Hello friends! I’m led to share this old message with you. I’ll write my newer comments in blue. I pray that these summer reruns are teaching you good practical lessons. If you think someone in your circle would benefit, please share it with them. I would have GREATLY appreciated these insights when I was in my 20s. In His Grace 💙
Sent: Friday, September 1, 2023 10:44 AM
Hello friends! I hope that you are doing well. I’ve been thinking a lot about this concept called “hard-easy” that I learned from my husband’s business coach several years ago and I believe that I should share this concept with you.
It’s a principle that I instinctively applied when I was in college but I didn’t realize it. The gist is that you do the hardest and most difficult work first, and then the easier work later. So if you hate writing then you do your writing assignment first, and do the easier subject later on in the week. It’s “hard-easy” principle.
I believe that this principle also applies well in our spiritual development. In my college years, I tried hard to follow God and to live a godly life and stay in fellowship with the church. Despite my great efforts, I abandoned my faith in my mid-20s when I was in transition and isolated from fellowship. In those days, my college church rarely taught from the Old Testament books, and I don’t remember any preaching about God’s judgment or discipline. I understand, these subjects are very hard topics to teach.
In the last 13 years, I had to keep my fellowship and involvement with church community at a minimum. I have much more freedom than before, but still I have to be mindful about my husband’s discomfort. That’s why if I ever meet you in public with him, I’d like to introduce you as a friend through the school or gym or someplace else. I noticed that he would get aloof towards friends from the church community. Sorry, please don’t take it personally.
In my greater isolation from the church body, I had to figure out how to stay faithful on my own and not from fellowship. I discovered that studying the Bible did what I lacked in fellowship. Therefore out of sheer necessity, I studied the Bible a lot! There are 66 books in the Holy Bible and I’ve only scratched the surface. Now that I have done in-depth studies on Old Testament books and even the book of Revelation; I have developed a very good healthy fear of the Lord. I’ve discovered that this ‘fear of God’ is clean and it is good for me. Once you study and understand the core principles in the Old Testament books which are the hard subjects, then the easy subjects like the forgiveness of our sins through Jesus Christ, God’s grace, mercy and love are the easy subjects. It’s the “hard-easy” principle.
You might ask “why bother studying the hard subjects of the Old Testament books?” Here are some benefits from my experiences:
1. It’ll help you to say no to sin, and the pride that will blind and destroy your life and hurt those you love most.(Your dysfunctions and spiritual blindness will be passed down to your descendants. Someone has to break them. Why not you? Mama bears have the most unbreakable spirit and enduring love to make it happen and take the hits for their children. Use it.)
2. You will stick very close to God and understand the benefits of having His daily guidance and fellowship. This makes you less dependent on people and their approval which gives you more freedom and peace.
3. Circumstances will have less affect on you and even when you receive the worst news, you will experience the presence and peace of God through the Holy Spirit. That is a gain changer.
4. More of your prayers will be answered because now you understand God’s word and heart better. Your family, friends and community will be blessed through your prayers which are aligned with God’s word.
5. You will make less mistakes in life’s decisions and so you will save lots of time, heartaches, stress and money too.
6. There is great confidence and peace that come when you know that the path or decision was made with God’s counsel and His approval. Therefore, even if the path becomes hard and difficult, you will have supernatural peace and power. And where God guides, He also will provide all that you need.
7. You will have less confusion, conflict, fears and anxieties. So if you are the type who has lots of fears, then replace them with the ‘fear of God’. Print out bible verses or do a bible study on this subject. From my experiences, any Old Testament books will give you a good, healthy fear of God.
8. You will have great resilience and endurance because the ‘fear of God’ will prevent you from giving up and abandoning your assignment. You will break the habit of giving up. You will develop grit, a character needed for success in any endeavors in life and relationships. Watch this 6 minute Tedtalk on grit. https://youtu.be/H14bBuluwB8?is=h9si81kdJhM_wTJR
“Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit.” – Vince Lombardi
https://vincelombardi.com/quotes/
9. New Testament books will make much more sense and, you will greatly appreciate the new covenant of grace that we are in today because of Jesus Christ’s finished work on the cross. Thank you Jesus!! I am covered everywhere by God’s grace, love and mercies. I am blessed and marked by Jesus. I belong to Him and work for Jesus, so if anyone has an issue with me or my doctrines or anything else, please contact Jesus first. Jesus will guide you on how to handle me or any other siblings-in-Christ who rubbed you the wrong way. Thank you. 🙏
10. Your excitement and hope grow as you learn more about heaven and also the new earth that is to come (I learned this when I studied the book of Revelation and read Christian books about visiting heaven, and NDEs – Near Death Experiences. John Burke’s research book on NDEs is great one to read. He’s being interviewed here about his research. He is an engineer by profession. They are very research minded people.)
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/into-the-supernatural-with-jen-lilley-billy-hallowell/id1590506368?i=1000775829522
I could go on longer but I’ll stop here. I hope that I’ve convinced you a little on why studying the hard subjects in the Old Testament books and the book of Revelation would be a great personal benefit to you. There are so many resources available today for free or for a small fee to understand the Old Testament books and the book of Revelation. As the fall semester is approaching, many small groups are starting in all the churches. I recommend in-person learning but if you are short on time then do a virtual learning class.
This message was excellent. It’s about key things to remember when you are walking through a dark, difficult season. Even if you are not currently, you should listen so that you will prepared beforehand because this life on earth is full of hard seasons. Their guest speaker uses the life of Joseph (Old Testament character in book of Genesis) to teach us things to remember in the dark. I just heard it again yesterday and it was excellent. Trials happen to everyone on this earth. But with Jesus in your trial; you will come out of it better, not battered or bitter.
“Things to Remember in the Dark” by Skip Heitzig
Hurting Moms, Mending Hearts ministry was created by a Christian mom who was in deep pain when her child became a drug addict. I’ve comforted and prayed for a close friend in this desperate place and I cannot imagine the pain as her daughter became an unrecognizable person controlled by the demonic monster of drug addiction. (My friend’s daughter is no longer a drug addict and today is a graduate student in a prestigious state university. She still needs to be saved. But she is no longer an addict, alive and ambitious in her career. God has heard all the prayers and will continue to answer them in the years ahead of her life.) Perhaps it isn’t a drug addiction but a mental illness that has captured your child’s mind and soul, and hurting your heart immensely. Please look into joining this group’s virtual group so that you can hold onto your faith and keep on praying for your child. You can not give up. Use your mama-bear love and endurance that God has already implanted into your soul when you gave birth to your children. As Winston Churchill said to his British people during the height of air raids by the Nazis during WWII – “Never, Never, Never Give Up!”
I just heard an excellent interview with Matt Chandler on the Carey Nieuwhof’s podcast. Here’s the podcast description:“Matt Chandler doesn’t pull punches. The lead pastor of The Village Church joins Carey to talk about why wearing a cape doesn’t help anyone, the death of secularism, and why the church is all wood and no fire.
Matt also opens up about the moment he almost quit, what Spurgeon taught him about suffering, and why he stopped neglecting the Holy Spirit.”
This is the best quote that stood out to me in the interview 😂
“If you don’t give up, you win.” – Matt Chandler
In 2016 when I was peeled away (it felt like that for me) from the safety of the Wednesday women’s bible study group and commissioned by the Holy Spirit to set up the women’s prayer group at my church, I experienced many scary supernatural events in my first year leading the prayer group. Why didn’t I just abort this prayer group assignment? It was because I had the ‘fear of God’. You see, God did not release me from my post. My ‘fear of God’ was greater than my fears of demons. I remember that was the year when I started to get lots of white hair.
Today I just get my hair colored. By the way, when I experience a sudden demonic attack, my mind would freeze with great fear. When I am frozen with great fear, I noticed that my brain would freeze too. That’s why the gift of tongue is so powerful and useful. I don’t know what I’m saying or praying but my gift of tongue would take over and this gift of tongue would speak and pray for me. It’s a very good supernatural gift to ask for in prayer for yourself. That’s my opinion from my battlefield experiences with demons. One more thing, sometimes the demonic attack would be on my physical body. I noticed that when it’s a demonic attack, it happens very suddenly and there’s great torment. And when it leaves, it also leaves very suddenly. That means you have won the spiritual battle.
And please do not watch horror movies for entertainment. Because all these horrible images will come up when the demons come out and reveal themselves to scare you into submission and give up.
Mama bears, take the hits for your children and do not give up. Fight, fight, fight! Bring in a few mature trusted friends and family members in your fight too. Keep them in the loop until you win the battle.
Ecclesiastes 4:12 (NLT)
12 A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.
It’ll be interesting to see how God will grab my children’s attention. When He does and if they are willing to learn from me, this mama bear will be ready to teach them about the principles of God. I’ll start with the “hard-easy” principles because the temptations are so great for young people in first world countries. Please don’t shy away from teaching your children the Old Testament books and the book of Revelation. It’ll be these OT characters and stories that they will help them to turn away from temptations that pull on the young, intelligent, talented and fine looking ones. I highly recommend studying the book of Daniel with your children if possible before or during their high school years.
Daniel and his friends were taken captive by the great Babylonian army when they were young teenagers and moved to Babylon to serve the king. Scripture noted that they were handsome and intelligent young men. Bible scholars think about ages 16-17. Learn how they resisted the temptations of the Babylonian palace lifestyle, and what passing these tests did for them in the great empire of Babylon. Study the whole life of Daniel. He lived a very long life in Babylon. He was about age 80 when he was thrown into the lion’s den for not ‘bending his knee’ to the king’s kingdom edict that no one can pray to another deity other than to the king (if my memory is correct for only a month.) Salute 🫡 to Daniel for his courage and bravery at age 80+.
Find out what happened when he passed that test. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Daniel%201&version=VOICE
Today “high school is the new college” according to a youth pastor that I heard from. I’ll try to find that podcast and share with you next time. God bless you abundantly! Happy studying! With much love and prayers ❤️🙏
Journal of Faith 