GetLifeRightNow!®

Break Time is Over!

2010-10-14T23:07:00.000-07:00

So, lately I've been needing a break.

I've been feeling like I just need a break from all the trials, tribulations and persecutions of life. I needed a break from all my troubles. I needed a break from all my cares and worries.

But instead of "casting all my cares upon Him, because He cares for me...
And instead of being "anxious for nothing because my Father in Heaven knows what I have need of...

I kept complaining, muttering and declaring that I needed a break!

Here's what I got instead:

Two broken shoes in one month - and I have never broken a shoe ever before,
Two broken car windows that now won't roll down,
I broken laptop that I gave away, and now have to use the broken desktop w/no sound card,
A broken ring I inherited from my late mother-in-law that now has 2 missing diamonds,
1 broken earring,
And most recently, 1 broken strap on my LV book bag,

...and all since August.

Well, now I declare: BREAK TIME IS OVER!

Mark 11:23 and 24 says: "For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be removed, and be cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he says shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he says. Therefore I say unto you, Whatsoever things you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them." Basically, we get what we say.

You know, we are created in the image of God our Creator. We are created in His likeness. And God SPOKE into being all that He created. By that same token, we too create our lives into being by what we say. Yes, our words have that much power. And when we say things like "That just kills me," or "That chaps my hide," or "That makes my blood boil," or "Give me a break," after time, we get what we say.

Well, break time is over! Besides, think about it - even at work, when you take a break, you simply take a momentary respite and go back to the exact same thing you were doing before the break. The concept is that we should step away from work to replenish, refresh and renew our energy and get back to it. It's time to do that with our words. We need to replenish our words with good instead of negative. We need to refresh our thinking and renew what we say. If we're going to "re-do" anything at all we should focus on RE-JOICING!

That's right, to rejoice means to refill our joy! And if we get what we say and we start speaking nothing but joy - what do you think our lives will become? JOYOUS! Instead of a break, say "I need some JOY!"

The end of Nehemiah 8:10 says, "the joy of the Lord is our strength." So, when you need strength to carry on; when you need strength to deal with your cares; when you need strength to ease your anxiety, you need to rejoice! That's what gives you strength.

Easier said than done, right?

Let me borrow a bit of teaching and pass it on to you... JOY is not an emotion. It is not a feeling. It is a power and a fundamental attribute of God. "In His presence is the fullness of joy." To get joy - or to rejoice, we must spend time in the presence of God. And not just through praise and worship, but actually by reveling in the holiness of His nature. Holiness is "wholeness" - revel in the wholeness of who God is.

I'll give you a hint. Here are the 7 attributes of God I have researched: God is TRUTH, Numbers 23:19; God is GRACIOUS and MERCIFUL, 2 Chronicles 30:9; God is MIGHTY, Job 36:5; God is RIGHTEOUS, Daniel 9:14; God is FAITHFUL, 1 Corinthians 1:9; God is GOOD, Matthew 19:17; God is LOVE, 1 John 4:8. God is Holy - and when we focus on the wholeness of who He is, we are focusing on His holiness.

Bask in who God is. Be still and know that He is God. Revel in His abilities: Creator; Savior; Provider; Healer; Bridegroom; King... Eat lavishly of the fruit of His nature: wisdom, joy, peace, power and hope. And guess what, since we are created in His image, we are created in the likeness of truth, grace, faith, love, wisdom, joy, peace, power and hope! Now that is a refreshing better than any coffee break!

Break time's over - speak your peace and REJOICE!

Power, love & peace, ya'll! (2 Tim. 1:7)
~Min. Dez

PROOF OF PURPOSE

2009-09-06T07:35:00.000-07:00

© 2008 by Deidre Campbell-Jones

Message Topic: Purpose

Purpose: Jeremiah 29:11
Pointless: Proverbs 16:9

Ever since high school – maybe even as far back as the 4th grade, I suppose, I have had a desire to be special. Well, more specifically, to be thought of as special. I have wanted to be chosen for the team, picked for the solo, recognized for an accomplishment and desired as a friend.

And the reason I felt it necessary to clarify that it wasn’t just a matter of wanting to be special, but instead to be singled-out as special, is because all the while I did have attributes that were worthy, desirable, unique and even special, but not always quite good enough. All my encouragement and support seemed to be always followed by a “but…”

Maybe my personality was too loud, brash and crass but no one knew how to tell me. Maybe I was too selfish, too know-it-all, or too bossy but no one got a chance to tell me. Maybe I couldn’t really sing, couldn’t really dance or didn’t really have “it” and no one had the heart to tell me. Or maybe someone tried and I never really listened, never really heard or never actually believed it was true.

I confess all of this painfully and with much introspection for a purpose: all these circumstances and desires carried into my adult life; my job search; my career plans; and my self-esteem, and manifested as a complete lack of life purpose. Oh yeah, and the symptom of that lack of purpose was a deep, almost obsessive desire to be thought of or recognized as special.

Up until April of 2008 I was still searching for purpose. I hadn’t even completed my son’s baby book from the start of 2005 because I was stuck on “mother’s occupation.” Then I had a vision of that answer – and while I knew it was from God I didn’t know what the answer was. I made up my own mind and went in pursuit of what I thought it was – feeling like this finally might be the answer.

Along the way, while in pursuit of what I thought my purpose might be (or at least a fairly comfortable facsimile or substitution), God was faithful to reveal the truth to me: we all have a purpose. It is one designed by God and for His glory. He has given us talents, skills, trials, lessons and direction all throughout our lives that steer us toward that purpose, train us for it, prepare us for it and mold us for it. And in His season, in His time and according to His grace, He will bless us with gifts to be used specifically for that purpose as well.

Psalms 139:13-17 “For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knows right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in they book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them. How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them!”

God created us each individually. He created us before the world began. He fashioned our parts and how they would grow all the days of our lives, even before he made us. And He continually thinks about each individual He has created.

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peach, and not evil, to give you an expected end.”

Those precious thoughts the Lord is thinking of unto us – those great sum of thoughts – are thoughts of peace, not evil. He wants nothing but good for our lives and those thoughts have an expected end – one God will give: we have a God given purpose.

We have purpose because God has intended it for us. But purpose is not destiny. We have a destiny – we have a divine destination. How could we have no destination even though God promises to be our guide? Proverbs 16:9 says, “A man’s heart devises his way: but the Lord directs his steps. How pointless would it be for God to direct our steps towards nowhere? There is a destination planned for us and it is up to us to follow it. There is no one, not even God who can keep us from our destiny except ourselves.

Remember when I said it was a vision that led me to my purpose? That purpose was realized on August 23rd when I received my license as a Minister of the Gospel. But the vision that started me on this path was a vision of my destiny. As God tries to lead me down the correct path I have already been swayed off-course by my own motivation, distraction, anxiety, doubt and desire to be special. Believe it or not, however, it has only been since August 23rd that I have realized and come to accept that I am extremely special, held in high-regard, blessed and highly favored by God Almighty and that it is sufficient – His grace upon my life is sufficient.

You see, I have minister friends and associates who say they have “run” from their calling. I continuously hear of Pastors who have “run” from their calling and in fact, didn’t even want a job as minister, pastor or even in the ministry at all. It has even been said of me that I was running from my calling as well. But the truth is I was running from one thing to the next, desperately in search of what my calling was.

I cannot and will not shy away from my calling or avoid it due to the trials and tribulations – even persecutions that are sure to come. I have been in search of a purpose for far too long to deny it or shy from it now. I have withstood far too many nasty trials and tribulations in search of this purpose to shrink away from it in awe of what will surely come. No matter how difficult and trying or even painful my new journey may be, I am thoroughly excited about my purpose, simply because I finally have one! It may be weird, or different or unusual for a Minister to feel this way but it doesn’t much matter. It’s just one more thing added to the list of what makes me special!

What about you? You don’t have to be called into the ministry, or even called to some career society deems as worthwhile to be considered special. Parent, student, counselor, teacher, receptionist, soldier, CEO, Trustee, analyst, executive, coach, cook, Pastor, PTA member, community leader, politician, activist, clerk, nurse, doctor or athlete; working, fired or retired – God designed you for a reason and for a purpose; either where you are, elsewhere or both.

It’s up to you to trust that God wants and has the very best in store for you. Believe that He IS and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him – and then seek Him according to Matthew 6:33. Ask for what you have not – including Wisdom and understanding and commit all your ways unto Him (Proverbs 16:3).

God knows you are special and I think so too. Do you?

Power, Love & Peace ya'll!
~Min. Dez

PAY TO PLAY

2009-08-14T07:33:00.000-07:00

© 2008 by Deidre Campbell-Jones

Message Topic: Pay

Get robbed: Malachi 3:8
Get paid: Malachi 3:11

Lately the subject of “tithes” has been heavy in my study, my teaching at church and my Bishop’s teaching as well. It seems that this economy is dredging up some deeply heartfelt issues we Christians (and some non-Christians) have regarding tithing and it is exposing some ugly truths about the matter as well.

Now I cannot say this has only happened to me at my church, but it truly has happened to me at every church I have been to or even visited in which the sermon topic was “tithing” - and that's guilt. Usually when I hear a sermon on tithing I feel guilty as if I am guilty of doing something wrong – even though I have been a fairly consistent tither through the majority of my Christian walk.

It seems as if preachers and pastors sense there is a problem with the parishioners but their choice of resolution is to continue beating us over the head with Malachi 3:8. “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed Me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed Thee? In tithes and offerings.” Malachi 3:9 goes on to say “Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed Me, even this whole nation.”

Yes, the bible is plain – when we withhold our tithes and offerings we rob God. And when we rob God we are cursed with a curse – plain and simple. It is the ugly, guilt-ridden truth. And when I’ve been guilty, I have been guilty no doubt about it. But does calling a liar a liar stop him from lying? And if you call someone a liar who is telling the truth does that make them a liar after all? No – and that’s why Malachi 3:10 goes on with the promises so many of us are familiar with but still can’t seem to consistently get it together.

“Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of host, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.” Now admittedly, even when I tithe regularly, there still seems to be times when this promise eludes me and I wonder if I’m doing something “wrong.” I have even (recently) felt so seriously that the enemy must have wormed his way into my checking account and stolen away my money that I closed down the account altogether.

That was when God began to dispel some myths and some curses for me as well. I want to do the same for you, but it comes with a warning: (in the alleged words of Maya Angelou) “When you know better, you do better.” And when you know better you are accountable for what you know. God has indeed blessed me through my tithes when I didn’t have a clue that I was robbing Him and thought I was a faithful and cheerful tither, but once I was convicted of a deeper understanding I was held responsible for the actions associated with that deeper understanding. So, if you want a deeper understanding of tithes, keep reading. But if you stop here – that doesn’t necessarily mean you can keep on keeping on and keep thinking you’ll be blessed!

We’ll start with “bring ye all the tithes.” Many, many teachers and preachers teach that a “tithe” is 1 (one) tenth of your income or increase. Actually tithe is the FIRST tenth of your increase. Go back to Malachi 3:4 “Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years.” In “former years,” and even when Abraham paid tithes of all he had to the High Priest Malchezidek in recognition of the Covenant Promise given to him and all his seed (us), a tithe was the “Firstfruit.”

God made all first things holy: First born sons, first born lambs, the first of all harvest and the first of all increase. And if the part is holy, the whole lump is holy. Our first fruit is a holy, devoted and consecrated thing. It is set apart by God as being His and being Holy unto Him. That first tenth sanctifies the rest and makes the rest Holy – or redeems that which it has been redeemed unto. Did I lose you?

Ok, when you get your check you either deposit it or have it direct deposited into your account. And, usually when you get cash it goes into your wallet for spending. Some of us take that cash and put aside our tithes right away. I would calculate my tenth in my mind and “designate” that amount to give in church but I wouldn’t necessarily set it aside physically.

Here’s what happens: when it comes time to pay the bills there are two kinds of tithers. One will pay all the bills and pay tithe on the balance. The other will calculate the tithe amount and pay all the bills with the rest. Then when Sunday comes they write a check to the church for their designated tithe amount. (That was me.)

All of us are robbing God when we pay our tithes like this. Because, if we pay AT&T first, or the housekeeper or DWP or bought groceries, we have just consecrated the first fruits of our increase to the phone, Merry Maids, the electricity or Albertson’s. And unfortunately because none of those entities died for our sins, our money which is no longer redeemed towards our Covenant Promise, cannot unlock the promises of God in our lives. Now are you with me? I hope so, but I’m going to take it one step further, so hang in there…

Jesus died for our sins, right? And we believe in Him by faith, right? Through that faith we are the seed of Abraham - Galatians 3:7: Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And Abraham and all his seed was given the Covenant Promise. Now then, Jesus is the lamb of God, right? He is The First Fruit – the Lamb with out blemish that died to redeem us from our sins. When we consecrate our first fruits unto God, it redeems the rest just as Christ redeemed us. When we pay our tithes into the storehouse of God that there might be meat in His house, it redeems the rest of our money that there might be meat in our house. Are you back with me now? Great, then we’re moving on…

Now let’s look up “will a man rob God.” I looked up the word “rob” in the bible concordance because all the preachers and deacons say “You are stealing from God!” But the bible defines stealing as thievery. It is to take in secret, to closet away and hide in private something that doesn’t belong to you.

Robbing, however, is defined as a mugging. It involves bodily harm and is includes the concept of being “held up.” We are holding up God, tying up His hands and locking up His ability to open up the windows of heaven and release our blessings when we do not tithe or tithe accurately. And the only individuals we are stealing from is ourselves.

The California state lottery has a saying: “You’ve got to be in it to win it.” Well, regarding the promises of God, I say: you’ve got to pay, to play! Pay your tithes, yes! But set aside the first of what you make – consecrate it as holy and the rest will be made holy. I challenge you to create a new system in which you pay your tithes first no matter how or when you get paid.

God put it best this way when He said, “prove Me” or test Me. He is telling us to challenge Him according to His promises. And if we do, He goes on to promise that the curse we are cursed with will be removed when He – God himself – will rebuke the devourer (Malachi 3:11).

Oh, yes, there it is – I was right about my bank account all along! When we tithe “as in the days of old,” it is so pleasing to the Lord that He will rebuke the enemy so that he (the enemy who comes to steal, kill and destroy) “will not destroy the fruits of our ground; neither shall our vine cast her fruit before their time and all nations shall call us blessed.”

The enemy ain’t playin’ but I am! I will pay to play with all my tithes and offerings!

THE LATE SHOW

2009-08-09T07:43:00.000-07:00

© 2008 by Deidre Campbell-Jones

Message Topic: Procrastination

Slothful: Proverbs 18:9
Diligent: Proverbs 12:24

Have you ever been low on gas – really low – and figured you could make it to a cheaper station, only to run out blocks before you got there? No, huh?

Have you ever had a bill to pay and put it aside until more money came in so you could pay it, only to forget about until after the late penalties had been assessed? Not you?

Have you ever had a fix-it ticket that was minor and fixable, that you put off getting signed off until you were conveniently in the area, only to find it had turned into a warrant by the time you got to the DMV? Never happened to you?

And did you ever delay responding to an email (or call), waiting until you had more time to write (or talk) at length, only to find out they had received their answer from someone else once you got back to them? No, not that either?

It can’t only be me! And if it’s not just me, then listen up – either we are, or we are related to someone who is a big waste of time, effort and money! Well… kind of. Throughout these and similar situations we have wasted money, wasted time and wasted opportunities to be a blessing to someone’s life because of our procrastination.

Proverbs 18:9 says, “He also that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster.” When we are lazy about the things we must do, we end up wasting a great deal such as: the extra time to walk the few blocks to the gas station and back; the extra money to buy a gas can or pay late fees or an extra word here and there to build a relationship and be an example of Christ in our lives.

It is a strain and a tedious effort upon our lives when we are always living on the back end of procrastination. The situations in need of rectifying are always worse than if we’d handled the matter right away. The extra effort is a burden. Or you could say we are “taxed” by the efforts. Proverbs 12:24 explains it this way: “The hand of the diligent shall bear rule: but the slothful shall be under tribute.”

Now the opposite is said to be true for those who get it done, don’t waste time and manage their duties efficiently. Proverbs 13:4 “The soul of the sluggard desires and has nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.”

The soul of this sluggard is covetous. We always think of covetousness as desiring something someone else has. But when you obsessively desire what you don’t have – a better life; a better job; a better spouse (or one at all); a better house; better behaved kids; better relationships, or whatever – you are wasting the time to acquire those things by desiring them. And that kind of desire or wanting is covetous.

Usually my procrastination is due to waiting for or wanting something better: I’m looking for a better price; a better time; or a better opportunity. But when I’m waiting on “better” I’m only waiting on “the late show.” And when you constantly live at “the late show” your blessings will consistently be a “no show.” But the life of the diligent is full, happy, content and blessed – overflowing and in need, or want of nothing.

You’ve got a life to live TODAY! Don’t put it off any longer. It’s time to stop wasting what you don’t have and start getting what you want. So stop reading this study and get to it!

BONDAGE

2009-07-19T07:36:00.000-07:00

© 2008 by Deidre Campbell-Jones

JULY Theme: Freedom

Bondage: John 8:32-36
Freedom: Proverbs 3:5

Again last month, I missed the last lesson in the series on Fathers. I had been diligently working on my book and on that Friday it was finally completed and had the printer’s final approval for publication. My proof copy had been ordered, the book was made available on Amazon.com, and I was ecstatic! I felt so free from that months-long project that I absolutely forgot about the Friday bible study.

Then as the next week as the 4th of July began to approach I knew I wanted to begin a series on “freedom”. How appropriate I thought the messages would be not only for this time of year, but also for this exciting new time in my life. But by Friday, no words or thoughts would come.

And it is truly not as if I procrastinated or purposely delayed the writing of the message because nothing was coming to me, but instead I was truly busy. You see, the writing of my book was not the end of the project I have been working on. In fact, it is truly the beginning. It is to be the start of a series of speaking presentations and the first on is scheduled this coming Friday, the 10th in Sacramento, CA. Once I completed the book I really didn’t have the time to rest and rejoice as if the project was over, because there was so much more to do.

But in my heart, that was just an excuse. Physically, my time and all my activities in life are a slave to the production of this event on the 10th. I am in bondage to the successful completion of this awesome task before me. However, spiritually, I am also a slave and in bondage to the Lord, whom I believe has given me this ultimate task. And as of late, I have been in such turmoil that indeed, writing about “freedom” seems nearly impossible. Generally I feel I can only teach that which I have learned.

John 8:32 – “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” But a person cannot be “made” free if they are already free. Only those in bondage can be freed. And in fact, that was the very next question the disciples asked of Jesus when he made this statement in verse 32. They said, “We are descendants of Abraham! We have never been in bondage to any man! How can you say you will set us free?”

His disciples had been living their whole lives as if they were free and never once knew that they were in bondage; slaves and not actually free. I was in bondage to the completion of that book and for a moment, when it was done, I forgot that I was not actually free.

And in my salvation, in this walk with God, I have had many, many experiences when I have felt such freedom, that it has not been until this project that I realized, I am not yet entirely free indeed. In John 8:36, Jesus completes the answer to the disciples question about being bondage with this statement: “If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.” Of course, I felt freedom from my sins when I first came to Christ. And along the way as I have grown and grown closer to God I have felt more and more free.

Only through Christ does the idea of “surrender” bring freedom. In war when an opposing enemy surrenders, they become voluntary prisoners. There is no physical freedom until the war is over. But through Christ, to surrender to Him means a complete abandonment of that which you are surrendering and the freedom in that is intoxicating! Most of the time…

It seems the hardest thing I have yet to abandon to God is not my life; my sin; my money; my family or even my soul – it is my understanding. Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” I have an understanding that God has directed me to write this book and do these presentations. I have had a fundamental understanding as to how to accomplish those goals. In the end, my understanding of how to write and publish a book, had very little to do with the writing and publishing of that book.

Any reasonable human being would surmise that the same would apply to the events. In other words, God wanted me to write a book; He made it possible for me to write the book and the book was written. There was freedom in abandoning that process to God and the reward was freedom indeed. Ask me if I’ll write another book and I’ll eagerly respond in the affirmative.

These events currently are a different matter. It seems that I cannot release myself to God’s understanding. My turmoil is that my understanding of the matter makes the successful completion of them (and Sacramento in particular) an absolute impossibility. As I look at the matter by sight and not by faith, it is frightening to lean not unto my own understanding. It would mean a complete abandonment of all that is reasonable, logical and possible according to my own understanding.

And so, until such a time as the Son makes me free, I am indeed still in bondage.

Yesterday was Independence Day. Many of us hung out with friends, ate BBQ, played in the sunshine, swam in pools and enjoyed extraordinary fireworks. We may have heard patriotic songs like the National Anthem, God Bless America and America the Beautiful. We may have even seen or participated in a memorial for our veterans and the current soldiers still away at war. But I wonder how few of the majority actually took time to fiercely consider and acknowledge our freedoms – nationally, individually and especially spiritually.

I didn’t. I am still in bondage. And when the Son sets me free, I will then be free indeed. To be continued…

It's Here!!

2009-06-22T07:05:00.000-07:00

Finally, it is finished!

My first full-length, Christian Life Coaching book is finished!

And I have to give all credit and glory to the Lord, my Father in Heaven who wanted this book written in the first place! Without the power of the Holy Ghost I'm sure I'd be crying in my closet somewhere!

To order this title, check out my publisher supported EStore

To order other titles by my publisher, Destination Publications check out my temporary page

"Soon" the official Destination Publications web site will be available. I'll give you the link now, so you can keep checking back.

ALL (100%) of the proceeds from Father, Brother, Lover, Friend: Finding "The One" remain with Destination Publications and the parent non-profit company Destination Christian Services, Inc. to cover our "A.I.M. 4 Kenya" Missionary project which sends personal care items, customized study booklets and purchases bibles for refugee women and teens in Nairobi, Kenya through the Angaza International Ministries and Pastor Isaac Andeche.

Currently we are trying to ship two 35lb boxes of supplies over for $200 each. If you would like to donate please see our charitable giving site: Hip2Give

Finally, the book is the primary subject matter for the "Relationship of Love" tour - coming to a city in a state near you throughout 2009 & 2010. To find a tour near you, purchase tickets, buy the book or find out about prizes and gifts check out my personal ministry site: GetLifeRightNow!

The first date is July 10, 2009 at the Sacramento Convention Center!!

Please pray for me...

Power, love & peace -

~Min. Dez

HAPPY FATHERS TODAY

2009-06-22T06:50:00.000-07:00

© 2008 by Deidre Campbell-Jones

JUNE Theme: Fathers

Old Fathers: Ephesians 6:4
New Fathers: Luke 3:22

I don’t ordinarily do this, but today I am attempting to plagiarize someone else’s Father’s Day message.

On the radio Friday morning, while on the way to downtown Los Angeles, I was reminded that I’d forgotten to do the bible study that morning by an insightful and thought provoking Father’s Day message that I had tuned into. I happen to come in at the tail end of the message and so the truth is I do not know what the program was, or the name of that particular message, and I believe the speaker was “Pastor Jeffery” – with Jeffery being his last name.

I apologize in advance for this being the only recognition I can give him for such a powerful message. So powerful in fact, that I cannot resist sharing it. And I share it again to you all (as I did on Mother’s Day), not just to those who are Fathers, but especially to all of us who have or have had a Father.

Pastor Jeffery’s own father, apparently was a very well known and beloved Theologian – who just so happened was gruff, critical and had difficulty expressing any affection to his son. All the praise and kind words Pastor Jeffery got from his father came from his father’s students and peers who would often say, “Your father is so proud of you – he speaks highly of you and he talks about you all the time.” To which, of course, Pastor Jeffery would respond, “I wish he’d tell me that himself.”

As his father got older and Pastor Jeffery attempted to become closer to his Dad – and even, he said, to “teach him how to hug,” his Dad only made little progress in the area of praise and affection. So much so that while on his death bed, elder Jeffery told his son he loved him, and Pastor Jeffery’s first thought was, “Please God, don’t let him take it back and negate it like he has done every other time, and then die.” Pastor Jeffery was rewarded – his father never did retract or negate that statement before he died the very next morning.

From years of ministry in relation to his own experiences Pastor Jeffery has come to the conclusion that, while he knew without a doubt that his father loved him dearly, there seems to be a generational issue wherein men of his father’s age bracket and older all seem to “suffer” from the same malady in regards to their children – not just sons. He has determined in his heart and in the lives of his own children that he will (and has I might say) break the cycle.

His example, unfortunately, comes from no other male figure. His plan of action is not even born of a desire to provide what he had been missing – that is only his motivation. Pastor Jeffery’s example comes from God Himself. Ephesians 6:4 says, “And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.” Pastor Jeffery says, that fathers need to be aware that there is that possibility that they might push too hard.

Yes, the admonition is on us as children that we must honor our mothers and fathers. “Children obey they parents in the Lord.” Yes, we get it. But the admonition of Ephesians 6:4 says nothing in regard to the wrath a child might experience – it does not say, children do not become wrathful, but instead it speaks to the fathers. Careful – be careful that you do not push your children into anger and wrath. But instead, nurture and admonish them.

Many dads have the “admonishment” part down easy – somehow that comes naturally to them. And, it could very well be because of the example they had. However they come by it, all who have had the problem of provoking their children have done so because “nurturing” has been seemingly left out of the equation.

”Nurturing” is often associated with motherhood. It is rare – even today – for men to be considered nurturing. And Ephesians does not state that children should be brought up in “nurturing admonition” but instead, the word of God separates the two: the nurture AND admonition of the Lord.

And so, we have all experienced the admonition of the Lord. We have been chastised in Him, corrected and directed with a firm and reproving Godly hand. Still, many of us still equate God’s blessings as a sign of God’s approval. This statement is from me: God’s abundance of blessings in our lives is not a sign of how much He loves us, but instead they are a sign of how much we love God.

According to Pastor Jeffery, God showed the example of how to nurture a child through Luke 3:22 “And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.” Even Jesus needed love and recognition from His Father. And it was public and it was verbal and it was accompanied by a physical touch. The Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove, upon him. The dove has long since been a symbol of love, peace and hope, and every touch we as parents give our children must be representative of love, peace and hope as well.

Pastor Jeffery made a commitment that the buck stopped with him. His decision was this: no matter how you were raised, no matter what your father was or was not capable of we are responsible for our own reactions. And, no matter how we’ve been in the past, it is never too late to start. He was given a gift upon his father’s passing. It was the kind and loving words of praise that now could last him for a lifetime. And even though he waited until he was an adult to hear them, it was still just as meaningful and necessary in his life. It is never too late to start.

And if by chance it is too late for you to receive this kind of approval from your father, be comforted as Pastor Jeffery was. You see, long before his father finally told him that he was loved, Pastor Jeffery had made peace with his dad.

Pastor Jeffery tallied up all the things he’d learned from his dad and in spite of his dad and the sum of them made up the man he had grown to be and he recognized fatherly love in that truth. Some of it was his earthly father’s love and some of it was his heavenly Father’s love that thought enough of a man to nurture him and even admonish him when his own father couldn’t.

God has our very best at heart and some of it is administered directly through our dads and some of it is given in spite of our dads, but we honor them and love them just the same. Children love your dads today. Dads, love your children today. No matter where they are, no matter what the past has been, today is never too late to love.

Power, love & peace, ya'll -
~Min. Dez

MY TWO DADS

2009-06-15T02:03:00.000-07:00

© 2008 by Deidre Campbell-Jones

JUNE Theme: Fathers

E. Father: Matthew 5:48
H. Father: Matthew 7:11

So often though, we treat God either the way we think He will treat us, or in the way we think our earthly fathers treat us. We are reluctant to pray, and reluctant to ask for anything because we’ve already assumed the answer. If we are used to a harsh father who never freely gives us anything, we may automatically expect our Heavenly Father to react the same. If we’re used to a father who requires we work for everything, we’ll feel we have to work for our blessings from God. And if we feel undeserving of anything from our earthly father, we may not even ask of anything from our Heavenly Father.

But God’s love towards us is far beyond how our own fathers might treat us. In fact, it is more like (and actually far surpasses) the way in which we would (or think we would, or would want to) treat our own child. In fact, Matthew 5:48: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect,” is an example of how to be the kind of parent God wants us to be – and not to be the kind of parent we think He is to us.

But for many of us, our acceptance of God or our relationship with God is based upon our relationship with our father. Again, we relate to God through the filter of how we relate to our earthly relationships. And when we are given the concept of our Father in heaven, we have no choice but to consciously or subconsciously compare that to what we know about earthly fathers in general or our own father specifically.

And it most certainly is not that God treats us in the same manner that our own fathers do that we misunderstand what he is to be to us, but instead it is because we treat God as if He will treat us the way we expect our earthly fathers to.
Some fathers try to buy their children’s love. Some children grow up thinking God is a magical genie – the end all be all and ultimate giver of heavenly blessings and material gifts. They go to God always wanting, always expecting always asking… for things. And when God doesn’t deliver, it is an instant sign that God doesn’t love them, or God doesn’t exist.

Of course, some fathers are absent, disconnected or negligent. And some children grow up to be adults who are sure there is no God. And if there is – that God is not thinking about them as an individual. They are sure they will have no prayers answered and quite possibly that God won’t even hear them. Somehow they are unworthy of forgiveness, unworthy of a relationship with a heavenly Father and unworthy or undeserving of His love.

Some fathers are only good for play time. They are practical jokers, good buddies and fair weather friends. And some children grow into adulthood and cannot take the concept of a heavenly father seriously. Come on – you must be kidding. There is no God that is going to listen to my problems, share in my grief and sorrow, wipe my tears away and care for my burdens that I cast upon Him. Instead, God is an ever present spirit – a light and ethereal being and creator of wonderful things like sunshine and puppies who is no more potent, powerful or real than a fairy in a nursery rhyme.

Some fathers are strict disciplinarians who cannot show love but only show correction and even disappointment or dissatisfaction. They rule with an iron fist and can barely crack a smile. Some children grow up to be adults who treat God as if He’s only comparing them to a heavenly list of “rights and wrongs”. They feel as if they’ll never measure up to what God expects of them. The concept of a loving, affectionate father in heaven is foreign, even impossible to conceive of, let alone accept. They feel unworthy, inept, dirty and too shameful to come to God. And unfortunately most Christians don’t help. Far too often it is easier to point out the sin of a sinner instead of just loving a person in spite of their sins and our own.
No one can come to a God whom they think is only going to condemn them to hell. And so they will not come at all – they will not ask for anything, they will not trust in a heavenly father and quite possibly out of rebellion they will not submit to a heavenly father.

And still other fathers are kind and caring, affectionate and giving – they discipline with love and love very nearly unconditionally. And some children grow up to be adults who are not afraid to go to God with their problems and they can trust a God that promises to see them through. They can take their chastisement for their growth and their unconditional love with gratitude, thanksgiving and praise.

No matter what kind of Earthly father we’ve had, this is the kind of Heavenly Father we have and should get to know. He wants us to know Him for who he really is and not who we think He is or make Him out to be – according to what is comfortable for us. God is love and therefore God’s love is perfect.

Matthew 7:11: “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?”

Whatever we are seeking in a Heavenly Father, God will not let us down – in fact, He will surpass our every desire. But He cannot do that so long as we assume His character, motivations and determine the quality of the gifts He gives. And the only way to keep from making those assumptions is to get to know the Father for yourself.

That means study, prayer and meditation. Studying the word of God let’s us know who God is and what kind of relationship He wants to have with us, but our relationship is not with the book or the pages therein. Our relationship must be built the same as any other Earthly relationship – through communication and time.

Most everyone who has had a good relationship with their Earthly fathers will say they did because of the quality time they spent together, the things their fathers taught them and the conversations they shared. The relationship was mutually beneficial and enjoyable. So should be our relationship with God the Father. And prayer is our only form of communicating with Him. It is the way we talk to Him.

Unfortunately, many of us do not bother to find out if He is listening. I know I didn’t. For the longest time I thought meditation was some Eastern religious practice and taboo for Christians. Joshua1:8 says, “This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.” In other words, we can’t just talk about what God will do for us and the promises of His word, we must meditate on the Word, and when we do, God will speak to us. That is how we build a tow-way communication with God. That is how we build a mutually beneficial and enjoyable relationship with our Heavenly Father.

As Father’s Day approaches, consider spending time to build and strengthen the relationship with your Earthly Father and your Heavenly Father too.

Note: Portions of this study were taken from my book: Father, Brother, Lover, Friend: Finding “The One” to be released June 15, 2009 (God willing!)

Wishing you all power, love & peace! (2 Timothy 1:7)
~"Min. Dez"

FAMILY MATTERS

2009-06-07T15:27:00.000-07:00

© 2008 by Deidre Campbell-Jones

JUNE Theme: Fathers

Our Family: Matthew 12:46-50
His Family: Matthew 19:29

Last month our theme was Mothers. And I missed the last week of the month. This month our theme will be fathers. And so I think a good segue between these separate three weeks of lessons about mothers and fathers, is “family.”

Jesus had a family just like us. He was the first born amongst His siblings – brothers and sisters. He had a mother and a father who cared about him (Luke 2:48b); raised him up in the ways of the family; and had certain disciplinary expectations of him. (Luke 2:41-49). And by the time He was a teenager he too had parents who didn’t understand him! (Luke 2:50)

Jesus, just like us had to do things for his mother that he didn’t want to do (John 2:1-10); He had to work in His father’s business even though He had a different vocation (Matthew 13:55 & Mark 6:3a) and was at odds with his family from time to time (Mark 6:3b). But when push came to shove, they loved Him and supported Him none-the-less. (Acts 1:14)

Jesus understood the importance of family, but He recognized both the physical family and the spiritual family.

When Jesus was on the cross in the midst of His “passion” – the crucifixion, He took the time to acknowledge the importance of family. There He noticed the woman who had been blessed to be His earthly mother, and also His Aunt, both standing by the cross. I am sure Mary had to have been weeping and lamenting the fate of her son. There also was the disciple “whom Jesus loved” (John 19:25-27) standing by and when Jesus saw them both He told them – “woman here is your son; behold here is your mother,” And from that same hour the disciple took Mary as his own mother and cared for her.

It’s easy not to think much about Jesus’ family – but when you do, you could imagine they were close. But whether they were or not, there is that closeness of family that God wants with us through Jesus.

At one time, Jesus went up to a mountain to pray. Afterward he called to himself His many, many disciples and chose the twelve who would be His Apostles: “And Simon he surnamed Peter; And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder: And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Canaanite, And Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed him: and they went into an house.” (Mark 3:16-19)

Now when the multitudes heard He was there they pressed in on Him for healing and to hear His teaching so much that Jesus and the twelve disciples could not even eat. Soon someone told Jesus that His mother and His brothers were outside seeking to speak with Him. “And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren? And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.” Mark 3:33-35
Jesus wants us to recognize that once we are adopted as sons and daughters into the family of God, that we have a new family that we must love and care for.

The commandment to honor our mothers and fathers never comes to an end even though our relationship with them must change. We are to honor mother and father that our days may be long upon this earth – and if those days are long – then we must continue to give our parents honor through out all of those days.

But no matter how long our days become upon this Earth, once we come to Christ, we must come to him honoring Him even more than the family we’ve been commanded to give honor to. Luke 14:26 says, “If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.”

Let me tell you a true story – my husband and I needed to go pick up my car that was in the shop and for some reason, we couldn’t take our 4 year old son along with us. So, we asked our neighbor to watch him for about 20 minutes. Now, our neighbor John is a 50-something bachelor, divorced with two grown children and no grandchildren. He has a pool table and an arcade golf game in his rec room so we figured both he and our son would be cool for this short amount of time.

Well, from nowhere, John produced a basket of wooden building blocks and we left them facing off over the family room ottoman, getting ready to build – they were fine. My husband and I did what we had to do, came back, got our kid and it all worked out.

Weeks later John told me that once we were gone and they were quietly focused on building a tall tower, my son stopped and asked John, “who is more important, your family or God?” And John, being shocked by the question and not wanting to risk accidentally trampling on what we might be teaching him decided to give him what he called a “politically correct” answer and replied, “Well, I figure since I love God and I love my family and God gave me my family that I love them pretty much about the same.”

My son apparently was not satisfied with that answer and said, “No, who do you love more?” John stammered, now a little more uncomfortable and said, “Well, I guess I’m not sure really sure how to explain it to you.” And my son, still not satisfied, could only let John off the hook a little and answered, “But, you do know what the right answer is, don’t you?”

John said He struggled to respond because, indeed he had been wrestling with this very same question in his heart just recently and he was so amazed that God had spoken to him through our little son.

The truth is God does want us to love Him more than we love our families. He wants us to trust Him more than we trust our families. And in doing so we entrust our care and concern for our families over to Him.

There is a woman I know who looks like she is the best example on Earth as to how to love the Lord our God "with all your heart and all your soul and all your might" – Deuteronomy 6:5. For the time that I have known her, it has been obvious that she fears no thing except God. She is a shining example of the Proverbs 31 “virtuous woman,” and her husband is a strong man of God.

And this dear woman is ill. My pastor’s wife mentioned that this was the example of living for Christ that was void of being afraid to die. But the truth is that this dear woman’s heart is indeed fearful about leaving her wonderful family. She is clinging to the promises of God and her knowledge of the word with the hope of remaining on this Earth longer, for her family.
But if she would release that desire unto the Lord, ready and willing to let them go and be with the Lord, then would her days be prolonged upon this Earth.*

Abraham in his old age was promised a son – and he was promised a son who’s generations would be greater than the stars in the sky or the sand by the seas. Isaac was that son of promise. And when Isaac was a boy, God told Abraham to take his son and offer him as a sacrifice. Abraham was supposed to kill his son, the son whom he loved, before that promise was fulfilled. And though distraught, I’m sure; Abraham was willing to be obedient and faithful in doing it. The knife was raised over his son lying on the altar, and an angel of the Lord had to shout Abraham’s name twice because he was about to plunge that knife into his son.

Sometimes we have to give up family, to receive family. Job gave up all his family – wife, children and all he had including his own health – but he never cursed God. He was rewarded with a double portion of blessings and family restored to him.

Family matters – and the love we give them matters. But the love we have for God matters more. John 3:16 is such a common verse: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes on Him, should not perish but have everlasting life.”

God loved us enough to give His only begotten Son so that we could have life. It is the love that makes a difference in regards to life – the life we live now and the life we will live for eternity. And so what family are we willing to give in order to have life? It is the willingness – the loving, trusting willingness to trust God that completely, and that if we do, God will honor us with life everlasting and life more abundantly for all our generations.

Power, love & peace - ya'll!
~Min. Dez

(*) For clarification, drop note in the comments.

MOM’S SUPPORT HOSE

2009-05-17T08:02:00.000-07:00

© 2008 Deidre Campbell-Jones
May Theme: Mothers

Nylons: Matthew 20:20
Support Hose: John 19:25

You may not be old enough to have had a mother who wore “support hose” – or maybe now that your mother is old enough, she still doesn’t. I remember my mom talking about support hose, but I don’t remember her ever wearing a pair. I can imagine though, through all I’ve put her through, she would probably wish she’d had a pair of support hose that she could have put on in order give her the support she needed just to try and support me through all the failures I’ve had in life

Society seems to place so much pressure on moms and dads in this regard. If a person does not do well, society looks to how they were raised. And if a person does do well and is highly successful, again it is looked at how they were raised and the lessons of their upbringing.

But mothers however, get a tougher rap. Thanks to “Freud” mothers are the first to be considered whenever someone suffers from mental illness. Somehow the source always starts from childhood and never from the event that got the person sitting before the psychotherapist in the first place! And yet, mothers may also get the most (and most deserving) glory as well. Whenever a pro-ball player gets in front of the camera, the first thing he says is, “Hi Mom,” even if it is Dad who has suffered with him for hours and hours helping to train that boy to get where he is. And Mother’s Day is still the biggest day of each year for card sales and restaurant reservations – even above Valentine’s Day.

Mothers have a lot riding on their shoulders and those shoulders must bear the weight of the world and the brunt of all that we as children place there. In that regard, all mothers need support hose – but not to smooth out the unsightly bulges and blips of an aging body, but instead to smooth out the anguish and the worries that come from loving, encouraging and trying to support their children.

Every good mother wants the best for her children – she just can’t help it. Matthew 20:20 describes a woman who wanted nothing but the absolute best for her sons. “Then came to Him the mother of Zebedee's children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him.” She wanted the highest place of prestige for her boys – that one would sit on Christ’s right hand and the other would sit at His left in the reign of His Kingdom. She dared to ask of the best for her sons and was willing to bear the full brunt of the weight of support for them.

Hey, but let’s admit it – supporting James and John, the two sons of Zebedee was probably an easy and beneficial thing for a mother to do. Her boys were famous – in fact, they’d already been of good report because of their father. Zebedee was obviously a man worthy of mentioning and his sons became known as the “sons of thunder” – as Zebedee means “thunder.” And now these two boys were Disciples of Christ; the Messiah, and the King of the Jews. Surely they were at the peak of their careers and purpose in life. Their mother may not have known the risk she took in asking Jesus such a question, but her support hose were easy to wear that day. It is easy for a mother to support a child when that child is doing well in her eyes.

But not all mothers have it so good. Some mothers have children who are lazy, have not finished school, cannot get a job and won’t leave home. Some mothers have children who are troubled and troublesome. They spend time in jail, in and out of marriages and relationships and are not good and supportive parents to their own children. What kind of support hose does this mother need to wear?

John 19:25 describes the ultimate act of support to me. “Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.” Mary, Jesus’ mother stood by His cross while he was being crucified. Now remember from last week’s lesson, Jesus’ mother and his siblings did not necessarily show themselves as supportive of his ministry until after he was crucified and risen. It seems on the surface that they had been the last hold-outs, waiting for the ultimate proof that their family member – son and brother that they had known all his life – was really the one true, and only begotten son of God. Sure, I’ll believe it when he’s risen!

But in truth, Mary shows true support of her son even if she did not yet show true belief in him as The Son. You see, Jesus had been reviled, and was being crucified for the most heinous crime in Jewish law: blasphemy – worse even than murder as was proven by the fact that the Jews chose Barabas over Jesus when Pontius Pilate gave them a choice of who to release.

Mary had a son that was despised and abused; given the harshest sentence and was treated that much more harshly because of it. At the time that she stood by His cross, most all of his disciples had run into hiding for fear that they would be next. And yet there stood his mother, staring into the unrecognizably beaten face of her son, supporting him and loving him no matter what they said he’d done.

And Jesus, even in His greatest hour; the time of His purpose and the height of His passion, suffering and dying on the cross remembered and rewarded His mother for her loving and unwavering support of Him.

A mother’s genuine support can make or break the world in they eyes of a child. The sons of Zebedee hid behind their mother’s support and the other disciples were moved to indignation against them – not their mother. James and John were puffed up by their own self-importance because of their mother’s support of them. And like I said, it is easy for a mother to be supportive of her children who are doing well in her eyes.

But a mother who can support through love even when her child is at his lowest point, even when all looks lost and even when the truth of what she sees does not match what her heart knows is true – that is a mother whose support is worthy of the Lord. That is a support that will bring her glory, honor, recognition and reward.

A mother’s love is the warmth that comforts and soothes, but a mother’s support can lift the world and suffer the course even unto death. Now those are some mighty hefty support hose!

Power, love & peace -
~Min. Dez

A DAY FOR MOTHERS

2009-05-10T18:19:00.000-07:00

© 2008 Deidre Campbell-Jones
May Theme: Mothers

Deuteronomy 5:16
2 Corinthians 1:4

Last week I began the lesson by saying, “Happy May Day,” without entirely knowing what May Day is. This week I begin by wishing you a heartfelt, “Happy Mother’s Day”. And I do so with full knowledge of what Mother’s Day is about and that’s why I’m wishing you the happy Mother’s Day whether you are a mother or not, and if you are a guy and even if your mother is no longer with us.

Deuteronomy 5:16 says: “Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.”

It is said that this is the first commandment with promise. However, when I first began reading and learning the bible I misunderstood and thought the promise was for the parents. And when getting in trouble I would think, “Don’t make me accidentally dishonor you if you want God to let you stick around a good long time!”

Instead, we know this promise is for us. Simply by honoring our mothers and fathers we can not only add days to the length of our lives and we can be assured that things will go well for us. And so isn’t it wonderful, at least from that perspective, that in our society we have one day set up where we can specifically honor our mothers and fathers? That’s at least two days each year that you can add on to the length of your days!

And the good news is, that since that promise is given to those who would follow the commandment, there are no qualifiers placed that requires our mothers be living, worthy or even aware of that honor. Although, if your Mother’s are living and you want the second part of that promise to apply to you: that it may go well with you, I suggest you make sure your mother is aware of the honor you show her especially (if not only) on Mother’s Day!

If our mother’s have passed away I’m sure there is hardly a reminder needed in order to honor her. But mother’s day is a good day to do it. For many, the memory of a mother’s passing is painful. But even if you set aside one day a year to purge that pain and honor your mother in memory of the her and her gift of life to you and the life she lived with you (no matter who long or short), I believe it will, be well with you. The good news about honoring our mothers is that no one else necessarily needs to be aware of it either. Your honor you show for a mother who has gone on can be shared between you and God alone.

Some of us however, have had mothers that make it difficult to even alone, let alone in public. How can one honor a mother a mother that doesn’t live honorably or is not seemingly worthy to be honored? Well, as I’ve said, that honor is not specified as honor that is given on display and the first place to start honoring a dishonorable mother is right there in the bosom of forgiveness that can only come from God.

Years ago I took a young thirteen year old girl under my wing – I gave her a place to hang out, a little female advice and helped her with her homework after school. She was a gorgeous girl and as puberty set in she began to suffer the standard teenaged angst over life, but hers seemed to be magnified and more painful because of her past. This girl, Michelle, was of mixed race – black and white and she was being raised by her white and quite elderly grandparents. Once Michelle had become a teenager, they suddenly did not understand her, because of such a wide generational gap, and became extra hard on her out of fear that she would become like her mother – since their trouble had started with Michelle’s mother when she became a teenager.

Michelle’s mother had been young when she had her. She had been on drugs and was a prostitute. In fact, even Michelle at the age of thirteen knew that her father was her mother’s pimp. She also had known that the pimp had repeatedly beat her mother, trying to make her miscarry (Michelle), upon learning about the pregnancy.

By the time I met Michelle, her mother had already passed away from a drug overdose and in her curiosity about God, she could not reconcile why He would have given her such a horrible woman for a mother. And why even after her death she still had to live a “horrible” life simply because she’d been born. She, in fact, had frequently lamented to me that she wished the pimp had succeeded the night he’d beat up her mother trying to get rid of her.

Here is what I told Michelle: God doesn’t make mistakes, people do. And no matter what mistakes a person makes, it is only God that creates life. Michelle’s pimp of a father and whore of a mother did not create the life that became that thirteen year old Michelle. The made the mistakes in their lives that, while the enemy meant it for evil, He meant it for good.

The proof is that her pimp of a father did not succeed in aborting Michelle. God had intended for her to survive, to be a survivor and to know the life He had given her. And that God thought enough about her and loved her enough to give her a life at all and that; of course through Him and not through her parents or grandparents she could have that life and have it more abundantly.

So what’s my point? Sometimes the lessons we learn are specifically good and are directly what we should do. Sometimes the lessons in life are specifically bad experiences and are given indirectly as an expressed example of what NOT to do. When Michelle turned 16 she became pregnant and had a little boy. You might think that Michelle was following in her mother’s footsteps, but in fact, just the opposite. Yes, she had low on self esteem and looking for love and attention in all the wrong places. But once her son was born, Michelle was determined to be the best mother she could be. She got her GED and became a health technician right away. And she made sure the baby’s young father helped her by keeping their son while she was in school. Buy the time she was 18 years old; she was living in and paying for her own apartment for her and her son.

We can learn how to be a good parent from good parents and we can also learn to be good parents from bad parents. The lessons may be more painful, but once learned can have a double blessing. You see, God doesn’t teach us lessons we have no need to learn. We are told to comfort others with the same comfort we have been comforted with. 2 Corinthians 1:4: “Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.”

I know that Michelle has turned into a good example for her son and for others. I also hope there is one dream she never gave up on. She had dreams of being a country and western singer! And often she would put the pain of her life into the lyrics of a song. If Michelle continued with the gift God gave her, then she will have been a comfort and an example for all kinds of girls in similar circumstances.

God knit us together in our mother’s wombs and it is no accident the things we love, the things we’re good at and the destiny we’re meant to live. Good or bad we can count it all for joy. Praise God our mother’s wombs nurtured us for 9 months while God fashioned us just exactly the way He intended.

Praise God that we have sustained or survived life with our mother’s because all things work for the greater good for they that love the Lord. There are simple reasons and complicated reasons, but ever reason is a good one to honor our mothers on this mother’s day. Honor them that God thought enough of us to give us the mothers we’ve had, for however long we’ve had them, so that we could learn the lessons we have learned and so that we can comfort others in the same manner in which we have been comforted.

On this day, I honor not only my own mother, but your mothers too – because without them, I would not have the honor of knowing each of you. In honor of your mother, I wish you a very happy and blessed Mother’s Day!

Power, love & peace
~Min. Dez

MAY FLOWERS

2009-05-03T07:20:00.000-07:00

© 2008 Deidre Campbell-Jones
May Theme: Mothers

1st Mothers: Titus 2:4
2n Mothers: 1 Corinthians 13

It is May! Happy May Day! I do not know what “May Day” is, but it’s good to have a reason to wish you a happy day. The month of May however does not make me think of May Day, nor is my first thought about Mother’s Day. No, when spring is ushered in by the first day of May, my first thought is the little rhyme: “April showers bring May flowers.” And something about saying the words “may flowers” makes me think not of the birds and the beauty of God’s colorful splendor – but crazy enough, I think of the Mayflower – you know, one of the first ships Columbus sailed across the ocean blue to “discover” America…

Well even more odd is that, this morning, knowing I was going to begin a study on Mothers I still went through my little rhyme with thoughts that led to the Mayflower, and then those thoughts led me to the thought of it being one of the first ships to America and somehow I thought of first mothers and second mothers. Titus 2:1-4 says, “But speak thou the things which become sound doctrine: That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience. The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,”

No mother wants to be called “aged” especially not around mother’s day! So, 1st Mothers – you all have a big responsibility in teaching us 2nd Mothers and I know it’s huge because technically, in this day and age, I too am a 1st Mother when it comes to all the younger women I meet who have children my son’s age. You see, I am in a very unique position of being more of a “Middle Mother”. I am new enough into motherhood to still need to be taught, and I am mature enough in age that I have a responsibility to teach.

But the most significant thing about these verses in Titus is what we are mandated to teach!

The men are told to teach the younger ones to be sober, grave, temperate, in sound faith, charity and patience. Then it seams the women get a much harsher list that includes holiness, drunkedness, lying, loving our husbands and loving our kids. First let me say, that we are told “likewise” – meaning not only, but also. First Mothers are also supposed to teach Second Mothers how to be sober, grave, temperate, sound in our faith, in charity and in patience. And let me tell you, it is important that we do so! I am 43 and have found myself teaching to, ministering to and even being frustrated by the need in other women to be taught this information! The unfortunate part is that the women I’ve had the opportunity to speak to, and the women I’ve really, really wanted to speak to, were not all necessarily women who were younger than me! Why is that? It is because their First Mothers no longer have this as their own personal doctrine. They were not taught and so they cannot teach.

It has been disturbing to me to feel compelled to give a word to women older than I am or with children much older than mine about their standards for raising their children, their behavior and examples as women of God and even how they love their husbands. I can only surmise that this is because I have had a far better example than they have had. Thanks, Mom!

So let’s start with being sober – men, listen up, these first all are for you too. Not only have you been given (and given first, I might add) the mandate to also be all these things, but whereas the woman must be taught to love her husband and love her children; they are your children too and you are or might be that husband.

Serious, solemn, or sedate; not bright, garish or flashy; quiet or plain, exaggerated or distorted as in “the sober truth.” This is also characterized by sanity, being sensible or reasonable, having self-control and emotional balance. These are the definitions of “sober”. Let’s also consider “grave” at the same time, because I assumed they were same, however they are indeed only similar: important, weighty, not light or trifling or trivial in consequence; grievous and seriously contrary to what is right; evil enough to cause spiritual death.

To be temperate is to be mindful of ones temper; moderate and not self-indulgent; moderate in actions and speech; self-restrained or restrained. And then of course we are told to be sound in our faith, in charity and in patience. Faith, charity and patience we think we know – but as a reminder: Faith is not "belief" it is the ACTION based upon our belief; Charity is not just love it is the ACTION of giving out of love and Patience is not just tolerance it is the ACTION that results from tolerance. Think of this way – you can’t just act patiently, you have to BE patient. Now then, can any of us actually remember having been taught patience? If so, we are taught by example.

So then, think for a moment of the examples of faith, charity and patience your mother showed you. Add also to that list her examples of gravity and sobriety as I have described them above. Most of our mothers have passed on these examples of instruction affectively.

But now as I write this lesson, I realize there is a gap somewhere. Suddenly I can remember so many times I may have kept a younger woman from jumping all over a waitress prematurely, or gently corrected a woman about her views on race and ethnicity, and especially all the casual conversations that turned into me teaching a one-on-one mini-sermon about God’s word on faith! Not all mothers were able to teach these principles to their daughters and not all fathers were able to show these examples to their sons.

Most frustrating to me have been the times where I have been compelled to instruct a mother on how to raise her child – younger, same age or even older than mine! What seems like common sense to me has not even been thought of by so many women. The things I would never expose my child to are common place and even encouraged as “cute” in other homes. And the very things I’m trying to discipline my child for, his peers are not only getting away with but are being allowed to set the standard. I want to take those parents and shake them, lecture them, spank them and give them a big time out – 1 minute for every year of their age!

But that’s only my frustration about raising children. Then there is the mandate about loving our husbands. Granted I am in my second marriage, so obviously things were terribly wrong with the first, but still – it seems things that were common sense not to do even in that first marriage are common place in everyone else’s marriages.

Here is what is missing: love. I was blown away when I really paid attention to Titus 2:4. Younger women are meant to learn how to love their husbands and learn how to love their children. Learning how to love a husband makes perfect sense – especially if you have to learn to love a husband who is unlovable and doesn’t even love himself or others. I happen to think it is far easier to love a husband who is doing right and treating you right, but apparently that is not the case for most people. The only reason I can see must come from Titus – because women have not been taught how to love a husband.

But do we really need to be taught how to love our children? Don’t mothers automatically love and know how to love their children? How can we really when we aren't really taught just exactly what love is in the first place?

In February I did a bible study on love that covered more than just the standard list in 1 Corinthians 13. It covered the 7 principles of God – our God who is love. Those aspects of God are the aspects of love: faith; trust; giving; forgiving; truth; goodness and fruitfulness. If we have been loved with faith in who we are and that God created us to be who we are; and loved with trust and forgiveness; if we were loved by good and giving parents, and if that love bore the fruit of more love in our lives, then indeed – we were taught a loving and Godly example of how to love our own children. It is this example that we must continue to live whether we are a 1st Mother, 2nd Mother, Middle Mother; no mother at all, or even a father…

And so in this month that leads up to Mother’s Day, let’s begin to honor our mothers by honoring them for the examples of love they did provide. Sure, it may not always have been all aspects at all times – and of course, we as children probably instigated that! But God gave us our mothers for that purpose – no matter how long or how short we may have had them.

In honor of the true love they have shown us, let’s make the effort to be that love for others as well.

Power, love & peace -
~Min. Dez

LIVIN’ THE LIFE!

2009-05-01T06:42:00.000-07:00

© 2008 Deidre Campbell-Jones
April Theme: Life

My Life: Romans 3:23
His Life: 2 Corinthians 5:17

Religious excuses, spiritual excuses, church excuses, Jesus excuses – they are all the different types of excuses given for rejecting the Gospel of Christ.

Now, I’m not talking about science excuses, probability excuses, evolution excuses or dinosaur excuses that discount the existence of God. I’m talking about people who will concede there is a higher power, who will admit there is a creative being that created the heavens and the Earth and probably all that is in it. I’m talking about people who will allow for the “Big Man in charge”, the “Man up there,” the “Big Guy” or a kind-of sentient “Universe” that gives power to the words we “put out there.”

These are the people I’ve been discussing who are “spiritual,” who are not “religious,” who will even say they believe in God, but… and that “but” is generally followed with a religious-based excuse or a spiritually-based excuse, a Jesus-based excuse and most popular, the church-based excuse.

At my 2nd church home, here in LA, years ago – the Pastor made a statement that I have plagiarized and used time and time again. “If you’re looking for the perfect church and you find it, once you get there it won’t be perfect any more.”

All too often – and I mean that literally – people blame the reason they don’t want to get to know Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, on the people who go to church. They say they are hypocrites – guess what, so does the bible – so did Jesus! They say they are fake, unloving, judgmental and condemning – and so does the bible! The definition of “Christian” is not some perfect individual who is like Christ in every way. Instead a Christian should be trying to be a perfect individual who is like Christ in every way. But the bible says ALL (except Christ) have sinned and come short of the glory of the Lord – Romans 3:23

We as Christians are not perfect and cannot be perfect although we are told to strive for perfection. We are called the sick, the lost, the brokenhearted and we are to gather together for healing, to find one another and to fellowship in love – the Love of Christ. It is when we who are called out according to the love of Christ, are gathered together in fellowship – that is when we become the ecclesia – the called out body of believers.

You see, when Paul began establishing churches he was establishing churches in various cities, but he didn’t go with a million dollar building fund and meet with Architects to draw up designs for an even bigger cathedral style building than the one built in the last city over.

No, instead Paul taught the Word of God. And as the people came together to listen and to learn, they began to fellowship with one another, and help one another and be healed of their physical, emotional and spiritual brokenheartedness together. And when people are sick, they need a physician. If you are spiritually sick or emotionally sick, you need a professional in those areas too. The early churches were believers who healed and helped one another as professionals in spiritual and emotional illnesses. The church is still supposed to be that very same thing.

If you go to a “church” building and everyone is healthy emotionally and spiritually then either that church is a really good church and you should stay and get some more of that, or there is no need for that church any longer. Those church members should disband and go out and join other churches where there are still emotional and spiritually sick believers and unbelievers and do the miraculous work there that they did at their old church.

You see, the church is not a building filled with hypocrites and judgmental spiritual bullies… well it’s not supposed to be. The church is not a building at all – it is not the huge, welcoming front door, the stained glass windows, the seats no one is supposed to sit in except the church leaders, or the untouchable altar. If you want those things, go to Temple – that is where God ordained them to be. The church was ordained to be people. I am the church. I am livin’ The Life!

I am a Christian – I am of Christ. I am a disciple of Christ – I am a follower of His ways. I am the church – I have been called out by my belief in Christ to fellowship with and help other believers in Christ. So, when you talk about the church you are right, but you are not right about every church. It is exactly the same as talking about a race of people or a group of people – you may be right, but you won’t be right about everyone.

And so, it is my job as a Christian not to be one that you would be right about. I want to carry my big, impressive welcome door around in my smile. I want my beautiful stained glass windows to show in my eyes. I want every seat to be reserved especially for you whenever I have a conversation with you – I invite you to the altar of my heart and listen to the sermon of my life.

I believe in Jesus. I didn’t always. I wasn’t even sure I believed in God, but just in case He did exist, I wouldn’t entirely deny Him completely. I thought religion was a crutch for people who needed a way to handle their problems. I didn’t consider it a bad way – just their way. But I was also lonely – I didn’t have a lot of friends – close trusting friends – no matter how much anyone said I was funny, fun, friendly or any other thing.

And I was searching for myself – I was sure I had some kind of a purpose and didn’t understand why I couldn’t accomplish it no matter how much anyone said I was talented, gifted or capable of doing anything. My life didn’t match what people said about me, and it didn’t match what I felt inside.

Then one day there was some serious mess going down in my life. I was backed into a corner and I was desperate for some kind of crutch that would help me handle my problem. And before the problem was over, the knucklehead who was ‘causing me this problem asked me “Do you believe in Jesus?” Through the midst of my tears, I said “yes”. “Do you believe he was born of a virgin?” I said “yes” again.” Do you believe He died on the cross for your sins?” I cried even harder and answered “yes” again. “Do you believe He rose again on the third day so that you can have everlasting life?” I sobbed – yes – yes, I really did. I hung up on that boy and I got on my knees by my bed and I prayed for the first time really.

And I told God I didn’t understand what was happening to me. But that if He would get me out of that mess, I promised that I would find out what had just happened to me and I would never turn away from Him and flake out like I seemed to do in every other thing in my life.

And God seemed to like that deal and He accepted my bargain, He accepted me and He sent His Spirit to live within me. I could feel it – I can still feel it. The Holy Spirit is a living, spiritual being and He lives in me. I am a new creation. “If any man be in Christ he is a new creation; all things are passed away, behold all is become brand new” 2 Corinthians 5:17. I am brand new. I am the church of the living Lord. I am living the Life!

Sometimes I don’t always pay the light bill in my church, but it is my job to let my light shine. Sometimes my church is in need of a paint job, but it is my job to let men see my good works. Sometimes I don’t always welcome my visitors, but it is my job to love my neighbor as I love myself. Sometimes I am harsh and judgmental of my fellow believers and non-believers, but it is my job to comfort with the same comfort I have been comforted with. And sometimes newcomers can’t feel the Holy Spirit at my church, but it is still my job to love the Lord my God with all my heart, and all my soul and all my might – Deuteronomy 6:5

I am the church and it is my mandate to “go ye therefore into all the world” preaching, teaching, making disciples and baptizing in the name of Jesus Christ.

I am the church and I welcome you to fellowship with me. Here is my church doctrine: Jesus IS the only begotten Son of God. He was born of a virgin and died on the cross for the remission of our sins. He rose from the dead on the 3rd day so that we could have life everlasting. He has gone to prepare a place for us because for those of us who believe, this is not our home. And one day the Lord Jesus will return and He will catch up those who believe and carry us away to the place in which He has prepared – on that day we will be in Paradise with the Lord.

I hope and pray to see you there.

Power, love & peace -
~Min. Dez

THIS IS THE LIFE!

2009-04-19T19:00:00.000-07:00

© 2008 by Deidre Campbell-Jones

April Theme: Life

Old Life: Romans 7:15 & 19
New Life: 2 Corinthians 5:17

So, tell me about your life? What kind of life are you living? I’ll tell you about my life – the life I’m living on the inside of me, is different from the life I’m living on the outside of me, is different from the life that everyone else can see. Make sense?

On the inside, I’m living a wonderfully righteous, God-led, God-filled life. On the outside, I’m desperately trying to live a live that matches the one on the inside – it's a constant battle. And the life that everyone sees, I fear is largely like the one they used to see all the time in me – either it’s not much different, or they’re waiting to see when this phase will pass and the old me prevail. Sometimes I wonder myself.

There is a war going on within me and on the inside I’ve already won, but on the outside I periodically lose a few battles. The inside only sees (or wants to see) the battles I’ve won because those bring the outside me one step closer to the complete me on the inside. But I feel the eyes of scrutiny from those on the outside of me as if the battles I’m losing are the only ones they see and they are waiting for this war to be over so I can go back to the way I used to be.

The Apostle Paul describes it like this in Romans 7:15 & 19 “That which I do, I allow not: but what I hate, that do I. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.” Paul is talking about the war between his spirit and his flesh – his inward man and outward man – the old Paul and the new Paul.

Remember last week's lesson on life and death? At the end of his tirade on "self", Paul goes on to say this: Romans 7:24: “O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.”

This past Monday I attended the funeral for a classmate of mine and I went back home for the services. The week prior there had been a flurry of emails – a daily trail of decisions, commiseration, speculation and reliving old memories. It was so interesting to me how each of us handled the tragedy differently and those various aspects of my friends’ personalities was very evident. On the inside I reacted with compassion and understanding. And on the outside, I felt I had won one small battle by not capitulating to the tension that was slowly brewing in the undertones of the emails.

Then at the services I had the opportunity to meet with a few classmates and have a soda for a little while. Of the five of us, there was only one other friend present who had been on that flurry of emails. The atmosphere was pleasant, the visit was really good, and it was really good to spend some time with that group – a mix of individuals that never would have hung out together like that (and enjoyed it!) during high school.

So why then, did the old me crop up? I felt ornery, loud, and a little bossy like I was hogging the conversation. And it’s like the inner me recognized it and said a prayer for the outer me – that was promptly ignored the moment I opened my mouth again.

I don’t think my friends noticed. I’m sure I wasn’t obnoxious (at least I hope not!) and perhaps they may have even thought – wow, Deidre hasn’t changed a bit. Well, if they didn’t say it, I sure did!

When I came to Christ in 1985 I came to Christ in the midst of my sin – “smack-dab” in the middle of it – by the very person who was in sin with me. The one scripture that made a life changing difference to me each day of my new life was: 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creation; behold old things are passed away and all is become new.”

It was such a comfort to me to know that all my old crap, the old me and my old life would just pass away and everything about me would become new again! And when I realized it hadn’t really worked out exactly like that, I found Romans 12:2 to comfort me and encourage me to continue trying to be new again: “And be not conformed to the ways of the world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.”

Well, when I got back from my trip, and jumped back into the last trailing flurry of emails that I’d so lovingly participated in before going home, I suddenly could no longer prove what was that good, and acceptable and perfect will of God. I acted straight out of my flesh, acknowledged it and honestly didn’t care. That was the old me, my old life cropping up again.

You see, God knows us and loves us just the way we are. He knows we are going to struggle. He sent His only begotten Son to die on the cross to help us with that struggle. Christ died on the cross for you and me whether you or I ever believe that He did or not. Christ died on the cross while we were still dead in our sins and dead in sin because He loves us in spite of our sins. Our sin, the sins in our life, the things we do or do not do, the bad we have done and even the good we try to do have no baring on how much God loves us or on whether or not we can be forgiven of our sin and our sins and live a new life through Christ. That forgiveness is freely and wholly given to us – it’s already been given. We are already forgiven, even if we are still classified as a “sinner”, or an unbeliever, or a “backslider” or just a really “two-faced” Christian. I was forgiven for my behavior on Tuesday back when Christ died on the cross, and I was forgiven of my sin and all my sins – not in 1985, but 2000 years ago, when God sent his Son to die on the cross for the world that He loved so much. You were forgiven on that very same day as well. We are – 2000 years later - a part of that world Christ died for. You have already been forgiven. It’s just a matter of whether or not you believe it and accept it.

Ok so, I believe it and I accept it – I’m even trying to live it – so what’s the deal with this struggle between some “old me” and this so-called “new me?” It seems like such a bother and a burden, why didn’t I just stay the way I was – happy and ignorant in my sin and sinful behavior? It is because Christ came so that we could have life and have it more abundantly.
John 3:16 again: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son so that whosoever should believe would not perish but have everlasting life.” Christ’s death gives us life. But we have the choice whether or not to accept it and live it.

Before accepting Christ’s death on the cross for me, I lived a life that was loving and compassionate, fired up and feisty. I was searching for purpose and meaning and would try nearly anything once. I also cursed and drank and partied at the clubs dancing all night. I was a fighter, loud and obnoxious and didn’t give a flip what anyone thought. I would tell it like it “T-I-is!” My sins: lying, drunkenness and fornication. Not a pretty list. My sin: I was separated from God – just like everyone else out there living it up with me in my sins.

Now that I have accepted Christ’s death on the cross for me, I live a life that is loving and compassionate, fired up and feisty. I am following my purpose, understanding its meaning and I’m still trying and learning new things - within reason. I no longer curse or drink excessively, but sometimes I party in the church all night and still enjoy a good dance. I am still a fighter, I still get loud, I still get obnoxious and yet not only do I care what others think of me – more importantly, I care what God thinks of me. And yes, I still can and sometimes do, tell it like it “T-I-is!” My sins: forgiven and tossed into the sea of forgetfulness! My sin: has been saved by Grace – which is God’s time. He gave me the time I needed to come out of my separation, to come to Him and to turn around and tell everyone else who was out there living it up with me in my sins about the new life I have with Christ.

So what’s the difference? How do I reconcile the old me that still looks (and acts) a whole lot like the “new me?” The difference is that all those things – the good and the bad of my old life only worked towards death. I had one place to go through it all and one place to get to at the end of it all: death. I was living a flat, empty, lost and searching life of death. And without Christ I would have died in that life and stayed dead: eternally dead and separated from God. I was living a life that was often times just straight hell and it is a wonder I didn’t actually die and go straight to hell. If I had died in the midst of my sin that is exactly where I would have ended up – and it would have been my own choice because it was my choice to live that life and it was my choice to accept Christ or not to. You only get condemned to hell (not by God but by your own choice) when you are presented with the choice of Christ and choose not to believe.

I praise God I chose to believe! Because now, even though I may still sometimes seem like the old me on the outside – all the things about me – the good and the bad of it, all work toward life! God can take the very same behaviors I am not proud of and instead of me adding them unto my death, He counts them all for joy! How does that work? “All things work towards the greater good for they that love the Lord.” That word “all” includes the good and the bad.

You see, just like Christ’s death offered me forgiveness even when I was deep in sin, so has His resurrection offered me the blessing of a new life in Him. I am already blessed! I was blessed while I was still a sinner – and you were too. You were blessed the same day I was blessed - the day Christ rose from the dead.

Our blessings are stored up in Heaven – waiting for us to unlock them so that God can open the floodgates of heaven and poor them out upon us. God wants us to receive our blessings! I am standing under the shower of my blessings.

What this means is, when I live through the tragedy of a friend’s death – I receive a blessing from it. When I step outside of my inward me with some behavior I am not proud of, I am blessed when I learn a lesson on compassion, tolerance and forgiveness. When I tell it like it “T-I-is” in Christ I am blessed immeasurably when friends and family see me – the new me, the inside me - and recognize I am walking in my purpose.

I am blessed with life when I open my eyes in the morning and I will be blessed when I close my eyes to sleep in eternal life with Christ. All things are working for my greater good because I love the Lord. And all He asked of me in exchange for these blessings, and for a blessed and abundant life, and for everlasting and eternal life, is just to believe in Him.

Your life begins with belief. There are no list of rights and wrongs – just simple belief. Do you believe that Jesus is the only begotten son of God? Do you believe that He was born of a virgin? Do you believe that He died on the cross for the transgression of our sins? Do you believe that He was raised again on the third day so that we could have life everlasting? Do you believe in Life?

p.s. Do you want to know why Jesus is called the “only begotten son of God” if He was God? Email me and ask… I’ll tell you why.

A MATTER OF LIFE & DEATH

2009-04-12T07:01:00.000-07:00

© 2008 by Deidre Campbell-Jones

April Theme: Life

Life: Romans 6:23
Death: Romans 6:23

I wrote this on Good Friday. For most that meant they got holiday during the week before Easter. You know, sometimes there’s a holiday that always falls on a weekend, and so you get a day off in the work week to commemorate it. But commemorating or celebrating Good Friday rarely means more than a chance to sleep in and perhaps catch up on some things you can’t ordinarily do during the week.

Today - Sunday is "Easter". The Easter bunny comes and brings brightly colored eggs, chocolate and jelly beans. And a lot of people, who don’t ordinarily go to church, will dress up in pretty pastel clothes and sit through an Easter program, then, have an Easter egg hunt and a wonderful dinner. Now that is the life! Truly, it is a wonderful life for anyone to live. But of course, it is not the only life we are meant to live.

One Friday morning, Jesus told two of his disciples to go to a certain place of which he would tell them. There they would find a young donkey colt – one that had never been ridden before. He told them to untie the colt and bring it to him. And if the owners asked why they were untying it – to tell them, their master had need of it.

Now on that particular Friday when he rode that donkey into town, the people all cheered for him. This was the Lord who had done so many miracles amongst them – he had brought healing, forgiveness and new life. He had fed them physically and spiritually and had raised some from the dead – both physically and spiritually as well.

The following Thursday evening at sundown was the feast of Passover Seder – Jesus had been sharing Passover with the disciples. Mind you, they were most all Jewish and they celebrated the Jewish feasts together. Well, Judas excused himself and Jesus told him, “what you must do, do quickly.” Judas went to speak with the Chief Priests and the Captains to determine how he should betray Jesus. While he was gone, Jesus took three of His disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray with Him for what He knew was about to take place. Jesus knew it was nearly time for Him to die. This is what He had been born to do. This was His only and one true test of obedience and Jesus did not want to do it. He did not go eagerly into death. He even asked our Father, His Father – Abba – take this cup from me, but nevertheless, not my will, but yours.

Death before Christ died was a very different matter than we know it today. There was a pain to death – a sting; the bible calls it, during the separation of life from the body. Death was definitely a thing to be avoided, a thing to be feared. And, this is my own personal speculation, but I also believe that before Christ’s death on the cross there was a living death of the soul that all mankind experienced everyday and with no relief from the time of the fall of man and the entering of sin in the Garden of Eden, until just after the prayers of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane when He was crucified for the sins of all mankind. It wasn’t until after Christ’s death that life became significant. That is because, Jesus did not stay dead and buried in that tomb! He went down to hell, snatched the keys of death from satan and rose up again on the third day! The enemy of life had controlled death and he thought he had won for all eternity by crucifying Christ. But what satan meant for evil, God meant for good – our eternal good.

Christ’s resurrection from death unto life, is the very reason why we too, can die to our sin and be resurrected into new life through Christ. "Easter" Sunday is for the Easter bunny, but this Sunday is Resurrection Sunday – the day we as believers celebrate the resurrected life of Christ and all that means for us.

You see before I became “born again” in 1985 and accepted Christ into my life as my Lord and Savior, I lived a flat, angst-ridden, confused, death of a life. I had no connection to life. I felt like an alien on this planet searching for something familiar, something to call my own, someone to love, someone to be and something to do. I was searching for me. I was empty inside and I tried all kinds of different things to fill it. And I searched for all kinds of different people to fill it. Inherently it seems, I knew that emptiness was supposed to be filled through a loving, intimate relationship, and I just couldn’t find the person to fill that void. I was basically dead to the world but I didn’t know it.

It wasn’t until I became “saved” that I experienced this new life and realized the difference between my old life. There was life inside me – living and breathing and experiencing the life outside me. There was life within my soul that I never knew wasn’t there in the first place. Now mind you, I know this separation from God was a death to my soul because there were times after having accepted Christ into my life that I pulled away and experienced that death again.

There was the time during my first marriage when it had gotten so bad and I was so depressed that there was no joy, no life and no Christ within me. I had backslidden in my depression because I blamed God for the state of that marriage. I pulled away from God in my anger and the void was palpable. They noticed it on my job; friends noticed it and I described it as a black hole in space sucking in my very soul into nothingness. I was a walking zombie – the living dead.

Later, when I got divorced, I experienced this soul death again, out of guilt for leaving that marriage. Christians don’t divorce, the believer is not supposed to leave and so surely I was outside of God’s will and I separated myself from Him out of guilt. Once again, I became the same un-dead, living that flat, listless, search-filled, meaningless, struggling life I had even before accepting Christ. There was one other time I died to Christ and that was after going on disability and being let go from AT&T. The depression that time was so deep – not out of anger, and not out of guilt but out of pure un-worthiness. I felt inept, incapable, unworthy and hopeless. My separation was long, ugly and daily I wished I could just be put in the ground and saved from the misery. I am sure this death-filled kind of life was a matter of everyday existence for all mankind before Christ came.

Jesus said "I have come so that you would have live, and have it more abundantly." Oh, death – where is thy sting?

You see, Christ’s death was for all of us. His death on the cross was not just for those who would one day believe. His death was so that all mankind would have life and have a death with no sting. It is the acceptance of Christ’s death and the belief in Him that gives us life. And it is through living that life with Him and in Him that we experience that life more abundantly each day that we become closer to Him.

Christ’s death is significant even for those who do not believe. Non-believers reap the rewards of Christ’s death and God’s love just the same as believers do. For God so loved the world… not just those who would believe. Christ’s death on the cross was His gift to ALL mankind. The life we choose to live after being presented with the truth of that death is what determines how abundantly we will live within God’s gift.

In the Old Testament it says that we walk between the valleys of life and death. Choose life. You see, before Christ died for us – we had no choice but to die – we were already dead. We lived in death, we died a painful death and death was eternal. The wages of sin is death. Then Jesus came and he told the Pharisees that they were white-washed sepulchers. They were the ones who were supposed to be knowledgeable about God and the laws of man. They were the High Priests but they were dead inside like a tomb that was made to look good on the outside. That is how we live as non-believers. We try to clean it all up on the outside, be kind, don’t lie, don’t steal don’t cheat, and maybe we even came close to following the 10 Commandments. Those were the laws God gave man, because they had no Life on the inside. And without Christ, we still have no life on the inside.

"I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father accept by me” For many it is a hard scripture to hear – they feel condemned, separated, excluded and left out. They rebel and deny that the only way to experience God is through Christ. But that is because they do not know that they don’t have life. Yes, the first part of Romans 6:23 says “the wages of sin is death.” But the second part says, “but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus, our Lord.”

Just this past Tuesday, the Bishop of my church reminded us that a person can have life and not be alive. A patient in the hospital that is on life-support has a heart that beats, and lungs that breath all with assistance – but there is no life in that body that is alive. God’s grace to us while we are unbelievers is His life-support system. We are alive with no live, we are walking comas, zombies of the heart searching for a way to live. Christ is the way, and that’s the truth.
Sin means “separation from God.” The sins we commit are the actions of life that keep us separated from God. When God separated a part of Himself as flesh, that flesh became sin. That flesh is Jesus and Jesus became sin for us – He knew no sin, He committed no sins – He became sin: the perfect sacrifice.

And when He made that sacrifice of death, He did it for all of us, whether we would believe in Him or not. Christ died for us while we were yet sinners - while we were still separated from Him - and He still died for us even if we remain sinners even unto our deaths.

Once I wrote a song that said, “Life is a gift, not a choice – yet many a choice has been made, to take that life away.” It was a song pertaining to the pro-choice, pro-life debate. It was written shortly after I first came to Christ and I feel, in one regard, it is inaccurate according to the truths I now know about life.

The conception of life in the physical is a gift. The life we receive through Christ’s death and resurrection is also a gift. “For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten son, so that whosoever should believe shall not perish but would have everlasting life.” John 3:16. But accepting that gift and accepting that life is a choice. We can choose everlasting life or we can choose to stay dead in our sin.

Making that choice begins with belief. There are no list of rights and wrongs – just simple belief. Do you believe that Jesus is the only begotten son of God? Do you believe that He was born of a virgin? Do you believe that He died on the cross for the transgression of our sins? Do you believe that He was raised again on the third day so that we could have life everlasting? Do you believe in Life?

p.s. Do you want to know why Jesus is called the “only begotten son of God” if He was God? Email me and ask… I’ll tell you why.

LIFE EXISTANCE

2009-04-05T18:54:00.000-07:00

© 2008 by Deidre Campbell-Jones

April Theme: Life

Life: John 1:1-4
No Life: John 3:16

In this Easter month of April, I want to do something a little differently and go back to the basics for our Bible Study. The topic this month is “life” and we’ll cover discussions such as new life, the resurrected life and what Christ means when He says, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” (John 14:6). These next studies will be a perfect opportunity for you to ask questions and make suggestions.

On a plane ride last weekend, coming home from Florida, I had the opportunity to strike up a conversation with a woman who was a self-reported “New Ager” and supported the Unity church. Unity churches are interdenominational – they “accept all denominations, not just Christian,” she told me. And that struck me as odd. First of all, how can all denominations worship together? You would have to strip away all the things that separate them as denominations in the first place, and only teach those few left over things that are similar. And secondly, being “Christian” is not a denomination. It is a label that professes a state of belief and the lifestyle associated with that belief. To be a “Christian” is to be a “follower of Christ.”

So if indeed you have an interdenominational church where all “religions” – not just Christianity - worship together, then you must strip away Christ from that service because that is the only thing separating Christianity from any religion. And since Christ is the only basis of Christianity, there really isn’t anything left for the true Christian to worship at a worship service – the very nature of worship is that there is an object or individual to be worshipped – and if you strip away Jesus as that source for worship – what are you actually left to worship at that service?

I would also like to interject at this particular juncture just exactly what I feel about “religion”. I suppose that Catholicism is a religion. Baptists and Methodists, Lutherans and Pentecostals all practice a religion – as do Buddhists, Muslims and Jews. Christianity in and of itself is not a religion. In fact, most people who profess a belief in a Godly being, but not in Christ Jesus as God’s only begotten son, will often say they are “spiritual” and do not practice any “religion”. I think that’s backwards. I think more “non-believers” are religious. Fans religiously follow their teams and celebrities. Doctors and Lawyers religiously practice their trade – there are so many aspects of life that we are “religious” about. But to me, God is a Spirit – He has created spiritual beings. God is in 3 persons – Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. In my understanding of God, He does not exist without Jesus and the Holy Ghost and that makes believing the very essence of “Spirituality” for me.

The crux of the matter is that you cannot have Christianity without Christ. Jesus is the key factor that causes so much derision and strife and separation between religions such as Atheism, Agnosticism, Paganism, Buddhism and many others that don’t end in “ism”.

It is the truth and subject of Jesus that starts arguments, breeds contention, frustration, starts wars and separates family and friends. And it is this subject I want to discuss a little further.

Recently, Terrance and I had the opportunity to “witness” to a non-believer who is Jewish by heritage, not by practice and professes to be “spiritual”. He believes there is a God and/or a higher power. He believes God (probably more accurately “god”) is present in all things – an ethereal creative force that is the source of all thing beings in existence. He does not rule out the possibility that a man named Jesus existed and that He historically sacrificed himself for mankind, but he sees it as the ultimate act of god-like behavior and does not actually attribute the event to anything personal regarding his own life, nor even anything connected to God or a part of God. That is because Jesus is not God to him – nor is He to most of the world. He did however, ask, “How can Jesus, a man who walked this Earth also be God?” Here’s what I had the opportunity to share with him:

When I taught the primary kids in Sunday school years and years ago, I explained the trinity and our “triune” God this way: we as human beings are beings in three parts – we have our physical body, our minds – which is our heart, our emotions our thoughts and we have our soul, which is the core or our being, personality and life-force within us. We are body, spirit and soul. The bible describes it as body (sometimes might), spirit and soul as well. Deuteronomy 6:5

God created us in His own image. Genesis 1:26a: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:” Notice God says, “let US make man in OUR image…” And so, He created us in the likeness of His three facets of self: Soul (God the Father), Body (Jesus the Son, in the flesh), and Holy Spirit (the breath and movement of life). Think of God in terms of water. The very nature of water is H2O. But water has three forms: liquid, ice (solid) and gas (steam). No matter what its form, it is still water - H2O.

Once again: John 1: 1-4 explains a multitude of things. “In the beginning was God. And the Word was with God and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men.”

In these scriptures, the word “Word” is capitalized. The word of God here is a pronoun. Verse 14 describes why the Word is a pronoun. “The Word became flesh and dwelt amongst men.” Jesus is the Word, and the Word is God’s voice. Words are a tangible substance – our words hold weight and they exist in this physical world. God spoke his word into flesh and became a man. God himself became man.

Genesis 1:1 says “in the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” Now remember, John 1 says in the beginning the Word was with God and the Word was God. And the Word was with God. Jesus was with God, and Jesus was God and Jesus was a part of God in the beginning. And it was through His Word [Jesus] that God created all things. Genesis 1:3 says, “And God said let there be light.” And John 1:3 says “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” That includes us who were made in His image. Remember? God said let us make man in our own image… It was through Jesus that we were created and through the Holy Spirit life was breathed into us.

This is why Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” The second half of that scripture says “no man comes to the Father except through me.” Herein lays the point of contention for so many. “Why is it that there is only one way to come to God?” Non-believers of Christ Jesus are sure that there are many ways to come to God because they inherently sense that there are many ways to experience God.

God’s presence is everywhere, and God is speaking to us at all times – He wants us to recognize Him and to hear his voice so that He can give us life! John 1:4 continues by saying, “In him was life; and the life was the light of men.” Further down in verse 9 it says, “That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” God’s light shines upon every man that comes into this world whether they recognize Him or not. Everyone – believer or not – can bask in the same sunshine that was created by God. They smell the same flowers, hear the same birds and feel the same presence of God in all things He created. And, they feel the goodness in them and desire that goodness even without desiring to know the source of that good.

John 1:10 explains it this way, “He [Jesus] was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.” For me it is as if a person believes that steam exists but refuses to believe in ice or the liquid form of water. Our “non-Jewish” Jewish friend, said – if he was dying of thirst and his life saving water evaporated into steam, then of course he’d want to know why. But to me, his analogy holds no water. Jesus is the living water that gives us life. With out him we are dying of thirst – not just spiritually, but physically as well. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever would believe on him, should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Without Him – we perish. With Him we have life. There are no list of rights and wrongs – just simple belief. Do you believe that Jesus is the only begotten son of God? Do you believe that He was born of a virgin? Do you believe that He died on the cross for the transgression of our sins? Do you believe that He was raised again on the third day so that we could have life everlasting? Do you believe in Life?

eHomework: Compare the light in Genesis 1:3-4 to the Light in John 1:4-5

p.s. Do you want to know why Jesus is called the “only begotten son of God” if He was God? Email me and ask… I’ll tell you why.

LOVELY LADY LUCK

2009-03-31T07:40:00.000-07:00

© 2008 by Deidre Campbell-Jones

March Theme: Luck

Luck: Proverbs 7:10-12; Proverbs 7:25-27
Faith: Proverbs 8:1,4,6; Proverbs 8:17-18,21

I thought of the title for this weekend’s bible study long before I knew I would be spending the weekend with two lovely ladies who would frequently expound upon “the Herman luck.” They are sisters and we are in Florida for the wedding of the younger sister. They are lots of fun, profess a belief in God and somehow were born into a family that frequently suffers from “Anything that can go wrong, will.”

Somehow the Bride’s specialized bouquet with peacock feathers was delivered to the hotel in Florida two months in advance. No one called the Bride and therefore there has been now bouquet for the actual ceremony. This has been ascribed to “The Herman Luck.” I think “Lady Luck” is alive and well.

There are many things the world will give a female reference to – ships, cars –and so on. But there are few abstract, emotional concepts of the mind that are spoken of as a female entity.
You would think that “Lady Luck” would be some odd, human manifestation and it would be the total opposite to anything God would condone. And, in fact, since ‘luck” is a concept not found in the bible, you would think there would be no reference to her in the bible at all.

However, Proverbs describes two kinds of women: one is sought after and will bring nothing but ruin; the other is to be desired, but is often ignored – she will bring riches and glory. From a non-biblical standpoint either sounds like she could be our friend the lady of luck. The first woman in Proverbs is described so literally that we are sure of whom we think God is speaking of. Proverbs 7:10-12 reads, “10: And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart. (She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house: Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.)”

How many of us skip over these passages about the harlot in Proverbs? Women skip over her because we know we won’t be lured into the streets by hookers. Happily married men ignore her; men, who have never had a desire to pay for desire, may give her a passing thought and young men who feel susceptible may read about her warily and hope they don’t get caught. But “Lady Luck” seems the perfect name for her. By giving her that name, we can easily see her luring unsuspecting men and women out to the brightly lit streets of Vegas and the casinos all dressed up like harlots, luring with an enticing finger all that would come inside and take their chances. But Proverbs 7:25-27 says “Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths. For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her. Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.” If we’re still talking about the casinos then we are talking in extremes and many of us still “pass by the harlot scriptures” in the scenario, because we are confident we will not go down like this. And we’re right many of us – especially those of us reading this bible study will never get caught up in gambling or prostitution at either at all (for the latter) or at any extreme (for the former).

Honestly however, this lady luck is not only working the streets of Vegas or Atlantic City. And she’s no longer a hooker or even a “call girl” – she is an escort, benignly waiting to escort you away from God’s simple truths of life. She’s walking the streets outside your job. She’s walking the streets at the grocery store, the gas station and the bank. She’s even walking the streets outside your house. And, I hate to even say it, but I’m sure she’s working outside many churches as well.

Lady Luck is a lure that looks good and enticing. She’s craftily and subtly whispering unsuspecting people away from what they know is good and right. She is anything that you hope for or depend on or pray for or get involved with that holds more weight, truth, opportunity or possibility than the promises of God. She is fools gold. She is opportunistic in stead of a good opportunity. She is good fortune without being godly. She is the here and now. She is not Mr. Right but Mr. Right Now. She’s another fish in the sea. She’s putting on a good front, a good show and she even appears to be walking the good life. Lady Luck is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Pull that away and underneath, Lady Luck is not all that lovely.

But there is one God describes and I see her as having a simple, pure beauty that is easily overlooked. She is not loud and stubborn; she is not in the streets crying out to anyone walking by. But she is crying, like the forgotten sister, always sitting in the shadows – forgotten and unappreciated. I say she is also underestimated.

Proverbs 8:1, 4 & 6 describes her this way; “Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice? Unto you, O men, I [wisdom] call; and my voice is to the sons of man. Hear; for I will speak of excellent things; and the opening of my lips shall be right things.” She is not down in the streets of the city, she is crying at the gates, on the outskirts and at the entrance because no one will let her in. They don’t even want to hear what she has to say – even though she promises excellence and righteousness. She is Wisdom and many of us think we know her, but we are really walking with Lady Luck instead.

The bible describes Wisdom as being better than rubies. It says those who make witty inventions know her, as do Kings and noble men. But she is crying out to all of us. She may hang with elite of the elite in society – but she’d also like to hang out with you and me – at our jobs, the gas station and the bank; the grocery stores, inside our houses and especially at our churches. You see, though she may dwell with kings and noblemen, Wisdom is no respecter of persons. Proverbs 8:17 says “I love them that love me; and those that seek me early shall find me.” Wisdom is still speaking in the first person – she is speaking of herself.

If we look for Wisdom instead of seeking out that other chick – the one who is loud, flashy and bright, slick and alluring; we might indeed find all that we are hoping to find, but do not, when we are lured by lady luck. Wisdom promises so much more than what Lady Luck has to offer. In Proverbs 18-19 she says, “Riches and honour are with me; yea, durable riches and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold; and my revenue than choice silver.”

A pastor once described to me that Wisdom is God’s feminine side. And I believe that. The promises of God always exist for those who would seek Him – Matthew 6:33 “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all else will be added unto you.” Well, God’s behavior as feminine Wisdom is no different. God wants us to seek Wisdom. She says this again in Proverbs 8:21 – “[Seek me] that I may cause those that love me to inherit substance; and I will fill their treasures.” Well, that sounds like better odds than anything you’ll get at the casino, or through the lottery, or any chance with Lady Luck.

Besides, Wisdom promises nothing but good – but as we see with the Herman sisters, Lady Luck is catch as you can: find Lady Luck and you aren’t necessarily guaranteed to find good luck.
When the bride’s bouquet was possibly missing it was “the Herman Luck” but when it was delivered on time for the wedding the next day, from the right florist, and looking absolutely beautiful, only Goodness was thanked. Well now who is she!?

Just like luck has its bad luck and its good luck so does lady luck. And she’ll lure you with the good she offers so innocently and sweetly that you don’t realize how she drags you down. She’ll step into the picture as bad luck and intercept a bridal bouquet, then deliver it on time as good luck, so you’ll say “thank goodness” instead of “thank God.” Good luck will make a cashier hand you $10 in change instead of $1 in change and bad luck will make you put it in your pocket instead of handing it back.

But wisdom cries out to be recognized and understood. For when we act with wisdom instead of on hunches and immediate good fortune, we build for ourselves a life of wealth and riches that supercedes even just our finances but permeates every aspect of our lives – physically, spiritually and emotionally.

Lady luck may have her altar ego “bad luck” but Wisdom’s twin is Faith. Have faith that God wants the very best for you and it is by His orchestration that it comes to you – when you seek out Wisdom - instead of hoping it will fall in your lap, or you will stumble upon it, or sit next to the lovely lady luck. I say if lady luck is considered to be lovely, then her beauty is only skin deep. It pales in comparison to the depth of beauty we would find when we seek wisdom.

eHome Bible Study homework: Read Proverbs 2 – clarify both Wisdom and Miss Lady Luck in the passages.

Power, love & Peace
(2 Timothy 1:7)
~Min. Dez

LUCK OF THE DRAW

2009-03-22T08:55:00.000-07:00

© 2008 by Deidre Campbell-Jones

March Theme: Luck

Luck: Job 3:26
Faith: Psalms 86:7

“Why me, Lord? Why me?” Have you asked that question? Have you asked it when times seemed insurmountably bad, inexplicably difficult, and amazingly horrific? Sometimes it seems trouble just blasts you out of nowhere with such force and even devastation that you find yourself feeling like, “What the heck!? What did I do to deserve that?” Divorce, death, abandonment, abuse… “Why me?”

Sometimes it is not even something hugely tragic, but maybe just mildly difficult – but if the circumstance seems surprising and unwarranted, it is still easy to ask, “why me? What happened?” Friends up and leave you seemingly for no reason, bank accounts get hugely overdrawn and all jacked up from a minor mistake, and errors of all sorts seem so magnified or unleash a domino effect of trouble and even if you don’t say it out loud or even to yourself, the feeling inside is still, “Why is this happening to me?”

Here’s my answer – “Just lucky, I guess!” Trouble surrounds us on every side. Trials and tribulations are promised to us. John 16:33 says, “…in the world, you will have tribulation.” It is not a promise given because God is a sadistic God, zapping people with problems for his own amusement. But instead the very world itself, in fact, all of creation as well as the very nature of mankind has been affected by sin. And where there is sin, there is trouble, bottom line.

In the third chapter and 36th verse of Job, he states it this way, “I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.” It doesn’t matter what any of us do – or even to not do – trouble comes. It’s just the luck of the draw when it comes to you and how. Eventually we all get lucky and experience trouble – sometimes it’s nothing but little trouble, while others seem to be followed by nothing but big trouble – but either way, every one gets a shot at experiencing it. And even Job and his friends wondered, “Why?”

It seems to make sense to ask, “Why me” in times of trouble, right? But what about in times of great joy and excitement, thrill and blessings? Do we ever think to ask, “Why me” when good things happen? It’s still the luck of the same draw – why not you? We are no more deserving of the good things than we think we are of the bad things!

I have heard great people in society who have experienced a multitude of favor, or the most extreme blessings of life have also asked, “Why me?” I in fact have received a vision and calling for my own life that has seriously caused me to ask, “Me, Lord – are you sure?” And of course the Lord answers, “Why not you? Who else but you if this vision and call has come to you?”

You see, even though Peter says in Acts 10:34 that God is no respecter of persons, we also seem to subconsciously assume he’s not thinking of us or concerned about our daily lives, trials, tribulations, wants, desires and joys. We live in a country that values the “American Dream”. We live in a society that encourages pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. We tell our young people to keep their heads low, treat others the way you want to be treated, be fair, be honest, do good and be good. And while all of these may be good rules to live by, they come with the unspoken implication that if you do these things it’s the best way to avoid trouble. But trouble is coming no matter what and we as a people seem to spend less time (if no time at all) teaching our young people how to survive and deal with trouble when it comes. Oh yeah, and then we complain when we have to bail them out – but that’s a different bible study!

Also just as nonsensical is the fact that we push the ideals that if we work hard we’ll get the good reward, that if we do the right things, good things will happen. Be kind, don’t do drugs, stay in school, get a good job and all else will be added to you. No, it says, seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all else will be added to you. Why then would we be promised “a good life” filled with no anxiety over our needs and blessed with the desires of our hearts if God is not a respecter of persons? It’s just the luck of the draw!

You see, it all boils down to: thoughts. Our God is thinking of us and He wants us the think of Him.

When times are good; when we can’t believe the unbelievable good fortune of our lives; when we discover a purpose and find our path; or when God blesses us in good measure, pressed down and shaken under we are to know that God is ever thinking of us. Psalms 139:17 “How precious are your thoughts towards me! How great is the sum of them!” The psalmist was asking, “Why me, Lord? Why would you think so highly of me?” And the Lord gives His answer to us all in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” God has an expected end for all of us and it is of peace – not of evil! So what of all the evil in this world that will surround us at every turn? God’s answer goes on and on…

Psalms 32:7: “Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.” Psalms 37:39: “But the salvation of the righteous is of the LORD: he is their strength in the time of trouble.” Psalms 46:1: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Psalms 50:15: “And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.”

When we are in trouble He wants us to think of Him and when we are blessed He wants us to know He thinks of us. He is always thinking of us – in good times and in bad. Yes, we are going to have trouble – and in some cases, our own sin, poor judgment and influence are the cause. But mostly we’re just in the right place at the right time to get the luck of that draw – that’s what we’ve very nearly been promised. And when trouble comes, Palms 86:7 has another promise for us: “In the day of my trouble I will call upon thee: for thou wilt answer me.” God will be there to deliver us from our trouble!

His thoughts are not our thoughts – we think that trouble is our punishment, we think it’s our karma, we think it is bad luck. His thoughts are not our thoughts – when our lives are blessed with purpose, joy, good fortune and good tidings, we think of it as good luck. But His thoughts for us are of peace, not evil for the Lord has an expected end for us – it is a destiny filled with abundance, purpose, blessings and joy – if we would but call on Him, remember Him and seek Him first.

Case and point – instead of looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow that’s being guarded by some lucky little leprechaun, look to the rainbow as the true covenant sign that God created it to be – God loves you and wants only His best life for you – and like I’ve said before, that’s the best luck in the world!

Power, love & peace -
~Min. Dez

LUCKY NUMBER 7

2009-03-15T07:48:00.000-07:00

(An "interesting note" - on Friday the 13th I wrote this message for my Emailed Bible Study - this morning I see when posting it here, that it is the 13th post on GetLifeRightNow! The pulpit! Things that make you go... hmm..."

© 2008 by Deidre Campbell-Jones

March Theme: Luck

Luck: Genesis 1
Faith: John 1

I suppose if Darwin is right, we are all creatures of luck. I remember being in high-school and a new science book had been released that year. The teacher read with us from the first page, but I didn’t move from that first paragraph with the rest of the class. I still remember reading a portion over and over: "…and somehow there was a big bang, and from that bang a single cell life form emerged…"

Somehow? Even then, “somehow” did not seem scientific enough for a science book! “Somehow” didn’t explain a big bang and it certainly did not describe how a single cell life form emerged. But let’s say “somehow” is an accurate description and somehow that single cell life form evolved throughout all these years from an amoeba to a dinosaur to an ape to a Neanderthal to a human – or some such nonsense. Wow – we would indeed be the luckiest creatures in the entire universe!

And if we really were somehow created from such an amazing happenstance, then wouldn’t that nature of luck be written into our DNA? Shouldn’t just luck abound in our reality? Shouldn’t we have evolved into something more fantasmic by now? And shouldn’t we be able to tap into that nature of luck and somehow create other amazing creations from that same substance we were created from?

Perhaps it was somehow a big bang of bad luck that keeps all those scenarios from being true. Or perhaps that “bang” was the insurmountable, unfathomable, all encompassing voice of God saying through His Word “Light be!” (Genesis 1:3)

Then in Genesis 1:26, “God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:” There was no somehow - God spoke us into being through the same Being in which He spoke light into the world. We were created by the same voice and with the same breath that spoke all things into being. And that was no happy accident! The very nature of what created us is in our DNA. That very nature abounds in every aspect of our reality. And through that nature we can evolve and will evolve into something far more fantasmic than what we are today and what we are in this life. We have access to and can tap into that same nature any time we want and from it and through it we have the power to create and be creative just as we were created.

Here is the proof: (and all it takes is that you stretch your belief just a little bit past “somehow” to “was”) John 1:1-5 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” Now, doesn’t “was” sound far more definitive, decisive and absolute than the word “somehow?” Also, I submit to you this small change in the wording – “and somehow the darkness comprehended it not.” Those who are in darkness cannot comprehend the light – they instead comprehend luck.

Now before I go on, let me make sure you understand the significance of these scriptures. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – these verses are my most absolute favorite in the entire bible. In the beginning was God. There was nothing else, just God – everything that was, was God. And so, God is not in a specific place, God’s presence is the place. And in that place was the Word – capital “w” (a pronoun).

And that Word was with God, and that Word was God and all things were made by Him. Which "Him" was that? The Word God; the Word of God; God and the Word – they are one and the same. “And the same was in the beginning with God.” (John 1:2)

All things were made by Him – what Him? All things were made with the Word, spoken through the word, (or spoken through the Word) – in other words, God spoke Himself into being. And what was the first thing He spoke of Himself? Genesis 1:3 “And God said, Let there be light, and there was light.”

Let’s go back to John 1:6-10 “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.” Notice here the word “Light” is capitalized as in a “pronoun”. There is no mistaking who the true Light is – but in case you haven’t gotten it in all the other times I’ve mentioned it: John 1:14 “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” God spoke Himself into light through His Word, and that Word became flesh and became the Light of the world – Jesus, the Christ.

We too are called to let our lights shine as a lamp on a hill. Could that very same Light we’ve been talking about, that very same Word we’ve been reading about – could it be that light is built into the very nature of our DNA? God says it is. Genesis 26: And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: - remember? The “us” God is talking to is Himself: Father, Son and Holy Ghost; God the Presence, Jesus the Light and the Spirit that moved across the face of the waters in Genesis 1:2. We are created in their image – we are created from their image and we were given life through the breath of life: the Spirit of life – that same life that moved across the face of the waters.

I just now remembered a joke I heard a few days ago… “Scientists determined they had discovered exactly how to make life out of nothing, just like God. And so to prove their new skills they went to God and challenged Him to a duel. We can make life out of nothing just like you, they said. Let’s see who can make a man better and faster. God agreed to the challenge. On your mark, get set, go, He said. And the Scientists bent down to scoop up dirt to form their man, but God stopped them. Go get your own dirt, He told the Scientists.”

The very same substance, or rather “substantial Word” that made light also made the dry ground, and the very same nature that was spoken into light was also spoken into the dry ground. And Adam was created from the dust of that dry ground and God breathed the breath of life into him – male and female God made He them.

God did not leave this stuff up to chance! In seven days God made the heavens and the earth; all the swimming things in the waters, the fowls and flying things in the air; the creeping things on the ground and Man – male and female (mankind) – and on the 7th day He rested.

Now that’s the only lucky number 7 I want to believe in! How lucky we are that God decided to make us in their image! How lucky we are that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever should believe would not perish but have everlasting life!” (John 3:16)

That “Only Begotten Son” God gave to die on the cross was God Himself, in the flesh. Oh, and aren’t we lucky He did! That “world” God loves so much is the world of mankind – the very same man He made from the dusts of the Earth and breathed life into. Oh, and aren’t we lucky that He did! And all that we have to believe in is not that somehow this all happened but that this was what happened! Oh, and aren’t we lucky that it did!

Is luck in our very nature? Only if you take that chance and believe in God our Creator and His only begotten Son. I feel lucky indeed!

Your eHome Bible Study homework: We’ve been studying Genesis 1 and John 1. Compare how 1 John 1:1-3 compare to the first verses in Genesis and John.

What a Friend!

2009-03-09T16:23:00.000-07:00

Earlier last summer, my husband and I were invited to a birthday party for friends we hadn’t seen in 3 years. The last time we’d hung out, our son was just around 6 months old and in trying to adjust to being new parents, we had completely dropped out of the whole night club scene: partying until the wee hours of the morning and all those shenanigans.

But it was so good to see the old crowd again that I found myself right back into the old conversations, the old gossip and the same old brand of questionable humor. After the party I wondered why I’d been so easily sucked back into that old behavior. After all, while they hadn’t changed – I sure had. I had begun a new journey and speaking career in my ministry – soon to start teaching at the Bible College of my new church and even about to become a minister elect, working on my ministerial license. How then could I have gone to that party, and fallen into the same old conversations? (Don’t act like I’m the only one that’s happened too! :D)

I never figured out the answer at that time, but I was presented with a suggested scripture for a teaching I did in August: Ephesians 4:22-24 “That he put off concerning the former conversation of the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” The answer as to how I could have fallen into the same old deceitful and debase conversations was there in the last portion of verse 24: … and ye “put on” the new man.

Well, I tell you, I may not have been able to follow verse 22 and put off concerning those former conversations that night, but I sure must have been following verse 24 – putting on the new man. In fact, I must have hung up my “new man” in the coat closet when I arrived at that party because you can’t take off what you haven’t put on in the first place! It’s as if I arrived at that party over-dressed and hung myself at the door so I could fit in with my old friends once more.

When I asked myself why I did that (of course) I didn’t know my answer was in Ephesians 4:20, “But ye have not so learned Christ.” In fact, I would have argued that I had indeed learned Christ. But the truth is it was as if the night of the party I’d started summer school with a pop quiz that I’d failed miserably that night. Class was suddenly in session and all summer long I had lesson after lesson and tons of homework week after week! And then just a few day s ago I had my final exam. And let me tell you, it was painful – but I can confidently say I’ve passed with flying colors! Let me present his test to you and you’ll see how easy it is to pass this test.
Who here has had a friendship that has last 30 years or more? Marriages don’t count so put your hand down if you’re talking about a spouse! Just yesterday I heard a man say that when men get married they sacrifice everything for their wives – the first sacrifice being HOPE! :D Well, the same must be true for friendships that begin in the spirit of the “old man” – before you are saved.

I have a friend, who for the past 30 years has always been like John 15:13 – “Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends.” I’m talking close. Suddenly however, she can no longer continue our friendship. So, we’re having this conversation about it and she’s talking all this old stuff that I thought was over and done with. And I know what she’s referring to, but none of it makes sense any more. I’m trying hard to understand but I just can do it. All I can think of is, “wow, this friendship is really over.” And it dawned on me the more I tried t0 salvage the friendship, the less we seemed to be able to see eye-to-eye the way we used to... or the say I thought we did.

You see, I had “put off concerning the former conversations of the ‘old me’” and now I could see why she felt she couldn’t talk to me any more and why we didn’t see eye-to-eye any more. I realize that I have been renewed in the spirit of my mind. The proof came in these new truths about me 1) I too suddenly felt like I could no longer relate to, nor want to try and relate to my once beloved friend of 30 years. My mind, no longer thinks like her mind. I am a renewed. And 2), I have a renewed sense of the Spirit dwelling within me.

I have finally put on, and kept on, the new me, which, through God, is created in righteousness and true holiness. Now had that happened, especially without me having specifically done anything to do so? Well, before this summer, and during the last 23 years of being saved, I was living like my “new man” was indeed a coat of many colors that I was taking off and putting on. Each different color was a like a different attribute or characteristic that I was trying to patchwork into the fabric of my life and my behavior according to the Christian I thought I was supposed to be – instead of the person Christ created me to be – created through righteousness and true holiness. (verse 24)

How are we righteous? Through the righteousness of Christ once Christ dwells in us. And how can we be created in true holiness, less we be created in the image of the only One who is Truly Holy? Christ Himself declared to our Father that “they [we] all may be one; as though, Farther, art in me, and I in the, that they also may be one in us:” John 17: 21, 22 and 23: “…that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me…” Christ is telling us that God lives in Him, and He lives in us so therefore – God is in us as well. Jesus also said, “I and my father are one, if you have seen me you have seen the Father.” I say, if we are created in God’s own image, then look in the mirror and see God for yourself! Look in the mirror and see your own royalty, see your own deity (little d) and your own godliness with a little “g.”

If Christ is the Son of God and He and the Father are one and the same, then we too share in that royal deity once we have been made the children of God. We are co-heirs to the Kingdom of God, brothers and sisters with Christ, adopted into the family of righteousness and told that we too are given power over this world – able to do greater works than Jesus himself. Once you have heard, and been taught and learned that truth in Jesus (Ephesians 4:21), your Spirit is truly renewed and the new man you put on doesn’t come off so easily any more!

That “new man” is Jesus Himself – the same Jesus who also calls us friend: John 15:15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.”
Luke 21: 16 says “And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, brethren, kinsfolk and friends and some may betray you even unto death.” I am sure we have all been betrayed by a friends at one time or another – whether we’d been friend for 30 years or not. Oh, but praise God we have a friend in Jesus – the Spirit of whom lives within us – promising to never leave or forsake us! What a friend; what a friend; what a friend we have in Jesus! Halleluiah, in Jesus’ name, Amen!

GOOD, BAD OR NOT AT ALL

2009-03-08T08:40:00.000-07:00

© 2008 by Min. Deidre Campbell-Jones

March Theme: Luck

Luck: Proverbs 16:33
Faith: Psalms 139

It’s March and thanks to “St. Paddy” we’ll be hearing a lot this month about the “luck of the Irish” and St. Patrick’s Day. The “luck of the Irish” is a very interesting concept to me, especially since another very common phrase is “Irish Catholic”. If those are the only two colloquialisms about being Irish, then in my understanding of the whole matter, the two cancel each other out.

You see, according to scripture there technically is no such thing as “luck” at all. There doesn’t seem to be any good luck or bad luck, only blessings and curses. And if luck is defined as happenstance; a surprise situation of good fortune, then we have to attribute some other truth to these occurrences because we know through God there are no coincidences at all.
Psalms 139 describes how the Lord knows us and fashioned us and leads us in all our ways. He knows our downsitting and our uprising. He encompasses our path and is acquainted with all our ways. We can take flight in the air or dwell on the seas and no matter where we are the Lord will lead us and keep us. Now none of that sounds like an accident, happenstance or luck of the draw to me.

Now don’t get me entirely wrong – the bible is not without its instances where luck was involved. For example, to “cast lots” was the way to determine the luck of the draw. Often it was just away to divvy up parts like saying “eenie, meenie, mynie-mo.” In Joshua 18:8-10 lots were cast before the Lord to determine which tribes of Israel would get what parcel of land. Even still, it doesn’t necessarily say that the Lord answered Joshua through the casting of those lots. It was just a quick and easy way to determine who got what and if you were lucky, I suppose, then you got the part you wanted.

In 1 Chronicles 24:31 the sons of Levi cast lots against their brethren, the sons of Aaron. Now I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t sound as if you’d come out too lucky either way the lot ended up if someone were casting against you. So, casting lots wasn’t always a positive notion – such as was the case, as was prophesied in Psalms 22:18 when they cast lots for Jesus’ garments.
And in at least one case that I know of, casting lots did not go as was planned and God had to make his own decision. In the New Testament, Peter and the other disciples had selected two other men as candidates to take Judas’ place amongst the 12 after his betrayal and death. In Acts 1:23-26 the disciples prayed and cast their lots towards Joseph Barsabas (surnamed Justus) and Matthias, whom they had selected and the lot fell toward Matthias and he was counted amongst the eleven. Personally, I would have cast my lot towards Justus, but maybe I'm just partial... The truth of the matter is the disciples selected the men, the disciples cast their lots towards Matthias and the disciples counted him amongst them. God however was not mentioned as having any part in the matter. I see it like this: Proverbs 16:33: “The lot is cast into the lap; but the whole disposing thereof is of the LORD.”

The world has plenty of ways in which “things happen” that have nothing to do with God. Besides luck – a random set of circumstances in which you might get a good one at any given moment in time – there’s also fate, which is a predetermined set of circumstances that might or might not be good at any given time. There’s also destiny, which by many schools of thought, you can control and determine your own destiny, even though it too is a predetermined end result of circumstances.

Did you know that none of the words: luck, fate or destiny appear anywhere in the bible? I have even taught on biblical purpose and destiny but the concepts are almost as elusive as the words themselves. There is the theological concept of predestination, but even that is not actually listed in the bible. So what is?

Let’s go back to Psalms 139. We used those scriptures to show that nothing in our lives is an accident – God is aware of and leads us in all our ways. There is no place we can go and nothing we can do in which He is not aware of us, leading us and thinking of us. Verse 10: “Even there will His hand lead me; His right hand will hold me.” Not only is God aware of our ways, He is active in our ways. And not only that, He promises to be exactingly active in all that we do or ask.

We don’t have to leave stuff up to chance – not even as Christians. Many times we’ll say, “Well, if it’s God’s will.” Or “God knows my needs, I know He will provide.” Sure He’ll provide – He is faithful to provide – if we ask. We have to ask!

It is true that Matthew 6:8: says that God knows what we have need of even before we ask – of course He does, He is all-knowing after all! But shortly after that Matthew 7:7 says, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:” We don’t have to leave our lives up to chance – just ask! We don’t have to chock our circumstances up to luck – just ask! It’s not a matter of destiny or fate; it’s a matter of prayer and faith!

Matthew 21:22: “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” This means some things, right? This means only the serious things, right? Or this means only the things pertaining to our needs and not our wants, right? Actually, it means all things – ALL things: 100%, fully and completely all things. In fact, the scripture just before it talks about cursing fig trees and moving mountains with faith. Those are some pretty big things – maybe that’s where we get it from. Nope, the scripture simply says “all” things.

John 14:13 & 14 repeats it twice, “ask in My name and it will be done.” John 15:7 – “ask and it shall be done.” James 1:5-6: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.”
Luck, chance, fate and destiny are like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. You never know where it will go, how it will go or when it will stop – good, bad or not at.
You don’t have to wonder, hope, cross your fingers or even pray that God knows your heart, concerns and needs. Express those concerns, needs and desires of your heart to God in prayer – He wants you to!

So why should we ask even if he knows what we need before we ask? Because it builds a meaningful relationship with our Father in Heaven. Ask Him – and be specific when you ask! Don’t you think your Father in heaven knows how to give good gifts? Or don’t you think you deserve to ask for those good gifts?

We easily leave something up to luck and figure we have a 50-50% chance of it working out. At least if we ask the Lord, we’ve still got a 50-50% chance of things working out. But if we ask Him and do not doubt, ask in faith, nothing wavering – God promises a 100% chance of return. I feel pretty lucky indeed to have that kind of relationship with God the Almighty Creator – don’t you?

THE RELATIONSHIP OF LOVE

2009-03-01T07:27:00.000-08:00

© 2008 by Deidre Campbell-Jones

February Theme: Love

Love’s Action: 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a
Love’s Command: Matthew 22:37-39

1 Corinthians 13: It’s on posters, greeting cards, plaques, bookmarks and in nearly every devotional on love – this one included. It is the end all, be all definition of love – or so we have been taught. “Love suffers long, and is kind; love does not envy; love does not exalt itself, is not puffed up, love does not behave itself unseemly, seeks not her own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil; love rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.”

And still, even though we are familiar with the verse and we look to it as a guideline, many of us are still challenged to love unconditionally in the manner it describes. It is because we are trying to live by an example with out a definition.

Consider these words: to suffer; to be kind; to envy; to be exalted; to be puffed up; to behave or not to behave; to seek; to provoke; to think; to rejoice; to bear; to believe; to hope; to endure and to fail, or not to fail. These are all verbs. A verb is the part of speech that expresses existence, action, or occurrence. To be or not to be – the words from the Corinthians list are all a state of being; they are an action of existence and not of definition. In fact, I’ll pick any one of love’s activities as proof: “love thinks no evil.” Ok, if “think” is the verb and “evil” is the subject that is modified by “no”, does that make “evil” or “no evil” one of the definitions of love? If so, the sentence might be phrased, “love is not evil.” And all that would explain is what love is not and not what it is.

So what is love? The bible says God is Love. 1 John 4:8 “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. “ That means then, if God is love then God expresses Himself through His being… to be, or not to be… Be longsuffering; be kind; be free of envy; be not puffed up or self-exalted; be seemly; beseech for others; be not provoked; be not evil; be joyous in truth, not in sin; believe; be hopeful; be enduring; always be. And so, if this is God’s behavior, it’s no wonder we have such a difficult time! And if indeed this is God’s behavior, how is it that we are to accomplish this list of loving actions and ways to be?

1 John 4:16 gives us the answer. “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him.” Being in the presence of God is being in the presence of love. The more God that is in us, the more we can love ourselves as He does and love our neighbors as we love ourselves.

Still action without definition often gets lost in translation no matter how much sense it makes. So if 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8 is not a definition of who God is, but what God does and what we through God should do – we are still left with the question: what is the definition of why we do what we do? Asking what is the true definition of love is synonymous to asking what the definition of God is. Here’s some good news – the bible does not leave us without this definition and I have my Bishop to thank for this. It’s just too good to keep for myself so allow me to plagiarize the information in this, our last lesson on love for this February month of love and all the topics that have related.

[There are 7 elements of God and therefore 7 elements of love. God is Faith (Isaiah 49:7); God is Truth (Ephesians 4:15); God is trust (Psalms 9:10); God is giving (John 3:16) and God is forgiving (Ephesians 4:32); God is good (Matthew 19:17) and God is fruitful (Galatians 5:22). Indeed, I recognize that many of these definitions are verbs just like the examples in 1 Corinthians.] So what is the difference?

In our human condition, we can “love” someone without any one or even several of the actions in 1 Corinthians. Some of us have been so damaged and marred, and our earthly definition of love is so twisted that some of us can even say we love and still not do anything in the Corinthians list.
But God cannot be God without any of the 7 elements listed above. God does not and cannot be anything other than faithful, truthful, trustworthy, giving, forgiving, good and fruitful. God’s love bears fruit because the fruit of the Spirit is love.

Analyzing these 7 elements in our life is then how we know if what we are experiencing is love – and more specifically a Godly love. So many theologians, pastors and ministers talk about love in biblical terms that just don’t translate to the loves we have in our lives. Often they’ll talk about a distorted definition or a diluted importance – how can you say you love your husband and then so easily say you love ice cream. In that regard I agree, we need a different word for how much we enjoy our favorite things in life. Because when I think about all the things in my life for which I am faithful, trusting, truthful, giving, forgiving, good and fruitful towards, the list narrows considerably and does not include ice cream at all.

And furthermore if there is anything in our lives for which we can apply those seven elements towards, it does indeed become easier to act towards those things as 1 Corinthians 13 describes. But the reason the list is there is because we need a reminder to act lovingly even after we understand what a Godly love is.

I believe our reminders (especially to ourselves) should begin with the 7 elements of God. They are tangible, realistic guidelines to determine if what we feel towards someone or something is actually love. They are reasonable traits to help us determine if anyone is loving towards us. They are easily understandable concepts to consider whenever God tells us to love our neighbor and love our selves as Christ loves us. And I am finding them to be perfect concepts to teach my child.

What is love? Love is faithful – what are you faithful to? Love is trusting – what do you trust implicitly? Love is giving – what do you so freely give because of your love? Love is forgiving – do you easily forgive those whom you love? Love is good – what things are you good at? Do you love what you’re good at and are you good towards the things or people you say you love? Love is fruitful – does your love bear more love? Does it ignite and give love to others – does it give peace and joy? Or what about the love you’re receiving does it bear Godly fruit in your life?

So then here’s the toughest question of all. Even with our twisted, convoluted and earthly definitions of love, we still do not and would not hesitate to say without a doubt, “Yes, I love God.” Of course we love God. But do we love God with the same love He loves us with? Can we honestly say we reciprocate the 7 Godly principles to our Heavenly Father, when we say we love Him? If so, then do we also follow our 1 Corinthians actions in our relationship with God? Remember, our relationships with Him should not be defined by our relationships with each other, but instead by His love towards us.

“You shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind… and love thy neighbor as thyself.” Matthew 22:37-39

Your Home Study homework: Did you read all the scripture references? If so, then you might know what else the fruit of the Spirit bears besides love. Find the scripture with this answer.

(Note: Aspects of this lesson are taken from the book “Father, Brother, Lover, Friend: Finding “The One”, expected to be released by Destination Publications in June 2009 and the coinciding presentation “The Relationship of Love”.)

MY SWEET EMBRACEABLE YOU!

2009-02-22T07:35:00.000-08:00

© 2008 by Minister Deidre Campbell-Jones
February Theme: Love

Lover: Solomon 1:4; Solomon 8:6-7
Friend: Solomon 5:16; John 3:29

My husband is an actor. Recently he had pictures taken for new headshots. Every time he does, he always chooses a picture that is so handsome he almost looks like a different person. You see, on a daily basis my husband is cute and attractive. Every once in a while he’ll show up looking “not-so-cute” and frequently he “cleans” up to be very handsome (much like his headshot) for one occasion or another. But in this particular round of pictures there was one (that he and his management team did not choose) that is decidedly H.O.T!! Good grief! I have never seen this man before!

Of course, I snatched the picture, and I tease my husband by calling this particularly gorgeous picture of him, “my boyfriend”. And when I do, my husband makes a decidedly, very “un-cute” face and amusingly complains that I only like “that guy” because he’s a “rough-neck” and a “heart-breaker” – the kind of guy that is bad news. I answered him yesterday with a deeply longing sigh, and said, “Yeah, you’re right – but the good news is, I’m married to him.” Oh, if only he’d show up! Admittedly I think I would be giddy if my husband revealed this side of himself to me – truly that could be every woman’s dream – the full package. Knowing he’s got it inside of him really makes me anticipate the possibility of seeing “him” with excitement – much to my husband’s confusion (and now embarrassment, I’m sure)!

“Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee.” Solomon 1:4 – and in fact this entire very short, very romantic book, specifically describes a bride and groom, two lovers who are mad about each other! The bride in this particular verse is saying if he, her lover and husband King Solomon, would just beckon her, just call to her; she would run to him. He has brought her into his most intimate places and likens his deep love for her as his private chambers – and the love she finds there is sweet, intoxicating and righteous. Throughout the whole of the book, this young bride describes how handsome, and how alluring and enticing her husband is. He is a roe, he is a buck, and he is a stallion! And yet he is gentle, romantic, sweet and loving. Solomon was one bad (shut ‘yo mouth)! And trust me, he knew it! He embraced exactly who he was!

Now you know God did not just have the Song of Solomon included in our Holy Writ as simply a pure and holy example of a loving and intimate marriage. No, the whole book is a parable of God’s love for his people and the love he desires us to have with him! It is supposed to be an intimate, enticing, joyously exciting and loving relationship filled with the anticipation of spending time with Him in the privacy of the King’s chambers!

Apparently, many good men, (nice men, decent men and especially righteous men) have difficulty looking at themselves as being enticing, intimate lovers. How much more difficult then is it for ANY man to think of a relationship with God in this manner!? A deeply intimate and romantic relationship with God!? It seems blasphemous and sacrilegious, as well as indescribably impossible, even at the writing of it!

And yet one tiny verse in the middle of the Book of Solomon explains it this way: “His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.” (vs. 5:16)

Have you ever had a friend closer to you than any girlfriend, boyfriend or spouse? This is the kind of friend who knows the intimate details of your life and who understands the intricate details of your heart and being. This friend gives without reservation, loves unconditionally, laughs wholeheartedly, and seeks your presence with anticipation! I had a friend like this once and I remember telling her, “If I ever find a man who is just like you, he’ll be the PERFECT husband.”

John 3:29 describes this perfect friend and husband: “He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.” Does God fulfill your joy? No man can do it – not even for himself. Lovers can't do it at all and no spouse can do it all. And friends, as well as their intimate, joyful friendships can be but for a season.

Believe it or not, God is aching for, longing for, and anticipating this deep and abiding, intimate lover and friendship relationship with each of us. Daily He finds ways to call to us, waiting for us to run to Him. But so often we look right through Him, not recognizing the intimacy He offers; looking instead to someone here on Earth for the intimacy they are incapable of giving, sustaining, recognizing or accepting for themselves.

Think of your lover or your spouse on their best day, and that friend you’d rather be with more than anyone else. This is the relationship God wants to have with us and more. Solomon 8:6-7 “Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love; neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the substance of his house for love, it would utterly be contemned.”

What can a man (or woman) give if he doesn’t know he has it? What can a man (or woman) accept if he doesn’t know what it is he wants?

God knows what we have because He has created us in His own image. God knows the intimacy we are capable of because He has created us according to His likeness. The unfortunate part is we don’t recognize it in ourselves. We shun it, reject it, try to extract it and deny it. And when we see these qualities we don’t recognize in others, in our friends, lovers, spouses, children, parents and neighbors, we denounce them, chastise and chide the individual for them, and withdraw from them. And until we embrace the “all” of ourselves, the whole of our being just as God created us; we cannot accept the whole of His being and the whole of the intimate loving relationship He is offering to us.

If we were to look at ourselves through God’s eyes, we would see beauty; sweet, enticing, alluring, dynamic, exciting, powerful, joyful, and lovable beauty. And trust me, God LOVES what He sees! If we were to see that in ourselves, and more so if we were to love that in ourselves, how much more would we see and love that in the Lord our God? God is waiting for us to embrace the creations He has made! Oh, my sweet embraceable me!

Your Home Study homework: Last week you read about a friend who sticks closer than a brother, consider this week the friend who sticks closer than a lover. How does this concept relate to our lesson above as well as through Matthew 22:37?

(Note: Aspects of this lesson are taken from the book “Father, Brother, Lover, Friend: Finding “The One”, expected to be released by Destination Publications in June 2009.)

FATHER/BROTHER – PROVIDER/PROTECTOR

2009-02-15T07:46:00.000-08:00

February Theme: Love

Fatherly Love: Matthew 7:11; Matthew 5:48
Brotherly Love: Proverbs 17:17; Proverbs 18:19

As you may know, I am a parent – obviously (to those of you who know me). And equally as obvious (with just a smidge of thought) is the fact that my perspective regarding my relationship with my son is far different than my son’s perspective of our relationship. Even at four years old my son would already describe our relationship differently than I would – good or bad. But even if I did give this reasoning a smidge of thought throughout every aspect of my relationship with my son, I’m sure it would not change the nature of my relationship with him or his with mine.

Matthew 7:11 says, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” Do you know why God reminds us of this aspect of our earthly and heavenly father/child relationships? Because we forget that as a parent, God’s perspective of us does not change because our perceptions do not match the actual relationship He has with us.

For many of us, we treat our fathers (or anyone else that we know well for that matter) in the manner in which we think they will treat us. Since my son is four, he is still too young to be completely conditioned to the way his father and I treat him and he comes to us fresh and new, with the same open-ended expectancy every time. For now it’s just a matter of him remembering not to do what he knows he’s not supposed to. Later, I’m sure it will change in terms of him determining on his own accord what he feels he can or cannot come to us about and what he could or should not ask of us.

Several years ago, shortly after buying our first home in Southern California, I ran into some car trouble and needed some help from my Dad to help me pay for it. Well, I miscalculated the bills I had recently paid and how much was actually in my account. Of course, when I realized the problem, I was overdrawn by $90 and knew my only option was to call my Dad, fess up and ask to borrow more. By the time I made the call I was already in tears and grieved about having to ask – purely because I expected him to respond with how careless and irresponsible I was. Instead, he comforted me; he reminded me that as my father, he was there to help me, and since I’d happened to catch him already near my bank, he ran in and deposited the extra funds. And when he spoke to me, I heard not only his voice but also God’s saying this is what a good father does.

So often though, we treat God either the way we think He will treat us, or in the way we think our earthly fathers treat us. But God’s love towards us is more like (and far surpasses) the way in which we would (or think we would, or would want to) treat our own child. In fact, Matthew 5:48: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect,” is an example of how to be the kind of parent God wants us to be – and not to be the kind of parent we think He is to us.

When we think of God as our heavenly Father, as I said, it is often difficult for us to classify or categorize or even define our relationship with Him – especially if we compare it to our earthly fathers. Take for example another comparison God gives us: brothers.

My favorite verses John 1:1-4 and 14 explains Christ’s deity and describes how Jesus is God. Later, we learn that as believers we are adopted into the family of God as sons and daughters, heir to the throne… in other words, not only sisters and brothers to each other as believers, but also sisters and brothers to Jesus as the only begotten Son of God. And so, if God the Son is our brother, how does that affect our relationship with God the Father?

As you may know, I am an only child – obviously I do not have a brother. But I always wanted one. Equally as obvious (with just a smidge of thought to those of you who know me) is that I do have a wonderful brother-in-law who happens to look like my blood brother and we treat each other the same as well. So, I may be biased regarding my perception of brothers, but it is easy for me to treat my brother-in-law like Romans 12:10: “Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;”

Not all of us who have grown up with siblings can at all say this – unfortunately. Some people have (or are) siblings as described in Proverbs 18:19 “A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle.”

And so again, do we treat God in the same way in which we think He would treat us? If we think God is so easily offended and reluctant to forgive, then we will hold ourselves in blame and guilt for things He has forgiven and tossed into the sea of forgetfulness. Or, if we have sinned, we will not come to Him with a repentant spirit, fearful that He wouldn’t forgive us anyway.

And yet, still others of us may have (or be) the kind of sibling described in Proverbs 17:17: “A friend loveth at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” And with this perspective of a brotherly relationship, we may only go to God in times of trouble; continuously begging Him - protect me, help me, get me out of this mess and beat up the bully bothering me in the process!

I happened to get my brother late in life so, I no longer have bullies for him to beat up or messes he can rescue me from. And, while he may be moody at times, he is defintely not "hard won." I am still his older sister and I’m not at all concerned about him becoming stubborn, hard-headed or unforgiving if I happen to offend him. However, just like God reminds us that our Fatherly relationship surpasses our earthly relationships with our own fathers and brothers – so too is it difficult even for me to remember or even grasp the kind of loving, brotherly relationship I can have with God through Christ Jesus.

In our limited, finite minds, it is all we can do at times to simply understand the three entities of our triune God – Father, Son and Holy Ghost. And yet it was a shock to me when I realized I did not treat my God, nor love all three aspects of my God equally. However once I began to remove all earthly expectations from my heavenly relationship with God – even God my provider and God my protector – I began to experience, for the very first time a new and renewed walk with God that is built on His perception of me and not mine of Him.

For a scriptural glimpse into next week’s lesson read: Proverbs 18:24. Your Home Study homework: Use this scripture to explain in your own words how God sees our brotherly relationship with Him as different from our earthly relationships with our siblings.

(Note: Aspects of this lesson are taken from the book “Father, Brother, Lover, Friend: Finding “The One”, to be released by Destination Publications in June 2009.)

© 2008 Deidre Campbell-Jones

LOVEST THOU ME?

2009-02-08T15:11:00.000-08:00

February Theme: Love

His Loves: John 21: 15-17
My Love: Ephesians 5: 29-30

In John 21, Jesus presents Himself a third time to the disciples “after that He was risen from the dead.” (vs. 14) And on this particular visit He confronts Peter by making Peter face his own love for the Lord. “So when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He [Peter] saith unto him, Yea Lord; thou knowest that I love thee. He [Jesus] saith unto him, Feed my lambs. [Jesus] saith to him again the second time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. [Jesus] saith unto him, Feed my sheep. [Jesus} saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time, Lovest thou me? And he said unto Him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.”

Even reading it, I too am grieved on Peter’s behalf and have (in the past) been confused by Jesus’ harassment. I figured Jesus was just getting Peter back for having denied Him 3 times and cursing when Christ was being taken to be crucified. Which, still could be somewhat true (in the sense that Peter denied Christ three times and Christ asked Peter about his love, that significant amount of three times) - even in light of the truth and context of what Jesus is really asking Peter and how He is asking.

One of the portions of Jesus’ repeated questions that keeps jumping out at me is the fact that Jesus reminds Peter on all three occasions just who’s natural son he is - “Simon, son of Jonas.” In some translations it reads, “Simon Bar Jonas” which is the same definition in Hebrew. However, when you read Bar Jonas, it sounds like a last name (a surname) and not a declaration of who Simon Peter belongs to.

In Simon’s day a son was considered just as the father – like unto being one and the same. This was why it caused such an uproar amongst the Jews when Jesus declared, “I and my Father are the same, if you have seen me, then you have seen the Father.” He was claiming (in absolute truth) that He was one and the same with our Father, God in Heaven.

And so if we are so like someone (particularly our father) that we are the same – what is our nature? Who are we the same as? And do we treat ourselves and love ourselves the same as how we treat and love the one we are the same as?

Proverbs 18:24 – “A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.” The same is true of love. I believe that to be loved you must first show yourself to be lovable. But if no one loved you, how then would you show your own self to be lovable? The answer, of course is by loving yourself. It is a concept that is so common to us that we actually take it for granted. Many people will say they love themselves absolutely, but then do not treat themselves as if they do and do not speak of themselves as if they do.

Ephesians 5:29-30 – “For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.”

Think of the person you love most dearly in this world (excluding God or Christ) – imagine how you treat that person, the things you do for that person, the priority they get in your thoughts and actions and especially the loving and positive way in which you speak of and speak to that person. Imagine that you treated yourself the exact same way. Remember they say that love is an action and not a feeling – and therefore actions speak louder than words. How do your actions contradict your words when you say that you love yourself?

Jesus was asking Peter with what kind of love did he [Peter] love Him [Jesus]. Well, I am asking each of us, in this February month when everyone seems to have “love” on the mind (or the lack thereof), lets start first by considering with what kind of love do we love ourselves?

The last portion of Luke 10:27 says that we should love our neighbor as we love ourselves. But many of us actually love ourselves the way we love our neighbor. We treat our neighbor with vague regard, distrust, condemnation and harsh judgments. Rarely do we as Christians love our neighbor with unconditional love. And if we do, it’s only a few of them – perhaps the ones we know, or the ones who keep their homes clean and are loving towards us or the ones who are clean and even have a home.

The story of “the good Samaritan” answers the question “Lord, who is our neighbor?" Our neighbor is anyone who is the least of these. And unfortunately we treat our own selves as if we are the least of these.

But let’s go back to Simon, Bar Jonas – we have been adopted through the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus into the family of God – sons and daughters – like unto Him who is our Father – created in His own image. We have the God-given right to change our last names to Bar Abba. I am Deidre Bat Abba – daughter of the Father. And if like the first portion of Luke 10:27 says, I actually do love the Lord with all my heart and all my mind and all my soul, then I must treat myself with that same kind of love and love myself with the love of the Father. It is then that my love can truly extend to anyone who is my neighbor and to anyone else for that matter.

So now, in stead of Jesus, I ask myself, Deidre Bat Abba, lovest thou me? And I can answer, “Yea, Lord – you know that I love me!”

Your Home Study homework: Read Jesus’ parable of “The Good Samaritan” in Luke 10:30-37 and first, answer Jesus’ question in verse 36. Then answer what it was Jesus was telling them to do in verse 37. Finally, compare this honestly with how you treat your neighbor and how you truly treat yourself.

© 2008 Deidre Campbell-Jones

CHASTEN ME AMORE!

2009-02-01T21:00:00.000-08:00

February Theme: Love

Our Chastening: Hebrews 12:11
His Chastening: Hebrews 12:6

It is of course, typical and fitting that for the month of February our theme will be “love”. What is not so typical is that we will start it out on a subject we rarely associate with love – even though scripture plainly says it and we’ve often heard it: Hebrews 12:6 “For whom the Lord loves he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives.”

Our idea of a loving relationship is one of approval, not correction. We tend to think that once we no longer need correcting we’re in the mix. And, we have good reason to think that way. Growing up with our parents we learned very quickly that if they weren’t upset with us, we were probably doing something right. In school we answer correctly to get a good grade and we get praised for doing well. If we consistently answered incorrectly and got poor grades, we were not doing well at all, and it was time for a conference with the teacher for correction. Even after school, the business world is set up much the same. When we start a new job we are trained and go through probation – and when the training and correction stops and we’re left to do our jobs, we know we’ve done it well with praise and promotions. Any meeting with the boss in which we are chastised means we’re not doing so well and in danger of losing the job all together.

It seems only fitting then to me that this topic is actually a good segue from January’s theme to February’s. Last month we talked about “old” compared to “new”. So let’s start this month talking about the old concept of correction and a new concept of chastisement. And Hebrews is the scripture that relates them both to love.

Hebrews 12:11: “Now no chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.” Nobody likes to be chastised, corrected, or punished. And no matter whether the correction is for an overall better purpose: to become a responsible citizen; to be a successful student; or to be a valued employee, we always take the matter with condemnation and concern.

We then learn from the world around us and we tend to be hardest on ourselves. And in essence we try to correct ourselves before anyone else does. And if we find ourselves to be acceptable, then we balk against any correction that goes against our personal assessment - especially with God. Instead of receiving His correction, we rally at him, trying to convince Him that we’re doing the best we can, that we’re following the 10 commandments, and paying our tithes, loving our neighbor and being kind to strangers. We remind Him that we go to church diligently each Sunday, that we read the scriptures, and participate in an awesome emailed bible study every Friday, and that we are trying to be and do what God wants us to. Why then won’t He leave us alone, do this job of being a good Christian, and finally give us the approval we are working so hard to achieve?

This morning as I was thinking on which topic of love I wanted to share with you from my last lesson at the Bible College, when my mind began to wander. I found myself thinking that today; I just want to live in God’s love. I just want to live in that higher plane of peacefulness that must surely come when we absolutely 100% get it and get God. But stuff kept happening – the child was disrupting my peacefulness by waking up at 6:30 am, the husband came down as well, all dressed and raring to go for the day… Usually it’s quiet and peaceful at that time of the morning – where was my enlightened peaceful life with God!?

Well, God was quick to remind me that “life” does not promise that kind of peace. Instead we are promised trials, tribulations and struggles. I was gently corrected and reminded that God’s peace is to get us through the struggles and there is never going to be a time when as a Christian I’ve “arrived” and am no longer in need of correction and education.

In fact, when I thought further about it – I don’t want to reach a time when I know it all and no longer have anything else to learn. I am thrilled by every new revelation of God’s word and by every fresh revelation of His presence in my life. I am so overjoyed when I learn something knew about the Lord we love, that I am excited, anxious and even impatiently anticipating the next lesson.

Guess what? God is too! His correction for us is not punishment and condemnation of what we are doing wrong but it is proof of what we have already done right! And He is excited for every new opportunity to reveal Himself further and more deeply to us!

Ok, try and follow along: have you ever worked an online educational program – the kind where you work at your own pace? Often you are required to read your passage and then you are asked a challenging question. If you get it wrong, you are to go back and read the passage again. If you get it right, it knows you are ready for the next level and gives you the next passage and an even more challenging question.

So it is with the Lord’s chastisement. Hebrews 12:6 says that God chastens whom He loves. Don’t you know He loves us all? The verse also says He scourges every one that He receives. Our approval is in His receiving us! Our arrival is marked by His continued chastisement. Once we have arrived and accomplished and “gotten” the lesson in chapter 1, God shows His love and approval of us by moving us on to the harder lesson in chapter two. Why? Because He loves us, and he knows we can do it, and wants us to become responsible citizens; to be successful students; and to be valued employees.

Do you constantly feel like God is just beating you up, over and over about the same old things? Compare those feelings to the paragraph about the online educational program and describe what God would have you do if He was that online program.

Do you feel like just when you get a handle on things, God just throws more at you and you feel like he really is giving you more than you can bear? Compare those feelings to the paragraph about the online educational program and describe what God is saying of you if He was that online program.

To be scourged obviously does not sound like it feels good. Then again there have been many a challenge I have faced in which I was proud of how I handled it; science class was a nightmare until I realized I actually understood what the teacher was talking about; and every good job I had started out not at all as good.

A punishment can be administered without any love at all. Add a generous dose of God’s love and what we get is peace in the midst of chastisement and comfort in the correction. That doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to be easy – but God loves us, He is encouraging us, strengthening us – and occasionally He will even lovingly sneak in an answer or two. He wants to give us the joyous, peaceable fruit of righteousness through His Love! All we have to do is receive it!

Your Home Study homework: Compare the instruction to the Hebrews in 12:6 to the revelation of Christ Jesus in Rev. 3:19. What is similar and what is different?

© 2008 Deidre Campbell-Jones

RESOLUTION REVOLUTION

2009-01-23T13:27:00.000-08:00

January Theme: New

Old Resolution: James 1:22-24
New Revolution: Philippians 3:13-15

At my church we have a very dear and sweet Deacon who periodically mixes up words. Shortly after the New Year he gave a heart warming testimony to the whole congregation in which he continuously said “New Year’s Revolution” instead of “Resolution”. And trust me, he said it a lot. Of course we all knew what he meant and there were only a few titters and chuckles.

Mostly I took his testimony for what it was worth and dismissed his intention to say resolution because I don’t generally make New Year’s resolutions. But throughout each New Year you tend to hear the phrase a lot. Even in my daily devotionals Christians are talking about New Year’s Resolutions – why you should make them; how to make them stick and what scriptures back that up. The ones I tend to pay closest attention to are the ones that explain why resolutions don’t work.

One particularly good devotional spoke about resetting your preset buttons. Basically he explained that many of us have old habits that we don’t break before making a new resolution and therefore we easily fall back into the old ways. Well that made perfect sense but his great article did not go on to explain how he suggested we should reset our presets. That’s when I got to thinking about the Deacon’s revolutionary slip of the tongue. God may have been speaking through him more than he knows.

James 1:22-24 says, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.”

For many of us, making a New Year’s resolution is really a matter of deceiving our own selves. Even when we make them, we know we really aren’t going to keep them. And trying to follow a New Year’s resolution is like being a hearer and not a doer of the word. We speak about the changes we want to make; we write them down and even make a list of how we want to accomplish them. And then we even try. We start our resolution, we jump in and swear this time we’ll accomplish our goals. But right about this time of the year we have fizzled out already and we’re looking for a good justification for why we couldn’t change or we’ve already begun wallowing in the guilt of not being able to change.

It is as if we see our real selves in the mirror of decision and several weeks later we have already forgotten what we look like.

Webster’s New World Dictionary gives three basic definitions for the word “revolution”. 1: A complete cycle of events. 2: A complete or radical change of any kind or 3: The overthrow of a governing system with another governing system taking its place.

Obviously when we make a resolution and do not follow through, we are not completing the full cycle of events we’ve laid out for ourselves. Obviously there has not been a radical enough change in order for the change to stick. And obviously, we would not so easily fall back into our old ways of doing things if the new goal had taken the place of the old habit.

Philippians 3:13-14 says, “Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” Can you see the three definitions illustrated here?

To complete this full cycle of events we must first forget the things in the past; secondly we much reach for the things in front of us, and finally we must continuously strive for the final goal or prize at the end. So let me interject briefly – Does your goal, resolution or New Year’s Revolution contain a prize waiting for you at the end?

Next, the radical overhaul in this scripture is to forget what has happened in the past. Friends and family often hear this phrase from me: “yeah, but…” I know, forgetting the past results, past events, past circumstances, past failures and past pains is not so easy at all. However, this scripture gives us the instructions on how to make that radical change – by replacing the thoughts of the past with the prize that remains.

When your mind strays back towards “yeah, but…” Tell it, “No, see…” Yeah, but – last time I tried to start a business… No, see if I launch this business I’ll have more security. Yeah, but everyone says I need something to fall back on… No, see if I pursue this dream I will be walking in God’s will for my life. Yeah, but last time I gained all the weight back… No, see if I lose this weight I’ll be happier, healthier and sexier too. Yeah, but I just can’t seem to stick to a budget… No, see if I get a handle on my money, I’ll have more money to spend on me.

If we have to be hearers as well as doers then don’t listen to yourself when you remind yourself of the past. Instead speak positive words of encouragement to yourself, pay attention to yourself and keep pressing on towards the prize of the goal before you.

Revolutions that have been fought and won by countries did not fight one small battle for a few weeks and declare the revolution a success. A true revolution can be a lengthy campaign with many smaller battles won and lost along the way. Often even the battle is not won until the troops regroup, change direction or alter their original plans. Have flexibility, have a bit of forgiveness for yourself and keep doing what you know you must to accomplish your goal.

You see, resolutions are a thing of the past! Forget about them and make a New Year’s Revolution instead! Continuously, consistently, ever seeking, ever stretching, ever reaching – revitalizing, revamping, refreshing, resetting, renewing and redoing whatever you need to in order to press toward the mark until the prize is obtained.

Your Home Study homework: Describe how the parable found in Luke 11:24-26 is an example of one of Webster’s three definitions of “revolution.”

© 2008 Deidre Campbell-Jones

SIGNIFICANT SIGNIFICANCE

2009-01-21T04:04:00.000-08:00

Here are my hopes for my family, my friends and indeed all of mankind in the midst of yesterday’s significance:

Whether you voted for “the guy” or not… No matter what your political party… No matter what your ethnicity or economic status or religious beliefs are… There is a particular and extremely significant significance to the events of yesterday: The inauguration of our 44th President, Barack Obama.

And yes, part of it has to do with ethnicity – but only a part. And part of it has to do with economic status – but only a part. And again, some of it does have to do with religious belief – but only a part, and only perhaps for those who believe in God and in His Holy Word. And finally another small part does indeed have to do with our political parties.

I will start at the latter. You see, no matter whether you consider yourself Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal, Independent, Moderate or other – there is no way Barack Obama could have been voted into office by just the Democrats alone. And with an 80+% approval rating – or some such thing – there is no way he could reach a number like that through just the Democrats alone. And so it seems his message of unifying the parties has already begun to come to fruition – and that is a fact that is significant. My hope is that it continues.

And you see, no matter what your ethnicity, race or nationality – there is no way Barack Obama could have been voted into office by just the African Americans, Hawaiians and citizens of Illinois all by themselves. And with that 80+% approval rating – or whatever it is – there is now way he could have reached those kinds of numbers with just the African Americans, Hawaiians and Illinois residents. And so it seems as if his message of unifying the American people regardless of ethnicity, race or nationality has already begun to come to fruition – and that is a fact that is extremely significant. My hope is that it continues.

And so, you see, no matter how much money you do or do not make, no matter how affected you are or are not by the current economic crisis, and no matter whether you might or might not be affected by any taxation changes Barack Obama may or may not make; approximately 80+% of Americans (no matter what their economic status is) have a hope that he will make significant changes to the current economy. And there is no way that number of 80+% - or something like that – could have been reached by just poor people with hope better income, unemployed people with hope of a job or people who hope they won’t lose their homes. And since it seems that hope alone is very good for the economy – for example; hope can make the stock market soar and fear can make the stock market plummet – it also seems as if Obama's message of economic hope has already begun to come to fruition (at least if only in the hearts of the American people) – and that is very significant indeed. My hope is that his actions in office match the hope in many of our hearts.

And finally, you see, (for those of us who believe) that God does indeed ordain and/or choose the world's leaders - that would have to include the “good” ones and the “bad” ones. The “bad” ones pave the way for the “good” ones, and the “good” ones provide a foundation for the “bad” ones. One cannot be without the other preceding or following. And so whether you think the former administration was good or bad, and whether you think the new and current administration will be good or bad – the truth of the matter (to those of us who chose to believe) is that “ALL things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28) And that is significantly significant indeed. My hope is that in all things – or at least 80+% (or somewhere around there) – Barack Obama (through the will of God) will succeed in all he hopes to do.

So whether he does or not, the significant significance of today is that I am included in about 80+% of the American people whose hope extends towards all mankind – whether you voted for the guy or not; no matter what your political party; no matter what your economic status; no matter what your ethnicity and no matter what your religious beliefs are or are not.

I wish you all happiness and hope and better days ahead for us all.

God bless you and may God continue to richly bless America.

© 2008 Deidre Campbell-Jones (aka – “Min. Dez”)

READY FOR THE WORLD

2009-01-18T07:24:00.001-08:00

January Theme: New

Old World: Matthew 16:26; Mark 4:19; John 14:27
New World: John 1:1-4 & 9; Matthew 5:14; Philippians 2:15

It seems everything we do and everything we strive for is to be presentable to the world. We get a good education so that we can be ready for the “real world”. We are disciplined at home so we can be ready for the outside world. The kind of adults, the kind of parents and perhaps even especially the kind of Christians we are must all be acceptable to the world around us – and quite often are frequently judged by the world around us.

We spend our time preparing ourselves, repairing and renewing what we have to offer – to our bosses, to our clients, to our instructors, to our students, to our children, to our parents and even to our family, friends and neighbors. Often we even clean our own homes based upon the perspectives of potential visitors. And many times even our self-help and Christian growth is based upon or at least influenced by what the world deems necessary. The world is always watching and subconsciously we constantly ask ourselves “am I ready for the world?” And so our every activity then also subconsciously becomes an answer, “I am trying to be ready for the world.”

According to the guidelines, examples and expectations of this world – that may indeed be working. Spiritually, I ask, is it also working? Matthew 16:26 says: “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” And so every Sunday we attend church; we read the word of God, and we attend Bible study in order not to lose our own soul. But Mark 4:19 explains: “And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.”

Now I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel as if I lust after other things. I try not to let the cares of the world get the best of me. And I don’t feel as if I’ve been deceived by riches – how could I when I don’t have any? Still and yet, I have to admit there has been a bit of “unfruitfulness” in my life. And I remember when my old boss’ treatment of me used to consume my every thought. And admittedly I now spend a fair amount of time concerned about my finances and how I will get them in order to pay my bills… You see, “cares, deceitfulness and lusts” translate as such harsh words that we automatically reject them as things we are not doing. But when we truly look at the basic aspects of our lives, there is a fair amount of things of this world that enter in and perhaps choke out the word – making our worlds a bit unfruitful.

Do not be dismayed – there is hope – and it exists in the word of God. John 14:27: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”

In the midst of this world and all its cares and distractions, lusts and things – there is peace, not as the world gives it or perceives it, but as the Lord gives it. And it comes in a gentle reminder: John1: 1-4 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men.” And verse 9: “That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” Matthew 5:14 “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.” Also, Philippians 2:15: “That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;”

Because of your profession or your vocation you may not realize that much of what we accomplish in this world is based upon someone else’s approval, permission or acceptance. Other types of jobs or career paths exemplify this blatantly and openly such as careers in writing, politics and the entertainment industry. My husband is an Actor. And in one particular conversation he casually made a comment that he knew “all odds were against him.” It made me stop and ponder that statement for a while before I asked him – “who told you that?”

Yes, Acting is a tough profession to crack into and do so successfully. But realistically he’s not doing badly at all. And in an industry that is governed by the choices of various, diverse people, who really sets the odds? And even if there was someone who had a precise mathematical equation they could run through a super computer and determine that the odds of my husband becoming even more successful in the industry are 1,000,000 to 1 – if God told him, yes, he would be even more successful, then those odds are in his favor because he would be that “1”.

Presidential candidate Barack Obama was giving one of his pre-election interviews in which the program’s reporter asked him, “Is the world ready for an African American president of the United States of America?” Without hesitation, Barack Obama said “yes.” And so now it is after the election and not only have we discovered that the majority of the world within the US is indeed ready, but that currently much of the world is waiting with excited – if not curious – anticipation.

How in the world could Barack Obama have been so sure? Because I believe Barack Obama knew many things beforehand – primarily I believe he was confident of his success. He was probably confident of how his light would shine throughout this world.

We easily sing “This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine.” And we traverse the ways of this world as if indeed it is a little light. But a fantastic and anointed new Minister I know once said that our light is not little at all – even though we act like it is. Our light comes from Christ Himself and if we truly let it shine as big as a lamp in the darkness, perhaps the world would not even be able to look directly at us.

Say you have an old lamp that has been hooked up to a light switch every since it was new and you never knew it was a three-way. But your eyes got adjusted to the low level of light even though deep down you wished it was brighter. If someone suddenly turned up that light to its brightest setting, would your eyes be ready?

When I brought up Barack Obama’s interview response to my husband I asked him to consider thinking about his career differently and instead of meeting each audition wondering if this was his time or if he was ready for the part or if he was truly ready for this industry; to go into it boldly asking “Is the industry ready for me?” and confidently answering, “yes it is!”

And even as I said it, admittedly I had a hard time considering the same for myself. Yes, I "think" I can. But I too have to put away old perspectives of the world and the light I shine in it, for a new perspective of this world and a brighter, more confident, Christ-magnified light!

So instead of “are you ready for the world,” ask yourself is the world ready for you? Imagine what this world could be like if we all said “yes” – boldly and confidently through Christ.

© 2008 Deidre Campbell-Jones

THINGS (God Said) TO DO LIST

2009-01-11T07:43:00.000-08:00

January Theme: New

Old Plans: Proverbs 16:3 & 9
New Plans: Proverbs 3:5-6; 4:26 & 16:1

We’ve begun talking about “newness” this New Year and in our first study we didn’t talk about a New Year’s Resolution. I suppose it’s because there are different schools of thought on the matter – some make them, some don’t. But if you’re like me you may have made a list of goals you’d like to accomplish this year. Your 2009 Things to Do List.

Last year I read an awesome little book by Rev. Robert Schuler called “Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do.” And even though it was written in the 80’s you would have thought Rev. Schuler was writing it for today. In it he talks about making a plan with God for every thing you want to accomplish.

About that same time, my Bishop mentioned an illustration in one of his lessons in which he told his son to always make a plan for any issue he was battling – even if it was for something as simple as affording tires for his car.

Now mind you – I am a planner! I can plan the heck out of anything! And for years now I had been living off of Proverbs 16:9 “Man devises his plan, but God directs his steps”. Now when I say I had been living off of this scripture, I mean I had been using it to bend God’s will towards mine. How do you think that worked for me?

You see, early on in my walk with Christ – before discovering Proverbs 16:9, I would make a plan, follow the plan until I hit an obstacle, quit the plan and wonder why the plan didn’t work or wasn’t “meant to be.” After discovering the scripture in Proverbs I thought it was the key that answered why my plans didn’t work and I changed my mode of operation – slightly.

I felt that God definitely wanted me to make my plans, but that I had left out an important step towards assuring those plans would work. So then I made a plan and fervently, diligently prayed to God that He order my steps, direct my path and essentially work it all out. How do you think that worked for me as well?

Maybe I had missed out and skipped over Proverbs 16:3 – “Commit thy works unto the Lord and He will establish your thoughts”? After all, it does come before 16:9. Perhaps I hadn’t committed my plan to the Lord, and therefore He couldn’t establish my thoughts of accomplishing that plan. Here’s how I adjusted my process again: I committed each new plan to the Lord by promising to do it all for Him and act righteously in all my dealings so as to be a shining example of Him. Then I made my plan and prayed that He direct my steps. Once again, I would begin the plan, hit an obstacle, stop the plan and wonder what had gone wrong and why God’s promises didn't apply to me.

Ultimately that nonsense began to stop me from making a plan at all – fearful of failing yet and fearful of friends and family seeing me start something and never finish it yet again. For months I became stagnant, lost and even more confused than ever. Then I read Dr. Schuler’s book which said, in essence, to make your plan with God - to pray about your plan and to pray about making your plan. Honestly, it seemed so obvious that I swore I had already been doing it. I went back to Proverbs for more answers and here’s what I found in the highlighted portions of my previously studied scriptures:

Proverbs 3: 5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs 4:26 “Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.” Also Proverbs 16:1 “The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.” All my plans had been according to my own understanding. But if I lean not unto my own understanding, then I have to acknowledge God before making that plan - and that is when He will utilize and organize my thoughts and direct my heart in making that plan. This is how I (as in, mankind) must devise a plan, and that is how God can order my steps according to that plan.

Finally, I got it - I cannot make my plans all by myself. Once I pondered the (many) paths of my feet, I realized I had not let God establish my ways - I had established my own ways for myself (no matter how generally good and sound they were) and I had begged God to agree.

So this time I prayed to God to guide me in making a plan. I prayed to Him for that plan and expressed my deep need for a plan from Him. And guess what? God gave me a plan! A clear, purposeful plan of action – step by step! You see, when I stopped making plans I started building a relationship with God. My communication began to be a dual, mutual, back and forth, two-way conversation with the Lord. I realize I couldn’t just talk to Him and tell Him what I wanted, I had to listen to Him and hear what He has purposed.

So now I’ve got this plan and admittedly, I am gun-shy about pursuing it. What if it doesn’t work out? What if I hit another obstacle? What if it really isn’t God’s plan at all? But here’s the truth of the matter – God’s plan cannot fail. Why? Because God cannot lie and He said if I acknowledge Him in ALL my ways (even the way in which I make a plan), He WILL direct my paths. And also, with God’s plan there automatically comes a way to overcome the obstacles. Why? Because when God gives you the plan it absolves you from the responsibility of it not working out. It becomes clear now that obstacles are from the enemy trying to keep you from your goal, or from your own flesh that believes and perpetuates the lies and misunderstandings others believe about you, and not from the Lord telling you that you are going in the wrong direction.

God does have a direction for you to go! And, He is so willing to give it to you if you ask - acknowledge Him and do not try to do it all yourself and unto your own understanding. Trust me - God is a planner! He can plan the heck out of anything - literally! Just ask Noah regarding that daggone boat and all those animals...

So, this New Year and every one after that – go ahead and make your “things to do list” but make sure you pursue the things GOD SAID to do on that list and watch as He establishes all your ways.

In HIS will,
~Min. Dez

© 2008 Deidre Campbell-Jones

Halleluiah! NEW YEAR NEW

2009-01-04T23:51:00.000-08:00

New Life; New Days
New Years; New Ways

New life: 2 Corinthians 5:17
New days; new years: Job 36:11
New ways: Proverbs 3:5-6

In this newness of 2009, and in the afterglow of celebrating on New Year’s Eve, I’ve found myself thinking about the word “new”.

This new bible study commemorates a new aspect of my ministry. And while technically for most it is exactly as I just stated, “an aspect of my ministry” – it is indeed for me a new ministry, a new direction and ultimately an entirely new life.

2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” When I was first saved, this was the scripture that clung to my heart and made a difference for me. It was a scripture that not only gave me relief but hope as well. But the more I struggled with change (wanting to change and not seeming to be able to change), the more I wondered about the time-line of this scripture. When was the old going to all be new?

It has been 23 ½ years or so now since that day I was saved and as I look back I realize there has been a whole lot of “new” in the course of those years as more old continuously passes away. It has always seemed to me that 2 Corinthians 5:17 was meant to be interpreted as instantaneous – as soon as you are in Christ, all your old life is miraculously gone and you wake up brand-spanking new – a new creation. But today’s study on the word “new” has given me a new interpretation on the concept of “old” in this scripture.

Old isn’t old until you think it is old. If you are throwing out old clothes you generally would not pick out the new shirt you bought the day before, declare it as old and toss it in the pile, price tag and all. If something in your life has not passed away it is not because you are not in Christ it is because it has not become old for you yet. It is current, active and still in style – in your lifestyle, that is. Being in Christ helps you recognize the newness of life that Christ offers - which brings us to the words “are become”.

I had always just excused this grammatical confusion as some old-world dialect like “sayeth”. But considereth thou this: “are” is present-tense. “Become” implies future tense or even past tense, considering how you use it. How then does it make sense to say “are become”? I always translated this portion of the scripture to be “have become” (past tense) or “will become” (future tense) – but you can’t really mix the two, can you? Yes – if God had intended past or future He would have had it stated as such. What he meant was present and continuous. “Are become” is a present and active sense of continuously becoming as in saying; “all things keep becoming like new.” Now we see why old scriptures can have new meaning each time we read them, and behold, I keep noticing my life is continuously made brand new.

And as I look back over this past year and consider the details, I can recall both good times and bad times; struggles and triumphs; fears and joys; concerns and victories. And even if my woes out-weighed my wows, I can still look back with a smile and say 2008 was a good year. Low and behold, I found out just last Tuesday, that this is not a phenomena – it is a promise from the word of God.

Job 36:11 “If they obey and serve Him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures.” With a glad heart and a cheerful spirit I did indeed obey and serve the Lord last year. And, there were days of prosperity – although not all the days of the year – and scripture doesn’t necessarily say that. But I can be assured of all my years as pleasurable ones so long as I continue to obey and serve.

Sheesh, it seems so daunting! Obey and serve – the implication is arduous and tedious, I know! And trust me, obedience this past year was definitely NOT always (if at all) easy. And service is only easy when we’re serving the ones we love or the ones who treat us well. But God does make it easy for us: Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”

The Lord will show us how to obey and serve, because He knows the way: He is the Way. We do not have to understand how, we do not even need to understand Him – we only need to acknowledge Him, lean on Him and I might add, listen to Him. We spend so much time begging Him for answers and hardly give him time to answer or give ourselves time to listen. And when we do, He’ll provide a plan and direct our path. God is a God of promises and He keeps His word to His own.

And so in the dawn of 2009 as I look forward to the newness of my life and a new way of doing things, I know my new life, my new days, my New Year’s and my new ways are all only possible and are absolutely probable because of The Way, the Truth and the Life, Jesus; the Christ. The thought alone brings me great JOY and so, I wish you all a joyous New Year as well!