“You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.” Galatians 5:13

We started off yesterday with a call to modesty. The standards of dress have changed so drastically over time that things that we don’t think twice about today would have not have only raised eyebrows a hundred years ago but probably earned us a name we would not like.
Yesterday, I suggested some very pointed guidelines regarding modest attire. You may be thinking I’m being legalistic or prudish. Oh sister, hear my heart. Our theme verse this week and several others in Scripture clearly assure us we are free. “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” Romans 6:14. “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.” John 8:36. “I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.” Psalm 119:32. BUT, we are never to use our freedom as a license to do whatever we want if it causes a brother to stumble. Our theme verse says, “…do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.” The law of love constrains the law of freedom, or law of liberty. In other words, we give up our freedom out of love for a brother or sister, if the exercise of our freedom is a stumbling block for them.
You may be thinking, “This isn’t fair.” I’m not the one that has the problem. Why is modesty such a big deal? I’m not wearing anything too revealing. If a man gawks, that’s his problem. As a Christian woman, it is your “problem” because Christ has called you to serve your brother in love. How loving is it to wear clothing that attracts his eye, distracts him, or causes him to stumble? I’m not talking here about within your marriage. I’m talking about the men that are not your husband.
It takes a woman of strength, conviction and dignity to make such unselfish decisions. Are you willing to be that kind of woman?

No challenge today, I think we have been challenged enough.

Diane

Diane Hunt is part of the Development and Addiction Recovery teams at America’s Keswick. In addition to being a Biblical Counselor, she is a Women’s speaker for retreats, conferences and events. She is a regular writer for Victory Call and one of the authors of Crossing the Jordan Bible Study. She has been married to her husband John over 28 years. She has 2 adult children, 3 grandchildren, 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, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.” Galatians 5:13

Warning!!! This week’s devotionals are on modesty and sexual purity and are written with frankness and forthrightness. I apologize in advance if my frankness offends anyone. I would not do this if it wasn’t a burden on my heart that I think God wants His daughters to hear. I hope my mother is not reading these.
It’s that time of year again, when the weather is hot and humid. For some of you this writing will draw a nod of the head; for others, I’m afraid I’m going to step on your toes. I am going to be bold today, bolder than usual that is.
It is time for Christian women to take a stand with regard to our dress. Hear me clearly: I’m not talking about being dowdy, unstylish or puritanical in our dress. I’m talking about just plain modesty. There are parts of a woman’s body that need to be covered, plain and simple. A woman’s breasts need to be modestly covered, front, middle and sides. Modestly covered does not mean with see-through fabric, or exposing the bra underneath. A woman’s pubic area, upper thighs, mid-drift and buttocks need to be covered. I’m nervous about being so pointed but I’ve long since learned forthrightness and frankness minimizes misunderstanding.
I have worked at America’s Keswick for many years. I have had my eyes opened to the sinful struggle of women and men, both of which could be qualified as lust. I would venture a guess that the majority of calls I receive from women relate to this issue of lust. It may manifest itself in ogling, which means: to eye amorously or provocatively or to look at especially with greedy or interested attention (Merriam-Webster On-line Dictionary); or it may involve pornography, infidelity or inappropriate emotional ties. Statistics show that men are the primary offenders regarding the use of internet pornography sites, but there are a growing number of women falling into the same sinful trap.
I think you have had enough frankness for today, but we are not done yet. There is much more to be said this week. I will explain through the week how our verse relates to this topic.

Your challenge for today is to ask God if there are any outfits in your closet that HE would like you to get rid of. If you’re courageous enough, ask your spouse or a close friend for an honest evaluation of how you dress.

Diane

Diane Hunt is part of the Development and Addiction Recovery teams at America’s Keswick. In addition to being a Biblical Counselor, she is a Women’s speaker for retreats, conferences and events. She is a regular writer for Victory Call and one of the authors of Crossing the Jordan Bible Study. She has been married to her husband John over 28 years. She has 2 adult children, 3 grandchildren, 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.

Stressed?
Depressed?
Devastated?
Grief-stricken?
Useless?
Rejected?
Broken?
Crushed?
Do you languish, uncertain what to do next? Unsure if you can take the next step or even the next breath?
Look UP.
In your heart
And
With your eyes…
For right there, right there will be your King, your Father looking right at you.
He is very near. Filled with compassion for you in your desperation.
“The Lord is near to the broken-hearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” Psalm 34:18
Breathe.

Blessings,
Diane

Diane Hunt is part of the Development and Addiction Recovery teams at America’s Keswick. In addition to being a Biblical Counselor, she is a Women’s speaker for retreats, conferences and events. She is a regular writer for Victory Call and one of the authors of Crossing the Jordan Bible Study. She has been married to her husband John over 28 years. She has 2 adult children, 3 grandchildren, 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.

Recently a friend came to me about one of his children who was getting into a place of fear and worry. She is young, all of her needs are met, yet his little girl seemed overly fearful. He asked me for advice. I encouraged him to read Phil. 4:6-7 to his daughter. I further encouraged him to do what the Lord advises in His Word. Together they could give thanks for her current fears and worries and turn them over to the Lord. Teach her to do that every time fear rises up and see what God will do. He is faithful.

Perhaps you have worries you just can’t shake. I submit to you only a few scriptures in the Bible about worry. Read them, mediate upon them and may they open you to a peace beyond understanding that will guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus.

Matthew 6:25-34 (NASB)
For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? …

Luke 12:21-23 (NASB)
So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. And He said to His disciples, “For this reason I say to you, do not worry about your life, as to what you will eat; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.

Luke 12:24-26 (NASB)
Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds! And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life’s span? If then you cannot do even a very little thing, why do you worry about other matters?

Philippians 4:6-7 (NASB)
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Shalom,
Patricia L. Wenzel
Women Of Character Graduate

“If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:20

As I read this verse I had a different image of what “faith as small as a mustard seed” looked like until I read Warren Wiersbe’s NT Commentary on the verse. I always thought it meant that it just doesn’t take much in God’s economy to get things done. However, Warren Wiersbe says this:

“During the Lord’s absence, they (the nine) began to grow self-indulgent. They neglected prayer; their faith weakened. Then, when the crisis came, they were unprepared. Like Samson, they went out to battle without realizing that their power was gone (Judg.16:20). From their example, we see the importance of staying spiritually healthy.
“Faith as a grain of mustard seed” suggests not only size (God will honor even a little faith), but also life and growth. Faith like a mustard seed is living faith that is nurtured and caused to grow. Faith must be cultivated so that it grows and does even greater exploits for God. Had the nine disciples been praying, disciplining themselves, and meditating on the Word, they would have been able to cast out the demon and rescue the boy.”

While God can do much with our little seeds of faith, you and I must continue to grow. If we do not and we too become self-indulgent, prayerless and unprepared, I believe the mountains that come our way will move us instead. Should we continue to grow, one small step at a time, I can only imagine that we will find ourselves more than conquerors in regards to the mountains that stand before us.

Blessings,
Kathy

Kathy’s on staff at America’s Keswick in the Development Department. Kathy has been married to her husband Dave for 28 years. They have two adult children. Kathy is active in her local Church and has taught Sunday school and Bible studies for women. Her passion is to encourage women to deepen their walk with Jesus Christ by finding and living out the truths of God’s Word.

A heart cry for Revival!

II Chronicles 7:14 If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. (ESV)

Recently my pastor has been teaching on revival. What it is and what it is not: First, it is not attending a meeting where there is a manipulating message to produce guilt. That will wrongly convict us to keep rules to make us feel good. Oh, yes, it will puff you up but it will not create a contrite heart.

What it is: a heart cry for revival. It’s kind of like surgery that cuts deep and causes pain and then the healing begins.

Healing for the Contrite: Isa 57:14-18 – And it shall be said, Build up, build up, prepare the way, remove every obstruction from my people’s way. For the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite. For I will not contend forever nor will I always be angry; for the spirit would grow faint before me and the breath of life I made. Because of the iniquity of his unjust gain I was angry, I struck him; I hid my face and was angry, but he went on backsliding in the way of his own heart. I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will lead him and restore comfort to him and his mourners.

Candidates for revival are 1) Already trusted in Jesus as Savior 2) Spiritually unhealthy – refers to backsliding. A busy life can cause backsliding. Verse 17 ….went on backsliding in the way of his own heart.

A good question we can ask ourselves. Am I more like Jesus today than I was a year ago? There is no standing still in the Christian life. We need to be proactive in our walk with Jesus. Not just read His Word, attend church, or do good deeds, but to have a desire to grow in His Truths.

Moral failure is on the rise. “Wake up America.” We need revival in our personal lives and in our country. We must be spiritually ready for revival; we must admit our backsliding state with a contrite heart.

Isa 62:2 The nations shall see your righteousness…..

Who comes to mind when you hear these words? “Create in me a Clean Heart, O God”. Read Psalm 51.

It is my prayer for God to create in me a clean heart. That doesn’t happen without some pain attached.
God Bless America and God bless all of us as we Trust & Obey HIM.

Blessings,
Pat Spies
A Servant of the Lord, and a friend of Keswick

Ex 33:3 “Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”

God is speaking to Moses on the tail of giving him the Ten Commandments written by His own hand carved in stone tablets. Ex 31:18 “The two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.”

If you remember the account of what happened in Moses’ absence, the people of Israel rose up and went to Aaron complaining. “Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.”

So Aaron mad them a god of their gold rings, they worshiped it and fell into idolatrous revelry.

Do you see yourself anywhere in this narrative in Ex 33?

I do.

There are often times when my commitment to follow Jesus gets overshadowed by wanting to follow my own path, my own solution, which may take human effort, even skill but no faith whatsoever.

In Ex. 19:8 “All the people answered together and said, ‘All that the Lord has spoke we will do.’” The people were committed but by Exodus 33 they were haranguing Aaron to make them idols.

Can you identify with the Israelites and me?

Also – God calls the Israelites a stiff-necked people.

Ouch.

Do you have a pattern of sin that keeps dragging you down?

Do you give up too easily resisting the temptation to:
Overeat Over spend Worry Be angry
Be bitter Be unforgiving Gossip Exaggerate
Be proud Be lazy?

Is our resistance to full surrender stronger than our resistance to temptation? I’m ashamed to say – for me – too often that is true. I would think that resistance is what characterized being a stiff-necked person.

Reading the Old Testament, it is so easy to skim through the “stories” and think how foolish the Israelites were, but if we examine their humanness we may begin to see our own reflection.

Blessings,
Diane

Diane Hunt is part of the Development and Addiction Recovery teams at America’s Keswick. In addition to being a Biblical Counselor, she is a Women’s speaker for retreats, conferences and events. She is a regular writer for Victory Call and one of the authors of Crossing the Jordan Bible Study. She has been married to her husband John over 28 years. She has 2 adult children, 3 grandchildren, 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.

As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience. Luke 8:15

In the parable of the four soils, the only one that bears fruit to maturity is the fourth soil. The third soil bears fruit but it does not develop to maturity. And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. Luke 8:14

Have you taken a good look at your fruit lately? Is it rich, ripe, full and mature? Or is it stunted, warped and immature? Have you ever eaten fruit that is not quite ripe? A slightly green banana, or an apple or pear that has not yet reached maturity and at its peek of ripeness? Typically, immature fruit is sour or very tart, not very enjoyable. But mature fruit is juicy, sweet and delicious.

What makes the difference between the two? TIME and PATIENCE

You’ll note in Luke 8:15, As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

Bear fruit with patience. I think often times I am lazy and give up way too quickly when fruit is slow in developing and maturing. Mature fruit does not appear overnight. It takes perseverance and patience to reach maturity. That means that even when obedience is not easy we must keep on keeping on – to get up when we fail and chose obedience again and again and again; then we will see that beautiful, luscious fruit borne to maturity.

It’s time to evaluate ladies. Do you look more like the third soil or the fourth? Is the Word leaking out because of the cares and distractions of this world or are you holding fast to the Word of truth? Is the fruit of your life falling short of maturity or are you bearing fruit with patience?

Smile today at the person least expecting it.

Blessings,
Diane

Diane Hunt is part of the Development and Addiction Recovery teams at America’s Keswick. In addition to being a Biblical Counselor, she is a Women’s speaker for retreats, conferences and events. She is a regular writer for Victory Call and one of the authors of Crossing the Jordan Bible Study. She has been married to her husband John over 28 years. She has 2 adult children, 3 grandchildren, 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.

And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature. As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience. Luke 8:14-15

Recently, during a discussion with some of my friends from church about the parable of the 4 soils, I realized that far too often I am more characteristically like the third soil than the fourth soil. Oh, I believe the Spirit of God has regenerated my spirit and Jesus has saved me, but I also know that many times when I am richly impacted by the teaching of the Word I may think about it for a few days but gradually over the next weeks it leaks out and that deep impression wanes. My job, my family, my house, my… whatever, subtly crowds it out. Sounds a lot like soil three.

My guess is there are those of you out there that can identify with what I am saying.

I have heard many teachings on the four soils with various interpretations but most often only the fourth soil was representative of the heart of the true believer. But as we sat and chatted a few weeks ago, I clearly saw myself in the third soil. Not all the time, but far too often.

What really brought the conviction was reading verse 15: As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

Just the first part of the verse, “they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast…” Do you hold fast the Word you read in the morning or hear preached on Sunday? Do you treasure it and guard it as you do that which has great value to you? Do you refuse to let it leak out and dissipate as a vapor?

“Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live. Get wisdom; get insight; do not forget, and do not turn away from the words of my mouth.” Proverbs 4:4-5

“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.” 1 Corinthians 15:1-2

Think about that for a moment. The first step of living characteristically as the fourth soil is having heard the Word to hold fast to the Word.

HOLD FAST to the Word, the very Word of God.

Blessings, Diane

Diane Hunt is part of the Development and Addiction Recovery teams at America’s Keswick. In addition to being a Biblical Counselor, she is a Women’s speaker for retreats, conferences and events. She is a regular writer for Victory Call and one of the authors of Crossing the Jordan Bible Study. She has been married to her husband John over 28 years. She has 2 adult children, 3 grandchildren, 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.

This year, beginning at sundown on June 3rd, both Jews and Christians will celebrate Pentecost. For Jews they will celebrate the day when Moses led the people out and they stood at the foot of Mount Sinai, which was covered in smoke because the Lord descended on it in fire. The Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain. (Exodus 19:16-20) It was at this time God revealed His Word.

Christians will celebrate the birth of the church, when a sound from heaven like the rushing of a violent tempest blast came. There appeared tongues as of fire which rested on each one of those gathered. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. (Acts 2:1-4) It was on this day that God sent the helper Jesus promised would be sent.

On Pentecost let us celebrate God’s provision. Let’s not take blessings for granted. Marvel that God loves you so much that He provides all of our needs.

(Gen. 22:14) Praise Him, thank Him. Celebrate by giving generously to others with thanksgiving, joy and praise to our Lord.

On Pentecost let us celebrate the revelation of God’s Word. Give thanks for Torah, “the teaching of God”. Fill your mind with His Word, study His Word and receive fresh revelation. Memorize His Word. Let GOD arise and the enemy be scattered. (Ps. 68:1)

On Pentecost let us give thanks for a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Enjoy His presence, rejoice in His goodness!! Ask Holy Spirit to bless you with the fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22). Walk by faith, not by sight (2 Cor. 5:7). Thank Him for Holy Spirit!!

Blessings,

Patricia L. Wenzel
WOC Graduate

To learn more: The Messianic Church Arising by Dr. Robert D. Heidler, Glory of Zion International Ministries, 2006