Recently during a staff enrichment time, Jim Kennedy, our Chief Operating Officer, was sharing about the importance of memorizing God’s Word. Something he said immediately struck me as a “Victory Call” — He asked how we were impacted by our time in the Word – were we like a pipe that water flows through – leaving the pipe relatively unchanged. That doesn’t sound like a profitable use of time or conducive of a meaningful, deep, abiding relationship with Christ.

What would be the alternative? When we spend time in the Word, we are spending time with HIM. It is not a reading exercise. As we spend time with HIM in the Word, HE is in the process of making us more like HIS Son. “Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.” John 17:17

So it seems to me that we need to be more like a sponge than a pipe. Think of a dry sponge shriveled and hard. Drip one drop of water on it and that spot swells. Pour water on it or submerge it in water and the entire sponge swells to hold as much water as possible. If it is saturated, the slightest pressure will cause it to drip.

Oh, Lord, I want to be like the sponge, so full of YOU and YOUR WORD that the slightest pressure will cause You and Your Word to flow out.

How about you? Are you more like a pipe or a sponge? For you and me to be sponges requires more than a quick read in Scriptures a few times a week. It necessitates tarrying with HIM in HIS WORD. I know in my life that will require saying no to other things to make room and time to tarry, to actually live as if I genuinely want to be a sponge.

Ask yourself, “Am I a pipe or a sponge?” and “What am I willing to do to be more of a sponge?”

Blessings, Diane

Diane Hunt is a Biblical Counselor, Women’s conference and retreat speaker and author. She serves as the Director of Partner Care and Director of Women’s Ministries at America’s Keswick. She and her husband John have two married children and four grandchildren. She loves reveling in warm sunny climates and playing with her grandchildren.

Love is open-eyed. It sees people and loves them as they are. Thank God He loves me and you right where we are. It’s a fact. Let me say that again, it’s a fact. A fact according to whom? According to God’s infallible Word:

“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8 NKJV)

…and based on the fact that it is impossible, let me say that again, the fact that it is impossible, for God to lie:

“For men indeed swear by the greater, and an oath for confirmation is for them an end of all dispute. Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.” (Hebrews 6:16-18 NKJV)

…we can love as God has commanded we do.

I hate sin. I wish I hated it more when I discover it’s mine. I seem to have no trouble hating it when I see it in the world and in the people I love. There it is – there are people I love yet I hate their sin. I sometimes get the two confused; as if I’ve never been there or can’t still go there. I’m so thankful God sees me and sees that in me. By the power of His Holy Spirit at work in me I can submit to Him and do better. I want to do better.

Be encouraged – love is not blind; it is open-eyed – it sees people and loves them as they are. In fact, it refuses to leave them that way. I thank God for that:

“But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Thes. 2:13-14, NKJV)

Love, blessings, and encouragement,
Dina

Dina Seaton serves in Marketing at America’s Keswick, was saved by grace in 2000, and has been on staff since 2002. Dina loves Jesus because He first loved her. She is thankful to be called “Mom” for the last twenty years by her one and only son whom she adores more than words can say.

Well, it is that time again for our annual Family Freedom Walk (our 7th!!!), May 9, 2015. We are having a little staff competition to see who can raise the most money. We would like to invite you to support one of your Victory Call writers. Click on their link below and it will take you directly to their individual webpage for the walk. You can give directly through their webpage. If you prefer to send a check, just mail it to America’s Keswick 601 Route 530, Whiting, NJ 08759 ATTN: the person’s name – and mark your check FFW in the memo. Thank you for your support.
Mary Ann Kiernan
http://americaskeswick.donorpages.com/2015FamilyFreedomWalk/MaryAnnKiernan/
Stephanie Paul
http://americaskeswick.donorpages.com/2015FamilyFreedomWalk/StephaniePaul/
Dina Seaton
http://americaskeswick.donorpages.com/2015FamilyFreedomWalk/DinaSeaton/
Kathy Withers
http://americaskeswick.donorpages.com/2015FamilyFreedomWalk/KathyWithers/
Diane Hunt
http://americaskeswick.donorpages.com/2015FamilyFreedomWalk/DianeHunt/
If you would like to help us raise money for the Addiction Recovery Ministries – to help men, women and children, we would love to have you walk with us. If you are interested please go to our website and sign up today then start raising sponsors.
http://www.americaskeswick.org/christian-events/special-events/family-freedom-walk
Thank you so much for your support.

Matthew 4:1-11 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written:
‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’ and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the LORD your God.’” Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.’” Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.

Some observations:
1. The nature of the first temptation is targeted to Jesus’ human weakness – He fasted 40 days/nights and was hungry. Satan’s temptation was to make bread to eliminate Jesus’ need apart from God.
2. Jesus’ response was Scripture that was very specific to that temptation. “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’” Jesus’ defense was targeted truth that directly addresses that temptation.
3. Jesus spoke with authority, confidence and belief.
4. The second temptation, Satan uses Scripture also for his own purposes. He knows Scripture and doesn’t hesitate to misuse it. If we are not wise and discerning we can be caught in his snare, even with best intentions.
5. The third temptation, Jesus again confronts the temptation with a targeted Scripture.

As we confront temptation in our own lives, it is important to select the Scriptural weapon that specifically addresses that temptation.

In addition, it is important to combine the truth with faith. “For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.” Hebrews 4:2

Be encouraged. Select your battle weapons carefully, then wield them with precision and confidence.

Blessings,
Diane

Diane Hunt is a Biblical Counselor, Women’s conference and retreat speaker and author. She serves as the Director of Partner Care and Director of Women’s Ministries at America’s Keswick. She and her husband John have two married children and four grandchildren. She loves reveling in warm sunny climates and playing with her grandchildren.

The good men perish; the godly die before their time….No one seems to realize God is taking them away from evil days ahead. For the godly who die shall rest in peace. (Isaiah 57:1-2 TLB)

The morning after our 17-year-old son was killed by a drunk driver, people seemed to be pouring into our home, and many of them brought the same verse, Romans 8:28. I realize that verse is a real comfort to many in a time of great stress, but it didn’t comfort me. The morning after my son died, I couldn’t comprehend that any good could come out of the death of a solid Christian 17-year-old. I guess I preferred to be uncomforted.

So when a godly woman came in and said, “Marilyn, I have a wonderful verse for you!” I must admit I groaned inwardly and thought, Dear Lord, this is a nice lady. I really want to keep liking her. Please, please help her give me something different than Romans 8:28, and if she does share that verse, please help me be kind to her, and please help me behave well!!!

God heard my prayer. The verse she offered was from Isaiah 57:1-2 from the Living Bible Translation. I heard her read, The good men perish, the godly die before their time. I thought to myself, Nathan was a good man, and 17 sure seems “before his time” to me. I sure couldn’t argue about us being in evil days. All a person has to do is read the front page of the daily newspaper to know we are in evil days. And I knew Nate trusted the Lord and was now at peace.

Later that day I learned that J. Vernon McGee was speaking on that passage the very moment and day our friends received news of our Nate’s seemingly untimely death.

Dear ones, I realized then that God knew ahead of time that I was going to struggle and He supplied a verse that could comfort my confused, hurting, and broken heart. He didn’t say “Marilyn, I’m ashamed of you; I really expected you to be stronger than this, and faster than this,” but instead, He said, “Marilyn, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee (Hebrews 13:5, KJV) and feel free to take all of the time you need, even if it’s three years.” He gave me the kind of comfort I needed.

Marilyn Willett Heavilin has been married to Glen since 1958, is the mother of five, and grandmother to four. She is a published author of Roses In December, Becoming A Woman of Honor, December’s Song, When Your Dreams Die, Profound Common Sense, and I’m Listening, Lord. She also co-authored Grief Is A Family Affair with her son, Matt. Marilyn and Glen lived full-time in a motor home, traveling coast to coast each year. They served as volunteers every summer at America’s Keswick for eleven years. Three of the Heavilin’s sons have died: Jimmy at 7 weeks to SIDS, Ethan at ten days to pneumonia, and his twin, Nathan, killed at 17 years of age by a drunk driver.

This devotional was originally published in Walking Victoriously Through The Valley of Grief: A Devotional by Those Who Have Experienced Grief. TO purchase copies, call 1-800-453-7942.

For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you. Philemon 1:7

“…the heart of the saints have been refreshed through you.” Wouldn’t you love to have those words of encouragement said to you?

Are you a refreshing spirit?
Do you look for the best in others?
Do you keep unkind words to yourself?
Do you stop harsh words before they spew from your mouth?
Do you purposely find and share encouraging words with others?
Do you show honor to friends?
Do you express respect for people in authority?
Do you stop gossip before it can get started?
Do you honor God with your mouth?
Do you refresh the hearts of people around you?

I have work to do. How about you?

Blessings, Diane

Diane Hunt is a Biblical Counselor, Women’s conference and retreat speaker and author. She serves as the Director of Partner Care and Director of Women’s Ministries at America’s Keswick. She and her husband John have 2 married children and 4 grandchildren. She loves reveling in warm sunny climates and playing with her grandchildren.

The entirety of your word is truth… Psalm 119:160

When you are reading the Bible, do you every find yourself asking the question, “Do I believe that?” If you do, let me encourage you to consider Psalm 119:160, “The entirety of your word is truth…”

If you are a true believer, you may be thinking “well, of course I believe it.” But if you are a skeptic, you may be thinking, “I believe some of it, not all of it” or “I believe the principles but not the actual events.”

Perhaps you are a follower of Jesus Christ yet have friends that don’t believe the Bible is true. How do we prove the authenticity of Scripture without using the Scripture?

Glad you asked.

There is scientific evidence that supports the biblical text written long before mankind made the discoveries.

Here are just a few examples:
1. The earth free-floats in space (Job 26:7). While other religions declared the Earth sat on the back of an elephant, or was carried by a giant turtle, the Bible alone states what we now know to be true – “He hands the earth on nothing.” How could ancient man have known this?… no other ancient culture stated this.
2. The ocean has currents (Psalm 8:8). Three thousand years ago the Bible described the “paths of the seas.” …In the 19th century Matthew Maury – the father of oceanography – researched and charted ocean currents that follow specific paths through the seas.
3. The most documented biblical event is the world-wide Flood described in Genesis 6-9. A number of Babylonian documents have been discovered which describe the same Flood.
4. The walls of the Temple of Amun in Thebes, Egypt have evidence of the campaign of Pharaoh Shishak into Israel in 1 Kings 14:25-26.
5. The existence of Jesus Christ as recorded by Josephus, Suetonius, Thallus, Pliny the Younger, the Talmud, and Lucian.
6. Just recently (January 4th) in an article in “The Washington Post” – “…archaeologists started peeling away layers under the floor in an old abandoned building adjacent to the museum in Jerusalem’s Old City…as they carefully dug down, they eventually uncovered something extraordinary: the suspected remains of the palace where one of the more famous scenes of the New Testament may have taken place – the trial of Jesus.”
7. There is scientific evidence that concurs with the Bible in areas of paleontology, astronomy, meteorology, biology, anthropology, hydrology, geology, physics, etc.

God’s Word is true; All of it. Rather than ask, “Do I believe that?” affirm “I believe it.” It can change your life.

Blessings, Diane

Diane Hunt is a Biblical Counselor, Women’s conference and retreat speaker and author. She serves as the Director of Partner Care and Director of Women’s Ministries at America’s Keswick. She and her husband John have 2 married children and 4 grandchildren. She loves reveling in warm sunny climates and playing with her grandchildren.

http://www.angelfire.com/planet/loveoneanother/proof.html
IBID
http://www.christiananswers.net/q-abr/abr-a009.html
IBID
IBID
http://www.clarifyingchristianity.com/science.shtml

But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord (Genesis 6:8, NIV).

When I was at the height of my speaking career, I generally watched for bargain airfares and often bought my tickets a year in advance. Monetarily, that was a smart move, but if the reservations ever needed to be changed, it could be a nightmare.

I was scheduled to make a trip to the mid-west, but the sudden death of a loved one mandated I change the reservation. I dreaded making the call to American Airlines, fearing how much it would cost to change my reservation. As I was holding on the phone line, I felt God prompting me to say “I need favor” rather than “I need to change my reservation.” The prompting was very explicit. “Do not ask for A favor. Ask for favor.” Much to my relief, the agent was very kind and understanding and seemed to respond well to my request for favor. The fee change charge was nominal, and I was thrilled. As I was finishing the transaction, the agent said, “Mrs. Heavilin, the agent at the counter may not understand how I came up with the stated amount. Just tell her I gave you favor.”

As I was standing at the ticket counter later that afternoon, the counter agent was busily pushing all kinds of buttons, but finally in exasperation, she said, “I just can’t figure out how the telephone agent came up with this fare.” I blurted, “Oh, he said to tell you he gave me favor!”

“Oh,” the agent exclaimed, “I know what to do with that!” She pushed a few buttons and my ticket began to print. I had found favor with American Airlines.

How do we find favor in the eyes of the Lord? First, we become His child, and we stay close to Him and follow His directions. Genesis 6:9 states: “Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God.” We are human and thus will never be blameless from a human viewpoint, but when we can find favor with God by confessing our sins and walking with Him day by day He is quite willing to put His favor into action on our behalf.

Marilyn Heavilin

Marilyn is a national speaker, author of numerous books including “Roses in December.” She and her husband Glen spent many summers at America’s Keswick as Counselors-in-Residence. This post was originally published in “Real Victory for Real Life.” You can purchase a copy at http://smile.amazon.com/Real-Victory-Life-Devotional-Thoughts-ebook/dp/B00EA1X16K/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1427897213&sr=8-12&keywords=Real+Victory+for+Real+Life or by calling 1-800-453-7942.

We have a staff member who regularly stops us in the hall or at our desk to pray with us. This morning this staff member prayed with me and I heard him say, “Lord, do us a favor…” I’ve heard him say that in prayer before and it tickles me. But as I think about it, isn’t every aspect of our very life favor from God? The next breath we take is a favor from God, it is unearned, undeserved and totally within God’s sovereign control.

I often think when I pray that I sound like I’m telling God what to do – yet in reality I am asking God for His favor. It is important to remember that.

Remember me, O Lord, with the favor You have toward Your people. Oh, visit me with Your salvation, Psalm 106:4

I entreated Your favor with my whole heart; Be merciful to me according to Your word. Psalm 119:58

For whoever finds me finds life, And obtains favor from the Lord; Proverbs 8:35

What favor will YOU ask for today?

Blessings, Diane

Diane Hunt is a Biblical Counselor, Women’s conference and retreat speaker and author. She serves as the Director of Partner Care and Director of Women’s Ministries at America’s Keswick. She and her husband John have 2 married children and 4 grandchildren. She loves reveling in warm sunny climates and playing with her grandchildren.

For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. 2 Corinthians 7:10

It is so easy to look at others and say, “The only reason they are sorry is because they got caught” or “they are sorry because of the consequences of their sin.” It is not so easy to look at ourselves and realize we are much more prone to worldly sorrow than godly sorrow.

When was the last time you wept over your sin? Ever?

Are you sorrowful over your sin because it offends a Holy God? Or are you sorrowful because of the results of your sin?

Does your heart break over your sin the way your sin breaks God’s heart?

We may be quick (or not-so-quick) to ask a friend or spouse to forgive us for harsh words but do we go the next step and confess our sin to God as well?

How regularly do you confess sin? Not in passing as an afterthought but really confessing and then repenting?

I think as believers it is easy to become apathetic about our sin because “after all I know I am
forgiven.”

It is true, we are forgiven if we are a born-again child of the King, but that forgiveness came at a very high price and should not be taken lightly or casually.

I am convicted and pray that God will show me, teach me, and lead me to godly sorrow that produces repentance. Do you need to do the same?

It’s a good day to go to the cross. Amen?

Thank you, Jesus, for going. It’s why we call it “Good” Friday.

Blessings, Diane

Diane Hunt is a Biblical Counselor, Women’s conference and retreat speaker and author. She serves as the Director of Partner Care and Director of Women’s Ministries at America’s Keswick. She and her husband John have 2 married children and 4 grandchildren. She loves reveling in warm sunny climates and playing with her grandchildren.

If you’re reading this Victory Call today I have no doubt that at some point in your life you’ve thought about love. As little girls, most of us had fantasies or dreams of falling in love and being in love. We loved the idea of love’s embrace and love’s kisses; of being swept off our feet by our handsome prince and carried off into the sunset. After all, it was and is the stuff of any love story worth its salt.

The one thing we rarely saw or see in these movies is the life that comes after the sunset. What happens next? What does love look like the morning after, the day after; the year after?

Over the almost thirteen years that I’ve been privileged to serve at America’s Keswick, love is often a topic of discussion with the women I get to come alongside.

We all want it, desire it, and sometimes succumb to demanding the love we so desperately crave. We were, after all, created to know and love God, right? So, what happens to us? Why do things get so twisted up? Why does love seem to fail us the morning after or when the honeymoon is over?

I obviously can’t answer that question exhaustively in the space of the devotion. But what I can say is this: more often than not love by biblical definition was or is not being practiced. All too often the image of love being portrayed is greatly diminished from what the Lord designed or defined.

According to 1 Corinthians 13 most of us know that love: “suffers long and is kind; does not envy; does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails.”

The assignment I often give when love is in question is to take the above definition/description of love and break it down. Search your heart and see if your love (not the one whose love you seek) is patient, kind, etc.

Dear sisters, what does your love look like? Is it puffed up? Does it behave rudely?

Should you choose to take it, this is your assignment today. Do according to Psalm 139:23-24:
“Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Stephanie Dale Paul

Stephanie serves as part of the Addiction Recovery Team at America’s Keswick as Director of Women of Character. She has been married for over 30 years to Sesky Paul who is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy. They have two grown children.
Her single focus in ministry at Keswick is to image Christ in grace and truth to wounded and hurting women, encouraging them to make Jesus the truest Lover of their soul and the One in whom all hope lies.