all we have is each other

There was a time in high school where I was at a fellowship and two women were up front. The one was introducing the other right before her teaching.  Normally, we just say, “Now, teaching on ……….. is …………”  Well this woman said, “Our teacher this morning is a wonderful woman of God…” and continued describing her beautiful qualities.  The last thing she said was, “And in her tongue truly is the law of kindness.”  Then said her name. 

Proverbs 31:26

This woman really did let kindness rule her tongue.  Some synonyms for kindness are:  compassion, generosity, forebearance, heart, thoughtfulness, and tenderness.   

As a young girl I thought, “Wow, I wonder if anyone will ever say that about me!”  That seemed like such a high goal to attain.  

We can and should, no matter our age, open our mouths with skillful and godly wisdom and allow kindness to dominate our words.  Our words are very powerful, what and how we speak can make or break a situation.  Proverbs 18:21 “Death and life are in the power of the tongue.”

How God would have us to speak: 

Ephesians 4:29 and 31

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. 

Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 

Our words should minister grace. 

When we speak corrupt communication, we are giving the adversary real-estate to build on. What are some examples of corrupt communication?  Speaking negatives, gossip, backbiting, criticizing, complaining...speaking something about another that you would not say in from of that person.  

Backbiting hurts the whole function of the body.  Say in my eyes, someone was rude to me.  I go and talk to someone else about it then that person is left to deal with having that view of the other person.  I have just helped to ruin that person’s reputation.  And that person probably didn’t even mean to offend in the first place.  

John Wesley’s commentary 1 Corinthians 13

This "love covereth all things:" Because the merciful man rejoiceth not in iniquity, neither does he willingly make mention of it. Whatever evil he sees, hears, or knows, he nevertheless conceals, so far as he can without making himself "partaker of other men's sins." Wheresoever or with whomsoever he is, if he sees anything which he approves not, it goes not out of his lips, unless to the person concerned, if haply he may gain his brother. So far is he from making the faults or failures of others the matter of his conversation, that of the absent he never does speak at all, unless he can speak well.

We can get to the point where we can overlook mistakes and literally never be ciritical of others.  

There is great power in loving people.  

My husband used to teach about raw love.  It is untouched and unmatched in purity and quality.  You take everything away expect for love.  All you’re left with is God and His Word.  That's raw love.  And that's how we can see our brothers and sisters in Christ, as God sees them.  

Speaking ill of others is something that most people do without thinking about it.  It's apart of our old man.  I know sometimes I say something and after realize the weight of those words.  But we can form the habit of consistently building up rather than tearing down.  This of course, begins in your mind.

We can let the words of our lips be governed by the principle:  Are the thoughts that I am thinking build up or tear down who this person is in Christ? 

We simply cannot afford to let evil thoughts fester. Holding onto these thoughts only causes bitterness to germinate.

Bitterness is not in the genetic make-up of a disciple.   

Hebrews 12:15 (just read)

Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.

“Springing up” means to germinate.  Bitterness starts and grows when we let our thoughts run out of control. 

Even if someone legitimately wronged us, we are still exhorted by God to forgive.  Hoarding those feelings only makes the situation worse. 

The adversary loooooves to put wedges between believers.  What is important to remember is that we all play for the same team.  Whether we "like" or "dislike" another in the household, its important to just love them no matter what, even if you feel they have wronged you.  Because as Dr. Weirwille said, after God and His Word...all we have is each other.  

Freedom

I work at Michael's craft store 15-20 hours a week.  There is a gentleman there who cleans floors, windows, bathrooms, etc.  This guy has always stood out to me and I knew I should witness to him but an opportunity never opened up.  Well, that changed today.

I was on my break toward the end of my time there and he came in to clean the break room.  After some small talk, I was able to share with him why I moved to Columbus.  I told him I have been wondering if he was a Christian.  He told me he doesn't always do Christian things but he is a big believer in God.  He continued to share with me that he believes his actions on earth will result in where your 'soul' ends up after you die--in heaven or hell.  I quoted to him Romans 10:9...

"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."

He said, "Well, I really believe that!"  

"Well then you know where you're going.  You are saved and are going to heaven."  I responded.  

He looked at me a little confused so I expounded by telling him that the born again seed is incorruptible and cannot be taken away.  Just like my son will always be my son by seed no matter if he obeys me or not, we will always been a child of God no matter what we do.  We will always be saved.  

He patted his eyes and walked out of the room because he was getting choked up.  When he came back, he told me that he has always been a believer and a good person.  That was a huge concept for him to understand from God's Word.  

I wrote Romans 10:9 out for him along with my number and The Way's website and told him that God cares for him and wants him to know the truth.  He gave me a hug and went home.  I went back to work with a HUGE smile on my face.  It's crazy to me how the simplest truths I have been taught as a child are literally freeing to people.  

Real Life.

This was the fellowship before Rev. Greene's visit.  We played

 "Book of Acts Jeopardy"--So much fun!!

On Thursday Rev. Greene came to Columbus to witness with us and teach at our fellowship.  Just as expected, we had an amazing time!  I was blessed to be the one who got to go witnessing with him.  What a time to learn and develop outreach skills.  We walked up to Columbus State University (our focus for the month) and witnessed to a good number of people.  We got everyone's contact information expect one who was in a hurry.  The main principles I learned were to not be ashamed of the truth you know and TEACH the Word you know!  He was certainly not shy to teach the people we spoke to.  It reminded me of Romans 1:16a

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is in the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth. 

God's Word is God's Word--plain and simple.  There is one way to rightly divide the truth, every other dividing of it is not truth.  

Rev. Greene taught fellowship that night and we had 16 new people come.  He taught the Word like you wouldn't believe!  He shared why our ministry is here in Columbus (1 Timothy 2:4) and that there are over 4,000 denominations in the world today due to man's opinion.  He held up his Bible and said, "If it's not in here, I don't want to do it!"  He taught the record in Luke 5 about Jesus Christ telling Simon Peter to cast his nets (plural) into the sea.  Peter only cast one net in.  He "knew" what would happen because had been fishing all night and hadn't caught any fish.  He didn't put forth the energy to believe to catch anything so he didn't obey.  As a result, his net broke.  Rev. Greene taught that you can obey God's Word and enjoy the abundance God has just WAITING for you...or you can spend your life stitching up your net.  

It was an amazing teaching...it's difficult to even convey the greatness of what he shared.  God never forces anyone to believe but the benefits of knowing God's rightly divided Word comes when appropriate believing action follows the hearing of the Word.  

Jack wanted to drink the rest of Rev. Greene's water.  Cute cute.

DISCIPLE

John 8:31b and 32

"If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed.  

And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

A disciple is a disciplined one. 

Know-to know by experience or EFFORT

 In order to enjoy the freedom that comes with knowing the Word, 

we actually need to be disciplined to the Word.  

Since Brent and I started our Way Corps program, we have been memorizing different scriptures that correlate to the Way Corps principles (there are five principles and 5-6 verses for each one).  The third Corps principle is "Utilize physical discipline making your physical body the "vehicle" of communication of the Word, as vital as possible."  Throughout my life I have known about Corps principle 3 (aka CP3) because my parents are Way Corps minsters.  I've heard them talk about it often in regards to setting time aside to fulfill their CP3 for the week.  Well, now that I am going through the same leadership program, I am experiencing the practicality of this principle.

 

During our candidate year, a Way Corps minister told me the physical discipline required in this principle carries over to daily life--being in control of your body, your words and your actions.  Very quickly after hearing this enlightening statement, I got more disciplined with my exercising.  I would plan out my distance to run and even though many times I wanted to stop I would tell myself "Way Corps don't do something because they 'feel like it.'  I can do this, so I'm going to do it!"  My endurance grew by leaps and bounds.  Even though I gained distance in running, I mainly noticed my endurance in daily life.  Particularly after very long and busy days, when I didn't want to do anything for anyone else, something would come up requiring more energy (often it had to do with my little guy).   It's so important to remember that our potential is Christ's potential.  When I can't do something, the Christ in me can.  God gives us what we can handle and we can do it with a thankful heart and perseverance to see the goal accomplished.   

So there have been different things in my life that haven't been a blessing to me.  I kept taking in this negativity until one day I thought, "What am I doing??  How is this helping me focus on Way Disciple??"  The answer is...it wasn't!  I cut out numerous distractions that were adding negativity to my life or that were simply taking up too many thoughts in my mind.  I can't say this has been the easiest thing to do but because I have spent so much time disciplining my mind in other areas of life (exercise and CP3), it isn't the hardest thing in the world.  It is so cool to see these Way Corps principles come to life and benefit different areas of need.  

Proverbs 13:19 says, "The desire accomplished is sweet to the soul."

I have certainly experienced that sweet victory as I continue to discipline my mind to the Word of God and the framework of this awesome program!

The Father's Love

Life is a learning adventure.  The Way Disciple program is the 

fast track of learning about the practicality of God's Word.  

God is good always and wants the best for His children.  I was talking to a girl the other night and she told me that her husband can't comprehend why God brought an illness into his grandmother's life.  I told her that I also would not be able to comprehend it if I believed that God was the source of good AND evil.  I wrote down some verses to give her husband. One was of course, John 10:10:

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

There are two forces at work in the world.  God, who is all good and all love, wants for His children to have the more than abundant life.  A life free of sickness, hurt, and disappointment.  The devil, our opponent, wants to steal our believing--pull it right out from under us, kill our love--so we miss out on those eternal rewards, and destroy the hope--to the point that we don't even think about it.  I never understand how anyone could trust in a God that they believes bring harm to them.  That doesn't make much sense to me.  One point I always bring up is the fact that I am a mother with an 18 month old child who I would literally die for.  There is nothing in the world I wouldn't give him if it was in my power to give.  I would also never put him in a situation to get hurt just so he can "learn a lesson."  Why would God do that to His children?

The last couple of weeks I have seen the contrast of darkness and light.  Seeing the evil out there, you know what this makes me want to do??  It makes me want to do exactly what I am doing right now...going out every day for hours telling people of God's goodness, grace, and love for their lives.  It makes me want to sit down with just one person and show them from God's Word HOW to see His power in their life.  No matter how ugly the world gets, God stays the same. 

The other night at fellowship, I felt like the weight of the world was on me.  During manifestations, Brent called on our branch coordinator (who was visiting our fellowship) and the first thing she said was, "My dear children, I love you."  I haven't cried during manifestations since college but hearing those words spoken with so much peacefulness and assurance made me cry.  That is all we need--the Creator of the heavens and earth loves ME!  His deepest desire is for me to truly know Him, which is to experientially know His love.  Being "out on the front lines" (as people like to say about Way D's) shows me the distinct contrast of "to steal and to kill and to destroy" and "LIFE and that they might have it MORE ABUNDANTLY!"  

Ohh, The Places We'll Go!

This is from my teaching last night on "An Overview of the Places in Acts."  We went through the book of Acts to see the 4 major outreach centers:  Jerusalem, Antioch, Ephesus, and Rome.  My main focus was that we have the same doctrinal framework and the same spiritual abilities--The Word can move just like it did back then. 

So we read the last two verses in Acts then continued reading in Acts 29....

"And there was at Georgia in Columbus a certain committed few, abiding thence in the Hills of Club and Hardaway (the name of our apt complex).  There gathered together in one accord were Brent and Kathryn, Jack Isaac, Lindsey Ann of Little Rock, Abigail of Appleton, Chase and Abra Honeycutt from the land of Texas, Mike whose sirname was Reeves, the one they called AJ, along with Jeff , Jana, Tabitha and John the brother of David.

They went about to every place declaring glad tidings of good things. Moving from apartment to apartment, dodging the town guards, and shining brightly for all to see.   They increased in boldness and spoke to all who would and would not listen.  Throughout all their days, they moved with believing for to see God’s power manifested.  They lived with understanding that it is God which worketh in them; that they are witnesses of God’s prevailing might!  God worked in them and with them as they accomplished their goal of making a reality what others called impossible. They showed many signs, miracles, and wonders to the people of Columbus and filled to capacity that town with God’s Word.  They continued to Fort Benning and Phoenix City, once they were unleashed unto them, and all the land was claimed for the one, true God!"

Another main point was that we manifest the Christ within by way of speaking in tongues (1 Cor 12:6-11).  That is our proof in the senses realm that we are born again and can do what they did in the book of Acts.  When it comes to spiritual matters, we don't need to "take it by faith."  God wants us to be fully aware of what we have in Christ. 

Abi and I witnessed to a military guy while going door to door in our neighborhood.  He didn't seem interested at first but I invited him the next day anyway.  He has come to every fellowship since then.  Last night he told us that he wanted to speak in tongues so he could have proof that he was born again.  I took him outside and we talked for a long time about that topic.  We gave him the green book to read more about it.  He didn't want to do it in front of me because he felt embarrassed.  This afternoon I hear a knock at the door and within 2 minutes our faithful neighbor tells me all about his night of SIT.  

This was soooo awesome for many reasons.  One personal blessing is that I had written in my Way Disciple goals that I wanted to lead someone into SIT outside of the class.  I didn't think it would be in the first 3 weeks!  I can't wait to see what else God has in store for us. 

Job Hunting

*Chase and Abra following up on jobs*

The first day after we got here we went out looking for jobs.  It was a huge believing adventure.  We applied EVERRRYYYWHERE!  It really doesn't matter where we work, we just need at least 20 hours a week at minimum wage....ahh the beauty of budgeting.  It took us some time to all get employed.  A couple guys in our group were the first to get jobs.  Oddly enough, it was at Victoria's Secret.  All the girls in the group will be taking full advantage of this discount.   

The rest of us got jobs at different locations...McDonald's, La Quinta hotel, Michael's, Shogun, Charlotte Russe, Starbucks, and Chick-Fil-A.  Brent and I are so thankful because he is able to work full-time at his job...McDonald's :).  Once he got those hours we decided I would just stay home with Jack.  While I have loved staying at home with him for the last 18 months, I was sort of looking forward to getting a job.  I guess God knew that because the next day Michael's called me and offered me a part-time position.  They are very flexible with my schedule and are giving me the hours I want.  It will only be around 15 hours a week, which is perfect for me and our family.  God is good.  

This was our verse to claim while we searched diligently for jobs...

"Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it."  

-1 Thess 5:24