Post by Cindy on Nov 4, 2015 11:58:57 GMT -5
Fresh Hope started 12 years ago, in 2003,on a completely different board then this. I had to close it earlier this year due to financial problems and my health. It didn't stay closed long though before I realized that we just had to continue to have some place we could fellowship together, and so I reopened a "New" FH here on this "free" site. (I say "free" because while there are some fees involved, it's no where near as expensive as having to pay for a host site and everything else on my own.
Because FH is that old, and all our members are from the original board, or at least most are, I forget that everyone doesn't know me well, and if we get new members, they won't either. So I wanted to let folks know why and how I write the bible studies that I share here. The reason I write the studies has always been the same: simply to share with other sisters in Christ, what the Lord has shown me as I've studied. For the first 7 - 8 years on FH I wrote under the authority of Pastor Richard, until his health gave out and he was unable to continue. He assured me over and over that I no longer needed to be concerned about having him check my writing because the Lord would do that for me. I am not a Pastor, and don't think women should be pastors anyway, so certainly don't claim that for myself. I know that we do have some men on the site and some of them read my studies, which is fine. I do not ever claim to have any authority over any of the men who read or participate in any study that I post. I frequently ask people to always remember that I'm just another human and that the only place they can find the truth is by studying God's Word for themselves with Him, as I can make mistakes just like any other human can. I also often quote from commentaries from some of the godly pastors such as Wiersbe, MacArthur and Mills and many others, to show that what I'm saying is not just something I came up with but is taught by these Pastors that the Lord has provided us to teach us.
I've been studying the bible with the Lord for quite a long time now. When I first got saved I'd usually spent about an hour a day in His Word as that's all I could manage between work, my children, husband and the house. But I also spent about another half hour in His Word at work and even more time talking about it with others there who were saved. We prayed together daily and our talk all day was of the Lord and His Word, which was a real blessing to me. When I left that job after 10 years, I went to work for a Christian company and got to spend a lot of time in His Word there as well, and the Lord also sent me someone to disciple me who had been an elder in our church. So although I may have only spent one hour in His Word at home, I was really in it off and on all day long for all those years.
When I got injured at work and became disabled, I had surgery which made it so I was unable to do anything but lay on the couch for many weeks. During all that time, all I really could do all day was pray and study His Word, and worship Him by singing along with the Praise and Worship CD's my husband always started for me when he left for work in the morning. So that's how I spent all my time. As I got better and was finally able to sit up for a while, I still really couldn't do anything else, so I continued to just spend the day in His Word, prayer, and praise. This went on for about a year while the Lord worked in me making many changes to bring me to where I'd be ready for my next job. That job was to open the website called Fresh-Hope, which is the name the Lord gave me for it. I honestly didn't like the name and had the audacity to argue with Him about it for a whole day before giving in to Him.
But give in I did and came to realize that He was right as usual.
Fresh Hope grew in leaps and bounds, faster then I ever expected and it kept me on my toes all the time. The Lord sent Pastor Richard to me to continue my teaching and to be the authority over me as far as anything I wrote went. Over the many years on FH, the Lord taught me a great deal about life, leadership, authority, and service. The authority part was the hardest part for me as I've never done well with controversy, but He wanted me to learn how to stand in His authority, so with much teaching, patience, and correction from the Lord, and lots and lots of practice due to the apologetics forum we had, I finally learned how to stand in the authority the Lord gave me. I don't mean to imply that I don't make mistakes, of course I do. That's where all the Lord's correction came and continues to come in! Throughout all the years FH has been open, I've continued to spend a great deal of time in His Word and prayer. I've tried to figure out what the average is, and have come to the conclusion that it's pretty much always been about 5 to 8 hours a day that I spend in His Word and prayer - not counting just the constant conversation I'm always having with Him.
This year it's gotten harder and harder for me to pull myself away from His Word and come here to write about it instead. I just get so caught up in it that I don't ever want to put it down. But I'm working on it and asking Him to help me manage my time according to His Will and working at obeying Him the moment I hear Him say, "enough".
When I first started studying His Word with Him, I only had my bible - that's all. It was just me, the Lord, and His Word, for a long time. It wasn't until after I started FH that I got my first commentary, and then years later, I think it was about 8 years ago that I got the Logos Bible Study Library that gives me about 25 versions of the bible and hundreds of commentaries, handbooks, dictionaries, devotionals, etc. Altogether it gives me literally thousands of resources that are all linked together to my bible, so that they'll all automatically open up to whatever passage I'm currently studying. It's been wonderful to have them but what the very best thing about them was that they confirmed that I had heard the Lord correctly when it was just Him and me and His Word. I've tried to warn people not to rely on commentaries or other books, but to instead rely on the Lord Himself to answer questions about His Word. Then after you've determined His answer, then check out the commentaries to see what they have to say and maybe dig even deeper into it; always remembering that any other book, no matter how great the pastor or teacher is, will have errors in it, for none of us is perfect, only God is.
I love the Lord my God with all my heart, all my soul and all my strength, and I love every single person who's ever been a member of Fresh-hope. You're my family and I while I thought I could close FH and get by with just contact through emails or something, I discovered I can't. I need Fresh-Hope as much as anyone else. I've learned so much from each person here, and continue to do so. My most favorite thing to do in this whole world is to talk about the Lord and His Word, and here's really the only place I can do that freely, among others who love Him as I do. The world isn't interested in anything concerning Him and really doesn't want to hear it. Their ears and eyes are closed to the Truth. I needed someplace to share with others who were like minded and fellowship with them, to be encouraged, and to be held accountable, so we could all grow together, and that's exactly what Fresh-Hope is for.
Because FH is that old, and all our members are from the original board, or at least most are, I forget that everyone doesn't know me well, and if we get new members, they won't either. So I wanted to let folks know why and how I write the bible studies that I share here. The reason I write the studies has always been the same: simply to share with other sisters in Christ, what the Lord has shown me as I've studied. For the first 7 - 8 years on FH I wrote under the authority of Pastor Richard, until his health gave out and he was unable to continue. He assured me over and over that I no longer needed to be concerned about having him check my writing because the Lord would do that for me. I am not a Pastor, and don't think women should be pastors anyway, so certainly don't claim that for myself. I know that we do have some men on the site and some of them read my studies, which is fine. I do not ever claim to have any authority over any of the men who read or participate in any study that I post. I frequently ask people to always remember that I'm just another human and that the only place they can find the truth is by studying God's Word for themselves with Him, as I can make mistakes just like any other human can. I also often quote from commentaries from some of the godly pastors such as Wiersbe, MacArthur and Mills and many others, to show that what I'm saying is not just something I came up with but is taught by these Pastors that the Lord has provided us to teach us.
I've been studying the bible with the Lord for quite a long time now. When I first got saved I'd usually spent about an hour a day in His Word as that's all I could manage between work, my children, husband and the house. But I also spent about another half hour in His Word at work and even more time talking about it with others there who were saved. We prayed together daily and our talk all day was of the Lord and His Word, which was a real blessing to me. When I left that job after 10 years, I went to work for a Christian company and got to spend a lot of time in His Word there as well, and the Lord also sent me someone to disciple me who had been an elder in our church. So although I may have only spent one hour in His Word at home, I was really in it off and on all day long for all those years.
When I got injured at work and became disabled, I had surgery which made it so I was unable to do anything but lay on the couch for many weeks. During all that time, all I really could do all day was pray and study His Word, and worship Him by singing along with the Praise and Worship CD's my husband always started for me when he left for work in the morning. So that's how I spent all my time. As I got better and was finally able to sit up for a while, I still really couldn't do anything else, so I continued to just spend the day in His Word, prayer, and praise. This went on for about a year while the Lord worked in me making many changes to bring me to where I'd be ready for my next job. That job was to open the website called Fresh-Hope, which is the name the Lord gave me for it. I honestly didn't like the name and had the audacity to argue with Him about it for a whole day before giving in to Him.
But give in I did and came to realize that He was right as usual. Fresh Hope grew in leaps and bounds, faster then I ever expected and it kept me on my toes all the time. The Lord sent Pastor Richard to me to continue my teaching and to be the authority over me as far as anything I wrote went. Over the many years on FH, the Lord taught me a great deal about life, leadership, authority, and service. The authority part was the hardest part for me as I've never done well with controversy, but He wanted me to learn how to stand in His authority, so with much teaching, patience, and correction from the Lord, and lots and lots of practice due to the apologetics forum we had, I finally learned how to stand in the authority the Lord gave me. I don't mean to imply that I don't make mistakes, of course I do. That's where all the Lord's correction came and continues to come in! Throughout all the years FH has been open, I've continued to spend a great deal of time in His Word and prayer. I've tried to figure out what the average is, and have come to the conclusion that it's pretty much always been about 5 to 8 hours a day that I spend in His Word and prayer - not counting just the constant conversation I'm always having with Him.
This year it's gotten harder and harder for me to pull myself away from His Word and come here to write about it instead. I just get so caught up in it that I don't ever want to put it down.
But I'm working on it and asking Him to help me manage my time according to His Will and working at obeying Him the moment I hear Him say, "enough". When I first started studying His Word with Him, I only had my bible - that's all. It was just me, the Lord, and His Word, for a long time. It wasn't until after I started FH that I got my first commentary, and then years later, I think it was about 8 years ago that I got the Logos Bible Study Library that gives me about 25 versions of the bible and hundreds of commentaries, handbooks, dictionaries, devotionals, etc. Altogether it gives me literally thousands of resources that are all linked together to my bible, so that they'll all automatically open up to whatever passage I'm currently studying. It's been wonderful to have them but what the very best thing about them was that they confirmed that I had heard the Lord correctly when it was just Him and me and His Word. I've tried to warn people not to rely on commentaries or other books, but to instead rely on the Lord Himself to answer questions about His Word. Then after you've determined His answer, then check out the commentaries to see what they have to say and maybe dig even deeper into it; always remembering that any other book, no matter how great the pastor or teacher is, will have errors in it, for none of us is perfect, only God is.
I love the Lord my God with all my heart, all my soul and all my strength, and I love every single person who's ever been a member of Fresh-hope. You're my family and I while I thought I could close FH and get by with just contact through emails or something, I discovered I can't. I need Fresh-Hope as much as anyone else. I've learned so much from each person here, and continue to do so. My most favorite thing to do in this whole world is to talk about the Lord and His Word, and here's really the only place I can do that freely, among others who love Him as I do. The world isn't interested in anything concerning Him and really doesn't want to hear it. Their ears and eyes are closed to the Truth. I needed someplace to share with others who were like minded and fellowship with them, to be encouraged, and to be held accountable, so we could all grow together, and that's exactly what Fresh-Hope is for.
!!
