Faithful Writers

© Jacob Berhoef I didn’t expect a wake-up call from God to come through a text message. “Thank you so much for your prayers!” To my shame, I didn’t even remember what their prayer request was. I had to scroll back through my messages and look. It wasn’t a small request.  I can’t even begin to tell you the shame I felt in that moment. In that moment, I felt convicted in a way I had never experienced before. It wasn’t gentle at all. It was that cast iron pan upside the head that left a migraine kinda pow. The weight of promises. When we tell someone, “I’ll be praying for you,”  we’re making more than a polite gesture. We’re making a promise, one God Himself hears .  To forget that promise is no different than telling a friend you’ll show up to help them move, and then never arriving. That day, I realized I had been beyond careless and thoughtless with my words. They reached out to me in need, and I didn’t come through when I said I would. I felt wrecked in that moment. I cried, and I asked God to forgive me and change me. It has been a journey in changing my habits. It is important to understand that when convicted, you still have to do the work that goes with it; conviction doesn’t mean instant change of behaviour, it means God is calling you out on behaviour that must change.  That is why it took so long to write about this change in my life; it was a learning process and a mental/physical habit that I needed to fix because I was convicted. Ultimately, it is impossible to describe the profound impact this has had on my life in many areas, and I encourage everyone to reevaluate how they handle prayer requests. It will say a lot about your heart and relationship with Christ. I want to share a few things that I have learned along the way. This is akin to a covenant in a lot of ways.  “ a covenant is a promise between two or more parties to perform certain actions. ” A prayer doesn’t have to be fancy words, just sincere and full of faith. I don’t care if I’m in the middle of doing something with people around me. I close my eyes and lift them up in prayer, and when someone asks what’s up, I tell them the truth. I was praying for someone.  Be bold and courageous in your faith. Here’s a neat thing: once you pray, you remember their prayer request better. It’s like when you meet someone and say their name, so next time you have a better chance of remembering their name.   Discovered the same happens for prayer requests. Some days are better than others regarding the request details, and you won’t remember every prayer request or every single detail for weeks on end. And that’s ok, you remember their name and their need, God will take care of the rest.  We are not built to remember every prayer request for weeks on end. We get new data every day, but God will put it on your heart out of nowhere sometimes, so listen to that. You will fail at this sometimes; you will backslide and forget, but keep moving forward with this new chapter of your faith. God has taught me to keep pressing forward, to keep growing, and not let failure pull me back into old habits. Prayer is both a duty and a gift.  It’s one of the most intimate promises we can make to one another, bringing a need before God. And if God has never once broken a promise to us, how can we treat our own promises so lightly? This journey has humbled me, convicted me, and reshaped me. And though I’m still learning, I can say with confidence: honoring the prayers we promise transforms more than our habits.  It transforms our relationship with God and with others. So the next time you tell someone, “I’m praying for you,”  stop and pray. Right there. Right then. Because prayer is not a courtesy, it’s a covenant. (This piece is a revision of an early work and has been rewritten to reflect how God continues to mold me, draw me to this topic, and with a lot better grammar.) © Jane Isley

After nearly three decades of stiff-arming God, He opened my eyes to see who He truly is.  His love, mercy, and grace have sustained me through unimaginable trials, which He has called me to vulnerably share through writing. When Hubby and I vowed, "For better or for worse, in sickness and in health," we had no idea the roller coaster ride we had just stepped on. Through these ups and downs, Jesus has been with me in the boat. When I panic because everything is sinking, He gently reminds me that He's got this. It's all part of His divine plan. The sanctification process is often painful, but the fires purify and make me look more like Him.   When I'm not writing, you will find me walking while praying with Hubby, being a mom to our four adult kiddos, tapping a pencil for 65 weekly piano students, peacefully playing a Chopin Nocturne, or relaxing with my nose in a book. For hours of reading pleasure, visit Pursuing Perfection at tessalind.substack.com , o r search Tessa Lind's name here to explore all her work on our site.

Photo by  i yunmai  on  Unsplash I skipped breakfast this morning. By mid-morning, I could feel an emptiness gnawing at me from the inside out, but I just ignored it. For lunch, I went out to a restaurant with a friend, but I didn’t eat. I felt a pang of loneliness, but reasoned that it didn’t make sense because I was with my friend. I had time for a mid-afternoon snack, but chose to surf around on the internet instead. By dinnertime, I was famished. It was difficult to be around people who had eaten breakfast. Their cheeks were glowing with health and joy. My eyes and words communicated how hangry I was. I crawled into bed, refusing to eat.   After just one month, I had Ozempic face - visibly changed. That’s when I realized the truth: Christians should never diet. Fasting from God’s Word is a bad idea. John Piper has long touted his daily practice of “No Bible; No Breakfast.” If we have not feasted first on the Word of God, we should not be feeding our bodies with physical food.  Seek God first, and everything else will be added.  What kind of nourishment can be found in the Bible? Joy:  “Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart.” (Jeremiah 15:16) Filling up on Scripture keeps my eyes on Jesus. As things inevitably fall apart throughout the day, I am reminded that my hope and future are in Jesus. Purpose: “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.” (John 4:34)  Just as Jesus had a divine purpose, we, too, were created for a purpose.  Every morning, I pray that I would glorify God in all that I think, say, and do.  Even though I daily fall short of this goal, knowing my purposes of loving others, telling people about Jesus, and worshipping the one true God, helps me not to get distracted with earthly stuff.  Sweetness: “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”  When I became a believer in Jesus, His Word became my addiction. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy sweet treats like ice cream and chocolate, but they are temporary. They don’t satisfy for long. God’s Word is true sustenance for my soul; it’s the all-natural, organic, zero-calorie sweetener. Eternal Life: “For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” (John 6:33)  When Jesus said these words, He was speaking the truth about himself. Jesus is the bread of God who came from Heaven to give life to the world. Eating physical food temporarily gives us nourishment for our bodies;  the food Jesus offers satisfies forever. “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life.” (John 6:63). Just as Jesus told the woman at the well, “ Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14) Anchor:  Without the anchor of God’s Word, we will be “…tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” (Ephesians 4:14)  As I daily read God’s Word, I am filling myself with God’s truth.  As I am daily confronted with Satan’s lies, I am able to cut the cancer of Satan to pieces with the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.  Jesus’ Secret Stash: “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” (John 4:32) I think every mom has had a secret stash of hidden food.  If the kids find it, the treat is spoiled. The special candy to be hidden in the plastic eggs at Easter?  Ruined. The chips and salsa to be the appetizer for company tomorrow night? Gone to a midnight teenager’s binge. The raspberries for the top of the birthday cake? Mysteriously disappeared. What food does Jesus have that the disciples don’t know about?  Read John 4 and find out. I’ve decided to stop fasting from God’s Word. Scripture is filled with nourishment for my spiritual life; nourishment for my soul. When I open my Bible in the morning, it’s like having a coffee date with God;  He speaks to me through His Word, and I speak to Him through prayer.   And then I eat breakfast. First published in Pursuing Perfection on Substack by © Tessa Lind,  tessalind.substack.com

No law can erase me. February 22nd, 2025, I stared in shock at a Fox News article trending on my news app. “Wisconsin Democratic governor proposes replacing ‘mother’ with ‘inseminated person’ in state law.” In that moment, I knew a day would come when I would have to defend and fight for my right to say I am a mother in conversation. “So God created humans in his image. In the image of God he created them. He created them male and female.” Genesis 1:27 By His design and proclamation, we are created in His image, two genders equal but different. Both masterfully created to bring life into this world together, each holding a significant role. As women, we are honored to live unique experiences that only we can understand and be an equal counterpart in conception. My gender is not a trend to be picked out of a magic hat one morning and tried on, insulted or worse exterminated because our very existence is a threat that needs to be eradicated by those who wish to live in my reality. To offer up our existence as a sacrifice for your immoral purpose is a dehumanizing propaganda stain that I truly do not understand. To quote Brené Brown , “Dehumanizing always starts with language, often followed by images. We see this throughout history. During the Holocaust, Nazis described Jews as Untermenschen — subhuman. They called Jews rats and depicted them as disease-carrying rodents in everything from military pamphlets to children’s books. Hutus involved in the Rwanda genocide called Tutsis cockroaches. Indigenous people are often referred to as savages. Serbs called Bosnians aliens. Slave owners throughout history considered slaves subhuman animals.” I call out to the religious who stand beside the crisis our nation is spiraling through and support the dehumanization of both genders and wish to strip away my motherhood. Your religion is not Christianity, it is time to relinquish the use of that word to those of us who truly follow Jesus and the Word of God. In your quest for inclusion and indulgence, my gender is being expunged and the Bible is being trashed and rewritten before my eyes. It is torn apart page by page, and verse by verse because of it. Pride is now the word of the day that hangs negligently from your lips. You may think you are making wonderful progress, but you don’t look behind you and see the carnage in your wake. The soul you are destroying, your own. Christians are instructed to be separate from this world for a reason. “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2 You are seduced by this world and blind to God’s word, only wanting your own because you are fat with slothful hearts. You are a destroyer of Christianity, twisting Scripture for your means. “Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Matthew 16:24. You religious are not capable of denying what is going on in this nation because you would then have to deny yourself of your worldly labels, those badges you wear in pretend honor. Your religion excels at propaganda and forced labels, you create new ones each day and often leave the rest of us slack-jawed at the new definitions, redefinitions, and word rearrangements you come up with each week. But my faith does not require any redefinition and is not a PR stunt to steal from. The Bible does not need New Age dissection or inclusive interpretations. You’ve bloodied the waters long enough, let those of us who believe in God be separated from your religion. You are of this world, not God’s kingdom. I do not deny or hinder your free will to believe as you wish, identify as you want, or force my beliefs on you, yet you steal from my Bible. You claim to want inclusiveness but I see, you only want that as long as you can take our free will, force us to identify, change our faith, and strip our genders. Do you see it yet? For as long as you keep trying to appropriate Christianity and the Bible, you are always going to get pushback from those of us who hold fast to it, understand it, and follow it. You have no right to claim you are of the Christian faith, any Christian faith. It is time you release my faith from your lips because it’s not in your heart. But then I see the dilemma you have created for yourself. You truly believe you can rewrite science to change chromosomes, fix genders with a swipe of ink, and think away my motherhood as though I don’t exist. That’s when I see the root problem you created for yourselves and why you still defiantly try to convince us you are a Christian. In your blurred realities, you can identify as anything you want; therefore, it becomes fact. You still want heaven. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ judgment time. Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” Matthew 7:21–23 “You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely.” Psalms 139:1–4 No matter how hard you try to convince yourself of your lie, it is still, by definition, a lie. © Jane Isley First published in Biblical Christian Worldview. Revision published in Christian Wisconsin News , vol 25; issue 10. Thank you for taking the time to read, and please consider  supporting my work . Your gift helps keep this work going, blesses others, and means the world to me. You can visit me at Faithful Writers  on Medium, where other Christian writers have joined me in sharing the word of God. You can also find me on   Tumblr  and   Facebook.

It was refreshing to get valid questions from a reader who made sure I knew right away he wasn’t out for a fight, and they are genuine questions that are well worth the time to answer. I also knew I could not answer them to the best of my ability in a comment section. So we are here now, to do my best to answer and hopefully not confuddle anything. Here are this gentleman's questions in response to my article “ He died for all sinners. ” Screengrab The straight-laced, non-answer answer to the first part as to why die for our sins would be to retort back and say something along the lines of “Well, He died so we could go to Heaven.”  Like I said, a non-answer answer and doesn’t necessarily clarify anything if you are a non-believer, the curious, or a believer scratching your head trying to understand it. Wanting to know the reason behind the reason is perfectly normal; we don’t go to a car dealership and not pop the hood and ask a million questions first before we decide to buy the car. The reason behind the reason : So why would God, the creator of everything, need or want to do this? Why choose death for sins instead of something else?  I’ll be completely honest, entire books are dedicated to this one question, so there is stuff I will not be able to cover completely or even touch on. I’m just going to do this how I would in person, and take out the jargon and be human, because I, too, asked these same questions once. I wanted a teacher, not a preacher. To begin, it ultimately boils down to two starting points, from how I see it in my brain. (Others have different starting points, and that doesn’t mean any of us are wrong, just different.) Sin became a part of our lives. God cannot tolerate sin because He is just, and sin needs to be punished.  Sin can not and should not be tolerated; if God tolerated sin of any kind, He would have to tolerate all sin. If He did that, then good would no longer exist, sin would take over, and our understanding of good and bad would cease to exist completely and become a constant state of grey.  It had to stay black and white. If there were no firm line drawn between to two, I couldn’t even imagine what that world would begin to look like. He outright refuses to tolerate sin, and for good reason, sin leads to death. We are told this from the beginning in Genesis.  A death that is beyond just our heartbeat stopping, a death that results in all of us never being able to be within His presence again. A gap we are unable to bridge on our own. First, we need to recognize that God didn’t want puppets. I mean, what’s the point of a real relationship if you are in control of every aspect of it, including their thinking? There is no point, we get to choose of our own accord and will, always.  He created something beautiful and perfect that He wanted to share, then sin entered. (Oh, and yes, lots could be written on that topic, and I’d barely scratch the surface because of the complexity, super in-depth is best left to the pros who have spent their lives diving into that subject, I’m nowhere near that yet.) If sin had not entered our world, God wouldn’t have been put into the position He was put into. He easily could have snuffed Adam and Eve out and started over — or some like to think at least.  See, God connected with us  through the breath of life , which was exclusive and unique to us. He made a point of setting us apart from the animals He created by giving us a soul, that connection and purity allowed Adam and Eve to be in His presence. We are given a hint of this perfection in Genesis 3:8. If sin had not entered the world, we’d still be in Eden, walking and talking with God in His presence, like nothing happened; we would be in paradise without a moment's worry. What kind of God would He be if He had just snuffed Adam and Eve out? And this includes us, btw, because from the very beginning He knew us, He knit us together, and appointed us. That's an intimate gesture towards us. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:5 Would He have just left their souls, which are connected to Him, floating out there for all eternity, feeling the weight of sin with no possible way to be redeemed, no possible way to be reconciled , and no possible way to ask forgiveness? — I’m not even going to pretend that I fully understand the “why did things have to go down the way they did in Eden?” My thought on that matter is maybe it had to play out that way so the ones who chose God are truly, completely, and willingly with God as individuals and not puppets? Probably an unpopular thought, but it’s what I got, I don’t know the why, and that’s ok. It happened, now we have to deal. This is where those harder questions come in: Why send Himself to suffer and die for us? Why was death needed? Couldn’t He have done something else?  This is epically one of the hardest concepts to wrap the brain around, trust me, I’ve been there. So, here we are now with sin in the world that separates us from God.  For us to even enter Heaven, we have to be resurrected and transformed with new bodies . Also important to note, we actually get a new   Heaven and Earth (2); we need new bodies to be in our new Heaven and Earth. God will create a new environment free from sin for believers so we can once again be in His presence.   “ Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. ” Now, sin has to go somewhere; sin is a transgression against God’s law. The sin in the world has to be conquered and separated from us, so that we are no longer separated from God. That black and white situation I talked about earlier. To explain it as best I can, sin is a debt, a debt we can not pay on our own. Sin is too heavy, too dark, too unholy for a person (human) to carry to Heaven. Jesus (the Son of God) came to literally carry that debt; He took it upon Himself, into Himself, so that we are free of it when we die and meet Him in Heaven because He was the perfect “vessel” for lack of a better word, to take all sin, carry it, and destroy it.  This was an act of mercy and love for all humanity.  We are not left hanging, trying to carry our sins with us for eternity, constantly separated from God. Sin strangles our soul with its weight. We now have the chance to be free of our sins and be with Him  once again —  if we so choose . (more on that later) “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” 1 Peter 2:24 Did you catch that? “In His Body.”  He carried the full weight of every sin in Himself. Our death (the worst then heart-stopping kind of death)  had to be defeated by His death. He paid that price ( atonement )  for us because sin has to be paid for, but the system was flawed; it is a transgression against God’s law, and God provided a way for us to be with Him again. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,” Romans 8:1 Now, what about Hitler? First, we have no idea what Hitler was thinking when he killed himself, so I’m not going to theorize on that. But what we can know for sure is that he was a sinner. A sinner like you and me.  As hard and unfathomable as it is, we do not have the right to deny God and His forgiveness to anyone. I’m sure if the victims of the holocaust knew Hitler repented, as in truly and completely repented, some would have an extremely hard time with that. How could God forgive a man like that, though?  Simple, the same way He did for you and me.  Here’s the catch, though, Hitler wouldn’t be able to just mouth the words “God forgive me for my sins and I give you mine and my wife’s life because I don’t deserve to live?” and expect to be in Heaven. Doesn’t work like that for anyone.  You want salvation? You have to mean it; otherwise, God will not recognize you on judgment day. “Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!”  Matthew 7:20–23 “Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven.” Matthew 10:32–33 Repentance is the only way anyone is getting into Heaven.  “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,” Act 3:19 Jesus’s death wasn’t some blanket atonement packet for everybody to get into Heaven; you have to repent, you have to want to follow Him, you have to want to change, you have to have faith in Him, His death, His resurrection, and His atonement for believers. We want God to forgive us for our sins, and cherish knowing we will see Him on judgment day and hear, “ I Know You. ” We may not like it, but we have no right to deny this to anyone if they have chosen Him.  We are also told to forgive those who have sinned against us. Ephesians 4:32 , Matthew 6:12 , and Luke 17:3–4 . As well as told “Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him. ” 1 John 3:15 . This can be hard, even painful to accept, and many will turn away just because of this last section alone. But we truly do not have any right to deny salvation to anyone. If you believe you deserve it, so do they. We have no right to point fingers at someone else’s sin and deem it as worse than ours, and therefore, they are to be denied Heaven because it’s what we want and what we believe. Salvation doesn’t play favorites, and neither does God when someone turns and comes to Him. We don’t have to like it, but you do have someone who can help you come to accept this, and that He loves us all. ☝ I hope I have done as well as I can in answering and didn’t go too squirrely. There is no way to cover the vast points that could still be included, but I hope this helps at least answer a few questions and get you in the right direction for further study. I also recommend reading Why Jesus Has To Be Both Divine and Human To Atone for Humanity’s Sins   by Mary Lou Cornish . Her article further expands on what I have not or only skimmed the surface of. © Jane Isley Sources: (1) simplybible.com (2)   In God’s presence once again —  Revelation 21 Got Questions: What is the meaning of atonement?   Soul and womb —  Psalm 139:13–16 We must confess our sins —   1 John 1:9 No one comes to the Father except through me. —  John 14:6 “But made alive in the Spirit.” 1 Peter 3:18 New bodies: Philippians 3:21 , 1 Corinthians 15:42–44 , & 2 Corinthians 5:1–4 Additional reading sources that touch on points in this article: He died for all sinners. Our Heavenly Inheritance Communion Thursday The modern Western Church: more sanitised than Sanctified

“If you use the word “Christian” anywhere in conjunction with your name or introduction to another person. You are voluntarily signing up for higher expectations, whether you like it or not.”   ~ Me I was reminded of this recently, and it challenged me to examine Scripture. We are warned about judging others while ignoring the plank in our own eye ( Matthew 7:5 ) , but He never said we shouldn’t discern or hold fellow believers to His  higher standard.  He also doesn’t say we must maintain relationships with those who profess Christianity yet act with duplicity that causes harm or confusion. The Double-Minded Heart James 1:7–8   “For that person ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. ” Psalm 28:3   “[…] Who speak peace with their neighbors, While evil is in their hearts .” Matthew 23:28   “So you too, outwardly appear righteous to people, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. ” Scripture Makes It Clear When a person reveals instability of character, saying one thing and doing another, trust is broken. And instead of repentance, pride can often take over. Ego, defensiveness, and self-justification pour out fast. That is a heart not of God, but of this world. A torn heart. The Greek word for unstable  in James 1:8  is akatastatos , meaning unstable , restless,  and disorderly . That paints a vivid picture: a person whose thoughts, motives, and actions are never fully aligned. Someone likely swayed by every emotion or circumstance.  That kind of instability produces impulsive reactions and fractured relationships. It’s not a trait of Christ, and it’s not something we should allow to take root in our lives. Yes, we screw up at times, but trust me, there is a cast-iron pan hitting you somewhere in the head when you screw up. You feel it, you see it, you can even taste it. It is up to you to listen and be taught by God to walk away from what the world deems “right” and do better.  You mature. Anchoring Your Soul  A double-minded, unstable person is restless because their internal foundation is unstable. Those who are anchored in Christ are steadier and, at the very least, feel that cast-iron conviction hard enough to shape up.  One of our callings as believers isn’t only to walk in alignment with God. It’s to do the work to get there and to fight to stay there; it is also to hold fellow believers to the higher standard that Christ set forth for us. How We React Reveals Who We Are I’ve found that when you truly live your life for Christ, things just naturally occur in a person. It becomes instilled in you, whether you are new to it or not. Especially in how you respond to feedback. When your heart is in line with Christ, I usually see one of two things: You recognize feedback for what it is, appreciate it, learn from it, apply it, and move on; or You feel the sting, step back, have a convo with God, learn from it, and then move on. I remember my interactions with people.  They shape how I move forward with them. I trust their words and their love for Christ, but when instability becomes painfully clear, trust is lost. It’s not that I hold onto anything negative against them and dwell on it; it’s that that interaction shows me exactly where they are in life with God, and what they need prayer for.  It also shows me that I may need to step away from that harm and hold them to a higher standard, which is what they signed up for when they proclaimed Christianity. Final Thought Moment When others act double-minded, don’t let their instability shake your integrity. Stand firm, call it out respectfully, respond with grace, and walk away if you must.  The world will always be pulling at our loyalties, but a surrendered heart will always find its balance in Him. © Jane Isley Thank you for taking the time to read, and please consider   supporting my work . Your gift supports the ongoing operation of Faithful Writers. You can visit me at Faithful Writers  on Medium, where other Christian writers have joined me in sharing the word of God. You can also find me on   Tumblr  and   Facebook.

I’ve been plagued lately with sadness at what I see happening within many churches.  To me, they are no longer churches, just fancy buildings full of people who have not just lost their way, but purposely go their own way, and think they can convince God to go along with it. Many debates have already happened, and even more will continue as people pursue themselves and increasingly push God aside in pursuit of life, liberty, and the lies they want to hear. The same people who can quote Psalm 23  without a moment's hesitation with a faithful adoration are willingly choosing to ignore other parts of the Bible. Both the leaders and the congregants are equally guilty.  “This is the fate of those who trust in themselves, and of their followers, who approve their sayings. They are like sheep and are destined to die; death will be their shepherd (but the upright will prevail over them in the morning).”  “But to the wicked person, God says: “What right have you to recite my laws or take my covenant on your lips?” “You hate my instruction and cast my words behind you.” “You use your mouth for evil and harness your tongue to deceit.” “[…]But I now arraign you and set my accusations before you. “Consider this, you who forget God, or I will tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you:”  I don’t need to elaborate, explain, or break down the language. God couldn’t be clearer.  If you can not bear this, you are not of Him. If you are angered, you are not of Him. If you cannot hear Him, you are not of Him. Ignorance is not bliss. No one is stopping anyone from reading their Bible and having courage in God to stand faithfully to His words. Reference Verses and recommended reads: Bible Gateway; NIV Psalm 49  & Bible Gateway; NIV Psalm 50 A Few Headlines from Mainline Liberal Churches , by Jeff Hilles. © Jane Isley Thank you for taking the time to read, and please consider  supporting my work . Your gift helps keep this work going, blesses others, and means the world to me. You can visit me at Faithful Writers  on Medium, where other Christian writers have joined me in sharing the word of God. You can also find me on   Tumblr  and   Facebook.

Adobe Stock When the Hustle Meets Faith There’s a silent war inside every believer who dreams big, the tug of war between grace and grind. Between “Let go and let God” and “Work till you drop.” Between trusting His pace and fearing you’ll be left behind. We were raised in a culture that glorifies hustle. If you’re not working late, pushing harder, or chasing more, you’re “not serious.” But grace whispers a different truth, which is the fact that your worth isn’t proven by exhaustion, and your destiny doesn’t depend on sleepless nights, and the Bible reminds us that we’re not running on self-effort. “For it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill His good purpose.” — Philippians 2:13 The Pressure to Prove Yourself Still, it’s hard to rest when the world rewards performance. Hard to breathe when every scroll screams “you’re falling behind.” We might not want to believe it, but we end up grinding out of fear, not faith anymore. We push, not because God said “go,” but because silence feels unsafe. But here’s what grace keeps teaching me: God never asked you to burn out proving a point He already settled on the Cross. When Grace Leads the Grind Grace doesn’t cancel work, it purifies it, it reminds you that diligence is worship, not survival. That rest is not laziness, it’s trust, and you can still show up with excellence without losing your soul in the process. When grace leads your grind, peace replaces panic. You still work hard, but not to earn, to honor. You still dream big, but this time you don’t do it to compete; you do it to serve. You stop moving like someone trying to be chosen, and start moving like someone who already is and will always be. And when you start to wait instead of rushing, Heaven steps in with strength the hustle could never give. Take a look at this: “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” — Isaiah 40:31 This is the promise of God to those who can wait. Heaven doesn’t appreciate so much haste. The Real Victory This is not to encourage laziness, but the goal isn’t to choose one over the other. The real victory is actually learning to grind in grace, to show up, stay faithful, and still sleep soundly knowing Heaven’s pace is enough because sometimes, the bravest thing you can do in a world obsessed with hustling is to rest like someone who knows they’re already loved. © Favour

© Jane Isley If you missed the first part, you can click here. Today, we are starting with that infamous “no men available” comment. I’m no Biblical scholar, but I do awesomely possess the ability to read and write. I see unmistakable evidence in Chapters 4 and 5 that there were men available. We learn that there were quite a few, in fact, and among them were leaders and princes.  But didn’t see any direct or indirect references to a lack of men or unwilling men. Did you? This is where this bad theology happened, not just with what happened during that Bible study, but for generations, this has been a thing. From what I have figured out, the “ no men available ” was based on a male “interpretation” of Judges 4 and 5. Since she was a woman, it somehow just had  to be a punishment. It’s literally just a made-up theology because this is somehow, and I still don’t understand this, a threat to men? Not only is this extremely insulting to both  men and women, but it is a worse insult to God . You’re really going to question God and throw in some frazzled fluff to support your opinion, I think not. I also fail to understand why man’s counterpart in God’s creation plan isn’t actually allowed to be a counterpart in God’s church plan, according to men. Think about that one.  A “forgotten” verse, or as I call it, “cherry-picking” your way to Heaven. “Yahweh raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them.”  Judges 2:16 If I were in person right now, I’d be repeating that verse with some spiciness in my voice.  This was said in Chapter 2, before we meet Deborah and the others. This verse does more than just confirm the Israelites' cycle I talked about in my first article. It shows us that God had a plan and that already included raising up  Deborah.  To ignore this verse is quite telling of those who do so. The person’s opinions and feelings should have come to a screeching halt with that verse. But I guess it’s ok to alter things a bit since he is a pastor after all, he thinks his pulpit gives him the authority to teach bad theology that caters to his personal feelings. To quote Maia Vashti “Even if there was a supposed lack of qualified men, that wouldn’t have stopped God from finding a man if that was His requirement for that role. She was who He wanted and what Israel needed at that time.” What about Barak? I do have to talk about him a bit; that guy gets picked on quite a bit.  I found that some really enjoy arguing about Barak’s response in  Judges 4:8  and make assumptions. They say he was either afraid, lacked faith, didn’t like that she was a woman, or was timid. There are a few things to consider before running with these, as though they are facts. I’m about to get a bit more technical, but I promise to keep it short and to the point. 😊 His response has been automatically assumed to mean that he was in some way angry, was faithless, or afraid. We are not told. Therefore, we should assume his reasons based on one response. His request was actually a reasonable one. She was, after all, a military leader. All the Judges were, that was a part of their role, and if thought through. Shows his respect for Deborah and God, and her relationship with God also. (Moses asked something similar of God to btw) He knew he would not get credit, and in a moment, I’ll show you his reaction to that. A verse to remember while considering all the above. “What more shall I say? For the time would fail me if I told of Gideon, Barak,  Samson, Jephthah, David, Samuel, and the prophets, who through faith subdued kingdoms , worked out righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,”  Hebrews 11: 32–33 Ah, yes, Barak’s reaction after they won, knowing he wasn’t going to get credit. Chapter 5 is devoted to the  Song of Deborah and Barak . Where both  Deborah and Barak sing that Jael (a woman)  is blessed for what she did. Barak knew he wouldn’t receive credit, yet he sang blessings to Jael along with praises, honor, and thanksgiving to God. He sang, inspired by the Holy Spirit.   Doesn’t sound like a man who was upset about things to me or wasn’t blessed.  Who was chosen by God to lead, whose part of their deliverance from Sisera was not an issue with God. Why is it still an issue to some? I want to state: I’m not attempting to insert an answer as to why he wasn’t the one chosen at that time to lead, but to show we can’t debase him or presume anything either. We have to look at everything as a whole, not just his one response. That’s how we wind up with so many issues in the first place. Part 3 is on it's way and here is part 1 if you missed it. © Jane Isley Thank you for taking the time to read, and please consider  supporting my work . Your gift helps keep this work going, blesses others, and means the world to me. You can visit me at Faithful Writers  on Medium, where other Christian writers have joined me in sharing the word of God. You can also find me on   Tumblr  and   Facebook.

© Jane Isley If you haven’t been following along, here is part 1 and part 2 . If you have, awesome, and we'll be finishing up today. “The Mother of Israel “ What an honor. In  Judges 5:7 , we see something that can’t be unseen, yet somehow is blatantly ignored by many who push that “no men available” nonsense. “The rulers ceased in Israel, they ceased, Until that I Deborah arose, That I arose a mother in Israel.” It takes a lot of balls and a very bad theological jump to claim that Deborah was a punishment and an embarrassment to men and Israel just because she was a woman. Look at what our Lord said about her. If that is how you truly see it, you are not in line with God; you are in line with your own personal issues, and that is the only thing embarrassing here.  Men and women are physically different, but we are spiritually and mentally equal.  If you do not agree with this, then I need you to show me, with facts, how both genders do not have  the same ability to learn, teach, discern, or be called on by God. Here are the facts, despite anyone’s feelings on this matter. God raised up those Judges, each and every one of them.  Judges 2:16 Israel went to all  the different Judges during this period. As stated above, “they were the legal voices for the people.”   They were not seeking out her  words or her  opinions, nor do we see that anywhere in the Scriptures. The people accepted her as a Judge despite her gender. It wasn’t common, but that still is the case in our era with quite a few fields of work, so it does not merit a gender-only-based argument. A comparison of the Hebrew word “shaphat” used in  Exodus 18:13  with Moses and  Judges 4:4  shows us that Deborah and Moses were doing the same job. God had zero issue inspiring the authors to write. If she was a punishment, don’t you think He would have made that clear? When it comes down to it, those who hold this opinion: She can prophesize for the people, but can’t make a judgment for the people? What is at the root of your opinion? Is it because she was a woman who had a God granted authoritative role, and you have a negative view of women? If not, why just her then? Is it a case of parroting what you were taught and not searching out the Bible for yourself, laziness, ignorance, or the case of satisfying a personal agenda? What is your Biblical justification for the belief that Deborah was a punishment? Israel had peace for 40 years because of her guidance and relationship with God. And nope, you can’t use the fact that Israel screwed up after her as justification either, because their constant screw-ups are clearly established before her and after her. © Jane Isley Thank you for taking the time to read, and please consider  supporting my work . Your gift helps keep this work going, blesses others, and means the world to me. You can visit me at Faithful Writers  on Medium, where other Christian writers have joined me in sharing the word of God. You can also find me on   Tumblr  and   Facebook.