of His, even if I fail to obey His Word a little, or alot. What gives me this assurance and peace - other than the Holy Spirit that God poured into me when I first believed in Him.

Do I have any personal responsibility? Of course! At the end of each day (and at each beginning), HE is still the One I freely talk to, offer up praise to, bring all my secret thoughts and desires to, asking for strength and wisdom to live for Him. “Living before the Lord day and night – acknowledging Him in all my ways” – is all He is asking me to do!

Like God’s apostle Paul said, and I put it this way: There is a continual battle within me, so that what I do that does NOT honor God, I do, but I don’t want to do! And what I SHOULD do that honors God, I don’t always do - because of how I’m still in this world and all its temptations, and within this body of fleshly desires and weaknesses.

FAILURE on my part, does NOT forfeit God’s amazing GRACE. To deny the truth about God will forfeit His grace. God’s goodness to me is not based on my perfection but HIS!  So then, I must decrease (humbly live before Him in surrender to His will) so that He can increase in my life (for HIS strength is made perfect in my weakness)!

Jesus said, “If you remain in Me, I WILL remain in you, and you will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do NOTHING (that could ever honor and glorify ME).”  So, I will continue to worship my God in spirit and in truth!

I will continue to call on the Lord day and night because of who HE IS and who I am to Him according to His own Word. I will not allow the enemy any victory to keep me stuck on my failures but will confidently remind ‘him’ of his own HUGE failure and eternal destiny in the eternal place God has prepared for him and all those who follow him in denial and dishonor to God. I don’t believe he likes to be reminded of that.   The devil hates God and all God’s promises!  But I love my Father God and all His promises!  So I choose, to walk and live in the LIGHT of my glorious God looking forward to ALL God’s promises being fulfilled. OH HAPPY DAY!

Listening to all the discussions on both sides, and demands of “reparations” I was thinking about it in a different way. GOD will one day give “reparations” for the suffering His own children went through for the sake of His Kingdom and Gospel. 

The false-reparation idea for today’s black population because long ago negro-slaves lived here, is absolutely without an honest reason or grounds for payment. It’s all about politics (getting more votes); people getting more and more government ‘hand-outs’ and ‘entitlements’ while the rest of us pay for it. What evil this is. When they are asked how do they expect to pay for it all, they can never admit the truth that it will cost WE THE tax-paying PEOPLE who are against such anti-Americanism. 

Another thing, but about “white-privilege,” and how that certain group of people like to yell it out as if it’s true! News Alert! Slavery ended many generations ago in America, and so did the ongoing persecution of the KKK after slavery was abolished. The KKK started out of the democrat party and is still working its evil today secretly. They wore hoods over their faces back then so they wouldn’t be known, and so it is today, that they don’t want their secret out.

There are people today who still hate people of other races, even black people who hate white people, poor people who hate rich people. Prejudice and envy will always be on the earth, along with hatred and hostility - as we approach the Day of the Lord. Every knee will bow to HIM! Every tongue will confess that HE IS LORD to the glory of the FATHER! 

Today democrat elites are still trying to use the blacks to stay in power – promising them things that they don’t deserve, and that these self-serving politicians have no right using and raising our taxes for. I’m happy to see many blacks speaking out against all this craziness and supporting our 'freedom with equal opportunity' as they have taken advantage of. God bless them!

Each and every black, brown, yellow, red, beige, white person has the same ‘equal opportunity’ to make something of themselves here in America. It doesn't matter who raised you, or what you had to go without. I’d like to hear all the more from those from all races who have made it. 

Yet instead of letting the truth prevail, this current administration wants to push their unconstitutional ideology of “equity.” They believe that more people will vote for them if they are promised “equal outcome” or “equal income” for doing little to nothing for yourself. Take from those who have been responsible and give to those who won't and would rather cry and throw fits of rage. Paying for student debts is another of their deceptions to pull in the votes. But then after they get back in power, they're exposed for their deception - not able to do what they promised. 

Sadly, the way of this current administration is only causing more anger and division. It’s all purposed by those who only want to take take take - while all along they get more more more rich from backing out of their promises and using our increasing taxes corruptly. They are “godless power-hungry leaches” feeding on and off of Americans who respectfully take personal responsibility for themselves and their own children. 

White-privilege? Guess what, there is such a thing as Christ-privileged! Anyone can have it by faith in Jesus Christ, living out His word and promises. As a true believer in Jesus Christ, I have a lot of privilege (opportunity/benefit/freedom) from my Father God, no matter where I live. I’m very privileged, with all the more coming! 

Why would I want to trust and depend on any politician, president or government when my everlasting Father has control over EVERYTHING that He has created? If God gave up His only Son to the cross with all the sin of the world placed upon Him, for us to be forgiven of our sins, and to save us from God’s coming wrath on all evil and rebellion, then what would He deny those who gratefully live in and for His Son’s eternal glory? 

We might have to endure the “evil day” until He comes again, but while having to put up with evil people and all the devil’s schemes and works in this world – we (who are whole-heartedly in Christ) have the powerful and favorable presence of Almighty God on our side. Whatever we must suffer at the hands of wicked people and godless governments - will be worth the reward that comes from my perfect precious Father God.

What does it mean to be delivered from religion? What’s so wrong with being a “religious person?”

Jesus didn’t come to start any religion. He came to start a personal relationship with us, as we see with His time on earth spent day by day with those He called and those He ministered to personally when He reappeared to them after His death.

Religion is man-made and is why there are so many different religions with their hierarchies of rules and regulations for worship.
Jesus has not called us to Himself in order to change the religious and worldly systems of our day; rather to come out of them, stop trusting in them and supporting them. Jesus has called us to His unshakeable glorious eternal Kingdom where He is KING of kings.

People (even Christians) can fall into the trap of serving a religion thinking they are serving God. Jesus said that in His Father’s House are many ROOMS, not many religions.

Religion is a HUGE stumbling block that most never get up from. When we walk with Jesus, we can’t stumble over a thing. Our eternal life is not rooted in any religion, but in a personal day by day humble relationship with the Lord Jesus.

Religion isn’t able to meet your 'spiritual' need. Religion wants your time and money. Religion draws people to people based on what people want to believe about God, which may be partly true or not true at all.

Until the LORD touches us and begins His fellowship with us, we will not see religion for what it really is: false and leading people to a fixed end they never hoped for, or imagined could exist.

Much has been done out of religion both for and against humanity. The works of religion are different from the works of God. Anyone can do good works on their own, but the works of God can only be done in and by the power of God’s Holy Spirit. God’s Holy Spirit is not in any religion.

Satan has a store-house stocked with any kind of religion that pleases your flesh and pride, and your unholy imagination of what eternity is. Satan has a religion for what you want out of THIS life, if ‘this life’ is all you are concerned for. But it will all end with great regret!

Every organized church that Jesus plants has His specific purpose and if they are not accomplishing His purpose they are nothing more than a religion. You can start out on the right path, but get side-tracked, heading in the wrong direction. It’s not just how you start, but how you finish with the LORD that reveals genuine faith, hope and love.

All of the Holy Spirit’s gifts and functions are what make up the BODY of the HEAD, which is Christ Jesus in His fullness of purpose. If Christ’s Spirit is not allowed to fully thrive with all His gifts and functions – He will leave that place. He will take those with Him who are willing to be all they were meant to be. Believers can continue meeting and doing what they’ve been doing and not even realize that the Holy Spirit has left.

If the words of Christ are not the words you hunger for, how long do you think you can go without His food? That kind of starvation results in weakness, sickness, depression and fears of all kinds.

We start at Christ's Cross with humble repentance, but we must keep going with Him in personal fellowship and humble obedience till we are home with Him forever. Sadly, most give up and shrink back for various reasons. Jesus said in one of His parables (about the Sower and the seed of the kingdom) that only one of four, where the seed was sown (in hearts), continued on to receive the Lord’s kingdom.

The Holy Spirit draws us to God’s Word and into His perfect will. Religion has its own will. Religion does not hold people accountable for disobeying the Lord or His Word.

In the Lord’s own rebuke to His church of Laodicea (Revelation 3), where He stands at their door knocking to come in, you have to ask yourself - why was the Head of the Body, outside their walls? What can then be said of what they are doing inside and accomplishing outside?

RELIGION keeps Jesus Christ outside. Reminds me of what Jesus did when He entered the synagogue where He was angry at what His own people were doing in His Father’s House of prayer. He went through it as a whirlwind of wrath!

You can be “in Christ” and not be a member of any ‘organized’ church. The ‘organized church’ does not fit the members of Christ together. The Lord fits us together for His high purpose. His Spirit-filled Body is world-wide with a united faith; one like Jesus had and passed on to His first church.

Satan has people believing all kinds of lies about what faith is. There is only one Lord, one Spirit and one faith. Jesus Christ is the author and finisher of our genuine faith from God.

As God’s servant John the Apostle said: “I am writing to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. As for you, the anointing you received from Him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about ALL things and as that anointing is REAL, not counterfeit – just as it has taught you, remain in Him. Continue in Christ, so that when He appears we may be confident and unashamed before Him at His coming.” 1 John 2:26-28

Reading through the book of Jeremiah the prophet (in God's Word) I'm encouraged by what the LORD GOD says to those who trust in Him: "I WILL SAVE YOU, because you trust in Me." Jeremiah 39:18

As I see all that we are faced with today (under this wicked administration running our nation) and the possibility of America being defeated by her enemies, because we are no longer feared by our enemies as we were, it's comforting to hear from my GOD: "Obey Me, by doing what I tell you. Then it will go well with you, and your life will be spared." Jeremiah 38:20

As we see our GOD-GIVEN constitutional rights and freedom being stripped away by this fool-administration, hear what the LORD GOD says to those who disobey Him: "You have NOT obeyed Me; you have NOT proclaimed freedom to your own people. So I NOW PROCLAIM 'freedom' for you, 'freedom' to fall by the sword, plague and famine. I will make you abhorrant to all the kingdoms of the earth." Jeremiah 34:17

Those who love the LORD, will obey the LORD, whether personally or nationally. "They will never turn away ME," says the LORD. "Therefore, I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul...I will give them the prosperity I have promised them....I will restore their fortunes." Jeremiah 32:40-44

There is hope for any nation that trusts in the truth from the LORD GOD. God does NOT change! God's Word remains true and faithful! And as it was for Israel, it is with those today (that are not Israel); all who heed the Word of the Living God: HE who was, and is, and is to come! Come LORD JESUS, KING of kings! Bring Your enduring Kingdom to this earth. "As it is in Heaven, it will be on earth." Jesus said it, therefore I BELIEVE IT and I PRAY for it! 

As for now, we are told to "endure the evil day" as Jesus taught His disciples. He told us, "Evil will rapidly intesify as HIS DAY approaches."JESUS IS THE ONLY HOPE OF THE NATIONS! JESUS keeps HIS arms open to the 'spiritually'hungry and thirsty. Now is the DAY of His salvation! But this DAY will shut soon and it will be too late. 

"'So if you will be MY people, and I will your GOD.' See, the storm of the LORD will burst out in wrath, a driving wind swirling down on the heads of the wicked. The fierce anger of the LORD will not turn back until HE accomplishes the purposes of HIS heart. In days to come you will understand this." Jeremiah 30:22-24

We went to see the movie “Jesus Revolution,” a true story based on the book of the same name. The story follows youth minister Greg Laurie and pastor Chuck Smith as they take part in the Jesus movement in California during the late-1960s. The younger generation had lost hope in the government and organized religion. It really makes one think about something very similar happening right now in our nation. And especially with what happened at Asbury University:

“A scheduled hour-long chapel service at Asbury University turned into something much longer and, to many attending, more meaningful. It might be termed a revival. Chapel Wednesday at Asbury didn’t really end. It kind of just turned into hours and then days of worship.”

“Asbury students Caleb Rushing and Lucy Kate Gray were at the first service on February 8. They returned for the final service on Thursday. ‘I have personally rededicated my life to Jesus, my faith has been transformed through this,’ Rushing said. Rushing and Gray consider the revival itself to not be ending because they say you don’t need to be physically at Asbury to experience it. ‘It’s not going to end,’ Rushing said. ‘Everybody who’s seeing this, everybody who’s experiencing it whether it’s here in person, whether it’s over the phone, whether it’s halfway across the world, Jesus is in those places the same way they are seeing him here and so revival can happen anywhere at any time.’ ‘God,’ Gray said, ‘is just starting something new.’”

As it was with the “Jesus Revolution” and the “Asbury Revival," one came forward to openly and publicly repent, and then came a flood of the Holy Spirit’s love and conviction. Might it be God trying to save our nation going to pot? Is God finished with America? Maybe not! 

Watching America spiral down out of control under godless corrupt leaders, it’s clear that a once prosperous and powerful ‘God-fearing America’ has lost her way – falling farther away from the One True God. 

Jesus taught His disciples “to go out” into the world with the Gospel. As believers, have we done the opposite when we invite our ‘unsaved’ friends and family members into our walled-in places reserved for the fellowship of the Lord’s disciples? 

Has FEAR of ‘personally’ sharing Jesus Christ, why we love Him and what He’s done for us, caused our ‘places of so-called worship’ to be infiltrated by those sent by Satan? The Word of God warns about this happening and why.

Would it be to Satan’s advantage to creep in to the ‘fellowship’ of true believers, wherever they are meeting? Would it be to Satan’s advantage to plant wolves in sheep’s clothing in order to work unfaithfulness and unbelief? 

Jesus kept ‘private’ the homes of where He met with His disciples. Why did His Church start to meet ‘outside’ homes in big cathedral-type buildings and under government control with non-profit establishments? If WE ARE the church then our individual homes are important to the Lord just as in the first church’s day. 

Be sure that the day is coming in America when the “non-profit organized churches” will have to choose between their freedom in Christ, or stay accountable to a government with a lot to say in how we preach and conduct ourselves. In fact, this 'persecution' has already started with many churches. 

In the movie “Jesus Revolution” Lonnie, the Jesus-looking hippie who started the movement, challenged Pastor Chuck Smith in his own private home - to basicly leave ‘religion’ (which was not fruitful at all for the Lord) by opening his heart, his private home life and his church-building doors to those passionately searching for the TRUTH. Those who didn’t fit in with ‘religious’ ways and rules. 

When Pastor Chuck Smith saw the truth in what Lonnie was presenting to him, the congregation grew in numbers, mostly of dirty hippies. Including Greg Laurie who is still going strong today. God love them! 

Chuck Smith lost most of his ‘old’ members (donators at that), but “thousands were added daily” just as it was with the first church of Acts. People offering themselves in so many different ways - serving Christ Himself. 

Over the years Mike and I have experienced ‘persecution’ by a few church-leaders for speaking to them in the Name of the Lord, and for doing what the Lord told us to do in the Lord’s church, even in making a loud stir. Jesus is the HEAD of His Body, not the pastor and teachers. 

If a pastor sees the body (congregation) as ‘his’ to rule over, that pastor does not belong to the HEAD. Even if a pastor starts out faithfully walking with the Lord, feeling called to start a church in a needed area, but then later “forsakes the love he first had for Christ,” (Revelation 2:4-5) he better repent and quick. The Lord says he should “consider how far he has fallen and get back to doing the things he did at first.” 

“For if you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place,” says the Lord Jesus Christ. “Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” Revelation 2:7

Our nation needs TRUE leaders, both IN the churches of Jesus Christ and IN our nation’s White House and state capitols. How can we obey wicked leaders? We must choose whom we will obey, and then live with the consequence, or live for the reward at the end. 

“Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand.” Daniel 12:10

“If you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name. For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?.... So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.” 1 Peter 4:16-17, 19