Go Fish Ministries, Inc. News Letter March 1, 2009

Go Fish Ministries, Inc. News Letter March 1, 2009


Jesus said: Follow me and I will make you fishers for the souls of others. Matthew 4:19

Sis. Kimberly Hartfield, B.S. Christian Community Consultant/Spiritual Peer Counselor Contact: gofishbooks@gmail.com



Counselors’ Corner

I have been on an emotional rollercoaster these last couple of months, with some highs and some lows. Rocky and I have now been separated over seven years as of January. I told him that I thought we either needed to end our relationship or do something to try to fix it. We discussed divorce, but haven’t decided in that direction as of yet. We both have expressed our love for one another, but we just can’t seem to reconcile some of our differences. We recently watched the movie Fireproof together, which I highly recommend to anyone struggling with their marriage relationship. I bought the book The Love Dare in response to seeing the movie. I have been reading it and studying it and hope to be able to apply some of its principles in my relationship with my husband. I pray that God will give me the strength and the will to see it to completion and that it will ultimately make a difference in my marriage to Rocky. Please pray for us as we seek God’s will in our lives and attempt to make a decision that will both glorify God and give us some peace in our hearts and lives and that of our eight children.

Well on another note, I finished up my internship, passing my comprehensive final with an 84, which was supposedly pretty good for our class. I got an overall A in the class, so I’m not complaining too much, though I wish I’d have done a little bit better than the 84. I also got an A in my Adventure Based Counseling class, which was an all time high in my coursework. This was the best class I have had at Carey. We did several weeks worth of low ropes elements and activities, which are designed to build trust, give you self-confidence, and challenge you to move beyond your comfort zone. At the completion of the class, we went to Byrdland Ministries, a high ropes course outside of town, which was unrelated to our William Carey coursework, but which gave us 8 hours of Advanced training, along with our 40 hours in Basic Training . This was a very challenging course for me and I wasn’t real sure I wanted to participate in some of the activities, though I did attempt most of them. The high point of the day was climbing the forty foot tower and riding a zip line over the lake. It was absolutely awesome! I also rode in a fifty foot high giant swing with one of my classmates, who I thought I trusted enough. He didn’t pull the release lever when I begged him too, so I’m not sure I can trust him completely any more, although I’m sort of glad he didn’t because it pushed me to go beyond what I thought I could do. My stomach was in my throat, so needless to say, it was literally a breathtaking experience.

I have not really had opportunity to develop any true friendships since being at Carey because I have not had the time or opportunity to get to know anyone on a very personal level. But I have met a few godly people in this class that I hope and believe I can truly call friends. I have taken some time outside of class to get to know them and for them to get to know me. They have been listening to my struggles and praying for me through them. They know that I have been struggling with some sin and doubt issues surrounding both my spiritual growth and my relationship with my husband and others and have not abandoned me in their prayers, I believe. I trust that these new friendships will continue, even after graduation. I truly hope so anyway. A true friend knows all your secrets and cares for you anyway, in spite of your faults. God bless them for being there for me! Several of us are in the job market and will be looking for work upon graduation, so please remember all of us as we seek to finish our coursework and move on to new things in our lives. Transitions can be a little bit scary, because you don’t know what’s coming next. But I trust that God will find somewhere that I can be of use to His Kingdom and to ours.

In the mean time I will continue in the very humbling profession of rescuing forsaken animals and raising and selling puppies. I do hope you all are careful about not letting your animals breed accidentally. There are so many unwanted pets out there, but I don’t believe putting down healthy animals is right. So I rescue as many as possible and try to save a few from certain death at the humane society. I do breed some myself but I always make sure I find good homes for the puppies and kittens or keep them my self. I hope I’m not doing this for the rest of my life, but may God put me where He needs me. I do love animals and the out of doors, so I hope maybe this can be of use at some point in the future of my career. I want to some day work with victims of sexual and domestic violence and would like to implement animal therapy into a program I want to develop at a Christian Camp for women. These are just dreams for now but if I were to ever have the funds and a place to develop this idea, I believe it could be of benefit to those like me who have suffered years of self-destructive choices in the aftermath of childhood sexual abuse and domestic violence. Please pray that God will show me where I am supposed to be and what to do next. I don’t care about the money, I’d take minimum wage, if I thought I was being of use to God. God has truly taken me out of the pigpen and brought me back home to Him, so I pray that I can get to work and make myself useful.

I’ve been working on Romans these last few weeks so an excerpt of what I’ve done with the paraphrase I’ve been working on follows this prayer, which I hope will bless someone. Comments - good or bad are welcomed. Please read it at your leisure and let me know what you think about it. God Bless to all and go fish for Jesus!



A Prayer to Yahweh Our God

©2009 Kimberly Hartfield



God of Grace, God of Love

God of Judgment, God of Mercy

We humbly come before Your presence

Bow the knees of our humbled hearts

Close the eyes of our busied minds

Fold the hands of our fallen souls

Uplift the faces of our flesh

Let us hope in Your grace

Look to Your love

Fear Your judgment

And plead for Your everlasting mercy

May the God of Peace beyond understanding give us solace in all of our troubles

May the God of all Wisdom give us knowledge and insight for our mindless stupidities

May Yeshua, the Christ of the Cross help us cope in the greatest of our sufferings

May Yahweh God, the Maker of us all create in our dead stony hearts a new thing

May the God who forgives teach us to forgive others

To grow in our unfailing love for one another

To trust the goodness of God in each of us

And to bless one another with the benefits

Of all the bounty God has bestowed on us

May we continue to seek the God of Truth

The God of Truth that sets our souls free

May we always choose life and forsake death

May we lift our voices against known injustices

May our eyes condemn any unrepented sin

May our arms open to those who ask our forgiveness

May our feet trample the head of the serpent

That continually bruises our heels

May we live and die to serve the Savior

Who washed the feet of those who served Him

Who set on fire the tongues of those who cursed Him

Who gave new life to those who put Him to death

And who will resurrect those who now die in Him

May God’s Amazing Grace comfort us all

And give each of us a closer walk with our Maker

May we take our last breath with the name of Yahweh on our lips

And the indelible mark of Yeshua the Christ in our foreheads

Amen and Amen



Paul’s Letter to the Romans

(Chapters 1-6)

1[1-7] Paul, a worker of Yeshua the Christ, called to be a follower, set apart for the New Word of God, (Which God had promised before by the great preachers in the Holy Word,) about the Child of God, Yeshua the Christ, our Savior, who was in human form from the line of David; And by the spirit of faithfulness said to be the Child of God with power, by the coming to life again from the dead. We’ve accepted, by grace, the membership of the faith among all nations, for the name of Christ. You all that are in Rome are also called of Yeshua the Christ, dear loved ones of God, and called to be Christians: Grace to you and peace from Yahweh God, and Yeshua the Christ.

[8-17] First, I thank my God for you all, through Yeshua the Christ, that your faith is being spoken of throughout the whole world. God is my witness, whom I serve with all my spirit in the New Word of the Child of God, that I always remember you in my prayers, never stopping. I ask if, in any way, now at last, I might by the will of God come to you and have a good journey. I long to see you, so that I can give you some spiritual gift, so that you’ll have what you need; That is, so that I’ll be in good spirits along with you by the faith that we now share. I want you to know, Christians, that I planned often to come to you, (but was unable before this,) that I might have some converts among you also, just as I do among the other peoples. I owe it both to the Greeks, and to the other foreigners; both to the wise, and to the unwise. So, as much as in me is, I’m ready to preach the New Word to you who are at Rome also. I am not ashamed of the New Word of Christ because it’s the power of God to save everyone that believes; first the Jew, and then the other peoples. The goodness of God is made known, which is by faith: as the Word says, Those made right will live by faith.

[18-22] The judgment of God is revealed from heaven against all the evil and ungodliness of human beings, who hold back the truth with their ungodly actions; What might be known about God, they know, because God has clearly shown it to them. The things that we can’t see about God, have been clearly shown us since the creation of the world, that is, God’s everlasting power and Godhead, which is understood by seeing everything that is made, so that they have no excuse. And even when they knew God, they wouldn’t praise God as God, nor thank God; but became like unthinking fools in their thoughts, and their stupid hearts were darkened. They claim to be wise, but they became like unthinking fools, changing the light of the everlasting God into the worship of other things, in the form of human beings, birds, animals, and water creatures.

[24-32] So God also gave them up to the evil they wanted out of their own hearts, to shame their own bodies among themselves. They changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served what was created more than the Creator who made them, who is blessed forever. So be it! Because of this God gave them up to the evil they wanted, so that even their women changed the natural way to have sex into what is against nature: And in the same way the men also, not wanting to have sex with a woman naturally, but wanting to have sex with each other; men with men, doing what is clearly wrong, and getting diseases in themselves from their wrongs, which they rightfully deserved as punishment. And as they didn’t like to remember God, God gave them over to an ungodly mind, to do what isn’t natural; Being filled with all ungodliness, sexual sin, evil, greed, cruelty; jealousy, murder, arguments, lies, criticism; gossip, back-talkers, God-haters, wanting revenge, proud, braggers, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without knowledge, promise breakers, without natural love, stubborn, and uncaring: Who knowing the judgment of God, that those who do such things are worthy of death, and not only do them, but are happy when others do them.

2[1-16] So you’re inexcusable, you people, who judge others, because however you judge someone else, you accuse yourself because you who are judging others do the same kinds of things. But we’re sure that in truth the judgment of God is against those who do such things. And do you think, you people, who judge those who do such things, and do the same, that you’ll escape the judgment of God? Or do you hate the riches of God’s goodness, and patient waiting; not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to a changed life? But because of your hardness and unchanged heart, you store up for yourself rage against the day of rage, when the good sense of God will be made known, who will give everyone just what their actions deserve. Everlasting life to them who patiently continue doing good, while looking for victory, honor, and a spiritual body: But God will have resentment and rage toward those who want to argue, and don’t obey the truth, but are ungodly. Suffering and sorrow will come to every soul of those who do evil, of the Jew first, and also of the other peoples; But victory, honor, and peace, to everyone that does good, to the Jew first, and also to the other peoples: because God shows no favor to anyone. Whoever has sinned without knowing the Word of God will also be destroyed without the Word of God: and whoever has sinned knowing the Word of God will be judged by the Word of God. Those who only hear the Word of God aren’t right to God, but those who act on the Word of God will be made right. When the other peoples, which haven’t heard the Word of God, naturally do the things contained in the Word of God, these, not having the Word of God, are a law to themselves. This shows the work of the Word of God is written in their hearts, their conscience also giving proof, and their thoughts either accusing or else excusing them. This will happen in the day when God will judge the secrets of humanity by Yeshua the Christ as my New Word says.

[17-24] If you’re called a Jew, and rest in the Word of God, and brag about your relationship to God, and you know God’s will, and approve of the things that are best, being taught from the Word of God; And if you’re sure that you yourself are a guide to those who are blind, a light for those who are in darkness, a teacher of the stupid, a teacher of babies, you have, in the Word of God, the spirit of knowledge and the truth. So why do you teach others, but don’t teach yourself? You, who preach that someone shouldn’t steal, do you steal? You, who say that no one should act in sexual sin, do you act in sexual sin? You, who hate false worship, do you worship other things falsely? You that brag about yourself in using the Word of God, do you dishonor God by breaking the Word of God? So the Name of God is disrespected among the other peoples because of you, as the Word says. The truth is, if you obey the Word of God, your cleansing is good: but if you break the Word of God, your cleansing is as if you weren’t cleansed. So if those who aren’t cleansed keep the goodness of the Word of God, won’t their uncleanness be as if they were cleansed? And won’t those who aren’t clean by nature, if they fulfill the Word of God, judge you, who by the written word and by the cleansing break the Word of God? Those who are only Jews outwardly; aren’t really cleansed at all, which are only outwardly cleansed in the body: But it is those who are inwardly cleansed that are Jews; and the cleansing is that of the heart, by the Spirit, and not by the letter of the law; whose praise isn’t of human beings, but of God.

3[1-8] So what advantage has the Jew then? What good is it to be cleansed? It is good in every way: but most importantly, because they were trusted in to be the preachers of God’s Word. So what if some don’t believe? Will their unbelief make God’s faithfulness useless? Never! God speaks truth, but everyone else is a liar. The Word says, That all Your words might be proved right, and that You might be found fair when You judge. But if our ungodliness shows the goodness of God more, what can we say? Is God not good who punishes those who deserve it? (I speak as a human being) Never! Because then, how could God judge the world? Some might ask, if the truth of God is shown more by my lie to God’s victory; then why am I judged as a sinner? And some say, (as we’re falsely accused of saying,) “Let’s do whatever evil we want, so that good may come from it”: They’ll get just what they deserve!

[9-18] So what then? Are we any better than they are? No, in no way because we’ve to proved both the Jews and the other peoples, that they’re all sinners; As the Word says, No one is good, no, not even one. No one understands; no one tries to find God. They’ve all turned out of the way. They’ve all together failed to be any good; There’s no one that does any good, no, not one. Their mouths are like open graves; they’ve spoken nothing but lies; their words spread like the poison of a snake. Their mouths are full of anger and cursing. They’re quick to murder. Their ways only destroy and hurt others. They don’t know how to make peace. They have no fear of God’s punishment.

[19-31] Now we know that whatever things the Word of God says, it says to those who know the Word of God: so that every mouth can be shut, and all the world will be found guilty before God. So no one will be made right in God’s sight by doing the things the Word of God says to do, but the Word of God brings us to the knowledge of sin. But now the goodness of God that comes without doing what the Word of God says, is made known to us, being witnessed by the Word of God and the great preachers; This is the goodness of God which comes by faith in Yeshua the Christ to all those who believe. No one is any different: because all have sinned, and fall short of the goodness of God, who are made right freely by God’s grace. We are bought back by Christ Yeshua, who God has sent to take our place through faith in the Christ’s shed blood, to make known God’s goodness for the forgiveness of past sins, which were overlooked by God, to make known, I say, at this time God’s goodness. And in order to be fair, to cleanse those who believe in Yeshua. So why do you brag then? You have no reason to brag about the law you follow or of anything you’ve done. No: but only by following the Word of God, which is of faith. So we conclude that people are made right by their faith, not by doing what the Word of God says. Is God the God of the Jews only? Isn’t God also the God of the other peoples? Yes, of the other peoples also! So seeing it’s One God, who will forgive those who are cleansed by faith, and those who aren’t cleansed by the same faith, do we then make the Word of God useless by our faith? Never: but we prove the Word of God is true.

4[1-8] So what can we say then, that Abraham, our ancestor, as concerning the body, has found? If Abraham were made right by what he’d done, he’d have reason to brag; but not before God. What did the Word of God say? Abraham believed God, and he was counted as good. Now the pay of those who work isn’t a gift, but is earned. But those who don’t work, but believe on the One who forgives the ungodly, their faith is counted for good. Just as David also says the person who God calls good without considering what they’ve done is blessed, saying, Blessed are those whose actions are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the person to whom God doesn’t count a sinner.

[9-15] So are those who are cleansed the only ones who are blessed, or are those who aren’t cleansed also blessed? Don’t we say that Abraham’s faith was counted for goodness. So when was it counted as good then? When he was cleansed, or before he was cleansed? Not in cleansing, but before then. He got the sign of cleansing, a seal of the goodness of the faith which he had before he was cleansed: in order to be the ancestor of all those who believe, who aren’t cleansed; so that they might be counted good also. And the ancestor of cleansing, not just to those who are cleansed only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our ancestor Abraham, which he had when he was still not cleansed. The promise, to be the heir of the world, wasn’t to Abraham, or to his children, through the Word of God, but through the goodness of faith. If those who are of the Word of God are heirs, faith is useless, and the promise would be useless: The Word of God only brings us rage from God. And where there is no law, there’s no sin.

[16-25] So it’s of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end that the promise might be made sure to all the descendants; not only to those who are of the Word of God, but to those also who are of the faith of Abraham; who is the ancestor of us all. (As the Word says, I’ve made you an ancestor of many peoples,) Abraham believed God, the very God, who gives life to the dead, and speaks of what hasn’t happened yet as though it has already happened. Abraham, who against all hope, in hope, believed in order to become the ancestor of many peoples; just as it was spoken, So will your descendants be. And not at all having a weak faith, he didn’t consider that his body was as good as dead, even when he was about a hundred years old, nor even that Sarah's womb was dead: Who never swayed from believing the promise of God by doubting; but had great faith, giving praise to God; And being fully convinced that, what God had promised, God was also able to do. And so it was counted as goodness for him. Now it wasn’t written for Abraham’s sake alone, that it was counted for good to him; But for us also, who will be counted as good, if we believe on the One who brought back Yeshua our Christ from the dead; Who died for our sins, and was raised again for our forgiveness.

5[1-11] So being made right by faith, we have peace with God through our Christ, Yeshua: By whom we also have access by faith into this grace in which we now stand and celebrate in hope of the victory of God. And not only so, but we have victory in our trials as well: knowing that our troubles help us to patiently wait through it; And our patience builds good character; and our character gives us hope: And we aren’t ashamed of our hope; because God’s love flows through our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us. Even when we were still without strength, when the time was right, Christ died for the ungodly. Someone would hardly die for a good person: but still some would even dare to die for a good person. But God shows love for us, in that, even while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now made right by the blood of Christ, we’ll be saved from God’s rage through Christ. And if, when we were enemies, we were brought back to God by the death of God’s own Child, much more, being brought back, we’ll be saved through the new life of Christ. And not only so, but we also celebrate in God through our Christ, Yeshua, by whom we’ve now been bought back.

[12-21] So, as sin came into the world by one person, and death by sin; and so death passed to everyone, because all have sinned: ( Until the Word of God came, sin was in the world: but sin isn’t counted when there’s no law. In the same way death ruled from Adam to Moses, even over those who hadn’t sinned like Adam did when he disobeyed a direct order, who was the likeness of the One who was to come. But the free gift isn’t like the sin. But if through the sin of one person many die, God’s grace, and the gift by grace, which is by One, Yeshua the Christ, has come much more to many. And the gift isn’t like it was by one that sinned, because the judgment was brought by one to accuse him, but the free gift is given to forgive the sins of many people. If by one person's sin death ruled; how much more will those who get the riches of grace and the gift of goodness reign in life by One, Yeshua the Christ.) So as by the sin of one judgment came on everyone to accuse them; in the same way by the goodness of One, the free gift came to everyone to forgive them and bring them life. As by one person's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One will many become good. Besides this the Word of God came, so that the sin might grow more and more. But where sin grew, grace grew much more: So that as sin has ruled to death, in the same way grace might reign through goodness to everlasting life by Yeshua our Christ.

6[1-11] So what will we say then? Will we keep on sinning, that grace can grow more? Never! How will we, that are dead to sin, live any longer in it? Don’t you know, that as many of us as were baptized into Yeshua the Christ were baptized into the death of Christ? So we’re buried with Christ by baptism into death: so that like Christ was brought back from the dead by the victory in God, in the same way we also will walk in newness of life. If we’ve been brought together in the likeness of Christ’s death, we’ll also be raised up just like the Christ’s came to life again. Knowing this, our old person is put to death with Christ, so that the body of sin might be killed, and that we wouldn’t serve sin again. Whoever is dead is freed from sin. Now if we’re dead with Christ, we believe that we’ll also live with Christ: Knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more; death has no more control over the Christ. In that the Christ died, Christ died to sin once: but in that the Christ lives, Christ lives to God. In the same way think yourselves also to be dead to sin, but alive to God through Yeshua, our Christ.

[12-23] Don’t let sin reign in your human body, that you would do whatever evil it wants. Don’t let your parts be used as tools of ungodliness to sin: but give yourselves to God, as those that are alive from the dead, and use your parts as tools of goodness to God. Sin won’t have control over you because you aren’t under the Word of God, but under grace. What then? Will we sin, because we aren’t under the Word of God, but under grace? Never! Don’t you know, that to whom you give yourselves as workers to obey, you work for whoever you obey; whether it’s sin to death, or obedience to goodness? But God be thanked, that even though you were the workers of sin, you’ve obeyed from the heart the kind of teachings which was given you. So then, being made free from sin, you became the workers of goodness. I speak as a human being, because of the weakness of your body. Just as you’ve given your members as workers for evil and to sin which led to more sin; in the same way now give your members as workers to goodness which leads to faithfulness. When you were the workers of sin, you were free from goodness. What good did you get then from those things in which you’re now ashamed? The end result of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and becoming workers for God, the good you do leads to faithfulness, and in the end to everlasting life. Death is the payment for sin; but the gift of God is everlasting life through Yeshua our Christ.





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Notes and Prayer Requests

My son Tommy has been experiencing several illnesses this year and has been hospitalized more than once. He is having difficulty catching up in school because of this on going problem. Please pray for his recovery and that he will be able to finish school this year.

My daughters husband, David, will also be having a surgery for a hernia soon. Please remember him as well.

My husband, Rocky, (we are separated) has just had another surgery to undo the colonostomy that he had in the first surgery. He is still experiencing some difficulty and pain. Please pray for the continued healing of his body and spirit.

I am taking my last two classes, which began in late February. I am taking Psy of Religion, and Group Counseling and will finish up in May. These two classes are going to be very stressful with a lot of work so please pray for me. I will graduate in August, God Willing! Please remember me in your prayers as I finish up this last year in my program. Thanks be to God Almighty!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is anybody out there actually reading these Newsletters? If so, I sure would like to hear from you. I feel pretty useless sometimes when I don’t hear back from anyone and don’t really know if I’m doing any good at all. Or am I just preaching to myself and the wall? In any case, I’m still writing, God Bless You all.

Pray for our country, and our new president, and that God’s will be done in these next four years. Though we can’t stop the coming tide, we can grab the Lifesaver in prayer and hope. God bless the USA!