Guest Article

God is No Respecter of Persons

Part of the sanctification process that God the Father would like to start with each and everyone of us is to make sure that our minds get properly renewed according the knowledge and revelation that is in His Word. In other words, we have to learn how to develop right thinking in our minds and in our thought process.

In order to get our minds properly renewed where we can start thinking right about things, the Holy Spirit will be moving very strongly to put in what He does want you to be thinking right about and taking out what He doesn't want you to be thinking about.

One of the very first areas that you will really need to get a grip on in this area is to learn that God the Father is no respecter of persons. What this means is that every single man and every single woman He has ever created is on an equal footing with Him. What this means is that He has an equal and unconditional love for each person He has ever created and He is not going to be playing favorites with anyone.

As you will see in the Scripture verses I will list below - they are all telling us that God the Father is no respecter of persons and that He will not be showing any type of partiality or favoritism to anyone.

What this means is that God will work with each person that will properly come to Him with the same amount of intensity and to the same degree that He will work with anyone else. In other words, there will be equal treatment for everyone!

This means we will all have an equal chance to be able enter into God's perfect will for our lives - and then allow Him to build that life up and take it into the specific directions that He will want to take it in.

Part of the problem in this area is that the Body of Christ is divided into one of two main camps. In the one camp is the Christian who has fully surrendered his entire life over to the Lord and is willing to enter into God's perfect will for his life. As a result of making this kind of full surrender to the Lord, God is working and building up this person's life to its maximum capabilities and maximum possibilities in this life. This fully surrendered Christian has a very active and powerful walk with the Lord as a result of being willing to come into this full surrender with the Him.

And then you have the second camp, which is the one where I believe most Christians are living in today - and that is out of the perfect will of God for their lives. In other words, they have never made that full surrender with the Lord where He would be the One to guide and direct their lives into the directions that He would want it to go in.

As a result of this extreme contrast between these two camps, you have Christians who are walking in this second camp, which is out of the perfect will of God for their lives, wondering why the fully surrendered Christian is getting all of the good activity and blessings in their lives and they are not getting anywhere in their lives with the Lord.

The fully surrendered Christian has meaning and purpose in his or her life. They know where they are going with the Lord and they have God's anointing, blessing and favor operating in their lives so that they can make it to the tops of their own personal mountains in the Lord - and all of this positive activity is being brought into their lives as a result of being willing to fully surrender their entire lives over to God the Father for His direction and handling.

The Christians who are living and walking in the second camp are calling all of their own shots and running all of their own shows - and many of them are getting absolutely nowhere in this life as a result of trying to do all of this on their own.

In the Bible basics section of our site, we have another article titled "The Full Surrender." In this article, I give you all of the main verses from the Bible that is telling us that there is only one way for each and every Christian to live this life - and that is operating under a full surrender with the Lord, where He will now be the One to guide and lead your life in the direction that He will want it to go in - not you, and not any of your close friends or other family members.

As a result of this kind of divide in the Body of Christ, you have many Christians who are in this second camp being very jealous and envious of all of the good works and fruit that the fully surrendered Christian is producing for the Lord.

But instead of trying to see the truth as to why these fully surrendered Christians are getting this kind of blessed activity with the Lord, they start getting mad at God and start accusing Him of playing favorites with a certain amount of His people - much like what siblings will do with their own natural parents if they think one of the other siblings is getting preferential treatment from one or both of the parents.

The Bible says that the truth will set you free - but you first have to be willing to see what that truth is and then fully understand it before it can start to work to set you free.

If you are not willing to see that fully surrendered Christians are receiving this kind of blessed and meaningful life from the Lord all as a result of making this full surrender with Him - then you will continue to stay stuck and grounded right where you are at, and you will continue to throw pity parties and blame everyone else for your miserable and unproductive life - including God Himself.

Bottom line - because the Bible tells us so - God the Father is no respecter of persons, and He will not be showing any type of partiality or favoritism to any man or woman He has ever created.

What this means is that you will have no excuse on your day of judgment with the Lord as to why you did not have a more blessed, active, productive and fruitful life for Him while living down here on this earth.

You will have nobody to blame but yourself if you have chosen with your own free will to run your own life and call all of your own shots rather than turning your entire life over to God the Father for His direction and handling.

Now here are 4 very powerful and profound verses from the Bible that is giving us this powerful revelation from the Lord. The first verse is from the Original King James Version. This will be the verse that will give you the specific wording that God the Father is no respecter of persons. The other three verses are from the New King James Version.

1. "Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him." (Acts 10:34)

2. "... God shows no personal favoritism to no man ...." (Galatians 2:6)

3. "For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe." (Deuteronomy 10:17)

4. "And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one's work ... " (1 Peter 1:17)

   
   

As Christians, we all need to grab a hold of the profound revelation that is being given to us in these four verses. Think of what God is trying to tell all of us with this revelation - that every single one of us, with no exceptions, can be treated equally and fairly with the Lord in how He will handle our lives - but only if we are willing to enter into this full surrender with Him where He will now be the One to control and lead our lives in the direction that He will want them to go in.

If you are willing to enter into this full surrender with the Lord, He will now handle both you and what He wants to do with your life with the same amount of care, love, compassion and intensity as He would with any other fully surrendered Christian. There are no exceptions to this revelation. There is an equal amount of unconditional love, support and guidance from God the Father for every single Christian who is willing to enter into this full surrender with Him.

This means that every single Christian has an equal chance and an equal window to become everything that God is calling them to become in Him in this life - and to fully achieve everything that He is wanting them to accomplish in this life.

This particular revelation is so powerful from the Lord, that I have chosen to put this article in the Sanctification section of our site. This revelation has to be believed on, grounded on and acted on. This revelation has to become a permanent part of your right thinking.

If you don't, can't or won't believe that God will treat everyone fairly and justly in this realm of the full surrender - then you will never make it to the top of whatever mountain God is calling you to climb for Him in this life.

In addition to the Christians who steadfastly and stubbornly refuse to commit and surrender their entire lives over to the Lord for His full handling - you then have many Christians who have made this full surrender with the Lord, but they are still continuing to remain stuck and grounded in their walk with the Lord.

And the reason some of these fully surrendered Christians are remaining grounded and stuck in their walk and calls with the Lord is because they have never been able to get over the mental hurdle of being able to believe in the revelation that is being given to us in these four verses in that God the Father is no respecter of persons - which will include every single one of them.

I have met many of these types of Christians in my own walk with the Lord. When I asked these people why they could not believe in this revelation since it is being given to us directly from the Bible itself - many of them have told me it was because of some of the bad things that their own natural fathers had done to them in their past.

Even though they know this type of thinking is wrong since it is going against what the Bible is trying to tell us - there appears to be an emotional factor that comes into play, especially if there has been any type of severe abuse from their parents, especially the father.

When a child is born into a family, God has things set up in that the parents are supposed to properly love, nourish and care for their child as he or she is growing into adulthood in the family. When that proper love, care and nourishment is not there, and all the child ever hears or receives is verbal and/or physical abuse, then the child has a hard time learning how to trust anyone as they get older. They have been so beat up from all of this dysfunctional abuse, they even have a hard time in being able to trust in God Himself, even though they know God is all-perfect, all-loving and is no respecter of persons.

Since they were not treated fairly and justly by their natural parents, they have a hard time in being able to believe that God will treat them equally and fairly like He would anyone else. As a result of not being able to get this revelation properly worked into their mindset and way of thinking in this life - they end up remaining stuck and grounded in their own personal walks with the Lord and they never climb or reach to all of the goals that God would have had in store for them in this life.

This is why it is so vitally important that each and every Christian believe and act on this revelation - that you are just as important to God as anyone else is, and that God will give you the same amount of time, care and attention that He would give to anyone else.

To think that the one and only all-powerful God of this entire universe can personally single you out and tell you from His Word that you are just as important and just as precious in His sight as anyone else that He has ever created since the beginning of our world - is enough to knock you right off the couch when you really stop and meditate on this.

To those of you who are having a hard time in believing in this revelation - you will simply have to make up your mind whether or not you want to try and believe on it. If you don't, you will never make it into the maximum goals and aspirations that God would have had in store for you in this life.

You only have one chance and one opportunity to fulfill the destiny to which God has called you to in this life.

You can either choose to believe that God has a great plan and a great purpose for your life and that He will give you just as much time and attention to be able to fulfill that divine destiny as He would anyone else - or you can choose to believe that our God is not who the Bible says He is.

If you believe that the Holy Bible is truly the inspired and infallible Word of God - then you have to believe what the above 4 verses are trying to tell you. God cannot lie - and neither can His Word! This revelation is money in your bank if you can believe, ground and act on it in this life.

If you can ground on this revelation as a major foundational truth in your walk with the Lord - God can then take full control of your life and remove all obstacles, barriers and hindrances that will keep you from flying full force into the realm of His perfect will for your life - where an incredible adventure just lies waiting for you.

The choice is yours!

One other thing once you enter into this realm with the Lord where you are now walking and operating in His perfect will for your life - do not ever compare where your walk is going in the Lord to where anyone else may be going in their walk with Him. The calls and divine assignments that God will pass your way in this life are all relative.

What this means is that if God calls you to be a stay-at-home mom for the first 20 years of your marriage so that you can properly raise up your children in their earlier formative years - that call will be just as important as someone who is being called by God to become the next president of the United States. The little finger is just as important as the right arm in the Body of Christ.

What matters with the Lord is not what He calls you to do for Him in this life - but what you do with the call that He hands out to you. Your job is to do the best job you can at whatever God is calling you to do for Him on a daily basis.

God will be rewarding you for how well you work for Him - not for what He will actually call you to do. If you end up doing a better job for God raising up your children in the first 20 years of your marriage than what someone does with their call of being the next president of the United States - then you will be more highly rewarded once you enter into heaven than the one who may have received the bigger and heavier call such as being called to be the next president.

This is why the Bible tells us that many who are first in this world may end up being last, and those that are last in this world may end being first once we have all entered into heaven and everyone has gone through their own personal judgments with the Lord at the Judgment Seat of Christ.

Once you have entered into this full surrender with the Lord where He will now be the One who will be in total control of your life and the direction it will be heading - your job will be to the best job you can at whatever the Holy Spirit leads you to do on a daily basis. If you can work this kind of bottom-line truth into your mindset, you will be less likely to become jealous of other Christians who may be walking in some of the more glamorous type calls than what you may be walking in.

Remember - every Christian has a vital and important part on God's team. The job of the third baseman is just as important as the job of the pitcher or first baseman. All of these positions are relative in the big picture.

All that matters to the Lord in this life is that you put the pedal to the metal for Him and try to accomplish, to the best of your abilities, everything that He will be calling you to do for Him in this life.

If you do - then you can leave this life knowing that you have not squandered and wasted your one and only chance to do something meaningful and purposeful for the Lord in this earthly life. As a result - God will be highly rewarding you once you enter into heaven and meet Him face to face for your own personal judgment.

Michael Bradley Bible Teaching, Knowledge, Commentary and Over 150 Free Articles Copyright © 2005-2007 by Michael Bradley.

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The Bossy Church Lady's Newsletter For New Christians 9-14-2008 "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:21 (NIV) Warm Fuzzies Thank you to all of my subscribers, without you, the new Christian, this newsletter wouldn't exist. I would love to hear from you, but please do not hit reply to contact me because I won't receive your response. If you need to contact me you can email me at sandra @ thebossychurchlady.net (without the spaces in the address). I'd love to hear what you think! And, if you want to share something with the other readers in a future issue of this newsletter--such as a testimonial, or a poem, devotional, a story that God has inspired you to write, or even if you want to advertise your own site-- you can send it to me at sandra @ thebossychurchlady.net (without the spaces in the address). Your privacy is important to me; therefore, I will not sell, rent, or give your name or address to anyone. At any point, you can select the link at the bottom of every email to unsubscribe. If your e-mail program is blocking the pictures in this newsletter or if you would rather read this newsletter online, go to: http://www.thebossychurchlady.net/backissues.html (The current newsletter is always at the top of the pages.) In This Issue ><> Link to chapter 4 Pre-Release Copy of The Bossy Church Lady’s Official Guide For New Christians—for subscribers only. (Link is removed from back issues.) ><> In the World - But Not of the World by Michael Bradley ><> Resources Update on the Comcast thing... For those of you who regularly read my newsletters, you know that, for some strange reason, is Comcast, who is my ISP, was blocking me from accessing my web hosting provider's site, thereby preventing me from maintaining my website. Anyhoo... now that Comcast has stopped blocking traffic to that site, I can get into the control panel for my website, which is a very good thing. Once again, I want to thank http://www.snapdrive.net , who graciously hosted chapter 3 from my book The Bossy Church Lady’s Official Guide For New Christians. Check It Out! Chapter 4 Pre-Release Copy of The Bossy Church Lady’s Official Guide For New Christians: 6 Days To Knowing All About God. As Promised, the link to chapter 4 Pre-Release Copy of The Bossy Church Lady’s Official Guide For New Christians: 6 Days To Knowing All About God—for subscribers only is here (Sorry, it's only for subscribers). This link (which has been removed from the backissues) will expire on Wednesday, September, 17 2008. As a courtesy, please do not distribute this in any manner as it’s a pre-release copy for subscribers of The Bossy Church Lady’s Newsletter For New Christians only. If you're having trouble accessing the file... too bad! Just kidding! Email me at: sandra @ thebossychurchlady.net or sandra_purdue @ hotmail.com (both addresses without the spaces in the address) and let me know so I can email it to you. You will need Adobe PDF Reader to view the file. If you're feeling up to it, I would love it if you dropped me a line at: sandra @ thebossychurchlady.net (without the spaces in the address) to tell me what you think about it. Believe it or not, brutal honesty is appreciated . Guest Article In the World - But Not of the World Many of you have heard from your pastors the title of this article in that we are to be in the world, but not of the world in our walk with the Lord. Not only is this a very catchy phrase and saying, but this is also a rock solid God-truth that is coming straight out of our Bible.   Many Christians get a bit confused when they first hear this phrase and revelation. The first question they usually have is if God is calling me to do something worthwhile and noble in my call and purpose for Him down here on this earth, then why is God telling me not to become a part "of" this world? How can I complete my divine call in the Lord if I don't get actively involved in the world and with other people in general? Jesus Himself went full scale into His surroundings once He received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and then came out of the 40 day wilderness test with the devil. From there, He embarked on a major three and a half year miracle ministry before He went to the cross to die for all of us and our sins. During those three and half years, Jesus was constantly preaching, teaching, healing and delivering people. At first glance, it looked and appeared as if He had become an actual part of the world with how much interaction that was going on between Him and everyone else that was around Him. But as you will see in the explanations below, God the Father does want us to become actively involved "in" the world so that we can fully accomplish His perfect will for our lives. Another problem that some Christians have with this phrase is that they misinterpret what God is trying to tell them when He is making the statement that we are not to be "of" the world. They think they should be retreating from life and everyone in general, and some of them end up becoming monks, hermits and recluses hiding away from as much of the world as they possibly can. I know God may call a very small percentage of His people into that type of special celibate and monastic type lifestyle, but for the most part, I believe God wants His people to become very active "in" the world trying to make it a much better place to live, work and play in. How can you witness, save, teach, preach and help deliver other people if you are not "in" the world trying to reach and connect with them in the first place? I believe this particular revelation from the Lord has two sides to it. It is like looking at a two sided coin. On the one side of the coin we are to be "in" the world. As you will see in one of the Scripture verses below, Jesus is telling His Father not to take us out of the world, since we all have a great commission and call from Him to try and save and help as many people as we possibly can. We can't "reach" the lost, the downtrodden, the helpless, the poor, the sinners and the people who are being held in some type of captivity if we are not "in" the world trying to reach them with the message and gospel of our Lord and Savior. This is what is meant by the Lord telling us that we still have to continue to be living "in" this world. We all have to be born into this world as a result of the curse of Adam and Eve, and until it is our time to leave and depart from this life, God will expect each and everyone of us to come and work for Him. Once you enter into a full surrender with the Lord of you and your entire life, then God will place you into His perfect will for your life. And once God places you into His perfect will for your life, then He will lead you into the path and direction that He will want you to take in this life. And on that path will be your call or calls, your missions, your divine assignments and the specific people that He will want you to work with. Again, you cannot properly compete your calls, your divine assignments, and your tasks and duties for the Lord if you are not willing to get actively involved "in" the world to some degree and to some extent. This is the one side of the coin where we are supposed to be "in" the world. However, this revelation from the Lord also has a flip side to it. There is a flip side to this same coin. Though we are to be actively involved "in" the world to the degree that God will lead us to, we also have to realize and be very aware that we are not to become too much of an actual part "of" the world. As you will see in one of the verses below, God is telling us to keep ourselves "unspotted" from the world. In other words, He does not want us to become spotted, contaminated and tainted by the bad and evil things of this world. And the only way that we can keep ourselves from becoming too spotted and too contaminated from this world is not to get too deep and too friendly with the ways of this world. In other words, God is asking all of us to walk a very fine line between being actively and properly involved "in" the world so we can reach and help other people - but at the same time making sure that we do not fall too deep and too far into the world where we then start to fall into the actual evil, depravity and corruptness of this world. The best analogy I can give you on this so that you can fully understand what the Lord is trying to convey to us is the "fence analogy." Imagine a fence line running alongside your right side as you continue to walk on the straight and narrow path that God has you set to walk on. The phrase and saying that will come off of this fence line analogy that perfectly lines up with what the Lord is trying to tell us in this revelation is that we all should be "staying on our side of the fence." On your side of the fence is the call and path that you are taking for the Lord. On this side of the fence are all the righteous ways of our Lord on how we are to act and behave in this life with ourselves and with other people in general. On the other side of the fence are the walks and paths taken by those who are either not saved or the ones who are considered to be very carnal and fleshly type Christians, whose only goals and desires in this life is to live for as much as they can get out of this world. Their only goals and aspirations in this life is to try and gain as much of the material and lustful things out of this life as they possibly can before their day in the sun is finally over. We thus live in a dual type of world. On the one side of the fence is the side of God and the righteous way that He wants us to live this life in. On the other side of the fence are the unsaved sinners and carnal Christians who are not living their life God's way, and who are out breaking any law and commandment they see fit so they can satisfy their cravings for the lustful pursuits and things of this life. Once you become saved and born again by accepting Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you are now in whole different ballgame. You are now on a whole different type of playing field. God the Father perfectly lays it out for each and everyone of us in the way that He has worded the following verse I will now give you. In this verse, God is giving every single one of us a big choice to make in this life. We can either choose to follow God and His ways for living in this life and "live" - or we can choose to follow the wicked and evil ways of this world and "die." Here is one whopper, all-or-nothing, black and white, straight to the point verse direct from the mouth of the Lord Himself: "... I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days ..." (Deuteronomy 30:19) Notice that God says absolutely nothing about any type of middle or neutral grounds with this proclamation. Either we choose to follow God and live this life in the way that He wants us to live it, or we can choose to follow the ways of this world and eventually bring down death and cursing upon us and possibly those who may be close to us. Notice in this verse that God is telling us that we must "obey His voice," which means that we have to follow directly after Him and all of His ways for us in this life, not after the ways of this world or anyone else in this world. Now here are 5 very good verses from the Bible that is giving us this specific revelation in that we are to be in the world, but not of the world. The Scripture Verses I will first list each one of the verses one right after the other, and then I will point out and highlight several key words and phrases in these verses. "If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." (John 15:19) "I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world." (John 17:14) "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." (James 1:27) "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever." (1 John 2:15) "Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." (James 4:4) Notice in the first two verses that Jesus is specifically telling us that we are not to be "of the world." He then goes one step further in the third verse from James when He tells us that He wants us to remain "unspotted" from the world. Jesus then perfectly wraps it up in the last two verses when He tells us that if we ever get to the point where we have become too friendly with the world and the ways of it - then we will literally become the enemy of God Almighty Himself! When Jesus Himself is telling us that we will become His Father's enemy if we become too friendly and too attached to the ways and things of this world - you know we are dealing with a very serious warning from the Lord on this issue! Jesus points out to us that all of the lustful pursuits and things of this life will eventually pass way when we die and cross over. In another verse, Jesus has already told us that what good will it do a man to gain all the wealth of this world as his possessions, but then lose his own soul in the pursuit and acquirement of all of that wealth. It will all have ended up being for naught when everything is all finally said and done. Conclusion Though most of us know exactly what the Lord is trying to tell us with the revelation and knowledge that is in these verses, for many Christians in this day and age, this one is a real hard one to try and keep on top of. With the incredible advances in technology and knowledge in the last 100 years, much of the world has become a much better place to live, work and play in. As a result of all of this incredible advancement in technology and knowledge, we now have many more toys and material possessions that we can all strive to acquire more of. We can now shoot for bigger and better houses, bigger and better cars, and bigger and better things for our lives in general. With all of these types of material blessings from our Lord, it becomes very easy for many to get out of balance with all of it. Instead of realizing where all of this abundant type of wealth is really coming from in the first place, and choosing to say humble and accountable with it in their walks with the Lord, many Christians start to get to caught up in the actual pursuit and desire for this material wealth. Before they know it, they have placed their pursuit and desire for all of this material wealth before God Himself. The are no longer wanting to serve and follow God. They now only want to serve themselves and what they can get out of this life. As Christians, we always have to stay on top of this part of our walk with the Lord. Jesus Himself has made it as clear and as plain as day as to how we are to look at this life and interact with it. We are to stay "in" the world. We have a holy mission and a holy calling direct from the Lord on what it is He wants us to accomplish and get done in this life before we depart to be with Him for all of eternity. The goal of each Christian's life should be to accomplish, to the best of our abilities, God the Father's perfect will for our lives. Our goal should be to serve God and do what He wants us to do in this life - not to chase after the world and all the wealth and possessions of this world, which will do nothing but rot and perish the minute we leave and depart from this life. We have to keep our priorities straight, and our number one priority should be to want to serve God and accomplish His perfect will for our lives. If we make that our number one goal and aspiration in this life, then God will appropriately reward each one of us once we enter into heaven. And those heavenly rewards will far surpass and far exceed any of the material wealth and possessions that we could have gained down here on this earth. As Christians, we have to realize that we no longer even belong to ourselves, much less to the world in general. We have been bought back at a severe price at the death of our Lord and Savior, and we now belong to God, and God alone. We now work for God, and God alone. What this means is that our protective and loving God has now drawn a major battle line in the sand. He is letting all of us know what we can and cannot do in this life. He is letting all of us know where we can tread in this life and where we cannot tread. Boundary lines and a fence line have now been put up by our Lord. God is now telling all of us to stay on our side of the fence in our walks with Him. We have to stay on the righteous side of the fence in our walk with Him. Though there is much in this life that is enticing and tempting to want to cross over and experiment with, realize that there are going to be certain things of the flesh that you will not be able to chase after in this life. You can't be doing drugs, abusing alcohol, and sleeping with whoever you want to outside the bounds of holy marriage. You can't be cheating and scamming others in an effort to try and gain more wealth and riches. You now have to play everything by the Book - and that Book is the Bible! Many of our teenagers are battling this cold, hard reality in the high schools and colleges they are attending. God obviously wants them to be "in" this world, as they will need a proper education to progress into the calls and divine assignments that He will have in store for them in this life. But that doesn't mean you have to cross over into the carnal and fleshly worlds of those who are not walking right with the Lord. You can sit next to someone in school who may be doing drugs and living a wide and carnal type of life. You can befriend him. You can witness to him as the Spirit leads. You can help him with his schoolwork if he should ask you. But that doesn't mean you have to leave your side of the fence and cross over into his world of drugs, booze and wild and crazy sex parties. You can keep yourself unspotted from the world and yet still be "in" the world to help other people out. The same thing goes for adults who are working in environments where they have a mixture of good apples and bad apples. Again, you can help out, and work in harmony and unity with those who are living their life on the dark and wild side of this life. But that doesn't mean you have to cross over and leave your side of the fence to start going to their drug, booze and wild sex parties outside of work. Many Christians have been seduced into crossing over into some of these carnal and fleshly realms as a result of the seductive and persuasive influence of some of their co-workers or schoolmates. This is why this particular piece of revelation is so important for each and every Christian to not only have the knowledge of, but to also abide by it and not be tempted to ever cross over into some of these forbidden areas with the Lord. These boundary lines are being set up by the Lord for our own good and for our protection. Every Christian mother and every Christian father should be burning this piece of revelation into their young children's minds at an early age so that they can have this knowledge to fall back on when they start to get tempted to cross over into this darker side of life. This knowledge should be fully ingrained into them by the time they move into their high schools, their colleges and then eventually into the work place. This particular piece of revelation may be the difference as to whether or not some of your children ever become everything that God is calling them to become in this life. Every minute of every day someone is getting hurt, maimed or murdered as a result of crossing over into the darker side of this life and hanging out with the wrong type of people or crowd. Bottom line - you are still "in" the world as far as God the Father is concerned because He has a specific plan and purpose for your life - but you are no longer part "of" this same world. You now belong to God and Jesus, and you now have to live your life the way They want you to live it - not the way you or the rest of the world would like you to live it. This choice will always be yours to make. You can either choose to follow God and His ways for your life and stay on His side of the fence in your walk with Him - or you can choose to leave the safety and protection of His side and venture into the darker side of this life where death, cursing and major misfortune will await you. Once again, God the Father could not make things any more clear and any more plain with the revelation that He is giving us in that we are to be in the world, but not of the world. Remember, stay on your side of the fence in your walk with the Lord. Many great men and women of God have lost their calls, their ministries and their earthly destinies in the Lord because they violated this basic, fundamental, common sense rule and revelation from the Lord. Michael Bradley Bible Teaching, Knowledge, Commentary and Over 150 Free Articles Copyright © 2005-2007 by Michael Bradley. Bible Trivia Give your noodle a workout with a new Bible trivia question every day: http://www.thebossychurchlady.net/free_Bible_trivia.html Resources I'm always delighted to present each new resource that I find because it's my hope that every one that I include in my newsletters will help you grow in Christ. If you know of any resources that you would like to share with the other readers, feel free to write to me and let me know about it so I can include it in the newsletters. ><> Don’t forget to download Chapter 4 of The Bossy Church Lady’s Official Guide For New Christians: 6 Days To Knowing All About God ><> My Christian Parenting - A place for Christian parents to get together and exchange ideas on parenting God's way. ><> Listen to the Old Testament and the New Testament Bible online at: http://www.thebossychurchlady.net/free_online_Bible.html ><> G.I.R.L. Club: Guiding & Inspiring Righteous - G.I.R.L. is a Christian website, youth group, & club for teen girls. Great tips on daily devotions & Bible reading. Beaver Falls, Pa. ><> Virtuous Living - Website of Christian Writer/Author/Lecturer Jackie Moore-Daily Devotional, Mamajacq's Kitchen a place for Christians to share their inspirational messages, free posting for local church events. Quick Answers To Your Burning Questions About God Are you witnessing to an unbeliever and need some super duper quick answers about God and Jesus... like yesterday? Get this f.r.e.e e-book and use it as a witnessing tool to silence the doubters! Give it away to your friends! Get the book in PDF Format Get the book in MS WORD Format-Printer Friendly Version Hurry! Send This Newsletter To a Friend! ><> Babe in Christ? Seeking answers about God? The Bossy Church Lady's website is packed with inspirational articles, tools, resources and scriptures that will answer your questions about Jesus. http://www.thebossychurchlady.net ><> Get a f.r.e.e e-book that will take you by the hand and explain everything you need to know about the end times! If you're a webmaster, snag the book and give it away to your visitors! The Bossy Church Lady's Take On The End Times Until next time... Love The Bossy Church Lady To unsubscribe, go to http://www.thebossychurchlady.net/goodbye.html, enter your email address in the form and click the unsubscribe button or use the link at the very bottom of this letter to unsubscribe. Return To The Top Of The Page The Bossy Church Lady's Newsletter For New Christians 8-31-2008 "He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels." Revelation 3:5 (NIV) Warm Fuzzies Thank you to all of my subscribers, without you, the new Christian, this newsletter wouldn't exist. I would love to hear from you, but please do not hit reply to contact me because I won't receive your response. If you need to contact me you can email me at sandra @ thebossychurchlady.net (without the spaces in the address). I'd love to hear what you think! And, if you want to share something with the other readers in a future issue of this newsletter--such as a testimonial, or a poem, devotional, a story that God has inspired you to write, or even if you want to advertise your own site-- you can send it to me at sandra @ thebossychurchlady.net (without the spaces in the address). Your privacy is important to me; therefore, I will not sell, rent, or give your name or address to anyone. At any point, you can select the link at the bottom of every email to unsubscribe. If your e-mail program is blocking the pictures in this newsletter or if you would rather read this newsletter online, go to: http://www.thebossychurchlady.net/backissues.html (The current newsletter is always at the top of the pages.) In This Issue ><> A strange thing happening with my Internet Service Provider (ISP)... ><> Link to chapter 3 Pre-Release Copy of The Bossy Church Lady’s Official Guide For New Christians—for subscribers only. (Link is removed from back issues.) ><> Holding Fast to the Lord by Michael Bradley ><> Resources Something Weird Is Going On At Comcast... For those of you who regularly read my newsletters, you know that I post every issue of this newsletter on my website at: http://www.thebossychurchlady.net/backissues.html. Well, for some strange reason, my ISP, which is Comcast, is blocking me from accessing my web hosting provider's site so I can maintain my website and do things such as add new pages--or even put up the latest issue of this newsletter. On top of that, I've been prevented from uploading anything to my website via FTP. Funny thing too, I'm not the only one that Comcast is doing this to. No doubt, you're asking... "Well, how do you know that Comcast is doing this?" Because I ran a tracert, which traces the route that my computer takes to get to my web hosting provider's site. For some unknown reason, Comcast blocked me each time. And, I checked to see if my web hosting site is blacklisted by Comcast, and guess what? They're not. When I called Comcast last week about the issue--along with several other Comcast customers who are also being blocked from accessing the same web hosting company--the customer service rep told me--and the others who called them--that they wouldn't do such a thing. But the proof is undeniable, I say. Now for the time being... because I dearly love Comcast (They really are an awesome ISP, aside from this issue!) and I love my web hosting provider (They simply are the very best I've seen for the amazing price of... f.r.e.e. They're even better than most paid plans!) and, since I have no intention of changing either, until this issue is resolved between the two, my newsletters and whatever else I write will be posted on my blog at: http://thebossychurchlady.blogspot.com/. Of course, the link for the chapters of The Bossy Church Lady's Official Guide For New Christians won't be posted on the newsletter that will be posted there, as the book is being released to subscribers only. Which, brings me around to another issue: If you happen to be reading this newsletter and wish to subscribe, you still can do that (as far as I know) on my website. If that doesn't work, email me at sandra @ thebossychurchlady.net (without the spaces in the address) and I'll add you to the subscriber list as I can't figure out for the life of me how to get to the subscribe page at my mailing list provider, which is http://www.yourmailinglistprovider.com . One other thing before I move on: I would love to thank http://www.snapdrive.net , who is graciously hosting the chapters from my book for free for the time being. Check It Out! Chapter 3 Pre-Release Copy of The Bossy Church Lady’s Official Guide For New Christians: 6 Days To Knowing All About God. As Promised, the link to chapter 2 Pre-Release Copy of The Bossy Church Lady’s Official Guide For New Christians: 6 Days To Knowing All About God—for subscribers only is here (Sorry, it's only for subscribers). This link (which has been removed from the back issues) will expire on Wednesday, September, 3 2008. As a courtesy, please do not distribute this in any manner as it’s a pre-release copy for subscribers of The Bossy Church Lady’s Newsletter For New Christians only. You will need Adobe PDF Reader to view the file. If you're feeling up to it, I would love it if you dropped me a line at: sandra @ thebossychurchlady.net (without the spaces in the address) to tell me what you think about it. Believe it or not, brutal honesty would be appreciated too. Guest Article Holding Fast to the Lord The Scripture verses I will list in this article will be giving us another major basic fundamental principle that we all have to get worked into our mindset and walk with the Lord. As you will see in how the Lord has worded all of these verses, this is another all-or-nothing proclamation and principle being given to us by our Lord.   Bottom line - once you have entered into a true full surrender with the Lord where He will now be the One to guide you into His perfect plan for your life - you can never, ever turn back, bail out, quit or throw in the towel on Him. Wrestle with God all you want, throw as many temper tantrums as you want, but do not ever get to the point with God where you are going to tell Him that you are going to bail out on Him and walk off of His playing field. All of the power verses I will list in this article are telling us to do the following: Hold fast to the Lord Hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering Hold fast our confidence in the Lord Hold fast to the Word of Life Do not cast away your confidence in the Lord Do not depart from following Him Keep your heart steadfast Be faithful until death Stand fast in the faith Continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast Fight the good fight of faith Run the race with endurance Do not become sluggish Be an overcomer Finish the race The very first verse I will list below will give us perfect revelation from the Lord on this issue. This one verse is so powerful from the Lord, that I have decided to name the title of this article just after this one verse. All of the above key phrases are a real mouthful! When you read each one of them, one right after the other, the message is coming through loud and clear from our Lord. Once we have entered into a full surrender with the Lord where He will now be the One to guide and direct our lives in the direction that He will want it to go in, we can never, ever change course or bail out on Him. God is now the Captain of our ship. God is now the Shepherd of our souls. God will now be leading us every step of the way in our walk and journey with Him. We now belong to God, work for God and live for God - literally to the day we die and depart from this life. As we all know, this life can be rough, and no one gets by in this life without having to face a certain amount of trouble, adversity and conflict. We all have to go through various storm clouds from time to time - no exceptions! It's very easy to have high levels of faith in God when everything is going good and great and you do not have a care or trouble in the world. But let that first heavy storm cloud come knocking on your door, and many Christians start to get weak at the knees, start to panic, and then start to question God and His wisdom. All of a sudden their high levels of faith in the Lord start to waver and they start doubting that God can handle the adversity that has now hit them. As Christians, we have to realize that there is always going to be a certain amount of trouble, tribulation and persecution in this world - and this type of trouble will be hitting believers as well as nonbelievers. No one gets out of this life without having to face a certain amount of trouble and adversity, and for some, this adversity will end up being extreme and traumatic. Our local daily news shows us everyday what some people are being forced to take and endure. As a result of the fallen and cursed world we have all been born into as a result of what happened in the story of Adam and Eve, not only are we all stuck with having to do battle with demonic spirits and bad and evil people from time to time, but we are also stuck with having to face all of the different types of natural accidents and catastrophes that can occur at a moment's notice. Hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, auto accidents, natural mishaps and accidents around the home and workplace, and different types of illnesses and diseases can hit anyone of us at anytime. All of these different types of natural accidents, disasters and illnesses are the byproduct of this fallen and cursed world. This now leaves all Christians with one of two choices when they personally get hit by one of these types of storm clouds. You can either get mad at God, lose your faith in Him and how He is handling your life, and throw in the towel and quit on Him - or you can hold your ground and tell God that you are not going to bail out on Him no matter what life, hell or the devil tries to throw your way. When you read the verses I will list below, especially some of the key phrases in these verses as I have highlighted in the above bullet points, there is no question what God the Father is wanting all of us to do. He is wanting all of us to stay true, loyal and faithful to Him to our last dying breath. He is wanting all of us to hold fast to Him without doubting and without wavering. All of these verses are telling us that this life is going to be rough. As a result, we have to run the race that God has now set out before us with the intentions on trying to win it and trying to finish it. We have to run this race with endurance, certainty and purpose. We have to run this race to do the best and be the best we can be at whatever God is calling us to do for Him in this life. This means that when we get knocked to the ground with any type of vicious torpedo shot, we have to pick ourselves back up, wipe off the dust and blood on our pants, tell God that we are not going to bail out on Him, that we will stay the course with Him - and then get back into the game of life and keep on the road that God has set up for us to follow in Him. God has already told us in His Word that if we faint in the day of any type of adversity, that our strength will be considered to be small in His eyes. God is wanting all of us to learn how to become good soldiers of Jesus Christ. God is wanting all of us to learn how to become victors and overcomers in this life - and the only way that you can learn how to become a true victor and overcomer in this life is by being willing to take on any type of storm cloud that may come your way. You can't become an overcomer or victor in this life unless you have already overcome some type of trial or tribulation. As a result, some of the trials and tribulations that may come your way in this life are actually being allowed by the Lord to occur for your own benefit, training and sanctification. I will once again break these verses down under 4 separate captions. Study these verses very carefully, and make sure that you get this mental principle worked into your mindset and how you look and view things in this life. As part of your sanctification process in the Lord, this mental principle on learning how to hold fast to the Lord should be at the top of your list. This is one major fundamental principle that you will want to get worked, ingrained and instilled into your mindset and how you think about things. Get it settled once and for all that you will stay fully committed to the Lord for the rest of your earthly life and that you will never, ever bail out on Him. Get it settled once and for all that you will stay the course with the Lord - no matter what life, hell or the devil tries to throw your way - and that you will have full faith, belief and trust in God to help get you through any type of storm cloud that may come your way - no matter how dark, vicious or hopeless that storm cloud may look to you in the natural. 1. Holding Fast to the Lord These first seven verses will all be using the specific words of holding fast to the Lord, holding fast to our initial confession to Him, holding fast to our confidence in Him and holding fast to His Word of life. In other words, hold fast to the Lord, and never, ever let Him go - no matter how bad things may get from time to time, and no matter how severe the storm cloud may be that is attempting to come against you.   "He trusted in the Lord God of Israel ... For he held fast to the Lord; he did not depart from following Him, but kept His commandments ... The Lord was with Him; he prospered wherever he went." (2 Kings 18:5-7)   "A good man .... will not be afraid of evil tidings; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. His heart is established; he will not be afraid, until he sees his desire upon his enemies." (Psalm 112:5-8)   "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful." (Hebrews 10:23)   "... but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of the hope to the end." (Hebrews 3:6)   "Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called "Today," lest any of you be hardened through deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end." (Hebrews 3:12-14)   "Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise." (Hebrews 10:35-36)   "... work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His own good pleasure. Do all things without murmuring and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain." (Philippians 2:12-16) The first verse perfectly lays it out for all of us. It is talking about King Hezekiah. It says that he held fast to the Lord and that he did not depart from following Him. As a result, this verse then goes on to tell us that "the Lord was with him" and that "he prospered wherever he went." The sixth verse from Hebrews 10:35 tells us that if we do not cast our confidence away from the Lord and hold out to the end with endurance in doing God's will for our lives, that we will "receive the promise." Also note in the fifth verse from Hebrews 3:12 that it says that it is an evil thing to have any kind of a heart of unbelief in the Lord. Any kind of unbelief in the Lord and wanting to depart from Him is considered to be an evil heart by the Lord. These are very strong words being given to us by our Lord. God has made all of us for Himself and He will not be denied. This revelation being given to us by God is showing all of us that we have to learn how to fully trust Him, fully follow Him, and be willing to hold fast to Him without any type of wavering or doubting on our end. 2. Be Faithful Until Death These next 5 verses will now take it one step further. Not only are we to hold fast to the Lord, but we are to hold fast to Him until the day we die. The first verse I will list below states that we are to "be faithful until death." The rest of the verses then go on with some very strong phrases being used in them in that we are to "stand fast in the faith," that we are to "continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast," and that we are to "fight the good fight of faith." Put all of these verses together with the ones listed in the first caption, and God is telling all of us, loud and clear, that He does not anyone of us, for whatever reason, to ever consider departing or bailing out from Him in this life. We are to stay true, loyal and faithful to Him to our last dying breath.   "Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer ... Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life." (Revelation 2:10)   "Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong." (1 Corinthians 16:13)   "... if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard ..." (Colossians 1:23)   "Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses." (1 Timothy 6:12)   "For the Lord preserves the faithful ..." (Psalm 31:23) Notice the last verse is telling us that the Lord will be preserving those who will remain faithful to Him in this life. Not only will He obviously be preserving you for the next life to come, which will be heaven, but He will also help keep you properly preserved in this life with all of the different types of adversities that could possibly come your way. In other words, God can help keep you physically, mentally and spiritually in one piece as you journey through this earthly life. 3. Be An Overcomer in the Lord These next six verses will add very nicely to the ones listed above about being faithful to the Lord until your last dying breath. These next set of verses are telling us that we have to learn how to be an overcomer in this life, and that if we do, then some incredible rewards will be given to us once we enter into heaven. The first verse will perfectly lay it out for us in that not only must we become a good overcomer in this life, but we must also keep God's works until the very end. In other words, we have to complete whatever works God is calling us to do for Him in this life. And if we do, then Jesus will be giving us some type of power over the nations in the coming Millennium Kingdom and then eventually in the New Heaven and New Earth. Jesus also tells us that if we learn how to become a good overcomer in this life, that our names will not be blotted out from His Book of Life and that He will confess our names before His Father and His angels in heaven.   "And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations." (Revelation 2:26)   "To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne." (Revelation 3:21)   "He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels." (Revelation 3:5)   "Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me." (Philippians 3:12)   "I have fought the good fight of faith, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing." (2 Timothy 4:7)   "For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises." (Hebrews 6:10-12) Notice in the fourth and fifth verses that the apostle Paul is telling us that not only must we fight the good fight of faith, but we must also continue to press on so that we can finish the race that God has set out before us. In other words, not only must we hold fast to the Lord, but we must hold fast to the Lord with the intention on wanting to completely fulfill the works that He is calling us to do for Him in this life. The last verse then puts the icing on the entire cake when it says that God Himself will not be forgetting whatever works we are willing to do for Him in this life. He tells us that if we are willing hold fast to Him to the very end, and do not become sluggish in the works that we will do for Him, that we will be receiving some very special rewards once we enter into heaven. 4. Jesus is the Author and Finisher of Our Faith As a final note, these last three verses will help explain something to you so that you do not let frustration and discouragement get the better of you when you hit some downswings in your walk with the Lord. As we all know, this life can be a roller caster ride. You will have good days and you will have bad days. You will have seasons that will be good and fruitful, and you will have seasons that will be dry and lean. When you enter into seasons that will get a bit dry and lean, do not get discouraged or disappointed. As long as you know you are in God's perfect will for your life, nothing else will matter. The first verse I will list below will tell us that Jesus is the "author and finisher of our faith." The last two verses will tell us that when Jesus has begun this good work in us - that He will make sure that it gets properly "completed," and that He will also make sure to properly keep it until the end. So not only do we get Jesus letting us know exactly what it is we should be doing for Him in this life, but He will also be making sure that we fully accomplish and fully complete everything that He is calling us to do for Him in this life. What these verses are telling us is that since Jesus will now be the One to lead us into His Father's perfect plan for our lives, this now makes Jesus the official author of our faith. In other words, Jesus will now be the One to write the story of our life and the direction our life will now be taking in Him. It is Jesus' job to write the story and script of our life. This right does not belong to us or to anyone else in our life. For those of you who may be frustrated and disappointed with how your life in the Lord has been going at this time, really chew on the revelation that is in these last three verses. No matter where you are at right now in your walk with the Lord, realize that God will fully complete everything that He has in store for you in this life. God, as the author and finisher of your faith, has started the story of your life, and He will make sure that He gets everything properly completed with you before it is your time to depart from this life. Not only will God personally keep you and the works that you will do for Him in this life, but He will also make sure that you get everything done that needs to get done before your day in the sun is finally over. Since God is perfect, this means He will perfectly start and perfectly finish the story of your life in Him down here on this earth.   "... let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls." (Hebrews 12:1)   "... He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ." (Philippians 1:6)   "For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day." (2 Timothy 1:12) Also notice in the first verse God is telling us that He is laying out a "race" before us. This race is our call in Him. This race is the path, the road and the direction that we will be taking in Him once we fully surrender our lives over to Him for His direction and handling. Once you enter into this full surrender with the Lord, Jesus will now become the author and finisher of your faith and of your own personal story in God. As the author and finisher of your faith, God knows exactly where He wants to take you to and exactly how to get you there. All you have to be willing to do is follow the leadings of the Holy Spirit on a daily basis, and God will personally make sure that you fully accomplish everything that He would like for you to get done for Him in this life. Conclusion Even though all of the above Scripture verses are telling us that we should never, ever consider bailing out on our Lord, realize that God still highly respects your free will and He will never force you to follow Him or force you to stay loyal and faithful to Him. You will always be free to leave Him, forsake Him or bail out on Him anytime you want. There are no chains around your neck. You are free to go anytime you want. However, when you really study all of the specific wording in these verses, you can tell by the strong wording being used, and the tone and intensity of these verses, that we should never, ever tempt our fate or our hand with the Lord by being willing to depart from Him. Once you have become saved and born again and have made Jesus both the Lord and Savior of your life - realize that you are no longer your own, much less belong to anyone else in this life. Jesus has now bought you back with the blood that He has personally shed for you on the cross. Your life now belongs to Him, and Him alone. Once you have made Jesus the real Lord over your life, you really have to come to grips with this revelation that we are to hold fast to Him until the day we depart from this life. Once you have entered into this full surrender with the Lord, you have now officially crossed over into a real point of no return. We all know how rough and tough this life can get. But no matter what life or the devil may try and throw your way, remember what kind of all-powerful God we are serving and following. We are serving and following an all-perfect, all-powerful God where absolutely nothing is too impossible for Him to handle - which will include any type of storm cloud that may come your way. If and when any type of serious storm cloud ever comes your way - remember - you will have one of two choices. You can either panic, get mad at God for allowing it to come your way and walk out on Him - or you can hold fast to your faith and trust in Him, and have full faith and belief that He will help you handle and get through the storm cloud. All of the above verses from our Bible are as clear and as plain as day. There is nothing more that the Lord can tell you with the revelation that He has in all of the these verses. Make the decision that you will stay true, loyal and faithful to the Lord until your last dying breath and that absolutely nothing will ever cause you to turn, sway or change your course in Him. Hold fast to the Lord, and He will hold fast to you - no matter what kind of tornado may come knocking at your door! Michael Bradley Bible Teaching, Knowledge, Commentary and Over 150 Free Articles Copyright © 2005-2007 by Michael Bradley. Bible Trivia Give your noodle a workout with a new Bible trivia question every day: http://www.thebossychurchlady.net/free_Bible_trivia.html Resources I'm always delighted to present each new resource that I find because it's my hope that every one that I include in my newsletters will help you grow in Christ. If you know of any resources that you would like to share with the other readers, feel free to write to me and let me know about it so I can include it in the newsletters. ><> Don’t forget to download Chapter 3 of The Bossy Church Lady’s Official Guide For New Christians: 6 Days To Knowing All About God--link has been removed from back issues. ><> Women in the Bible - Resource for Christian women to find books, Bibles, and more for their personal, professional and ministry use. WomenInBible.com is that place - for easy-to-find resources that plug the gap when you need it most. ><> Listen to the Old Testament and the New Testament Bible online at: http://www.thebossychurchlady.net/free_online_Bible.html ><> G.I.R.L. Club: Guiding & Inspiring Righteous - G.I.R.L. is a Christian website, youth group, & club for teen girls. Great tips on daily devotions & Bible reading. Beaver Falls, Pa. ><> The Man Who Loved Woman by Dorothy Valcarcel is a unique collection of stories about eighteen women and their friendship with Jesus - the one Man who loved them unconditionally. http://www.themanwholovedwomen.com/ A Child's Garden of Bible Stories By Arthur W. Gross / Concordia Publishing House Remember when you read your first Bible storybook? It may have been this volume. Originally written in 1948, this book has enjoyed a popular readership for more than 50 years. Today's classic version offers 60 Old and New Testament Bible stories in updated language. Read to your children the timeless biblical accounts of God's faithfulness, grace, and mercy as He interacts with His people. Recommended for ages 6 to 8. Save up to 75% off the price of this book! Quick Answers To Your Burning Questions About God Are you witnessing to an unbeliever and need some super duper quick answers about God and Jesus... like yesterday? Get this f.r.e.e e-book and use it as a witnessing tool to silence the doubters! Give it away to your friends! Get the book in PDF Format Get the book in MS WORD Format-Printer Friendly Version Hurry! Send This Newsletter To a Friend! ><> Babe in Christ? Seeking answers about God? The Bossy Church Lady's website is packed with inspirational articles, tools, resources and scriptures that will answer your questions about Jesus. http://www.thebossychurchlady.net ><> Get a f.r.e.e e-book that will take you by the hand and explain everything you need to know about the end times! If you're a webmaster, snag the book and give it away to your visitors! The Bossy Church Lady's Take On The End Times Until next time... Love The Bossy Church Lady