Who You Gonna Call...

October 28, 2013,

Good Morning My Beloved Ones,

I pray you are walking in footprints bigger than your own and are holding tightly to the Father’s hand.

Today I want to talk to you about “Who you gonna call?”  Remember the movie, Ghostbusters?  It was so popular in the ‘80’s if you asked, “Who you gonna call?” the automatic response was “GHOST BUSTERS!” 

Nowadays if we get in trouble, who do we call? 9-1-1, our parents, our best friend, our accountant?  God said in Psalms 81:7 “Thou calledst in trouble and I delivered thee”, and the New Testament tells us that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

A friend of mine told me about a young man who was in a bad motorcycle accident.  He lay there on the pavement calling out for his mother.  She was nowhere near her son and had no ability to help him.  If only the young man had known to call out to Jesus!  How near is Jesus when we need Him?  Romans 10:8 says that He is nigh unto us – even in our mouths.  Paul was saying here that Jesus is so near all we have to do is call His name.  Not only is He right there, He saves us and delivers us from trouble.

We live in a world of troubled times.  When they come upon you, who are you gonna call, beloved ones?  Cry out to Jesus for He alone can save.

Just call His name, He’ll be there, Raelynn

Person of Privilege

October 21, 2013

Good Morning My Beloved Ones,

            I pray that you feel as blessed as you are, feel as loved as you are, and feel as special as you are.

            Today I want to talk to you about “a person of privilege”.  Numbers, chapter 16, tells us about a man named Korah who gathered 250 of Israel’s most prominent men to help him overthrow Moses as leader to take his place.  Who was this Korah that he should attempt such a thing?

            Korah was a Kohathite.  The Kohathites, Numbers, chapter 4 tells us, were the only people in Israel who were permitted to touch the most holy things in the tabernacle.  When the tabernacle was taken down so the people could move on, it was the Kohathites who carried the most holy instruments including the Ark of the Covenant which represented the very presence of God.  This was a high honor bestowed upon a few select people.  Korah was a person of privilege.  But Korah didn’t view himself as a person of privilege.  Numbers 16:9 says he thought it a small thing that the God of Israel separated him from the congregation to bring him near Himself for this special act of service.  Korah didn’t want to serve.  He wanted to be served.  It was personal ambition in spiritual clothing.

            How did God Respond to Korah’s rejection of his privileged position in order to gain personal promotion?  He caused the ground to open and swallow Korah and his family alive down into the pit and the 250 which followed him the Lord burned up with fire.

            Did you know that you are a person of privilege, beloved one?  The God of the universe has separated you unto Himself for a very special act of service.  You (and I) carry the most Holy instrument wherever we go.  We carry the Holy Spirit of God inside us (I Corinthians

6:19).  We take not the box that represented the presence of God as Korah did, but take God’s actual spirit with us everywhere we go.  This should not seem a small thing to us, beloved ones.

            It’s time we saw ourselves as people of privilege.  Recognize the honor that has been bestowed upon you and put away any desire for personal promotion.  Become content with who God has called you to be and the role you play in His kingdom.  Godliness with contentment is great gain (I Timothy 6:6).

Privileged to serve Him, your sister Raelynn

Help!...I've Fallen...

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October 14, 2013 

Good Morning My Beloved Ones,

I pray your heart is kind, your words are sweet and your hands are quick, to help.

Today I want to talk to you about, “Help, I’ve fallen…”  By now you’ve probably come to the realization that none of us are perfect and we are all going to fail at times.  Like the bumper sticker says, “Christians aren’t perfect, they’re just forgiven.”  Since falling is a given, let’s talk about what happens when you fall.

When I introduced the topic of this letter, most of you probably finished the line from the commercial in your mind: “…and I can’t get up.”  You are chuckling, but the truth is that the advertising and the “wisdom” of this world permeates our thinking and often gives us a mindset that a counterproductive to a successful walk with the Lord.  If we hear the words, “Help, I’ve fallen” and immediately think, “and I can’t get up”, do you suppose that could subconsciously hinder our ability to recover from the fall?  Proverbs 24:16 tells us that a just man can fall seven times and the Lord picks him up every time.  I want to train your mind to learn a new jingle:  “Help, I’ve fallen and the Lord picks me up.”  Go on.  Say it a few times.  Let the truth of it roll over your lips and spill down into your soul.

So often when we fall and our immediate thought is “-and I can’t get up”, we dig ourselves deeper into which we’ve fallen.  We beat ourselves up for falling in the first place; we believe Satan’s lies that a “good” Christian wouldn’t have fallen, so why would God want to pick us up?  Some of us believe we aren’t strong enough to get up or it’s not worth the effort, or that we somehow deserve to be in the pit where we have fallen because it was our own doing that got us there.  I’m here to tell you that God is more interested in getting us to Heaven than we are in getting there.  That’s why He sent Jesus.  Psalm 40:2 says, “He brought me out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay and set my feet on a rock, and established my goings.”  That rock is Jesus.

Have you fallen, beloved one?  Let God pull you out of the pit and set you in Jesus and establish you.  And if you fall into the same pit the very next day, let God pull you out of the pit and set you in Jesus and establish you.  And if you fall into the same pit the very next day, …a just man falls seen times and the Lord picks him up every time.  You are made righteous by the blood of Jesus, beloved ones.

You are going to fall.  Expect it.  But when you do, cry out, “Help.  I’ve fallen and the Lord picks me up”, then let Him do it.  Learn the new jingle, my friends and become transformed by the renewing of your minds.

No longer afraid of falling, Your sister, Raelynn

The Encounter

October 7, 2013

Good Morning my beloved ones,

            I pray you are making the most of each opportunity given you, for they are divine appointments from God.

            Today I want to talk to you about “the Encounter”.  A client came into my office the other day and shared with me how his wife came to the Lord.  The story touched me, and I want to share it with you.  My client was a Christian who had put God on the back burner of his relationship and was choosing to do his own thing.  He was living with a woman to whom he was not married and who did not know the Lord.  She had not read the Bible, they did not discuss religious things.  The man and woman shared other interests, but God was not one of them.  One day the woman was in a serious accident and fell into a coma.  She went into the coma a sinner who knew nothing of God, a soul destined for Hell.  She awoke from the coma saved and loving Jesus.  When the woman emerged from the coma she was beside herself with excitement.  She grasped her boyfriend’s arm and cried, “I was with Jesus!  I know it was Jesus.  
I couldn’t look upon His face, but He held me and I felt overwhelming love and I confessed all I ever did and pledged my life to Him”.  Her word’s were confident, her eyes sparkled with truth and love.  When she was in the darkest place – the depths of a coma – she had an encounter with Jesus and it changed her life.  In fact, two lives were changed that day.  My client repented and recommitted his life to Jesus.  The two were married and have been serving Jesus together now for over 13 years.

            This story reminds me of another encounter in the Bible.  Jesus said He needed to go to Samaria.  He had an appointment with a woman at a well.  This woman had had 5 husbands and was currently living with a man to whom she was not married.  When the woman encountered Jesus, He told her all she ever did and extended His love, forgiveness and grace to her.  She too, repented and ran to tell others of her encounter with Jesus.

            The stories of both women’s salvation touch me because these women did not seek out Jesus.  He sought out them.  Luke 19:10 says “For the Son of Man is come to seek and save that which is lost”.  Know this, beloved, Jesus sees you in your darkest place and He loves you enough to plan an encounter with you.  But why wait for Him to seek you?  Run to Jesus, beloved ones.  Encounter Him now.  Let Him hold you in His arms and extend His love, forgiveness and grace to you.  It will change your life.

            It’s time to wake from our comas, my friends.  It’s time to come alive to the excitement of a relationship with the living Christ!

Alive in Him - Raelynn

Buyer's Remorse

September 30, 2013

Good Morning My Beloved Ones,

            I pray that should the Lord suddenly return, He find you eagerly waiting and about His business.

            Today I want to talk to you about “Buyer’s Remorse”.  When we purchase something, we exchange something of value (usually money) for the object of our desire.  Sometimes, after the purchase is made, the buyer feels he paid too high a price or that the object purchased wasn’t worth the price he paid.  It’s called buyers remorse.  Have you experienced it?  I have.

            I Corinthians 6:20 tells us that we have been bought with a price.  The price was very costly.  We were paid for with the blood of One who chose to give His life in exchange for our eternal freedom.  I think sometimes about the humiliation and torture that Jesus endured upon that cross and think, “Lord, was I worth it?  Do you ever look at the life I’m choosing to live and wish you hadn’t?  Was the price too great to pay for what you got in exchange?”  It’s a sobering thought.  It’s a question I don’t take lightly.

        

   Jesus knew the price He would have to pay for our salvation.  In the Garden of Gethsemane, He prayed so earnestly to the Father asking if there was any other way (basically trying to negotiate a lower price) that the blood vessels in His forehead broke.  And when the Father said the price was non-negotiable, He agreed to pay it.

            What did Jesus get in return?  Romans 5:7,8 puts it this way:  “For scarcely a righteous man one will die; yet perhaps for a good man some would even dare to die.  But God commendeth His love toward us, in what while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.”  Jesus knew what He was paying the ultimate price for:  people who didn’t know Him, didn’t love Him, and were openly rebelling against Him.  It really sounds like He got the raw end of the deal, doesn’t it?  How could He not have buyer’s remorse?

            But He doesn’t!  Listen to what Hebrews 12:2 says, “Looking unto

Jesus…who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross…”  We are that joy, beloved ones!  He not only felt that we, at our worst, were worth suffering and dying for, He counted it a joy!

            I don’t know about you, beloved, but that makes me determined to want to live a life worthy of such love, worthy of such sacrifice.  We can never repay Christ for what He did for us.  We can’t do enough good deeds or become holy enough.  Even if we spent every waking moment reading the Bible or in church or doing for others, it wouldn’t be enough.  But He doesn’t ask us to do any of those things.  All He wants from us is our love.  I love Jesus because He first loved me.  I will never, could never love anyone more.  I hope that is true of you as well.

Not worthy but worth it – His grateful servant - Raelynn

The Two Edged Sword

September 23, 2013

Good Morning My Beloved Ones,

            I pray with each day your confidence is growing in who you are and in your unique purpose in this world.

            Today I want to talk to you about “The Two-edged Sword”.  Hebrews 4:12 says, “The Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword…”  What is a two-edged sword?  Most blades have one sharp cutting edge and a duller, flatter edge.  A two-edged sword is one that cuts both ways.

            One of the most comforting scriptures in the Bible is Hebrews 13:5:  “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.”  How many times when I’ve been in trouble, felt alone, was scared, have I clung to these words?  And I felt the Lord’s presence and the comfort these words were intended to convey.  But I’ve also felt the other edge of the sword.  When God said, “I will never leave thee…”, He meant I will never leave thee.  God is right there during those times when I am not feeling so spiritual, when I am making deliberate choices to sin or behave in a way that is not pleasing to God.  He doesn’t turn His back, look away or go for a walk during these times.  He never leaves me nor forsakes me.

            So, is the purpose of the two-edged sword to bless me when I’m good and punish me when I’m bad?  No.  The purpose is found in the rest of Hebrews 4:12: “…piercing to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit…and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”  Your soul is your mind, will and emotions.  Your spirit is what was breathed into you by God.  The purpose of the two-edged sword is to separate soul and spirit so we will have a clear choice whether to serve self (soul) or God (spirit).

            Have you ever said or done something then had the thought, “Now why did I do that?”  Our scripture tells us that the two-edged sword is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

            Thank God for His precious word.  I love it more each day.  It brings me comfort from His promises but also cuts the other way and shows me who I am and who I need to be.  The wounds of a friend are faithful Proverbs 27:6 tells us.  We may get wounded by the two edged sword at times, but those wounds are faithful to make us into the child of God we are meant to be.

Love in Christ, Raelynn