Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
Recently I became very discouraged. A woman who has been in church circles all her life told me she had an abortion. She said when she was married to her first husband she committed adultery, became pregnant and had an abortion.
This would not have affected me so much except I knew this woman had gone to church all her life. The type of church she had attended would have preached a fundamental Bible type doctrine. The doctrine had obviously not affected her.
Thoughts began to come to me that it does no good at all for people like me to write Bible exhortation to the church.
Then the Holy Spirit reminded me of the following scripture:
I Cor. 15:58 ... Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.
I believe this! Therefore I was instantly restored to the work of God.
A week later, this woman said she finally stopped blaming other people for her sins and she was restored by God.
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We can depend on that which the Holy Spirit brings to our mind. We focus on that and because of truth are enabled to overcome the discouragements we encounter in this present life. It always has to do with that which God speaks through His Spirit and believing what we have heard.
Abraham is a good example for us.
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 (God) counted it to him for righteousness.
Abraham had been promised by God that he would be a "great nation", having descendents from his own seed. But Sarah was now 90 years old and she was barren. How could she have a child?
But if God has said it, God will do it.
The first point of faith is hearing what God has to say about the matter at hand so we turn to God and pray, asking HIM and then we wait until God brings us the answer by His Spirit. The Spirit of God in us reminds us of scriptures or events which show us about the issue. When we are sure we have heard from God, we can believe what God says no matter how it appears.
There have been times when God has given me a scripture by the Holy Spirit to show me what will happen. Other times God will remind me of previous events and by that I have a confidence concerning what God is telling me.
All is done by the Spirit of God and not by my own flesh. By my own flesh I can try to find a scripture but often that is "my will" in the matter at hand. What I need to know is what God has to say about the problem. And only by the Spirit of God can I know what God says about my issue at hand. 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.
Two examples:
When I was a new Christian, I owned a business in Dallas. A man filed a law suit against several dealers in American Indian Arts accusing us of trying to keep him from doing business it Dallas. It was a ridiculous. I had difficulty taking it seriously but then I realized if I failed to respond to the legal papers a judgment could be given against me and I could lose my business.
When I prayed, I was reminded of the following from Isaiah 54, verse 17 ... No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.
This was the Holy Spirit showing me what would happen ... I believed it was true.
Six days before the trial was scheduled the man dropped all charges against each of us.
The second example is an example of God showing me what would happen by reminding me of a previous event. By this I had faith to know and believe. This concerned assisted living. Should I look for an assisted living home in Lubbock where I could be cared for as I get older? This is what I asked God. If I was going to need such, I wanted to look for it now while I can drive my car. So I prayed about it.
By the Holy Spirit, something was called to my attention which I believe showed me truth in this matter. I was reminded of an event that happened in 1982 when I was on radio and traveling to various cities to have meetings. I had several women who worked for me at that time and they duplicated copies of tape recordings of messages I had given and sent them ahead to the meetings. Then there was no need for these workers for I heard from God not to go out again to meetings until I saw Ex. 15. So I cancelled all scheduled meetings and I haven't been out since that time. The point is I had "no need" for the workers.
I believed God was showing me I was not going to need an assisted living home. So there was no reason to look for such.
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I've had many examples in the past 30+ years of God settling matters through the Holy Spirit after I have prayed. Sometimes I will have a scripture brought to my attention. Other times I will have an example from past which gives me direction.
But always faith comes by hearing from God by the Holy Spirit. After we hear, we can believe, for what God says will happen.
James 3:17 ... But 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.
Certainly the devil can bring thoughts to our minds. Often thoughts from the devil are driving, pushing, hurrying, filled with fear if we don't act now ... so we know those thoughts are not from God ...
And when there is any question as to "did God give me that scripture or direction", I can pray, asking God to confirm it to me.
Recently I wrote about abortion ... The day I wrote the message, I was going to eat with a woman and I felt very strongly I should give her a copy of that message. I asked God to confirm it to me. As we ate, I kept being reminded of giving her that message. I asked again for confirmation. As we went to get into her car to return home, I was reminded again of that message. (I had a copy in my pocket.) At that point, after several confirmations after prayer, I gave her the message.
So when in doubt ask God to confirm the direction.
(The devil can quote scripture. He quoted scripture to Jesus to try to get Jesus to follow him. Please read Mt. 4. But Jesus knew this was the devil. We also have to be able to recognize when the wrong spirit is speaking a scripture to us. I've found the Holy Spirit convicts me when I've done wrong so I can repent and the devil tries to condemn me. Both use scripture.)