Jackie's Journey "Mother's Understand Sacrifice"

Christina, my oldest daughter and my beautiful Mom

at her 101 year old birthday party…

 Love is not a passion.  It is the pulse of sacrifice”.

 This Sunday is Mother’s Day! For seventy-seven years my Mother taught me about genuine love and Motherhood. She was 101 years old when God took her home.  I watched her as she maneuvered through life.  She was strong and courageous, especially in the latter years without Daddy.  She faced life with grace each day with acceptance of God’s Hand and timing.  She had no fear of old age which is the assumption that we still have many years of life ahead of us. “The length of our days is seventy years or eighty, IF we have the strength; yet this span is but trouble and sorrow and passes quickly and then we fly away”! (Psalm 90:10)  

 She learned to be “satisfied in the morning with His unfailing love. She did not sing for joy out loud but she was clearly grateful and glad for every day.”  And she looked forward to any, or all of us coming and visiting with her as often as we could.  She was the best listener and I can remember my high school friends coming home with me to talk to her, not me!  

 She was wise… my precious Mama.  She taught me, by example, to number my days, to be deliberate with my heritage, to think generations and to see how short and quickly life passes.  I am paying attention.  So, you see…your job has been well done… 

 Thank you for leading the way, leaving a print for me to step into 

and showing me the pulse of sacrificial love…

I love you…I miss you…

~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 "Crawling Babies and Hiding Snakes!"

I have never been a fan of reptiles!

 Panama is the home to some of the biggest and most frightening snakes on the planet.  Our corner of the dense Darien jungle was full of boa constrictors, pit vipers, fer-de-lance (this snake bears 60 live babies at a time!), etc.  We were cautious not to poke under rocks or fallen branches, always scanning for any slithering menaces.  Behind our house there was a massive tree that extended its immense roots out into the river shoreline where the girls and I bathed and swam.  The thick mangrove swamp harbored snakes that would lie in the hollow places of the trunk of that tree.  

More than once I cried out Psalm 16:1

 “Keep me safe, Oh Lord, for in you I take refuge.”

 Fear is no stranger to me.  I am habitually challenged to walk through the door of fear.   I was told during Missionary boot camp that courage was not the absence of fear, but the conquest of it.  Years ago, while reading “Hind’s Feet in High Places” I had no difficulty in identifying with “Little Much Afraid”!  

 “The highway of fear is the shortest route to defeat”.  William L. Brownell

 Ralph had built a screened-in back porch to the house.  It became home for our gasoline-run wringer washing machine.  The Indians thought the machine was the most ridiculous apparatus they had ever seen!  It was noisy, the water had to be carried from the river (or in rainy season, we could utilize the convenience of the roof rain barrels).   The agitator was a mystery (why would you jerk clothes around in dirty cold water when the river is running and clear!) however; the wringer was another story…it worked really well.  Hand wrung clothes could not match that wringer!  I had to agree with them on all other accounts!  While I washed, Kim would play on a blanket or crawl around the porch.  The floor was slightly elevated, lined with wooden planks roughly cut and loosely fit together.  It was not quite finished and as I gave attention to the wringer, I saw Kim crawling toward something moving under the slats.  I turned off the deafening machine, snatched Kim up into my arms and yelled for Ralph!  Right under our feet, only a few inches away, was a 5’ venomous snake! He had quite possibly been a houseguest for “who knows how long” before we noticed him! Let me repeat…I am not a fan and I intensely dislike reptiles! 

 Arturo, our nearest neighbor had heard me scream and came running, He quickly surveyed our predicament, raised his machete and removed the head of that reptile with one swift blow.  He held it up like a prized Marlin…its length was above his head and its tail draped to the muddy ground! 

 This story could have had a much different ending, were it not for our Sovereign God, His plan and the life-lessons He was busy teaching me!  School is always in session if we have eyes to see it. The need to grow and mature will never end on this side of eternity. Fear has been my biggest challenge.  I am to fear the consequence of sin, not snakes.  Easy concept until put to the test!

 “Be strong and of a good courage, Fear not, nor be afraid of them (in this case…snakes); for the Lord your God, He it is that does go with me;  He will not fail me nor forsake me.”  

Deuteronomy 31: 16

 “I sought the Lord and He heard me and delivered me from all my fears.” 

Psalm 34:4  

 What do you fear?

~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 "Wait a Minute!"

The year 2021 has come and gone!  Year 2022 is precipitously on its way to the half-way mark!  My commitment to blogging was for one year.  What an incredible blessing to be able to jot down thoughts and rehearse what God continues to teach me through His Word and the people and events in my life.  Thank you to those of you who continue to follow my journey with the King. 

 All any of us has to share with others is our weakness translated into a life message for the benefit of another.  I trust God has used my flaws to manifest His strength for your benefit.  

 “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.  For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

II Cor. 12: 9-10

 Jim Elliot, husband of Elizabeth Elliot, who was martyred at the hand of the Auca Indians, once said:

  “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”  

 Listen to the spirit of his devotedness…

 “Father, let me be weak that I might loose my clutch on everything temporal.  My life, my reputation, my possessions, Lord, let me lose the tension of the grasping hand…Rather, open my hand to receive the nail of Calvary, as Christ’s was opened, that I, releasing all, might be released, unleashed from all that binds me now.  He thought Heaven, yea, equality with God not a thing to be clutched at.  So let me release my grasp.”

 Spring is a wonderful time to put our busy lives back in Scriptural perspective. We celebrate the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ…the One who “gives us everything we need to lead a godly life! “ II Pet.1: 3

 Genuine Christianity is an unconditional surrender to His Lordship!

 While attending the University of Arizona I was invited to join Kappa Alpha Theta, a national sorority.  I had a sense of acceptance and grew to love the girls and the accountability.  After a semester of initiation, we had a night of mild hazing that culminated in stepping individually behind a veil for the final step of becoming a Theta.   As the pledge of loyalty was read and the words were spoken to me… I was asked to repeat them.  At that time, I realized I had already pledged my loyalty to my new Savior, Jesus Christ.  

 A few months earlier, over the Thanksgiving holiday with my parents and sisters, I had attended a church service and had heard for the first time in my life that I could know God in a personal way through His Son, Jesus Christ.  Standing behind that curtain I was struck, profoundly, when I realized I had already given my total allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ that Thanksgiving weekend!   When He walked into my life everything changed, I had no more allegiance to give.

 Time has tested on life’s stage that unconditional surrender I made to my loving Savior and Sovereign Lord in those college days.

 What is your present commitment? 

 When we talk about a total surrendering of our lives to the Lordship of Christ, we are talking about yielding all our rights and expectations! 

·      A dying to self and self-attitudes

·      A yielding of all entitlements and self-interest

 WHAT??  That can’t be right…WAIT A MINUTE!

 Don’t we run from the people and circumstances that call us into total commitment?  It is much easier to go with the flow as the secular, ungodly world dictates to us relativity, independence and “I have my rights!”   The world’s motto: “Strength only…show no weakness!”  The human struggle wants His power to do OUR will.   

 Is humility a position of strength or weakness, in your opinion?

 Humility is me… seeing the contrast between my spiritual condition (a sinner) and God’s holiness and then receiving His grace to live Christ-like, not Jackie-like!   

  Grace is doing His will with His power! Phil. 3:10

 It is acknowledging His presence and His power to live the Christian life.  

Victory is living in that truth!  

 Are you living in Victory?

 Have you surrendered your life to His Lordship?

~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 "Lock-Down... Again!"

Lest it be forgotten…not a chance in my life-time…I started noting on paper a few of the lessons I’m learning.  I don’t know about you, but “lockdown” was a very profitable journey of slowing my pace and listening more fervently.  I have had the opportunity to read a few books that I have wanted to pull off the shelf for years!  Time seems to turn to liquid when I am not scheduled by the hour by the day.  I do miss the personal contact with others, but He has pulled me under his wing and decided I would listen and learn better “locked-down”. 

 One lesson that I treasure has been understanding how important it is to declaring God’s Word.  Speaking in agreement with God’s will prompts our renewal “thinking” process so we can think more like God thinks.  This will cause us to talk more like God talks. Then talking like God talks will produce our walking like God walks…without fear, without anxiety, in peace and victory, instead of defeat.

 The week before last Easter a good friend from Nebraska (Connie Weinman) shared a precious thought with me regarding the choice Christ made to go to the cross.  She said, “He would rather go to hell for me than go to heaven without me”!  As we look to Good Friday next week and the privilege, we have to set aside time to rehearse all that He is and did on our behalf and accomplished by His sacrifice, we can exercise the mystery of faith, which is a pure conscience and receive the grace to walk with Him in gratefulness and harmony. 

 Paraphrased…”It shall come to pass, IF you hear it intelligently, be obedient to, declare wholly, completely, far, fast, louder and louder what God has said, to observe and to do all His commandments, THEN all these blessings will come upon you and overtake you”.(Deut. 28: 1-6)

 Let’s think, talk and walk reflecting glory back to God this week…

~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 "I've Got Your Six!"

“I’ve got your back”…we love those assuring words, don’t we?.  “I will show them ‘my back’ and not my face…”, God says in Jeremiah 12: 5.  NOT reassuring words, in fact I can’t think of any words more distressing than to have the Creator of the world turn His back on me!  The Israelites had exchanged their first love (of God) and chosen instead,  disobedience and idolatry.  They were proud, stiff-necked and against God’s ways…

Sound like anyone you know?

 In those days people from many nations passed by and asked, “Why had the Lord done such a thing?’  And the answer was: “Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God and have worshipped and served other Gods.’”

 In this day the “song and dance” is the same.  Seekers of pleasure, people of entitlement, and consumed with our own ways.  “How do I know?” you ask.   Look around.  What do you see?  Wars and rumors of wars, international uncertainty, disorder, absence of strong biblical leadership, broken relationships, independent and divisive spirits, spiritual deadness, lethargy toward good works and service, self-first mentality, absence of humility and hospitality, (me first…gimme mine!) to mention a few…

 What did God do when the Old Testament nation of Israel decided to walk contrary to His plan, purpose and way?  He turned his back!  My grandson, Christopher (pictured above) sent me a verse from Proverbs 19: 23 this morning.  It is a promise that comes with a condition that calls us to obedience, if we want to live a life of contentment (regardless of circumstance) and be untouched by trouble. 

 “The fear of the Lord leads to life (this is the Promise,

 IF we will fear the consequence of sin and act accordingly), 

then one rests content, untouched by trouble”!

 In a world confounded by chaos and bewilderment, it is a blessing to be able to claim the promise and provision of His word, as we choose to walk in harmony with Him…He knows “the way through this wilderness”.

 Who will follow Him?

~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 "Untested Unknowns!"

“Perseverance is a lowly virtue whereby mediocrity

achieves an inglorious success!”

Ambrose Bierce

 While attending Bible School, I met my husband and we were married a year later.  We had never heard of tribal people who had never had an opportunity to even hear the name of Jesus Christ!  Can you imagine?  God challenged us to take His Name to them!  My husband responded immediately to the need before him.  Yes, he would go!  He stood up quickly, as the seasoned visiting missionary, challenged the crowd for tribal missions; however, I stood frozen with my mouth wide open, in shock!  I could not believe his independent, instant response.   God had work to do in my stubborn heart.  My self-consumed willfulness held me captive!   

I was not equipped to live in the jungle…I hate spiders!  It took three days travel to get to this Indian village.  One and half day’s journey by banana boat (that’s right we slept on wooden benches) following the coastline, arriving in a remote small town to make a connection for the last ten-hour day trek upriver in an open dugout canoe!  Let’s see, I have two babies less than three years of age fighting the rapids during rainy season!  Surely, there was someone in that crowd of churchgoers more mature than I am that is willing and ready to go…not me!  I, fearfully, contemplated another 24 hours before I silently knelt with my husband and acknowledged God’s beckoning whisper to submit to His will and His very clear call to GO!  

 As a young student, untested missionary, wife and new mother I stepped out in blind obedience.  The unknown was my constant companion, as was my all-knowing God with His directing will and promises.  “Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, so shall your offspring be.  Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead…since he was about a hundred years old…and that Sarah’s womb was also dead.  YET he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promises of God being fully persuaded that GOD HAD POWER TO DO WHAT HE PROMISED.” (Romans 4:18-21)

 For over 50 years now, God’s pursuing love has driven us to claim the name of Christ.  First, to those living in the remote jungles of Panama, “in the farthest corners of the earth” (Psalm 65:8), and today, to those living in the asphalt jungles of the United States.

 We have counted it a privilege to walk day-by-day wrapped in His strength, following where He leads us.  Joyfully persevering has become a fulfilling way of life… His receiving the glory is our reward…

 What are you facing today that seems

unbelievably overwhelming and impossible?

~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 You Hear Voices?"

We, women, are drowning with voices in this day of social media. There is continual distraction from real life and the suffocating perplexities that we are forced to face daily.  The continual changing and re-defining the rules of engagement in this swirling complex current life is enough to demand a shut off of all voices!  

 “Therefore, (in the light of our frustration!) we ought to give more earnest heed to the things which we have heard from God, lest at any time we should let them slip.” (Heb. 2: 1)  My husband always asks unsuspecting groups, “How many of you talk to the devil? The answer, of course, is that we all do! Discerning which voice we are hearing and responding to has to be an imperative recurring consideration.

 Hearing the still, quiet voice of God (my husband calls them “thought bombs”) should be our daily experience because this is the preparation needed to be alert and attentive in the midst of life’s situations. “…failing to prepare is to prepare to fail.” One of the most important aspects of womanhood is learning to hear and respond to that still, quiet voice in instant obedience and teaching our children to do the same!  

 There are three intercommunications that we hear.  The first is the human level which is our conscience (which can be trained and untrained, can’t it?). When God walks into our life, we become re-educated in line with Biblical truths and begin to form new convictions. The second is the demonic level (comes in temptation which we have to argue with to defend our position).  This voice purposes to destroy the moral value system that God has written on our hearts, and keeps us from becoming what God has pre-determined for us. The third, and most important, is the Holy Spirit’s communication to us. He never violates His word or our conscience; He tells us what to do, when to do it, and with whom it is to be done; He rewards us with joy and a sense of peace.

Whose voice do you hear?

 Can you discern those voices?

Be alert and take earnest heed to the one voice 

that will never steer you wrong!?

~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 "Plans Made...Plans Shattered!"

Ever have your plans disrupted and all your expectations blown to smithereens?  I don’t know about you, but when someone says… “Life is but a Vapor”, I get a bit antsy.  Since the New Year is looking at time and re-accessing how to use it best for another year…I don’t want to hear…” life is just “a puff of smoke”! 

I’m busy lining up my plans, my priorities and my important, meaningful goals! I can remember my 101-year-old mother, sitting on the side of the bed saying, “How did I get here…it’s impossible…it went so fast!”

“Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.  Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.  What is your life?  You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.’” (James 4: 13-17)

 Why did God call life a “vapor”? Does that mean I should not be making my own plans? Just relax and go with the proverbial “whatever will be, will be”!  What should be my attitude regarding my plans?  If I ask God’s blessing on MYplans, MY ways and MY will, I could be called a “practical atheist”!

Job lost his whole family. He loved them dearly. He sacrificed for them (to cover for any sin that they may have committed. (1:1-21).  Job’s reply to God when all was lost: "The Lord gives and takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.  Job had other plans for his life and his family, I am sure, yet he responded with and lived in gratefulness.

 Joseph was his father's heart. He was sold into slavery, then placed in jail on false pretenses for 13-17 years. Then he was placed second in command to the King in Egypt.  There are no records of his complaining…ever!  Joseph’s plans were altered when his brothers’ jealousy sold him into slavery, yet he lived content with God’s plan in gratefulness. (Gen 37-50)

 Ruth was married and loved her husband and extended family. She lost all of them accept Naomi, her mother-in-law.  They were left in utter poverty.  With plans other than she envisioned and a grateful heart, Ruth became the great-grandmother of Jesus Christ. (Ruth 1-4)

OUR carnal planning, asking God to bless OUR will, is presumption on God. 

 Plans made without a real and genuine "Lord-willing".

 Peter’s plan was clear when he swore his unyielding faithfulness to the Lord Jesus.  Then denied knowing Him three times! We need to take note…have we denied Him in our silence?

Our calling is to live for HIS pleasure in HIS Plan in HIS will…not our own!

 King David’s plan ordered his general to get a count of the army.  His general said, “No”, but did it.  That self-reliant plan cost the lives of 70,000 people in three days.   David’s plan failed because he had HIS plan apart from God’s will.  C. S. Lewis wrote, “There are two kinds of people: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, “All right, then, have it your way!’”

Life is just a Vapor…

What is done in HIS plan, HIS will and HIS purpose has eternal value. 

 Any plan apart from harmony with HIS will …will burn as wood, hay and stubble!

~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 "Who Needs a Title?"

In a global environment where who you are is an imperative and keeping track of your every move and accomplishment or failure is a priority, it might serve us well to take a look at our titles…because they describe our responsibilities!  Knowing and doing what God and others are expecting from us gives meaning to what responsibilities are all about. (Rom.14:12) 

Abraham Lincoln said “You can’t escape the responsibility

of tomorrow by evading it today.”   

1.      I am called a wife; mother; mother-in-law; daughter; daughter-in-law; grandmother; aunt; teacher; missionary; bush nurse; author; Pastors wife…to name a few…each with unending expectations and responsibilities.

2.      Ralph, my husband, is called a Pastor, Missionary, Nutritionist; CRA Doctor; Husband; Father; grandfather; father-in-law; teacher; provider, protector…

3.      A policeman may be a traffic or patrol officer; a detective or a Captain. Responsible for our safety and to a community at large. 

4.      Soldiers carry all kinds of titles depending on their rank. Responsible for our national security and defense. We are “soldiers of the Cross”. Responsible for being “battle-ready” to defend the faith & promote the gospel. II Tim.2:2

5.      We are “Priests”. Responsible to pray & represent Him to the lost and encouraging the saved to be alive and functioning. (I Pet.2:5,9)

6.      We are called “chosen” people. (I Peter 2:5,9)

7.      We are “Saints”. Taken from the world; sanctified and set apart for His service. Serving Him in every attitude, thought, word, action, opportunity with pure motives is our primary responsibility. (Phil.4:22)

8.      We are called “Disciples”. Responsible to delight Him as followers & students of His heart, will, purpose and plan for us. (Deut. 30: 15-18) 

9.      We are called “Ambassadors” …Responsible to make Him known & to represent Him to the world everywhere. (II Cor. 5:17-19)

10.    We are called “Believers” (Present Progressive!)  Responsible to “trust in the Lord withALL our hearts and lean not to our own “stupidity” (my husband’s rendition), in ALL our ways make him known and He will direct our path.” … (Proverbs 3:5,6)

11.    We are called the “light of the world” to light the way. We are known and read by all men. (II Cor. 3:2) Responsible for our daily walk and life-message. (Matt. 5:14)

12.    We are called “Spirit-controlled.” Responsible for yielding to His control, priority & purpose. (Gal.5:22,23)

13.    We are called “slaves of righteousness”. Responsible for our choices…right or wrong! (Rom.6:16-18)

14.    We are called “Servants” for the success of others, dedicated to pleasing Him first. (Matt.20:26-28) 

This is not an exhaustive list, but a starter…

One day we will be held accountable to God for how we worked out our salvation and God-given responsibilities… (Rom. 14:12)

Are you ready?

~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 "Where Do We Focus in all this Muddle?"

I’ve been thinking this past week of the myriad of issues that we, as mom’s, are being challenged with and the decisions we are being asked to make, both for ourselves and our children.  How are we to know what is best, not just expedient?  

With social media giving unprecedented direction into every area of our lives, where should our focus be?  The supreme court is arguing this morning over “mandates” regarding some of these issues and what should be Federal Law?  With the turmoil in our world and the global world spinning out of control, where do we go to get grounded?  Where is the hiding place of refuge? 

“He (She) did EVIL because he (she) did not set his (her) heart to seek the Lord”. (2 Chron. 12: 14)   For moms, the thought of “missing the boat” with our children is pre-eminent!  We only have one short span of opportunity with them.  To seek the Lord is a present progressive verb…meaning… ongoing, never-ending action.  We are to connect with Him daily. (Romans 6:18 )  We are “freed from sin and forgiven… to do right”.  New Focus!

This is the most concise definition of evil found in the Bible.  It says that we are robbing God and ourselves by not living in that way.  “Setting our heart” is fixing it on the Creator, the one in total control. We are created to fulfill what we, with Him, are to do.  Our designed purpose is “to do the will of God on earth, even as it is being done in Heaven”. (Matthew 6:10)

We are “created for a life of good works that He has prepared before-hand for us to do”. (Ephesians 2:10)   He has given us the equipment we need to face the disorder and to step up to the plate, with God-confidence that we are not hindered by “evil” in our lives and can face the future without fear.

 “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness (and all these things mentioned above v. 27-32) will be added to you”. Matthew 6:33    This is the section in Scripture on why we, moms, do not need to worry! He wants to supply for His family, like any good father, as His family yields to His will and ways.

Evil is doing our own thing.  We have two choices:  “Wisdom from above”, as described above or “wisdom from below”…Satanic, that which is selfish, proud, and envious. (James 3:13-15)   We cannot separate selfishness from Satan or pride.

 Sacrificing our will and desires means surrendering to God’s will, bringing us into His will and our purpose. (Romans 12:1,2) In Matthew 7:21,22, there was a group of people doing their version of God’s will, but doing it their own way.  He said, “depart from me, I never knew you.” They were doing, what appeared to be the same as the apostles, but it was in self-motivated satanic power.  

Who discerned that?  The Lord Jesus did!

What is His will in general for all believers?  Fish for men. (Matt. 4:19); Walk in the Spirit (Gal. 5:16.); Seek Him in the Scriptures daily to understand His heart.  It always involves service.  He came to serve, not to be served.  He lives in the believers to continue to do just that.  He is the same today, yesterday and forever.

 “The eyes see what the heart loves.  If the heart loves God and is single in this devotion (focus), then the eyes will see God whether others see Him or not.” Warren Wiersbe, Live Like a King

Let’s be wise moms this coming year and stay God-focused…

~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.