“How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?” Exodus 10:3

The words came out of the mouth of Moses, but they came from the LORD, God of the Hebrews, to the ears of Pharaoh.

Over and over again Pharaoh either refused to let the people of Israel go (4 times) or he agreed to let the people of Israel go and then reneged on his word (5 times).  Then during the tenth plague – death of the first born – Pharaoh sent them away – all of Egypt was eager to get rid of them.  The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste. For they said, We shall all be dead.” Exodus 12:33. But then Pharaoh pursued them.

Pharaoh recognized that Moses was God’s chosen man because he repeatedly asked him to plead with God to stop the plagues.  Yet, when Moses (sent by God) pleaded with him to let Israel go – Pharaoh believed himself to be free to choose to submit or not submit to God’s command. This resulted in the Lord’s question to him: “How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me?” Exodus 10:3.

Once again, I find myself asking the question – How much am I like Pharaoh? When I refuse to obey God – I am exalting myself to have an equal say as the Creator of the Universe. Sounds silly I know, but if I look at it from God’s perspective – I’m not sure what else to call it.

Every time I sin – I choose me and deny God.

Every time I go my own way – I choose me and deny God.

Every time I choose me – my pride is manifest.

Every time I choose God – I obey.

Every time I choose God – I go His way.

Every time I choose God – I humble myself before Him.

How long will I continue to refuse to humble myself before God?  I pray from this moment forward never more.

Blessings,

Diane

After serving 16 years full-time on the staff of America’s Keswick, Diane Hunt and her husband moved to North Carolina where she continues to serve part-time as a contributing writer and Partner Care Consultant.  She is also a biblical counselor and women’s event speaker. For more information about having Diane speak at your next event please contact her at dhunt@americaskeswick.org.

 

But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart and would not listen to them, as the Lord had said. Exodus 8:15

You know the story – Moses approaches Pharaoh to request the release of the people of Israel. Pharaoh’s hardened heart denies Moses’ request over and over again.

By the second plague – when frogs swarmed all over the land of Egypt – Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron and asked them to “Plead with the LORD to take away the frogs from me and from my people, and I will let the people go sacrifice to the LORD.” Exodus 8:8 So Moses cried out to the LORD and the frogs died.

But when Pharaoh saw that there was a respite, he hardened his heart and would not listen to them, as the Lord had said. Exodus 8:15

Have you ever done this?  What might be called a foxhole promise?  Lord, if you get me out of this mess, I will never do it again.

Lord, if you cure my cancer, I promise to read my Bible every day.

Lord, if get me out of this financial crisis, I promise I will pray every day.

Lord, if you ______________, I promise I will ______________.

Perhaps another way we might see this in our lives is when we are in the midst of trial and we read our Bibles faithfully and pray regularly like never before.  Then a respite comes from our suffering and over time we read less frequently and pray less faithfully.

We can see clearly in Exodus the respite repeatedly led Pharaoh to harden his heart and change his decision to let Israel go. In what ways have we been affected by a respite from pressure, trials and suffering in our lives?  What promises have we failed to keep because the pressure which led us to make the promises to God has ceased?

Perhaps we need to give regard for the respite.

Blessings, Diane

After serving 16 years full-time on the staff of America’s Keswick, Diane Hunt and her husband moved to North Carolina where she continues to serve part-time as a contributing writer and Partner Care Consultant.  She is also a biblical counselor and women’s event speaker. For more information about having Diane speak at your next event please contact her at dhunt@americaskeswick.org.

 

 

Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were loosed. Acts 16:26

Prison. What comes to your mind when you hear that word? Do you think of criminals, deserving of being in prison? Do you think of the innocent wasting away in prison? Do you think of yourself? I did. The sins of my past were my prison. Satan was my jailor. He used every anxious thought he could to keep me there. Mostly, though, he used fear. One of his mightiest weapons, it was the lock on my cell.

What a scene it must have been in that prison described in the Scripture above. The earth rattles, the foundation shakes, all the doors were opened and EVERYONE’S chains were loosed. We get no specifics on what all the prisoners were there for. We are just told that ALL of them were set free. Wow!

In the first words preached by Jesus in the Synagogue from Isaiah 61:3, He tells us what He came to do. Listed among them is this: …to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound. Jesus, Himself, declares that He came to set those of us held hostage by Satan, free. He is our Ransom. It is He and He alone who will send an “earthquake” in our lives so that the foundations are rocked and the cell doors are flung open wide. Then He drops our shackles, and we are indeed liberated, bound no more.

Can you hear Him proclaiming, “FREEDOM!” as He sees us run out of our prison cell toward Him and His everlasting mercy and love? Do you see Him beaming as He watches us throw those chains aside and join our fellow captives in adoration and worship to Him? Fear no longer imprisons us. It’s left behind in the pile of shackles. We become effective witnesses to His amazing grace.

Ransomed. Rescued. Redeemed. It’s the unmerited gift we have been given and the Hope we can share with others. And in the process it may be good to think about the words in the Steven Curtis Chapman song “Remember Your Chains” which say,

Remember your chains
Remember the prison that once held you
Before the love of God broke through

Remember the place you were without grace
When you see where you are now
Remember your chains
And remember your chains are gone

Carol Tirondola

Carol is on staff with the Partner Care team at America’s Keswick. She, and her best friend Mario, have been married for 35 years. They have 2 sons and 2 daughters-in-law that they call their “BFFs”. They also have 7 precious gems called grandchildren. Her family has savored many memories of the heart made at Keswick over the last 35+ years and she is thrilled to now be serving on staff!

Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and who esteem His name. Malachi 3:16

But let all those rejoice who put their trust in YOU; Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; Let those also who love Your name be joyful in You. Psalm 5:11

Do you need defending? There are times when we all do. Perhaps you’ve been wrongfully accused of something or had assumptions made about you that were false. The knee-jerk response can often be the wrong choice. “Who said that? Well, I’ll just go set them straight…” There is a time for that, but most often it’s a time to be still and let Him sift it out. It’s sort of like panning for gold. There’s a lot of dirt involved but once it’s fully processed, IF there’s gold to be found it shines forth, just like the truth.

The next verse (Psalm 5:12) reads: For You, O Lord, will bless the righteous; With favor You will surround him as with a shield.

Don’t stand in frozen amazement the next time you need defending. He’s already said He would be our shield. Therefore, one must be needed from time to time in this world. Let’s instead try to not be the cause of someone’s need for a shield. Amen?

Dina

Dina Seaton has served on staff for 15 years, currently in Partner Care. She is a proud Air Force mom and loves spending time with her son wherever he is, near or far. He is truly her greatest joy.  Dina came to Christ in 2000. She loves God and wants to love Him more!

 

I just love my hairdresser. I tell everyone to go see her if they want a stunning haircut or hair color, and now my best friends have gone or currently go to her. You just cannot deny how talented she is. I joke around with my friends that I’m surprised she still lets me sit in her chair, because every time I visit her she can expect me to say, “I want to go blonder!”

The last time I was in her chair, I told her that I want to dye my hair completely blonde. She’s so sweet – she smiled and said, “Well… I can do that for you, but it’s going to be a lot of upkeep and you’ll be in here for touch ups very frequently. I can make you full blonde, or we can just do blonder highlights.” Her honesty is one of the things I love most about her, so I agreed and went with blonder highlights.

I realized I really do have that “I want more!” mentality – in other words, I often have a spirit of discontentment.  Sometimes it’s about hair color, but like I have the “blonde bug” and itch for brighter hair, I often itch for things on a “larger scale” as well.

If I’m feeling down, I go to visit my best friend and mentor and I pour my heart out to her. Just like I joke around that I’m surprised my hairdresser lets me sit in her chair, I have to say that I’m surprised my friend lets me sit on her couch as well.  I cannot tell you how many times she has heard me say something along the lines of –

“Well… I’m very thankful to have a job that I adore and an apartment that I love. I have been praying about that for years. But now I want a husband… and maybe a year or so after I marry him… maybe I can have a baby!”

Slow down, Erin! I have to realize that I am only 21 years old.

In Philippians 4:12, Paul talks about how he has been through both the good and the bad (and he had certainly been through the wringer) but learned the “secret to contentment” in all circumstances. It’s something that needed to be pursued. Well, what is that secret, then?

Focusing on God. Trusting His provision. Trusting His plan. Resting in Him. Being thankful for what He has given.

I believe that happiness is a choice… and like Valorie Burton of Proverbs 31 Ministry writes, when I stop focusing on my “I wants” and instead focus on what God wants to do in and through my life, happiness and contentment follows.

So, I’m going to commit to following the instruction given in our verses for 2017 – Rejoice, Pray, Give Thanks (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18). I am called to peace, and I’m going to live like it!

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

 

Psalm 145:18 The Lord is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him in truth. (NKJV)

I have a confession to make that will either endear me to you or leave you scratching your head: I have….. six cats. (I only had one for many years, but this changed after a meandering mommy cat with kittens in tow nestled her way into our yard, hearts, and eventually our home.) Ninety-nine percent of the time when they communicate, I can identify not only which cat it is, but what the particular vocalization means. I am spot-on not just because I know them, and I deliver not only because I can, but because I love them and am desirous to meet their needs. So it is and even how much more so is it with our heavenly Father where we’re concerned! The analogy pales in comparison, but suffices, I trust.

Christ said it well when He reasoned from the lesser to the greater that “if you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!” (Matthew 7: 11, NKJV). So not only does our good Father hear His children, He responds to our exact need according to His extraordinary riches, matchless love, unparalleled character, perfect omniscience, and mighty omnipotence. Our understanding High Priest, Jesus, sympathizes with us (Hebrews 4:15), and the Holy Spirit intercedes for us (Romans 8:26).

So what’s your prayer today? Although ultimately we ought to rejoice and give thanks (1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18), sometimes we need to process emotions and thoughts to get authentically to that point. Regardless, God meets us where we genuinely are – not where we pretend to be as He operates solely in the realm of truth.

 

So, whether it’s a “yowl” of complaint, a “hiss” of dislike, a “call” for help, a “yelp” of pain, a “wail” of grief, a “meow” of supplication, or a “purr” of praise, contentment, or gratitude, our perfect Heavenly Dad hears all and knows not only us, but our needs better than we do. And He alone will engineer and orchestrate the “purr”fect solution. So get in your prayer closet and let the cat out of the bag: Just make sure it doesn’t get your tongue!

Melissa Smith is the Women of Character Coordinator at America’s Keswick. She has the privilege and honor of ministering to the colony men’s wives and girlfriends, the Barbara’s Place women, and some women from the community who God brings to America’s Keswick for help or care. She and Bill, her husband of 18 years, have four adopted children ages 17 to 24. Her fervent desire is to point women to Christ and His sufficiency, provision, and promises.

 

I connected with my favorite Christian author’s books so deeply that I feel like she is more of a cherished, perfect grandma to me than a complete stranger whose books I read. Her books coached me through adolescence, through college, through transitioning into independence, and through transitioning into marriage. When I have a question, I consult her. She is, to me, the pinnacle of Christian virtue and wisdom.

Some of my coworkers, who have worked with her on several occasions, have tried to remind me that she was a human, fallen like the rest of us. I just plug my ears. How could someone who has been so used by God be anything less than perfect?

This past week I felt like I had blown it again, had let my pride take control of my tongue. Afterwards, sitting in the shame of it, I felt like there’s no way God can use a person like me. How could anyone take a sinner like me seriously? I have this idea that in order to be useful to God, I need to live (at least in the eyes of others) in sinless perfection.

God reminded me on three different occasions through three different people about my Christian hero. The phrase feet of clay kept coming up. My hero had feet of clay. I have feet of clay. Every person who has ever lived, except for Jesus our Savior, has (or had) feet of clay. We stumble, we mess up, we say the wrong things in front of the wrong people, and God uses us anyway. It felt like a breath of sweet air to accept that my hero wasn’t perfect. She had a sin nature like me and struggled in her own areas with temptation and sin, and yet God still used her.

Being sinners doesn’t disqualify us from being used by God. In fact, being a sinner is what qualifies us to be redeemed by Jesus’ blood, transformed by the work of the Holy Spirit, and useful for accomplishing the work of God’s kingdom.

I want to always be striving for holiness, and I certainly don’t want to be flippant about my lack of holiness. It would be easy to shrug off conviction and say, “Nobody’s perfect.” But isn’t it comforting to know that conviction is not condemnation and that God still has forgiveness and compassion for us. We all have feet of clay, but God doesn’t despise us for it. Instead, He is merciful and gracious, a most tender and loving Father.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he remove our transgressions from us.
As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.
For he knows our frame;
he remembers that we are dust.
Psalm 103:11-14 ESV

Jenn Cougle

Jenn serves as America’s Keswick’s audio visual technician. She is married to Steven Cougle, a Colony grad who serves in the Housekeeping department.

 

 

For the past 14 months, my husband and I have had the privilege to rent a home with our son, his wife, and their 2-year-old son.  Every day we laugh.  A lot. God sometimes shows me through my grandson how very much like a 2-year-old I still am.

The following conversation took place between my daughter-in-law and grandson:

Mom: “Come on, it’s time to take a bath.”

Child: “I don’t want to take a bath.”

Mom: “You don’t want to take a bath?”

Child: “No, I don’t want to take a bath.”

Mom: “You don’t have a choice. You need to take a bath.”

Child: “But Mom, I want a choice.”

Even as a redeemed child of the One True God, too often I lapse into wanting a choice – to go my way rather than God’s way.   Every time I sin, I make a choice to go my own way.

My flesh wants a choice.

In my spirit I know that God’s way is life and the way of my flesh is death.

So ultimately my choice really is life and death.

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. Romans 6:22

Why would I not chose life?

Blessings, Diane

After serving 16 years full-time on the staff of America’s Keswick, Diane Hunt and her husband moved to North Carolina where she continues to serve part-time as a contributing writer and Partner Care Consultant.  She is also a biblical counselor and women’s event speaker. For more information about having Diane speak at your next event please contact her at dhunt@americaskeswick.org.

 

But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.” Ex 4:13

After 400 years, the Lord appears to Moses on Mt. Horeb (The mountain of God – Ex 3:1) from the Burning Bush (Ex 3). The Lord tells Moses that He has seen and heard the cries of His people and that He has chosen Moses to lead His people-Israel, out of Egypt.  Even after God assured Moses that He would put His words in his mouth and that He would perform mighty signs through him, Moses asked God to “please send someone else.”

I don’t think we can be too hard on poor ol’ Moses. After all, don’t we at times ask the same thing of God?

Maybe God is calling us to go speak to a neighbor about Him but we don’t, hoping someone else will do it.

Maybe it’s a family member God has prompted us to speak to, but we are just too afraid and we pray God would send someone else to share the gospel with them.

Maybe it’s a ministry God is calling us to serve in that is outside of our comfort zone, so we sit back because others seem better suited to serve there.

So I guess the question we need to ask ourselves is, “Am I asking God to please send someone else when it’s me He is asking to go?”

Food for thought today.

Blessings, Diane

After serving 16 years full-time on the staff of America’s Keswick, Diane Hunt and her husband moved to North Carolina where she continues to serve part-time as a contributing writer and Partner Care Consultant.  She is also a biblical counselor and women’s event speaker. For more information about having Diane speak at your next event please contact her at dhunt@americaskeswick.org.

 

“We must allow the Word of God to confront us, to disturb our security, to undermine our complacency and to overthrow our patterns of thought and behavior.”
― John R.W. Stott

When I first was saved I was eager to learn. It seemed everything was new.  My interaction with the Word did challenge me, confront me, and change me.  Is the same true 33 plus years later?  Have I become complacent?  Have I traded in my eagerness to learn for something less?  Am I still teachable?  Do I still come to the Word with expectation? Are my ears and heart still open to hear from God? Am I still pliable in His hand? When I am confronted by truth do I allow it to overthrow my patterns of thought and behavior?  Do I change as a result of God’s Word to my heart?

When you come to the Word day by day, are you open to whatever God will do in your time together? Do you anticipate being changed by your encounter?  Are you willing to change? Not just be changed but to be actively engaged in the process of changing? Are you willing to allow yourself to be confronted and to release your complacency?  Will you allow Him to overthrow your patterns of thought and behavior? Will you change?

May I be transparent for a moment?  Over the years I have grown subtly less open to be overthrown by the Word of God without even being aware of it.  Perhaps you find yourself in the same place? Maybe you are not even aware of it.

When was the last time you were overthrown by the Word of God?

Lord, forgive me.

Blessings, Diane

After serving 16 years full-time on the staff of America’s Keswick, Diane Hunt and her husband moved to North Carolina where she continues to serve part-time as a contributing writer and Partner Care Consultant.  She is also a biblical counselor and women’s event speaker. For more information about having Diane speak at your next event please contact her at dhunt@americaskeswick.org.