contentment

Humble and Content - Psalm 131

10:00 AM


Psalm 131, Hebrews 5:7-10, Revelation 21:1-4 

Psalm 131 is a little Psalm that packs a big punch. For in its few lines lies the secret to happiness, success and victory. A victory that I myself so desperately yearn for. Because like David, I too want to have a humble heart before the Lord. I too want to be content, happy, and thankful in all things, placing my complete trust in Him alone. For as Charles Spurgeon says, “It's not how much we have, but how much we enjoy that makes happiness.” 


God loves humility because it is a fundamental quality that reflects His own character. Humility is the opposite of pride, which is often the root of many sins and causes us to rely on ourselves rather than on God. Humility is also a key element of our relationship with the Lord. Because it’s only when we acknowledge our own weakness and limitations can we can truly trust in and rely completely on Him for strength and guidance. 


Walking hand in hand with humility is contentment. I love the picture David paints comparing Himself to a weaned child. Once demanding and constantly seeking nourishment from His mother, David learned to be calm and quiet in God's presence. To rest in the peace of knowing God will meet our every need. Contentment is a powerful state of mind. Because it allows us to appreciate and enjoy what God has blessed us with in life, rather than constantly striving for more. It keeps us grounded, focused, happy, and fulfilled.


David’s message of humility and contentment is a big contradiction to a world that says more is better, and to value ourselves above all others. But as Christians we don’t live like the world. We live like our Lord. And no one exampled humility greater than Jesus. For as it says in Philippians 2:8, "And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!" If our Lord could let go of any pride, be content in all things, and trust God completely, so can we.


Pause and Reflect -

What does it mean to be humble before God, and why is it important? How can we cultivate a spirit of humility in our own lives, and what benefits can we expect to see as a result?


Let’s Pray Together,

Our dearest Father in heaven above, Creator of all things, hallowed be Thy name. Father we ask that You help us to cultivate a spirit of humility in our hearts, so that we may truly rely on You for guidance and strength. Help us to quiet our minds and hearts before You, so that we may find contentment and peace in Your presence. Father may we let go of our pride and concerns about things beyond our understanding, and instead trust in You to provide for our needs. May our lives reflect Your love and grace, and may we be a shining example of Your goodness to those around us. Father we thank You for the gift of Your Word, and for the wisdom and guidance it provides. May we continue to learn and grow in our relationship with You each day, and may we always seek to honor and glorify You in all that we do. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.


Don't' forget to head over to our Facebook group at, https://www.facebook.com/groups/womenintheword2 to join in on the discussion. Also check out our public Facebook page at, https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100083156569388 and give us a like!


I can’t wait to hear your thoughts, and I pray your day overflows with love and blessings.


💖 Lisa


Hiding God's Word in our Hearts

Scripture Saturday~His Throne

4:30 AM

Saturday, December 22, 2018




Welcome to Scripture Saturday!

This coming week's memory verse is Revelation 3:21,22...

 To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to sit with Me on My throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with My Father on His throne. Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. (NIV)

 I want to personally thank you for your continued faithfulness this year memorizing God's Word and hiding it in your heart!  To God be the Glory!

 Have a blessed and precious day and week everyone!

Battles

We're at War! {Daniel 1-3}

8:00 PM


Those of us who have surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus Christ know we are at war. Like it, or not we face spiritual warfare everyday (Ephesians 6:12) and are being relentlessly attacked by an enemy that makes itself known in three forms:

  • The World
  • The Flesh
  • And the Devil. (Ephesians 2:1-3)

Have you ever wondered what we possess that the enemy wants to steal, kill and destroy? (John 10:10) According to the first chapter of Daniel it's:

  • Our identity/ witness
  • Our places of worship and their articles
  • Our manhood, or womanhood - gender identity
  • Our intellect
  • Our purpose
  • Our diet, the very sustenance of our existence. (Mark 4:4)

And we can see the body of believers still coming under attack today.

How can we defend ourselves against this constant spiritual onslaught? The answer is found in the first few chapters of the Book of Daniel.

1.) We must prepare ourselves for battle by dressing properly! (Ephesians 6:10-18) If you’ve never put these verses to memory, I can highly encourage you to do it, for they are that powerful!


Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.  Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.  Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.  Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,  and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;  in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints”

Daniel believed the Word of God and in the God of the Word!

2.) Enlist the help of other godly friends! In Daniel, chapter 2, we see Daniel did not taking his ability to interpret dreams lightly, but enlisted his friends' help in praying for him, Daniel went home and made the matter known to Hananyah, Misha’el, and Azaryah, his companions; so that they could ask the God of heaven for mercy concerning this secret; and thus save Daniel and his companions from dying along with the other sages of Babel. Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a vision at night, and Daniel blessed the God of heaven…” Daniel 2:17–19

Daniel wouldn’t simply rely on his abilities, or “giftedness”; he understood the importance of a strong spiritual community and the power of prayer. Daniel knew the problem needed a level of discernment that could only be reached by the counsel of other godly men. (Eccl 4:12)

3.) Trust God! Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego prove to us that God won’t always keep us protected from the “fiery furnaces” we will have to walk through, but He will be there to walk through them with us!  

With all this in mind, how are you doing? Do you “armor-up” each morning as you prepare for your day ahead? Are you facing life’s trials alone, perhaps, too worried what others might think if they knew your struggles? Or do you trust in the community of believers that the Lord has given you to help you win?

Because Daniel and his friends were willing to trust their situation to God and one another, the Lord gave each of them victories that couldn’t be explained apart from Him, and therefore God received the glory in the midst of the most difficult circumstances. 

Proving once more that He can be trusted! And we can be victorious over our enemy if we follow Him and His ways in our battles!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Do you yearn to experience more of the love of Jesus in your life this fall? Come join our New Testament study with an eclectic group of women from around the world!

Together we'll read through the entire New Testament and grow to love our Lord & Savior even more! Trust in Him, and begin an adventure that will transform your life and maybe others as well!
Begins August 31st! on Women in the Word.

Angie Benjamin

When your heart loses hope- Lionlike faith {Deut. 16:1-20:20}

2:03 AM



"I can't do this. This is just too hard."... Don't we have moments in our lives where we feel like giving up?

Perhaps we're struggling to keep our heads above the water in our finances, we're still struggling with a troubled relationship, or even to find another job. Whether at school, at work, or even at home, we can feel outnumbered and helpless...

But I believe if we're going to be faithful believers in the Kingdom of God, we cannot quit when things get tough. We often want God to be with us through "thick and thin", but I believe like in any relationship, things come "both ways".

 Deut 20:1-4

  When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you. 2 When you are about to go into battle, the priest shall come forward and address the army. 3 He shall say: “Hear, Israel: Today you are going into battle against your enemies. Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not panic or be terrified by them. 4 For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.”

 When we feel fainthearted, we need to dig our heels in and exclaim in lionlike faith, "I won't let my heart lose hope! God will help me! I am not going to give up or quit, no matter how hard it gets or how long it takes!" for victory is ours through Christ.

"Our fears today, our worries tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can't keep God's love away" (Romans 8:31, Romans 8:37-38)- iWorship Bible


We are called to be lionhearted Lambs

A beautiful thing about God's word is that we get to discover who God is. We get to see the three parts of His personality (God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit) .

As we read Deut. 20:1-4, we're encouraged to  to be as bold as a lion, just like God...the Lion of Judah!, on the other hand we see Jesus who is humble, gentle, meek, and lowly- not harsh, hard, sharp or pressing.

We are called to resist Satan and all his evil works as aggressively and boldly as a lion, but when we have to deal with people, we should try to be very gentle unless the situation calls us to apply a little tough love.

The Holy Spirit is also very gentle and sensitive. When we are harsh on people we can definitely offend the Holy Spirit.

No matter what temperament, we all face times when we are called to be a lion and times we're called to be a lamb. Ask God for the wisdom and direction in every situation on how to react.

What battles are you fighting today? God is fighting for you, you only have to be STILL! (Exodus 14:14) Praise Him for the victory is Yours!, because it will certainly come!

Have a blessed weekend,

Angie

Angie Benjamin

The scarlet woman and the beast {Revelation 17}

10:30 PM



Revelation 17 portrays another representation of those things that had been revealed before concerning the wickedness and ruin of antichrist. It also describes the coming judgment of God on the religious system that has enslaved the human race in superstitious darkness for centuries.

 This antichrist had been before represented as a beast, and is now described as a great harlot. And here, I. The apostle is invited to see this vile woman (v. 1, v. 2). II. He tells us what an appearance she made (v. 3-6). III. The mystery of it is explained to him (v. 7-12). And, IV. Her ruin foretold (v. 13, etc.).

Revelation chapter 17 identifies this woman as a “harlot” (verse 1) “with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication” (verse 2). The great prostitute represents the seductiveness of the governmental system that uses immoral means to gain its own pleasure.

The woman of this chapter is described as being “arrayed [dressed] in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication” (verse 4).

The point behind being dressed in purple and scarlet is that the woman appears to be a woman of wealth and authority. This color of clothing complements her also wearing gold, precious stones and pearls and her use of a golden cup. The contrast to this beautifully impressive exterior is that her cup is filled with “abominations and the filthiness of her fornication” (verse 4). In other words, she deceives many by her appearance. Although she looks beautiful and has the trappings of wealth, luxury and authority, her actions are an abomination to God.

Additionally, we are told that this woman is responsible for the deaths of the faithful “martyrs of Jesus” (Revelation 17:6) and that this woman “is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth” (verse 18).


The woman's drunkenness shows her pleasure in her evil accomplishments and her false feeling of triumph over the church. Persecution of Christians is not  a thing of the past, nowadays still many believers around the world know that being a Christian represents a death sentence. Believers who live in places free of persecution must not forget to pray their brothers and sisters in Christ in those difficult parts of the world.

Many have taken this to mean that the woman represents the capital city of Antichrist's kingdom, but this cannot be, for Antichrist himself rules over the kings of the earth.

If then, the woman is not the Antichrist, what other possible explanation can we have for such unanimous world dominance? The only answer is the one system before which all kings, dictators, and nations have been forced to bow down throughout history, that is, the Babylonian religion of idolatry. One cannot go anywhere in the world without being confronted with some semblance of the idolatry.

No system in the world's history has enslaved more people than this awful religion. It should not take us by surprise that this prostitute woman, the religious system, is referred to as a city. When used symbolically, a woman is always intended throughout the Scripture to signify a spiritual or religious movement. If a good woman, it is "Jehovah's wife" or "the bride of Christ". If an evil woman, such as "a prostitute," it represents the evil religious system of idolatry.

Since the woman who rides the beast gets her authority from the beast, the Holy Spirit uses this description to show how religious Babylon and governmental Babylon are so intertwined they are presented together. However, they are destroyed at different times. The prostitute (religious Babylon), is destroyed by the "beast and the kings of the earth," who "hate the prostitute" and kill her.

An unholy alliance is an uneasy alliance because each partner puts its own interest first.

This clears the way for Antichrist to fulfill the lifetime dream of Satan to get people to worship him. She is destroyed in the middle of the Tribulation; Babylon the governmental system will be destroyed at the end, when commercial, political Babylon is destroyed (Rev. 18). With "Mystery Babylon, the Mother of Prostitutes" out of the way, "all inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast, all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world" (Rev. 13:8).



For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose by agreeing to hand over to the beast their royal authority, until God's words are fulfilled.- Revelation 17:17

No matter what happens, we must trust that God is still in charge, that God overrules all the plans and intrigues of the evil one, and that God's plans will prevail and happen exactly just as He says.

We must remember that God even uses people opposed to Him as tools to bring His will forth. Our hope as His children is that although  He allows evil to permeate this present world, the new earth will never know sin! Glory to His name!

Have a blessed weekend! xx
'till next time!!

Angie

Mari Sandoval

How to live in Victory! {Revelation 12}

10:30 PM



In today’s chapter, John describes in the first 6 verses: “And a great sign [warning of an ominous and frightening future event] appeared in heaven: …” (AMP), and he enlists the following symbols:

- The woman, representing Israel (Gen. 37), the source of Messiah.
- The dragon, representing Satan (Dan. 7), ready to devour God’s people.
- The man-child, referring to Jesus’ birth, life and ascension to Heaven (Psalm2:9, Matt. 2:13-14)

 In the scriptures, this woman clothed with the sun should be identified with Israel, according to Joseph's dream (Gen.37:9-11). In that dream, the sun represents Jacob, the moon represents Joseph's mother Rachel, and the eleven stars are the sons of Israel which bow down to Joseph. In this sign with twelve stars, Joseph is now "among" the other tribes of Israel.

“6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that she would be nourished there for a thousand two hundred and sixty days (forty-two months; three and one-half years). (AMP)

God will provide a place of protection for the remnant of Israel who are saved during the Great Tribulation (during the last half of the Tribulation period).

Then a war in the heavens takes place: “Michael [the archangel] and his angels waging war with the dragon.” (Vs. 7) The dragon and his angels were defeated and thrown down to the earth! (Vs.7-9)

Satan has access to heaven to accuse us day and night (Job 1: 6-7, 2:1-7; Zech. 3:1-5), but this will be over!

Then, a joyful declaration in heaven is heard:

“Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom (dominion, reign) of our God, and the authority of His Christ have come; for the [e]accuser of our [believing] brothers and sisters has been thrown down [at last], he who accuses them and keeps bringing charges [of sinful behavior] against them before our God day and night. 11 And they overcame and conquered him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, for they did not love their life and renounce their faith even when faced with death. 12 Therefore rejoice, O heavens and you who dwell in them [in the presence of God].” (Vs. 10-12)

And, the word "overcame", means, to conquer, to prevail, to obtain the victory. It's used in to speak of being victorious. Of Christians that hold fast to their faith in Jesus even unto death against the power of their foes, and temptations and persecutions!

Here in verse 11, John is speaking of people who during the Great Tribulation have come to faith in God, and are being persecuted by the devil for it. And, it speaks of the fact that they were victorious and describes three things they did that brought them this victory (and we should live by):
1.      Accepting Jesus’ redemption through His blood (the blood of the lamb).
“In Him we have redemption [that is, our deliverance and salvation] through His blood, [which paid the penalty for our sin and resulted in] the forgiveness and complete pardon of our sin, in accordance with the riches of His grace 8 which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and understanding [with practical insight].” (Eph. 1:7-8)
2.      Testimony: “Yet we have the same spirit of faith as he had, who wrote in Scripture, “I believed, therefore I spoke.” We also believe, therefore we also speak,” (2 Corinth. 4:13), 1 Tim. 6:12
3.      Willing to give your life for your faith = deny self/submit to God. Commit yourself to God regardless of the cost! “So submit to [the authority of] God. Resist the devil [stand firm against him] and he will flee from you.” James 4:7



Yes, the death of Jesus on the cross as our substitute purchases us as God's personal property, and this makes us want to live unto God. "If anything can make a man holy it is a firm faith in the atoning sacrifice. When a man knows that Jesus died for him, he feels that he is not his own, but bought with a price, and therefore he must live unto him that died for him and rose again." (Spurgeon)

Realizing his time is short, Satan tries everything in his power to destroy Israel, but God protects them (Vs. 14) just like He did in the past: God bore the Israelites “on eagles wings” when He enabled them to escape from Pharaoh (Exod 19:4; Deut 32:11). God often uses this metaphor to refer to His protection of Israel (Ps 55:6-8; Isa 40:31) (Bible.Org).

Since Satan has failed in his plans of destruction: “the dragon was enraged with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus.” (Vs. 17)

These “children” are any true child of God, Jew or Gentile. Satan wars with those “who keep the commandments of God” (1 John 5:2-5) and “hold to the testimony of Jesus” (1 Cor 2:1-2; 1 John 5:11-12).” As Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:12: “If you live a godly life in Christ Jesus, [you] will be persecuted.” The Christian life is not a playground; it’s a battleground and we must always be on guard! (Eph. 6:12, 1Pet. 5:8-9) Remember the 3 keys to live a Christian life in Victory! There will be afflictions in our Christian walk, but the rewards will be eternal!

Blessings my sisters!

Mari

Acts

More than Conquerors in Jesus Christ {Acts 6}

11:30 PM



By Mari Sandoval

After Peter’s Sermon at Pentecost thousands were saved (Acts 2: 14-21) and as the days went by the number of believers increased as the apostles preached the Word with the Power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:48, 4:31, 5:14).  When Jesus was with the first apostles He had promised all this would happen, and His desire for His disciples to live in love in unity was being fulfilled!  “Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all (Acts 4:32-34). This was the foundation of the primitive Church!  

But of course, Satan always finds a way to attack causing division and opposition among the believers: “Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution” (Act 6:1) Apparently, some of the Hellenistic Jews believed that the widows among the Hebrew Jews were receiving better care. This called for a solution: “2 So the [c]Twelve called the disciples together and said, “It is not appropriate for us to neglect [teaching] the word of God in order to serve tables and manage the distribution of food” (6:2). The apostles should not be distracted from prayer and the preaching of the word. (Vs.4)

I did a bit of research and I found that “serving tables” didn't mean that the apostles considered the work of cleaning up the widow's dinner table as something as a “lower task”. “This speaks of handling the practical administration of the financial and practical details relevant to caring for the widows. A 'table' at that time meant a place where a money changer did his collecting or exchanging of money. The deacons were elected to oversee the distribution of monies and provisions to the needy among the fellowship." (Ogilvie)

The instruction to care for this matter was: “Therefore, brothers, choose from among you seven men with good reputations [men of godly character and moral integrity], full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task.” (Vs.3)  These were the men they elected: “… [d]Stephen, a man full of faith [in Christ Jesus], and [filled with and led by] the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas (Nikolaos), a proselyte (Gentile convert) from Antioch.”  ( Vs.5)

Satan’s plans for division and distraction were placed in God’s hands and through the guidance and Wisdom of His Holy Spirit this problem turned into a blessing! And because of this: “… the message of God kept on growing and spreading, and the number of disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem; and a large number of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith [accepting Jesus as Messiah and acknowledging Him as the Source of eternal salvation].” (Vs.7)

Later on we find that opposition occurs once more: “Now Stephen, full of grace (divine blessing, favor) and power, was doing great wonders and signs (attesting miracles) among the people. However, some men from what was called the Synagogue of the Freedmen (freed Jewish slaves), both Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and some from Cilicia and [the province of] Asia, rose up and questioned and argued  with Stephen” (6:8-9)  But Stephen was empowered by the Holy Spirit, as he spoke to them and they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke (vs. 10) The opposing Jews, defeated in debate, induced false accusations against Stephen and he was arrested!



They couldn’t tolerate what Stephen was teaching: that Jesus was greater than Moses; that Jesus was God; that Jesus was greater than the temple; that Jesus was the fulfillment of the law; and that Jesus was greater than their religious customs and traditions.  They twisted his words, accusing him of blasphemy!  But our Lord was with Stephen and he knew it deep inside!!  “Then all those who were sitting in the Council, stared [intently] at him, and they saw that Stephen’s face was like the face of an angel.” (Vs. 15)

In these few chapters we’ve seen how the disciples have been thrown in jail and even flogged (Ch. 4, 5) because of their faith in Jesus! Jesus had warned them about this, but He also told them He would never leave them nor forsake them (Mat 5:11-12, Mat. 10:17-20).

Let me ask you: Are you finding opposition as you witness Jesus and your faith in Him? Do you remember a time when these difficult and or painful circumstances turned into a blessing?

Let’s recall Paul’s encouraging words in Rom 8:26-28 “In the same way the Spirit [comes to us and] helps us in our weakness. We do not know what prayer to offer or how to offer it as we should, but the Spirit Himself [knows our need and at the right time] intercedes on our behalf with sighs and groanings too deep for words.27 And He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because the Spirit intercedes [before God] on behalf of [c]God’s people in accordance with God’s will. 28 And we know [with great confidence] that God [who is deeply concerned about us] causes all things to work together [as a plan] for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to His plan and purpose.”  Yes, there is a Perfect Plan in all our trials! Our Father is in Perfect Control of our situation!

Paul continues: “ Who shall ever separate us from the love of [d]Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?36 Just as it is written and forever remains written, “For Your sake we are put to death all day long;

We are regarded as sheep for the slaughter.” 37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors and gain an overwhelming victory through Him who loved us [so much that He died for us]. 38 For I am convinced [and continue to be convinced—beyond any doubt] that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present and threatening, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the [unlimited] love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (8:35-39)


Remember He will never leave us nor forsake us: in Jesus Christ we are more than conquerors!