Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
James 1 ... 18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.
19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.
22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass:24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
Were you saved by God telling you how wonderful you are and how "worthy" you are?
I was saved by God revealing the following to me: "Joan ... you know those mistakes you've been making all these years? Those weren't mistakes. Those were sins."
I was very shocked. I thought they were mistakes.
Recently I had extreme pain behind my right knee. I know someone who died this way with blood clot. It was so severe it was very hard to walk enough to get to bath room.
I live alone (with a Siamese cat)!
The cat is part of the problem. How can I take care of her when I can't hardly get to bathroom?
(I did recover and can walk again without pain in that knee.)
I was thinking about this today ... and I realized I had a desire to have some person in my life to care for cat and me.
And I knew my desire was evil ... it was like the men who went in to search out the land and brought back an evil report. To these men, the enemy was bigger (more able) than God. The problem can seem so big that we do not consider God being able to deal with our problem.
I turned immediately to Numbers 13 ...
25 And they returned from searching of the land after forty days.
26 And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land. 27 And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.
28 Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great:and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. 29 The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south:and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains:and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.
(Then didn't see God as being able.)
30 And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.
31 But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.
32 And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. 33 And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants:and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
Numbers 14 ...
1 And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. 2 And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron:and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! 3 And wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey?
were it not better for us to return into Egypt? 4 And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.
5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.
6 And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes:7 And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. 8 If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. 9 Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us:their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us:fear them not.
10 But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel.
11 And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shewed among them?
12 I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they.
13 And Moses said unto the Lord, Then the Egyptians shall hear it, (for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them;) 14 And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land:for they have heard that thou Lord art among this people, that thou Lord art seen face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them, by day time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night.
15 Now if thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying, 16 Because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness. 17 And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, 18 The Lord is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. 19 Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.
20 And the Lord said, I have pardoned according to thy word:21 But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord. 22 Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; 23 Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:24 But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it. 25 (Now the Amalekites and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley.) To morrow turn you, and get you into the wilderness by the way of the Red sea.
26 And the Lord spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 27 How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.
28 Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the Lord, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you:29 Your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me, 30 Doubtless ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun. 31 But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised.
32 But as for you, your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness. 33 And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. 34 After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise. 35 I the Lord have said, I will surely do it unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me:in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.
36 And the men, which Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up a slander upon the land, 37 Even those men that did bring up the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the Lord.
38 But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of the men that went to search the land, lived still.
39 And Moses told these sayings unto all the children of Israel:and the people mourned greatly.
40 And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up into the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up unto the place which the Lord hath promised:for we have sinned. 41 And Moses said, Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the Lord? but it shall not prosper. 42 Go not up, for the Lord is not among you; that ye be not smitten before your enemies. 43 For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and ye shall fall by the sword:because ye are turned away from the Lord, therefore the Lord will not be with you.
44 But they presumed to go up unto the hill top:nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and Moses, departed not out of the camp.
45 Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and smote them, and discomfited them, even unto Hormah.
Basically the sin was they did not trust in God ... to them man seemed greater than God.
Concerning my cat ... it was like I could trust a human to care for the cat, but not God.
I greatly repented.
I said to God: I want YOU to care for the cat, not a human. I put my trust in YOU. I'd much rather have YOU than a human. (Please forgive me.)
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To save our souls, we must be willing to see our own sin!
James 1 ...
21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of
naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able
to save your souls.
But some hear the word and quickly turn for the word may show them that they are "wicked" and they do not want to see that about themselves.
James 1 ...
22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
23
For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a
man beholding his natural face in a glass:24 For he beholdeth himself,
and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was.
The Word is like a mirror showing us what we really look like in the sight of God ... and some people will not want to see the true picture shown by the mirror so they quickly turn away from the mirror and forget what they really look like and go their own way, imagining their way, and themselves, to be good when their way is evil.
God gave the following scripture of instruction to a woman in our little church group.
Proverbs 24 ... 15 Lay not wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous;
spoil not his resting place:
This woman quickly turned from this scripture ... not wanting to look into this deeply ... For she did not want to see herself as "wicked" and this scripture was showing her to be wicked for she had stored bitterness in her heart toward me. (Her act was wicked.)
But had she received with meekness the engrafted word which was able to save her soul, she would have been delivered from herself. She did not do this so she let the instruction escape, protecting herself from the Word. And she went forward in the opposite way which "spoiled my resting place", bringing destruction upon herself by her action.
People often want to forget what they really are so they can seem better. But there is no salvation and only trouble in doing this.
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Romans 11 ... 1 I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, 3 Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life. 4 But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. 5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. 6 And if by grace, then is it no more of works:otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace:otherwise work is no more work.
7 What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded 8 (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.
9 And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.
11 I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid:but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy. 12 Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?
13 For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:14 If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them. 15 For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?
16 For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy:and if the root be holy, so are the branches. 17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree; 18 Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.
19 Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. 20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:21 For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.
22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God:on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness:otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in:for God is able to graff them in again. 24 For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree:how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
We can lose our salvation. Our name can be blotted out of the book of life.
Jesus says:
Rev. 2 ... Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
Rev. 3 ... 5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.
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I Cor. 13 ... 12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face:now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
But the part God gives us is enough if only we grab hold as a drowning man grabs a life preserver and if we hold on to that word given us by the Holy Spirit, doing as we are instructed by that word.
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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.
We must overcome ... otherwise our name can be blotted out of the Lamb's Book of Life. Rev. 3:5
We overcome through that word given us by God by HIS Spirit as we look deeply into that word and allow it to change us and we repent and hold on.