How I Met Jesus by Jenna Vick Silliman

On a day in early springtime, I rode on a big yellow bus with a bunch of other kids up to the Santa Cruz Mountains of California to a Young Life retreat weekend at Mount Hermon Conference Center. The cherry trees were covered with showy blossoms. During the day we played games and did a lot of singing. One of the leaders asked me, “Are you a Christian?”

I gave her a puzzled reply, “Of course! Isn’t everybody? Isn’t this a Christian nation?”

The speaker that night told of God’s great love for me. He quoted Bible verses about how God loved me so much that He came to earth in the form of a sinless man and died for me to pay for my sins. Jesus died for ME!? This was news—He did it for me, personally. Wow! I also never knew that Jesus was God—I thought He was just a cool guy and a good example to follow. Jesus is God! Amazing! With new thoughts going around in my head, the speaker gave us a fifteen-minute quiet time. We were to walk out in complete silence and go somewhere alone to talk to Jesus/God.

I sat under one of those blooming cherry trees, looked up at the stars, and cried my heart out. In the midst of much confusion, because I thought I was already a Christian just by attending the Catholic Church and being a U.S. citizen, I talked to the Lord Jesus for the first time. I thanked Him for His death for my sins. I thanked Him for His love. I remember feeling a deep sense of relief and I felt settled in my heart about my faith when I got done praying.

When I walked back to my cabin, my Young Life leader smiled at me. My eyes were red from crying, but I smiled right back at her and looked into her sparkling eyes. I could tell she knew. She asked me again, “Are you a Christian now?”

I said, “Yes! I am now!” She took both my hands and jumped up and down and spun me around and laughed. Then she opened her Bible and shared a Scripture verse that has become one of my favorites.


2 Corinthians 5:17,18 If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.


She had a little butterfly drawn in the margin of her Bible by this verse. She explained that a good analogy of becoming a Christian, is a butterfly coming out of a cocoon—a new creation. It is coming alive, spiritually, on the inside. In the Bible, Jesus calls it being “born again.” In fact, Jesus said, “You must be born again.” John 3:7

The next day I bought myself a Bible in the camp bookstore. I wrote my name inside the cover and copied out “my” verse and drew a butterfly beside it. Then I wrote down the date I became a new creation and started a new life in Christ—March 25, 1974.

I committed to reading two pages of the Bible, God’s Words to me, each day. On March 25 this year, 2012, I celebrate 38 years of life with Jesus, and He has been much more than my redeemer. He is my creator, my friend, my counselor, my provider, my strength, my teacher, my father, and He has even been a mother to me. Because we as Christians are the Bride of Christ, I have also come to know Jesus as my Groom, the love of my life. Jesus said, “This is eternal life that you KNOW Me.” John 17:3 Isn’t it amazing that we can know the Lord of all creation a little bit better every day?

Thank You, Jesus, for Your love, Your life, and Your JOY. I’m so glad I met You 38 years ago. I love You, God! "You show me the path of life and in Your presence is fullness of JOY!"Psalm 16:11 and Acts 2:28.

JOY of the Victorious Christian by Jenna Vick Silliman

“We shout for JOY in triumph at our victory and in the name of our Lord God we raise our banners high. He will fulfill all our plans…From His holy heaven He will show the strength of His right hand on our behalf.” Psalm 20:5

Our Kingdom Bloggers question of the week is: What is your spiritual battle strategy?

My battle strategy is a victorious mindset and proclaiming triumph accompanied by celebrating with JOY and laughter, singing and dancing in the name of the Lord Jesus. We read in the Scriptures how the battle is already won; the victory belongs to our Lord Who triumphs over sin and death, over the schemes of the enemy, with the finished work of the cross.

We are living in a season of celebration on the other side of the cross. We are like the friends and family of the prodigal son. When the older brother approached his home he heard music and dancing. We are having a party! We are continually enjoying a Holy Ghost party! The angels rejoice all around us in the glory realm. We are rejoicing, rejoicing always, in the Father’s goodness. We are letting our minds dwell on whatever is worthy of praise—and there are SO many things to give Him thanks for!

Our words are powerful and we hereby declare VICTORY in the power endued from on high in the mighty name of Jesus, our Lord and our King. We have been crucified with Christ, raised with Christ, and now we are seated in the heavenlies—actually seated with Christ on His heavenly throne! That’s what the Scripture says. We have a whole new perspective when we awaken to our citizenship in the heavenly kingdom as royalty and heirs of King Jesus.

The enemy and all his workers have been defeated! Whoohooo!!! If the worm tries to pull any little thing, we know where to tell him to go. He hates it when we laugh; so when he tries to distract us with his garbage, or tells us lies, let's just laugh at him. Hahaha! We know what Jesus taught us to pray. Your Kingdom, Lord, has come to this earth and now only Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven! We declare and decree it and we celebrate the victory that is already ours.

This season was prophesied by Jeremiah. In chapter 31 we read the Lords command to sing aloud on the heights of Zion and be radiant with JOY over the goodness of the Lord. The Lord says, Go forth in the dancing of those who make merry…the maidens, the young men and the elderly, all rejoice together in the dance for I have turned your mourning into JOY! I fill your mouths with laughter. I cause your lives to be “like a well-watered garden.” He says, I created My people to be a rejoicing people and My people will be satisfied with My goodness.

When we delight ourselves in the Lord, He gives us the desires of our hearts. We are like the tree in Psalm One. We are firmly planted in Him, we have roots that go down deep and drink from His refreshing waters, we have branches and leaves that are flourishing, and do not wither even in times of drought, and we are constantly bearing good fruit. We are blessed, happy, delighting in His every promise, meditating on His Word day and night.

The JOY of the Lord is our strength. When we gather we testify of all our victories and triumphs, our testimonies of walking day by day and hand in hand with our Lord, abiding in Him, one with Him, and co-reigning with Him. When we gather, even two or three of us, He is present in our midst. My very favorite verse in the Bible says: “In His Presence is fullness of joy.” (This verse is found in the Bible in two places—Psalm 16:11 and Acts 2:28.) One of the fruits of the Lord’s Holy Spirit is joy. The Lord promises He never leaves us or forsakes us. He constantly gives us reason to rejoice. When we gather let’s raise our flags (or banners) high in celebration!

Just as Jesus for the JOY set before Him endured the cross, we too can continually set JOY before us. The Lord says, “Well done faithful servant, enter into and share in the JOY of your Master.”

So you can't figure it out...there are far worse things in the scope of eternity.

For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. 
                                               1 John 2:16 NKJV


I heard a great sermon preached this past weekend on this very passage. The title was Points of Entry, and the message discussed the three ways Satan infiltrates our spiritual lives as pointed out in 1 John. Good stuff.  As G.I. Joe so famously says...Knowing is half the battle.

While I closely relate to what Tracy posted yesterday and consider her quoted passage a cornerstone in my daily walk, I think the passage that most people who know me personally probably associate to me is Luke 1:37- For nothing is impossible with God.

I use that verse in the signature portion of my emails. I also quote it frequently in conversations. Both are mainly for my benefit though and not necessarily an effort of outreach ministry. For frequent readers of Kingdom Bloggers, I have regularly referred in my post to the 'dark period' in my life when my daily walk was well off the Glory Road path. A fact that can be directly attributed to the first passage I quoted listing the ways of the world. While all three surely applied heavily during my struggle, the pride of life draped all over me like a cheap, over sized suit.

The Bible has many things to say about pride as well as the antithesis virtue of humility. In my heart today, I'm convince pride has caused many, if not most, of the dilemmas I have faced in life. Pride was certainly the root cause of straying from my Father. As I became more and more educated, an intellectual arrogance developed in me that practically demanded there be a logical, scientific explanation for everything in life. You know...the dream chased by fools.

No matter how hard I tried, God could just not be explained within my finite knowledge. Science surely didn't have the answers. Philosophy was all over the map on the subject of God. The answers I desperately sought just weren't available, so I did what many in academia still do today...I denied the concept of God as rational thinking. Pride rearing an ugly head at its worst.


For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
                                                                                                        Isaiah 55:8 KJV              


My redemption testimony was my very first post on Kingdom Bloggers almost two years ago (click here). Only second to my moment of salvation, realizing that God 's infinite wisdom can and never will be understood by my own knowledge was the proverbial pop needed to be heard. Maybe a slightly inappropriate metaphor for a life-changing epiphany...but I'm seeing things much clear these days and consider the affirmation a very key to my faith.

God is God...and I am not. Amen.

Maybe John Lennon actually got something right

I grew up with my older sister listening to the Beatles. Typically I enjoyed listening to them too. Lots of the time I disagreed with them, but I've got to admit that John Lennon actually got close to the truth in his song All you need is love. It's just a matter of whose love.

I've mentioned before the time when my sons' father left me. God taught me a lot during that season of my life. My work had, unknowing anything about my personal life, come to me and asked me to move to a town about an hour and a half from where we had been living. The new position they offered me would pay close to $20K more a year. We moved.

So I was in a new town, with a new job, kind of in a new life. I didn't know anyone there, and sometimes the boys would go visit their dad so I'd have time alone. I took a lot of long walks by myself on the beach during those times; and I thought. Thought about what was important to me, what life was all about.

During that season of my life the Holy Spirit brought the scripture passage from Matthew 22:34-40 back to my mind:

³⁴ Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. ³⁵ One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

It was one of those "aha!" moments. I realized that this was what life was all about - loving. Loving God, and loving the people who He brought into my life. It's like the Holy Spirit burned a passion to love Him and others into my heart; and that fire has never totally dissipated since. There have been times that the flame has flickered down low, but it has always remained. This desire to love God and love the people in my life has been the grid that I run potential actions through on a regular basis.

What about you, has God given you any Bible verse or passage that has become a grid for you?

God is Holy

When I was growing up, my mother read books with titles such as, “Raising a Strong-Willed Child”  - probably with good reason. If I decided on a course of action, such missing curfew, I would do it despite knowing I would face punishment and consequences. I anticipated what the punishment might be (such as grounding) and reasoned with myself that my parents couldn’t ground me forever; built into the punishment was grace. If 2 or 3 weeks being grounded was a fair exchange, I would do still go on with my plan. You could say I abused the grace my parents offered.

I approached my relationship with God in the same manner. I exploited grace by treating it as freedom to do what I wanted. In my bratty, know-it-all rebellion, I challenged God to prove 2 Timothy 3:16 was true – that all Scripture was useful. I started with the book of Numbers. In my ignorance, I believed Numbers to literally be about numbers because I had not read past the first chapter.

Challenging God, I’ve learned, causes him to act. The book of Numbers is my life-saver. There are plenty of applications we can learn from Numbers – it’s not just a book of census numbers – however, it wasn’t until chapter 20 that I was arrested by God.

Numbers 20:6-13 describes the second time God provided water through a rock. Forty years before, Moses had struck a rock at the Lord’s command and water gushed from the rock (Exodus 17:1-7). The innocuous action of striking the rock, instead of speaking to the rock as the Lord commanded for the 2^nd miracle caused Moses to forfeit his entrance to the Promised Land. I was struck dumb (pun intended).

God is holy. I did not become indignant that God would punish Moses – the man I considered closer to God than anybody. I was humbled and I repented of my rebellion. I could not anticipate the consequences of disobeying God and think that I could handle it; that simply showed my immaturity. I could not out-wait the mighty hand of the Lord. We cannot challenge the Holy One of Israel and not expect consequences.

Moses was his friend – they had conversations and Moses saw his glory and yet he was subject to God. He could not challenge God without him taking action. I meditated on that for a long time; I still meditate on the holiness of God and I have to repent of my rebellion towards God. Because of the work on the cross, we live by grace but God is holy and his word endures.

At the death of Moses, I’m touched by the loving-kindness of the Lord. At the age of 120, Moses climbed Mount Nebo and the Lord showed him the whole land. I feel the Lord’s heart when I read (and reread) that passage. The Lord was grieved he couldn’t bring Moses, his friend, into the Promised Land but the standard of the Lord doesn’t change. Instead, God gave him the next best thing – he showed Moses the fruit of his labour for the people in the desert. Moses saw with his own eyes, the land he had tirelessly lead the people toward. And then in a final act of sweetness, the Lord buried his friend. It was a private moment between two beings that loved each other. God didn’t love Moses any less but Moses’ sin forfeited the promise for himself.

I finished reading Numbers (and a few other references from the Torah) and I came away with two important lessons:

1.       God is holy and he cannot be mocked.

2.       All Scripture is useful, and I’ve poured the last 13 years of my life proving it through study and teaching.

The Key to the Christian Life!

One morning I woke up after a dream. I had this feeling that I had learned the key to life, to Utopian happiness. As I searched the dream, I couldn't remember what it was. How disappointed I was that morning. I went to the kitchen and made my self a bowl of Cheerios. I searched my memory all day long - even today I wonder what was it that I dreamed that day. I really can't explain it.

This week the Kingdom Bloggers are going to write about a facet of Christianity that they are most passionate about. Each of us comes from a different background, and walks with God in a personal way; the defining moments we wrote about last week are the building blocks of our lives.

Whenever I speak with Christians, whether they are new to the game, or long-timers like myself, there are always a few things that I am passionate about. Sure there are loads of important Christian things we need to do: prayer, Bible reading/study, church attendance are all good; they are. Priorities are good: God, spouse, children, work, ministry, and hobbies/sports, they are essential for allowing God to manifest himself in our lives.

If you are a reader of Fire & Grace, you know that I am passionate about the 5-Fold ministries Paul wrote about in Ephesians 4:11. You would also know that as much as I hate labels, I am Charismatic embracing the spiritual gifts, miracle healing, prophecy, the casting out of demons and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. You would also know that I think growing up as disciples, and spreading the Good News is an awesome responsibility!

Of course, I am most passionate about my Savior, Jesus!

There is, however; one more thing that I want every believer to know about. It is the very revelation that changed my Christian walk. In fact, it changed my life more than my own salvation experience. One day I was wrapping up worship rehearsal, and I asked the leader why we couldn't play a certain song? He replied, "because I don't feel that God wants us to." Before I could continue in my confusion - I mean I didn't ask to play a Black Sabbath tune - he continued: "David, we walk by faith. We can't just do things that sound Christian, but only those things that God is actually leading us to do."

I was actually stunned, because it was the difference between logically applying a Scripture, and hearing God, and being obedient to that.

Certainly there are a million Scriptures we could act upon at any given moment. For example, we meet a co-worker with a need for salvation at the coffee machine. We know they are lost, and they don't. The question is do we dump Romans Road on them, or is God up to something else?

I once met a guy that felt strongly about preaching the gospel to his new next door neighbor. He said, "I heard God ask me to do it." He would regularly engage the neighbor doing lawn work, or picking up the mail at the curbside box. The neighbor was often heading out for a run about the same time he was getting the newspaper from the sidewalk. "Why don't you come running." his neighbor joked seeing him in his bathrobe and headed down the sidewalk.

This man finally started running at a gym in private to build up his strength. One morning instead of getting the newspaper, he showed up in his running shorts, and surprised his neighbor. They ran together for two years just about every morning. Finally, the neighbors were over for a backyard BBQ and the couple came to the Lord.

About 6 months later his neighbor's home was invaded; his running mate was murdered, and his wife sexually assaulted. I know, I can't even imagine all the dynamics. I just remember this man saying, "I am just so grateful that God led me to love my neighbor in a way that he recognized was God. If I had been too busy to hear God, or had some sort of religious agenda, I doubt this would have turned out the way it did."

I still think abut that testimony when I need to know what to do about work, home, or even what to say to folks I meet in my day-to-day. If I can hear God, and walk by faith, I will always know what to do next in my walk. Sure, hearing God is not easy, but I believe that he wants to speak to us. Of course He does that in many different ways, but my favorite is hearing His still small voice. Over the years, I have learned to trust it (and yes, I have been wrong). However; I expect to hear from him now, and as I look back over my life since that day I was packing up my guitar after worship practice, I know that God spoke to me through the worship leader.

How about you, how does God speak to you?