Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
Who is it who told you to do what you are doing?
If God has told us to do that, we can rest in HIM in assurance.
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God commissioned Joshua to take the place of Moses and to lead HIS people into the land God promised to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob.
The same instructions God gave to Joshua apply to us today in "the land" given us by God.
Primarily, God's instruction was to be strong and of good courage.
You need both strength and courage in the area to which you have been assigned by God.
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Joshua 1
1 Now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord it came to pass, that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses 'minister, saying, 2 Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.
3 Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses. 4 From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going down of the sun, shall be your coast.
5 There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life:as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee:I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. 6 Be strong and of a good courage:for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.
7 Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee:turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest.
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.
9 Have not I commanded thee?
Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed:for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
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3 Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you,
In the area where God has placed us, we have an authority from God to deal in that area.
God gave me an assignment in the church, to care for the church, to care for the word of God, to care for HIS children.
God did not put me in a natural family but in a spiritual family, the church. Therefore that is where my authority exists.
Many of you have another assignment ... husbands, wives, children ...
Most of you are not appointed to care for the church as apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, teacher.
And as the church, we have gifts of the Holy Spirit that vary. God gave me a gift of exhortation to equip me to do the work in the church to which HE assigned me ... to warn the church ... to advise the church.
Also I often work in the gifts: word of knowledge, word of wisdom ... and the gift of exhortation is constant, daily, many times daily ...
Romans 12 ... 1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world:but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
4 For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office:5 So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.
6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; 7 Or ministry (serving), let us wait on our ministering:or he that teacheth, on teaching; 8 Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation:he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.
I Cor. 12 ... 4 Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all.
7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. 8 For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; 9 To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; 10 To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues:
11 But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally as HE will.
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5 There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life.
When we work in the area assigned to us by God and work through God's wisdom, no man will be able to stand up against us and overcome us. (They will try to fight us but they won't be able to succeed against us.) When we firmly fix ourselves by the Word HE has given us and cling to that word man will not be able to pull us off our assignment.
I have a very strong assignment from God in me and a very strong witness of God to that assignment by scripture, by dreams, and by witness of others brought to me by God.
In times of trouble, the Holy Spirit often reminds me of these strong witnesses to keep me in my assignment.
Scripture: (such as the following)
I Cor. 15 ... 57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
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.
Heb. 3 ... 12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. 13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;
Heb. 10 ... 23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) 24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another:and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. 26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
exhort: to urge earnestly by advice and warning
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Dreams:
Left on island to care for children ... I was traveling with a small group of people and we landed on an island. It was hot and dirty. Like pineapple field. There were children on the island. All of a sudden I realized the group was leaving and the plan was to leave me on this island to take care of these children. I said, "I won't stay ... I won't." ... Then I realized it might be God's will for me to stay there and do this work. So I said to God, "Unless YOU want me to stay here." God did want me to stay on that island and care for those children. The group left me there. There was a pastor and his wife on the island but they wouldn't come out of their house. (caring for the children of God ... church of God)
Put on radio by a word carried by an angel of God ... January 1980 ... While I was sleeping in the night, a very strong voice like a trumpet spoke 3 words in my ear ... "Hartford, Seattle, KWJS" ... Within a week, I was broadcasting exhortations on radio KWJS ... then other stations were added to point that in about a year I was on radio from NYC to Seattle.
Starting blog because of dream ... March 2012 ... In a dream, a woman was singing. I said, "It's a nice little voice ... it is only a little voice but it is a nice little voice." Then in the dream I saw the church gathering as the church and I had my eyes open to a blog on Internet. Within 3 days of this dream we were writing exhortations daily on Internet. It has been a wonderful "little" voice, going all over the world instantly without cost. And it allows all the exhortations to be stored on Internet so new viewers can see past exhortations. And we are able to go in and add to the past writings as God gives us additional insight. It is one of the most perfect devices I've ever seen.
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Witnesses from other people of God:
In the early years, before I knew I was to be a minister, but after I was born again, individuals from church would come to me and say: "It is obvious that the hand of God is on you strongly." (I didn't know what that meant.) This happened many times.
Then a woman was sent to me and she said: "I don't know how I know this but you are going to be mightily used by God ... " She walked away from me, then she stopped and came back and said, "You are going to have to stay very close to God."
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Taken into heaven in the night and merged into the body of Jesus:
This happened to me shortly after I was born again. In the night, while I was sleeping, I was transported into heaven in the spirit. I was with God, with Jesus, with the Holy Spirit. At that time I was merged into the body of Jesus, made one with the Word of God, God and Holy Spirit witnessing. (No physical images just in the spirit.)
A few nights later, the exact same thing happened again. In the night, while I was sleeping, I was transported into heaven
in the spirit. I was with God, with Jesus, with the Holy Spirit. At
that time I was merged into the body of Jesus, made one with the Word of
God, God and Holy Spirit witnessing.
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The past years have had times of great hardships as I have spoken the word which I believe to have been given me by God. Many people came and left because of the word.
Two women who were as daughters to me turned against me and attacked me. (not at same time but over the course of the years) This was incredibly difficult to go through. (Some of you reading this know what it is like to have a child turn against you ... It is one of the more difficult things that can happen to you in this life.)
Many have tried to stop me from speaking the word given by God. Several have ordered me not to speak.
Persecution to stop the word came from every direction ... from those who were like my own children ... from radio audience and from radio station managers ... from my own office staff ... from neighbors ... from cousins ... even from my own dad, although he got born again and changed his mind about the word I was speaking and the work I was doing.
The past 30+ years have been fraught with many trials and hardships in the form of attacks from humans, mostly from humans who identified themselves as being Christians.
Such persecutions for the word's sake are not unusual, says the apostle Peter:
I Peter 4 ... 12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. 14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you:on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.
15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters. 16 Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.
17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God:and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? 18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
19 Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.
As long as we are on this earth, we can expect such persecutions when we speak that which God gives us. We must work to endure to the end. We endure through prayer and through making ourselves focus on those things brought to mind after we pray, keeping our faith firmly in what God has said to us.
But it is hard to see people disobey what we know is God. It is very hard to see them leave. It is very troublesome to consider what might happen to them in this life and also at the judgment seat of Christ.
There is most often nothing we can do but continue in that which God has assigned us.
It does take strength and great courage, as God told Joshua.
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But if you are suffering because you are envious ... or because you want something you have not been able to obtain ... then that suffering is not to your credit.
I Peter 2:20 (NIV / original translation)
But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in HIS steps.
If you are suffering for wrong doing, you should not endure this type of suffering. Instead you should repent of the wrong doing. You should purpose to stop doing that wrong doing. And each time you are tempted to do wrong, you should turn to God in the temptation and ask God for wisdom and ask God for help.
James 1 ... 5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.