Are you doing anything that requires you to have faith?

Greetings!
Life has been full of action over here in TN. For example, this past week I have been occupied with 37 chicks! I have not had much time to work on my new blog, so it looks like it won't be up till the New Year, but I have so much to share and tell you there! I hope everyone is doing well!

Now for the post:


Are you doing anything that requires you to have faith?

Hebrews 11:6:

But 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.

Here are some ideas:

*Sacrificial Giving
Trust me, you'll never become broke, if done according to God's ways of course!

Prov 21:26 There are those who covet greedily all the day
long; But the righteous give and don’t withhold. See also Prov. 11:24

*Praying very specifically and believing that you will receive what you prayed for. Of course this must meet the standard of God's will. How do you know? One easy way is to seek in the Bible if it aligns with God's revealed word in the Bible! If you want a life changing book on prayer read: Wrestling Prayer by Eric and Leslie Ludy! Ask for one for Christmas :)!

Mark 11:24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray,
believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.

*Ask for wisdom without doubting, then seek the answer in the Bible.

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally,
and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing
wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind
and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the
Lord. James 1:5-7

* Truly believe that Jesus is the only way, truth, and life and He died on the cross for your sins and rose again!

He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is
condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten
Son of God. John 3:18 See also John
14:6

* Truly seek Him!

Jer. 29:13 And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with
all your heart.

* Believe in every word of the Bible!

For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when you received the
word of God which you heard of us, you received it not as the word of men, but
as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually works also in you that
believe.

*Witness: This really shows how much we believe in hell and the truth of God's word!

Luke 16:23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham
afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

*Live your life in the fear of the Lord knowing He sees each thing you do!

II Corinthians 5:10
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of
Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to
that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”

*Pick up your Bible, read a verse, and go obey it! Believe His grace is sufficient and will help you in your time of need. Believe He will reward you one day for your obedience.

Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken
him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: Mt. 7:24

Before I close, did you know the word faith in the Bible, is always translated faithfulness in the original Greek? It's an interesting thought! http://www.greekbible.com/

Yes, a man may say, You have faith, and I have works: show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. James 2:18 AKJV

The Time Has Come...

....to say Good bye!


Well at least to this blog. On Jan 15 of last year, I started this blog, but now old things are passing away and new things are coming!

Just recently for example, I've moved to 26+ acre farm, stocked with 5 horses (temporarily that is :) - you can hear the adventures of that at my new blog!) and 2 goats. Chickens on the way!

Oh oops! Did I mention it... yep! I'm starting a new blog! And I am so excited too! I'm going to share with you about life on the farm and home and most important of all to share with you my journey of becoming more like Christ and serving Him through the home!

Well, for now you can guess what my new blog title will be! - Don't worry you won't see it on my profile:) Meanwhile, I'll be fixing it up and will give a possibly a few last posts here at UnhiddenLight, and then the final announcement!

Soon to be retired at Unhidden Light ;),

Kalani

Check Yourself

I make it my habit at night (not always) to ask for God's cleansing blood. I think about my day, and see if there is anything that needs to be cleansed by the blood. It's not my favorite part of the day, but it removes any hindrances to my relationship with the Lord or with others.

I think about my words, actions, and attitudes. Were they truth? Were they done in the light?

However this month, the Lord has showed me a few deeper truths. Instead of mulling over my words and actions-- I need to think over my motives. Why am I saying this? Why am I doing this? Do I really mean those words? You see, if I check my motives then there is no worry about my words or actions.

And by God's grace that's what I'm going to do from now... instead of looking at the external, I will examine my motives.

Does it remind you of these verse?"

Luke 6:35: "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh."

"For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: "Matt. 15:19

Another thing the Lord has showed me in a deeper way over this past months was through this verse:

"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." 1 John 1:7

What I learned from this verse is that: EVERYTHING I do must be so filled with integrity, that I would not mind at all if the whole world knew (or if I wrote down everything I did on this blog:) ) every motive, actions, and words of mine. So now by God's grace, I'm going to consciously bring everything to light. That is I will never do anything that I would not do if I had to write it down. I know I have thought and asked a question like this before, but suddenly now it's really coming real (if you know what I mean).

I think through this I'm going to become a lot more humble, and by God's grace (His power to do what right), I will become more holy.

I'll be honest

When I hear messages like this, it stirs me:



but sometimes it just passes as an emotion. But when I determine an action plan... then it becomes well...action! Reminds me of the Bible verse in James 1: 23-25:

For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks
at his natural face in a mirror; For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way,
and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the
perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer,
but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

My problem is not turning those messages into "doings" by determining an action plan and casting down any lies that I am believing.

For example what hinders me from witnessing?

- Not wanting to bother someone
- Not coming up with the right words
- Having to say something in a short amount of time
- Not being truly effective in my words
-etc...

As I look at these, I have to admit they are quite ridiculous. Actually not quite rediculous, but really ridiculous.

So, now I need to cast down these lies with Christ's scripture:

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." 1Jn. 4:18- If I really love others and Christ there will be nothing to hold me back from sharing the Gospel.

Now I need to ask what steps am I going to take to witness?

Well first off, I go to the people (where I'm at I can look for some older people sitting outside :))
Then ask some questions- where are you from?
From there turn it to Christ- ask how was church this past Sunday? -
From there it should be easy to have a conversation on the gospel!

Then determine when? If I can do it now- then go! If not... the first opportunity that comes up!

Well those are my honest thoughts aloud... and hope you might find it helpful as you go out to be a fisher of men.

(The video is from illbehonest.com - where I got my title name from)

Ask a little Girl Story #3

One day while about to pick up my Bible and read, my parents mentioned something like this, "Now's your time to witness to these girls!" They then reminded me how it's necessary to win souls while they are young, because when they are older, they can be very hard-hearted. Hardily, I took this advice.

For what's the use of reading the Bible if I don't plan on obeying it?

So I opened our travel trailer with a mission and a prayer. I expected to witness to the oldest girl first that was hanging around us, but my sister and her were starting to go bike riding and so inside I laughed seeing myself running after her huffing and puffing and saying, "do you know Jesus?"

But God deemed it fit for me to witness to her sister; a pretty curly hair girl who was probably about 4years old. She took to liking me, and I was assured that this was the girl to witness to! I started off by walking around with her, and finding out some things about her. Then suddenly the perfect opportunity approached, after playing with a hoop with her. We were resting on the grass and while looking at the beautiful fall leaves around her, I believe I exclaimed something like this, "Isn't it so beautiful!" However, she on the other hand wasn't so thrilled and exclaimed back to me, "Why do you like that?" "Well," I replied, "because God made it!" I could tell she didn't know who God was. I asked her, "Do you know who created the sky?" "No." She flatly stated back. "God!" Then in her cute little voice back, she asked a very important question that every 4 year old should already know, "Who created me?"

Happily, I then told her, "God made you!," "and He choose your eye color, hair, and who your parents would be!" The conversation ended there, as she was now distracted, wanting to play with me more, but I'm thankful for the opportunity that she was able to learn one of the most primary lessons she needs to know: That there is a God who created her! I hope she will never forget that conversation, and someone will water what was planted in her heart! I trust that this will happen due to prayer and God's love for her!

Before her older sister left, she left us a note at our outdoor picnic table, she wrote, " I will never forget you (meaning my sister) and all your brothers and sisters!" Wow! The impact you can make on a child!

Why don't you now go out and witness to some of the children in your area! Invest in their life, and you will never regret proclaiming the word of the Lord!! You never know they may not know a God created them too and that His Son died for their sins!

Side Note: You know, this also really showed me how vitally important organizations like Answers in Genesis and movies and audios like The Mysterious Island and Jonathan Park are!

Sometimes: Story #2

Remember the boy I talked about in Story #1? Well, my dad had an opportunity to talk to his brother in law. They both spoke Spanish so this presented a friendly opportunity to chat on common ground. Which I must say is a huge plus in witnessing, for this just brings you a step closer to thier heart. Not that I'm a witnessing expert but I have noticed this: when you meet someone new and find something in common- it's as if some connection of friendship occurs.

To continue, this man came around to our campsite to check on his little girls, and as mentioned my dad began to speak to him in Spanish. I was gone at this point, but this is what I heard from my father and mother. Well, my dad soon started proclaiming Christ to him and he was a bit resistant (replying this is not for me), but my dad said he had his eye-contact the whole time and was listening and chatting with him. The Spanish man said he did go to church, and so my dad asked him if he had given his life to Christ. He honestly replied, "sometimes." Sometimes? Well, my dad gave a wise answer back to him which I hope will result in the saving of his soul, " Sir, if Jesus dosen't have all of you, he dosen't have any of you! And you are in danger of judgement!"

You see we can't just give Jesus one week here, a day there, and then a month or two a later, another day; but Jesus must be Lord of your life! There must be a time, where we have repented and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and lose our life for His sake: "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." Mt. 16:25

1 Cor. 13:3
3Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.

If someone asked you if you have given your life to Christ...what would you reply? Have you lost your life for Christ's sake?

Witnessing to Christians??? Story 1

My dad has been quite an example to me here at the state park! He has been been boldly preaching the Gospel to those around us! I would like to share with you the stories and you will see they all have a common theme, which is necessary that we all learn from:

Here is the first story (Note: I'm not going to greatly emphasize how he witnessed):

Over the weekend a 17 yr old boy with a very wicked shirt on, joined our family as we were rescuing some tiny neglected kittens (story to be told later). My dad right away asked him to change it, and so he turned his shirt inside out. My mom had already asked him, but his mother defended him saying it was his favorite shirt. Well, my dad did not want to preach why something was wrong(My dad had had to explain why his shirt was wrong), but the Gospel, which will change lives!

So an opportunity was laid out for him during the sunny hot afternoon that day. So, my dad began to share the power of God, his salvation testimony, a higher standard of living, and then told of how his brother's arm was miraculously healed as he gave his life to Christ, then on to discuss our culture, and continued proclaiming Christ. But here is where the surprise came:

All of a sudden in the middle, the mother says something like this to her son, "Hey, wouldn't he love our pastor Joe!" This caught my dad by complete surprise! Please note: My dad thought he was talking to a "heathen" the whole time. Alas, he wasn't! He was preaching to a "good church-going" Southern Baptist boy. My dad right away said, "Hey, what's a boy like you then wearing that shirt for?" "Have you given your life completely to Christ?" In his Alabama accent he guiltily replied back, "I guess not." My dad then challenged him to give his whole life to Christ! He listened and we pray and hope that he will surrender his life to Christ. He certainly was not a Christian (though claimed to be one) because he showed no fruit: he greatly dishonored his mom, smoked, and was perverse.

Isn't this sad? You think you are witnessing to someone who has never entered into a church door, but come to find out, they are regular church goers! As you will see in my future post stories, you will see this is a common theme here at this park, as we have already encountered several here. After I share all the stories, I'm going to end it with a special post. Meanwhile, why do you think people come out of the church unchanged?

In Session Now!

Have you heard of the live Revival Conference? Speakers are Bill Gothard (3:30PM at Oct.13th) and Keith Daniel and several more on the topic of revival! Plus they will be having much needed prayer concerts.

See here to watch it live (it is being held at the IBLP Indianapolis Training Center.): http://revival.sermonindex.net/webcast/

Reflections Around the Campfire

Yay! I'm back in Tennessee and enjoying some nice 80 degree weather compared to my poor Illinois friends enduring 50 degree weather :). Currently, my family and I are temporarily camping out in a state park. So, as you can guess, one of the highlights is sitting around the campfire with your family. Near the end of our time, last night, around the campfire--this reflection came to pass:

I was gazing up at the stars, and I began to once again think from a spiritual perspective (see What You Can't See in the Dark). I was simply just thinking about heaven. Oh how mysterious it is! I wondered how beautiful it will be? Can you even begin to imagine how amazing the singing and worship that will be there! What will be like to talk to Jesus face to face? Oh, and I so look forward to converse with all the disciples of Jesus there! What was it like for them? Then I thought on that one reflection again: "How mysterious it is."

Though, there are glimpses of heaven in Revelation, there is still a lot of mystery. What do those mansions look like that Christ is preparing for us? Why would we even need them? We're no longer going to sleep. How bright is it going to be? What will we look like? I think Christ added the element of mystery for a reason. It results in anticipation or in other words it causes us to really be excited for it!

Before my family and I first headed out to Tennessee, it seemed as if all the days beforehand lasted an eternity! I could hardly wait to see what Tennessee was like! Excitedly, I anticipated the day to meet the people we only talked to over the phone. And maybe not exciting to some, but I could hardly wait to find out what it would be like living in a camping trailer. In the same manner, we should hardly wait to get to heaven!

Here's another example: Remember (or maybe you still do:)) when you could hardly wait for your birthday? It gives me such a smile when children frequently tell me when there birthday is. It could have been just last month and they are already talking about their next birthday. You see, when there's birthdays, the element of mystery appears: Am I going to get that one item I have been wanting? What will the party be like? Oh! And what will our rewards be in heaven?!

Then there's the New Year! Grown ups and children alike count down excitedly to the 12:00 hour because of that element of mystery. What will the new year hold? Imagine what it will be like if I keep that New Year resolution? Likewise, what will our heavenly eternity hold!

Yes, I really believe Christ added an element of mystery to heaven because it keeps us excited!! It keeps our minds on things above, looking forward to what it will be like! Looking forward to heavenly rewards, being with precious Jesus, and oh so more!

1 Corinthians 15:
Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,... 54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory....
Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.

If your interested, there are some more mysteries that God gives (I absolutely loved mystery stories when I was younger):

There's the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ: Colosians 2:2
The mystery of Christ in you the hope of glory: Colosians 1:27
The mystery of the Gospel: Ephesians 6:19
The mystery of iniquity: 2 Thess. 2:7
The mystery of "the faith": 1 Timothy 3:9
The mystery of the seven stars: Revelation 1:20
The mystery of Christ and the Church: Ephesians 5:32
and more! Enjoy some problem solving!

What you can't see in the night

While driving in Tennessee during the night, I decided to look at things from a spiritual perspective. This resulted in a helpful insight from the Lord:

In the night, you can hardly see any beauty. You can't see the beautiful trees, mountains, flowers, and all the brilliant colors. So, when we are spiritually
blind we are unable to see beauty. The beauty of God's ways!

For example:

The darkness(sin) of envy and covetousness keeps you from seeing the beauty of what you have.

The darkness of evil music keeps you from hearing the beauty of melodious godly music.

The darkness of immodest dressing keeps you from seeing the beauty of modest feminine dress.

The darkness of hate keeps others and self from seeing the beauty of forgiving and loving.


I almost wrote previously, "In the night you can see no beauty," but I realized this was not a true statement. In the night you can see the beauty of the stars, but in order to see that beauty in the night, you must look up! So if you are spiritually blind, and you look up to God, you will see His beauty!

Adventures in Tennessee

Tennessee has been quite an adventure! From the very first hour to the last hour in Tennessee! Currently, things are calming down as we are driving back "home" to Illinois. So what are those adventures? Well pick a number and read!

1.When we first drove in our destination, we found the state park was all locked up! We had come too late! The lady had told us we could just drive in and someone would later come around and ask for the money, but alas this was not so! We were dreadfully tired at this time, and we didn't know the area at all! Fortunately, we found a policeman and he told us to sleep in the parking lot at walmart. So, we slept at the Walmart parking lot for our first night in Tennessee!

2. Currently, Tennessee is having an unusual year as said by the "Tennesseans." The rain here can accurately be compared to a rain forest. Torrential rain I've never seen before! There's one problem. The Car. So one morning while heading out, our car would not drive over 100RP M's. After praying for the car, and for my dad to have wisdom, we discovered that water had entered into the electrical parts of car (being a girl, I don't know the real car name;) )

3. After coming back later after our car had rain in it, we came and discovered a burglar had come to our trailer! Someone had tried to open our door with a screw driver and messed up our lock. After some tools, prayers, and a flashlight, my dad was able to fix the lock enough to get us in! The next day, in this "small community," it seemed everyone knew what happened to us! We jocked that it would be on the front papers, "Burglur Breaks in Large Family's trailer due to Economic hard times!" (One ranger said it's because of these hard economic times:) )Fortunately, nothing was stolen, they were however it seems to be able to get a window open, but it's too small for anyone to go through! - During that day- I was prompted to pray this "Lord Jesus, I pray no one would kill, steal, or destroy the tailer or us.- Perhaps I was prompted at the same exact time the thief came? It came to my mind because I had left my purse in the trailer packed with my money and account.

4. While, in "Mennonite County," where you see more buggies than cars, our truck became stuck in 4 wheel drive! We had no idea what to do! We couldn't ask the Mennonites, because their cars were horses! Of course we prayed, and God answered! Suddenly, I thought, "I probably could find the answer on the Internet!" I sure did. You have to drive forward and back slowly- and that did the trick!

5. On yet another drive, my dad realized he lost his phone with a significant amount of information on it. Dreadfully thinking, it may have been dropped while on a ATV, which would make it extremely hard to find! With no other solution, we drove all the way back to the location which was quite a distance! Just as we entered our destination, my brother looks back and exclaims, "Look there's dad's phone in the back of the truck!" It was right in back of us the whole time!! We're so thankful that it was not lost in the hills of Tennessee!

6. On one of our first few nights, we were locked out of our own bathroom. When I first heard the problem, I thought "No problem at all! Just place a paper clip in the hole." Unfortunately, it was not that easy. It wasn't that kind of lock, but required a different type of key. It had to be a thick flat end key which we didn't have. However, my dad is very creative and wise, and with his handy dandy tool case, he was able to contrive something up!

7.We were planning on sleeping at the park through Sunday night, but after an embarrassing event we changed our minds very quickly. Remember, when I said the rain here is like a rain forest? Well, our trailer was right by a creek. That morning, it was calm, and low, but by afternoon, it was quite a current and had covered all the rocks and much grass that surrounded it! It was even carrying down large tree trunks! While looking at this, a knock came at our door, telling us a flash flood may come soon! So we needed to move (The people told us this happened 5years ago, and a wave went 6 inches over their RV!).
As we moved to a new spot, we discovered, it was not safe in the trailer, because it was at such a huge angle. Unfortunelty, by this time, it was pitch dark. And as we headed to a new spot we became completely stuck in ditch. When the ranger came he was very mad. We had accidently torn up grass (Just an hour ago they were all telling us how they really enjoyed us). The man then started telling my dad how "dumb" that was. Gulp. However, we prayed, and God gave the man more compassion at the end. We had to be towed out (both truck and trailer), and my dad was completely drenched being outside and corrected the dirt and grass as best as He could. When we come back later this year, we have to put grass seed there. We were going to spend the night there, but we decided just to leave after that as you can imagine!

8. I have to end on a funny note. My family and I were siting down at the Park's Buffet State Restaurant, and my dad grabbed some very gooey looking white stuff. My mom asked the waitress, what it was, and she replied "roz", "Roz?" My mom questioned, "What's that?" The lady replied "You don know what 'roz" is?" "No. Could you tell me?" With a funny look the lady quizzically told my mom, "it's a white grain," "Have you ever had Chinese food?" My parents then laughed, "Oh! You mean rice!" With a puzzeled look at us, my mom laughingly said she couldn't tell what she was saying, because of her strong southern accent. Now with a confused look, she claimed she didn't have one, but she sure did!

Oh, I forgot to mention one! While driving through Kentucky today, a verse on a RV caught my mom's attention. As I looked I noticed a familar website: Titus2.com! We drove up faster and honked and waved hi to the Mr. and Mrs. Maxwell! It was such a pleasent surprise!


Well there are just some of our adventures in Tennessee!

Kalani

Life in Southern Tennessee

Well, I on my 2nd week here in Tennessee! It's quiet here in our travel trailer. Most of my family is out walking around. So, I thought I would take the opportunity to update you all!

I have enjoyed hearing some encouraging things around here! One man told us this is "the true Bible Belt." While, another lady told a story about how her husband was accidentally kicked by his playful horse on Christmas Eve in the head. Within 6 minutes he was airlifted to a hospital. And this was not any ordinary hospital. The hospital was filled with Christians, and it was filled with prayers for her critical condition husband! Thankfully, he is alive, but sadly lost an eye.

My mom also told me how Walmart is filled with God bless yous! But just to warn you, if you happen to visit--Don't be in a hurry! People start conversations in the isles and walk slowly around. The cash register is a place to chat.

As you can see I'm not in the city but the good ol' country where (litteraly), reindeers roam(no I am not talking about ordinary deer), and cats and dogs live at the gas station!

Till next post,
Kalani