THE MAILBOX
by Anonymous

GOD’S PERFECT CHASTENING

This a letter to a friend from Christina Duncan, who lives in Scotland.

Dearest E.,

I was very sorry to receive your letter and sad to hear that you do not feel able to see through the confrontation to God "renewing our mind" and showing us that we are perfect, complete and lacking nothing now and do not need to hang onto wrong believing about ourselves.

I very much feel this is a personal loss, I have only just found you and must lose you again.

I understand the discomfort you feel and for me, the fear of "being found out" made me want to make sure that no one got to know me. However, as soon as I really believed that there was no independent me to "be found out," that "to be found out" was Satan’s misuse of me, God’s perfect vessel, and that the discomfort was a direct result of the wrong believing about myself, then it was ok to let go.

Cast your mind back to the weekend, and I said that Scott had asked me to have the children visit on a regular basis but I said "No" because I did not believe the other children wanted to come. Sanda confronted me saying I should ask the children and have them round. I felt extremely uncomfortable and deep in myself, I did not want to have the children because I believed they did not love me or like me. I also believed "I" could not build a relationship with them as "I" was hopeless with children and "I" could not compete with people they liked better: all independent wrong believing about myself. The fact is that Christ lives life as me and He knows exactly how to build a relationship with the children and does not need the children to love Him back. Therefore, I am these things too. Now that is freedom. The other stuff-not being confronted-is an illusion of freedom and is really false; it is a prison imposed by Satan with wrong independent believing about ourselves as the key.

Instead of trying to fake an understanding and acceptance of what seems unacceptable to you, I would have been happier for you to say "I don’t like this and I don’t understand it" and we could have taken the time to thrash it through for you.

E, you are precious to me and I urge you very strongly to come to the conference and clear this up. Should you decide to hold fast to this decision, please keep my address and telephone number. I am available to you any time day or night should you feel a desire to clarify this further.

My love to you,
Christina

EXHORTING ONE ANOTHER

This is a letter Colette Burger wrote to a friend whose child was critically ill

Dear K.,

I’m going to scratch this out quick so I can get it off to you. I love you. I am with you in Spirit, though not in body. My prayers and support are with you too.

We have a God who loves us and knows our every need and desire. We come to Him boldly and with confidence, not with fear and trepidation.

In this shaky time you’re in, you can bet that Satan will be knocking on your door with armloads of fear and doubt. Just remember that your feelings are normal and natural but that’s not the end of it. For every fear there is an answer, and you know what that is. Jesus Christ is adequate to face whatever your circumstance is. He has experienced everything you feel, and therefore knows how it is for you and what the way through it is. Of course the way through is to know that it is He living as you. You are not alone. No matter what. God is in control of this!

I prayed for four things today. The first was for Matthew to be completely healed and quickly. The second was for you to see this as God’s perfect circumstance (Satan means it for evil, but God means it for good) and to remember who you are in it, and who your strength is. The third was for C. to see this as a testimony of God’s love and mercy and for him to come through this a changed person, and lastly for myself for direction in how to help.

I didn’t know what to pray and had lots of feelings of fear myself for the last 24 hours. I found myself not knowing what to say to/ask of God and felt afraid to approach Him. Then this afternoon something clicked and I literally said "Whoa! Wait a minute! Satan would love to bury us all in how bad this feels and make us forget the real deal-that we are He in this world!" And we can make a bold statement of faith and take each next step as it faces us, knowing it is His faith and His steps.

You can do this… the other way only begets more and more fear and despair and confusion. You can confidently say who you are and make a claim for your family.

I love you (again). Be encouraged. "Be not weary in well doing" the Bible says. What I say is be not weary in speaking the truth. I’ll be speaking it for you, too.

Love, Colette

A LIGHT TURNED ON

Brenda,

Hi. The Hopkinsville conference was meant for me. I’ve learned a lot. Tom and Page’s teaching on Friday about powerlessness really spoke to me, especially Page’s story of how she used to be a self-aholic. That has been a major lie I’ve believed for years. I remember growing up thinking there was something wrong with me, I can’t do this, no one likes me…etc. I lived believing this all my life. At the conference I realized I am powerless over life by "my" (Satan) works. All "my" works have gotten me is a miserable self-centered life and nothing that I want. I’m thrilled to be powerless and know only Christ can live my life. I’ve heard our message before but this time God turned a light on for me. What a relief to not be what I think and feel. Not only that but I’m only meant to contain a deity. It’s as simple as that. Another thing that was different this conference was I listened and absorbed more than any of the other ones. The difference was when my attention started to wander I made a choice to listen and
I’d sit up or repeat words from whoever talked. Another relief for me is not needing other people’s acceptance to be right. Romans 8:31 says "If God is for us, who is against us?" I’ve also seen what a waste of time I’ve spent focused on myself; this self absorption has blocked Christ from living His life. Because of this I’ve not totally been for others. God has blessed me by a new life and this really is the total truth for the world. What an answer! I’m excited to be able to share our truth and to be totally powerless. Now I know what freedom means.

Love you,
Shay

SAFE SONS

All my life I’ve looked for safe places to be. In the woods surrounded by trees and silence, my house, a group that I could fool or with a friend that I could manipulate, or just being alone most anywhere.

All of these situations were impersonal and none of them threatened me. I saw them all as safe places. Self-centered, of course. Yes. At the conference and after, I saw that to be invulnerable and self-contained was the least safe of all places because it is just a lie, nobody is invulnerable, it is an illusion.

Believing that lie or being in agreement with the liar gives Satan permission to run my life. It’s like signing a contract with him saying, you can be my leader. I agree with your way! Satan is not safe. He does have a stake in seeing me dead. Dead and sharing the deceit with my friends. Seeing everything as Christ or Satan truly exposes the lie by seeing the truth-leaving Satan no where to hide and do his business, which is to deceive.

Hence, seeing everything (100% everything) as either Christ or Satan takes me out of Satan’s control and so is the ultimate safe place to be. Now that I’ve seen what the real safe place is, total right seeing, it is what I want and where I intend to live. I believe it is available to me and to everyone who is willing to give up everything false. I am saying that I am willing. I have been invited to Boone for a season to learn to live. I feel terrified. I am going.

C.F. Germany

DISCIPLESHIP

Dearest M,

How are you? Norman used to answer that by saying he hadn’t noticed, lately. (Whereas many of us have had a hard time noticing anything else!) How are you handling the hard stuff said to you? You know, I’m sure, that this is perfect love to help push you over the hump of self-centeredness. I have gone through it a lot. When we first come to the

truth we get to give up the stuff we hate, like our bad opinions of ourselves. When we grow up God gives us the opportunity to give up the stuff we like, like our "character defects"-Satan misuse. G. will probably have a hard time giving up living in pain and helplessness because she has gotten a payoff. This is the discipleship stage, and we can be very grateful that we have the chance to root out this long standing unbelief. Most never make it this far. Not that "we" make it, but the willingness to have Him make it and know who it is doing it must be there. Not giving your (His) all, whether it means speaking up, keeping quiet, is really not an option for Christ. Jesus Christ just went about doing his job no matter how he felt, and so do we. Welcome to adulthood!

Keep in touch

Love, Sanda

THE REAL THING

This is an excerpt from a letter Page Prewitt wrote to a friend.

Dear B.,

I was so thrilled for you with the breakthroughs you are having. You will see as you let go of the things you grip so tightly what true freedom really is. These things cause us to believe and hold onto Satan’s big lie that we are not O.K. and this thing or that thing will fix us and make us O.K. Of course the lie to hold on for dear life is what chokes the real life-Jesus Christ-out of us. We-because of who we are as a Christ/I-are truly whole and complete and need nothing. This is freedom and nothing the world has to offer can come close to giving it to us.

Love, Page