love

Matthew 4 – Basics

by ladypbwiggins

Sometimes when you think you know a narrative you tend to over look some interesting and enlightening facts. I am trying to look at this text with fresh eyes to see what I am really being told.

Matthew 4:1-11 The Temptation

I never noticed or realized the first two temptations were accusations against the man Y’shua. “If you” was the accusation. The response was thrown back to the authority of God’s word.  The final temptation went straight to the original intent. Satan (Adverary) vs. God. Who will you worship? Y’shua dropped the mic. He said get out of my face It is written you only worship God and Him only shall you serve. Why would the Word of God bow down to God’s Adversary? Please!!

Matthew 4:14 Galilee of the Gentiles

Where is this? I always thought Galilee where the tribes of Jacob settled. We usually forget there were non-Jews there before they came and others moved in later. Looking at Strong’s it says it is a circle of Gentiles or circle of nations, non-Jews. He went to them and declared the authority of God is here. This was the light brought to them. This was the gospel He brought to them.

I also noticed

23 And Jesus went about all Galilee,

and preaching the gospel of the kingdom,teaching in their synagogues,

(the good news of the reign of God Matt 4:23 Youngs’ Literal Translation)

and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.

24 And his fame went throughout all Syria:

and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments,

and those which were possessed with devils,      (possessed or controlled by evil spirits, spiritually ill)

and those which were lunatick,                                  ( mentally ill)

and those that had the palsy;                                      (paralytic, physically ill)

and he healed them.

The text goes on to say that large multitudes followed Him from Galilee, Decapolis (ten-city region in Syria), Jerusalem, Judea and beyond Jordan. This is widespread awareness of Him. All of this seems to be in the first year of His ministry.

How did I miss so much?

Who We Need

by ladypbwiggins

You are Extremely  knowledgeable about some things.

You are knowledgeable about Some  things.

You are Not knowledgeable about most things.

Me too.

That’s why WE NEED EACH OTHER.

 

I Understand

by ladypbwiggins

I Understand why you don’t believe Jesus is the Anointed One.

You learned Jesus was not His birth name

He was Hebrew, after all.

And the letter “J” did not exist when he was born in Hebrew, Latin or Greek.

I Understand your questions.

How did they decide which scrolls were to be included in the Bible?

Should I ignore the scrolls that were included because I learned some were not?

Does the absence of some negate the truth of those included?

Or should I discover them and read for myself?

Can I reasonably expect every ancient scroll to be included in one book that I can carry?

I Understand your reasons but I can’t deny based on these truths.

Y’shua of Nazareth  declared in the synagogue His purpose.

Luke 4:18 (AMP)
18  The Spirit of the Lord [is] upon Me, because He has anointed Me [the Anointed One, the Messiah] to preach the good news (the Gospel) to the poor; He has sent Me to announce release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to send forth as delivered those who are oppressed [who are downtrodden, bruised, crushed, and broken down by calamity],

How can I deny such a beneficial mission?

He loved and forgave us and taught us to do the same to each other?

Why would anyone reject love and forgiveness?

Could it be because we want to receive it

But we are too proud and selfish or maybe fearful to give it?

I Understand.

Those who call themselves Christian but behave hatefully in the name of righteous indignation is your biggest hindrance.

They claim to be Christ-like but live it selectively; when you agree with them.

If we are to do the Lord’s work and be like Him, then we should live His mission for all.

(Note; The only ones who received His anger were the self righteous.)

I Understand if your Religion won’t allow you to.

To the Nonbeliever consider His teachings of peace and goodwill;

His example of love and forgiveness.

To Declared Believers: live His teachings and live his examples;

Not your religions’.

But if you can’t or won’t

I Understand.

 

To begin your own search try these links as a starting point.

http://www.gotquestions.org/canon-of-Scripture.html

http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/centuries/1st-century-11631960.html

 

 

 

The 7th Month and Then…..

by ladypbwiggins

October 28th marks the end of the 7th month of our health journey; the one that began with my husband’s cardiac arrest in our bathroom. Seven is the number of completion. The seventh day God rested.This month has not been restful but as I compare it to the first six, yes it has.

Many things have changed in these last 7 months.

  • Carl has lost about 100 lbs. He is no longer considered obese.
  • We are more committed to eating a cleaner, nutritious diet.
  • I have learned more about the Kaiser Permanente System than I ever hoped to know.
  • I have learned some medical protocols that we all need to know.
  • I have learned just how much power an insistent advocate has; especially one whose on God’s team.
  • A car accident resulted in a new, more functional vehicle.  Romans 8:28
  • We have learned who our real friends are.
  • We have learned the meaning of Malachi 3:
    • “Good measure, pressed down, shaken together shall men (women) give into your bosom.”
  • Most of all, we have learned many lessons about God’s faithfulness. 

As October 28th approaches, my thoughts go to the prayers for October 29th, the 8th month. Eight is the number of new beginnings. So what is my desire for the 8th month,

  • The good work that God has begun to continue.
    • I desire complete healing for my husband.
    • I desire God’s revelation of His plan for our new lives.
      • I know this experience was not just for us to learn. There must be a greater purpose.
    • I desire a financial opportunity enveloped in that plan.
  • I desire leisure time with my husband. A trip to Santa Barbara or Carmel would be lovely.
  • I desire NO doctor visits that are not routine checkups for either of us. No hospital stays.

The 8th month will provide an awesome Thanksgiving. We have so much for which to be thankful. I think I will begin now.

Thank You

To All who have supported us with your prayers, dinners, rides, and finances.

To All the doctors, nurses, and therapists who have helped us and taught me.

To Eagles Wings Christian Church family.

To our personal family.

To my God.

Who has sheltered us, protected us, and kept us.

Psalm 91

Daughter-in-law, Daughter-In-Love

by ladypbwiggins

I was talking to a lady the other day about our children and their spouses. She had just met my son and daughter in law. We continued our conversation after they left. She then told me a situation that happened with her husband. In a conversation she introduced her son-in-law as her son. Her husband corrected her and she said he is my son-in-love. Our daughter chose to love him. We have grown to love him. He is a a choice to love. I call him my son, my son-in-love. I liked that.

I love my daughter-in-law. She is our daughter. She is our daughter-in-love.

Five Months Ago Tonight

by ladypbwiggins

Five  months ago tonight, March 27, my husband flat-lined.

Five months ago tonight I faced the loss of my best friend and love.

Five months ago tonight I prayed if it is his time take him or heal him. I don’t want him to suffer.

Five months ago tonight I spent the night in emergency.

Five months ago tonight I began a painful, terrifying, horrific, rewarding journey.

Five months ago tonight I began to learn to trust what God said rather than what I saw.

Five months ago tonight I believe God answered my prayer by breathing life into Carl.

The scripture that came to me was Psalm 91 and therein I believed lay my promise.

Psalm 91:14-16 (ESV)
14  “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name.
15  When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.
16  With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”

Here we are five months later and he is back in the hospital but things are so very different.

God is still fulfilling that promise in very interesting ways.

God is Masterfully orchestrating our lives.

If I Had Known …

by ladypbwiggins

Donald Lawrence said there was a King (Queen) in me.

I wish I had known.

I went to church every Sunday as a child.

I attended Sunday School.

I was a faithful youth usher, choir member

And everything else youth were involved in.

I had no choice.

Daddy made sure of that.

I celebrated your birth

I learned that you gave your life for me.

You loved me that much.

I learned that you’re powerful

After all, you rose from the dead.

I learned you were righteous and

Required my best behavior.

And I tried.

I learned how important you should be to me

BUT if I had known

Just how much you cared

About everyday, mundane things in my life.

I would have consulted you about my college and career choices,

who I dated, where I lived.

Heck, How I felt during those confusing teenage years.

Maybe my self perception would have been better.

What other’s thought would have had less influence.

Maybe I would have realized dark chocolate was beautiful.

I mattered to you during that painful transition from childhood to adulthood.

If I had known what your loving me really meant,

Maybe, just maybe I would have made better decisions.

Maybe, just maybe I would have lived like who YOU positioned me to be.

Maybe, just maybe I would have known there was a QUEEN in me.

It Would Be So Easy

by ladypbwiggins

It would be so easy to hate the shooter in the Charleston Church.

Nine dead for no obvious reason but hatred.

It would be so easy to hate the system and environment that bred that hatred.

It would  be so easy to travel back in time to slavery in the Carolinas and

Hate all slave owners, slave brokers and the good people who said nothing.

It would be so easy to blame his parents and

Hate them.

It would be so easy!

But rather I choose to do the HARD thing.

I choose to pray for the hearts and minds of the victims’ families

That they forgive the shooter in the midst of their grief.

I choose to pray for change in the shooter’s mind.

Living life abundantly, securely not fearfully for others.

I choose to forgive the system that bred this hatred.

I choose to understand that they are not living free

But bound in the prison of hatred and they don’t know it.

I choose the HARD thing.

Otherwise, I will become bound in the chains of hate;

My words will shoot the bullets of anger and hatred.

I will become him.

I choose the Hard thing.

27  “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,
28  bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 

Luke 6:27-28 (ESV) 

Humility Lesson #2

by ladypbwiggins

God didn’t we do this already? Thought I had learned this lesson. When you lose everything except your family and your life, you learn humility. At least I thought that is what I learned. See now I have to get the definition of humility. Maybe that is not what I was learning at all.The definition I found for humility is being modest or having a low view of your own importance. That doesn’t sit well with me. It kind of sounds like to have humility is to believe your are not worth anything. I like better the biblical definition. Humility seems to be described as not being arrogant or prideful. When you lose everything there is very little to be prideful about. So what lesson am I learning.

During my husband’s Los Angeles hospital stay, I was in a car accident that totaled my car. I had to rely on others to get me to the hospital cross town. Losing my independence made it very clear. I never learned to rely on other people the way that I have had to do in this last few weeks. It was very difficult to ask people to drive me to the hospital or grocery store or even to the post office. I felt I was imposing on their time and schedules. The most recent and hard hitting part of this lesson was to find out people loved me enough to give so generously. I knew they loved my husband like that but I never believed I was a significant part of that equation. One of my church sisters’ words hit me in the back of my head (she was sitting behind me when she spoke). She said

“I am blessed that you allowed us to help.” Wham!

I allowed you to help and you feel blessed.

The next blow to my emotions came when I received gifts as a result of my daughter’s fundraising efforts to purchase a vehicle. I don’t know who gave but there are two that I never would have expected sent gifts. The last powerful blow came when some friends assisted in purchasing my new car. I won’t go into details because they want to remain anonymous but suffice it to say, it was way beyond anything I would have expected to be done for me. Accepting their gift was humbling but it was more than that. I was opening up to receive God’s love through two of His children and I was allowing them the opportunity to share His love.

This was the real life expression of God keeping His word that if you give, He would give back to you in “good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over shall men (people) give into your bosom.” That has certainly happened to me and I am still overwhelmed. I feel like I have been run over by an 18 wheeler loaded with love.

I guess my humility lesson is learning how to receive through people what God has promised. To everyone who has blessed us, who has loved us

Thank You!

Because God Said So!

by ladypbwiggins

On March 26, 2015, my husband had a heart attack. While the paramedics worked to revive him, I prayed.

Lord, if it is his time, I don’t want him to suffer. If it is not, please heal him completely.

At that moment, he was revived and breathing on his own. God said it wasn’t his time. The scripture God gave me was Psalm 91.

It basically says, the one who sits down in the hiding place of the most High God shall stop and remain in the shade of protection that He provides. David, the writer, lists benefits of being in the shade of the Almighty. Conditions and the outcome of fulfilling those conditions are given. This is the part I felt was speaking of Carl.

Because he (Carl) has set his love on Me (God), I will deliver and protect Him.

When he calls me I will answer.

When he is in trouble I will rescue him and honor him

With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation (deliverance, victory and prosperity)

I was and am determined to believe if God allowed David to experience that, he was telling me that Carl would also. You may think I am crazy but I believe God. He Said So!

As the days went by I held on to that belief and accepted every small progress toward healing as confirmation and then he acquired pneumonia. I wasn’t shaken, it was just a delay. It turned out to be a long, intensely trying, delay.

On April 16 there was another cardiac attack. I watched as the team in ICU worked on him. I couldn’t believe all those people and machines got in that already filled room. The quickness and precision with which they moved was mind-blowing. It was a very organized, efficient, chaos. After he was revived, I sat wondering if I heard God wrong because this was not looking so good. Somewhere in there I realized Psalm 91 applied to me also. I asked God to clear up my confusion. The next day, Carl had another attack. I watched the team go into action. Suddenly the Code Blue light and alarm went off. One of the nurses said they were not needed. He had revived himself. They were amazed because they knew his heart was too weak to do that.

Many of you would say he was lucky. I say God answered my prayer. He showed me that he was doing a healing work in Carl and to trust him. To confirm this, one of my church sisters came to visit that Saturday and she read a scripture that she felt strongly was given to her regarding Carl. It was Psalm 41. Again a condition and a promise.

Psalm 41:1-3 (NKJV)
1  Blessed is he who considers the poor; The LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.
2  The LORD will preserve him and keep him alive, And he will be blessed on the earth; You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies.
3  The LORD will strengthen him on his bed of illness; You will sustain him on his sickbed

Carl slept. I fought a different kind of battle while he slept. I talked about it in The Battle post. I will just say here that it was hard and hard fought. However, I learned a lot. A day or so passed and I prayed another prayer. This time it was Lord, how long should I let him stay on these machines. He doesn’t want to live like this. Is he still with us and will he have a good quality of life after it is all over? All these things I cried out to God about because he promised to answer me. When I got to the hospital, Carl was sitting up, eyes wide open and smiling at the nurse. God answered.

So here we are, almost a month later, with him still on the ventilator but there is no arterial blockage. The doctors’ plan of attack is to make his heart strong enough to get a defibrilator implanted. My plan is to watch God restore his heart completely to newness. That was what I asked for in the first place, complete healing. I had another lesson to learn during all of this. It is not enough to see God work and believe while looking at your circumstance. Walking by faith in its purest state is not seeing the circumstance but seeing beyond it. Seeing only what God said regardless of what everything looks like around you. God defies our reasoning.

Has Carl been healed? Not according to the doctors. BUT… I see a perfectly pumping heart in the chest of the man I love and it is simply because

God said so!