Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
Exhortation: Joan Boney
Staying our mind on God is focusing on that which God shows us about the issue at hand. (Dreams, scriptures, thoughts from Holy Spirit) When we believe we have heard from God and refuse to allow ourselves to think of things other than that which we believe God has shown us, then we live in perfect peace.
Many thoughts contrary to that word will come to our minds. But we keep remembering what we believe God has said about that subject and we reject all other thoughts.
(Providing daily encouragement for the body of Christ by the Spirit of God to help the church in the end times.)
Monday, March 31, 2014
Jesus reveals God to HIS friends
Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
Jn. 15 ... Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 14Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. 15Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
Many years ago, I saw the above example of Jesus as a pattern for our behavior in the church.
Don't we consider the called of God to be "friends"?
If we consider this to be the case, then we share that which we have heard from God with them and we are careful to leave no word out.
Of course, we lay down our life each time we share for they might hate us and reject that which we say and mock us as they mocked Jesus ...
Mt. 9:18-25 ...While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live. 19And Jesus arose, and followed him, and so did his disciples. ... 23And when Jesus came into the ruler’s house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise, 24He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. 25But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose.
We endure the possible shame and speak what God has shown us to the church and to those persons directed by God.
We do not hold back from the church, from those persons chosen by God as the church, for they are our friends.
Jn. 15 ... Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 14Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. 15Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
Many years ago, I saw the above example of Jesus as a pattern for our behavior in the church.
Don't we consider the called of God to be "friends"?
If we consider this to be the case, then we share that which we have heard from God with them and we are careful to leave no word out.
Of course, we lay down our life each time we share for they might hate us and reject that which we say and mock us as they mocked Jesus ...
Mt. 9:18-25 ...While he spake these things unto them, behold, there came a certain ruler, and worshipped him, saying, My daughter is even now dead: but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live. 19And Jesus arose, and followed him, and so did his disciples. ... 23And when Jesus came into the ruler’s house, and saw the minstrels and the people making a noise, 24He said unto them, Give place: for the maid is not dead, but sleepeth. And they laughed him to scorn. 25But when the people were put forth, he went in, and took her by the hand, and the maid arose.
We endure the possible shame and speak what God has shown us to the church and to those persons directed by God.
We do not hold back from the church, from those persons chosen by God as the church, for they are our friends.
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Eph. 3:20-21 ...Scripture: Shared by body of Christ
Ephesians 3:20-21 ... Now unto him that is able to do exceeding
abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that
worketh in us, 21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus
throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
Exhoration: Joan Boney
It is amazing to me when I see what I have today and know that I didn't set out to get any of these things. I didn't do as the world does and save money and plan what I would do later.
When God revealed HIMSELF to me in 1975, it was such a strong experience. And after that all I cared about was Bible. And I wanted to do things according to God's will. Prior to that, all I cared about was my will and I never thought of God. Everything changed instantly. Then all I cared about was Bible, scripture, and finding out what God wanted me to do. And I tried to follow what I believed God showed me.
The power that worketh in us is the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit guides us throughout the day and throughout the issues that we deal with in this present life. And the Holy Spirit searches the heart of God to reveal the will of God to us. I Cor. 2
For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. 12Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
Exhoration: Joan Boney
It is amazing to me when I see what I have today and know that I didn't set out to get any of these things. I didn't do as the world does and save money and plan what I would do later.
When God revealed HIMSELF to me in 1975, it was such a strong experience. And after that all I cared about was Bible. And I wanted to do things according to God's will. Prior to that, all I cared about was my will and I never thought of God. Everything changed instantly. Then all I cared about was Bible, scripture, and finding out what God wanted me to do. And I tried to follow what I believed God showed me.
The power that worketh in us is the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit guides us throughout the day and throughout the issues that we deal with in this present life. And the Holy Spirit searches the heart of God to reveal the will of God to us. I Cor. 2
For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. 12Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
God reveals
Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
Recently I was reading Heb. 11 ... And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: 40God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
I had no idea what the last part of verse 40 meant... that they without us should not be made perfect.
I told God I had no idea what this meant. How do we figure into Abraham being made perfect?
A few days after this, I was writing the writings on Faith: Parts 1-4 .. and without thinking I found myself writing the answer to my question about verse 40 ...
Without us, they are not made perfect for we are a part of the promise God gave them.
From "Faith: Part 3" ... We today, who are the children of the promise, the children of faith, are that seed of Abraham. Through all generations since the time God promised this to Abraham, there has been a line of God, seed of God, children of the promise. Today we, who believe, are that seed of Abraham, seed of the promise of God to Abraham. Heb. 11:40 ... they without us should not be made perfect. Through us, that promise made to Abraham is fulfilled for we are that promised seed.
We are part of the sand upon the beach that God promised Abraham and part of the number of the stars in the sky that God told Abraham his family would number.
Gen. 15 ... After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
2And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? 3And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. 4And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. 5And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. 6And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
Recently I was reading Heb. 11 ... And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: 40God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
I had no idea what the last part of verse 40 meant... that they without us should not be made perfect.
I told God I had no idea what this meant. How do we figure into Abraham being made perfect?
A few days after this, I was writing the writings on Faith: Parts 1-4 .. and without thinking I found myself writing the answer to my question about verse 40 ...
Without us, they are not made perfect for we are a part of the promise God gave them.
From "Faith: Part 3" ... We today, who are the children of the promise, the children of faith, are that seed of Abraham. Through all generations since the time God promised this to Abraham, there has been a line of God, seed of God, children of the promise. Today we, who believe, are that seed of Abraham, seed of the promise of God to Abraham. Heb. 11:40 ... they without us should not be made perfect. Through us, that promise made to Abraham is fulfilled for we are that promised seed.
We are part of the sand upon the beach that God promised Abraham and part of the number of the stars in the sky that God told Abraham his family would number.
Gen. 15 ... After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
2And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? 3And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. 4And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. 5And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. 6And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Psa. 37:25 ...Scripture: Shared by body of Christ
Psalm 37:25 ... I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.
Exhortation: Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
In the NT church, the "righteous" are those persons who have the Holy Spirit and who follow the Holy Spirit.
While some have the Holy Spirit they ignore the ideas brought by the Holy Spirit while others pay attention to the ideas brought by the Holy Spirit and try to do those things from the Spirit. These are the "blessed" ... the ones who hear and do ...
Mk. 4 ... Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow: 4And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up. 5And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth: 6But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. 7And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. 8And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred. 9And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Jesus explains ... The sower soweth the word. 15And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts. 16And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; 17And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended. 18And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, 19And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful. 20And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.
Hearing and doing correctly is very important. When we handle the "word" of God which the Holy Spirit brings in form of thoughts, we end up lacking no good thing.
Psa. 1 ... Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 3And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
Joshua 1:8 ... This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
Jeremiah 17:7 ... Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. 8For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
But there is also a penalty for mishandling the word of God ...
I Cor. 11 ... For as often as ye eat this bread (eating the word of God), and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come. 27Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. 29For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. 30For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep (die).
It is a serious thing to read the Bible and a serious thing to hear the Word of God.
We must handle the Word of God correctly ... and we must do the instructions in a proper manner. Many in the churches are "weak". And Paul tells us they are weak in the body of Christ because they eat and drink the word of God in an unworthy manner.
Exhortation: Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
In the NT church, the "righteous" are those persons who have the Holy Spirit and who follow the Holy Spirit.
While some have the Holy Spirit they ignore the ideas brought by the Holy Spirit while others pay attention to the ideas brought by the Holy Spirit and try to do those things from the Spirit. These are the "blessed" ... the ones who hear and do ...
Mk. 4 ... Hearken; Behold, there went out a sower to sow: 4And it came to pass, as he sowed, some fell by the way side, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it up. 5And some fell on stony ground, where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth: 6But when the sun was up, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. 7And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. 8And other fell on good ground, and did yield fruit that sprang up and increased; and brought forth, some thirty, and some sixty, and some an hundred. 9And he said unto them, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Jesus explains ... The sower soweth the word. 15And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts. 16And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness; 17And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended. 18And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, 19And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful. 20And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.
Hearing and doing correctly is very important. When we handle the "word" of God which the Holy Spirit brings in form of thoughts, we end up lacking no good thing.
Psa. 1 ... Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 3And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
Joshua 1:8 ... This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.
Jeremiah 17:7 ... Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is. 8For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.
But there is also a penalty for mishandling the word of God ...
I Cor. 11 ... For as often as ye eat this bread (eating the word of God), and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come. 27Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. 28But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. 29For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. 30For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep (die).
It is a serious thing to read the Bible and a serious thing to hear the Word of God.
We must handle the Word of God correctly ... and we must do the instructions in a proper manner. Many in the churches are "weak". And Paul tells us they are weak in the body of Christ because they eat and drink the word of God in an unworthy manner.
Abraham dwelt in tabernacles
Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
Tabernacle means "temporary dwelling" / tents ...
A tent would really present a temporary dwelling on this earth. And our place on this earth is certainly very temporary. We are here a very short time. And before we know it, we are old and some of us experience the situation where almost everyone we knew in past is already dead. And we have taken the place of our parent's generation before we know it. We thought them old and now we realize we have taken their place in age.
James 4:14 ... For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
When we realize this, we hopefully see how temporary things are on this earth, setting our desires and thoughts not so much on this present earth but on those things we cannot see.
Heb. 11 ... These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. 15And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. 16But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
I thought of how temporary these houses we live in are and how often we make a big to do about these physical houses. A tent concept would be more in keeping with the understanding that these things we see with our natural eye are only temporary while the things we cannot see are eternal.
Thus Paul urged us to focus on that which we cannot see ...
Col. 3 ... If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
And all those plans, often made for tomorrow, really need to be kept in check remembering the instruction given us by Jesus ... Mt. 6 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: ...
25Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? 26Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? 28And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
31Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
34Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
The only thing important to each of us is our soul which lasts for all eternity.
A few days ago, Elizabeth Taylor was called to my mind. I wondered if she was still living. I looked her up on computer and found she is dead. On this listing on computer, it told of her many "achievements" on this earth. It showed her picture and spoke of her great beauty. It listed her many husbands obtained through her physical beauty. It praised her for her support of homosexuals and her fight against aids and her support of Jewish projects.
What now, I wondered ... since she is dead. What now for all eternity? (I often think this about famous and rich people ... and even about poor people.) When we die there is no more investment for future. All we have is the judgment seat of Christ where we receive for that which we have done on this earth, whether good or bad. And that "good" will be measured by God and not by man. And both good and evil will last for all eternity where there is no time any more and no end.
And some of the works man thinks are good will end up being shown to be evil by Jesus and many will be turned away by Christ in judgment. Mt. 7 ... Jesus says ... Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
For the remainder of our time on this earth, we who are wise should make investment which will be accepted by God and last for all eternity. When we hear from the Spirit of God and do what God instructs through HIS Spirit we are making a safe investment for future. The focus on serving God and pleasing God is a wise investment. And if we have the Spirit of God we have that which is needed to learn the will of God in the issues we face on this earth for the Spirit of God searches the heart of God to reveal to us God's thinking on the various things we do on this earth so we can choose the will of God and please God. (I Cor. 2) A good investment for us for future.
II Cor. 5 ... Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of HIM (of God). 10For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. 11Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men
Abraham dwelt in tabernacles
with Isaac and Jacob ... Heb. 11 ...
Tabernacle means "temporary dwelling" / tents ...
A tent would really present a temporary dwelling on this earth. And our place on this earth is certainly very temporary. We are here a very short time. And before we know it, we are old and some of us experience the situation where almost everyone we knew in past is already dead. And we have taken the place of our parent's generation before we know it. We thought them old and now we realize we have taken their place in age.
James 4:14 ... For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
When we realize this, we hopefully see how temporary things are on this earth, setting our desires and thoughts not so much on this present earth but on those things we cannot see.
Heb. 11 ... These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. 15And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. 16But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
II Peter 3 ... we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. 14Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
I thought of how temporary these houses we live in are and how often we make a big to do about these physical houses. A tent concept would be more in keeping with the understanding that these things we see with our natural eye are only temporary while the things we cannot see are eternal.
Thus Paul urged us to focus on that which we cannot see ...
Col. 3 ... If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
And all those plans, often made for tomorrow, really need to be kept in check remembering the instruction given us by Jesus ... Mt. 6 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: ...
25Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? 26Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? 28And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
31Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
34Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
The only thing important to each of us is our soul which lasts for all eternity.
A few days ago, Elizabeth Taylor was called to my mind. I wondered if she was still living. I looked her up on computer and found she is dead. On this listing on computer, it told of her many "achievements" on this earth. It showed her picture and spoke of her great beauty. It listed her many husbands obtained through her physical beauty. It praised her for her support of homosexuals and her fight against aids and her support of Jewish projects.
What now, I wondered ... since she is dead. What now for all eternity? (I often think this about famous and rich people ... and even about poor people.) When we die there is no more investment for future. All we have is the judgment seat of Christ where we receive for that which we have done on this earth, whether good or bad. And that "good" will be measured by God and not by man. And both good and evil will last for all eternity where there is no time any more and no end.
And some of the works man thinks are good will end up being shown to be evil by Jesus and many will be turned away by Christ in judgment. Mt. 7 ... Jesus says ... Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
For the remainder of our time on this earth, we who are wise should make investment which will be accepted by God and last for all eternity. When we hear from the Spirit of God and do what God instructs through HIS Spirit we are making a safe investment for future. The focus on serving God and pleasing God is a wise investment. And if we have the Spirit of God we have that which is needed to learn the will of God in the issues we face on this earth for the Spirit of God searches the heart of God to reveal to us God's thinking on the various things we do on this earth so we can choose the will of God and please God. (I Cor. 2) A good investment for us for future.
II Cor. 5 ... Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of HIM (of God). 10For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. 11Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men
Bible chapters
Please read the following:
Psa. 37
Heb. 11
James 4
Col. 3
Mt. 6-7
I Cor. 2
II Cor. 5
Heb. 13
James 1
Psa. 119
Psa. 28
Psa. 37
Heb. 11
James 4
Col. 3
Mt. 6-7
I Cor. 2
II Cor. 5
Heb. 13
James 1
Psa. 119
Psa. 28
Friday, March 28, 2014
Gal. 5:1 ...Scripture: Shared by body of Christ
Galatians 5:1 ... Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ
hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
Exhortation: Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
The word of God sets us free from bondage.
The instruction from the world often puts us in bondage to man.
When we get entangled, no matter which way we try to go we are often confused and feel defeated. But when the word comes we see the way to freedom.
Recently I purchased a new TV because my TV broke. The business where I purchased the TV kept promising to come back after installation and reset some problem areas. I talked with them several times by phone and they promised to take care of the problem but they wouldn't schedule a firm time to do this. I was becoming more and more frustrated. I cried out to God for help and I had the thought, "Just get another company to fix this." Immediately the burden and the entanglement was broken off me. It did cost me more money to have another company do this work but I was freed by doing this instruction. And the problem was fixed with the installation. I was so glad to be freed from that business where they didn't do what they said they would do. Not only did they lie to me several times but one man even showed me that he was dangerous. He was deliberately planning to do me harm. But when I saw what he had in his heart, I took steps to avoid contact with him. I was amazed at the overt evil he planned against me.
The above is an example of secular bondage.
We also avoid being trapped in spiritual bondage as we avoid religious instructions that are not from the spirit of God. When we know the Bible and have the Spirit of God we recognize when various religious instructions are not of God.
Exhortation: Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
The word of God sets us free from bondage.
The instruction from the world often puts us in bondage to man.
When we get entangled, no matter which way we try to go we are often confused and feel defeated. But when the word comes we see the way to freedom.
Recently I purchased a new TV because my TV broke. The business where I purchased the TV kept promising to come back after installation and reset some problem areas. I talked with them several times by phone and they promised to take care of the problem but they wouldn't schedule a firm time to do this. I was becoming more and more frustrated. I cried out to God for help and I had the thought, "Just get another company to fix this." Immediately the burden and the entanglement was broken off me. It did cost me more money to have another company do this work but I was freed by doing this instruction. And the problem was fixed with the installation. I was so glad to be freed from that business where they didn't do what they said they would do. Not only did they lie to me several times but one man even showed me that he was dangerous. He was deliberately planning to do me harm. But when I saw what he had in his heart, I took steps to avoid contact with him. I was amazed at the overt evil he planned against me.
The above is an example of secular bondage.
We also avoid being trapped in spiritual bondage as we avoid religious instructions that are not from the spirit of God. When we know the Bible and have the Spirit of God we recognize when various religious instructions are not of God.
God explains
Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
Mt.
13:57 ... Jesus said ... And it came to pass, that when Jesus had
finished these parables, he departed thence. 54And when he was come into
his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they
were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these
mighty works? 55Is not this the carpenter’s son? is not his mother
called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?
56And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man
all these things? 57And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto
them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in
his own house. 58And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
Recently my cousin, who is in her 90's, was talking with me by phone and speaking of so many people and their babies and I had no idea who these people were. I quietly let her talk. At the end of her call, she invited me to come see her. She lives 200 miles from me. I told her my car is old (20 year old car) and I do not take it out on road.
A few days after her call, I sent her a note telling her I would rent a car and come there if she wanted to talk about spiritual things, that fleshly things would not profit.
She became so angry with me and wrote and said it was evident that I cared nothing about family... then she began writing about how she remembered me when I was a little child with very curly hair... At this point I stopped reading her letter. (This is like Jesus said where they remembered him as a child and his brothers and sisters lived there. They could only see HIM this way and wouldn't believe what HE had to say about spiritual things.) I wrote her and said I was sorry she misunderstood, that I just wanted her to live in peace on earth. She is a very troubled, fearful person though she has attended church all her life. I knew I had spiritual information which had the power to help those who believe. I never heard from her again.
My other cousin, lives very much in the past and delights in speaking of dead family and what she did when she was a child.
When my mother died, this cousin wanted me to move where she lives. She said her 2 sons could really help us. But God gave me a dream showing me I couldn't go through my cousin's house. I ended up going the opposite direction and live 350 miles from this cousin.
Bad things happen when I have spoken with either of these two cousins by phone so I just don't do it any more.
What Jesus said in Mt. 13 shows me the truth and explains my situation.
A few days ago, I was thinking of
my 2 cousins and how nothing works for me to try to visit them and I was
reminded of the following:
Recently my cousin, who is in her 90's, was talking with me by phone and speaking of so many people and their babies and I had no idea who these people were. I quietly let her talk. At the end of her call, she invited me to come see her. She lives 200 miles from me. I told her my car is old (20 year old car) and I do not take it out on road.
A few days after her call, I sent her a note telling her I would rent a car and come there if she wanted to talk about spiritual things, that fleshly things would not profit.
She became so angry with me and wrote and said it was evident that I cared nothing about family... then she began writing about how she remembered me when I was a little child with very curly hair... At this point I stopped reading her letter. (This is like Jesus said where they remembered him as a child and his brothers and sisters lived there. They could only see HIM this way and wouldn't believe what HE had to say about spiritual things.) I wrote her and said I was sorry she misunderstood, that I just wanted her to live in peace on earth. She is a very troubled, fearful person though she has attended church all her life. I knew I had spiritual information which had the power to help those who believe. I never heard from her again.
My other cousin, lives very much in the past and delights in speaking of dead family and what she did when she was a child.
When my mother died, this cousin wanted me to move where she lives. She said her 2 sons could really help us. But God gave me a dream showing me I couldn't go through my cousin's house. I ended up going the opposite direction and live 350 miles from this cousin.
Bad things happen when I have spoken with either of these two cousins by phone so I just don't do it any more.
What Jesus said in Mt. 13 shows me the truth and explains my situation.
Other remarkable moments in the life of Abraham
Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
God was preparing to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because, God said, "their sin is very grievous." Gen. 18:20... and God said: Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; 18Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
So God revealed to Abraham that HE was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Then Abraham began to reason with God over this. Abraham said to God: Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? 24Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? 25That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? Gen 18
Certainly Abraham was right in fact that it would not be justice to destroy the righteous with the wicked.
We see by what God did do that he was not planning to destroy the righteous people who lived in Sodom and Gomorrah. But God had another plan whereby HE would bring both justice and deliverance ... justice to the wicked ... deliverance to the righteous. God was going to remove the righteous before HE destroyed the wicked along with destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
So God sent his angels to bring Lot and his wife and his daughters out of Sodom before destroying it. The angel told Lot the following: Gen. 19 ... whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place: 13For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it.
14And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law. (We see the righteous, LOT, believed the message and the unrighteous sons-in-law did not believe God's message.)
15And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. 16And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city. 17And it came to pass, when they (the two angels) had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. 18And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord: 19Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die:
Mistakenly Lot thought the mountain where the Angels told him to go would be dangerous so he bargained to get to remain in a "little" town which he considered safe. The angels accepted this plan devised by Lot. But when the destruction began, Lot fled to the mountain where the angel told him to go.
Notice in Genesis 13:22, the angel said for Lot to escape quickly, for he could not bring the destruction until Lot got out of the path of destruction.
Lot said ... 20Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live. 21And he (the angel) said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken. 22Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. 23The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar.
24Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; 25And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.
26But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
Notice the following: God has not appointed us to wrath ... I Thess. 5 ... But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. 2For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 3For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. 4But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. 5Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
6Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. 7For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. 8But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. 9For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, 10Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
11Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.
Jesus spoke of the days of the end time being like the days of Lot ... Lk. 17 ... Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; 29But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. 30Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.
We've just read about God removing Lot before the destruction. God will not destroy the righteous with the wicked. So God removed the righteous and then brought the destruction. And Jesus said it will be that way in the day of the Lord.
II Peter 2 ... For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; 5And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;
7And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: 8(For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) 9The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
Gen. 19:29 ... And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt.
====================
As Abraham traveled in the land where Abimelech reigned, Abraham was afraid Abimelech would kill him in order to get Sarah to wife. So Abraham told Sarah to say that she was his sister and to hide the fact she was his wife. (Sarah was Abraham 1/2 sister ... Gen. 20:12) So when they were in Abimelech's land, Abimelech took Sarah planning to make her his wife. But before he could touch her, God gave Abimelech a terrifying dream ... Gen. 20 ... But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man’s wife. 4But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? 5Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this. 6And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her. 7Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine.
Interesting that God gave Abimelech dreams ... We certainly see by this that God uses dreams to communicate to the people of the world when HE wills.
And while it certainly appears Abraham did wrong in this, God blessed Abraham and God was going to destroy Abimelech if Abimelech didn't return Sarah to Abraham.
Gen. 20 ... Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears: and the men were sore afraid. 9Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done. 10And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing?
11And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife’s sake. 12And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife. 13And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said unto her, This is thy kindness which thou shalt shew unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother.
(We do see from this that God is able to bring HIS fear even to those who are not HIS people. God certainly frightened Abimelech with dreams and Abimelech believed the destruction that was appointed him if he failed to return Sarah to Abraham.)
14And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife. (We see Abraham left with more riches than he had when he arrived in the land.) 15And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee. 16And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver: behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that are with thee, and with all other: thus she was reproved.
17So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children. 18For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham’s wife.
=====================
Genesis 21 ... And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking. 10Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. 11And the thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight because of his son.
12And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. 13And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.
14And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
Hagar thought they were going to die but God kept them alive and made Ishmael into a great nation as HE told Abraham HE would do. But the seed of the promise was through Isaac.
God was preparing to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because, God said, "their sin is very grievous." Gen. 18:20... and God said: Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do; 18Seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him?
So God revealed to Abraham that HE was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Then Abraham began to reason with God over this. Abraham said to God: Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? 24Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? 25That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? Gen 18
Certainly Abraham was right in fact that it would not be justice to destroy the righteous with the wicked.
We see by what God did do that he was not planning to destroy the righteous people who lived in Sodom and Gomorrah. But God had another plan whereby HE would bring both justice and deliverance ... justice to the wicked ... deliverance to the righteous. God was going to remove the righteous before HE destroyed the wicked along with destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
So God sent his angels to bring Lot and his wife and his daughters out of Sodom before destroying it. The angel told Lot the following: Gen. 19 ... whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place: 13For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it.
14And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law. (We see the righteous, LOT, believed the message and the unrighteous sons-in-law did not believe God's message.)
15And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. 16And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city. 17And it came to pass, when they (the two angels) had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. 18And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord: 19Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die:
Mistakenly Lot thought the mountain where the Angels told him to go would be dangerous so he bargained to get to remain in a "little" town which he considered safe. The angels accepted this plan devised by Lot. But when the destruction began, Lot fled to the mountain where the angel told him to go.
Notice in Genesis 13:22, the angel said for Lot to escape quickly, for he could not bring the destruction until Lot got out of the path of destruction.
Lot said ... 20Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live. 21And he (the angel) said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken. 22Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. 23The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar.
24Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; 25And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.
26But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
Notice the following: God has not appointed us to wrath ... I Thess. 5 ... But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. 2For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 3For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. 4But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. 5Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
6Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. 7For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. 8But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. 9For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, 10Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
11Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.
Jesus spoke of the days of the end time being like the days of Lot ... Lk. 17 ... Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; 29But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. 30Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.
We've just read about God removing Lot before the destruction. God will not destroy the righteous with the wicked. So God removed the righteous and then brought the destruction. And Jesus said it will be that way in the day of the Lord.
II Peter 2 ... For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; 5And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; 6And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;
7And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: 8(For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) 9The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
Gen. 19:29 ... And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt.
====================
As Abraham traveled in the land where Abimelech reigned, Abraham was afraid Abimelech would kill him in order to get Sarah to wife. So Abraham told Sarah to say that she was his sister and to hide the fact she was his wife. (Sarah was Abraham 1/2 sister ... Gen. 20:12) So when they were in Abimelech's land, Abimelech took Sarah planning to make her his wife. But before he could touch her, God gave Abimelech a terrifying dream ... Gen. 20 ... But God came to Abimelech in a dream by night, and said to him, Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man’s wife. 4But Abimelech had not come near her: and he said, Lord, wilt thou slay also a righteous nation? 5Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this. 6And God said unto him in a dream, Yea, I know that thou didst this in the integrity of thy heart; for I also withheld thee from sinning against me: therefore suffered I thee not to touch her. 7Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine.
Interesting that God gave Abimelech dreams ... We certainly see by this that God uses dreams to communicate to the people of the world when HE wills.
And while it certainly appears Abraham did wrong in this, God blessed Abraham and God was going to destroy Abimelech if Abimelech didn't return Sarah to Abraham.
Gen. 20 ... Therefore Abimelech rose early in the morning, and called all his servants, and told all these things in their ears: and the men were sore afraid. 9Then Abimelech called Abraham, and said unto him, What hast thou done unto us? and what have I offended thee, that thou hast brought on me and on my kingdom a great sin? thou hast done deeds unto me that ought not to be done. 10And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What sawest thou, that thou hast done this thing?
11And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife’s sake. 12And yet indeed she is my sister; she is the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife. 13And it came to pass, when God caused me to wander from my father’s house, that I said unto her, This is thy kindness which thou shalt shew unto me; at every place whither we shall come, say of me, He is my brother.
(We do see from this that God is able to bring HIS fear even to those who are not HIS people. God certainly frightened Abimelech with dreams and Abimelech believed the destruction that was appointed him if he failed to return Sarah to Abraham.)
14And Abimelech took sheep, and oxen, and menservants, and womenservants, and gave them unto Abraham, and restored him Sarah his wife. (We see Abraham left with more riches than he had when he arrived in the land.) 15And Abimelech said, Behold, my land is before thee: dwell where it pleaseth thee. 16And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver: behold, he is to thee a covering of the eyes, unto all that are with thee, and with all other: thus she was reproved.
17So Abraham prayed unto God: and God healed Abimelech, and his wife, and his maidservants; and they bare children. 18For the LORD had fast closed up all the wombs of the house of Abimelech, because of Sarah Abraham’s wife.
=====================
Genesis 21 ... And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had born unto Abraham, mocking. 10Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this bondwoman and her son: for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac. 11And the thing was very grievous in Abraham’s sight because of his son.
12And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called. 13And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, because he is thy seed.
14And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave it unto Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.
Hagar thought they were going to die but God kept them alive and made Ishmael into a great nation as HE told Abraham HE would do. But the seed of the promise was through Isaac.
Bible chapters
Please read the following:
Genesis 18-19
I Thess. 5
Lk. 17
II Peter 2
I Peter 5
Psalm 27
Rev. 21
Psalm 30
Genesis 18-19
I Thess. 5
Lk. 17
II Peter 2
I Peter 5
Psalm 27
Rev. 21
Psalm 30
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Mt. 5:6 ...Scripture: Shared by body of Christ
Matthew 5:6 ... Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Exhortation: Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
We are currently listing extra chapters at the end of the daily writings. I find over and over when I read these Bible chapters I am blessed and see things I hadn't seen before. Of course I could do this same thing by sitting down and reading any part of the Bible. The point is doing that little extra step of choosing to read Bible. It always pays off.
Exhortation: Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
We are currently listing extra chapters at the end of the daily writings. I find over and over when I read these Bible chapters I am blessed and see things I hadn't seen before. Of course I could do this same thing by sitting down and reading any part of the Bible. The point is doing that little extra step of choosing to read Bible. It always pays off.
Faith: Part 4
Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
Genesis 22 ... And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. 2And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
3And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. 4Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. 5And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. 6And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.
7And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? 8And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. 9And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. 10And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
11And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. 12And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. 13And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. 14And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.
15And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, 16And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: 17That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; 18And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
Again we see the pattern for faith in God.
God spoke ... Abraham believed it was God speaking to him so Abraham obeyed.
Also we see in verses 6-7 that Isaac was old enough at this time that he could carry the wood and also we see Isaac was old enough to both speak and reason out the situation.
And Abraham was honored by God because Abraham obeyed even unto death of his most cherished son. And in Hebrews 11 we see Abraham's reasoning of the situation ...
Heb. 11:17 ... By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: 19Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.
In OT being raised from the dead was rare and not known by most people, but being raised from the dead is a fundamental principal of the NT Christian faith.
Paul said ... I Cor. 15 ... But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: 14And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. 15Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. 16For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: 17And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. 18Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. 19If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
20But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. 21For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
Because we believe God will raise us from the dead, we do not approach death as people of this world. That is because we have faith in that which the Bible teaches us about God raising HIS people from the dead and we have assurance that we belong to God and are HIS people.
I Thess. 4 ... 13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God:and the dead in Christ shall rise first:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air:and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
But Abraham knew this concept of God raising a person from the dead and had great faith that God could do this for Isaac.
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Concerning Abraham:
God said ... Gen. 18:19 ... For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.
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Heb. 11:1 ... Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
When there is real faith, there is both substance and evidence. Faith is evidence. For when we believe something our actions show that is what we believe.
If a person comes to us saying, "I believe God will heal me, pray for me." That person shows he does not believe God will heal him, for if he believes that, why would he need us to pray for something "already done" ... for faith and belief accepts that which is believed as "already done".
Many church people think they have faith in God but often their faith is in their pastor, or their church, or even in themselves as they find scripture to "stand on".
Back in the 80's, Vinita Copeland, Kenneth Copeland's mother told me this story. A child in their family was dying. Many were standing around the child quoting various scriptures. Vinita said, "But the child was dying." Vinita said she left the room, got on her knees and began to talk to God, pleading with God for the life of the child.
Jesus said ... Jn. 5:38 ... (Ye) Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. 40And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.
No man can keep alive his own self ... But God can. God kills and God makes alive. HE is God and not we ourselves. So we don't tell God what to do. We plead with God.
God pronounced a sentence of death over the child David had with Uraiah's wife. II Sam. 12:14 ... Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die. David shut himself away and fasted and prayed for the life of the child. David's servants were concerned about David. Then the child died and the servants were really concerned about what David would do. II Sam. 12 ... But when David saw that his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was dead: therefore David said unto his servants, Is the child dead? And they said, He is dead. 20Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the LORD, and worshipped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat. 21Then said his servants unto him, What thing is this that thou hast done? thou didst fast and weep for the child, while it was alive; but when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread. 22And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether GOD will be gracious to me, that the child may live? 23But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me. 24And David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in unto her, and lay with her: and she bare a son, and he called his name Solomon: and the LORD loved him.
God does what HE wills. We can plead with God but God does as HE wills.
God sent Jonah to tell the great city of Nineveh that it would be destroyed. The people were terrified and fell down in sackcloth and begged God not to destroy them. God held back the planned destruction.
Unless God chooses to tell us what HE is going to do, we, like sheep of the pasture, do not know what will happen.
Paul was on a prison ship and a very stormy sea arose. The ship was in great danger of being destroyed. But God told Paul what would happen.
Acts 27 ... And we being exceedingly tossed with a tempest, the next day they lightened the ship; 19And the third day we cast out with our own hands the tackling of the ship. 20And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away.
21But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss. 22And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship. 23For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, 24Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee. 25Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.
This is faith: Paul heard from God and believed that which God told him, and he told the others what God said.
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Moses was a great man of faith. Several times Moses went to Pharaoh and each time Moses told Pharaoh what God was going to do unless he, Pharaoh, let the people of Israel go. Moses boldly spoke of what God was doing to do. These were not idle words. Moses had heard from God as to what God would do. But certainly it took faith for Moses to tell this to Pharaoh. (What if it didn't happen? He would look a fool. This is the main temptation that comes to us to try to turn us away from sharing with others what God has done.)
Ex. 7 ... And the LORD said unto Moses, Pharaoh’s heart is hardened, he refuseth to let the people go. 15Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto the water; and thou shalt stand by the river’s brink against he come; and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thine hand. 16And thou shalt say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath sent me unto thee, saying, Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness: and, behold, hitherto thou wouldest not hear. 17Thus saith the LORD, In this thou shalt know that I am the LORD: behold, I will smite with the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood. 18And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall lothe to drink of the water of the river. 19And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone. 20And Moses and Aaron did so, as the LORD commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. 21And the fish that was in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.
============
Faith is very simple. Faith is hearing from God ... believing HIM ... and acting according to that which God has shown you.
But it always starts with God ... Thus we have faith "in God", in what HE has shown us about the matter.
Genesis 22 ... And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. 2And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
3And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. 4Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. 5And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. 6And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.
7And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? 8And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. 9And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. 10And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
11And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. 12And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. 13And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. 14And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovahjireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen.
15And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, 16And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: 17That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; 18And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.
Again we see the pattern for faith in God.
God spoke ... Abraham believed it was God speaking to him so Abraham obeyed.
Also we see in verses 6-7 that Isaac was old enough at this time that he could carry the wood and also we see Isaac was old enough to both speak and reason out the situation.
And Abraham was honored by God because Abraham obeyed even unto death of his most cherished son. And in Hebrews 11 we see Abraham's reasoning of the situation ...
Heb. 11:17 ... By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: 19Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.
In OT being raised from the dead was rare and not known by most people, but being raised from the dead is a fundamental principal of the NT Christian faith.
Paul said ... I Cor. 15 ... But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: 14And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. 15Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. 16For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: 17And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. 18Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. 19If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
20But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. 21For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
Because we believe God will raise us from the dead, we do not approach death as people of this world. That is because we have faith in that which the Bible teaches us about God raising HIS people from the dead and we have assurance that we belong to God and are HIS people.
I Thess. 4 ... 13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God:and the dead in Christ shall rise first:17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air:and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
But Abraham knew this concept of God raising a person from the dead and had great faith that God could do this for Isaac.
===========
Concerning Abraham:
God said ... Gen. 18:19 ... For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.
===========
Heb. 11:1 ... Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
When there is real faith, there is both substance and evidence. Faith is evidence. For when we believe something our actions show that is what we believe.
If a person comes to us saying, "I believe God will heal me, pray for me." That person shows he does not believe God will heal him, for if he believes that, why would he need us to pray for something "already done" ... for faith and belief accepts that which is believed as "already done".
Many church people think they have faith in God but often their faith is in their pastor, or their church, or even in themselves as they find scripture to "stand on".
Back in the 80's, Vinita Copeland, Kenneth Copeland's mother told me this story. A child in their family was dying. Many were standing around the child quoting various scriptures. Vinita said, "But the child was dying." Vinita said she left the room, got on her knees and began to talk to God, pleading with God for the life of the child.
Jesus said ... Jn. 5:38 ... (Ye) Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. 40And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.
No man can keep alive his own self ... But God can. God kills and God makes alive. HE is God and not we ourselves. So we don't tell God what to do. We plead with God.
God pronounced a sentence of death over the child David had with Uraiah's wife. II Sam. 12:14 ... Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die. David shut himself away and fasted and prayed for the life of the child. David's servants were concerned about David. Then the child died and the servants were really concerned about what David would do. II Sam. 12 ... But when David saw that his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was dead: therefore David said unto his servants, Is the child dead? And they said, He is dead. 20Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the LORD, and worshipped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat. 21Then said his servants unto him, What thing is this that thou hast done? thou didst fast and weep for the child, while it was alive; but when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread. 22And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether GOD will be gracious to me, that the child may live? 23But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me. 24And David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in unto her, and lay with her: and she bare a son, and he called his name Solomon: and the LORD loved him.
God does what HE wills. We can plead with God but God does as HE wills.
God sent Jonah to tell the great city of Nineveh that it would be destroyed. The people were terrified and fell down in sackcloth and begged God not to destroy them. God held back the planned destruction.
Unless God chooses to tell us what HE is going to do, we, like sheep of the pasture, do not know what will happen.
Paul was on a prison ship and a very stormy sea arose. The ship was in great danger of being destroyed. But God told Paul what would happen.
Acts 27 ... And we being exceedingly tossed with a tempest, the next day they lightened the ship; 19And the third day we cast out with our own hands the tackling of the ship. 20And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away.
21But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss. 22And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you, but of the ship. 23For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, 24Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee. 25Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me.
This is faith: Paul heard from God and believed that which God told him, and he told the others what God said.
==========
Moses was a great man of faith. Several times Moses went to Pharaoh and each time Moses told Pharaoh what God was going to do unless he, Pharaoh, let the people of Israel go. Moses boldly spoke of what God was doing to do. These were not idle words. Moses had heard from God as to what God would do. But certainly it took faith for Moses to tell this to Pharaoh. (What if it didn't happen? He would look a fool. This is the main temptation that comes to us to try to turn us away from sharing with others what God has done.)
Ex. 7 ... And the LORD said unto Moses, Pharaoh’s heart is hardened, he refuseth to let the people go. 15Get thee unto Pharaoh in the morning; lo, he goeth out unto the water; and thou shalt stand by the river’s brink against he come; and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thine hand. 16And thou shalt say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath sent me unto thee, saying, Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness: and, behold, hitherto thou wouldest not hear. 17Thus saith the LORD, In this thou shalt know that I am the LORD: behold, I will smite with the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood. 18And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall lothe to drink of the water of the river. 19And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone. 20And Moses and Aaron did so, as the LORD commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. 21And the fish that was in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.
============
Faith is very simple. Faith is hearing from God ... believing HIM ... and acting according to that which God has shown you.
But it always starts with God ... Thus we have faith "in God", in what HE has shown us about the matter.
Bible chapters
Please read the following:
Gen. 22
Heb. 11
Mt. 9
Jn. 11
I Cor. 15
Gen. 18
Jn. 5
II Sam. 12
Acts 27
Ex. 7
Matt 7
Philemon
Gen. 22
Heb. 11
Mt. 9
Jn. 11
I Cor. 15
Gen. 18
Jn. 5
II Sam. 12
Acts 27
Ex. 7
Matt 7
Philemon
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
Lk. 18:17 ...Scripture: Shared by body of Christ
Luke 18:17 ... Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the
kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.
Exhortation: Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
Trusting in God as a little child trusts his parents.
Exhortation: Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
Trusting in God as a little child trusts his parents.
Faith: Part 3
Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
Faith: Part 3
Abraham is a great man of faith and a wonderful example of faith at work.
From the time God revealed HIMSELF to Abraham, Genesis 12, to the end of his life on this earth, Abraham chose to believe God. Even when the situation was impossible, Abraham chose to believe God. So much of faith has to do with recognizing it is God when HE speaks and choosing to believe what God says even over the things that our senses tell us.
Impossible situation ... God told Abraham HE would make his seed "as the dust of the earth" if a man can number the dust of the earth. Gen 13:16 ... But at that time, Abraham didn't have any children by Sarah. She was barren. And they were both very old, in their 90's.
This is an impossible situation for man ... but it is not an impossible situation for the God who created heaven and earth and all things. And when God speaks something, we can know that thing is going to be done.
Genesis 15 ... After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
2And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? 3And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.
4And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.
5And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
6And he (Abraham) believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
Faith is believing that which is not seen by natural eyes.
But when God speaks it to us, we can safely believe that which God has spoken will happen.
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Today God speaks to us through scripture, through dreams, through thoughts brought by the Holy Spirit.
Isaiah 46 ... I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, 10Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: 11Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.
Several years ago, while I was living with my mother, God gave me a dream. The next time my mother fell it would be the end for her. From that point on, I watched her carefully when she got into the car or when she moved about. For I knew if she fell again it would end her life. This is what God showed me.
When my mother was 97 she fell in her bedroom in the night. I was awakened by a strange pounding noise. I went into her room and she was on the floor, beating against the wall. I knew this ended her life. She was taken to hospital and they operated on her hip which was broken. She lived 2 more months but to me she died when she fell that second time. I even went to funeral home after she fell and arranged for her funeral while she was in hospital. To me she was dead for that is what God showed me in the dream and that is what would happen.
Faith in God sees this way.
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Genesis 17 ... And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. 2And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. 3And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,
4As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. 5Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. 6And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.
7And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
We today, who are the children of the promise, the children of faith, are that seed of Abraham. Through all generations since the time God promised this to Abraham, there has been a line of God, seed of God, children of the promise. Today we, who believe, are that seed of Abraham, seed of the promise of God to Abraham. Heb. 11:40 ... they without us should not be made perfect. Through us, that promise made to Abraham is fulfilled for we are that promised seed.
Romans 9 ... For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: 7Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. 8That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
Genesis 17 ... And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. 16And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her. 17Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? 18And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee! 19And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. 20And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. 21But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.
22And HE left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.
Now God is about to reveal to Sarah what HE is about to do.
Genesis 18 ... And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; 2And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, 3And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: 4Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree: 5And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said. 6And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth. 7And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetcht a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it. 8And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.
Notice Abraham gave the best he had to God ... fine meal ... tender and good meat ...
9And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent.
By this, these men reveal they are not natural men. How did they know the name of Abraham's wife? But from the beginning verse, it certainly appears that Abraham recognized that these men were not natural men.
Genesis 18 ... 10And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son.
And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him. 11Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. 12Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?
13And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old?
14Is any thing too hard for the LORD?
At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.
15Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And HE said, Nay; but thou didst laugh.
Sarah laughed ... she didn't see how such a thing could be possible ... But after God said to her, "is anything too hard for the LORD", Sarah believed God. We know she believed because of that which is written about her in Hebrews 11 ... Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. 12Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.
Genesis 21 ... And the LORD visited Sarah as HE had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as HE had spoken. 2For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. 3And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac.
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When God shows us something, that is what will happen.
Several years ago, I had a dream: The earth slipped on it's axis. People were terrified. The politicians and religious leaders were meeting to see what could be done about the event. A TV newscaster was trying to tell what had happened and he was so frightened he couldn't continue the TV report.
In another dream: There was an established piece of land. All of a sudden, one entire piece broke and slid away. Then another went, then another, then another, then another ... And I heard these words, "It will be alright through January but in February it will break loose."
These dreams will happen.
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A common error concerning faith ...
Our faith must be based on that which God has told us by HIS Spirit. Our faith must not be in what we want to happen.
Pam Padgett told me a story about a man where she once worked. An accident happened to his son. The man reported they were all believing for God to heal his son. The son died. Their faith was based on that which they wanted to have happen for if God had told them their son would be healed, he would be healed.
When such as thing as this happens it can destroy so much and shake the people involved even more than the death for this strikes at the foundation of God HIMSELF and if we lose that we lose everything.
Our faith must be in that which God says about the issue. So many people put faith in what they want to have happen and often they look for a scripture to justify what they want. When they do this their faith ends up being in their desire. But it seems their faith is in God.
Unless it is the Spirit of God who reveals the end of the situation, then we are on very shaky ground.
I have a friend who has ALS. This is a disease where there is no hope according to doctors. Certainly I prayed for him. I had an open vision about him and I believe what God showed me is that this man will die before the rest of us. In the open vision, he was on a golf course totally whole. He was going ahead of us but he was so excited and jumping up and down. He was signaling with his hands and arms to us telling us to come on ... everything was wonderful.
A mutual friend said to me, "Don't you think this is showing David is going to be healed by God?" I replied: "David is dying. But he is alright in death."
I would like to see David healed by God. But the only thing I can afford to believe or report is that which I believe God showed me.
Our faith must be in God, in that which God reveals about the matter at hand ...
Another situation: I have had several dreams about a woman where I played bridge. I cared very much about her well being. But God has given me one dream after another showing me she is getting worse, not better. In one dream, she was like a dwarf and very fat. She could hardly walk. In the most recent dream, she had heard something I said, a Bible teaching. And she threw up her hands in disgust and turned her back toward me and walked away. This is what I must believe about her because I believe God is showing me this. If I believed what I wanted to believe I would deceive myself. It is very foolish to deceive yourself by what you want. Our faith must be in what God tells us and not in our own wishes.
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So we focus on that which God tells us through scriptures, through dreams, through thoughts sent by HIS Spirit. We can believe that for it is truth and it will happen. And after we hear what God has to say, we believe and we act according to that which we have heard from God.
This is faith in God.
Faith: Part 3
Abraham is a great man of faith and a wonderful example of faith at work.
From the time God revealed HIMSELF to Abraham, Genesis 12, to the end of his life on this earth, Abraham chose to believe God. Even when the situation was impossible, Abraham chose to believe God. So much of faith has to do with recognizing it is God when HE speaks and choosing to believe what God says even over the things that our senses tell us.
Impossible situation ... God told Abraham HE would make his seed "as the dust of the earth" if a man can number the dust of the earth. Gen 13:16 ... But at that time, Abraham didn't have any children by Sarah. She was barren. And they were both very old, in their 90's.
This is an impossible situation for man ... but it is not an impossible situation for the God who created heaven and earth and all things. And when God speaks something, we can know that thing is going to be done.
Genesis 15 ... After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
2And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? 3And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.
4And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.
5And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
6And he (Abraham) believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.
Faith is believing that which is not seen by natural eyes.
But when God speaks it to us, we can safely believe that which God has spoken will happen.
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Today God speaks to us through scripture, through dreams, through thoughts brought by the Holy Spirit.
Isaiah 46 ... I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, 10Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: 11Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it.
Several years ago, while I was living with my mother, God gave me a dream. The next time my mother fell it would be the end for her. From that point on, I watched her carefully when she got into the car or when she moved about. For I knew if she fell again it would end her life. This is what God showed me.
When my mother was 97 she fell in her bedroom in the night. I was awakened by a strange pounding noise. I went into her room and she was on the floor, beating against the wall. I knew this ended her life. She was taken to hospital and they operated on her hip which was broken. She lived 2 more months but to me she died when she fell that second time. I even went to funeral home after she fell and arranged for her funeral while she was in hospital. To me she was dead for that is what God showed me in the dream and that is what would happen.
Faith in God sees this way.
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Genesis 17 ... And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. 2And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. 3And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying,
4As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. 5Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. 6And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee.
7And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
We today, who are the children of the promise, the children of faith, are that seed of Abraham. Through all generations since the time God promised this to Abraham, there has been a line of God, seed of God, children of the promise. Today we, who believe, are that seed of Abraham, seed of the promise of God to Abraham. Heb. 11:40 ... they without us should not be made perfect. Through us, that promise made to Abraham is fulfilled for we are that promised seed.
Romans 9 ... For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: 7Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. 8That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
Genesis 17 ... And God said unto Abraham, As for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. 16And I will bless her, and give thee a son also of her: yea, I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of people shall be of her. 17Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? 18And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee! 19And God said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed; and thou shalt call his name Isaac: and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant, and with his seed after him. 20And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. 21But my covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.
22And HE left off talking with him, and God went up from Abraham.
Now God is about to reveal to Sarah what HE is about to do.
Genesis 18 ... And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; 2And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, 3And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: 4Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree: 5And I will fetch a morsel of bread, and comfort ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are ye come to your servant. And they said, So do, as thou hast said. 6And Abraham hastened into the tent unto Sarah, and said, Make ready quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes upon the hearth. 7And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetcht a calf tender and good, and gave it unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it. 8And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.
Notice Abraham gave the best he had to God ... fine meal ... tender and good meat ...
9And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent.
By this, these men reveal they are not natural men. How did they know the name of Abraham's wife? But from the beginning verse, it certainly appears that Abraham recognized that these men were not natural men.
Genesis 18 ... 10And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son.
And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him. 11Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. 12Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?
13And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old?
14Is any thing too hard for the LORD?
At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son.
15Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And HE said, Nay; but thou didst laugh.
Sarah laughed ... she didn't see how such a thing could be possible ... But after God said to her, "is anything too hard for the LORD", Sarah believed God. We know she believed because of that which is written about her in Hebrews 11 ... Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. 12Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.
Genesis 21 ... And the LORD visited Sarah as HE had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as HE had spoken. 2For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. 3And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac.
============
When God shows us something, that is what will happen.
Several years ago, I had a dream: The earth slipped on it's axis. People were terrified. The politicians and religious leaders were meeting to see what could be done about the event. A TV newscaster was trying to tell what had happened and he was so frightened he couldn't continue the TV report.
In another dream: There was an established piece of land. All of a sudden, one entire piece broke and slid away. Then another went, then another, then another, then another ... And I heard these words, "It will be alright through January but in February it will break loose."
These dreams will happen.
============
A common error concerning faith ...
Our faith must be based on that which God has told us by HIS Spirit. Our faith must not be in what we want to happen.
Pam Padgett told me a story about a man where she once worked. An accident happened to his son. The man reported they were all believing for God to heal his son. The son died. Their faith was based on that which they wanted to have happen for if God had told them their son would be healed, he would be healed.
When such as thing as this happens it can destroy so much and shake the people involved even more than the death for this strikes at the foundation of God HIMSELF and if we lose that we lose everything.
Our faith must be in that which God says about the issue. So many people put faith in what they want to have happen and often they look for a scripture to justify what they want. When they do this their faith ends up being in their desire. But it seems their faith is in God.
Unless it is the Spirit of God who reveals the end of the situation, then we are on very shaky ground.
I have a friend who has ALS. This is a disease where there is no hope according to doctors. Certainly I prayed for him. I had an open vision about him and I believe what God showed me is that this man will die before the rest of us. In the open vision, he was on a golf course totally whole. He was going ahead of us but he was so excited and jumping up and down. He was signaling with his hands and arms to us telling us to come on ... everything was wonderful.
A mutual friend said to me, "Don't you think this is showing David is going to be healed by God?" I replied: "David is dying. But he is alright in death."
I would like to see David healed by God. But the only thing I can afford to believe or report is that which I believe God showed me.
Our faith must be in God, in that which God reveals about the matter at hand ...
Another situation: I have had several dreams about a woman where I played bridge. I cared very much about her well being. But God has given me one dream after another showing me she is getting worse, not better. In one dream, she was like a dwarf and very fat. She could hardly walk. In the most recent dream, she had heard something I said, a Bible teaching. And she threw up her hands in disgust and turned her back toward me and walked away. This is what I must believe about her because I believe God is showing me this. If I believed what I wanted to believe I would deceive myself. It is very foolish to deceive yourself by what you want. Our faith must be in what God tells us and not in our own wishes.
==============
So we focus on that which God tells us through scriptures, through dreams, through thoughts sent by HIS Spirit. We can believe that for it is truth and it will happen. And after we hear what God has to say, we believe and we act according to that which we have heard from God.
This is faith in God.
Tuesday, March 25, 2014
Psa. 25:9-10...Scripture: Shared by body of Christ
Psalm 25:9-10 ... The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will
he teach his way. 10 All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth unto
such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.
Exhortation: Joan Boney
Meek is defined as "Not my will but Thy will be done."
Exhortation: Joan Boney
Meek is defined as "Not my will but Thy will be done."
Faith: Part 2
Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
Heb. 11 ... By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
Several years ago I visited a Sunday school class in a church. Pastor was teaching above scripture and he asked: Did Noah condemn the world? Immediately I replied, "Yes". The people in the class seemed shocked. I said: Noah condemned the world because he believed God and the world didn't.
Anytime we believe God we condemn those who do not believe God. Grounds are set for the judgment seat of Christ for then God can say Noah believed what I said and he was a person as others yet he believed ME and you did not believe. Thereby those who believe and act on any scripture by their action condemn those who do not believe.
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Concerning faith, first God speaks.
God speaks in various ways to us: thoughts, dreams, scripture
The devil can also bring thoughts and scripture. We recall that the devil tempted Jesus by speaking scripture to Jesus. But Jesus knew the voice of God and when the devil tried to misuse scripture Jesus countered each of the devil's presentations.
Mt: 4 .. Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 2And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. 3And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. 4But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. 5Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 7Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 8Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 10Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 11Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
I don't recall any place in Bible where devil sent dreams. That leads me to believe the devil cannot speak through dreams.
At one point I studied the use of dreams in Bible. I am persuaded that God uses dreams today as a means of showing us truth about people and what they are doing or what they will do (unless they repent) ... and dreams show us things to come ... and sometimes our ways are changed because of dreams ... sometimes dreams confirm to us the way we are going ... I believe all dreams are from God... although I might not understand the dream at the time the dream comes ...
Thoughts can be from God by HIS Spirit ... thoughts can be from devil. The devil's thoughts can seem like good idea. Sometimes the thought is very obviously from God. Other times we aren't sure.
Before we act by faith, we have to determine if that thought is from God, especially when we have reason to question the direction provoked by the thought.
If we are engaged in any form of strife (or envy) we are in danger of opening doors for devils to bring ideas to us.
James 3 ... Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. 14But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. 15This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. 16For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
17But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. 18And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.
Probably the easiest thing to do when we are in doubt, is to ask God to confirm the thought or the idea, if it is from HIM.
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One of the more common errors concerning faith comes by failing to consider the following: Is this the will of God for my life? All that really matters is the will of God.
Unfortunately often that is not even considered. Church people want something. They pray to get what they want. Some are taught to hunt a scripture to "stand on" , to justify what they want. And to hold fast to that scripture in faith until they get what they want. This seems like faith, but it can be the wrong direction if we fail to consider "is this the will of God for me" ...
I made that mistake when I was a new Christian. I wanted to marry. All my church friends and our prayer group earnestly prayed for me to have an husband. I found a scripture to "stand on", to justify my getting an husband ... Isa. 34:16 ... Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read: no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate ... This scripture was not given me by the Spirit of God rather I searched and found it because that seemed to justify my request to God.
One woman in the prayer group said something about the will of God ... but then she added, "Of course it is God's will for Joan to have an husband."
But my best friend at that time prayed concerning this and she heard the following from the Spirit of God concerning my marrying. "My grace is sufficient for thee." After that Donna stopped asking God to give me husband. She told me about this but my personal desire for husband was such that I didn't focus on that which Donna heard and I continued for many years searching for husband. Finally I knew that was not the will of God for me and I would not be marrying as most people do. Now I believe with all my heart that was ordained by God for me. I even thank God that I didn't marry, remembering that Paul said those who marry will have trouble "in the flesh" (I Cor. 7) and I have an assignment from God for the church which would not be compatible with marriage for me.
Basically, before we ask God for something, we need to check with God concerning HIS will in the matter.
So many people are interested in their own will when they pray. And often their faith is damaged because they pray for something which is not the will of God for them, and then when they fail to get what they want they suffer loss of faith in God, loss of faith in scripture, loss of faith in prayer ... all because they misused everything and failed to consider "what is the will of God in my case."
A church person was trying to get a job and he asked me to pray that he got that job for which he was applying. I told him I would not pray this for I did not know if it was the will of God for him to get that job. I told him I would pray for God's will in the matter to be done. He did not get that job. The wrong job can damage a person.
We must base our faith on that which God has said to us by HIS Spirit. For then we know the will of God when the Holy Spirit shows us. (I Cor. 2) But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 11For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. 12Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
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In each case of faith in the Bible we will see that faith came by the will of God, by God revealing HIS will by HIS Spirit.
Heb. 11 ... By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. 8By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.
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In 1980, I was asleep in the night and was awakened by a loud trumpet sounding voice speaking three words to me: Hartford, Seattle, KWJS (I believe this was the voice of an angel of God speaking to me.)
I jumped out of bed and wrote, on a note pad, the three words spoken. It was obvious to me the word KWJS was call letters to either radio or TV. I found it was radio. I asked God: "Are you telling me to go on radio? I wouldn't know how to do that."
The Holy Spirit spoke the following gentle thought to me immediately: "Call the radio station manager."
I called the radio station manager as soon as the business office opened that morning. I said to the manager, "God might be telling me to go on radio. How would you do that?" He replied: "Make an audition tape 29 1/2 minutes long and if the content of the tape fits into our broadcasts we will offer you a contract."
I had a cassette recorder in my apartment so I got a tape and sat down immediately and recorded a message and sent it that morning to the radio station manager.
Within one week, I was on radio broadcasting exhortations to the church.
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Concerning Noah:
Genesis 6 ...And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 7And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
8But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
... Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.
... The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 14Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. 15And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. 16A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. 17And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die. 18But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee. 19And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. 20Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive. 21And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.
22Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he
Here we have the basic pattern of faith.
God chose to speak to Noah and instruct Noah. Then Noah did everything God told him to do.
As I read the above, I noticed how specific God was in HIS instructions of exactly how to build the ark. And notice that Noah did exactly what God instructed. Noah didn't make the ark an inch smaller nor an inch larger. Noah didn't say to himself "bigger is better". Noah knew God is perfect. So Noah did "according to all that God commanded him."
I thought of how much work Noah had to do in building the ark to specification ... in gathering all those animals and creeping things ... and and in stocking food supplies. And no doubt people would be watching Noah as he did these things. It would become a big event for the village as Noah built this ark and as he gathered all these creatures and put them into the structure.
None of us want to be a side show. None of us want to be mocked by onlookers or family. And often we know this is going to happen to us when we speak what we hear from God and when we do what God shows us to do.
Consider Joseph. He had a dream and he told this dream. And as a result his family mocked him and tormented him.
But by faith, Joseph told the dream.
Gen. 37 ... And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more. 6And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: 7For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf. 8And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words.
9And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. 10And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth? 11And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.
Faith in God causes us to speak that which we have heard from God. Certainly, in some cases, we know hatred or negative things will happen when we share what we have heard from God. But we share it, enduring the shame, because we believe we have heard from God.
My favorite aunt was a Church of Christ member all her life. This church group was one that would not speak of "supernatural" experiences with God.
At one point, I was visiting my aunt and I had the thought (which I believed to be from the Spirit of God) to tell my aunt about my being taken into heaven twice. Certainly I didn't want to do that! But because I believed I was directed by the Spirit of God to do it, I told her the following: Shortly after I was born again, I was asleep in the night and I was "transported" into heaven. I was in a room with God, and with the Holy Spirit, and with Jesus. (I didn't see them. No man has seen God. But I knew they were there with me.) At that time, I was "merged" into the body of Jesus, made one with The Word of God. It was wonderful!
The next morning, I was driving to work and I passed a church building and there was a funeral. A funeral. Oh how great. A funeral. To me this meant someone leaving this earth to go to God. I'd just been there the night before and nothing on this present earth could equal what I had experienced in heaven. (Obviously I was changed forever and set on fire for the Word of God. and for things of God.)
Then I told my aunt, And a few days after being taken into heaven, the exact same thing happened to me a second time. I was asleep in the night and was transported into heaven. I was with God, with the Holy Spirit, and with Jesus. At that time I was merged into the body of Jesus ... made one with the Word of God.
I was very shocked at the response of my aunt after I told her this. She had sort of a dreamy look on her face and she said to me ... Something like that happened to me once ... and it was all golden.
(My aunt had always been very different from everyone else. Now I knew the reason she was different.)
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Genesis 7 ... And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. 2Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. 3Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. 4For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.
5And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him.
Again, same pattern of faith ... God speaks ... Noah believes and obeys, following the instructions without adding to or taking away from the word.
...And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood. 8Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
...and the LORD shut him in.
...And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth. 18And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. 19And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. 20Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
21And all flesh died that moved upon the earth
... Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. 24And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days. (approximately 7 months)
Genesis 8 ... And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged; 2The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained; 3And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.
4And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. 5And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.
6And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made: 7And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth. 8Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground; 9But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark. 10And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark; 11And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. 12And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.
13And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry. 14And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried
Although Noah knew the earth was dry, he did not go out of the ark until God spoke and told him to go out of the ark.
15And God spake unto Noah, saying, 16Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons’ wives with thee. 17Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth. 18And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him: 19Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.
Again we see the pattern of faith: Noah waiting until God spoke. Then Noah did what God told him to do.
... and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. 22While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
Genesis 9 ... And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. 2And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.
Everyone around Noah was blessed by God because of Noah's obedience to God.
We, who belong to God and hear HIM and obey HIM, are blessings every where we go. If we choose to do business with a company, and that company treats us well, God blesses that company. But if we are treated poorly, I feel certain that company curses themselves though God repays us for their ill treatment.
Deut. 28 ... And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: 2And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God. 3Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. 4Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. 5Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. 6Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out. 7The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways. 8The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. 9The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways. 10And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee. 11And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee. 12The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. 13And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them: 14And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
15But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:
Is this the same in NT? I asked God. And immediately I was reminded of the following NT scripture: Gal. 6 ... Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 8For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
Heb. 11 ... By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
Several years ago I visited a Sunday school class in a church. Pastor was teaching above scripture and he asked: Did Noah condemn the world? Immediately I replied, "Yes". The people in the class seemed shocked. I said: Noah condemned the world because he believed God and the world didn't.
Anytime we believe God we condemn those who do not believe God. Grounds are set for the judgment seat of Christ for then God can say Noah believed what I said and he was a person as others yet he believed ME and you did not believe. Thereby those who believe and act on any scripture by their action condemn those who do not believe.
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Concerning faith, first God speaks.
God speaks in various ways to us: thoughts, dreams, scripture
The devil can also bring thoughts and scripture. We recall that the devil tempted Jesus by speaking scripture to Jesus. But Jesus knew the voice of God and when the devil tried to misuse scripture Jesus countered each of the devil's presentations.
Mt: 4 .. Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 2And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. 3And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. 4But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. 5Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 6And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. 7Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. 8Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; 9And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. 10Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 11Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
I don't recall any place in Bible where devil sent dreams. That leads me to believe the devil cannot speak through dreams.
At one point I studied the use of dreams in Bible. I am persuaded that God uses dreams today as a means of showing us truth about people and what they are doing or what they will do (unless they repent) ... and dreams show us things to come ... and sometimes our ways are changed because of dreams ... sometimes dreams confirm to us the way we are going ... I believe all dreams are from God... although I might not understand the dream at the time the dream comes ...
Thoughts can be from God by HIS Spirit ... thoughts can be from devil. The devil's thoughts can seem like good idea. Sometimes the thought is very obviously from God. Other times we aren't sure.
Before we act by faith, we have to determine if that thought is from God, especially when we have reason to question the direction provoked by the thought.
If we are engaged in any form of strife (or envy) we are in danger of opening doors for devils to bring ideas to us.
James 3 ... Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom. 14But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. 15This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. 16For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
17But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy. 18And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace.
Probably the easiest thing to do when we are in doubt, is to ask God to confirm the thought or the idea, if it is from HIM.
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One of the more common errors concerning faith comes by failing to consider the following: Is this the will of God for my life? All that really matters is the will of God.
Unfortunately often that is not even considered. Church people want something. They pray to get what they want. Some are taught to hunt a scripture to "stand on" , to justify what they want. And to hold fast to that scripture in faith until they get what they want. This seems like faith, but it can be the wrong direction if we fail to consider "is this the will of God for me" ...
I made that mistake when I was a new Christian. I wanted to marry. All my church friends and our prayer group earnestly prayed for me to have an husband. I found a scripture to "stand on", to justify my getting an husband ... Isa. 34:16 ... Seek ye out of the book of the LORD, and read: no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate ... This scripture was not given me by the Spirit of God rather I searched and found it because that seemed to justify my request to God.
One woman in the prayer group said something about the will of God ... but then she added, "Of course it is God's will for Joan to have an husband."
But my best friend at that time prayed concerning this and she heard the following from the Spirit of God concerning my marrying. "My grace is sufficient for thee." After that Donna stopped asking God to give me husband. She told me about this but my personal desire for husband was such that I didn't focus on that which Donna heard and I continued for many years searching for husband. Finally I knew that was not the will of God for me and I would not be marrying as most people do. Now I believe with all my heart that was ordained by God for me. I even thank God that I didn't marry, remembering that Paul said those who marry will have trouble "in the flesh" (I Cor. 7) and I have an assignment from God for the church which would not be compatible with marriage for me.
Basically, before we ask God for something, we need to check with God concerning HIS will in the matter.
So many people are interested in their own will when they pray. And often their faith is damaged because they pray for something which is not the will of God for them, and then when they fail to get what they want they suffer loss of faith in God, loss of faith in scripture, loss of faith in prayer ... all because they misused everything and failed to consider "what is the will of God in my case."
A church person was trying to get a job and he asked me to pray that he got that job for which he was applying. I told him I would not pray this for I did not know if it was the will of God for him to get that job. I told him I would pray for God's will in the matter to be done. He did not get that job. The wrong job can damage a person.
We must base our faith on that which God has said to us by HIS Spirit. For then we know the will of God when the Holy Spirit shows us. (I Cor. 2) But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. 11For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. 12Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
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In each case of faith in the Bible we will see that faith came by the will of God, by God revealing HIS will by HIS Spirit.
Heb. 11 ... By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. 8By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.
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In 1980, I was asleep in the night and was awakened by a loud trumpet sounding voice speaking three words to me: Hartford, Seattle, KWJS (I believe this was the voice of an angel of God speaking to me.)
I jumped out of bed and wrote, on a note pad, the three words spoken. It was obvious to me the word KWJS was call letters to either radio or TV. I found it was radio. I asked God: "Are you telling me to go on radio? I wouldn't know how to do that."
The Holy Spirit spoke the following gentle thought to me immediately: "Call the radio station manager."
I called the radio station manager as soon as the business office opened that morning. I said to the manager, "God might be telling me to go on radio. How would you do that?" He replied: "Make an audition tape 29 1/2 minutes long and if the content of the tape fits into our broadcasts we will offer you a contract."
I had a cassette recorder in my apartment so I got a tape and sat down immediately and recorded a message and sent it that morning to the radio station manager.
Within one week, I was on radio broadcasting exhortations to the church.
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Concerning Noah:
Genesis 6 ...And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
6And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 7And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
8But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.
... Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.
... The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 12And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
13And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth. 14Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch. 15And this is the fashion which thou shalt make it of: The length of the ark shall be three hundred cubits, the breadth of it fifty cubits, and the height of it thirty cubits. 16A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it above; and the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof; with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. 17And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die. 18But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons’ wives with thee. 19And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. 20Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee, to keep them alive. 21And take thou unto thee of all food that is eaten, and thou shalt gather it to thee; and it shall be for food for thee, and for them.
22Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he
Here we have the basic pattern of faith.
God chose to speak to Noah and instruct Noah. Then Noah did everything God told him to do.
As I read the above, I noticed how specific God was in HIS instructions of exactly how to build the ark. And notice that Noah did exactly what God instructed. Noah didn't make the ark an inch smaller nor an inch larger. Noah didn't say to himself "bigger is better". Noah knew God is perfect. So Noah did "according to all that God commanded him."
I thought of how much work Noah had to do in building the ark to specification ... in gathering all those animals and creeping things ... and and in stocking food supplies. And no doubt people would be watching Noah as he did these things. It would become a big event for the village as Noah built this ark and as he gathered all these creatures and put them into the structure.
None of us want to be a side show. None of us want to be mocked by onlookers or family. And often we know this is going to happen to us when we speak what we hear from God and when we do what God shows us to do.
Consider Joseph. He had a dream and he told this dream. And as a result his family mocked him and tormented him.
But by faith, Joseph told the dream.
Gen. 37 ... And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more. 6And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: 7For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf. 8And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words.
9And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. 10And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth? 11And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.
Faith in God causes us to speak that which we have heard from God. Certainly, in some cases, we know hatred or negative things will happen when we share what we have heard from God. But we share it, enduring the shame, because we believe we have heard from God.
My favorite aunt was a Church of Christ member all her life. This church group was one that would not speak of "supernatural" experiences with God.
At one point, I was visiting my aunt and I had the thought (which I believed to be from the Spirit of God) to tell my aunt about my being taken into heaven twice. Certainly I didn't want to do that! But because I believed I was directed by the Spirit of God to do it, I told her the following: Shortly after I was born again, I was asleep in the night and I was "transported" into heaven. I was in a room with God, and with the Holy Spirit, and with Jesus. (I didn't see them. No man has seen God. But I knew they were there with me.) At that time, I was "merged" into the body of Jesus, made one with The Word of God. It was wonderful!
The next morning, I was driving to work and I passed a church building and there was a funeral. A funeral. Oh how great. A funeral. To me this meant someone leaving this earth to go to God. I'd just been there the night before and nothing on this present earth could equal what I had experienced in heaven. (Obviously I was changed forever and set on fire for the Word of God. and for things of God.)
Then I told my aunt, And a few days after being taken into heaven, the exact same thing happened to me a second time. I was asleep in the night and was transported into heaven. I was with God, with the Holy Spirit, and with Jesus. At that time I was merged into the body of Jesus ... made one with the Word of God.
I was very shocked at the response of my aunt after I told her this. She had sort of a dreamy look on her face and she said to me ... Something like that happened to me once ... and it was all golden.
(My aunt had always been very different from everyone else. Now I knew the reason she was different.)
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Genesis 7 ... And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. 2Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female. 3Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth. 4For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.
5And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him.
Again, same pattern of faith ... God speaks ... Noah believes and obeys, following the instructions without adding to or taking away from the word.
...And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood. 8Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
...and the LORD shut him in.
...And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth. 18And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters. 19And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. 20Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered.
21And all flesh died that moved upon the earth
... Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark. 24And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days. (approximately 7 months)
Genesis 8 ... And God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle that was with him in the ark: and God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters asswaged; 2The fountains also of the deep and the windows of heaven were stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained; 3And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.
4And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat. 5And the waters decreased continually until the tenth month: in the tenth month, on the first day of the month, were the tops of the mountains seen.
6And it came to pass at the end of forty days, that Noah opened the window of the ark which he had made: 7And he sent forth a raven, which went forth to and fro, until the waters were dried up from off the earth. 8Also he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters were abated from off the face of the ground; 9But the dove found no rest for the sole of her foot, and she returned unto him into the ark, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth: then he put forth his hand, and took her, and pulled her in unto him into the ark. 10And he stayed yet other seven days; and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark; 11And the dove came in to him in the evening; and, lo, in her mouth was an olive leaf pluckt off: so Noah knew that the waters were abated from off the earth. 12And he stayed yet other seven days; and sent forth the dove; which returned not again unto him any more.
13And it came to pass in the six hundredth and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried up from off the earth: and Noah removed the covering of the ark, and looked, and, behold, the face of the ground was dry. 14And in the second month, on the seven and twentieth day of the month, was the earth dried
Although Noah knew the earth was dry, he did not go out of the ark until God spoke and told him to go out of the ark.
15And God spake unto Noah, saying, 16Go forth of the ark, thou, and thy wife, and thy sons, and thy sons’ wives with thee. 17Bring forth with thee every living thing that is with thee, of all flesh, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth; that they may breed abundantly in the earth, and be fruitful, and multiply upon the earth. 18And Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him: 19Every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth, after their kinds, went forth out of the ark.
Again we see the pattern of faith: Noah waiting until God spoke. Then Noah did what God told him to do.
... and the LORD said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake; for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done. 22While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.
Genesis 9 ... And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. 2And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered.
Everyone around Noah was blessed by God because of Noah's obedience to God.
We, who belong to God and hear HIM and obey HIM, are blessings every where we go. If we choose to do business with a company, and that company treats us well, God blesses that company. But if we are treated poorly, I feel certain that company curses themselves though God repays us for their ill treatment.
Deut. 28 ... And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: 2And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God. 3Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. 4Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. 5Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. 6Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out. 7The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways. 8The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. 9The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways. 10And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee. 11And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee. 12The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. 13And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them: 14And thou shalt not go aside from any of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left, to go after other gods to serve them.
15But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:
Is this the same in NT? I asked God. And immediately I was reminded of the following NT scripture: Gal. 6 ... Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 8For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
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