HUMILITY vs. PRIDE - AND THE SPIRITUAL FORCES THAT RAGE AGAINST THE SOUL

 
By Mary Lindow
“When pride comes, then comes disgrace,
But with humility comes wisdom.”
-Proverbs 11:2
 
WHEN THE SOUL GOES THROUGH HUMBLING EXPERIENCES
We all know that there are times when the soul goes through humbling experiences.
Perhaps in the past you had strength, calm, security and confidence, and then all of that suddenly gets stripped and your soul sees itself and it's true state of desperate need. 
If you are alert you will recognize that the Lord is opening our eyes to secret pride. That internal thinking that all of our achievement is of our own doing and not purely a gift from above.
Yes, these times come so it will never occur to us again that we are stronger in spirit than anyone else! If we look up on any other person as weaker, it is only because we have not been taken through the purging fire of God completely. Perhaps this is what's happening to someone we know, and it's no business of ours to preen our feathers of “goodness” while they are being refined and challenged. On the other side of that coin, God wants for us to have an open and humble spirit, realizing that if we were in their position we may not handle the circumstances as well, and might actually do worse!
 
THIS HUMBLING PROCESS IS IN GOD’S HANDS
It is his way of raising in your heart, a new love for all of mankind.
In the past you may have judged others either for their pride, or for being in personal difficulties. 
Even worse, you may have seen others who are lukewarm or weak in their faith and compared it with your own strong devotion and enthusiasm for God.
God is merciful and he shows us all of our own places of emptiness.
Allowing us to go through humbling experiences is how He knocks this out of the seat of our own “judgment” which is His seat alone! He wants us to keep our eyes on our own response to what we know He wants us to do, so that we remain in a place of simple obedience to Him.
 
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the holy one understands." -Proverbs 9:10
  
WE ARE ON A HUMBLE SPIRITUAL ROAD
David stood in the presence of wicked men (Samuel chapter 16:5-6 and 9-10) and there he was wondering why the Lord put up with their evil behavior while he was going through such anguish in his own life!
But he still prayed and said, 
“I will watch my ways so I may not sin with my tongue.
I will keep my mouth shut as if it were tied with ropes, while the sinful are near me.” –Psalm 39:1
 
When David finally saw how limited and small that his own viewpoint was, he continued to say,
“I remained silent and I wasn't about to open my mouth because you Lord are the one who allowed this!”
 
This is a humble condition much like David's that the Lord will bring our souls to as we are on this humble, spiritual road, 
He says to you and I that He longs to help you to be submitted to His hand alone, obedient to His voice alone!  We are not to resist Him!
 We are not really serving Him and our brothers and sisters if we've taken the high seat above them.
When the Lord begins to work this way of tenderness in our hearts we must listen to what He says no matter what or WHOM He allows to bring the message through. In the past, arrogance has been the measuring stick where many would only receive teaching and correction, from someone THEY thought was worthy to DARE speak to them! 
Those days are over.
“If you have jealousy in your heart and fight to have many things, do not be proud of it.  Do not lie against the truth." -James 3:14
 
WE MUST CLEARLY SEE THAT CORRUPTION CAN RAPIDLY OCCUR IN ANY PERSON OR ANY GROUP, ORGANIZED, RELAXED, OR OTHERWISE,when the tendency to think that they have arrived at a new or deeper revelation about something more so than others who perhaps express the Lord's voice differently.
 
ARROGANCE IS THE ASSUMPTION THAT I, INDIVIDUALLY,
OR SOME GROUP THAT I AM A PART OF, COLLECTIVELY,
IS SOMEHOW SUPERIOR TO SOMEONE ELSE OR
SOME OTHER GROUP OF PEOPLE.
 
AT THE HEART OF ARROGANCE IS SELF-CENTEREDNESS.
And, self-centeredness is the foundation of human sin. I believe any serious attempt at self-examination by an honest person will reveal that we humans are sinful and flawed beyond measure.
Paul writes, “So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand…Wretched man that I am! Who will save me from this body of death?”
 
WE ARE CONSUMED BY SELF.
And every time we arrogantly place our own needs before others we are enslaved by sin.
 
WHAT SHOULD WE DO?
HOW SHOULD WE LIVE INSTEAD OF IN THAT ARROGANT MODE?
WHAT IS THE ANTIDOTE?
 
How about the words of Jesus? What did he say?
"Everyone who exalts himself (for example, "Aren't I great? Aren't I right? Don't I always have the best opinion?") will be humbled.
 
But, he who humbles himself (for example, "This is my opinion but it may not be right. I don't have a corner on the market of truth.")
will be exalted."
 
THE LORD IS NOT SPEEDING UP THE DELIVERY OF ANY "FRESH THING" IN THE EARTH IN ORDER TO GET US TO HIS PURPOSES QUICKLY.
No. He is testing the hearts of men and women everywhere, looking for humility, selflessness, and honor, for those who although not perfect, have also served and pointed the way to salvation for many years previously.
 
THE LORD IS NOT GOING TO HONOR THE INDIVIDUAL
WHO SHOUTS THAT "CHANGE IS NEEDED"
OR THAT "CHANGE IS COMING" AND THEN
SLASHES AND BURNS ANYTHING
THAT DOESN'T EMBRACE THEIR VERSION OF IT.
 
 
THE LORD IS INTERESTED IN THE EVIDENCE OF HUMILITY AND THE EVIDENCE OF GRACE.
These key character issues attract the pure and simple Presence of the Lord. Blessed are the PURE in heart...for they shall see God.
Until the Body of Christ that has been through many difficult and shattering events, rids itself of bitter and venomous words against one another and accepts that each one like sheep have gone astray and turned to what pleased them at the moment, there will be little evidence of much harvest .
 
THE LOST AND CONFUSED WORLD OUT THERE WATCHES CHRISTIANS TEAR EACH OTHER TO SHREDS DAILY AND WONDERS WHY WE ARE ASKING THEM TO JOIN US!
Remember Christ’s two great commandments—love God with all your being and love your neighbor as yourself.
 
SELF-CENTEREDNESS IS THE REVERSAL OF THE GREAT COMMANDMENT. Self-centeredness means to place ourselves first, in effect proclaiming our own form of self-government (not needing or wanting the advice or insight of others), therefore our neighbors become an afterthought, and God becomes simply a convenience to be considered only when it’s helpful to us.
It is evident even in our language that self-centeredness is woven into the fabric of the human experience.
 
THE ONE TRUE SACRIFICIAL MODEL TOLD US THAT HE WOULD SEND THE VERY SPIRIT OF GOD IN ORDER TO CONVICT ALL PEOPLE OF SIN, TO COMFORT, TO GUIDE, AND TO SET THEM FREE.
 Indeed. The very evidence of a redemptive type of life, is in one who washes the feet of his/her brothers and his/her enemies in an act of cleansing the dirt from the road of life off of the pathway to the Truth.
May we truly hear the sound of the unmistakable heartbeat of a redemptive model rising up in clear resounding purity, personal transparency, and in the covering of the multitude of sins by speaking and meditating only on those things that are noble, just, pure, and of a good report.
 
AS INDIVIDUALS AND AS NATIONS, THE ANTIDOTE TO ARROGANCE AND SELF-CENTEREDNESS IS A HEAVY DOSE OF HUMILITY. That is; a profound willingness to recognize the value, and respect the dignity of every human life. And, furthermore, a humble heart calls us to seek and serve Christ in ALL persons by giving of ourselves willingly for the welfare of other people.
 
THE LORD SAYS,
"Do not let a wise man brag about how wise he is. Do not let a strong man boast about how strong he is. Do not let  a rich person brag about how rich he is.
But here is what the one who brags should boast about. He should brag that he has understanding and knows me. I want him to know that I am the Lord.
No matter what I do on earth, I am always kind, fair and right. And I take delight in that," announces the Lord.
JEREMIAH 9:23-24 (New International Reader's Version)
 
 
WE MUST HAVE EARS THAT ARE OPEN TO HIS VOICE ALONE
 We can enjoy the extreme value of knowing that we must be under the direction of our matchless Lord. 
Remember that He may use anyone, however unpleasing to the eye, unintelligent, or, not so affluent! When you see they may be able to teach you and direct you on your way, it is because of the attraction and Divine beauty they have in their lives from honoring the Lord.
It’s that they are truly humble, not simply by saying it - but by literally BEING humble.
 
 HEEDING ANOTHER VOICE OF PROMISE AND PROMOTION?
 The Lord has impressed me to share that some have heeded "another voice", one who would put them up, on the pinnacle of the world and promise them all power and wealth if they but, “just bow down”. The Lord wants you to know, (although I tremble at even delivering this), that many have already bent one knee downward to hopefully obtain a bit of blessing from “both sides.”
Get up and RUN from deception and self-indulgence, blatant lying, and entitlement!
You can be sure that using people or spiritual metaphors or “things” just for what you can get out of them—the typical indicators of idolatry—will get you nowhere, and certainly nowhere near the Kingdom of Christ.
 You have been taken in and spoiled by religious and deceptive smooth talk. The Lord is furious with people who are full of religious sales talk but who really want nothing to do with Him. You have groped your way through that murk once, but no longer.
You're out in the open now. The bright light of Christ makes your way plain.
 
GOD OFTEN MOVES AMONG THE OUTCASTS
 -Isaiah 66:2 says,
“Has not my hand made all these things, and so they came into being?” declares the LORD.
These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word.”  
 
You've probably never been stuck on a deserted island, but you may know pretty well how it feels.
In a world of bad relationships and superficial relationships and broken relationships, a lot of people know the feeling of being emotionally cast aside, abandoned, and maybe even discarded.
Because of some of what you've been through, you may feel like you're the outcast.
 Your days on that island may be almost over. In fact, it could be that all your failed or frustrating relationships have actually been preparing you to experience the central relationships you were being equipped and prepared for.
Anyone who has ever felt like an emotional outcast needs to hear the fabulous promise of Jesus Christ in this word from the Word of God. 
 
Jesus says to all those who belong to Him, 
"I will not leave you as orphans. I WILL come to you.” 
-John 14:18
 
This is the same Savior, who says, 
"Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” -Hebrews. 13:5
 
He's the One, who promised, 
"The one that comes to me, I will certainly not cast out."
-John 6:37
 
 
AND FROM NOW ON, THAT PROMISE OF JESUS CAN BE ALL ABOUT YOU! "THE ONE THAT COMES TO ME, I WILL CERTAINLY NOT CAST OUT."
  
THE LORD WOULD SAY THESE WORDS TO YOU AND I 
“You now understand the pain of betrayal, losses so great that you can no longer talk about them.
You have ached in such agonizing despair that at times you have begged me to let you die.
Friends have turned and chosen to see you through blinded eyes of their own making and have refused to help you to find your footing again, thinking they are doing you a service by letting you grovel and weep in painful loss and sorrow.
They have competed for gain to their own egos and have self promoted at the expense of exchanging deeper relationships for ego stroking. 
You have been reduced in the past season to identify with those who were forced to make bricks for Pharaoh without straw.
I too was a man of sorrows and endured the shame in order to be formed, shaped, and made ready for the moment of redemption.
And so shall it be with you.
Redemption from the losses will come to those who choose obedience over pleasure,  serving others over being the served one, and letting go of the dreams of greatness you cling too, no longer using my name or gifts as a calling card.
  
THE CALL OF THE MOMENT IS THIS! 
“Let the follies of your dim visions fall away”, says the Spirit of God!
“I have a more perfect way that I am forming in you and for you. 
I have caused you to cease from striving, from worrying, and from being anxious. 
You now rest up again my chest, waiting, trusting, wanting only ME.
You have become kinder, a better listener, a more trusted confidant.
I can work well with those attributes. 
Just Watch Me.
I WILL Open the Way of Hope and Shine Light on the pathway for those who have ceased from manipulating the moment.”
 
SEARED OR FERVENT
 In ~ 1 Timothy 4 it says,
“The spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith
and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.
 
SUCH TEACHINGS COME THROUGH HYPOCRITICAL LIARS, 
WHOSE CONSCIENCES HAVE BEEN SEARED AS WITH A HOT IRON.”
 
To have a seared or calloused conscience means to cause something to wither.
To make (someone's conscience, heart, or feelings), insensitive.
 
Without the willingness of heart to fall upon the rock of God’s word, allowing every strength and support of ours to be fully broken, the wicked heart of mankind will continue to allow the searing patterns of indifference and insensitivity to affect their choices and will permeate more and more of the moral and sacred places of society.
 
I have been impressed to warn believers that the increase of sexual lures and smutty language has begun to pay a toll much larger than they realize. 
 
WE ARE TO BE MATURE AND SOLEMN 
 Huge numbers of people are being brought to ruin because they are not thinking; thoughtlessly causing hurt or inconvenience to others is the devastation of thousands, and many a precious soul has been shattered through carelessness. 
 
The Lord is asking you and I to "consider our ways," and return to a walk with The Still Small Voice and begin a familiarity with him yet again. With conviction, it would be the most rewarding relationship you could fall into!
"But since we belong to the day, let us be sober."
-1 Thessalonians 5:8
 
PRAYER AND THANKFULNESS 
 “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”
-Colossians 4:2
 
As I finish these insights, I will share the last  challenging impressions that the Lord clearly impressed me with.
 
“Each day, upon waking, where does your heart and mind wander to?
 Is it the plans and lists of things you must accomplish for the day?
 Is it the meal you are about to eat? 
Is it worry and the bracing yourself for another grinding day of dealing with the pressures of life?
Return to those early awakening moments where you and I share in the dialog of My plans for you.
Each day you have to live and to give, you have been given the opportunity to impact someone and to do a kindness or act of training for another.
 
Where has your thankful heart wandered?
Without it, behaviors and moods of bitterness and drudgery will manifest and sour even the brightest flower of hope.
 
Return to the heart of the issue and clean away the rusty decay of grindstone thinking.
Each day can be a fresh adventure into Kingdom purposes or, a continual repeating of a dreary existence. 
Choose ever so wisely.”
“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
 
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Finding Spiritual Truth In A Crazed World - When We Don't Like Difficult

 
(28:00 minutes in length)
(PROPHETIC EXHORTATION AND WORDS OF KNOWLEDGE ARE NOT INCLUDED IN WRITTEN MESSAGE BUT DO CONTINUE IN THE AUDIO MESSAGE FORMAT BEGINNING AT AUDIO PLAYER TIME MARKER 21:38)
 
By Mary Lindow
The words, “The Harsh Winds of Life”  have been playing themselves over and over in my mind.
As I have pondered them and have allowed the Voice of the Holy Spirit to instruct me as to why I have been impressed with this statement, I sense the Lord addressing many deeper issues that are well anchored and maintained within our souls as believers.
 
HARSH WINDS
These blustery currents in the natural can be devastating to property, trees, and all living-breathing creatures. We have all seen what the devastation of hurricanes and tornadoes can do in a very short amount of time.
Often when listening to the traumatic stories of those who have lived through a nightmarish storm, the realities of what they hold near and dear have been laid bear and brought to the surface. Many weep over the loss of family photographs or tender things like Grandma’s old chipped china and are unconcerned about larger material items, but are deeply thankful for the safety of family members after a traumatic event. Others, are shaking fists at the sky and are enraged that they have been infringed upon during a difficult time, and want somebody else to pay for it!
 
THE HARSH WINDS OF LIFE BLOW UPON THE GODLY AND THE UNGODLY.  NO ONE IS EXEMPT.
There are some of life's storms that threaten to blow away everything we've depended on as well.
Friendships are tested, relationships are strained, and the Lord uses these harsh winds blowing against our lives to remove the crusty chaff that can form and harden around the seed of our lives.
Those who are independent in nature find a bitterness creeping into their attitudes and heart. They feel infringed upon when things are not easily controlled or maneuvered in their favor. And so, the Holy Spirit allows the winds to blow until a conviction penetrates the self centered soul, and exposes the fleshy comfort zone of, ‘My Way, My World, My Rights”!
"No man has power over the wind to contain it; 
So no one has power over the day of his death. 
And no one is discharged in time of war, 
So wickedness will not release those who practice it."
-Ecclesiastes 8:8
 
HOW LONG WILL THE HARSH WINDS BLOW?
As long as we practice wicked behavior in the eyes of the Lord, and no matter how hard we try, we cannot stop it! He is winnowing us, allowing us to be caught up into the refining wind of the Holy Spirit's conviction so that the chaff and waste places in our souls are removed.
And trust me my friends, anything that you may be hiding or pretending wasn’t “that bad”, that harmed someone else, well God will allow it to come to the light to be either judged or to be cleansed and yes, there may be consequences that you don’t like.
 
WE CAN’T HARM OTHER PEOPLE, OR ABUSE THEM, SEXUALLY PREY UPON THEM, SPIRITUALLY ABUSE AND DOMINATE OR SLANDER, and then pretend that it wasn’t “that big of a deal”! It’s a huge deal to God and he will continue to pursue us in order to cleanse us if we will allow him access.
(Yes you can say "ouch" right about now!)
 
CHAFF MUST BE REMOVED.  BUT WHY?
Chaff is a waste material plowed into the soil or burned.
Chaff, as a waste product from grain processing, shows us a symbolic use of the idea that refers to something seen as worthless.
Now, this is where we read, "to separate the wheat from the chaff" from
Matthew 3. It means to separate things of value from things of no value.
Another example is in Psalm 1 which says: "Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away".
 
WE CHRISTIANS OFTEN PRESUME THAT BECAUSE WE ARE REDEEMED THROUGH THE BEAUTIFUL SACRIFICE OF CHRIST FOR OUR LIVES, THAT WE HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY FOR AN EASIER AND MORE PRIVILEGED LIFE.
This is simply not so!
We are given a shield and a holy stamina to withstand the wiles of this world, but no free passes to a life of ease.
 
THE LORD LOVES ALL OF MANKIND.
He longs for ALL of mankind, (that includes you and I) to come to a place of trust in His way, not “our way”. Fully stripped of self-will, self-gratification, self- justification, and self-focus.
Matthew 5:45 says~
 “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good,
And sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
 
I KNOW! I KNOW! THIS STINGS!
"But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth." James 3:14
About now, I can hear a few righteous folks saying, "I would never boast about envy! "
Well! Selfish ambition is well hidden in our personal behaviors.
We offer gifts or opportunities for others to be blessed or helped as long as we are feeling in control and benevolent at the time of the offer or good intention.
But when the winds of life shift and the Lord allows the chaff of "waste materials" in our soul to be Tornadoed —bitterness and exclusive rights abound! Huffiness, abrupt harshness and passive aggression (which means getting even) will manifest and expose the soul's clinging nature, which does not want the hand of God striping away any safety veneer that we use to protect our approach to life.
 
A CHANGE IN THE SPIRITUAL CLIMATE HAS OCCURRED!
John 6:18 says, “A strong wind was blowing and the waters grew rough.”
Jesus allowed the wind to be a teaching point for his disciples.
They had walked with Him, talked with Him and served alongside Him. But trusting Him when the Storms and Harsh winds blew revealed a weakness that we all must look at, and often.
We trust the Lord when things are going our way, but when the Harshness of a storm blows us off the course that we set, many times we run to our own devices or “Plan B”.
 
SO MANY AT THIS TIME IN THIS DIFFICULT AGE ARE SCREAMING,
“Lord! Don’t you care about me? The winds are blowing, and I am fearful for my life! If you Love me, why are you allowing this horrid event to occur?”
Even Peter in his zeal to get out of the boat and see if it was indeed Jesus calling to him to come, once he was out of the safety of his own control and the winds blew against him, he focused on the wind, and not upon Jesus, who was there the whole time. Peter cries out, "LORD I am perishing! SAVE ME!”
 
CONTROL IS A DEEP, DEEP NEED.
Perhaps THE deepest need people have, is for control.
When we feel out of control, we experience a powerful and uncomfortable tension between the need for control and the evidence of “inadequate control”.
Without the Presence of God in our lives, we will attempt to control everything, every event, and every person around us in order to attain the sense of order and “identity power” that we crave.
 
DRAWING NEAR TO GOD
It was James, the brother of Jesus, who wrote to the believers in Jerusalem, "Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, sinners, and purify your hearts, you double- minded people!" (James 4:8).
If we draw near to God, he will respond and draw near to us.
Drawing near to God is spending time with Him, worshiping Him, praying and talking to Him, inviting Him into every aspect of our lives.
EVERY.  PART.  OF.  OUR.  LIFE.
 
BRING YOUR HEART UNDER HIS LORDSHIP
James gives us the blueprint for drawing near or “right up close” to the Lord. 
If you've committed sin, confess it, get rid of it.
Next, ask the Lord to examine your heart, your motives, and the things that make you do what you do.
 
Bring your heart under His Lordship as well.
May our actions be manifestations of a clean heart and conscience.
Allow HIM to remove the Chaff, the wasted time controlling things, and TRUST Him to align your life.
Notice that when he writes about this he says,
"Purify your hearts, double-minded people."
 
WHAT DOES HE MEAN BY "DOUBLE-MINDED"?
Well, a person who is double-minded is drawn in two completely different directions. And so he or she will get nowhere fast because loyalty is divided.
They will vacillate between faith and unbelief.
And, a double-minded person is unstable in all his/her ways and his/her spiritual walk is inconsistent because he/she tries to serve God and his/her own interests, and gamble their life against the Harsh Winds.
We've all learned that this kind of living never works. 
 
YOU CANNOT SERVE TWO MASTERS.
Friends again I say this under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the master that you serve whether it be hiding something that is a secret sin or offense to The Lord, or things that you are aware of that have dishonored others, they will be brought into the light one way or the other.
If you think you can hide it, if you think you can gloss it over, God will eventually bring it into the light and have you exposed for deception.
Or, you choose to get the help you need and you can humble yourself! Yes, there may be consequences you don’t like, because of your actions and choices.
But repentance and accountability will save your soul. It may not save your marriage, it may not save your ministry, and it may not save your job or your relationships. But it will save your soul, because humility enters, and God can re-create what has been destroyed and damaged.
 
GOD DOESN'T PLAY GAMES!
No one is going to get very far with God by playing spiritual games.
It will soon be discovered that the only people playing the game with you will be you, yourself, and again, YOU.  It's just like people thinking that they can "ride the fence" into the kingdom.
There is no riding the fence; there is no lukewarm support group.
You’re either in or out.
If we really want to know Him, we are going to have to get serious about our relationship with Him.
 
WE DON’T WANT DIFFICULT! 
I will tell you right now, that even as I write and speak these words, I can feel the resistance to pruning and more change in my gut!  
Are you in a pruning, shocking, "getting trimmed back" difficult season right now? 
Most everyone is! 
Feeling like your wings have been clipped?
Are you seeing a pattern of lethargy and a dullness of joy maybe in your daily life? 
Don’t waste those struggles friends! Know that God is very... VERY... intentional. And, He has a good plan for all of it. 
Every challenge is an opportunity to practice walking one day at a time, with really clear thinking and gratitude, and He is right there, inside you, to help you.
 
LIKE I SAID BEFORE! WE DON’T WANT DIFFICULT! 
But my oh my, I do want to be like Him!
So I’m in surrender-mode now, friends. 
I’m saying, “Cut away, Lord. Go deep.” 
WHY? Because I want ALL that He has for me. 
I want the fruit. 
I want all that abundance, and I know it’s waiting for me when this weird and awkward season changes.
 
THERE IS ANOTHER PHENOMENON I FIND THAT HAPPENS DURING THE PROCESS, WHEN THE HARSH WINDS OF LIFE ARE BEARING DOWN.
And, one that I find that is unhealthy to ignore.
The enemy of our soul is observing and is feverishly “taking notes” about this difficult process, and I believe he finds it quite enjoyable; he laughs and ridicules and flings missiles of insults that shout that, "only a loser needs this kind of difficult adjustment ”. 
This of course, is a lie but, one which we can tend to believed on a bad day! Listening to the wrong voice can tempt us to believe the blowing away of chaff in our lives is punishment, and comes from God being mad at us. 
It can cause us to pull back from deeper fellowship or social engagements (social distancing tools too, like Face Time, ZOOM, integral) these paralyze honesty, transparency and humility.
It can lead to self-hatred, self-protection, denial about how we hurt others with half-truths, and so on!
 
I AM TRULY BECOMING MORE AWARE IN MY SPIRIT THAT GOD CAN ONLY USE ME—OR “BEST USE ME”, THROUGH THE PARTNERSHIP OF HIS POWER AND MY WEAKNESS. 
 
A wise and well-tested man by the name of Alan Hood must have had a few pruning clippers dig into his life at time or two and learned this lesson. He stated, 
“To Be Pruned Is To Lose The Resources, Whether Monies or Physical Strengths Upon Which Everyone Around You Measures You As Successful.”
LET’S READ THAT AGAIN…     
…S  L  O  W  L  Y ! 
 
“To Be Pruned Is To Lose The Resources, Whether Monies or Physical Strengths Upon Which Everyone Around You Measures You As Successful.”
 
TRYING TO USE OLD THINGS WHEN GOD IS TRYING TO GIVE US NEW THINGS IS REALLY SUCH FOOLISHNESS! 
Psalm 85 talks about Restoration, Re-tooling and Revival.
Verse 8 says, 
“I will listen to what God the Lord says;
He promises peace to his people, His saints
—but let them not return to folly.”
 
I’M TRUSTING THE LORD’S GOOD AND GRACIOUS HAND IN THE PROCESS THAT THE WORLD IS EXPERIENCING RIGHT NOW. 
I know God does not intend to leave even a healthy fruit-bearing branch how it is, but He is always after a more abundant harvest for His people.
I don’t get it, I don’t like or want difficult! 
But I also don’t want a puny little sick looking basket of bitter, green, unusable fruit out of life! 
He will “give the increase” when I reach the end of this seeming devastation of stymied ideas and “put on hold” plans, and let me tell you something crazy, I feel it coming!  The increase!
I’m learning to WALK in harmony, in tune with the truth that, “He is dwelling like healthy sap, in me, and will keep sin and despair from having dominion over my life”. (Romans 6:14) YOUR LIFE TOO! 
 
A MOMENT IN HIS ANGER - A LIFETIME IN HIS FAVOR.
God disciplines for a moment when He wishes to get our attention and our lives may indeed become painful for a period, but then comes His favor.
God doesn't delight in either our depression or our damage. 
And, when He begins to deal with the chaff in our lives, it is for our advantage, that we may be conformed to His likeness and reflect His holiness.
When we sense God’s disapproval, when it appears He has withdrawn from us, it is only so that we see our utter need of Him.
 
WHEN LIFE SEEMS TO BE SO SOUR, WHEN EVERYTHING CRUMBLES, then we must remember what we “say we believe”, that God’s favor is with us, because of Christ’s worthiness given to us, because we are adopted and are His - which means, that His favor always wins out over His disapproval.
 
THIS PICTURE IS PAINTED WELL BY THE WORDS "WEEPING REMAINS FOR A NIGHT." 
Weeping and sorrow are pictured as a traveler who comes to stay for a night. The pain and sorrow we feel may seem as though it has moved in with us like an unwelcome guest, who decides to stay for a very long time.
 
REJOICING THOUGH, COMES IN THE MORNING.
Your “mourning”, will dissipate in the morning”.
Your winter, will melt into summer.
God will replace your sighing, with singing.
Grief, will give way to gladness.
What was once bitter, will be made sweet.
And, what was once a desolate wilderness, will be transformed into a paradise.
 
LIKE THE FIRST RAYS OF THE SUNRISE WHICH DISPEL THE HARSH WINDS AND GLOOM OF NIGHT, 
GOD GIVES US JOY WHEN THE DARKNESS OF OUR PROBLEMS SEEM AS THOUGH THEY’LL NEVER LEAVE.
 
YOUR CROSS IS HIS GLORY
What is so crucial to understand is that as a Christian, your life will be filled with times of weakness and strength, with want and wealth, with disgrace and honor, with crosses and comforts, miseries and mercies, joys and sorrows, delight and mourning.
As this cycle of separating “Chaff” from our lives reoccurs many times in our lives, and it moves us from the cross to glory.
For your own health and so that you find all your satisfaction in Christ alone, God will send you times of great growth and other times of emptiness.
When the harsh winds blow, know that God desires that you find your hope and comfort by His own fire.
When the balmy breezes come, give Him praise and thanksgiving for the warmth He provides.
Psalm 57:1 says,
"Have mercy on me, O God,
Have mercy on me, for in you my soul takes refuge.
I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed.”
 
(PROPHETIC EXHORTATION AND WORDS OF KNOWLEDGE NOT INCLUDED IN WRITTEN MESSAGE CONTINUE IN THE AUDIO MESSAGE FORMAT BEGINING AT AUDIO PLAYER TIME MARKER 21:38)
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Copyright 2025 " THE MESSENGER "  - "THE ADVOCATE OF HOPE"
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"DISCERNMENT vs. SUSPICION" - Telling The Truth About Abuse and Wolves In Leadership Positions

 
By Mary Lindow 
 
I’m going to make a few statements about this podcast before I begin.
I hope I am not required by Lord to make many podcasts like this one, but I will obey him if he does ask me to do so!  To even things out a little bit, my next few podcasts are going to be sharing about some magnificent and overwhelming experiences that I have had in meeting First Native Chiefs throughout the United States and Canada.
All of these events were orchestrated by the Lord in order for us to meet. The things that I learned from these godly individuals who love Jesus, but understand the strongholds in our cities, our nations and upon our lands, has been absolutely Life-changing. I hope to share at least two podcasts telling you these stories and experiences that glorify Jesus, and show the power of his supernatural ability to get us to the places we need to go without ever having to push our way in or manipulate anything.
 
Now let’s begin today’s crucial podcast.
We are in a time when many people are seeing much evil take place, not only in our nation, not only in large and small corporations, but in church organizations and organizations that claim to bear the name of Christ on their letterheads.
 
One of the greatest deceptions taking place is that people are being told to NOT “discuss”/not to tell the truth about the abuses that are taking place in some of these organizations.
With the multitude of public exposures that is taking place right now all over social media regarding unconscionable and difficult happenings, I have been agonizingly yet strongly prompted by the Holy Spirit, to share my thoughts and the experiences that I have had in walking other people out of dark places, because of the harm done to them in some of these institutions.
 
I do this with a heavy heart, and yet I must take courage and be obedient in order to be an “Advocate of Hope” for those who feel that they cannot speak out for fear of being threatened or ridiculed, letting them know that there are others who will champion and stand with  them by calling “wolfish abuse” what it is, instead of sweeping it under any kind of Church Carpet, Corporate Carpet, or Institutional Carpet.
 
I am by far, not the perfect believer by any means!
I’ve had some wonderful mentors and training from others in ministry as well as in the counseling arena who have been strong and good people of discernment.
When something inside of you is alerted or feels really uncomfortable, or even just the thought of, “there’s something not right about that” pops in, that’s a built-in radar God gives us.
Now, if someone’s judging someone because they don’t like that they’re loud, or seem to be "too meek, obese, skinny, or speak a truth that they aren’t comfortable with or don’t have wisdom about", then that’s where all the speculating and suspicion move in.
 
Being set free from critical behavior and suspicion takes a willingness to admit that we don’t trust anybody, or, that we think we have an exclusive lead on how God speaks all the time.
 
I certainly need the accountability friends in my life
who speak truth to me firmly and regularly!
 
The soul loves to put itself in its own place of authority and override discernment, humility,and often the need to prove that our opinion matters. Honestly, keeping a heart pure and clean before the Lord every day, (and that’s truly not just an easy thing), but pursuing him with the right heart, keeps that place where we hear from him very sharpened and aware!
Studying his word, digging into what it really means, provides a depth and place of resource to go to, to check whether our heart is in accordance with his word or if we’re making up our own ideas about things.
It’s so easy to let other people think or speak for us, or their opinions, being strong, driving a message to us that says we should probably do what they say. This is where we get into trouble!
 
We are supposed to question or “test” things
and not just take everything hook, line, and sinker!
 
In 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 it tells us,
“Do not quench the Spirit.  Do not despise prophecies,
BUT, test everything; hold fast to what is good.
Abstain from every form of evil.”
 
Friends! Evil can be deceptive and cunning!
The word of God has an omnipotent power that cuts through all of the fog of self-deception and definitely pontificating! Many people quote the scripture and use it to their benefit when they want to self promote or appear to be somewhat spiritual. This is where discernment has to come in!!!
 
If something feels wrong, if something is spiritually off key, is not in alignment with what Jesus said or what the scriptures speak, then discernment has to come in to play.
 
The road gets narrower as you walk your Christian journey with Jesus, and you absolutely will be called many names because of the stance of wanting to be more like him, and more detached from the volumes of worldly knowledge.
Wisdom isn’t easily gained!  But, it’s so worth it when you get a little nugget that lasts for eternity.
 
Suspicion vs. Discernment.
I’ve seen this destroy and have been painfully more than a few times, a recipient of ugly and ruthless “suspicious” judgments.
Suspicion destroys relationships.
It destroys lives.
It listens to hearsay rather than God’s inward warnings.
Suspicion can feed a self satisfaction (which is actually pride) when our choices to put others in a lesser and suspicious light, even sabotaging them, justifies our own agendas.
 
When we are constantly suspicious of the motives of others, we drive people away that could be a great blessings to us. (They may even walk with a bit of a limp due to the battles and hard fought victories they’ve fought throughout their lives.)
Check your life today.
Are you discerning, or merely suspicious?
The problem is, sometimes we label suspicion with the pious name of “discernment” and think we're being super spiritual.
It’s so important to learn the difference between discernment and suspicion!  
 
The difference is quite simple.
Discernment comes from God and will recognize evil for what it is.
Suspicion come from or soul and will imagine evil when there is none.
If you see genuine compassion, kindness, mercy, accountability, humility and a forgiving nature in someone, you are seeing a surrendered soul.  
 
Not many want to talk about how hard spiritual growth and dying to ourselves, our opinions our interpretations is.
It's not a one time thing, it's every day.
It's remaining quiet when we want to speak.
It's trusting God's timing when we would, rather control.
It's doing it God's way when it doesn't make sense to us.
It’s quietly walking away from what might “appear to be a lucrative or more publicly promoting opportunity” when you know there are political or spiritually abusive environments involved.
 
We don’t get a lot of accolades or crowns here on earth for that kind of brave but necessary decision. But in heaven, when we do behold the face of the one who literally bled out for us, and he says, “Well done, so well done my good and faithful servant! Enter into my rest!” Oh my goodness, how absolutely all of the hardship and persecution will melt away in that moment, and the joy that is unspeakable and has yet to be fully understood, will be complete in our lives.
 
It is necessary in life to learn from those
who have more wisdom and experience,
because they can help us see things that we don't notice.
 
Even though modern culture tells us that we should “live our own truth and do whatever we think is best”, it’s this type of thinking that leads us into trouble. This is why Scripture tells us not to be wise in our own eyes.
 
True wisdom comes from fearing God. This means we should have a high regard for God's Word and His instructions to us. He knows all things, including, what is best for us.
We can also gain wisdom from other people. When we can learn from the mistakes and experiences of others, we're better equipped to not make the same mistakes. However, if you think you're the only one who knows best, you are bound to repeat the same errors.
 
There’s a huge amount of exposure taking place in pulpits, Ministry organizations, Christian Media Corporations, Governments, Christian Universities and Bible Schools...
...Right now.
 
Of course, we all know the Lord is doing a lot of the exposing and dealing with painful and shocking events that have or, are currently occurring, or are being investigated.
 
Why is he doing this? Because he will not allow these kinds of charades, criminal acts or hiding of sexual misconductsto NOT be caught.
Sadly many individuals who are sitting in church pulpits or are serving in ministry environments such as youth ministries, children’s church, Young adult groups and more, are often made uncomfortable by things they see taking place with some of the staff members.
The big question now is do you dare say anything?
 
If you see a male individual in a place of authority as a teacher, a pastor, any kind of youth worker anywhere, being over familiar with females, and by that I mean, resting their hand on their back too often with letting it linger, standing too closely to them in their personal space, spending time alone with them in their office etc. with doors shut and no visible way to see anything taking place. These are red flags!
A little bit of investigating and watching and taking notes is appropriate. Always document things that you see that make you feel there is something wrong going on and always date it. But be honest, not suspicious and don’t exaggerate or embellish. If necessary, take pictures. These are now used as evidence in court cases.
 
Another example!
If you would happen to know that there was a youth minister who sexually approached or interfered with a child or a young adult, and it was hidden and “dealt with” in an internal investigation among elders or leaders of a church or youth organization, club or scouting group, but was never reported, and this individual was then packed up and sent off to another state to minister or workelsewhere, they have basically turned this person into a repeat offender. These things must be reported to the police!
 
Here’s the hard thing.
We sure hope that we could go to people like elders or other leaders in the church if we see something taking place and know that deception is involvedand that others are covering it up.
If there has ever been a question that you have seen or a child has reported to you, that a young adult has reported to you or a teenager has reported to you that something inappropriate, whether it was conversation, whether it was physical touch, whether it was a threat that took place, you must go to the police.
 
Taking it to the pastor or taking it to the leadership "feels" like a good idea. But when there’s a wolf in the crowd, when there are wolves in leadership positions, we don’t take time to try to defend ourselves against wolves or predators. 
 
If you know, for a fact that these things have taken place, you must document and you must protect the children. You must protect the young developing adults. And, you must protect the future generations that would be affected if this perpetrator is permitted to be allowed to continue to remain in any organization, and not have appropriate legal consequences take place.
 
There are many who are holding positions in churches that are hiding inappropriate events of their own, within their own staff, or within their own organization, who value their building, their notoriety and their income, more than they value protecting the sheep or telling the truth.
 
Some people do not believe this is true! They think that surely the Holy Spirit would be exposing these things if they were really happening!
Well, my friends, the Holy Spirit uses practical human beings who are aware and have cultivated discernment and see that there is something very wrong and very out of order going on, and these human beings must be bold, courageous, and speak out like the prophet Nathan spoke to King David when he was having a long-term affair with Bathsheba and murdered his own military leader in order to cover his own manipulative and adulterous behavior.
There were terrible, painful consequences that took place because of what David did. Yet God in his mercy when David repented, restored David’s relationship back to himself.
But if forever changed David, and there were things that he was no longer permitted to partake in because of his wickedness.
But God did not shun him.
God corrected him.
 
Here are a few basic recommendations I’d like to share as a Pastoral counselor (and as a minister myself), with those who are in some form of ministry.
It’s not wise for men to counsel Women alone, but if necessary they must have a glass window where another safe office or staff member can see into the room. I have seen too many people get enmeshed emotionally with intimate counseling and I have historical documents that sadly indicate where several ministers who fantasized or planned or, actually have run off with people they were counseling for marriage difficulties! They have devastated marriages, families and churches because they crossed a line and blew clear past healthy boundaries, and safety protocols for counseling.
 
I also strongly recommend that men are not often alone in an office setting or ministry facility with women, especially if single, because they’re vulnerable women, because the table can turn two ways. The woman can become needy or manipulative and play on the affections or the emotions of a tender, kind hearted man, and then turn around and accuse them of some kind of inappropriate actions.
Men in buildings alone with women who are married and it’s late at night with a woman who is beautiful and lovely, or even sweet and precious, can create a sense of desire in a man whois tired of the grind of life, maybe hard work, might be having some strain at home, and in a few moments of weakness, begins to pursue an emotional affair, talking too openly, sharing too openly, and it can quickly lead to other kinds of affection, emotional bonding and inappropriate touching.
 
I know some of this sounds pretty heavy, and we as believers just don’t want to have to hear about the horrible, dark things that could possibly take place! We so want to believe the best in everyone and we want to be merciful and forgiving!
But, with the recent rash and exposure of well-known names, seemingly appearing holy and virtuous, many well protected individuals are now being exposed in multiple areas and in multiple environments, for hiding harm done to children, harm done to staff, and then using spiritual gifts or “spiritual pedigrees” to justify that they were just “tired or weak in the moment” and that they thought they’d handle it in house privately!
 
Well, to speak bluntly and boldly,
this fakery and denial is just all hogwash
when the gaslighting and lying starts!
 
 
We have to call it what it is!
It’s called spiritual abuse (SA) or clergy sexual abuse. (CSA) .
 
Returning to my original introduction regarding the need for discernment versus suspicion, we have to be very wise and make sure that our hearts are right as we begin to walk out these very difficult times of exposure as well as needing to be vocal.
 
There are victims among us who have not said anything for years about the things that took place in back rooms or offices or church buildings, camps or cars. For some reason, people run to suspicion and say, “Why are you now just beginning to talk about this? Why did you wait so long? What do you want out of this?”  
 
In legal terms when someone speaks out immediately about sexual abuse or harm done,the term is called “Outcry”.
They “cry out”, they “tell”.
 
When someone takes awhile to be able to process abuse, especially children (male, and female!) or young vulnerable teenagers or women who have been abused in the past, and have been threatened to remain silent or paid off to be quiet, and are easily preyed upon by those who are able to spot vulnerability, it takes them longer, and healthy unpacking and dialog frees them to tell. This must be tenderly and wisely handled with a skilled CHRISTIAN trauma counselor who works in these areas of sexual, church or cult abuse, or child abuse.
 
The term for this, when someone takes so long or doesn’t remember everything that happened (because they’ve been threatened and they have shut it out), this is called “Delayed Outcry.”
 
With the proper counseling and the proper police reporting involved, then there becomes an investigation or a forensic investigation that listens to and  reviews documents, the stories or events, does the investigating, looks at any kind of proof which could be documents, notes, texts, emails, pictures, clothing, the location or rooms these things happened in. Then, they begin to question and cross examine those who are being accused.
 
Yes! There have been people who have lied and set others up for something they never did. Or, they lured people into getting them to be involved in nefarious behaviors, use of drugs, alcohol, inappropriate touching, looking at unsafe objects, videos or pictures, and then turn around and use it to project onto that individual in order to hide their own very Addictive sicknesses.
 
Here’s the Honest Deal.
When there are wolves operating the pulpits, we don’t say, “well they were once a really nice sheep so we have to be nice to them!” A wolf is a wolf! A wolf puts on a mask like a sheep and can appear saintly and beautiful and tell sad, well oiled stories about themselves to make themselves look like they’re repentant over something “small” that they may struggle over and then everyone feels like, “what a lovely, humble soul!”
They can con, they can cry, they can preach, they can look compassionate. They can talk a good line, they can be very convincing.
But, if they have been predators, touching children, often touching women, touching men, plagiarizing, mishandling funds for their own purposes and lavish living...
…These are wolves.
 
We have to call them for what they are. They thrive on building their egos and are very convincing in order build their own empires, claiming that it was the Lord giving them all the blessings.  
 
2 Corinthians 11:13-14 addresses this so strongly!
“For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.
And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light!”
 
Friends, Discernment is at an all-time low
and the Lord is bringing it to the forefront.
 
The Spirit of God is saying to you and saying to me, “cultivate develop and train yourself to be discerning and to test everything!”
This means school boards, politicians, those in the pulpit, those in other ministries and any other position of authority.
Some of the slickest and most well promoted people are often those of who have charming, manipulative narcissistic traits and harm many in their wake.
 
The posture of power, inflated titles, fake tears, swiftly changing of trends and movements that claim it’s “THE thing” God is doing, are lures to draw crowds, train people to trust the speakers to hear from God for them ( but not fully train the audience to discern and judge.)
 
Oh the wretched and unbelievably twisted things I have heard behind the doors of Pastoral counseling!
Oh the ugly and extremely uncomfortable things I’ve witnessed in Green rooms before live “Christian” broadcasts.
Oh the unbelievably huge complex and disgusting competition that goes on among ministries and Christian organizations, when monetary policies are used as a way to enrich those at the top.
 
If There’s Anything I’d Scream From the Rooftops Today
It Would Be,
“Cultivate and Learn Discernment!”  
Be sober! Be wise!
Be accountable!”  
Oh Lord Jesus! Mature your people. Teach them to hear your voice. 
 
I would like to share a statement from a wonderful man of God who is a seasoned Husband, Father, Pastor, Speaker, and Author.
His name is Tim Challies.
He shares these very potent and deep words.
 
“With discernment comes division.  
A person who seeks to be discerning must be willing to suffer the effects of this division.
It will divide not only the believer from the unbeliever, but it may even divide a discerning believer from one who is undiscerning.
It will separate the mature from the immature and the naïve from the prudent.”
 
SO well said!
 
In my closing out of this podcast today, I would like to share a few potent words from Dr. Diane Langberg who has worked in multicultural and many international settings were abuse and tragedy of every kind, (those imagined and those that you cannot imagine that have taken place).
She works as a specialist among those who have been traumatized by Church abuse in its many forms. She is a wise Senior woman who I greatly admire and have learned much from.
As I share her statements in closing, allow them to speak to the deeper part of you where the Lord is developing discernment and greater awareness.
 
Diane says,
“Many of us have confused the church system with Jesus Christ; they are not the same.
There are wolves among the sheep, tares among the wheat.
Jesus called humans that looked good on the outside, white-washed tombs full of stink. My work has taught me that many poor sheep have followed a blind guide, a gifted wolf, and landed in a pit.
No so-called Christian system is truly God’s work unless it “fleshes out” his character. Toleration of sin, pretense, and crookedness do not reveal the character of God, even if they bear his name.
Arrogance is never godly.
Covering up sin is never godly.
Abuse of power is never godly.
Shepherds who feed on sheep are abusive.
Leadership that preserves and protects the system, rather than the people, turns the house of God into a safe place for predators.
Those who come to feed on God himself then find themselves being the main course instead.
 
We have failed to protect leaders from their own bondage to self-deception and sin. Exposure brings hope, for it brings the cancer to the light.
To hide sin by cover-up or silent complicity is spiritual abuse.
It is a failure to love the perpetrator. Demise of a system—even a spiritual system—is not the worst that can happen!
We must acknowledge and tell the truth about these things.
Great damage is being done to God’s sheep, in his name.
He weeps over such leaders and the sheep they harm.
Be watchful.
Recognize coercive and manipulative behavior.
Call it by its right name when someone in power uses spiritual words and ideas to silence, control, and intimidate.
Be discerning about those who hold power—including yourself.
Do not be deceived. 
May we, with Daniel, call out to God: “O Lord, hear! O Lord forgive. O Lord listen and act. For your own sake do not delay, because your church and your people are called by your name.”(Dan. 9:19).
Source:  https://erlc.com/resource/when-the-sheep-are-preyed-upon/
 
Finally, I would like to say these words.
Trauma can leave people feeling shattered and alone.
But through our faith, we discover that God’s love is unwavering and His healing touch can mend even the deepest wounds.
 
Let’s remember that we are not defined by our pain,
But by the Grace that lifts us up,
and leads us toward restoration.
 
If you find yourself carrying the weight of trauma, know that you are not alone on this journey.
For those of you who may be trembling with fear or who have experienced any kind of abuse.
For those of you, how are trembling and fear, because you know you have done something and have hidden it from others or have protected others who you know have done harmful, evil things, the word of God says to confess your faults to one another to confess your sins so that you may be clean, freed, and that you may be forgiven.
To those of you who have been abused, don’t be afraid to find a safe, godly, skilled trauma counselor who will be able to help you be freed from the prisons of shame, control, and intimidation within, so that you can walk in the light of grace and freedom and know that your Father in heaven has rescued you from those that harm.
To help you in your journey, I have included a link where you can quickly locate or begin to research a Christian counselor who is skilled and able to help you with whatever specific area that you may need to have help with.
https://tinyurl.com/5h4zfc9u
 
Let's pray together before we end this time together.
Heavenly Father,
May everyone who knows your mercy keep putting their trust in you, for they can count on you for help no matter what.
O Lord, you will never, no, never, neglect those who come to you."
-Psalms 9:10
Heavenly Father, in the face of fear and uncertainty, I call upon your strength to fill those who are listening to, or who are reading this message, fill them with courage.
When the wounds of traumatic experiences seem too deep to overcome, remind them that you are the ever-present help in times of trouble.
Grant them the bravery to face their fears head-on, knowing that you go in front of them, leading them into a future, free from the shackles of the past.
Thank you for being our fortress and our deliverer. With you by their side, They will not be afraid. Amen.
 
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"2025"
"THE MESSENGER"  -  Mary Lindow
www.marylindow.com
www.marylindow.podbean.com
 
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"TIMES THAT TRY THE SOULS OF HUMANITY" - COURSE CORRECTIONS

By Mary Lindow through the Holy Spirit
My heart aches and yes, even trembles a bit at the broad measure of deception that has had a huge increase in these difficult days.
Spirits that imitate the voice of our Savior are cloaking themselves as Angels of light and also come masquerading as the Voice of the Holy Spirit in order to distract and lure believers away, slowly from sound convictions, godly warnings, and above all, THE still small Voice.
The Bible tells us that deception; doctrines of demons, and false prophets will increase.  The Spirit  of God has spoken expressly that in the latter times some would depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron.
It feels as if those days are upon us and though we might try to withdraw or hide, we cannot escape them; we must overcome in the midst of them, for this is the will of God concerning us.
Strange as it may seem, the danger today is greater for the passionate Christian than for the lukewarm and the self-satisfied. 
 
“THE SEEKER AFTER GOD'S BEST THINGS IS EAGER TO HEAR ANYONE
WHO OFFERS A WAY BY WHICH HE CAN OBTAIN THEM.”
~A.W. Tozer
The type of person Mr. Tozer is speaking about, longs for some new experience, some superior view of truth, some operation of the Spirit that will raise him or her above the dead level of religious bumpiness they see all around them, and for this reason these people are ready to lean a concerned ear towards the “new and the amazing” in faith, first and foremost if it is presented by someone with an attractive personality and a reputation for “enhanced” saintliness.
HOWEVER, our Lord Jesus the great Shepherd of His sheep has not left His flock to the ruthlessness of the wolves. He has given us the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit and yes, the natural ability of common sense watching, and He expects us to apply ourselves to their help all the time.
 
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good," said Paul. -I Thess. 5:21
"Beloved, believe not every spirit," wrote John, "but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world" -I John 4:1
"Beware of false prophets," our Lord warned, "which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." -Matt. 7:15
 
A TIME FOR DIRECTIONAL ADJUSTMENT
We are in much need of a directional adjustment as believers in the Body of Christ right now as the world turns itself upside down with malice, dictatorships, and political posturing. Weneed to be certain that nothing of the world and its behaviors are hidden in our own hearts. 
We must hear that magnetic pulling voice of the Holy Spirit, and obey itwithout 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
 
NOTHING THAT COMES FROM GOD WILL MINISTER TO OUR PRIDE OR SELF-CENTEREDNESS.
N O T H I N G!
If we are tempted to be conceited and to feel superior because we have had an incredible vision or a radical spiritual experience, or if we feel extraordinarily more well informed or gifted with educational pursuits and feel the need to inflict our “superior-ness” upon others, we should fall immediately to our knees and repent of the ugly and fleshly, self-serving thing! We have fallen and have been duped by the arrogant and self-deceived enemy of our souls, Lucifer.
“For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world.” - 1 John 2:16
 
LOOKING FOR CONTINUAL SAFETY AND HELP?
When we walk in the way of surrender and tenderness with our ears tuned in towards the frequency of the ”still small voice of God”, we actually walk in a safe haven or overshadowing safety of the Presence of God. Training our spiritual ears to hear the voice of the Father creates and provides a lifetime “guarantee” of knowing when the storms or troubles will arise as well as intense persecution.
There is a promise for direction from a place of Divine Protection and direction whenever it’sneeded.
”Therefore my heart is glad  and my tongue rejoices;
My body also will rest secure.” - Psalm 16:9
 
REST AND WAITING IS CRUCIAL
The man or woman with an honest heart will find no difficulty here. It is the hardest thing the mind and body to do!
Learning to rest and wait when the world is screaming at a fevered pitch,
WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO NOW?
 
It is a hard learned yet reachable discipline if we will lean into it and ask for God’s help. 
Yes, only HE can train us in this discipline of rest and waiting. Our flesh will never give into it willingly. 
Hear and then HEED the Voice of God calling you to enter into His rest. It is a place of pleasant minimalism and uncluttered guidelines. His Presence silences all of the noise of the day and noise of the Head.
ANY REAL WORK OF GOD IN OUR HEART WILL TEND
TO MAKE US UNABLE TO ENJOY WORLD'S FELLOWSHIP.
 
"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him."
-I John 2:15
 
It can be declared clearly, that any spirit that allows “give and take” with the world…
...Is a deceiving spirit.
 
GOD’S PRESENCE IS A PLACE OF SAFETY FOR THE WEARY
Dear child of God!There is no judgment or shame there.It is a restful place of learning to take up an easy yoke and a light burden. 
Perhaps right now…. as you read this…you might need to get away from music in headphones or speakers, away from the ring tones on your new awesome phone with all of those cool new apps, and enter intothe safe haven of God.
Lay down the weight of worry and frustration. The anger at life all bottled up in rage and gloom! All you need to take with you into the place of refuge is a willing and listening heart. Ready to trust the Divine Protector and Provider.
May your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, Even as we put our hope in you. -Psalm 33:22
 
PLEASE SIT BACK AND LISTEN
TO THE FOLLOWING SPONTANEOUS SONG FROM THE SPIRIT OF GOD!
IT WILL SING LIFE INTO YOUR WEARY SOUL! 
 
CAPTAIN OF YOUR SOUL ©
Spontaneous Prophetic Song of The Lord
 
There is a river of life; there is a river that flows
From the city of God, There is a river of life
There is an ocean, Deep and wide and strong
And there is a pathway, in the water wide and long
 
There is a Master, Captain, at the helm of life
And there is Someone standing,
Steering the course in the fog at night
Even though the times that you can't see Me
Even though the times that you can't hear Me
I am the echo in the night
 
There is an ocean deep and wide
And there is a river flowing by your side
And even though the darkness might come
Remember the promise I've given you
I will guide you in the storms of life
 
Come with Me a while and see, that I am He
The Captain at the helm
Come and see that I have a course now set
In the heavenly realms
 
There is a river, a place for you to flow
There is a river, there is something more, For you to know
 
Let me take control, let Me drift your life away
For in the darkness of night
You can hear Me better say
 
I am the Captain of your soul
And I am the Master of the storm
Remember when you can't feel
Remember when you can't set your sail
Remember when there's no breezes
Remember there is a voice that pleases
 
There is a river, there is an ocean
There is a Captain at the helm
 
And though you might not see Me
And though you might not feel Me
I am still in the heavenly realm
I am still in the heavenly helm
 
Captain of the sea
Captain of the storm
Come and rest with Me
 
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
 
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.
Thank You!
 

"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:
Please JOYFULLY send your gift in the form of: 
► Personal Checks ► Business Checks
► Money Orders  ► Cashiers Checks
To: 
His Beloved Ministries Inc. PO Box 1253Denver, Colorado 80614USA 
Or feel free to use our send a tax-deductible gift with
Pay Pal   paypal.me/mlindow 
Under the name of - Mary Lindow
ALL gifts are tax-deductible underHis Beloved Ministries 5013c non-profit status.
We are financially accountable and have been in full compliance since 1985 with Clergy Financial Advantage.
THANK YOU!
 
NEED PRAYER? 
Send your Prayer Request To Us At:
"Faith Konnect Kingdom Prayer Rooms"
 
 

The Torrents of Religious and Political Posturing Vs. The Authentic Voice of God - Prophetic Exhortation and Insights

by Mary Lindow
 
We Are On The Cusp Of Probably One Of The Greatest Days
Of The Dismantling Of Religious Behavior And Abuse 
In The Charismatic Church
And Evangelical Church To Date.
 
In the days ahead we’re going to see many people hungering for that sacred time in worship where there is a waiting upon the Lord, and in the honoring of his name. Clearly we attract the presence of the Lord when we are focused upon “The Presence”, and not upon the performance.
 
We shouldn’t be surprised if like Jesus, we collide with torrents of political & religious and cultural expectations. So, on a daily basis, our purity of vision to move toward the Kingdom will also cause us deep discomforts that will ask us to set aside our preferences, and our convenience.
 
This  pressing towards the kingdom will ask us to say things that we’d rather not say, to go places that we’d rather not go, to give away things that we’d rather keep.
 
And in this discomfort, each time we have an opportunity to cry out to God:  
“Where did you go? Why does pursuing your kingdom of abundance and peace not always feel like abundance andpeace?”
I’d like to offer these possibilities to ponder.
In every way,
He’s purifying your heart.
 
WHAT IS THIS OBSESSION  THAT IS BEGINNING TO DRIVE PEOPLE AWAY
FROM RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES AND STRUCTURAL PROGRAMMING?
 
Is it fatigue from fleshly efforts?
Is it weariness with well doing?
Or!
Is it the beginning of a matter?
 
A. W. Tozer once said,
"Self Is The Blurred Veil That Hides The Face Of God From Us.
It Can Be Removed Only In Spiritual Experience,  Never By Simple Instruction."
 
The Lord is allowing man to have the joy and shock of coming to the end of his means of prodding and producing until he falls into a heap at the feet of the One who has the key to the place of hope and rest!
He. The King of tranquility and Divine Purpose has the place of Sanctuary carved out in a definite place.
 
THE PLACE OF WORSHIP
"But the time is coming--it has, in fact, come--when what you're called will not matter and where you go to worship will not matter."
"It's who you are and the way you live that count before God. Your worship must engage your spirit in the pursuit of truth. That's the kind of people the Father is out looking for: those who are simply and honestly themselves before him in their worship. God is sheer being itself--Spirit.
Those who worship him must do it out of their very being, their spirits, their true selves, in adoration.” That is all from John: 23-24
 
APOSTOLIC ORIGINS BEGAN WITH THE DEVOTED AND YET WEARY DISCIPLES OF JESUS COMING TOGETHER IN A "PLACE" OF WAITING, RESTING AND WORSHIPING
Those waiting in an upper room.
Hiding from the world and its pressures and threats!
Waiting.
Worshiping.
REMEMBERING the past things they had experienced while walking with Jesus.
They were asking the heart questions of,
"Why are we here?
What are we waiting for?
What is this all about?"
 
My Brothers and Sisters, We are Again...
...In the same place.
 
WE ARE SIMPLY RESTING IN THE KNOWLEDGE 
THAT THE LORD HAS BROUGHT US
TO END OF THE OF THE PAST WAYS
AND FORMS OF MAN.
 
He is preparing the way of His Power with a place of personal introspection and heart searching until we see that we must be truthful in our worship of Him. We must come into agreement with His Spirit and the way that He desires to move among those who know Him and among those who do not.
Old things are passing away.
LOOK! He does a new thing!
New to us,
BUT Not To Him.
 
AS WE BECOME OBSESSED WITH THE IDEA OF NOTHING TO PERFORM,
nothing to take to task, nothing to self generate but only to "marinate" and saturate in, we see the promises He has made begin to be realized. We must bring a mind, which has been emptied of old prejudices, old traditional theology, human philosophy and false data.
A mind so fully humble and empty that the Lord can reveal to it great, bright depths of truth and beauty, and floods of spiritual understanding that we have never dreamed of before! (Amplified Bible)"Call to Me and I will answer you, and tell you [and even show you] great and mighty things, [things which have been confined and hidden], which you do not know and understand and cannot distinguish.'-Jeremiah 33:3
 
The Author Francis Frangipane stated so powerfully , "We must bring hearts that are emptied of our abundant earthly attachments and sad, “holier-than-thou” sentimentalism, old friendships, old day intuitive loves.
We must bring empty hands that have handed over our own works, all planning strategies and “string pulling” for self.
Hands and hearts that hold onto no toys, and to no Treasure. Hands that bring no human demand or bargaining skills.
Hands so empty that they can grip firmly the Sword of the Spirit, the cross, or the tool that God may put into them."
 
God fills our nature and fills our lives in relationship to how they are emptied for Him. God knows our heart. He sees what we can’t see.
If we allow Him, He begins taking out all the impurities, emptying us of ourselves and filling us with Himself – so He can use us as a vessel of honor.
 
SO OFTEN AS OF LATE,
IN PLACES OF MEETING AND GATHERINGS OF HUNGRY SAINTS,
THE HOLY HUSH OF HEAVEN HAS FALLEN
WITH SUCH SWEETNESS AND SIMPLICITY.
 
All the fancy trappings of "noisy worship strategy" pale compared to this heavy rich perfumed presence that descends on those who will wait upon the Lord and grow stronger.
 
There is no need for airy or trendy teachings and thoughts. No need for the pious and well-oiled speeches implying the way to go. ( Because they say so!)
Blessed are those who are willing to release all that is not THE Kingdom in them, who let their hearts be purified, for they shall see God himself—God’s life being birthed in every challenge. God’s kingdom coming on Earth as it is in heaven.
As we wait.
Humble.
At His feet...
...He moves upon many within the Body to rise up and declare, to share, risk, expound and grow in the Grace of God, as well as in much Mercy.
 
You are right in the middle of God's process for you. You don't have to settle for God's second best because of somebody else's choices or your own. As you are being who you are in Him, you can do what you are supposed to do. You may have disappointments, but your life is His story with depth, adventure, suspense, surprising plot turns, and darkness that Jesus defeated. Be blessed as you understand more of His story that He is writing in your life.
 
1 Peter 1:5. "...Who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time."
 
God surrounds you with His favor as a shield. You are shielded by His power, so that in every dark thing you experience, you can live large and strong.
God put you on earth in your exact place for His specific purpose, and you are living in that purpose, even when you don't know it.
Your soul may be grumbling and resisting, but you are living the story that God is ready to reveal to you.
 
God is a lot bigger than you expect Him to be. He's a lot bigger than your circumstances. He is the God of detail. He is deeply involved in the small details of your life
 
HEAVEN LONGS TO KISS THE EARTH AGAIN.
The King of Heaven is descending with an unexplainable and definite wave of stillness.
It is His manifested Presence.
In His Presence. His Sanctuary.
Is fullness.
Completion.
Needs met...
...And Joy.
 
COME. LET US BE MAGNIFICENTLY WRAPPED UP IN HIM!
 "O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you;
My soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
Thus I have seen you in the sanctuary, to see Your power and Your glory."
- Psalm 63:1-2
 
Let's pray from Ephesians 1.
I ask that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know him better. 
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.
That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion. And every name that is invoked not only in the present age, but also in the one to come. In the power of that name we pray. Amen. 
 
NOW I ENCOURAGE YOU NOT TO BE AFRAID
WHEN THE EARTH IS SHAKING
AND STRANGE AND ODD THINGS ARE TAKING PLACE!
 
Unterstand, God is not weak.
He is not deaf.
He is not asleep.
But, he does have an extended power in mercy because he knows that when his justice and judgment is kindled and he moves, it is sovereignty complete and there is no turning back.
This is a time for us to do personal examination, and yeah, there’s a lot of stuff being shaken.
 
A lot of people have been warned, a lot of ministries have still chosen to hide things that are going to come out, because they chose not to go the way of accountability and repentance, and the Lord has to let it come to pass. He doesn’t want his sheep deceived, and he certainly doesn’t want them abused, but it’s also happening in individual lives.
 
If we’re looking to the church and if we’re looking to leaders to be our ultimate guide, then the Lord will allow us to have great disappointment and failures there.
 
EACH OF US IS TO COME BEFORE THE FATHER!
Jesus said how to pray, he taught us! He said to say, “My Father, you are in heaven, holy, holy is your name! Let your kingdom come, let your will be done, (which means in our lives and in others lives) like it is in heaven, and give us today our daily bread.
You see, we look forward to everything we want now down the road instead of accepting that today is enough, it’s sufficient.
So I encourage you to get still, get quiet.
Listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit.
It says in the word whether you turn to the left or to the right there is a voice behind you saying this is the way, walk in it. (Isaiah 30:21)
 It may not be pleasant, may not be popular, and it certainly may not be comfortable, but it is safe and it will keep you in a place where you are determined and at peace to serve the Lord.
 
REMEMBER, DON’T BE AFRAID.
Don’t listen to the frightening narratives, don’t give into the sounds around you telling you to be afraid because that’s the goal of the enemy.
 
Satan comes to bring fear and steal and rob your peace and destroy your trust in the Lord, and Jesus said,  "I AM come! I am! I have come that you might have life, and have it to the fullest!' That’s John 10:10.  And what that means is “might have life to the fullest”.
 
We have to choose to not listen to the world’s narratives, and trust me some of them sound really great! There are some great analytics out there, brillant minds. Brilliant voices, but if they don’t have the God breath, breathed on them, and they are not hearing from God accurately and it is nothing more than just a bunch of propaganda, or people trying to sell stuff, you’re going to get sucked into looking for answers and places that will come up empty.
 
The voice of God is big, but sometimes it’s very still and he wants us to discipline ourselves to get away from our phones get away from all the stuff, and simply bask and wait…
… Until he speaks.
 
I bless you today, and I look forward to our next podcast together. Goodbye for now.
 
Duplication and sharing of this message is welcomed provided that complete article, Podcast link and website information for Mary Lindow is included.
Thank You! Copyright © 2024 " THE MESSENGER "
www.marylindow.com
KINGDOM PRAYER ROOMS
www.marylindow.podbean.com
 
If you have been impressed by the Holy Spirit to assist Mary helping her to meet other administrative needs such as website, video teachings and podcast costs, or desire to bless her service 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 1253Denver, Colorado 80614USA
 
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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”
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 2023 - "THE MESSENGER "
~ Mary Lindow  - www.marylindow.com
www.marylindow.podbean.com
 
If you have been impressed by the Holy Spirit to 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:
Please JOYFULLY send your gift in the form of:
 
► Personal Checks ► Business Checks
► Money Orders  ► Cashiers Checks
 
To: His Beloved Ministries Inc. PO Box 1253Denver, Colorado 80614USA
 
Or feel free to use our send a tax-deductible gift with
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Under the name of - His Beloved Ministries Inc.
 
ALL gifts are tax-deductible underHis 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 Power of God’s Intervention and Protection From the Evils of The Day

 
Today’s podcast is going to be, addressing what it means to have the Lord protect us, and save us from evil or harm that may come our way we learn to hear his voice when he tells us to go somewhere or to not go somewhere, or when he puts something down on the inside of us that is not at peace because we are supposed to be doing something differently.
 
One particular indication in our life, where the Lord protected us will be vivid forever for my husband Steve and I. It was the weekend of my birthday which is May 1, and we had traveled from where we were living at the time which was O’Fallon Missouri, to a town nine miles west of us called Wentzville. There was a restaurant called Isabella’s and we were having the fun of Steve’s parents who came to visit us from Belleville, Illinois to celebrate with us. We also had our two little toddler boys with us. 
 
We had a wonderful lunch and on the way home we had decided to stop by a church building that my husband Steve has been involved in helping to redesign the interior of and to adjust some architecture. We had texted to see if the pastor or assistant pastor happened to still be there and, the assistant pastor was there! When we went inside we were enjoying showing things to Steve’s parents and suddenly the power went out. 
 
The sky had been looking rather odd in the direction we were traveling, and if you know the area of Missouri where tornadoes can form, skies gets a strange aqua tint to them. While we were in the building, sitting down talking with the assistant pastor, the Holy Spirit prompted both Steve and I that we were to stay for a little while and not to travel just then, and the pastor himself said he thought it was a good idea if we all just waited a little bit. So, we waited 15 to 20 minutes and then we seemed to have a “go ahead” to travel. We bundled everyone back up into the car and began to travel down the road, which was parallel to a highway and was a wide frontage road.  
 
The sky to the North and east looked very ominous!
As we began to take a curve around the bend in the road, I suddenly said to my husband, “Why is that road sign up in a tree?” And then we saw someone’s small covered work trailer up in a tree and realized there was debris to the right of us all along the grassy field area. As we finished coming around the curve, we noticed a man and a group of children standing like statues out in a grassy large front yard and behind them there were, some farm style buildings and a home that looked like they had no doors and windows on them. We pulled over and my husband and his dad went up the gravel driveway to see if they were all right, because we realized a tornado had touched down. 
 
The man was staring at my husband and father-in-law, and said, “God must’ve been with you people! I watched your car coming down the frontage road and then disappeared around the bend where I couldn’t see you anymore. The twister had dropped down in front our property a few minutes before you came around the bend, because it had just passed over our house and blew out the windows and blew the door off the refrigerator and everything out of the refrigerator, into the house.”  
Of course the more we looked around the more we realized how we would have been in that very spot when the tornado touched down if we hadn’t heeded the internal warning of the Lord to wait it out for a little bit at the church building! Our car could’ve been picked up and tossed just like all the things that were now obvious to us. 
We talked to the people for a little while to make sure they had someone coming to help them, and once we were reassured that they had assistance we got back in the car and quickly made our way home. 
 
Once we got home, the sky had turned an even more aqua color and the atmosphere was eerily still and muggy, so we went down into our basement to wait the storm out. We prayed together and asked the Lord to be a shield around us, and that he would surround us with angelic protection according to Psalm 91: 9-11, and it says this:
If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
and you make the Most High your dwelling, 
No harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent.
For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.”
 
We could hear the howling wind coming down our fireplace chimney, and there was an eerie glow from the strange sky color coming through the drapery in the basement windows, but we just simply talked and played with the children and waited until the sirens stopped blaring. About an hour later we went upstairs, and the sky was completely clear and dusk was setting in.
Everything was very quiet and yet we still had power in our house. People were outside sweeping up broken glass around the neighborhood and as my husband and dad in law went for a walk around the block, they were stunned! There were individual homes  that were completely wiped off the street, giant old oak trees picked up and tossed like play toys, and then there were homes left completely standing!
We knew that we had experienced the protection of the Lord two times that day, and the promise of being surrounded by his protective agents. 
Wow! What a Birthday that was! 
 
 
Dear Believers! We live in times right now where there is a tremendous amount of danger and uncertainty. There are a lot of desperate people, and a lot of people who are out of their minds on drugs and alcohol. It is at an epidemic level. When we bend our ear to listen to the Lord and ask him if we should be traveling or going somewhere, we are yielding our common sense and our way of doing things to the greater wisdom of God. 
There have been several times that I have gone to travel on an airplane with Steve or by myself, and we always pray the prayer that if there’s anything wrong with the plane Lord, stop it from ever taking off the runway.  We also had one time where we were both very unsettled about a flight. We just did not feel right getting on the plane, and as we boarded that intensity grew stronger. While we sat in our seats we began to pray, and we asked the Lord if we needed to get off the flight. 
We both immediately were impressed to pray that the captain upon final inspection of his plane, would spot what ever was wrong with it at would halt the flight. 
Sure enough as he did his walk-through outside, we noticed the captain stopping and looking at something near the engine. He climbed aboard the back stairs and went into the cockpit, and within a few moments he announced that we were going to have to deplane and wait for another plane, because there was something he was not comfortable and was not going to fly the plane until it had been addressed.
 
When you feel uncomfortable or uncertain about traveling or going somewhere, that is the Lord allowing you to be discerning about Divine protection. Each of us have experienced where we know the Lord has intervened and often there are angelic interventions that save lives. 
When our two boys were toddlers, we had a wall that we had put brackets and wood slat bookshelves up to store our library of books, and the three lower levels were to hold toys for the children at their height so they could pick them out and play with them. 
One afternoon I was in that space with the children and they were playing with their toys. They were both toddlers at the time one of the babies was under just 14 months old. 
 
I was strongly impressed to quickly move my boys away from the play area, and something nudged me in the shoulder to push me forward!  At the time I was so focused on moving them both at the same time that I wasn’t concentrating on the nudge! I scooped them up and pulled them away without alarming them and about the time I did this, the bookshelf broke free from some brackets and twisted, and hundreds of books fell down, as well as the wood shelves right in the very play space the boys had been sitting in. Of course I gathered my little ones up and held them close, and was stunned at how there could’ve been great harm done to them, and then I suddenly thought about what had pushed me forward in that very moment to get to them! 
 
I knew that the Lord had permitted angelic intervention to move me forward to get the boys in that very moment.  
 
Psalm 34:7 says, 
"The angel of the LORD surrounds those who fear him,
and he delivers them." 
 
Of course, we never pray to angelic beings, and we certainly don’t try to turn them into some kind of "bizarre, supernatural guide".  Some self-styled “angel experts” instruct their followers to love their angels and to call upon them for health, healing, prosperity, and guidance. But angels are God’s servants, and all this attention and emphasis and glory should go to God, not His servants. 
God says, “I will not share my glory with another” (Isaiah 42:8). 
 
Scripture makes no mention of loving angels—only God, His word, and people. And, it never tells us to pray to angels, only to the Lord Himself.
The church at Colossae had been invaded by false teachers, who were teaching a false humility and the worship of angels, claiming special mystic insights by way of visions in connection with their worship of angels (Co. 2:18). This was demonic because it was usurping the preeminent place and sufficiency of Christ as Savior and Lord. The claim was that Jesus was not enough for salvation and spirituality. So these people said you “needed” to worship angels, and so on.
 
These are the demonic, dark spiritual forces we’re up against today, and you can be assured that the enemy knows how to disguise himself as an angel.  His whole intent is to lead us into traps of destruction and to draw our worship away from God. 
Live aware my friends, and don’t be easily deceived. 
God promises to help us as we seek to honor Him and walk wisely in this life. 
We can trust that even when we’re unaware of our needs or impending disasters that lay before us, God knows the way. He is at work, sending words of hope, protecting his children, attending to our needs, bringing justice and mercy to our land, drawing us closer to himself, and encouraging us to walk wisely, be aware, and live fully for Him.
 
A wonderful story has been told by a Moravian missionary in connection with angelic protection!
An American missionary and his wife bravely went to their station, where, twenty years before, two missionaries had been killed by the natives. They said as they took up their work it seemed as if often they were surrounded not only by the hostile natives, but by the very powers of darkness. These powers of darkness were so real, that night after night they were forced to get up and strengthen their hearts by reading the Word of God. Again, they would pray.
 
One day a man came and said, "I would like to see your watchmen close at hand."
The missionary replied: "I have no watchmen; I have only a cook and a little herd boy. What watchmen do you mean?”
The man asked permission to look through the missionaries home. Every corner of the house was carefully searched, and the man came out of the house greatly disappointed. Then the missionary asked the man to tell him about the watchmen to whom he referred. Here is the man's answer;
"When you and your wife came here we determined to kill you as we did the missionaries twenty years ago. Night after night we came to carry out our intentions, but there always stood around your house a double row of watchmen with glittering weapons, and we dared not come near.”
“At last we hired a professional assassin, who said he feared neither God nor devil. Last night he came close to your house-we followed at a distance and he was brandishing his spear. There stood the shining watchmen, and the killer fled in terror. So we have given up our purpose to kill you, but tell me, who are the watchmen?”
 
The missionary opened the Word of God and read: 
The angel of he LORD encamps around those that fear him,
and delivers them. - Psalm 34:7 
Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him. - Deuteronomy 33:12
The Lord had hidden them.   - Jeremiah 36:26
 
God often works in ways we can’t fully see, sometimes behind the scenes or with unexpected timing, yet he’s always working on our behalf. Whether we realize it or not, there’s a spiritual realm constantly around us. 
May God give us eyes to see clearly that angels are among us and that God is working miracles, even today.
 
Let’s Pray Together For God’s Divine Protection
Father, I thank you for the great authority and protection you have given your children in the person of Jesus Christ. Even as we go out into the world, your promise remains true to us. Nothing shall, by any means, hurt us.
All authority in heaven and earth has been given to you, Lord Jesus, leaving none for the devil and his angels. Thank you for your divine protection and covering.
You have put your angels in charge concerning us, to guard us in all our ways. You have sent your angels down to your true loyal children to rescue us from danger. Your angels will lift us up and keep us from harm, as we choose to trust in you and obey your promptings and warnings in an instant!
Thank you, that by faith in the work you have done, we are protected and secure, everywhere we go!
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! 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
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"Tuning In To Listen - Tuning Out Trends" What Exactly IS God Saying In The Middle Of Difficulties, Loss and Adjustment?

By Mary Lindow
As I sit here in the outdoors this evening enjoying an unusually cool and brilliantly moonlit sky, I am stirred to speak openly and transparently about the things that God is not only dealing with in my personal journey with him, but also some of the trends and presumptions that occur in the world of “Christendom” when it appears and feels as if the Father God is far off and seemingly unresponsive to the cries of those desperate for relief and merciful compassion.
Through his own personal agony, King David came to a new understanding of what it really was that God required from man.
ENMESHED INTO DECEPTION 
God is not interested in our outward sacrifices or "offerings."
This does not necessarily mean that God never requires outward forms of worship or expression or observances. Many lines of Scripture prove that at times he does. But it does mean that these are not the things that he requires first. If our religious practices contain nothing more than outward actions and performance, then God takes no pleasure in them.
God always looks underneath what goes on outwardly, and looks to the motives and the attitude of the heart. What does he look for there?
 David tells us in Psalm 51:16 -17
“For you delight not in sacrifice, or else would I give it; you find no pleasure in burnt offering. 
The sacrifice [the sacrifice acceptable] to God is a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart [broken down with sorrow for sin and humbly and thoroughly penitent], such, O God, You will not despise.” 
 
BROKEN AND CONTRITE
These are not common words to our ears these days! 
Just what does it mean when God asks that we have a broken spirit?
 Does he want us to be beaten down and humiliated? 
I am sure that this is not his plan. So? What IS a broken spirit? 
It is an “inner self” that has come totally to the end of it-self. It makes no claims, and offers no arguments. All independence, all self-will, self-promotion, all self-righteousness have been pruned away.
Such a spirit simply turns and trusts completely upon God, not trusting in his own skill, merit, popularity, or ability to influence. This one who has willingly allowed the disciplining of his soul knows that he or she must only trust in God and his unrelenting mercy.
If we will ALLOW Him to guide us, HE knows how to produce this brokenness of spirit in each of us. Just remember, he treats us as individuals. And he would never abuse our individuality. He uses just the right amount of intensity needed to accomplish his desires, that we would relinquish our mistrust in his plan and fully step into total abandonment, willingly accepting his plan.
“For he does not willingly bring affliction or grief to the children of men.” 
-Lamentations 3:33
 
AFFLICTION IS ALSO KNOWN AS - “DISCIPLINE” 
If there was ever a man who had to face affliction also known as “discipline” - it was David. I am amazed that he never became bitter. He even admitted that it did him good! God allows us to come under afflictions/discipline, not because he is mad at us, nor because he has rejected us. It is actually a demonstration of his faithfulness.
When he sees us taking a wrong turn that will lead to our own harm and damage, he allows difficulty and affliction/discipline to turn us back to the way that leads to peace and blessing.
When I say affliction, I am not accusing God of bringing about harsh and devastating blows in order to knock us down and break our arms in the process.
No! No! No!
In Psalm 119:67, 71, 75 it says:
 "I used to wander off until you disciplined me;
 but now I closely follow your word.
My suffering was good for me,
for it taught me to pay attention to your decrees.
I know, O Lord, that your regulations are fair. 

You disciplined me because I needed it.
 
WHEN WE ARE "THROWN A CURVEBALL" 
How do we respond when we are "thrown a curveball" and everything we carefully planned out and prepared for suddenly takes a turn we did not expect?
David did not view afflictions/disciplines as disaster. He saw it as a form of correction - something to adjust his life. He was saying, “Before I was afflicted/disciplined I went astray and I suffered for it. Now I've learned my lesson! It pays to obey your word!”
 
ARE YOU IN THE MIDDLE OF DIFFICULTY, LOSS, OR AN ADJUSTMENT? 
May I caution you? Don't fight back! And whatever you do, do not argue with God! Admit that God is dealing with you and allowing an affliction/a disciplining, a difficulty or disappointment, to address major issues of stubbornness, lazy spirituality, dependence upon others for water from the word, and more than often - a sour and willful independence that does not like accountability in every area.
 
ASK HIM, "WHAT IS IT THAT YOU ARE DOING?" 
“God? Am I off the pathway that you have planned and have willfully gone my own way?”
The Lord is seeking, looking, longing for you to turn away from things that are harmful and to bring you back to things that are in his purpose and plan.
If we are willing to learn from these afflictions/disciplines, there will come a time when we will indeed look back with gratitude for the things we have learned and matured in.
My dear friends, we were not created to serve ourselves or to meet our own needs. Whatever we need, the Lord will see to it that we get it, as we move along the pathway that he has chosen. You may be asking the question, “Why is it so hard for me to hear from the Lord at first when it comes to difficult issues and decisions?”
We must understand we cannot instantly “unlearn” what we have lived our entire life.
We must as the Scripture says be "transformed" from who we are to what we want to be.
We need to understand with our whole heart that we were intended to be godly in every way. In our relationships with others, and above all, in our relationship with God the father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. If one is out of order then both will be.
But! As a dear brother in the Lord by the name of Larry Reese says, 
“We are not to fear the passing of time or fear that we are wasting time by spending time with the Lord, searching out his word, and being still in his presence.
You will never lose anything by doing these things!”
 
TRENDS, BLOGS, AND COMMENTS
It's no secret that social media has become quite a form of communication! One of the problems that can occur when “listening” to trends, blogs, and commentary from others is that sources quoted and information gathered might well be skewed to interject thoughts and opinions into the minds of those who never think for themselves.
Believers in Christ are not to be uninformed, but they are to be wise about what they “ingest and digest” when it comes to the lifestyle of a Christian.
Do not rely upon the wisdom of men to help you to ultimately reach the destiny that God himself paid the price for. He is not an ego- driven maniac looking for his entourage of followers to validate his importance!
He "paid it forward" so that we would have the opportunity to walk upon a pathway, although narrow, that leads to purposeful living and a fruitful reaping of productivity that will only advance us into further opportunities to speak of hope and a purpose for others.
 
BEWARE OF FALSE HUMILITY AND UNDERTONES OF DISDAIN 
If there were one thing that sickens the heart of God it would be underhanded and slippery craftiness oozing from those who resist the full aspect of allowing God to create in them a clean and contrite heart.
It always amazes me how individuals that need notoriety and a place of “mystical” influence seem to be able to cunningly discredit good and godly saints around them who have perhaps lovingly warned them about deceptive practices or micro-management control issues, knowing that they risk the loss of relationship when doing so.
It is as if these individuals secretly feel entitled to sidestep the issue of preferring your brother or sister, and humbly listening to their insights and observances.
Equally amazing, are those who listen to only one side of a conflict or disagreement, and then spiritualize-away the facts that harm or discord has happened.
And so, the Lord allows the difficulties and afflictions to come and expose the areas of favoritism, embracing the “new and exciting”… 
…Rather than the narrow and at times - dry pathway to mature godliness.
 
 There will always be among us, those claiming to have “THE” word of the hour, the “message of the forefathers”, and on and on the platitudes and justifications are listed to justify the mocking and putting down of the simple and unique message of self-abandonment.
 
LISTEN FOR THE SOUND OF MERCY 
Listen to the “tone” in the voice of those addressing the crowd, the congregation, or perhaps a small study group. False humility has a highly "honeyed" pitch of barely restrained condescension, laced with heavy doses of unsolicited advice and counsel.
Rarely will individuals who have an exaggerated view of their own importance allow others to warmly and intimately engage in transparent communication and dialogue regarding the unique and yet equal calling and gifting of each child of God. 
 
NOW IS THE TIME -- THE TIME IS NOW! 
These words have been spoken out from the Lord over the lives of many who seemingly can hardly lift their heads due to delays, betrayals, losses, and a deep, deep internal anguish. It seems as if God sees greater fruitfulness when we are at the bottom of the proverbial "barrel"!
Those who are forever wishfully proclaiming that the “bad times are over and good times are ahead” are sadly attempting to override the ache of the soul when it longs to return to the comfort zone of self indulgence.
“But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless!” -Jeremiah 7:8
Know this. To avoid the chastening and bruising of our souls is a guarantee that not only will you cause devastating and brutal pain to others, but also most importantly, you shall grieve the Holy Spirit.
I ENCOURAGE THOSE OF YOU READING AND LISTENING,
TO TEST THE FRUIT OF THOSE WHO CLAIM TO HAVE
A SPECIAL AND MYSTICAL "IN" WITH THE LORD.
 
The Lord is not one who neither “excludes” nor leaves the broken out in the cold, nor does he invite into his inner courts of wisdom and revelation, those who would use it to their own personal advantage or fame.
 
IT IS TIME. NOW IS THE TIME! THE TIME IS NOW!
It is time to face the chastening of the Lord in the light of the purpose he has behind it. Growing up and maturing finally in the things he has been dutifully prodding you to do for a long time now.
 
PROCRASTINATION  FELLOWSHIPS WITH SLOTHFUL AND SLOPPY APPROACHES
 TO RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD AND WITH MANKIND.
 
For once and for all make the decision to not blame-shift or deflect onto others what God is dealing with in the wickedness of your own soul.
Now is the time to be willing to lose your life, to be afflicted -- yes even to the point of having the Lord remove and expose those who have become disobedient, self-promoting, and abusive in the circles you walk within.
 “SEE TO IT that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.” Colossians 2:8
 
OPEN YOUR EARS 
The Lord is speaking! Listen!
He has wisdom to impart to you that may well save and instruct others who might fall into foolish behavior. It is not about your comfort, your "wants" nor even your dignity! It’s about a willingness to be the servant of the Savior, and to emulate His example.
He Is Speaking....
...But are we listening?
“The Sovereign LORD has given me an instructed tongue,
To know the word that sustains the weary.
He wakens me morning by morning, Wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.”
Isaiah 50:4
 
Duplication and sharing of this writing is welcomed as long as that complete source,
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for Mary Lindow is included.
Thank You
Copyright © 2019 THE MESSENGER " ~ Mary Lindow
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STRETCH THE TENT PEGS OVER THE GLOBE - KINGDOM “GLOBAL - ITY”

PLEASE USE THE MEDIA PLAYER BELOW TO LISTEN TO THIS AS A FREE AUDIO PODCASTBy Mary LindowWhat I will be sharing with you in the next few paragraphs is something I am being heavily moved upon by the Father to pour out to you and to in a sense, "impart to you" from His Spirit.SOME OF IT YOU WILL LIKE, some will strongly challenge you and maybe even prick your soul a bit. But, all for the Good of the purposes God has for you. I love you all enough in Christ to not fear your potential upset with my loving insights.STRETCH THE TENT PEGS OVER THE GLOBEThe following thoughts and spiritual insights are shared with the intention of helping you see a broader picture, a richer dimension “Kingdom-Globally” and, to challenge you to stretch the tent pegs over the Globe, not just in your local region or country. So often we want to “export” our spiritual experiences or current expressions of the Holy Spirit to other places and think our way of serving God in our locality is the most powerful and effective pathway to Promised Revival and times of Refreshing. Many of these same Spiritual moves of the Hand of God are also occurring in Europe, S. Africa, the USA and other places globally. Remember, we are of the Heavenly Kingdom, on assignment to the Globe and have been strategically placed to serve the King of Glory. SO! HERE WE GO! Get a cup of tea or coffee and enter the Classroom of the Holy Spirit!I do agree, that much of what the Lord desires to be done in our native nations needs to come from among the "tribe" there, but we need to be ever so careful to see that the Lord sends in and sends out from among our own and others, specific messengers, people, and giftings in order to train, edify, breakdown earthly cultural divisions and...Refresh. NO MOVEMENT OR REGION IS EXCLUSIVE ON THE EARTH… …when the Kingdom is being freely expressed. Everywhere on the Globe, God is doing similar things. I have watched it occur in the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Africa, and Australia over and over again. The weeping, worshiping, repenting type of movement was rich, humbling, and overflowing. AS YOU GO TO THE LOCATIONS THE LORD MIGHT SEND YOU, see yourself carrying a small jar of oil as the widow of the prophet had in the book of Kings. (2 Kings ch. 4 vs. 1-7) What if she had never obeyed and had not collected the empty “foreign pots of her neighbors”, as many as she could? And she did it in front of her children! AS she shut herself up with the jars, (empty vessels) and her children, she still had to empty the little precious oil she had in the possession of her small self or - hence, the little pot of oil.DEAR CHILD OF GOD. YOU ARE ONLY GIVEN ENOUGH FOR EACH EVENT, EACH MOMENT TO POUR OUT. BUT. Once you do freely pour into any nation or individual, meaning-any vessel that is empty and put aside, more will then flow, until, all their jars (people) have been filled. Then, you go home, and rest in His presence and prepare again. THE JOY AND YET SOBER WARNING that comes from the Lord to those sent to nations is that we must never exclude others from other nations or foreign lands, whether we are at home or in another nation. All that we are, and have been set apart for must be freely shared, freely given, and…… Freely let go of. LOCATION IS ALWAYS IMPORTANT TO HUMANS. It gives us a sense of belonging, purpose, and identity. However, we cannot lay stake to where and how God will move or honor our efforts. His heart is set upon the whole location of earth to bring it into a Heavenly kingdom fit for Him to rule and reign. He brings heaven down to us, wherever we are, regardless of our location.The Lord sees our zeal and thrills over the gatherings we have all been a part of. Large or small.And He celebrates with us! BUT I AM STIRRED WITH A PROPHETIC WORD OF WARNING…… And also a spiritual insight. Once you have stepped into ministering on a national and perhaps international level and move into another place of God’s design for your life, the first thing the Enemy likes to do is imply that we have become more unique or special in our place of calling, location, or expressions. Actually. You have been called to die further. To ambition, to personal vision and importance. Teach this to the young ones.WE MUST LEARN THAT IT IS NOT LOCATION OR HARD WORK THAT GOD IS BLESSING! He blesses lives Hidden WITH God in Christ. Those who will start fires wherever they are sent and then, carry the embers of that flame with them, releasing others to fan the flames."He makes winds his messengers, Flames of fire his servants." Psalm 104:4“I will say to the north, 'Give them up!' and to the south, 'Do not hold them back.' Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth!” Isaiah 43:6WHAT ARE THE BATTLES OF ENTERING INTO "THE CALLING?"The Big ones? Personal obscurity and self-denial. Letting go of the torch of personal vision so that others may flourish. Laying down our exclusiveness and letting others in on God's inclusiveness… globally."Therefore, my brothers, Be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure.For if you do these things, you will never fail." 2 Peter 1:10THESE WORDS MAY SEEM INTENSE… ...And sobering dear friends.But you have stepped into it now and I would not be a true friend to you if I didn't lovingly share with you that, since you have received a commissioning, you must also prepare to release that and, commission others until you yourself have multiplied the fire by allowing others everywhere to be able to have some of it, to fan it, to flame it...to make it their own, only to then repeat the process.SIMULTANEOUSLY, OTHER GATHERINGS AND MEETINGS ARE OCCURRING GLOBALLY, UNANNOUNCED TO ALL OF US FOCUSING ON OUR OWN REGIONS OR AREAS. THE LORD IS "TABERNACLE-ING WITH HIS PEOPLE" ...,,,Everywhere that there is humility, hunger, and holiness. Eventually, all of this kind of "tent meeting" will produce a move of Global intensity and will have a Glorious Collision among tribes, nations and peoples. We will all know one another in Christ and identify ourselves only as those from another Heavenly Kingdom. Even if we do have different accents and languages to struggle with!"With this in mind, we pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith." 2 Thessalonians 1:11AS YOU GO TO THE NATION OR CITIES OR PEOPLE THE LORD SENDS YOU TO…...You go as a black man or woman, a yellow man or woman, a white man or woman, a brown man or woman and a red man or woman. YOU GO GLOBALLY, CULTURALLY, AND KINGDOM-LIKE. YOU ARE one of THEM. YOU become that part of the Kingdom when you are there, and you fan the flame God has placed in their location, leaving another aspect of the Kingdom with them, to also carry… Globally.When we implement this, we mature in Christ and step into a new dimension and a new "Good Time to die a little more," and in doing this we produce and dispense the fresh perfume of a surrendered life. "But thank God! He has made us his captives, and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere,like a sweet perfume."2 Corinthians 2:14 ***************************************** Duplication and re-transmission of this writing is welcomed provided that complete source and website information for Mary Lindow is included. Thank You Copyright © 2014 " THE MESSENGER " ~ Mary Lindow www.marylindow.comwww.globalprayerrooms.com  

GOD’S WAR ROOM - "LET US COME INTO A HOLY PLACE"

TO LISTEN TO THIS AS A FREE AUDIO PODCAST USE THE PLAYER TO YOUR RIGHT IN THE COLUMN OF OPTIONS OR SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM OF THE MESSAGE FOR AN ADDITIONAL MP3 OR POP-UP PLAYERBy Mary LindowBeloved. The Lord has prepared us for this season. He wants us to focus on the path ahead of us. The refining is painful but brings correction and is beautiful at the end.Psalm 16: 11 saysYou have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.Psalm 17:3You have tried my heart;You have visited me by night;You have tested me and You find nothing;I have purposed that my mouth will not transgress.THE LORD WANTS US TO KNEEL ...Before him in repentance, for it rids us of our self-focus. Light comes when we are delivered from ourselves! Psalm 36:9For with You is the fountain of life;In Your light we see lightTHE LORD WANTS US TO PAY ATTENTION ...To our “eye gates.” What we look at. Our hearts need to be locked into His gates.He says, “Look to me!”And His arms are the gates that are holding us. Psalm 118 Vs 19Open for me the gates of righteousness; I will enter and give thanks to the LORDHE WANTS US TO STAY IN THE INNER COURT ...And minister Him. He is wanting us to get to “Ground Zero.” Go into it and let all things of the flesh melt. Psalm 101:6My eyes shall [look with favor]upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; He/she who walks blamelessly, He/she shall minister to me.HE WANTS US TO BE DELIVERED ...From disappointments or the feeling of being unworthyPsalm 34:4I sought the LORD, and he answered me; He delivered me from all my fears.You see, it is fear that holds us back and fear that causes us to to feel paralyzed or paranoid and so we are not able to move ahead in:Wisdom AdvancementandReconciliation.THE LORD IS CALLING US OUT TO RISK. He will not fail us!He will not cause us to stumble, but He will cause us to grow and mature into the saint that will cause people out in the world to want to listen to what we have to share.If we act ashamed of the Gospel and we act religious, then people are not interested in what we have to say. Whatever “fresh thing” we think that we are bringing. But when we have the sweet presence of God flowing out of our lives, when we have His grace and abundance, and mercy and kindness is expressed in actions and deeds of tremendous forgiveness, then the world is drawn to something tender and sweet. And it answers the hollowness of their own lives.THE LORD WANTS US TO BE RESTING ...And praying. He is using His “holy sandpaper” to get down to the beauty of the true wood in our lives.Psalm 62:1 My soul finds rest in God alone; My salvation comes from him.Psalm 62: 5Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; My hope comes from him.Dear Child of God.I encourage you to understand that the pressure that you are under or perhaps even the sorrow or suffering that seems so unbearable, is not something that you need to consider as a punishment from the Lord. It is He, driving us into a place where we are dependent upon Him only.He allows the sorrows in order for us to find out just how weak we are in our own abilities, and how strong He is to deliver us.I encourage you today to move into today what is known as WAR.WisdomKnowing just what really is the Wisdom of God. To seek it out and find it.Advancement What does it mean to move ahead into the deeper things of God? Usually, it means dying to our own pleasure, our own self, which seems to be a bit of a paradox compared to what we like to do. Thinking that if we produce more, we move ahead more. But the Lord says, “ He that humbles himself in My sight, I WILL raise up at the right time.ReconciliationThe Lord desires for each of us that we would have a season of reconciliation. He desires that we would be brought back to a place of rest with those whom we may have been in strife with.I encourage you that if there is anyone that you need to reconcile with or ask if you have in anyway offended them, go to them. If they do not receive you well, know that the Lord will continue to work on your behalf deep within their heart.LET US COME INTO A HOLY PLACE ...As this season of the Lord moves across the earth. He is drawing His saints together to lay down their religious strongholds and opinions as well as judgments of one another. Choosing instead, to bend their knees humbly and cry out to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords to reveal Himself in all of His grace and Mercy to them.Let us, be some of the very first people to bow our knees, to pray for one another, to ask the Father that He would again touch the planet Earth one more time with a great fiery move of His Spirit. That those that are lost, broken and deceived would have their eyes opened and their understanding made clear that the Son of God has come and redeemed them from the curse. Duplication and sharing of this message is welcomed provided that complete message and website information for Mary Lindow is included. Thank you. Copyright © 2013 " THE MESSENGER " ~ Mary Lindow www.marylindow.com www.globalprayerrooms.com

Silent No More

Dear Friends,
I have a most precious "real life" story to share with you. It is the story and of one very brave and amazing woman. Her name is Karen Elliott and she lives in San Antonio, Texas.
What Karen is about to share on this podcast and written pages will cause you to weep as as well as rejoice at the forgiveness of the Lord and His power to wash away deep traumatizing shame and sorrow.
Share this story with young women, friends, and others with a painful past or current trauma. It is not recommended that you share this with young children due to the sensitive information regarding abortion in it as well as a few detailed graphics.
This testimony has now been aired all over Europe and Israel as well as the USA and other Nations and countries. The Lord is using this tremendous story to tell of His Mercy and Grace.
If you are touched by Karen's brave sharing, please send her an email and bless her as your sister in Christ. If you need someone to talk to about a similar series of events, Karen is on of the most discreet and kind women you could ever share your broken heart with.
In His Shadow,
Mary Lindow

“Silent No More”
Testimony of Karen Elliott
karen.steve@sbcglobal.net
Thank you so much, Ladies and Gentlemen, for the opportunity to speak to you today.   I’d like to share my heart, my life with you.  All I ask is that you please listen with your heart!
You know, I used to ask myself what I wanted to be when I grew up.  There are so many things that interest me that I just wanted to embrace them all.  Art, fashion, interior design, real estate.  I was an art major in college, I had five years of private painting lessons, and painting is a chapter in my life which isn’t over just yet.  I have been under contract with a modeling agency in Texas, because I believe that mature women need to be equally represented in advertising, a trend that is just now coming to the forefront. 
I design interiors for people because I believe God wants us to flourish in our surroundings.  Another one of the things I do is to consult with women about their wardrobes…what sort of styles they should wear for their body type, what colors look good on them, even how to organize their closets so that getting dressed can be easy.
But on a more serious note, I’d like to share some of the secrets that have been hidden away in my closet.  Because you see, all of those things that I loved and embraced were on the surface.  Underneath, there was a secret that I had buried -- a secret that I told no one.
I was born to loving parents who were and still are very much in love with each other ( Karen's Mother has recently passed away).  I was raised in a Christian home and went to church.  I accepted Jesus and was born again in my mother’s bedroom when I was only nine years old.  I was already selfish and self-centered and wanted my own way.  I already needed His saving grace. 
I got married at 19 after two years of college, long before I knew who I was and what I needed in life, much less what I had to offer someone else.  That was what we had in common, and we were soon disappointed in each other.  I went to work immediately while my husband went to college and then law school. 
So much of our life was focused on when we got out of school that we forgot to invest in and enjoy the present.  The goal was more important than the means by which we would attain it. 
Church was no part of our life and neither of us thought too much about it.  I occasionally remembered that I felt God had called me to the ministry as a pastor’s wife, but it seemed that no longer had any relevance in my life.  All that mattered is that we had two darling little girls.  After seven years together and much of the enemy’s intervention, we divorced and I went to Atlanta to live with my parents.
At 25, divorced with children, and with no college degree, I felt ill-prepared for the workforce and I had to tell everybody within the first five minutes of meeting them that my ex-husband was an attorney.  My whole life had lost its focus. 
I had to support myself without my ex-husband’s education and credentials.  It seemed that I had no identity of my own.  You know, when a couple is divorced, the woman is suddenly no longer “the wife.”  The man still has his name, he still has his career, he still has his education.  If the woman did not have a career before marriage, she has to establish herself on her own.  If she marries again, she has yet another name and a new identity to assume. It can be very confusing.  A woman may ask, “Who am I, anyway?”  She searches to establish who she is.  Who she  was  is not who she is  anymore!
Though I had been a Christian most of my life, my identity was wrapped up in being the wife of my ex-husband.  So when my marriage ended, I experienced an identity crisis.  God wanted my identity to be wrapped up in Him, not in another person.
After my divorce, I started dating, and for the next couple of years I had very stringent rules for myself.  But the unthinkable happened!  I found myself pregnant!  It was not the Immaculate Conception!  I was old enough to know better!  How could I have been so stupid?  The choices I had made had trapped me!
The devil began warring on my senses.  Now I felt I had no choice!  If I were to have this baby, my ex-husband could say that I was an unfit mother and might try to take my children away from me!  I felt I had to act fast.  I decided I had to terminate the pregnancy.  I made a call to a man I knew who made the arrangements for an abortion.  The details are as vivid as though they all happened last week.
I could not have been more than four or five weeks pregnant.  After the procedure, I passed a tiny piece of pink flesh which was the beginning of a little baby.  It was not a blood clot like we sometimes have during periods of heavy flow; it was unmistakable.  I will never forget what I saw.
That image has haunted me, when I least expect it, and has never been forgotten even though I have kept my secret entirely hidden for many years. In a book by Francine Rivers called The Atonement Child,  many passages pierced my heart.  The words expressed so many thoughts and emotions that I have felt.  I would like to share one of these passages with you.

Quote:
“She had sought a way out, any way out, and then had lied to get the money for an abortion, sacrificing her unborn child.  And since then, she had lied to herself and others.  Sowing seeds of destruction.  Why had she done it?  To hide her shame?  To pretend the past couldn’t harm her?  To avoid condemnation?  And what had she accomplished?  She was ashamed, hurting, and condemned anyway.  She could have made a hundred excuses for herself – and did – but none
mattered.  None helped heal the secret pain within her because her own blood cried out against her.  You can’t run away from God!”
I had thought that an abortion wouldn’t matter, that no one would ever know, and I would just continue life as usual.  Isn’t the woman the one to make the choice about what happens to her own body?  Why hadn’t I made another choice a long time ago, saving myself from this dilemma?  I thought that the decision to abort was the end of it.  God did forgive me when I wept and repented before Him.  How could I have known that it would come back into my conscience more than 30 years later with such glaring detail?
I married the man whose baby was aborted.  We were only married a month when he filed bankruptcy.  Life seemed to be a financial roller coaster and we were doomed with financial woes.  No matter how much money we made, we never had enough to pay everyone who wanted to be paid.  We were not tithing and we were not going to church.  I was taking birth control pills and got pregnant! 
The next year our precious son was born and now we had what you could call a “blended” family.  I tell you about the financial problems so you can see that I began to live under a curse of insufficiency.   Bill collectors were always calling.  There was never enough money.
Our marriage just unraveled with all sorts of sin.  By this time I had become an astrological expert, and I could, with just a few details of your birth date, time and location, tell you more than you knew about yourself.  I attributed it all to God who was All-powerful, All-knowing, and All-creative.  He was absolutely able to put all of your characteristics and personality into your tiny body depending upon when and where you were born.  I was VERY convincing and had a lot of “believer-followers.”  My door was always open and the coffee pot was always on. 
Then one day, in desperation, I knelt down beside my bed and I asked Jesus to help me with my life and my children.  I had not been doing a very good job with any part of it.  He was right there as soon as I called His Name.  Soon after that we   enrolled the girls in a Christian school. 
I began to feel that we needed some continuity between school and home.  We started going to church and one morning I just could not quit crying.  The pastor invited me to come to his study the following week to talk and right there I was baptized in the Holy Spirit.  When I left the church, my car just transported me to a church member’s house, where I  never had been before.  They welcomed me and invited me to stay for lunch with them and the youth pastor who was also visiting at the time.  As we discussed the Holy Spirit, they asked me to renounce all the forms of the occult. 
I had been involved in everything - astrology, fortune-telling, tarot cards, ouiji boards, tea leaves – you name it!  It was then that I received my prayer language and I began to pray in tongues. 
A friend of mine called the next day to tell me that she had given birth to her first child in a neighboring state.  I could not tell the baby’s astrological sign and I still cannot to this day.  I was totally delivered from all of the occult!  I burned and destroyed all of the books and items related to astrology, worth more than $1,000! God miraculously set me free from that whole part of my life!  I thought I was no longer under the curse, but problems continued to plague our marriage and I ended up divorced again. 
Within a couple of years, I married again.  This time I decided that I was only going to marry a Christian.  I might as well have said I was going to marry the next red-haired man who crossed the street!  I started going to church and praying with this man, but my spirit was warning me.  I charged ahead into a relationship that was like oil and water.     
We were never able to live in harmony even though we stayed married for 13 years.  My children were unhappy, our finances were pitiful, I was deathly ill, and we were living in a constant state of war. 
Because I was not able to keep current on the payments, I was given a notice of foreclosure on the house.  I went through the house proclaiming all the scriptures in Gloria Copeland’s wonderful book entitled, GOD’S WILL FOR YOU IS PROSPERITY.  I spoke to the windows, the doors, the walls, the floors!  No devil was going to take them from me!
I entered a state of faith in God’s Word and one night before the house was to be sold on the courthouse steps, I received a call from a man who offered to pay the court in return for a second mortgage on the house!  It was a stay of execution!  The Lord had delivered me and my house! 
During this marriage, the government demanded our boat and trailer to pay taxes we owed, the bank repossessed our car, we could not pay our mortgage payments, and I finally had to file bankruptcy to keep my home.  Another stay of execution!  I ended up paying off the court, the fees, and all my debtors because my original in-laws loaned me the money and told me THEY did not want my house! 
I shall always be grateful for their kindness to me in a time of need.  Over the next few years, I fully repaid them by the grace of God, who always made a way for me.  During this whole period of my life, I would be under so much pressure, unable to sleep because of so much tension.  I plunged from one crisis to another, and the relief that came was always temporary….another crisis always hit.
I remember getting up during the night in turmoil and to begin thanking God for my blessings.  As I did this, I would eventually come to the place of true praise with my hands lifted to Him, dancing around in my kitchen!
I would sing, “Count your blessings, name them one by one, count your many blessings, see what God hath done!”  The Lord did enable me to overcome my circumstances.
However, there were some other circumstances that came into my life which were not financial.  It was my health. I found out that I had fibroid tumors which required a complete hysterectomy, and while in the hospital, the doctors discovered a lump in my breast.  This, of course, is part of the lingering curse from having had an abortion, though I did not make the connection then.
After this time, I came into a new season in my professional life.  I had become a successful businesswoman in real estate in Atlanta, Georgia.  One of my coworkers was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.  Exactly one year later she died and was buried. 
My emotions were raw over the loss of my friend.  I left the next day to help my youngest daughter move to  Philadelphia.  While there, I discovered a new lump in my breast.  Alarming as that new health concern was, there were still more scary circumstances of a different nature just around the corner. 
As I flew back to Atlanta a few days later, two Canadian geese were sucked into the engine at takeoff.  We had to make an emergency landing back in Philadelphia with foam on the runway. 
Completely shaken, I vowed that if I only had one year to live, like my friend, I would not live my life like I had been!! I set about to change it.  I filed for divorce and put my house up for sale.  Within a few months, my housing and marital status had changed.
Then, one day, my high school sweetheart – Steve- and I began a long-distance friendship by telephone. I called it a “phoneship!”  I was in Atlanta; he was a thousand miles away in San Antonio, Texas.  The Lord said to me one day as I was dressing, “I have chosen Steve to restore the years the locusts have eaten in your life and for you to do the same for him.”
A year after I had decided to change my life,  Steve came to see me.  We only saw each other on four different occasions.  Then we got married in Georgia and I moved back to Texas.   Over the last fourteen years Steve and I have been closely involved with various people, churches and ministries that have continuously taught us in the ways of the Lord  and helped us understand that together we have a call to the nations!  We can say now that we have a global vision.  One day the Lord impressed me to have the word “restoration” inscribed in our wedding rings, which Steve did the very next day.  Truly, we are experiencing restoration in its fullness.  Jesus will transform your life when you let Him!
Once I was scheduled to go on an antiques- buying trip to Paris on the first of March with my employer, an interior design firm.  As I was praying about it, I distinctly felt God by His Spirit say, “No.”  That was on a Saturday.  Two days later
at a Christian conference taught by Alan Vincent, I introduced myself to the woman sitting beside me.  It was Mary Lindow from Colorado.  She felt impressed to invite me to join her and the U.S. ministry team at the first-ever Women’s Conference in Strasborg, France, to be held in three weeks. I told her I would pray about it and let her know.  My husband was very supportive and encouraged me to go.  All week I enjoyed the teaching of the Word, but I secretly was in turmoil over this decision.  Satan was constantly telling me I wasn’t good enough.
Finally, on the last day of the conference, as I was sitting at the back of the room it seemed God said to me, “Karen, you are 60 years old.  When are you going to start?”  You see, I had told the Lord for years that I wanted to be on the cutting edge of whatever He wanted to do on the earth!   Immediately,   I realized that God DID have something for me to do.  It didn’t matter if I felt unsure and inadequate.  I had listened to too many years of Satan’s accusations against me, seeking to diminish me and tell me I could not be useful to God.  He had kept me squelched under his thumb long enough! 
It is true that you put Fire on God’s altar when you answer, “Yes!”  I did say, “Yes, Lord, yes!”  It felt glorious!  I ran to tell Mary that I would go!  Two weeks later I was in Germany and France in life-changing ministry as part of the team!  
After I returned home, I was on my way to a prayer meeting about abortion.  There were representatives there from an organization that is seeking to end abortion through America’s court system.  The organization is called the Justice Foundation. As I was driving, I said out loud, “Well, God, I hope You don’t expect me to have anything to do with that!”
At that moment, the Holy Spirit filled my being and I began to realize that what God wanted was no less than what I wanted for myself.  “Restoration!”    
Near the end of April I wrote out my personal statement, also known as an affidavit, admitting the secret of my abortion. God led me to share the affidavit with Mary while she was visiting me later that same year in June.  I also shared it with a friend of mine, Eileen Vincent, who later became very involved in Prayer for the Justice Foundation.   
They were both so kind and understanding, and prayed with me to have the courage to do everything that God was calling me to do. 
Well, my affidavit lay there – hidden in the file folder all summer.  What was I waiting for?
I had been asked for the very first time to give my testimony and it was for a Christian women’s meeting called AGLOW in San Antonio, Texas the following September. I knew that God wanted me to finally reveal my secret – that which had remained hidden for so, so long in the closet of my heart. 
I knew I must first share my testimony with my husband and children.  Their reaction was wonderful.  Instead of shame and condemnation, they were so accepting of me!  I was so proud of them!
I went to the Justice Foundation to have my paper notarized and turn it in.  As I left their office, I felt that something really remarkable had happened.  My act of obedience to reveal the secret in my closet would allow God to
use me in new ways.  Two thousand affidavits were turned in from all over the country and were finally sent to the Supreme Court of the US to help overturn legalized abortion in America!  I was so pleased that my affidavit was among them.
I have come into full agreement with God’s TRUTH, and that truth is that “it is not in the human or legal interest of any mother to kill her own child.  A mother’s true interest is in her child’s LIFE and her relationship with her child.  Abortion should come to an end.”
I don’t know what the statistics are, but women who have had abortions are much more likely to develop breast cancer and they are also very often unable to have more children. The Lord allowed me to have a son in spite of my sin.  The blood of
Jesus is enough, for He has forgiven me. I asked for and received that forgiveness more than 35 years ago.  But God wasn’t really through. 
He has been leading me to give my testimony so that all of us who have been through this awful act will have the courage to come forward and admit what we have done. 

By coming out into the open, we can end hell’s grip on our lives.  We can be free of the trauma, the guilt, and the shame. 
Researchers describe something called, “Post Abortion Syndrome” as a woman’s inability to process the fear, anger, sadness and guilt surrounding her abortion.  She may have trouble with these emotions as well as grieving the loss of her baby, and coming to peace with God, herself, and the others involved in the abortion decision.  A woman can experience many lasting effects from an abortion, including, guilt, crying, flashbacks, sadness, anger, anxiety, sleeping problems, relationship problems, alcohol abuse, depression, eating disorders, drug abuse, and suicidal thoughts.
Those secrets that remain hidden continue to have power over you, and what I’m wanting to do is to help women see that
if they can come to terms with abortion, that Satan’s hold and power over them would end.  Like a bomb, I had to detonate abortion’s power so it wouldn’t be something that Satan could use to keep me bound.
In answer to my question, “What was I waiting for?”  God has a plan for my life that is constantly unfolding.  That date with AGLOW in September was another turning point in my life.  It was the same month in 1969 that I had had an
abortion, ending a little life so recently begun.   I began my journey of sharing my testimony and doing my part to help end abortion more than thirty years later.
Is there anything hidden in your closet?  Has Satan been talking to you, like he talked to me, keeping you silent and squelched, unable to answer the Lord’s call, like he did to me?  Has he rendered you ineffective in your life?
Today we can break agreement with the enemy.  We can choose to believe what God says about us.  We can say, “Yes, Lord.”  Why don’t you make a decision to give 100 percent to Jesus?  He’ll take you to new places, doing new things, and He will restore the years the locusts have eaten in your life! 
Whatever we have done in the past or whatever has been done to us or someone we love will lose its power when we put our fire on God’s altar by saying, “Yes, Lord, Yes!”  Whatever the Lord God asks YOU to do, do it!
If there has been an abortion in your past, I encourage you today to silence the enemy once and for all!!! 
Won’t you decide today to be silent and shameful no more?


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Copyright © 2012 " THE MESSENGER " ~ Mary Lindow
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