Number 3 (again)

Posted on 19 Aug 2013 by Kathie Whitestone Thompson

IDOK DEVOTION FOR THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 2010

Number 3

I’ve been reading some good stuff today. Here are three statements from Beth Moore in her book 90 Days with Jesus, the One and Only: (1)Please understand that just because a person appears to follow Christ doesn’t necessarily mean he has placed saving faith in Him. (2) Judas followed Christ for several years without ever giving his heart to Him. (3) He (meaning Satan) possesses a surprising amount of patience to weave seemingly harmless events into disasters, while his subject often never sees it coming.

I figure we have seen all three of these statements in operation. Hopefully, 1 and 2 are over and done for each of us. I hope beyond each screen upon which this writing appears sits a person who has placed Saving Faith in Jesus Christ. (If not and you are an honest seeker, please email me and I will share with you how I came to Saving Faith in Jesus Christ and how you can too.) Number 3. Now that is a different story. We are all susceptible to this one and I dare say we shall be until we leave this earth for HOME. So what does the Word say about Satan?

Ephesians 6: NKJV 10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— [source]

Now, Sisters and Brothers, when we heed this Word, his number 3 plans will get derailed before that train hardly pulls out of the station. Notice, please, that putting on the Armor of God will NOT stop Satan from trying — he just won’t win!

I looked up the word WILES in my online Greek Lexicon and the Greek word for wiles is transliterated Methodeia. We derive from it our word method. Here in this text it means cunning arts, deceit, craft and trickery. You have heard it said or maybe you have said it yourself, ‘there’s a method to my madness’. Well, there’s a method to Satan’s wickedness and he is hell-bent on using his methods, his craftiness, trickery and deceit on you and me. Even as we cannot get our minds wrapped around the GOODNESS of God; we cannot fathom the EVILNESS of Satan. Look into the face of the vilest; heinous human who has ever walked this planet and that one does not even touch the surface of Satan’s depravity. Now, think of it this way. Lets say that one you pictured as the vilest, heinous human on the planet has a vendetta against you personally, would you want protection? Would you do whatever it takes to be protected? And suppose one offered you safety; offered to shield you from this person? Even to the point of standing between you and that person as your shield? Would you agree to that? Well, we do! We have such an enemy. And we have such a PROTECTOR. Lets cooperate with our Protector. Let us not be stupid and ditch THE PROTECTOR’S PLAN for our own plan.

Hmmm. That’s good stuff, DADDY. I accept. I am willing for You to train me to use these weapons and I am way willing to stay under Your Shield of Protection. And Holy Spirit, I am expecting You to remind me when I in stupidity resist Your Protective Shield. I like this, ABBA. This is good. Thank You. So keep applying it I pray; to me and to all who read it. Thank You.

I have two people on my mind regarding jobs; one without a job and one whose job is in jeopardy. This would be scary and discouraging to me so I pray You will encourage them. I pray You will send godly women and godly men into their lives that can speak life and health and freedom into them and I pray they will listen and receive Your Life and Health and Freedom that You so want them to have.

Again we pray for our IDOK Troops for their safety and protection and for their well being to be anchored in You. And for Israel, protect them and subdue their enemies I pray. America, have mercy, LORD. Christians Churches across America and around the world, I pray You will call out a people to believe You and who will pray until we see You save and restore us. This we ask base solely upon the Merits of Jesus. Amen and amen.

Kathie

Honest (again)

Posted on 15 Aug 2013 by Kathie Whitestone Thompson

IDOK DEVOTION FOR MONDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2010

Honest!

First, to each of you who came to the WOW Conference, thank you. To each of you who prayed, wanting to be there but you could not, thank you. As you can imagine, leaving here early Friday morning, conferencing Friday night and Saturday, coming home on Saturday afternoon (took a nap), Church on Sunday, and after service on Sunday night supper and to the couch for a silly movie with my beloved, I had not written a devotion for us for today. So I came to ABBA and I wrote this to HIM: What shall I say to IDOK today? They are waiting for a word from You through me. Inspire me and write a Word of I love you to them today through me. And with that I picked up my Breaking Free Day By Day, written by Beth Moore, of course, and for today found, in part, this: God’s Word is full of proclamations of His love for you. He inscribed His love in His Word so you would never have to wait for a phone call. You can hear God tell you He loves you every single time you open His Word.

Sisters (and Brothers) I am not kidding, that’s what it says! He hears, He loves, He cares and He has prepared this day for us long, long before we took our first breath from our mother’s wombs. Oh how AWESOME He is!! So this I know to say to us today: Jesus loves me this I know for the Bible tells me so.

Yes Jesus loves me

The Bible tells me so.

Yes, Jesus loves you

Yes Jesus loves you

The Bible tells you so.

John 16:27 for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God. [source]

There it is written in His Word, for the Father Himself loves you. ABBA, loves you. ABBA loves me. All day long He is loving us, always and forever. Let us carry this in our thoughts this day and far into the night even to the laying of our heads on our pillows, remember JESUS loves you. AND this morning, not only have we read it, He has interacted with us, He has actively, on purpose entered into our experience this very day to make sure we know He is listening, He cares and He answers prayer!

YOU are so Awesome! I don’t have words to say how wonderful You are. I am delighted with You and I dare believe You are even delighted with me and not just me but every child of Yours that dares believe it too. I am sitting here just absolutely enjoying You; enjoying how fun You are; how attentive You are; how You never sleep, You are always awake and ready for us. I pray the praise will go on and on, all day. Even when I get on with this day, with breakfast and making the bed and reading to little ones and on and on as the day comes, I pray I will not forget to commune with You through it all. I pray none of our IDOKS or Readers will forget to commune with You all day and into the night, even up until the time we go to sleep. And there You will be watching over us. Oh, my mind cannot comprehend how huge and awesome You are. Thank You for loving us. Thank You for speaking, Thank You for allowing us the greatest of all pleasures in the universe – knowing, being loved by You and loving You back.

So, DADDY, we bring all these written here for prayer. We come in one accord to praise You for caring, to praise You for hearing and loving and to trust You to do what is right and holy and best for each of these. For the quick answers we are delighted; for the ones that take awhile to manifest we thank You for the opportunity to know You in this experience and for the courage and faith to wait and see You work the miracles. For our IDOK Troops we pray again for their safety and protection, for them to be a peace in hostile places; for them to love You, for their faith to be strong and for them to make holy decisions that are good for them and their comrades. And, ABBA, as I put this to press, I pray for our IDOKs and our Readers for each one as this comes to their screen and as they read and as they pray that they will KNOW You love them and that You are worthy of their trust and that You will not forsake them or leave them this day, or ever. That in You we are victors and not victims. I love you. And I know You love me too. Thank You. Thank You. Amen and amen in the Holy and Mighty Name of Jesus. And LORD one more thing, thank You for being just so fun!

Kathie

Untitled (again)

Posted on 13 Aug 2013 by Kathie Whitestone Thompson

IDOK DEVOTION FOR THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2010

A quote from Beth Moore from her booklet, The Promise of Security, page 51:

Believe that HE loves you and has you covered and takes every one of your hits as if they were aimed at His own skin. Get down to the bottom of what frightens you, and then pitch it to Him like a hot potato.

Untitled

Well, y’all was wondering what Thursday’s IDOK would be as I realized how much of Wednesday morning had slipped on by. And as I was reading my ‘Our Daily Bread’ a certain statement hit me hard! It comes from the pen of David McCasland directed by the Holy Spirit: When I study God’s Word, my first question should not be, “What am I going to say about this?” but “What am I going to do about this?”

How often I read the Word and immediately and excitedly start writing notes on how I can ‘teach’ that passage; how alive and wonderful and great and fun it is. And I am not saying that is bad, but it could be. It could be very bad indeed if that is all I do. If I am not exercised by the verse; if I do not allow that verse to do Its work in me, I have missed the boat by a country mile! Moreover, if I, if we, read Scripture, mark up our Bibles with many notes and then conduct ourselves no differently, we truly have deceived ourselves. If we can read Scripture, have it quickened to our spirits and then go out and violate that very Scripture over and over and over again, then we are delusional if we say we have fellowship with God.

James 1:22 But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; 24 for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. 26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. 27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

As Michelle McKinney Hammond counseled us over the weekend at the WOW Conference: “Honey, if you call yourself a Christian and you live like the world; Baby, change your name!” (Of course, that is a paraphrase; but we get the meaning, don’t we?)

ABBA, I hear You. Thank You and forgive me and change me. I cannot, I must not continue to allow my first question to be how can I teach this. I must first and every time say to You, DADDY, how do You want to change me with this? I am inviting You again and anew to make me a doer of Your Word, not just a hearer of it and certainly not a teacher of it who does not first practice it herself. I want You to allow me to teach, I want to share everything You will let me but first I want Your Word to first be tried and true in me.

Thank You for this good day You have given us. Thank You for the encouragement we have received. LORD, we pray for You to touch them and heal each One brought here today – that they will give You their broken hearts and wounded spirits and weary bodies and receive Your grace and mercy.

We pray for safety and protection for our IDOK Troops; for safe returns home and while in hostile lands we pray they will learn to lean heavily upon and come to love You more and more. We pray for the peace and prosperity of Israel. Thank You for the people of America who are coming to their feet to stand for what is right; bring more and more to the fight for truth and holiness in America. I pray for the President and his family that You will protect them and I pray they will yet repent and yield themselves to You in truth and holiness.

And, ABBA, I pray now for all our IDOKs and our Readers, that they will sleep well, wake up rested and immediately begin to praise You and offer themselves to You as a living sacrifice. Thank You for this ministry, keep us straight, LORD. Amen and amen.

Kathie

The Good Shepherd and His Sheep (again)

Posted on 7 Aug 2013 by Kathie Whitestone Thompson

IDOK DEVOTION FOR TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2010

The Good Shepherd and His Sheep

As I start this I do not know where it is going. But truth be known that is not unusual and it’s not that I don’t like it that way – I do. What to write or what to speak from Scripture is an avenue where surprises please me.

I am deep into reading So Long Insecurities by Beth Moore. It’s revolutionizing and in my opinion it’s not a book for wimps. And other than encouraging you to get a copy I will not say much more. And NO, you cannot borrow mine – there is a limit to my transparency and you should be VERY glad of that! I’ve probably written more in the margins of the pages of this book than any book in my life. It looks more like a ‘workbook’ than some of my earlier workbooks with her and I’m only on page 203. I said I’d hush, didn’t I? Okay. Moving on.

My dear sister-in-law, Brenda, and I were discussing Jesus the other day and she told me He is described as the Good Shepherd, the Great Shepherd and the Chief Shepherd. She’s right. I ran an on-line search in the King James Version and, in part, this is what I found.

Only John’s Gospel names Him as the Good Shepherd and that is found in John 10. And in John 10 Jesus is talking to the Pharisees. He has just healed a man blind from birth which brought on a verbal exchange and the Pharisees became indignant about it. And in verse 11 He says: I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. [source]

He, the Good Shepherd, most assuredly gave His life for us ‘two-legged sheep’. There is no doubt, He did (does) for us what a good shepherd would do for the ewes, rams, wethers and lambs in his charge – he tends them. He feeds them, waters them, guides them, protects them from all predators, keeps parasites out of their heads and if need be he lays his life on the line for them. And for us there was that need be, so Jesus laid down His life for us.

John 10: (New King James Version) 16 And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd. 17 “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. 18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.” [source] You know WE are those other sheep, don’t you?

And as I am writing, I wonder what do ‘good’ sheep do? And I think this: Good sheep eat the food given them – all of it – and ask for more. Good sheep drink the water offered them. Good sheep stay within the boundaries marked by the shepherd. Good sheep don’t go traipsing off by themselves, off the path the shepherd is leading them on. Good sheep submit to parasite inspection and are glad to be rid of them. Good sheep trust their shepherd and will loyally follow him to their own death. Are you drawing any parallels here? I sure am! Am I a good sheep? Are you a good sheep? We’re working on it and we are better than we were. Aren’t we? Rejoice in this today! And if you cannot rejoice because you really aren’t getting better; you really aren’t following Him, you can get His RX for those parasites today and begin the healing process immediately. I’m here if you want to ‘talk’ – you got my email address.

Maybe tomorrow we will look at the passages where we see Him as the Great Shepherd.

ABBA, this is good I think. Thank You. And I pray it will resonate with our IDOKs and Readers and that we will be able to rejoice at how far You have brought us and that You are not finished with us yet and that You will not stop until we are that Finished Work, that Finished Masterpiece You have in Your Mind and Heart for us to be. And if perchance there are some out there that have left the path, have not been feeding and watering and have become parasite infested, I pray that You will reveal this to them and I pray they will agree to let You heal them. And I pray You will send some sisters (and brothers for the guys) alongside to help them – to give them Your counsel, to love them and pray with them, to listen and care about them. I pray this IDOK Body will be the best we can be, not for our glory, but Yours. Keep us straight, LORD. Keep us straight!

And, I dare not forget our IDOK Troops, to ask You again today to keep them safe and protect them from snipers of all kinds; those that would harm spirit, soul or body. You have been so gracious, please keep on giving them Your grace and bring each one of them home safe and sound I pray. My heart is still with Israel, for their peace, for their safety and prosperity; thank You for keeping Your Hand upon them. Thank You for Your Hand upon America too. Thank You for the ‘grassroots’ that are shooting up all over; keep us thick and healthy enough to get the job done but not overbearing so as to harm others who yet don’t believe the Truth. I pray we who believe in the Roots, the Foundation upon which America came to be will influence more and more people to believe the Truth and that You will restore America. And, ABBA, even now in closing out this session, keep my heart stayed on You and all our IDOKS and Readers. And this I ask in Your Name Jesus, our Savior, our Lord and our King. Even so Come Quickly, Lord Jesus. Amen and amen.

Kathie