It pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. I Cor. 1:21

Joan Boney … apostle/prophet

Why be tormented by sins when the blood of Jesus cleansed us from all sins?

I John 1:7   the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.

Just believe what the Bible tells us!  

It is that simple.

***

It really makes sense to me.  What other than the blood of Jesus could cleanse us?  Certainly we can't cleanse our self by our works.  And to think on our sins destroys us.

The apostle Paul went about catching the followers of Jesus and binding them and taking them to the rulers who had power to kill them.

All that was cleansed by the blood of Jesus when Jesus was revealed to Paul on the road to Damascus.  Paul believed and switched sides immediately.

Acts 9   

And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, 2 And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

3 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:

4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?

5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? 

And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

6 And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? 

And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.

And what did Paul do?  He arose, and went into the city and waited to hear what to do.

***

Most of us do not have as dramatic story as Paul.

Most of us just saw a scripture and believed.  (My mother was this way.  When I read Deuteronomy 18 to her, she believed and turned from her practice of reading horoscopes.)

Some of us just asked God to save us and trusted in HIM to do it.  (Pam Padgett has this story among us.)

But each of us, including Paul, had one thing in common.  

We believed that Word from God.

***

Acts 16:31   Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ (The Word) and thou shalt be saved and thou house. 

If you believe any Word from God, you will be saved.

Just believe.

*** 

We must enter into healing from our sins by faith in that which we read in Bible.

Revelation 1:5  And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood,

And we go forward, by faith, trusting God to make us acceptable in the beloved.

Ephesians 1:6    To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein HE hath made us accepted in the beloved.

God will get each of us to the place where HE wants us to be in the church.  Trust HIM.  

*****

Instruction in Righteousness: I Corinthians 5

It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife.

² And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you.

³ For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that hath so done this deed,

⁴ In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁵ To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

⁶ Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?

⁷ Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:

⁸ Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

⁹ I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:
¹⁰ Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.

¹¹ But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolator, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.
¹² For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within?
¹³ But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.

*****

Examples of Dealing With Destructive Thoughts

Book:  Dealing With Destructive Thoughts
Chapter 8
Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet 


When we “dread” something, it is likely a sign that we have gotten ourselves into an appointment or plan that is not of God. Dread is a very important matter which must be dealt with each time it surfaces.

To dread means: uneasiness in face of something ahead

It is so very important to commit the issue to God in prayer when we dread something that lies ahead.

Sometimes we are going in a wrong way and God will lead us to make changes to completely remove the planned event.

We have to be willing to change. Even when we have given our word to someone, if we dread that which lies ahead, we might need to get out of the situation.

Two scriptural examples are as follows.

Prov. 6:1-5 ... My son, if thou be surety for thy friend, if thou hast stricken thy hand with a stranger, Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth. Do this now, my son, and deliver thyself, when thou art come into the hand of thy friend; go, humble thyself, and make sure thy friend. Give not sleep to thine eyes, nor slumber to thine eyelids. Deliver thyself as a roe from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the fowler.

Mt. 14:1-10 ... At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus, And said unto his servants, This is John the Baptist; he is risen from the dead; and therefore mighty works do shew forth themselves in him. For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison for Herodias’ sake, his brother Philip’s wife. For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her. And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet. But when Herod’s birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them, and pleased Herod. Whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask. And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, Give me here John Baptist’s head in a charger. And the king was sorry: nevertheless for the oath’s sake, and them which sat with him at meat, he commanded it to be given her.  And he sent, and beheaded John in the prison.

Herod didn't want to behead John the Baptist but "for the oath's sake" and also to save face in front of his “friends”, he did behead John the Baptist. How much better for him had he just backed down from his oath, from his own word, and refused to do this evil.

There are times it is better to cancel the dreaded meeting or event when possible.

Only through asking God, can we be assured in what we should do in such cases

Here is an example I had many years ago of "dread" ...

I had closed my business in Dallas because I was persuaded I was to go into the ministry. But I had nowhere to go. For six-months I lived off the money from the sale of the business merchandise. I stayed at my apartment and read Bible during this time.

A job opened at Christ for the Nations school in Dallas. I prayed, of course, and seriously considered the job. It was Dean of Women at the college. But I found I just didn't want to go there. (dread)

At one point the thought came, "You just don't want to be that far away from Neiman-Marcus (a department store)" That was so silly. I hardly ever went to Neiman’s and rarely purchased anything there. I knew the devil was trying to get me to take that job. I declined the job and continued staying at home with no prospects for employment but I did have money from my business and had no lack.

About a month later, God awoke me in the night with what I believe to have been the loud voice (like a trumpet sounding) of an angel with the words: Hartford, Seattle, KWJS ... This caused me to go on radio and within a week of hearing this word I was broadcasting exhortations on radio station KWJS. Within the year, I was on radio from east coast to west coast of USA. This was the plan of God for me and not Christ for the Nations where the dread was.

*****

Here is a wonderful example of working through dread by turning to God. This is a report from Pam Padgett, in our little church group.

Pam says ...

Many years ago when I first started going to college, God showed Himself strong on my behalf.

My older sister had been at college two years when I started attending the same school. She dated a man who was a member of a fraternity, and had become a member of the fraternity's "women's auxiliary", assisting with fraternity social functions. She was very excited for me to join the social circles she was in, and especially wanted me to meet members of the fraternity.

The first week of school my sister invited me to go to a student bar where many of the fraternity guys gathered on Thursday nights. I went, but found what was going on there to be so bad (lewdness, drunkenness) that I was unable to stay and I walked back to the dormitory.

A week or so later my sister asked if I'd go to an outdoor luau with one of the freshmen pledges at the fraternity. The luau site was about 20 miles away near a river, and there would be a campfire. The setting was very appealing to me, plus I was excited about having a date, and I agreed to go.

Then, a few days before the luau, my sister told me that arrangements had been made for one of the other fraternity guys to take me to the luau because my date would be spending the day at the luau site building a hut for us ... a young man I had never even met was building a hut "for us"!

Suddenly the reality of this luau became very clear to me. This was not going to be people sitting around a campfire roasting marshmallows. The lewdness and drunkenness I had seen at the student bar was probably mild compared to what would be going on at this luau ... and I wouldn't be able to walk home.

I told my sister that I couldn't go along with this and did not want to go, but she kept insisting that it was too late for me to back out, that it was too late for this guy to find another date.

I turned very strongly to God, asking Him to somehow get me out of this situation. There seemed no way out. At one point I asked God to let me have appendicitis, preferring to be in a hospital having surgery than to go to this luau.

The morning of the luau I woke up and checked to see if I might have any pain that would indicate appendicitis, and was disappointed that I felt fine.

I kept praying for God to somehow work this out. Time was really running out!

When I looked outside, it was raining a little, but not much. However, the rain became heavier and heavier as the day went on.

Around 2 pm I received a call from the fraternity guy who planned to take me to the luau site. He told me how sorry he was to have to tell me this, but the luau had to be cancelled. The luau site had been totally flooded, washing away all the huts that had been built, which would include the hut my date had built for us.

He told me how long the luau had been held at this same site (many years) and, although there had been rain at times in the past, nothing like this had ever happened before, flooding and causing the luau to be cancelled.

I rejoiced, knowing that God had delivered me.

*****

Another example:

I was watching the Ken Burns TV series on The Civil War (1860-65 in USA).

As I watched the mistreatment of slaves I was so upset and found myself being pulled deeper into this conflict until I was reminded of the following scriptures which set me in the way of God and removed me from the "good" (and bad) of this world.

Jn. 18:36 ... Jesus said ... My kingdom is not of this world: if My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is My kingdom not from hence.

I Cor. 7:20-22 ... Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called. Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather. For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ’s servant.

By these two scriptures, I knew that I was not to involve myself in the strife and worldly disputes of things like The Civil War. ...even when those things are unfair and terrible, for the kingdom of God is not of this world.

*****

We, like those who have gone before us, look for a new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.  (II Peter 3)

We will never be able to make this present world righteousness no matter what we do.

And John said: And we know that we are of God, and the whole world lieth in wickedness  I Jn. 5:19

And Paul said this world would not get better but worse.

II Tim. 3:13-17 ... But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.  But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;

And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

II Peter 3:13-14 ... Nevertheless we, according to HIS promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of HIM in peace, without spot, and blameless.

So by this, I freed myself from my own emotions and preferences and from the campaigns of worldly men who think they do good.

*****

BOOK: Dealing With Destructive Thoughts
Chapter 8

Joan Boney



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Paperback: $5.99

(USA Prices)

Order from: Amazon.com

*****

Devil will try to get us to focus on sins of past because to do that denies the blood of Jesus.

Joan Boney … apostle/prophet

I John 1:7   the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.

Revelation 1:5   And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, 

***

To allow ourselves to wallow in our sins of the past is to deny the blood of Jesus.

That is what devil wants Christians to do.


***

The apostle Paul refused to think on his past sins and he told us to refuse this also.

Philippians 3:13-15    Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,
I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded:

*****

Hymns:  (click on hymn name to see and hear hymn)

* Power in the Blood 

* I'm pressing on the upward way

*****

Instruction in Righteousness: I Corinthians 4

Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.

² Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.

(Faithful to God ... faithful to the heavenly calling.)

³ But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.

⁴ For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.

⁵ Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.

⁶ And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another.

(Christians are often puffed up thinking their church is right ... thinking they have more godly knowledge than another church ... praising one minister over another minister, failing to see there are different gifts given to the ministers and those are by God's choice.)


⁷ For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?

⁸ Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us: and I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you.

⁹ For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.

¹⁰ We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised.

¹¹ Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace;
¹² And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it:
¹³ Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.

¹⁴ I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you.

¹⁵ For though ye have ten thousand instructers in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.

¹⁶ Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.

¹⁷ For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church.

¹⁸ Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you.

¹⁹ But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power.

²⁰ For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.

²¹ What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness?

*****

Let Your Requests Be Known Unto God

Book:  Dealing With Destructive Thoughts
Chapter 7
Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet 


We are greatly privileged to be able to do what the apostle Paul tells us in the following:

Phil. 4:6 ... Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

The first step is to turn to God with the trouble area and pray. Let your requests in the matter be made known unto God. What would you like God to do in your behalf?

Phil. 4:7 ... And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

When we fail to deal in a spiritual way with negative thoughts, we may end up "forsaking our own mercy."

Jonah 2:8 ... They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy.

Example: Recently I wrote something as a teaching example. It was something that happened with another person. Although I have no reason to think this person would ever read anything I would write, still there was a fearful thought. "What if he sees this. He might be angry that I wrote this." (Although I did not use his name, he would know it was what he did.)

Immediately I began praying. I asked God not to let this hurt this man in any way. It was not written to hurt anyone but rather to give the church an example of how things can go wrong if you follow the wrong spirit, which I'm persuaded this man had done in this case.

*****

James 4:7 ... Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

We submit ourselves to God in prayer as we take the problem to God.

If we are reminded of a scripture after prayer, we "stand" on that scripture, building our faith on that scripture, thereby resisting the devil with the word God has given us in the matter after we pray. And we have the promise that the devil will flee from us.

Often after prayer when we are reminded of a scripture to help us, we can just sit and think about that scripture and what it is saying to us. Thus we "fill our house" with that scripture by thinking on that scripture.

Devils will not want to move into our house when it is being kept filled with the word of God.

Mt. 12:43-45 ... When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.  Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.  Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.

*****

Many of the destructive thoughts that come to us are from spirits of the devil. And those spirits will bring thoughts which are opposite to God, thus the thoughts are "anti" Christ, opposite to the Word of God.

Paul explains: For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;  II Cor. 10

When something troubles people of the world they use fleshly ways to deal with the trouble. Some clean out closets. Some go shopping. Some pick up a phone and share their troubles with another person. These people "war after the flesh".

But our weapons are "mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds."

Brick by brick, as we pray over the situation, and as we focus on scripture given us by the Holy Spirit, we remove that wall that has been built over the years by this type of problem.

*****

"Casting down imaginations" ... Haven't we often been troubled over nothing? Sometimes these imaginations can eat up our lives and cause us to be in a type of paralyses. But we have a secure weapon if we will use it. When we belong to God we have access to the power of God which never fails.

All we have to do is turn to God in prayer and pour out our hearts to God in prayer.

And Paul says when we do this, the peace of God which passes all understanding will keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. We place our faith in what God gives us on the matter at hand, what God calls to our mind after we pray.

Sometimes I can even feel the weight lift from my shoulders after I pray when I have been troubled over something.

*****

There are many "high sounding thoughts" that come exalting themselves against the knowledge we have of God. These are "anti-Christ" ... opposite to the word of God. Nevertheless these are troubling thoughts and must be dealt with through prayer.

Our first way of escape is to STOP ...  PRAY ...as soon as we realize we are troubled or feeling a little "down".

*****

Sometimes we remember to pray over the "big" things ... but ignore the "little" things ...

Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.  Song of Solomon 2:15

It is important to take those little things that trouble us to God also.

in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.  Phil. 4:6

When we fall asleep and let the troubles pile up without prayer, we put ourselves in danger.

*****

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, ...  I Peter 5:8-9

One of the aspects of "pure religion" in the sight of God is to keep ourselves unspotted from the world.

James 1:27 ...Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit (judge) the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

This is all a part of taking thoughts captive to bring them into obedience of God.

*****

BOOK: Dealing With Destructive Thoughts
Chapter 7

Joan Boney



E-book: $.99

Paperback: $5.99

(USA Prices)

Order from: Amazon.com

*****

Hymn: Blessed Assurance

1.   Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine;

Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God, 
Born of His Spirit, 
washed in His blood.


Chorus:

This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.

This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.


2.   Perfect submission, perfect delight,
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels descending, bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love. 

3.   Perfect submission, all is at rest,
I in my Savior am happy and blest;
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.

***

To play music from this hymn, click on following link:

* Blessed Assurance 

When hymn comes on screen, click forward > arrow to play.

To return to blog, click back < arrow at bottom of your device.

*****

I John 1:7   But if we walk in the light, as HE is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

Revelation 1:5    Unto HIM that loved us, and washed us from our sins in HIS own blood,

*****

Settle yourself on these promises of God.

*  I John 1:7  The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.

*  Revelation 1:5    Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood,

*  Ephesians 1:6  HE hath made us accepted in the beloved.

*  Philippians 4:19    My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus (The Word).

*  I Peter 5:7    Casting all your care upon Him; for HE careth for you.

*  Hebrews 13:5  God says:  I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

*****

Instruction in Righteousness: I Corinthians 3

And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.

² I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.

³ For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?

⁴ For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

(One says, "I am Methodist."  Another says, "I am Baptist."  Division... carnal.)

⁵ Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?

⁶ I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.

⁷ So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.

⁸ Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.

⁹ For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building.

¹⁰ According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

¹¹ For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ (The Word).

¹² Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;

¹³ Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.

¹⁴ If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.

¹⁵ If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

¹⁶ Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

¹⁷ If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

¹⁸ Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise.

¹⁹ For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.

²⁰ And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.

²¹ Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are your's;

²² Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are your's;

²³ And ye are Christ's; and Christ is God's.

*****

My Kingdom is not of This World

Book:  Dealing With Destructive Thoughts
Chapter 6
Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet 


As Christians, we are “new creatures”, old things are past away, all things are become new.   II Cor. 5:17

While we are created new, born again, instantly by God when HE reveals HIMSELF to us … we grow day by day into the image of Christ, to the image of the Word of God by doing the Word of God in the issue at hand.

As we live in this world, we are continually cleansed and kept by the Holy Spirit bringing to our minds the Word of God.

Destructive thoughts come from our own fleshly desires and from devils who fight against the Word of God and the way of God.

We overcome daily by hearing from the Spirit of God and choosing to go as directed by the Spirit in various scriptures of the Holy Bible.

Sometimes the Holy Spirit will remind us instantly of a scripture to counter a destructive thought when the destructive thought comes into our minds.

A woman I went to school with, usually sends me birthday card yearly.  In one card, she told of her husband and daughter and grandson and all their plans for the coming Thanksgiving and Christmas season.

Immediately, the Holy Spirit brought this thought to my mind:

"You are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God."

I responded in a joyful way ... "That's right!"

If it hadn't been for the Holy Spirit bringing this to my attention, I believe I would have been a little depressed after reading this woman's note for I have no husband, no daughter, no grandchild ... and I had no plans at all for Thanksgiving Day nor for Christmas Day.  I was alone at my house.

***

Col.  3 ... If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with HIM in glory.

*****

Other times, when troubled,  we have to turn to God in prayer, asking HIM for help in the matter and sometimes we have to wait months or even years before we know what to do.

I built a house once and unknown to me the house would not fit on the lot by the plans we had.

Without discussing it with me, the contractor just cut down the size of the attached garage and the size of the kitchen. 

The kitchen was really a problem. 

When my mother and I were in there at the same time, we would get in each other's way and become annoyed.

What to do? I asked God.

Each time this happened, I would pray again, asking God what I could do.  I could see nothing that could be done about this.

Approximately 4 years after moving into the house, I went into the kitchen one day and it was as if a "light" went on in my head and I knew how to deal with this problem.

There was a walk in pantry in this small space.  I had an attached garage at the kitchen.  All I had to do was have pantry built in the garage and move the refrigerator to the area in the kitchen where the pantry had been.  This moving of the refrigerator opened up the walk area and even allowed about 5 more feet of cabinet!

It cost very little to do this.

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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Destructive thoughts are often generated from our own flesh. 

Gal. 5 ... Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft (superstitions), hatred, variance (debating, arguing) emulations (trying to outdo one another), wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

I Cor. 10 ... There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

If you have committed adultery or fornication, it is probably because you wanted to commit adultery or fornication.

If you really did not want to do this, and you prayed to God for help, God would have helped you and made a way of escape for you that you would have been able to bear the temptation without sinning.

Even before I was born again, God helped me when I cried out to HIM, and I did cry out to God before I was born again.

If we really want to do these works of the flesh, God will probably let us do them. 

II Thess. 2 ... because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. 

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2017, a woman in our little church group told of a dream and then went on with a very glorified, puffed up interpretation of that dream.  

Another woman praised her and said, "Wonderful message."  I read the dream and interpretation and replied, "What message?" 

(There was no message of edification for the church.  It was just vain, religious nonsense.) 

The bubble burst! 

Everyone woke up. 

The woman who had said "wonderful message", told me she had prayed about the message and waited on God before responding and she thought she was following God when she praised the woman who presented the dream and the interpretation. 

I turned to God and asked, "What happened?"  and I had the thought come to my mind that this woman wanted this to be a wonderful message and she was led by her own desire for it to be wonderful. 

The focal point when we turn to God should be:  "What do YOU think about this?"

If you want to deceive yourself with vain imaginations, God will let you. 

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So many church people are fleshly and full of religious vanities which have no real substance.

I used to hear such all the time at the church I attended as various people would proudly speak "prophecies" of great flowering words which no one could remember an hour later.

When something is of God, you can't forget.

So much spoken "in the name of Jesus", is not of God but is out of the imagination and ego of the one who is speaking who desires to be great in the eyes of the church.

And in these church groups, judgment has vanished and people have no fear of speaking vanities therefore empty words are rampant in the group.

Here is what was supposed to happen in the gathering of the church.

Paul said ... I Cor. 14:29 ...  Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge.

But we are so far from what Paul said the church was to be that we can't even recognize it now and sin in the churches flows freely.

It is the end time apostasy that Paul said had to happen in the churches before Jesus returns. 

Paul even said Jesus couldn't return "unless" the apostasy happened in the churches.  II Thess. 2 (NASB) ...

So knowing this, we can see why this is the way it is in today's churches and we are not as grieved as we were before we knew.

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Jesus said ... Jn. 18 ... My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.

In approximately 2015, the Holy Spirit kept bringing to my mind the following:  "in the air"

This is in a section of scripture in I Thess. 4 ...

But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep (dead), that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with HIM.  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 (precede) them which are asleep. 

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: 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.

Jesus' kingdom is not of the present world, this present earth.  This present heaven and earth will be destroyed by God and there will be new heavens and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.

II Peter 3 ... But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to HIS promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of HIM in peace, without spot, and blameless.

The apostle John also witnessed to this new heaven and new earth and new Jerusalem.

Revelation 21 ... And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

If we believe these scriptures, why fret over this present heaven and earth which God Himself will destroy. 

The present Jerusalem is just a city of men.  The new Jerusalem is the heavenly city of God for HIS people.

The current Israel, the nation, will be destroyed by God as the other nations of this earth are destroyed by God.

Many destructive thoughts will vanish when we quit focusing on this present heaven and earth and possessions and flesh of humans.

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BOOK: Dealing With Destructive Thoughts
Chapter 6

Joan Boney



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