The Word From The Hood

Wordless Wednesday-Waiting For The New Year

2009-12-30T00:05:00.000-08:00

Christ Centered Christmas Songs: Away In A Manger

2009-12-27T00:05:00.000-08:00

Christ Centered Christmas Songs: Emmanuel (Hallowed Manger Ground)

2009-12-26T00:05:00.000-08:00

Christ Centered Christmas Songs: O Come Let Us Adore Him

2009-12-25T00:05:00.000-08:00

Christ Centered Christmas Songs: Silent Night, Holy Night

2009-12-24T00:05:00.000-08:00

Wordless Wednesday-Happy Birthday Jesus Graffiti

2009-12-23T00:05:00.001-08:00

Christ Centered Christmas Songs: Wonderful Counselor

2009-12-23T00:05:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Jesus

2009-12-22T22:20:00.000-08:00

Christ Centered Christmas Songs: The Night Christ Was Born

2009-12-22T00:05:00.000-08:00

Christ Centered Christmas Songs: Sweet Little Jesus Boy

2009-12-21T00:05:00.000-08:00

Christ Centered Christmas Songs: Rise Up Shepherds and Follow

2009-12-20T00:05:00.000-08:00

Christ Centered Christmas Songs: Mary’s Boy Child

2009-12-19T00:05:00.000-08:00

Christ Centered Christmas Songs: Joy To The World

2009-12-18T00:05:00.000-08:00

Christ Centered Christmas Songs: I Saw Three Ships

2009-12-17T00:05:00.000-08:00

Wordless Wednesday-Walking Christmas Tree

2009-12-16T00:05:00.001-08:00

Christ Centered Christmas Songs: Carol of the Bells

2009-12-16T00:05:00.000-08:00

Isaiah 9 Christmas

2009-12-15T00:05:00.001-08:00

Christ Centered Christmas Songs: Jesus Born On This Day

2009-12-15T00:05:00.000-08:00

Christ Centered Christmas Songs: It Came Upon A Midnight Clear

2009-12-14T09:57:00.000-08:00

Christ Centered Christmas Songs: Immanuel

2009-12-13T00:05:00.000-08:00

Christ Centered Christmas Songs: I Wonder As I Wander

2009-12-12T00:05:00.000-08:00

Christ Centered Christmas Songs: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

2009-12-11T00:05:00.000-08:00

Christ Centered Christmas Songs: Go Tell It On The Mountain

2009-12-10T00:05:00.000-08:00

Wordless Wednesday: Snowballs Keep Falling On My Head

2009-12-09T00:05:00.001-08:00

Christ Centered Christmas Songs: Emmanuel

2009-12-09T00:05:00.000-08:00

Christmas Opening

2009-12-08T00:05:00.001-08:00

Christ Centered Christmas Songs: Do You Hear What I Hear?

2009-12-08T00:05:00.000-08:00

Christ Centered Christmas Songs: Children Go Where I Send Thee

2009-12-07T00:05:00.000-08:00

Christ Centered Christmas Songs: Baby Jesus

2009-12-06T00:05:00.000-08:00

Christ Centered Christmas Songs: Away In A Manger

2009-12-05T00:05:00.000-08:00

Christ Centered Christmas Songs: Angels We Have Heard on High

2009-12-04T00:05:00.000-08:00

Christ Centered Christmas Songs: Christmas With a Capital "C" by Go Fish

2009-12-03T00:05:00.000-08:00

Benched Homeless Santa

2009-12-02T00:05:00.001-08:00

Christ Centered Christmas Songs: Behold The Star by James Cleveland

2009-12-02T00:05:00.000-08:00

Christ-Centered Christmas Songs: All Through The Night

2009-12-01T00:05:00.000-08:00

Greek Rap Nugget: The Spirit’s Ministry in Prayer

2009-11-30T00:05:00.000-08:00

The infirmities in Romans 8:26-27 have to do with certain weaknesses in our prayer life. The Holy Spirit, Paul says, helps them. The Greek word translated “helpeth,” literally means, “to lend a hand together with and at the same time with one.” Martha used the same word when appealing to our Lord to bid Mary help her with the preparation of the meal (Luke 10:40). The Holy Spirit lends a hand together with us as we are praying. It is not that He helps us bear our weakness, but He helps our weakness.

The weaknesses spoken of here are two; what we should pray for, the matter of prayer, and how we should pray, the form and manner of our prayer. The word “what” has an article before it in the Greek. Literally, we do not know “the what” to pray for. That is, we do not know the particular definitive thing to pray for. As to the general subjects for prayer, the salvation of the lost, the sanctification of the saints, our daily needs, these we know of. But to be specific in our praying involves a knowledge of God’s will in particular instances, and of that we are naturally ignorant. It is right here that the Spirit comes to our aid.

The word “pray,” is from a Greek word made up of a word which means ‘to pray,” with a prefixed preposition which means literally “toward.” The composite word refers to prayer directed to God, a conscious definite commitment to Him of our needs, our desires, our petitions. The Holy Spirit thus energizes the saint along the line of prayer for particular things, which are according to the will of God, prayer directed consciously to Him.

The word translated “know”, is not the Greek word which means “knowledge gained by experience,” but “knowledge that is intuitive, natural to one’s being and constitution. We do not have intuitive knowledge of the particular thing to pray for. The word “ought” is the same word used in John 3:7 in the word “must”. Literally it means, “it is necessary in the nature of the case.” The necessity in the nature of the case is found in the fact that God brings His plans to fruition through the prayers of the saints, and in order for us to pray according to the will of God, we must be so yielded to the control of the Spirit that He can bring into our prayer ministry, the things which God is planning to accomplish. It is clear, therefore, that in order to pray aright, we must be filled with the Spirit.

The Spirit makes intercession. This word comes from a Greek word, which is most picturesque. It is used of one who happens upon one who is in trouble and pleads in that one’s behalf. As Alford says, “The Holy Spirit of God dwelling in us, knowing our wants better that we, Himself pleads in our prayers, raising us to higher and holier desires than we can express in ‘words, which can only find utterance in sighings and aspirations.”

God the Father who searches the hearts of His saints for their prayers, uttered and unexpressed, interprets those inarticulate sighting of the Spirit in us by reason of the fact that the Spirit pleads for us and in us and through us according to the will of God.

The lesson for us here is that if we expect to have an intelligent, powerful, rich prayer life, we must live Spirit controlled lives.

That's My King!

2009-11-29T00:21:00.000-08:00

Dr. Shadrach Meshach (S.M.) Lockridge (March 7, 1913 – April 4, 2000) was the

Pastor of Calvary Baptist Church, a prominent African-American congregation located in San Diego, California, from 1953 to 1993. He was known for his preaching across the United States and around the world.

Shadrach Meshach Lockridge was born March 7, 1913, in Robertson County, Texas, the oldest of eight children and the son of a Baptist minister. A graduate of Bishop College in Marshall, Texas, he worked for two years as a high school English teacher. In 1940 in Dallas, he felt led to preach. In 1941 he married Virgil Mae Thomas but they never had any children.

In 1942, he accepted his first pastorate at Fourth Ward Baptist Church in Ennis, Texas. In August 1952, he was named pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in San Diego where he served until retiring in 1993.

During Dr. Lockridge's tenure at Calvary Baptist, a predominantly African-American congregation, his ministry touched the lives of more than 100,000 people. He preached at crusades, revivals, religious rallies and evangelistic conferences around the world.

Dr. Lockridge was active in the civil rights movement, and under his leadership Calvary Baptist hosted several of its leaders, including Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Jesse Jackson.

His best-known message is a six and a half minute description of Jesus Christ, known as "That's my King!" for Lockridge's repeated refrain.

Gratitude: A Vital Tool In The Recovery Process

2009-11-28T00:05:00.000-08:00

Since it is Thanksgiving time it seems only appropriate to talk about one of the most important tools in the recovery process - gratitude. Being grateful for what we have, and keeping things in perspective, is vital in the struggle to stay in the now and enjoy today as much as possible.

"One of the gifts that came to me early in my healing process was a little expression that helped me start changing my perspective. That expression was, "I don't have any problems I have opportunities for growth." The more I stopped focusing on problems and obstacles, and started looking for the gifts, the lessons, attached to them, the easier life became.

I became a part of the solution instead of getting stuck being the victim of the problem. I started seeing the half of the glass that was full instead of always focusing on the half that was empty.

Every problem is an opportunity for growth.

My subconscious Codependent attitudes and perspectives caused me to take life personally - to react emotionally as if life events were being directed at me personally as a punishment for being unworthy, for being a shameful creature.

Life is a series of lessons. The more I became aligned with knowing that I was being given gifts to grow from - the less I believed that the purpose of life was to punish me - the easier life became.

Everything happens for a reason; there is always a silver lining."

Codependence: The Dance of Wounded Souls

There are two aspects of empowerment that come into play here. One is; that empowerment involves seeing life as it is and making the best of it (instead of being the victim of it not being what it "should" be); the other is realizing that we have a choice about where to focus our mind.

To have a healthy, balanced relationship with life we need to see life as it really is - which includes owning and feeling the pain, fear, and anger that is a natural part of living - and then have a Spiritual belief system that helps us to know that everything happens for a reason, that allows us to choose to focus on the silver linings rather than buy into the belief that we are victims.

Society teaches us to view life from a perspective of fear, lack, and scarcity. Rather we view life from that place of fear or go to the other extreme and deny that we feel any fear - either way we are giving power to the fear, we are living life in reaction to the fear.

Growing up I learned from my male role model that a man never admits he is afraid - at the same time that my role model lived in constant fear the future. To this day my father can't relax and enjoy himself because impending doom is always on the horizon. The disease voice, the critical parent voice, in my head always wants to focus on the negative and expect the worst just like my father did.

This programming to focus on the negative was compounded by the fact that I learned conditional love (that I would be rewarded or punished according to what I deserved - which, since I felt unworthy, meant I had good reason to expect doom), and that I had to learn to disassociate from myself in childhood. I had to learn to go unconscious and not be present in my own skin in the moment because emotional honesty was not allowed in my family. All Codependents learn to find things outside of self - drugs, alcohol, food, relationships, career, religion, etc. - to help us stay unconscious to our own emotional reality, but the primary and earliest way almost all of us found to disconnect from our feelings - which exist in our bodies - is to live in our heads.

Since I could not be comfortable in my own skin in the now without feeling the feelings, I spent most of my life living in either the past or the future. My mind was almost always focused on regret for past or fear of (or fantasy about) the future. When I did focus on the now it was with self-pity as a victim - of myself (I am stupid, a failure, etc.), of others (who victimized me), or of life (which was not fair or just).

It was wonderfully liberating in recovery to start learning that I could start to see life in a growth context. That I had a choice to focus on the half of the glass that was full instead of giving power to the disease, which always wants to focus on the half, that is empty. When I focus on what I have, and have been given, that I am grateful for - instead of just focusing on what I want that I don't have - it helps me to let go of the victim place my disease wants to promote.

What works for me is to remind myself of the difference between my wants and my needs. My Truth is that every day that I have been in recovery all my needs have been filled - and there has not been a single day that all my wants have been met. If I focus on what I want that I don't have then I feel like a victim and make myself miserable. If I choose to remind myself of what I have and how far I have come then I can let go of some of the victim perspective.

Ninety-eight per cent of the time when I am in fear it means that I am in the future. Pulling myself back into the now, turning the future over to my Higher Power, and focusing on gratitude, frees me to have some happy moments today.

When I was about two years in recovery there was a time when I was talking to my sponsor on the phone. I had just lost my job, the car had broken down, and I had to move out of my apartment in two weeks. Talk about tragedy and impending doom! I was laying in bed feeling very sorry for myself and very terrified about how painful it was going to be when I became homeless. After listening to me for a while my sponsor asked me, "What's up above you?" It was a stupid question and I told him so. I was pissed that he wasn't giving me the sympathy I deserved - but he insisted that I answer. So I finally said, "Well, the ceiling." And he said, "Oh, so you’re not homeless tonight are you?" And of course, everything worked out fine in the next two weeks. My Higher Power always has a plan in place even when I can't see an y way out.

We all have much to be grateful for, to give thanksgiving for, if we just choose to look at the half of the glass that is full. So, have a grateful Thanksgiving.

By Robert Burney M.A., 1996, Codependence: The Dance of Wounded Souls

Jesus: The Good Shepherd

2009-11-27T00:05:00.000-08:00

Jesus the good shepherd is referenced in the book of John, chapter 10. In His own words, Jesus tells us in verse 11: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” And in verses 14-15: “I am the good shepherd. I know my own sheep, and they know me just as my Father knows me and I know my Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep.”

Jesus is the good shepherd to His believers just as the shepherds were of their livestock. A shepherd tended his flock day and night. He would gather the sheep into a sheepfold at night for their protection. The sheepfold was a pen, a cave, or an area backed by stonewalls. Since there were no doors, the shepherd would often sleep or sit in the opening, ready to guard his sheep from harm.  

Being different than a hired keeper who might run away in the face of danger, the flock belonged to the shepherd who would stay and defend them. He had a genuine loving concern for what belonged to him. In chapter 10, Jesus illustrates how the shepherd cares for his flock, protecting them from weather, thieves, and predatory animals. He loved and shielded them and if necessary, he would lay down his life for them.  Jesus is that loving protector and caretaker for His flock. Ezekiel 34 foretold of the Messiah who would, like a true shepherd, come to caringly keep God’s people. It was a loving message of the coming Christ, the good shepherd.

Good Shepherd’s Protection

John 10 tells us how thieves and wolves come to destroy the sheep. But the good shepherd is there to save them. These verses tell us that though Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy God’s people (verse 10). Jesus is there to protect, love, and save us from destruction giving us eternal life. Jesus came not to merely be the hired keeper but came as the one (the only one), who was and is, completely committed to us -- even to His own death and resurrection. Jesus is the good shepherd who lay down His physical life for you and me.

Jesus the good shepherd’s purpose is to give life and protect from destruction. You may be asking yourself why Jesus needed to give His life for our protection. We all have sinned! By our sin, we are lost to the eternal life God has for us. We will not enter heaven if we don’t accept Jesus the good shepherd. Jesus’ blood was shed as payment for our sins. But He was resurrected; He lives as our shepherd today!   When we accept this gift, when we believe that He did this for us, we are saved from paying the debt ourselves. Romans 6:23 says: “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” John 6 says that Jesus is the true bread from heaven. Verse 33 says, “The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” Have you accepted the life He offers?

The Sheep

Jesus and all the Biblical writers emphasize so the necessity of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. None of us is good enough to merit God's favor; only Jesus Christ is. We, then, had better make our way to Him! And this is precisely what He invites us to do! This is why He came! "He that comes to me," He says, "I will never cast out." That is, that one who believingly abandons himself to me and to my care, I will take him and keep him forever.

Sheep are beautiful creatures made by God. They need a shepherd to protect them from wild animals like wolves that want to eat them. Every now and then one of the sheep has his nose down to the ground, eating peacefully, and wanders away from the fold (the other sheep). Whenever this happens the shepherd uses his shepherd's crook to guide the lost sheep back where he belongs. The crook is simply a long stick with a curved shape on one end that will fit around the sheep's neck. The shepherd can shoo away wild animals that creep up on the fold with it. A good shepherd will defend his sheep from wild animals, but a bad shepherd will get scared and run away at the first sight of danger.   

In the Bible people are compared to sheep many times. In Psalm 100:3 we read Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. People are like sheep in that we tend to wander away from God at times, wanting to do things our own way. God knows that we are not perfect, so he sent his Son Jesus to be our shepherd. Jesus took on all our sins or badness when he died on the cross for us. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6) 

The Good Shepherd Is Our Guide

Jesus explained to his followers that he was a Good Shepherd. He came to protect us by giving his life for us. He did this so that we might enjoy life to its fullest and have the hope of living forever. I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. (John 10:10b-11)

Jesus is our guide. He is always ready to lead us back on the path of living right and doing the right things. Sheep are gentle animals. The wool they grow is shorn and used to make beautiful garments. Jesus wants his followers to be gentle and meek as well. Our lives can be used to do works of kindness and mercy, love and generosity. God can weave these into a wonderful quilt of good works throughout our whole life. We can be thankful that Jesus has not left us alone, but is always protecting us like a Good Shepherd.

Happy Thanksgiving: Dinner Poem

2009-11-25T00:05:00.001-08:00

May your stuffing be tasty

May your turkey plump,

May your potatoes and gravy

Have never a lump.

May your yams be delicious

And your pies take the prize,

And may your Thanksgiving dinner

Stay off your thighs!

- Unknown

Wordless Wednesday-Give Thanks With A Grateful Heart

2009-11-25T00:05:00.000-08:00

God's Glory in the Ghetto

2009-11-24T00:05:00.000-08:00

Greek Rap Nugget: Pray Without Ceasing

2009-11-23T00:05:00.000-08:00

The Greek language can say more in one word through the grammatical rules that pertain to it, than the English language cal in half a dozen words. In the imperative mode, the Greek tenses are very definite in their distinctions. We have the imperative mode in the exhortations in Matthew 7:7-8 as well as in indicative mode, both used in the present tense, the former always speaking of continuous actions, the latter usually, as the context allows it. We have the word “knock” in verse 7. There are two words fro “knock” in Greek; one refers to an unceremonious pounding, the other to a polite knock. The latter is used here.

Thus we have the translation: “Keep on asking, and it shall be given you: keep on seeking and ye shall find, keep on reverently knocking, and it shall be opened unto you: for everyone that keeps on asking, keeps on receiving; and he that keeps on seeking, keeps on finding, and to him that keeps on reverently knocking, it shall be opened.”

The lessons we learn from this fuller translation are as follows:

First we learn that the Scriptures teach that if we do not receive answers to prayers at once, we should persevere in prayer until we do, or until God Shows us that the petition is not according to His will.

Second, we are taught that in the case of some prayers, it takes God time to answer the petition. It takes God time to grow a beautiful rose. Likewise, it takes Him time to bring the granite-like heart of a sinner to bow in submissive faith to the Lord Jesus.

Third, this text teaches that while we keep on praying, God keeps on working in our behalf. Many a meager Christian experience is due to a meager prayer life.

Fourth, we learn that we have no right to demand of God that He answer our prayer, but we may keep on reverently knocking with the hand of faith.

Perhaps this brief study may be the means of solving some of our problems relating to the prayer life.

Give Thanks

2009-11-22T00:05:00.000-08:00

Wordless Wednesday-Jesus Pumpkin

2009-10-28T00:05:00.000-07:00

Ghosts & Hauntisngs: A Christian View

2009-10-27T00:05:00.000-07:00

Shazoolo

The philosophy of this Christian site is to endeavor to examine other beliefs, world-views and philosophies, in a respectful way. All individuals of differing beliefs disagree. To deny this is like denying the sun will rise tomorrow. It is only when we forget that we are all human, and brothers and sisters in Adam, that debate and disagreements become mean spirited and personal. Disagreement and mutual respect as individuals can go hand in hand. None of this means that truth needs to be compromised.

Pt. 1 - Ghosts & Hauntings: A Christian View

Pt. 2 - Ghosts & Hauntings: A Christian View

Pt. 3 - Ghosts & Hauntings: A Christian View

Wordless Wednesday-Stop Leaning On My Face

2009-10-21T00:05:00.000-07:00

The Parties Over

2009-10-16T10:46:00.000-07:00

The Latinos: Anyone who is still partying and having a good time, like there is no tomorrow...will probably not see tomorrow..if you continue with your ways.

Testimony Thursday: Conquering Life's Mountains

2009-10-15T00:05:00.000-07:00

(The Tina Barry Story)

The young social worker opened the door of the abandoned building and could not believe what she saw. Trash was all over the floor, including rotten chicken bones and other rotten foods, and in the midst of this disgusting mess were four little girls. These girls were sleeping on old mattresses that were thrown on the floor and a baby bed with a mattress that was oozing its stuffing’s and covered in baby excrement.

These four little girls ranged in age nine months to six years old. The social worker noticed the youngest was naked, covered in scum and near death from starvation. She quickly picked up the nine-month-old and wrapped her in an old skirt that was lying nearby.

When the social worker left the abandoned building, she took all four girls with her. The Division of Family Services placed the three oldest girls with their father's relatives. The youngest was placed in the only available foster home in the area, a home intended for mentally handicapped children. That was me.

Russell and Vera Roark had three children of their own. Their youngest was born ten years after the first two. She was the only one living at home, and she was lonely. The Roark’s decided to adopt in hopes of giving their daughter a companion.

After their application was accepted, a 22-month-old little girl was brought to their home. Russell sat her on his lap and removed the shoes from her feet. (Shoes, which were much too small). She was much younger than what they were hoping for, but they quickly fell in love with her. I was that little child.

The agency was in a hurry to find me a home. They were fearful that my lack of stimulation and time in a home for retarded children would cause me to be developmentally delayed. My doctors were convinced that I would not be as normal as other children. I would take one step forward and stumble back three, it seemed.

Vera would cut my food into small bites. If she didn’t, I would shove a large piece in my mouth. I never had anything but a baby bottle and baby food up to this point.

Whenever I would see a mentally handicapped child, I would begin to scream hysterically and hide behind Vera. Vera would wake up in the night and find me banging my doll’s head on the wall of my room.

Eventually everyone’s fears were put to rest. Surrounded by love and prayers, I slowly began to improve. I was very much a normal child. In fact, I entered the first grade when I was age five. By the time I was in high school, I was running on a track team and on the school honor roll. May God be glorified for
showering His grace on me.

Vera was very active in her local church. From the time I arrived at the Roark’s, I began attending church with her. I accepted Jesus as my Savior at age eight. This was just one month after the Roark’s officially adopted me.

Did life’s challenges stop after that? Hardly! During the time I was growing up, fostered and adopted children were like outcasts. Most of my schoolmates did not accept me. They made fun of me, calling me names. They tormented me when the teacher would leave the room. I was stolen from, beat up, and even spat on. It was not until my senior year in high school that I gained some acceptance.

The Roark’s were close to Vera’s sister and brother-in-law. They spent much time together on weekends and vacations. I would spend two weeks every summer in their home. Unknown to the Roark’s, Vera’s brother-in-law was a child molester. Every time he was alone with me, he would molest me. This went on from the time I was six or seven until I was fourteen, and was then able to fight him off.

The last time I was in their home, I became ill with toxic shock syndrome and almost died. This scared my aunt so badly that I was no longer invited to stay in their home. Praise God!

On my 18th birthday, Russell sat me on his lap, once again … as he did my first day in his home. He told me of my three birth siblings, and that he would do whatever he could to help me find them. Less than three weeks later, Russell died of a heart attack.

Almost exactly one year after Russell’s death, I married John. We had met four years earlier on a church hayride. Like myself, John was active in church. We had been close friends for three years before we knew that we were to spend our lives together.

John and I moved to a small town in Mid-Missouri, and soon our family began to grow. Before long, we had two sons. I had tried, unsuccessfully, to find my birth siblings when I was first married. Now, five years later, my young sons triggered my desire to search again.

It was Thanksgiving weekend, 1990, when John and I went to the St. Louis Library to do research. On our way there, I prayed, “Father, let me find them so I can tell them about You.”

Our research proved once again to be unsuccessful. In my first search however, I unknowingly made a valuable contact. The very week after Thanksgiving, I received a phone call from this contact. I was told that my older birth sister was trying to contact me!

On December 1, 1990, Doris and I met for the first time. We spent the day looking at photos and sharing our lives. I found out that she did not just have three siblings, but there were fourteen, including myself. God has a way of proving Himself faithful.

Over the next few months and years, all but two of the siblings and relatives were united. In so doing, I ended up finding out about the dark side of my family's past. It is a sad story, but mostly with good outcomes for my brothers and sisters, compared to how difficult it most likely would have been for us had we remained in the same environment we started out in life with.

Here is what I learned about my mother, Rebecca. At age 25, she found herself in a local mental health facility. From the beginning, she had emotional outbursts of anger and was unstable emotionally. She had just experienced major rejection from a man whom she had intended to marry. This had pushed her over the edge.

The physicians diagnosed her with schizophrenia, and she was treated with insulin shock therapy and electroshock therapy. During her treatments, she claimed that she was pregnant. The physicians didn’t believe her. They believed it was just one of her delusions.

She was released in July of 1955. In August, she gave birth to a baby girl. This baby girl was placed for adoption.

Prior to her illness, Rebecca had been a teacher with a Bachelor’s degree. After her release, she returned to her teaching position, which did not last long. Soon she became ill again and had to return for more treatments. She was then given a double lobotomy

During her second set of treatments, she met Marvin. Marvin tested out with an IQ of 52 and was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He and Rebecca made plans to marry after their release.

Just as they had planned, Marvin and Rebecca married soon after their release from the mental health facility. Shortly thereafter she became pregnant again. She gave birth to a daughter, and thirteen months later she, gave birth to a second daughter.

She returned to her teaching position, and Marvin went to work doing odd jobs for cash. While they were at work, my sisters were left alone in a playpen with a loaf of bread and a baby bottle. Relatives eventually found out and began taking care of them. This lasted for five years and then they were released for adoption.

In 1963, Rebecca became pregnant again. This time a baby boy was born. Rebecca and Marvin were not getting along well, so she took her infant son and went with a male friend to Little Rock, Arkansas. It was there that she sold my brother for $1,000. Rebecca went back to Marvin, and they had another girl thirteen months later. I was that baby girl. Marvin was still angry concerning his son, so they took me to Little Rock and attempted, unsuccessfully, to trade me for my brother.

At this point there was no reconciling their marriage. Marvin and Rebecca divorced. Marvin remarried. Soon he and his second wife, Iris, had a son. He was immediately placed for adoption.

Rebecca soon married again. She kept me with her, and Harvey, her second husband, had three out of four of his daughters with him. We lived in an abandoned building in St. Louis. This is where my stepsisters and I were found.

Rebecca and Harvey eventually had four children of their own. The younger boy and girl were taken to a local hospital for treatment and left. They were quickly placed for adoption. The older boy and girl lived with them until they were five and six years old. They endured much abuse and were removed from the home when Rebecca was seen chasing my brother from the home with a butcher knife and stabbing him in the back.

This information was very hard for Rebecca's children to accept. Some were able to handle it better than others. It was difficult for me, but I was able to go on and recognize the miraculous work of God in my life.

God gave me an opportunity to share the sacrifice of Jesus for their sins with my siblings. They were raised in homes where they heard this gospel message, but only one other than myself was living for Jesus. They were not receptive to hearing of the Lord at that time, and so all I could do was continue to pray for them.

Our family continued to grow with the birth of a daughter. No more children were born after this, but our family continued to grow in the Lord. I was set free from the pain and hurt of the abuses I suffered in my younger life, and by the wonderful grace of God, I have been able to use those past trials and tribulations to help others. I believe God desires that for all of us – become healed emotionally from past hurts, and then allow God to use those painful trials of our past to give others hope, rather than allowing them to hold us in the dark prison they can hold a person in all the way to their grave.

Our children have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and we now have a ministry of sharing music and the word of God. We have been blessed to see the lost come to know the Lord, and we have seen lives changed and people healed. God is still proving Himself faithful.

As of this writing, I recently received a phone call from one of my brothers, telling me of his family’s salvation and a desire to serve the Lord! Praise God!

I am living proof of the love of God and His faithfulness. No matter what your life experience … He can change it. He can heal you and set you free! He can take your mess, and turn it into one glorious message to reach out and touch others. The very purpose of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection is to see people saved, healed, and delivered from the snare of Satan.

In the Bible, in the Book of Revelation, starting in Chapter 2, then ending with Chapter 3, God is addressing His Church. In reading what God has to say to us, we find one common theme:

“To him who overcomes, and keeps my works until the very end, I will …”

Before a person gives their life fully to the Lord Jesus Christ, it is one’s nature to believe that God is most likely not a very compassionate and loving God, especially if a person has one hardship thrown at them after another.

After a person becomes spiritually born again and taps into the power of the Holy Spirit, having their eyes opened to Biblical Truth, they begin to realize that obstacles in one’s life are really mountains to be conquered and/or removed, and it is these obstacles God has allowed to be placed in our life - for us to overcome them, rather than being overcome by them - thereby allowing Him to form Godly character in us that will pay huge dividends through all eternity.

Romans 8:28-29 assures us of this, as does II Corinthians 4:16-18:

Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day.

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, (in light of eternity; interjection mine), is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

In Christ, we truly can be overcomers. Will it always be easy? No. Yet it light of eternity, will it be worth it? Absolutely! God promises that if we don’t give place to bitterness and anger and resentment regarding the trials that life hands us, but rather, dig in with the strength of Christ to see us through (See: Philippians 4:13) … our persevering through those trials, no matter the outcome, will produce for us “an eternal weight of glory.”

How can we possibly lose by being overcomers in Christ? We cannot. By: Rev. Tina Barry

Faithful Father

Editorial Note: On April 24, 2006, Tina encountered a rather unexpected mountain. She was thrown from a horse and death should have been imminent. Yet she survived. Tina was taped on the helpline TV program with Dr. Morris Cerullo.

Wordless Wednesday-Welcome To The Bird Hood

2009-10-14T00:05:00.000-07:00

Greek Rap Nugget: Divine Woodcutters

2009-10-12T00:05:00.000-07:00

Paul is in prison in Rome, writing to his beloved Philippians. He is assuring them in Philippians 1:12 that the circumstances, in which he finds himself, are contributing to, rather than hindering, the furtherance of the gospel. The word “furtherance” is from a Greek word which is thought to have been used in the first century to refer to a company of woodcutters preceding the progress of an army, cutting a road through the forest so that the it might advance.

Paul says that his circumstances are divine woodcutters, cutting a way through the opposition so that the gospel might be advanced. What were these circumstances? His liberty was gone. He was chained to a Roman soldier night and day. God had built a fence around the apostle. He had put limitations about him. He had placed handicaps upon him. But Paul says that they are God’s wood cutters making a road for the advancement of the gospel.

The gospel was now being proclaimed from the pulpit of the Roman Empire. The Praetorium guard of 10,000 handpicked Roman soldiers was hearing the Good News from the soldiers chained to Paul. The jealous brethren in Rome were announcing Christ more energetically, out of envy of course, but yet announcing Him. The friendly brethren, out of love for Paul, were more zealous in their preaching.

And so it is in every Christian’s life. The things that hedge us in, the things that handicap us, the tests we go through and the temptations that assail us, are all divinely appointed wood cutters used by God to hew out a path for our preaching of the gospel. It may be that our fondest hopes are not realized. We are in difficult circumstances. Illness may be our lot. Yet if we are in the center of God’s will, all these are contributing to the progress of the gospel. They draw us closer to the Lord so that the testimony of our lives will count more for God, and thus we become more efficient in proclaiming the gospel.

Thank God for the handicaps and the testings. They are blessings in disguise. When we have limitations imposed upon us we do our best work for the Lord, for then we are most dependent upon Him. We, like Paul can proclaim, “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)

Video Sunday: Baby Got Book

2009-10-11T00:05:00.000-07:00

It was created by Dan Smith while he was working at New Life Christian Church (Centreville, VA) for a Sunday morning sermon. Dan's personal website is http://www.whiteboydj.com.

Recovery Saturday: Getting Help

2009-10-10T00:05:00.000-07:00

It is so unequivocal. Straightforward. Obvious. The answer is not a complicated one at all. What is the question? Why would any one get help? Why would anyone choose to go to a recovery group meeting? If only your spouse knows about it, why go to group? Why would a normal person like me call a therapist? Why would a successful pastor see a counselor? Why get help?

The answer? I have a need. . . so I go get help. It is so simple isn’t it? Yes, it is simple. Then riddle me this: why do we resist getting help so intensely? Why did I oppose it for so long?

My wife, Sara, mentioned it often in our desperate moments of marital soul searching. She used those words that I now know created incredible anxiety in me. I had them memorized. When they started to fall off her anxious, sad lips I could finish the sentences for her. I never did. I didn’t want to hear them so I wouldn’t dare let them out of my mouth. They went something like this: "We are growing farther and farther apart emotionally; we really do need to get some help." Or: "If we don’t get some help we’ll wind up divorced."

Almost anything with the phrase "get help" in it resulted in the same response from me. I argued. I felt the thought like a heavy weight in my stomach. I felt weak. I felt paralyzed. I felt uncomfortable.

I held out. Why? Why resist? The truth was irrefutable. Unequivocal. Obvious. Simple. We needed help. We need to get help. Yet I resisted. Why? Why would anyone resist getting his needs met?

In retrospect I know some of the answers to these questions but I can only share them as one who is still in the struggle. I still find myself resisting recovery. I still wish there was some other way.

Getting Help Means Letting Down our Defenses

First, before getting help I functioned in an illusionary, self-protective, defended world. As a pastor I had built a whole biblical theological system supporting the illusion that because I was a leader I was more together. I had the answers. I didn’t need help. I gave help. I didn’t have needs. I helped people who had needs. I was, of course, aware that I was a sinner. . . at least in some theoretical sense. I know I had a shadow side and I felt bad about it. But I was absolutely certain that the rightness of my theology meant that I could not be part of the problem. There could be a problem. But it couldn’t be my problem. It couldn’t be me. It must be somebody else. Any convenient target would do. My wife, my congregation, my colleagues. But it couldn’t be me. I didn’t need any 12 Steps; I didn’t need any ‘higher power’ . . . what could I possible learn from them? I was deeply entrenched in good old fashion denial. Pure, sincere, defended, out-of-touch and undeniably in denial.

Getting Help Means Change

For me, the second reason for resistance to accepting help was my level of comfort with the status quo. Well, I wasn’t comfortable really. I was miserable. But I was more comfortable with the pain I knew than the recovery I didn’t know. Being miserable seemed safer to me than the embarrassing scrutiny that therapy involves. I expected it to be mostly about pointing out my flaws, asking me to change and shaming me for how long it was taking. That’s what I thought therapy was about. Besides I didn’t think it would work. After all I had the Holy Spirit, I had the Word of God, I had the Truth. Why did I need anything else?

In Robert Ringers’ Million Dollar Habits he says, "Homeostasis, the tendency to cling to the status quo, or to existing conditions and avoid change is a common human trait. Unfortunately, it is also a self-defeating and self-destructive habit." It is amazing, isn’t it, how we can try the same faulty strategies over and over and over again even when there is no reason to expect them to be successful. I resisted change because I feared the changes.

Like many, if not most of us, resistance had its limits. Eventually I exhausted myself. The energy required to maintain all those emotional defenses is enormous! Eventually the resistance yielded to a flood of tears and the recognition that the obvious was true: I needed help. I was so full of shame on my first trip to my therapist that I took the elevator to the next floor up from her office. I didn’t want anyone seeing me select the floor that was full of counselors. I preferred to go a floor up and then walk down the stairs! As I think back on it I can feel the burden of shame! Such a heavy load to carry in life!

Change is now at least conceptually okay with me. And, although I am not living `happily ever after’ yet, I can see and celebrate changes that I never thought possible. I am changing. I am not stuck. The defensiveness and grandiosity can still surface, but they are not the central feature of my journey anymore. And I am grateful.

I have come to appreciate what God’s grace can do in a community of believers, in a skilled therapist’s office and in a recovery group. God’s grace is powerful. More powerful than my resistance. More powerful than my pain. May God be praised.

Hope Happens! It’s something we say often around the NACR. Hope happens! Not wishful thinking. But the deep-down hope that comes when we open ourselves to being helped by God.

By Dale Wolery http://www.nacronline.com/recovery-issues/getting-help

Jesus Friday: Jesus is the Bridegroom

2009-10-09T00:05:00.000-07:00

The Bridegroom and the Bride

Lover, Betrothed, Suitor, Wooer, Promised One

Reflect

As you prepare your heart to meet with God today, consider what it is like to be a bride, eager to commune with her beloved. This is the kind of intimacy Jesus desires to have with you. Ask Him to purify your heart, to make you ready for an exchange of love and a deeper desire for prayer. Offer Him your heart with a sense of joyful abandonment.

Read

Read the following passages and jot down thoughts that rise within you. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal new insights as you read them and the devotional that follows:

Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. But at midnight there was a shout, 'Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.'

And Jesus said to them, "The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast."

Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.

Matthew 25:5-6, Matthew 9:15, Revelation 22:17

Her name was Anna and she was the talk of the town. First there was that temple insanity. Day in and day out -- she'd practically lived there for as long as anyone could remember. Some claimed her pretense of piety had gone on for decades, ever since her husband died leaving her a young widow. Praying and fasting, fasting and praying, ignoring priests and prophets, even wellborn Pharisees, who wagged their heads at her foolishness.

And now...well it was beyond belief. Just like that, they say she flew out of the temple laughing like a lunatic, cornering anyone crazy enough to listen to her babbling about some baby destined to be the Messiah. What in the world had gotten into her?

I find the story of Anna fascinating -- three short verses that resonate with joy and intrigue (Luke 2:36-38). Luke tells us little about this woman he calls a prophetess, except that she'd been widowed at a young age and had given herself to temple prayer and fasting ever since. One has to wonder if these decades later, she just happened to be in the right place at the right time the day Mary and Joseph showed up to have Jesus circumcised. Or is it more likely that she was part of a divine scheme set in motion long before she was born?

Two obscure details in the story seem to indicate that this event was more than mere coincidence. First, Anna was of the tribe of Asher, one of the few who hundreds of years before had returned to Jerusalem to participate in the restoration of Passover at King Hezekiah's request (2 Chronicles 30). That event heralded a time of great revival for people like Anna's ancestors as they braved the scorn of idolatrous Israelites to worship God. Because of her forefathers' zeal for the Lord, Anna's home was Jerusalem where the Messiah came to call these many generations later.

Second, Anna's father' s name was Phanuel, derived from the altar Jacob built after wrestling all night with an angel. It meant I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been preserved (Genesis 32:30). Perhaps Anna learned as a young girl at her father's feet of the greatness of their God and the joy of following Him. One can imagine Phanuel explaining his name, telling her stories of a Messiah yet to come, and urging her to seek the face of God with all that was within her.

So what are we to glean from this tiny tidbit of a story that Luke so meticulously records in his history of Christ? I remember reading it for the first time several years ago and being plagued with guilt. I couldn't seem to manage a 30-minute quiet time and yet this woman did nothing but pray and fast for some 65 years. What motivated her? What kept her on her knees when the signs of a Messiah were nowhere in sight? Baffled by her fervor, I longed to learn the secrets of prayer that she possessed.

Then one Sunday morning something happened that gave me a glimpse into Anna's heart. Toward the end of my quiet time as I asked God to do a work that day in our services, a deep cry erupted within me and I began to weep for no apparent reason. Though I did not speak, I knew prayer was pouring forth from my soul. When the tears subsided, I was surprised at the intensity of the experience, and overwhelmed with the deep sense of God's presence it brought. For the first time I felt I understood Paul's words that the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words (Romans 8:26).

The significance of this experience was soon made clear to me while reading a book on fasting. It spoke of the hunger we have for God that can take the form of a deep mourning before Him for His presence in our lives. The key passage was a discussion Jesus had with some of John the Baptist's disciples who were bothered because they fasted, but His disciples didn't. Jesus responded cryptically: The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast (Mark 9:15).

Jesus seemed to be saying that within the heart of His bride, the church, a deep yearning for His presence will reside. Like a young woman whose fiancé' has gone away, her heart will ache as she mourns his absence until the day he returns. This is something beyond human experience, for Paul's words imply that the Spirit Himself is groaning within us. Why is this? Because the heart-cry of the Godhead is for the presence of Christ to be manifested, captivating souls and raising up worshippers throughout the earth until He is given first place in everything. Indeed, until that final day when He comes in power to establish His awesome reign, the Spirit mourns the Bridegroom's presence on earth through the prayers of His people.

I believe that though we may not all weep, the Spirit within each of us desires to stir up inimitable longing for more of Jesus. If we open our hearts to this journey in prayer, soon we will find ourselves praying, crying out, pleading for Him to manifest His presence in our hearts, our homes, our cities, our nation, indeed among all the peoples of the earth, so that He might be worthily worshipped. To pray this way is to enter into the very heart of God. These are holy moments.

And like Anna, one day we too may look back upon a life spent in blessed vigils of prayer and fasting. As her heart yearned for the Messiah to come, so too will ours, quickened by the same cry the Holy Spirit continually put within her. Fleeting glimpses of His glorious presence must have driven Anna to her knees over and over again. The fellowship of the Spirit she knew in prayer must have produced a joy she could not resist, even amidst tears. This is the treasure at our fingertips as well, as we cry out for His coming, in Spirit today and in glorious return at the end of time.

Hallelujah, for He came...and He comes...and He will come again. This is the prospect that provokes prayer, the cause and consolation for our tears, and the expectation that must energize all who are betrothed to Christ, our beautiful Bridegroom. With joyful hope we cry out: Yes, Lord, the Spirit and the bride say, Come.

Respond

At salvation we were betrothed to Christ, His Spirit placed in us as a pledge, like a young woman wears an engagement ring. We are promised to Him and our entire life here is to be one of joyful wedding preparation. In what specific ways does your daily life demonstrate that you are preparing for this with joy and expectation?

The most tender and pressing reason we fast and pray and intercede is out of lovesick longing to see Jesus. Our cry as the Bride of Christ joins with the cry of the Holy Spirit, "Come Lord Jesus." We want to see our Beloved come -- to manifest His reign in our homes, our city, our nation, our world. How might the spiritual disciplines of fasting and/or prayer change as a result of understanding this?

Ponder your longing for Jesus. Is it growing? Do you delight in Him, crave more of Him, yearn for the day you will see Him face to face? Are you learning to persevere by experiencing His presence through the Spirit within you? Reflect on the incomparable wonder of this and write a prayer of response.

A Prayer

O Jesus, how I desire you. You are my beloved, my heart aches at the thought of You. Your continual kindness only makes me long for more of You. O coming One, how we need Your Spirit to make us ready -- to provide for You a pure and spotless bride. Blessed Lover of our souls, come to us. Come and reign in our hearts and homes and throughout the earth. Let us see You clearly that we might love You properly. We grieve in Your absence; we live in mourning even as we cry out, Maranatha, come beloved Bridegroom.

Testimony Thursday: Enough

2009-10-08T00:05:00.000-07:00

Growing up, I tried to be good enough. My mother traveled often, or at least, to a little kid, it seemed like she was gone a lot. I was supposed to be "acting mom" when she was gone. I cleaned and cooked, and tried very hard to make sure she was pleased and surprised upon her return. But if I made the mistake of leaving even one spatula in the sink, she knew immediately what I had made, and everything was spoiled. I felt like all my effort wasn’t good enough. I learned to be a perfectionist in third grade.

To my father, I never thought I was important enough. He didn’t spend much time at home. He left before the sun was up and we never knew where he went. It could be fun when he was home; at 6 foot 8", he was a human jungle-gym. But he wasn’t really there for the big stuff. If I had plans my mother would object to, all I had to do was ask dad first. I could always count on his standard response – "I don’t care." He forgot my junior high graduation; he wasn’t there for my confirmation. It was clear to me by junior high that I was not important enough to remember.

In high school, I was certainly never pretty enough. I never got asked out on a date, or to school dances, or to the prom. I knew that if I could just go somewhere else, things would be better. The second I was able to escape high school, I packed up my things and headed to college and the promise of a new life.

I chose a new state. I chose a clean slate. Nobody knew me, so I thought I could start over. But no matter how hard I tried to be confident and outgoing, I was still the same me, and I didn’t want to be that "me" anymore. It hadn’t worked before, so I had no reason to believe it would work now. If only I could become popular enough, things would be better.

Sorority life introduced me to Friday night beer busts at fraternities. It was like the door to a cage had opened at last, and I became a free and uninhibited creature. Beer allowed me to shrug off my shy and mousy personality like an old skin, and I became flirty – even confident. There was a reward for this – men paid attention.

Of course, it wasn’t the kind of men, or the kind of attention I wanted. I quickly learned that if I didn’t "give in," they turned on their heel and walked away. Unfortunately it took me a little longer to learn that the reality was that even when I did give in, they turned on their heel and walked away.

My ultimate humiliation came when, in a beer-induced fog, I went home with a friend of an old boyfriend. I thought he really liked me, but to him it was a big joke. He proceeded to share the joke with his entire fraternity. I was a laughingstock. I prayed that a big truck would hit me but it was not to be. And I couldn’t just drop out of college without explaining to my parents.

The door to the cage swung shut.

The only place to turn was to become smart enough; then things would be better. I applied myself to my classes; my professors joked that I would have memorial study halls named after me all over campus because I was so studious. I graduated with good grades, and got the heck off of that campus.

At my first "real" job my shy, self-conscious personality bobbed right back to the surface. People thought I was a snob because I didn’t talk much. But eventually someone invited me to the local bar where the group hung out, and I loosened right up. This familiar groove made it easy to feel secure. I was definitely popular enough. I had a new circle of friends and a man whose attention I was intent upon capturing. Unfortunately, a married man joined up with our little group, and while I was scoping out my elusive man, the married man was baiting a trap for me.

The bait was simple and inexpensive.

He paid attention to me.

Up to this point, I had never given my heart to anyone, mainly because no one had ever asked for it. I had become a master sculptor. I could deftly mold myself into whatever it took for someone to like me. Therefore, the only prerequisite that this man had to meet was to like me. In that respect he surpassed my wildest expectations – he actually professed to love me! But, ultimately, he decided not to leave his wife for me, leaving me to deduce that I was not lovable enough.

Meanwhile, a hole was growing inside of me; a hole that was quickly getting too big to fill. Perhaps I just missed my family, and if I could only get back in close enough proximity to them, things would be better. I moved back near enough to home that I could get in on the big family events. I was back in the bosom of my family, and I actually made new friends quickly. Still, this hole persisted. It was big, cavernous now. Many days my chest actually ached.

At that time I thought that if only I could be desired enough, things would be better. Fortune smiled on me, and I became a dating whirlwind. Friends fixed me up and I sashayed from man to man. But dates never amounted to more than a few weeks of seeing someone. My social life was a pathetic dance step, changing one partner for the next; then step and change partners – step, change. It was exciting to feel so popular, yet the dance left me empty. Some dates professed interest; one even loved me. Unfortunately, I had no love to give – not the kind of love I had read about in romance novels. I needed
someone I could love enough.

A change in jobs introduced me to my future husband, and we feel in love at once. We married six months later. We looked like a confident and happy couple. We had strong family ties and good friends. I was making loads of money, we had no financial concerns and life was swell. What I still didn’t see was that the "life raft" I was sitting on had a slow leak in it. My marriage wasn’t based on God; the only god I worshipped was the "In God We Trust" stamped on the back of my money. My definition of success equaled a new car, new house, plenty of bucks in mutual funds, and if life got me down, a trip to Mexico would bring me right back up.

About this time I started having dreams about being in the church I grew up in. I thought that was a sign that I needed to get back in church, so I began going. I didn’t doubt my Christianity. After all, I had been in church and Sunday School every Sunday growing up. I had heard God could meet every need, but even going to church didn’t make it better.

I had everything I wanted, and yet my marriage was going down the tubes so fast that I was surprised nobody else could hear the sucking sounds. It didn’t make sense. I was living right. I had the American dream, and even it wasn’t enough. I was making enough. I was being good enough. I was loved enough. I was going to church enough.

And I was dying inside, now worse than ever. I knew I was drowning, and I knew that I had to get out of this rut or die.

It was then that I decided to become the only thing that was left. Bad enough. None of the other stuff had worked anyway, so I did the only thing I could think of to resuscitate me. I turned to the excitement of a new man. And to my utter dismay, I found out that I couldn’t even fulfill myself by being bad enough, because the second that I was with this new man, I wanted more. I wanted something else. I wanted someone else. Not even the worst sin I could think of was enough to fill the void in me.

That was the end of me. I was broken. I had tried everything I knew to try, and nothing made my life any better. In fact, it just kept getting worse.

This is the second greatest gift God gave me. Only when I was down in that pit, flat on my back, could I finally stop trying to do it myself long enough to look up and listen to what God was telling me I had to be.

I had to be weak enough.

My life was out of control. I couldn’t get enough of anything. I couldn’t be good enough or bad enough. I couldn’t be successful enough, loved enough, attractive enough, ugly enough, thin enough or fat enough.

And He said to me, "my grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness." (II Cor. 12:9)

I had failed in so many ways, that I didn’t understand how this God could possibly love me enough to forgive me. It was then that I heard an analogy that fits my life perfectly.

I was living my life with "shame glasses" on. My life had been stretched out before me like a windshield, but as I looked out, all I could see was the shame and failure of my past. I am learning now that the past needs to be more like a rearview mirror, merely reflecting where I’ve been, instead of looming ahead of me out the windshield, discoloring and tarnishing every place I go.

Slowly I am learning to accept and see the truth – the truth that Jesus loved me enough to die for me, in spite of my failures and my sins. Because of God’s amazing grace, although I have failed, I am not a failure. His love and His word give me hope. The only thing God asks of me is to be humble enough to accept His free gift.

Today, I am not only on the road to recovery; I am on the road home to a loving Father waiting to welcome me into glory. In the meantime, although there are pit stops, stop signs, flat tires, and dead ends on this spiritual journey, there are no u-turns. Because now that I have begun the journey, there is no going back to the empty struggle to be or to have or to do enough. It is enough now to be loved by a gracious and compassionate God – more than enough.

By Mary V., http://www.nacronline.com/recovery-issues/enough

Wordless Wednesday-Ready For A Tongue Lashing?

2009-10-07T00:05:00.000-07:00

Greek Rap Nugget: Fellowship with Jesus

2009-10-05T00:05:00.000-07:00

Here are two Greek words translated “wash” that appear in John 13:5-10. The one, which means, “to wash part of the body”, appears in verses five, six, and nine. The other word meaning, “to perform a complete ablution,” is used in verse ten in the word “washed”. These two words in their usage here point to two truths of the standing of a believer in Christ, and his experience. The first remains the same for time and eternity. The latter changes from time to time during this life. Someone has said, “Union with Jesus is so strong, that nothing can break it. Communion with Jesus is so fragile that the slightest sin can break it.

To understand the conversation between our Lord and Peter, and the spiritual lesson in it, we must understand something of the habits of the citizens of that time. Rome established public baths in the cities of the empire. A Roman would bathe completely at the public bath, and upon reaching home needed to wash his feet, for although cleansed at the time, they contracted defilement by reason of the insufficient covering, which his sandals afforded. Peter refuses to allow the Lord to wash his feet, but upon being told that if he does not permit the Lord to do that for him, he will have no fellowship with Jesus, he asks that the Lord wash his hands and his head. Our Lord answers, “He that is bathed all over stays bathed and needs not except to wash his feet, but is clean every whit”

The spiritual lesson we have from this is that every believer has been cleansed completely from his sins in the precious blood of Jesus once and for all at Calvary. This is his standing before God- guiltless, sinless, righteous. That position is permanent, as changeless as our unchanging Lord. If sin comes into the life, it does not affect that standing, for that standing is Jesus Christ who is accepted by God and we in Him. Thus, if a believer sins, he does not need to go back to Calvary to be saved all over again, any more than the Roman needed to go back to the public baths for a complete bath just because his feet became dusty on the way home.

Feet stand for a person’s walk, his experience. As we are on our way home to heaven, sin sometimes enters our lives. No saint wants to sin. It is his nature to hate sin. But when sin does enter, our walk is defiled and need to be cleansed. Our Lord said to Peter, “If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.” That is, if we are not cleansed from sin in our experience, we have no fellowship with our Lord. Known sin in the life that is held to and cherished, break our fellowship with Him. The only way to regain that blessed privilege of fellowship is to confess our sins (1 John 1:9), and God will cleanse us and restore to us that communion with our Lord, which we enjoyed before.

The word “confess” is from two Greek words joined together to make one word in the original. One means, “to speak,” the other “the same”. The word means, “to speak the same thing.” Thus, if we speak the same thing about our sin to God that He does to us- that is confession. That includes sorrow for sin because it is evil, hatred of the sin, and the putting away of the same with the determination never to do that thing again. Our experience is than cleansed from sin’s defilement and we are restored to fellowship with our Lord.

Video Sunday: Shirley Caesar Sings, “He’ll Do It Again”

2009-10-04T00:05:00.001-07:00

San Francisco Examiner critic James Kelton said, "The energy transmitted between her and her audience makes most rock'n'roll fanaticism seem like empty piety." A quote that still stands true today for the energetic 11-time Grammy Award-winning artist Shirley Caesar.

Shirley Caesar (born October 13, 1938 in Durham, North Carolina) is an American Gospel music singer, songwriter and recording artist whose career has spanned six decades. A multi-award winning artist, with eleven Grammy awards and seven Dove awards to her credit, she is known as "The First Lady of Gospel Music." She is a graduate of Shaw University with a degree in Business Administration. She also received an honorary doctorate from Shaw University and another one from Southeastern University.

Beginning her recording career in 1951, Pastor Shirley has since recorded over forty albums, exploring her gift and spreading messages of faith. She has participated in over 16 compilations and three gospel musicals, Mama I Want to Sing, Sing: Mama 2, and Born to Sing: Mama 3. Her credits also include a series of commercials for MCI Communications and several awards for her recordings. She has been awarded 11 Grammy Awards, 13 Stellar Awards, 18 Doves, 1 RIAA gold certification, an Essence Award, McDonald's Golden Circle Lifetime Achievement Award, NAACP Achievement Award, SESAC Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as induction into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. According to Soundscan, she has sold 2.2 million albums since 1991. Pastor Shirley has made several notable appearances including the televised Live from Disney World Night of Joy, the Gospel According to VH-1, a White House performance for George Bush, and a speech on the Evolution of Gospel Music to the US Treasury Department.

Caesar pastors a church in Raleigh, North Carolina that seats 1500. She is a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. and has been married to her husband Bishop Harold Williams since 1983. "I never dreamed the Lord would bring my ministry to where it is, and I feel that I have not yet reached the zenith because we've got such wonderful things planned!" She sites her mother as a strong influence in her decision to give so selflessly of herself. The pastor has committed a sizeable portion of all concert sales to her Outreach Ministries. She continues to deliver weekly sermons and also leads an annual Outreach Ministries conference. She notes, "I cannot sweeten the Atlantic Ocean, but I can take a pitcher out of the ocean and sweeten that." With a schedule that includes recording, performing, and ministering, Pastor Shirley constantly finds ways to spread messages of love and encouragement.

A woman who has always exhibited unparalleled charisma, who could have, long ago, retired and rested on her many successes, does it again. Shirley Caesar is the essence of inspiration and vitality - a global sensation. http://www.shirleycaesar.com/

Recovery Saturday: Depression-The Long Climb to Recovery

2009-10-03T00:05:00.000-07:00

WARNING: Contains graphic description of suicidal thoughts and feelings.   Some readers may find this disturbing. Use caution.

A cool breeze sweeps up from the boulder-strewn valley, bringing with it the sounds of water rushing down the narrow canyon, filling dark pools, flowing over time-worn rocks and rotten tree-trunks, racing downward, downward, down through the ravine. The roaring flood echoes off the far ridges and has the power to set my mind free to soar like the solitary hawk high overhead. But not today. Today I am drifting, sodden and cold, rushing down with the current, my body leaden as I sink to the depths of the black pools. I break the surface gasping for breath, only to slip once more into the abyss. I’m weeping in terror now and the sun seems to have vanished, eclipsed by some enveloping evil that threatens to suffocate me.

But I am not in the water, nor am I on the edge of drowning. I am sinking instead into an abyss of the mind. I am suffocating under the black terror of emotions that I cannot control. There is beauty all around me on this mountain path: cactus blooming red and yellow; a breeze singing in the saguaro needles; rabbits watching curiously from a safe distance; but I can see none of it. I feel nothing of the tranquility of these mountains rising around me. Today I feel only a nameless terror that will not leave me be.

Pulling the pistol from my backpack I lay it in the palm of my hand, caressing it like a lover. Respite is all I want from her. Rest from this awful paralysis. I want to sleep forever, never again to ache with this unrelieved sorrow.

I slide the bolt back, chambering the first round with a metallic
click. One soft-copper projectile will do the job – a sleeping pill to give me rest from these demons. I take a deep breath, then another to steady my shaking hand. Tears flood my eyes as I lift the barrel unsteadily, pressing the muzzle against my skull. Gazing across the valley without seeing, I hear the faint cry of the hawk from somewhere over the ravine. Only he will hear. Jamming my finger hard against the trigger, the hammer slams forward in the blink of a life and releases the explosion, which releases me from this dark and miserable existence.

The Reality of Depression

Sometime later I open my eyes, all awareness of time and space now gone. Energy drained, I sit in my darkened office and stare at the bookshelves, my mind in a fog. The familiar sights tell me I’m still here, still cursed with a strong heart pumping life through my veins despite my prayers that it would stop. I am weary, feeling exhaustion so deep that I can barely rise from my chair. I shuffle out the door and move slowly along the dark hallway, eyes on the floor, looking for all the world like a 90-year-old grandfather instead of a 35 year old. Making my way automatically, I collapse into the front seat of my car, tears streaming down my cheeks, and vow to buy a gun. I have rehearsed this little drama until I know it by heart. What hope do I have? God has abandoned me and with every day I wait I sink deeper and deeper into the bottomless pit that is my depression.

The unrelenting sadness and hopelessness that characterized my experience with depression is something I will never forget. Those who haven’t experienced depression have difficulty understanding what its like. All of us experience sadness and disappointment, but depression is as different from sadness or disappointment as a hangnail is from a broken leg. Well-meaning friends, trying to help, say things such as: "You’ve got so much to be happy about" or "You should spend more time in the Word". But capable, intelligent, godly people who find themselves in the midst of depression come to realize that they have changed, that something has broken inside of them, that they are no longer able to make themselves do or think or feel what they did or thought or felt before. They have lost volitional control over their minds in a very frightening way, and things that were formerly certain and true suddenly seem completely untrustworthy.

I am a motivated, hard-working professional, but in the grips of depression I often felt paralyzed, not possessing the strength to rise from bed or even to open my eyes in the morning. I would sometimes sit in a chair for hours staring at the same spot on the wall or the same page of a report, lost in a fog of dread that I could not control, weighted down so heavily that I felt unable to move. My sense of God’s voice and the wisdom of His Word disappeared – I felt completely alone, unable to make contact with anyone, not even Almighty God.

I lost interest in life and the things that make life special. I became reclusive and withdrawn, not wanting to be with friends. I found my wife and children tiresome and would look for any excuse to be left alone. I alternated between insomnia and exhaustion. And always, I felt inexplicably sad. Nothing made me happy, though strangely I often tried to fake it so that my friends wouldn’t know what was happening inside of me.

At work I couldn’t concentrate. I missed deadlines, forgot commitments, and often wasted the day just doodling. Sometimes I couldn’t sit at my desk for more than a few minutes before I’d have to get up and walk somewhere to relieve the tensions I felt. At other times, hours seemed to flash by without my being able to account for them.

Most frightening of all, I made intricate preparations for my death. I rehearsed dozens of suicide schemes in my mind and analyzed each in terms of its likelihood of success. A voice inside taunted me constantly, daring me to do it, insisting that I was nothing but worthless pond scum – a burden to my family, to society and to God.

Christians and Depression

But can a Christian become depressed or suicidal? Is depressed Christian an oxymoron? Paul begins 1 Corinthians 10:13 by saying, "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man." (NIV) The temptation to look a bit too long at a good-looking man or woman is one most of us know. Fortunately, the temptation to destroy one’s life, the life that God created, is foreign to most of us. But it is common enough and if Christians can be tempted to sin in so many other creative ways, it shouldn’t surprise us that they can be tempted to snuff out their lives. Nevertheless, arriving at that point presupposes a rather uncommon state of mind. It requires a loss of all hope, a loss of any sense of contact with God, and a loss of every shred of self-worth.

The causes of depression are legion, and since it is an illness of the mind, that least understood part of our bodies, it is a frightening condition. It has some environmental components – people who come from abusive homes are more likely to experience depression than those who do not. It has a connection to the rhythms of our lives – the death of a loved one, a prolonged illness, a traumatic event or a major life change can trigger the disease. It has some genetic components – people who have a parent who experienced depression are more likely to struggle with it than those whose parents were unaffected. Note that these things are all beyond an individual’s control. There may well be contributing factors that are within one’s control, such as a lack of exercise, poor diet, and conflicts of the heart such as guilt or shame.

In my own case, there were many factors that led to my several bouts of depression. My father was an alcoholic who became seriously depressed himself when I was young. He threatened to kill himself several times, finally succeeding a few months after my 9th birthday. To me, this seemed to be an act of rejection by someone I loved. It became a painful, permanent statement about me: that if I’d loved my Dad more or had been a better son, I could have prevented his death. The shame of my father’s suicide and alcoholism, hushed up by my family because one didn’t talk about such things, weighted heavily on my small shoulders. My father’s isolation and self-absorption in those last years left me emotionally malnourished, desperately needing love, and when he died all hope of ever receiving his love died with him.

So, I trace some of the causes of my depression to the wounds I received growing up in a damaged home. My depression also has its roots in the things I learned from my father, who didn’t like himself, who couldn’t handle life, who modeled sinful ways of coping with pain, and who drank to forget his problems.

Depression and Sin

Another cause of my depression was my own sin and the war that was going on inside of me as an adult. Having publicly confessed Christ as my Lord, I nevertheless lived privately in ways that I knew to be wrong. The guilt I felt about my hypocrisy wasn’t sufficient to force me to repent, however, and I grew to hate myself for the double life I led.

I want to be careful about tarring all depressed people with the same brush. I do not believe that unconfessed sin will always play a part in depression – environmental, genetic, and other factors are more than adequate to bring a healthy person down into the pits. But in my own case, I had to humbly acknowledge to God that I was partly to blame for my depression.

The long walk of recovery is the most arduous hike I’ve ever had to take. It has been necessary for me to shine the light of God’s truth on many evil and frightening things that I’d hidden away in my heart. Yet, like infected, pus-filled wounds, so long as I failed to examine and treat these rotting parts of my psyche, the infections grew worse. The counseling process was like going under the knife – it was painful, but the surgery removed necrotic tissues that were killing me.

Paul continues in 1 Corinthians 10:13 by saying, "And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it". The way of escape for me was not a wide-open door leading into a sun-filled garden. When you have lost all hope, when you are convinced that no good thing exists anywhere in the world, the way of escape may be hard to find. For me, it appeared as a swaying rope ladder leading up into the darkness. A small sign next to it read: "The counselor is in." The ladder seemed frail and the climb appeared to be too difficult. The bullet looked so much easier. Suicide looked like the wide-open door leading to the garden, but I chose the ladder, instead. Thank God I chose that ladder!

Seven years have passed. I am quite literally not the same person I was then, and yet I am. This new person has hope. This new person hears God’s whispers. This new person has a sense of purpose and mission in life, a sense that God is leading him somewhere. God has lifted me out of the slimy pit and placed my feed on a rock (Psalm 40).

I am able to maintain my sanity through prayer, studying the Word, honest sharing with close friends, the support of both a counselor and a pastor, regular exercise, good eating habits, and an antidepressant drug which boosts my serotonin levels. None of these things by themselves was enough, in my case, to create balance in my emotional life. But taken as a package, they have
each played a part in the restoration of my sanity and in making me a strong and productive part of the body of Christ. I sometimes slip back again. When I’m under a lot of stress in my work, the cold fog creeps in again on cat’s feet. Those times can be discouraging, but they never seem to be as dark and frightening as before. I understand this disease now and I know how to fight it. The support group I have built up around me, like Aaron and Hur supporting Moses’ arms, gives me strength to win the battle.

This year, thousands of deeply hurting people will choose to end their depression by taking their lives. I have no doubt that some of those who will give up will be Christians who have reached a point where they can no longer hear the Lord’s loving whispers. If you hear yourself saying, "That’s how I feel," get help. If you’ve already given up and hope seems like a hollow promise, get help. If you think you might be caught in the grips of depression, reach out to a counselor or a pastor or a support group or a friend and get help. Untreated, depression can kill you. But it doesn’t have to be fatal.

Jeremiah says a lot to those who are struggling with depression. The Israelites were exiled, captive, and without much hope when God offered to help them. "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness. I will build you up again and you will be rebuilt, O Virgin Israel. Again you will take up your tambourines and go out to dance with the joyful" (Jeremiah 31:3,4). Nothing is too difficult for God. In Him, there is hope for the hopeless.

The long climb up from the ravine took every ounce of strength I had. With every step the mountaintops seemed to grow taller, not closer. But I kept at it, climbing rock by rock, until one day I suddenly broke out of the underbrush onto a trail, and turning I could see the river far, far below me at last. I can hear the cry of the hawk once again. I see the colors in the flowers once again. The breeze feels good on my face and I can sense the presence of God.

By Charlie Lehardy who is a missionary and an NACR member. He lives with his family in Tuscon, Arizona.

Jesus Friday: Jesus-The Bread of Life

2009-10-02T00:05:00.000-07:00

I Am the Bread of Life

Definition:

The Bread of Life is the spiritual food needed by man. Without the bread of life man cannot live spiritually. Just as physically man needs to eat in order to live, the bread of life gives nourishment for the soul. Unless one eats from the bread of live he faces eternal death.

Meaning:

In the Old Testament God provided the Israelites with manna from heaven. They were told only to take what was required for a one-day supply and they had to trust that God would send more the next day. The manna served as salvation for the Israelites physical needs on a daily basis. God, however, knew of a greater need for the salvation of man's soul and he also had a plan to meet that need -- His Son, the Bread of Life. The Israelites needed to eat daily, but once one has tasted the bread of life he does not need to ask for it again, because his soul has been saved.

Scripture Support:

John 6:35 (KJV) And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

John 6:48-58 (KJV) I am that bread of life. 49 Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. 50 This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. 51 I am the living bread, which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. 52 The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? 53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. 54 Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. 56 He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. 58 This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live forever.

Conclusion:

Jesus Christ is the Bread of Life. It is he whom I need to eat in order that I might have eternal life. He is the manna for my soul that God promised. Though I don't need to wait each day to take part of the bread of life, I do need to be sure that my life is lived like Jesus. He was the example of how I am to live and part of what it means for me to eat the bread of life is to live my life the way Jesus, the Bread of Life, lived his.

Application:

Since Jesus is the Bread of Life, I will treat Him with as great importance as actual food. I will partake of Him each day by praying, reading His word and listening for the Holy Spirit, knowing that as I focus on Him, He is nourishing me spiritually. Also, as I eat, I will remember that physical food is a symbol of how we are to relate to Jesus spiritually, and I will thank Him for providing me with both physical food for my body and spiritual food for my soul.

Testimony Thursday: God Has A One-Step Program

2009-10-01T00:05:00.000-07:00

A desperate drug addict, Garry Hannon escaped to the wilderness for five days in an attempt to smoke himself to death. But God met him there.

Garry Hannon was never one to walk the straight and narrow, a pattern of behavior that began as a young boy’s cry for attention.

"I was kind of one of the cool guys because I was the rebellious type," Garry said. "The more crazy things I did the more cool I became. I kind of liked that. I believe with my dad working all the time I didn’t have that father figure there and a lot of it was for attention."

By age 15, his life revolved around drinking and doing drugs. The high school dropout preferred living dangerously.

“Nothing really held me back. Nothing scared me,” Garry said. “At that time you couldn’t dare me to do something, I’d do it. And later, that came back to haunt me.”

For the next 18 years, Garry’s addictions controlled his every move. He couldn’t hold a job and had no direction in life. Then he found what he thought was the perfect job: running the bar his father owned.

“My dad was kind of trying to bail me out once again and basically give me a job.” Garry said. “It just seemed like the fun was ‘round the clock’ because my occupation was partying. The alcohol consumption was unbelievable. That’s where it really started snowballing downhill; the drug use, I mean, it was so readily available.”

Garry bought the bar from his dad, then turned around and sold it. He knew he was out of control and thought being out of that environment would help. But it didn't. One day after a five-day cocaine binge, Garry had a vision of Jesus opening his arms to him.

“[And] I knew that God was just tugging, pulling my heart strings,” Garry said.

A friend invited Garry to church. He prayed to accept Jesus in the church parking lot. Garry tried to give up alcohol. But he couldn’t do it on his own.

“There was a lot of guilt because I would go to church and sing Amazing Grace and know good and well that either that night or the next night that I was going to be drinking,” Garry said.

Garry hid his drinking from his girlfriend, Brandi. Then the couple had a child together. Brandi was already raising a daughter from a previous marriage. Garry and Brandi wanted to build a new life together but Garry’s secret drove a wedge between them.

“He would come in all hours of the night with the wildest excuses,” Brandi said. "It was awful, terrible. I think I always had it in the back of my mind that something was going on, but you want to believe what they say even though you know it’s not true.”

“I was going out to drink; of course I had to lie my way out of it,” Garry said. “And I knew that wasn’t right.”

“And it just got to a point where he came home at 6:00 a.m.” Brandi said. “I had been up all night trying to call. And I could just smell the alcohol on his breath and we got in the hugest fights. It wasn't very long after that I left. I didn’t want my kids around it, listening to us scream and yell at each other all the time.”

Garry began drinking more heavily and using crack cocaine.

“I was definitely trying to escape all the emotions that were coming along with the separation,” Garry said.

“The loneliness, the rejection - she had every right to leave me. I felt like I had let everybody down," Garry said." I missed my kids but I just thought, what kind of dad am I? With what I’m going through, I can never be the kind of dad that they need. You know, I just don’t want to live this way.”

Garry was overwhelmed by guilt and wanted to end his life. He drove to a secluded place in the canyons with no food or water but just enough crack cocaine to overdose. Then, he waited to die.

“On the fifth day the hallucinations were so bad, I did cry out to God and asked him for deliverance,” Garry said. "I knew that on my own I could not deliver myself. I had to trust in God. And through the faith and the hope that He would change me, just gave me the strength to come out of there; to come out of the canyons and go on.”

Garry returned home and slept for 17 hours. The next day, sober and fully surrendered to God, Garry found freedom.

“And from that point on, I was completely drug free,” Garry said. "The way I look at it, man has a 12-step program and God has a one-step program: deliverance. Cry out and He will deliver you if you’re sincere.”

God also restored Garry’s family. He and Brandi married eight years ago. Today Garry runs a successful real estate business. But his most important job is being a loving husband and father.

“God has given me a new chance at life,” Garry said.

“I’m very thankful for God for changing him. I mean my kids have a dad who’s involved,” Brandi said. I’ve had another one [child] since then. I just never could imagine my life without Garry and I don’t think if God had changed him, I don’t think he would’ve made it.”

“No matter what I went through, no matter what I did He never stopped loving me,” Garry said. I’m just very thankful that we have a God that is faithful to His Word. If I confess my sins, He’s going to be faithful and just to forgive my sins, that’s the best feeling- to be forgiven.” CBN.com –By Mia Evans  The 700 Club

Wordless Wednesday-Autumn In The Hood

2009-09-30T00:05:00.000-07:00

Greek Rap Nugget: Being Watchful For Satan’s Temptations

2009-09-28T00:09:00.000-07:00

We read in Luke 4:13, “And when the devil had ended all the temptations, he departed from him (Jesus) for a season.” The English words “for a season” could imply that there are times when the saint is free from the temptations of Satan; therefore he might relax his vigilance. However, the Greek words do not permit such a thought. The thought in the original text is that Satan departed from Jesus until a more opportune, propitious, or favorable time; when Jesus would be more susceptible to temptation, and when Satan could work more effectively.

The word “departed” is from a Greek word, which literally means, “to stand off from”. Thus Satan never leaves the saint alone. If he ceases his activities, it is only that he might stand off from him, and wait for a time when the saint is more susceptible to temptation. Therefore, the price of victory over Satan is in diligent watchfulness, “lest Satan should get an advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices.” (2 Corinthians 2:11)