Whoa! It just occurred to me last night that I hadn't updated this Bible study this week. Shame on me! Usually I work on the archives and the new one at the same time. This time I got the archives done and out of the way and the Bible study column on my brain's "to do" list got checked off. My poor little brain! It tries so very hard!

I've been witnessing some really awful things happening lately. I'm seeing a number of situations where people are hurting other people. Not just hurting, but cutting them right to the quick.

Those situations are designed to keep our minds off of God. Think about it. If you've been seeking God's will in your life then you have become a powerful force in the Body of Christ. You are a mover and shaker in the Kingdom of God! You are going to make a difference to a lot of people!

Satansees your ministry and your potential. Think about just one problem you have encountered. What kind of things had to take place for it to exist? How many different people had to become involved in it? How many things needed to be tweaked to get the end result? How many people had to do certain things to get the situation to come to a head? OK, now you are aware of some of the groundwork satan had to lay to create the problem.

What does God say about it? Is He telling you to go apologize to your "enemy?" I have a friend who was told to apologize for something that wasn't her fault. Did she want to? No. Did she argue with God? Yes. Did she go apologize? YES! In her one act of obedience she caused all the work satan did to create the situation to go up in smoke! POOF!

Our acts of obedience are wearing satan out! Even when he brings smaller things against us.... car trouble, for example... if we praise God and thank God in spite of it.... POOF!

You, see, God has given us the power to send satan and his buddies running! We can keep him busy and can wear him down! He is busy creating situations and we are knocking them down as soon as they arise! POOF! POOF!

Walking in the Spirit is what we are supposed to be doing. What does that involve? The things our eyes see distract us. Jesus walked away from a group of people that were trying to grab Him in John 7:30. In John 20:26 Jesus walked into a room without using the door. To walk in the Spirit we must not believe what our eyes see. It would be like closing your eyes and walking around all day long without running into anything. God is capable of taking you through walls and from one location to another.

Our ears are a hindrance when we are walking in the Spirit. When we hear something we identify it by sound recognition. We compare the sound to everything else we've ever heard. If we hear the sound of a dog growling right behind us then we probably will take some kind of action to protect ourselves from that dog. Yet, God is perfectly able to protect us from that dog. As a matter of fact, God is perfectly capable of causing a dog to not see us, smell us, or hear us. He could make that dog jump right past us to attack someone who was about to rob us.

Are you seeing where I am heading with this? In order to walk in the Spirit we must be open to letting God show us what He wants us to see, hear, taste, feel, and smell. How are miracles going to happen if we don't allow our brains to accept them?

Here's something that might help you as much as it helped me. Everything is made up of tiny tiny particles... atoms. Those atoms clump together with other atoms to make different objects. Everything you see is made of the exact same thing, the atoms. How hard would it be for God to disassemble the atoms in an object? He could disassemble the atoms in a mountain, reassemble them as clouds or dust, move them to another location, and reassemble them. He can line up the atoms in your body with the atoms in a wall which would allow you to pass right through that wall.

In order to be walking in the Spirit we have to let go of all the things we've learned through experience. A rock is not a solid object no matter how hard it feels. It is possible to walk on the surface of a lake no matter how many times we've tried and sunk. God has a plan for us. We are not walking completely in it if we aren't allowing Him to direct our every move. Our own brain might be hindering what He wants to do in our lives.

Just keep asking Him to show you what things are hindering your being used by Him. He will show you and He will help you to see things His way. He will help you get rid of those things that you have held on to as "fact" and as "truth" which were nothing more than assumptions and opinions. Try walking in the Spirit. It is quite an adventure!

Sorry. I messed up and lost the 3/7/02 Bible study.

Ewwwwww! I just had to clean up an icky mess in my back yard. My neighbors decided to get some chickens and put them in a fenced in area just the other side of the fence that separates our yards. Let's just say they have one less chicken and my dogs aren't hungry. Get the picture? Ewwwwwww!

The war is on! The attacks on Christians are getting more and more frequent. It is time to tell the devil NO MORE!

We know the One with the answers and the solutions! Let's cry out to our Father, our Daddy, and ask Him to help us! Let's let Him show us the solution and then let's walk in it. No confusion is necessary, we are waiting for the solutions!

We are clothed with truth around our loins and have righteousness for our breastplate. Our feet are covered with the preparation of the gospel of peace. We are wielding the shield of faith in one hand and have the sword which is the Word of God in the other hand. On our heads, covering us all the way down to our toes, we are wearing salvation. (Eph 6:13-17) Protecting our backside is God Almighty! We are ready for battle! Our foe CANNOT WIN!

Don't let the weapons of the enemy slow you down for one second! He will use confusion to slow you down. He will create problems, he will create relationship difficulties, and he will sow seeds of doubt in your mind. He has many tactics, but they are all useless when we apply the solution to them. God has the solution in His hand and is offering it to you. You going to take it or are you going to wallow around in the problem?

We are taking back the ground the enemy has stolen from us! We can stand tall! We are not alone! We have God Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, standing next to us! What more do we need?

Reminder: we MUST MUST MUST spend time in prayer and in the Word. If we don't, then we are as people who choose not to put any food or liquids into their bodies. Your spiritual condition will begin wasting away just as your body would without nourishment. It will get weaker and weaker. You will have no spiritual strength. The enemy will come in and pull you away from God even faster than you are pulling away on your own. Choose to make time for God! It is imperative to your spiritual well-being!

Link to the 3/12/02 Bible study.

Wow! I'm actually updating this on Monday, like I am supposed to do! Will wonders never cease???

My husband and I finally got to go away for the weekend together. We've been talking about it for a long time, but it just wasn't happening. We really must go away more often, even if just for a day. For one thing, we need to make our camper pay for itself. It is nice, sometimes, to have my own bathroom with me every where I go, but that isn't why we bought it!

Secondly, my husband coaches high school football and golf and referees wrestling. Football goes through the summer as well. He is gone a lot and we must make time to spend together so we can get to know each other all over again.

We didn't get to go where we had originally planned because we couldn't get a reservation. But, we had a nice time anyway. It isn't always easy to find a place to go. My husband likes to do things. He likes to talk to other people, ride his bike, walk around, or just generally keep busy. Me, I like to relax for the most part. I like to read my Bible, look at pretty or interesting scenery while I listen to my praise music, do crossword puzzles, or other relaxing things. So, we need to pick a place to go that has things to do for him and things to see for me. Not always easy!

It may sound funny for me to be saying that my husband and I need to spend more time alone together and then tell you that we each enjoy different activities. We still end up spending a lot of time alone together. Since we have so little time alone normally, the time we actually have alone is a lot. We don't have a normal life with regular hours and regular times to be together, so we are more than satisfied with what we can get. (Sometimes, when I use the word "normal" I ask myself, "What is normal?" I don't think I know what that is!)

The wind was whipping today. We've had an awful lot of windy days these past four months! I had clothes I had to wash today. It was fun hanging them on the clothesline. I had to use tons of clothespins and had to keep going outside to check to make sure they weren't blowing away. They dried pretty quickly, though.

The combination of damp clothes and wind has dried out my hands. They are in bad shape. Last Friday I spent around six hours sewing number and letter patches on the leather sleeves of my son's letterman's jacket. He had been waiting a long time for his jacket. It was one problem after the other in getting it. I wanted to finish it before my husband and I left for the weekend so he could wear it.

I broke a bunch of needles and poked lots of holes in my fingers. On Saturday my forefinger and thumb were swollen from pushing and pulling the needle and thread. Then, my left hand scraped against a sharp edge on our camper door and I sliced myself. Like I said, my hands are in bad shape.

Life consists of some painful things. I am finding myself in a bit of misery again. My youngest son is breaking up with his girlfriend. I have gone through this before. When one of my sons has a girlfriend I make friends with her. Then, it puts me in an awkward position. Sometimes the girlfriend will use me to try to get back together with my son. Other times I am able to maintain a friendship after the initial hurt is gone. It hurts when it happens because I generally become the enemy along with my son. When I make a friend I don't want to have to lose them.

Link to the 3/18/02 Bible study.

Oh dear! Tomorrow my baby officially becomes an adult! He will turn 18! Oh, where have the years gone?

Such a strange week I've had! It seems like every day I got stuck on one, simple job. For example, I wanted to vacuum and wet mop the kitchen on Saturday. While vacuuming I noticed a bunch of flying ant-looking bugs on my floor. I've had those things before, but they usually have come in from outside during the summer when I have my windows open.

After I vacuumed, I got the mop and bucket and saw more flying ant-things on the floor. I began looking around the rest of my floors ( I have ceramic tile in all rooms but the bedrooms and living room.) and found a few the next room over, but most were in the kitchen.

I have a large fluorescent light fixture (about 4' by 4') on my kitchen ceiling. I figured they must be getting in through there. I knew I had a bunch of dead bugs up there as I haven't cleaned it in over a year. It isn't an easy thing to clean. Sooooo..... I opened it up and spent about an hour cleaning it out. I didn't find any of that particular kind of insect up there. In the process of climbing up and down my stepstool I stepped off the wrong side of it once and gave myself a nasty bruise on my shin.

When I was done I noticed the highest concentration of critters was by my refrigerator. I vacuumed them up again and got down on my hands and knees and tried to see if I could pinpoint where they emerged. Some were coming out from under the refrigerator and some were coming from behind the refrigerator and making their way to the front.

I didn't want to pull the refrigerator out! I knew that there would be a mess under there as I hadn't cleaned under there in over a year, either! I had no choice. Well, I did have a choice.... live with the bugs. I pulled the frig out.

I vacuumed, mopped, and scrubbed the floor. Since I had the frig out I also wiped down the sides of the frig and the wall. When I was done.... a good hour later.... I found the insects' abode. They were squeezing out of a small hole in the wall next to the faucet that provides water for my ice maker! That wall divides my kitchen and my dining room and is an inside wall! I got my can of bug spray and sprayed around the faucet and into the hole. I haven't seen one since.

After I got the fridge put back I had to do a more heavy duty scrubbing of the rest of the floor as I had dragged stuff out when I pulled out the frig. So, about three hours later, my 15 minute job was done!

It seems like every single day a simple task turned into a "can't do it until I finish that," "that needs to be put away before I can tackle this," and "since this is not working properly I need to get a tool to fix it," and "who took my tool?"

There was some good news to it, though. I got a lot more done than I had planned to do.

I've been doing a Bible study on prayer as taught by Jesus. I've also incorporated what He did and said about when people were healed. I'm putting together some interesting information. Once I collect it all I am going to pray about what I've collected and put the end result on my prayer page. I'll let you know when I finish.

Every once in a while, as I am reading my Bible, the Lord shows me something that creates a curiosity in me resulting in my doing research on a particular subject. If you haven't seen them yet I've put together a few studies that are on this site. One is a list of the Kings of Judah and Israel. Another is about the woman who anointed Jesus from the alabaster box and is entitled Who Was That Woman? I also collected scriptures about salvation and about the Trinity.

Anyway, I enjoy doing the research and want to share with anyone else who is curious about the same topic. That's what we members of the Body of Christ are supposed to do. We are to share the things God has given us. We are to work together to strengthen and edify each other. Those who have the gift of teaching are supposed to get information from God and teach it to others. That is God's plan and it is a wonderful one. The only flaw in it is the human influence. We can choose not to do our part and allow the others to suffer because of it. Sad, isn't it?

Link to the 3/25/02 Bible study.