In the study we are talking about remembering; a different kind of memory retrieval, how God remembers, how we remember, the importance of developing a God-memory and also remembering no more (forgetting).  The cool thing I learned was from the “how we remember” section.

I have certain memories of past sins that I have already confessed to God and been forgiven for and Satan likes to bring them up from time to time to remind me and accuse me and make me feel guilty all over again.  I believe his (Satan’s) main goal is to drive a wedge between me and Christ, making me back away from Christ because I’m “unclean” when in reality, I’m already clean and wearing Christ’s righteousness.  Lamentations 3:17 - 20 describes how I feel when Satan does this:

“I have been deprived of peace; I have forgotten what prosperity is.  So I say, ‘My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped from the Lord.’  I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall.  I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me.  Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

I’ve underlined the things that really stuck out to me.

So this is what Beth Moore says (I paraphrased it):  Like Jeremiah (who wrote the passage above) knew he had complete freedom to pour out his heart to God.  He also knew that too much focus on the bad memories, the worse he would feel.  He deliberately refocused (Yet) and reframed the difficult memories in the goodness and faithfulness of God.  He couldn’t throw the memories away (believe me, I’ve prayed many times for God to cut those memories out of my life), but he showed us that we need to deal with them before God.  Get the old pictures in a new frame!

God breaks the strongholds of our negative meditations when we reframe our old memories with God in the picture.  Can you imagine the freedom we could experience if the memories were dealt with once and for all and we stopped acting on them, consciously or subconsciously?  It’s a deliberate process, we have to take steps.

Step 1 - If you’re not already a believer, realize you’re a sinner, confess your sins outloud to God, ask God to save you through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.

Step 2 - pour your heart out to God, He’s listening and He cares!

Step 3 - do your research; find in the bible attributes of God and truth about God that reframe the bad memories, that way when a a bad memory presents itself or an action based on a bad memory is about to happen, you’ll be ready with the Word of God.  Write your findings down in a spiral-bound stack of index cards (about $2 at Staples) and have it with you at all times.

An example from my life - Satan likes to tell me that God couldn’t possibly love a person whose done xy and z (replace xyz with bad memory).  But, the bible tells me that (John 3:16) God loved the world so much that he sent his only son to die to save us from our sins (the same sins that cause these bad memories).  So I would read that passage outloud and delibertely reframe the memory with the truth.

Step 4 - pray for God to break these strongholds and then really believe that He has.

I hope this was helpful.  It was a great “aha” moment for me

In Christ,

Elizabeth

There was a man who was doing yard work in his back yard and he was bitten by a poisonous snake.  He immediately went to the hospital where they told him that they had the antidote that he needed to live.  So what would the natural next step be?  Right, for him to take the medicine.

If he just hears about the medicine from the doctors and doesn’t take it, he dies.

If he sees the bottle of medicine on the table, but doesn’t take it, he dies.

If he does all kinds of research on the medicine, but doesn’t take it, he dies.

If he sees other people who were bitten take the medicine and live, but he doesn’t take it himself, he dies.

If he dies before he takes it, it does no good, it’s too late (ie - don’t procrastinate, this could be your last day, take the medicine!!)

So, we have all been bitten by the snake and are infected with sin (Romans 3:23 - “For all have sinned and fall short…”)

We are all going to die if we don’t get help (Romans 6:23 - “For the wages of sin is death…”)

But (thank God), there is medicine available (Romans 5:8 - “But God demonstrates his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”).

We just need to take it (Romans 10:9 & 13 - “if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and ^(B)believe in your heart that ^(C)God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved…WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.”)

We can’t just hear the good news in church or from other people and just have head knowledge of God.  That’s not enough.  We need to take the medicine into our body so it can start working on the poison that’s eating us alive.  All you have to do to take the medicine you so desperately need is tell God, outloud, that you agree with Him that you are a sinner, that you can’t save yourself (any more than you could save yourself from deadly poison), and that you want to take Him up on his free offer of salvation through Jesus’ death on the cross.  That you want Jesus to be your Lord and Savior.

You don’t need to understand how it all works, you don’t need to get your life right before doing this, all you need is a mustard seed size (a very small) amount of faith.  As soon as you say these things outloud, the antivenim starts to work.  Now you won’t die, you’re going to be ok!!!  However, there will be a recovery period (called Sanctification), so be patient, it takes a lifetime.  God is now working on you and bringing you back from the brink of death.

Contrary to popular belief, God doesn’t hate us.  He doesn’t have it in for us.  He doesn’t want ANYONE to die from the snake bite.  He created all of us and wants us to live.

Now that you know about the medicine, take it (if you haven’t already) and go tell others about the medicine so they can live too, before it’s too late.

I’m speaking to you as one who has already taked the medicine and has begun healing and truly starting to live.  It’s wonderful!!  Come join me!

In Christ,

Elizabeth

To really figure out who Jesus was and is, we need to read the Bible and let him speak for himself instead of listening to what other people say about him.  They may be wrong or biased, but the Bible is 100% truth and we need to let it define Jesus instead of defining him ourselves.

In verses 40 - 42:

⁴⁰ Some of the multitude therefore, when they heard these words, said, This is of a truth the prophet. ⁴¹ Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, What, doth the Christ come out of Galilee? ⁴² Hath not the scripture said that the Christ cometh of the seed of David, and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?

People are still saying these things today.  The reason we define Jesus ourselves is that when we let the Bible define him, it creates an awful burden on us due to our sin.  When we see Jesus for who is really is, we see ourselves as we really are and that’s hard.  So it’s easier to replace the -truth of Christ with a man-made idol of Jesus.  Sometimes we make Jesus into a lifeguard, he’s up there on his chair, protecting us, but at a distance.  We know he’s there and call on him when we need help.  Sometimes he’s an ATM machine.  We type the prayer in and get a blessing out.

The problem is that when we make Jesus and even God into anything and everything we want him to be, he ends up being nothing.  He’s just a figment of our imagination.  Was he a lunatic, and liar or Lord of the universe?  We need to read the bible and make our decision based on nothing but the facts.  Note - not making a decision (apathy) is the same as rejection.  Just knowing the facts about Jesus begs a decision.

So, if you’re confused about who Jesus is, study the bible, go to a Scripture-teaching church, ask questions.  If you seek him, he will be revealed to you…it says so in the bible!

God Bless,

Elizabeth

⁶⁰ Many therefore of his disciples, when the heard this, said, This is a hard saying; who can hear it?  ⁶¹ But Jesus knowing in himself that his disciples murmured at this, said unto them, Doth this cause you to stumble?  ⁶² What then if ye should behold the Son of man ascending where he was before?  ⁶³ It is the spirit that giveth life; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I have spoken unto you are spirit, are are life.  ⁶⁴ But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who it was that should betray him.  ⁶⁵ And he said, For this cause have I said unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it be given unto him of the Father.  ⁶⁶ Upon this many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him.  ⁶⁷ Jesus said therefore unto the twelve, Would ye also go away?  ⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.  ⁶⁹ And we have believed and know that thou art the Holy One of God.  ⁷⁰ Jesus answered them, Did not I choose you the twelve, and one of you is a devil?  ⁷¹ Now he spake of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve.

Ever since the Garden, when Adam and Eve disobeyed God, there’s been “religion”.  A lot of people get hung up on religion when really we should all just be concerned about the Gospel.

The Gospel is exclusive.  It does not allow for “many different ways to the same God”.  There is only one way and that is through Jesus.  The Gospel does two things:

1.  Demands - exclusive allegience to Jesus as the only way to God.

2.  Divides - separates people into two groups; believers of the true Gospel and non-believers.

The Gospel is unfashionable, but that’s ok, that’s what makes it distinctive.  If I’m a true believer in the Gospel, I need to boldly and lovingly present the Gospel to everyone I can and if they are called by God, they will believe.

In verse 66, thousands of followers left Jesus when he said he was the only way to God, that a person needed to be called by God to even be able to follow Jesus.  Friends, family members, all walking away from Jesus.  Will I stay?

In verse 68 - 69, Peter makes a confession of a true disciple.  He says where would we go if we left you?  You have the words of eternal life.  A true disciple clings to God’s Word day in and day out, not just on Sundays.

I also learned that I can’t come to God on my own terms and expect to be saved.  I need to read the Bible, learns God’s terms and then follow them and come to Him by His terms and believe.

The Cost of Discipleship - I need to be willing to pledge my undying loyalty to Jesus even when it’s not “cool” to follow him.  I need to follow him to the cross, the grave (dying to self), and to new life.

God bless!

Elizabeth

 Our sermon this Mother’s Day morning was awesome!  Pastor Dwayne didn’t give a fluffy, feel-good mom’s day sermon.  We are in John 4:46.  He started out by calling us all helpless (powerless, unable to act, needing help from something).  He asked if we are working hard to conceal our helplessness?  By buying expensive cars, large houses, concentrating on success at work, etc.

God helps those who 1) realize they are helpless and 2) come to Him by faith for help.

God sometimes needs to push us to the brink of helplessness so we realize that we need Him, that we’re helpless without Him.

We should not come to God with an “if, then” statement (”If I do this and this, then You do this and this”), but an “unless, I cannot” statement (God, unless you help me, save me, I cannot save myself, I’m doomed.)

How awesome that God has decided to help us!  We are so poor spiritually.

John 5:1-14 tells of a man who was by the Pool of Bethsda.  Jesus asked if he wanted to get well and he healed him physically.  We are all sitting by the pool, sick, dying, Jesus is asking if we want to get well.  Do you want to get well? 

In Christ, who helps the helpless,

Elizabeth

Faith = Believing is Seeing

1.  The closer I get to God, the more I’ll see my sin and the more God’s grace will abound.  God’s grace encompasses my sin!

2.  God revealed that in my heart, I’ve been taking the credit for the good things that I’ve been doing in my life when really, I have no power of my own to do the work God has set out for me, that’s how wicked and sinful I am.  However, because I’m a believer, I have the Holy Spirit who allows me and empowers me to do God’s work.  Not to be confused with non-believers that do good things that aren’t God’s work at that, unfortunately, don’t count for anything at the end of their lives because it wasn’t work set forth by God.

3.  God cares for me and loves me more than I love my daughter, but I turn on Him daily and chase idols (money, TV, crafting, my family, anything that I choose to put before Him).  Deut. 32:18 says “You deserted the Rock, who fathered you; you forgot the God who gave you birth.”  How crazy would it be for Sarah to turn on me and leave me, that’s how crazy it is that I turn on God and disobey Him.

4.  I am only able to worship God because of the Holy Spirit in me.  Without salvation through Jesus which causes the Holy Spirit to enter me, I am nothing but a body in a pew on Sunday morning, unable to worship.

5.  Believers need to be aware and not get caught up in the trappings, culture and distractions of the world and forget that we are a people called to be separate.  We are set apart and we should act that way.  Be an example to others.

6.  Do I strive after God?  Do I beg Him to help me not go astray?

These thoughts are what God revealed to me during our lesson this morning.  Take from it what you will.

God bless,

Elizabeth

Friday, May 08, 2009

By Chelsea Schilling

WorldNetDaily

The White House mail office has confirmed it received a “deluge” of as many as 2.25 million red envelopes symbolizing the empty promise of lives snuffed out in abortion in a massive campaign that was larger than most White House mailing movements in the last 35 years.

White House mail worker “Steve” has handled letters for 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. for more than three decades. Every single package and letter destined for the White House goes through his office.

Asked if he has seen a flood of red envelopes bound for the White House, Steve chuckled.

“Uh, yes,” he said emphatically. “Believe me, they made it here.”

Steve said while Obama has been occupied in Europe, his administration has noticed millions of red envelopes on behalf of aborted children.

“Quite frankly, there was definitely a deluge of mail coming through,” he laughed. “I had to handle them all.”

“I’ve been here 35 years, so I’ve seen presidents come and go,” Steve told WND. “This campaign ranks up there with the big ones.”

The Red Envelope Project is an idea sparked in the mind and prayers of a Massachusetts man, Christ Otto, who envisioned in January thousands of red envelopes sent to the White House, a visual expression of moral outrage over the president’s position on abortion.

(Story continues below)

On the backs of the envelopes, senders wrote a message Otto composed: “This envelope represents one child who died in abortion. It is empty because that life was unable to offer anything to the world. Responsibility begins with conception.”

The original project began small, but when Otto sent out an email to friends asking them to join him in the envelope effort, the symbolic gesture spread through the Internet like wildfire – eventually resulting in delivery of as many as 2.25 million red envelopes.

“Last Tuesday 2.25 million were sent all together,” Otto told WND. “There were 1 million sent before that date. I keep getting e-mails, and I know that people are still sending them. This past weekend, there were at least 10,000 more sent just from churches announcing it on Sunday.”

The Catholic News Agency reports that a consortium of 11 different student groups at the University of Notre Dame, in protest of the university’s invitation of Barack Obama to speak at graduation, plan to hand deliver a surge of the red envelopes to the pro-abortion president when he arrives to give the commencement address in May.

Otto said he expected no response from the White House.

“On Thursday their goal is to remove the conscience clause on physicians,” he said. “So, they don’t want any press.”

However, WND was successful in confirming that the red envelopes did arrive.

Asked if he hopes President Obama will be influenced by the campaign Otto said, “I really hope that he is seeing them. I know that somebody in Washington is seeing them, for whatever that’s worth. I do hope that it changes the president’s heart.”

He continued, “I also know that there are many people in our government – in both political parties – who believe that life and freedom are controlled by the state. They want to control who lives and who dies. So, it’s not just the president, but there are lots of people in Washington who need to know that this was an important thing and that they are out of step with the people.”

The Red Envelope Project has been provided with letters to cease and desist because it allegedly infringes upon trademark and copyright of another organization, but Otto said the campaign will comply with copyright issues and continue its work once the legal matters have been resolved. Details of the new campaign have not been released.

Nonetheless, Otto said the Red Envelope campaign was a resounding success.

“It has made a difference, regardless of what happened in Washington,” he said. “Just the numbers of children that have been involved are huge. It’s gotten a lot of people talking about the value of life. To me, that’s priceless.”

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  Matt 6:19 - 21

Every time you help out in the church nursery, you’re investing in your future.  Every time you are there for a friend in need, you’re investing in your future.  As long as you are doing these deed in the name of Christ and are a believer, you are doing things that have eternal dividends.

Here’s an anology:  Let’s say you are transferred to a foreign country for work on a temporary assignment.  You are going to be paid very well for this assignment, however, due to stringent customs laws, you aren’t allowed to take anything back to the States with you when your assignment is over.  You are, however, allowed to make regular bank transactions to the US.  So, will you need to spend some money on furniture, transportation, clothes, etc., but, will you be buying the best of all these?  Probably not.  You can’t take it with you.

So, earth is your temporary assignment, your bank transactions are the good deeds you do in the name of Christ.  As believers, this is not our home, heaven is our home.

Remember, you can’t take it with you…but you can send it on ahead!  What are YOU investing in?

In Him,

Elizabeth

Acts 2:22-24 - ²²“Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know– ²³this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.  ²⁴“But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power.

To break this passage down:

1.  Jesus proved who he was and that he was sent by God through signs and miracle.  There were hundreds of eyewitnesses who could attest to this.

2.  His death was predetermined even before the world was created.  It was part of God’s plan.

3.  God raised him from the grave, nullifying the power of death.

There is power in resurrection.  It was impossible for death to hold on to Jesus, He had so much power, He had to rise!

So, if there was a source of power that would solve your problems and quell your fears, wouldn’t you want to know about it and want it?  It’s available to all believers, meaning those who have told God that they are sinners, that they realize they can’t do anything in this life to please God and that they need Jesus’ work on the cross to pay for their sins.

Here’s some Scripture refrences that point to the power of God:

Romans 1:16 - ¹⁶For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 

1 Corinthians 1:18 -  ¹⁸For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

There are only two groups mentioned here; the perishing and the saved.  If the cross, God’s Word, etc., seem foolish to you, you may want to reexamine.  Which group are you in?

1 Corinthians 6:14 - ¹⁴Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power.

This is awesome!  God has promised to raise believers up like He raised Jesus.  Death has no power over us!

2 Corinthians 12:9 - ⁹And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness ” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

Great memory verse!  We are so weak, able to do nothing apart from Christ.  We may think we are doing something, but none if it will count in the end if Christ wasn’t a part of it.

2 Corinthians 13:4 - ⁴For indeed He was crucified because of weakness, yet He lives because of the power of God For we also are weak in Him, yet we will live with Him because of the power of God directed toward you.

Jesus was killed because of my weakness.  His power held him to the cross for me so that I can now live a life of power!

Phillipians 3:10, 11 - ¹⁰that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His deatth, ¹¹in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Don’t you want to be resurrected?  If you are not currently a believer, you are dead to God.  Dead in your sin.  To believe in Jesus, not just know about him, but believe in him and let him change your life, you will be brought back from the dead and life is much more fun when you’re alive, believe me!

A few final thoughts I liked:

He suffered for me, I need to be willing to suffer for him (persecution, rejection because of the gospel, getting up early in the morning to do my Bible study)

He denied himself for me, I need to be willing to deny myself for him (sleep in the morning, fasting occasionally)

Happy Easter everyone!!

Elizabeth

We arrived at the Westin in Charlotte around 3, checked in and went to our rooms to change into the “Mary Kay uniform” (business suit, skirt, hose and heels).  Then we mosied over to the convention center, which was right across the street, to get our registration packet and our $80 worth of free product.  Mary Kay gives attendees as much free product as it costs to register, how awesome is that!  And I got an extra item as a reward for attending a satellite event in Feb. and the Career Conference.

As I gave the lady behind the desk my name, she found my packet, picked up a little hand-clappy thing and shouted “New Consultant!!!”  Everyone said “Woooooo”.  With a big smile on my face, I said “thank you” and took my packet with Kelly (my former consultant and the wonderful lady who offered me the MK opportunity), sat on the floor and dug through my conference bag with relish.  Two of the new scented lotions, a Satin Lips gift set, the new Coastal Colors eye pallete and two eye pencils and a Look Book….awesome!!!  Then we started the task of assembling our name tags and “hangy downies”.  “Hangy Downies” are the little ribbons that show different things about your business and they all stick together in a vertical row off your name tag.  For instance, my hangy-downies were “Cadillac Unit” (because my director drives a pink Cadillac), “On-Target All-Star consistance challenge” (for my consistent wholesale orders), “I’m a Star” (I’m a Sapphire star this quarter), “Customers Count” (showing my participation in another contest), “Celebrating 1 year in your Mary Kay business”.  Everyone likes to see how long your hangy-downy list is

Next we all met at Mama Ricotta’s for dinner.  This was great because I had never really met my unit.  They are in Wilmington, NC, and I’m in Raleigh.  I attend a different director’s meetings in Raleigh and am her “adoptee”.  Everyone was so nice!  It was wonderful to see Kelly again and Susan, my director.

After dinner we all headed over to the convention center for the opening general session.  Wow!  Lights, music, dancing, recognition, inspirational speakers.  It was hitting on all cylindars and made me feel really special that MK Corporate would care enough about us to put on such a great show.  Whenever I attended these types of things for my corporate job, they were NEVER this much fun!!

The next day was more inspirational speakers, we got to walk across the stage as a unit for being a Cadillac Unit (that was cool!)  I loved just watching all the women from different walks of life and different backgrounds, all looking beautiful and confident and happy.  Finally it all ended around 4pm today :(  We all said our goodbys and gave hugs.  Now I’m back in Raleigh and ready to work!!  I’ve got my plan and my goals, I’m so excited!

In Him,

Elizabeth