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The Jezebel Jury – Part 2

In giving Laura a well deserved break, I (Dave) have decided to give this a shot.  This is part 2 of The Jezebel Jury.  If you haven’t already read part 1, I encourage you to click here to read it first.

We saw in part 1 that out of all the traits of the Old Testament Jezebel, the one trait that the woman Jesus named Jezebel in Rev. 2:20 was teaching and promoting sexual immorality and eating food sacrificed to idols.  This was done in complete defiance of the only “burden” the apostles put on the church, after a divisive argument about circumcision (see Acts 15:28-29).  So when it comes to the “spirit of Jezebel”, I believe it is critical to go with the definition Jesus gave in Revelation.  So why do so many define it based on the domineering traits of the Old Testament Jezebel?

The Jezebel

Many see the story of King Ahab as a weak man controlled by a domineering un-submissive wife that uses her husband’s powerful position for her purposes.    This perception is then used as part of their definition of a spirit of Jezebel.  The scripture isn’t specific about this, so it may or may not have been true.  However, I believe this view tends to overlook the true character of Ahab.  He was the the most evil King that Israel ever had, before he married Jezebel!  It’s my opinion that it was this evil in his heart that drew him to the wickedness of Baal worship and its sexual nature.

1 Kings 16:30-33 NIV “30 Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the Lord than any of those before him. 31 He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. 32 He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. 33 Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to arouse the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than did all the kings of Israel before him.”

Ahab not only did the evil of his fathers, but he then went on to marry Jezebel, a priestess of Baal worship.  While it is highly likely that this marriage was also for political purposes between two kingdoms, which was customary, it is also highly likely that Ahab, consumed with lust, purposefully choose Jezebel because of her close connection to Baal worship and its sexual debauchery.

Verse 32 & 33 says that Ahab set up the alters for Baal worship in Israel.  I am sure Jezebel was right there encouraging him, but I do not believe she manipulated him into it.  It was already a strong deception in his heart and she was right by his side.

There is no question that Jezebel was evil (I mean she was killing as many of the Lords prophets as possible and let Elijah know he was next).  It is said when two people are perfect for each other they are a “match made in heaven”.  These two were a match made in hell.  Her wickedness was only matched by his.

Then there is Naboth’s vineyard that Ahab wanted.  Interestingly enough, Ahab didn’t just take it, he offered Naboth a better vineyard or payment.  Naboth rightly said he could not, as it was the Lords inheritance.  It was forbidden for him to give it away even to the King.  purple-grapesAhab went away angry and sulked, refusing to eat (1 Kings 21:4).  Many use this to show how week Ahab was and Jezebel “wore the pants of the family”.  I see this a little differently.  I think Ahab was confronted with God’s word that he knew was true and didn’t know how to get past the dilemma and get what he wanted!  That’s why he didn’t just take the vineyard.  Jezebel in many ways is “standing by her man” here it seems.  Verse 7 “Jezebel his wife said, ‘is this how you act as king over Israel? Get up and eat! Cheer up. I’ll get you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite.’”   Jezebel devised an evil plan to set up Naboth to be killed without implicating her or Ahab.  Once Naboth was dead, Ahab took the vineyard.

Many use 1 Kings 21:25 as evidence that Jezebel manipulated Ahab.  KJV “But there was none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, whom Jezebel his wife stirred up.”  NIV uses the term “urged on”.  Did Jezebel manipulate him?  Possibly, but I believe this scripture shows the type of relationship they had.  Have you ever seen when one person is complaining about something, how another will be in agreement with them and the two stir each other up into a frenzy?  This is what I see happening here.  The bottom line is Ahab is responsible for what he did to Israel with or without Jezebel!

So to me, it seems obvious that the “spirit of Jezebel” affecting the church is best defined as Jesus did in Rev. 2:20, “Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.”  It is teaching that sexual immorality is okay and so is eating food sacrificed to idols.  The church is urged not to allow that to be taught in their local fellowships.  Can you see this happening in America today, at least the sexual sin portion?

Don’t get me wrong, I do believe there is a spirit of control that can affect relationships as well, but I do not believe this should be considered the spirit of Jezebel (who was very domineering).  In some cases this may be why some accuse others of having the “spirit of Jezebel”.  Often those struggling with their own control issues will accuse others of the very thing of which they are guilty.  This is an area to be careful with as well.  Our natural flesh can have control issues.  Often we are just dealing with our fleshly nature.  However, if we refuse to allow God to deal with us in that area when He points it out to us, we can open a door for demonic activity in our lives.  Controlling spirits can affect the church greatly.  Have you seen it?  460px-Rock-paper-scissors.svgDeacon-elder boards controlling the pastor and what he preaches; pastors trying to control the congregation and boards; a congregation member withholding their financial support if they don’t get what they want.  I like how the book Conquering the Game of Control by Craig Green states it.  There are three types of control. Manipulation, intimidation and domination. A manipulator can control a dominator.  A dominator can control an intimidator and an intimidator can control a manipulator.  It’s like playing rock paper scissors.  The only way to win is to not play the game!

 

20150501_104633Gems from the Crown is a weekly blog from Crown of Glory Ministries to strengthen and encourage believers in Christ in their walk with God, especially in the areas of vision, authority, and identity. If you would like to have Gems from the Crown delivered directly to you, please click here.

 

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The Jezebel Jury

In giving Laura a well deserved break, I (Dave) have decided to write this week’s blog.

There has been a lot of buzz in some circles of the body of Christ about the Jezebel spirit.  Many books have been written about it, and messages preached on it.  It is a very serious thing.

The Jezebel

But I believe that in our fervency to make sure we don’t “tolerate that woman Jezebel” (Rev. 2:20) the enemy has used Christian leaders to falsely accuse people in the body of Christ of this (mostly woman), causing them to be deeply wounded in their spirit, if not lose their faith over it.  That is simply wrong, and a blemish we need to remove from our garments.

Many have defined the spirit of Jezebel as a strong controlling spirit.  Others believe it is an unsubmissive wife.  It is crucial we look at what the scripture says about this, so we fight the right fight and avoid wrongfully accusing our brothers and sisters of such a horrific thing.

First off, nowhere in scripture will you find the term “spirit of Jezebel.”  Scripture tells us of all sorts of types of spirits such as a “spirit of stupor” (Rom. 11:8), “an impure spirit” (Matt.12:43) “You deaf and mute spirit” (Mark 9:25) and others.  Now I am no Bible scholar, but what I find curious, is that the only place I’ve ever found where Jesus told a spirit to name itself was when He encountered the demon possessed man that lived among the tombs in Holy Spiritthe eastern coastal area of the Sea of Galilee in Mark 5:1-20.  Verse 9 says, “Then Jesus asked him, ‘What is your name?’  ‘My name is Legion,’ he replied, ‘for we are many.’”  So, other than this example, as far as I can  tell, naming of spirits is something man came up with, not a scriptural practice.  I’m not saying it’s wrong, I’m just making an observation that it may be subject to error, since it is man’s idea. (I also find it interesting that when the term spirit is used in the Bible, it is overwhelmingly referring to the Holy Spirit or an attribute of the Spirit of God.)

So where does this “spirit of Jezebel” get its name?  Let’s look at when Jesus told John to write to the church of Thyatira in Rev. 2:18-29.  Verse 20 “Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.”

To better understand this, we need to understand the culture the church of Thyatira found itself in.  As a city in the Roman Empire, it was a center of trade and the home of worship of the Greek pagan god, Apollo.  Trade guilds ruled the economy and you had to be a member of a guild to practice your trade.  These guilds were intertwined in the culture and had constant meetings where members worshiped Apollo, sacrificed animals to him and had banquets serving meat sacrificed to him.  Worship also included having sex with the priestess.  Since you were required to be in a guild for employment, it was demanded that you take part in these daily rituals.  You can see the struggle the church had.  But unlike the counter cultural church in Smyrna that would endure persecution rather than worship another God, the church in Thyatira accommodated it.

red flagcBack to what Jesus said in Revelation, first, notice that this woman named Jezebel calls herself a prophetess. That should be an immediate red flag to anyone, especially church leaders.

Second, she was placed in a position of leadership in the church and taught that it was fine to give into these cultural requirements for employment.  The leaders allowed her to “mislead my servants in to sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols.”

This was actually in direct defiance of the only requirements placed on the church (other than the two commandments of loving God and our Christian brothers and sisters) found in Acts 15.

The early church had a very divisive issue come up regarding the gentiles who were getting saved; they were not circumcised.  Some in the church were saying if the gentiles were not circumcised, they were not saved.  So the apostles met to discuss this issue, and determined that it was not of God to force circumcision and other requirements of the law on the Gentile believers.  They sent the church in Antioch a letter saying “It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.” (Acts 15:28-29)

Compare that to what we read Jesus told the church in Thyatira “Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets, ‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”. Did you notice that?  The same words are used both by the early church leaders and Jesus: They both stated they will not impose or lay any other burden on the believers, and they both said the main issues were abstaining from sexual immorality and do not eat food sacrificed to idols.

This is the “spirit” of Jezebel directly described by our savior!  The trait the woman named Jezebel in Revelation had in common with Jezebel in the Old Testament was seducing His people into accepting sexual immorality and idol worship in the teachings and practice of His people. This was in direct defiance to the exact two things the early church was instructed not to do.

So before “discerning” a Jezebel spirit in someone, if that person is not seducing others into sexual immorality or encouraging them to eat meat offered to idols (compromising in their relationship with God and His importance in his or her life) then do not use that label, for this is what Jesus himself described it as.

I would also say that I don’t believe it was the fact that the leaders allowed the woman Jezebel to fellowship in their church (even with that lifestyle), that Jesus had the problem with.  It was the fact that as leaders, they allowed her to teach her false beliefs and accommodated it in the church, instead of correcting her and protecting the rest of the saints from such abusive and outright rebellious teaching.

So why do so many diagnose the “spirit of Jezebel” based on the domineering traits of the Old Testament Jezebel?  Let’s tackle that question next.

20150501_104633Gems from the Crown is a weekly blog from Crown of Glory Ministries to strengthen and encourage believers in Christ in their walk with God, especially in the areas of vision, authority, and identity. If you would like to have Gems from the Crown delivered directly to you, please click here.

 

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How Good Are You at Hiding Your Messes?

A while back we were having up to 50 people over at our house downstairs in the family room for a time of fellowship and ministry.  Of course, I was working really hard to have a clean house.

How Good Are You at Hiding Your Messes_

I had the men in my family help me take a bunch of little used work-out equipment out of the basement and carry it up to our three season porch, and move the pool table to a different spot. We also rearranged the sectional couch to accommodate all the chairs we would need to set up.

At the time, we were also in the process of replacing our kitchen/dining room carpet (it was there from when we bought the house well over 10 years ago) to hardwood floors.  Before putting in the new floors, we took out some cupboards that separated the kitchen area from the dining area and moved them against the dining room wall. So this meant all the “stuff” in the cupboards had to come out, and when it went back in, everything had to be rearranged to make it functional for the new set-up.

The question became just how much work do I put into cleaning and making the house “presentable”? My plan included making time to clear out the back basement area that some people might see if they use the downstairs bathroom.

Then I had to ask myself why?  Do I really not want people to see that we actually live in our house and that we use our basement to pile up stuff we are storing until we decide to find a place for it or to get rid of it?

I can’t help but think of the parallel when it comes to what we try to hide in our lives. As Christians, we have a hard time letting those in the body of Christ see the real us, so we clean things up on the outside, and hide what is really going on in our lives, especially if we think it shows we don’t have things all together like a “good” Christian should.

Why do we seem to believe that if we have guitlyChrist in our lives, everything is supposed to be great, and if it isn’t, it must be our fault? Jesus, Himself, told us we would have tribulation. He said He would never leave us or forsake us. We are told to come to His throne boldly to obtain grace in the time of trouble. Paul, himself, went through a long list of trials and tribulations (such as being shipwrecked and being beaten (and left for dead) more than once.

Life is messy. We live in a fallen sinful world, and there are plenty of times we get caught in the fall-out. Why do we try so hard to hide it from each other? How can we share our burdens with each other and weep with those who weep, if we don’t take off the masks and let anyone around us know we are hurting because of… well, life?

We need each other. Let’s stop trying to pretend like everything is in perfect order in our lives, if it isn’t. I am not encouraging complaining and gossip. But what I am encouraging is not hiding behind a false pretense thinking you can’t let anyone know you are being affected by the “stuff” life throws at us.

Satan wants us isolated. If he can’t do it to us physically, he will try to do it to us emotionally. If we live our lives pretending to be someone we aren’t, or live in a way that causes people to believe we have no real problems in our lives, it is like my trying to clean up my house to hide the fact that we actually live in our house, and if you come over, you might see some messes.

Let’s stop hiding our messes and come clean with the fact we all have “stuff” we are dealing with. We are all working out our salvation, and in the process of becoming who God wants us to be. And that’s okay.

20150501_104633Gems from the Crown is a weekly blog from Crown of Glory Ministries to strengthen and encourage believers in Christ in their walk with God, especially in the areas of vision, authority, and identity. If you would like to have Gems from the Crown delivered directly to you, please click here.

 

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Has a Tragedy Caused Your Faith to be Shaken?

We live in a fallen sinful world, and often get caught in the fall-out of that fact, while living here on this earth.

Has a Tragedy Shaken Your Faith in God_-2

There are times something hits us, and it is fairly easy to give it over to God and let Him take care of it. Other times, we get hit hard, and the wounds run deep. It can cause us to question the goodness of God and be outright angry at Him for allowing something horrible to happen. After all, He is God, and we know He could have stopped it from happening.

Being a Christian does not give us a “golden ticket” immune to tragedy and heartache in our lives. Yes, Jesus told us to pray “Your will be done here on earth as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). I, myself, teach how prayer is taking those things in heaven (like healing), grabbing ahold of them, and pulling them down here to earth. We are told that “you have not because you ask not” (James 4:2,3) and there are several scriptures that tell us whatever we desire when we ask for something in the name of Jesus we have what we ask for.

So is God a liar? Have you prayed with faith, expecting God to move in the miraculous, and seen it go the opposite way? Have you been walking along joyfully, hand-in-hand with God, and suddenly been confronted with an unexpected tragedy that sucks the life right out of you?

I have, unfortunately, many times. Allow me to share something with you from the book When Tragedy Strikes.

I don’t remember exactly what it was, but many years ago I was asking God to change pexels-photo-27633or fix something in my life. He asked me which prayer I wanted answered. I wasn’t sure what He meant. He reminded me of my consistent prayer for Him to do whatever He needed to get me where He wanted me to be. He then let me know that whatever this was I was praying against was something He wanted to use to get me where He wanted me to be.

So at that point I needed to make a decision. Did I want God to answer this immediate prayer and take me out of my misery, or did I want Him to answer the other prayer by allowing the situation to do a work in my life—getting me to where He wanted me to be? As I said, I don’t remember what that situation was, but I do remember I took the “fix it” prayer off the table and stayed with my prayer of “do whatever You want to get me where You want me to be.”

Over the years I’ve been faced with that same decision over and over again…

What determines God’s goodness? Is He good because He answers my prayers the way I want Him to? Is that what makes a person good? Because they give us what we want to make us happy? Or are they good because they know how to make right decisions for everyone involved? Are they good because they are not willing to compromise in the moment, but hold fast because they see and know the greater good further down the road?

coffee machine 2I find it very sad when people walk away from God because He didn’t give them the answer they wanted to a prayer. God is not a vending machine where we put in the prayer, push a button, and the solution we want drops out for us.

We have a two-year-old granddaughter. She is being taught to say please and is learning that just because she says “pleeeeease” doesn’t mean she automatically gets what she wants.

When you ask someone for something, they have a choice to say yes or no. When we ask God for something, He has the choice to say yes or no. Did I want Him to say yes and allow Becca to stay here on this earth? Of course I did, with every fiber of my being! As a matter of fact, I believed He was actually going to heal her heart, either through a miracle or through a heart transplant. As I stated earlier, I was totally blindsided when she died—even though she was very sick. Once again I was forced to face that bottom-line prayer I have prayed almost all my life, of giving God permission to do whatever He wanted to do to get me where He wanted me to be. And this time it cost me an extremely high price.

Do I believe God killed my daughter to use it in some way in my life? ABSOLUTELY NOT! Do I believe that God allowed the natural consequences of a fallen and sinful world to take effect, not stopping it, even though many people were praying for her healing? Yes, I do. Do I still give Him permission to do what He wants to do as God, instead of what I want Him to do, because He can see so much more than I can see? ABSOLUTELY!

I have chosen not to change my thoughts and beliefs on who God is just because I did not get a prayer answered the way I wanted Him to, no matter how painful it may be.

So what can we do when life throws us more than just a curve ball; one that hits us and knocks us down (and can even take us out of the game for a while)?

  • Make the choice to forgive. It might be one person, or it could be a long list of people who had a part in the traumatic event. This can include yourself, God, and even someone you loved who caused your deep pain (such as someone who caused their own death, either on purpose or through negligence).
  • Get past the paralyzing question of “Why?”
  • Give yourself lots and lots of grace. And give that same grace to others in your family who are handling the tragedy (which includes grieving) differently than you.
  • Connect with other people who have 2012 LeadershipTeam,1cfaced a similar situation who are walking in hope and light and life again. They need to be people who won’t try to push you out of your grief, but help you walk through it.

Unfortunately, this article does not have time to dig into the “how” to do these things. Plus, these are only four of several steps you can take to work your way out of the pit of darkness and back into the light of living again.

If you want to dig further into these things, or if you need someone to walk with you, offering the hope you are desperate for, you may want to consider purchasing the book When Tragedy Strikes. It was written after the death of our daughter, specifically for other grieving parents, but I am being told by more and more people how it has helped them in other places of tragedy and darkness as well.

Here is an example of what people are saying about it.

“Reading her book is like having a friend who has been there walk alongside you as you try to make sense out of tragedy.”

“This book has not only helped me in coming closer to God and trusting him more. It has helped restore my faith.”

“Her words inspire you to find your way out of the darkness; then know the hope and healing!”

“So much in these pages really spoke to my heart about my own pain…I believe it can and will help others get through that dark pain of the soul.”

“She gives hope for healing and methods to move further along in the healing process.”

v5When Tragedy Strikes will be released in stores July 5, 2016. But it can be preordered at almost any book retailer right now (such as Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Powell’s Books, etc). And if you preorder the paperback by July 4, 2016, I would love to say thank you by blessing you with 13 other books by 13 different authors for FREE! (These books have a value of over $120.) To find out about this special offer, or more about the book itself, just click here. And please use the social media share buttons provided to let others know about it this limited opportunity to get 14 books for the purchase of one book.

Some people accuse Christians of using God shareasimage-10as a crutch. I tell people that isn’t true for me. I use God as my wheelchair! I don’t know how anyone gets through this life without depending on Him.

May God be your wheelchair, and may the seed of Hope be watered in your shattered heart, bringing life from the depths of darkness and death. After all, that is God’s specialty; bringing life from death!

 

Gems from the Crown is a weekly blog from Crown of Glory Ministries to strengthen and encourage believers in Christ in their walk with God, especially in the areas of vision, authority, and identity. If you would like to have Gems from the Crown delivered directly to you, please click here.

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How to Find a Place of Rest in the Tsunamis of Life

Have you ever felt like you have been swept away by a tsunami in your life? It seemed like everything was going fine, and out of nowhere, a huge tidal wave you couldn’t outrun took your legs out from under you, and life was out of control.

11. How to Find a Place of Rest in the Tsunamis of Life

I have had the blessing of that happening several times over the last 35 years or so. No, it was not a blessing at the time; far from it. Each time one of those huge waves hit, it caused fear, panic, an overwhelming sense of uncontrollable chaos, and lots and lots of deep pain.

The first time I remember that kind of a wave con019hitting me I was 16 years old, and it tried to take me under when my parents divorced. Yes, I know that is fairly common, but not for me and my family. I spent many years growing up as a preacher’s kid. A few of those years, my dad even traveled as an evangelist for children, doing things like kids’ camps and VBS’s. I went with him as often as possible. I loved being the daughter of “Uncle Bob,” watching him use magic tricks as object lessons (way before it was the “norm” in children’s ministry and before that term even existed) and be a ventriloquist with his dummy, Timothy.

3BeccaNext huge wave? Shortly after getting married, our three year old daughter was diagnosed (on my due date with our second child) with bone cancer in her left leg, rendering it useless. She had her left leg amputated (how do you explain that to a three year old?) and went through nine months of chemotherapy.

Over the next several years, there were many smaller waves, compounded on each other. Some were what I would call the normal ups and downs of having a family with five children. Unfortunately, some of the bigger ones were within the Body of Christ. They included finding myself caught in the middle of a nasty church split (like a deer in the headlights) and then a few years later, when I was not responding to the replacement pastor’s flattery, found myself being accused of trying to divide the church. Yes, ouch! Deep wounds; I think many of us have them from “the church.”

Another one of them was finding out that a long-term effect of one of the chemo drugs used for our daughter’s treatment caused heart damage, which had to be constantly monitored. Eventually, she had to be put on medication to counter the weakness. After getting married and becoming pregnant, she ended up in the hospital for a few months, with a 50/50 chance of surviving through the labor and delivery. (She lived, and gave birth to a beautiful little preemie girl who is now 13 years old.) Shortly after that though, she had to have open heart surgery to repair one of her valves.

During that time, because of bad judgment, one of our sons ended up in the county juvenile detention center. There was a trial, and our son had teachers and other adults (including the workers of the detention center) plead on his behalf. They all recommended for the judge to send him to a boys’ home and not be locked up, because it was so obvious that he was a good kid with a good family support system, who had made some very bad choices and needed help. But because there were some things that tied the judge’s hands, at age 15, he was incarcerated for two years in a juvenile corrections facility. (There is a lot more to this story, but you get the idea…)

Then there was the 18 months where our oldest daughter P1000438was in the hospital more than she was out. She had her second and third open heart surgeries during that time (one to put in a pump to run the right side of her heart, and the other to take it out when the driveline to the pump got sliced and the pump was shorting out, shocking her heart every time it did). She had a stroke (leaving her left arm fairly useless), Sudden Cardiac Death (from which the EMTs were able to start her heart again after about 15 minutes) and septicemia (blood poisoning with a 20% survival rate). She had a dozen ambulance rides and three emergency helicopter rides within that time period.

Then suddenly, her heart gave out for the last time, and she was gone. Just like that. I can’t even begin to tell you the darkness that came with watching our three sons carry their sister’s casket and burying our child. That just isn’t supposed to happen! It caused a horrible chain of events that I never even thought was possible, which I have since found out is actually fairly common when a child dies.

Okay, so by now are you asking, where is the place of rest in all of this????

It is in learning how to trust, and to surrender. I have found it is one thing to tell God you are giving Him your life, and another thing to actually do it.

Genie_Lamps_007Giving our lives to God does not mean our lives will become a bed of roses. Too many people use God like some magic genie who is supposed to grant us our wishes to not have anything bad ever happen to us in this fallen, sinful, crappy world. So when those big waves hit us, we blame Him as if He caused it, and then turn our backs on the only One who can give us true peace, comfort, and direction on how to get our footing again and not be overcome.

It is during these times that we find out if we have truly given our hearts and our lives completely to God, or if we have done it with conditions.

Over the years, each time the next tsunami hits, I have learned to run to Him harder and faster, and I hang on to Him with everything I have! And every single time He has been more than faithful to get me to the other side. And not in just a half-drowned wet mess, but in total amazement at how He has been at work in my life, using the storm to strengthen me and to deepen our relationship.

Plain and simple, I trust Him. I have learned to surrender to the process. Because of my allowing Him to do whatever He wants to do with my life, God has been able to not only sustain me, but bring me to a place of victory, each and every time.

Has it been easy? Of course not! And it doesn’t happen quickly, either. (Wouldn’t that be nice?) This trusting God thing is a life-long process.

But once we stop fighting, and choose precious-1199183_960_720to surrender and rest in the arms of our Daddy God, He can transform us through the painful trials into a beautiful and rare gem.

(Just a note: I have written about several of these life events in my book Triple Crown Transformation, which is available from our ministry or several book outlets. Click here if you would like to know more about this book.)

20150501_104633Gems from the Crown is a weekly blog from Crown of Glory Ministries to strengthen and encourage believers in Christ in their walk with God, especially in the areas of vision, authority, and identity. If you would like to have Gems from the Crown delivered directly to you, please click here.

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