Don't Be a Victim! Be Prepared!

I've  watched a lot of nature videos. I've watched how lions stalk their prey. They look for the young, vulnerable, weak or those not close to the herd. The stealthy lion quietly walks in the underbrush shadowing their quarry.  Then the  predator runs up on on the unfortunate victim and strikes it with fury.  If the intended prey detects the approaching lion and is able to escape and run the lion will pursue, but usually not for a long time.   The Bible cautions us to, "Keep a cool head. Stay alert. The Devil is poised to pounce, and would like nothing better than to catch you napping. Keep your guard up." i Peter 5:8 Message Bible 

Our enemy Satan,  is looking for one of us to be his  next victim.  When he comes looking for us where will we be?  Will I be napping, ill prepared and weak?    Here are  three examples from the Bible of how we are pursued. We could be pursuing our normal life,  or it could be an employment issue. or it could be a betrayal in a friendship. There are many different ways in which we can be victimized. 

My first example is Job.  This man made prayer a daily duty and practice. He admitted that  he prayed  a just in case prayer for his  adult children.  He does not want to presume or to say that they wouldn’t  sin. He doesn’t pry or try to find out about his adult children's conversations or actions.  As an ancient patriarch Job required that they appear for themselves.  He prays for them in case they have done something offensive against God. Job's adult children respected him so much that they came and let their father pray for them. 

Job is a great model for parents.  In my job as  a principal and a teacher I don’t know how many times I‘ve heard a parent say my child would never do this or that. This may be even after I offered incontrovertible proof that their child did a particular deed. Job understood that even our adult children sometimes behave in ways that baffle us.  I’ve been that parent, so I can’t point fingers. I couldn’t believe what the teachers said  about one of my children. It took a look at report cards from several schools to see a pattern.  Please take my  free advice.  Don’t ever say my child would never, because they just might have or may do it.

When the enemy comes looking for you where will he  find you? The Bible tells us in I Peter 5:8  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.  Job had an active  prayer life  when the devil came looking for him.

 My second example is Daniel. He was a high government official when the devil came looking for him.  This story is actually begins with an employment issue. Daniel’s enemies were  his colleagues, other   government executives in the same building.  These were the men all presumably making in the same six figures as he was making. They were scared of Daniel.  Most likely they were  jealous and scared  because the King was going to make Daniel their boss.  The king had seen Daniel's returns on his investments for the king were much higher than those other executives.  If Daniel  became their boss he would look at their record keeping and see that they had been skimming profits for themselves. They knew their  positions were in jeopardy if Daniel was promoted over them.

Daniel 6:3 Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm. 4 Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find none occasion nor fault; forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him.

These government officials had secret exclusionary meetings to plot and plan how to destroy Daniel, a man of excellence.  A lesson to me is that just because people are in authority doesn't mean they are using their authority in the right way.  This passage tells me if you are a standout on your job some people will want to put you out. Do good anyway.  When you do your job in an excellent manner it can make mediocre performers feel threatened. They didn’t just want to tarnish his reputation, they wanted  Daniel dead and gone.

 After they had secretly scrutinized and audited Daniel’s books and balance sheets they couldn't find one penny missing from his accounts.  They probably  got one of the judges to authorize  a search warrant for his home to check from top to bottom to see if anything belonging to the king was in there. Nothing. They checked houses of prostitution to see if he used their services. Nothing. They looked at his reading material. Nothing. They looked to see if he had cheated anyone. Nothing. He was clean as a whistle, nothing. There was not a hint of wrongdoing in his life.

These Executives had to move to plan two.  By using cunning and deceit they  deceived the king into signing an order that specifically targeted Daniel.  This order made  everything nice and legal. The order said that there  was to be  no praying to any god. Citizens could only pray to the king,  In order to get Daniel they had to have proof. So they spied on him in his house.  Here's my imagination in play. They had the Persian version of the FBI rent the house across the street with a higher balcony and set a watch to surveil Daniel's house.  Was Daniel worried. No! 

"Now when Daniel learned that the decree had been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he had done before." Daniel 6:10

Well it wasn’t long.   Daniel was just following his normal practice. They saw Daniel  praying to God. When they had their  eyewitness evidence  they pounced. Daniel was found praying when the devil came looking for him. When they came looking for you where will you be?  Just in case you are not familiar with the story this led to Daniel being put in the Lions' Den.  God delivered Daniel and the lions did not harm him.  However those double dealing deceitful executives and their families were destroyed by the lions.

 The third example is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  This story is betrayal by a friend. We know the story. Jesus was in prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. Judas knew Jesus’s habits. He’d traveled with Jesus. He knew where Jesus spent time with his disciples. Judas put his plans in place. When the devil came looking for Jesus in the person of Judas and the others, Jesus  was just finished praying.

The commonality in these three examples is prayer. Each of these three examples had an vibrant, active prayer life.  Jesus, Daniel and Job were in frequent contact with our Heavenly Father.  Now here we are in this present age in 2025. The Bible says Satan is on the prowl. He’s looking for the vulnerable ones. On the day that Satan shows up on your doorstep or peers in your window what will you be doing?  Will you be in prayer, just finished  praying, and be in your armor girded with prayer to God.

Be cheerful no matter what; pray all the time; thank God no matter what happens. 

This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.

 I Thessalonians 5:17

If you'd like to more about these stories  you will find them in Job 1; Daniel 6 and Matthew 26:14-29

Put Your House in Order!

 

In the Bible in II Kings is the story of the great King Hezekiah. God sent the prophet Isaiah to give the King an important message . 

 “This is what the Lord says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover.”

 We should all pay attention to this Scripture because we are all going to die.   I ask you this  question, “Is your house in order?”  In the church I attend the choir in which I participate sings for funeral services. Therefore, I’ve attended many funerals and celebrations of life services. I’ve read  dozens of obituaries of people I have known and I have not known. I’ve heard the tributes for the recently departed. My question as I listen to these tributes or read the obituaries is, “Was their spiritual  house in order?”

I don’t mean did they leave a will or have a paid up insurance policy. Although those things are important, good and in many cases necessary.  I am looking for any thing  written or said that demonstrates their eternal soul was in right relationship to God. One obituary I recently read talked about how the person loved their family, the Philadelphia Eagles, fishing, and loved good food. All of those things are nice and  there’s nothing wrong with them.  Even King Solomon says that we should be glad that we can eat and enjoy the fruit of our labors. However the one thing for which I was reading I did not see.

Nowhere did it say that the person loved God. No where did it say that the person had even taken time to darken the door of a church. The closest it got to anything remotely religious was that he was friends with a particular pastor and his wife. 

It  caused me to wonder if the person was prepared for eternity and to ask myself did he have his spiritual, eternal house in order? Only God knows the answer to that question.  Some people think that they will get a second chance like King Hezekiah.  Some believe that in those last hours on their sickbeds that they will be able to get things quote, "Right with God," close quote. Although we have all heard of cases of instant death it seems most think they will have a few minutes to decide their eternal destiny before they cross that great divide between life and death.  However that is not necessarily the case. 

For example I had the unfortunate case of my next-door neighbor.  Earlier this year, one Sunday evening I received a knock on my front door. I opened it and it was one of my neighbors to tell me that they feared something happened to my next-door neighbor with whom I shared walls. I live on a street with attached row houses. I went over to the my next door neighbor's door. I looked through the partially opened screen door. There laying face up  prone on her back was my neighbor. In my neighbor’s hand was mail and mail strewn on the floor. Death had sneaked up on my neighbor without warning and the she was gone. It didn’t look like  she had an opportunity to bargain with the grim reaper to give her a few more minutes of life to get things in order. 

No King Hezekiah’s experience was not my neighbor’s experience and it probably won’t be yours  or mine either.

That’s why I am here to tell you how to get your house in spiritual order. First, recognize your mortality.  There is no one alive who was here two hundred years ago.  Death is a fact of life. We are leaving this earth sooner or later,  but we are all going to die.  We are all sinners and we are going to meet God the Maker of us all.  The Maker of us all is a Holy God. In our natural state we are sinners.  We can’t stand before a Holy  God. We can’t make ourselves acceptable to God no matter how nice we are.

God has made a way that we can meet Him and live with Him.  We can prepare to meet God  through Jesus Christ who died on the cross and opened a way for us to meet God and for our sins to be forgiven. The only thing we have to do to be prepared to meet God is to acknowledge  and accept the wonderful gift God has given us. This will get your house in order.  John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 

Now if you decide well I don’t believe a word you are saying,  then I cannot help you. Unfortunately,  you will not be able to live with the God  whose gift you reject. There is an alternative, and this is the truth. There is a place called Hell . We don’t like to talk about it or think about it. However the great God who loves you is not going to force you to live with him.  God does not send anyone to Hell. You volunteer to go there when you say I don’t accept God’s condition to live with Him. So you get to live without  God  in that awful place. However, you have to make a choice now. So again I ask, "Is your house in order?"  As I said at the beginning  what we all know is that  we are all  going to die. It’s just where do you want to live after the inevitable happens?  I made my choice. I hope you make the right choice. 

Just as people are destined to die once and after that to face the judgement

Hebrews 9:27 New International Version of the Bible 

Land Swaps Or Else!

 

King Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 1:9 History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new. (NLT)

The Bible tells a story about King Ahab who wanted to take over  his neighbor Naboth’s vineyard. Ahab tried to get Naboth to compromise and take another piece of land in exchange for what he wanted. Naboth did not want to do it. The King Ahab sulked. His wife Jezebel saw him sulking and asked him what was wrong with him. 

“ He answered her, “Because I said to Naboth the Jezreelite, ‘Sell me your vineyard; or if you prefer, I will give you another vineyard in its place.’ But he said, ‘I will not give you my vineyard.’”

“But Naboth replied, “The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my ancestors.” 

You see Naboth was obeying God's law. He could not be enticed to give what God had given his people.

Jezebel in her desire to placate her husband devised an elaborate scheme to get  the vineyard for her covetous husband. It ended up with Naboth being  falsely accused of blasphemy against  God. This was a crime which ended up with him being executed by the State.  After her sycophants did her dirty deed then Jezebel saw that the land was deeded to her husband. The public saw Naboth's execution as justifiable.   Her wicked little plan worked. No one outsIde of her tight little innercircle was the wiser. “EXCEPT,” God saw it all. God saw her plan as premeditated first degree murder. 

If you know anything about Jezebel’s end it wasn’t pretty. God pronounced judgement on her and her husband. However she in particular was given a harsh sentence. Close your ears and stop reading if you have a weak stomach. She ended up being thrown from a window and the dogs licking up her blood off the street.  Those that helped her had an ignominious end too.

Now if I were a person in government I would not be insistent that another nation give up their land. Why? Acts 17:26  From one man He(Talking of God) made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.

Boundaries are there for a reason. No man has the right to force another nation to adjust their boundaries so that another nation can dominate them.  Solomon was right what we are seeing today is not new. Learning from history could save a lot of trouble. 

Read the Story for yourself in in I Kings 21 and Jezebel’s end in II Kings 9:10-30 

We Will All Be Exposed!

Exposed in the most embarrassing  way a  cheating executive and  his Chief of Human Resources lost it all in front of the whole world. Now on social media the memes are flowing in from all the seven continents.  They caused shame on their spouses and family, their company and  themselves.   They felt so comfortable in their adulterous affair that they must have thought they would never get caught. Note: The Bible says pride comes before the fall. His life and that of his “lover” will never be the same. If they had just listened to the Bible they would have known they were on a fool’s errand. Luke 12:2 says, “There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known." 

I am certain that we all have done things in our lives that we would not want to be projected on a Jumbotron.  There is a judgement day coming for all of us.  Let this sink in, on that great and terrible day of judgement we will come before God. The Books of all we’ve done will be  opened. We will stand before God in front of the whole world. God will question us.    For example God may say, “Tell me about the time you took that money that didn’t belong to you.” You stammer,  “But I didn’t do it. “God says, “Go to the screen!” Projected for the whole world to see  on the Jumbotron God shows the exact scene when you stole the money.  Oh My!

Today the world is laughing at a  guilty couple caught in the very act of adultery because their reaction to being caught was funny. The fallout in their lives is not comical.  Let  us all learn a lesson. God is serious when he said the we will all have a turn on the Jumbotron to have our secrets exposed too. That is why I am glad when my turn comes to stand before God in the judgement  I can say I have  taken cover in Jesus Christ who has covered all my sins. 

Yes, we are all guilty of some sin. Yes we can all take refuge in the one who died to cover our sins and absolve us of of our guilt.   Unlike these executives,  you don’t have to lose it all. Take the opportunity now to accept the gift God is giving you to have your sins forgiven. Just ask God to forgive you.  Repent of your sins. Accept the fact that Jesus Christ has provided the cover you need through His sacrifice on the Cross. 

Here are some other Bible Scriptures that tell us everything  we have done in this life  is known by God. One day we will all give an account of what we have done or said.

Luke 8:17 For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open.

Luke 12:2 There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.

Matthew 10:26 “So do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known.

Psalm 139:11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me  and the light become night around me,”

12 even the darkness will not be dark to you;  the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

Ecclesiastes 10:20 Do not revile the king even in your thoughts,

or curse the rich in your bedroom, because a bird in the sky may carry your words, and a bird on the wing may report what you say.

Psalm 44: 20 If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god,21 would not God have discovered it, since he knows the secrets of the heart?

Matthew 12:36-37 But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. 37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”

Reassemble the Puzzle

Early December 26, 2022 my second son, Winston Kenneth Newton Jr., a husband, a brother and a friend to many  entered into eternal rest. He was the sweetest, and most attentive son a mother could have. My heart was broken. My family circle was once again broken. Then this morning an analogy came to mind. 

Picture a puzzle when it is all put together in its entirety. The man who put the puzzle together takes a piece and puts it on another table. In between the tables there is a gap, a separation. Then he takes another piece and puts it on the other table recreating the  puzzle and keeps doing this until the puzzle is put together again in its entirety on the other table.. 

This is what we want to happen with our family’s puzzle when someone transitions.  We want the pieces of our family, our puzzle to be reassembled on the other side. We  want to be a  complete permanent picture again.  My  prayer is to make sure all  my family puzzle pieces get to the other side and that none of them are missing. 

Spiritually speaking to get to the other side, God’s heaven, Jesus’ home, we must have a transporter in between those tables.  The person who bridges the gap for us is the Lord Jesus Christ. None of us can get over that gap by ourselves. Getting 99.2%  across that gap will not do. The  Word of God says in the Book of Romans chapter 3 verse 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  In other words we need someone to  transport us all the way over to the next table. 

I must be 100% reassured that I am safely getting to the other side. Jesus said in the Book of John chapter 14 verse 6  “I am the way the truth and the life. No one goes to the Father but by me.”  In other words, unequivocally, we will not get to the other side by any other way. If we have connected in anyway you are a part of my puzzle here on earth. Like my son, Winston,  I want to see you on the other side. 

When Moses Died None of God Died!

Two of the most expensive and extravagant items in the Believers Clothes Closet  are the Garment of Praise and the Garment of Joy.  Why?  In order to obtain them one has to go through the valley of  sorrow, and mourning. 

In that ravine it seems like grief will never stop.  Pain is a constant companion. One of my dear friends described it as feeling as if a knife was stuck in her heart. Upon the unexpected transition of my dear husband of thirty-two years, I had to make that desolate journey across death's valley. I  found out that the pointed blade struck a deep place in my heart.  There seemed to be no solace for the emotional, physical or mental discomfort I felt.

I bless my Mother Evelyn’s  memory.  She would call me on the phone from the East Coast and encourage me by saying, “Tricia, you can make it.”  If I was going to make it across I needed a strategy. Therefore every morning before my feet hit the floor I would play two songs. One was, “Great Is Thy Faithfulness.”  The phrase “Morning by morning new mercies I see,” fortified my spirit and will to keep going. The other song was ,”This Is the Day the Lord Has Made.”  I started to reason that if God made this day and I was here to see it, I should get up and get going.  Along the arduous and  tedious journey to healing I made halting progress towards the daylight. 

Somewhere along the days, months and years I started to make exchanges from my widows weeds to a different set of apparel I had to be willing to change and let go of my suffering. I had to be willing to keep moving and not get stuck in that sorrowful place. With the blessing and mercy of God here are the trades* of which I took advantage that are available to all who have hope in God

Beauty                      For ashes

Joy                            For mourning

Garment of Praise    For the Spirit of heaviness

Dancing                    For wailing

Joy                            For sackcloth

Years before my husband died one of my favorite Bible teachers did a series about that great leader Moses. In his final sermon he made the statement that when Moses died  none of God died. That  statement came back to me when I needed it most. When Winston died none of God died. Today, twenty years later I can attest to the fact that I am enjoying life again. God did not die but continues to prove that  He is faithful.  The spirit of heaviness is gone. God continues to bless me. 

                                                                             

To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them

                   beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, 

the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified. 

Isaiah 61:3

 You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed

 my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,  Psalm 30:11

My late Mother Evelyn singing, "All is Well"

https://youtu.be/RxKYVS1gFNc

My late sister Joy Simpson sining

"His Eye is on the Sparrow"

https://youtu.be/mzYL5jCEsAE

Breaking Boundaries- Another Look at the Prayer of Jabez

Just because my mother called me a pain doesn’t mean I have to be one.

There are a few stories in the Bible  that detail parents giving names to their newborns that memorialized  the parents pain at that time.  The Biblical patriarch Jacob had this dilemma. Genesis 35:16 Then they moved on from Bethel. While they were still some distance from Ephrath, Rachel began to give birth and had great difficulty. 17 And as she was having great difficulty in childbirth, the midwife said to her, “Don’t despair, for you have another son.” 18 As she breathed her last—for she was dying—she named her son Ben-Oni.( Son of my trouble) But his father named him Benjamin.(son of my right hand)

Rachel, Jacob’s beloved and favored wife, dying in childbirth named their child with a negative appellation. In his grief Jacob could memorialized her last words in naming the child Ben-Oni.  Thankfully, Jacob had the wisdom to know that Rachel's agony was not to be transferred to his living  baby boy.  Wisely, Jacob decided to say no, that he was not going to call his son that painful name. Instead, Jacob named the baby Benjamin, Son of my right hand. Benjamin had an advocate for not allowing his mother’s pain to be assigned to him for the rest of his life.  Unfortunately, Jabez did not have an spokesman  to persuade his mother to give him a more positive start in life with a different name. 

Jabez's mother introduced him to the world as her pain.  She gave Jabez brothers permission to  tease him.  I can imagine them taunting him by yelling,  “Come here you little pain.” In class the teacher called on him to by saying, “Pain stand up, and answer the question.” No matter where he went, by virtue of his name, he was reminded  that he represented pain.  If you were Jabez how do you think that would shape your emotional well being, mental health, and your world view?

His coming into the world is something over which he had no control, nor does any baby. Jabez was a helpless infant. His mother’s experience is not his experience, yet she labeled him from birth as a child of her misery.  She unabashedly accused him of a fault,  as if he deliberately inflicted pain on her. Jabez could have despaired of life. Here he was a healthy, and intelligent child, but his mother couldn’t see past her short term fleeting pain. 

The fact is for most women all childbirth is painful. It’s the minority of women who don’t feel any pain in labor.  Researchers, at "Cambridge University have discovered that around one in 100 women carry a variation of a gene called KCNG4 that is thought to raise their pain threshold, and act like a ‘natural epidural."

Jabez was being called a pain every day.  Somewhere in his life he must hav been  introduced to God. He began to see God as the God of love and compassion.  Jabez realized that if he allowed his mother’s view of him to engulf his soul he  would have pain his entire lifetime.  Jabez had to do what his mother could not or would not do. He had to seek God’s assistance to see past his mother’s  negative feelings towards him. 

Jabez went to God, his Maker, who was present at his birth, and prayed a sincere simple prayer of only Twenty nine words.(NIV). Jabez  was determined he was not  going to own or embrace his mother’s words. Jabez asked God to free him of his mother’s assessment of him. Jabez asked God to break, as it were, his mother’s curse on him. 

Jabez’s mother set him in a constricted  land called pain. Jabez wanted freedom from that land. Jabez went to God with his request  to be released from his mother’s  narrow view and labeling of him. God heard his prayer and set him free from that which his mother spoke. The boundaries she set for him were lifted, broken and trampled into dust.  God answered Jabez’s short and to the point prayer. 

From Jabez’s story I see  lessons for parents and guardians. Then there are lessons for  adult or young children who have been assigned blame for something over which you have no control.

Here are some Lessons to parents/guardians and others who work with children

        

1. Don’t blame your children for your pain
2. Don’t give negative names or labels to your children.
3. Speak blessings and God’s promises over your children.
4. Do not allow others to speak negatively of your child.
5. Give your child a name that reinforces the child's worth. 

Here are  some lessons for those who have been on the receiving end of painful, negative and condescending messages about your life. 

1. Don’t allow other people  whether parents, teachers or bosses assign you blame for their feelings or their issues
2. Ask God to free you from the narrow boundaries  that others have assigned you.
3. Understand that God has a wonderful plan for your life
4. Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you”, declares the Lord, “ Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” 

Be like Jabez. Go to God and pray that your life will be freed from pain and the narrow or low expectations for your life. God has a blessing indeed for you. Yes, pray the prayer of Jabez!

1. Oh, that you would bless me.  Acknowledge God is in charge of blessing you
2. Enlarge my territory . Ask God to release you from low expectations or restrictions over how far you will go in life. 
3. Let your hand be with me.  If God is for you who can be against you.  Romans 8:31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
4. Keep me from Harm. Proverbs 18:10 The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.

God is no respecter of persons. God granted Jabez his request. 

I believe God will grant your prayer too. 

May your life be blessed by God Almighty!