"TRAUMATIC TIMES AND TRUTH TELLERS"

By Mary Lindow
 
Today’s podcast is going to be discussing a subject that a lot of people avoid because they honestly just don’t know how to approach it or, they are afraid to approach it.
Somehow people think that people like myself who have been serving in ministry to the Body of Christ for many, many years, and who are called by the Lord to operate or flow in a prophetic ministry as well, do this 40 hours a week. And, of course, people do expect you to be on call and ready to deliver a clear and concise word from the Lord, without considering the fact that you are not just simply a prophet or a teacher/minister, but you are also a human being who lives and breathes and moves and feels.
 
BEING IN MINISTRY ON ANY LEVEL IS NOT FOR THE WEAK OF HEART and truly should not be something to be considered or pursued by those who are looking for a platform for fame or to hold power over others. It is a call to hear the voice of the Lord, to study his word and to always be ready to give a good report of what he has promised or what he is requiring of his people.
So having said that, I am echoing the words and most likely also the thoughts of many disappointed and disillusioned believers right now.
I read a wonderful devotional last week from the Bible app. and it so resonated with where things are right now in our world.
It said, 
“If we are paying attention, we will see a lot of “off” around us. I bet you have noticed things that appeared unjust. Cracks in the façade that show injustice is real.
People hurt. Bullies winning.
The right action is left undone or the wrong action brings harm.
When we pay attention, we have to acknowledge this world is gut-wrenchingly broken.”
 
Many of us will read a description of mistreatment and nod along from experience, memories bringing a fire to our chest. Others hear words about injustice, and it all feels distant. The deep desire to downplay evil stirs, perhaps even subconsciously.
Reading Habakkuk beckons us to acknowledge a foundational principle God reveals through Old Testament prophets—you have to see the evil. We must look around at what is happening in the world and see it for what it is.”
 
THE BIBLE PAINTS THE PROPHETS AS THOSE WHO JOLT US AWAKE AND FORCE US TO SEE WHAT IS HAPPENING AND WHAT GOD SAYS ABOUT SUCH THINGS.
 
They are the watchmen signaling with waving arms, often to people wanting to look away.
“Look up and see the evil done against others”, the prophets said.
See the impact of your own choices on the vulnerable.
See the disobedience of God’s people.
 
GOD SEES THE WAYS WE’VE GOTTEN THINGS SUPER WRONG FRIENDS, and he’s coming to do something about it.
Get ready. We might not be paying attention, but he is.
 
It would be easy for some of us—and beneficial at times—to look away from the wrong done around us. We much prefer the aesthetics that way. Yet, there are consequences to indifference. We should not be surprised by discipline from the Lord if we choose not to pay attention to the discrepancy between our community’s actions and God’s righteous standard, just as the prophets warned in Israel.
 
FOR OVER 16 YEARS STEVE AND I HAVE ALSO BEEN INVOLVED AS PASTORAL COUNSELORS. Now, some individuals say that all pastors can give pastoral counseling to people. It’s a little different than that. Some people go to school and study psychology, which is the study of the mind, and how to understand the psyche of people and help them. This is a secular approach, and there have been good results and helping people resolve conflicts and often mental illness issues as well as addressing dementia and Alzheimer’s problems and more.
 
Pastoral counseling is where the Bible is the foundation, the Scriptures are the foundation of what you use as a basis to advise and counsel and hopefully help restore people. You also do have to take study courses and apply different techniques in counseling that assist you in being able to assess and discern, as well as understand some issues of mental health in order to be integral in your approach. Steve and I were supervised for over 15 years by a doctor of psychology, who was a strong believer, and we both took courses from different Christian counseling associations and college courses in order to broaden our ability to help people. We also had a brick-and-mortar counseling group with a dear friend, our friend who was the doctor of psychology and the practice supervisor for three years in our local area.
 
WE SAW THE LORD TRANSFORM, marriages, families, young people, and drug addicts, as well as dealing with many abused believers who had come out of almost cult-like, churches, or who were involved in environments and churches where they could not talk about abuse going on with the staff. Many in ministry callings came to us to share their hearts and gained helpful counsel as well.
 
LITERALLY A FEW WEEKS BEFORE COVID LOCKDOWNS BEGAN, our landlord who was also a believer let us know that he was going to sell his portion of the medical unit building that we were renting from him, and the Lord had begun to speak to Steve and I about the timing of where we were supposed to head into more private work as pastoral counselors and as mentors within that same timeframe. The state of Colorado had begun to dictate what licensed counselors were permitted to address, absolutely mandating that they were not permitted to talk about any kind of therapy, that assisted those with “different sexual lifestyles” if they wanted to be transformed or helped.
 
Steve and I strictly operate as Ordained ministers so we do not have to bow our knee to the dictates of a corrupt government licensure program.  We still have to follow confidentiality laws as well as report any kind of devastating child abuse that we may hear in our counseling sessions, but it is all done ethically and legally, and with grace. When the lockdowns began the majority of our work took place over the phone or occasional zoom sessions. With great sadness our dear sister and friend and Counseling Center Supervisor Dr. Muskie, passed into heaven, due to complications with WuhanCovid19.
 
When You Counsel People, The Number One Thing
That Needs To Be Absolutely Evident Is That You Are Willing
To NOT Look At Everyone From A Lens Of What YOU Know,
But Rather From The Lens Of God’s Compassion, As Well As
Leaning In To The Discernment Of The Holy Spirit.
 
The majority of the people I work with are women who have been in abusive environments with either husbands, abusive parents or/siblings and with people in ministry environments (and I’m telling you there are many sexual predators who prey upon women right in church buildings!) as well as working with professional women who are pressured by men and women in their work environments.
 
There are also a lot of women who are very sensual, who get attention by teasing men hoping to cause them to fall. It’s a real deal! And they don’t just go after pastors. They will go after any man in a local body or church or work environment to get the attention that they hunger for when they missed out on being parented properly, or if they feel that something sensual makes them get the attention they need to feel loved. This often happens when there has been sexual abuse in their lives.
 
Pastoral counseling is based on getting to the root of the problem according to what the word of God says, and for a believer the importance of it is that we are willing to face the root cause of what causes us to be traumatized, bitter, secretive, or lie.
 
ONE OF THE HARDEST THINGS TO COUNSEL IS A PERSON WITH AN EXTREMELY HARD, WOUNDED HEART, OR WHO IS EMBITTERED. No matter how much you try to show them the way and soften the pathway for them with the grace of God, there is often a back lash that always has a reason to explain why they are hurt, why they are hard, and why they choose to stay stuck in a hard place.
In Matthew 13:15 Jesus says:
“For the heart of this people has become hard,
With their ears they scarcely hear,
And they have closed their eyes,
Otherwise they would see with their eyes,
Hear with their ears,
And understand with their heart and return,
And I would heal them.”
 
It is a humbling thing to admit that you are stuck or that you are in a hard place, or that you are dominant and mean and cruel to people because you are bitter over tough life circumstances that have happened to you, and so you put up a wall to protect yourself.
 
I have met Christians who justify the fact that they can bully and name call and yes, often swear at other people when they think they are trying to help them or advise them. They often get angry when they are confronted about their bad bullying behavior towards their children. If you ever hear a believer say something like “my child is a jerk”, or “you’re a little brat”, or “stop whining and get up or I’m going to give you something to cry about”, you can tell that there’s verbal abuse going on in their home.
 
Verbal abuse isn’t just cussing at someone although it is verbal abuse for sure! Verbal abuse is considered shaming, humiliating, paralyzing, and dominating over someone else verbally to the point that they are caused to emotionally shut down in fear. Unfortunately, I hear in the confines and confidential pouring out of hearts in my counseling sessions many who have been yelled at with scripture verses and shamed over not being perfect and obedient to God.  This is called spiritual abuse.
 
Picking out specific Bible verses, and using them as a battering ram, or a knife that stabs into the heart of someone to get them to “obey" or to get them to “submit”, is absolutely vicious behavior and it is abusive. There’s no godly virtue in posturing to be a big shot, or to appear to be the person who can control a room with snarky snide remarks or a bunch of advice that everyone is forced to listen to.
 
This is called "insolent pride" in the Bible, and we always take that biblical view, but in the natural if you were studying a psychological viewpoint, this is called narcissism.
 
Proverbs 21:24 states
“Proud,” “Haughty,” “Scoffer,” are his names, 

He who acts with insolent pride
 
 
INSOLENT PRIDE CREATES A SCOFFING, ARROGANT “KNOW IT ALL” ENVIRONMENT, where there is no ability to ever address the deep-rooted issue of control and abuse in a human being and how they use it towards others to posture. The need for power and control becomes “out of control”! But underneath that simmering rage there is someone who needs to keep everything tightly organized and under their thumb in order that no one finds about out the secret part of them that is either weak, wounded, or has done something they should not do to harm others.
 
WHY AM I SHARING THIS?
Well, we are living in a time where narcissism is actually applauded and stroked as a point of near genius! Insolent pride and verbal domination have become the way of communication in most social media groups.  And, unfortunately it takes place in a lot of texting where people can say cruel or snarky things behind the protection of a telephone screen and slander others in one mass social media post or text! But to say it face-to-face and see the pain in someone’s face by the words they’ve spoken is a different thing isn’t it? And the other party suddenly being painted as a “rotten person” never gets a chance to tell the side of their story that may actually be the truth.
 
Every day we come across people who need to hear a kind word, who need to be lead to a place where they can get help or truth, or just simply be treated with a level of empathy.  And, every day we come across people who may be predators, verbal abusers, spiritual abusers, and have no conscience about how they treat people.
 
IT IS ABSOLUTELY TIME FOR THE BODY OF CHRIST AGAIN TO READDRESS THE ISSUE, FOR THE NEED FOR EXTREME DISCERNMENT. Everything that the enemy could throw at us and our children is on full display right now, and if we dumb down safety and sexuality, safety and what our children watch on television or other tech devices, safety and what WE as adults watch, we simply embrace the narrative of the world, and we move away from scriptural goodness into a place that pollutes the ability to have good discernment.
 
When we don’t allow accountability to come into our lives, whether it be with a good and wise counselor, or with a group of trusted friends who are not going to take your information and spread it far and wide, we leave ourselves open to a secretive fantasy world, or a secret world of torment.
 
What do you do when you’re anxious or sad or depressed or fearful over the way your husband treats you or the way your wife beats you down verbally?
 
What do you do when you are at a stalemate because a spouse refuses to forgive or move forward into hearing the truth about some of the things they have done to get locked into bad behavior and resentment?
 
What do you do when you have a child that suddenly has become addicted to video games and it’s moved up into their adult life and they have no friends because their world is all in front of a screen?
 
What do you do when you know that a minister or a member of a staff in a church or a CEO of your corporation is secretly sexually preying upon individuals in their offices, and you could lose your job, because you know?
 
THESE ARE THE THINGS THAT ARE HARD TO ADDRESS,
BUT MUST BE ADDRESSED!
 
The world is feeling a tremendous amount of being unsettled right now by the great upset of realizing how easy it is to be controlled by a few tyrants, and yet people will cower and go about in denial, instead of learning how to be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
 
I have worked with many brave women, who have prayed and fasted and done everything they possibly can to help work on their marriages, but their spouses have chosen to hunker down and gaslight and punish. No matter what approach is taken they become more verbally violent and are determined to blame everyone else.
 
Is this easy to talk about? Absolutely not!
But when you are scripturally based not only as a minister, but also as a pastoral counselor, you must bring truth into the light and help people become free from abusive environments and often “self abusive” environments.  You must above all have confidentiality and trust level that they know will not be breached. Most pastoral counselors work on a sliding scale fee in order to keep their rates low for those who are working hard, sometimes two and three jobs, or a wife who has limited income because her husband tightly holds the reins of the finances.
 
WHEN YOU’RE A PASTORAL COUNSELOR, IT IS DONE OUT OF THE PASSION FOR CHRIST and therefore money and income are not the foremost driving purpose for your work. But, there must be an investment and a fee from those who are in counseling, or people tend to not take it seriously.
It needs to be considered per individual and what they are capable of handling. I often tell people their counseling is much more important than the two or three times weekly custom cup of coffee at their local coffee shop, or perhaps snacks in their afternoon candy bar routine. It really isn’t a sacrifice when you start doing the work to get yourself whole and healthy.
It becomes a lifetime investment.
 
Pastoral counseling is definitely a calling and not to be simply a moneymaker. However, many individuals still expect hours and hours of free counseling time, and rarely invest much into changing their lives if there isn’t some kind of financial accountability for them. Of course if you attend a local church and there is a counseling pastor on staff, that’s what they are there for! If you regularly go to that fellowship and support them, usually there is an option or opportunity for you to see a counselor on staff for no fee. But having experienced some of this in the past, I also know that people tend to jump from counselor to counselor or, Pastor to Pastor if they don’t want to deal with the root cause of their problems, and it can cause friction in a local body if there’s not respect for the position and the role the pastoral counselor is assigned to, by the Lord. Basically they want someone to justify what they are doing, and their bad behaviors.
 
I URGE YOU TO ASK THE LORD TO WALK THE CORRIDORS OF YOUR HEART. Are there things in your life that you dominate and hold over others as scriptural and “legalistic absolutes” and they have become nearly abusive because you refuse to listen to someone else’s heart on the matter?
 
One thing that I have often observed is that people become very hard and hardened because they want to win an argument, or something that has helped and changed them, becomes a law for them to use against others.
 
Now, before others think I’m going to lighten my approach to the Bible, understand this. The word of God is perfect and enlightens the soul. It brings truth to a matter and it does not waver.
 
Of course, there are absolutes in the Scriptures that God will not deviate from no matter how many people try to dilute or maneuver around them. But if we use a hammer and verbal abuse and shame and scripture to “scorch people” in order to prove a point, or to advise them then we are also biblically unsound and abusive.
 
FIRST CORINTHIANS INSTRUCTS US SO CLEARLY THAT LOVE IS WHAT?
It is patient.
It is kind.
It is not boastful, it is not arrogant, and it is not self-serving.
 
When the Lord said, come to me, all of you who are heavy, laden, weighed down and burdened, and I will give you rest, he meant that, because he knows we get heavy laden and burdened and weighed down, either by our own destructive behaviors and sins, or by the destructive behaviors and actions and sins of others.
 
There is also nothing more painful than when someone is in pain or sorrowful or going through a great loss or trauma, and another individual shouts, “get over it, move on”, or cracks jokes about the person in pain.
 
Yes, you will be around people who are chronically in pain or depressed, and it takes patience. It takes guidance, and it takes kindness to either help direct them to help, or gently tell them that you are not the person that is able to help them at this time, but that you will stop and pray for them right now. 
You see, it takes humility.
 
Although there is a lot of reading material produced that uses the term “tough love” and a lot of books about boundaries that we can study, remember, if you’re coming from a scriptural perspective the ultimate goal of God is a Redemptive moment or a restoration if possible.
 
BOUNDARIES ARE NOT TO BE HUGE CEMENT WALLS WITH BARBED WIRE AT THE TOP BLOCKING OUT EVEN THE SUN.
 
Boundaries as a believer are there for when there is a conflict or a disagreement or a different viewpoint with another person. It’s a  "time out" to go and think about it, to pray about it, check your own heart and see if there’s something that would bring about a form of reconciliation.  And then, you try to come together and discuss the issue.
You can agree to disagree and not banish people!
 
Imagine how much Jesus disagrees with a lot of how we behave and yet he doesn’t banish us! He continues to wait for us to come out of our corners of hiding or corners of denial, and meet him again in dialogue until light comes and hope and help, bring a different perspective on our pathway of life.
 
I have worked with people through phone counseling sessions from many different places in the United States, and I have seen them grieve and open up and trust me with the deepest of their painful sorrows and things that are unbelievably sometimes even unbearable to mention. Slowly, but surely, a foundation of nurture and truth combined begins to chip away at the lie that they have believed and feel viewed as something no longer valuable or useful, or that they are worthy of value and are not to be abused!
 
For instance, if a young girl has been used and trafficked by a parent for most of their childhood and up into their high school years, once they awaken to this later in life, there is no way that anyone can accuse them of “choosing” to not face it!
 
There comes a time where the light of God shines brightly on the pain and the sorrow, and they need to be led out into a place where they can express the grief, the anguish and the huge loss of childhood innocence, and yet be brought to a safe place before the face of God, through strategic dialog, planning, or behavioral changes. Gently addressing the people that they affiliate, with until they see the light and the kindness of God. Until they can see themselves as the original creation God had planned them to be.
 
NOW, DON’T GET ME WRONG.
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE WHEN THE LORD OPENS DOORS FOR ME TO SPEAK AND MINISTER, and if so called to, I to do operate in the word of knowledge and the word of wisdom when I am involved in these environments.  It is hard work to study and prepare in prayer for when you are assigned these opportunities to speak and minister publicly. But, this behind-the-scenes work of mentoring and pastorally, biblically guide people with counsel, is one of the hardest things that I think I’ve ever done, and yet the most joyful and rewarding when you see the lights come on and the light enter and the chains of the enemy become literal paper and fall away. The person finds the joy and laughter and finds that God has a glorious plan for them.
 
Sometimes it can be a rather rapid process, but the majority of times it is a steady, consistent work, until they find their wings and fly. Every time I work with someone I think about how long it takes for Jesus to help us to find our way, and he often narrows the path of our relationships and friendships in order for us to not only be safe, but to also be on a pathway that is not crowded by those who choose to not do the work that God is asking them to do, in order to be transformed.
 
If we look at the parable where the seed falls on the ground, there are those who will stay stony hearted and will not take in water. They will not receive nourishment. They choose not to grow, and the sad thing is that their seed is pecked up on my other predators.
 
I CAN TELL YOU HONESTLY THAT ALL OF THE PROPHETIC WORDS SPOKEN OVER YOUR LIFE DO NOT CHANGE
THE HARD WORK IT TAKES TO GET YOUR LIFE ON A PATH WHERE THEY CAN COME TO PASS.
 
The Lord is so good to give us future promises, but with those there’s a requirement for action.
Don’t wait until things are so bad and you have a minefield of heartache and debris left in your wake that you have to now clean up.
Don’t be afraid to ask for the help that you need, and find someone whom you can work with and feel safe with, and get on with allowing God to create a new clean heart and renew a right spirit within you.
 
If you have addictions to pornography or addictions to drugs or any other thing that causes you to feel driven towards it, the Lord wants to offer you freedom and restore you to a place of peace and no longer walking in fear.
 
The greatest counselor that we can have is the Holy Spirit; the scripture says the Holy Spirit is a counselor.
Now, many people say, “Well!  I can hear from the Lord for myself, and I will let the Holy Spirit counsel me!”
The problem with that statement is that if we are already in trouble, or we are hiding something, or we have been abused and beat down, we can often dismiss the deep inner voice of the Lord telling us that we need to talk to others and be accountable and get help. Often the Holy Spirit will gently say to someone,  “Go talk to so-and-so or go talk to your pastor or go talk to a counselor or a close friend, who is wise”. Yet pride or fear keeps us paralyzed and afraid to move forward.
 
EVERYONE SOMEWHERE IN THEIR FAMILY OR IN THEIR LIFE EXPERIENCES HURT, AND PAIN AND TRAUMA. Unfortunately, this is the nature of fallen man and the Earth is riddled with devastation because of it. But in John 10:10, Jesus himself said, “I have come that you might have life to the fullest!” He said that you MIGHT have life to the fullest! And the first part of that verse is, “but Satan comes to rob to steal to kill and destroy”. This is what happens to people in life when they are abused and traumatized! 
 
Jesus offers a hand to us saying come to me all of you, who are very weary and heavy laden, heavy burdened, and I will give you rest so that you might have life to the fullest.
 
One of the simplest ways you can find help is to simply look in your area for a Christian counselor, and you can even ask for specifics and details. Those who are really dedicated to the call of God as pastoral counselors spend as much time in prayer and preparation before there counseling session, as they do IN the counseling session.
 
The word of God ultimately has the answers that we need, and the pathway that will guide us out of darkness into the light.
 
I AM IMPRESSED TO SHARE THIS PODCAST SPECIFICALLY
BECAUSE I KNOW THERE ARE THOSE OF YOU
THAT ARE LISTENING WHO ARE CRYING OUT FOR GOD
TO SHOW YOU WHERE TO GO OR WHAT TO DO ABOUT
SOME OF THE SITUATIONS YOU FIND YOURSELF IN.
 
He wants you to know it is not wrong to seek help and that counseling is not of the devil!
 
After all the scripture in Isaiah calls, Jesus, The Mighty Counselor! And again he speaks of the Holy Spirit as being our advocate, or one of our counselors, because they are in themselves three in one with the Father. But, the Lord gives the spirit of counsel and wisdom, and insight to those who are called to help others out of dark places.
 
Don’t hesitate!
Call someone, research someone in your area, or if you have a pastor or individual who is skilled in your church to help you deal with the specific kind of trauma upset you are dealing with, make an appointment and step forward. Not all pastors are skilled or qualified to help people who have been through traumatic sexual abuse issues, or who are dealing with parents who have dementia and Alzheimer’s. But, they can certainly pray with you and help also to direct you to the proper resource.
 
JESUS WANTS US TO FIND A PLACE OF PEACE AND REST IN HIM. His ultimate is to bring us peace and to draw us close to him.
 
If there’s anyone who has ever shamed you by telling you that, seeing a counselor is weak or shows that you don’t trust the Lord, just understand that that individual is also hiding something, or is extremely bound up in the fear of being led astray.
 
Some counselors are not a good fit and so you go to a different one! There have been times when I have worked with individuals and I have to lovingly let them know that I am not a good fit for their situation, or it becomes overlapped into situations where there needs to be another specialist who can better help them walk out an area where they’re stuck, and they need a Focused, Skilled individual to help them unpack, and unburden the deep pain that they are in.
 
THE SCRIPTURE SAYS HE WHOM THE SON SETS FREE IS FREE INDEED.
My prayer for those that are listening today is that you will open your heart to the Lord in prayer and ask him to help you to take the steps forward that you might need to deal with whatever it is that you are suffering over.
 
If you have been verbally abused by bullies in the church or those that may even say that they have some form of counseling skill, but they verbally abuse or shame or use harsh language in order to shock you, this was not the way God planned it. Try again!
 
Step forward one more time and ask the Lord to open the door for you to the right counselor. He will do it, and he will help you be free from pain, the hiding of abuse as a child, the difficulty of dealing with addicted or angry adult children, and those that are prodigal parents, or prodigal children.
 
Jesus has a plan and helping us to hand things over to him in his care when we’ve done all that we know we can possibly do, and we have apologized or repented for actions on our part.
 
Remember, nothing is impossible with God.
I have seen him turn situations around that seemed absolutely impossible! He can help us to stand firm in our faith and not hide in order to be people pleasers, or to cower under the pressure of abusive treatment.
 
OUR NATURAL HUMAN RESPONSE TO SHAME IS TO HIDE.
We hide from each other and hide from God.
This has been the case since Creation. The Bible describes how the first human beings responded to God when they had sinned and were ashamed:  “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden” (Genesis 3:8).
 
FRIENDS, HIDING KEEPS US FROM HEALING.
Let’s all aim to be a compassionate, courageous community of believers. A community in which we support each other as we choose healing over hiding.
Let’s support each other as we ask God to grow, to change and heal us.
 
Let Me Lift You Up To The Father In Prayer Right Now:
Father, I thank you for those that are listening to this podcast today. I know it’s not an easy one and certainly not as stimulating and supernatural or as exciting as some, but it IS a supernatural work that you do when you bring us to a place of releasing pain and telling the truth about what has happened to us, or where we have done something to harm someone else.
 
Lord, I know you’re doing a great cleansing work and that you are starting with the body of Christ, bringing your judgment and your truth, and your light.
 
Lord, you said the days are coming when we will worship you in spirit and in truth. Lord, we can’t fully worship you when we’re not truthful with you, if we’re hiding and if we’re cloaking, so I pray that anyone listening today. Father anyone who is afraid. I pray that you tell them that fear is holding them back and that you would guide them literally by the hand and direct them to the proper counselor, to someone who has the wisdom to help unlock the pain, the history, the stories and the trauma that has happened to them, in war, in family, in abuse in school or a job. With an abusive Pastor, with an abusive Sunday school teacher.
 
The list goes on and on and you know every one of these events.
So Father I ask that those that are hearing this message will take courage. You will GIVE them the courage to step out and ask for help and I know you will do it.
 
You will help them if they will simply step out, and I thank you for hearing this prayer from my heart for them, in Jesus name.
 
 
Duplication and sharing of this writing is welcomed, as long as the complete message, Website, podcast link and information for Mary Lindow is included.
Thank You! 2024
"THE MESSENGER"  - Mary Lindow
www.marylindow.com
www.marylindow.podbean.com
 
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"CALM AND CRISIS" - Spiritual Insight For Today's Troubled Times

By Mary Lindow through the Holy Spirit
 
JEREMIAH WAS KNOWN AS THE 'WEEPING PROPHET’. 
Some say he was called at the age of 17. 
 
He was called to reprove a crumbling nation. The Israelite nation. 
Unfortunately for them they didn’t listen to him. But during his day, people were so hardened by sin that they neither believed God nor feared him. They seem to find Jeremiah's constant warning of judgment overbearing and frankly, annoying.
 
IT'S THE SAME WITH US NOW. 
Those that hear our warning find us obnoxious! 
But as believers we are supposed to follow God's instructions to warn a lost and dying world of upcoming judgment. Even though most are not listening, we still have to persevere in courageously speaking truth in order to rescue some from the terrible judgment that will inevitably come. If we are so easily discouraged at fighting the rude behavior of our peers what are we going to do, when we are confronted by demons? 
 
The LORD rebukes Jeremiah for his impatience in Jeremiah 12:5 saying, 
“If you have raced with men on foot and they have tired you out, then how can you compete with horses? If you fall down in a land of peace [where you feel secure], Then how will you do among the lions in the flooded jungle thicket beside the Jordan?”
 
If we are distraught when we can't make a car payment, what will we do when we lose our job?
If the footmen weary you what will the horses do?
 
If we are distressed at the terrorism going on overseas, what will we do when it’s in our own neighborhoods? Because it already is!
If the footmen weary you what will the horses do?
 
If we are overwhelmed with the work we have now, what will we do when a double or triple portion is required of us? 
If the footmen weary you what will the horses do?
 
GOD IS REMINDING JEREMIAH (AND US)
THAT THERE IS MUCH MORE TO BE CONCERNED ABOUT
THAN WHAT WE’RE COMPLAINING ABOUT.
 
THERE IS SOMETHING AHEAD OF US IN THIS SEASON MY FRIENDS
THAT ARE OF MORE CONCERN THAN PETTY GRIEVANCES AGAINST THOSE
WHO SEEM TO BE BETTER OFF OR LIVE EASIER THAN WE DO. 
 
God is telling Jeremiah “ If you are not able to encounter lesser dangers, how will you be able to overcome greater ones?” 
Jesus said to us in John 16: 33, “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! Take Courage! I have overcome the world.”
 
IT’S NATURAL THAT OUR HARDEST DAYS AND MOST DIFFICULT TRIALS ARE AHEAD OF US, NOT BEHIND US. If you are worried and in great upset about these things, what are you going to do when you are forced to face extremely difficult trials and troubles that are most certainly just around the bend?
 
Matthew Henry said, “The faith even of strong believers may sometimes be sorely shaken and ready to fail them. There will be storms that will try the firmest anchors.” Now, Isn’t that the truth? 
 
JEREMIAH WAS CONSUMED WITH GRIEF ABOUT THE PROSPERITY OF THE WICKED in Anathoth when just in a short time He would be beaten in Jerusalem by order of the priest Pashhur (instead of worrying about the prosperity of heathens in Anathoth, he was about to be severely punished by a priest in Jerusalem). 
 
Let's take a sneak peek of what is in store for Jeremiah:
“He had Jeremiah the prophet beaten and put in the stocks at the Upper gate of Benjamin at the Lord’s temple.” Jer. 20:2
 
GOD SAW THIS COMING WHEN JEREMIAH WAS CRYING ABOUT
THE PROSPERITY OF THE WICKED!
 
If Jeremiah had known what was going to happen ahead of him, He wouldn't have wasted time complaining about the men of Ana Thoth. Jeremiah was concerned about something insignificant when something greater needed his attention. 
And, His own family was secretly conspiring against him — they spoke well of him to his face but were trying to incite a mob against him behind his back. They seemed to be friendly but they were really his enemies.
 
God's Faithful Servants Shouldn't Think It Strange
That Their Enemies Are In Their Own Family,
Some Living Under Their Own Roof.
 
Jesus told us in Matthew 10:34-35 
“For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man's enemies will be the members of his own household.”
 
SO FRIENDS, IF THE FOOTMEN WEARY YOU WHAT WILL THE HORSES DO? 
I know I keep repeating the statement because it’s what the Holy Spirit would have me consistently say so that you hear the challenge and that you are strengthened to stand up and be courageous, now!
 
GOD'S ANSWER TO JEREMIAH WAS TO BE ABSOLUTELY DETERMINED TO STAY SOLID AND IMMOVABLE IN HIS WALK WITH GOD, because there were bigger trials ahead of him that needed his attention. But God does let him know what will happen to Israel and her enemies. Although God punishes Israel by allowing her enemies to overtake the land, God would not let her enemies sacrilegiously use that land which belongs to Israel. Even their land is blessed!
“But after I uproot them, I WILL AGAIN HAVE COMPASSION and will bring each of them back to his own inheritance and his own country.” (Jeremiah 12:15)
 
God will again deliver his people from their enemies by uprooting them just as he did when they were suffering in Egypt. 
 
GOD SHOWS THAT EVEN HIS ENEMIES MAY RECEIVE COMPASSION AND GRACE.
“And if they learn well the ways of my people and swear by my name, saying, 'As surely as the LORD lives' even as they once taught my people to swear by Baal – then they will be established among my people.” (V.16)
 
GOD'S EXPECTATION IS PLAIN. 
If Israel's enemies would pay homage to God the way they did for Baal, (a dead and dumb idol) if they could humble themselves to follow the God of Israel instead of teaching Israel to follow idols they would be rewarded, but if not...
“'But if any nation does not listen, I will completely uproot and destroy it,' declares the LORD” (v. 17)
 
GOD'S CALL AND PLAN AND INSTRUCTIONS FOR US CAN BE SUMMED UP IN 
I CORINTHIANS 16:13 
“Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.” 
 
OUR GREATEST DIFFICULTIES ARE AHEAD OF US, NOT BEHIND US.
(If our troubles were always behind us, we would never grow as a Christian.) 
We mustn’t waste time complaining about petty things. 
Quickly put on your helmet, take up your sword and shield, tighten your armor and get ready! Get ready to run with the horses!
 
God offers Jeremiah a beautifully wise word picture for him to consider. 
He essentially asks Jeremiah, “If footmen weary you, what will the horses do?” 
 
PAUL REFERRED TO LIFE AS A RACE. 
Makes sense, after all, it has a beginning, middle, and a strong determination to finish strong. It requires endurance, patience, devotion and a resolution to finish strong. At the end of his life Paul said, “I have finished the race.” And referring to Jeremiah's race God is saying: If running with others on foot, when everything is equal, what are you going to do when they are given horses?
 
In this verse the prophet Jeremiah has been complaining about his persecutors. God Divinely answers, and warns Jeremiah about his impatience, and then tells him that harder trials are in store for him. 
What? More distressing times? 
 
We all have had the experience of how in our lives, there are long stretches of uneventful days, and then, generally without warning, some crisis is sprung on us, which demands quite a different set of gifts to cope with it. Our monsoons in Colorado generally come without any warning from a falling barometer.
 
WE CAN AT ANY MOMENT BE CONFRONTED WITH SOME HARD DUTY,
WHICH WILL EXHAUST OUR ENERGY.
 
We may at any moment be plunged in some huge calamity and the quiet course of our lives for years suddenly is interrupted with fierce storms and devastating fallout. 
 
WE WON’T ALWAYS HAVE THE EASY FOOT RACE WITH FOOTMEN. 
There will some times come a call to strain our muscles to keep up with the gallop of the cavalry. We will have to struggle to keep our feet in the rising waters of difficultly, and must not expect to have a continual leisurely life in ‘a land of peace.’
 
With the power of Jesus in our spirits we shall never have to attempt 
a duty that we are not first strengthened by Him to take on. 
And we never have to face a danger in which He won’t defend us. 
 
With His life in us we will be ready for the long hours of uneventful, unexciting duties, and for the short spurts that make precise calls on each of us to respond to. We ‘WILL run and not be weary; we will walk and not faint.’ 
 
As I finish this podcast I’d like to share what Oswald Chambers said about patience during the time of great difficulty and when the world is filled with uprising.  It is so powerful and quite comforting.
 
THE DUTY OF PATIENCE – by Oswald Chambers
"Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth" (Rev. 3:10).
Jesus says we are to keep the word of His patience. There are so many things in this life that it seems much better to be impatient about. 
The best picture to explain this is that of an archer: 
He pulls the bowstring further and further away from his bow with the arrow solidly fixed in its slot, then, when it is adjusted, with his eye on the target he lets it fly. 
The Christian's life is like that. God is the archer. 
He takes the saint like a bow which He stretches, and we get to a certain point and say,” I can't stand any more, I can't stand this test of patience any longer," but God goes on stretching. 
He is not aiming at OUR TARGET mark, but at His own, and the patience of the saints is that we hold on until He lets the arrow fly straight to His goal." 
 
Are you ready for a time of strengthening to come into your life? 
The Lord promises that a dramatic transformation will take place in us when we abandon our agenda and open ourselves to His plan for us. 
 
We can see this so clearly in the life of Saul before he had become the Apostle Paul. 
Saul had been intent upon his own evil strategy to persecute Christians. Then came his life-changing encounter with Jesus, when he asked the most important question of all in Acts 9:6: 
“Lord, what do YOU want me to do?”
 
FRIEND! ARE YOU READY TO ASK THE LORD THAT SAME QUESTION? 
Are you ready to give up your own fruitless designs in return for God’s better plan?
 
LET’S PRAY THAT TOGETHER NOW.
Lord Jesus, I have been moving forward persistently with my own thoughts and plans.
I have been intent upon seeing those accomplished.
Now I see that despite my good intentions, my plans may not be in line with Yours.
Right now, I humble myself before You. 
I take this moment to ask, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” 
In Your presence, I place my agenda on the shelf, and I open my heart and my hands to Your plans and purposes.
I belong to You, Lord. Please forgive me for any stubbornness that may have captivated me. 
I pull down that stronghold right now—any thought that needs to be taken captive to the obedience of Christ. 
I place my future in Your hands, Lord Jesus. 
Have Your way—and only Your way—in my life. Amen.
 
Duplication and sharing of this writing is welcomed, as long as the complete message, website podcast link and information for Mary Lindow is included.
Thank You! 2024
"THE MESSENGER"  - "THE ADVOCATE OF HOPE" - Mary Lindow
www.marylindow.com
www.marylindow.podbean.com
 
If you would be so kind and assist Mary helping her to meet other administrative needs such as web site and podcast costs, or desire to bless her service with Spirit-led Love gifts or regular support:
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”ATTRACTING THE EYE OF GOD AND HEARING HIS SECRETS FOR CURRENT TIMES AND EVENTS” - A Prophetic Insight

By Mary Lindow
I had just worked four days and had put in 46 hours on my feet. I was tired. I had spoken life and ministered to many people in my position as an office manager and chiropractic assistant to a wonderful Doctor that loves people and loves God. But nonetheless, I was tired.
 
I had been asked to come and minister at a women’s gathering on my day off, which would be Friday evening. I rested part of the day, did laundry the rest of the day and spoke to the Lord and prepared what he was giving me for the evening ministry meeting.
 
As I Got In The Car, I Noticed That My Indicators Were Telling Me There Was Something Wrong With The Car. Engine light flashing, cruise button not working and I had no time to spare to get to the meeting on time. So, I simply prayed, put my pedal to the metal and prayed all the way there.
 
When I Arrived, The Room Was Filled With Tired, Weary Women, Who Had Also Been Working Hard. Many of them, single mothers, many of them were parents who had taken on the adoption of their children’s children, because their own children had gone wild and embraced a lifestyle of drugs and freedom. They were pouring everything they had into these grandchildren, yet they still came. Many in the room we’re still seeking employment because they had lost previous jobs due to economic down change. And there, sitting in the church were young pregnant mothers.
 
Also, in the room were teenage high school girls and there I was, sent in my fatigue, to speak to them about the hope of Christ. I can tell you, I am so grateful for time in the word and time in prayer that anchors us and shows us the purpose beyond our own, as to why God sends us into different places.
 
I Was Honest, I Was Raw, And I Was Right In Front Of Them As One Of Them. As I began to talk about what it means to be in the presence of God, to really know him and his presence, and that it is there for us to draw from, to drink from, in order to survive this cruel world, something in the room began to change.
 
We are all aware of when the presence of God comes into a meeting and we call it the glory of God, Or We Call It The “Shekinah Glory”, Or The Holy Presence Of The Lord, And All Of This Is Very True! But in this meeting there was such a kindness and such tenderness towards this room of women who showed up on a Friday night after a long workweek, just to come in hope that they could touch the hem of his garment.
 
There were people in that group from about 11 years old all the way up to I would say late 70s. But every single one of them were women created in the fashion that God wanted them to be made in. Each of them still has dreams alive inside of them, even if their bodies are aging and are beginning to slow down a bit. There’s a fire inside of them that God wants to keep lit so that he may use them to the fullest.
 
But How Do You Address Those Situations With Multiple Generations? You talk to them about how much God loves them. You tell them about the hope that Jesus brings and then you get honest and tell them where you are!
 
When You Don’t Put Yourself On A Pedestal or lift up the icon of “your great knowledge of the Lord”, but instead, you get in the boat with them, they suddenly feel that they can receive from something or someone who “gets where they are at”.
 
I told stories of when I was a young girl, and first came to know the Lord and I had the young girls laughing, and it was so wonderful! But the Lord gave me their attention then.
 
I began to talk about raising children and how frightening it can be in a world where the narratives are screaming to influence our children’s minds, and I cheered the mothers on who are willing to do the hard things of homeschooling or be on top of the things their children are learning at school and to be vocal.
 
I talked about what it means to have pain in a family and to see children suffer, to see orphaned and adopted children come into your home, and you love, and care and nurture them as your very own.
 
And, I talked about when our bodies begin to change and grow a bit weaker and a bit older, the things we must do to remain strong in the Lord and yet what we can do with what we have, and how we can walk the floors in prayer, how we can be in the church building and pray for those who need to know Christ, and if we can’t walk, we can ride in our car and drive around and pray for our neighborhoods.
 
You See The Nurturing Quality Of God Is Real!
It is the Holy Spirit in a mothering form, but it also has to come across with direction.
 
People Are Looking For Direction Today.
They need to see a course set out before them that has light and hope, and the wonderful woman of God, Deborah in the scriptures, had a journey, and a story to tell that in fact, turned her nation around because she chose to work and do the hard things in her community, where God began to then build a rapport with those who would even go to war and lead the armies.
 
God Is Raising Up Many Deborahs In This Hour. Many who have been silent and quiet. Maybe it’s your wife, maybe it’s your daughter, and maybe it’s your grandmother.
 
But right now there are women who see on the horizon, the great and dark, gloomy agendas of the world. And Friends, when you have a mother’s, fighting spirit and you have experience, there is nothing you will not do to stand up and protect your family and to go to war in the kingdom of God.
 
“God's eyes are searching to and fro over the earth looking for a heart that is fully His.”  -2 Chronicles 16:9
 
What caught His eye when He came to Deborah?
Was it the uncompromising fire of holiness, an unwavering faith or an unrelenting love that set her apart? Was it something about the integrity of her character, the depth and integrity of her wisdom and the richness of her kindness, which produced confidence in both men and women? 
 
THE LORD IS SO JEALOUS
FOR EACH ONE OF US
TO LOVE HIM AND KNOW HIM!
 
When We Start To Move Away From Him, He Allows Evil Kings To Oppress Us. The Word tells us that God is the one who appoints evil kings and magistrates, but He also rises up the godly judges and kings!
 
Deborah was the fourth judge and for the first 20 years of her 40-year reign, the nation was oppressed by one of history's most powerful and cruel Canaanite Kings, Jabin, and his sneaky military commander, Sisera. (Judges 4:1-4)
 
Deborah Captured The Heart Of God!
What is amazing is that the Lord raised up a woman to deliver a nation! What is especially surprising is that it happened in the Middle East thousands of years ago! Deborah was not only a wife, mother, intercessor, psalmist and prophetess but also a judge and a national deliverer. That’s not a bad resume for a middle-aged woman living in that oppressive Middle Eastern culture!
 
Against Great Odds, God Used Her Powerfully.
Deborah broke outside of her culture but she wasn't in rebellion, she was in obedience -- to her God. She was used radically and set her people free, and the people loved her. It's a wonderful story of faith in God, and it champions men and women partnering together in a war to save their nation from great oppression.
When we read about this revolutionary prophetess and judge, it expands our religious studies of women being allowed to lead governmentally. But I really feel that God is raising up a troupe of end-time Deborahs.
 
THERE IS GREAT GLOBAL SHAKING
THAT HAS ONLY JUST BEGUN,
AND THE LORD IS CALLING NOT ONLY
THE MEN, BUT ALSO THE WOMEN OF GOD!
 
The Lord is saying,
“ARISE! SHINE Deborahs!
Be a part of the army of the Lord!”
 
There Are Two Root Words For Consecrate In Hebrew: never (separating from) and cades (separating unto).
Deborah, Like The Other Defenders Of The Faith, Was Separated From The World And Unto God. She did nothing on her own but spoke just what the Father taught her.
This is where the true victory lies,
in listening to Him.
 
Deborah's Work History
We tend to think of multi-tasking as a 21st century sensation, but Deborah was functioning in five major roles. Many scholars believe that one of Deborah's roles before becoming judge was being a lamp lighter in the temple.
 
In The Bible, Oil Is Often A Symbol For The Holy Spirit. Deborah was married to Lapidoth, whose name means, shine, lamp, flame, burning lamp, lightening, and torch. Isn't it interesting? He, too, was a lamp that had oil!
 
Deborah Was A Keeper Of The Oil And Light, Carefully Tending The Lamps. This shows us that she was a woman who was passionately spending long hours dwelling in the temple.
She was a woman of prayer and of worship. She lived between two villages, Ramah and Bethel, in Ephraim, which means the valley of fruitfulness.
 
Biblical Names Often Have Profound Prophetic Meanings. The ancient village of Ramah was known to be the seat of high adultery.
Bethel was known as the house of the Lord with open heavens, where Jacob had his ladder experience in Genesis 28.
 
Deborah stood in the gap interceding between the seat of high idolatry and pagan worship and the house of Bethel with its open heavens.
Now The Picture Becomes A Little Clearer As“ Deborah Was Raised Up By God To Intercede Against Idolatry (Ramah). She wanted to turn the hearts of the children of Israel back to the house of God (Bethel) to inherit a double portion of fruit (Ephraim).
 
Deborah's Relationship With The Lord Was Very Precious And Intimate.
I believe that in those twenty years of captivity, Deborah stood in the gap and interceded to change the course of Israel. God promised Abraham, in Genesis 18, that He would save a nation for the sake of ten righteous men. I believe that the righteous prayers of Deborah availed much!
 
She Worshipped And Had A Deep Intercessory Life With God. She would go into the temple and fill the lamps with oil and ask God for revelation for people around her in great darkness.
 
She was prepared in this secret place as she stood in the gap in desperate intercession for her people and her nation. She would hear from God and would bring down great wisdom and counsel.
 
She Spent Long Hours In The Temple.
This dedication moved the very heart of God and changed the very heart of Deborah.
He led, she followed.
She led, Israel followed.
 
Oftentimes we have the misunderstanding that worship is merely the thirty-minute time slot before the sermon, when we sing songs of devotion to God. This is part of worship.
 
But Doing Small Things With Great Love Unto Him Is Living A Life Of Worship. Deborah was a worshipper who loved the oil of the lamps, the Holy Spirit.
 
We Need To Be Like Deborah, Men And Women Of Prayer. Sincere and passionate prayer is the key to unlock our relationship with Almighty God.
 
Many struggle with praying because they feel that their intercession is not much more than empty cries to an invisible God who seems so distant. We often think that our prayers bounce off the ceiling and back to us unheard and unanswered.
 
But Beloved! God Loves Conversing With You!
He promises that He will hear you and answer!
 
IT TAKES ONLY A FEW SECONDS OF
A FACE-TO-FACE ENCOUNTER WITH GOD,
TO CHANGE THE COURSE OF HUMAN HISTORY
FOR YOU, YOUR CITY, OR YOUR NATION.
 
In Fact, Connecting With God Is The Highest Purpose For Which You Were Created!
This is eternal life to know me! (John 17:3)
 
Our Hunger For God Is What Fuels Our Prayer Life. When His presence is our passion and our hunger is for His heart, we can approach the throne of God boldly with the confidence that our Papa loves our prayers, but having this first love is so important. 
 
For Deborah, intercession was an exchange of ideas in which God began to download strategic battle plans, blue prints from heaven, and keys to open doors that no man can shut, and shut doors that no man can open. Isa. 22:22 How else could she have so wisely judged so many civil cases with the Israelites?
 
The journey of Deborah is a declaration
of the power of just ONE life…
…Fully set apart for God.
 
Deborah Stood As A Prophetic Representation,
a suggestion that as a woman who may have been weaker in her physical attributes, she had the word of God! She had a history of going in and lighting the lamps.
 
She Had A History Of Hearing The Voice Of God In The Secret Place. So swiftly, when the hour came for her tangibly to go into war, she was ready. She was in the place to say yes because she knew the voice of her God.
 
What Is The Reason Why God Was Attracted To The Life Of Deborah? Prophetess Deborah functioned in the divine dimension of a spirit of wisdom and revelation. It was almost as if God had supernaturally, placed a divine compass in her, always guiding her to Him. The judging that Deborah did so well might have been because of her gift as a prophetess.
 
She would have been able to make wise decisions if she saw well in the Spirit. She was humble, willing and wise.
 
In Matthew Henry's Commentary, he writes:
“She was a woman of illuminations, or of splendors, one extraordinarily known and wise, and so came to be eminent and illustrious. She was intimately acquainted with God, she was a prophetess, and one that instructed others in divine knowledge by the inspiration of the Spirit of God, and had gifts of wisdom, to which she attained not in an ordinary way; she heard words of God, and she probably saw visions of the Almighty. She was totally devoted to Israel. After Jehovah, Israel was she first love.”
 
Deborah Was One Who Received Fresh Instructions From Heaven,and though she knew how evil the oppression of King Jabin was, she also knew that with God anything is possible! Something in Deborah knew how to pull on the sources of heaven, standing in the guidance of the Lord (Jer. 23) and open her mouth and let Him fill it (Psa. 81:10).
 
She Was A Mother Of Israel.
What made this woman a mother of Israel?  Deborah loved well.
Imagine facing the unending line of people all needing a touch of heaven. Imagine her tired eyes looking out on the faces of His design as she felt the ache in their hearts for God. They had come so far, how could they leave empty handed? The eleven other scattered tribes of Israel walked for miles and risked their lives on the dangerous highways as they struggled through to hear from God, through Deborah's voice. 
 
In Judges 5:6-8, listen to what she says.
“The highways were deserted, and the travelers walked along the byways. Village life ceased, it ceased in Israel, until I, Deborah, arose, Arose a mother in Israel. They chose new gods; then there was war in the gates.”
I believe that Deborah could hear the groans of the Israelites who were oppressed for 20 years and feel the throbbing pain in God's heart over His people's sin and oppression.
 
I Believe That It Was Her Ability To Hear His Heartbeat That Allowed Her To Save A Nation In A Day. Deborah ruled with the sword of a prophet but the staff of a shepherd -- she truly loved God's people.
She always led well. She led by loving.
 
Military Policymaker Deborah Was More Than A Judge; She Was Used To Deliver Israel From The Second Longest Captivity. As a prophetess and military strategist, she called the nation to war. She not only brandished the hand of God but also operated with the heart of God. You see, Deborah was a deliverer!
She Loved The People And They Loved Her.
She Delivered Them From A Great Enemy.
 
The Lord literally issued a clear prophetic word to summon Barak, the Israeli commander, to rally the troops for battle against impossible odds.
Why? Because the Hebrews had no weapons -- none. They had all been taken away by the Canaanites.
 
God Showed Deborah The Secrets Of How To Win The Battle. She brought a holy “about-face” to the wicked plans of Israel. When the city gates were at war, Deborah, a mother of Israel who was willing to lay down her life for her God and county, arose.
 
Why We Need Deborahs To Arise And Shine Today
There is a cry going out
from the hearts of God’s people
about the oppression the church is under
 from the enemy.
 
Heaven Is Aware Of The Issues Affecting The People Of God. But, until a cry goes out from the people of God, the hands of Heaven are tied.
 
Without A Cry, We Show We Are Satisfied Or Comfortable With The Way Things Are. The harassment had been going on for well over 20 years. How long do we put up with things before we cry out for change? 
 
GOD HAS BEEN WATCHING AND STIRRING UP DEBORAHS
FOR QUITE SOME TIME NOW
AND THE TIMING IS RIGHT.
 
When We Get To The Place
To Where Revival Itself Isn’t Enough,
But We Must See Change Take Place,
We Know We Are On The Verge
Of Something Great.
 
We Have Got To Get To The Place
That We Don’t Just Want Change,
But We Are Willing To Rise Up
And Put Our Hands To The Plow,
To See Change Occur.
 
Actions truly do speak louder than words.
 
Deborah Represents The Steadiness And Dependability Necessary To Both Win And Keep Victory. Barak means “lightning flash”. That is temporary.
We don’t need a temporary fix or a temporary anointing. If a temporary, quick fix was enough; we would be in a great position by now! We didn’t get to where we are at quickly, and the victory must be won with reliability and dedication.
 
When Deborah Arose, The Warriors Returned. There is a group of God’s warriors who are waiting for someone to rise up and lead them back to the place and position for which they have been created.
God bestowed peace and victory for 40 years. The time of victory was twice as long as the time of oppression. The sad part is that after the 40 years, the Israelites went back to their wicked ways and found themselves in a place of oppression again.
 
Let Us Be Men And Woman Who Will Stand In The Breach
And Go Before God And Cry Out In Intercession These Very Words,
 
“Lord, we need restoration!
Lord, we need the Kingdom of God to
break in with the resurrection power of life!”
 
This Is A Call To Combat!
This is a call for you to say that you want to hear the voice of God…
… From the secret place.
“Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom
that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful,
and so worship God acceptably,
with reverence and awe.”
-Hebrews 12:28
 
Duplication and sharing of this writing is welcomed, as long as the complete message, Website, podcast link and information for Mary Lindow is included.
Thank You! 2023
"THE MESSENGER"  - Mary Lindow
www.marylindow.com
www.marylindow.podbean.com
 
If you would be so kind and assist Mary helping her to meet other administrative needs such as website and podcast costs, or desire to bless her service in ministry with Spirit-led Love gifts or regular support:
 
Please JOYFULLY send your gift in the form of: 
► Personal Checks ► Business Checks
► Money Orders ► Cashiers Checks
To: 
 
His Beloved Ministries Inc. 
PO Box 1253
Denver, Colorado 80614
 USA 
 
Or feel free to use our send a tax-deductible gift with
 
Pay Pal   paypal.me/mlindow 
Under the name of - His Beloved Ministries Inc. 
 
ALL gifts are tax-deductible under
His Beloved Ministries 5013c non-profit status.
 
We are financially accountable and have been in full compliance since
1985 with Clergy Financial Advantage.
THANK YOU!

The Night That I Totally Blew Off the Warning of The LORD!

It’s not just “my opinion” that playing close to the edge of occult involvement is a trap and a lure.
It’s my very deep conviction after having a full on and horrifying experience when we were young and first married.
Steve and I had watched a James Bond 007 show earlier that evening called "Live and Let Die", with a lot of “harmless” voodoo, (incantations and curses being put on people) and "fun" spies disturbing graves, and dark evil spirits attacking them.
While we were watching, I had a very quiet but persistent warning inside my heart to “stop watching the show”.
I blew it off saying to myself that, “I could handle it…
 It was just a show… harmless entertainment.”
After we had gone to bed and had fallen asleep, I was awakened by a loud crashing sound outside of our bedroom door, which was our living room. I turned my head to look in that direction and standing in the door frame was a hunched over, very tall, long haired, naked from waist up, long armed, pig snouted with a brass ring pierced through it, hairy being.
I thought I was maybe dreaming so I shook my head and rubbed my eyes to see if I was just coming out of a bad dream. Nope.
The dark being was still there.
My body was paralyzed in fear and I could not move to wake Steve.
I spoke to the hideous creature and told it to leave in the mighty and powerful name of Jesus Christ.
It just laughed at me and began to move into the room and alongside the bed, heading towards me. I said the same words again and it laughed, saying, "YOU invited me into your home tonight! I have every right to be here!"
I immediately knew that I had rejected the warning of The Holy Spirit to not watch the show. I was crying in terror and said, “Jesus… Please forgive me for ignoring your warning! I repent and apologize for blowing you off!”
At that point, the demonic thing stopped at the foot of the bed and was very agitated. I was no longer paralyzed with fear and then spoke to it again, telling it that I was forgiven by Jesus and that in HIS NAME, the evil being had to leave our home.
It still stood there frustrated and I told it again that the power of Christ and His poured out blood on the cross for my sins cried out against this attack and that it must leave. It started to whimper and walked towards the wall and then, walked right through it, and left.
Immediately, Steve woke up and asked what was the crashing sound! I told him everything that happened. He got up and went out to the living room. On the floor was a weather station type of decoration that we had firmly screwed into our wall. It had “somehow” ripped itself off the wall, jumped 8 inches and onto our record player, (yes…. we had vinyls!) sending the needle across the worship record we played often every day.
Both Steve And I Knew At That Point
That We Could Never Again Justify Or Blow Off
The Warning From The Father About
Our Entertainment Choices.
 
We were called to be worshippers and to not ever allow a strongman from hell into our home.
Here Are Some Reasons The Scriptures Warn Against
Engaging In Any Form Of The Occult:
➡ We are opening ourselves up to spirits other than God’s.
➡ We are not looking to God for guidance, but to the occult.
➡ We are turning away from true faith in Jesus.
➡ We are disobeying God’s word, the Bible.
 
The Israelites often made the same mistake and turned from God, although God clearly warned them about this.
“When you enter the land The LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or who consults the dead. 

Anyone who does these things is detestable to The LORD, and because of these detestable practices The LORD your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before The LORD your God. 

 
The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, The LORD your God has not permitted you to do so,” Deuteronomy 18:9-14.
 
Saul, Israel’s first king, started out well. He expelled mediums and spiritualists from the land, then violated God’s word and his own conscience by consulting a medium (1 Samuel 28:3-25). His end was tragic (1 Samuel 31:1-6).
 
New Testament Christians turned from sorcery. We really need to let their example serve as an inspiration and a warning.
“Many of those who believed now came and openly confessed their evil deeds. A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. In this way the word of The LORD spread widely and grew in power.” Acts 19:18-20.
 
These verses are given to us as warnings.
God wants us to learn from the examples he gives in the Bible, and to avoid making the same mistakes. He loves us and wants us to turn from anything that will get between us and the safe spiritual life that he offers.
Bible verses warning about mediums and spiritualists:
“Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritualists, for you will be defiled by them. I AM The LORD your God,” Leviticus 19:31.
“I will set my face against the person who turns to mediums and spiritualists to prostitute himself by following them, and I will cut him off from his people,” Leviticus 20:6.
“When men tell you to consult mediums and spiritualists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their God? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living?” Isaiah 8:19.
 
So these are the things, these are the scriptures that the Lord has given us, the warnings are there, and also the consequences! I can tell you that ever since then, I have been fully aware of when there’s something on television or when people want to watch a movie or, there’s people beginning to talk on a New Age level of intellectualism. Or, they talk about some of the things they’re partaking in for “medical practices”, or, different kinds of exercise programs, my first thought is, “If it has to have something to do with the occult or if it has to have something to do with “freeing your mind” so that you can relax and so your body is at peace”.
These are the lures that the enemy uses to draw us into other gods, and some Christian individuals actually say, “Oh, we’re not worshiping the god, we’re just doing things with the name of the Lord on it.”
The Lord doesn’t put his name on anything occult, and he never will, because he is The Sovereign, Ultimate Strength, THE  Sovereign Ultimate King, and he is The Voice that speaks to his people.
The word talks about those that know the voice of the Lord, the sheep, they know his voice, but the voice of strangers they will not follow, SO, I encourage you that during this time in the Earth, when the occult practices are literally overwhelming schools, college campuses, exercise regimes, television, movies, videos, (the Super Bowl was packed with these for years) to not engage!
Many of the performing artists that are considered “popular musicians” have sold their souls to demonic activity in order to become wealthy. This is how it works many times, you make a pact with the devil for fame fortune and greatness, but there’s always a price to pay and that is that you are captive, held captive, and many times these people can’t get out without a tremendous amount of threat against them.
 
I’m Now Going To Lead You In A Prayer.
I feel in my spirit that the reason I was to put this on this podcast is that there are some of you who have been saying, “I need to know if this is really bad for me or if I’m being ridiculous, and being too stringent or too rigid”.
Let me tell you something. You can never be too rigid against Satanic involvement in your life and you can never be too stringent against saying, “is there anything that I am opening the door to in my home that can affect my children’s sleep, affect my health, affect the safety of our home,” because our homes are to be a place of peace for the presence of God, a sanctuary for God to reside on a more personal level.
The word says, “don’t you know you’re a temple of the Holy Spirit?”  When Jesus comes into our spirit, when the spirit of God comes to dwell inside of us after we surrender and we say, “Take that part of my life and use it”, that part dictates from the inside out. But, if we let our mind get in there and say, “I can handle it! I can handle it! It’s not that big of a deal! I feel so good! It’s good entertainment.  My body feels great when I engage in meditation!” (What kind of meditation?) 
Why do you need to meditate on something that is not bringing the presence of God closer to you, and you, closer to the presence of God? 
Because our flesh doesn’t want to be convicted.
Our flesh does not like the discipline of getting still, or studying the word of God, or resting in his presence, and worshiping him. Not unless we discipline it and train it, and grow in his word so we see the gratitude of how, IT is, the voice that controls and speaks to our spirit, causing us to be at peace and to war against the things of darkness.
We live in high-pressure times, and the warfare, (yes, it is warfare), it is demonic war against God‘s people, and, the number one thing is fear, anxiety, stress, worry, and then, just go ahead and escape for a little while.  Watch something on TV. The Flesh says, “Go ahead! Watch some of those movies on Netflix that have some horror scenes or a lot of heavy sex. You can handle it!
The "F word" is being used a lot, and now many other words have become commonplace. But you see the thing is, WE CAN’T, handle it! Because it gets into our brains, it gets into our minds. It gets into our way of thinking, and it dulls our ability to hear the clear and clean pure words of the Lord.
If you don’t want to walk with Jesus, 100% and you want a lukewarm walk, then you’re going to be susceptible to demonic activity in your life, and unfortunately if you have children, you’re opening the door to them, and the Lord talks in that one scripture about not letting children pass through the fire.
 
We Are Not To Offer Our Children Up In Sacrifice
To Demonic Activity, And Yet A Lot Of Parents
Go Ahead And Sacrifice Their Kids To A Lot Of
Occult Practices Because “It’s Hard To Be Different”.
 
You don’t have to have to be locking the doors, and turning the light bulbs out all the time for fear that the devil is coming to get you! But! I can tell you this! You do want to shut your door to occult practices and the doors that come through your iPads, your computers, and your television screens.
These are the places; these are the entry points that the enemy uses. Those out there preparing programming, the majority of them in the world are all geared towards doing satanic and fearful programming and if anything, they like to do “shock value” enticing types of programs to bring stimuli and fear! That’s how they get better listeners or viewers or people chatting and talking! But their goal is not to bring goodness or peace or safety. Their goal is to get you to come back and be addicted to more or “fascinated”.
 
This is where that word “fascination” and “magical” comes in.  We just feel like we’re mesmerized and drawn in, and we kind of want to know how it works. We want to know how it ends! And then before you know it, your mind has been seared, your conscience has been compromised. Then enters the guilt and then the shame, and then the hiding, and guess who did that?
When Adam and Eve engaged with the snake in the garden, he trapped them and lured them, and said, “It’s not that big of a deal! You can handle it! Did God really say that to you?”But once they tasted of evil, they were forever changed. They were forever changed and lost their innocence, and forever change mankind.
Imagine how much that sin nature is affecting us!
Thank goodness that Jesus came to wash us clean and poured out his life, and endured a horrible sacrifice for us, so that we would have a chance to have our minds cleaned. If we are introducing our children to it, imagine the torment, and the things passing down to them.
 
 I encourage you now to pray with me, and if it’s not for you, If you don’t have this problem, but you’re saying, “I agree I’ve had experiences like this or I know what you’re talking about!”
If you have family members maybe you have children, if you have a spouse, if you have grandchildren that are engaging in specific kinds of occultic things, (and friends you know with a lot of the PlayStation games and different kinds of Xbox games), there’s a tremendous amount of demonic looking creatures and a lot of darkness in those games and yeah, I guess, “you can handle it”, but if you’re murdering and killing and having guns shooting and bloodlust all the time, eventually, is it a just a game? Has it become a conquering or have you become desensitized?
SO! I ENCOURAGE YOU TO RETHINK WHERE
YOUR COMMITMENT TO THE LORD IS.
 
Do you want to hear the voice of the Lord?
Do you want to hear the Lord speaking clearly about the times about the days?
Do you want to hear him protecting you, telling you to get in the car and leave now, or “don’t go to the grocery store” or “don’t go down “that” street”? 
He WILL lead you like that and protect you!
 
Do you want the Lord to tell you his secrets?
Did you know that he tells them to his servants? But! He tells them to those that will spend time in his presence, seeking his voice, seeking to know him more. 
I encourage you to consider, "which tastes better".
The presence of God, and hearing his voice, or a temporary high and excitement, or the thrill that wears off, and then you’re buried in guilt, or harassed by something dark?
 
I’m just going to pray now. I’m going to ask you just to pray with me or agree with me in prayer for those that you know need to be free.
Heavenly Father, we come to you and Father you say that you roam the Earth to and fro, with your eyes you are looking all over the Earth, searching for those who will serve you, searching for those who will obey you.  Lord you know all things, you see all things, and you hear all things.
You are aware of the assignments of darkness against our families, against our children, against our grandchildren, against our spouses, against our brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles.
Father, we stand before you now individually and ask you for a clean heart. We ask you to wipe the slate clean of anything that we may have engaged in.
First of all we say we’ve sinned against you because it’s the truth.  If we’ve done these things we have done them against you. We have put our eyes upon idols or things at the world calls, current and exciting and we think that we’re just fitting in, as a part of it or maybe it seems like it’s not harmless. It looks like everybody else is doing fine.
Lord, l you know the condition of each man’s heart, and Lord you know those that are using this as a lure, so Father, we stand before you, and we ask that you would create in us a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within us. Don’t cast us away from your presence!
Lord, we don’t want your Holy Spirit taken from us, because we choose to listen to other evil spirits are divining spirits!
Now Lord, we say to you, we ask if there’s anything in our lives, anything in the lives of our families that they are engaging in or things that we have become accustomed to, that you would show us clearly and concisely, vividly, the things that we have put our hand to that are not from you.
Lord, we repent, we apologize. We are ashamed that we would allow even the whisper of a demonic subtlety to enter into our home.
We want to be the stewards, good stewards of what you’ve given us in children, in our spouses and our grandchildren. So we ask that you would put a barrier between us and the darkness, that conviction would rise up again, that we would heed your voice, and not the voice of a stranger!
Lord your word says whether we turn to the left or turn to the right, there you are right behind as a voice saying, “This is the way, walk in it”.
Lord, forgive us for thinking that we don’t want to be different or strange in this world, that we don’t want to be ridiculed. Father we are a peculiar people as you said, you made us and fashioned us to stand out in the dark world, and when we gave our lives to you, we committed that you would be Lord, Savior, King, Ruler, Master over our lives, and we apologize to you for ever touching anything that gave others mastery over us.
Now Father, we just come before you, and ask you to wash us clean. Wash our children, wash our grandchildren clean, wash our families clean.
Lord, we apologize and ask that now you would make the rudder of our ship turn back out to the direction where we seek you, and seek you alone. That the entertainment choices that we make in the future will be with wisdom and if there’s something on television that is dark or dirty, or evil or suggestive, we turn it off, we don’t just mute it. We turn it off. We will not let our eyes even watch, nor let our ears hear. 
Father. We thank you that you will speak loudly, “Don’t do that! Stop now!”  Just like you did to me. Father, we ask that you would speak loud and clear, because sometimes we’re dull of hearing.
Lord we submit to you, we glorify your name. We thank you, that you deliver us completely and you set us free when we’re captive to dark things.
We call upon the name of Jesus Christ who is God, who is the Son of God, the Sovereign king, and we thank you that the Holy Spirit is there to convict us of our sins. We thank you Triune being Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for the privilege of being called children of God.
Lord, teach us to act like children of God, in our every day lives, in Jesus most holy and powerful name against darkness.
Amen.
Mary Lindow © 2023  - “THE MESSENGER”
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”HARDSHIP - HURT AND HOPE” - Jesus Understands Suffering and Fear

I KNOW SUFFERING IS EXHAUSTING AND PAIN HURTS! That is why it is called pain and suffering. If there were an escape a person of great wisdom and insight would have done it already!
By Mary Lindow
SUFFERING AND SORROW ARE A PART OF LIFE
Knowing this, however, doesn’t make it any easier to cope when you find yourself in the midst of the deepest, darkest trials of faith, and mentally anguish and strain.
Don’t you wish Christianity could make you exempt from suffering? That would be great, but as most of us have learned, following our faith doesn’t give us a free ride.
We catch as much trouble as unbelievers—often more.
The difference, of course, is that we can turn to Jesus when things go wrong. Unbelievers might argue that we’re only turning to our imagination, but we know better.
At some time in your life, however, suffering will hit you so hard that you won’t be able to do any of those things, and that dark time will probably visit you more than once.
“Even in darkness, light dawns for the upright,
for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man.”
Psalm 112:4
 
WE ALL WANT THINGS WE DON’T GET.
Maybe it’s a person you’re sure would make a perfect spouse, and the relationship crumbles apart. Maybe it’s a better job or promotion, and you don’t make the cut. Or it might be a goal you poured your time and energy into, and it doesn’t come to pass or others sabotage it all.All of us have prayed for the recovery of loved ones who were ill, but they died anyway.
It takes real spiritual maturity to stay faithful when things go wrong, but severing our relationship with God punishes us, not him. It’s self-destructive behavior that can put us on the path to a miserable life. The parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32) teaches us that God always wants us to come back to him.
Whether your problem is discouragement, illness or aging, sometimes all you have left is Jesus.
When you’re angry and bitter, you can still cling to Jesus in the midst of your tears. You can grab onto him and refuse to let go until he brings you through it. You’ll find, to your surprise that he holds on to you even tighter than you hold on to him.
 
JESUS UNDERSTANDS SORROW
He knows about being hurt. He remembers the terrible moment on the cross when his Father was forced to abandon him, because he was filthy from taking on our sins. Jesus won’t let you go.
And as you age and start down the path from this life to the next, Jesus will take your hand to guide you. He appreciates all that you have done for him through the years, but what he has always wanted most is your love.
So there you are in the middle of one of life’s train-wrecks-dazed, wounded, wondering what shoe-or bomb-will be dropping next, and up walks Job’s comforters.
We all remember Job from the Bible. A rich, powerful man, a great father and good in every way was Job.
Then, in a series of overlapping upheavals, he lost everything and everybody except his wife-who turned out to be a whole lot less than sympathetic in her changed status.
Battered Job ends up sitting alone on a pile of dirt, scratching his boil-covered body with some broken pottery.
 
WE CAN IDENTIFY WITH POOR JOB.
Life drags us through some tough times of loss that make us feel every bit like Job. Caught in a vortex of pain, and wondering if we’ll ever make it to safety.
And, boy, do we recognize Job’s so-called friends who showed up to by all accounts offer support and comfort. As they sat with Job in his misery, they took turns playing a self-centered, self-righteous, can-you-top-this game of knowing for certain that every bit of Job ‘s disaster had to be his own fault or a lack of trust in God. They weren’t sure how or why because Job seemed so decent, but deep down, they insisted, he just couldn’t be all he pretended to be.
 
THIS IS FAMILIAR TERRITORY
You get fired, and friends smirk knowingly when you try to explain the political nature of the event. Your child gets into difficulty-well; you know the kind of comfort you’ll get from friends about that. (It probably started sometime during potty training.)
Yet others try to “help” you with what I call “prayer lecturing.” While praying “for and with you” they let you (and God) know just how lucky you should be to even have running water, had a meal that day and more! Not really comforting in any way, and very very short on compassion.
Yet, from the story, it’s clear that Job was completely innocent.
Dreadful things do happen to completely innocent people, good people.Because of their opinion of Job’s guilt, history has bestowed his friends- (and their current replicas) – the label, “Job’s comforters.”So-called friends who add to a suffering person’s anguish by piling on false charges of blame and guilt and harsh reprimand for daring to show sadness or agony.
You may never have met anybody like Job, but you’ve met his comforters on more than one occasion. They seem to be everywhere.
 
WE CAN CHARGE SOME OF IT OFF TO JEALOUSY
Job had everything a person could dream of wanting-and then some-so jealousy was never more than a stone’s throw away. The green-eyed monster is a little more subtle with people living everyday, typical lives, but jealousy doesn’t need much ground to take root and grow with vigor.
 
WE DON’T WANT TO ADMIT BAD THINGS MAY HAPPEN TO US!
If bad things happen to people who don’t deserve them, they could happen to anybody, including me. If I don’t want bad things to happen to me, (who does?), I have to persuade myself and everybody around me that the victim’s actions caused the problem. If blame can be assigned, then I’ll be safe as long as I’m good.
In other words, if I can claim that the cause of your problem is something you do that I don’t do, then what happened to you can’t happen to me. There is, of course, no logic to this, but it brings some shaky comfort to frightened hearts.We see this thinking at work when people stare numbly at adversity and ask, “What did I do to deserve this?” Sometimes the answer is, “nothing.”
 
HAVE YOU EVER ASKED YOURSELF "WHY ME?"
And it doesn’t have to be bad; you could be excited from something wonderful. Most often then not, I ask myself this after something I am looking forward to goes wrong.
Even at times when something goes wrong I lay awake at night and my thoughts wonder to what previously occurred. I am sure everyone does it at times, wishing for another try or chance.
You may lay awake thinking about your suffering, part of life’s suffering is misery’s shadow persisting/hanging on; not only do you suffer but you have to think about suffering.
I can’t prove this with statistics or find it any book I know of, yet I would say that more people either come to the faith or fall away because of this reason above all; the disturbance of suffering.
YOU SEE GOD USES TIMES OF SUFFERING…
...TO TEACH AND GROW US.
If you allow yourself to recount your sufferings, did you not learn more about faith while suffering then any other time? It has been said that; “Blessings are God’s whispers, he speaks in our conscience, but shouts to us in our suffering.”
“O my Comforter in sorrow,
My heart is faint within me.”
Jeremiah 8:18
Suffering becomes the only way to realize our hollow spiritual self. Pain is unmasked, and every person knows when something is not right when they are hurting. Pain insists upon being attended to.
So when you travel down this line of thought you come to the idea, why do I or someone else suffer when others don’t?
 
I KNOW SUFFERING IS EXHAUSTING AND PAIN HURTS
That is why it is called pain and suffering. If there were an escape a person of great wisdom and insight would have done it already. Yet Discipleship demands such trials to compel us towards renewal.
Read Hebrews 2:10
“God, for whom and through whom everything was made,
chose to bring many children into glory.
And it was only right that he should make Jesus, through his suffering,
a perfect leader, fit to bring them into their salvation.”
The real question is what to do when life has just punched us a good one, and Job’s comforters show up at our door.
Nobody says we have to let them in.
And certainly nobody says we have to entertain them.
And, most positively, nobody says we have to believe them.
“For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives,
So also through Christ our comfort overflows.”2 Corinthians 1:5
We can sort out the who’s-to-blame-for-what after we get some solid ground under our feet and a little energy back into our lives.
But we still won’t want Job’s comforters anywhere around us…
...We will want people who care.
"Compassion"
To me not to be kind is evil of the mind.
No need to pray or preach,
Let us our children teach with every fond caress,
Pity and gentleness:
So in the end may we God’s Kingdom cause to be.
Author - R.W. Service
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"THE WINTER OF OUR MALCONTENT" - "Faithing Our Fears"

By Mary Lindow through the Holy Spirit
For many weeks now, just as I was about to fall into a good deep sleep, I have heard in my spirit the words, “The Winter of our Malcontent”. Trying to reconcile those words in my own thinking, I would then say to myself, “You mean the winter of our discontent don’t you?" (I was thinking about the fact that Shakespeare wrote this and put into print in Richard III,1594.)
Again and again the same event would take place until I was made aware of what the Lord would have me write and share with those - who may have ears to hear. For you see, the subject can be one that many FEAR.
Malcontent; definition
Disappointed, disenchanted, disillusioned, frustrated, unfulfilled; disquieted, disturbed, perturbed, upset; dejected, depressed, despairing, despondent
THE WRINGING OF HANDS AND HEART
For some, it is easier to simply live in a shell of denial or self concocted false spiritual bliss than to look soberly and head on at the turmoil and drama that the world is rapidly spinning and bobbing in.
It will not easily or wishfully go away, and at this time we are and will be, facing severe repercussions for wicked choices made by governments, banking systems and yes religious institutions.
All three can do good things, but many currently have chosen the ways of corruption, selfish ambition, deceptive story telling and above all, the giving away of their heart and minds to the god of this world. A god who traps its victims with promises of greater power, influence, and an adoring mass of lesser gifted humans who are expected to give homage without asking questions.
These pressures and practices can tear at the soul of the discerning hearts who see more than the handwriting on the wall.  They know, regardless of a solid stance of Faith in Gods providence and care - that something is very very wrong and, it is escalating.
THE FEAR AND HOLLOW ACHE WITHIN YOUR HEART 
Many are panicking and poring over every website and news bulletin to see if there are falsities that they can catch and prove in the wrong, or truths that they can exploit. Neither of these will help.
And, the fear mongers believe that we all must be totally obsessed and baptized in fear by pouring it out to their audiences.
They will feed the panic and give power to the spirit of terror that is looming large and with insidious precision.
Where do apparent Bible believers get reliable information to nourish their fears? From you and me. We do it to each other all the time.
Why do we deliver information to our brother or sister that will feed his or her fears?
THE FIRST CAUSE OF FEAR IS THE FEAR OF LOSING PLAYTHINGS AND SAFETY.
We believe that "my God shall supply all your needs," but our old nature cannot believe that, especially when we hear news from worldly sources telling us someone is trying to take our toys and life resources away from us. When we give place to fear, and feast on it, feed it, and pass it on to other people, we are boldly denying that Christ will be our supplier.
If you have a belief concerning death, the end of the world, or the ultimate destiny of humankind that has no hope, no light, and you have the Church headed straight into a train wreck instead of looking at the light at the end of the tunnel, you are WICKED.
If all you do is sit around and talk with wide-eyed terror about the New World Order, the crash of the banks, the collapse of the dollar, and the concentration camps and micro chips getting ready for us you’re not only feeding fear, you also are a promoter and preacher of it.
Harsh words? No.
Honest words intended to get you to shake off morbid living and to decide to truly serve the LIVING GOD or serve - Fear.
 
WHAT FEAR IS
Fear is a harsh and wicked taskmaster.
Fear will not let you sleep well at night.
Fear brings condemnation and shame.
Fear causes hoarding and secret self-protections.
Fear will make you betray others to hide and protect your way of living and your opinions.
Fear will join with accusation and destroy safe relationships, by isolating you.
Fear is a liar and gathers clusters of other tormenting spirits to join with it.
Fear creates excitement for those who use it as a tool to gain attention or - control.
 
JESUS HAS TAKEN CARE OF HIS BRIDE FOR OVER 2000 YEARS
He is still doing so, and will never ever stop!
Know this! The light of Christ that shines in very dark times is the ONLY light that is available. I say this because this light is on "until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts." The light of prophecy is the light at the end of the tunnel of human history, and that light is a person:
“ I Jesus have sent my angel to testify to you, these things in the churches.I AM the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.” Revelation 22:16
So, the darker it is, the more blessed that light is.
The stars shine at night, not during the daylight.
Light a candle in a room that has many lamps on, and no one will notice, but strike the smallest match you can find in a totally blacked out room, and EVERY EYE WILL BE ON THAT LIGHT!
 
WHY ARE OUR EYES, AND MOUTH FIXATED WITH HOW EXCEEDINGLY DARK IT IS?
1 Thessalonians 5 says
“You are all the children of light, And the children of the day.
We are not of the night, Nor of darkness.”
 
WHAT TO DO NOW
Philippians 4:6-7
Do not be anxious about anything, 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 understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Tell me, what good is it to obsess or prepare to survive the coming crash or doom if you end up living a stressed and tormented life over it?
You’re afraid because you don’t think God can handle your situation.
You’re afraid you are going to die, you are afraid you’re going to get sick, you’re afraid your kids are going to get hurt, you’re afraid the roof is going to fall in, you’re afraid the demons are going to get you!
Whatever it is, it comes from two things.
Number one: 
You have a guilty conscience.
 
Number two: 
You have weak faith in God.
 
You can deal with both of those. 
Have a guilty conscience?  
Confess your sin and get it all cleaned out.
Weak faith? 
Get your Bible open and read what God says about Himself and learn to trust Him.... And pray.
2 Timothy 1:7
For the Spirit, which God has given us, Is not a spirit of cowardice.
But one of power and of love and of sound judgment.
 
FAITH OBEYS GOD IN SPITE OF CIRCUMSTANCES OR CONSEQUENCES
Fear can creep into the hearts of the young and the old, the rich and the poor, the most educated and the least educated, the powerful and the powerless.
What can one do to be freed of fear?
Faith is not afraid of what others may say or do.
An Elijah complex can rob you of power and joy, so beware! Elijah went from victory to defeat because he started walking by sight and not by faith. He believed the wicked queen Jezebel's words but not God’s word, and he forgot how God had cared for him for three and a half years. Fear replaced faith, and he ran for his life. We need to obey the words
 
Do not be afraid; only believe (Mark 5:36).
Faith and fear are opposites, and yet, strange to say, they are often found dwelling within the same person; but where one is forceful the other is undeveloped. The constant attitude of the Christian must and needs to be,
“Behold, God is my salvation, 
I will trust and not be afraid; 
For the LORD GOD is my strength and song, 
And He has become my salvation.
Isaiah 12:2
 
WHAT OUGHT TO BE, AND WHAT ACTUALLY IS
ARE TWO VERY DIFFERENT THINGS.
When I am afraid, I will put my trust in You. 
Psalm 56:3
However, when the grace of faith is in practice, its verbal communication will be:
One thing that must be addressed as well is the situation where there are believers who are currently in trauma, loss, or who are persevering through very difficult and possibly harrowing situations. Very often those who have a shallow development of the fruit of Mercy and attributes of discernment are often found to spout out well rehearsed “shotgun lines” of scripture at those who are in the throws of battle and sorrow.
THIS IS NOT OK! It shows a great lack of genuine Christian Character and even worse, a lack of the nature of Christ. The following verse will clear up any religious sputtering about this, and hopefully bring a nice bit of conviction to the legalistic and hardhearted.
So those of us who have a strong [faith] must be patient with the weaknesses of those whose [faith] is not so strong. We must not think only of ourselves.
Romans 15:1
Jesus Stood up in the Storm and spoke PEACE.
He did not scold and hammer away at the frighten men in the boat with him. He did not shame them with a tone of superiority or condescending blather when he said,  “Why do you struggle with trusting Me (faith) to take care of you?”  He used moments of doubt and fearfulness all throughout the bible as teaching moments, to disciple His beloved children. We too - Can learn from this. It will be much needed in the days ahead.
LET’S PRAY TOGETHER AND BE FREE FROM FEAR
Dear Jesus Christ,
I know that all power and authority on Heaven and Earth belongs to You alone. I come to You today, asking for supernatural divine deliverance from fear.
I am facing numerous issues that are scaring me, sometimes tormenting me! 
I ask you right now Jesus, in faith and with all of my existence, please, please deliver me from all fear. I gave You my soul when I became a Christian.
So right now, I choose to symbolically, hand literally hand you my problems, my fears. 
I pray, Jesus take these fears, and strengthen me against them! Protect me from every lie of the enemy that has come my way trying to deceive me.
You have told me:
"Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." - John 14:27.
Right now, I give it all to You Jesus. Please deal with these fears for me. 
In the name of Jesus Christ the Son of God almighty, I renounce satan and all of his lies that are trying to make me afraid!
I pray that you Lord would bind every enemy and spirit of fear attempting to operate in my life and rebuke it! Protect me from it!
Lord Jesus, please also help me recognize if there is something that I am doing to allow fear to manipulate me. Please let me know if there is something wrong that needs to change. Please let me know if there is something in my environment or home, that is causing my mind to have fearful reactions.
Help us, O Heavenly Father, to dwell not on our fears, but on who you are. We can conqueror our fears only by focusing on you. Then no matter what is the cause of our fears, they will dissipate like the morning fog.
This we ask in the name of Him who overcame all of His fears by fixing his eyes on You and You alone. Amen
Thank You! Amen!
Duplication and re-transmission of this writing is welcomed
provided that complete source and website information for Mary Lindow is included.
Thank you! Copyright © “ 2020 " The Messenger " ~ Mary Lindow
www.marylindow.com
www.globalprayerrooms.com

"What The Lord Honors In Desperate Times"

By Reverend Mary Lindow
HELLO DEAR CHILD OF GOD,
TONIGHT AFTER SPENDING THE EVENING WITH A VERY DEAR FRIEND IN FELLOWSHIP, COUNSEL, AND A TIME OF HEARTFELT PRAYER, I WAS PROMPTED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT TO WRITE AND ENCOURAGE MYSELF WITH THIS MESSAGE! AS I DID, I WAS ALSO MOVED BY THE LORD TO SHARE THIS WITH YOU AS WELL! 
MAY HE “IMPRINT” UPON OUR HEARTS THE MESSAGE OF HOPE, HELP AND THE CLARITY OF THE MIND OF CHRIST, IN SUCH DIFFICULT TIMES OF TRANSITION AND MATURING IN HIM!
 
SACRIFICIAL THANK OFFERINGS!
He who sacrifices thank-offerings, Honors me, And he prepares the way, 
So that I may show him the salvation of God
Psalm 50:23
The soul part of our human make-up will never really fully understand what the Spirit of God can easily explain to those who know the intimate and true heart of the Father.
When the tiring and crushing difficulties in life occur, people often run to the massage therapist, the chamomile tea and so on, in order to obtain a calmness and sense of “sane rest” to help them unload anxiety, heartache or fear.
But here in the verse above, the Lord so clearly shows us something that actually prepares the way, a pathway for our deliverance from all of the crushing blows life on planet earth can bring! 
He tells us that if we offer up to Him in the times when we are feeling parched, weary, and just plain scared, - “sacrifices of thankfulness,”  - these words choked out through hot tears and anguish, do something to honor God in a way that actually “prepares the way” for the Dear King of Heaven to use as a path or portal to bring us much needed relief, freedom and deliverance!
 
HAVE YOU EVEN BEEN IN PLACE WHERE EVERYTHING SEEMS TO BE IMPOSSIBLE?
(Many of you are there now) - and you have cried yourself to sleep begging God for help and mercy. It is then when you will truly understand why it is a sacrificial offering to God to begin to praise Him, thank him, for what is unseen and needed!
The Mercy of God is much deeper and more mature and rich than any mercy man tries to administer.  Sometimes it’s a “mercy” to just not receive it from men! (Joke!)
 
I HEAR THE HOLY SPIRIT BRINGING A CLEAR WORD OF COMFORT AND HELP, to His people who have ears to hear what He is saying to them. Those that are determined to follow the voice of the Good Shepherd and not strange voices.
 
"And a stranger they will not follow, But will flee from him:
For they know not the voice of strangers."  -John 10:5
 
"Anxiety in a man's heart weighs it down,
But a good word makes it glad." -Proverbs 12:25
 
SACRIFICIAL THANKS IS AN OFFERING?
Look at what the word Sacrifice means!
Giving up of something valued:
A giving up of something valuable or important for somebody or something else considered to be of more value or importance. Something valuable or important given up as a sacrifice
 
Now let’s look at what Offering means.
: To present something as an act of worship
: Something offered as a sacrifice to a deity
 To declare one's readiness or willingness
 To utter (as a prayer) in devotion
 
THERE IS A POWER THAT WORKS IN THE SUPERNATURAL REALM of a man or woman’s heart and the Heart of God that only the act of worshipping, cried out in agonizing surrender and yielding, that tears away the veil of darkness holding back the Fair Face of Heaven.
JESUS HIMSELF CRIED OUT IN SACRIFICIAL OFFERING.
"Not My Will, but Your will be done," and this opened a pathway for the Salvation of our souls forever!
Oh Dear Pilgrim and anxious child of God! Don’t listen to all of the heavy-handed advice of men when the anguish is so deep and the loneliness tries to consume you with the fear of abandonment! 
THE LORD IS SHOWING US A PATHWAY TO A GREATER STRENGTH AND MIGHT IN HIM. 
 Shouting at God isn’t going to bring a cure or answer to your aching need. He can certainly handle us shouting at Him for He is a Father who understands human frailty! But oh! When we begin to lift up our weary hearts and hands to God and begin to thank Him sacrificially, willingly, telling Him how only He can be the Redeemer of our situations, our hurts, our betrayals, our abandonment…something of a "Dynamic release" beings to occur in the realm of God that man will only fully comprehend when he finally and eternally arrives in the Home of Heaven.
 
NO! IT IS NOT EASY TO DO! 
"No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, 
It produces a harvest of righteousness and peace, 
For those who have been trained by it.
Therefore, lift up those arms than are hanging down,  Your feeble arms and weak knees! Make level paths for your feet,  So that the lame may not be disabled,  But rather be healed.”      
 Hebrews 12:11-13 
 
OUR FLESH CANNOT "REASON OUT" HOW THIS WOULD DO ANY GOOD IN OUR PRESENT DISTRESS! 
 We want to do something, go somewhere, help the situation, pace the floor...make a phone call!
 But Heaven is calling. 
Hear what that Divine communication is saying to us!
 
"Sacrifice offerings to God! Fulfill your promise to the Most High!
Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you,
And you will honor Me." -Psalm 50:14-15 
 
WE MUST FULFILL OUR PROMISE TO GOD!
 Did you see that? Our promise to serve Him, to love Him, to think of ourselves as obedient children, who heed his voice quickly and remain honest in a corrupt and frenzied world!
He tells us to call upon Him.  Call Him...in the day of trouble! He says He will deliver us.
 
THAT'S WHERE IT GETS TOUGH!!
We ask in pain, "WHEN? HOW? IT SEEMS SO IMPOSSIBLE!"
Well…it is impossible. We will all too quickly find out that we are not "Superman or Wonder Woman!" 
All of our gifts, talents, wit and braininess can’t deliver us! 
But. Through simple loving, surrendered in sacrificial offerings of thanks to the Master for the joy of being one of His very own, He brings a way of relief and… Release.
 
WHAT TO DO?
Although we are not to be totally ignorant of what is occurring around us and live in hermit mentalities, the Lord does have a greater plan and focus for us during such tough times.
You and I as children of God will never really feel at home here on planet earth.
We have been Divinely implanted with a homing device deep in our spirits that longs for the Home of Heaven. No more tears, no more night, no more longing to fully belong! We have been walking a pathway of preparation, each of us in different stages of our lives, to transition from this decaying world and body into a heavenly place of resurrection and eternal abundant life.
PRESCRIPTION FOR LIBERATION
It will take repeated “doses” of Sacrificial Thank Offerings unto God, 50 times a day if needed, until the rest and mind-clearing presence of God holds you in the Shadow of the Wing of Safety.
You see dear one, It is the total cure for us! His Peace passes all understanding. And can rule and reign in our hearts, even when the storm is chewing the shutters and shingles off of your house! 
WE ARE BEING TRAINED TO TRUST Like never before!
The Father can speak to a boss, a teacher, a doctor, and a tyrant and bring them to a place of peace with you and, a place of favor in the swift blink of a moment in time.
He can move on the hearts of others with such raw compassion that they are compelled by Him to come alongside you and share what they have in prayer, comfort, monetary relief, and counsel, (which by the way…is also often done as a thank offering, offered sacrificially up to the Lord.)
WE MUST START RELINQUISHING OUR JUDGMENTS AND OPINIONS ABOUT THE STRAINS OTHERS ARE UNDER, As well as our presumptions that we “know” what they need or what we project that God wants to do in their lives, and instead, begin to offer up...  sacrificially. 
Offering up unto God in Thanks for their deliverance…where we again… prepare the way for God to manifest something of magnificent proportions in our own place of need!
 
A SAFE HAVEN
"For You have been a safe haven, and a place of safety for me,  A solid tower against the adversary." -Psalm 61:3
The Spirit of the Lord is calling out to His People in this very, very, serious and crucial moment, to allow Him to bring us to a place of learning what kind of sacrifice pleases Him and bring the Anointing grace of deliverance to our lives, cities and nations. 
The Lord is calling out to you and I!
“Come to Me! Run to Me! I know that you are heavily burdened by all of the concentrated pressures mounting around you.
 
A DWELLING PLACE OF DIVINE REST AND PROTECTION.
 It will require you laying down the things that so easily set you off and get you weighed down with concern and anxiety. 
Casting the whole of your cares. All your anxieties. All your worries. All your concerns.
Once and for all on Him. 
For He cares for you affectionately, and cares about you watchfully.  -1 Peter 5:7
 
THE LORD URGES  - "COME INTO A LIFE OF SIMPLICITY."
"Come together into the shadow of My Wings for I AM the Shelter and Refuge for the child that heeds My voice and runs to Me, abandoning self made plans for protection and self-preservation.
I AM your Armor, I AM your Defense.
But you must come with no agenda in your heart or strategy on your lips. You come to the Resting Place of Safety from the Storm to WAIT, Ponder, Rest and rethink your Life call.”
 
THE NEED FOR DIRECTIONAL ADJUSTMENT
We are in much need of a directional adjustment as believers right now as the world turns itself upside down with malice, dictatorships, and political posturing. We need to be certain that nothing of the world and its behaviors are hidden in our own hearts. We must hear that Vigorous pulling voice of the Holy Spirit, and obey it without turning left or right.
"So be careful to do what the LORD your God has commanded you;
Do not turn aside to the right or to the left." -Deuteronomy 5:32
 
FAITHFUL SECURITY. When we walk in the way of surrender and tenderness with our ears attuned to the still small voice of God, we actually walk in the Overshadowing Security of the Presence of God. Training our spiritual ears to hear the voice of the Father is a lifetime guarantee of knowing that when storms or troubles arise, there is a promise for direction to a place of Divine Protection whenever needed.
"Therefore my heart is glad, And my tongue rejoices; My body also will rest secure."
-Psalm 16:9
 
HAVE A REST CHILD OF GOD. It is the hardest thing the mind and body to do! Learning to rest when the world is screaming at a fevered pitch, "WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO NOW”  is a hard learned yet reachable discipline if we will lean into it and ask for God’s help.
Hear the Voice of God calling you to enter into His rest. 
It is a place of pleasant simplicity and uncluttered doctrine. 
His Presence silences all of the noise of the day and noise of the Head.
 
HIS PRESENCE - HIS SHELTER, IS A PLACE OF SAFETY FOR THE WEARY
Dear Child of God! There is no criticism or shame there.
It is a restful place of learning and a place to lift up to him the heavy weight of sorrow and to take up an easy yoke and light cargo.
Let’s Pause. Right now...
...And let's begin to offer a sacrifice of thanks to the Lord together. 
It is just as if the smell of a fresh bouquet of flowers has released it’s perfumed fragrance into the room we are sitting in and floats up to the heart and face of God.
He breathes these offerings of ours into His Great heart and sees the portal being formed by these offerings where in He can reach down to our pain-filled hearts and give us hope, healing and miraculous direction and freedom form all forms of bondage.
Duplication and sharing of this message is welcomed provided that complete article, podcast  and website information for  Mary Lindow is included.
 Thank You! Copyright © 2020 " THE MESSENGER " ~ Mary Lindow
www.marylindow.com
www.globalprayerrooms.com
 

DEALING WITH SLANDER - BETRAYAL AND CHARACTER ASSASSINATION

 

 
 
By Mary Lindow
 
David had his Absalom, Paul had his Demas, who abandoned him, and Alexander the coppersmith, who "had done him much harm." Jesus had Iscariot.We know all about Judas, so the story holds no drama for us. We forget that Jesus chose Judas after praying all night. They spent every day together for three years, talking, eating together, and laughing. Jesus sent him out in ministry. Judas shared in the miracle of feeding 5,000 people; his hands took the small, round barley loaves from Jesus and tore off hunks of bread for hungry people.What makes each case of betrayal so painful is that someone who knows your heart—who knows your longings and character—turns from that and chooses to believe you are really dangerous. The mind freezes as it tries to grasp how a friend, someone who knew you deeply, intimately, could turn on you and attack you.The singer songwriter Michael Card vividly captures the agony in one song:"Only a friend can betray a friend, 
A stranger has nothing to gain  
And only a friend comes close enough 
To ever cause so much pain."Betrayal, I've noticed, calls good evil. 
It twists a person's true spiritual endowments into something negative, a saintly deficiency or psychological problem. Betrayal causes leaders to not want to trust, to not want to be involved in anything called church, to not be vulnerable, to not open their spirits in worship to God.
Don't give up! You may be tempted to flee, to turn your back on your call. 
You are walking where great people have walked before. They are remembered as great because they did not allow the betrayal to stop them. Instead they learned how to turn their pain into greater usefulness for the Lord.
What does it mean to slander? 
To make a false and malicious statement that damages somebody’s reputation. To set somebody or something up in opposition to somebody or something else.But another definition of slander is to take about someone with the intent to hurt them. 
To whisper and hiss subtle, condescending, suggestive thoughts that someone is ”missing the real deal.”II Timothy tells us that in the last days there will be slanderers and false accusers spreading innuendoes and criticism and reporting things unjustly about others.Scorpions carry poison in their tails; 
Snakes carry it in their cheeks, 
And slanderers carry it in their tongues.
Character assassination is an intentional attempt to influence the portrayal or reputation of a particular person, 
..Whether living or a historical person, in such a way as to cause others to develop an extremely negative, unethical or unappealing perception of him or her. By its nature, it involves deliberate exaggeration or manipulation of facts to present an untrue picture of the targeted person. For living individuals, this can cause the target to be rejected by his or her community, family, or members of his or her living or work environment. 
 
Such acts are typically very difficult to reverse or rectify, therefore the process is correctly likened to a literal assassination of a human life. The damage sustained can be life-long and more, or for historical personages, last for many centuries after their death.
In practice, character assassination usually consists of the spreading of rumors and deliberate 
misinformation on topics relating to one's morals, integrity, and reputation.
 
If the devil has any servants that he values the most, are they slanderers or gossips? I believe they are!Charles Spurgeon said, "A lie will go around the world while truth is still putting on its boots."Think about that!
In Psalm 15 David speaks such a powerful lesson about THE PERSON who can truly ascend to a place of Walking with God in a holy high place.Psalm 15 : 1-5 A psalm of David. 
 
"LORD, who may dwell in your sanctuary? Who may live on your holy hill?He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart
and has no slander on his tongue, who does his neighbor no wrong, and casts no slur on his fellowman,who despises a vile man but honors those who fear the LORD, who keeps his oath even when it hurts,
who lends his money without usury and does not accept a bribe against the innocent. 
He who does these things will never be shaken."If you will notice…this type of person cannot be shaken. 
That does not mean that he or she will not be sorely tested, or at times falsely accused or slandered. It meant that these things would not shake them from the knowledge that they walk with God in His Holy Presence SAFELY and confidently even though pressures and pain attack them!
 
The Lord is a protector… 

…And a refuge from slander and accusations!
 
"How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you, 
which you bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in you.
In the shelter of your presence you hide them from the intrigues of men; 
in your dwelling you keep them safe from accusing tongues." 
Psalm 31:19-20
I encourage you to spend much much time in worship and in hiding the word of God in your heart. 
These two weapons act like shields to the soul when attacks and false accusations are unleashed towards you. There will always be those who gain power and prestige for a season through the use of slander or subtle suggestions that imply that you have some how “gone off the rails” and have become a lesser saint!The Lord strongly addressed this in the following verses:“Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret, him will I put to silence; 
Whoever has haughty eyes and a proud heart, him will I not endure."
Psalm 101:5"Do not go about spreading slander among your people. 
Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor's life. 
I am the LORD." 
Leviticus 19:16Servant of God! DO NOT let fear grip you and paralyze the Lord’s voice calling to you to serve Him freely!No man or woman has the authority to tell you to not speak in the Name of Jesus if you are moving from a pure heart and a pure motive!  Of Course…you may thoroughly be discussed behind your back and dissected as to why you speak out or flow in the way the Lord might well call you to do!But remember to be certain it is the Lord that asked you to speak out and then you are able to simply;“Keep a clear conscience, 
so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ 
may be ashamed of their slander.” 1 Peter 3:16Remember this, obedient child of God:When we are slandered, we answer kindly. 
Up to this moment we have become the scum of the earth, 
the refuse of the world. 1 Corinthians 4:13Love lived out and expressed honestly... 
...In the hearts that have felt the sting of slander and yet choose to forgive, do a greater work in the name of Jesus and for His Kingdom, than a thousand voices that may shout against injustice or religious forms and practices.Remember…Jesus Himself endured insults rejection and ridicule.And yet - He finished the course.So will you!Duplication and sharing of this writing is welcomed provided that complete Message, website information 
and Podcast link  for Mary Lindow is included. Thank You!
 Copyright © 2019 " THE MESSENGER " ~ Mary Lindow 
www.marylindow.com

“MANY WILL BE PURIFIED AND REFINED - BUT THE WICKED WILL CONTINUE TO BE WICKED”

 - A PROPHETIC WORD -“MANY WILL BE PURIFIED AND REFINED ...… BUT THE WICKED WILL CONTINUE TO BE WICKED”By the Holy Spirit through Mary Lindow Scroll to the bottom of this message to use to the audio podcast player.“How blessed is the man who has made the Lord his trust, And has not turned to the proud for worldly advice, Nor to those who lapse into tale bearing.” Psalms 40:4 "My children. It is always amazing how people run to the power and strengths of man and to the voices of false hope. As if from these things they advise or promise might gain a place of security! You can only be fully secure when you first come to ME! I never break my promises to you! NEVER! I use every opportunity in your life to train you to be an honest and humble guide to lead others to my way of success. If you hear a man or woman boasting about too many great things that they have done, you will eventually find out that they are masters of manipulation and "embellished" liars. It's all to make themselves look more powerful in your eyes. I do not deeply fellowship with this type of person. “If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of them.”Deuteronomy 18:22 "I only share My keys and treasures of victory and success with those who do not peddle pride and do not posture for an audience. False humility is obvious to Me even when others cannot discern it. Trusting Me means to really believe that I AM all you need to have a vision and a future. Trust. Trust. Trust! Trust ME!" Be Quick To Listen, Be Slow To Speak, Be Slow to get Angry. ~James 1:19 "The real proof of your personal transformation in Me is in evidence when you can practice this truthful insight without having to think about it too much! In order to sincerely be a voice for Me - one who cries out into the wilderness of other people's lives, you must be able to hear My voice clearly! Speaking only what I tell you to speak, and to not REACT with anger when you have those who oppose My Voice, challenge you! If you are suspicious of others motives and have secretly hidden the things of insecurity or entitlement in your own heart, you will be looking for a way to cast suspicion on others if you are the guilty or presumptuous party of some wrongdoing. This opens a door to a hardness of heart, which allows the pride of life and love for position to blind you from a life of brokenness, and personal, private integrity. Clean living creates a pure and clear conscience. "Keep me also from the sins I want to commit. May they not be my master. Then I will be without blame. I will not be guilty of any great sin against your word." Psalm 19:13 “I remained silent, like a lamb ready for slaughter! When My time to speak came, it changed eternity!It is finished! Father! Into Your hands I willingly turn over everything! My body, My soul, My spirit! Can you also turn all you hold dear in this life over to the Father? You will never be the same again! And you also will mark out a statement in eternity!" The Lord's promises are pure.... Psalm 12:6a "I have no ulterior reasons to make a promise that has a hidden agenda! I am the spotless Lamb of God! All that I have ever promised to you and to those who love Me has always been with only good and blessing in mind! Purity has it's own deep well of uniqueness to draw from.It looks for fairness for all.It only operates with absolute truthfulness.Purity is a value that never wears thin.When you minister or care for others, do all of it from only a pure motive to help, bless and restore. Impurity always shows up with self-preservation, intimidation and a pompous sense of personal power and personal vision. "We put no stumbling block in anyone's path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; 2 Corinthians 6:3-6 Purity.It is only a refined vessel that can walk in the power of this attribute!"“Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand.” Daniel 12:10 Duplication and sharing of this writing is welcomed as long as complete message and website information for Mary Lindow is included. 
 Thank You! 
Copyright 2013 " THE MESSENGER " ~ Mary Lindow www.marylindow.com 

FINDING THE PLACE OF SAFETY AND ACCEPTANCE

By Mary Lindow



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IT’S A STRANGE AND TWISTED WORLD THAT WE LIVE IN
Many well meaning people try hard to give pep talks, cheery texts and even send emails with profound  topics or inspirational contents all in the hope of giving a bit of relief from the ever increasing “noises” of an uncertain world.
“ I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world."
John 16:33

WHAT DO YOU FEAR?
This is not always an easy question to answer right away. Emotions and physical reactions to the question begin to swirl and elevate stress levels when anxiety creeps in.
And, fear is a terror that can paralyze anyone if enough of it is allowed to enter our minds. And that is exactly where it first penetrates our peace. In the Mind.
Fear
noun
Fright, fearfulness, horror, alarm, panic, agitation, trepidation, dread, consternation, dismay, distress; anxiety, worry, angst, unease, uneasiness, apprehension, nervousness, foreboding;
WHEN WE FEAR WE MAKE POOR CHOICES
If you are afraid or “fear” being misled by someone, you will limit your intimacy or openness with him or her. Many believers in need of healing emotionally from harsh or indifferent parenting tend to keep deep relationships or friendship at arm’s length in order to maintain a sense of control or privacy for themselves.
This can become a form of “selective hearing or selective listening” if the individual feels that they need to remain aloof and frosty in order to gain the respect or validation that they feel that they need to exist.
The problem with this cycle is that is creates a private  “terror” of not having a solid place of safety with a few dear and treasured people, flawed people… but those willing to also be vulnerable and open.
Psalm 27:1
“The LORD is my light and my salvation-- whom shall I fear?
The LORD is the stronghold of my life-- of whom shall I be afraid?”
Every situation, location, and relationship of our everyday lives is in some way broken. As fallen creatures, the best we can ever do in this life is to know how to live in this broken-down house/earth suit that’s our current address. And, nothing and no one but God himself, in the fullness of his time, can change where we live. So as we experience the reality of life in this house, sometimes it will leave us confused and overwhelmed.
Sometimes it will leave us hurt and angry. Sometimes people will give way to envy because the house or “life” of someone living nearby seems far less broken. Sometimes we just get weary of the stress of it all and long for a house in perfect repair.
YOU ARE NOT THE ONLY ONE
In those moments, those days, those seasons, remember that you are never on your own. The Master Builder has given us a copy of his renovation manual, the Bible. It will help us to understand why things are as broken as they are. It teaches us how to live well even in the midst of the brokenness. And it will explain the only way in which repair can ever happen.
Just never forget that the Designer himself has moved into the house with you. You’ve not been left alone. You can rest assured of his presence and his wisdom. His grace has blessed you with both of these.
However, He must be fully welcomed and invited into all of the “locked and hidden access areas” that others are not often trusted to enter into.
He who offers you such grace and guidance will never ask you to do what you are not fully capable of doing by God’s grace and ever present Spirit. He will not demand things of you that are beyond your abilities. Our Lord is tender and kind. He knows who you are and he knows where you’re living. He knows how hard it is to live in your broken-down house because in the flesh he lived here himself.
The Lord invites you to walk away from trying to figure it out on your own and he welcomes you to sit at his feet and learn the simplicities of living; things so full of meaning that you will see your world in a completely new way; things so practical that you will never live the same way again.
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.”
Philippians 2:3

TAKE A LOOK IN THE REARVIEW MIRROR FOR ONE MOMENT
Have you recently made decisions about who you will share with on any level such as giving, talking of dreams, sorrows, losses, major life events, and then afterward - pulled back only to run to either another source for additional validation or to agree with your choices or decisions? Or, have you reacted to some of the counsel or responses you have received by testing those whom you have shared with by removing your favor, kindness or former warmth from them?
These actions are often made rapidly when we are fearful or fear being wounded, and shift us into a place of survival and self-protection.
They can also isolate us from a loving, safe and healthy “corrective course” or direction away from fear and its tentacles.

FINDING THE PLACE OF SAFETY AND ACCEPTANCE
When we step into the hand of God we find the place of acceptance, and safety and an opportunity for service. It is the place of real authority, as well as of hiddenness.
God only works with those who are in His hand and those who do not keep jumping out of it, attempting to either control their own fears, but instead, often try to control others around them due to being fearful of the choices others make possibly affecting them.
Both greatly hinder the ability to trust other godly people and above all, to trust the safety of letting God do His job, while we rest in His hand.
The more we lie sheltered there, the more surely will He use us down the road. And it will be alongside others who freely share all that they have, without fear. Just as you will learn as you let go, and allow the Father to build a “Safe House” out of your life in His presence.
May the Lord do for us according to His word.
He said, "I have put My words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of My hand."
Charles Spurgeon spoke such a beautiful statement and I want to share it with you here.
“The shadow of God is not the occasional resort,
but the constant abiding- place, of the saint.

Under His shadow we are to feel that we are at home,
and then He will make Himself at home to us by becoming food unto our souls,
and giving spiritual refreshment to us while we rest.”

NO MORE HOOPS TO JUMP
When this is learned and treasured, you will then not withhold from or test others with rules or regulations set up to certainly fail them. We ruin great friendships or opportunities when we expect from others total vulnerability and openness and then only give part of what we have and who we are back in return.
Colossians 3:12
“Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.”
Perhaps you are waiting on Christ, desiring His company, and while you are thinking these thoughts you are asking, "Will He ever direct His full gaze upon me? Will He ever speak loving words to me? Will He ever let me sit at His feet? Will He ever permit me to lean my head upon His shoulder?"

COME AND STEP BACK INTO THE SHELTER OF HIS HAND.
Though you might shake like a leaf in a strong wind. Come! Sometimes those who come trembling are those who are aware that they are the lowest and the Creator the highest. When finally admit that our own self-esteem is less than nothing and is total vanity, then Jesus is the more good and lovely in our eyes.
Let your humility of heart, and your sense of hollowness, as a replacement for disqualifying you, be a sweet instrument for leading you to receive more of Christ.
“Before his downfall a man's heart is proud,
But humility comes before honor.”
Proverbs 18:12
The emptier I am, the more room is there for the Lord
The more I lack, the more He will give me.
The more I feel my weakness, the more shall I adore and bless Him when He makes me whole.
You’re never in a better place than when you give up on you and begin to trust in what is certain.
The life-shaping wisdom of the One who created you - in the first place.
“After all, every house has a builder,
But the builder of everything is God.”
Hebrews 3:4


Duplication and re-transmission of this writing is welcomed provided that complete source and website information for Mary Lindow is included.
Thank You!
Copyright  2013  " THE MESSENGER " ~ Mary Lindow
www.marylindow.com