Sunday, December 24, 2017

Fear Not / Mrs Shannon Stiff

Mrs Shannon Stiff
Pastor's Wife
Lighthouse Baptist Church
Flint, MI

Luke 1:5-80                                
There was a priest named Zacharias and his wife’s name was Elizabeth.  Elizabeth was barren and elderly and they had been praying for a child.                       

Zacharias had been  chosen to burn incense in the temple.  While he was in the temple he was frightened by an angel.  The angel told him to fear not and that God had answered his prayers.  Elizabeth would have a son and they were to name him John.  John would be filled with the Holy Spirit in the womb.  The angel told him that he would have joy and many shall rejoice at his birth.  The angel told Zacharias that John would turn many Israelites to the Lord.                                

Zacharias doubted and spoke that doubt to the angel.  The angel told him he was Gabriel and that God sent him and he told him he wouldn’t be able to speak until the birth because he didn’t believe his words.                              

Gabriel later went to Mary and told her she was going to birth baby Jesus and that Elizabeth was having a baby also.  Mary took a long trip to visit Elizabeth and told her the good news and they celebrated together.                                      

Lessons from this story.                        

We should never doubt and fear God’s words to us.   As a wife, mom and Pastor’s wife I know first hand how easy it is to worry, fear and doubt.  We have to hold onto God’s promises though.  God never lets us down and His ways are always best.  Prov. 3:5.  Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.                    

God punishes us for our doubt and blesses us for our faith.  Luke 1:22. And when he came out, he could not speak unto them: and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple: for he beckoned unto them, and remained speechless.   God punished Zacharias by taking away his ability to speak.                         

We should pray and ask God to eliminate all fear and doubt from our lives. Psalm 34:14.  Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.   God will help us if we pray and ask him.                              

We should be careful with our words.  We don’t need to speak everything that comes through our minds.  Zacharias blurted out his doubt and he was punished.  Proverbs 21:23  Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles.   We as woman need to think before we speak and make sure our words are positive and faith filled.                   

We need to be like Mary and Elizabeth and trust that what God tells us is true, and relax and believe everything will work out just fine.   I believe Mary and Elizabeth had reason to worry and doubt, but they both chose faith instead.    I have talked to and seen many woman and myself at times who have been nervous, worried and depressed.  Let’s do our best to put our trust in God, and relax in his promises to us.  God answers prayers for us just like he did for Elizabeth.   Let’s praise God for everything!  Its all going to be just fine.  Love you ladies and I truly hope this helps someone today!

Sunday, December 17, 2017

That Scary Darkness! / Mrs Beth Spilger

Mrs Beth Spilger
Pastor's Wife
Grace Baptist Church
St Louis, MO

That Scary Darkness!
Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation. Psalm 91:14-16
Our four year old son stood quietly next to his father, placed his hand into his father’s hand- indicating he needed to talk with him, and waited for Dad to finish his conversation. Barely a minute before, Jon had told his father he was going down stairs into the church basement to use the restroom (the only restrooms in our church). He’d returned to quickly to have accomplished his mission. Done, Dad looked down at his son,
“What do you need, son?”
“It’s dark down there, Dad.” Jon stated matter of factly.
Without saying a word, Dad nodded with understanding, took Jon’s hand and led him down the steps and into the darkness. Jon had no fear. He was brave against the overwhelming darkness in that huge foreboding room. The reason…Dad was with him. Dad was holding his hand. Dad was tall enough to turn on the lights and reveal what was in the darkness. Dad would protect him from whatever lay in that darkness that might harm him. Dad was right there beside him. Dad bravely entered the darkness, so Jon bravely enter as well.
Mission accomplished, Dad took his hand once again as they walked out of the basement. Dad turned out the lights and led Jon back up the steps. Dad didn’t scold Jon for his fear of the scary darkness. Jon received only genuine care and love from his father. Our son totally trusted his father to care for his need- to care for him during this time of trouble.
What kind of trouble are you facing in your life right now? It’s scary, I’m sure! I’m facing a couple myself. I know fear that can overwhelm. I have NO idea what the outcome will be but I know that my Father is holding my hand and leading me through the darkness. I talked with Him this morning about my fear. He didn’t scold me but He promised He would be with me. He said He would deliver me and would protect me from what could genuinely hurt me. His truth (His Word) is my shield and buckler- my protection. I can trust His promises. His Word is faithful and true.
You can trust your Heavenly Father, too! You can walk through the darkness you’re facing today with your hand in His knowing that He is right there beside you. He will deliver you! He will protect you! He won’t scold you because His love surrounds you and He understands…He has walked through the very same things you are facing (see Hebrews 4:15).
By the way…there IS light at the end of your dark tunnel!




Monday, December 11, 2017

Choose Your Words Wisely / Mrs Terri Wilkie

Mrs Terri Wilkie
School Teacher / Sunday School Teacher / Volleyball Coach 
Agape Baptist Church
Stockton, MO


Choose Your Words Wisely

I would like to be able to do an object lesson with you. Kind of hard to do when you're reading this on Facebook. But, if you will just imagine this as I describe it, I think I can make my point. Take a tube of toothpaste and squeeze out all of the contents onto a plate. Now that it's all empty, try to put it all back in the tube. Is it impossible? Well, almost impossible!
What does this all mean to us? Words! Once words leave your mouth, you can't put them back. You can say you're sorry and ask forgiveness, but your words are still out there, impossible to take back! James tells us many things about the tongue. We are told it is a little member, but boasteth great things. It is also called a fire, and we are told no man can tame it. How will you use your tongue? As a child we used to chant "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." Not true! Our words can hurt! Our words can also help! It's our choice which they will be.
Proverbs 25:11 says, "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver." Isn't that a beautiful picture? Gold and silver are precious metals, treasured by many. And our words can be just as beautiful!
I've always been one to get in trouble for my mouth! I've really had to work hard at choosing my words carefully and thinking before I speak. Many times I have to bite my tongue till I taste blood (not literally! ). Daily I ask the Lord to help me with my words. I want them to be uplifiting, encouraging, and helpful to others. We have so much power over so many people daily. Our husbands, our children, our students, our coworkers, etc. We can completely make or break their day, All with our words. Let's make Psalm 19:14 our daily prayer. "Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength and my redeemer. "



Sunday, December 3, 2017

The Gloves Are Off and they are NOT Going Back On / Anonymous

Anonymous



The Gloves Are Off
and they are NOT Going Back On
Recently I had one of those “hardest weeks of my life” experiences as a parent. I have been a parent for a long time, over 30 years, in fact. You would think there is not much that could “scare” me at this point or anything that I could not handle or have not handled before. Yet when my youngest child called me up on the phone one day as I was walking into church, sobbing on the other end of the line, my heart stopped.
Let me give you a little background. This is a child who has been raised in a solid Christian home, went to Christian school his whole life. He (we) attended church Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night like clockwork. He has participated in every preaching conference, every special program, had the best possible influences – everything that we felt was right and gave him his best chance at living a life for Christ. He has never given me cause for concern or alarm. I felt this was the one that God gives all mothers of multiple children – the easy one. You know the one? The one that slept well from the beginning as a baby. Never got into trouble or threw fits as a small child. Always had his homework done and got straight A’s. Happy, respectful….. the one that we did not need to worry about.
The sobbing on the other end of the line continued and I had a lot of trouble understanding what was wrong. When I could finally hear the voice and clearly make out what was said, the voice cried, “I have lost her.” My brain immediately thought, “Whew! This I can handle. It is hard, but a broken heart – I’ve got this!” I mean, I have other children. I have already trudged through these waters. What I was not prepared for was the following three days and all of the revelations that were to come.
I responded on the phone with the fact that it will be okay and I am on my way. I met him at home and we started the long process of getting through a heartache. As we sat on the floor of my dressing room together, I began asking questions. I had always been a bit uneasy about him wanting to explore dating with this person. I mean, she didn’t go to our church and I knew literally nothing of her family or her background. This was a young lady he met at work. (in the job that was to help pay for Christian college in a few months).
– Let me interrupt here: Mom, when your gut tells you something is amiss, LISTEN TO IT. DON’T WAIT!
Earlier in the day I had texted him about the fact that his dad and I wanted to get a better handle on his dating life as we felt things were moving too fast, he was getting emotionally involved, and he needed to slow down. He had shared that text with this young lady and she decided that she was done and did not want to be a part of this any longer. She did not want to, “come between he and his family.” That revelation brought us to this moment, sitting on the floor, wiping tears from my son’s eyes.
–Let me interrupt one more time: Teach your children about manipulation! The enemy will use it!
As things began to unravel, I reminded him that God would not bring a person into his life that would go against His Word if it was the right person for him. If she did not want to respect his parents and their wishes, then she clearly was not the person that God had set aside for him…..this is when my worst nightmare began to grow. Here are a few statements from my “easy child” that I was not prepared to hear:
“I cannot be what you want me to be.”
“I don’t know what I believe any more or if I believe the all of that stuff.”
“I feel like I can finally be myself around her and she accepts me that way.”
“I have tried to read the Bible, but God doesn’t speak to me the way others say that He should or does.”
“She said that if you guys cannot accept me, then she will and her family will become my family.”
My mind began to whirl and tears started to fall. WAIT. What happened here? God’s Word started running through my head…. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour,” 1 Peter 5:8. The enemy was trying to devour my son! How could this have happened? We tried to do everything right and give him his best chance!
As we continued to talk, I began to get more and more desperate. My words seemed to be falling on deaf ears. He kept stating that he could not give her up. He could not lose her. He wanted to start his life and be who he is, not who we think he should be. I spoke all the truths that I knew from His Word about this situation. I reminded him that his dad and I loved him with everything we have and that we are there for him. I told him over and over and we would get through this together and that he needed some time before making any decisions. He was too emotional and he needed to think with a clear head. Let’s just sleep on it….. This lasted for several hours until finally we left that room and I thought things had calmed down enough to rest a bit. When I went to my own bedroom to pray and seek some help from God, I heard the front door open and then my phone went off. I got a text from him saying, “I am sorry. I cannot give her up. I have to leave. I love you, mom.” I immediately texted back, “Please DON’T GO!” The car started and he was gone.
Now my unease turned into outright panic. I hit my knees and started begging God to help me, take the blinds of my son’s eyes, scream into his heart and be heard with a voice that cannot be ignored. He was gone. I didn’t know what to do or where to turn! I called my pastor’s wife and just begged her to pray with me. I called my son’s youth pastor and begged him to pray. I texted a few special and trusted people and asked if they, please, right now would pray for my family. I spent the night awake, in tears, and on the floor crying out to God for His help.
The next day began and I felt like I was living a nightmare. I began texting and trying to reach my son’s heart. Many others also began texting and reaching out to him. Eventually he answered and we decided that we would meet up later that day, after he got off of work, and talk.
I cannot pretend I am an expert on parenting, but I will say this: I had spent an entire night and day crying my eyes out and pleading with God to save my son. Suddenly, another piece of scripture hit me like a ton of bricks – “FEAR NOT, FOR I AM WITH THEE. I WILL NEVER LEAVE THEE NOR FORSAKE THEE.” Fear not. Fear not. Fear not. Over and over, I heard it. I will NOT be afraid to be a parent. I will NOT be afraid to fight for my son. I will storm the gates of hell all by myself before I let the enemy take him from me and from God. I was taking the gloves off and I was preparing for battle.
Game on. I agreed to meet him at work and with her there also. I pulled up early and waited. I spent time in prayer – again asking for wisdom, for the right words, the right timing, ears that would listen and truly hear. I needed His presence there to get through this. They came out of the building and we talked for two hours in the parking lot. Over and over I reminded him of the people he trusted and that loved him. Over and over I told him that I loved him and I wanted to work this out and help him. I addressed her briefly several times. I wanted to make certain she understood this is MY son and I am not giving him up. She needed to know that he had a family that loved him and will do what it takes to save him. At the end, he agreed to come home with me and we were going to continue talking and working together to fix this.
At home, we spent more time talking into the early morning hours. I reminded him of God’s hand on his life. We talked about a skewed perspective and how the enemy has twisted things in his mind to create doubt about his faith and who he is in Christ. Slowly, I started to see some clarity. I saw God work in his heart and some of the blindness fade. He understood that the people who were reaching out to him have always been there for him – the enemy was lying to him and saying they were only interested in him now that he was messing up. I was able to tell him and remind him that all of those things he felt were “forced” upon him, were actually his choices and he loved doing them – serving Christ, choosing a Christian college, etc. As he started to come to his senses, just as the prodigal son, he sat up and grabbed his phone. He told me he had some people to call and needed to make some things right. He called his Dad first (he had been out of town the whole time with work). He called his youth pastor. He started talking to me about his misconceptions and the errors of his thinking. PTL!
Here we are, several days later, and I am still scared. I know the enemy is not done with him yet. A door was opened and the enemy stepped in. I am praying daily that God will create a hedge of protection around him. I say out loud, “Get thee behind him satan!” I am not going to give up. I am going to fight until my last breath for this child of my heart. The summer looms ahead of me. I will be spending it preparing for battle at every turn. I do not know if Christian college is still ahead for my child. I would love that to happen as I am hoping with a year to get closer to God and away from here, clarity will come for him, no matter what he decides to do with his future.
Lessons learned:
1) Phil. 4:13 is real. I CAN do all things through Christ. I did not think I could handle this – but I did.
2) Never be blind to the fact that satan wants your child – there is no guarantee that they will stay in God’s Will no matter what the age or how well they seem to be doing. It can all change very quickly.
3) Listen to your instincts.
4) Don’t be afraid to fight for your child. Say NO.
5) Talk to your children and be real.
6) Get help! Don’t be too proud to ask others for prayer. Let God hear their name over and over from others!
7) LOVE always.
** Four months later, my son is happily attending a Christian Bible college. He is doing amazing! God has a hold of his heart and he is right in the center of His Will.
“Let every thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.” Psalm 150:6
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Saturday, November 25, 2017

Be Chocolate! / Mrs Kayte McCoy


Mrs Kayte McCoy
Pastor's Wife
Harts Hill Baptist Church
Whitesboro, NY



Any tofu lovers out there?    We're not tofu eaters at our house. I've tried tofu a few times, and if it's part of a good recipe, I actually don't mind it all. But my husband is completely uninterested.    So if you do love tofu, I have nothing against tofu as a food. But I don't want tobetofu.    You see, tofu can be scrumptious or disgusting, depending on the other ingredients in the dish. Tofu takes on the flavor of whatever is mixed with it.    I started using tofu to describe people when my husband and I were preparing for a youth conference trip. We were talking about which teenagers should be in hotel rooms together. When I said, "That girl is tofu," what I meant was that girl is easily influenced by the people in her company. Put her with other kids who are behaving and she will behave, but put her with kids who are not behaving and she will do as they do.   I don't mean it to be derogatory. Most teenagers are tofu. I was tofu. Sometimes, I still am tofu. But when you have a teenager around who is not tofu... whom you trust to do right when the people they are with are not, it's really refreshing.    Lately, I've been thinking of my spirit, or attitude. Is my spirit tofu? Does it take on the flavor of whatever is thrown into it?    Do you ever notice that when the weather is warm and sunny, generally everyone you meet all day is in a great mood? I think that is especially true in a climate such as where I live, where the bleakness and monotony of gray frigid days wears on us and we begin to crave Spring like an Atkins dieter fantasizing about a flaky, buttery dinner roll. Call it a vitamin D deficiency, but it almost seems like people wake up in the morning, check on the weather report and decide what kind of mood they will be in based on what the weather man predicts.    We're acting like tofu: mix sunny weather into our day, and we will be sunny and cheerful. Mix in rain and clouds and we will mimic the weather with our spirit.    More than being a mirror of the weather report, I don't want to be tofu when it comes to the circumstances and events of our lives. Life has tough stuff in it. It rains on the just and the unjust alike, the book of Job tells us. And yet that same Bible tells us to "Rejoice evermore!" The two can sometimes contradict one another in our minds and certainly in our actions. It's because we're being like tofu. We're taking on the flavor of the other ingredients of our life.    I don't want to be tofu. I want to bechocolate.    One of the better tofu dishes I've tried was tofu pudding. Do you know what it tasted like? Chocolate pudding. I didn't taste tofu at all. The only ingredient I could distinguish was chocolate. Beautiful, delicious chocolate. It overwhelmed every other contributor in the pudding.    I want to be like chocolate. I want to decide the flavor of my day. I want to decide what kind of disposition I will have. I do not want the news to dictate that today will be a bad day because the world is full of bad things. I do not want the actions of others to influence my spirit.    It seems that women in particular are more susceptible to allowing outside influences to determine their spirit. I dislike over generalizing the genders; surely men and women are different and some obvious trends do exist, but I understand that individuality within the sexes vary. Moody, sensitive men do exist, (is there anything on Earth less attractive than a moody man?) and rumor has it that a good female driver does exist, though it is, admittedly, not me. There are a few marred mailboxes to testify to that. I wish I were joking! The fact, however, that most scented candles are bought by women, and at our house, it's always the females reaching to turn on the happy music, tells me that women are more inclined to rely on outside stimuli to affect them in a positive way.    It's ironic, isn't it? As women, we set the tone and atmosphere of our homes, and yet we are the most dependent and susceptible to our own environment to shape our own personal temperament.   
A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike. 

Proverbs 27:15 
  
I used to find humor in the verses about a contentious or brawling woman. Now a days, it's a little too close to home for laughing! 

He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down,  
and without walls. 

Proverbs 25:28  I want to be chocolate. I want to choose to let the Bible and the blessings and the joy dominate my frame of mind. Not only that, but maybe I could flavor the world around me with a little more chocolate too? Most people are tofu: letting the circumstances around them govern their mood. One traffic jam can ruin their whole day. But amazingly, one friendly clerk at the post office can brighten a day. Doesn't it seem to be the responsibility of a Christian to be the chocolate that flavors its surroundings, and not the tofu that soaks in whatever is around?    
Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.  
Matthew 5:13 
  When we act like chocolate instead of tofu, we can actually obey I Thessalonians 5:16 and "Rejoice evermore." How is it that some people can sing songs of praise by the lifeless body of their loved one? They decided to be like chocolate. How in the world can a cancer patient have a smile on their face? They decided to be like chocolate. How can one mother with a house full of rambunctious kiddies be cheerful, while another is barely surviving? How can some people, with the same cares and trials that we all face, possess joy in a dark world? They decided to be like chocolate.  They carry their own joy with them, and share it with others.  Do you flavor your own life, or let others do it for you? 
Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. 
I John 4:4