The Present Truth Magazine (Email)
September 2005

FROM THE EDITOR’S HEART

Several years ago my husband and I lived in Columbia, Missouri while he attended the University of Missouri. When we took road trips down to Springfield, we would joke how we were leaving Athens and going to Jerusalem. We enjoyed both cities, but recognized that Columbia had a somewhat intellectual population, while Springfield seemed to be the buckle of the Bible belt.  

Apostle Paul dealt with the same situation in his day with the Greek philosophers and the Jewish Pharisees and religious leaders. Paul explained how the “message of the cross” wasn’t well-received by either party:

 ...Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness... (1 Cor. 1:22-23). 

The narrow-way, highway-of-holiness, death-to-self lifestyle that Jesus and His apostles taught and demonstrated is still not very “marketable” today; yet it is the only gospel that brings true security, peace, and life.  

For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh (2 Cor. 4:11).  

As believers in Christ, we are called to be sanctified (set apart), different than the world around us. We are children of light, and when light enters a dark place, it overcomes darkness. 

For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 4:6). 

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew...and for the Greek (Rom. 1:16).

Sincerely in Christ,
Christa Clark
Editor

THE LAST DISCIPLE is a well-written novel that is a good alternative to the left-behind series.  It is written from what we consider a partial-preterist viewpoint; i.e. that the great-tribulation and most of the book of revelation was written about and fulfilled in the first century.  Reading it is an excellent way to both enjoy a novel and gain a scriptural understanding of how Jesus' and His apostles prophecies were fulfilled in the first century.
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5 Powerful Booklets

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$10.00

or view them individually:

Spiritual Israel: Then and Now

Armageddon

Holy Spirit and Humanity

Divorce, Remarriage, and Apostolic Doctrine

The Perpetual Lie About Lucifer

Announcements:

We continue to get positive results from our radio program, Present Truth Talk Radio, receiving positive feedback from our local listening area as well as nationwide.  This program airs on Sunday evenings, from 8-10PM (Central Time - Missouri).  This program is being webcast from our website so that people from all over the world can log on and listen live!  For those who cannot listen live, we are archiving the programs for streaming and/or downloading (Click here to listen to or download archived programs).  We would like to continue to encourage you to participate with us in the radio broadcast by listening, calling us live, or e-mailing us with your comments and questions.

You can now listen to our Sunday Sermons online!  Click on our Sermons page.

We are also making some of our sermon series available for purchase on the web.  These are messages that have been brought by the pastors of our church that we believe would be beneficial to the body of Christ at large.  Subjects include:

*Who is This Babylon: Teaching through the book of Revelation from a past-fulfillment covenantal perspective.

*The Power of Positive Thinking: How to be Holy Spirit led, Bible inspired, positive thinkers in Christ.

*Wealth, Riches & Money: Teachings on finances & stewardship.

*God, Man, & Miracles: How miracles can be experienced today with many practical examples.

*Hebrews: Covenants in Contrast: An in-depth study of the book of Hebrews from the past-fulfillment covenantal perspective.

By way of encouragement, we continue to receive regular additions to our magazine, as well as e-mail newsletter, Present Truth Newsletter.  We have also been receiving e-mails from all over our nation and the world from people whom God has in the process of reform.  God is continuing to reform His church and He is faithful to remind us through the testimonies of His people!

For Further Study

SPIRITUAL ISRAEL: THEN & NOW
There exists a great debate today as to who the true Israel of God is.  Is it a small nation of people in the middle east, or is it a spiritual people? Spiritual Israel: Then & Now is a reader friendly, yet thorough, study of Israel from the covenantal perspective.  Today, all who are in Christ make up the Israel of God....
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If you would like to add someone to our Present Truth Magazine mailing list, visit our Present Truth Magazine Page

Dear Present Truth Magazine Subscriber:

We are glad to have you as a subscriber to our Present Truth Magazine.  Below you will find articles from individual authors who have written for our magazine.   Our prayer for all who receive read these articles is that the Lord "...may give to you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, and what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints” (Ephesians 1:17-18).

DEVIL OR FLESH?
By A. Wilson Phillips

Years ago comedian Flip Wilson would humorously say, “The devil made me do it” when he was caught in some unacceptable behavior. Unfortunately, some today seem to share Wilson’s “theology,” and the comedians in our culture point out the flaws that exist in postmodern Christianity. Pride deceives the human heart (Obad. 3), and too often we do not want to take responsibility for our immature behavior and want to blame the devil—who has been defeated in our redemptive history. 

Paul and John, apostles of Jesus Christ, wrote the truth concerning what is to blame for childish rebellion that divides the church. Paul told the immature Corinthians that they were living like mere men—babes who refused to grow up (1 Cor. 3:1-3). We see the same problem in our modern day. 

John wrote:  

Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness (rebellion). And you know that He (Christ) was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin (1 John 3:4-6a). 

Paul wrote: 

For if we have been united together in the likeness of His (Christ’s) death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man (nature) was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin (Rom. 6:5-7).  

Both apostles were declaring that a consistent life in the spirit is free from the power of sin. 

Watchman Nee, a Chinese Christian brother who became mature through much suffering in Christ, wrote about “the divide of the cross.” Nee said,

“The blood of Christ cleanses our sins (plural)” (1 John 1:7). The co-crucifixion with Christ frees us from the power of sin that causes us to commit sins (Gal. 2:20).           

In his Roman letter, Paul explained our co-crucifixion and life in the Spirit:

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death…But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live (Rom. 8:1-2, 11-13).  

Father God expects us to live this normal Christian life that is free from the power of sin, self (old nature), and Satan.

God’s prophet Moses also wrote concerning the “devil-made-me-do-it” theology. Moses described how the serpent (alias Lucifer, the devil, Satan, the dragon) tempted Adam and Eve—the first parents, created in the image and likeness of God—to disobey the voice of God in the garden of Eden.

God said to the serpent,  

And I will put enmity

Between you and the woman,

And between your seed and her Seed;

He shall bruise your head,

And you shall bruise His heel (Gen. 3:15). 

The woman’s Seed refers to Jesus, and He did triumph over the serpent. Mel Gibson’s movie The Passion of the Christ wonderfully depicts the victory of the cross; it is the greatest love story ever told. 

Paul wrote of Lucifer’s defeat— 

Having disarmed principalities and powers, He (Christ) made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it (the cross episode) (Col. 2:15).  

Paul told the suffering saints in Rome (in about 56 A.D.): “And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly” (Rom. 16:20). Some today say that the word “shortly” does not mean “soon” but “swiftly” at the end of the Christian age. Perhaps this is because of their “Flip Wilson theology.” However, further study shows that Satan’s demise took place in the first century.  

Apostle John’s Revelation of Jesus Christ proclaims: 

Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near (Rev. 1:3).

The Revelation of Jesus Christ that John wrote to the seven churches in Asia was readable and understandable—with all of its symbolism—to the first-century believers. They believed what God’s prophets (Moses, Ezekiel, Daniel, Joel, Zechariah, and Isaiah) had spoken and written concerning Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Jesus quoted the prophets concerning the end of the Jewish age (Matt. 24).

Revelation was written in about 65 or 66 A.D. before the destruction of the temple and the fall of Jerusalem in a war with Rome. God used Rome to punish the Jews who had rejected His Son. 

John said he saw  

...an angel (messenger) coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while (Rev. 20:1-3). 

I believe that this symbolizes Jesus coming down from heaven as the Son of Man and binding Satan in order that the gospel could be preached throughout the Roman Empire where God’s covenant people were scattered (Col. 1:6a). He was then loosed for a “little while” to provoke the Jewish war against Rome. This is in keeping with God’s ways of judgment—using the ungodly to discipline His covenant people. Isaiah said, “...I have created the spoiler to destroy” (Is. 54:16). 

Jesus Christ emptied Sheol/Hades where the souls of men and women were held by the serpent from the time of Adam until Christ (Heb. 2:14-15). 

At Jesus’ coming (parousia), when He returned in judgment (67 - 70 A.D.), death and Hades along with the devil and his angels were cast into the lake of fire (John 5; Matt. 25:41; Rev. 20:11-15).

 John’s summary could be: 

For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8).  

Our elder Brother defeated the devil for us. 

Today, all who are in union with Father God, His firstborn Son of the new creation, and His Holy Spirit can live free from the bondage of sin, Satan, and the flesh by walking in the Spirit (Gal. 5:16-26). 

Those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If a brother or sister stumbles, let the mature restore them in a spirit of gentleness (Gal. 6:1-2). 

By faith in God’s Word and Spirit, I say, “The best is yet to come.”

A. Wilson Phillips is the co-founding and senior pastor of Abundant Life Covenant Church.

THOSE LAST DAYS
By Richard K. Clark

In our world today, it is commonplace to hear someone declare with passion, “We’re living in the last days!” Most likely this statement conjures up the notion that time, as we know it, is about to end. Probably mixed in are an anti-Christ, tribulation, Armageddon, judgment, and possibly a mass exodus of the current Christian population from the earth. The term “last days” is biblical, but it does not refer to a world-ending event in our day—it refers to a world-ending event nearly 2000 years ago.

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high (Heb. 1:1-3).

The Hebrew letter was written in approximately 65 A.D. to encourage Jewish Christians to remain true to their faith in Christ. They were living in “the last days of the old covenant world” and were being persecuted by the Jews. Many of them had been believers for many years and were drifting from their steadfast confession of Christ’s new and better covenant.  

In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away (Heb. 8:13). 

In a few short days, the temple would be destroyed, and the 1,500-year tradition of sacrifice given through Moses would be finished. Jesus had already paid the ultimate, once-for-all sacrifice, and His soon coming would complete His high priestly duties.

 ...so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation (Heb. 9:28).

 Therefore the Hebrew Christians were repeatedly admonished to practice their “diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end” (Heb. 6:11).

 …let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching (Heb. 10:22-25). 

The “day approaching” was the revealing (parousia) of Christ. The New Testament gospels foretold the last days, the epistles confirmed their imminency, and the Revelation said the time had come. Biblically, those were the only “last days.” Today we live in the “everlasting covenant” (Heb. 13:20).

Richard K. Clark is an associate pastor of Abundant Life Covenant Church.

Re-Made in the Image of God
By Benjamin Davis 

I frequently read about the debate between evolution and creation—or the new term that is meant to be acceptable for public school teaching, “intelligent design.” On one side of the debate, evolutionists believe that the theory of evolution is the only valid scientific theory that should be taught in the schools. On the other side is a growing number of scientists who are showing that intelligent design in creation has as much scientific proof as evolution and should be taught along side other theories. I believe there is a greater issue at stake: the truth of how God relates to His own image. 

Scripture says, “In the beginning God created…” (Gen. 1:1). After He created the heavens and the earth, He created animals, each “according to its kind” (Gen. 1:24-25), implying that there could be room for microevolution within the species He created but not macroevolution between species. God’s final creation was mankind. 

The unique thing about mankind’s creation is the words God used to communicate His intention: “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness” (Gen. 1:26). Animals were made according to their kind, but mankind was made according to God’s image! 

After God declared His image in the creation of man, He went on to define what His image was like: “Let them have dominion…” (1:26, 28).

Adam and Eve were created to have dominion and subdue the earth. They practiced their dominion in the garden as they walked with God. However, after they sinned, they immediately failed to practice dominion and were dominated by sin. First, the serpent dominated them by deceiving them. Second, they hid from God, saying, “I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked…” (3:10). Adam and Eve had manifested God’s image by having dominion over fear and shame so they could walk with God in the garden. Now they were being dominated by the negative emotions that caused them to hide from God. 

Sin entered the whole human race at Adam’s fall (Rom. 5:12). To illustrate this point, God tells us the story of two of Adam’s children, Cain and Abel. When Abel’s sacrifice to the Lord was accepted and Cain’s was not, Cain became dominated by jealousy and self-pity. The Lord said to him: 

Why has your countenance fallen? …sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you (to rule over you), but you should rule over it (have dominion) (4:6-7).  

Cain did not rule over it and murdered his brother Abel. The Old Testament goes on to reveal story after story of men and women being dominated by sin rather than ruling over it. Then Jesus appears on the scene. 

The story of Jesus is one test after another concerning dominion. As a youth (12 years old), He was tested with youthful independence in Jerusalem. He practiced dominion over it by returning with His parents to be “subject to them” (Luke 2:51). When He was tested in the wilderness, He was tested with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16). He practiced dominion over each as He quoted Scripture to rebuke the devil’s lies. Finally, in the garden of Gethsemane, He practiced dominion over self-preservation and pride as He went willingly, in obedience to the Father, to the cross. 

God can only bless His own image; because of His holiness, He must curse (judge) the rest. When He created Adam and Eve, He blessed them and gave them their assignment to multiply and practice dominion. Because of Adam’s sin, however, all mankind is tainted with sin and therefore under God’s judgment. The good news is that in Christ we have been re-made into God’s image. In Christ, we have 

...put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him... (Col. 3:10). 

As we practice dominion over sin in these bodies, we are qualified to receive the full blessings of God.  

He who says he abides in Him (Jesus) ought himself also to walk just as He (Jesus) walked (1 John 2:6).  

Said another way, “Anyone who says he is a Christian should live as Christ did” (TLB). 

Benjamin Davis is an associate pastor of Abundant Life Covenant Church

WONDERFUL WORDS OF LIFE
By Jonathan Clark

Sing them over again to me

Wonderful words of life

Let me more of their beauty see

Wonderful words of life. 

Just as we set goals for our kids, Father God has set goals for His children. A wise question for me to ask Him every morning would be, “Father, what goals have You set for me today?”  

Then it’s time to still my soul and listen, for God is always communicating, and I would do well to hear His words today. His words are refreshing to my soul. His words are life to my spirit. As I hear and receive His words of life, I speak them inwardly. As I meditate inwardly on His words, the Father and I can have ongoing inner fellowship of heart and soul. 

However, God’s goals for me almost always supercede the beautiful inner fellowship that we have…He desires that I take the next step and speak His powerful words out of my mouth. His words become my words. This is vitally important because: 

God’s ultimate goal for me is that I grow spiritually into the likeness of Christ. For me to grow, He will challenge me daily in my circumstances. He (not the devil) will apply pressure to my life. He may use others to apply pressure, but they are not the source of my stress.

If I am experiencing any stress, I have created it myself (through my words and thoughts). Stress is my improper response (heart and mouth) to His growth stimulus. Properly responding to His pressure produces robust growth; stress produces anxiety and poor health. Stress is never His goal for me.

To grow into the likeness of Christ is to speak His words of life with a kind voice—so that my words may smooth the way, light the day, lessen stress, heal, and bless. I must keep strife and stress not only out of my words but also out of my voice (paraphrased from the book Power of Speaking Positively by Joy Haney).

 Words of life and beauty
Teach me faith and duty
Beautiful words, wonderful words
Wonderful words of life.

Jonathan Clark is an elder of Abundant Life Covenant Church and a physician in Springfield, Missouri.

Parenthood: God’s Greatest Risk
By Benjamin Davis

In working with youth, I have discovered that one of the greatest struggles youth will face in their Christianity is the way they relate to their parents. This relationship is where “the rubber hits the road” in their faith. To help them in this area, I will often misquote, then quote Ephesians 6:1—

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for they are always right.  

Actually, I’m still looking for a Bible that says that. To quote correctly, Paul said,

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth” (Eph. 6:1-3). 

Each of the Ten Commandments has implied promises, but God felt the need to articulate a promise with this commandment. It is right in God’s eyes that children should obey and honor their parents. As youth learn to obey and honor their parents, they learn to respect authority, which will enable them to relate rightly to others in authority so they can live long and enjoy God’s life on the earth.

The greatest risk God took in creation was parenthood. When He created Adam and Eve in His image, He blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply” (Gen. 1:28). Adam and Eve were created to practice intimacy in God’s image. As they had children, all that they were—both good and bad—would go straight into their children. 

Today as parents, it is the same. When we have children, all that we are, both good and bad, goes straight into our children. The gospel of “do as I say not as I do” does not work in parenting. In truth, we model for our children, and they naturally grow up into our image. For this reason, when I see things in my children that I do not like, the first question I have learned to ask the Lord is, “Did they learn this behavior from me?” If the answer is yes, then change must be made in me before lasting change can be made in my children’s lives.

God took a great risk in creating parenthood, but there is also potential for great reward. Our children are the best disciples we will ever have because they naturally model after us and want to grow up into our image. The apostle Paul, as a spiritual father, recognized this truth and wrote:  

The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you (Phil. 4:9). 

It is God’s desire that parents grow up into His image and live out the image of Jesus on this earth. God will use our children in this process to help grow us up. As we grow into God’s image, we will be able to say to our children, “The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you.” 

GOD’S CAREER PLANNING
By Amy Clark

Growing up, I thought I had to go to college to be a successful person or to have any kind of respect in this world. When I graduated high school, I went right into college without any understanding as to why I was there. Father God spoke strongly to my spirit that He had different plans for my life. I felt He did not want me to go to school for the time being. This gave me great peace, because I had felt like I was wasting my time and my parents’ money since I had no clear direction of what I was called to do. As word got out to friends and family, I had feelings of inadequacy and failure. I know that they wondered how I was going to make it in life without a college education. 

Through the Lord’s direction and some help from a friend, I got a job as a pharmacy technician. I worked there for about eight months and then felt the Lord leading me to move on. I knew that the Lord wanted to bless my husband and me through an increase, and I eventually transferred to Cox North Hospital’s business office to work as an insurance follow-up representative. I did this for about a year and a half and enjoyed my job and co-workers.  

My husband mentioned that I could work my way up at Cox. I was not looking for another job or even wanting something different. I told him that I did not see any way of moving up without a college education. My husband responded, “So God can’t create a job for you?” I did not realize I was limiting an unlimited God. The Person who created everything could not provide another increase for us? 

A few months later, I received an e-mail from my manager saying a new position had been created, and it would be an increase in pay. I knew I needed to apply for that job but put off telling my manager because I knew more pay meant more responsibility and accountability. The Holy Spirit led me to several verses, and I wrote them down and took them to work with me. 

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you (Matt. 6:33).

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks, it will be opened (Matt. 7:7-8).

If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you (John 15:7).

Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full (John 16:24). 

The next day I went to work and applied for the job. I am now a financial counselor for Cox.  

The Lord takes us through tests and trials to grow us up to become like His Son and to solidify our foundation in Him. The storms may rock our boat, but as long as we act on His Word, we will not tip over or sink. 

My work is sacred not secular. As I feed on His Word, I must expect Him to manifest His miracles through me in my workplace.

Amy Clark is a financial counselor for Cox Health. She and her husband Kyle lead Abundant Life Ministries at Missouri State University.

Finding the Will of God for Your Life
By Byron Hamilton

During my teenage years, the “will of God” was always a common topic discussed at our annual youth camps. If it wasn’t part of the prepared agenda, it would always get raised during the open question-and-answer sessions. With our adult years still ahead of us, the desire to know the will of God was especially pressing. Then there were always the “what if” questions: What if you miss the will of God for your life? What if you married the wrong person? What if you sinned and made irreversible choices?

At some point in my spiritual journey, it was explained to me that God had three wills: His (a) perfect, (b) acceptable, and (c) good will. This concept came from Romans 12:2, where we are exhorted, not to be “conformed to this world…” but “prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” I was taught: God’s desire is that we find His “perfect” will, however, if we screw up and make those bad choices then we have to settle for His “acceptable” will. And if we manage to foil that plan, then we drop down another notch to just His “good’ will.  
This poor interpretation of Scripture puts those of us who are less than perfect into a life of despair and confines us to a state of complacency, once we lose His perfect will. As I have walked with the Lord over the years, I have come to realize that God is so much bigger than One who keeps changing His will in response to my poor decisions. I have learned that God has only one over-riding will—that is, to conform me to the image of His Son.  

And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that Christ might be the firstborn among many brethren (Rom. 8:28-29). 

I have learned that nothing is beyond the Father’s reach to use as a tool to accomplish this purpose in my life. So even immoral living, failed relationships, felonies—you name it—all become part of His arsenal to accomplish His overall will for me. Although I am responsible for my choices and will suffer the consequences of my decisions, God is still in control and will use these things to conform me to His image. Thus, He can assert that all things work together for good … for those who are called according to His purpose.  

God also uses my current circumstances to remove behavioral patterns from me as He continues this process. This often feels like being pulled through a knothole in a wooden fence. To maximize the benefits of my “knothole” experiences, I must actively yield to His lordship, repent to Him and others of my wrong thinking, words, and actions, renew my mind to the truth of His Word, and allow this transformation to take place. 

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Cor. 3:18). 

I must follow the Holy Spirit’s leading in finding the right job, living in the right place, marrying the right person, etc. However, my confidence rests in Him who will always cause me to fulfill His will—transforming me to His image. 

...being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:6). 

As this transformation takes place in me and those of us who make up the body of Christ, the result is that the church as a whole is transformed into Christ’s image. We will continue to be equipped by God’s delegated authorities “till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13). 

Byron and his wife Leesa own Med-Soft National Training Institute in Springfield, Missouri.

TURNING POINT IN MY LIFE
By Janissa Hole

Not too long ago something wonderful happened… I surrendered my life completely to the Lord, and He changed me! Over and over, people have said to me that my eyes are clear and sparkly—which they hadn’t been for a very long time.

As a teenager in high school, I had a very close walk with God. When I was 19, we left our hometown, and I moved in with my aunt in a different town than where my mom and siblings were going to live. I had fewer rules, less stipulations, and could basically come and go as I pleased. I started a new job and made friends with people my own age who were not Christians. After the move, I didn’t get reestablished in a church home. I was completely out of my norm and did not make the right choices.

Eventually, I started going to parties, which involved heavy drinking and smoking pot and cigarettes. At the time, I thought clubbing and partying was the way to go—but the Lord brought me to a place where I had no choice but to give it up.

At the age of 20, my life started going downhill fast. I was hanging around with people who did methamphetamines, even though I wasn’t doing them. I moved into my own apartment, and one of the guys I hung out with needed a place to stay. I invited him to stay with me. After he moved in with me, he quit working, and money got really tight; I couldn’t meet my bills. I ended up moving in with a friend and his mom and lost my apartment. While I was there, I did things I said I would never do and some things I had never even thought of doing. I ended up getting in trouble with the law—twice.

Just four years before this happened, I was a Christian girl, active in my youth group and knew right from wrong. I chose the life of the world, and now I am on probation with the law for five years.

After all these wrong choices and suffering the consequences of those choices, I was labeled with a mental illness: “bi-polar with schizoaffective disorder.” I was admitted to the psychiatric floor of the hospital, twice. I felt I had hundreds of voices talking in my head all at once. I would even cut myself just to relieve the pain in my mind. I saw things that weren’t there. I heard things that didn’t exist. I went to no less than ten doctors and ended up on nine different medications. Since God has been working in my life, I am down to only four. I know that God is going to heal me completely, and that one day my testimony will be that I no longer need medication. I will not have this the rest of my life as I was told, and I believe that with all of my heart.

My life seemed out of control, and I felt like I was going nowhere. Over a process of four months, God has been working on me and slowly bringing me around. I have had a few setbacks when I rebelled against what He was telling me to do. Recently one night my mom started talking to me about what she was doing for her quiet time with the Lord. I was like “Yeah, that’s nice.” Before I knew it, we were talking about me and my walk with the Lord. She made some really good points that got me to seriously thinking. Eventually, the tears came, and I found myself saying, “I want to be where I used to be in my faith and walk as a high school teenager.” God, through my mom, had brought up old memories of how I used to be. That’s when I realized how much I missed living in the light. I longed for it—for knowledge, for strength in the Lord, and for His love. I finally gave up. Now I am praising Him every day as I rediscover Him.

Since I have surrendered to my Lord and have been walking with Him, I could not be happier! And I can see that there was purpose in my pain, because it has brought me to where I am today.

Janissa Hole lives and works in Springfield, Missouri.

LOST AND FOUND
By Michael Lawrence

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. 

I remember it well. I was barely clinging to the emotional roller coaster ride that was my turbulent mid-twenties—clinging to be in control, yet very much out of control and flailing about—inadvertently buffeting those who, through no real fault of their own, were along for the ride. A few years before, I had experienced a frightening and shamefully painful emotional collapse, being relegated to a locked facility for several months. I still had no clue why it had happened to me. I did not know anything that I could do nor anything that I could avoid doing that would prevent it from happening to me again.

After I had recovered, I began working for a relatively large electrical contracting firm, wiring houses for them. Once I was given a sizable new house to wire. During the project that lasted for more than a year, I worked closely with the lady of the new house. I helped her make the numerous necessary decisions as she chose the various elements of a complete wiring system. She was almost ten years my senior, married with children, quite attractive, comfortably friendly, and very outgoing—at times near the point of exhibitionism. Yet there was a certain unmistakable aura of wholesomeness about her. I immediately developed a little crush on her.

I remember using an embossing tool to plainly label the electrical distribution panel’s various circuits in bold letters when I was near the end of the project. Using the same labeler, I added the date and my name near the bottom on the inside of the panel cover door. Then, I moved on to other projects, other companies, “through many dangers, toils and snares.”

 I once was lost, but now am found. 

Almost a decade later, I was hunted down, apprehended, and forced into full surrender by the God of all comfort. Being without a church home yet hungry for spiritual nourishment, I decided to attend the Bible study that a counselor had recommended. It met on Friday nights at a hotel in the city not far from the town where I was living at the time. 

I remember being a little nervous driving to the city, going into the hotel, seeing the sign directing to the room where the study was about to start. I would be among strangers, I surmised. The first face I saw upon entering the classroom, however, was a friendly one. It was the lady of the large new house, the woman that I had worked with almost a decade before. She smiled and was genuinely glad to see me. She asked her husband if he remembered me. Then she told a story. 

She said at times during the years that they had lived in the house, she would have to go down into the basement to the electrical panel and either turn a circuit off or turn one on, depending on the situation. She said she was always drawn to my name inside the panel cover. She said that somehow she had known that I was in turmoil. She said she would always put her fingers on my name and pray for me.

Michael Lawrence owns and operates Lawrence Electric Company and is a freelance writer.

LEARNING GOD’S WAYS
By Kyle Clark

Today, if you will hear His voice:

“Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion,

As in the day of trial in the wilderness,

When your fathers tested Me;

They tried Me, though they saw My work.

For forty years I was grieved with that generation,

And said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts,

And they do not know My ways.’

So I swore in My wrath,

‘They shall not enter My rest’” (Ps. 95:7b-11). 

Unfortunately in our culture today, many Christians recognize God’s work but do not know His ways. Many fail to understand Holy Spirit’s discipline in our lives. God uses our flesh to discipline us to bring us to maturity. I have come to know this by revelation as God has been disciplining me.  

A few months ago I began to practice a healthier lifestyle. I stopped overeating and began to exercise more regularly. Since I got married, the problem I had was overeating. I would exercise, but eating a great deal obviously worked against me. A guy in our church told me, “You eat to live, not live to eat.” I recognized that I was living to eat. When I decided to eat healthier, the consistency came easier. 

Everyone has to deal with the flesh, which hinders his or her development in God’s kingdom. My flesh pattern was overeating. I know the image I portray speaks as loud as the words I say. People need to see me live the life and hear me speak words of life; the two go hand-in-hand. I didn’t lose hundreds of pounds, but I prevented myself from having a serious problem in the future.

God’s way is to harness every aspect of our lives. He wants us to enjoy life and at the same time understand that He is first—with no exceptions. Too often, we see God do wonderful works of healing, provision, and protection and then fail to see the Holy Spirit’s dealing in our personal lives. If we do not hear the voice of the Spirit today, we will perish in the wilderness and never enter God’s rest (promised land).

Kyle Clark is a religious studies major at Missouri State University. He and his wife Amy lead the Abundant Life Ministries on campus.