The Story of Michele as told on Louise’s channel. You can follow the story as it unfolds on the video, and you will find a fascinating insight into the modern expression of witches and other radical departures from true Christianity. And, even more important, how to discover or relearn the truth of Scripture and what it teaches and endows us with.
Category: Building Blocks
Louise Teaching Monday Feb. 4, 2024
Louise uses puzzles today as a metaphor for working with and understanding and putting Scripture to work in your life.
Putting one’s life together is like trying to make all the parts of the puzzle fit quickly and easily. When you struggle with your puzzle, you can’t just throw up your hands and give up. In the same way, you have to stick with the word of God to see how it all fits into your life, just like completing a puzzle.
Who are you listening to? You can never get enough of God’s word, in Scripture, on a daily basis. What, for example, are the building blocks of faith to move you towards healing, peace, prosperity, etc.
Louise uses husband Larry as a stick-to-it kind of person. Very steady! Not likely to give up easily on something, like putting a piece of Scripture to work in his life.
Like a puzzle, stick with it until you get it finished.
God always has an answer to everything coming your way.
We can all be overcomers but we have to apply Scripture, understand its promises, then allow them to go to work in your life.
Persevere to the end. The winner is one who gets up when the going gets tough. Give your problems to God and He will do everything to get you through.
On Love in Scripture, Part 2, Feb. 10, 2024
More on love in Scripture. Read especially 1 Corinthians 13:
13 “If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
What to do when you are offended:
- Forgiveness
- Don’t talk about with others. Let it go.
- Love never quits, although people often do.
Louise tells some good stories about her husband Larry, when love finally prevails at the end of the story!
Love is faithful, does not give up on friendships, marriages, etc.
Take inspiration from faithfulness.
Pride undermines love also.
Love is not self-righteous.
Love has no loud words in her mouth.
Love knows how to work with different and difficult people.
Love in Scripture, Feb. 10, 2024
Love in Scripture. Expressions of genuine love often are subverted by hypocrisy.
And among the great trilogy of faith, hope, and love, one or more is often undermined by a simple lack of love.
One of the great Scriptures on love is 1 Corinthians 13:
13 If I speak in the tongues[a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,[b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
8 Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. 12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
Your love walk needs to start at home. Louise picks on her husband (the videographer for this video) for some lessons, on putting some furniture together, etc. Tests of true love!
Fileo and agape are two forms of love, explained by Louise. Agape love expects nothing in return.
Love says turn over to God the problems of loving people who have hurt you in some form or another, etc.
We also need to deal with jealousy. It can easily undermine your love walk.
Lover never boasts.
Love bears no malice.
Study of Spirit, Soul, and Body, Three Parts of Life, Feb. 4, 2024
Louise studies today the three parts of life, spirit, soul and body, spoken of often in Scripture.
She tells the story of private pilot who was in a flaming plain wreck. He said God had done this, so he could testify. But, God does NOT kill, steal, or destroy. He came here to give us life and abundance and health.
Here’s a short homework assignment: How much time do you spend studying God’s word, as opposed to how much time you send in front of your t.v., or computer, or cell phone or with the newest AI clinging to your head so you look like an electronic troglodyte?
What do you invest and work on will be what you produce.
Satan plays mind games. Your flesh will go the way where your mind leads it.
Read Joshua 1:9: “9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”
When you say something, that’s what you’re going to get. Words have power! read Mark 11:23. 23 “Truly[a] I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.
Jesus teaching by the sea
Fellowshipping with God, January 27, 2024
Louise addresses fellowshipping with God and how to pray.
She tells the story of her trying to learn how to play golf. Even hitting the ball was a challenge! Not simple. And she draws a parallel with learning how to pray successfully. So, how to do it?
Jesus Teaching His Disciples How to Pray
How do we pray successfully?
How do you tap in and hear from God.
The one thing most important in a prayer life, is relationship.
God wants more than anything to seek him out, especially in prayer.
God became Louise’s father, having lost her earthly father in the 4th grade.
Among the things to do is:
Develop a fellowship time with God. And be faithful to it.
Because God wants your time, listening to him, especially of course by reading the word and teachings of Jesus.
And below is the prayer that Jesus taught his Disciples:
Matthew 6:9-13King James Version
9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.11 Give us this day our daily bread.12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
Good versus Good, Study of the Book of Romans, Jan. 27, 2024
Louise plunges into the Book of Romans in this study, focusing on the power of God in our lives. See Romans 1:16 below:
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last,[e] just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”[f]
Jesus Teaching
The world has a believing problem. The issue is grace. Who do you believe in?
The hardest people to witness to are “religious” people, doing everything except for living the life of salvation and grace.
Inmates in the jail–where Louise ministered for eight or nine years–are, on the other hand, the easiest people to reach. They are looking for–and accept– the salvation message and its meaning for them.
They are not “religious” but, instead, in dire need.
The biggest battle today is good versus good. Divine good is the work of God; human good is self-righteous. In divine glory, the glory goes to God, not to one’s self.
Most all religions around the world are based on human works, unlike what Jesus gives us.
When all depends upon works, it is never enough.
“Religion” adds laws to obey in addition of works to do. And it is never enough. Grace, on the other hand, gives.
God is love. You don’t earn his love. You receive his love.
The Life of Joseph, Jan. 24, 2024
In Genesis there is the story of Joseph which Louise draws upon for meaning and teaching for all of us.
What was Joseph’s attitude through all his travails and disappointment? He always trusted God.
So, Louise draws from Joseph’s story to have some tenacity. Stick-to-it-tiveness. Wait for the promises of God. Recall that Joseph never blamed God. He had, for all of us to learn, the right attitude.
Below is the first part of Joseph’s story.
Joseph’s Dreams
37 Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.
2 This is the account of Jacob’s family line.
Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate[a] robe for him. 4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.
5 Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. 6 He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: 7 We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”
8 His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.
9 Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”
10 When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” 11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
Joseph Sold by His Brothers
12 Now his brothers had gone to graze their father’s flocks near Shechem, 13 and Israel said to Joseph, “As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I am going to send you to them.”
“Very well,” he replied.
14 So he said to him, “Go and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks, and bring word back to me.” Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron.
When Joseph arrived at Shechem, 15 a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, “What are you looking for?”
16 He replied, “I’m looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?”
17 “They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’”
So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan. 18 But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.
19 “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other. 20 “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.”
Joseph Being Lowered into a Cistern by his Brothers
21 When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said. 22 “Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father.
23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe he was wearing— 24 and they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it.
25 As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt.
26 Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed.
28 So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels[b] of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.
29 When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes. 30 He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy isn’t there! Where can I turn now?”
31 Then they got Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. 32 They took the ornate robe back to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe.”
33 He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.”
34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days. 35 All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said, “I will continue to mourn until I join my son in the grave.” So his father wept for him.
36 Meanwhile, the Midianites[c] sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard.
Nicodemus and What It’s Like to be Born Again, Wednesday Jan. 24, 2024
Louise traces the story of Nicodemus and addresses the question, with answers, of what it is to be born again.
Nicodemus and Jesus
Louise explains what some of these fundamental terms mean, like the “born again” experience, etc.
It’s not inherently complicated, but intellectuals sometimes have the hardest time in accepting God’s word. Prisoners in jail, where Louise has ministered a number of years, are usually the easiest to understand Jesus’s message.
You must receive Jesus’s promise by faith, not necessarily your intellect, or by applying traditional ways and rules of “religion,” such as the Pharisee displayed.
After the act of Salvation, you need to ask: Now, how do I grow up in the Lord?
Louise tells the story of getting into the Junior League and then was called into Kenneth Hagin’s Rhema Bible school in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Bit difference!
Sometimes you need to leave the rational and natural order of the universe to listen and be able to obey the spiritual callings of Jesus.
Louise tells about her experience with horse shows, then tennis leagues, all pulling her back int the natural world.
Nicodemus faced some many of the same decisive moments in his life, just as so many of you have in your lives. And, below is where he appears in the New Testament:
John 3:1-21New International Version
Jesus Teaches Nicodemus
3 Now there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus who was a member of the Jewish ruling council. 2 He came to Jesus at night and said, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.”
3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.[a]”
4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!”
5 Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit[b] gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You[c] must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”[d]
9 “How can this be?” Nicodemus asked.
10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.[e] 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,[f] 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”[g]
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
God’s Hand on Your Lives, Sunday Jan. 21, 2024
Louise addresses the hand that God has in your life, starting with an auto-biography, or her own life, very honest!
How her flaws and weaknesses and her surrounding family, father, mother, brother affected her growing up.
She grew up in a small town in Florida, Arcadia, and had many negative feelings about how she felt and who she was.
Cattle Ranching in DeSoto County, Florida
She draws lessons for all of us, based on her own experiences that went all the way from growing up in a cattle ranching family in Florida to attending Kenneth Hagin’s Bible Study seminary in Tulsa, Oklahoma, going eventually from a traditional Southern Baptist life to becoming a born again, evangelical Christian inspired and led by the Holy Spirit.
Bible Study With Louise Clayton 