Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
When I was born again, 1975, I had no idea what the Holy Spirit did for the believer. My best friend, a long time Baptist, never mentioned the Holy Spirit to me. The church I attended with her and her husband never mentioned the Holy Spirit. Even after I attended one of the faith movement churches, I still didn't know what the Holy Spirit does. No one at that church mentioned what the Holy Spirit in us did, though they did talk about the Holy Spirit.
But then God called my attention two verses where Jesus told HIS disciples what the Holy Spirit would do.
John 14:26 Jesus says ... But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, HE will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and HE will shew you things to come.
In the above scriptures, we see the Holy Spirit will:
- Teach us all things (I believe both secular things and spiritual things)
- Remind us of all Jesus has said
- Guide us into all truth
- Show us things to come
The Holy Spirit in the believer is a very mighty weapon.
The Holy Spirit searches the heart of God to reveal to us the will of God in the matter with which we are dealing.
I Corinthians 2:9-13 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.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. Now 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. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
Thus the apostle Paul says the following:
Ephesians 3:16 That HE would grant you, according to the riches of HIS glory, to be strengthened with might by HIS Spirit in the inner man;
But how does the Holy Spirit do this?
Here are some examples.
A man in our little church group was considering building an additional storage building in his back yard to store his stuff. As he considered this, the following came to his mind: "Why don't you just get rid of the stuff?"
This was wisdom from God in the matter at hand brought to him by the Spirit of God in the form of a thought.
A woman became angry with me a few years ago and I could not in any way reason with her nor would she hear an apology from me. Of course I was asking God to help me and to show me what I should do. I was in process of writing to her to try to reason with her and to try to calm her when the following was brought to my mind, showing me what to do. I was reminded of the scripture where Jesus said to let them alone. I threw that which I had been writing away and just let her alone. I knew she was blind and refusing to see though she called herself a Christian. Later I realized she is "implacable". Romans 1 That means a person who cannot be reasoned with and continues, in spite of all, in her own thinking.
I was driving along the street one day when a pickup truck pulled along side me in the other lane. He had firewood in the back of his truck. As I thought on how much I would like to have a wood burning fireplace, the following was brought to my mind. "You can have that." Never had I considered such. My house had gas logs at the time. When that thought was brought to me, I believe by the Holy Spirit, I realized I could switch to wood. Immediately I took action on this thought believing it was God leading me.
Thus the apostle Paul says the following:
Ephesians 3:16 That HE would grant you, according to the riches of HIS glory, to be strengthened with might by HIS Spirit in the inner man;
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But how does the Holy Spirit do this?
Here are some examples.
A man in our little church group was considering building an additional storage building in his back yard to store his stuff. As he considered this, the following came to his mind: "Why don't you just get rid of the stuff?"
This was wisdom from God in the matter at hand brought to him by the Spirit of God in the form of a thought.
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A woman became angry with me a few years ago and I could not in any way reason with her nor would she hear an apology from me. Of course I was asking God to help me and to show me what I should do. I was in process of writing to her to try to reason with her and to try to calm her when the following was brought to my mind, showing me what to do. I was reminded of the scripture where Jesus said to let them alone. I threw that which I had been writing away and just let her alone. I knew she was blind and refusing to see though she called herself a Christian. Later I realized she is "implacable". Romans 1 That means a person who cannot be reasoned with and continues, in spite of all, in her own thinking.
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I was driving along the street one day when a pickup truck pulled along side me in the other lane. He had firewood in the back of his truck. As I thought on how much I would like to have a wood burning fireplace, the following was brought to my mind. "You can have that." Never had I considered such. My house had gas logs at the time. When that thought was brought to me, I believe by the Holy Spirit, I realized I could switch to wood. Immediately I took action on this thought believing it was God leading me.
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One day, I developed a physical problem. There was intense itching at various places on my skin and I broke into a rash. I had no idea what had happened nor did I know what to try to do. I began praying immediately, asking God for help. It was so extreme.
Here is an example, I believe, of the Holy Spirit guiding me into all truth as Jesus said HE would do.
First, I had thought (idea) to get in shower and scrub my skin with soap.
After doing that, the problem continued. I was concerned that I might have to go to emergency room.
Then I had the idea to rub a roll-on pain medicine on my skin. You wouldn't expect this type of arthritis medicine to help with a rash but I began rolling it onto the infected areas. Within a matter of minutes the itching stopped.
After that, I was reminded of something I had done that morning. I had a chair in my closet with my desktop computer. It began to squeak. I sprayed it 4 times with WD40. But I did this in that closet area and remained in there doing my typing. It was a few hours later the physical problem started. I believe God was showing me I had poisoned myself with WD40.
The next day, my skin had cleared considerably and by the following day, the rash was completely gone.
(I've had times when I believe God has shown me to go to medical doctor but this was not one of them.)
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We do need to pay attention to the thoughts brought to our minds. Some of them are from the Holy Spirit.
How do we recognize the wisdom that is from God?
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.
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