You Were Formed by the Master by Kim Checkeye

One of my favorite scriptures is Psalm 139:15-16.

“My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the depth of the earth;
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance;
And in Your book were all written
The days that were ordained for me,
When as yet there was not one of them.”

I hold this scripture so close to my heart because most of my life growing up, I thought I was a huge mistake. I thought if there was a God, He must have been asleep on the day I was born. This was a huge lie that I believed and it caused much confusion, pain and hurt in my life.

Do you truly understand that the God who spoke the world into existence saw you before you were even formed? That your frame was not hidden from Him? That God Almighty ordained all your days before there was even one of them?

I believe if we truly got a hold of this truth and held onto it for dear life, we would never be the same.

The original text of “your eyes have seen” means the following:

* To see
* Observe
* Perceive
* Get acquainted with
* Gain understanding
* Examine
* Look after

Before God spoke the world into existence, He observed you. He perceived you. He saw you. He was acquainted with you. He had an understanding of you, examined you and looked after YOU! Now if that doesn’t just make you want to dance, I don’t know what will.

Dear ones, you were not a mistake. You were formed for His glory and honor. He chose you before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight.

So my question to all of us is this; then why don’t we act like it? Ouch! If we truly understood this scripture, I think we would act very different. We would not be so susceptible to being down on ourselves. I think we would see problems and tribulations differently if we stood on this scripture. I believe our behavior, attitude and perception would be completely changed.

So many times we think God has forgotten about us or doesn’t see our pain. In all reality, He is walking right there beside us calling us to Him. But there are times when we are so distracted, that we can’t even hear Him.

I encourage you to write this scripture on post it notes and note cards. Hang them up everything. Put them in the kitchen, on the mirrors, on your computer and by your phone. Meditate on this scripture day and night. Don’t let go of it until you completely have absorbed it in your mind, body and soul. Then, shout it from the rooftops! Then tell everyone you come into contact with about this precious truth that you have come to know and love.

The Year of Jubilee by Kim Checkeye

This morning as I was reading the Word in Leviticus 25, my heart soared from within. In the year of Jubilee, slaves were set free and properties were to revert to the families of their original owners.

I went back to the original text to look deeper into the word Jubilee. It is translated as the following:

Shout or blast of war
Alarm of joy
Alarm of war
Battle cry
Shout of joy

I don’t know about you but this is something that has been stirring deep within my soul for months now. The enemy has made us slaves to lies, fears, doubts and he has stolen many things from us including finances, family members, joy, peace, direction in the call of our life and the list goes on.

I believe it is time to sound the alarm of war, the alarm of joy, the battle cry from deep within our soul that for each of us, it is the Year of Jubilee where we are set free from the bonds of slavery and we are taking back what the enemy has stolen from us.

It is time for us to shout our battle cry to let the enemy know that we are not going to stand any longer for his lies and deception. It is time to sound the alarm that we are going to walk in the call that God Almighty has for us and nothing that the enemy throws at us will distract us from moving forward.

It is time to break out of depression and shout forth words of joy. It is time for John 8:32 to come to pass “Then you will know the truth and the truth shall set you free.”

Dear warriors sound the alarm that this is your year of Jubilee and walk in it!

The Squirrel by Kim Checkeye

My husband and daughters gave me a bird feeder for my birthday one year. They hung it on a tree outside of my office window so I could watch the birds sit and feed. They also built me a birdhouse out of their own hands. However, the squirrels destroyed the bird feeder. They ripped off the stands and shattered the holes where the birds would feed. I had no idea these little creatures were so powerful. We bought a new feeder that was “squirrel proof.”

Yesterday, I was on the telephone with Sharon Brobst discussing the day to day work of Truth for Women. I looked outside my window and I saw a squirrel that was absolutely amazing. He was desperately trying to get food out of that “squirrel proof” bird feeder. I watched him twist his body every which way to try to get the food. But at one point, he dug his back legs into the tree and stretched his entire upper body out to the feeder. His front paws held on to the feeder while his back legs clung for dear life to the tree.

I started to laugh to Sharon and tell her about the squirrel. My exact words to her were “Boy this will preach to you. There has to be a sermon in this one.”

As I am sitting here this morning listening to the sounds of the birds singing praises to God, my mind wonders to that little squirrel. He knew that if he dug his feet into that tree and hung on to it with everything he had, he could reach that bird feeder which would supply him with the essentials his body needed. He was willing to do whatever it took to reach that supply of nourishment. He stretched his entire body to get the goal!

There are days in my walk with Christ that my spiritual body is so desperate and in need of nourishment of the Word of God. There are days that all I can do is dig my feet into the Truth of His Word and hold onto for dear life. There are days when I have to stretch myself to reach the essentials that I need in my spiritual walk.

Now, I must admit, there are times when I am just plain tired. Times when I am exhausted from the work of ministry and life. Times when I am so lonely for a friend. Lonely for someone to just talk too or go out for coffee.

Oh, how I need to be like that precious squirrel holding onto the Word of God as my lifeline and my plumb line. Holding onto His precious promises even though my mind and flesh is telling me not too. Holding onto His grace and love for me that my mind can’t comprehend. Then, at that very moment when that overwhelming feeling of just giving up comes crushing in, I must reach and stretch with everything that I have to reach for my source of strength and nourishment. Remembering that I am a little creature but the Spirit that is living in me is powerful. Using everything I have within me to press forward and push myself to reach the goal, to reach the prize! To reach that precious moment to feel the presence of my Lord and Savior.

I need to be just like that squirrel. I wonder if he really understands what he is doing or if it is just his natural instinct for survival? Lord, change me and mold me so my natural instinct is to do whatever it takes to reach you.

Thank you Lord God for sending that dear squirrel to my front yard as a reminder of who you are to me.

Absolute Truth by Kim Checkeye

Do you believe the Word of God is the absolute Truth for your life? We live in a world that tells us that what we feel or what we think is the absolute truth for our life. That is a lie.

The word absolute means perfect in nature, complete, pure, total, not to be doubted or questioned.

The word truth means a fact, standard and proven to be accepted as true.

Absolute truth is a standard that is not to be doubted or questioned. It is perfect, complete, pure and unchangeable.

Do you believe that to be true of the Bible?
Do you believe that the Bible is the absolute truth to live your life?

Our enemy has been trying to make us doubt God's Word as absolute truth for our life since the beginning of time. Remember the Garden of Eden? In Genesis 2, God told Adam "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." In Genesis 3, the serpent came to the woman and put doubt in her mind about what God said. "Did God really say, You must not eat from any tree in the garden?" The enemy was putting doubt into Eve's mind. After that doubt was planted, the serpent went in and accused God of lying. "You will not surely die." Our enemy has been playing this game with us since the beginning of time. He is attempting to put doubt in our minds so we will doubt God's word as absolute truth for our life. Why does he do this? John 10:10 tells us. "He comes to steal, kill and destroy." What better way to do this then to make us doubt God's word as absolute truth for our life.

The Old Testament has over 300 prophecies of the coming Messiah. For Jesus Christ to have fulfilled 8 of those 300 would be a statistic of 1 out of 100,000,000,000,000,000! That is only for Christ to fulfill 8 of the 300. Yet, Christ fulfilled all 300 of them! We do not have a statistic for that one!

What about the Bible? It was written over a period of 1,500 years in various places stretching from Babylon to Rome. There were over 40 authors who were kings, peasants, poets, herdsmen, fishermen, scientists, farmers, priests, pastors, tent makers and governors. It was written in the wilderness, dungeon, inside palaces, prisons, lonely islands and military battles. Yet, it all ties together.

Psalm 119:160 All of God’s word is true

John 17:17 God’s word is truth

The bottom line is: Do you believe God’s word is absolute truth for your life?

Jan Silvious says “A Holy passion for God comes out of a determined, purposeful relationship with His Word.”

In order to begin to have a Holy passion for God, we need to believe that God’s Word is absolute truth for our lives. It is our foundation for how we act, how we speak, what our morals are based on and how we live our life. In this day and age, the Word of God is the only thing that we can stand on and trust. I know in my life, if I did not have the Word of God to stand on, I would have crumbled and fallen apart.

I challenge you to read the Bible everyday. I challenge you to study the Bible and apply it to your everyday life. I challenge you to shout from the roof tops the Gospel of Jesus Christ.