Not Ready to Fight

Sep.16,2011

David Wilkerson

[May 19, 1931 – April 27, 2011]

Suppose a boxing trainer took his fighter to an isolated training camp and then spent the whole training session psyching up his man for the big fight. He tells him, “I will be with you at ringside—I will never leave your side. Here is a list of great boxers of the past, so study their every move. You do not have to suffer through hard workouts. I told you that you are a winner and my word is all you need! I will give you some diagrams on how to defeat Monster Man when you step into the ring with him!”

What kind of trainer is this? Absolutely foolish! What would a good trainer do? He would find the best boxer he could, put his man in the ring with him, and let them have it out!

Beloved, how many Christians call themselves warriors without ever being tested or trained? We hear so much about the many prayer warriors in this nation. But the sad truth is, the vast majority of them have never been in battle! They have not been trained and they are not ready to fight!

Recently I asked the Lord why so many true believers are going through such heavy, hard times. Why such deep suffering? I asked, “Why are so many being tested to their limits?”

God knows that Satan is going to be loosed on the earth for his last hour of warfare. And the Lord is going to need well-trained warriors who will prevail over all the powers of hell. Right now He is doing a quick work in His remnant—it is called crisis training!

These suffering, deeply tested saints are becoming the captains of His last-days army. God is putting Holy Spirit fight in them and He is bringing forth warriors who are tested and tried, because they have wrestled with God. The more they suffer and the more intense the trial, the greater the work He has for them to do!

This kind of training calls for physical discipline as well as spiritual. Jacob threw his whole body into the battle, all his human ability. A fighting spirit had risen up in him and Scripture says, “In his strength he struggled with God” (Hosea 12:3).

This verse has great meaning for all who want to prevail in prayer. It says Jacob won the battle “in his strength.” Dearly beloved, if you are going to prevail in these last days, you are going to have to put all your body and strength into it!

http://www.worldchallenge.org/en/node/14945?src=devo-email

In a Fighting Mood

Sep.15,2011

David Wilkerson
[May 19, 1931 – April 27, 2011]

Esau came forth from his mother’s womb first—a baby covered with hair (his name means “hairy”). But his twin, Jacob, grabbed his heel while still in the womb. What a shock the midwife must have had when she saw Esau come forth with a tiny hand gripping his heel!

“He took his brother by the heel in the womb, and in his strength he struggled with God. Yes, he struggled with the Angel and prevailed; he wept, and sought favor from Him. He found Him in Bethel, and there He spoke to us” (Hosea 12:3-4).

In this very brief passage about Jacob, the prophet Hosea sums up how to overcome and prevail with God!

Hosea’s message was, “Here was a man greedy for God, hungry for everything God had for him!” Jacob came out of the womb in a fighting mood, longing for the blessings of God! There was something of a godly instinct in this child. It was as if he was saying, “Brother, if you don’t want the fullness of God, I do. Get out of my way! I will not be left behind in God’s blessings!”

The birthright and blessing of Jacob’s desire throughout his life represents all the blessings that are in Christ Jesus! Yet it was not the double portion of his father’s wealth that Jacob was after nor was it the promise of the land. No, Jacob wanted something more. He wanted the blessing of God so he could be in the lineage of the Messiah! And he wanted the priestly blessing. This meant not only being priest of the clan, but also being able to bless others!

We see this priestly ministry throughout Genesis 27, and as Isaac laid hands on Jacob and blessed him: “…that your soul may bless me” (Genesis 27:19). It meant the high honor of having God’s hand on him—and the power to bless others!

Beloved, this is what is being required of believers in these last days! God wants to raise up a people who are not concerned only about making their own living, owning a house or driving a nice car. He is seeking those who are greedy for the blessings of God—not to consume it on themselves, but to be used of Him to help others!

http://www.worldchallenge.org/en/node/14944?src=devo-email

The power to bless others – this is what I want!!!

The Butterfly is a Boy!!!

Sep.14,2011

Our second butterfly of the season was born today.

I waited a long time as he dried and rested before he finally opened his wings and lo and behold, when he finally did, I saw two black telltale spots on his wings. He was a boy. So Thomas was the perfect name for him.

We have been studying Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury that was murdered in his church, because of disagreements with King Henry II. We read a little bit about it in A Proud Taste For Scarlet and Miniver by E. L. Konisgburg. Then we read If All the Swords in England by Barbara Willard to get a full picture of the event.

So we chose the name Thomas for him. We also like Thomas Jefferson, Thomas a Kempis and Thomas Stonewall Jackson, so we were happy with the name. I was happy when I saw the sense spots on the butterfly’s wings this morning. I was afraid we might have to change his name to Thomasina. But I couldn’t tell anything from peeking into the closed wings. He finally opened them wide and the spots were very obvious.

You’ll be able to see them in the video below.

This Year’s First Butterfly!!!

Sep.12,2011

Did you ever wonder how to tell the difference between a boy butterfly and a girl butterfly?

Go here and find out! You’ll be amazed at how easy it is.

We had a successful birth of a new butterfly this morning. The chrysalis was getting dark yesterday, so I started watching it closely and taking pictures. Then it started to get transparent and we could see the orange and black wings. I knew it would come out (eclose) by this morning.

I was right! When we woke up this morning, the butterfly was hanging onto the outside of its transparent chrysalis. The chrysalis was moving around a little bit, so that probably helped her to dry out faster. We know she’s a girl because she doesn’t have any spots on the bottoms of her wings when she opens them. We named her Diamond.

Some things I’ve learned about raising Monarch caterpillars and butterflies:

1. Go out to a field where you see milkweed growing along the edge and look under the leaves for a striped caterpillar. If it’s later in the season, they will be big and orange and black and easy to see. If they’re smaller in the beginning of August, they will be white and hard to tell what they are. But if it’s on a milkweed, it’s probably a Monarch. (You can see a picture of a tiny one and how fast he grew in this post. See my posts in the category Caterpillar Chronicles to read more about how to raise Monarch butterflies from caterpillars. There are also some posts about the spiritual significance of caterpillars and butterflies among them.)

2. Put your caterpillar in a jar with a milkweed leaf. Pick some extra leaves in case the caterpillar needs to eat for a while before making a chrysalis. Just let him crawl on the leaf and eat for a few days.

3. Keep an eye on him and if you see him leave the leaf and act like he’s looking for something, he’s ready to make a chrysalis. I put the jar inside a cardboard box, because mine have often made them on the underside of the flaps of cardboard boxes. I’ve tried different materials at the top of the jar, but the flaps of a cardboard box have worked best. Two of mine last year made chrysalises on the side of the glass jars they were in. That made me nervous. I didn’t think they would stick, but they did.

4. After a week and a half to two weeks, start watching closely again and you’ll see the chrysalis start to get darker. Keep watching and you’ll see it get more transparent, and you’ll be able to see the colors of the wings inside.

5. When the butterfly comes out, don’t touch it. Let it hang on the empty chrysalis and dry. It will start walking around on its own. Then take it outside and see if it will go on the leaf of a tree. It may stay on a tree and dry some more. Or it may just be ready to take off and fly away before you even get a chance to film it. Like Diamond did for us today.

Dolphin Tale – Light in the Darkness

Sep.11,2011

Here is our chance to light a candle instead of cursing the darkness.

You may know of Sally Clarkson, a wonderful mentor of Christian women, especially homeschool moms.

Her son, Nathan, is working in Hollywood as a Christian with high morals who feels that God has called him to influence the types of movies that Hollywood produces. He wants to give his generation the opportunity to receive good, wholesome messages and inspiration through a medium that they are drawn to and enjoy.

This generation is highly influenced by the media and entertainment industry. Let’s get the light of the gospel and values like integrity, honesty, love for family, value of work, character, self-sacrifice, etc. into the movies that they will watch and take into the fabric of their souls. Their worldview is being shaped by Hollywood. Let’s shape Hollywood by showing them what we really want to see and what we want our children to be watching.

We can do this by going to see this movie in droves!!! According to Sally, their “ultimate goal is to get at least 150,000 individuals out to the movie on opening day at the midday showing, as that number indicates the interest level of people to the executives at Warner Brothers for their projects. This week, our goal is to spread the buzz about this venture and to get thousands and thousands of people to rsvp at the Facebook page that is named: Homeschool Movie Club, as they are seeking the support of support groups, mom’s groups and families.”

So let’s do what we can to support films like this and people like Nathan who are holding onto high values and a close walk with God in the midst of a dark and dying world. They need our help.

And the movie looks like it will be very good. So what do we have to lose?

Here’s the movie trailer: