God is the source; Jesus is the way; Spirit the guide.
Author: Victoria Reynolds, Nicodemus
My name is Victoria Reynolds :)
I'm a mother, artist, writer, PROUD Texan, and follower of Christ Jesus!
Welcome to my new website/blog https://abideinhope.com
I'm so glad you stopped by.
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by a newly discovered coronavirus.
Most people infected with the COVID-19 virus will experience mild to moderate respiratory illness and recover without requiring special treatment. Older people, and those with underlying medical problems like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, and cancer are more likely to develop serious illness.
The best way to prevent and slow down transmission is be well informed about the COVID-19 virus, the disease it causes and how it spreads. Protect yourself and others from infection by washing your hands or using an alcohol based rub frequently and not touching your face.
The COVID-19 virus spreads primarily through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose when an infected person coughs or sneezes, so it’s important that you also practice respiratory etiquette (for example, by coughing into a flexed elbow).
At this time, there are no specific vaccines or treatments for COVID-19. However, there are many ongoing clinical trials evaluating potential treatments. WHO will continue to provide updated information as soon as clinical findings become available.
Whether you are familiar with what exactly the human coronavirus is, and why it’s different from any of the other strains of the flu that we’ve dealt with in the past, or not… by now you’ve undoubtedly witnessed some of the consequences of it.
With the normal sounds of the hustle and bustle, that are characteristic of any typical Wednesday morning in the city, now replaced by a deafening silence…many people are in deep reflection about their lives, myself included. Some are having to face the stark reality that they’ve been putting faith and confidence, in things other than God. Many of us are coming to understand just what privileged lives, we’ve been living.
On Friday morning at 3am, my banks servers went down. I discovered this when I went online to order some much needed supplies Friday at 10am, and Costco kicked back the transaction as “Payment Failed.” Knowing that I had plenty of money in the bank to cover the purchase, I called my bank to find out that my money was trapped in an account I couldn’t access, and that no electronic transactions/debits or purchases were going to be able to go through, until it’s resolved. The woman on the other end of the line, calmly told me that it may be several days to a week, before they can get the servers back up and running again!
Thankfully my mother was able to allow me use of her card, and I was able to order the supplies on Friday, as I’d planned. However, those things I ordered on Friday are in fact OUT OF STOCK (along with almost everything else) as of this past Saturday, and the banks servers are still down today.
I say all that to say this: we are all far more fragile than we like to admit, or even think about. We put faith in stocks, bonds, retirement funds, rental properties, and monthly income that we think’ll always be there, but what if it wasn’t? What if today, all you have in your wallet, gas tank, and pantry is all you have? I don’t say this to incite fear, but to ask you to asses now, where you put your faith. Is it in God? Or have you put something up as an idol, above God?
In the final analysis God won’t ask you how many luxury vacations you went on…He’ll ask how many people you invited into a relationship with Him. He won’t ask you how many rental properties gave you passive income, but how many homeless people you housed. He won’t ask you if you got a reservation at the best restaurants in town, but how many hungry children you fed. The things that seem important, through the eyes of someone self centered, or with the “zeitgeist” (spirit of the age) are NOT at all what is important to someone who is in contrast, filled with the Spirit of God.
How’s your vision been in 2020 so far? And is this recent pandemic of Corona-virus, and all the consequences thereof changing the way you see the world, your behavior, and your priorities?
I think this Corona-virus may very well save many more, than it kills.
“As God began to heal and restore me, I cried out to Him and asked Him to forgive me. I prayed that He would touch the hearts of my children to forgive me too. It was hard to even imagine that it could be possible but I knew that:
~Matthew 6:33 says: ‘But seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.’
One thing I learned early was to ALWAYS tie my faith to His Word. I always want a scripture to stand on because the Bible says that His Word doesn’t return void. I stood on that scripture, trusting and believing that one day I would have a relationship with my children again, and I am SO EXCITED to get to tell you today that I DO! God has restored my relationship with all three of my children, and not only that, but I have had the HONOR of being with my children when all three of my BEAUTIFUL grandchildren were born!”
~Dawn Knighton-Adkins
Love, Mercy & GRACE
Recently a friend of mine felt lead to give me the book “Radical Restoration” by Pastor Dawn Knighton-Adkins, a 46 time convicted felon, and former prostitute whom God in His LOVE, MERCY & GRACE, delivered out of a life of drug addiction and abuse. The Lord gave her a POWERFUL testimony of a prodigal daughter, and empowered her with the type of faith that moved mountain after mountain until she became equipped to rescue other women from the Sex Industry. Pastor Dawn is now the Founder and CEO of “Radical Restoration Ministries” with a string of half way houses. God empowers her to teach these rescued “Daughters of the King” to make a viable living, stay sober, become healed and set free from bondage, and serve the Kingdom of God. The simple truth is this, it takes a prodigal to reach one, and no one loves Jesus like those of us who were so far into a life of sin, that no amount of human effort could have saved us. We know WITHOUT A DOUBT that we NEEDED the sacrifice that Jesus made. That we needed Him to not only pay our ransom, but to reach into the deepest pit imaginable, and retrieve us from the clutches of satan.
“Do you see this woman? When I entered your house, you did not give Me water for My feet, but she wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not greet Me with a kiss, but she has not stopped kissing My feet since I arrived. You did not anoint My head with oil, but she has anointed My feet with perfume.…Therefore I tell you because her many sins have been forgiven, she has LOVED MUCH. But he who has been forgiven little, loves little.”
~Luke 7:44-47
Tonight Pastor Dawn will be a Special Guest on the “Gettin’ Real With Ron” Radio Show on The Word FM 100.7 here in Texas, from 10-Midnight CST!
I will also be giving my personal testimony, so be sure to TUNE IN!
“Walk on the Wild Side; God LOVES Prodigals”
You can FOLLOW “Gettin’ Real With Ron” on Instagram here!
You can also STREAM LIVE from ANY device at TheWordFM.com
You won’t want to miss this! We also have another woman giving her testimony of being delivered from the Sex Industry, and how God is using HER in miraculous ways!
And PLEASE KNOW THIS, if you are praying for prodigal children who are lost in addiction, or caught up in the Sex Industry, don’t stop! They NEED that supernatural intervention and NO ONE is beyond hope. God can restore all that the enemy has stolen from you, and your family! He’ll then use what was meant to destroy you, for your good! Pastor Dawn and I are living proof of that.
Thanx for stopping by TODAY! Please don’t forget to “Like” and “Follow” Abide In Hope on Facebook & Instagram, and SUBSCRIBE! To the mailing list, to get a notification EVERY time I make a new post!
The most common question I hear relating to Spiritual Warfare is this: “Are demons real?”
The answer is YES! I can assure you that they are in fact real, and not only are they real, but they are literally “persons without bodies” and as such, each one of them has a unique personality and specific traits. We also know that they are actively looking for “dwelling places” aka places and people to possess/oppress, or influence.
Let’s begin by looking at this well known scripture in Ephesians 6:12 in “The Living Bible” translation:
“For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against persons without bodies; the evil rulers of the unseen world, those mighty satanic beings and great evil princes of darkness who rule this world; and against huge numbers of wicked spirits in the spirit world.”
Ephesians 6:12 TLB
You see when Satan fell, so did one third of the angels in heaven, having various military type rankings, personalities, and tendencies.
“The angelic beings who did not choose to obey God were cast away from their heavenly sphere. They remained spirits, of course, and therefore continue to populate the spiritual realm. But by choosing to go their own way, they lost their intimate connection with God as well as their place in the atmosphere of His glory. I see two major consequences to such a fall. First, these angels experience a perversion of their original attributes. Different types of angels who had various abilities and responsibilities in heaven now, after rebellion, have distorted versions of their original characters. The expulsion and perversion of these fallen angels turns them into what the New Testament calls demons.”
The good news for Christians is, that we are able to equip ourselves for the battle and be VICTORIOUS, and that although one third of the angels fell, becoming demons…TWO THIRDS of the angels remained loyal to God, and are fighting this battle with us.
“For every one that’s against me, I’ve got two that are for me.” ~Pastor Robert Morris
The SECOND most common question I hear about spiritual warfare is “Can Christians be possessed?”
To answer that question, I think we first have to define “possessed.”When scripture talks about the “demon possessed” it uses two Greek words “daimoni” and “zomai.”
You see I KNOW THAT DEMONS ARE REAL. To explain how I know this, I’ll need to share with you, a little of my testimony.
From the time that I was a young child, I knew that I could literally FEEL a supernatural presence, and had ONCE even heard an audible voice tell me to do something specific, that saved my life. But when I sought out guidance from people who had grown up in the church, they told me with absolute confidence that “God didn’t work that way.” They told me that He didn’t really speak to people, and that the spiritual gifts (like healing/prophesy/miracles) hadn’t been active on the earth, since the foundation of the early church.
So knowing that what I had heard was real, but believing those who had told me that their God didn’t speak, I set out to find out more about what I had experienced. If it wasn’t the God of the Bible that spoke to me that night, as I had originally thought,then who or what was it?
I began searching out all the information I could find about the supernatural. I read through the pages of different books and websites about paranormal experiences, and occult religions. I was on a mission, and nothing could deter me. There was something more to reality than this natural world that I could see with my eyes, and I was determined to find out what.
Then one day I read that the voice I had heard that night, (that had saved my life,) COULDhave been my spirit guide. This made sense because when I was 11 years old, my father had died. I thought maybe it was himprotecting me, from the other side. Maybe this presence was my dead father, and he wanted to help me…
So I started going to see psychics and fortune tellers, hoping they could help me find answers. They lit candles and incense, while reading tarot cards and using pendulums. Sometimes they told me things that they couldn’t have known in the natural, which fueled my search.
I tried everything from getting my palm read, to having elaborate astrology charts done. I wanted to know what my purpose WAS on this earth, and why the voice I’d heard that night, had saved my life.
What I struggled with most, was that there was another teenager, (who had a family that loved him, and had a bright future,) that had died that night, while I (this kid that nobody wanted) had walked away physically unscathed.
I just kept trying to wrap my mind around what had happed and find peace, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t stop asking the question, “WHY had he died, and not me? AND who was it that spoke to me that night? AND why hadn’t the other kids in the car, heard the voice?”
Eventually I learned to use the angel and tarot cards myself, and even used an ouija board on several occasions, in an attempt to communicate with my spirit guide. Then I started working at a book store in Las Vegas Nevada called the “Psychic Eye” where I met people from all walks of life, practicing religions that I had never even heard of, in the small towns of Texas. Out of pure curiosity, I went to festivals and ceremonies with people I met at Psychic Eye, not ever really believing that it could cause any harm.
Well I have to tell you that I never really found any answers through any of the occult practices I tried, but throughout my attempts I was finding that there were powerful entities in the spiritual realm, and the things done in these various practices, would change things in the natural.
Then after years of searching, my world suddenly spun out of control. My marriage of 13 years was ending, and it seemed that everything that could go wrong WAS.
Then out of the blue one day, I received a Word from God, through a person I had never met. He said that before I had been born into this world, God had placed giftings and abilities inside me, that I had not yet discovered. Not only was the Presence on this man real and tangible, it was familiar.I knew in an instant that THIS was the Presence I’d known as a child. Tears began streaming down my face. Somehow I had come full circle, and yet still didn’t know what to do about it.
A few weeks after receiving that prophetic word, the giftings and abilities that the stranger had spoke of, came to light. It was a beautiful experience to discover things I hadn’t known about myself, one that I still can’t find the words to describe. But that day I began to reconnect with my Creator in a deep and profound way, and in my heart I said a prayer, pledging to serve Him all the days of my life.
Not long after that prayer however, crazy supernatural things started happening and I had to face the reality that demons are in fact REAL, and in my search for truth, I had opened doors that I had no idea how to close.
Then one day while walking through the art district of Las Vegas, I came upon what looked to be a group of bikers. The leader of this group stepped over to me, leaned in and said, “you have demons all over you.” I said “I know, but I don’t know what to do about it.”
As it turned out this man and his friends HAD ALL BEEN hard core bikers, before coming to know Jesus, and each had an incredible testimony of how God had rescued them from the pit, and given them a new life in Christ. The leader had actually been an upper level member of the “Hell’s Angels” turned born again street preacher, who was now performing exorcisms/deliverances all over Nevada and California.
He and his group of Discipled ex-bikers began to talk to me about God, and what I needed to do to be delivered from these demons. I told them that things would get REALLY BAD when I was at home, so they came to my apartment to take a look, and there they asked me if I wanted to accept Jesus Christ into my life. With tears running down my face, I said “yes.”
They prayed over me and cast out the demons, and immediately I felt COMPLETELY different. The darkness lifted and I felt FREE! Then they spiritually cleansed and anointed my apartment, and when they were leaving, they referred me to a local church for continued DELIVERANCE sessions called “Sozo.” Unfortunately, these sessions cost $50 dollars each, and I was of very modest means, so I was only able to go once. It was certainly beneficial, because I learned a little more about the doors that I had opened, and how to close them…however I was realizing that I had only scratched the surface of all I would need to know, to get out of this tangled mess I was in.
Over the coming months and years, I engaged in many battles with the rulers, principalities, and powers of this dark world. I’d cast them out in the name of Jesus, and before too long, they’d come back with vengeance. I did the best I could, with what I knew at the time, but few people had any answers, so I just kept trudging the road to freedom, one treacherous step at a time.
It was during that season that I began watching Pastor Robert Morris on my laptop. He was the most amazing preacher I had ever heard speak. He wasn’t at all like the church people I had known. He was funny and loving, yet fearlessly preached an un-sugarcoated version of the gospel. He called Believer’s to change the way they were living, and get ALL IN for Jesus, without coming across as judgmental. He had BEEN a prodigal, and sunk pretty low in his sin, before being saved one dark night, in a run down hotel room.
Now THISwas a pastor I could relate to, and there wasn’t a single sermon that he preached, that I didn’t walk away from profoundly CHANGED!
Pastor Morris taught me that God DOES speak to His children, that I was DEEPLY LOVED and that I could have a close, personal, intimate relationship with my Father in Heaven.
He taught me that I was FORGIVENfor every mistake I’d ever made, through the blood of Jesus Christ, and that I could be in constant companionship and communication with the Holy Spirit. He taught me that I would never have to feel alone again, because Jesus had ascended to the Father and sent the Comforter to live in fellowship with me.
So I started running top speed towards the Lord, with everything I had. I wanted to REALLY know Jesus and understand His plans for me! It was at this point that I became truly BORN AGAIN.
Looking back I realized that although I THOUGHT I had been saved as a child, what had actually occurred was that I had had many ENCOUNTERS with the Lord, and during that time a seed had been planted, (like conception) followed by a long painful transformation (like a pregnancy) that lead to the rebirth experience in my late 30’s. That was when I became truly a new creature, and all things were made new.
Yet, even after I was born again…I continued to come under demonic attack….why?
I had completely and TOTALLY given my life to Jesus, so why were these demons still able to torment me? How COULD I be in bondage, and whenI BELONG TO GOD!
Fervently I prayed for God to forgive me, to intervene in my life and teach me how to close the doors that I had opened. To help me understand how to get rid of the demons that were tormenting me, once and for all.
Over the coming months, God would show up in my life BIG TIME, and answer my prayers.
I now KNOW for a fact, that the voice I heard that night, that had saved my life WAS the voice of God, and the Presence that had known in childhood, was the Holy Spirit, my Comforter.
I’ll never again let anyone tell me what God can and can’t do. I’ll go to the Source, and you can too!
Here is a sermon series about beginning an intimate relationship with the Lord, and hearing His voice for yourself.
And IF you think you may be under attack by satan, take a look at this short article. There’s a Deliverance Prayer at the bottom, for casting out demons and then blessing/anointing your home/family.
I have been seeing 11:11 EVERYWHERE and was wondering “what does 1111 mean spiritually?”
One day I was praying to the Lord, and when finished, I open my eyes and lifted my head, to see that the clock read exactly 11:11.
A little later I went to the market, and the total on my receipt was $11.11.
That afternoon while working in Photoshop, the dimensions of the photo had 1111 in them, (specifically 1411.11)
Then I ended up stuck in the Dallas traffic for an hour, staring at the license plate on the car in front of me, which also had a double 11.
When I finally got home, and ready for bed, I heard a notification on my cell and turned to see that the time on my cell read exactly 11:11!
Then when I crawled into bed and opened my laptop, I saw it AGAIN on Social Media (in the number of followers on one Instagram profile, then I clicked over to Facebook, to see a post that said it had 11 likes and 11 comments!
Finally I just bursted out in laughter! This had gone from a little weird, to down right CRAZY.
What was God trying to tell me?!?
I decided to put “what does 11:11 mean spiritually” into the Google search engine, and THIS is what I found:
A website to a church in Australia called “Pour It Out Ministries” had been getting letters and emails from all over the world, asking about this strange phenomena, and so the staff there decided to fast and pray, and ask God what it all meant.
excerpt from Pour It Out Ministries website: ”
Awakening, Wake Up Call, fresh spiritual awakening into more, supernatural favour and provision to take possession of promises, transition and alignment, revival. God is bringing life to the dead things and places. God is breathing encounters over you to WAKE YOU UP into spiritual clarity, fresh connected relationship with Him, and awakened sense of identity in God and your exciting eternal purpose.
Isaiah 11:11 “In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the surviving remnant of his people…” God is with his remnant. John 11:11“After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” Resurrection life, God of the impossible, AWAKENING Deut 11:11 “But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven.”
New authority and ownership, coming into promises, tasting promises, supernatural favour and provision where God leads
11 can mean transition and so a doubling of eleven can signify a season of intense shaking as things transition into the new. 11 also means alignment and so the shaking brings alignment to allow for awakening and revival.”
I continued to see NOT JUST the 11:11, but other number repeats like 1234.
So I started to search out all the scripture verses, that had the numbers I was seeing in them, like I had read “Pour It Out Ministries” do, and THEN… I let the Lord lead.
As the days, weeks and months passed, the strange phenomena continued, so I just accepted it as part of my interaction with God.
Now if I start seeing repeats of the same number, I just make a mental note of what I am thinking about when it occurs, then go into my next scripture study having that in mind.
The Lord has confirmed to me in our quiet place together,that He is guiding me to specific scripture, for a specific purpose; to give me deeper spiritual insight to what I’m going through, while CHANGING the way I think about the Lord, myself and the world around me.
It’s been a profound experience, and one that I’m not alone in.
Many Christians, from every corner of the globe are seeing the number repeats, and many of them are developing a more intimate relationship with the Lord through it.
Take a look at THIS online class by Pastor Bob Hamp, from Gateway Church, when he talks about experiencing this very thingand being lead to:
~Jeremiah 33:3 “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”
and then Pastor Hamp tells how he got a confirmation of what God was saying to him, later in a church service!
In this Freedom Class, he teaches on how to hear God, and then how to discern if it IS in fact God that’s trying to speak to you.
I’ve come to understand and accept that God CAN and doesspeak to His children, in a variety of ways!
~Acts 2:17-18 “‘In the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.”
My personal belief is that this is part of the OUT POURING of the Holy SPIRIT that the Lord talks about in His Word will occur in these very last, of The Last Days.
He’s wooing His Bride, and communicating with us in many beautiful and creative ways! I encourage you to engage with Him more fully, and enjoy the experience!
excerpt from “The Spirit Filled Believer’s Daily Devotional
“This is one of those verses which reads the same in the Old Testament (1 Sam. 13:14) as in the New Testament. When the Lord states that David is a man after His own heart,what He is saying is: ‘David is My kind of man! I can count on him to do all My will without any reluctance or hesitation.’
Twice in the Psalms, David discusses his willingness to do the Lord’s will. In Psalm 40:8 he declares: ‘I delight to do Your will, O my God. And Your law is within my heart.’ (NKJ) Then in Psalm 143:10 he requests the Lord’s help in this area: ‘Teach me to do Your will.’(NKJ) This desire to do the Lord’s will was PLEASINGto God.
David had another characteristic that qualified him to be a man after God’s own heart. It was a QUICKNESSto ACKNOWLEDGE WRONGDOING when he was confronted with it. David was QUICK to REPENT.He did not hide his sins. He did not carry grudges, hatred, unforgiveness, or resentment in his heart.
He always hurried to the place of FORGIVENESSand RECONCILIATION. How many hours, days, weeks, months, and years have we wasted by not coming to grips with unconfessed sin? David was SO SENSITIVE about DISPLEASING the Lordthat he was quick to make amends and be restored to loving fellowship.He did not lose any time clearing away the debris in his life. It was THIS quality that caused him to be a man after God’s own heart.”
~Dick Mills
Sometimes I struggle with feelings of inadequacy. Feeling like I’m falling SO SHORT of the Glory of God, that the Lord MUST not want to hear from me. That THIS time I’ve messed up too bad, and am an utter failure. A disappointment to my Father in Heaven.
There are MANY single’s in the Church that are in a hurry to get married, and although I’m ALL FOR marriage, I’d like to give you 5 reason’s not to rush into it.
God will sometimes HEAL us miraculously in an instant, but many times He leads us to something that He wants us to do, or stop doing.
That was the case for co-founder of “Altered Appetite” Leah Cromer.
Take a moment to watch this short video of her POWERFUL testimony!
Listen to how God lead Leah to change the way she was eating, and BE HEALED of PCOS.
“Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a hormonal disorder common among women of reproductive age. Women with PCOS may have infrequent or prolonged menstrual periods or excess male hormone (androgen) levels. The ovaries may develop numerous small collections of fluid (follicles) and fail to regularly release eggs.”
~Mayo Clinic
I personally have had several similar situations, where God lead me to a natural treatment that worked better than western medications/treatment, and healed me completely!!!
If you want to learn MORE about “Altered Appetite” follow this link:
“If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.”
~John 8:36
I’ve had struggles with food for most of my life, but had never considered what the spiritual components to weight gain, and eating disorders like Anorexia and Bulimia were.
Then half way through an online weight loss challenge that I’m doing on AskingMom.Org (one of my other websites,) I came upon a ministry that deals with the spiritual roots of obesity.
WOW, what a concept!
I’ve been working in “Freedom Ministry” aka “Sozo” for many years but had never thought of DELIVERANCE FROM FOOD ADDICTION until I met Doug Cromer.
If you have ever struggled with your weight, or felt the Holy Spirit moving in your heart about fasting and prayer to overcome food addiction, THIS is your confirmation.
Sometimes they told me things that they couldn’t have known in the natural, which fueled my search.
