Thy Word is a Lamp Unto My Feet
by Denise Styka
When the Holy Spirit weaves a specific subject into different areas of your life that normally would not touch each other you can
probably know that He is trying to get a point across. One such occurrence has happened to me recently.
Do you ever get the idea that people are not listening to you? At least those who are within your circle of influence ...?
When I began this blog a year ago I felt that the Holy Spirit wanted me to speak out against contemplative spirituality.
In the last 12 or so months, I have tried to do just that. But even more than that ... the dangers associated with and the reason
why contemplative spirituality exists seem to have come full circle for me and hopefully for you.
I have learned that people indeed are looking but they also try to create an atmosphere for God that has absolutely nothing to do
with God and even sometimes is an abomination to God. They have "relied" on what those "learned" people around them have told
them and have forgotten that the instruction manual exists right in front of them. I am talking about the inspired Word of God.
Back in February of this year, I embarked on what I would call an audacious task for me. While I have read and studied different
parts of Scripture at different times in my life, I had never (up until that point) read the Bible cover to cover. I began with Genesis
and I will finish with Revelation.
No, I did not want to take "forever" to do this, so my deadline became December 31st of this year. As of this point I have completed
reading Genesis through Ezekiel. There may be some of you saying out there ... "Yea ... So What ... ?"
That is a valid question ... There has been a very valuable lesson I have learned through this task and one which I don't believe I
could have realized without reading the Bible in this order or fashion. The Lesson is this ... There is absolutely NOTHING that God
has left out of His Word and I am talking practical application.
What is awe inspiring to me is that this book was written beginning more than 3000 years ago and was completed more than
1900 years ago and it is still relevant to our lives today in the year 2007.
So back to what prompted this article ... Within the last month or so, my pastor gave a sermon on the Fiery Furnace (Daniel 3:12-
27) - Please be sure to read it for yourself, for space sake I will not reprint it here. In a nutshell, the lesson learned was that
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to bow down to the 90 foot statue and God Himself delivered them from the effects of
the Fiery Furnace.
My pastor made a few points in his sermon at the heart of which was we have a choice to make ... To obey God or man.
Romans 12:2 (KJV) And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove
what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
The world's methodology pressures us to conform to the world's standards but when we read and study Scripture consistently, a
different standard develops, one in which we seek to do that which is pleasing to God and according to His will. What comes
natural out of the process is obeying God.
Now onto the second point ... Ray and Tracye Gano are Executive Directors of Prophezine Ministries and are dear friends of mine.
Typically on Monday's they put out a 30-40 page pdf document appropriately named "The Insider Report" ...
The weekly Insider Report is made available to individuals who subscribe to Prophezine for the incredibly low subscription price
of $10 a month ... My husband and I have personally been subscribers for over a year now. Recently Ray wrote an article which
he titled ... "Walking by Faith, Flying by Instruments" ...
The premise of the article can be summed up from one simple sentence in Ray's article ... "The weather was abominable and we
were virtually flying on instruments from take-off" ... With little thought hopefully you can determine that where the article went
was that life can and will be abominable but the instrument we fly by is the Word of God, the Bible.
The last such occurrence that made me stand up and take notice was in a class that I am taking. The subject which we were
talking about was "What is more important to God than His name?"
The bottom line of the discussion was that God's Word is more important. It is only through the study of Scripture that we can
know who God is and what His plan for our life is. Hopefully you can see the common thread through each of these occurrences
is the Word of God.
If you doubt what I say, consider what God inspired John the apostle to write in the Gospel according to John ...
John 1:1 (KJV) In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:14 (KJV) And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of
the Father,) full of grace and truth.
It is through God's Word that Jesus is revealed for Who He is, What He did and Who He will be in the age to come. Truthfully,
Scripture comes alive in the Person of Christ Jesus who has and will again dwell among us.
A couple of things in the news recently really bothered me ... I believe that at the heart of these two stories is what a lack of
knowledge and failure to study certain parts or all of the Word of God can lead to.
One news story shows us that men who have chosen to embrace man's wisdom and chose to disregard pertinent parts of the Bible
have failed to discern the Truth of God's Word entirely. In my humble opinion, people who choose to do this are at a huge
disadvantage and also erroneous when making such claims as they did in this following story and the letter they wrote to
President Bush.
The first article I am speaking of, was written about a group of so called evangelical Christian leaders who wrote a letter to
President Bush telling him that the majority of Christians support a two state solution in the middle east for the Palestinian
People and the Hebrew People.
To read the article from the New York Times and also the Letter click on the embedded links.
Had these supposed leaders read the book of Ezekiel in chapters 37 and 38, they would know that God promised to bring Israel
back into the land which He promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and that after such event (which is to occur in the latter
times) an everlasting covenant will be made and God will set His sanctuary among His chosen people Israel forevermore. And
likewise these leaders would know that Bible believing and Bible teaching Christians do NOT support a two state solution within
the area designated as Israel.
Ezekiel 37:21-22 (KJV) "And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the
heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: And I will make them one
nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations,
neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all:"
Ezekiel 37:25-26 (KJV) "And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have
dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children for ever: and my servant David
shall be their prince for ever. Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them:
and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore."
Ezekiel 38:8 (KJV) "After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back
from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is
brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them."
The other item in the news recently was regarding a book about Mother Teresa ... The title of the book said to be co-authored by
Mother Teresa is called ... "Mother Teresa - Come Be My Light" ... The book hit shelves earlier this month and Time magazine did
a cover story about the writings of Mother Teresa contained in the book.
While the likes of Time magazine and the L.A. Times sought sensationalistic headlines, I believe beyond the news story itself we
see a life that while given to tremendous work for others, still lacked a true spiritual calling that comes when one knows Jesus
Christ as the Light of their own world. This same life exemplified sadly what I believe is a misguided soul at best, because she
knew not the joy that comes with saving others from eternal darkness and separation from Christ.
I don't know if Mother Teresa read the Bible or not but quite simply if she had perhaps she would have seen for herself the reason
for the darkness in her soul. She would have also seen men like Job, who lost everything and still praised God, or Paul and Silas,
who while locked in a prison cell witnessed to other prisoners and a guard about Jesus. What she would have seen that while
these men were challenged they still had light NOT darkness and joy NOT emptiness in their lives. They never doubted for a
minute that the Saviour of their heart and the Redeemer of their soul was right there with them.
Consider some of these quotes from the book that I found in various articles on the web ... "I am told God loves me — and yet the
reality of darkness & coldness & emptiness is so great that nothing touches my soul." ... "Jesus has a very special love for you. As
for me, the silence and the emptiness is so great that I look and do not see, listen and do not hear." ... "I spoke as if my very heart
was in love with God — tender, personal love," she remarks to an adviser. "If you were [there], you would have said, 'What
hypocrisy.'" ... “In my soul I feel just that terrible pain of loss — of God not wanting me — of God not being God — of God not
really existing,”
I know that there are people who will disagree with me. Do I doubt that Mother Teresa was doing a good thing? No I don't, but my
heart is sad because in my mind from the Scriptures I have read and studied, the darkness she says she experienced can only
point to one thing amidst the things she did for the poorest of poor in Calcutta ...
Mother Teresa was missing the joy a heart experiences when we give selflessly as a servant of Christ Jesus AFTER we have
accepted Him as our LORD and Saviour. Yes of course this saddens me, but when it comes right down to it, in everything they do
the RCC promotes salvation based upon works.
I was raised in the Roman Catholic Church and up until the very early part of the year 2001, I participated in all the "sacraments"
and attended church regularly. My husband and I were married in the RCC and our first child was baptized in the RCC.
One of the things that prompted us to leave the RCC was a void and I would even say a "spiritual darkness" that existed in my
heart and my husband's; The only way I can describe it is that there was a yearning for the Word of God. We wanted to learn more
and know more Scripture and it was not being provided for us in the RCC. We have never looked back from having left the RCC in
spite of the fact that both sides of our families still remain in the RCC.
Having been outside of the RCC for more than 6 1/2 years now, I can say that when I read the Time magazine article my first
thoughts were whether or not Mother Teresa knew Jesus as her LORD and Saviour. Truthfully, I make that statement as an
honest objective observer.
Scripture quite clearly tells us that our lives "in Christ" will not be easy and there will be sacrifices ... Perhaps this is best
exemplified in the conversion and subsequent life of Paul who eventually was martyred for his faith and belief in Jesus Christ
and the spreading of the Gospel to the Gentiles ... Paul, who to begin with persecuted and murdered the first Christians and then
was dramatically converted on the road to Damascus, had periods of time where things were not easy for him, but he found joy in
his work for the Saviour.
Romans 5:11 (KJV) "And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the
atonement."
2 Corinthians 7:4 (KJV) "Great is my boldness of speech toward you, great is my glorying of you: I am filled with comfort, I am
exceeding joyful in all our tribulation."
You may be asking, Where is she going with this? My point is quite simply this ... Our joy is complete just as the joy of God is
complete when we receive Jesus Christ as our LORD and Saviour and desire His will more than our own. As such no matter how
much we go through, there is joy not darkness in our hearts.
In the RCC we gave and gave and gave in our own ways. I taught Religious Education classes for over 5 years; I helped within the
parish that my husband and I were married in ... Not just teaching Religious Education, but also coordinating the ministers of
communion (with my husband and father-in-law) and working with my husband in starting and setting up for a new Sunday
evening service; we also served in many different ministries within our RCC parish, right up until the weekend when we decided
to leave the RCC.
But as I mentioned before the works were never enough and my husband and I still felt a void in our hearts.
That void was not filled until Jesus became my LORD and Saviour. The Holy Spirit used the fact that I (as well as my husband)
were not receiving the complete truth of Scripture to place a yearning in our hearts for the Word of God. The rest as they say is
history, we have not looked back and while there have been challenges within our life, our peace and joy have been made
complete in Jesus our Saviour.
Please know that what I am about to say is not intended in any way to suggest our struggles are any different than anyone else's
struggles or tribulations. I only offer them as example nothing more. In these years since leaving the RCC we have gone through a
period of unemployment for my husband, a difficult pregnancy that resulted in pre-term labor and the premature delivery of our
second child. There was also an injury at my husband's work that left us financially challenged and him home on a reduced
worker's compensation pay for more than a month.
When it comes right down to it God has always provided and no matter what the challenge has been we have always been able to
look back and see God's presence in our life and period's of joy to help us through the circumstances of life.
When one looks at the writings of Mother Teresa objectively, I believe that while we perhaps can see reason for her being awarded
the Nobel Peace Prize albeit a secular award ... A darkness that she felt emerges and it leaves one to wonder.
Everything I see in Scripture associates Jesus with Light and not with darkness, which is precisely why I am concerned. Sin and
father of sin (Satan), is associated with darkness. Do I believe that Mother Teresa is in Heaven? I honestly don't know ... What I do
believe is that if she realized and said as much, that she was still a sinner in need of a Saviour and accepted Jesus as the One
who died for her sins on the cross in Calvary than yes she is in Heaven. But if she died believing her good works would earn her
the right to eternity in Heaven than she is lost. Only God knows where her soul resides at this moment.
I will leave you with some Scriptures regarding the Light of our LORD Jesus Christ ... By the way, the title of this article is also a
Scripture quote ... Psalms 119:105 (KJV) "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path."
Psalms 27:1 (KJV) "The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I
be afraid?"
Psalms 36:9 (KJV) "For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light."
Psalms 43:3 (KJV) "O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy
tabernacles."
Psalms 97:11 (KJV) "Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart."
Psalms 112:4 (KJV) "Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: he is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous."
John 8:12 (KJV) "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in
darkness, but shall have the light of life."
John 12:46 (KJV) "I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness."
Amidst the desire of our redeemed heart to be used by God comes a hope and trust no matter what the trial or tribulation is that
makes our joy complete in Him.
Jehovah - Raah "The LORD my Shepherd"
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Friday June 29, 2007 - posted by Denise Styka
Hi Everyone,
The article which is linked at the end of this introduction is an absolute must read please be sure to check out the original article
...
Are your priests or pastors preaching the Gospel on Sunday? ... My pastor preaches this on Sunday's, in fact he preaches it every
Sunday. The Gospel is clear. In fact my pastor has said the reason Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are referred to as "The Gospel of
..." is because they all contain the events surrounding the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, His burial and His resurrection.
Everything centers around those facts of the Gospel.
Without knowing that we all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God and that we need Jesus to forgive us, we would end up
in the eternal fires. As a Christian who feel's my assignment is to spread the Gospel and do my part of the Great Commission, if I do
not tell someone that they cannot earn their way to Heaven, or that they need Jesus, because He is the Only Way, Truth and Life,
or that Jesus as God became Man to die on the Cross for my sins and all the sins of mankind ...
How are they going to know?
Literally millions of people are sitting in the pews of today's seeker sensitive churches but they do not have to worry that someone
is going to point the finger at them and say your a sinner, but at what cost are they thankful. What is left? When we compromise
the Gospel by not telling the whole Truth souls are lost ... I may offend you with telling you the whole Truth, but I am willing to
risk that at the expense of sharing with you what you need to know to spend eternity in Heaven.
Each and every one of you are so important to me, if you don't know Jesus and have not trusted in Him to forgive your sins, you
are lost and on a path that lead's to destruction. How about those of you who have been saved, will you tell someone the whole
Truth and nothing but the Truth? ...
That Jesus said,
"I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no man cometh unto the Father but by Me." (John 14:6 KJV) ...
That Jesus said,
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish but have
everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved."
(John 3:16-17 KJV)
Please don't disregard this ... It is the difference between life and death ... I realize that the following article is addressed to
Southern Baptist Pastors, but we know there are other churches out there, which are not Southern Baptist that have the seeker
sensitive philosophy ...
The last church I personally attended was one such church, which was the reason my family and I left it.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Why do I use the Authorized Version of the King James Bible?
Friday, June 29, 2007 - posted by Denise Styka
Some might wonder, why do I use the King James Bible only? ... Just a bit of history, that I found interesting, and just learned
recently (I really did not value history as much in high school, as I do now as an adult). The translation of the King James Version
of the Bible was authorized by King James in 1611. It is this same King James for whom the first settlement in the United States,
Jamestown, Virginia was named 400 years ago.
The KJV is a bible based upon a formal literal equivalence translation from the original language it was written in, it seeks to
render a word-for-word translation ... the other versions out there are either paraphrased from the original and often involve the
greatest degree of subjective interpretation (allowing for the highest degree of human error) and yet there are also other versions
that while they are not paraphrases they take into account the dynamics of what is said also allowing for varying degrees of
subjective interpretation. For this reason, I will always use the King James version text when posting Scripture in an article I
write, and likewise when something other than the KJV has been used in other article postings, I will be sure to add the same
Scripture as it is said in the King James.
That said, I hope each of you reading this post will understand my heart on this ... The Holy Spirit is given as a deposit to those of
us who believe in, have accepted and trusted in Jesus Christ for our salvation ...
2 Corinthians 1:19-22 (KJV) "For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and
Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea. For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory
of God by us. Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given the
earnest of the Spirit in our hearts."
It is the Holy Spirit, who dwells within us from the moment that we accept Jesus Christ as Saviour and LORD.
1 Corinthians 3:16 (KJV) "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?"
When Paul wrote this first of two letters to the Christians in Corinth, the church of Corinth was struggling to say the least. They had
problems with fornication (1 Corinthians 5:1-6), were associating with people who claimed to be Christian but were not as
evidenced by the fruit they bore (1 Corinthians 5:9-11). Paul had to remind them that the Holy Spirit was dwelling within them.
By now you are probably asking where is she going with this ... Man's knowledge and interpretation as seen predominantly in
other versions of the Bible, is foolishness. God made clear how He would respond to this ...
1 Corinthians 1:19-20 (KJV) "For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of
the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of
this world?"
We can trust that the Holy Spirit, who lives unencumbered within a Christian who honestly desires to live in a manner pleasing to
our LORD and Saviour Jesus Christ, will guide our reading and studying of Scripture to the practical application of our lives
without having to rely on subjective opinions of man who has sought to interpret meaning based upon human understanding and
worldly wisdom, and personal desire.
This is why I use the King James Bible!!!
