The Last of the Tame & Gentle Days

The Last of the Tame & Gentle Days

by Becky Dietz

I’ve been teaching our young people in our church about the Last Days.  This past Sunday, I took them to II Timothy 3 and had them look up each word in verses 1-5 in the Blue Letter Bible (an app on our phones).  In there, they found the original Greek meaning of these words.  Of course, I’d researched it all myself before I gave them this task, but they surprised me with what they found!

I’d gone directly to the Greek meanings when I’d researched, but they paid attention to every detail.  In verse 1 when it talks about the last days, last means “final.”   Days means a 24 hour period or the last days of this present age.  But the young man who looked it up also found days to be closely akin to the word which means “tame and gentle.”   Wow!!!

Are we in those days?   The final days of this present age?   The last of the tame and gentle days?   If we believe the countdown of the last days began in 1948 when Israel became a nation—then, yes.  Are the birth pains speeding up and becoming more intense?   Our youth had a strong opinion about that—adamantly YES!   Will we see see harder things?  Absolutely.  Do we have to fear what’s ahead?   NO!   God has gone before us!  And I believe these days may actually bring about our greatest opportunitities as believers.  

The tame and gentle days may be behind us.  

Hard Ministry

Every ministry we’ve been in has had some hard times—and also some glorious times!   But one particular place we ministered in was a very hard three years.  One year into that ministry, I began praying and begging God to move us.  It was overwhelming.   But we wouldn’t leave that church for two more years.  

For instance, we soon found out that every time my husband was invited to lunch by someone in the church, it was to “correct” him.  He was invited to lunch almost every week.  At one of those meetings, he was told that if he didn’t start doing his ministry the way this man wanted, he would send the letter he presented to my husband to the personnel committee to have him fired.  We were building a house and a man from the church went to our builder and told him he should stop the building  process because we were leaving.  I guess he intended to make sure we were leaving.  “Accusations and Manipulation” could have been the church motto.  

But if that’s all I told you about that particular ministry, I’d be unfair.  Our staff had a bond which continues to this day.  We needed each other and were committed to covering one another with truth.  We also had some friends who surrounded us with love and loyalty.  But those things are not even the best part of that ministry.  The fire we walked through those three years purified and strengthened us.  God taught us things about ourselves and about our ministry we would never have learned any other way.  In fact, we look back on that ministry with great fondness because of what God taught us.  And there was fruitfulness in spite of some very hard ground. Some of those young people we taught are now in the ministry. 

I tell you all of this to say, don’t despise the hard places!  Ask God what He wants to teach you and cooperate with Him.  Press into Him!  You just might be surprised to find that the hard places create diamonds.

People Who Morph!

I’ve been studying II Timothy 3 where it talks about the last days.  I’ve been going through each word and looking up the original meaning.  Verse 4-5 says, “...(people will be) lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!”

The first part of that verse means just what it says.  But the last half caused me to say, “Whoa!!” 

Having a form of godliness implies someone who morphs from being godly one moment and living like the world the next moment.  Or living like the world during the week and morphing into “godliness” on Sundays—or when the preacher walks in the room. 

Denying the power of godliness is denying the dynamite power which lives inside a believer—the power of the Holy Spirit.  The Greek word includes the power of the Spirit to do miracles, to walk in moral power and excellence of life, to live a life of influence, and to have the power of an army.  Wow!!   That’s a lot of power offered us.  

I believe the only reason we’d live a life of morphing from one person to the other is because we refuse to give up control.  We don’t want to yield to the Spirit of God.  A life of morphing versus a life of power in the Spirit?   It doesn’t even make sense when you look at it this way.  

That last part?   “From such people turn away,” actually means, “Avoid them!”  That’s because we’re taught in I Corinthians 15:33 that “evil company corrupts good habits.” Find people walking in the power of the Spirit and link arms.  The power will be that of a strong army! 

Perilous Times

II Timothy 3:1 says, “ But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come...” The rest of the chapter describes what that looks like—disobedient children, brutal people, blasphemers, traitors, slanderers, etc.  

But today, I decided to look up the root word for “perilous.”   I was surprised at what I found.  It comes from the Greek word chalepos which gives the idea of reducing strength.  The only other time this word is used in the Bible is in Mark 8:28.  It’s how the demoniacs made people feel as they came running out of the tombs.  The demoniacs were fierce!   And that fierceness made grown men “reduce their strength.”

I believe in these last days (because I believe that’s what we’ve entered), things will become fierce. Satan wants our strength reduced!! He’s in it to win it.  How do we keep from being scared to death?   Jesus gave us an example.  He commanded the demons to come out.  He had authority over them.  And he’s given us that same authority.  

We have got to stay connected to God during these fierce days.  We’ve got to be plugged into the Word.  We’ve got to be listening to the Holy Spirit.  And we’ve got to remember the authority we’ve been given.  

The Word of God says we’re experiencing birth pains.  Birth pains become more intense and closer together with time.  You can expect both.  Perilous times are coming.   

Clothed in Beauty

Clothed in Beauty

by Becky Dietz

What is God’s heart towards you??   Let me tell you...

While Aaron was at the foot of the mountain collecting the people’s gold earrings to make a golden calf—an idol...

God was giving Moses instructions on the top of that same mountain to make holy garments for Aaron so that he could minister to God as a priest.  They were to be handcrafted by skilled artisans who were filled with the spirit of wisdom. The purpose of these garments was for glory and beauty.  

As I thought on this yesterday during our worship time at church, I was overcome.  All I could do was weep. God knows we’ll mess up...sin.  He knows who we are to the depths of our hearts.  But he still clothes us, his priests, with beauty and glory...because He loves us so unconditionally.  

Aaron had no clue what God had planned.  

Waiting in the Place of Inactivity

Waiting in the Place of Inactivity

by Becky Dietz

We’ve all been there.  We’ve needed God to move and we asked...but nothing.  So we waited and waited.  Until we just couldn’t wait any more.  

All of the Israelites had heard God’s laws, made a covenant, and promised to obey everything he said. Moses, Joshua, Aaron and his sons, and 70 other elders went to the mountain to hear God. They didn’t just hear him, they SAW HIM and ATE WITH HIM!!  (Exodus 24). What an amazing privilege.  Miraculous!!

Then God called Moses up higher.  Before Moses left, he told the people that if there were any problems to consult Aaron & Hur.  Aaron had been a leader from the beginning and both men had held up Moses’ arms during the war.  They were the dependable leaders.  And...they’d seen God!

After about 40 days of inactivity, the people decided Moses wasn’t coming back and they told Aaron they needed “gods to go before them.”   And even as God’s presence was still visibly on the mountain, Aaron created a golden calf—a graven image—to lead the people.  They’d already broken covenant with God.  Was God truly inactive with the Israelites?  No.  He was busy giving Moses the blueprints for their future. 

Before we judge Aaron and the Israelites too harshly, we need to examine our own hearts.   What have we done in the waiting place of inactivity?  It’s a hard place to be.  We can’t see what God is doing on that mountain.  We don’t know if he’s busy drawing up blueprints for our lives...or if he’s just being still and doing nothing.  Even if God is just being still, we shouldn’t make a move without him.  And what if he’s busy putting a plan in place?  What if he’s about to take us on a grand adventure?  We don’t want to miss anything!  And we certainly don’t want to be the leader who takes his people into idolatry.   

The Dam of Restraint

The Dam of Restraint 

by Becky Dietz

Andy & I were praying with our friends, Jamie & Jessica, when Jamie began to read II Thessalonians 2:7.  “ For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work in the world, [but it is] restrained only until he who restrains is taken out of the way.”

He began to share what God had revealed to him.  Of course the One who restrains is the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit (Who lives in every believer) is like a dam holding back the lawlessness at work in the world.  As believers, we can come in agreement with the work of the Holy Spirit as we link arms of prayer and speak truth to restrain the work of lawlessness. 

When the One who restrains is taken out of the way, the Antichrist will be revealed.  The dam of restraint will be broken and the waters of lawlessness will flood the earth!

I love this picture of the dam of restraint Jamie gave us.