August 2010 Newsletter
Posted By cathy on August 19, 2010
Victorious Christian Living Newsletter Welcome to the August 2010 Edition This issue includes: 1 Article From Me Something to Think About Interesting Bible Facts A Powerful Story Favorite Article from My Blog Links to My Other Sites Video of the Month HEAD KNOWLEDGE VS HEART KNOWLEDGE Since I was raised in church, I have had head knowledge of the Bible all my life. I knew many Bible stories and believed all of them without question. I knew all those people really existed who did all the great things for God, but never gave much thought to how they must have felt at the time. In fact, I think I must have thought of them more as a character in a book rather than a person just like me who had the same feelings, fears, and emotions. David had to have much faith and courage to face the giant Goliath when it looked from man’s eyes that He would be devoured and killed in a single moment. At a very young age, David had come to see in God something that many of us are never able to see over a whole lifetime. He would never have thought he could go up against Goliath and win if he had not been looking at things from God’s perspective instead of man’s perspective. The Bible is filled with hundreds of promises that God has given to every Christian so they can walk in victory but the reason many don’t walk in victory is because they have a head knowledge of those promises, but it has not become a heart knowledge. ***Head knowledge knows about all the great men and women of faith that God used to do a mighty work for His Kingdom through the ages, but heart knowledge hears from God and walks in obedience to His word even though you can’t always see where you are going. ***Heart knowledge hears from God and decides to literally take Him at His Word, knowing that He will work everything out victoriously in whatever way He chooses. ***Heart knowledge takes a promise from God and claims it with all heart, mind, and soul, and then goes forward in obedience trusting God every step of the way. ***Head knowledge reads the Bible but does not act on what is read. ****Heart knowledge reads the words, knows they are absolute truth, then believes and acts on that truth no matter what anyone else thinks or says. God thinks and work differently than us, and He will stand by whatever He says; we just have to get in on His way of thinking. All my life preachers have talked about how I needed to have a Daily Bible Study in order to be a strong Christian. Being a good Christian like I thought I was, and I do emphasize ‘like I thought I was’, I made myself read the Bible, but much of the time my heart was not in it. I didn’t want to disappoint God, so I would usually pick what I thought was something that was very easy to understand but it didn’t make much of an impact on me as far as becoming a strong Christian. It never occurred to me to ask the Holy Spirit to help me understand and comprehend what those awesome, holy, wonderful words were trying to say to me. When I started to ask for understanding, it was amazing how I would read the very verse I needed for that day. I would feel like a “light bulb” had gone off and marvel about how many times I had read that very same verse without getting an ounce of understanding from it. When you ask the Holy Spirit to help you to understand what you are reading, it is then that you start to gain the heart knowledge from God. You start to see His Character, and the more you see His Character, the more you will be able to believe what the Bible says absolutely and positively. It is much harder for Satan to make you doubt when you have a clear understanding of God’s Promises for your life. You can boldly have the faith to believe that what He says will come to pass. The Bible has the answer for your every need, so you can ask God for it with complete assurance that He will always back up what He says. Something To Think About In 1680, after soldiers had dragged away her husband, William, because of his outspoken preaching, Marion Veitch said: It bred some new trouble and fear to my spirit; but He was graciously pleased to set home that word ‘He does all things well; Trust in the Lord and fear not what man can do,’ which brought peace to me in such a measure that I was made to wonder; for all the time the officers were in the house He supported me so that I was not in the least discouraged before them. Shortly afterward news arrived that William was to be hanged. Marion rode horseback through a blinding January snowstorm to Morpeth jail, arriving at midnight. At daybreak, she was given a few moments with her husband, “then I went to a friend’s house and wept my fill.” That day, prosecutor Thomas Bell announced, “Veitch will hang tomorrow as he deserves.” But that evening, Mr. Bell tarried at a friend’s house, drinking and talking until past ten. The night was dark and cold when he left for home. He never arrived. Two days later, his body was found in the river, frozen up to his arms in a solid block of ice. William Veitch was released, and he and Marion lived to a ripe old age, passing their godly heritage on to their children and grandchildren. The Lord’s peace had, as usual, been followed by His providence. Interesting Bible Facts JACOB’S WELL – a deep spring in the vicinity of Shechem (called Sychar in Christs time and Nablus at the present day). It was probably dug by Jacob whose name it bears. On the curb of the well Jesus sat and discoursed with the Samaritan woman in John 4: 5-26. It is situated about half a mile southeast of Nablus, at the foot of Mount Gerizim. It is about nine feet in diameter and 75 feet deep. At some seasons it is dry; at others it contains a few feet of water. JOPPA, OR JAPHO – (beauty ), now Jaffa , a town on the southwest coast of Palestine, in the portion of Dan. (Joshua 19: 46) Having a harbor attached to it –though always, as still, a dangerous one –it became the port of Jerusalem in the days of Solomon, and has been ever since. Here Jonah “took ship to flee from the presence of his Maker.” Here, on the house-top of Simon the tanner, “by the seaside,” St. Peter had his vision of tolerance in Act 11: 5. The existing town contains about 4000 inhabitants. PITCH – The three Hebrew words so translated all represent the same object, viz., mineral pitch or asphalt in its different aspects. Asphalt is an opaque, inflammable substance which bubbles up from subterranean fountains in a liquid state, and hardens by exposure to the air, but readily melts under the influence of heat. In the latter state it is very tenacious, and was used as a cement in lieu of mortar in Babylonia (Genesis 11:3) as well as for coating the outside of vessels, (Genesis 6:14) and particularly for making the papyrus boats of the Egyptians water-tight. (Exodus 2:3 ) The Jews and Arabians got their supply in large quantities from the Dead Sea, which hence received its classical name of Lacus Asphaltites. (Taken from Smith’s Bible Dictionary) A Powerful Story Dragged through Sand and Sea Barbara Brown Taylor tells of spending a few days on a barrier island where loggerhead turtles were laying their eggs. One night when the tide was out, she watched a huge female turtle heave herself up on the beach to dig her nest and empty her eggs into the sand. Taylor didn’t want to disturb her, but the next day she returned to try to find the spot where the eggs were hidden. What she found instead were tracks leading in the wrong direction. Instead of heading back out to sea, she had wandered into the dunes, which were already as hot as asphalt in the morning sun. A little ways inland, Taylor found the mother turtle, exhausted and all but baked. Her head and flippers were caked with dried sand. After pouring water on her and covering her with sea oats, Taylor fetched a park ranger, who returned with a jeep to rescue her. The ranger flipped the turtle over on her back, wrapped tire chains around her front legs, and hooked the chains to the trailer hitch on his jeep. Then he took off, yanking her body forward so fast that her open mouth filled with sand and then disappeared underneath her. The ranger hauled her over the dunes and down onto the beach, and the woman followed the path that the prow of her shell cut in the sand. At ocean’s edge, he unhooked her and turned her right side up again. She lay motionless in the surf as the water lapped at her body, washing the sand from her eyes and making her skin shine again. Then a particularly large wave broke over her, and she lifted her head slightly, moving her back legs as she did. Every fresh wave brought her life back to her until one of them made her light enough to find a foothold and push off, back into the water that was her home. Watching her swim slowly away and remembering her nightmare ride through the dunes, Barbara Brown Taylor noted that it is sometimes hard to tell whether you are being killed or saved by the hands that turn your world upside down. Sometimes we feel that our world is being turned upside down, but according to Romans 5, when we’re in His hands His only design is to develop perseverance, which leads to character, which leads to a hopeful attitude. He makes all things work for our good. (Barbara Brown Taylor, “Preaching the Terrors,” Leadership Journal, Spring 1992, 45.) My Favorite Blog Post For The Month My Dream About The Mask One morning I awoke and realized that I had a very eerie but really powerful dream that stuck in my mind for quite awhile. It was so scary that I had to force myself to think about something totally different. The dream was about a lady who was trying to sell me a mask. When I put it on it was supposed to show the “real me.” By that phrase I mean it was supposed to show everything about me deep inside – my thoughts, flaws, all the deep things I maybe knew about myself but didn’t dare want anybody else to know about. I decided to try on the mask and remember feeling a creepy, scared, sick feeling all mixed together. Everything on my face was covered except my eyes and my face looked different. I got really scared and took the mask off quickly. Later on I found out that if you left it on for a certain amount of time it would just become a part of you and you could never take it off. As I lay in bed trying to make the panic feeling go away, the Holy Spirit started to speak to me and revealed that most of us have gotten to the point that we wear a permanent mask to hide who we really are because we don’t want the real person to come out many times. We try to put our “best self” forward so that others will think we are more spiritual than we really are. I have to admit that I used to be a huge people-pleaser kind of person. I wanted to do everything to make everyone like me, no matter what the circumstances. That is a huge undertaking that is totally impossible and something no one should ever take upon themselves to even attempt. If you have asked Jesus to be your Savior, then God is the only one you should ever be worried about having favor with. You will never be able to please everyone else no matter how hard you try. That morning long ago, the Holy Spirit laid it strongly upon my heart to do everything possible to keep the sin out of my life and encouraged me to put on the transparent mask and be as real as possible among others. I am not telling you to go out and share with everyone in your life every problem you might have. Satan is always lurking around trying to find something to use against you, so you definitely need to ask God for discernment about who you confide in. Again I say definitely use discernment about who you share intimate details or problems with. I am talking about just “being real” in your everyday life. Have such an intimate relationship with God that the real you spills over into every area. If you live in this way, you don’t have to think first before you act. God will just naturally flow from you in your words and actions. It will also make you a much happier person to know that you don’t have to put on a “hiding” mask for different occasions. You can just be yourself, let God take control, and see where He leads you. Take it from me (a person who knows very well,) it is very liberating to be able to do what God has called you to do without the guilt and worry of trying to please everyone else. Make it a point to live so that when the mask shows the “real you,” it will be something you will be proud for everyone else to see. Live the words of the hymn written by B. B. McKinney in 1924 – Let others see Jesus in you! To check out my blog go to Who God Is Please check out my other sites by clicking on the links below: Handbook for Victorious Christian Living Blueprint for Victorious Christian Living Video of the Month If We’ve Ever Needed You by Casting Crowns What an awesome video and so anointed. We do need God more than ever and need to fall on our faces before Him and seek forgiveness and repent of our sins. Video – If We’ve Ever Needed You That’s it for this newsletter. I hope that you have been truly inspired and blessed. I have prayed about each word written that it would minister in whatever way God desires. It is also my prayer that God will bless you and your family and start to truly show you Who He Is. He is far greater than anything you could ever imagine. In Christ, Cathy Deaton
Like