Today’s Victory Call is inspired by television commercials. My observation has been that over and over again, women are depicted in a most unsettling way. And, if I didn’t understand sin and the heart of man apart from Holy God, I’d easily be shocked and surprised.

Any casual observer can’t help but notice that women are in charge. In most sitcoms and commercials, etc., we get the last word; we are the wiser, smarter, dare I say, dominant. We prevail and not without a cost.

Men: our fathers, brothers, sons and especially, our husbands, are shown to be idiots, losers, sluggards, stupid, unintelligent buffoons. And it’s us, women, who are communicating this. Loud and clear we tell men they are incompetent, inadequate and less than capable of meeting our ever-changing, ever-increasing, ever-demanding needs.

I wish I could say that this behavior is nonexistent among us in the household of faith, but I can’t. We, too, have been shaped by the culture we live in and today my challenge to all of us is to decide – decide that we will no longer live as if the curse is real. Instead we will choose to live free in Christ, allow His Spirit, in and through us, to transform and change our stinking thinking.

Remember the garden?

To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” ~ Genesis 3:16 ESV

Since I can’t say it any better than John Piper; here is what he said:
“In other words the result of sin and the curse of our age is conflict between the sexes. This verse is not a description of the way things should be. This is a description of the cursed way things are going to be while sin reigns. Dominating men and devious women. This is not the meaning of male and female in God’s image. It is the ugliness of sin.”1

“Peter says in 1 Peter 3:7, that a Christian husband and wife are ‘fellow heirs of the grace of life.’ What does this mean? It means that in Christ men and women recover what was meant by being created male and female in God’s image. It means that together as male and female they are to image-forth the glory of God and together as fellow-heirs they are to inherit the glory of God.”2

So dear sisters, our challenge today is simple: will we choose to go forth and image Christ, forsaking any modicum of resemblance to that ruling, controlling woman whom the culture has tricked some of us into imitating? Let’s choose to step into the grace and beauty that is ours to behold in Christ alone. May we be fully female for the glory of God!!

Stephanie

1 ttp://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/Sermons/ByTopic/49/679_Male_and_Female_He_Created_Them_in_the_Image_of_God/
2 Same as previous

I am just about finishing the first month of reading through the Bible for 2012. It is said that 30 days makes a habit. I hope they are right! I have finished Genesis and made my way into Exodus, just about completed Proverbs for the first time this year and put a good dent into Matthew! Yippy!

This past week’s reading brought back an odd memory. While reading about the plague of frogs in Exodus, I could still see in my mind the pictures that were in my Bible Storybook as a child: A picture of Pharaoh and A LOT of frogs on glossy paper. I share this memory because I believe by the end of the year I will see some things I haven’t seen before. I believe I will find promises that I have read before but now speak to my heart in a new and real way. I believe my recall of passages will be sharpened. I believe that I will have scripture written on my heart and in my mind. I believe I will be amazed, as I forge ahead, at the new insights that will come to mind as I read stories I have “known” for years. New pictures will be filed away to be brought back to my memory even years from now.

I wonder if I pulled out that old Bible Storybook, would the picture be as I remember? Maybe that picture of Pharaoh wouldn’t be as handsome as I recall. Maybe those frogs would not look so slimy in that glossy picture. The difference: Growing up! Aren’t you excited that as we grow we will know Jesus and His Word more and more? I am sure it has happened to you, too. A familiar verse all of a sudden is new because you are reading with adult eyes. And that picture you have of who Jesus is? Well, you just saw Him, the real HIM, not the Jesus you made up in your head long ago! It is exciting to see things in a grown-up perspective but there is only one way to see differently – continue to be in the Word and get to know Jesus!

What’s going on in your world this morning? I pray that you will see Jesus today in the midst of it all. Don’t just rely on your memory but get a fresh glimpse of Him today.

John 14:26-27 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

Blessings,
Kathy

Kathy’s on staff at America’s KESWICK in the Development Department. Kathy has been married to her husband Dave for 26 years. They have two adult children. Kathy is active in her local church and has previously served as a Teaching Director for Community Bible Study. Her passion is to encourage women to deepen their walk with Jesus Christ by finding and living out the truths of God’s Word.

“I am my beloved’s And his desire is for me” Song of Solomon 7:10.

God’s love is of holiness and purity; it is my protection. He sent His Son to demonstrate His love by being the example of living in this world and showing us to enter the narrow gate. God’s Son was without sin and did the will of God, that I may have life.

Lord, you laid down your life and called me. In my own flesh and selfishness I would not have sought you. Lord, your love is so majestic it overwhelms my soul with all of my needs which you continuously keep. You invite me to partake of your bread and wine to give thanks. Having the bread of truth and the blood of forgiveness, to teach me to give thanks in all things. “Even before there is a word in my tongue, Behold, O Lord, Thou dost know it all” Psalm 139:4. As I want to share my thoughts and concerns, you are always there to listen. You encourage me to pray more because You are truly hearing me and giving back the truth of life. Lord, You give your joy which makes me rejoice and worship with You. When I am sad and sorrowful, you are gently teaching me something important of truth I need to learn. As I learn You quietly bring me closer to You. “The Lord’s lovingkindnesses, indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail” Lamentations 3:22. You whisper softly I am the sovereign God; please trust Me. When tears are falling down my face You manage to put a smile on my face and reassure all is not lost, You are the resurrection. The fellowship we have is precious, nothing can compare to Your love. You amaze me with your plans, I would not have thought of it! When I least expect it, You surprise me with something I love, it’s very simple. With Your love You give me new visions and revelations that awe me. You know me too well, Lord. You teach me the value of knowing Christ my Lord and having faith in Him knowing I need this faith to keep on going towards You. Throughout the day Your love makes me laugh at how silly I can be and yet You still love me. Your love gives me the strength to do what You have called me to do. My offering of thanksgiving for Your love for me is not enough. My Lord, I love You.

“Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his lovingkindness is everlasting” Psalm 136:1

Glory to God!

Sandra Roman
Staff Member – WOC Graduate

Jeremiah 2:5b “…they…went after worthless things and became worthless.”

The Lord spoke these words to “all the clans of the house of Israel…” about their forefathers through the prophet Jeremiah.

It is a reminder to us that we become what we behold.
To behold: to gaze upon (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/behold)

2 Corinthians 3:18 “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another: For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

It gives us pause to seriously consider what we behold. What captures our attention? What holds our gaze? Are we going after worthless things like the Israelites of old or are we beholding the Greatest Treasure, The Beautiful One, The One True God, The Eternal One, The Lover of our soul, The Lifter of our chin, our Maker?

Friend, “Behold your God.” Is 40:9
Diane

Diane Hunt is part of the ministry team at America’s Keswick. She is a regular writer for Victory Call and one of the authors of Crossing the Jordan Bible Study. Diane has been married to her husband John over 27 years. She has 2 adult children and 3 grandchildren and 3 adult step-children with 7 grandchildren making 10 in all. She delights reading and teaching, but mostly laughing at the funny things her grandchildren say and do.

You may have many friends but only a few intimate ones. A friend is someone who you may go to the mall with or just hang out at the deli to share lunch. Whatever the case may be you want to share your life with them. Sometimes it may be a telephone call to ask “how are you”, or it may be to just be there with them while going through a crisis in their lives.

There was a time in my life, many years ago, when God used my friends to come alongside of me in a crisis situation: they just needed to be there. Their presence was enough. Some of these friends have gone home to the Lord, others have moved away, and some still live nearby. I thank God for the friends He has put in my life and the ones that He still plans on crossing my path. The Lord has shown me the benefits of using our redeemed past circumstances to benefit others. In 2 Corinthians 1:3,4 we read, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God (ESV).

King David’s friendship with Jonathan: “A person who went the distance for his friend was Jonathan. His friendship with David is one of the most outstanding and moving stories in all of Scripture, perhaps in all of literature. . . . Few are the people blessed enough to know a committed friendship such as Jonathan’s. David calls Jonathan his brother, reminiscent of the verses from Proverbs. Jonathan was closer to David than a brother. Commitment is the word that unlocks the real meaning of friendship.” You can read about David and Jonathan in I Samuel 19 and 20.

Real friendships don’t just happen, and they aren’t maintenance-free. Ask yourself and your friend questions like these:
“How would you describe our friendship?”
“What is God doing in each of us, separately and together?”
“How can we help each other become all God wants us to be?”

Seeking another person’s highest good: that’s being a true friend.

The best friend we can ever have is the One who paid the penalty for our sins on the Cross of Calvary, Jesus the One and Only. He is always with us!

Pat Spies
Women’s Ministry Volunteer

People often ask us at Keswick, “What do you do after the hustle of the Summer Conference season?” Believe me, we never get bored; there is always much to do.

One morning I was preparing for our volunteers (whom we love and appreciate) to come in to gift wrap 150 devotional books. So I set out to prepare things in an orderly manner so as to make the process as efficient as possible (that’s the Human Factors engineer in me – my first career). So – I set out the stacks of books, and put a tape dispenser at each work station. When I got all set up, I proceeded to pre-cut the gift wrap into the size that would fit the book. I cut the first one (which was just right) and used it as a guide for the second. Then I used the second to cut the third, and the third to cut the fourth, etc. After cutting about 20-25 sheets I took a book and attempted to wrap it.

That 25th sheet of gift wrap was 2 inches too big and made wrapping the book clumsy and awkward; much too large to do a neat job.

I then realized my error. I did not keep using my original sample sheet to cut all the other 24 and gradually, over time I unknowingly added 2 inches to the width of the paper.

Apparently what happened was that with each new sheet I added just a tiny bit to the width which seemed so insignificant, but over time – it was significant.

I immediately thought of our walk with Christ – unless we regularly check or align ourselves with the Christ, the One True God, we will adapt and adjust, compromise as it were, imperceptible amounts until over time we are significantly off our target.

Are you sticking with the truth? Are you regularly reading the Word? Are you looking to Jesus Christ for your standard of righteousness or are you comparing yourself to others and getting drawn off course a little at a time?

How can a young man (woman) keep his (her) way pure? By guarding it according to your word. Psalm 119:9

Blessings,
Diane

Diane Hunt is part of the ministry team at America’s Keswick. She is a regular writer for Victory Call and one of the authors of Crossing the Jordan Bible Study. Diane has been married to her husband John over 27 years. She has 2 adult children and 3 grandchildren and 3 adult step-children with 7 grandchildren making 10 in all. She delights reading and teaching, but mostly laughing at the funny things her grandchildren say and do.

“Any enterprise is built by wise planning, becomes strong through common sense, and profits wonderfully by keeping abreast of the facts” Prov. 24:3(TLB).

Some people seem to wonder if God still keeps His promises. Is He trustworthy?

Many years ago, I was sitting on an airplane, heading for Chicago, reading the Living Bible Translation. As I read this verse, I thought “That’s what we have done. This should be our life verse, and it is even in a three point outline!”

Wise planning: God blessed us with Dr. Henry Brandt as our Sunday school teacher and personal friend. He taught us to plan ahead. We had discussed so many things before we were married: Whether I would work outside of the home; who would handle the money; how many children we hoped to have; at what age we would allow our children to date; and even the fact that we wanted all of our children to take piano lessons for at least two years. We discussed many other issues as well.

Common sense: Dr. Brandt observed that most parents already had common sense on their side, and if left to their own devices, would make the right decisions. They were simply afraid to depend on common sense for solutions because their solutions just seemed too simple. So they paid a counselor to give them similar, common sense guidance. Today common sense seems so “profound.” We often try to complicate the answer because we expect life to be very complicated.

Keeping abreast of the facts: I often told my family that I could handle most anything as long as they were the ones to tell me. I didn’t want to get the news from a neighbor or a “friend.” We have a motto at our house, No Secrets! We have tried keeping secrets from each other and it has not gone well. I am constantly amazed when I hear of 20- or 30-year or even lifetime secrets in a family. Secrets take so much effort to maintain.

Well, there is the three point outline contained in that one verse. I am so impressed that with His help, God never asks too much of us. And He keeps His suggestions very simple so that we can understand His directions and follow them. His promise is that we will become strong and we will profit by following His directions. He is faithful, and will keep His word.

Marilyn Willett Heavilin

Marilyn is a wife and mother, author, and international conference and retreat speaker. She and her husband Glen serve as Counselors-in-Residence at America’s KESWICK during the summer months.

I am not, as anyone who knows me will attest, a techie-type person. I don’t have a cell phone and I don’t do texting, iphones and ipads, etc., etc. I am of the “old” school who loves to send and receive handwritten notes and letters – yes, even those one- or two-page newsy letters that we sometimes receive in our Christmas cards. I read them with interest and save them throughout the year so that when I get ready to sit down and send off a letter, I can re-read it and be reminded of the joys and sorrows my friends have been dealing with.

I guess some of this has to do with being trained as an English Major and teaching English in high school and college in my earlier years. I truly value the printed word and enjoy the various nuances of the language and sometimes marvel at how our language has changed over time. And then there is the abbreviation of so many words to accommodate our texting society, things like LOL. BTW, YKN, etc.

My boss recently gave me a copy of a sort of abbreviation dictionary so I could decipher what I was getting in my emails from time to time.

However, of all the letters I have ever received, it is the love letters that have meant the most to me and the ones that I have saved over the years. Letters from a dear friend during a long-time relationship, letters from my mom and dad during times of joy and sadness. But love letters nonetheless – filled with expressions of such deep caring that reading them again after many years still brings both smiles and tears.

God’s love letter to us, His Holy Word, elicits the same response. When we read His love letter to us we are reminded that “we love Him because He first loved us” (I John 4:19). Not that everything that comes into our lives is always joyous – we all know that isn’t the case. But we know that because of His great love for us, everything that comes into our lives will be for our ultimate good and that is what allows us to smile and have great joy even in the midst of tears. And, unlike the writers of the love letters in my own life who are now gone, God never departs, never goes away without any way for me to “get in touch” with Him. He is always as close as picking up my Bible and reading how great is His love for me.

This is the month that we celebrate human love during Valentine’s Day and the days surrounding it. But as you wait for that card or letter or gift to come in the mail (or be sent to you via Facebook) remember that God’s love letter to you is as close as opening His Word and being reminded that His great gift – Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross – is the greatest expression of love that the world will ever know.

Lynn Randall

Lynn Randall is the Director of Human Resources at America’s KESWICK. She is active in her church and is a gifted planner and organizer. She has a real heart for people as evidenced by her care, concern and practical encouragement.

Today I need an extra measure of faith, don’t you? I read from Matthew 15 and I can relate to the Canaanite women who found Jesus and brought to Him her most urgent need. She comes with a request for her demon-possessed daughter to be healed. Verse 23 says, “But He answered her not a word.” I want to stop here because I know we all have an urgent need that has been presented to the Lord. I also believe we all have experienced God’s silence. Warren Wiersbe’s NT commentary explains that Jesus is not being cruel but that Jesus is building up the woman’s faith. I would venture that you and I don’t take times like these as faith-building exercises but rather get angry, give up or assume the silence means “no.” Simply, we are quick to lose faith.

As we read on, the example of this mother grieving her daughter’s situation continues despite the disciples’ apparent desire to dismiss her. She continued through the silence and the obstacles that stood in her way to again simply plead for her daughter’s restoration. “Lord, help me!” Let’s note that Jesus inclines His ear to our simple cries of help. Not that He didn’t hear her the first time, but this seemingly small act of faith and worship got a response. She was persistent. She knew that Jesus had the answer. She didn’t quit.

I have been reading “The Circle Maker” by Mark Batterson, a wonderful book on prayer. Currently, I am reading the chapter called “Long and Boring.” Here a few of my highlighted passages from this chapter.

“Praying through is long and boring, but it is the price you pay for miracles.”

“Drawing prayer circles often feels like a long and boring process, and it can be frustrating when you feel like you’ve been circling forever. You start to wonder if God really hears; if God really cares. Sometimes His silence is deafening. We circle the cancer. We circle the children. We circle the dream. But it doesn’t seem to be making a difference. What do you do? My advice: Stop, drop and pray. Keep circling. Circle for seventy years if you have to! What else are you going to do? Where else are you going to turn? What other options do you have? Pray through.”

“We live in a culture that overvalues fifteen minutes of fame and undervalues lifelong faithfulness. Maybe we have it backward. Just as our greatest successes often come on the heels of our greatest failures; our greatest answers often come on the heels of our longest and most boring prayers. But if you pray long and boring prayers, your life will be anything but boring. Your life will turn into the spiritual adventure it was destined to be. It won’t always get you where you want to go, but it will get you through.”

I love a little saying I saw awhile back – “I’d give up chocolate but I ain’t no quitter!” Today let’s not give up on our long and boring prayers. Let’s not be quitters. Let’s have the faith to know that the results of our persistent prayers are miracles!

Blessings,
Kathy Withers

Kathy’s on staff at America’s KESWICK in the Development Department. Kathy has been married to her husband Dave for 26 years. They have two adult children. Kathy is active in her local church and has previously served as a Teaching Director for Community Bible Study. Her passion is to encourage women to deepen their walk with Jesus Christ by finding and living out the truths of God’s Word.

Lately, the Lord has been impressing upon my Spirit the following words from His Word: awake, aware, watchful.

“Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” I Peter 5:8

“…be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” Ephesians 6:18

“…be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.” I Peter 4:7

“We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.” Hebrews 2:1

When we are in the midst of a trial, we are ready, prepared, with spiritual weapons in hand, because we know that we are in a battle. Our time with the Lord in His Word, in prayer, in worship, and our fellowship with other believers is our lifeline; we know how very much we need Him.

But when life is calm, peaceful, comfortable — are we still seeking Him with the same urgency? Or do we slowly become complacent, apathetic, unaware, sleepy? The Lord has been teaching me that whether I am in a battle, or enjoying a time of peace, He needs to remain my first priority. I need to always remain alert, clear- minded, self-controlled, paying careful attention, so that I will not inadvertently become easy prey for the enemy.

I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t want to be blind-sided by the enemy. I need to always remember that I need the Lord desperately EVERY day — good days, bad days, in between days. I need Him for my every breath. I need to have daily, desperate dependence on God. When I lose that, I am on very shaky ground, and there becomes a very strong possibility that God will allow something difficult in my life to remind me just how much I need Him.

Sisters, join me in keeping Christ of first importance. Let’s stay awake, alert, aware, and if we see a brother or sister in Christ snoozing, maybe it’s time, with grace, to give them a little wake-up call. And let’s be ready to receive and respond well to a wake-up call that we may be in need of.

Stacey Poplawski
WOC Graduate