When Others are Against You / Mrs Jeri Lynn Wilkerson

Jeri Lynn Wilkerson

Pastor's Wife

Galilean Baptist Church

Cedar Hill, TX

When Others are Against You

Sometimes, others may rise up against us, and we must deal with the reality. Sometimes, we may feel others are against us even when they are not. Nevertheless, we must deal with the feeling. The real enemy would have us convinced that even God is against us. How could He be? He made us for His glory! 


“I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.” – Psalm 9:1

1. Seek the Lord. Ask Him to show you His present lovingkindness. “God, please show me You love me today.” (This is a private request from you to God.) He knows exactly what would encourage your heart. Look for the “little” ways that He shows you His love which become very “big” ways to our aching hearts.

“Hear me, O Lord; for thy lovingkindness is good: turn unto me according to the multitude of thy tender mercies.” -Psalm 69:16

2. Acknowledge God as omnipotent (powerful to save) and omniscient (knowing all.) Our safety is of the Lord. Whatever suffering He allows by the hand of the enemy is not overlooked; it is not in vain; and He is with you through it.  

3. Meditate on His promises. Write down many promises given in His Word to those who trust in Him. (Speak them aloud, write them in your own handwriting, type them, sing them, and think hard on Truth. Hope in God.)

4. Remember His past mercies throughout your life. When we remember one “new mercy” or one time that “joy came in the morning,” a domino effect will occur. If our memory fails us, we have one great mercy that should sustain us even if there were none else – our salvation through Jesus Christ. Our faith will be strengthened when we remember His goodness to us. 
“Gratitude for one mercy refreshes the memory as to thousands of others. One silver link in the chain draws up a long series of tender remembrances. Here is eternal work for us, for there can be no end to the showing forth of all his deeds of love. If we consider our own sinfulness and nothingness, we must feel that every work of preservation, forgiveness, conversion, deliverance, sanctification, etc., which the Lord has wrought for us, or in us is a marvellous work.” -Spurgeon’s Treasury of David

“This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.” Lamentations 3:21-25

5. Praise Him wholeheartedly. Even before the situation is resolved, determine to praise the Lord single mindedly.  Direct your thoughts to linger on Who God is instead of meditating on how bad the enemy is. Think on Jesus!

Since my circumstances do not change the character of God, I can praise the Lord at all times.

6. Share with others His marvelous working in your life. Speak of His doings in your life to glorify Him. (This is a public offering of praise from you about God.) Sharing what God has done for you or praising Him for a new mercy – big or small – brings edification to another believer while strengthening yourself. 

 We have a great God Who never leaves us! If you are facing an enemy of any sort or just disappointed this day, I pray the Lord will encourage your heart as you put your trust in our Most High God!  

~ Jeri Lynn Wilkerson | Psalm 28:7

 

Servant of God / Mrs Marlena Whitworth

Mrs Marlena Whitworth

Pastor's Wife

Faith Baptist Church

Plymouth, IN

James 1

“James, A servant of God, and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.” – James 1:1

As we begin this study of the book of James, I feel the need to identify myself here, much as James did. “James, A servant of God…” I like that phrase. James was writing a letter to the church at Ephesus, and began the entire thing by identifying himself as just a servant. Today, I can say, I am a servant of God.

Not long ago, I called a friend asking for prayer. I was upset, hurt, and needing encouragement. She very boldly said to me, “You are a woman of God, and you are going to get through this!” To be honest, I was just a little startled. At the time I certainly wasn’t acting like I thought a “Woman of God” would act. Her words made me stop, and think. That is a terrible thing to do to someone in the middle of a pity party! I was looking for someone to commiserate with me, not call me out to be a better Christian than what I was acting like at the moment. Truth be told, at that moment, I didn’t want to be a “Woman of God.” I spent some time over the next couple of months thinking about what those words meant, exactly. Here are some of my thoughts:

1. A Woman of God should be a Servant of God. Far too often, I seem to forget that God is in control. I am to serve Him, The All-knowing, All-seeing, All-powerful, Mighty God! I was put here on this earth for a reason, and that is to please the Lord. Whatever He chooses for me, wherever He sends me, whatever the circumstances He brings across my path, I am still to serve the Lord.

2. A Woman of God should be a Servant of the Lord Jesus Christ. James said, “…A servant of God, AND of the Lord Jesus Christ…” This point is interesting to me because James was Jesus’ earthly brother. I have 2 brothers, and neither of them are the Messiah, believe me. But in all fairness, NEITHER AM I! James gives us a great reminder that to serve the Lord most is to serve those in our own family. Who sees our greatest sacrifices and usually experiences more of our neglect than those in our own homes? Our families are the ones who see what our Christianity is really worth. James identified as Jesus' servant knowing the truth of who He was here on earth. I believe he wanted to make it known that he believed Jesus was the Messiah; and who would have known the real truth of Jesus being God’s Son, than one with whom he lived here on earth? This phrase just reminds me that if I am to be a “Woman of God”, it must begin at home, with my family, serving the ones I love.

3. A Woman of God should be friendly to others. I like that James used the word, greeting. I know that if he had lived in our time, it may have read…Dear (Whoever this applies to)….but, he used the word “Greeting.” Doesn’t that sound much nicer? I sometimes struggle with being friendly to people that are just acquaintances. I feel like I’m bothering them, and they probably have better things to use their time for than chit chatting with me. I have worked on being friendly, and saying hello to many people. It is not a natural thing to me. I like to get there and do what

I’m doing. But I try to remember along the way, there are people who are hurting. There are people that need some encouragement. Maybe, they need someone to remind them that they are a Man/Woman/Servant of God. Perhaps if I say hello, and try to be a friend, I can challenge them to rise to a greater level of Christianity. Perhaps we can strive together to be a better “Servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ!”

We Have A Purpose / Mrs Priscilla Duff

Mrs Priscilla Duff

Assistant Pastor's Wife

First Baptist Church

Hammond, IN

Try to imagine what is must have felt like to be the first woman God ever created. Imagine being Eve, taking your first breathe and opening your eyes for the first time and looking around to discover who and where you are.  Imagine the wonder and awe she must have felt, and the excitement of seeing Adam for the first time.  I wonder what she thought when he said to her, you are mine and we belong together.  Gen. 2:23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.   I can only begin to imagine what living in the Garden of Eden was like, to walk with God in the cool of the evening, to spend time with the animals and enjoy the flowers and beautiful trees. I also have to wonder, how did Eve get to the place mentally where listening to the serpent was even something she considered doing? I would think if my life was perfect, carefree, full of unconditional love from my Creator and my husband, all the food I could eat (and never gain weight) why would I ever wonder what life would be like if …….Yet Eve did, she must have had pondering thoughts of “I wonder what it would be like if I knew everything like God did?” or maybe she had thoughts about “what is my purpose in life?” “What did God create me for?” 
The amazing thing that God did was to create us with a free will and allow us to decide what we wanted to do with our lives.  God didn’t create us like the animal where we automatically did everything we were supposed to do, He let us chose.  I like to think about that day, that Eve chose.  The day she chose her own will over God’s (Genesis 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof , and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.) She had no way of knowing the cataclysmal decision she was about to make would change the future of humanity. (Genesis 3:7 And the eyes of them both were opened and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves apron.) Eve’s problem that day was the same problem I have, and we all have, these six thousand years later.  Eve was only thinking about herself.
Eve made a decision based on her own wants, desires, and needs, and how many times do we do the same thing as her? It’s hard for me to judge Eve too harshly.  I would like to think if I was in her spot, I would make the right decision and say no to the devil and his lies, but I am a daughter of Eve and I struggle with the same selfish pride she did too.  You know when you convince yourself that it’s ok to eat that piece of cake and just five minutes later, you are so mad at yourself for eating it? Imagine what Eve felt, after she ate the forbidden fruit. 
The interesting thing is that the serpent went to Eve first, in the Garden. He could have gone to Adam, but he went to Eve. The devil had been going to the women first ever since.  He presents to us lies, lies, lies.  The devil hasn’t changed his tactics and why should he, when they work so well?
Think about Creation, God made man and said “It’s not good for him to be alone” Gen. 2:18 so he made woman, and said “It is very good” Gen 1:31.  The devil hates God and wants to destroy everything God creates and so for all of time the devil has come to the woman to make her dissatisfied, unhappy, self centered and independent. 
Today’s woman for the most part is unhappy overstressed, angry and exhausted. The world’s philosophy is “The future is female” “Women rule” and “lets break the glass ceiling”. We have fallen for the lies that our life and our happiness is all about us, but while we chase that dream we have only become unhappy. So let’s ask ourselves, what is Gods purpose and plan for womanhood? What is the reason he created Eve on that beautiful day? Was it to make sandwiches, do laundry, and have babies? The truth is that God created us for a purpose and the first purpose is to glorify Him. The serpent said to Eve, It’s all about you, and to most of us it’s a daily struggle not to make life all about ourselves.  Our natural reaction to life is self-centered
*How does this affect me
*Will this make me happy
* It’s my turn
*God doesn’t care about me
*He/she hurt my feelings
*I need “me” time
We want to be the center of everyone’s universe, including God’s
We as women have a purpose, and when we take our eyes off Jesus and focus on ourselves we influence those around us to do the same. Eve influenced Adam to sin. How amazing would it have been if before she bit into the fruit, if she had first asked God if this is something she should do? We as daughters of Eve have the same influence on those around us,  When we make life all about ourselves and how it affects us, we influence our spouses, children and friends to do the same.  Before a baby girl is even born, all of her eggs are fully formed.  When a woman carries her unborn daughter, the choices that woman makes affect not just her daughter, but her grandchildren as well. The same is true spiritually.  When we fight for our “rights” and “desires”, we will influence our children and that will affect our grandchildren as well.  
We need to wake up to the deception that is so pervasive in both the world and Christian culture and that is, that our life is about our own happiness and fulfillment.
So ask yourself,
1. Who have I helped or encouraged today? 2. Who have I lead to the Lord lately? 3. What about this situation makes me so upset? Is it because I am making it all about me? 4. Are my decisions teaching my children to be selfish?  Or are they teaching them to be Christ centered? 5. Do I seek the Lord’s wisdom before making a decision? Or am I independently making this decision according to my own desires. Ps 16:11 6. What will my legacy be? A life that honored God or a life that made me happy?
If we seek God’s will instead of our own we will learn that God is more concerned about changing me and glorifying Himself than about solving all my immediate problems, and isn’t that what our life is supposed to be about? Becoming more like Christ? If we make issues about how it makes us feel rather than using them to find God’s character and His purpose and if we don’t show the people in our lives the truth of God’s amazing grace, who will?

Look Him in the Eye / Mrs Debbie Russ

Mrs Debbie Russ

Faith Music Missions

Boeke Road Baptist Church

Evansville, IN

Look Him in the Eye

Psalm 32:8 – “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.”

When our children are young and in need of instruction or discipline, many times we find ourselves saying, “Look me in the eye while I’m speaking to you.” Why do we say this? Because they aren’t giving us their full attention, and if they don’t give us their full attention they aren’t going to grasp or retain what we are trying to teach them.

How many times have we as Christians gone through a time of testing (training) in our lives and have looked everywhere for answers, but we failed to look to the One Who has all of the answers? We can even be sitting with an open Bible in our laps, but not looking Him in the eye as we read. Instead we are fretting, or trying to figure out how we can fix the situation in our own power. Satan is the master distractor. Our Lord can be trying to teach us something and we are looking at all the distractions and deceptions that the devil is throwing in front of us instead of right into our Savior’s eye.

Just as we want to have our child’s full attention as we train them up in the Lord, God desires our full attention as we walk through life as His child. Let’s determine to look full in His face. Even when the path seems dark, hold to His unchanging hand and look Him in the eye as He guides us along the path He has chosen for us. He never has His eyes closed, He never has His back turned. He’s always there waiting for us to look Him in the eye. Jesus never fails!

The Comely Christian / The Comely Christian

Mrs Joy Samples

Pastor's Wife

Grace Baptist Church

Urbana, OH

The Comely Christian

Psalm 147:1

"Praise ye the Lord:  for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely."

The word comely means "suitable or beautiful."  The Bible says that PRAISE is comely.  It is beautiful.  It is good for us to sing praises unto our God.  It is pleasant for us to sing praises, and our praise is beautiful.  It suits us as Christians.  It is appropriate for Christians to praise our God.  But sometimes praise does not come easily.  Sometimes we can become less than happy in our Christianity, and our praise does not flow from us as it should.  Stumbling blocks of sin and pride, grief and sorrow, pain and loss, anger and bitterness, even illness or exhaustion can cause our tongues to be silent when they should be praising.  How can we remedy our heart's silence?  How can we let our comely praises flow?

1.  Look unto Jesus.

Once during a time of sorrow and disappointment in my life, a precious Christian friend reminded me to keep my eyes on Jesus.  I had taken my eyes off of Him and was looking at the hurtful situation I found myself in.  Her wise counsel has helped me again and again, as I seek to rightly view what God is doing in my life.  People and circumstances may disappoint and hurt you, but Jesus NEVER fails.  

Psalm 147:2-7 continues, "The LORD doth build up Jerusalem:  He gathereth together the outcasts of Israel.  He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.  He tells the number of the stars; He calleth them all by their names.  Great is our LORD, and of great power:  His understanding is infinite.  The LORD lifteth up the meek:  He casteth the wicked down to the ground.  Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God:"  

When I put my eyes upon the Lord, I can see His working, and I can trust Him.  He builds, He gathers, He heals and binds up, He knows each star in the sky, He is great and powerful and has inifinite understanding.  He lifts the meek and casts down the wicked.  When I see all He can do, I am taught to trust and not be afraid. 

I am learning not to resist His working in my life, even when it hurts.  God uses the trials and sufferings of our daily lives to draw us to Himself, to turn our eyes to the Healer.  Look unto Jesus, my friend, and praise Him.

2.  Speak Truth to yourself.

What do you say to yourself about the things that are happening in your life?  Are you proud of yourself?  Are you discouraged with yourself?  Are you angry at someone and talk to yourself inwardly about it?  Do you allow bitter thoughts to rule your mind?  What we say to ourselves determines how we will walk the path God has put us on.

One evening as I was trying to fall asleep, I recognized that there were some false and sinful things I had been saying to myself about my situation, and I determined to try with God's help to speak the truth to myself.  I started with, "I know I am a sinner.  I know God has saved me from my sin.  I know God is the only perfect Person I know. I know that I have been blaming other imperfect people for the hurt I am feeling.  I know that my hurt is causing me to feel bitter.  I know that God will forgive my bitterness and free me from it when I ask Him to.  I know that I don't deserve forgiveness, but it has always been given freely to me, and I am commanded to forgive as I have been forgiven.  I know that God can heal the hurt in my heart when He has finished His work in me.  I know that God sees what is happening in my life and will use it for His glory one day."  As I spoke truth to myself, the lies of Satan fell away, and for the first time in a very long time, I began to feel peace.  Our Enemy does not want us to speak the truth to ourselves or to others.  He deceives our minds until our thoughts are confused.  The only place to find the Truth for every situation is in Scripture. When you read God's Word, He speaks the Truth to your heart.

Hear the voice of the Psalmist as he speaks Truth to himself about what God can do..."Who covereth the heaven with clouds, Who prepareth rain for the earth, Who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains.  He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry.  He delighteth not in the strength of the horse:  He taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man.  The LORD taketh pleasure in them that fear Him, in those that hope in His mercy." (Psalm 147:8-11)

Our Almighty God is bigger than the trials and testings of our lives.  He makes provision for even the beasts of the earth that no one will ever see, and He makes provision for us.  His power is so great that the things people take pride in are nothing to Him.  Strength, as in a horse, or the legs of a man, that people esteem so highly, are not as honorable to the Lord as those who fear Him and trust in His mercy.  Speak the Truth to yourself about Him.  Find His Truth in His Word, and let it soothe your soul.  Let the Truth draw praise from your lips...the comely praise of Truth.

3.  Feed your soul.

Our souls, like our bodies, must be fed regularly.  I don't know about you, but what I really like to feed my body is chocolate!  I eat chocolate every day without fail!  I guess I could say it is my comfort food.  I so wish it were as good for me as broccoli is!  If only I could eat all the chocolate I want all the time, and have it nourish me completely, I would be so satisfied!  But we all know that isn't true.  As much as I would like to nourish myself with chocolate, I would be a very weak, unhealthy person if that is all I ever ate.

My sweet friends, our souls must be nourished with more than the pleasures the world offers.  The world would feed our souls with humanistic philosophy, man-centered thinking, that lifts us up and makes us proud and self-satisfied, but later we find ourselves weak and unnourished and empty.  Only God's Word feeds us with the Heavenly nourishment we need to be the strong, faithful Christian God wants us to be.

The Psalmist concludes chapter 147 with these verses:  "Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise thy God, O Zion.  For He hath strengthened the bars of thy gates; He hath blessed thy children within thee.  He maketh peace in thy borders, and filleth thee with the finest of the wheat.  He sendeth forth His commandment upon earth:  His Word runneth very swiftly.  He giveth snow like wool:  He scattered the hoarfrost like ashes.  He casteth forth His ice like morsels:  who can stand before His cold?  He sendeth out His Word, and melteth them:  He causeth His wind to blow, and the waters flow.  He sheweth His Word unto Jacob, His statutes and His judgments unto Israel.  He hath not dealt so with any nation:  and as for His judgments, they have not known them.  Praise ye the Lord."

His commandment...His Word...His statutes...His judgments...These are all descriptions of God's Word, the Bible.  The Psalmist recognized the power in the Word of God, and when he saw God's power in God's Word, he praised Him.

When you feed your soul with the Living Word, you find a precious secret.  The Word which nourishes you like broccoli tastes as sweet as chocolate.  Only God can make something so nourishing taste so sweet.  His wonderful Words of Life feed and nourish and strengthen and comfort.  I need it every day, and so do you.  Feed your soul until it is full of the goodness of God, and praise Him!