“At the LORD’s command Moses recorded the stages in their journey.” Numbers 33:1-2

This reminded me of how very important, not only history is to all the world, but how very important it is to children for their parents to journal their own journey, especially when the LORD has given them something that HE NEEDS them to do.

And what could the LORD need any of us to do for Him?! I’m thinking more about what the LORD calls a man to do for his own family, and for God’s greater Family. Moses was a man who had to leave his family to obey the calling of the LORD, which reminds me of what soldiers do in the military with the hope of protecting their own family’s future, as well as the whole nation of families. God bless them.

While it’s a very important position to hold as a pastor or a senator, let’s say, it’s far more important the position a husband and father have because any nation’s or society’s ‘good future’ depends on the condition of its families. This is how the devil takes over a nation – to at least diminish, if not to ultimately destroy God’s Family, as if he could.

It was critical for God’s people to record their journey of faith in the LORD for their children and grandchildren, great grandchildren and so on. Why? Because the Land God had said would be theirs FOREVER, would not be easy to keep throughout coming generations, with ongoing war for the land of Israel.  God has called Jerusalem the “City God Loves,” and is why Jerusalem is referred to as “the Center of the Earth” because of what is still to come as “recorded” in the Bible for God’s children to know and to NEVER forget.

Most women (or men) don’t journal the meaningful things that happen in their family – to pass it down to their children and grandchildren to know and remember. Why is it important to journal our journey in reaching our goal, or dream, or calling from the LORD? It’s so very important to give our children and grandchildren hope and encouragement to persevere in their goal, dream or calling from the Lord, especially when it has to do with God’s ‘eternal’ Family.

I consider the Bible as the Journal of the Journey of God’s Family from the beginning of time – up to the coming of God’s Son as a baby, which was Jesus’ calling from God His Father, to leave Home and complete His Father’s Plan for redeeming an evil and fallen world.  The record of Christ’s mission on earth, and the promise of God’s Son returning to Jerusalem to reign as King of kings and Lord of lords, and all He’ll do on the earth with His faithful saints – is more than “a journal of history; for it’s God’s Journal of “Who was, Who is, and Who is to come” and all that WILL BE FULFILLED!

Our journals of our journeys can only be about what has ‘already’ happened to date, and what we can only HOPE to accomplish going forward. But God’s journal, a.k.a the Holy Bible, tells us what has happened, is happening and all that is yet to come – that will happen – because God is Creator, Savior, Redeemer, Judge and Eternal Father.  with an eternity planned for those who wholeheartedly love His Son, and hold fast to His Word on their journeys of faith, hope and love for the LORD.

Just like Moses with the Hebrews coming out of Egypt to reach the land God said was theirs forever, we also will one day enter the Promised Land our LORD promised those who remain faithful to Him all the way through their journey to see Him face to face. This is why the Holy Spirit led and inspired the Apostles to record what they were going through as men called by the LORD for what God needed them to do, so that God’s children would not give up on their journeys of faith in Christ our Savior, Lord and King.

No matter what your journey is about, it’s well worth recording! Wouldn’t you say? Others will benefit from reading your journal, and you will never know how much your journal means to God until we are on the other side Heaven awaiting all those who will come in behind us.

The Christmas Story, is not just a nice story to include with the Santa Claus story; it’s our Savior’s TRUE journey of faith, hope and love – for the world to read about and to NEVER forget.

Merry Christmas!

The way we think and live mostly comes from how we were brought up as a child with the environment and home we lived in, and with the teaching we received. What you start out believing and living is mostly rooted in what your parents believe and how they lived. We may not have had the right upbringing, but if God has included you into His holy family He is committed to heal all the wrong that has influenced you or been done to you, and to guide you in His love and righteousness.

By your faithful commitment to walk with Jesus Christ, our Father is committed to how your life turns out and what you become.  His Holy Spirit is perfectly committed to make sure you see, desire and accomplish the will of God for your life.  No one else but Father God has our best at heart and works for our good future.

The Father is working in both you and your husband (even if you have not yet met your husband) to become the perfect match. Of course at the start, the two of you will struggle in the process of becoming one, but the Spirit of God is determined to help a husband and wife see what’s in their way of becoming one in Christ, and then provide them with the power to overcome.

“Jesus must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.” John 3:30

You can read Psalms 112 along with Proverbs 31:10-31 for God’s description of the perfect match, in my opinion.

Although two people are ‘imperfect’ people, they are the perfect match if God brought them together.  God brought me and my husband together in a nightclub before either of us genuinely gave our heart to Christ. We had very different upbringings.

Godly men who marry ungodly women, or godly women who marry ungodly men all find out eventually the conflict and heartache that comes from not being ‘equally yoked’ in what you believe about Jesus Christ and how you see the vows you make to one another.

God hates divorce, because He hates the self-righteousness of unforgiveness far more. When divorced couples move on to another relationship or marriage without seeing and confessing their own fault in why their marriage failed, they take that ignorance into the next relationship.

Separation, instead of divorce, is a good way to work on ourselves! We naturally want to blame the other person for our marriage failing, but it takes two to ruin a marriage. Do not be self-deceived! Make yourself live by Christ’s principles, not the world’s.

God is looking for husbands and wives He can pour out all His favor on to distinguish them from other husbands and wives that are quick to give up and move on. God is looking for marriages to bless and set up as good examples so that people will take notice and be drawn to how God blesses the humble and faithful.

God’s grace and standard has never changed and He is eager to bless the homes of the faithful where His grace is experienced and His standard honored, the best they know how. When He finds a home like this He is very pleased to bless that family. It’s all in God’s design with His promises.

Any imperfect match can become the ‘perfect’ match because “with God all things are possible to them that believe.”  “Faith is the only thing that pleases God.” “The only thing that matters is faith expressing itself through love.” “Without love – I am nothing!” “Love never fails.” “Perfect love casts out all fear.”  (All verses from God’s Word.)

God is love. Love comes from God. God created man because He wanted to express His love and have children to love Him back! “We love because He first loved us.” (Again His Word.) So go to God for how you need to love your husband and children. (Or husband, how you need to love your wife.)

Be wise and wait for God to show you the right person to marry so that the two of you become one in all things holy to the Lord. God’s purpose in every marriage is to reflect the true family and produce godly children, generation after generation without end. The family of God is eternal!

Are any of you thinking, or even threatening to divorce the one you married? What was your relationship with God at the time you married your spouse?

Was your marriage God-approved, God-arranged, God-anointed? How do you know? Not every marriage is God-approved, God-arranged, God anointed. We know from God’s Word that a Bible believing Christian is NOT to marry an unbeliever because of two opposing spirits, (2 Corinthians 6:14) that will eventually come to serious family problems. This is not God’s will for His children. His will for our marriage and family is to honor God and be a “pillar in society” for His purpose of what a true marriage and family is and that He can bless and protect and provide for.

Yet we are also taught in God’s Word that an unbeliever could become a believer – being married to a faithful Christian. (1 Peter 3:1) Sometimes one becomes a born-again Christian after the wedding day, and then what? Do you divorce? No. You follow the teachings of Christ about faith, hope and love, and pray for your spouse, no matter how long it requires. You’ll have to stand against certain things you used to do that you’ve repented, but we learn from the Lord how to lovingly shun evil, not in judgment nor resentment.

Jesus a.k.a. the “Living Word of God,” teaches God’s will about marriage. He said that the law of Moses on adultery which allowed a man to divorce his wife, was allowed BECAUSE OF THE HARDNESS OF THE MAN’S HEART. (Mark 10:5) What did Jesus mean by “hardness?” What changes a “hard heart?” The Holy Spirit changes the heart – when we ask Jesus Christ to live in us.  God gives us a new heart. So many things about us begin to change with God’s Spirit and Word living in us.

This “hardness of heart” a man has when his wife is drawn to another man (or visa versa) for whatever reason, is shamed by Jesus: “In the beginning God made them male and female. For this reason, a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. So, they are no longer two, but one flesh. THEREFORE, WHAT GOD HAS JOINED TOGETHER, LET NO ONE SEPARATE.” Mark 10:6-9

I’ve always had a hard time with what Jesus says about divorce and marrying someone else; that it is adultery in God’s eyes. But it hit me this morning when reading this passage again, that not all marriages are God-approved, God-arranged and God-anointed. In God’s eyes, IF HE HAS JOINED THE TWO TOGETHER, then to divorce and marry someone else is to commit adultery as far as He is concerned. But like any sin, Jesus can forgive it by our faith in Him.

So, what do you do when your spouse is drawn to someone else, and wanting a divorce? What do you do when your spouse wishes he’d/she’d had never married you? What do you do when your wife refuses sexual relations with you? What do you do when your husband has a sexual affair with someone else? What do you do when your wife tries to counsel you in what a man should be, or when she uses God’s Word to correct you, or in her own way – tries to encourage you by telling you how God sees you? What do you do when your husband calls you a bitch, or a narcissist or the devil? Even if you “think” these kinds of things towards your spouse, not speaking it out, God DOES hear it – He’s paying attention to the marriages that He has arranged and approved of for a good purpose.

It doesn’t matter to God what your problem is with your husband or wife, He has one solution: GET RIGHT WITH THE SAVIOR WHO DIED IN YOUR PLACE, AND DIE TO YOURSELF AS YOU OBEY HIS PRINCIPLES FOR RELATIONSHIPS.

Jesus lived 33 years on the earth so that we could learn from Him how to think and live, how to forgive and pray and press on.

As a wife – we learn from the Holy Spirit (who is the Lord’s helpmate) how to be “quiet and gentle” with your husband as his helpmate in what God has called him to do. As a husband – learn from Jesus how to look to God and obey what He says to do, and how treat your wife – seeing her as your beautiful bride no matter how long you’ve been married; treating your wife as you favorably treat your own body. And for both, consider each other’s interests as important as your own. Learn to listen and communicate without blaming; humbly discuss your differences and concerns, and most important, learn to pray together for God’s perfect and acceptable will to follow.

AND REMEMBER GOD’S line of authority: The LORD JESUS is the head of the man, and the man is the head of his wife, and their children learn to lovingly serve their father by how their mother serves  and honors her husband, their father.

Now of course, if your husband or wife is physically abusive threatening lives – then God is clear on this: Separate and turn that one over to law-enforcement and the judges of the land to deal with your hostile spouse.  Pray for the salvation of your spouse. Trust God. Wait on the Lord to answer your prayers.

Has God Blessed You?

Reading in Numbers chapters 22-24, and thinking about the power of God’s blessing on His people, here being Israel, but how God chose to also bless the disciples of Jesus Christ a.k.a Christ’s Spirit-filled Church. I began to ponder “the blessing” on me and my family, and all those who are “in Christ Jesus.”  Oh what JOY fills my heart to know that because of my faith, hope and love in the eternal life and sacrifice of my Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, my Father God has nothing but blessing after blessing for us; that NO CURSE of the devil and his cohorts (people Satan works through) can touch us, nor change the future we have in Christ Jesus! For our Father God has said,

“Their sins and lawless acts I will remember NO MORE!…and since we have the Great Priest (Jesus Christ) over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with full assurance that our faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for HE who PROMISED is FAITHFUL.”  Hebrews 10:16-23

Even when my Father God disciplines me – it’s a BLESSING! Painful at the time – YES! But His discipline always produces in me His righteousness and godly character. His painful rod of loving discipline – is His love and reward in my life.  This is the power of His love, His perfect love that casts out all my fears!

The account of King Balak summoning the prophet Balaam to curse God’s people for moving through his territory on their way to the land God promised them – relates to God’s people today on the earth living in the world’s nations under the rule of leaders who have rejected the One True God, our time on earth as a “pilgrimage” to our heavenly Promised Land. For Christ promised us that where HE IS we shall also be FOREVER! But for now, we, as it was said of Abraham who pilgrimed through as a stranger in a foreign land – we also look forward to the City with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. (Hebrews 11:8-10)

King Balak wanted God’s people cursed by Balaam because Balak feared them. “Come and put a curse on these people, because they are too powerful for me. Perhaps then I will be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land.” (Numbers 22: 6) Is this not what we see happening all over the world today with God’s people (both Jew and Christian) hated because of God’s favor on us because of His Son’s truth and light in us?

John 3:19-20 “The LIGHT has come into the world, but men loved the darkness rather than the LIGHT because their deeds are evil. Everyone who does evil hates the LIGHT.”  2 Corinthians 6:14 “Do not be unequally with unbelievers. For what partnership can righteousness have with wickedness? Or, what fellowship does light have with the darkness?”

This is the world of the devil’s, and he is determined to destroy God’s people and in doing so – having nothing in his way to rule over this whole world.  And, God will give Satan his day in the sun, although a short 7 years.  BUT, as we learn in the account of Balaam: Whom God has blessed it is IMPOSSIBLE for any curse to rest on those whom God Himself has blessed with every blessing He has to give.

This story is very powerful and encouraging to us as God’s ‘faithful’ people, that no matter what we must suffer and endure – WE ARE BLESSED WITH EVERY BLESSING FROM GOD! Even in death, we are BLESSED if we are “in Christ Jesus” safe and secure for the eternity God has prepared for those who love Him.

The Lord met with the prophet Balaam and gave him this message with which to go back and give to King Balak: “God is not human, that HE should ever lie, not a human being, that HE should ever change His mind. Does God speak and then not act? Does God promise and not fulfill? I have received a COMMAND TO BLESS; HE HAS blessed, and I cannot change it! The LORD their God is with them; the shout of the KING is among them.”  (Numbers 23:19-20) “How can I curse those whom God has NOT cursed?… I see a people who live apart for God blessed, and do not consider themselves of the nations ((whom God has not blessed).”  (Numbers 23:8-9)

Then King Balak, in an outrage, said to Balaam: “I summoned you to curse my enemies, but you have blessed them these three times. Now leave at once and go home! I said I would reward you handsomely, but the Lord has kept you from being rewarded.” (Numbers 24:10-11) Oh really? We might be rewarded by the world, for conforming to their ideologies and idolatries, but the REWARD that awaits the FAITHFUL in Christ, is far GREATER for it is ETERNAL!

2 Corinthians 4:17 “For our light and temporary affliction is producing for us an eternal glory that far outweighs it all.”

And now my favorite part: Balaam answered Balak: “Did I not say, even if you gave me all the silver and gold in your palace, I could not do anything of my own accord, good or bad, to go beyond GOD’s COMMAND – and must only say what the LORD says of His people? Now I am going back to my people, but hear the warning of what God’s people will do to your people in the days to come.” (Numbers 24:10-14) Then Balaam delivers 4 messages (curses)  from the LORD about their future destruction.

God has said in His Word what will happen to Satan and all the kingdoms of the world, and God’s wrath and curse on evil rebellion to His Son – will be carried out perfectly, just as God’s blessing and promises for His people will be carried out perfectly with both His Son’s ‘first and second’ coming to the earth.

HALLELUJAH TO THE LAMB! GLORY TO OUR ETERNAL KING!

More and more American citizens are seeking to know the truth about America’s beginnings and improving life for all people living here under our laws and within a culture of freedom with justice for all. More and more patriot parents making sure their children know the truth about the nation they live in, so they can also stand up in unity for the truth as to why America has so been so very blessed by God, unlike any other nation in the world.

Over 500 years ago, Christians in England were being put in prison and even killed because they would not obey the government under King James the first, with his demand of how to worship God the old Roman Catholic way. The people were not free to worship God by their own convictions from God.

Today in America we’ve been seeing one part of our government at work against our religious freedom – and is why our President Donald Trump, along with God-fearing state senators, governors and mayors have all stood up to that ‘evil’ part of our government, to show them we will no longer put up with that because unlike the Pilgrims we have no other unsettled land of the earth to go, and is why we MUST stand up to this evil – the way God has said we should.

There in England over 500 years ago, were a group of people called “separatists” who ran off to Holland and formed a community of their own. Eleven years later about 40 of them (led by God) decided to make a dangerous journey to what they called the “New World,” and what was established as “America.” To these Christian separatists it was worth the danger they would face, because they wanted to live freely to prosper with their families and worship God the way they believed. So, on August 1, 1620 they all set sail on the Mayflower.

There were other people on the ship besides the 40 of them, a total of 102 passengers. A man named William Bradford led the 40 pilgrims in their journey here. All the pilgrims agreed and signed their first contract for themselves as to how they would live in the New World, and this contract was called the “Mayflower Compact.”

These Pilgrims were strong Bible believing people, with a deep desire to live the way God says to live and is why America’s first schools taught the Bible, as the most important of all books. Back then, parents dictated what was taught to their children in school. Schools were an extension of parental control, which is being attacked today to give the government control of what children are taught.

Prayer began each day of school in America’s early days, thanking God for His providence in their New World of freedom. Today we see the shocking consequences and deathly results of both Bible and Prayer being kicked out of government funded schools.

The Pilgrim’s journey on the tiny ship Mayflower was so very hard on the Pilgrims, but they made it WITH GOD’S POWERFUL WILL.

In November 1620, the Pilgrims landed in what they called New England, which back then was a cold wintry uncivilized wilderness. The great sacrifice for their freedom had just begun!

Half of the 40 Pilgrims died of starvation and sickness. When Spring came there were Indians who came to welcome them and teach them how to plant corn, fish for Cod and how to skin beavers for coats. Life then got a little better for the Pilgrims. The pilgrims needed the families back home to help them, which they did through the London Bank, by sending them things by ship.

In the first contract, they formed how they would live in this New World, they quickly found out after one year, that it didn’t work where nobody owned anything of their own, and what they produced was put in what they called a “common store” where it was equally given to all the people. William Bradford, the first governor, called this “collectivism,” where no one had more than anyone else. It did not lead to people prospering on their own.

Today, we call this “socialism,” that part of our government has been working to establish in America. Socialism has never worked, and we’ve seen why in other nations where the people are suffering while their government keeps taking what they have, to do what they want with.

When everybody if forced to get the same, what happens is that people get lazy and then expect their needs to keep being met. This is what we see happening in America today, where those who work hard, and are forced to pay increasing taxes. The government is not meant to “meet people’s needs,” because then people look to the government as their God. God meets our needs! He is the one who shows us how to prosper with our abilities, and then we are to freely help others do the same, without the government in our way.

So, William Bradford began to use godly wisdom, and he assigned a plot of land to each family to work and manage, and whatever they produced was theirs. This began the “power of the marketplace” where people traded with each other for what they needed. And it worked! We call it “Capitalism” where people are free to start businesses to help each other live a better life, buying and selling from each other in all areas of our lives.

Socialism is the enemy of Capitalism.

The Pilgrims quickly prospered by this godly principle and so they lived happier lives with their families. God tells us that whatever our hands find to do that produces good – do it with all your might, and He will bless it. The Pilgrims learned this!

And here is where the first Thanksgiving has its meaning. They had so much more than any of them needed, they decided to have a “gratitude winter” with the Indians where they shared all their bounty with the Indians. The Pilgrims thanked God for all they learned and for the courage and strength to keep going through all their extremely hard times.

The Pilgrims then set up “trading posts” and exchanged their goods, and with the Indians as well trading what the Indians produced with their own hands. The Pilgrims were then able to pay back their loans back home in London.

The success of the Pilgrims attracted more people from Europe who came to the New World. This migration was called the “Great Puritan Migration.” Lots of people started coming over in ships to both prosper and worship God freely. These Pilgrims had the faith in God to keep going even though so many suffered and died.

America’s FIRST “heroes” were not the Indians, but rather the God-fearing faithful Pilgrims who persevered with God for this nation that people from all over the world have come to ‘legally’ live in with their families. The true stories of ‘legal law-abiding’ immigrants should be more publicized than the stories (many made-up) of ‘illegal law-breaking’ aliens. “Alien” to mean that they come to America to abuse our systems, and to challenge our Constitutional way of life with hostile protesting and threat of destruction.

The story of the Pilgrims goes on, but this is why we should celebrate Thanksgiving. This is what all NEW American citizens should be taught, as well as all children in school and at home. Thanksgiving is an ‘American’ tradition of giving God what is due to Him. Those who hate the God of the Bible, and are here (legally or illegally) to pervert our heritage and change our godly laws and justice system – need to leave.

In our public schools today children are taught that the Pilgrims ‘gave thanks’ to the Indians for saving their lives, but that’s NOT what it was. Thanksgiving is our expression of thanksgiving to GOD for how He kept the Pilgrims going and why we can enjoy our lives in America, the Brave and Free!