Newsletter

Saturday, June 23rd 2007

I was taken back recently to my childhood a time of innocence, a time where rules were set by our parents. We felt completely safe and secure in their decisions, not that we always liked them or always followed them. "Hold my hand to cross the street." my mother would say or "Not on a school night." or "Nothing good happens after 11:00." From being a child to a young adult, I seemed to have it all figured out. I could cross the street all by my self at the age of 5. Who really cared if it was a school night? Or, what did one hour really matter?
Now I'm grown, and have children of my own who give me the same arguments I gave to my parents. They think they have all the right answers too.

Recently a conversation with my 6 year old really opened my eyes. She was convinced that she was old enough to ride her bike in the road. So, after a half hour of a challenging conversati on, she finally gave up. The thing is, in the middle of this chat, I was almost convinced to just let her. What stopped me? It was knowing the danger that could be ahead.

My job is to set a standard, a line I will just not cross. As Christians what standard are we holding up in our lives? In Numbers chapter 22:18 Scripture says:

Then Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, "Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more."

God has given us his living word as a standard for our lives. Do we go beyond His word to please our own fleshly desires? God gives us His standards just as we give our children standards for protection. If you continue in Numbers chapter 22, you will see where God places an Angel to protect Balaam from going into a place of disobedience . The Angel later tells Balaam, "If you would have continued I would have let your donkey live and I wo uld have killed you." Disobedience leads to spiritual death. So I challenge you today to evaluate your standards. Do they go beyond the word of the Lord? Do we compromise and lean on the world's understanding? Or, do we stand firm in the standards of the Lord?

In the next few months, the Women of War ministry team will be studying the The Pursuit of Holiness by Jerry Bridges. We will never grasp His holiness, but we sure can pursue it!! Please pray for us as we take this journey together, waiting on the Lord's next move in His ministry.


Brandie Kennington