Interview: Colonel Linda Bond

Original Publication - JAC #13,  June - July 2001

Linda Bond is the Chief Secretary for The Salvation Army, Canada & Bermuda Territory. She has been a Divisional Commander in the United Kingdom and Canada. She has also served at I.H.Q. in London.

JAC: Please tell us a little about your experience of holiness.

LB: If I look to a dramatic experience, it would be while I was a cadet in College. This is not the time or place to go into detail, but the Lord came to me in a very clear way and assured me of a deep cleansing. I do have to confess that I have failed Him miserably, but I am convinced that His call to holiness is insistent and every provision through His Son and Holy Spirit has made it possible for me to claim by faith this holy life.

He has all there is of Linda Bond and whether He chooses to grant dramatic encounters in my spiritual journey or requires me to walk by faith alone, then that is His choice. I seek to be like Jesus and be open and responsive to the Holy Spirit.

Read more HERE.

It´s Thusday - Reflections from Genesis (53)

 'Then he sent his brothers away, and as they were leaving he said to them, 'Don't quarrel along the way!' Genesis 45:24

 

I love the little incidental verses we find in the bible, the tiny throwaway remarks that seem at first sight to have little importance in the story. At the end of the story of the healing of Jairus's daughter we read how Jesus, 'told them to give her something to eat,' (Mark 5:43). Swept up in the joy of witnessing the miraculous, her parents seem to have so easily forgotten the obvious, the ordinary, the fact that their young daughter had not eaten.... probably for days. To God, the small things are as important as the sensational big things that we are so easily impressed by; the detail is always as important as the big picture.

When the Children of Israel were desperate for water a second time, God told Moses to speak to the rock, (Numbers 20:8), and water would pour out. Instead, Moses hit it with his stick as he had on the previous occasion, (Exodus 17:6), and, although successful in man's eyes, (that is, water flowed as it had before), Moses had failed as far as God was concerned.

I love the way, as his brothers are leaving to return to their father, Joseph tells them, 'Don't quarrel on the way.' He knows his brothers. He heard them when they did not know who he was or realise that he understood Hebrew, when Reuben took the moral high ground and blamed the others for what they did to Joseph all those years before, (42:22).

Two thoughts on this.

First, although we might not be aware of it, God knows everything about us, even our thoughts and motives, (Psalm 139:2, Jeremiah 17:10). In fact, they concern him more than what we then say or do, for if they are pure and good, the words and actions that flow from them will be right.

Second, as we follow him, the Lord does not want us to 'quarrel on the way,' as the disciples had a tendency to do, (Mark 9:33). He longs for us to live in harmony and not acrimony with each other. Joseph loved his brothers despite what they put him through. As I read Joseph's words as his brothers depart for home, I hear an echo of another, 'As I have loved you, so you must love one another,' John 13:35. God bless you all.

The Sifting Process

- by David Wilkerson | July 16, 2001 -

 On the night before his death, Jesus sat down with his disciples to share the Passover supper. The group had an intimate time of communion together. Then, as the meal ended, Christ said solemnly, "The hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table" (Luke 22:21). What a horrible truth to be seen at such an intimate moment. Satan had audaciously entered one of Jesus' own disciples, Judas.
Another incredible moment had already taken place at that table. Jesus had taken a piece of bread, representing his broken body, dipped it into wine and extended it to Judas. The scheming disciple then stretched out a demon-possessed hand to receive it. It was as if Satan himself were taking Jesus' body into his hands to crush it.

You may wonder as I have: how was the devil able to possess Judas? No person could fall so far overnight. No one could suddenly be so overtaken by a sin that he would intentionally betray the Son of God, knowing it would lead to his death. Sadly, the truth was that Judas was an easy conquest for Satan. The gospels reveal that Judas had a history of covetousness. He secretly dipped into the group's treasury for himself. And because he harbored this spirit of covetousness, Satan was able to deceive him over time.

The same thing has happened again and again to Christians over the centuries....

Read more HERE.

Danielle Strickland - I see you

- From God TV Video -

 

In English

Danielle Strickland shares a conversation she had with a Muslim woman on an airplane and challenges us with the question "What are we expecting from the Kingdom of God?". 36 min.

--> See video HERE.

Only eternity can cure him....

From FSAOF blog:

The story is told of an English post-office clerk, whose job it was to handle letters that were inadequately addressed. He was at his desk on Christmas Eve, brokenhearted because death had taken his little son just a week earlier.

As he sorted through the post he came across a letter addressed in childlike writing to “Santa Claus, The North Pole.” Attached to it was a note from a postman giving the address where he had picked up the letter. The clerk was startled because it was his own address and the hand writing was that of his daughter. And the letter said: “We’re very sad at our house this year. My little brother went to heaven last week. You needn’t leave me anything. But if you could give Daddy something that would make him stop crying, I wish you would. I heard him say to Mummy that only eternity can cure him. Could you send him some of that?”

The good news is that God did send us “some of that” as we have a certain hope of a joyful reunion if we are one in Christ.

It´s Thursday - Reflections on Genesis (52)

'And this is what he(Joseph) sent to his father: ten donkeys loaded with the best things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and other provisions for his journey,' Genesis 45:23. 

Why, we might well ask, did Joseph send his father 'ten donkeys loaded with the best things of Egypt,' if he was wanting his father to come as quickly as possible to Egypt(v 13)? Surely he could have set it all aside for when his father arrived? Surely Jacob and his sons were going to have to bring it all back to Egypt with them? So what was the purpose?

Well, when the brothers returned to encourage their father to move to Egypt, they might well have told him of all that they lay in store for him there, but to him it could have seemed far-fetched. However, seeing for himself some of the 'best things of Egypt' that Joseph sent would surely have given Jacob a convincing taste of what lay in store for him there? It is all very well and good being told something or reading of it in a book, even the bible, but whilst it may or may not be true, may or may not be convincing, how can we be sure? Surely, we can only be truly certain if we experience for ourselves what we have read or heard? As the people who sought Jesus in response to the Samaritan woman's testimony said, 'We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Saviour of the world,' (John 4:42).

In the same way as Joseph sent 'the best things of Egypt' from Pharaoh to convince Jacob of the truth of his sons' words and what lay in store for him in Egypt, Jesus sent us the Holy Spirit, not only to be our Counsellor and Helper, but to reveal the truth of his Word, 'When the Counsellor comes, whom I will send you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father, he will testify about me,' (John 15:26, see also 14:16 & 26 & 16:7). Dear reader, do you want convincing proof that Jesus is all that is claimed? Then seek him with all your heart and you will find him(Jeremiah 29:13). Wavering in your faith? Ask God to fill you with his Holy Spirit, that you might have the witness within yourself, (1 John 5:10) God bless you all.

Hell-Shaking Prayer

- David Wilkerson, December 2000 -

When the book of Daniel was written, Israel was in captivity to Babylon. And by chapter 6, after a long life in ministry, Daniel was eighty years old. The godly prophet and preacher had outlived two Babylonian kings, Nebuchadnezzar and his son Belshazzar. Now Daniel served under King Darius.

Through his many years of ministry, Daniel had always been a praying man. And now, in his old age, he had no thoughts of slowing down. Scripture makes no mention of Daniel being burned out or discouraged. It says nothing about him having a nest egg or a country cottage where he could spend his golden years without any responsibilities. On the contrary, Daniel was just beginning. Scripture shows that even as this man turned eighty, his prayers shook hell, enraging the devil.

By this time, King Darius had promoted Daniel to the highest office in the land. Daniel now served as one of three co-equal presidents, ruling over princes and governors of some 120 provinces. The Bible even says Darius favored Daniel over the other two presidents. He put Daniel in charge of forming government policy and teaching all the court appointees and intellectuals:"Daniel was preferred above the presidents...and the king thought to set him over the whole realm" (Daniel 6:3).

Read more HERE.