Author Archives: Tamar

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About Tamar

Tamar Knochel at your service! From sewing and crafting to words of encouragement when you need them most. I'm here for you. ❤️

Prayer for God’s Protection: Psalm 91

Posted on September 9, 2011 by Tamar

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” Psalm 91:1-2

As children of the Living God our creator when we read through the Bible, His love letter to us, we find promises that He has made to us. Psalm 91 is one of those promises, a cherished one, and a very powerful one. This is a Psalm that the Jews often memorize and recite in times of trouble for themselves or loved ones. Right now, with everything that is going on in the world today, Fear is running rampant through the streets. But as true believers of Jesus we can STAND ON THESE PROMISES. When we are already in the arms of the LORD, we find ourselves dwelling in the shelter of the Most High and resting in the shadow of the Almighty. We can say “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”  We do not need to be afraid. Period. Did you know that the message “don’t be afraid” or a variation of it is repeated 365 times in the Bible? That’s one for every day of our year! Fear is a powerful weapon in the Enemy’s arsenal, and he loves to wield it against us… because it works. Fear is a tremendous motivator, sometimes for good. But being afraid, is pointless. Fear causes us to make quick decisions and do foolish things. If we are afraid, then we are not trusting God for that thing. Thinking back on this I realize that I did that very thing not even hours ago! I was shopping in a hurry because I had taken my time on my earlier errands. I got to the store and like I usually do, I prayed that God would lead me in my shopping, that I wouldn’t spend more than His will for our family, that I would get all the things that I needed, and most importantly, that He would LEAD ME TO THE DEALS! 🙂 Boy did He ever too! But anyway, I digress. The cart was packed to the gills and I kept looking at it thinking this is going to cost more than what I budgeted, this isn’t good, I am afraid of just HOW MUCH this is going to cost! I was doubting Him and His leading me… JUST like I had asked Him to! I was afraid that it would cost more than we could afford, right after I had asked Him to help me make sure that I wouldn’t do that! Sometimes I really disappoint myself. I wasn’t walking in the faith that God had heard and would answer my prayer for guidance. HELLO! Jeremiah 33:3 TAMAR! “Call to me and I will answer you...” Promise!

God doesn’t want us to be afraid of ANYTHING, because He’s taking care of EVERYTHING for us… when we dwell in the shelter of the Most High and rest in the shadow of the Almighty. When God is our refuge and fortress, when we trust in HIM, He takes care of everything! Now, I’d like to say that I came out of the store under MY budget, but I didn’t. I was however only $15 over AND I walked out of the store saving $30 and had a backseat FULL of groceries! There was barely room for my daughter to sit! Woohoo! Thanks for all the deals Daddy! Yes, I slipped a little in my faith that God would answer my call for help in the store… but HE is faithful, and irregardless of MY lack of faith, HE still held up His end of the deal. So, where did my fear and worry get me? Nowhere other than the foot of the cross asking for forgiveness once again. Little by little I’m getting better at trusting Him.

As for the Prayer for Protection from Psalm 91, I’ve been praying/declaring it over my friends the last couple of days. Praying it for their family by their family name, and praying it for our own family by name. I’m going to type it with specific words underlined, when praying this prayer for someone else, a family or an individual simply exchange their name with the underlined word(s). This particular prayer is interesting because it’s really more of a declaration of faith than it is a request. Which, honestly, I think is what makes it so effective. Because God doesn’t want us to just ask, no, He wants us to BELIEVE in what we are asking. The way that this Psalm is written, when you speak it over someone, it reads filled with belief and turns into a declaration of faith. I love how it works out that way. 🙂 But my favorite part is the end, where God responds immediately to the prayer, make sure to read His answer out loud as well! Actually, make sure to read the whole prayer out loud, the angels surrounding you right now waiting to carry out your prayer can’t read your mind, only God can do that! So make sure to declare this one loud and proud for your loved one! Make sure ALL the heavenlies can hear your declaration of faith!

Prayer for Protection: Psalm 91: “Father God Almighty, I lift up the Knochel family to You right now. Lord, may they dwell in the shelter of the Most High and rest in the shadow of You the Almighty. May they say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom we trust.” Father,I believe that You will save them from the fowler’s (the Enemy) snare and from the deadly pestilence (sickness/ill-health). I believe that You will cover them with Your feathers, and that under Your wings they will find refuge; I believe that Your faithfulness will be their shield and rampart. They will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at their side, ten thousand at their right hand, but I believe that it will not come near them. They will only observe with their eyes and see the punishment of the wicked. If they make You the Most High their dwelling – even the LORD, who is my refuge – then I believe that no harm will befall them, no disaster will come near their tent. Lord, I believe that You will command Your angels concerning them to guard them in all their ways; that the angels will lift the Knochel’s up in their hands, so that they will not strike their foot against a stone. Lord, I believe that the Knochel’s will tread upon the lion and the cobra; that they will trample the great lion and the serpent (all symbols of the Enemy). “Because they love Me” says the LORD, “I will rescue them; I will protect them, for they acknowledge My name. They will call upon Me, and I will answer them; I will be with them in trouble, I will deliver them and honor them. With long life will I satisfy them and show them My salvation.”

Cool story I heard a while back, a man (I think an evangelist) was a FIRM believer in the promises of Psalm 91. So much so that he had some scientist test him on it. So armed with a microscope, they placed the BUBONIC PLAGUE on his skin…. and watched it die the instant it touched him. Now THAT’S what I call active faith! My aunt’s husband Tom had cancer, the doctors gave him the option of taking a medicine with a 50% chance of working, he chose not to take the medicine and take his chances believing that God would cure him. Today, Tom is 100% cancer free! Among many many many other people prayers, one of the things that they did was a group of people stood by Tom and spoke Psalm 91 over him every day. The Bible is FILLED with miracles, and those miracles ARE possible for TODAY! God is the same yesterday, today and forever, He doesn’t change. He’s the same miracle-working God today that He was back then. The ONLY difference is whether we’re willing to BELIEVE HIM for those miracles or not. It’s all up to us. For anything is possible for him who believes!!! Speak this prayer out in BELIEF that it is the TRUTH and it is the LIFE and it is the WAY! (I really wish you could hear my fingers pounding on they keys as I’m typing this, I may hurt my computer!) The prayers of a righteous man/woman avails much. You know what makes someone righteous in God’s sight? The fact that they believe that He has forgiven them and that they TRUST HIM to do what He says He will do! Believe that HIS WORD IS TRUE and it will hold more power for you, than you ever thought possible! God is trustworthy, TRUST HIM and He will NOT let you down! Hallelujah!

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Prayer for those in darkness

Posted on September 8, 2011 by Tamar

“Lord, I lift up those in darkness to You, Father please be their lamp, please turn their darkness into light. Father, I once was in darkness, but now i am light in the Lord. Help me to live as a child of light. Lord, those that dwell in darkness need You O LORD, turn them into light in Jesus’ name and help them to live as a child of light should. Help all of us to have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but to rather expose them. Because everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why we say: “Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Lord, please let no one deceive them anymore with empty words. Lord, may they be a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, belonging to God, that they may declare praises of His who called them out of darkness into Your wonderful light. I ask all this in the precious name of Jesus our Lord and savior who died to make these requests possible! AMEN!”

Yesterday I learned a very powerful truth, prayer is powerful (this I already knew) when you pray the Word of God over someone (this I didn’t realize). So today I spent a good portion of the day looking up verses for specific people in my life that I’ve been praying for already, and re-worded them (only a bit) to turn them into a prayer for those specific groups of people. In other words, this is the first in a series of powerful prayers that you too can pray over the loved ones in your life. ENJOY and GOD BLESS!!!

(This prayer is: 2 Samuel 22:29; Ephesians 5:8; Ephesians 5:11; Ephesians 5:13-14; Ephesians 5:6 & 1 Peter 2:9)

Categories: The Crazy Mom Blog

Unfailing love

Posted on September 7, 2011 by Tamar

“I am praying to you because I know you will answer, O God. Bend down and listen as I pray. Show me your unfailing love in wonderful ways. By your mighty power you rescue those who seek refuge from their enemies. Guard me as you would guard your own eyes.Hide me in the shadow of your wings.” Psalm 17:6-8

Back when my husband and I were only engaged, I received a forwarded email about a “game” that this little old man and his wife had always played where they hid the letters S.H.M.I.L.Y. throughout the house for the other one to find. They would write SHMILY in the fog on the bathroom mirror, in the flour canister, even on the last sheet of toilet paper on the roll! When I read that email, which I now have printed out and in our wedding scrapbook, I showed it to my husband and told him that I would like to do this with him. And ever since then there have been little S(ee) H(ow) M(uch) I L(ove) Y(ou) notes pop up every once in a while. I remember one morning going out to my car before work and my front windshield had already been scraped clean for me. I thought to myself, “He is so sweet!” and then when I turned around to back out of the spot I saw a HUGE SHMILY scrawled across the frost in the rear window!

One April morning in 2010, I was having a yard sale with my friend Kelly. So I knew that it would be a busy day. I wanted to spend some time with the LORD before I started my day, but knew that I wouldn’t have time for a full-out bible study lesson, and I didn’t feel like a devotional was what I needed for the day either. So I sat down in the middle of my bed with my little pocket bible and prayed “LORD, I want to read what You would like for me to know today.” and I opened my bible to a “random” page. It ended up falling on Psalm 17. As I read I feel my heart swell with love for my God, through David’s prayer, I too was praying “Lord, I know you will answer me…” The idea that God bends down to listen to us, like a Father bending down to listen to His small child so that He can make sure to understand him properly. Our God does THAT. 🙂 But then we get to the part that really blew my socks off. “Show me your unfailing love in wonderful ways.” I’d never thought of asking that of God before! I mean, I know that He loves me, and that it’s a lot, but to ask Him to show me? Didn’t He already do that? Like a Father stretching out His arms wide from side to side and saying “THIS much!” when their child asks them “Daddy, how much do you love me?” Jesus did just that when He spread His arms wide and they nailed them to the cross. Yes, He DID already show us how much He loves us, but that doesn’t mean that He doesn’t still show us that love today too… in wonderful ways! That morning when I prayed after reading I prayed, “Lord, I KNOW You love me, and I KNOW that You show me everyday how much You love me. But today, will You show me in a WONDERFUL way, a way that You’ve never shown me before?” At the time I felt that it was an extraordinarily bold request, but I also felt confident that He would answer it as well. One of those times, when you just know He’s heard your prayer and is going to answer it.

Well, I went about my day, selling my “junk” as some called it, and I started to get hungry. In my haste to set up I had skipped breakfast, something I do often, so I grabbed an apple from the fridge. As I bit into the apple I found pink swirls throughout the entire apple! I had NEVER seen an apple like that before! I was amazed and kept Oooohing and Aaaaahing over how beautiful it was and how God had made that apple with the swirls in it just for me to find that morning, all because I’d asked Him to show me His love in wonderful ways. At the very end of the apple eating/marveling my husband walked past me and I just had to show him this apple with the wonderful pink swirls! I held it up for him to see and when I brought it back up to my own face to take another bite, a HEART was staring me in the face!!!!!

I about dropped the apple I was so surprised! Not only had God put swirls in my apple, He had put a HEART in it too!!!!! But not until the end, after I had eaten most of it, because I WAS hungry after all remember. 🙂 God had grown that apple in a particular orchard, in a particular way, so that it would go to that particular store that I was shopping at that day. He made sure that it was placed into a particular bag, and that the bag was placed in a particular position so that it would be the bag that I grabbed and took home. THEN He made sure that I grabbed that very particular apple that morning and had me eat it in a particular way so that when I was done I would be holding it in just the right way to actually SEE the heart that He had put in it just for me. THAT’S a LOT of planning to go into one little SHMILY! But it was from God, so that makes it a little different, because it’s unfailing love! Since that day when God opened my eyes to His unfailing love shown in wonderful ways He has given me hearts and smiley faces all over the place! From my breakfast one morning: (I filled the plate while it was sideways, and then when I picked it up to leave there was this FACE staring up at me!) to a grape in the bottom of a bag full of grapes! He’s even smiled at me from a rock in a friend’s driveway, and yet another apple! And then this morning a heart in a hair tie on the bathroom floor when I walked in . And those are just the ones I was able to take pictures of! There have been SHMILY faces in the soap bubbles of a soaking dish in the sink, SHMILY faces in the crumbs on the counter, and even SHMILY faces in the dirt on the floor! And you know what, I’m detecting a pattern!  Many of the SHMILY faces that I’ve seen have been while I was cleaning, often on my knees or doing a humbling act of service, God smiles on a humble servant. 🙂

(Feel free to pray this prayer with David and I today.) Lord God Almighty, I am praying to you because I know you will answer, O God. Bend down and listen as I pray. Show me your unfailing love in wonderful ways. By your mighty power you rescue those who seek refuge from their enemies. Guard me as you would guard your own eyes.Hide me in the shadow of your wings. Amen!

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Bear Hugs

Posted on September 6, 2011 by Tamar

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.” John 15:9

I was just getting ready for bed and went to give my sleeping children just one more kiss for the day and to pray over them just one more time. But this time my daughter was still awake! She sat up and greeted me with a huge grin and through prune-y sucked fingers said “Hi Mommy”! My heart just melted! I sat down on her bed with her, wrapped her up in a big bear hug and squeezed her until she squeaked. I said, “Princess, I love you soooooo very much! And just think, I love you this much, and it’s not even close to the amount that God loves you, but He can’t hug you.” And I wrapped her in another tight squeeze. And it was in that moment that God chose to remind me how I had just prayed that He use me to show people how much He loves them. And how He was using me to show her and tell her how much He loves her… and how much He love me! More than a smitten mother’s love for her precious baby girl. Praise God! 🙂

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Labor

Posted on September 6, 2011 by Tamar

“We always give thanks to God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers – continually remembering before our God and Father you work of faith and and steadiness of hope in our Lord Yeshua the Messiah.” (1 Thessalonians 1:3 The Tree of Life Version)

OK, so I wanted to try my hand at writing to a theme today. Usually I just write whatever the LORD puts in my head, but yesterday, sitting in church, listening to the sermon on work, I felt the Holy Spirit tug me and tell me to stretch myself a little and start things from a different angle today. When we talked with the pastor after the sermon he mentioned that when he does a topical sermon he always starts with a word search through the bible to see what the scriptures say on the topic. So naturally, that’s where I started too. There are 115 individual scriptures in the New International Version of the Bible that have the word “labor” in them. I didn’t even get past the first 8 before I didn’t want to look at them any more! Almost every single one prefaced the word labor with the word “hard” or “harsh”, how depressing! So I decided, maybe I should look up the Webster’s definition of labor, maybe that might be a little more inspirational for a devotional blog… nope! According to my Webster’s New Basic dictionary and Thesaurus labor means: “(n) exertion of the body or mind; task; pains of childbirth, workmen collectively. (v) work hard; strive; maintain normal motion with difficulty; esp. of a ship, be tossed heavily.” I seriously thought to myself, THIS is what we’re supposed to be celebrating today??? Are we crazy??? And now that I’m thinking about it more, most of us celebrate Labor Day with a day OFF from laboring! Now, that doesn’t make sense either. So how do I write something inspirational and hopefully uplifting about a topic that is so depressing?

Maybe I should just start at the beginning. That’s what God did. If we look at the Garden of Eden and the very first thing that God gave Adam to do, He put him in the garden to “work it and take care of it” (Gen 2:15). But this job wasn’t labor, it wasn’t rife with toil or harshness. It was a labor of love! The ground had not been cursed yet, and was therefore easy to work. There wasn’t even sweat involved in the work. But then that serpent of old slithered in and ruined everything! He tempted, they ate, they were ashamed and hid, and then… in walks Daddy. Of course, like any good parent knows, He doesn’t really have to ask “what happened here”, because He already knows, He can see the evidence all over the ground, their faces, their fig leaves, but most of all… because He’s God. They offer Him their feeble excuses for what they’ve done and then their punishment is doled out:

“16 To the woman he said,“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.” 17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” (Gen 3:16-19)

The very first appearance of the word labor in the NIV is in the curse for the woman and birthing children, it will be labor. Curious, I looked up the original Hebrew for this verse and found that it can also be translated as worrisomeness, labor, pain, toil or sorrow. Now please, moms out there, tell me, how many of you have birthed a child and NOT been plagued with worries, pain, toil and sorrows ever since your child was born? The physical pain of birthing that child may have concluded at its delivery, but all the rest of it certainly hasn’t stopped since! Just this week my four-year-old has shed blood 3 times in a four-day-span and the worry that I have been wrapped up in as to the cause of all this blood shed has eaten me up inside! Yet, I also don’t know a mother out there that wouldn’t say that all of this labor of mothering is anything other than a labor of love. It’s hard, totally not glamorous, but completely worth all of it!

I have to admit, in the last 2 years I have been laboring. I’ve studied hard, researched til my brain hurt and written until I thought my fingers were going to fall off, all for the sake of spreading the good news that Jesus saves! Not just our souls for eternal heavenly purposes, but for TODAY and the life that we were created to live! I can’t even begin to count how many hours I have spent at my desk pouring over the scriptures trying to find the understanding I felt I needed to be able to tell people in an informed manner what God can do for them. I filled an entire book with the knowledge and insight that I gained from the Holy Spirit. And I OFTEN referred to True Intimacy as a child or a baby. I labored, like many people would never understand, to birth that book. The concept in it and the rationales behind them. Many never written out, but simply there in the background of the page, written in red between the lines.  When it became very obvious that it was not God’s plan to immediately publish True Intimacy in a 3D printed format, I have to admit, I was crushed, but obedient and went the direction that God led me; this website. Creating it, praying for it, learning (the hard way) how to put it together and work the programs, to even writing and posting daily, it’s all been hard labor. But every second of it has been worth it, my labor of love for my creator and for you. Through this entire process I have said “people need to know about this!” and that’s why I’ve been writing. Not for the money or the fame of being a “published author”, although that has certainly been part of the dream, but for the simple fact that God delivered my husband and I so completely from the bondage of past sins that all I wanted to do was tell the world that Jesus saves! That Jesus frees! That Jesus loves! That God cares… about YOU! And honestly, if I never see a penny from royalties to the things that I write in His name I’m perfectly fine with that as long as the good news is being spread and read! And really, I think that’s the whole point of labor. Laboring in love for the people around you who will benefit from your toil. Putting our selfishness aside and putting those people first. When we make a dinner for someone who is home bound, it’s still labor, but the labor isn’t as toilsome when done in love, don’t you think? Perhaps that is because our hearts are lighter and therefore our burden is lighter as well. I don’t know. I just know that when we’re laboring for someone else to benefit it seems a lot less like labor and a lot more like love. 🙂

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Squirrel!

Posted on September 2, 2011 by Tamar

Just now my friend Kelly called and when I answered the phone she was already laughing on the other line. She said “I have to tell you what just happened! You’re gonna love this!” She was driving to pick up her sick son from school (Please pray for Tristan) when she had to slow down because there was a squirrel in the road. As she approached the squirrel, expecting him to finish darting across the road and get out of the flow of traffic, he didn’t! In fact, he stood up on his hind legs in the middle of the road, placed his little front paws on his hips (or at least that’s what it looked like anyway) and stayed right where he was, staring down the giant silver Explorer in front of him! She said that both she and the people in the other car on the road were laughing hysterically at this ridiculous behavior of the squirrel. After having a great laugh about the entire episode, I had to explain to her how God just used her story to enlighten me to the behavior of the Enemy in my life lately.

You see, I’ve been taking great strides into the Enemy’s territory (winning great victories) and receiving a lot of attacks because of it. BUT, what God let me know this morning was that the Enemy is that squirrel standing in my path, with his little paws on his hips, staring me down… while I’m in the giant Explorer! If you’ve seen the Pixar movie “Up” you may remember how all the dogs in the film react when they see a squirrel. They may be in the middle of sentence or a chase and suddenly shout out “squirrel!” as they freeze and stare at the squirrel. Our family has picked up this habit as a joke and every time we see a squirrel now we point and shout out “squirrel!” And now that I’m thinking about it, that’s what I’ve been doing with these attacks from the Enemy too. I’ll be in the middle of something else and I’ll notice an attack and then instead of ignoring it and simply moving on, I will “shout squirrel” and take my attention from what I was doing to what the Enemy is trying to get me to focus on, him. He knows that if he can get me to look away from Jesus and to look at the storm around me out on the water, then he can get me to sink. Well… not any more!

When we hand the controls over to God, we are placing ourselves in the passenger’s seat of the giant Explorer. So that when satan the squirrel stands in the middle of our path with his hands on his hips, staring us down, trying to get us to stop. He is only ACTING bravado and tough and big, but he is NOT! He is NO match for God. His attempts to stop us are nothing but LAUGHABLE! And that, is precisely what I am going to be doing, laughing at his attempts to slow me down! Because he can’t. He won’t. He simply isn’t big enough. Period.

“I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me,” John 14:30

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

“For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” 1 John 5:4 KJV

“O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 15:55-58 KJV

“And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps [which represents joy] of God.” Revelation 15:2 KJV

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If God has used this post to touch your life in any way, please prayerfully consider giving a gift of love.

 

Categories: The Crazy Mom Blog

Why God?: Under Pressure

Posted on September 1, 2011 by Tamar

Tamar: My Dearest Jesus, You know that I have nailed myself upon Your cross and allowed You to come down off of it to live within me and through me, right? OK. So why is it that there are times in my, OK, OUR life when I feel You calling me so strongly to take a leap of faith and trust You on something only to feel like that leap of faith lands me flat on my face? Lord, I thought the idea of a leap of faith was for You to catch us, not let us fall! So why are those times when I KNOW I am following Your lead and living according to Your will and things still fall apart? Why does that happen? Why is it that in those times where the pressure seems so intense that it feels like I’m in a pressure cooker and I’m wondering where I went wrong, You can be so deathly silent! What is the purpose? What do You mean that You do it for our good? (Rom 8:28) It sure doesn’t feel good! So how can it BE good?

Jesus: Beloved Tamar, Yes, I do work all things for the good of those who love Me and are called according to My purpose. No, they may not all feel good at the time, but that pressure is for your good and for the good of those around you as well. It is my fingers molding the clay of your life into the shape that I want it to be. There will be times in your life where the pain will be a piercing one, a gouging if you will. It is in those times where I am using the tool that I created (Isa 54:16) to form you into the exact thing I am intending for you to become. My love, you mention feeling like you’re in a pressure cooker, so I’ll use that example to illustrate My point. You use a pressure cooker to cook a meal faster than cooking it in the oven or on the stovetop. The pressure inside the cooker aids in speeding up the cooking time of the final product correct? Well, that is precisely what I have been doing to you My love. You asked Me what My will for you and your life was and I told you. You obeyed and stepped right into the furnace of My very own pressure cooker of life. It may not be feeling so great at the moment, but believe Me when I tell you that this temporary pressure and the lessons that you are learning through it are ever so much better than the alternative that would’ve come around if you had not followed My directions for your life! It would’ve taken twice as long! And Beloved, it only feels like you’ve fallen on your face is not that I actually let you fall. On the contrary, when you took that leap of faith I snatched you back up so quickly and placed you into the cleft of the rock so that I could cover you with My hand to protect you from My glory as I walked past! (Ex 33:12-23) Open your eyes Beloved as I remove My hand, look carefully and You will be able to see My footprints before you as you emerge from the rock that surrounded you and step out into the blinding light of day again. Yes, the darkness was intense and the pressure was near crushing during your time there, but that is only because I could not bear to allow you to leave that place and risk losing you to the Enemy. The battle that was waged was fierce, and it was all for you and your soul and your welfare. But do not be afraid, for you are worth more than many sparrows (Matt 10:31) and I love you with more fierceness than he hates you with. And THAT is all that you need to concern yourself with My Dove (SOS 2:14). He may hate and curse you, but I love you and I bless you and I will keep you safe from him and his schemes as long as you continue to follow my lead. Do not feel like your following me is all in vain, do not believe the Enemy’s lies that he is having his henchmen feed you! Following Me and My lead is worth every sacrifice, every pain and every sorrow, and not just when you get to heaven either. It’s worth it NOW! Think about all the things that you learned in that pressure cooker you just came out of! Could you have learned so much in a green pasture? No my love, you wouldn’t have. Trust Me, this way IS best and is necessary. You are now able to step from this experience into a time of teaching and helping others learn from YOUR experience! Isn’t that in itself worth it all? To be able to make an impact on someone else’s life?

Tamar: Jesus, I’m sorry. You’re right. Of course. 🙂 Thank You for the perspective check. I should’ve remembered that You never waste a hurt or allow us to go through something that isn’t going to be best for us in the end. No matter how painful. I should have remembered that You did not deliver Shadrack, Mesack and Abednego FROM the firey furnace but rather helped them get THROUGH it which in turn saved so many more than just those three men in the fire. (Dan 3) Yes, it is worth it and yes I did learn a LOT in that dark and pressure filled environment. I’m sorry that I acted so childishly while I was in there. And how much I squirmed under the pressure instead of just being still and allowing You to do Your work. (Ps 46:10)  It’s just so hard to see in there!

Jesus: I know My love, but you also need to remember that I know the future. I knew that this is how you would react to the pressure. I knew that you would struggle and squirm under My firm hand. And because I knew, I was neither surprised, nor disappointed in you. Your outbursts towards Me, did still sting Me, as I was only helping you, but I forgive you and you need to forgive yourself My dear. If you can not forgive yourself, the Enemy will hold it over you and use it against you and that is the last thing that I want to happen to you! I died to make sure that he couldn’t do that to you, but only you have the power to claim that blood and hold it up as a weapon against him and his attacks on you. If you don’t run and hide behind Me it makes it much more difficult for Me to protect you. Don’t forget that either. I love you so much My Dove, please don’t mistake your pain for My displeasure of you. It couldn’t be farther from the truth! I am SO pleased with you, that’s why I’m pruning you! (John 15:1-17)  To make you even BETTER! Fear not My Dove, together, we can do ANYTHING!!!

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The Name

Posted on August 24, 2011 by Tamar

What IS it about a name that can get people so riled up? Why is it that when I say “Obama”, hackles start to raise, or if I say “Mother Theresa”, you might start to calm down. What about “Hitler” or “Mickey Mouse”? I think it’s because there are a lot of things attached to any name. Just like keys attached to a key ring, ideas, a face, statements, and ideals are attached to names. The name of Jesus gleans many different reactions depending on the person’s relationship with Him and the statement just made about Him. Someone who doesn’t know Him may be curious or cautious. Someone who’s had a bad experience with a Christian in the past may express anger or resentment. With myself, at the mention of the Name of Jesus, an intense sense of peace and joy washes over me and a smile usually creeps across my face – if the statement is simply His name or His truth. But when I hear His name used in a derogatory way I have an intense anger and a defense reflex rises up in me. Hmmmmm…… you want to know how I picture the Enemy’s response to the name of Jesus? I picture them with looks of absolute fear and terror on their faces as they flee in seven different directions!

In John 15:20-21 Jesus tells us to “Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of My name, for they do not know the One who sent Me.” There is POWER in a name. (Jeremiah 10:6) Moral of the story, when you take a step, any step, into Enemy territory in the name of Jesus, expect a battle!

The Enemy will use whomever he can to get to you too, the closer the better! Three years in a row, at harvest time, I have had 1) a very close friendship shatter, 2) a close family incident, and 3) another slightly more distant family incident all because of my bold faith. The past two years it’s been my family concerned for my sanity of all things. Because they’ve thought that I’m too overboard with this “God-thing”. It’s interesting to me, when the first incident with my family occurred I played a bit of Bible roulette (Pray about your situation and ask God for advice then open to a random page and see where your eye falls), and God gave me Mark 3:21. “When His family heard about this, they went to take charge of Him, for they said, “He is out of His mind.” Now, if Jesus’ family, who was present on the day at the wedding when He turned the water into wine, and His mother was quite present on the day of the immaculate conception, would think Him crazy enough to feel they needed to come “take charge of Him”, then of course my family will do that too when I start preaching and ministering in His name! In fact, how could I expect anything less?

Jesus tells us in Luke 12:49-53 “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed! Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” Jesus didn’t come so that everyone would agree… in fact His death caused even more arguing on the earth. And it’s certainly been that way ever since! The life of a disciple of Christ is not going to be like a ride on the lazy river at Holiday World, it’s a battle in the War of Words!

Jesus warns His followers while traveling one day that “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters – yes, even his own life – he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Will he not first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty-thousand? If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:26-33) Jesus is telling His followers both then and now, that we MUST put Him first ALL the time or we can’t be His disciples. We have to be willing to leave absolutely positively EVERYTHING to be with Him and follow Him every single step of the way, all the way to the cross and beyond. Following Christ, costs some people their lives!

But Jesus also gives us some reassurance too. Peter starts the conversation in this instance, saying to Jesus, “We have left everything to follow You!” “I tell you the truth,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields – and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.” Mark 10:28-31 I can not tell you how closely I have lived this verse! I am still on good terms with my blood family members, but I’m not in nearly as close contact as I used to be with them. But the loss I had with my blood family I have more than doubled in the sisters that I have gained in Christ! The Lord has completely surrounded me with more love from people that I now call family. Some of them I’ve never even met in person before, but yet there’s a tie, a bond there that you simply can’t see or explain other than, we have the same heavenly Father. It’s simply amazing!

Listen to “At Your Name” by Phil Wickham

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If God has used this post to touch your life, please prayerfully consider giving a gift of love, and/or sign up to be a prayer partner by emailing Prayer@TamarMinistries.net.

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The Mouth of the Lion

Posted on August 23, 2011 by Tamar

“At my first defense, no one came to my support, but everyone deserted me. May it not be held against them. But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully  proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” 2 Timothy 4:16-18

Well, standing on this side of the last three days I can honestly say I was delivered from the lion’s mouth! In 1 Peter 5:8 it tells us to “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” And that is precisely the lion I have been delivered from. The roaring lion of lies and deception, the accuser. And boy was he accusing me! My ears from morning till night were filled with accusing thoughts that my spirit knew weren’t true but my flesh was being tempted to entertain them! He accused me of all kinds of things: “You’re a horrible mother.” “You don’t spend enough time on your kids or your house.” “You’re not spending God’s money according to His will.” “You know you’re crazy right? You should give up this ‘God-thing’, it’s not doing you any good.” “Your ministry’s not going anywhere, what’s the point in going on?” “No one reads your posts anyway, this is just a huge waste of your time.” The battlefield of my mind was a buzz of swords flashing and shields sparking as my armor started growing heavier and heavier, and I started to almost believe some of those statements enough to even say a few of them out loud!

Now, I’ve been praying the prayer of Jabez off and on for the last 11 years (“Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, ‘Oh, that You would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let Your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.’ And God granted his request.” 1 Chronicles 4:10), and every time my territory is enlarged I am stepping across the enemy lines and have to attack the current resident of that territory in order to claim that land as my own. Now, just like Joshua’s battles, the battle IS mine when the LORD is with me. But that doesn’t mean that the current resident is going to flee in his shaking boots the moment I set my foot across the border! No, the Enemy’s going to fight for what is currently his. Be it a person, a generational curse, or especially a ministry field. Like the internet and posting the Word of God daily!

In Acts 5 we find the story of the apostles performing miraculous signs and wonders, believers meeting together and many new believers being added to their numbers. The apostles were making GREAT strides across the Enemy’s battle lines, ones that had been drawn for centuries. Can you guess what happened next? Yup! You guessed it! ATTACK!!!!! The roaring lion and all his beasts of the field came charging at the apostles in the form of the high priest and all his associates (Acts 5:17), ready to go in for the kill all because the apostles were doing all this in the Name of Jesus.

In John 15:18-21 Jesus has just finished teaching the disciples about the principles of the Vine and the branches and then shares with them “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. This is why the world hates you. Remember these words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed My teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of My Name, for they do not know the One who sent me.” You see, there is power in a name, any name, but the Name of Jesus, well, that name breaks chains! In the next section of Acts 5 we find the apostles arrested and placed in the public jail. An angel of the LORD breaks them out of jail, and the next morning they are preaching in the temple courts again. But then they are of course, surprise-surprise, arrested again and brought before the Sanhedrin for questioning. After much deliberation the verdict is cast down and the apostles are flogged and ordered not to speak in the Name of Jesus again. But did the apostles leave battered, bruised with their heads hanging low and depressed? Nope! “The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.” (Acts 5:41) Well, OK, but they obeyed the ruling authorities who had punished them and commanded them to stop preaching the name of Jesus though right? Nope! “Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.” (Acts 5:42) We can’t stop, we can’t give up, we can’t falter or lose faith in preaching the good news of the deliverance of Jesus Christ! The suffering for His Name is a reward! It’s not a fun reward, but it Is a reward none-the-less, and it is worth every tear, every scar, every hurt. Because God NEVER wastes a hurt, He uses every one of them down to the very last drop! And what does God do when He delivers us from the roaring lion’s mouth? He places us ever-so-gently into the loving and tender mouth of the Lion of Judah, where He carries us back to His den like His precious little lion cub.

“I have put my words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of my hand – I who set the heavens in place, who laid the foundations of the earth, and who say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’” (Isaiah 51:16)

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If God has used this post to touch your life, please prayerfully consider giving a gift of love, and/or sign up to be a prayer partner by emailing Prayer@TamarMinistries.net.

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Sunday Morning Prayer

Posted on August 21, 2011 by Tamar

Good morning Lord!

So, the “wrong number” phone call at precisely 2:28am was, I think, a nice touch. (2=set : 28=holy repentance, revival, renewal – which is what I’ve been praying for) After telling me during my break-down last night that the break-through is coming. But then to have me wake up at 7:20 (7=completion :20=holiness) and then 8:01 (8=renewal : 01=new), I just love it! I was feeling so down-trodden and useless last night and Your efforts to make me feel supported and loved are not going unnoticed. I appreciate it Lord. Thank You for helping me remember that I can’t expect my husband to be everything I need. Because I’m supposed to be expecting You to be everything I need.  I love You so much Lord. You truly do complete me. LOL. I think it’s funny to say that to God, but what’s really funny is that it’s so much more true for me to say it to You than to him even. While he may complete me in a more physical sense, You complete me in a REAL way. You were always intended to fill the infinite abyss in my soul. That place so filled with longings and desires that no thing on earth can fill. Only the infinite being of Yaweh can do that! You are so awesome! I love how we were made to go together, like peanut butter and jelly.

“Me and you, and you and Me, no matter how they toss the dice it has to be, the only one for Me is you and you for Me, so happy together!” LOL!!! You crack me up LORD! I love You! I love how You so often speak to me through the lyrics of songs running through my head and how the ones You’ve used lately are songs I haven’t heard in AGES! The relationship I have with You is so great! I love how You make me smile.

Lord, I lift up our church’s services to You today. May they honor and please You today Lord. Let the music make You smile. Not because You like the songs, but because the music is coming from the people You love. Lord, please come and meet us there, let Your Holy Spirit come and fill those sanctuaries so full of Your Spirit and Your fire that there is no room left for anything evil to remain and try to steal those precious seeds of Your Word that are being sown from those pulpits this morning. Lord, I lift up our shepherds. I ask that You will pour Your Spirit out on them today in such a degree that they will almost feel drunk! Use their lips to speak Your word to Your People today. Fill them with Your boldness and courage to speak those things that You’re calling us all to speak but they’re hard to say sometimes. Help them to say those things today. Help them to say ALL the words that You want to be heard today and none of the words that You don’t want spoken. Lord, I lift up Your Church this morning. Please open our eyes to see You more, open our ears to hear You more, open our minds to accept Your truths more from wherever we learn them church or otherwise. Your truth is the truth no matter where it comes from. Please help us learn the lessons You have set forth for us to learn today and throughout the week. Please open our hearts to love You more this week. Help us to fall deeper in love with You than we already are today. Let Your love grow within us day by day like an all-consuming, ever satisfying fire filling us to the brim with love for You and all of Your creation around us. Please let our cups overflow with Your love so that we are forced to pour it out on everyone that You place around us today. Oh, how I love You Lord! But I want to know you more! Teach me/us to know You more Lord, because the more we know You the more we love You. Pour Your Spirit out on us Lord, let us know what it FEELS like to have You with us in a greater measure. Lord, You are like a drug that I never want to stop being addicted to! A drink that always satisfies but it’s never enough for me that I want to stop drinking. You are the daily bread that fills but never is enough to make my hunger pangs for You cease. You are the God that satisfies and creates hunger and thirst for more of You! You are never enough for me and yet You are always exactly what I want. Lord, I’m glad You can read my heart and the intent of these words because they’re really not coming across with the intensity with which I am speaking them. Please use Your Holy Spirit to explain them to anyone who reads them so that they will understand what I mean about the mystery that You are and how You fill but you don’t fill, how You satisfy, but yet You don’t. How Your love is exactly enough and yet it’s never enough.

Lord, I lift up Tamar Ministries to You and everything that we say and do. Please use us to touch lives. To save individuals, marriages and families. We want to be a useful tool in Your infinite tool belt of ways to touch and change people’s lives. We want to be used of You because then we will be in Your hand more often. Lord, we surrender everything we are to You and Your purposes for us. It is Your plan that we want for our lives, it is Your will we wish to fulfill. Please help us to accomplish Your goals for us each individually and corporately. I lift up anyone and everyone who has, is, or ever will read or hear anything “spoken” from this platform we now call Tamar Ministries. Please open their hearts and minds to know You more through us.

In Jesus’ holy name we ask all these things, according to YOUR will Father God, AMEN!!!

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If God has used this post to touch your life, please prayerfully consider giving a gift of love, and/or sign up to be a prayer partner by emailing Prayer@TamarMinistries.net.

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