By Kadeen Edwards

     “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.”   ‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭26‬-‭34‬ ‭NIV‬‬

      No accusations will stand against the finished work of Jesus. Now death, hell, and the grave has no power over us. Jesus sits at the right hand of the throne of God, making intercession. I love that Jesus intercedes for us, (Hebrews 7:25) and the Holy Spirit intercedes for us (Romans 8:26). I like to think that there’s just one accuser who says we are guilty.
   
       However, sometimes I find myself in self-condemnation. I think sometimes our enemy doesn’t have to do anything; just sit back and watch as we tear ourselves down instead of speaking life to ourselves. We speak to ourselves in a manner that we would never speak to anyone else.
 
         This is why it’s so important to know the word of God. Because truly our enemy is right, and we are right; that which has been spoken is true; we are guilty, and there’s no way around that. In fact, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So there’s no use arguing with the facts; however, in Christ, there is no condemnation. No longer do we have to sit under the weight of guilt because Jesus paid the price for us that we could walk in freedom.
      
​         This freedom doesn’t give us the license to sin and do whatever we want. This freedom gives us the ability to choose life and to break free from shame, guilt, fear, anger, and all the other things that keep us separated from God.

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Spoils of His Word-February 16, 2026
Linda Hokit

     “And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking break from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people.” Acts 2:46-47 KJV

     I remember the Jesus Revolution. Really, I was a young teen when I understood phrases like, “They were of one accord,” which means they agreed together. I remember singing Bible verses to new and modern tunes. I remember people spontaneously standing and singing while others joined in. I remember people praying and praying and praying with very little prompting or leader guidance. I remember people getting up from those prayers and going to people and “making things right” between them or gathering a group to pray together. I remember people jumping up leaving the service and returning with a friend or family member. I remember groups of people going out and talking to people and inviting them in. It went on for months. 

     I remember recently going to a moving about the Jesus Revolution and remembering back to not only those days but also to the other times I have seen God’s People worshipping and ministering in one accord. To be sure, each of these events had various levels of fervor, but each were times when, like those in the early church, God’s People knew God was speaking to them individually and as a group.

     The first time I knew what it meant to be in awe of God was during an Easter Service when I was about eight years old. After we sang the usual Easter hymns the pastor said he would not be speaking all until the end of the service. He was sure that what he was about to do would “speak” to use in the meanwhile. 

     With that, he stood up and placed a canvas on an easel and pulled out artistic chalks. For the next few minutes you could have heard a pin drop. We were not only transfixed but we were hearing the Gospel through the Holy Spirit. In those moments, I understood the Easter Story beyond bunnies and colored eggs. Once he had drawn the empty tomb he took a few minutes to offer those who did not know Christ as Savior to make that commitment. I was only a Christian but for me it was a rededicating moment. What a thing to teach people of all ages! We were in one accord. 

     Later, I remember going to a church in Montana. I was with a group of missionaries who would spread out across Montana telling stories about how God was working in the places we served. Some of us served overseas and others in various locations in the United States. I was supposed to be among those who brought stories of how God was using His servants on my mission field. However, that day we were the ones moved by the Spirit, because the pastor got up and instead of beginning a sermon as we all expected, he asked who had a prayer request. Someone would then share a request. Immediately, a person would raise their hand and say, “I have that request”. This went on for a few minutes. When the pastor felt it was time to pray he said, “Now let us pray.” We did not just bow our heads while someone else said a prayer on our behalf. Rather, all of those who committed to pray got up, went to the altar and knelt down. Then each one in turn prayed aloud one by one until the requests were completed while we agreed with them. Then and only then, did the minister speak to the congregation. We were in one accord! What a wonderful reminder that God was working in that church and town before we arrived to inspire and encourage!

     While on that same trip, I went to a town to speak but the pastor had to be somewhere else. So, a pastor leading another church from a different denomination stepped in to host me in his home for dinner, take me to the church where I would speak and help open the service! The pastors in that town were of one accord! They did not just minister from their own church but also agreed in the ways they could serve together to reach their community. 

     When I was in Canada another church did something similar. The pastors with a church on a particular street agreed to pray together. So, each week one church gave the other churches a prayer request that all the churches prayed for on Sunday and through the week. The church I attended wrote it in the bulletin and placed it on their own prayerlist for the mid-week prayer service. Neighboring churches were in one accord.

     And now, there have been revivals on campus in the past few years. Athletes and other public figures are speaking up for Jesus and sharing their faith. Christians are serving together to share God’s word during the Winter Olympics. God is moving in ways we can all affirm. In closing, let me share one last story. I remember an event where the speaker asked everyone to sing “Jesus Loves Me” in their own language at the same time and another when everyone repeated John 3:16 together in the way they learned it. Whether it is different translations or different languages, we are all in one accord when we seek to agree in the Spirit of the Lord.

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by Peggie Potter-Balaun
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      Genesis 5:24  Enoch walked with God & he was not there because God took him.
 What do Enoch, Abraham, Moses, & David all have in common ?  What did Adam
once have in common with all these ?
                         Answer: closeness , friendship & fellowship with God !

       1 John 4:16 tells us that God is Love & he who abides in love abides in God
and God in him.

       Most people sadly don't understand or even think about Father God's incredibly
loving nature & that He deeply desires friendship & fellowship with each one of
us. He also desires that through Jesus we both attain this closeness as well as
His nature of love that we would also genuinely love one another as He first loved
us.

       I don't believe most people realize just how grieved Father God was when Adam
broke fellowship with Him; the one he used to walk with in the cool of the evening.
As parents think of how we fell when a beloved child breaks fellowship with us !
How much more our loving Heavenly Father who would that none should perish, but all
should come to everlasting life through His Son Jesus.

       Enoch was in such fellowship with Father God that he was taken to the Father's house
without death ! Abraham, Moses, & David accomplished remarkable feats, not because they
simply could; they were no different that you or me; but because of their closeness and
reliance on almighty Father God !

       We do ourselves a disservice comparing ourselves to them as like us they were all mere human beings ! 
 The only difference is that they chose closeness & fellowship with the all-powerful, all loving Father God ,
the one who knows & loves each one of us intimately and desires that His perfect will be accomplished in us.
We can't achieve that without actively seeking Him each & every day with all our hearts !

Peggie Potter-Balaun.

by Rebecca Vickery

      Have you ever tried to find God by looking for him the way he showed up for someone else?
We look at the way that God answered a friend’s prayer and we think, ok, so I will pray the
same prayer and he will heal so and so. We see how God provided for a neighbor and think he
will provide in the same way for us. And while it is true that God will hear our prayers, and it is
true that God will provide, he rarely ever does the same thing the same way.
 
     Looking at the whole of scripture as an overview, you can see that God interacts with each
person uniquely. He doesn’t make Noah’s wife out of Noah’s side. He doesn’t call Abraham to
make a large boat. He doesn’t wrestle with Joseph in the dessert. He doesn’t put Moses in a
place of favor inside of prison. He doesn’t have Joshua rescued from the reeds in a riverbed.
I’m going to guess that he didn’t call you while you were in the Czech Republic on a student
exchange program. The way he speaks to you is not going to be the same way he speaks to me.
But even the way he speaks to us will not be the same every time.
 
     In the book of 2 Samuel, after David has become King, it tells of how David went to ask
guidance of the Lord.  

     Now the Philistines had come and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim;    so David inquired of
the Lord, “Shall I go and attack the Philistines? Will you deliver them into my hands?”
The Lord answered him, “Go, for I will surely deliver the Philistines into your hands.”
So David went to Baal Perazim, and there he defeated them. He said, “As waters break out,
the Lord has broken out against my enemies before me.” So that place was called Baal
Perazim.   The Philistines abandoned their idols there, and David and his men carried them off.
2 Samuel 19-21

     A bit later, the same kind of thing transpires, but this time, instead of deciding the course of
action based on God’s previous instruction, David asks the Lord again and the Lord gives him a
different instruction on how to proceed.
 
     Once more the Philistines came up and spread out in the Valley of Rephaim;   so David inquired
of the Lord, and he answered, “Do not go straight up, but circle around behind them and attack
them in front of the poplar trees. As soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the
poplar trees, move quickly, because that will mean the Lord has gone out in front of you to
strike the Philistine army.” So David did as the Lord commanded him, and he struck down the
Philistines all the way from Gibeon to Gezer. 2 Samuel 22-25

     We are not given a formula to live by besides draw near to God and He will draw near to you.
(Wash your hands you sinners, and purify your hearts you double minded.) James 4:8 He tells us
in Jeremiah 33:3 “Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and incomprehensible
things you do not know.” In the TV show “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” they had a phone a
friend option. How amazing is it that our “phone a friend” is the Lord of Hosts? We can
approach the throne of the King of kings and the Lord of lords boldly and he will answer us. He
will answer us in a way that is unique to us.

     Now I do not mean to say that the Lord is going to tell us to do something that will violate his
word. We need to test the spirits as it says in 1 John 4:1 “Beloved, do not believe every spirit,
but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out
into the world.” But if we treasure God’s word in our heart, we are building a vocabulary by
which to hear from and understand God’s leading.
     
     We can expect to hear from God. We can expect God to provide for us. We ought to be
growing in our trust and learning how to interact with God. But we ought to be interacting with
God. The reason that many believers emphasize that Christianity is about a relationship is
because it is just that. God doesn’t want you to have someone else’s relationship with him, he
wants US to relate to him. We are to approach his throne, not just allow our Pastors and elders
to do it for us.
     What needs do you have? Bring them to the Lord. What struggles do you face? Bring them to
the Lord? What joys do you have? Bring them to the Lord. What relationships are broken or
are breaking you? Bring them to the Lord. Every burden. Every struggle. Every triumph. Every
single thing. Bring it to the Lord. Use honest words.
     
      Lord I am hurting and I need you to heal me. Lord I am tired and I need you to give me rest.
Lord I am so happy and I wanted to rejoice with you. Lord I am sad and I need you to restore
my joy. Lord I am _____. Fill in that blank. And then be aware that The Lord is the great I AM.
So whatever you are, He is sufficient for you. His power made perfect in your weakness.
Whatever you are, The Lord is I AM and he will meet you where you are. May these words
bring peace to your troubled hearts. Amen.

by Kadeen Edwards

     “For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.”
‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭19‬-‭21‬

     All creation suffers because of the original sin. Sin fractured creation, bringing death, disease, injustice, and pain. Suffering exists because we live in a fallen world.

     It never occurred to me that all creation is suffering. However, this morning, when I read this chapter with new lenses, I understand that not only God’s people are subjected to suffering, but so are all of God’s creation. Living in a fallen world, we are sentenced to decay, but all creation was sentenced to decay. We are surrounded by death. Once saved, we are the living among the dead, once we were the dead, but now we are alive in Christ.

     There is evidence all around us of the sentence of death. We can see it every day: all creation, dying off slowly. Animals have become extinct, and plants are dying off. All of this suffering is not only imposed upon people, but all things… it says in scripture the Earth groans in eager expectation that means there’s still hope.

     The evidence of death is not only in the living things, but also in the environment. We see the environment changing: floods, tsunamis, storms. Everything is suffering. The only one who can change it is God. I love that he provided hope in the curse. Sin ruptured creation, causing death, disease, injustice, and pain, not just death for men, but all creation. Suffering exists because we live in a fallen world.

     “Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.  There is hope…even though we live in a fallen world. Where failure is, that's where redemption can begin." 
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​ by Linda Hokit
 
“Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for what God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:13-14 NIV
 
I remember many things from my child years. One thing I heard more than once when I fell down was, “Well, get back up. Come on, you can do it. Jump up and go play.” In other words, perseverance was often the word of the day!
 
One day, while falling and getting up, I peered through slates of the basket weave fence that encompassed our backyard.  When I did, I saw a swing set in the next yard. So, of course I climbed the fence while my mom innocently imagined her two-year old was corralled in the backyard. Little did she know I had successfully climbed that fence many times in order to get to the swing. Hence, the attached picture. My father thought he was taking a picture of his talented firstborn, only to caught me falling instead.
 
One day the next-door neighbor once again saw me in her backward uninvited. She realized something had to be done. So, she grabbed my little hand and hauled me home. By the end of that visit my mom had a new friend and I had a new swing set up safely in my own backyard!
 
My grandparents also fell down and rose up when they moved from Oklahoma to Arizona. Later, they moved to California which makes them Okies. Soon after arriving in Arizona, they set out to pick fields. My granny walked a field and then report to my papaw who had cholera at the time; he would then bid the field. While granny and the kids picked, she homeschooled them, fed the family and took care of sick husband! Later, my grandparents started various businesses. My father did the same with their encouragement while still in high school.
 
One thing led to another and they made another move to California to once again start over. While there, they helped start a church where my papaw was the song leader. In his later years, my papaw had a stroke and could not drive. So, the family got a clever idea and asked the town if my papaw could have permission to drive a golf cart around. He never stopped working even though he could not go far without his crotch or his golf buggy.
 
My mother’s mother grew up differently, but was likewise influential on her children and grandchildren. She lived in South Carolina and always had a garden of flowers and another for food, which was quite the playground for a suburban child from California. She was quite the talented gardener and grew corn over eight foot, which I thought was amazing, since I thought picking corn meant deciding between Delmonte and Green Giant. I also remember her as a woman who loved God. When my mom came along, she named her Ruth after Ruth in the Bible. It’s no surprise that my middle name is Ruth, so I knew the story about how Ruth and Naomi persevered at a young age and have often been inspired and encouraged by their story.
 
I have also persevered in many ways as I have grown in life and ministry. Many people have given me a hand up. Have cheered me on. Have advised me. Knowing them, I can say without hesitation, they fell down and got up. They pressed on toward the goal of the call of God on their lives. Their own life challenges were diminished as they let God’s call on their lives pull them along toward their finish line according to God’s plan. I can imagine people in their lives cheering them as well by saying, “Get up! You can do it! We’re here for you! You’re almost there!” Others likely ran alongside when they grew weary.  Sometimes we are the one running the race and sometimes we are the ones cheering.
 
Awhile back, a song writer and performer wrote a song called, “We Fall Down”.  It’s a ballad, about a man who is toiling away, when he passes a monastery. He sees a monk and asks him what they do behind the walls. He answers, “We fall down, but we get up…For a saint is just a sinner who fell down and got up.”
 
As those who follow Christ, we always have someone with us who will pick us up and cheer us along. He walked our road. He hears our cries for forgiven and help. He paid our sin debt. He walks and talks with us. He understands what is means to persevere and to press on toward the goal of a Godly call. May we all submit to call.
 
 
The picture is our blogger, Linda at 2 years falling from a fence she regularly climbed to get to a swing set on the other side!

By Rebecca Vickery
     I love Christmas music that points us to the beauty and majesty of the story of Jesus Christ being born in our midst.  There is a blending of sorrow and joy in many of my favorites.  When I think of the Christmas story, it is the same.  The son of God is ushered into the world with intrigue and glory.  Angels deliver messages.  Choirs of angels sing.  Shepherds go find the baby in the manger and respond with rejoicing.  And yet, following the story of the good comes the inevitable workings of evil in the world.  A jealous King sends out an order to slaughter all the Jewish born boys under the age of two.  “Did e’er such love and sorrow meet?”

     When the noise quiets and the festive rushing about subsides, I am faced with the sorrows of this past season.  We have said goodbye to some truly special people.  Our little church community is in the midst of that sorrow.  And yet, I cannot help but rejoice at the time we got to spend together.  Never before have I gotten to know such a wonderful family, and become friends with a Pastor in a way that felt like true friendship.  I have received the gift of knowing and being known by people I would never have known in this way had I been mired in my previous position any longer.  The firing or “being let go” of yesteryear turned into the blessing of the next six.  

     My tree is filled with reminders of Christmases past.  Ornaments from my Grandmother who passed away in 2007, tinsel from my Grandfather who passed in 1994, ornaments made by my daughter who lives too far to make it for Christmas, the bitter and the sweet so intermingled in a sparkly lit up Christmas tree.  This season has been so tightly interwoven with hardships and beauty.  Laughter and tears.  Both sides of the coin are necessary weights in the journey of our existence.

     I think back to some of my favorite phrases in the Bible.  From the story of Joseph in Genesis, at the end of things, when Joseph is speaking with his brothers, he tells them, “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to keep many people alive.”  And Job, in response to his wife’s suggestions for him to respond to his hardship with cursing says, “Should we accept only good from God and not adversity?”  And finally from Jesus himself,  “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.”

Sorrow and hardship are not surprising in a world colored over by sin and strife.  And yet, Jesus ushered in the Kingdom of God with his coming, and with it, His peace.  While my heart can break, I can also have peace that passes understanding.  While I can be filled with sorrow, I can still rejoice.  It is a mighty strange dance, this life we are given.  But in a world that has met a Savior in the humblest of places, the manger in Bethlehem, hope does not disappoint.  

     I will worship in the dark places to sing truth to my soul.  Sorrowful yet rejoicing, I can attest with the words of Rend Collective’s new “A Christmas Hymn,” O the mystery, O the wonder, somehow God is one of us.  I cannot help but marvel at the thought of the King of kings and the Lord of Lords joining us in the suffering and hardships of this life to know us, to join us, to walk amongst us.  We do not serve a distant Savior, but one who with His departure gifted us with the Holy Spirit so that we would never be alone.  The Savior left the throne of heaven so that heaven can break forth like the springtime through the winter of our souls.  In this way, I can reconcile the hardships of life and lift my hands to praise my King and rejoice in my savior.     Merry Christmas to you all.  And God bless us every one.


"A Christmas Hymn (To The Tune Of "Come Thou Fount")"

Come now see the Lord of Heaven in a lowly manger laid
King deserving of a throne room, born a poor, powerless babe
Oh the mystery oh the wonder
Somehow God is one of us
Such is greatness in His kingdom
He descended to our dust

Christ the Word, holy expression of the humbleness of God
Herald of a prideless kingdom, one of sacrificial love
Mighty One who made the heavens
Knelt to wash his brother's feet
And the earth that He created
He bestowed unto the meek

King of glory became nothing
Humbled to the point of death
Stretched His arms out like a beggar
And forgave with His last breath
What God started with a manger ended with an empty grave
Suffering servant now exalted, Jesus name above all names

Light eternal in the darkness
He shall not be overcome
Shining over all our shadows
Every curse has been undone
Heaven breaks forth like the springtime
Through the winter of our souls
Now His life is life abundant is forever ours to know

Come now church let us adore him
Tune your heart to sing His grace
Streams of mercy never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet, sung by flaming tongues above
Praise the mount I'm fixed upon it Mount of God's redeeming love
Praise the mount I'm fixed upon it Mount of God's redeeming love

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