It's All Grace! James 2:5-7

 Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts?  Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called?  --James 2:5-7

Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna and Mikayla,

You cannot practice partiality and be consistent with calling yourself a Christian. You cannot hold the Christian faith which is centered with the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. God shows no partiality. (See Romans 2:6-16; Romans 10:1-13) See previous study on James. Go James 2:1-4

James asks in verse 5: "Has God not chose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to those who love Him?" He is pointing out their inconsistency. Generally speaking, God has chosen the poor of the world. The have nots. That is not to say that there are not rich people saved but the preponderance of those who come to faith are not rich. When Jesus walked on earth, it was the common people who heard Him. When you look at the ministry of Jesus Christ, without question the great bulk of it was to poor people, people who had little or no resources, humanly speaking.  Our God has a special affection and love for the poor.  James is saying that they are despising the very people God has chosen.  How in the world can you look down on the poor, James says, when God has chosen the poor to be the eternally rich? Not only are they looking down on them...they are despising them! He is telling them that their behavior is very much unlike their Father in Heaven. Uh oh.  There are so many verses in the bible that speak to God's love for the poor as well as His plea for them. (see verses at the end of study)



Salvation is not based on merit but grace.  Ephesians says "for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.  Grace involves God's sovereign choice of those who cannot earn and do not deserve salvation.  (that would be us)   Read what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1.


 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;  and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— that, as it is written, "HE WHO GLORIES, LET HIM GLORY IN THE LORD." 1 Corinthians 1:26-31


 Christ does not choose us because we are wise or rich or for any other quality.  Our God is sovereign.  First Samuel Chapter 2 tells us  He kills and He makes alive.  He brings down to the grave and He brings up. He makes poor and He makes rich.  He brings low and lifts up.  Our God, girls, chooses us based on the decision we make for His Son. He saves those who come to Him, confess their sin and need of a Savior and believe.  He looks upon a broken and a contrite heart— these, the bible says, He will not despise.  The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit.  God promises the kingdom to those who love Him!!!  (See verse 5.) There is the criteria.  Do you love Him?  If you love Him, you will obey Him.  Your actions will follow what your heart believes. 



James points out in verse 6 that their behavior toward the rich was not even appropriate to the reality that they were facing daily.  The people we try to impress, usually are the ones that care the least about us.  The wealthy were, in fact, the very people who the rulers of the Jews used to oppress the Christians and persecute them for their faith. 

And the word of the Lord was being spread throughout all the region. But the Jews stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city, raised up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them from their region.--Acts 13:49-50

Jesus, Himself was poor and a victim of injustice and oppression by the rich religious leaders and rulers of His day. They treated the very ones who slandered and helped crucify Jesus with deference and ignored the poor...the chosen of God.

Girls, we are saved by God's grace alone. To treat those around us based on anything else is utterly and totally inconsistent with the doctrine of grace and with the Lord of glory.  If we really believe that we are saved by grace and it is nothing of ourselves, than that is the basis we will relate to others.  We will be good stewards of the manifold grace He has given us and show His grace to others.  Jesus broke down the wall of separation between the Jew and the Gentile and brought peace. Grace keeps the wall of separation down and provides the opportunity for the Spirit of God to work.  Read the following passage in Ephesians 2 and remember that it is by grace that you yourselves have been saved. 



"Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands—that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.  But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation,  having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,  in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. --Ephesians 2:11-22

Love
Mom



When we love the poor, the weak, the helpless and the unloved around us we reflect the very heart of our God.  Read the verses below.


"Blessed is he that considers the poor, the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble and the Lord will preserve him and the Lord will keep him alive and he shall be blessed upon the earth and thou will not deliver him unto the will of his enemies, the Lord will strengthen him on the bed of languishing, thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness." --Psalm 41
 
"O God, thou hast prepared of Thy goodness for the poor." --Psalm 68:10

"He shall judge the poor of the people. He shall save the children of the needy and break in pieces the oppressor." --Psalm 72:4  I love that...God is the defender of the poor. He meets their need and He goes after their enemies. 

"He shall deliver the needy when he cries, the poor also and him that has no helper. He shall spare the poor and needy and save the souls of the needy."--Psalm 72:12
 
"Whoever mocks the poor reproaches his maker."--Proverbs 17:5

"Whoever stops his ears at the cry of the poor, he shall also cry himself but shall not be heard."--Proverbs 21:13

"He that gives to the poor shall not lack but he that hides his eyes and says, I didn't see that, I don't want to get involved, shall have many a curse. But if you give to the poor you won't lack anything."--Proverbs 28:27 

  "The righteous considers the cause of the poor but the wicked doesn't regard it." He doesn't want to know about it. --Proverbs 29:7
 
"Plead the cause of the poor and needy, plead the cause of the poor and needy."--Proverbs 31:9 

"She stretches out her hands to the poor, she reaches forth her hands to the needy." --Proverbs 31:20
    

The Great Sin by C. S. Lewis

The Great Sin

From Mere Christianity by C S Lewis

I now come to that part of Christian morals where they differ most sharply from all other morals. There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which every one in the world loathes when he sees it in someone else; and of which hardly any people, except Christians, ever imagine that they are guilty themselves. I have heard people admit that they are bad-tempered, or that they cannot keep their heads about girls or drink, or even that they are cowards. I do not think I have ever heard anyone who was not a Christian accuse himself of this vice. And at the same time I have very seldom met anyone, who was not a Christian, who showed the slightest mercy to it in others. There is no fault which makes a man more unpopular, and no fault which we are more unconscious of in ourselves. And the more we have it ourselves, the more we dislike it in others.

The vice I am talking of is Pride or Self-Conceit: and the virtue opposite to it, in Christian morals, is called Humility. You may remember, when I was talking about sexual morality, I warned you that the centre of Christian morals did not lie there. Well, now, we have come to the centre. According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites in comparison: it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind.

Does this seem to you exaggerated? If so, think it over. I pointed out a moment ago that the more pride one had, the more one disliked pride in others. In fact, if you want to find out how proud you are the easiest way is to ask yourself, 'How much do I dislike it when other people snub me, or refuse to take any notice of me, or shove their oar in, or patronise me, or show off?' The point is that each person's pride is in competition with every one else's pride. It is because I wanted to be the big noise at the party that I am so annoyed at someone else being the big noise. Two of a trade never agree. Now what you want to get clear is that Pride is essentially competitive - is competitive by its very nature - while the other vices are competitive only, so to speak, by accident. Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. We say that people are proud of being rich, or clever, or good-looking, but they are not. They are proud of being richer, or cleverer, or better-looking than others. If everyone else became equally rich, or clever, or good-looking there would be nothing to be proud about. It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest. Once the element of competition has gone, pride has gone. That is why I say that Pride is essentially competitive in a way the other vices are not. The sexual impulse may drive two men into competition if they both want the same girl. But that is only by accident; they might just as likely have wanted two different girls. But a proud man will take your girl from you, not because he wants her, but just to prove to himself that he is a better man than you. Greed may drive men into competition if there is not enough to go round; but the proud man, even when he has got more than he can possibly want, will try to get still more just to assert his power. Nearly all those evils in the world which people put down to greed or selfishness are really far more the result of Pride.

Take it with money. Greed will certainly make a man want money, for the sake of a better house, better holidays, better things to eat and drink. But only up to a point. What is it that makes a man with œ10,000 a year anxious to get œ20,000 a year? It is not the greed for more pleasure. œ10,000 will give all the luxuries that any man can really enjoy. It is Pride - the wish to be richer than some other rich man, and (still more) the wish for power. For, of course, power is what Pride really enjoys: there is nothing makes a man feel so superior to others as being able to move them about like toy soldiers. What makes a pretty girl spread misery wherever she goes by collecting admirers? Certainly not her sexual instinct: that kind of girl is quite often sexually frigid. It is Pride. What is it that makes a political leader or a whole nation go on and on, demanding more and more? Pride again. Pride is competitive by its very nature: that is why it goes on and on. If I am a proud man, then, as long as there is one man in the whole world more powerful, or richer, or cleverer than I, he is my rival and my enemy.

The Christians are right: it is Pride which has been the chief cause of misery in every nation and every family since the world began. Other vices may sometimes bring people together: you may find good fellowship and jokes and friendliness among drunken people or unchaste people. But pride always means enmity - it is enmity. And not only enmity between man and man, but enmity to God.

In God you come up against something which is in every respect immeasurably superior to yourself. Unless you know God as that - and, therefore, know yourself as nothing in comparison - you do not know God at all. As long as you are proud you cannot know God. A proud man is always looking down on things and people: and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.

That raises a terrible question. How is it that people who are quite obviously eaten up with Pride can say they believe in God and appear to themselves very religious? I am afraid it means they are worshipping an imaginary God. They theoretically admit themselves to be nothing in the presence of this phantom God, but are really all the time imagining how He approves of them and thinks them far better than ordinary people: that is, they pay a pennyworth of imaginary humility to Him and get out of it a pound's worth of Pride towards their fellow-men. I suppose it was of those people Christ was thinking when He said that some would preach about Him and cast out devils in His name, only to be told at the end of the world that He had never known them. And any of us may at any moment be in this death-trap. Luckily, we have a test. Whenever we find that our religious life is making us feel that we are good - above all, that we are better than someone else - I think we may be sure that we are being acted on, not by God, but by the devil. The real test of being in the presence of God is, that you either forget about yourself altogether or see yourself as a small, dirty object. It is better to forget about yourself altogether.

It is a terrible thing that the worst of all the vices can smuggle itself into the very centre of our religious life. But you can see why. The other, and less bad, vices come from the devil working on us through our animal nature. But this does not come through our animal nature at all. It comes direct from Hell. It is purely spiritual: consequently it is far more subtle and deadly. For the same reason, Pride can often be used to beat down the simpler vices. Teachers, in fact, often appeal to a boy's Pride, or, as they call it, his self-respect, to make him behave decently: many a man has overcome cowardice, or lust, or ill-temper, by learning to think that they are beneath his dignity - that is, by Pride. The devil laughs. He is perfectly content to see you becoming chaste and brave and self-controlled provided, all the time, he is setting up in you the Dictatorship of Pride - just as he would be quite content to see your chilblains cured if he was allowed, in return, to give you cancer. For Pride is spiritual cancer: it eats up the very possibility of love, or contentment, or even common sense.

Before leaving this subject I must guard against some possible misunderstandings:

(1) Pleasure in being praised is not Pride. The child who is patted on the back for doing a lesson well, the woman whose beauty is praised by her lover, the saved soul to whom Christ says 'Well done,' are pleased and ought to be. For here the pleasure lies not in what you are but in the fact that you have pleased someone you wanted (and rightly wanted) to please. The trouble begins when you pass from thinking, 'I have pleased him; all is well,' to thinking, 'What a fine person I must be to have done it.' The more you delight in yourself and the less you delight in the praise, the worse you are becoming. When you delight wholly in yourself and do not care about the praise at all, you have reached the bottom. That is why vanity, though it is the sort of Pride which shows most on the surface, is really the least bad and most pardonable sort. The vain person wants praise, applause, admiration, too much and is always angling for it. It is a fault, but a child-like and even (in an odd way) a humble fault. It shows that you are not yet completely contented with your own admiration. You value other people enough to want them to look at you. You are, in fact, still human. The real black, diabolical Pride, comes when you look down on others so much that you do not care what they think of you. Of course, it is very right, and often our duty, not to care what people think of us, if we do so for the right reason; namely, because we care so incomparably more what God thinks. But the Proud man has a different reason for not caring. He says 'Why should I care for the applause of that rabble as if their opinion were worth anything? And even if their opinions were of value, am I the sort of man to blush with pleasure at a compliment like some chit of a girl at her first dance? No, I am an integrated, adult personality. All I have done has been done to satisfy my own ideals - or my artistic conscience - or the traditions of my family - or, in a word, because I'm That Kind of Chap. If the mob like it, let them. They're nothing to me.' In this way real thorough-going pride may act as a check on vanity; for, as I said a moment ago, the devil loves 'curing' a small fault by giving you a great one. We must try not to be vain, but we must never call in our Pride to cure our vanity.

(2) We say in English that a man is 'proud' of his son, or his father, or his school, or regiment, and it may be asked whether 'pride' in this sense is a sin. I think it depends on what, exactly, we mean by 'proud of'. Very often, in such sentences, the phrase 'is proud of' means 'has a warm-hearted admiration for'. Such an admiration is, of course, very far from being a sin. But it might, perhaps, mean that the person in question gives himself airs on the ground of his distinguished father, or because he belongs to a famous regiment. This would, clearly, be a fault; but even then, it would be better than being proud simply of himself. To love and admire anything outside yourself is to take one step away from utter spiritual ruin; though we shall not be well so long as we love and admire anything more than we love and admire God.

(3) We must not think Pride is something God forbids because He is offended at it, or that Humility is something He demands as due to His own dignity - as if God Himself was proud. He is not in the least worried about His dignity. The point is, He wants you to know Him: wants to give you Himself. And He and you are two things of such a kind that if you really get into any kind of touch with Him you will, in fact, be humble - delightedly humble, feeling the infinite relief of having for once got rid of all the silly nonsense about your own dignity which has made you restless and unhappy all your life. He is trying to make you humble in order to make this moment possible: trying to take off a lot of silly, ugly, fancy-dress in which we have all got ourselves up and are strutting about like the little idiots we are. I wish I had got a bit further with humility myself: if I had, I could probably tell you more about the relief, the comfort, of taking the fancy-dress off - getting rid of the false self, with all its 'Look at me' and 'Aren't I a good boy?' and all its posing and posturing. To get even near it, even for a moment, is like a drink of cold water to a man in a desert.

(4) Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call 'humble' nowadays: he will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person, who is always telling you that, of course, he is nobody. Probably all you will think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him. If you do dislike him it will be because you feel a little envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all.

If anyone would like to acquire humility, I can, I think, tell him the first step. The first step is to realise that one is proud. And a biggish step, too. At least, nothing whatever can be done before it. If you think you are not conceited, it means you are very conceited indeed.

Seeing with the Eyes of Christ

"My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes,  and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, "You sit here in a good place," and say to the poor man, "You stand there," or, "Sit here at my footstool," have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? --James 2:1-4

Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna, and Mikayla,

 Girls, the way we behave in our relationships with others says much about what we believe about God.  Our words and actions will follow what our hearts believe.  This is another one of James' tests.  Are we doing what the Word of God says or is it evident by our actions that we are hearers only?  Do our actions indicate that we want to be identified with the rich, the smart and the well dressed of the world...not the losers?  The irony here is that the people who we try to impress usually care about us the least.   Jesus came as a humble servant born in a feed trough.  He was a Friend of sinners.  He did not condone their sin but had compassion on them. The New Testament tells us that He was not swayed by men because He knew what was in man.  He saw people as sinners in need of a Savior or sheep in need of a Shepherd.   Do our actions reveal to others the mind and heart of our God or do they reveal the evil tendencies of our own heart?

God is impartial and commands us to be, also.

 "For there is no partiality with God."--Romans 2:11


And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear;--1 Peter 1:17


 You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor honor the person of the mighty. In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor.--Leviticus 19:15


You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small as well as the great; you shall not be afraid in any man's presence, for the judgment is God's. The case that is too hard for you, bring to me, and I will hear it.' --Deuteronomy 1:17


Our God does not show favoritism and is not a respecter of persons.  He does not judge us on appearances, social status, abilities, race or any other criteria you can think of.  He judges us according to our works without partiality.  Our God looks at our hearts.  He sees our potential.  God saw a king in a shepherd boy.  He saw a gospel writer in a tax collector.  Jesus, Himself, was despised and rejected and yet He was the very glory of God!  Religious experts of the day rejected Him as God and crucified Him. 


We are all guilty of being judges with evil thoughts...looking at the outward...on the appearance of a man and making assumptions and judgments based on what we see.  We are more likely to help and be kind to someone who is well dressed and smells nice rather than someone who is poor and not so well attired.  We cater to the rich hoping it may profit us.  Jesus did not do this and does not approve of those who do. 


The basis of our relationship with anyone should be the person and work of Jesus Christ.  We need to look at everyone with the eyes of Christ.  What we see will guide our thoughts, words and our actions in His love.  Warren Wiersbe puts it into such practical terms.  If the person is a Christian, we can accept him because Christ lives in him.  If the person is an unbeliever, we can receive him because Christ died for him."  Christ is the link between us and others.  Any other basis is not going to work.


Love,
Mom

My Keeper and My Shade...Psalm 121

I will lift up my eyes to the hills— From whence comes my help?  My help comes from the LORD, Who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel Shall neither slumber nor sleep. The LORD is your keeper; The LORD is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, Nor the moon by night. The LORD shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul. The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in From this time forth, and even forevermore. --Psalm 121

What would I do and how would I cope if the Lord was not my help?  Where would I look? Those thoughts really make me remember what depending on me and the help of the world was like. The thought makes me shudder. Whatever I went through, I went through without Him...lost and alone. The Lord God, my Creator and the Creator of the Universe is my Keeper now.  His protection and care is over me as I journey through this world. I am never alone and nothing can separate me from His love.  Looking at my journey through the eyes of faith, I am already at the finish line.  I am a conqueror through Him who loves me.  My destination is assured.  The trials of this world may hurt but they cannot harm me.  I am His and He preserves me!

His eyes are on me... He watches the path in which I walk and keeps me from stumbling.  He guards and protects me....even while I slumber.   I love that!

My God walks beside me!  He is my shade. He shields me from harm.  Whatever we go through here as we walk in obedience to Him, our God will use for our good and His glory.  He turns the things we think evil into good.  He brings beauty from ashes and transforms our suffering and our trials into joy.  No matter what we go through our God's presence and covering goes with us!  His care surrounds and encompasses us.

My God is concerned with my comings and goings.  He is a God of the details of my life.  I can cast all my daily cares upon Him because He cares for me.  He guides me all day with His counsel and after all my days are complete, He will receive me in glory.  My flesh and my heart fail but God is my strength and my portion forever!  I love what Warren Wiersbe says..."Who can mind the journey when the road leads Home?"

Love
Mom

Sharing in the Fellowship of Christ's Suffering and Jumping for Joy!

Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people's matters. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Now "IF THE RIGHTEOUS ONE IS SCARCELY SAVED, WHERE WILL THE UNGODLY AND THE SINNER APPEAR?" Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.--1Peter 4:12-19

Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna and Mikayla,

Peter begins in verse 12 and 13 by telling us not to think it strange that we are facing a trial "as if some strange thing had happened to us", but instead to expect them and to the extent that we partake of Christ's sufferings...rejoice in them. 

I confess I do not like the thought of expecting trials, but it is a very good admonition.  Trials come...when they catch you off guard they have a tendency to really knock you off your feet.  Expect them and be ready for them.  The best way to do this is to stay close to Jesus and immerse yourself in His word.  Doing this will enable you to be prepared and stand when they do come.

We also need to remember that trials do not just "happen" which means to fall by chance.  ("As though some strange thing had happened to you.")   There is nothing accidental about a trial.  A trial is something that God designs and allows for a believer's testing, purging and cleansing.  If we stay in the moment in trials, we just see the pain and sorrow they bring.  We need to look ahead to what God is going to do in our hearts.  God wants to produce righteousness.  I love what John MacArthur says about righteousness:

"Righteousness is the most glorious thing that you can ever possess and it is the highest and most wondrous thing to enjoy."

Look forward in the trial and see righteousness. God's  desire is for us to be conformed into His image..and in order for this to happen we need to look to Him...to depend on Him...to see our own weakness.  Trials accomplish this. Expect trials and know that they are from Him and will fulfill His purpose in our lives.

Peter goes on and tells us to rejoice in our trials to the extent that we partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, we may also be glad with exceeding joy.  When we suffer for righteousness, we share in the fellowship of Christ's sufferings.  Christ's enemies are still out there and the cross is still an offense. Their hatred is turned on those who preach the gospel...those who have a testimony of His love in their lives.  What a privilege to suffer this way.

Act 5:41  So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.

If you are losing friends, mocked or persecuted for your faith...REJOICE.  You have been counted worthy to suffer for His name.  The bible says that great will be your reward.

 Blessed are you when men hate you, And when they exclude you, And revile you, and cast out your name as evil, For the Son of Man's sake. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets. --Luke 6:22-23


Truly this is also how we get to know our Lord...by walking in the same path that He walked.  The despised and rejected path.  This is when we have the opportunity to follow Christ's example "WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH"; who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously;

 If I suffer for doing what is good and right then I am to rejoice and be glad with exceeding joy!  Remember the cross...the darkest hour of human history became the brightest beacon of hope.  Christ's suffering and death brought about victory and swallowed up death forever.  It bought for those of us who would believe eternal life in Heaven with Him.  Jesus lived glorifying His Father in heaven despising the shame and was given the name above all names and has been exalted above all by His Father. Look ahead in the persecution and suffering to the divine blessings and glory that will be revealed!  Being glad with exceeding joy...means this:  EXULT AND REJOICE...JUMP FOR JOY....WITH A RAPTUROUS JOY. 

Next, Peter says that if we are reproached for the name of Christ, we are blessed! This is not just a "happy" feeling, but a benefit.  Suffering victoriously for Him shows that we have God's approval!  Wow...God's approval. That is WHAT I want! He goes on to say that the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon us and on their part He is blasphemed but on our part He is glorified.  When a believer suffers for righteousness sake, the Spirit of God rests upon Him and strengthens Him to endurance.  I like to think of that approval and strengthening together in this way...I have the light of my God's countenance resting on me and radiating through me....strengthening me for the journey. Read the story of Stephen in the book of Acts...(6:8-7:60)
His life reflects this strengthening beautifully.  Stephen looked to the Lord and was radiant and His face was not ashamed.  Need more...think of Paul.

"And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong." --2 Corinthians 12:7-10

Peter goes on to tell us to evaluate our suffering to make sure we ARE suffering for his sake and not for our own wrongdoings   Do not suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people's matters.

The next two verses say this: "For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Now "IF THE RIGHTEOUS ONE IS SCARCELY SAVED, WHERE WILL THE UNGODLY AND THE SINNER APPEAR?"

 Peter is not talking about condemnation here...he is talking about the purifying of the church.  A believer's trials are ultimately for the purpose of  furthering God's kingdom. How much better to suffer here on earth to grow God's kingdom than to suffer as an unbeliever does....purposelessly here and eternally in hell.  When a Christian experiences a trial, he goes through it with his God's hand of comfort and guidance and even  experiences tastes of glory here on earth.  Eternal rewards and an eternity with Christ await him at the end of his journey.  An unbeliever goes through trials alone here on earth and  faces an eternity of suffering when this life is done.  Whatever they experience here on earth will be the best it gets for them.   If the righteous receive their due here on earth for their sins, and also suffer for righteousness sake, how much more the ungodly and the sinner in eternity.  (See 2nd Thessalonians 1:4-10)


Verse 19 says, "Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator."  Commit your soul to Him in doing good...He is your faithful Creator.  He has your blue prints and knows exactly what you need and can keep you safe.  Nothing happens outside of His awareness and control.   Expect trials, rejoice in them, make sure you are suffering for the right things and finally, put your trust in Him.  Place yourself in the hands of Him who not only made you but the world around you.

Love
Mom







 

Strength in Weakness by Rebecca

“For though He was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you.” – 2 Corinthians 13:4

 

Paul had much to say to the Corinthian church. These believers he wrote to were beloved and precious, but they had so many problems. They were proud. They were contentious. They were immature. They were sinning to the extent that Paul ...challenges them in verse 5, saying, “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.”

Saved is saved. Redeemed is redeemed. Reborn is reborn. Once you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, not even you can take yourself out of His hand. However, because salvation is also a transformation, if the evidences of transformation are not there, it is time to examine whether or not you were ever saved at all. The Corinthians’ behavior was so incongruous to that of a true believer’s that Paul felt it necessary to “stir them up” with this disturbing warning.

Oh, the trouble in the Corinthians’ fellowship. It compelled Paul to write in verses 1-4, “This will be the third time I am coming to you. ‘By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall be established.’ I have told you before, and foretell as if I were present the second time, and now being absent I write to those who have sinned before, and to all the rest, that if I come again I will not spare—since you seek a proof of Christ speaking in me, who is not weak toward you, but mighty in you.”

The more Paul loved the Corinthians, the less he was loved by them. As they allowed themselves to drift away from the truth, they also drifted away from Paul. They questioned his authority. They questioned his love. They questioned his ministry. They deceived their own hearts and allowed false, abusive teachers into their midst. Paul, because of his love for the Corinthians and because of the calling God had placed on his life, could not pretend the problems did not exist. He wasn’t going to take the easy way out. The Corinthians wanted proof of his apostleship? Of his qualification? They were going to get it. Paul did not desire to use such sharpness, but as a loving parent, he would do what was necessary for their edification and not their destruction.

Ultimately, the Corinthians’ problem was simple. Their sin, their pride, their contention, their rebellion, their immaturity, their foolishness – it all stemmed from a common source: un-surrendered wills. Philippians 2:5-8, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”

The mind of Christ was exactly what most of the Corinthians clearly did not exhibit. Jesus emptied Himself, became a man, and surrendered Himself wholly to His Father’s will. He says in John 6:38, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”

Human beings hate surrendering their wills. We hate to consider that we are weak or insufficient. We hate the fact that we have nothing we have not been given. We hate to admit or even realize that we have absolutely no control over the world around us. Instead of willing, joyful surrender to the loving, Creator God whose will is only good, human beings naturally fight him from the moment of conception to the moment of their last breath.

And we crush God’s heart in the process.

The Living God, the Creator God, the one and only God – whose name is Jehovah, the I AM WHO I AM – is the only one who is sufficient of Himself. Nothing fazes Him, nothing is beyond Him, and nothing is greater than Him. He alone is sovereign and in control. But us? Human beings? Any “control” we believe we possess is purely phantasmal and a self-delusion. God gave you the ability to pick up that pencil and apply it to a piece of paper; God can take that ability away. God’s grace permits you to take your next breath; He can withdraw that grace at any given second. I might imagine myself capable of getting up in the morning, beginning the day, and accomplishing this or that, but in reality, there is all but infinity of factors to unbalance that equation: earthquake, injury, illness, weather, another person, etc., etc. Trials are multipurpose, but one major objective is to yank the rug out from under our feet and remove the harmful delusion of sufficiency or control. Such a fantasy is an immense roadblock to eternal salvation, and it is a millstone that drags so many souls down to the depths of damnation.

“But Jesus answered again and said to them, ‘Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.’” (Mark 10:24-25)

If you are rich in yourself, you will not seek the true riches of God. You will deceive yourself into trusting in your own ability, strength, and sufficiency. It was this willful blindness that condemned the self-righteous Pharisees. No one is sufficient of themselves. We are all weak, needy, and powerless. If you do not surrender to the Lord who gave His life for you, then by default, your soul is enslaved to the prince of the power of the air, and you will share his eternal judgment.

Which will it be?

Christ was crucified in weakness, yet He lives by the power of God – His own power. Christ laid everything down, even His very life, for us. He surrendered to His Father and in so doing purchased our eternal redemption. All it takes for us to share Christ’s life and inheritance is simply to surrender, as He did. Give your life to Him, and He will do the rest.

Luke 9:23-24, “Then He said to them all, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.’”

Romans 12:1-2, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

Isaiah 40:28-31, “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”

THE MAGNIFICENCE OF BEING IN CHRIST!

 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.--2nd Corinthians 5:17


Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna and Mikayla,
 
There is just no way I can possibly do this verse justice or even begin to speak to its magnificence.  (But of course...you know...I will try).

The key to the verse is "in Christ."  I AM IN CHRIST!  I am a new creation...the Holy Spirit has given me new life.  It is not a new leaf so to speak...it is a new life I walk in.  My master is no longer the God of this world but is the Lord Himself!   He is my strong tower.  He is my shelter. He is my refuge.  He is my security...He is my forgiveness...He is my acceptance...He is my hope....He is my future assurance and my inheritance. He is my Ark of Safety when I pass through the waters. In Him, the bible tells me, I live and move and have my being. He is my covering...He is the Becoming One...He becomes whatever I need!  I (ME!) have Him  living inside..I participate in the divine nature of Christ. This treasure lives in my earthen vessel.  I am now set free and am no longer a slave to my past or to sin.  In fact, because I believe, my past and everything else in my life now works together for good.  Goodness and mercy follow me and whether I live or die, I am with Him.  I am always with Him. 

 My old values, beliefs, loves and plans are gone.  My old man can still put up a fight and will to the day I die, but I am no longer enslaved to him.  He no longer has control over me. I am set free from the bondage of the past.  I can walk in holiness and newness of life.

This newness of life did not go away a few days after I was saved...this newness of life continued and was and is a constant reality for me.  Why because my position in Christ is secure. There is nothing that can separate me from Him. When I forget or allow something from my past to take hold  and gain a foothold in my life, my Lord is so gracious to show me that it no longer has the power to hold me and keep me from walking with Him by His Spirit. He graciously reminds me of my position in Him and all that that means. I have His power living inside me and as I surrender to it, I can do all things through my God who gives me strength.  I face nothing...nothing without Him.  He is always there...nothing can separate me from Him. I no longer live for the temporal.  I can live for the eternal.  I can walk in those works He has prepared for me.  I can walk according to His plan. I can face life with no condemnation and look forward to living with Him in glory  because I am in Him!

There is a notation in my bible next to the following verses...it was and is my prayer for myself and each one of you...my daughters.

"For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;  that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,"--Colossians 1:9-13


Love
Mom

Christophobia: Dead Man No More

Christophobia: Dead Man No More: "Before I knew it, my entire household was around me. News travels fast over some kind of metaphysical network in a loving nuclear family. '..."

Swallowing Your Pride

Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna, and Mikayla,

Chapters 4 and 5 were action sermons...chapters 6 and 7 are real sermons. You know...like the kind you get in church.   Ezekiel tells the people that it was the end.  Jerusalem would be destroyed and the people with it.  Warren Wiersbe speaks of these chapters in terms of "R's" ....ruin, repentance, and repayment.

Ruin...it was the end.  Destruction was coming.

Repentance...There would be a remnant spared that would remember Him and repent of their sins.  God's mercy is always displayed in the believing remnant.

Repayment...God says I will repay four times.  None of the things that the people trusted in would not help them.  The end had come.

The words that spoke to my heart are in Chapter 6 because they depict God's mercy in judgment and reveal to us His Father's heart which is broken when we walk away from Him and go our own way. 

"Yet I will leave a remnant, so that you may have some who escape the sword among the nations, when you are scattered through the countries. Then those of you who escape will remember Me among the nations where they are carried captive, because I was crushed by their adulterous heart which has departed from Me, and by their eyes which play the harlot after their idols; they will loathe themselves for the evils which they committed in all their abominations.  And they shall know that I am the LORD; I have not said in vain that I would bring this calamity upon them." --Ezekiel 6:8-10


God was crushed by His children's disloyal hearts which had departed from Him. An alternate meaning for the word crushed is broken.  Girls, God is our Father.  He loves us and His heart is crushed when we depart from the good and right path that He has mapped out for us.  Our God who always remembers mercy, says they would remember Him among the nations where they would be carried captive and then they would loathe themselves for the abominations and the evils which they had committed.  They would turn to Him broken and grieved for their sin and would bring God glory in their turning.  This would only occur, sadly, after some very difficult pain filled lessons and even among the remnant few would be saved.

Sometimes God has to break us and bring us to the end of ourselves in order to bring about true repentance. How much easier would it be for us if when we were in sin and had walked away from our Father, if we would just come back.  Put aside our pride and turn.  Take ourselves off the throne and put God back in His rightful place.  How much easier for us...how much easier for God...how much better for those around us.

Swallowing your pride gets easier and easier the more you do it.  It gets harder and harder the more you put off doing it.   When you put it off the lump you need to swallow gets larger and larger and looms hugely in front of you gathering ammunition whenever and wherever it can to fortify its own position.  Don't be its victim.  The answer is simple...just go back...face your own sin...God's love and forgiveness will be there and make the crooked places straight again.  Cut your losses and put aside your pride.  As you move and do this by faith, God's grace will be there...the balloon of self will burst and you will see the Father's love for you with eyes no longer obstructed by your pride...turning will bring the peaceable fruit of righteousness. If you have never done this...do this today.  Our pride is the biggest obstacle between us and God...it is the difference between an eternity spent in hell and an eternity spent in heaven with Jesus. Acknowledge your sin...acknowledge your need for Him and come to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that you can ask or think.

Read Chapter 7...see the judgment God brought upon them for their sin and remember how different things could have been had they just remembered Him...remembered that He was the Lord and they were not... on their own earlier when He drew them with His gentle cords of love. 

Love
Mom


Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,  "And you, son of man, thus says the Lord GOD to the land of Israel: 'An end! The end has come upon the four corners of the land. Now the end has come upon you, And I will send My anger against you; I will judge you according to your ways, And I will repay you for all your abominations.  My eye will not spare you, Nor will I have pity; But I will repay your ways, And your abominations will be in your midst; Then you shall know that I am the LORD!' "Thus says the Lord GOD: 'A disaster, a singular disaster; Behold, it has come! An end has come, The end has come; It has dawned for you; Behold, it has come! Doom has come to you, you who dwell in the land; The time has come, A day of trouble is near, And not of rejoicing in the mountains. Now upon you I will soon pour out My fury, And spend My anger upon you; I will judge you according to your ways, And I will repay you for all your abominations.  'My eye will not spare, Nor will I have pity; I will repay you according to your ways, And your abominations will be in your midst. Then you shall know that I am the LORD who strikes.  'Behold, the day! Behold, it has come! Doom has gone out; The rod has blossomed, Pride has budded.  Violence has risen up into a rod of wickedness; None of them shall remain, None of their multitude, None of them; Nor shall there be wailing for them. The time has come, The day draws near. 'Let not the buyer rejoice, Nor the seller mourn, For wrath is on their whole multitude.  For the seller shall not return to what has been sold, Though he may still be alive; For the vision concerns the whole multitude, And it shall not turn back; No one will strengthen himself Who lives in iniquity. 'They have blown the trumpet and made everyone ready, But no one goes to battle; For My wrath is on all their multitude. The sword is outside, And the pestilence and famine within. Whoever is in the field Will die by the sword; And whoever is in the city, Famine and pestilence will devour him. 'Those who survive will escape and be on the mountains Like doves of the valleys, All of them mourning, Each for his iniquity. Every hand will be feeble, And every knee will be as weak as water. They will also be girded with sackcloth; Horror will cover them; Shame will be on every face, Baldness on all their heads.  'They will throw their silver into the streets, And their gold will be like refuse; Their silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them In the day of the wrath of the LORD; They will not satisfy their souls, Nor fill their stomachs, Because it became their stumbling block of iniquity.  'As for the beauty of his ornaments, He set it in majesty; But they made from it The images of their abominations— Their detestable things; Therefore I have made it Like refuse to them. I will give it as plunder Into the hands of strangers, And to the wicked of the earth as spoil; And they shall defile it.  I will turn My face from them, And they will defile My secret place; For robbers shall enter it and defile it.  'Make a chain, For the land is filled with crimes of blood, And the city is full of violence. Therefore I will bring the worst of the Gentiles, And they will possess their houses; I will cause the pomp of the strong to cease, And their holy places shall be defiled. Destruction comes; They will seek peace, but there shall be none.  Disaster will come upon disaster, And rumor will be upon rumor. Then they will seek a vision from a prophet; But the law will perish from the priest, And counsel from the elders.  'The king will mourn, The prince will be clothed with desolation, And the hands of the common people will tremble. I will do to them according to their way, And according to what they deserve I will judge them; Then they shall know that I am the LORD!' " --Ezekiel 7

Consider...

 As you read Isaiah 52:13 through Isaiah 53, please consider Jesus...God's perfect sacrifice for the sins of the world. Jesus, the Servant of God, suffered for doing the will of His Father in Heaven...and yet was highly exalted by the Lord. 


Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,  but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.  And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.  Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,  that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,  and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.--Philippians 2:5-11

Think on the humiliation of His birth and life...as well as His trial and His suffering and death.  Most importantly think on the glory of what He purchased for you and me.  The Father was pleased with His sacrifice...this does not mean that He was glad that His Son suffered, but that the work of God had been accomplished through Him...Eternal salvation.  Divine justice was satisfied...we who believe could now be justified and clothed in Christ's righteousness.

Go through these verses and see the many faces of our Savior.  He is a tender plant, a root out of dry ground, He is despised and rejected by men,  and a Man of sorrows.  He is the One who bore our griefs and carried our sorrows....He is the beaten Servant, the Lamb led to the slaughter, He is the Offering for sin...our sin.   He is the one who poured out His soul unto death and intercedes for us before the throne of God.  He is the one who died for us when we were His enemy. 

People still reject Him today and willfully refuse to believe despite all the evidence.  They despise and reject Him.  They ridicule the simple, beautiful message of the Cross of Christ.  But it really doesn't matter what "people" might do or what they might think.  God is God and all will bow the knee one day.  "that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,  and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." 

His people on earth remember today that the innocent Son of God died in the place of guilty sinners and paid the price for our sins and accomplished salvation for a dying and lost world.  My favorite part of Isaiah 53 to consider is verses 10 and 11...Isaiah wrote that He would "see His seed."  Who are His seed...we are...if we believe.  He would see US...those who would come to Him and be saved through His selfless act on the cross.  He was thinking of you and me...knowing our salvation would be the result of His suffering and death and that we could now spend eternity with Him...Isaiah says this in verse 11: "He shall "see" the labor of His soul and be satisfied.  AMAZING LOVE!


 ¹³ Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently;
      He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high.
       ¹⁴ Just as many were astonished at you,
      So His visage was marred more than any man,
      And His form more than the sons of men;
       ¹⁵ So shall He sprinkle^[b] many nations.
      Kings shall shut their mouths at Him;
      For what had not been told them they shall see,
      And what they had not heard they shall consider.

¹ Who has believed our report?
      And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
       ² For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
      And as a root out of dry ground.
      He has no form or comeliness;
      And when we see Him,
      There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
       ³ He is despised and rejected by men,
      A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
      And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
      He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.
       ⁴ Surely He has borne our griefs
      And carried our sorrows;
      Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
      Smitten by God, and afflicted.
       ⁵ But He was wounded for our transgressions,
      He was bruised for our iniquities;
      The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
      And by His stripes we are healed.
       ⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray;
      We have turned, every one, to his own way;
      And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
       ⁷ He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
      Yet He opened not His mouth;
      He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
      And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
      So He opened not His mouth.
       ⁸ He was taken from prison and from judgment,
      And who will declare His generation?
      For He was cut off from the land of the living;
      For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
       ⁹ And they^[a] made His grave with the wicked—
      But with the rich at His death,
      Because He had done no violence,
      Nor was any deceit in His mouth.
       ¹⁰ Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him;
      He has put Him to grief.
      When You make His soul an offering for sin,
      He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
      And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.
       ¹¹ He shall see the labor of His soul,^[b]and be satisfied.
      By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,
      For He shall bear their iniquities.
       ¹² Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,
      And He shall divide the spoil with the strong,
      Because He poured out His soul unto death,
      And He was numbered with the transgressors,
      And He bore the sin of many,
      And made intercession for the transgressors.

Pure and Undefiled Religion...

If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.  Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.--James 1:26-27

Dear Suzanne, Rebecca, Anna, and Mikayla,

We have reached the last two verses of chapter 1. If you think you are religious but can't control your tongue, James says your religion is useless.  The word chosen for religious here refers to a ceremonial type of worship or a service to a god.  It points to the person who is displaying the external trappings of being religious on the outside but is practicing them with a heart that is not sincere.  God, who knows the heart, is not impressed and most likely is wearied.  God wants our hearts.  When our hearts truly believe, our words and our actions will follow. Our lips reveal our hearts. 

Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.  For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."--Matthew 12:34-37



James goes on to say that the most pure and undefiled type of religion is reflected by a separation from the world and a sacrificial love for those among us who are in need...especially those who are not in a position to reciprocate.  Visiting the fatherless, the widow, the afflicted, the helpless, and the hopeless among us...this is pure and undefiled religion.  As children of God we are not of the world spiritually.  We are here to glorify God and bring others to Him.  To do that we cannot look like the children of this world who are ruled by the prince of this world. Jesus loved and spent time with publicans and sinners and yet He remained undefiled.  He is our example in this.  Jesus, no matter where He was or who He was with, always did the will of His Father...and that is how we remain unspotted from the world...by doing the will of our Father in heaven.

Love
Mom

Mercy and Truth Have Met Together; Righteousness and Peace have Kissed

Mercy and truth have met together; Righteousness and peace have kissed. Truth shall spring out of the earth, And righteousness shall look down from heaven. Yes, the LORD will give what is good; And our land will yield its increase.  Righteousness will go before Him, And shall make His footsteps our pathway.--Psalm 85:10-13

To My Daughters,

These four verses are worship worthy!!! Mercy, truth, righteousness and peace...these are what became mine when I accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. On that day I received not only mercy for my sins, but Him who is Truth came to me and made His home in my heart.  He imputed to me!!!  His righteousness and bestowed upon me!!!! His peace.  There really are no words to describe the feeling or the gift.

The future kingdom of Christ will be characterized by these qualities.  "Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed."  Mercy and truth met in the person of Jesus Christ.  Jesus said that He is the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through Him.  Jesus is the Word of God...the truth.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. ---John 1:1-5


God's great work of redemption brought it all together.  His mercy evidenced by the redemption of His chosen people and the conversion of the Gentiles.  His truth in the fulfillment of His word to redeem His people. His righteousness satisfying God's justice by punishing sin, and laying our iniquity...all of it...on His Righteous Son, who knew no sin but became sin for us dying  in our place on the cross at Calvary. An infinite God reached down to earth and gave His only begotten Son for man so that they could have the opportunity to spend eternity with Him.  Wow!  He then imputes His righteousness and peace (His reconciliation) upon us, the guilty, when we surrender to Him....when we cry out in faith and His Spirit of Grace fills us and enables us to walk before Him and make His footsteps our pathway because we have now been clothed in His righteousness and have obtained peace with Him.  Rest is ours..God is on our side. 

No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their righteousness is from Me," Says the LORD. --Isaiah 54:17

Love
Mom who thinks these have now become her favorite verses in the bible..

Christophobia: Dead Man at the Center of Existence

Christophobia: Dead Man at the Center of Existence: "I had seen and walked through the outskirts of Heaven, and looked over the edge of its Balcony into time and space, and into the past and pr..."

End of Chapter 7 and Chapter 8 by Rebecca

 End of Chapter 7...

Once again Aura saw the scene before her splinter.  The sunlight, the arch, the betrotheds, the wedding party – all of them vanished in the familiar ethereal vortex that immediately seized Aura and swept her away.  She couldn’t breathe.  Pounding, reverberating drums overtook her senses.  Light and stimuli swamped her brain.  Aura could literally feel herself being ripped from one dimension and flung into her own.

     But this reinstatement to reality was far less traumatic than the first.  Sudden as it was, bewildering as it was, Aura had no difficulty recovering.  The brilliant lights faded.  Air returned to her lungs.  Her senses came back online.

     The first thing Aura became aware of was the shaking ground beneath her.

     “Earthquake!”  Nathan cried.

     The forest floor was juddering.  Aura tore off her blindfold, revealing a mountainous, moonlit scene that simultaneously fascinated and terrified.

     The earth was…jiggling.  It vibrated like wheat being shaken in a sieve.  Surfaces were distorted.  Rugged and deeply rooted trees trembled.  Branches cracked and fell.  Distant crashes resounded as rockfalls were loosed.  Rumbling filled the air.  The immense, immovable solidness Aura had taken for granted all her life was suddenly revealed to be as fragile as everything else.

     “Aura, stay still!”  Samek shouted.

     Stay still!  It was impossible!  Aura grasped vainly for something, anything, which might be stationary.  Nothing was.  The most she could do was, with Ashon’s help, to struggle to all fours in an attempt to defy the treacherous instability of the land she had trusted.

     “Samek, watch out!”  Tor bellowed frantically.  He pointed to the steep hillside on their left.

     Samek and Zipporah dove out of the way as a dislodged boulder, belonging to the steep hillside on their left, plummeted right past them.  It shot over the edge of the precipice on their right and smashed to bits in the valley below.

    But the nearness of this sweep of death unnerved Aura far more than it did Samek or Zipporah.  Aura’s heart was in her mouth.

     “You are mine…”

     “Nathan!”  Zipporah screamed.

     Tor spun around.  Nathan was reeling like a drunkard.  He was still blindfolded, still hazy from the drug, and he couldn’t keep his feet – and he was inches from the edge of the precipice on their right.  “Help!”

     Tor didn’t waste a second.  He lunged forward and yanked Nathan away from the brink, flinging him to the ground, where he could fall no further.  But then Tor lost his own balance.  His put his foot down on a loose stone, and his leg was swept out from under him.  Tor slid into the gap.

     Instantly Samek, Ashon, and even Zipporah, lunged forward.  Tor was clawing at the edge, desperate to stop his fall, when Ashon’s sinewy hands clamped onto his wrists.  A second later Samek skidded to his knees on the brink, grabbed hold of Tor’s armpit, and together he and Ashon hauled their friend back onto the path.

     The shaking had stopped.

     For a few minutes everyone simply laid there, panting and grateful.  Nathan was finally able to wrench off his blindfold and look around.

     “Where’s Aura?” he asked suddenly.

     Samek jerked upright.  “Aura!”

     No answer.

     “She’s not here!” gasped Zipporah, glancing wildly around.

     “Aura!”  Nathan cried.  “Aura, where are you?”

     Everyone was on their feet now, searching nearby, and making the air ring with anxious cries.  But the only response was the echo of their own voices.

     Aura had disappeared.

Chapter Eight

Bondage

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

(Ephesians 6:12, NKJV)

     Aura was running.  She needed to run.  She could do nothing but run.

     It was her only hope of escape.

     Aura had seen Tor slip over the precipice.  She had watched him scrabble at the brink.  She had borne witness to the fact that he was barely, just barely, pulled out alive.

     At that instant, confronted by the stark imminency of death, something deep inside Aura’s being had snapped.

     Out!  Out!  I need to get out!  Just run!  Run now!

     Aura could not bear it anymore.  Dying herself was one thing; enduring the loss of her loved ones was quite another.  Zipporah might be strong enough to daily shoulder such a suffocating burden of fear and grief, but Aura knew she was not.

     Miriam…Ehud…my birth parents…

     Gone.  All gone.  Snatched away just as Tor had nearly been.

     And those who weren’t lost – yet?  Samek and Zipporah?  Nathan?  Ashon and Tor?  Benaiah and his young grandson?  What did the cruel world have in store for them?

     King Amek…leather-hide…the earthquake…the boulder…the cliff…

     The anguish could not be endured.  Aura needed to run.  She needed to leave them all behind, all the liabilities, even Nathan.  Her heart could not endure the terrible stretching love demanded.

     She needed to escape.

     Aura ran madly, fueled by her roiling emotions.  She neither knew nor cared about where she was going or how far she would go.  That didn’t matter.  All that mattered was that she left the pain and the suffering a long, long way behind.  So long behind, in fact, that it would never find her again.  Never!

     Faster!  Farther!  Yes!  Come on!  Go, go, go!

     The trees began to thin.  Yes!  Good!  She could run quicker here!  She hit a lane, rough certainly, yet significantly easier than the tumbled forest.  Aura rejoiced at her good fortune.

     Run!  Run!  Every fiber in her body urged.  Escape!

     Yes!  Yes, she would escape!  No one would stop her.  Samek couldn’t catch her.  She’d left him behind, hadn’t she?

     Aura glanced back.  There was only shadows and stillness.  No Samek.  No Underground.  No pursuers. 

     Elation bubbled up in her soul for the first time in many, many months.

     Then Aura looked ahead. 

     Right beneath her feet the lane suddenly dived over a steep ridge, with a brook flowing at the bottom.  Aura slid on the fallen, decaying leaves and plunged headfirst down the slope.

     She struck her forehead on a rock.  The already dark night went completely black.

     “Hello, Aura.”

     Aura cracked open her eyes.  Sunlight stabbed painfully into her retinas.  “Uhh,” she groaned, as her hands instinctively moved to cover her face.  Her fingers brushed dried blood from a shallow gash in her temple, and she winced.  No wonder she had a splitting headache.  “Who’s there?” she managed to croak.  “Where…where am I?”

     “You’re exactly where I knew you would be,” the voice answered pleasantly.  It was a sweet, musical, girlish voice, and reminded Aura of delicately chiming bells.  “I’ve been waiting for you.”

     Aura had to swallow hard before answering.  Her throat was swollen and sore.  “I-I don’t understand.”

     “Try to open your eyes,” the girl suggested.  Her tone suddenly shifted to one that hinted of cold command.  “Open your eyes, Daughter of Rion.”

     Daughter of Rion!

     Aura’s eyes snapped open, regardless of the pain, and she was sitting up before she even realized what she was doing.  Her head spun and sunlight dazzled her vision.  “Who – how -” she stammered, still half-blinded, and certainly sickened with fear.  “What are you talking about?”

     The girl chuckled.  Aura was just able to make her out now: a young woman, lithe and slender, perched on a stone less than a yard away from the bank of leaves in which she herself lay.  “Royal Daughter,” the girl said, her smile revealing a mouth full of pearly white teeth, “I know most everything about you.”

     Aura swallowed again.  Her brain felt as though it was swimming.  “I still don’t – I still don’t understand.”

     “No.”  The smile remained in place, but the girl’s eyes narrowed contemptuously.  “No, you don’t.  You, dearest pet, understand almost nothing.”

     “Then start explaining!”  Aura’s nausea spiked with her forcefulness, and for a brief second she thought she would faint.  “Tell me who you are,” she insisted.  “Tell me how you found me.  Tell me what makes you think I’m a Daughter of Rion.”

     “You mean aside from your blazing scarlet head?”  Imia scoffed.  “Really, pet, even a human couldn’t have much trouble making that connection.  Do you really think I wouldn’t know?”

     Even a human…  Aura gulped.  She did not the implications of that phrase.

     Imia fanned herself delicately.  “You see, sweet little calf, who I am is the answer to how I was able to find you.  You think my name is Imia.  It’s not.  Imia’s only nineteen or twenty, but I am older than the earth itself.”  Imia abruptly fastened her gaze on Aura, and Aura shrank beneath the withering keenness of those eyes.  It felt as if her very soul was pierced, and was lying, naked and exposed, for this…creature…to see.

     “Starting to understand now, pet?” the girl hissed.

     Aura could not speak.  Her throat had closed over.

     “Answer me,” snapped Imia.  “Show me you’re beginning to understand, human girl.  Tell me who I am.”

     The word was dragged from Aura’s unwilling lips.  “Demon!” she choked out.  “You’re a demon!”

     “At last, some understanding.”  Imia rolled her eyes.  “Say it again, pet.”

     It was another will compelled her to obey.  Aura tried to resist, but she could not.  “Demon!” she gasped.

     “Again.”

     Horror was growing in Aura’s soul.  She couldn’t resist!  She couldn’t fight!  “Demon!” she heard herself cry.

     Cruelty danced across Imia’s expression.  “Again, human girl!”

     Aura was panicking now.  Why couldn’t she resist?  Why couldn’t she fight?  “You’re a demon!”

     “You still don’t understand, do you?”  Imia sneered.  “Again!”

     She wasn’t going to say it again.  She wasn’t going to obey!  She wasn’t – “Demon!”

     Imia threw back her head and laughed.  “The answer’s right in your own words, you stupid girl!  Again!”

     “Demon!”  Aura shrieked.  Sobs convulsed her body.  The truth was sinking in at last.

     She couldn’t resist.  She couldn’t fight.  She was not facing a teenaged Northern dancer; she was facing powers that were utterly beyond her ken.  Powers that held her completely under their sway.

     They owned her.

     “What do you want?” she cried out.  Terror and despair were laying hold of her soul.  “What do you want with me?”

     “Want with you?”  Imia snorted in derision.  “You?  A sniveling biped?  I want very little to do with you.  Just die when your time comes, human girl, and feed me and my brethren.  Then I’ll be satisfied.”  Imia’s eyes narrowed again.  “Rest assured, that day will come.  But not yet.  Right now you are also a pawn, Royal Daughter, and you will do what we instruct.”

     Aura shook uncontrollably.  She could not resist, she could not fight, and she could not run.  She was helplessly in bondage.  Jehovah she could push away, but this creature?  No.  It dominated.  It overpowered.  It crushed.  It captivated her and held her will in its keeping with ruthless strength.  It owned her!

     Imia’s mouth curled into a sardonic smile.  “Oh, yes.  We own you.  We are your masters.  We always have been.”

     It did not surprise Aura that Imia could read her thoughts.  It did not surprise her at all.

     Imia uncrossed her white, shapely legs and daintily arose from her stone bench.  “You see,” she said, stepping gracefully to Aura’s side and stooping down, “I knew you would come here.  Oh, you took a little detour when you decided to leave Synta.  But that’s over, darling child.”  Imia’s hideous smirk was inches from Aura’s face.  “You lost your chance to be saved from us.  You know you did.  What was it Zipporah said?”  Imia squatted down and mockingly parroted Zipporah’s soft, motherly tones.  “‘You need to be careful, sweetheart. Very careful.  If you won’t let Jehovah be your Shield, then the shelter you have with us right now is just by association.  It’s not complete.  It’s not permanent.  And it won’t save you in the end.’”  Imia threw back her head and laughed gleefully.  “What wonderful advice!  But Jehovah won’t take you now, little fool.  He saved you in Synta, and you spit in His face.  Jehovah doesn’t like to be mocked.  He’s done with you now, done forever, and rightly so.”  

     For having such attractive features, Imia’s face was now shockingly leering and ugly.  She reached out and grabbed the necklace chain hanging from Aura’s neck, yanking it over her head.  Aura could not move a muscle in protest.  Her very blood felt frozen.

     Imia straightened up and eyed the necklace pendant with satisfaction.  “Very good,” she said approvingly.  “It won’t be long now.”  She glanced back down at the shattered Aura, and her pert nose wrinkled in disgust.  “Get up, Royal Daughter,” she ordered, and Aura could do nothing but slowly get to her feet.  Her legs felt like jelly and her head spun and reeled.  She was still shaking.

     “We’re going to see your dear uncle, King Amek,” Imia informed her captive, throwing a multicolored, beaded shawl over Aura’s head to hide her scarlet hair.  “We’ll have to hurry, before you’re too sick to walk.  You have leather-hide, you know.  That’s inconvenient, but it really doesn’t mean much.”  Imia pushed Aura forward.  “Move along, Royal Daughter.  It’s time to enter your destiny.”

     Aura was only vaguely aware that she somehow began to walk.  All she could hear was the harsh black voice she’d encountered in the pit.

     “You are mine…”

     Imia and Aura might as well have been invisible and insubstantial for all the attention – or lack thereof – that they attracted.

     The medium boldly marched Aura down the rough lane she had been following and into the outskirts of a major metropolis.  Villages, estates, farms, and homes quickly began to spring up, prosperous and densely populated.  The streets were soon bustling with morning traffic.

     But no one even gave Imia and her captive a second glance.  If anything, the passerby seemed unconsciously determined not to notice them, especially Imia.

     Aura could not imagine having trouble understanding such behavior.

     “You are mine…”

     Utter brokenness filled Aura’s soul.

     How many of these people were as helpless as she?  How many were unknowingly dominated by the creature that had melded itself with Imia?  How many went about their daily business unaware of the sinister, controlling powers behind the curtain?

     Aura’s neck felt strangely naked and unbalanced in the absence of the necklace that had been her constant companion.  Her heart ached feebly at the loss, but her mind was still too numb to process its implications.  She had no idea why Imia had taken her heirloom; she was afraid to even attempt to understand “why.”  She already had more than enough evil she needed to cope with.

     What moves did Imia have planned for her new “pawn”?  What moves did she have planned for King Amek?  None of this could possibly bode well for the Underground.

     Samek’s face suddenly flashed into Aura’s mind.  Her brother.  Her brother who loved her dearly.  Her brother who had snatched her from the Syntans’ stones, spirited her away to the most secure shelter available, and compromised his own safety for her sake.  Her brother who had done all of this even while she selfishly rejected his love and denied their kinship.

     Fear suddenly pierced Aura’s heart with such intensity that she thought she might be sick.  Samek.  Firstborn son of King Japheth.  Rightful heir to the House of Rion and the throne of Saren.  Leader of the Underground.  Thorn in Amek’s side.  Hitherto untouchable.  No longer.  Imia was using Samek’s weak, enslaved sister to reach Samek, and there was not a doubt in Aura’s mind that Samek would walk, open-eyed, into her trap if it could possibly win his sister’s redemption.

     Horror bubbled up in Aura’s throat.  This is all my fault!  He’ll die – Zipporah will lose him – the Underground will be destroyed – and it’s all my fault!

     Imia laughed.  “Yes, it is, Daughter of Rion.  It is all your fault.”  A scathing smile curved her rosebud lips.  “Don’t forget, this could have been very different.  You could have called upon Jehovah, like your family begged you to.  You could have truly sought Him that night in Synta.  But you didn’t.”  Imia’s eyes gleamed venomously.  “You were so stubborn.  So proud.  So confident of your own wisdom.  And now look what’s come of your choices!  You stupid girl!”  Imia’s chilling laughter echoed in the street – another sound the passerby deliberately ignored.

     “You’re going to kill him,” Aura whispered.  Devastation swept her soul.  “You’re going to kill him.”

     Imia’s eyes were like slits.  “We kill everyone.”

     “But Jehovah…”  Aura sought desperately for hope.  “Jehovah is their Shield.  You said so yourself – you said He -”

     “We kill everyone,” Imia spat.  “Death is ours.  Have you ever seen the believers’ precious Jehovah protect His servants from death?  Have you?  He let your real father die to save your mother Varyn, but then He let Varyn die too.  The cold, cold river soaked into her body and stopped her heart.  Oh, yes, He let her succeed in saving you.  He brought you to Synta.  He gave you Miriam and Ehud and Nathan.  But where is Ehud today?  Or Miriam?”  Imia’s vicious, hate-filled face swallowed up Aura’s vision.  “Death is our province, human girl,” she growled.  “Pain is ours to inflict.  Jehovah permits His servants to suffer – and suffer they shall!”

     Aura’s stomach turned completely.  She staggered to her knees at the edge of the road and threw up into the ditch.  Imia stood by in disgust, averting her gaze.

     “Spineless biped,” she sniffed.  “Hurry up.”

     Aura could not hurry up.  She was blanched, shaking, and sick.  Her throat was swollen and burning.  Her head throbbed.  Her muscles felt like limp strings.  She was only vaguely aware of people glancing away from her plight and giving her and Imia a wide berth, anxious to put as much distance between them as possible.

     There was no hope of rescue.

     “You are mine…”

     Retching sobs tore from Aura’s throat.  She was a demons’ pawn being driven into the clutches of King Amek; she had willfully condemned herself to be the cause of both her brother’s death and the destruction of the courageous few who dared oppose Southern tyranny; she had senselessly spurned the grace Jehovah offered her; and now she had no choice but to abide by the disastrous choices she had already made.  Could the situation possibly be made any worse?

     Aura’s brain began to whirl.  A cyclone of lights and images invaded the edges of her vision and spiraled rapidly inward.

     No, no, no…not again…

     The road, the ditch, the people, and even Imia disappeared as the eye of the roaring cyclone snapped shut with a shattering blast of light.

~ Interlude ~

     Savannah was lost.  And she knew it.

     How was she going to get home?

     Savannah swallowed hard and dug her fingernails into her sweaty palms as she turned, round and round, slowly, to survey her utterly unfamiliar surroundings.  Her eight-year-old mind swam with confusion and half-acknowledged dread. 

     Lost!  The word made her shiver.

     Round and round again Savannah turned, desperate to see something, anything, she recognized.  She didn’t.  She’d never seen this place before in her life.  The sylvan wilderness was empty, strange, and silent as a tomb.  Dry, rust-colored pine needles carpeted the ground beneath her feet.  A few hundred yards downslope a stony, shallow river rushed along in its course between two sharply angled rises, and granite boulders protruded from the eroded earth.  The panorama had been attractive a moment ago.  But now that Savannah realized her peril, everything seemed sinister and foreboding.  Even the warm, shining sun and the clear, crisp blue sky overhead – the temptations that had lured her so far from home – made her feel threatened.

     She was…lost. 

     Lost.  An overwhelming rush of helplessness flooded Savannah’s heart.  Instinct took over.

     “Daddy!” she screamed, almost in tears.  “Mommy!  Daddy!”

     The only response was the forlorn echo of Savannah’s own voice.  Nobody answered.  Nobody came.  Savannah screamed herself hoarse, but there was no one to hear.  “Mommy!  Daddy!”

     It didn’t matter.  Savannah was alone.  She cast herself down her knees, sobbing, and poured out her heart to the only one who could still hear her.

     “Elohim!” she cried.  “I’m sorry!  I’m sorry I disobeyed!  I’m so scared.  I need help.  I want to go home!  Oh, Lord, please, please get me home!”

     There was nothing more that needed to be said.  Savannah continued sobbing for a while, but her tears slowly subsided.  She huddled against one of the gray, sun-warmed boulders, sniffing, rubbing her eyes, and waiting.  Waiting, she knew, was the only option she had left.  She couldn’t undo the past.  She couldn’t get herself home.  She couldn’t do anything except obey her parents’ contingency instructions – that is, to stay put and let them find her – and trust her heavenly Father to do what was best.

     The late afternoon crawled onwards into evening.  Hours passed, but still no one came.  It had been a long day.  Savannah was hungry, sore, and tired.  Her eyelids began to droop.  As night fell, she drifted into a heavy slumber.

     It was the screeching that woke her.

     Human shouts and animal shrieks shattered the midnight stillness.  Savannah stared wide-eyed and frozen into the darkness, her every hair standing on end.  Only one animal could make such a bloodcurdling din.

      Nightshade!

     Sure enough, Savannah heard the thunderous wing beats belonging to the largest species of nightshade.  Terror pierced her soul as the venomous beast’s high, rasping screech tore through the darkness.  She cowered against her boulder.

     “Head for the trees!”  A man’s shouted, urgent command reached Savannah’s ears.  Heavy footsteps were pounding up her wooded hill.  “Keep low!  Get to the ridge!”

     People!  People who might be able to take her home!  People who could save her from the nightshade!  Wild desperation momentarily overcame Savannah’s terror.  The moment the small band of men and boys came in sight, she leapt out of hiding.  “Help!” she cried.  “Help me!”

     “What in -” A boy, swifter than the rest, lunged forward and practically tackled Savannah to the ground.  “Get down!  Father!” he yelled.  “There’s a little girl up here!”

     Four men and another younger youth were close on the boy’s heels.  They sprinted to her boulder, ducking low.  “Merciful Elohim!” gasped the boy’s father, their leader, as he reached for the bow slung over his shoulder.  “What’s she doing here?”

     “L-l-lost!”  Savannah sobbed.  The nightshade’s screech rent the air once again, and she buried her face in the boy’s rough leather jerkin.

     “It’s circling,” said one of the men tensely.  “It knows we’re here.”

     “Eastarn, watch her,” the leader ordered his son, his eyes glued to the moonlit sky.  In seconds he and the others had arrows nocked and ready, waiting only for a clear shot.

     The nightshade shrieked and wheeled overhead, confounded by its own size.  Its body was small, but its fifty-foot wingspan severely limited the spaces it could access.  Savannah’s wooded slope would give the hunters just what time and shelter they needed to bring the monster down.

     The beast wheeled again, coming in close as it shrilled its displeasure.  Savannah held her breath.

     “Now!” the leader yelled.

     The nightshade was just about to abandon its too-difficult prey when the hunters’ arrows launched upward.  Savannah heard the beast’s gut-wrenching screech as its flesh was severally pierced.  She looked out from Eastarn’s jerkin just in time to see the saurian monster recoil, falter, and finally plunge downward to its death.

     Blissful silence fell.

     Relieved sighs were expelled all around as the hunters relaxed.  Savannah breathed again, but she still hung on to Eastarn like grim death.  She wasn’t letting him go yet.  Not until she knew she was safe.

     “Are you all right, little one?”  The hunters’ leader asked, laying aside his bow and crouching down to meet Savannah’s saucer-sized eyes.

     She nodded.

     “What’s your name?  How’d you get here?”

     Savannah had to wet her lips with her tongue before speaking.  Her mouth felt perfectly dry.  “I’m Savannah,” she whispered.  “I’m lost.  I want to go home.”

     Sympathy radiated in the leader’s expression.  “Don’t worry,” he said gently.  “You can’t have wandered too far.  I’m sure your family’s looking for you.  Tell us what you can, and we’ll help get you home.”

     Aura’s vision splintered and burst just as the others had, but this time, she did not wake up.