Jackie's Journey "Decisions...Decisions!"

Once upon a time there were three bear cubs romping in a field. They stumble across a caribou  that the wolves had killed.  They energetically begin to sniff and help themselves to the warm meat, thinking the wolves were gone.  But they were hiding…waiting to attack!  Wolves run in packs and the littlest bear took the worst of the beating. Mama bear hears her cubs howling and instantly comes to the rescue.   The littlest cub, bleeding and yet determined, ignores the call of mom and runs back toward the meat again! Decisions…decisions…

 For the second time, the mama bear exposes herself and the other cubs to danger.  The lead wolf draws mom away so the rest of the pack can attack the two cubs left alone.  The Mama bear, now furious, swings her paws in defense and with some fury pushes her three cubs into the thicket and down into the stream.  The smallest cub is now dripping with blood.  With all the bears in the water…they wait until the wolves no longer pursue them.

 The wounds were a lasting reminder of the consequence of not following the instruction of the one responsible for him (his mom, in this case!) Witchcraft is a devastating sin.  One which we saw in our village in the Darien. God states that rebellion is just like the sin of witchcraft! II Sam. 15:23 Disobedience  against our authority will always define the extent of our rebellion. 

 God places everyone under authority…parents, government, church leaders, employers, etc.  Every human authority is under the authority of God and the Bible. We are either safe under the protection of the one responsible for us or we are in rebellion.  (Ultimately against God)

 It’s a choice  we make consistently during a 24-hour period.  If we get out from  under the protective covering of our authority,  we expose ourselves to the realm and power of Satan’s control.  We choose to follow God’s clear instruction or we choose to follow the one who is out to kill, steal and destroy us. Jn. 8:44  Rebellion comes with a consequence…just as the littlest bear did, as he stood in the stream… bleeding!  Decisions…decisions! 

 What is your decision?

Who are you following ?

How’s your attitude, your words, your countenance, etc?

 We all make choices that affect everyone around us.

Know your authority and listen carefully and quickly obey…

~Jackie Johnson - I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America.  Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a Spanish-speaking church in Southern California.  My passion is mentoring and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights. 

Jackie's Journey "Do I Have To? Why??"

  I have seen and lived three-quarters of a century of life on this planet.  I have observed the ebb and flow of my culture and Christianity over the years.  While reading through the Bible again this year and rehearsing the walk of humanity, specifically the plight of the Jews in the earliest of centuries, I got to chapter 17 of II Kings.  I found myself lost in this verse:

 “Even while these people were worshiping the LORD, they were serving their idols.”

 This 17th Chapter is what I call a “summary” or review Chapter.  The Israelites had begged for a King.  God was their KING, but the people insisted on an earthly king.  God gave them their desire and what they deserved in Saul.  A man who proved that earthly kings are fallible and have a blindness to the reflection of our true God, as KING, perfect and infallible in comparison!  The evil heart of man revealed itself over and over as the kings came and went.  With few exceptions, these people were bent on their desires, they were unrighteous, disobedient, idol worshipers, murderers of their own children on heathen sacrifices to false gods of stone, rebellious to God’s will and ways, resistant to God’s purpose, His Wisdom…

 “…they have done evil in my eyes and have provoked

me to anger from the day their forefathers came out of Egypt

until this day.” (vs.14, Chapter 21)

 The nation divided and fought each other and the surrounding towns.  The kings were competitive and combative.  They strayed from God’s will, purpose, desires, wisdom, and righteousness.  They rejected the true God, lost the blessing of the covenant God had made with Abraham and David and in its place, experienced the penalty and its replacement…the curse of disobedience.  

 In Chapter 17 the culmination of many years of rejecting God and His ways are realized by the King of Assyria!  God sent lions to consume the rebellious generation… 

 “The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthuh, Avva, Hamath and

Sepharvaim (remember this group? They burned their children in the fire as sacrifices to Drammach!!)

and settled them in the town of Samaria to 

replace the Isrealites.  They took over Samaria and lived in its towns.

When they first lived there, they did not worhip the Lord…

so HE (God) sent lions among them…” (vs. 25,26)

 When the report that the people were being killed by lions came to the King of Assyria, it was noted that “the people that had been deported and resettled in the towns of Samaria DID NOT KNOW WHAT THE GOD OF THAT COUNTRY REQUIRES.”  The lions came because the people did NOT KNOW WHAT HE REQUIRES!  Sooo, what does this heathen king do?  

 “Have one of the Jewish priests who had been exiled from

Samaria come and live in Bethel and teach them how to worship the LORD!!” (vs. 28)

 We are that heathen nation that has forgotten 

how to worship and rejected our LORD God!

 When we gather with our family on Sunday nights or when we meet with couples or small groups, we are the old guard…the exiled priests, called by our living God to teach those in coming generation how to know and worship our GOD.

 We are a royal priesthood…called to be that beacon of truth so others 

“know what God requires” in a dark and needy world.

Are you busy living and teaching  your prince and princesses  

God’s will (not their own),

 God’s purpose for their life, 

God’s desires (no entitlement…only what is on HIS heart), 

God’s Wisdom

and Godly righteousness???

~Jackie Johnson - I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America.  Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a Spanish-speaking church in Southern California.  My passion is mentoring and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights.