Category Archives: Lessons in Wilderness

LESSONS IN THE WILDERNESS

GOD Who Are You? AND Who Am I?

Knowing and Experiencing God by His Hebrew Names

PART 2 – eBook 2

And the Lord said to Joshua . . . “Tell the priests who carry the ark of the covenant: ‘When you reach the edge of the Jordan’s waters, go and stand in the river.'”

Joshua said to the Israelites, “Come here and listen to the words of the Lord your God [lessons in the wilderness]. . . . ”     Joshua 3:8-9

Part 2 is comprised of the second three modules of the book and is Part 2 of the FREE eCourse Bonus on this Web site. They are:

Module 4 – Chapter 6: God is Jehovah-Shalom [The Lord is Peace]

Chapter 7: Because God is Jehovah-Shalom, I am Like a B-E-A-R

Module 5 – Chapter 8: God is Jehovah-Rohi [The Lord My Shepherd]

Chapter 9: Because God Is Jehovah-Rohi, I am Guided

Module 6 – Chapter 10: God is El Shaddai [The All Sufficient One]

Chapter 11: Because God is El Shaddai, I Am Blessed

M4A God is Peace – Jehovah Shalom

Six years after accepting the Lord as her Savior, Kim Crowe, now thirty-six years of age found peace. She joined a church that had a Bible-teaching and believing pastor. Women of the church decided to organize their own retreat, feeling they could minister to each other as well as someone from outside. As part of the retreat, they decided to wash each other’s feet and serve communion. As long as they could show it was biblical, the pastor supported them.

Would Kim Ever Find Peace?

Chanté J. and her mother taught from Scripture, and then, they prayed for the others. Standing on her tip toes to look in Kim’s eyes, Chanté put her hands on Kim’s shoulders saying, “No, you have to be last.”

Chanté and her mother prayed for the other women who received tremendous emotional and spiritual healing. Kim thought, How wonderful! What’s going to happen when they come to me?

Finally, Kim fell to her knees, and while looking up for one hour, her mind flashed back over her whole fear-filled life, as the two Godly women prayed in spiritual authority over her. The only thing Kim knew as a child was the occult. Her home was filled with spirit cables, Quija boards, tarot cards, horoscopes-all kinds of things the Bible calls an abomination against the Lord. Her mother taught her, “Jesus is a lie and the things of Satan are real. Christianity is just a religion-nothing more.”

At nine years of age, Kim was raped by an uncle; in her twenties, she was still afraid to go anywhere alone. Her mother forced her to join the Army in an effort to get her out of the house. While there, she deliberately became pregnant so she could have a child to love her.

After the Army, Kim met Terri, a girl who had been raised by foster parents, because her birth parents mistreated her. Although Terri had gone to church with them, she had not accepted Jesus, but she could “talk Bible.” The two smoked marijuana together, while reading the book of Revelation, scaring them silly.

If it had not been for two cousins who witnessed to Kim, she did not know where she would be right now. At first, she could not accept what they told her: First, there was a Creator who loved her. Second, there was a Savior who died for her. Last, He was the only way to heaven.

Blue sky and clouds with text overlay: The Lord is Jehovah Shalom, the Lord is Peace

Kim’s mom said, “It is all as true as you want it to be. There is no truth.” Although Terri’s own spiritual beliefs were not solidified, Terri convinced Kim to read the Bible and decide for herself what she believed.

 

Kim decided to send her seven-year-old daughter to church. Kim decided to go with her, just to make sure she was being taught the right things. Even before this decision, Kim felt God working in her life. She snorted speed daily, but woke up one morning and said, “I don’t want this anymore.”

Giving up drugs was harder. Terri told her, “The Bible doesn’t say you can’t smoke dope, so it’s okay.” Kim knew better. To her, it was the same as getting drunk. This revelation did not come to her until two weeks after she accepted Jesus.

Before Easter of 1984, the movie Jesus of Nazareth was on television. Kim watched it on a Friday night, then again on Saturday. There was a point where Jesus turned his head and looked straight into her eyes and said, “Now is the time. You have to make a choice.”

Kim later watched the movie many times, but that was not part of it.
After watching and hearing Jesus speak to her, Kim put her cigarette down, a three-pack-a-day habit, and prayed, “Lord, I don’t know if this is true. I don’t know if this is right. I don’t understand. I just cannot live any longer the way I’ve been living. I hate my life. I hate myself. I ask you to come into my life and change it.”

Immediately, she felt something she never felt before. PEACE. It was wonderful. She had heard of people who got an electric feeling or bubbled up with joy with a salvation experience, but she had what she needed–total peace.

Because of the occult influence, Kim had been bombarded by evil spirits, sometimes on an hourly basis. She had felt if she killed herself, everybody else would be better off. She had thought if she chocked herself, she would be at peace. She had felt black inside. There was no life. None. But now, there was true peace and she was alive–alive for the first time in her life.

A Small Band of Women Helped Bring Peace to Kim

prayer heals and  brings peace

Chanté and her mother quoted Scripture over her as Kim recalled the Scriptures that had come to mean the most to her. In 2 Timothy 1:7 God told her that He had not given her a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Her mother thought she was crazy, but that’s not what the Bible told her. Second Timothy 3:16 said that all Scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, for training in righteousness so that she would be thoroughly equipped. If I’m thoroughly equipped, then I can’t be crazy, she thought.

Romans 12:1-2 changed her life, “I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” She knew she could not do that by herself, because her mind had been damaged by drugs and verbal abuse. She prayed, “God, just take Your Word and pour it into my head.” As she read the Bible, she pictured God pouring His Word into the top of her head so the words would fill her from the feet up.

It was working, but still, when she got out of the Word, the spirits would come back. At times, she would even hear the same voices, telling her how stupid she was, and planting thoughts of suicide in her mind. There were times when she would not go to Bible study or anywhere else, telling her friends, “I can’t go today. I feel ugly.” She knew that as a Christian, Christ lived within her, but the demons continued to harass and oppress her.

Kim was still looking up when she heard Chanté’s voice saying, “And finally, we ask you Father, to help Kim be strong in the Lord in His mighty power. We pray she will put on the full armor of God so that she can take her stand against the devil’s schemes. For her struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. And right now, in the name of Jesus Christ, we command this spirit of fear to leave! You can no longer oppress and harass our sister!” (see Eph. 6:10-12).

Kim and the others who were praying with their eyes open literally saw the darkness lift. It appeared like a sheer black curtain rising from her. It had blocked out the Son, but now Light came in and expelled the darkness. Kim thought, It was just like in the books, “This Present Darkness” and “Piercing the Darkness.” Wow, they’re gone. I actually saw them leave!

This battle was won by a small band of women who believed God’s Word, and dared to use “the name of Jesus.” They believed God could bring victory, allowing Him to do His work through them. It did not take an army to help Kim find peace, just two or more believers with fully committed hearts, like Joshua and Caleb, obedient to fight in intercessory prayer.

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M6H How We Learned to Give: Because God is El Shaddai

“Don’t give away those three dollars; keep it for the babysitter tonight,” Jim told me.

“Okay.” A friend was taking me to a women’s meeting the next morning and driving, so I didn’t need gasoline; I thought, no problem.

How I learned to give out of our need

It was October 12, 1978, and our last payroll check had been spent. The last of our savings was gone, too. I totaled the bills: $252.00! We had expected to have another job by now, but we didn’t. Jim and I prayed over the bills and gave them to the Lord.

The longer I looked at the bills, the more frightened I became. Jim was a picture of peace. Confused and desperate, I decided to take a shower. I didn’t know it would be with my own tears. Fear as I had never known enveloped me. I thought about the words of Jesus after he said not to worry about what we shall eat or drink or wear, “Seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” (Matt. 6:33). But Really? How can this possibly be true for a time like this?

After my shower, I put away the bills, got out my Bible, sat down, and turned to Ephesians 6. It read, “Wherefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.”

I said, “Lord, we have presented ourselves to you, no strings attached, and nothing has happened yet as we had expected. We’ve done all we know to do in order to obey you, and we will stand.” Immediately, peace flooded my soul. I thought: this must be the peace that passes all understanding that the Bible talks about, (see Phil. 4:7). I began to see that Jesus and His Word truly are one and the same.

There will be many Jordan Rivers to cross

Give because of El Shaddai

The next morning my friend came to pick me up. The meeting was like nothing I had ever attended. The speaker spoke about victory in all our trials and that we will have many Jordan Rivers to cross in our lifetime. At the conclusion, the attendees were asked to give an offering. Small envelopes were on the table for that gift. I thought about the three dollars in my purse and what Jim had said. Then, my thoughts wandered to the widow Jesus observed giving into the temple treasury:

“Many rich people threw in large amounts. But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny” (Mark 12:41-42). Jesus told his disciples that she had put in more than all the others. “They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on” (Mark 12:43).

I wondered, what happened to that poor widow who gave all she had? The Bible doesn’t say. So, without hesitating, I pulled out the three dollars and stuffed it in the envelope. After the meeting, I saw a hand, out of the corner of my eye, put something in my outside purse pocket.

Retreating to the car, heart beating wildly, I opened the envelope. There was $11.00—a ten dollar bill plus one dollar for the tithe! I was overcome with the feeling I was in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene, who says that whoever believes in Him, streams of living water will flow from within him—a never-ending stream of joy (see John 7:38). I asked my friend if she had put that envelope in my purse. She had not.

Jim gave $5.00 to our Bible study leaders (to God) that night, leaving $5.00 for the babysitter and one dollar for us. After the meeting, our leader said, “It’s time we give our tithe to the Lord from the proceeds of these meetings. We do that by giving away one night’s offering.” Then he said it would go to us. We had not told him about our situation, but he said he would call us later with the amount. It was $254.00—two dollars over our immediate needs we had written down and taken to the Lord, and one dollar was the tithe returned to us. I thought, in determining our needs, why hadn’t we added in the tithe?

Yellow lillies with text Because God is El Shaddai, I am Blessed

November 14 came and we were still in Carthage. “You have made your way around this hill country long enough; now turn north” (Deut. 2:3). But where, Lord? And how do we get across this Jordan?

A couple verses kept haunting us: “. . . as soon as the priests who carried the ark reached the Jordan and their feet touched the water’s edge, the water from upstream stopped flowing . . . the priests who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the middle of the Jordan . . . .” (Josh. 3:15-17).

It became clear we could not keep our feet on the bank of the river if we were to reach the other side. We gave thirty-days-notice on our house; the neighbors rented it the next day. We got boxes and started packing and withdrew teacher’s retirement to help with the move. The check arrived in one week, double the amount we expected. “But where are we going, Lord?”

“Northward,” was the answer we received, and then this: “The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes” (Deut. 1:30).

Next, from the Amplified Bible, He quickened Isaiah 40:4, “Every valley shall be lifted and filled up, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked and uneven shall be made straight and level, and the rough places a plain.” He would make our way straight— northward.

December 13 arrived and we would be loading the moving truck the next day. We still did not know where straight northward was.

 

Here is your>> Module 6 Making it Personal Exercise – El Shaddai. This includes a blank covenant of monetary agreement between you and the LORD Almighty. Please take this seriously. It will change your life, and you will never be the same, if you’ve not given to the Lord first (and last).

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BECAUSE GOD IS EL SHADDAI, I AM BLESSED - LEARNING TO GIVE

M6G Manage Abundance Because God is El Shaddai

HOW DO WE MANAGE ABUNDANCE WHEN IT COMES?

We are warned, “You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me’” (Deut. 8:17), but remember it is the Lord alone who is our only source of supply to whom we give and from whom we receive, in order to establish His name on the earth. In reality, when we have abundance, we may feel the tithe remains enough to give, if we even do that.

Should we tithe from the gross or the net?

Most pastors would say either, but first fruits come off the top, the gross. However, giving from the net is a good place for beginners to start, and then increase from there. God made a promise to the Israelites, “Little by little I will drive them [enemies] out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land” (Exod. 23:30). Little by little, no matter how large or how small our income, this is our promise—to see debts, etc., driven out, leaving more money to give to the Lord’s work in the land.

Yellow lillies with text Because God is El Shaddai, I am Blessed

One pastor challenged his people to give a double tithe. Why not make twenty percent a long-range goal? Track what God does. This can easily be done by taking each year’s income tax return, finding the amount of giving on Schedule A—Itemized Deductions—and dividing it by total gross wages. One benefit of tithing on gross wages means never having to worry about paying income taxes. Not only does the higher deduction help, but God’s return on money is a supernatural thing that cannot be explained. Even if we do not itemize deductions, we can take joy in tracking the increase of giving and receiving.

Why not set a reasonable budget to live on and give the rest away? Jesus says, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15). Without a plan, we will be tempted to spend any extra on extravagant living. And without a responsible plan it may not happen at all.

Remember the verse in James 4:2, “You do not have, because you do not ask God.” The very next verse says, “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” God gives us richly all things to enjoy, but it is our motives we must always keep in check, because wealth is so uncertain (see 1Tim. 6:17).

We must take the limitations off what God desires so badly to do through our lives.

Stanley Tam’s story shows what He can do. Stanley started out just like most of us—broke. At a young age, he chose to honor God with his small income. Daily obedience to God’s leading brought increase and abundance to the point that he legally made God the senior partner in his business—hiring a lawyer to do so.

From there, he went from giving 51 percent to giving 90 percent and living on the ten. He founded three businesses: United States Plastics, States Smelting, and Industrial Safety and Tamco. At eighty years of age, he travels twenty-five weeks per year speaking at churches. His inspiring story is in God Owns My Business. Every Christian can follow his example—whether a business owner or not.

WHAT IF WE DON’T BLESS OTHERS FROM OUR ABUNDANCE?

Abundance of El Shaddai

From the same passage of Scripture in Luke where Jesus discusses possessions, he tells a story about the rich fool. The ground produced him a very rich crop. He decided to tear down his small barn and to build bigger ones to store his abundance, and he said to himself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy, eat, drink and be merry” (Luke 12:19).

“God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’

“‘This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself and is not rich toward God’” (Luke 12:20-21).

Not rich toward God. The prophet Malachi tells us what that means:

“Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty. “But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’ “Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me.

“But you ask, ‘How do we rob you?’

“‘In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse—the whole nation of you—because you are robbing me’” (Mal. 3:7-9).

Not living rich toward God means not tithing.

Could it not be said this is what the millionaire in our story did? He robbed God by not giving to His loving servants— Grandma and Grandpa—with right motives. God seems to have said, “It is enough, today your soul will be required of you. Now, who will get what you have kept to yourself?”

The stranger had prospered in the worldly sense of the word at some time in his life, but he was not a blessed man. Fear, not faith, ruled his life. He hoarded his money and could not even part with a small portion to repay his gracious hosts for the food he ate from their table. It was obvious to him they could use it. And the car he feared to buy is what eventually took his life.

Did Grandma and Grandpa pass the test, or were they just unable to receive from this man as from the Lord? The King James Version of Luke 6:38 says that men will give to our bosom. Certainly, God uses other people to bless us. The Apostle Paul’s letter to Timothy answers this question:

Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.—1Timothy 6:6-10

Are We Risking Our Abundance To Be Blessed?

The money from the stranger would have been a trap for Grandma and Grandpa if they had accepted it. It was not blessed money from anyone wanting to bless them with it. The man was thinking only of himself. Leaving without reimbursing for gasoline and food proved that. Deuteronomy, Chapter 7, warns the people not to covet silver or gold from the ungodly because they could be snared by it, “for it is an abomination to the Lord your God” (Deut. 7:25). Abomination in Hebrew means “morally disgusting; things which belong to the worship of idols.”[1] The man loved and worshiped his money believing falsely it could buy anything.

Grandma and Grandpa chose against the snare of money and passed the test. Better still, they gave of themselves to those who were unable to return the favor. During the Depression years and every difficult year, Joyce’s grandmother had enough food for everyone who came to her door. This seemed unbelievable since her cabinets barely had anything in them.

Wealth is to be treated the same as we treated manna

Abundance of El ShaddaiLike the manna, those who gathered little had enough—it stretched and multiplied. Grandma cherished the jelly she made and rationed it to her family. After it was destroyed in one of the fires, she resolved to never again withhold any food. She learned: when we come to an end of our own means, we will see the provision of the Almighty.

It is not by chance that manna and wealth are used in two sentences one after the other in Deuteronomy 8:16-18. The manna was to test us so it would go well with us in the end—when we gained wealth. Wealth is to be treated the same as we treated manna—not to be hoarded, lest it rot.

Moses gave the instructions for manna, Jesus gives the instructions for wealth, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” (Matt. 6:19-21).

Furthermore, James, the disciple of Jesus, warns those living in the last days, against hoarding wealth and withholding it,

Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence.–James 5:1-5

Those who are rich toward God, who have placed their security and complete trust in Him alone, are those through whom He will do His work. A harvest of souls will be brought into the kingdom because they will be blessed beyond measure by The Almighty—El Shaddai.

[1] Zodiates, Key Word Study Bible, p. 1791.