Category Archives: Teaching

The Christmas Story (Part 2)

The Angels Visit the Shepherds

In those days the government decided that they should count everyone that lived in that area of the world. So Joseph had to take Mary to his town, Bethlehem to register.

It took Mary and Joseph a long time to get to Bethlehem.  They didn’t have cars back then, so it probably took them a lot longer to get there.  This was very tiring for Mary because she was soon going to have a baby.

When they reached the town, all the hotels were full and there was nowhere that they could stay.  Finally, someone felt bad for them, and offered them a place to stay.

The Bible doesn’t say for sure where they stayed but most people think that they stayed in a small barn where animals were kept.  In any case, doesn’t it seem strange that Jesus, the King of the Jews wasn’t born in a fancy palace or even a hospital?

Mary and Joseph were thankful that they at least had a place to lay down.  It was warm, and there was plenty of straw to lay on.

That night an exciting, wonderful thing happened.  Mary and Joseph had a baby!  But it wasn’t just any baby, it was Baby Jesus!  The creator of the whole world, the King of Kings, the one who would save the world.

The little baby boy fell asleep in Mary’s arms and she wrapped him in cloths and laid him in a manger on some clean straw.

Mary and Joseph soon fell asleep, they were so glad to have this special baby join their family.

Some shepherds who lived near Bethlehem, were out at night in their fields watching over their sheep.  They were worried a bigger animal might come and hurt the sheep, so that sat on a hill visiting and watching their sheep together.

Suddenly there was a bright light.  Now this wasn’t just any bright light, the light was so bright that they had to close their eyes for a minute because the light hurt their eyes.

When they opened their eyes to see what was going on, a beautiful angel was standing in the air just above them with his arms opened wide.

The shepherds looked at each other in disbelief, but realized it must be real, because they were all seeing the same thing.  All at once they were very afraid, but they didn’t run because they were too stunned to do anything.

Then the angel spoke to them.  “Do not be afraid.  I’m here to bring you good news for all people.  Today in Bethlehem a baby has been born, He is the one that will save the world.  You will know the baby because He will be wrapped in cloths, and laying in a manger.”

Suddenly, just as quickly as the first angel came, there were a large group of angels, and they said together, “Glory to God, and peace to all people on earth.”  After they spoke, they floated away.

The shepherds were amazed and excited, did everyone know this news, or just them?  They had to go see this baby the angels were talking about.

They ran as fast as they could, and soon found Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus.  The shepherds fell to their knees when they saw Jesus, they were filled with joy that they had found the Lord.

The shepherds only stayed for a few minutes,  they realized that Mary needed to sleep.  As soon as they left they began shouting in the streets and telling everyone they met about what they had seen, and about the arrival of baby Jesus.

Mary sat and watched Jesus sleep, she was so happy.  She was thinking about what it would be like when her son got older, and what an important person He was.

The Christmas Story – Part 1
The Christmas Story – Part 3
The Christmas Story – Part 4

Time to Possess the Land

In Joshua chapter 1, we read about the account of Joshua receiving instructions from the Lord to go into the land He had given them and to “possess” it.  That word, “possess”  in Hebrew is yarash or yaresh and it means to take possession of, inherit, dispossess.  The connotation here is that God gave the Israelites the land, but they had to first cross the Jordan River, and second, fight for it.

“Taking the land” has been a common theme in Christian teaching and preaching, but never has it been more applicable than in these treacherous times we are living in and will be facing in the coming years.

If you haven’t noticed already, the spiritual warfare necessary to do anything at all for God has reached a new intensity.  If we are to accomplish the things which the Lord have given for us to do, it will take a new level of resolve and spiritual strength – not natural strength.

These battles to “possess” the land cannot be fought in our own strength.  They must be fought in the power and strength of the Lord’s might, and His will and purpose for giving us the land in the first place.  If you try to do something in your own strength that isn’t in the plan of God, you can be sure that it will backfire and you may be left bruised and bloody, wondering what went wrong.

The first step in any battle plan is to “know that you know” that it’s the Lord’s will.  If you “know that you know” He has given you the land, then there is no journey too difficult, or battle too hard to fight in order for you to “possess” the land, because He will be with you and He will anoint you for the struggle.  The kingdom of heaven is ours when we give up our own will to accomplish His will.

As we see the Revelation Days unfolding, it’s not time to shirk back or give up and just wait for Jesus to return. No!  It’s time to finish what He has given us to do and it’s time to “possess” the land.

Healthy Bodies and Spirituality

Have you ever noticed that when you are really sick, you can’t in actuality concentrate on anything – and that includes spiritual things? When I’m sick, it seems like every bit of strength I have goes to getting well and I can’t seem to get spiritual about anything! I know none of you have ever dealt with this, but I sure have (*wink*).

In fact, being sick doesn’t bring out the best in me or anyone else. Some people think you get more spiritual when you’re sick, but I’ve found it to be just the opposite. There are times when I get outright cantankerous and I’ve seen others do the same thing. That’s just NORMAL. When people don’t feel good, they are not themselves.

This is one of the reasons Jim and I believe in being as healthy as possible. When your body is not healthy, you’re not as strong spiritually! This is one of the ways the devil will attack God’s people in the End Times, yet not many think about it at all. If you’re worn down physically, you’re less likely to be strong in your prayer life, or anything else.

If ever we need to be in good health, it’s in these tumultuous days. We live in a world that is morally, spiritually, and economically sick. Staying well ourselves is imperative so that we are not overcome by this world and all of its spiritual darkness. We need to be healthy in our bodies so that our spirits can be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might!

I hope you know that you were chosen to be here during the Last Days and that God has a special plan for your life. I hope you know that every single Child of God is important to the plan of God for these Last Days. I hope you take care of yourself and get as healthy as you can possibly get. Do what you can do – eat right – take care of that temple – and leave the rest to God!

Love,

Lori-Blue-Pen-Transparent

The Trial of Your Faith (Pt. 10)

Tangible Loneliness – A Call to Examine Your Theology?

Tim told of a time when he had been speaking to a large crowd.  They had clapped their hands and cheered him as a great and entertaining speaker.  But when the auditorium was empty, Tim walked out alone and drove back to his hotel room, where he had intentionally left the lights on so the room would not seem so dark and lonely when he returned.

The light didn’t help.

The pain he had been able to put out of his mind for a short time while he was speaking to the group came back with a vengeance.  He tried to sleep but could not because of the pain, yet he was too tired and emotionally drained to do much else.  Exhausted, Tim closed his eyes and hoped and prayed morning would come quickly.  It didn’t.  Tim tried to write.

Just then, at one of his weakest moments, Tim Hansel wrote in his journal words that God used to begin prying open the ever-thickening shell I was building around my heart.  Tim wrote, “The loneliness was so bad tonight that it sucked all the oxygen out of the room.  It was so intense it felt like it could peel the paint off the walls.”

Whoooom!  Tim’s words exactly described what I had been feeling since coming to prison.  I was amazed that another person had put into words my exact emotions.

Tim continued, “Lately I have experienced a loneliness so deep that I feel as though I need a second heart to contain all the pain.”

Yes! I wanted to shout.  That’s how I have been feeling.  My heart had been so badly bruised over the past three years, I had pulled into myself and I did not want to be hurt anymore.

I read Tim’s book.  And reread it.  I underlined things that spoke to my heart and mind.  And then I read it again.  Tim wrote:

 Loneliness does not always come from emptiness.  Sometimes it is because we are too full …full of ourselves.  Full of activity.  Full of distractions.  Paradoxically, if I want to heal the loneliness in my life, I’ve got to get away …to be alone with God.

Tim suggested that part of the reason God allows us to walk through the valleys in ourlives is so we will learn to depend on Him in new ways.

But I can’t even hear God’s voice anymore!  I talked back to the pages.  I feel like God has abandoned me.

No, Tim wrote, “Loneliness is not a time of abandonment …it just feels that way.  It’s actually a time of encounter at new levels with the only One who can fill that empty place in our hearts.”

I had been reading Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s books about the same time as I had received Tim’s.  I had even written in the front of my Bible one of the statements the brilliant Russian writer had penned while in prison:  “When you have robbed a man of everything, he is no longer in your power.  He is free again.”  I felt like I had lost everything, but I in no way felt free …yet.

Through the combined impact of Hansel’s and Solzhenitsyn’s books, I caught the first dim glimpse of what God might be doing in my life.  Tim drove home the message:

Perhaps one of the main reasons we fall into loneliness and despair is that we are so preoccupied with ourselves, so invested in our own egos.  We’re so concerned with how we are doing that we can’t seem to get a clear focus on what God is doing in us and around us.

Could it be?  I wondered.  Could it possibly be true that I was in prison by the very design of God?  Was there really a larger purpose behind my imprisonment, as some of my friends had implied?

I didn’t know where God was, but I was not about to attribute my loneliness to God’s plan for my life.  That thought did not fit into my theology very well, so I tossed it aside.*

*Question for further reflection:  If your life presented circumstances that flowed contrary to your theology (how you understand God), could you or would you seek a deeper understanding of God’s ways?  God does not change, but our understanding of Him should as we mature in the faith.

The Trial of Your Faith (Pt. 8)

Lonely for God –

Despite the many cards, letters and visits I received during those early days (Rochester Prison 1990), a gnawing loneliness continued to eat at my soul.  It wasn’t a loneliness for people; it was a loneliness for God.  I simply did not know where He was.  Worse yet, I felt that He had forgotten my address.  I attempted to keep busy by pouring myself into various clubs I had joined and by preparing and teaching the motivational material I used in the smoking cessation course.  I needed the activity and the interaction with people that the clubs provided, and I needed to absorb the motivational principles I was teaching.  But all the positive principles I was espousing could not satisfy the deepest needs of my soul. Continue reading →

The Trial of Your Faith (Pt. 7)

1990 Rochester Prison

Shortly after Tega Cay, a friend sent me a beautiful little card with a picture of the ocean on the front. The artist had painted the scene so it appeared as though the tide was beginning to go out. Printed across the inside of the greeting card were these words: “A friend is one who comes in when the whole world has gone out.” Continue reading →

The Trial of Your Faith (Pt. 6)

I share these very intense times of the trials of my faith with you so that you will know you’re not alone in your trial, whatever it may be.  Our circumstances may be different, but I know that human suffering has a common element – and it’s in that commonality that I want to connect with you who suffer today and let you know that you can make it.  God will never leave you or forsake you and He will work all things for your good – even those things that appear to have no redemptive purpose like this event in 1990 while I was in Rochester Prison: Continue reading →

The Trial of Your Faith (Pt. 5)

Rochester Prison 1990

Throughout the early part of 1990 I continued to ride an emotional roller-coaster, occasionally having an up day and then plunging headlong into another stomach-wrenching period of despair.

Often when I was alone in my cell, I would lie with my head against the wall, groaning from deep within.  It was more than a physical or emotional pain; it was a soul pain.  “Oh, God, where are You?” I cried.  Have I offended You so badly that You will not even speak to me anymore?”  I feared, I must have done something terrible that God would turn His back on me.  I thought God must be punishing me for every sin I ever committed. Continue reading →

Joy Came in the Morning (pt 4)

Early August 1998

“The next year, 1977, I got pregnant again. Jesse and I had moved to Farmington, New Mexico. I remember we drove there the night Elvis died, pulling a small trailer with everything we owned. Jesse was working a lot of hours as a boilermaker for a power plant there. We rented a double-wide mobile home, and it was one of the nicer places we lived. I fixed it up, and I was the typical little housewife—except that I smoked pot all the time. We weren’t doing major drugs then. My grandma Graham died, and when I flew to Phoenix for the funeral, I made a doctor’s appointment. I needed to have a cyst removed, and since I had just found out I was pregnant—and Jesse didn’t want the baby, of course—I decided to have an abortion at the same time. That was the only abortion that was done in a hospital.”

Chris and Jolene asked a question now and then to prod my memory, but mostly they just let me talk.

“Jesse and I separated for a while, and he had a girlfriend. When we got back together, we moved to Pinetop, up in the mountains; it was very beautiful there. Because of Jesse’s work we moved a lot, little towns all over Arizona and New Mexico. I once counted fifty different apartments or houses or hotels where we had lived in the ten years we were married.

“We went to Prescott for the fourth of July. It was wild there in the ‘70’s. The Hell’s Angels would ride into town, and the police would close the streets for the holiday. Prescott is a quaint little town with antique shops, and there’s a street called Whiskey Row with a bunch of saloons. Jesse and I were doing Quaaludes and partying in and out of the bars. I was so spaced out, I was offering Quaaludes to cops; there was no way they could control the drugs and alcohol, so they simply tried to keep the peace. We were in front of the courthouse, in the center of town, when Jesse went nuts and started hitting me, and the cops had to pull him off of me.
“Jesse screamed, ‘Just get the ______ out of my life. Go find somebody else.’

“I literally took him up on it. I turned around, walked across the street, went into a bar, and met a man. Paul took me to his cabin, and I spent the night there with him. We had an off-and-on relationship for the next couple of years. Whenever Jesse beat me up, I called Paul; he came and got me and nursed me back to health. He was a very gentle guy. I don’t think he ever wanted me to leave Jesse to marry him, but he was always there for m. Jesse never knew about him.”

…..more to come.

Joy Came in the Morning – Part 1
Joy Came in the Morning – Part 2
Joy Came in the Morning – Part 3