The Day When Righteousness Kissed Peace

Seasonal teaching
Dec 202010

Submitted by Rhonda Mixon, PWOCI Titus II Advisor

There is much discussion among theologians concerning the exact date that Jesus Christ was born.   It is human nature to attempt validation of a historical event.  Perhaps we should remain more focused on the fact that without Jesus’ death, there would be no focus on His birth.  Jesus Christ died for all, God made Him “who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (II Corinthians 5:15-21).   God made a way through the birth of His son, Jesus, to create a pathway of righteousness for us and to reconcile us to Himself.  The  ‘Prince of Peace’ is our righteousness; “righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace” (James 3:18).  In a world of uncertainty and confusion, we can be partakers of the fruits of His righteousness and thus receive the beauty of His peace.  As prophesied, the heavens declared it on that faithful night that a “Babe would be found wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger”.  A multitude of angelic host praised God, “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” (Luke 2:14).

On this day, when righteousness and peace kissed, it became possible for the peace of God to rule in our hearts (Colossians 3:15).  On a daily basis, what does this mean to have the peace of God to rule in our hearts?  First, it means this peace with God is only through the shed blood of Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1-2).  This truth of forgiveness of our sin graces us with the ability to be reconciled before God.  Second, through the beauty of this reconciliation, we become ‘ministers of reconciliation’; forgiving others for their trespasses against us.  Righteousness and peace exist together!  As a ‘new creature’ in Christ, both attributes have to be vitally at work in the life of the believer.  Third, when we are filled with the fruits of His righteousness, we are able to sow in peace ( Philippians 1:11).   As Jesus prepared to depart from this earth, He shared that God would send ‘the Helper’, the Holy Spirit to teach all things and bring remembrance of the things Jesus spoke.  He stated, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you”(John 14:26-27).  We  have the fruit of His Holy Spirit to bless us with God’s promise of His righteousness and His Peace.

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Big God, Big Mission, Big Army!!

Leadership Development, Leadership Wednesday
Jul 212010

By Rhonda Mixon, PWOCI Titus II Advisor

Recently, I attended W.I.L.D.   I was asked if I had any words to share with the attendees.  After praying, I shared a simple directive, ‘Big God, Big Mission, Big Army!’.  I have a great appreciation for all joint services, so in this context, the word ‘Army’ is referring to God’s Army.  As members of PWOCI we have many joint service ‘sisters’.  At God’s invitation, we have the supreme opportunity to serve on a ‘higher level’ in God’s Army.  I believe our mission is going to become more critical and more strategic in the coming days.

The PWOC International Board, Regional Presidents, and Vice Presidents recently attended Vision Week at Sandy Cove Retreat in Maryland.  Our speaker, Cheryl Wright impressed upon us a scripture that she believed the Lord showed to her for our military.  Isaiah 58:8b states, ‘And your righteousness shall go before you;  The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.’  Consider the thought;   God is using the military to bring His righteousness to many; Military assignments enable us to be strategically located around the globe.    Consider another thought;   As members of PWOCI, we are closely connected to the military and the mission that God has for the military.

Historically, God created the military first.  The U.S. Army celebrated its’ birthday in June with two hundred and thirty five years.  We just celebrated two hundred and thirty four years of our Nation’s birth.  The military was created to be the ‘front guard’ for our Nation and the Chaplains were created to minister to the soul of the soldier.  The beauty of PWOCI is that we evolved from the Chaplain’s Ministry.  As believers of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are covered by His righteousness (Romans 3 and 4) and we have the opportunity to shine forth His glory wherever God’s assignment takes us. We minister the heart of God to His daughters and provide His truths. In a sense, we become ‘the rear guard’ for servicemen/women and their families.   Never before in the history of our Nation, has ‘our mission in God’s Army’ become so critical with all that we are facing.   Spiritual Resiliency is now being promoted by our Senior Army Leadership.  Our Chaplain’s are on the ‘front line’ with our military; PWOCI remains a strategic ‘rear guard’ to bring God’s glory and truths in our communities and circle of influence.  We must remember that the battle belongs to our Lord Jesus Christ for He is a man of war for His righteousness! (Isaiah 42:13).  ‘Big God, Big Mission, Big Army!

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Prayer Points for June 27th - July 2

Prayer Points
Jun 252010

It’s easy to pick up a magazine on the way to the pool but most magazines we read contain worldly wisdom that leads us away from God’s heart and purposes. Why not grab God’s life giving Word and fill yourself with good things? Are you feeling down and discouraged? Let God’s Word guide you and encourage your heart.

I’m feeling terrible—I couldn’t feel worse!
Get me on my feet again. You promised, remember?
When I told my story, you responded;
train me well in your deep wisdom.
Help me understand these things inside and out
so I can ponder your miracle-wonders.
My sad life’s dilapidated, a falling-down barn;
build me up again by your Word.
Barricade the road that goes Nowhere;
grace me with your clear revelation.
I choose the true road to Somewhere,
I post your road signs at every curve and corner.
I grasp and cling to whatever you tell me;
God, don’t let me down!
I’ll run the course you lay out for me
if you’ll just show me how.

~Psalm 119:25-32 (The Message)

God, grant the women of PWOC a hunger and thirst for righteousness. Encourage with your Word and show us the way of wisdom and truth.

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Casting Down Our Crowns

Devotions, Uncategorized
Feb 222010

And so the story went…..

The beautiful princess, with her hair wet, matted and stuck to her face, stood silent staring at the huge altar before her. Her golden scepter in hand was of no use here, and she knew it. She fell to her knees in shame and despair. How did she get to this place, this point in her life? Exhausted from her weary battle, she realized this was it; the moment of truth was upon her. The enemy destroyed her kingdom, and she narrowly escaped her demise.

Her gown of elegance was now torn and battered in the wind. The sparkling material that once flowed was ripped to shreds, laying in pieces around her. Really, all she had left of her deity was her crown–oh yes, her crown of glory! The crown that displayed her purpose, her agendas, her power, her authority and her life, became the symbol of her identity and was now the sad display of indignity.

Somehow, the crown seemed heavy now, and it felt awkward on her head. She reached upon her head and felt the sharp edges of metal that always displayed the royalty and power of the kingdom she built, an inheritance from her father. She began to weep, realizing that her crown became her downfall. No longer did it represent supremacy, but rather places of shame, guilt, inadequacies, failures and fears, and most of all, a heart of stone. Her crown became her idol as it allowed her the excuse to not trust in anything but her own self righteousness.

She began to shake violently in anger and rage as she realized the longing of desperation in her heart that was never fulfilled. The reality of a lifetime of mistakes and disappointments hit her heart like a ton of bricks as she fell prostrate on the altar of grace.

Sitting up, she took a deep breath and violently cast the crown down with such a force it knocked one of the sapphires loose.

It shimmered in the moonlight on the altar in front of her, and its radiance danced in her eyes. Closing them, she took a deep breath and prayed that one day God would bestow her with a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning and a garment of praise instead of despair. Her desire now was to be a display of splendor and be planted by the Lord, to instead serve under His crown of humility and grace, where she knew she would find peace and love. She could only hope that her stony heart would become flesh once again.

Like most princesses, there comes a place in our walk of faith where we learn to put those crowns down–the crowns that once represented pride, control, selfish ambition, and much more. As those of us who have walked there realize, like the princess in the story, our kingdoms are not built on truth but on pride. They slowly crumble under our own demise. However, God promises us in Psalm 103:4 that He will redeem our life from the pit and crown us with love and compassion. This is what true royalty is about, wearing the crown of righteousness that is not of our own but from the Highest King in the land, Jesus Christ.

So, today, are you willing to lay those crowns down that display false power, shame, envy, self pity or fear in your lives? Are you willing to let God crown you with His righteousness and not your own?

His desire is to bring us a crown of love and compassion that will shine throughout His kingdom. This is by far the highest crown we could ever wear, holding power and authority that could never be compared. It has the power to transform not only our own lives but the lives of others. Make the great exchange today and once again walk as the royal princess you were meant to be!

Kimchi Lya Blow is a proud military wife and mother of 4 beautiful children.  She is also a free lance writer, and has been a contributing author to a women’s devotional called Life Savors for Women and other Christian publications. Her other gifts include speaking and teaching Bible studies.

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Out with the Old, in with the New

Testimonies
Feb 102010

Submitted by Wendy Olmeda, PWOC Administrative Coordinator, Fort Belvoir

“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” Romans 14:17 NKJV

There are many worthwhile benefits of living by the Holy Spirit.  Sometimes it’s easy to lose sight of these benefits perhaps maybe because we’re having difficulty experiencing them, or because we’re so focused on getting rid of sin in our lives. Getting rid of sin is important, but God also wants us to enjoy the fruits of living for him.  After all, Jesus came so that we would have life and life more abundantly (John 10:10).

Romans 14:17 reminds us that God’s kingdom is about righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.  In our fast-paced and uncertain times, we certainly need peace and joy as we meet the daily challenges of life.  Paul prayed in Romans 15:13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Hope is something that we cannot live without.  It is an integral part of our faith in God.  Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” The Holy Spirit will help us overflow with hope, and as a result our faith will be strengthened.

When we place our trust (faith) in Jesus, God sends the Holy Spirit to live in us (Ephesians 4:30). The Holy Spirit brings the life-changing power that enables us to live as a truly new person (Romans 8:11).  If we respond to the Holy Spirit and cooperate with him, the “new person” in Christ will surely manifest in us (2 Corinthians 5:17).  If we do not respond to the Holy Spirit, but rather, continue to live in our old sinful habits we had before we were saved, we’ll continue living like and acting like the our old self, failing to experience the benefits of living by the Spirit. The questions to consider are what fruits of the Holy Spirit have you experienced in your life so far?  Are there any that you have not yet experienced?

On January 15th 2009, I repented of my old self and was baptized into new life in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in the presence of my family and Fort Drum PWOC sisters. Today, I continue to thank God for the amazing gift of the Holy Spirit at work within me. If you are struggling to experience the benefits of living by the Holy Spirit, I encourage you to ask God to intervene in your life. Don’t allow the enemy to steal your peace, joy and hope.

My prayer mirrors that of Paul’s “May the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace as we trust in Him, so that we may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

Lord Jesus, thank you for the blessings and benefits that are ours through our faith in you.  Please strengthen us to live by your laws and crush Satan under our feet. Please fill us with joy and peace in the Holy Spirit so that we overflow with hope and stand strong in our faith. I trust in you.  I praise you and thank you. May we truly say through the power of your Holy Spirit “New Year, New Us, Out with the old in with the New” for your glory.

In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

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From Anger to Ogre

Devotions
Jun 152009

“… the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” James 1:20

James 1:20 has long been a most needed memory verse for me. I even personalize it by putting my name in the place of “man”. As of late, however, perhaps writing out the verse on another sticky note stuck in my kitchen is in order. My mouth has been popping out angry words right and left. Again.

Case in point, my man calls me on the way home from work to tells me that he’s stopping by Wal-Mart. Instead of words of excitement that he’s coming home early on a Friday, out pop angry words about why he’s got to go pick up somebody else’s stuff. Icky sticky angry words snapped in an even uglier tone.

Oh, but Girlie, the story gets better. To my outburst, my husband calmly replied, “Look, Chris. I was calling you to see if you needed me to pick you up something while I’m here at Wal-Mart.” Ouch!! Not only had I exploded in anger over something very stupid but I exploded in anger while my hubby was thinking of MY needs.

Now, since God’s word is true, I knew that out of the abundance of my angry heart, my mouth had spoken angry words. “Well this is just great, God. What do I do about all this anger in my heart? I don’t even know what I’m mad about!” I utter desperately to Jesus. I asked Jesus to show me my heart. I was fully expecting Him to answer my prayer and to reveal the root of all that anger bubbling forth from my heart. Instead, God surprised me by giving me an unusual visual aid from James 1:20 to combat my angry heart.

With my sticky note of James 1:20 stuck newly in place, I knew I needed the truth of that verse stuck in my heart as well as on my kitchen cabinet. So, I dug deeper into the word with my trusty online Strong’s concordance. And there, to my surprise, was God’s surprise for me! The Hebrew word for anger in James 1:20 is spelled orge. An immediate pictured popped into my “mother-of-a-9-year-old-boy” head of our English word OGRE. Hebrew: Orge. English: Ogre. See the resemblance?

So, the word picture for what my anger looks like to people was born. I quickly realized that the angry ogre in me was devouring the poor unsuspecting people around me just as easily as the fictitious ogre tore about the people it ate.

What about you, Friend? Do you have an angry ogre hiding inside? If so, what triggers your ogre to come out and devour the people around you? Would you join me in using James 1:20 to remind us what God says is true? Perhaps writing the verse on a sticky note could help you too. My new one reads:

“The OGRE of Christina does not produce the righteousness of God.”

Used by permission.

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Divine Partnership for Life

Devotions
Jun 082009

judy-nayChange – nobody likes it except a baby with a dirty diaper. In the military change is a frequent part of life. Do you deal with it at some times with peace and calmness and then at others with anxiety, worry, and panic? Why is it that we end up dealing with change in either of these extremes?

As we grow up we are often told that we are children of God but this is not true. We are by nature children of judgment and wrath, until we receive Jesus into our hearts, and are placed in Christ by faith. God gives us the gift of righteousness that is not our own. This righteousness encompasses all the deeply obedient deeds that Jesus did while on this earth. When God looks at us we are no longer condemned/guilty but forgiven and accepted as righteous as Christ is righteous. The consequence of this justification is adoption. We are adopted into the family of God. In Luke 11, when Jesus is asked how we should pray, He said to pray “Our Father who art in heaven… Until Jesus came, “Father” was never used in Jewish prayers to refer to God.

As Christians, we can have an orphan mindset or a son/daughter mindset. A daughter lives in partnership with the Heavenly Father: She is empowered by the Holy Spirit as she seeks God’s will; She sees her sin/failure living under the banner of Christ’s righteousness and not her own; She trusts in the Spirit’s ability to change her and others; She knows forgiveness, and God’s complete acceptance of her, regardless of whether she succeeds or fails in her daily endeavors to live a life pleasing to the Lord.

An orphan mindset is the opposite of all of these: being self reliant; doing life in her own strength; not looking to Lord for guidance or strength; unforgiven and unaccepted. We as believers can fluctuate between these two mindsets, but as we grow and mature in Christ, the mindset of a daughter of the King of King and Lord of Lords prevails. So, as we go through our days twists and turns appear that bring us to the end of ourselves and our abilities, do what you do in partnership with your Heavenly Father. You will be pleasantly surprised at how the Holy Spirit can empower you to bear forth love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness and self control – and thank Jesus because He made all this possible through His life, death, resurrection and ascension.

Used by permission.

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Eternal Spring

Devotions
May 252009

“But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.” Romans 3:21

In the story of “The Chronicles of Narnia,” the land of Narnia is under the power and spell of the witch who keeps Narnia in perpetual winter. But, as Aslan the lion [a representation of Christ] comes closer, the Narnia winter gives way to spring.

When Christ dwells in our hearts by faith, there is a spiritual spring that inevitably spreads across the land of our hearts. The catalyst for this change is an intentional, daily, moment by moment revisiting of the central truths of the gospel. Romans 3:19-26 explains these truths clearly, and Jerry Bridges refers to this passage as “The Heart of the Gospel.” It is placed after a very detailed description of our condition as sinners. This portion of Scripture is one with which we should become thoroughly familiar and that we should “preach” to ourselves every day.

What does “preaching the gospel to yourself daily” mean? It means that you continually face up to your own sinfulness and inability to keep the law perfectly as God requires and then flee to Jesus through faith in His shed blood and righteous life. It means that you appropriate, again and again, by faith, the fact that Jesus fully satisfied the law of God, that God’s love has been awakened to you through the blood of Jesus, and that God’s holy wrath is no longer directed toward you. It means you are no longer condemned (Rom 8:1), you are forgiven (Col 2:13) and He now presents you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation (Col 1:22).

Knowing and remembering these truths softens the hard soil of our hearts so that God’s word can sink deeply, taking root, bringing life out of death , and spring out of winter. Why? Because out of that knowledge of the truth, a deep indebtedness and thankfulness for what Jesus has done bursts forth a deep desire to please that Savior who loves you so much. Hallelujah, what a Savior! Unlike the seasonal spring that occurs once a year, the spring that Jesus continually moves across the land of our hearts is always moving forward, into eternity, to be perfected when we see Him face to face!

Questions for consideration or journaling:
1. Am I familiar with the truths of Romans 3:19-26?
2. In your own words, what does it mean to “preach the gospel to yourself daily?”
3. Am I “preaching the gospel to myself daily?” How can I grow in this area?

Used by permission.

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Anxiety: A Strange Kind of Thirst

Devotions
May 182009

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. Matthew 5:6

A few days ago I began experiencing symptoms of anxiety: rapid heart rate, fuzzy thinking, and irritability. When I tried to figure out the source of my stress, I realized I wasn’t pressured at all – I was thirsty and hadn’t had enough water to drink.

In the same way that anxiety is a physical response telling me that some condition in my life needs adjusting, it can also be a spiritual indicator, pointing to a dryness, or thirst, in my life that only God can quench.

In John 7:38, Jesus said, “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.” This belief is not merely a mental ascent, but a heartfelt trust that indicates active reliance. If I believe – heart, soul, mind and strength – that God’s grace is sufficient for whatever need I am facing, then I can tap into the river of life (not death, not defeat) flowing from within me, by the power of His indwelling Holy Spirit.

When God sent the flood in Noah’s time, rain not only came down from above but (Genesis 7:11) water “sprang forth from the deep.” Wouldn’t you like to have your cares just drown out and washed clean by the outpouring of God’s power and presence in your life? I would!

So the next time you feel stressed, recognize it as a sign of thirst for God’s abiding presence in your life, and act on it! You will be blessed and filled!

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