A Real Conundrum

Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.

~ 1 Cor. 10-12 

You would think that much of my time is spent helping others see their positioning / standing within the things going on in their lives. However, the largest part of my days are actually spent making sure I am positioned and standing......not by my own strength - God help me if I ever feel so secure that I omit this!

Obviously we all have problems, real or perceived. And I am sure it comes as no surprise that it would be unusual for someone to come to me saying "I have a problem; and I am the problem. Can you help me?". Another commonality I find is that most problems are not yet real. What I mean is, the problem that IS real is the panic building in their mind and anxiety in their heart because they perceive they are not going to get something they desire, or be able to prevent an undesired thing from happening. Helping people comprehend that what we think or feel can be distorting reality can be a real conundrum!

Fortunately or unfortunately, I am no different from those I support, when it comes to finding areas where our human nature can override spiritual truths we believe. These distortions in perception are what cause our conflicts - both with others and internally. For instance when a woman comes to me very hurt and conflicted. She tells me she is devastated, heart broken, because her spouse isn't "loving" toward her and she doesn't understand because all her efforts are to make sure they have a strong loving relationship.. But, when I ask her how she is responding to him and she tells me she is stone walling him: hasn't cook dinner and has hardly spoken to him since yesterday. It is obvious there is spiritual, personal and relational perspectives needing reconciliation before we discuss anything else..

Have you ever noticed that we can be truly correct in our truth, but fully incorrect in our standing, or how we carry it out. The conundrum is: how can I be trying to obtain love, working hard toward making opportunities for love and then ending up without "feeling" loved? The problem isn't Love, nor is our biggest problem "how our spouse is acting". The problem is we want something for our self; it is about me, not about them. Do you see that? When we do not get what we want, we will utilize whatever ammunition is at our fingertips to motivate the other person to move toward what we want.. Sadly, God's will is a easy reach to manipulate people. We will discuss this another time.

So how would the conversation go with her, you ask? Usually, I would ask her if she has wondered if her spouse felt loved by her; and not generically, but by her actions. We would discuss how wanting to "be loved" is certainly not the same thing as "desiring to be in a loving relationship". Ending with reading the letter of James, focusing on chapter 4 would be a wonderful place to open up conversations of what she sees happening in herself, her husband, their relationship with God and each other. .

The bottom line here is this: When we say we are not being loved, are we consistently being loving? Do we, will we, take a pause to think about Love before we act / react? I do not know too many people who think they won the Spousal Lottery 24/7 , but please do not live as though they did with you or me. We all are standing on shaky ground, even on a good day. But I praise God that He is able to make us stand when we depend on Him to deal with our little self made conundrums.

Remember, it is all in how you look at things; get yourself out of the way and you can see a much larger picture!

I pray to make it through the end of this day without tripping over myself and I pray the same for you. And I ask that we can see from His perspective instead of our small view.


- In Christ,

Kisses,
C

For more on this topic:
What Do You See
Your Doing It Wrong
How Long Can This Go On

© 2018 by Candace Huffmaster

 Kaleidoscope Butterfly, Inc ®

Quitters Do Not Get the Best....the One Behind Them Does

.....once you have overcome ALL obstacles, you will be ABLE to stand YOUR ground.  So then, TAKE YOUR STAND!  /Ephesians 6: b13, 14

We must honestly look at WHY we do not receive the best thing.  Not that what we choose to take is unacceptable; it is simply a lesser thing.  The ONLY reason is we chose to give up or gave it over to something / someone else.  This is what Ephesians 6 is speaking of:

This is not a wresting match against a human opponent. We are wrestling with rulers, authorities, the powers who govern the world of darkness, and spiritual forces that control evil in the heavenly world.  For this reason, take up all the armor that God supplies.  Then you will be able to take a stand during these evil days.  Once you have overcome all obstacles, you will be able to stand your ground.  So then take your stand!  Fasten truth around your waist like a belt.  Put on God's approval as your breastplate.  Put on your shoes so that you are ready to spread the Good News that gives peace.  In addition to all these, take the Christian faith as your shield.  With it you can put out all the flaming arrows of the evil one.  Also take salvation as your helmet and the word of God as the sword that the Spirit supplies.

People are given choices and free will can change the course of their and others lives.  Usually an impulsive blurted out decision has no wisdom involved only emotions.  Usually selfish, impulsive, hurt angry emotions.  Life is not always fun.  Life is not always easy.  But God IS always merciful, gracious and just. 

God does not want His children to be immature spoiled selfish brats any more than we human parents do.  So having us face the painful consequences of our growth process is something He allows us, as well as those our impulsivity affects, to suffer through.  His hope is that if we keep going and alienating others we will have no where to turn to except His loving arms.  So let me ask, do you stop people from feeling healthy pain.  If so please try to refrain from stopping God's child from developing at the rate He desires.  Then maybe.....just maybe they will get a belly full and make some healthy choices. 

There is also the problem for the quitter, who in frustration backs their self into a corner with an empty threat.  What then?  If they cannot provoke the response they are prodding for, their pride forces them to BE a quitter.  If the person has any maturity about them what-so-ever, they will do the difficult thing - drop their ugly pride and NOT fulfill their mistaken decision.  However, if the other parties are respecters of free will, no matter what they feel they will not take that persons choice from them.  Which means the other person is forced to abandon pride replacing it with humility in order to restore the relationship.  This is what God desires.  God is a respecter of Free Will which is why we must come to Him.  He already said He loves us unconditionally and the relationship is available even desired. Out of a deep committed love and respect He conditions us. God NEVER wants us to quit just because it's tough. 

Quiting seems like the easy road in the heat of the moment.  However all the road signs are constantly in our face: coward, self loathing, jealousy, coulda- shoulda- woulda till you hit the dead end. This is why God tests us before He places the "precious" into our hands.  Will He find us faithful?

Before you totally trash something you've invested thought effort, time and your heart into......pause..
That is what God did He promises not to trash you, me or anyone else.  He said He will not cut out time short and He will continue to be faithful to us as we Trip, Flail, Fall and Fly.

So Today, give it another shot - all's not lost! Don't be a quitter - be one that when you've done all to stand...STAND and fight the good fight - In Jesus Christ.

Kisses
Candace

Smote and a Mirror

We have all heard the phrase “smoke and mirrors” which we know is distortion of reality to trick our brain into seeing unrealistic images and come to an altered final understanding.  We see that Satan smote Job with painful sores now.  Job had a very strong faith, his heart and mind were set on God.  Like many of us when we become physically weary our mind starts to weaken, our heart does not seem to have the same firm hold on our hope does it?  In my opinion Satan used his power to smote Job as a form of smoke and mirrors.

In Luke chapter 11 where we stopped yesterday, we have to believe Jesus must have been getting a bit tired he had been preaching, teaching and standing strong against the critics.  When, bless her heart, a woman blurted out to Jesus “ Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts which You nursed!”  To which Jesus stated, “On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”  The crowd doesn’t do anything but pick up at this point.  And Jesus continues by saying, “This generation is a wicked generation; it seeks for a sign and yet no sign shall be given to it but the sign of Jonah.”

Jonah did something spectacular, he walked through the streets and spoke the truth of God to people God called child like: not knowing the difference between right and wrong.  When they repented and turned to God so that they could be saved and all might go well with their soul,  Jonah was angry.  Guess what God used to get Jonah’s vision corrected – Smote and a Mirror.  Unlike satan, God allows us to feel things and then gives us a mirror to see ourselves in light of our new information.  He is interested in our very life….forever. 

So now, back to Job.  At the closing of scene 2 there were these 3 men who were fairly close to Job, probably from a congregation or community and they had all received an accurate report of the situation.  They decided to come and show compassion to him because they had pity for him.  However, upon arriving the scene must have been so much worse than they anticipated, they basically did the same thing that the King of Nineveh when he heard the truth from Jonah – except in the midst of throwing the ashes and ripping their garments they did not open their mouth to call on God.  Instead they withheld what Job needed most, the word of God being lifted up and poured out to encourage him.  They should have been bringing to remembrance Jobs integrity and character but they just sat there allowing satan to manipulate the false images as well as allow Job more time for his heart and mind to weaken.

In my mind I imagine that satan desired this to take place for 7 days simply to mock God even further, then on the 7th day he must have taken such pride in work of his hands and said it is finished.  Can you imagine how disgusted he was when Job cursed the day he was born and not God?

Think on all this today and write about it.  Reflect on the power of speaking up to affirm our faith in God’s truth so that we are not  overtaken during a spiritual battles leaving us in a worse state than from where we began.  I pray that your spirit prospers even as your soul does and that you will allow this power to flow from your heart, mind and lips unhindered…….for His glory and name sake.

In Jesus Christ,

Kisses,

Candace

Characters and His Cause - And So It Continues

Repost from September 18 2010 in support of Genesis in Chinese Characters

 which is on Ministry in Words page - click their page tab if you have not already read it!

Cause to Continue
(GWT)from Psalms 12 Help, O LORD. No godly person is left. Faithful people have vanished from among Adam's descendants! All people speak foolishly. They speak with flattering lips. They say one thing but mean another. May the LORD cut off every flattering lip and every bragging tongue that has said, "We will overcome with our tongues. With lips such as ours, who can be our master?" "Because oppressed people are robbed and needy people groan, I will now arise," says the LORD. "I will provide safety for those who long for it." The promises of the LORD are pure, like silver refined in a furnace and purified seven times. O LORD, you will protect them. You will keep each one safe from those people forever. Wicked people parade around when immorality increases among Adam's descendants. For the choir director; a psalm by David.
Genesis 2:22 (GWT, NAS)
Then the LORD God formed a woman from the rib that he had taken from the man. He brought her to the man.

The LORD God fashioned F56 into a woman the R63 rib which He had taken from the man, and brought her to the man.

Banah – Hebrew word that we translated into fashioned or formed.

Hebrew Definition:

1. to build, rebuild, establish, cause to continue

2. to build a house (ie, establish a family)

3. to be build

4. to be rebuilt established (figuratively of restored exiles) made permanent

5.to be built up (of childless wife becoming the mother of a family through the children of a concubine)

Through God’s creativity He created life that would procreate living souls and one creation that had this potential as an empowered image of them to co-create living souls with a spirit. This was the reason that none were found suitable.
He required of Adam to subdue all things, tame the creatures use all the resources that God had created for good. God had already set in place all parameters of protection, separation – Adam was supposed to carry out these things as a living image of God. When we look back at the meaning of the rib we can see why he chose the rib and not the thigh bone, for instance. The rib has meaning of marriage, the walls or beams of God temple. God fills the temple Adam takes care of it all and Eve helped to build establish and give Adam a “cause to continue” this good fight.

If we do not respect, uphold, tame all that God has given us we become what destroys it. If you are a man – remember that the woman God gave you is your “Cause to Continue”. Respect God, show Him how much you love Him by protecting your love….your wife. As you will read tomorrow – Adam basically said – I now understand and have a Cause to Fight for this it is now outside me so that I may see. I will leave my mother and father and this love and I will then BE united. That is something larger than me and my “Cause to Continue”
This is my prayer: that we will all learn from Adam and Ever as God tells us this love story and become all that He implores us to be …..for His kingdom and glory.

Sorry that it is not translated as well. I simply do not have that ability :(

However, if I can be of assistance please contact us by post, e-mail or phone.

With the Love of our Christ,
Candace

As Always please let us know your thoughts on what we are studying by commenting!

A Finger, A Hole and A God That Plans Ahead

 Cross Over Troubled Waters

Think about the Gap
        The truly great divide
The one that first crossed over
         The one waving the flag of hope
The one we can now run to
        The one complete and whole
We trusted His bridge would deliver us
         Set our feet on solid ground
We carry their way to cross over
         Following His steps across
When we see the breach before them
         We too must lay ourselves down
Take pause to look all around you
         Listening to hear His prompt
We know someone is searching
         He hears and knows where they are
Your opening may be small now
        But He made you the perfect fit
To hold back the raging waters
         To shine the light on their path

By Candace Huffmaster
2010 © all rights reserved

Devotional by Os Hillman - TGIF
I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before Me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none. – Ezekiel 22:30

The people of Israel fell into sin when they worshiped the golden calf. It would not be the last time God’s people would fall into idol worship. They had forgotten the great things God had done for them. This angered God so much that He was going to destroy the whole nation. Only one thing changed God’s mind in the matter — Moses. Psalm 106:23 says, “…had not Moses, His chosen one, stood in the breach before Him to keep His wrath from destroying them.” Moses was a man willing to stand in the gap, sacrificially, for those who were not deserving of such sacrifice. This sacrificial love by Moses is called for among His people today.

The prophet Ezekiel described another situation in which God’s people fell into sin. God was ready to destroy the nation when He spoke to Ezekiel, asking him if there is a man willing to stand in the gap so that God would not have to destroy His people.

Judah was a man who stood in the gap on behalf of his younger brother Benjamin. Joseph held his brother Simeon hostage as insurance that the other brothers would bring Benjamin to Egypt. Judah had a long history of a me-focused life, but in this instance he came forward to stand in the gap for his younger brother. He responded to the anguish of his father, Jacob, by personally guaranteeing the safe return of both Simeon and Benjamin. Judah’s sacrifice was rewarded (see Gen. 42-43).

Just as Christ did, we are to be those who will stand in the gap on behalf of others who are not aware of their own vulnerable condition. It is a proactive sacrificial position. Who is God calling you to stand in the gap for? Perhaps it is a mate; perhaps it is a coworker who has not come to know the Savior; perhaps it is a wayward child. Are you willing to become the sacrificial offering to God to change His plans of judgment because of your willingness to stand in their place? This is a hard teaching. This is what Jesus did for each of us. When we stand in the place of another, God moves because of our willingness to stand on their behalf. If we don’t, His plans will go forward because He is a righteous and holy God who will honor His own word, even if it means destruction. Are you willing to stand in the breach of the wall for someone today? Perhaps you are the only person who will stand on someone’s behalf.

For more on" standing in the gap " go to top left search box and type in" bridge" or "gap"

I pray today for each of us to request in Christs name that God give the understanding of what all this means so that He may have all of us unified in His Kingdom.

With love,
Candace

Obedience - By Os Hillman

I mistakenly posted this as "obstacles" instead of Obedience when I was loading it onto the web site. I pray that I - we all look at obstacles as opportunities. I know the women in our creative group which has been reading "The Last Lecture" will relate this to Randy speaking of "Walls". As he so insightfully states, "walls are not there to keep us out; they are there to see how badly we want something."

May we all desire Him above all else - therein lye's the ability to persevere with obedience.

In Christ,
Kisses,
Candace


TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1

Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has brought trouble upon this people, and You have not rescued Your people at all. - Exodus 5:23

Have you ever felt that the more obedient you are to following God, the more adversity there is? Moses had been instructed to go to Pharaoh and tell him to release the people of Israel. God had said He was going to deliver the people through Moses. The only problem is that God did not tell Moses at what point they actually would be released. When Moses complained to God, the Lord told Moses that He had to harden Pharaoh's heart in order to perform greater miracles. God was behind hardening Pharaoh's heart. We forget that the king's heart is in God's hand. God had a specific reason for each plague and each delay. God said to Moses,

"I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these miraculous signs of Mine among them that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and how I performed My signs among them, and that you may know that I am the Lord" (Exodus 10:1b-2).

God has a reason for everything He does. These delays were designed to bring greater glory to God and were to be a lasting legacy of God's miracle-working power for generations to come.

When the people were freed, God again hardened Pharaoh's heart to go after them. This action of God to harden Pharaoh's heart was to set the stage for an even greater miracle -- the parting of the Red Sea. The people were angry with Moses for bringing them to the desert "to die." But God said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the Israelites to move on" (Ex. 14:15b). There was only one place to go by this time -- the Red Sea. God parted the Red Sea, and another greater miracle took place.
Moses learned several lessons that each of us must learn. God's promises are true, but His timing is not the same as ours. God always wants greater glory than what we might be willing to give Him. God puts obstacles and adversity into our lives in order to build perseverance and faith. Why has God put the mountain in your life at this time? To demonstrate His power through your life. To show His glory.

Disappointments

TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1 by Os Hillman

Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life. - Proverbs 13:12

Life is filled with disappointments. Many of God's greatest servants experienced deep disappointment in their journeys of faithfulness to God. Joseph, after spending years as a slave and in jail for crimes that he did not commit, revealed deep disappointment when he was forgotten another two years in prison. John the Baptist, when awaiting execution, doubted whether Jesus was, in fact, the Christ because he was sitting there awaiting his death. Elijah, losing all hope and despondent to the point of death, asked God to take his life in the desert; and Peter, who left his fishing business and invested three years of his life only to watch his Savior crucified, wondered whether the purpose of those three years could be justified.

When life doesn't add up, it leaves the heart sick. When we have done all we know to do and the formula has not worked, it leaves us questioning. These are times that try the very souls of men. There is no human sense to be made of it. We are left with a choice: to cling or not to cling. There are times when holding on to our Master's robe is all that we can do. It is all that He wants us to do.

The heights by great men reached and kept
Were not obtained by sudden flight;
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night.
Standing on what too long we bore,
With shoulders bent and downcast eyes,
We may discern-unseen before-
A path to higher destinies!
~Longfellow

There is only one answer to life's disappointments. Like the psalmist, we must "Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will not be shaken" (Ps. 62:5-6).
___________________________________________________________________________

I know for each of us we have lived through many seasons of life.  We have known good times where we had so much joy and peace we felt it could never be snatched away.  However we also have been, or may are right now, in that place where our soul is begging for rest.  It is important to remember that God tells us to receive His promises and gifts.  That takes action by us.  Remember that God tells us to kick the dust from our shoes when we are among those that do not desire to share in the peace we offer and then to "take" our peace with us as we leave.  These are also actions initiated by us.  Christ told many individuals that they were healed by their faith not by rituals done etc.  Again, this is prompted by an action of the individual.

We are constantly reminded of Ephesians 6 with our groups ( go into the archives and or search area and type "stand" for more encouragement).  I prayerthat we all be empowered by His will and that the supernatural presence of His spirit enables our success'. Along with this I am copying Ephesians 6: 14-18 (GWT) this is the action we must take!
With Love,
Candace

So then, take your stand! Fasten truth around your waist like a belt. Put on God’s approval as your breastplate. Put on your shoes so that you are ready to spread the Good News that gives peace. In addition to all these, take the Christian faith as your shield. With it you can put out all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Also take salvation as your helmet and the word of God as the sword that the Spirit supplies. Pray in the Spirit in every situation. Use every kind of prayer and request there is. For the same reason be alert. Use every kind of effort and make every kind of request for all of God’s people.