God's Feathers

      

Did you ever wonder why the lady with the issue of blood touched the hem of Jesus' garment in order to be healed? The answer lies in the word hem.

In Greek, the New Testament language, hem is translated, kraspedon, in Matthew 9:20. This word means border, tassel, fringe.  The corresponding word in Hebrew, the Old Testament language, is kanaph which is translated in Psalm 91:4 as wings, extremity. We translate this as corners, edge, skirt, wings, a border, hem or feather. This passage reads: "He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark."  Now connect these scriptures with Malachi 4:2 which reads: “But for you who fear My name the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall.”  This passage speaks of the coming Messiah, Jesus. He will have healing in His wings (His hem). The woman in Matthew 9:20 knew the scripture in Malachi. By reaching out to touch His hem (the edge of His garment) that Jesus was the promised Messiah who possessed the healing she so desperately needed. Jesus is still here today by His Holy Spirit. Do you need healing today? Reach out and touch His hem.  Note: The “sun of righteousness” is another name for the coming Messiah. David called Him this name in his last song recorded in II Samuel 23:4

Sharon Vaner Meer interviewed me about The Late Sooner, God's Little Miracle Book, and God's Little Miracle Book II on June 5 on her radio program. You might want to check it out here:
http://svmwritersbloc.blogspot.com/2012/06/writers-and-writing-sally-jadlow.html?spref=fb

Writer's Block is a weekly radio program on KFUN/KLVF hosted by Sharon Vander Meer.

I have a blog today on Write Brain Trust about my experience with Kindle free downloads you might be interested in. http://writebraintrust.wordpress.com/2012/06/04/sally-jadlow-post1/

Made a quick dash to Dallas in two days; 951 miles to speak to a friend's book club this week. http://tinyurl.com/7e5qzeo

Thursday, May 3rd is the National Day of Prayer. I've written some reflections here.
The Fifty-year Fall
Fifty years ago we came back from our honeymoon and began our life together in our little one-bedroom apartment. Life was simple then.
 I will never forget the first day my husband, Vic, went off to work. I turned on the radio and began to unpack boxes stacked everywhere. I paused my unpacking as I listened to the newscaster.
 “The Supreme Court has handed down a ruling in favor of Madeline Murray O’Hare. There will no longer be any prayer allowed in public schools.”
 I pondered this. No prayer in public schools? Well, I guess the children will just have to pray at home, I thought.
 Little by little the courts have ruled for changes that at the time seemed small. Taken together, they have changed the face of our nation as we knew it then. With it, have gone the protective coverings and the strong foundation this republic was established upon.
 With prayer removed from the schools in 1962, the next step was to declare abortion legal in 1973. Because of that ruling, over fifty million of our citizens never lived to see the light of day. Two entire generations have grown up without any moral restraint. Today, our legislature argues ridiculous statutes as to whether marriage should be defined between a man and a woman; a law God established with the first humans on earth. We are on the edge of anarchy.
 Business dealings fifty years ago were sealed with a person’s word and a handshake. Many of today’s businessmen are unscrupulous greed mongers; especially in government. We have a president and a congress who shows no wisdom or restraint in its dealings.
 God promised us thousands of years ago, that if we would “Listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I charge you today, and observe them carefully,” He would make us “the head and not the tail” (Deuteronomy 28:13). He further promised in Deuteronomy 28:44 that we would lend and be the head, and not the tail.
We have become the tail. We are no longer the lender to many nations; we instead are the borrower. The Bible says that the borrower is slave to the lender (Proverbs 22:7). Surely we are China’s slave. Forty cents of every dollar made in America today goes to pay our debt to that nation. At the same time, our government gives billions dollars to governments who hate us and companies not founded on equitable business practices.
The children and grandchildren that are a product of our marriage fifty years ago will endure a heavy burden of debt, if indeed there is any end to this insanity.
As I see it, there is only one way out. God calls His people to repentance; to turn from their wicked ways and return to Him. It is my constant prayer that His lovingkindness will once again be poured out on our nation, and He will grant us the gift of repentance. Perhaps, by a miracle of God, He will grant my request.

27 Stories

A curious thing happened the other day. Someone questioned me as to why there are 27 stories in God's Little Miracle Book and God's Little Miracle Book II.

I replied, "I couldn't think of any more at the moment and declared it 'done.'"

My inquirer is a Hebrew teacher and explained, "Each letter of the Hebrew alphabet has a number assigned to it. Letters also have words associate with it. The number twenty-seven is the number for 'kindness.' In Hebrew it's spelled 'checed' (which sounds like hesed in English).'"

I went to blueletterbible.com and looked up "kindness." It references, goodness, kindness, faithfulness.

I sat in awe. Each of the stories in this book demonstrates the kindness, goodness and faithfulness of God to us. It's so fun to write guided by the Holy Spirit!

After 48 hours on free download God's Little Miracle Book sits in #2 in sales on Best Sellers, Christian Meditations category. It downloaded for free 9,913 times.

2.God's Little Miracle Book (God's Little Miracle Books)Sally Jadlow5.0 out of 5 stars (9)Auto-delivered wirelessly $2.99

HEALING

In God’s word, the Bible, He promises us certain things. Many times it’s a two-way street. If we’ll do certain things (meet His requirements) then He promises to fulfill His end of the agreement. The problem often lies with us. We fail on our end and then accuse Him of not being faithful.

I was drawn to one such promise the other day. It reads, “And He said, ‘If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians, for I, the Lord, am your healer’” (Exodus 15:26). We have to do four things in order for His promise to be fulfilled.

Deuteronomy, chapter 28, gives a very accurate list of blessings and curses. Each is qualified with that big, little word “IF.” If you would like to read it, click this link: http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Deu&c=28&v=1&t=NASB#1 Pretty comprehensive list, isn’t it?

I think it’s very helpful to look up the original Hebrew (Old Testament) and Greek (New Testament) words when examining a scripture. It’s really easy to do. Go to http://www.blueletterbible.org/ Type a scripture, and click the little number beside any word you want to know about. An original meaning will pop up.

Here’s an example of the word study I did on Exodus 15:26. The words in parenthesis are the expanded meanings. I chose the New American Standard Bible, (NASB).

Exodus 15:26
And He said, “If you will give earnest heed (listen to, obey, perceive, hear with attention or interest, yield to, to sound aloud (musical term), make proclamation,) to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to (hear, listen, be obedient, harken) His
commandments, and keep (guard, observe, give heed, protect, save life, watch for, wait for, observe, retain, treasure up in memory,) all His statutes, (ordinances, prescribed action, decree, law, civil enactments prescribed by God) I will put (lay upon, set in place,) none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians, for I, the Lord, am your healer (to heal, make healthful, physician of men, of hurts of nations, individual distresses, national defects or hurts).

I wonder what would happen if we would set about to DO what He says?

Forgiveness

I heard a quote recently that bears repeating. "To refuse to forgive someone is likedrinking poison and expecting the other person to die."Neglected forgiveness, whether intentional or unintentional, tends to eat us up while theother person is unaffected. When we forgive someone, we’re not discounting the wrong. We’re only releasing themfrom our judgment so that when we wrong another, we too, may receive forgiveness.If you’ve ever prayed the Lord’s prayer you’ve asked for that. (Forgive us ourdebts and we forgive our debtors.)Corrie tenBoom called that , “Keeping short accounts with God.”

God's Little Miracle Book: Fasting Prayer

God's Little Miracle Book: Fasting Prayer

Fasting Prayer

I grew up in the church but had only heard whatever snippit the pastor chose to preach on that Sunday. Besides, I didn’t speak King James so the Bible was always hard to understand.When I was about 30 I decided to buy a Living Bible and read it through, Genesis to Revelation, even if it killed me; and I was pretty sure it might. After all, if I called myself a Christian, I better know what the book said.It was a real revelation to me when I got to the part that said, “And when you fast . . . ” not if. Me? Fast? As a kid, I never thought much about fasting. My Catholic friends talked about it some, but it was never part of my practice. I figured that was something monks did. I decided I’d give it a whirl.At that time I’d wanted to play the autoharp. I borrowed one from my friend. When I played it, it sounded akin to cats on the back fence in a fight. A friend at prayer group said if you fasted you needed to have a stated purpose for the fast. Maybe I could make this my purpose. I’d ask God to help me learn to play the autoharp.The first day of the fast was terrible. My stomach growled. I though about food all the time. On the second day, my stomach gave up and decided no food was on the horizon. As I prayed and practiced the autoharp, I began to see certain cords like C, F, and G seemed to work together pretty well.I broke my fast at the end of the third day. By then, I had figured out some of the other patterns. I could actually play a simple chorus; not as quickly as it should go, but at least I picked it out.My family bought me an autoharp for Christmas and I continued to learn to play. To this day I’m no accomplished musician, but I can play simple choruses.Over the years I’ve fasted for different purposes. God never fails to teach me more each time I take time apart with Him.I still haven’t figured out how fasting prayer works. I just know it does.

Go Back Buttons

Remember when computers had "go back" buttons? It would automatically take you back to a previous date and wipe out all the bad stuff you'd loaded on your computer.

God has a go back option. It's found in I John 1:9. It reads, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

That's not all He does. He removes our sins as far as the east is from the west. Psalm 103:12 says, "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us."
I'm so glad He didn't say "as far as the north from the south," because we would eventually run into them again. If we go east around the whole globe, we never meet west at some point, so He's saying we'll never meet up with those sins again.

So, all we have to do is admit our sins to Him and He will cleanse us and make us right with Him. Now that's good news!

Back At It!

The day I turned in my final proofs to my publisher, I prayed, "Well, what's next, Lord?" Within three days I had a line on six more miracle stories to write. Sooooo, I'm hard at work on God's Little Miracle Book III.

For a peek at the available ones, check out:
http://tinyurl.com/6wzrfdy Barnes & Noble

http://tinyurl.com/cgfvr38 Amazon.com