I have really bad days just like everyone else, but I've learned to smile through them. Success isn't determined by how well you stay standing. True success is determined by how well you get back up. By that standard, I am more than a conqueror!
Romans 8:37
“Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.”
1. HOW DID THE FAITHWALKERS CONFERENCE COME INTO BEING?
The Faithwalkers conference came from the desire to give young men and women the opportunity to hear pastors who have been devoted to Jesus Christ and the Great Commission. At Faithwalkers, people get to hear stories from these men of faith and to learn and benefit from their experiences.
The conference provides a way to continue to pass on the core beliefs of the Great Commission church movement. It is a rallying conference for everyone: young people, couples, parents, and families, to inspire them to be devoted to Jesus Christ and the Great Commission.
The name Faithwalkers was inspired by the Scripture: "We walk by faith and not by sight," (II Cor. 5:7). Also the name Faithwalkers makes a connection to the Native American culture where they would sit around the campfire with the "old ones" listening to them tell stories of the great hunt and deeds of the past. As Christians, older believers are to proclaim the deeds of God to younger believers, as is written in Psalm 78:4: "We will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord."
2. WHEN AND WHERE IS THE NEXT FAITHWALKERS-EAST CONFERENCE?
On December 29, 2016 – January 1, 2017, Faithwalkers-East will be held at the Ridgecrest Conference Center in Asheville, North Carolina. Use of Ridgecrest, a LifeWay Conference Center, for this conference does not imply alignment with or endorsement by any Southern Baptist group.
Event/Person Passage Total Time from Creation (years)
God created everything. Genesis 1–2 0
Adam became the father of Seth at 130. Genesis 5:3 0 + 130 = 130
Seth became the father of Enosh at 105. Genesis 5:6 130 + 105 = 235
Enosh became the father of Kenan at 90. Genesis 5:9 235 + 90 = 325
Cainan became the father of Mahalalel at 70. Genesis 5:12 325 + 70 = 395
Mahalalel became the father of Jared at 65. Genesis 5:15 395 + 65 = 460
Jared became the father of Enoch at 162. Genesis 5:18 460 + 162 = 622
Enoch became the father of Methuselah at 65. Genesis 5:21 622 + 65 = 687
Methuselah became the father of Lamech at 187. Genesis 5:25 687 + 187 = 874
Lamech became the father of Noah at 182. Genesis 5:28 874 + 182 = 1056
The Flood started when Noah was 600. Genesis 7:6 1056 + 600 = 1656
So from the year of the Creation until the year that the flood came there were a total of 1,656 years according to the Bible.
Adam got to live long enough to see every grandson, great grandson and great great grandson, and so forth until Lamech, who was Noah's father.
Adam got to see Lamech, but not Noah or his sons before the flood.
While Methuselah's name means "It will come when he is dead", we can assume this means that Methuselah died before, but in the same year as, the flood.
Lamech died 5 years before the flood, according the the genealogy in this chapter.
Elisha called one of the other prophets under him, and he said, "Take this box of oil to Ramoth-Gilead, and annoint Jehu, the son of Jehoshaphat, as king. Then run away as fast as you can."
So, he did as he was told. When he got there, the Captains of the host of Jehoshaphat's army were sitting outside. He said, "Captain, I have to do something for you."
Jehu said, "For who?"
The prophet said, "For you." He took him into the house and he told him, "God says, 'I have annointed you as king over my people. You shall rid Israel of the House of Ahab and avenge the blood of the prophets that were killed at the hand of Jezebel; and you will leave none of them, and Jezebel will be eaten by the dogs and no one will bury her." Then he ran.
When Jehu came out of the house, the other Captains said, "What was that all about? That man was crazy! What did he say to you?"
Jehu just shrugged and said, "Like you said, he's crazy." Then he told him what the prophet said. They all stood up and put on their garments and blew the trumpet and announced him King over Israel. And Jehu began to conspire against Joram.
Joram had gone to heal his wounds from the Syrians in Jezreel. So Jehu went to see him. Ahaziah, the king of Judah was also there to see Joram. A watchman saw Jehu coming in his chariot driving furiously and told Joram, who sent out a messenger asking, "Do you come in peace?"
Jehu told him, "What do you know about peace?" and kept driving. So they sent another, who got the same answer.
So Joram and Ahaziah went out to meet Jehu on the way and Joram said, "Do you come in peace, Jehu?" And Jehu answered and said, "As long as your mother continues to reak havoc on Israel, there is no peace!" Joram turned and fled away, yelling for Ahaziah to run. "It is treachery, Ahaziah!" he yelled. Jehu grabbed a bow and shot him between the shoulders.
Jehu told them to cast Joram in the field of Naboth. Then as Ahaziah was running away, they shot him, too. He went to Megiddo, where he died.
Jezebel heard of what happened and she painted her face. When Jehu got to Jezreel, she asked, "Did you have peace in your heart when you came to Joram?" as she leaned out of an upstair window. Jehu yelled to the servants in the house, "Who is on my side? Anybody?" Three Eunuchs came out and he said, "Throw her down!" So they went upstairs and threw Jezebel out the window. Then he ran over her with his horse and went into the house to eat.
When he had done eating, he told them, "You know, she was a king's daughter and we ought to bury her properly. Go get her." So they went out to get her, but the dogs had eaten all but her skull, the palms of her hands and her feet.
Jehu knew that it was the Lord, for he had been told by the prophet this would happen.
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When God annoints you to do something, it is what you should consistently work toward until it is finished. If you do, all that God promises for you will happen.
A woman who was the wife of the sons of the prophets came to Elisha and told him, "My husband is a good man who fears the Lord, and you know it! But, we are so broke, that the creditors are wanting to take my sons as bondservants to pay the debts!"
Elisha then told her, "What do you expect me to do about it? Do you have anything in your possessions?"
"The only thing I have is a pot of cooking oil."
Elisha told her to go and borrow some bowls and dishes from all of her neighbors. She did. Then he told her to fill the bowls with the oil. She did. As she poured the oil from her dish, it filled all the bowls she had borrowed until there were no more bowls to be filled.
Elisha told her to go and sell the oil and pay her debts.
When Elisha would travel through Shunem, a great woman would stop him and pressure him to eat dinner with her. So, this day he went to eat with her. She told her husband that she understood Elisha to be a man of God, and since he passed by so often, they should offer him a room of his own to rest in when he comes. So he went to his room at her house. As he lay there, he had his servant, Gehazi translate for him as he spoke to her.
"What shall I do to repay you for your kindness, ma'am?" She said she had no child and her husband was old, so Elisha told her, in due time next year she would have a son.
"Don't tease me!" she said. But, she conceieved and had a son.
The boy grew and one day he went out with his father to the reapers as they reaped the harvest and he suddenly fell down. His father went to him and he was complaining about the pain in his head. So his father sent him to his mother, where she held him on her lap until about noon, when he died.
She got up, laid the boy on Elisha's bed, and told a servant to grab an ass and saddle it. Her husband asked what she was doing and she said she was going to see the man of God. He said, "You can't do that, there is no special occasion for you to see him!" She just patted his cheek and said, "He will see me." She told the servant to drive fast and not slow down unless she told him to.
She met up with Elisha at Mt Carmel. He sent Gehazi back with her, with his staff. He told Gehazi to lay his staff on the child's face. Gehazi did as he was told, but nothing happened. He went back and told Elisha, "The child is, indeed, dead."
Elisha then went to the woman's home himself. He prayed, stretching himself over the child. The child awoke, sneezed seven times, and then he was okay. Elisha told the woman to take her child and she came and got him.
Then Elisha went to Gilgal to the sons of the prophets during some sort of plague. He told them to cook up some soup. One of the guys went out to gather stuff to put in the soup and got some stuff from a wild vine. When it came time to eat, the men complained that the soup would kill them if they ate it, so Elisha told them to pour some meal in it, and after that it was alright to eat.
A man from Baalshalisha came to give his firstfruit offering to Elisha. It was twenty loaves of barley bread and corn. Elisha told him to give it to the hundred men who were with him to eat. The man said, "This won't be enough!" Elisha said, "God said it will, and there will be left-overs." So he did, and there was.
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When you believe in God, the Great I AM, your motto should be "I CAN". There was nothing impossible for Elisha because he believed in God and served Him diligently.
And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. – Gen 3:15
This is the first promise to fallen man. It contains the whole gospel and the essence of the covenant of grace. It has been in great measure fulfilled. The seed of the woman, even our Lord Jesus, was bruised in His heel, and a terrible bruising it was. How terrible will be the final bruising of the serpent’s head! This was virtually done when Jesus took away sin, vanquished death, and broke the power of Satan; but it awaits a still fuller accomplishment at our Lord’s Second Coming and in the Day of Judgment.
To us the promise stands as a prophecy that we shall be afflicted by the powers of evil in our lower nature, and thus bruised in our heel; but we shall triumph in Christ, who sets His foot on the old serpent’s head. Throughout this year we may have to learn the first part of this promise by experience, through the temptations of the devil and the unkindness of the ungodly, who are his seed. They may so bruise us that we may limp with our sore heel; but let us grasp the second part of the text, and we shall not be dismayed. By faith let us rejoice that we shall still reign in Christ Jesus, the woman’s seed.
(Carol Jones shared this on Facebook and gave me permission to add it here)
John 10:10
“The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
What does it mean to have life more abundantly?
Have you ever been in a situation where you almost died? How did you feel when you recovered? I remember one time that I had a wreck. I was lucky enough to get out of it with a few scratches, so life went on as usual. This is not the kind of near death experience I am speaking of. However, I had an experience one time where my health had declined due to depression. When I realized how far I had let myself go, I was well on my way to not being able to recover from it. My blood pressure had started to spike. I couldn't walk for long periods of time. I could barely get up out of bed, and at that point, it was my survival instinct that kicked in that made me forget about my depression and force myself to do what I had to do to rehabilitate myself.
Today, I praise God that I have my life. I almost did not have my life. I credit Him for showing me how fragile my life was, and that depression was not part of His plan. Today, I listen to the birds. I can't remember listening to the birds before this experience. Oh, I grew up in the woods. I just never really appreciated their song until this. Today, I smell the roses. I soak in all of the gifts of God in every moment. I recently took my niece to the fair and relished watching her enjoy herself with what I could give her! THAT was a GIFT from God!
I am enjoying my life. I have given my life to Him, to use as He wills, so where ever I find myself in it, I see it as a gift and I have learned to enjoy it, and to take the opportunities God presents me with IN THAT MOMENT!
Life more abundant is not about having that big mansion, or diamond rings on your hands or expensive cars, as some health and wealth preachers would have you believe. Life abundant is seeing the gifts in front of you and appreciating the moment you have with them in it! The green grass, the old battered car that takes you to work each day, the grandchild you only get to spend time with on the weekends (or even your own child, if you have a broken marriage).
Having life abundant is refusal to let Satan steal your joy, kill your spirit, or destroy your life. If you find yourself in the pig pen, it's realizing that you have received the gift of Life, and that even in the pig pen God has provided you with the opportunity to eat, to laugh, and to stay cool in the heat of the day. If you want your life to change, you thank God for what you have, and pray that He uses you somewhere else! After all, the reason you are where you are is to glorify Him! EVEN IN THE PIG PEN! When others see that Satan hasn't won where you are, God will put you somewhere else that blesses you more and He can use you better!
Luke 12:48
“But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.”
Today, I live my life knowing that it is temporary, and that where I am now is the opportunity to be all God needs me to be so that when I am finally with Him at Home in Heaven, He will put His arms around me and say, "Well done, my good and faithful servant!" It is a gift from God to have the opportunity to be able to thank Him and Praise Him for a life that, without Him, I would not have!
I can't think of any greater purpose, or reward for living in this crazy world!
