But how, Lord?

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Psalm 32:8

Have you ever been prompted by God to do something but you didn’t know HOW to do what you know He is asking of you? I have.

I remember times praying, “Lord I want to do what You are asking but I don’t know how. It is as if You are asking me to speak Yiddish – a language I do not speak.”

I remember a time my husband and I were having a conversation with a Colony graduate and his wife.  He had struggled since shortly getting out of the program, relapsing for long periods of time.  This went on for years.  During our conversation he said, “People tell me the answers are in the Bible, but where?  I don’t see them. HOW do I do it?”

What is God asking you to do that you are just not sure HOW to do?

Abide in me and I in you…[i]  Yes Lord, but HOW?

Put off your old self… put on your new self…. [ii] Yes Lord, but HOW?

Forgive one another…[iii]  Yes Lord, but HOW?

Love your enemies…[iv]  Yes Lord, but HOW?

Pray without ceasing…[v] Yes Lord, but HOW?

Live in unity…[vi] Yes Lord, but HOW?

Wives, submit to your own husbands...[vii]  Yes Lord, but HOW?

Pray in spirit and in truth…[viii] Yes Lord, but HOW?

It doesn’t matter WHAT it is on your list but you may have something that you just are not sure HOW to obey.

I don’t have the answers for what it is in your life; I’m working on the HOW questions in my own life, but this I know…

1. God wants us to know HOW to do what He is asking. He is NOT holding out on us.
2. God has not, does not and will not forsake us. (I will never leave you nor forsake you – Hebrews 13:5) He will not leave us on our own to figure life out.
3. God will direct our steps. (Don’t skim over this because it is so familiar – Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6)
4. Our journey is a faith journey – it relies on the leading and power of the Holy Spirit. (I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.Galatians 2:20)
5. I believe that God honors a heart-felt desire to obey, and our genuine efforts to do so, even if we stumble and fall. He will pick us up.  (The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand. Psalm 37:23-24)

Don’t give up, Sister. Press in and press on, pursuing what God is asking of you. Ask Him HOW to do what He is asking – He will meet you there.

Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long. Psalm 25:4-5

Blessings,

Diane

Diane Hunt serves part-time on the staff of America’s Keswick providing ministry support from her home in North Carolina. She is also a biblical counselor and women’s event speaker. For more information about having Diane speak at your next event please contact her at dhunt@americaskeswick.org.

[i] John 15:4

[ii] Ephesians 4:22-23

[iii] Ephesians 4:32

[iv] Matthew 5:44

[v] 1 Thessalonians 5:17

[vi] 1 Peter 3:8

[vii] Ephesians 5:22

[viii] John 4:23

 

Even if Not…

The other day I was browsing through my Instagram feed and I saw this shirt that I instantly knew I wanted to buy. It’s a mint green V-Neck and plastered across the front it says: “Even if not, God is still good.” (This is a paraphrase of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego telling the king that the Lord would save them from the fiery furnace. “But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up” – Daniel 3:18).

Wow. Because they truly understood the goodness of the Lord, they refused to bow down to any idol. When we’re looking at biblical characters who were “on fire for God” (no pun intended) we have to look at these three men. Of course they surely desired to be saved from the furnace, and they had such faith that they would, but they were also content in saying, “Even if not, God is still good.”

Now let’s look on this with a lesser scale, something that can be more easily applied today. Those three men of course wanted to escape death, but they were completely content in whatever the Lord would choose to do. Are we just as content? I’m not talking about being content with becoming a human martyr, per se, but are we content enough to be able to look life in the eye and say, “even if not, God is still good?” What about when it comes to things we think we “need”? Are we able to take a step back and look at things from a godly perspective instead of a human one?

I think that, because of the battle with the flesh, it’s human nature be hardly content and heartily pursuing “more” or “the next thing.” There are certain things in our lives that we feel we need: “I need a bigger house, I need more money, I need a husband, I need a new phone, I need new clothes!” Humans can be quite needy and quite materialistic, and speaking personally, I know I fall into that category more times than I’d like to admit.

How do we respond when these so-called “needs” aren’t met? When we don’t get more money, when we don’t get a bigger house, when we don’t get what we desire, how do we react? Is our response an angry, frustrated, discontent one – one where we respond based on our emotions – or do we acknowledge our desires and then follow with “But even if not, God is still good?”

Here’s the truth – humans often confuse the words “want” and “need.” My mentor reminded me of this yesterday, and it’s so true: if we really needed what we think we do, God would or will supply it.

And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. (Phil. 4:19)

He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Ro. 8:32)

 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?” – Matthew 6:25-27

There are many things we wish for, some things we think we “need”… but the truth is that Jesus is truly all we need, Amen?!

Erin Culleny serves as a Marketing Assistant and Staff Writer. She loves encouraging women through her Victory Calls and finds such joy in praying for her sisters in Christ. Her favorite activities include reading her Bible, encouraging others with scripture, buying new makeup, buying dresses, and eating at the Cheesecake Factory… In that order!

 

 

Like the Nations

Israel was called out from among the nations to be God’s chosen people – separate, beloved, holy, treasured – led by the King above all kings, yet Israel desired to be like all the other nations.

When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’…  Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah and said to him, “Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint for us a king to judge us like all the nations.”… And they said, “No! But there shall be a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles.” Deuteronomy 17:14; 1 Samuel 8:4, 19-20

They chose to forgo their unique, favored status so they could be more like their worldly counterparts, falling deeply into sin and rebellion.  God gave Israel very specific mandates that they ignored and blended right in with the nations around them.

Crazy, right? Let’s be honest, how are believers different today? In many ways we want to be like our worldly counterparts.  The distance between the church and the world has become narrower and narrower over the last few generations.

Ask yourself the question, “In what ways do I personally stand apart from the world, for the glory of God?” This is not standing apart, arms folded, nose-in-the-air, to appear holier-than-thou. That is NOT Jesus.

Nor am I talking about being quirky or odd, but rather holy, godly, practicing the gifts of the Holy Spirit and manifesting the presence of God in lives lived by faith.  Being a shining light in a dark and broken world.

How do we balance being all things to all people while living as citizens of heaven?

For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them.  To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.  I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings. 1 Corinthians 9:19-23

…having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.… But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. Hebrews 12:13-14, 16; But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, Philippians 3:20

Here are some thoughts to ponder:

1. Am I more influenced BY the world than I am an influence IN the world?
2. Are there ways I am compromising God’s Word?
3. Are there ways I am misrepresenting Jesus?
4. Do I prefer the world’s way?
5. Does my life require reliance on the Holy Spirit or just my own wisdom and strength?
6. Does my life make a difference for Christ in my circle of influence?
7. How does my life point others to Jesus in word, attitude and action?

I invite you to have this conversation with God.

Blessings,

Diane

Diane Hunt serves part-time on the staff of America’s Keswick providing ministry support from her home in North Carolina. She is also a biblical counselor and women’s event speaker. For more information about having Diane speak at your next event please contact her at dhunt@americaskeswick.org.

If you could make one change…

Some time ago, I was reading an article about the benefit of organic choices. One thing it said was, “If you are going to make only one change, start with milk – organic milk.”  So I did. That is the one organic product I fairly consistently purchase with my groceries.

I was thinking recently about what one change a believer could make that would have the greatest impact.  I’m sure others would have different answers but I offer this one…Love.

The two great commandments are basically love God and love others You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Matthew 22:37-39

Christ sums up all the commandments with these two – when all is said and done the law boils down to these two commandments.

• #1 Love God
• #2 Love neighbors

(According to the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10 – our neighbor could be anyone – not just people we know or those living in our neighborhood. Which of these three, do you think, proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.” Luke 10:36-37)

God commands us to love other believers A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. John 13:34 Love the brotherhood. 1 Peter 2:17

• #3 Love the brethren

Jesus goes even further – love your enemies! But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, Matthew 5:44

• #4 Love your enemy

In God’s book (literally) love is right up at the top of His list.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

Love is woven throughout the message of the entire Bible.  From Genesis to Revelation, page after page. It’s there, in attitude, action, and word…LOVE.

What marks the life of a believer more than anything else?  LOVE.  Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 1 John 4:8

Love for God. Love for others. Love for the brethren. Love for enemies.  Love is God’s thumbprint.  As His redeemed ones, His love is to be evident in and through our entire lives.

If you are going to make one change in your life… let it be love.

Blessings,

Diane

Diane Hunt serves part-time on the staff of America’s Keswick providing ministry support from her home in North Carolina. She is also a biblical counselor and women’s event speaker. For more information about having Diane speak at your next event please contact her at dhunt@americaskeswick.org.

Recalibration

In what area of life do you have difficulty believing that God is or will keep His promises?  Oh, we may say, “I know God keeps all His promises” but does our life reflect the reality of that belief?

Recently, I was in a discussion with a group of women and the question was asked: “What does God’s diligent pursuit of Israel teach you about the way He keeps His promises?” This question led to an interesting discussion.

One woman said she was trying real hard to think of a way God had not kept His promises because in her heart she felt like there were times He failed to keep a promise to her.

A second woman said she was feeling that way about a situation in her life but then remembered Scripture that encouraged her heart to view her situation in a different, more biblical light.  Her practical response was rather wise, I think.  She chose to have certain Scriptures come to her phone every morning at 8 am so she could recalibrate her thinking.

Now there are all kinds of apps that will give a verse of the day – and they are great.  By all means use them.

But I think what my friend did was a little different.  She chose certain verses that spoke directly to her heart about her specific situation – that targeted the lie she had been believing.  Daily she is intentionally renewing her mind. Each day her thinking is recalibrated to align with the Truth.

What areas of your thinking need to be recalibrated from a worldly perspective to a godly perspective?

Do you need recalibration regarding your anger?

Do you need recalibration regarding your pride?

Do you need recalibration regarding your sense of loneliness?

Do you need recalibration regarding your discouragement?

Do you need recalibration regarding a heart of bitterness?

Do you need recalibration regarding a judgmental or critical spirit?

Do you need recalibration regarding your church involvement?

The list is different for each one of us.  Where do you need recalibration?  Are you being intentional to align your thoughts with God’s thoughts?  It is not just a matter of rehearsing the Scriptural truths over and over but actually embracing those truths by faith.

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:2

Ready. Set. Recalibrate.

Blessings,

Diane

Diane Hunt serves part-time on the staff of America’s Keswick providing ministry support from her home in North Carolina. She is also a biblical counselor and women’s event speaker. For more information about having Diane speak at your next event please contact her at dhunt@americaskeswick.org.

Expectation – Living Hope

 

Born again to a Living Hope! I Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.  According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

Hope – Expectation of something that is going to happen in the future.  The world’s hope is uncertain.  As we live our lives we may set our hope on having a quiet and peaceful life. Hope for a fun-filled life that may go something like this: I really hope I get ________; ________ this year. This hope is how the world views things.  As believers in Christ, we have a “Certain” hope. Certain means to be free from doubt or reservation; confident; sure to happen!

I Peter 1:4 & 5 “God is protecting our inheritance”; and our inheritance is imperishable, undefiled, kept in heaven for you & me and guarded by God’s power. I don’t know about you, but I want to hold onto the expectation of “my inheritance waiting and being guarded for me in heaven.”

The only thing certain in the world is that we will have suffering. Jesus never said we’d be free of pain and suffering. II Timothy 3:12….we will be persecuted……and in John 16:33….”in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart: I have overcome the world.”

Truth to hold onto:

1) We have a living hope to hold onto in the midst of the storm. “Jesus is our lighthouse.” Be confident, God has our back; I trust Him and because I trust Him, I can rest in Him, I can sleep.

If you have never heard “There’s A Lighthouse” sung by Joyce Hayes, I encourage you do get a copy of the CD by Robert, Joyce & Jordan Hayes. Every time I hear the words “Jesus is our Lighthouse” it brings tears of joy to my eyes because this is certain;

2) We will only face trials that are necessary – What is He teaching me? In shunning a trial we are seeking to avoid it;

3) Our trials will only last a little while. We must have a proper perspective: “God is in it with me – He’s the only one who truly has our back.  When we are in the dark remember the light of God’s Word” – “He is our Lighthouse”.

“When a train goes through a tunnel you don’t toss the ticket, you trust the engineer.” Corrie TenBoom.

Blessings,

Pat Spies

A Servant of the Lord and America’s Keswick Volunteer

 

To Know Him

“You are my witnesses,” declares the Lord, “and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me. Isaiah 43:10

Creator

Sustainer

Infinite

Eternal

Omniscient

Omnipotent

Omnipresent

Self-existent

Almighty

Triune God

The One True God

THIS God invites us to know Him.  In fact, He not only invites us, He desires for us to know Him. Not only does He desire for us to know Him, He makes Himself known.

Throughout Scripture God says, “They shall know I am the LORD.”

God pursued Israel to make Himself known to them.  “I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God.  And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them. I am the Lord their God.” Exodus 26:45-46

God seeks to make Himself known to the nations.  “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” Psalm 46:10

God makes Himself known to us.

…that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God… Ephesians 3:16-19

God not only makes Himself known to the Nations, He makes Himself known to you, personally. He makes Himself known to me, personally.

Is our knowledge of God increasing?  Is our love for Him growing?  Don’t be satisfied with just knowing God unto salvation, but eagerly pursue a flourishing, ever-increasing, growing, personal knowledge of Almighty God.

May I suggest just 2 ways to do that?

1. Be in the Word – God makes Himself known through the written word (Bible) and the Living Word (Jesus) – immerse yourself in both.
2. Be hyper-observant – be consciously alert and aware to the hand of God working in your midst. Be intentional to take notice of the Glory of God manifested in your life and the lives of those around you.

This pursuit will yield glorious fruit in our lives. As we grow in our knowledge of God, our love for Him will grow as well. As our love for Him grows it will overflow to a fallen, hurting, broken world. And we shall be His witnesses…

Blessings,

Diane

Diane Hunt serves part-time on the staff of America’s Keswick providing ministry support from her home in North Carolina. She is also a biblical counselor and women’s event speaker. For more information about having Diane speak at your next event please contact her at dhunt@americaskeswick.org.

Anger vs. Hatred

I am currently reading a book by Ed Welch, “A Small Book About a Big Problem[i]” It has 50 short meditations about Anger.  A few days ago I read this quote from Day 10: Blind Spots …

“In our anger, we think we see clearly—-much clearer than most people. We are certain that we are right and just. All we see is our rightness and someone else’s injustices done against us. But the evidence is that anger and hatred are the same thing with two different names, and hatred is blinding.

But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. (1 John 2:11)”

Did that statement and Scripture stop you in your tracks like it did me? Hatred?

I find I use the word hate more casually. I hate waiting in line. I hate it when I can’t sleep. I hate snakes.  But hate a person?

Jesus, in His sermon on the mount told His listeners,

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother is liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ Will be liable to the hell of fire.” Matthew 5:21-22

Jesus takes anger very seriously and makes the connection between anger and murder. He is moving His listeners and us from thinking of just the letter of the law to the deeper heart and spirit of the law.

We may not have broken the letter of the law, but dare I say, we have all broken the spirit of the 6th commandment innumerable times.

In our anger, we hate.

In our hatred, we are blind.

In our blindness, we fail to see, accept and own our own personal offense to Almighty God.

That gives me pause.

How destructive is our anger? Very.

It doesn’t have to be explosive anger to be destructive, it can be an underlying simmering anger, bitterness. None of us are 100% free of anger, so we all fall somewhere along the continuum.

Rather than thinking of anger as a minor character flaw or just-being-human, perhaps we need to start thinking of it for what it is. Hatred.

In every area of our heart where anger lingers, hatred lingers.

In every area where hatred lingers, love is absent.

Where love is absent, we are not walking in Christlikeness.

If this is true, then one way to combat anger is to replace it with love.

Impossible?

Not by the grace of God and the power of His indwelling Spirit.

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.  And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. Colossians 3:12-14

Blessings,

Diane

[i] Edward T. Welch, A Small Book about a Big Problem: Meditations on Anger, Patience, and Peace. New Growth Press. 2017.

Diane Hunt serves part-time on the staff of America’s Keswick providing ministry support from her home in North Carolina. She is also a biblical counselor and women’s event speaker. For more information about having Diane speak at your next event please contact her at dhunt@americaskeswick.org.

 

Happiness is a Choice

 

I once read a devotion that talked about happiness being a choice. So I sat for a while and realized that I choose happiness every day. When I first awake and I start to journal, I thank the Lord for a beautiful day. Now I don’t really know what the weather will be like or what kind of day it will be, but I choose to beeline to “it is a beautiful day!” Every day is a beautiful day because it’s a day to be with my husband, talk to my kids, help a friend, cry with someone who is hurting, laugh with someone, or just be still and enjoy God’s presence. It’s all about how we look at things.

My husband has been having medical issues and we have gotten some results. Some people find it funny that our reaction to certain results is, “well, it’s only… but we know it could be worse.” We choose to see our glass 1/2 full not 1/2 empty. God never promised easy living – He promised to never leave us and He promised to fill us with joy. You can’t live an abundant life if you don’t choose happiness – choose to see the joy in each moment. My prayer is that you choose happiness no matter your circumstance.

Robbin Weinhardt is a Part-Time Dining Room Hostess and a Women of Character graduate. She is married to Ray Weinhardt, who works in our kitchen and is a Colony of Mercy Graduate.

What’s on the Inside?

As the season changes, my Facebook feed is filling up with pictures, some funny, some not so funny, referencing the “need” to get rid of the extra winter pounds that we may have put on. I am guilty….again! But while most of us take great care and concern for the outside image, do we portray how well are we taking care of the inside?

Matthew 23:26-28  talks about when the Pharisees were more concerned with the outside than the inside. “You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”  We desire to fit in our summer clothes, we strive to do our spring cleaning, but how seriously do we take the sin that comfortably resides in us?

It is hard work to clean the outside but so much harder to get the inside ship-shape!

Take a quiet moment today to deep clean the inside. Take in the Word of God and let it deep clean the areas that have been neglected, perhaps for far too long. Sit at Jesus’ feet and listen to what He will tell you needs to be removed. Allow Him to wipe everything clean. While this may seem overwhelming, as most cleaning projects are, He is faithful.    1 John 1:9 says, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Any cleaning project makes us feel good. It’s a great accomplishment to drop a few pounds, clean a closet or wash some windows. How much better will it be for you and me if we are washed on the inside?

Blessings,

Kathy

Kathy Withers is on staff at America’s Keswick and serves as Director of Partner Care. Kathy has been married to her husband Dave for 30 years. They have two adult children. Kathy is active in her local church and teaches a Bible study for women. Her passion is to encourage women to deepen their walk with Jesus Christ by finding and living out the truths of God’s Word.