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The Elephant in the Room

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Eternal Life, God's Gifts to Us, Ministry, Spiritual Warfare
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Anyone who has followed me for a long time knows that I am a follower of Jesus Christ. However, because of what has been occurring during the Evangelical Christmas movement, I have been silent about where I stand in all of this. I have talked around it, but now I can no longer talk around that elephant in the room. I must deal with it.

The Enemy is Not People

According to Ephesians 6:12, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

The rulers of the darkness of this world are not people, but there are people who are controlled by this darkness, but it is not those people who are the problem. It is their ideology.

Conspiracy Theories are Agendas

Conspiracy theories fall into that category as much as anything else does. They are almost always lies and are used to control us with fear. The first time I realized the insidiousness of conspiracy theories had to do with a military installation in Crane, IN. Someone had taken pictures of the parking lot that was inside the Naval Surface Warfare Center made the parking spaces look much smaller than what a normal parking lot would look like. The commentator pointed out that FEMA was going to use the installation for keeping people rather than for cars and that the fence around was to keep people in.

I knew that wasn’t the truth, because I worked with several reservists who would go to the installation for training and used classified information. The reason that there was a fence was to keep people OUT not to keep people in. The parking lot in the photo didn’t have any cars in it so it was hard to distinguish the actual size of the parking spaces inside the lot. A good photographer could position his camera so that it appeared that the parking spaces were smaller. The conspiracy promoted fear that the government was out to get them and that they would be put into concentration camps if they didn’t stay on top of this.

This incident taught me to be weary of conspiracy theories because people often have agendas that they are trying to promote. Sensational conspiracy videos offer the most outlandish ideologies that people believe because they want to believe that the government is out to get them and that the enemy is on every corner and wants to destroy them.

People become convinced that what they are watching is true because of algorithms. Algorithms on the internet feed you more of what you are watching and don’t give you the alternative so you keep hearing the same ideology over and over again until you think that it all must be true because it appears everywhere.

No King but Jesus

Another aspect of the lie that we are being fed is the idea that some one person is going to save us from those powers. Again, it’s the fear of the darkness that makes us look for a savior to save us from that darkness. The sad thing is that any savior that we see except for THE Savior is a phony. It has happened throughout history. We often are just too lazy to see that any person other than Jesus Christ, no matter how benevolent he might seem in the beginning will succumb to the dark powers.

I saw this happen firsthand under a pastor that I sat under. He was a young man who wanted to do something great for God. He encountered a man who was on the radio who convinced him that God had chosen him to lead a church to greatness in the town where I lived. He then picked up and insisted that our church read a book that insisted that churchgoers were required to follow and not question their leaders.

This started him on a campaign to kick out anyone from the church who did not completely agree with him including the church board. I stayed long enough for the pastor to say that the church secretary and her husband (he was on the board) were holding seances and conducting witchcraft incantations on Saturday evenings at their house! I knew that wasn’t true! I attended the Bible studies that occurred there every Saturday night. There were no evil things happening there! I continued going even after that and sat right in the front of the church and then the pastor came after me and said that I had no business sitting there judging him. I told God there was no way that I could sit another service there and I got the impression that God was telling me that he wasn’t the one keeping me there. I left.

A few months later I heard that he had chased everyone out of the church and that he had convinced the last of the parishioners that since there were so few of them that they should sign the parsonage over to him as payment for his services. Shortly after that he chased those last ones away and then one Sunday, he and his family were the only ones left so he took the keys to the church and sent it to the denomination leaders saying that the people in the area were a backslidden wash that wanted nothing to do with the truth. He had murdered the church body one by one. He sold the parsonage and moved away.

Developing True Faith

How can we know what is true and what isn’t? Well, first, you must realize that fear is the opposite of faith. “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” Romans 10:17. “without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” Hebrews 11:6

When it comes to spiritual things, we tend to be lazy and depend on another person to tell us what God wants to tell us. We try to depend on someone else’s faith rather than developing our own faith in God and therefore we are duped by conspiracies and teachers who have their own agendas.

Our faith is developed through heart-knowledge of the God who saves us and I leave you with this from his word. “For God so Loved the World, that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him will not perish but have everlasting life for God sent not his son into the world but that the world through him might be saved.” John 3:16 & 17. I urge you to meditate on these words this week.

Bring My People Together

June 8, 2016
Ministry
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My Vision

Hands_of_God_and_AdamA number of years ago, back when my son Jonathan was a baby, I was lying in bed when I had what I guess you could call a vision. I was sitting in the branches of a tree overlooking Alton, Missouri. At first it looked peaceful, but then I started noticing that there were these paisley looking things swirling around the buildings. I was suddenly afraid because I realized that they were demons. I thought, “I can’t do anything against them.”

The next thing I knew, I felt a hand on my shoulder and I saw Jesus. (Don’t ask me how I knew him, I just knew him.) He said, “Dealing with them is my job. Your job is to bring my people together.”

Over the years I have thought about this “vision” a number of times. How was it going to happen? I had no idea. I simply knew that if it was meant to be, God would make it happen.

A few days ago I thought about it again and realized that this calling was beginning to become a reality. Last year, the Lord started having me participate with two different congregations. I didn’t take them over, mind you.  I just participated in their worship and Bible studies. I had developed relationships with both congregations and shared their love for Christ.

Then a few months later, I became pastor of this church and joined the ministerial alliance in one of the local towns. Recently, I have started developing a friendship with some of the younger pastors of the area. I also participated with a radio prayer program with this same group.

What is the Church?

The other day a pastor friend of mine tried to make some sort of doctrine concerning the verses in Revelation 2 and 3 where it talks about the churches. I decided to look up the word churches in the original Greek and discovered that the word “churches” is the same word (ekklisia) used for the word church. That word means “the called out”.

I received quite a revelation. The church is not a building. The church is people. God doesn’t see different churches. He views the church as a single entity. In John 17:21, Jesus prayed that “they (the disciples, the foundational members of the church) would be one that the world would believe”. The goal of the first century church was unified in their beliefs of Jesus. The only division noted in that first century was the division because of location. For example, the church in Ephesus was separated from the church in Thyatira because of distance rather than based on doctrine.

In I Corinthians 12, we learn that another term for the church is “the body of Christ”. Again we see that there is only one church, but there are many members and that there are differences with in that body and that God planned the church that way. Just as he created each one of us uniquely, he created the church with many members performing different functions. In addition, as the second and third chapters of the Revelation demonstrates, there are differences of focus presented to each part of the church, however, never once did Jesus say to John that none of these congregations were not a part of the church.

A Personal Calling

The church is people and God does not want division between us. He wants us to realize that he has each of us placed in this world for a specific calling. I believe that bad mouthing the church down the street goes against what God himself wants. We, the body of Christ, are to love one another as he first loved us. This is my calling. To show others that as believers in Jesus Christ, we belong together.

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Donna Brown is pastor at Faith in God Church  1 1/2 miles south of Brandsville, Missouri on Hwy 63. Sunday services are at 10 am and Wednesday night Bible Study at 6:30 pm.   As Author Cygnet Brown, she  has  published a nonfiction book: Simply Vegetable Gardening: Simple Organic Gardening Tips for the Beginning Gardener

She is also the author of historical fiction series The Locket Saga. which includes When God Turned His Head and Soldiers Don’t Cry, the Locket Saga Continues, and, A Coward’s Solace, Book III of the Locket Saga. The next book Book IV of the Locket Saga: Sailing Under the Black Flag will be out in the near future.

Her most recent publication were two booklets Help From Kelp and Using Diatomaceous Earth Around the House and Yard. Available in paperback

.For more information about Cygnet Brown and her books, check out her website at http://www.cygnetbrow.com .

What Should We Do on the Sabbath?

April 13, 2016
God's Gifts to Us, Ministry, Perspective
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marriage supper of the lamb

In our previous post, we saw that Sabbath meant rest and we looked at a number of verses that talked about when various Christian in the Bible met. Jews traditionally maintained their Saturday Sabbath whereas the Gentile or Greek believers met on Sunday which they considered the Lord’s Day because that was the day he overcame death. If you missed this post, click here to check it out.

Today we are going to continue with this Sabbath theme and discuss what we should do on the Sabbath. (Don’t worry, it won’t be all that painful)

First, Cease from Working

Since the word Sabbath means rest, it is a day when we should rest from our everyday work. since the old testament law is a teacher and a foreshadow of what Christ has for us, we can look at when God first instructed the Jews in honoring their Sabbath. He had taken the Israelites out of Egypt and started feeling them manna. Every day they were supposed to gather their portion of manna and eat it. The only exception was the Friday before the Sabbath Day when they were told to pick up enough for that day too because there would not be any manna to pick up that day. After the Israelites settled, they were to continue the tradition of not gathering or preparing food on the Sabbath. Everyone was to rest from their labors.

What does that mean for us today? Well, if we are to continue resting from work on the Sabbath, I would think that we should also assist others in being able to rest on our Sabbath as well. As much as we are able that its. I think that we should be sensitive to those people who work in food services on our Sabbath. Granted, our Sabbath may not be their Sabbath, but I think that we need to show consideration to those who are allowing us to rest from working, cooking, and serving on our day of rest. I think that one of the worst things that we can do in our Christian walk is to mistreat those who serve us in restaurants. Both my own personal experience in the past as a cook and waitress who had to work on Sundays (my chosen Sabbath) and those I have known in food services all agree that some of the meanest spirited, demanding people who we have had to serve were people who had just come into the restaurant from a church service. And tip? I got far better tips from motorcyclist groups. Not only that, but they often treated me as though I were a heathen because I worked on Sunday. I cannot tell you how many tracts I got in leau of gratuity. When I have brought this to the attention of other Christians, I have been given the excuse that sometimes they just didn’t have the money to leave a decent tip. My response to that is that if they cannot afford to leave a tip, then perhaps they should have gone out for fast food (where no gratuity was expected)rather than to a sit down meal.

Second, Celebrate What God Has Done

The word Sabbath not only includes the concept of resting from work, but it also denotes the idea of celebration. Because God rested on the seventh day after all of his creation, the Israelites celebrated and praised God for his creation. As Christians, we too can do this. This time of year I find it especially easy to worship God through his creation. Everything is coming to life and the colors are so vivid after the drabness of winter. We have so much to be grateful for. We have been given so much. Our gratitude and praise is what God is looking for from us as we rest from toil and focus our attention on him.

In addition to worshiping God for his creation, we Christians also have Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. We also have the gift of His Spirit living  inside of us, our helper, our counselor. We can also celebrate everything that his work on the cross gave to us. In addition to salvation to an eternity with Christ, as believers, he offers us healing in spirit mind, and body..

Third, Gather Together

One of the biggest arguments that I have heard from others about why they don’t go to church is that they can worship God wherever they are. Although that is true, God is available everywhere, I cannot recall anywhere in the Old or New testament where anyone thought that worshiping alone was what they were supposed to do on a regular basis. At first, the goal was to go to the Temple in Jerusalem for as many major days as possible. when the temple was not available, Jews built synagogues in the cities where they lived. Christians throughout the Bible also gathered together even at the risk of persecution or even death, they gathered together to worship God.

We also get together to pray. As the word says, where two or more agree as touching anything,, God will do whatever they ask. That’s some pretty powerful stuff when you think about the idea that one will put a thousand to flight and two ten thousand. Imagine what prayer could do if a whole church filled with people believed what God promised!

When we cease from our labors and gather together in prayer and  to praise of God for all that he has done for us, the Sabbath becomes a day of true celebration. At least one day in seven becomes a day of celebration. Joy begins to radiate in our lives to the point that we are gracious to all those we mean, even those who serve us.

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Donna Brown is pastor at Faith in God Church  1 1/2 miles south of Brandsville, Missouri on Hwy 63. Sunday services are at 10 am and Wednesday night Bible Study at 6:30 pm.   As Author Cygnet Brown, she  has recently published her first nonfiction book: Simply Vegetable Gardening: Simple Organic Gardening Tips for the Beginning Gardener

She is also the author of historical fiction series The Locket Saga. which includes When God Turned His Head and Soldiers Don’t Cry, the Locket Saga Continues, and most recently, A Coward’s Solace, Book III of the Locket Saga

Her most recent publication were two booklets Help From Kelp and Using Diatomaceous Earth Around the House and Yard. Available in paperback 

Get a free e-book copy of Using Diatomaceous Earth Around the House and Yard, when you sign up for my free newsletter

.For more information about Cygnet Brown and her book, check out her website at http://www.cygnetbrow.com .

When You Feel Like You’re Alone

March 30, 2016
Ministry
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angel and elijahA Drought in the Land

Do you feel as though the Lord has called you to service?  Take a lesson from Elijah. In I Kings chapter 17, God called Elijah the Tishbite and told him to tell Ahab the kind that there would not be rain or dew for the next three years in the country of Israel.  He then took him to the brook called Cherith. The name of this brook is very interesting because the name means “covenant”. It was hear that God allowed Elijah to stay and be fed by the Ravens every morning and evening until the brook dried up.

A brook represents living water which according to the New Testament is the Holy Spirit. This interaction is reminiscent of many Christians in Christian churches.  Christians like to sit in church and allow others to feed them. Week after week they drink of the spirit of God. Never growing. Eventually, if the Christian stays in this position, the spirit dries up. They are no longer fed by others and if they stay where they are, their spiritual lives will dry up.

Elijah, of course, did not stay where he was, but listen to God when he told him what he needed to do next. He went to the home of the widow woman and we all know the story of how when she gave him all that she had, the Lord provided for her, her son, and Elijah all ate for many days. We then learn of how Elijah brought her son back to life.

The Drought Ended but the Real Problems Began

We then learned in chapter 18 about how Elijah trusted God and God consumed with fire Elijah’s water soaked offering. Then Elijah slew the prophets of Baal near the brook of Kishon. After that, Elijah predicted that it would rain and  it started raining in exactly the way he said it would.

When in chapter 19, the queen discovered that Elijah had killed off all the prophets of Baal, she threatened to kill Elijah Elijah went and requested himself that he might die and said that he had not done enough. He thought he was the only one. He felt like a failure. Elijah was depressed all he could do was eat and sleep. Then the angel of the Lord told him that he would need nourishment for his journey and fed him again. After that, Elijah didn’t eat of forty days and nights as he journeyed to Horeb. There while standing in a cave he heard a wind, an earthquake, and a fire but God was not in the earthquake. Rather, he was in the midst of a still small voice.

The instructions of the Still Small Voice

There God told him to go to through the wilderness of Damacus and to anoint Hazael as king over Syria and Jeru over  Israel and Elisha as the prophet to  take his place. God also told Elijah that he was not alone, that God had 7000 others in Israel who did not worship Baal.

I think that there are a lot of Christian workers who feel they have failed God or that whatever they have done in this life while serving God was simply not enough. Like Elijah, they feel alone and that their work is in vain.

Our Own Spiritual Droughts

I know that I have felt like that lately. Recently I attended a revival it was the best experience I have had in a long time. I have been trying to serve at this church since November and have had very few people attend.

I have seen the Lord provide for me month after month during that time, but still, there has been a spiritual drought. I have felt that time of refreshing, only to be threatened with a depression that made me feel as though I was useless and a failure. Like Elijah, I just wanted to die.

Like Elijah, who was looking for God in the wind, earthquake, and fire, I was looking for big things to happen. That wasn’t how God is working right now. Rather, he is speaking to me in a still small voice telling me that depression is not where God wants me. He has other things for me to do. He has reminded me that I am not alone either. He has others getting ready to listen to his voice, who are ready and willing to be obedient.

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Donna Brown is pastor at Faith in God Church  1 1/2 miles south of Brandsville, Missouri on Hwy 63. Sunday services are at 10 am and Wednesday night Bible Study at 6:30 pm.   As Author Cygnet Brown, she  has recently published her first nonfiction book: Simply Vegetable Gardening: Simple Organic Gardening Tips for the Beginning Gardener

She is also the author of historical fiction series The Locket Saga. which includes When God Turned His Head and Soldiers Don’t Cry, the Locket Saga Continues, and most recently, A Coward’s Solace, Book III of the Locket Saga

Her most recent publication were two booklets Help From Kelp and Using Diatomaceous Earth Around the House and Yard. Available in paperback

.For more information about Cygnet Brown and her book, check out her website at http://www.cygnetbrow.com .

My Pastoral Mission-Part Two

December 16, 2015
Eternal Life, Ministry, Perspective
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marriage supper of the lamb

Last week, I told that part of my mission was to bring others to the one (Jesus Christ) who could rescue them from the consequences of their sins.
This brings me to the second part of my pastoral mission.

A Vision

Years ago, I was getting ready to fall off to sleep when I had a vision. In the vision, I was sitting in a tree overlooking the town where I lived. The tree was a real tree that I saw often and if I knew that if I were to sit up in that tree I could see the whole town just as I did in the vision.
While sitting there, I began to see these little fish like things floating around in the air. This fish like things reminded me of the design on a paisley print. They moved everywhere. Suddenly I knew what those were. They were demons and I immediately knew that there was nothing that I could do about them. I was also afraid because I knew that they could hurt me.
Next thing I knew, I felt a reassuring hand on my shoulder. I turned and it was Jesus Christ. How I knew it was Jesus, I don’t know, but I instinctively knew.
He looked me in the eyes and told me. “Don’t worry about them. I will deal with them. Your job is to bring my people together.”
Recently, this vision has come back into my remembrance because it is now significant to my current mission. The second part to my pastoral mission is to bring people together in Christ.

So what exactly does this mean?

What comes to mind is this parable that Jesus told in Luke 14:16-23 (Berean Literal Bible)
16)“A certain man was preparing a great supper, and invited many. 17)And at the hour of the supper, he sent his servant to say to those having been invited, ‘Come, for now it is ready.’
18And all with one voice began to excuse themselves. The first said to him, ‘I have bought a field, and I have need, going out, to see it. I beg of you, hold me excused.’

19And another said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to prove them. I beg of you, hold me excused.’
20And another said, ‘I have married a wife, and because of this I am not able to come.’
21And the servant having come, reported these things to his master. Then the master of the house having been angry, said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’
22And the servant said, ‘Sir, as you did command, it has been done, and there is still room.’
23And the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled. 24For I say to all of you that not one of those men having been invited will taste my supper.’”

Will You Accept Your Invitation?

You are invited to a great feast, and as a servant of God, it is my duty as a servant of God to invite you to that feast. The feast is not whether or not you come to my church. Attending my church is not the feast, although I would hope that by coming to my church it would show you how to get to that feast. Whether you come or not depends on you. I pray I see you there.

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Donna Brown is pastor at Faith in God Church in 1 1/2 miles south of Brandsville, Missouri on hwy 63. She would be happy to answer any questions about this or any other post. Comment below or direct any questions via email at cygnetbrown@gmail.com.

She is also Author Cygnet Brown, author and publisher of: Simply Vegetable Gardening: Simple Organic Gardening Tips for the Beginning Gardener

She is also the author of historical fiction series The Locket Saga. which includes When God Turned His Head and Soldiers Don’t Cry, the Locket Saga Continues, and most recently, A Coward’s Solace, Book III of the Locket Saga.For more information about Cygnet Brown and her book, check out her website at http://www.cygnetbrow.com .

What’s in a Name?

September 23, 2015
Ministry, Persons of interest, Perspective, Rebirth
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Will you live forever with the one who died to save you?

Will you live forever with the one who died to save you?

The book of Hebrews opens with the writer telling us how God relates to people. He says that in times past, God related to us through the prophets, but now He relates to us through His Son who He has made heir of everything and through Him God made the world.

The writer then describes the Son. He looks just like God the Father. He has his glory and power. His power is in His Word. He is the one who purges us of our sins. He is now sitting at the right hand of The Father in Heaven. He is much higher in status than the angels (including Lucifer) and has a more excellent name than they have.

More than Just a Name

The word used for name in this passage and most passages in the New Testament is the Greek word onoma which is translated name, but is more than just ‘name’ the word includes the individual’s character and authority.

In old times, if someone were to go somewhere and say, “I have come in the name of the king”, this person means that they represent the character of the king and they have that kings authority.

More Than Just Believing In the Existence of God

It says in Acts 2:21 that whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. This means more than believing in his existence. In James 2:19 it says that the devils believe that there is one God and tremble, but simply believing in his existence did not save them. The key word in Acts 2:21 is not in the believing, but in the word “name”.  In order to be saved from eternal death, we must believe Christ’s authority and power as the Son of God and through his perfect saving work upon the cross. Hebrews 11:6 says, “without this faith, it is impossible to please God. For he that comes to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.” It is our faith in his saving power and our seeking to seek his will in our lives that we are able to please God.

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Donna Brown is an ordained minister. As Author Cygnet Brown, she  has recently published her first nonfiction book: Simply Vegetable Gardening: Simple Organic Gardening Tips for the Beginning Gardener

She is also the author of historical fiction series The Locket Saga. which includes When God Turned His Head and Soldiers Don’t Cry, the Locket Saga Continues, and most recently, A Coward’s Solace, Book III of the Locket Saga.For more information about Cygnet Brown and her book, check out her website at http://www.cygnetbrow.com .

Spiritual Posturing

July 8, 2015
Ministry, Rebirth
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Will you live forever with the one who died to save you?

Will you live forever with the one who died to save you?

Do you want to feel good about who you are? If you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you should feel good about the person that you have become in Christ.

In I John 4:16 & 17, It says: “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwells in love dwells in God and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of Judgement.

There is coming a day of final reckoning called the day of judgement. That is when God judges the nations for not recognizing that he is The Sovereign God, the one who created the entire universe. However, if you have made Christ the Lord of your life, you have nothing to worry about. He’s got you covered. For this you can stand (gratefully) tall.

In I John 5:11& 12 it says: “And this is the record that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that has the Son has life, and he that has not the Son of God has not life.”

You are spirit. We are all spirit and we will exist forever, but where will you exist forever? To live forever with all that is good, what a blessing! Can you imagine? That is what God wants for every one of us! If you however do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you have serious problems. The final judgement is not something that you want to have to face without Jesus Christ on your side, but there is a simple fix. Ask God to forgive you of your sins (especially the sin of neglecting to recognize that God has every right to be in control). Let him know that you are asking Jesus to be the Lord of your life. Most importantly, GOD wants you to save you for eternal life. He just has this one requirement for salvation.

Believe in the power of life and love that is in his son Jesus, Christ.

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Donna Brown is an ordained minister. As Author Cygnet Brown, she  has recently published her first nonfiction book: Simply Vegetable Gardening: Simple Organic Gardening Tips for the Beginning Gardener

She is also the author of historical fiction series The Locket Saga. which includes When God Turned His Head and Soldiers Don’t Cry, the Locket Saga Continues. Her upcoming book A Coward’s Solace will be available soon. Click here for more information about Cygnet Brown and her books.

Our Fight Is Not With People

May 12, 2015
Ministry, Total LIfe Makeover
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“We Wrestle Not Against Flesh And Blood” Ephesians 6:12.

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Many Christians think that their enemy is other people, but as Ephesians 6:12 explains, they are not. In. Our enemies are not homosexuals, nor are they the members of ISIS. They are not drug dealers, nor are they gang members. They are not prostitutes or pimps. They are not abusive spouses, nor are they pedophiles.

People are our territory to reclaim. The word says that Jesus did not come to destroy the world but that the world would have life. His mission was loving others, and our mission is to do the same. We reclaim these people through God’s love radiating through us.

I bet that now you are wondering how I could say this. You are thinking that I am crazy and that I don’t know what I am talking about. You are thinking about all the bad things that people do and how evil the people that I mentioned above really are.

Our Enemies Are Spiritual Beings

Our enemies are spiritual beings that influence people. It is important that we learn that people are not the problem, but the spirits that influence those people are the problem. Once we learn to separate the people from the spiritual influence, we are in a position to fight the good fight. We learn who to cast out and who to love. We can learn to love the person and hate the sin. As the Bible says, we separate the marrow from the bone.

When I was in the Navy, I was a hospital corpsman with the specialty of neuro-psychiatric technician. My job for over five years was to take care of acutely ill psychiatric patients. Many of these patients told me about some occult spiritual experiences that they had. Others told me about the voices in their heads and how they would talk them into believing certain things.

Because I understood that what these people were experiencing was a spiritual attack rather than from that person’s character, I was never afraid of the person. (Nor was I afraid of the spiritual influence because  greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world.) I had this uncanny ability to go up to a frantic confused, combative psychotically influenced individual and calm him down. I did it numerous times.

Other people that I worked with thought that I was foolish and flirting with danger, but I knew I was not in danger and I cared about the person that I was confronting. The most important thing was that the person that I confronted knew it too. The psychotics  knew that I not only wanted them to be safe and that I would help them be safe.

Relearning How To Love

Our greatest weapon against our real enemy is to love the people around us. good-and-evil-light-dark-angels-demons-desktop-1024x768-wanted-wallpaperI am not as loving a person as I would like to be, like the Ephesians of Revelation 2, I have left my first love. When I was at my Dad’s funeral almost a year and a half ago, I started awakening to this fact. Fortunately, we have a God who is forgiving and wants to lead us in the right direction. All we need to do is turn back toward him.

This learning to love taught me that I needed to first learn to love myself and see myself and God sees me. Then I needed to realize that I am not alone in needing love. Everyone needs to know that they are loved, and that leads me to where I am right now. God loves us. He wants to bless us with his love. All we have to do is ask. If we want more, we must give what we have been given.

2014-04-07 07.07.08

 

Donna Brown is an ordained minister. As Author Cygnet Brown, she  has recently published her first nonfiction book: Simply Vegetable Gardening: Simple Organic Gardening Tips for the Beginning Gardener

She is also the author of historical fiction series The Locket Saga. which includes When God Turned His Head and Soldiers Don’t Cry, the Locket Saga Continues. Her upcoming book A Coward’s Solace will be available soon. Click here for more information about Cygnet Brown and her books.

 

My Ministerial Vision

May 6, 2015
Ministry, Uncategorized
2 Comments

parable of the talents

This month, I am developing my ministerial vision as part of my creation of my own destiny. Last month my affirmation concerned the fact that I am a spiritual being on a physical journey. During the month I wrote several articles about women of the Bible. As a result of doing the research for this study as well as starting to attend a Bible study on Wednesday night, I realized that I needed to focus more on this aspect of my life.

After studying about the women, I realized that a lot of the ideas that I personally had about women in the ministry were wrong. In addition, during one of the Bible study sessions one of the leaders there said that I knew more about the Bible than she did. She asked if I had gone to Bible school.

Spiritual Wisdom and Knowledgeable-Gifts From God

A lot of people that I have known in ministry are either spiritual or knowledgeable. Either the person is spiritual but ignorant about what the Bible really says, or a person is knowledgeable and analytical and out of touch with spiritual things.

As i am putting myself out there, and expressing my spiritual understanding, I realize that I am both. I am knowledgeable without being overly analytical, and yet, I sense things in my spirit. There are times when I know things that I cannot explain logically. I have an intuition that often defies logic and yet whether I follow the intuitive feeling or not, afterwards, I realize that I was right.

I am able to retain many concepts from the Bible, and. I can sense things in other people. The Bible calls the gift of knowledge and the gift of wisdom. The Bible says that gifts are given without repentance, in other words, what I have are God given gifts.I didn’t earn them, but I am responsible for the gifts I have been given.

The Parable of the Talents

Matthew 25:15-28 tells about how the master gave talents to his servants and what those servants had done with them. One didn’t do much with what he was given and it was taken away and given to the one who had much. Right now, I feel as though I am that unfaithful servant who buried his talent. I think it is time that I started using my talents of knowledge and wisdom and sharing them with others. I think that it is time that I step out from behind the computer and share what God has given me. I want to help others in The Body of Christ.  I need to step out of my comfort zone.

Do Not Despise Small Beginnings

My intentions are to begin more intense focus on my ministry by giving weekly Bible Studies on this blog every week on Wednesdays. In addition, I intend to create Bible Study booklets to help others with their own Bible Study. I have several ideas in the works in which to develop from there, but right now, today, I don’t want to go too far into the details.

I hope that my studies bless you as much as they bless me as I prepare them.

2014-04-07 07.07.08

Donna Brown is an ordained minister. As Author Cygnet Brown, she  has recently published her first nonfiction book: Simply Vegetable Gardening: Simple Organic Gardening Tips for the Beginning Gardener

She is also the author of historical fiction series The Locket Saga. which includes When God Turned His Head and Soldiers Don’t Cry, the Locket Saga Continues. Her upcoming book A Coward’s Solace will be available soon. Click here for more information about Cygnet Brown and her books.

 

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