Carole L Haines

November 9, 2018March 19, 2019

What makes you think I want your life?

by: Carole L. Haines

My husband told me a story about a friend of his who answered an acquaintance’s arrogance with this statement, “What makes you think I want your life?” The man was a few years ahead in the same line of business as my husband’s friend, and without being asked for advice, was giving out a litany of how to become as successful as he was. He was basically telling this guy, “Do these things and you can have the kind of life I have.” A life of wealth, luxury and ease was what was being solicited to our friend. I couldn’t help but think of Satan’s Temptation of Jesus.

8 Again, the devil *took Him to a very high mountain and *showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; 9 and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus *said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’” (Matthew 4:8-10)

O, how the world loves to think we want to have what they have, be who they are, do what they do. We hear it from Movie-dom, Sports Arenas, Business offices, and unfortunately, even the occasional pulpit. Hebrews 12 gives us a list of what we now have in Jesus Christ:

22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God,the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels,23 to the general assemblyand church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven,and to God, the Judge of all,and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.(Hebrews 12:22-24)Then, as if all that was not enough, God tops it off with:

26 And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.” 27 This expression, “Yet once more,” denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.28 Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; 29 for our God is a consuming fire. (Hebrew 12:26-29)

A kingdom that cannot be shaken. God actually desires to remove from our lives, our dependence upon the very things the world runs after, brags about and tries to peddle to us. But just look at our beautiful inheritance in Christ. I don’t want or need anything the world is peddling. I echo the sentiments of our friend, “What makes you think I want your life?” Jesus speaks the truest of Words when He says this:

31 Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’ 32 For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. 34 “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matthew 6:31-34)

Thank you, Dearest Lord Jesus, for the life You have bought for me, and freely given to all who believe in You as Savior.

November 9, 2018March 6, 2019

Surprised by Beauty (Just let go and know)

Surprised by Beauty(Just let go and know)

By: Carole L. Haines

Have you ever planted something in your yard, walked away and forgotten all about it? You didn’t tend it, water it, fertilize it, and yet somehow, it flourished and bloomed. My son was out mowing in an obscure part of the yard and came in to say, “Mom, you’ve got to see these lilies in the corner of the yard behind the gazebo!” I walked out and sure enough, there they were, big beautiful blooms that seemingly came out of nowhere.

The Kingdom of God is like that. We are the fertile ground. God places the seed inside of us. We grow in dormancy, unseen by the world. Then suddenly God pulls back the curtain, at just the right time, and all the beauty He placed in us is displayed before mankind. He is glorified and all we can do, is fall at His feet, and say, “I don’t even remember planting that, Lord!”

That’s because you didn’t, He did! He is growing His grace and beauty inside of us, through drought and dry times. He is sheltering us from the heat of the day underneath the shadow of His wings. We don’t even see it growing inside of us, and we can only stand back in awe as He displays His glory through us for all the world to see.

We know we had nothing to do with it. We are just yielded vessels, striving to love our Heavenly Father and be grateful to Him for His great kindness; when He just blazes glory through us. Our God is so amazing. I have learned, in my many years of being a Believer in Jesus, that it’s more about being yielded and surrendering; than striving and straining. God’s Word tells us to:

10 “Cease striving (to sink, relax, sink down, let drop, withdraw, let go, to be quiet)

and know that I am God; ( Learn to know, recognize, know by experience)I will be exalted among the nations,

I will be exalted in the earth.”11 The Lord of hosts is with us;The God of Jacob is our stronghold.

Selah. (Psalm 46 NASB)Just let go and know, know God. Stop trying to figure it all out and get to know God. Get to know Him by experience, by taking your hands off the wheel of your life. Get out of the driver seat and become the passenger. God says: I will be exalted, I will be exalted. God is with us, He is doing a beautiful work in each of our lives. The biggest thing standing in the way of becoming God’s beauty is our own tight grip upon the wheel of our lives. Just let go and know. He will never fail you. You may be bewildered, confused, confounded by some of he ways He works, but He never, ever fails you. I know that after walking with Him for more than 4 decades now. Just let go, cease striving, and Know Him. Invest in your relationship to Him. Yield and surrender, yield and surrender.

May 26, 2018

What It Means To Be A Genuine Prisoner of The Lord?

Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, 3 being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. (Ephesians 4:1-6 NASB)

Paul considered that his imprisonment was from the Lord. He wasn’t bitter, but he was concerned for those Believers with whom he had interacted, to walk in a manner worthy of their calling. Why is this? I believe that it is because Paul could no longer walk among them. God had imprisoned Paul for the purpose of writing the Epistles which would ultimately become a large portion of the New Testament. Now Paul didn’t know that while he was writing them. Perhaps his imprisonment perplexed him, made him feel trapped and useless a bit. But Paul did not become bitter and began to do his “walking in a manner worthy,” through the writing of letters to all the Churches he had helped establish.

God has a purpose for all the happenings in our lives, whether we are walking in freedom, or we feel imprisoned within our circumstances. God has a perfect plan. God promises us that He will work all things together for our good and calls us to love Him and trust His purpose for our lives (Romans 8:28). There were times that I felt imprisoned at home with three little ones under my feet, but I knew I was called to raise them up. Looking back now, I see how important that really was, and what an awesome privilege it was. I work in a learning center with young children now, and I see mothers every day, who wish they could stay home with their little ones. I was blessed, and enjoyed that blessing immensely, even on the days I felt trapped. I love what Henry Blackaby says about our circumstances in his book Experiencing God.

“Never allow your heart to question God’s love. Settle it on the front end of your quest to know Him and experience Him: He loves you. Every dealing He has with you is an expression of His love for you. God would not be God if He expressed Himself in any way other than perfect love! What you believe about God’s love for you will be reflected in how you relate to Him. If you really believe God is love, you will also accept that His will is always best.”’- Henry T. Blackaby, Experiencing God

God was using Paul’s imprisonment, to help us learn to walk in a manner worthy. If Paul had not been imprisoned, he would have just gone to the Churches in person and shared his heart. Because of his imprisonment, we have the writings that God accomplished through Paul to teach us how to live the life of faith we have, and to glorify God in all we are.

So yes, at times we are all “the prisoners of the Lord,” for a purpose, and that purpose cannot necessarily be known while we walk the earth. Trust God in your circumstances. He has reason for all He does, and He promises to work it all for good, as we love and trust Him and His purposes for our lives.

April 6, 2018May 26, 2018

Are You an Oddball in Loneliness?

Beware of isolation; beware of the idea that you have to develop a holy life alone. It is impossible to develop a holy life alone; you will develop into an oddity and a peculiarism, into something utterly unlike what God wants you to be. The only way to develop spiritually is to go into the society of God’s own children, and you will soon find how God alters your set. God does not contradict our social instincts; He alters them.(from Biblical Psychology, 189 L Oswald Chambers)

I had to admit to myself that this had become a bit too true of me. I, in my desire to protect myself from hurt, had become accustomed to isolation, and surely had become a bit of an oddity, and a peculiarism. God’s word is very clear on how holiness is developed. Oswald Chambers is being completely Biblical here. It is impossible to develop holiness alone. God speaks of it in 1 John 4:

In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

If we love one another,

God abides in us,
His love is perfected in us.
By this, we know that we abide in Him and He in us because He has given us of His Spirit.

I need you, dear Sister or brother in Christ, in order to grow in love. You need me, too. God’s love is perfected in us as we learn to love each other despite failings, faults, and screw-ups. Forgiveness should be a well-traveled road as a Believer in Jesus. It is the only road to Calvary we will ever take. Jesus calls us to the Garden of Gethsemane, as we learn to die to ourselves, but the Road to Calvary was His alone; and having walked it, He calls us to a new commandment: Love one another. As God abides in us, His love is perfected in us, we have the assurance that we are His and we sense the power and presence of His Spirit, all through loving one another. O, the powerful ways of God, so transforming, so freeing, so right.

March 9, 2018March 9, 2018

I Will Watch for You, God

Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; Set me securely on high away from those who rise up against me. Because of his strength, I will watch for You, For God is my stronghold. My God in His lovingkindness will meet me; God will let me look triumphantly upon my foes. (v. 1, 9-10 NASB)

I love that the Bible includes descriptions before a lot of the Psalms, letting us know the context in which the Psalm was penned. David was surrounded by enemies, pinned down. It was a real threat, not an imagined malice. He was in actual bodily danger. Most of us won’t experience that kind of danger in our lives. But, I was stalked several times while walking, and know that God delivered me from true bodily danger. Like Jesus slipped through the crowd and escaped the clutches of his enemies, so I was provided with a way of escape on these occasions by God. I no longer walk alone, but do my workouts at home, and walk only with someone else.What I find so fascinating about the above Scripture is the wording of one particular phrase. “Because of his strength, I will watch for You.”

Have you ever been singled out by someone who wishes to do you harm?

Sometimes it happens because of a jealous co-worker. Perhaps an ex-boyfriend, husband, or friend is seeking to hurt you. Or like myself, you just find yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time, out walking alone, or the potential victim of a greedy thief. Perhaps it’s a horrible disease, like cancer.

In any case, we have enemies that are stronger than us at times, and we feel out-matched. But no one can out-match God. When someone chooses to mess with a Chosen of God, Beloved Child of the King; they will find themselves messing with God. Whatever you are facing at this moment, remember David’s words:

Because of His Strength, I Will Watch for You, God.

God is greater than anything we may face in life. He is more powerful than all our enemies. We can watch for Him, wait on Him, trust Him. He is our sail, to guide us away from an enemy. He is our anchor, to keep us firmly set in the midst of a battering storm. He is our refuge into which we run, and hide in Him until the danger has passed. He is our Abba, Father, our Daddy, onto whose lap we can climb, as we bury ourselves in His loving arms, in the midst of all our difficulties. He is our shield and protector against all of life’s enemies. He is our Loving God, Our Precious Savior. Let us watch always for Him.

January 7, 2018January 7, 2018

The Steps That Lead to Nowhere

Our family just loves to visit abandoned places. Our son is especially into this, so we go on hikes with him to see these places. We have a few really interesting ones right nearby our home. He studies up on the History of the places and tells us about them as we explore. It’s so intriguing to visit where others once have trod, long ago. You can almost hear the echoes of voices, calling from room to room. The places seem to brighten when we walk in, almost glad someone has remembered them, and come to wander awhile. It’s like the walls are aching with stories to tell.One of the most interesting places, is fenced off and we cannot gain access, nor should we, as it is the ruins of an old missile site. But as you peer through the fence, you can see a set of steps that lead to Nowhere. Just steps where a building used to be. The building was torn down, yet the steps remain. This reminded me of how important it is for us to take inventory of just what we are investing our time in. Do we have any steps that lead to Nowhere, in our own lives? Do we have any ruins that have long since collapsed, and yet we visit the site of those ruins, and climb the steps to Nowhere. The pain rushes back in, the scars throb, the wounds pulsate with reminders of what was, or what could have been.

There’s a quote I read on the site GODINTEREST, that says:

“Leave behind the past because nothing is going to change there and the more you keep looking back the more you’ll fail to see what’s in front of you.”

There is nothing wrong with reflection, but looking back too often is like climbing those steps that lead to Nowhere. I love where the quote says, “Nothing is going to change there.” So true, and I also believe that “the more you keep looking back the more you’ll fail to see what’s in front of you.” God is calling us forward, Hear His Call:

“Behold, I will do something new, Now it will spring forth; Will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in the wilderness, Rivers in the desert.(Isaiah 43:19 NASB) “I am the Lord, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images.9 “Behold, the former things have come to pass, Now I declare new things; before they spring forth I proclaim them to you.”

Sing to the Lord a new song, sing His praise from the end of the earth! (Isaiah 42:8-10 NASB) We can often paralyze ourselves with regrets and “if only’s.” By the power of Jesus, you can set yourself free. Through His grace, love, and forgiveness, you can walk away from these past things that still draw you up the steps that lead to Nowhere. Stop climbing those steps, and move onward and upward. Move closer to the Lord who loves you, redeems you, and promises to work all things together for Good, to those who love Him and trust His purpose for their lives. (Romans 8:28)