Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
The Philistines battled Israel and won the battle and stole the ark of the covenant and set it beside their god, Dagon.
Trouble began for the Philistines.
I Samuel 5:2-5 When the Philistines took the ark of God, they brought it into the house of Dagon, and set it by Dagon. And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the Lord. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again.
And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him.
Therefore neither the priests of Dagon, nor any that come into Dagon's house, tread on the threshold of Dagon in Ashdod unto this day.
***
In the Old Testament there are many exciting, visual examples of the work of God and the power of God.
In the New Testament we also have the miracles of God, such as the one recorded in Acts 9 where God revealed himself to Paul.
And Saul (Paul), yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, 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.
And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
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.
And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?
And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
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.
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.
When Paul arose from the ground, he was blind. He had no longer any vision and he had to be led by the hand to Damascus.
Acts 9:9-18 And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink.
And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth, And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.
Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem: And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name.
But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto ME, to bear MY name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for MY name's sake.
And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.
And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.
And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, Lord. And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth, And hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight.
Then Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem: And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name.
But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto ME, to bear MY name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for MY name's sake.
And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.
And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.
***
In the New Testament we read of other great works authored by God. One of the more astounding is the following.
And when he had apprehended him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers to keep him; intending after Easter to bring him forth to the people.
Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.
And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison. And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands.
And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he saith unto him, Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me.
And he went out, and followed him; and wist not that it was true which was done by the angel; but thought he saw a vision.
When they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city; which opened to them of his own accord: and they went out, and passed on through one street; and forthwith the angel departed from him.
***
And some of us today have very strong testimonies of things done by God in our lives which we share with the church.
A few days after I was born again, I was asleep in the night. I was transported into heaven and was with God and with Christ and with the Holy Spirit. (I saw no physical images but this was in the Spirit.) At that time, I was merged into the body of Jesus, made one with the Word of God, God and the Holy Spirit witnessing.
A few nights later, the exact same thing happened again.
I had no idea at that time what this meant nor why this happened to me. Later I came to believe at that time I was ordained into the two ministry offices appointed to me by God. The offices of apostle and prophet.
Ephesians 4:8 Wherefore HE saith, When HE ascended up on high, HE led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
11-12 And HE gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
After I was taken into heaven those two times, all I cared about was the Word of God and the church.
For the next 4 years, God taught me and brought me to the understanding that I was given to the church for the work of the ministry. And God taught me the work I was to do in these ministry offices to which I had been assigned. And God showed me the spiritual gifts I had been given which enabled me to work in these offices: gift of exhortation, discerning of spirits, word of wisdom, word of knowledge.
As these spiritual gifts began surfacing in the church I was attending at that time and in the prayer group which I attended, several people recognized the "hand" of God was strongly upon me.
Proverbs 18:16 A man's gift maketh room for him
As we yield ourselves to the Spirit of God, exercising the spiritual gifts by faith in God, we become visible to those in the church who can see.
Later some in the churches rose up against me to fight against me because of the spiritual gifts that were in me.
Some were envious because of the spiritual gifts I had been given. In such cases, it is not unusual for those who are envious to rise up against that person who displays spiritual gifts.
Because of envy, the religious Jews killed Jesus.
Mark 15:10 For HE knew that the chief priests had delivered HIM for envy.
And the religious people persecuted the apostles also for envy.
Acts 13:45 But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.
***
In me, the things done by God were so strong, regardless of the pain of the attack against me, I could not deny what God had done and what God had shown me, so I continued in those things of God.
* January 10, 1980 ... in the night while I was sleeping ... a very strong, trumpet-like voice blew three words into my ear: "Hartford, Seattle, KWJS" ... by these words, God put me on radio to exhort the church, starting with station KWJS.
* March 2012 ... in the night, God gave me a dream showing me to start a blog. Within 3 days of this dream, we had set up a blog and began exhorting the church daily, fulling the following scriptures:
Hebrews 3:13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
Hebrews 10:25 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.
Because of the things God had done in my life and because of the above scriptures, I was able to continue doing the work even when individuals brought persecution against me and when they tried to stop me from continuing in this work.
***
The gates of hell will not prevail against that word revealed to us by God.
Joshua 1:5-9 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.
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.
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 withersoever thou goest.
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.
As we yield ourselves to the Spirit of God, exercising the spiritual gifts by faith in God, we become visible to those in the church who can see.
Later some in the churches rose up against me to fight against me because of the spiritual gifts that were in me.
Some were envious because of the spiritual gifts I had been given. In such cases, it is not unusual for those who are envious to rise up against that person who displays spiritual gifts.
Because of envy, the religious Jews killed Jesus.
Mark 15:10 For HE knew that the chief priests had delivered HIM for envy.
And the religious people persecuted the apostles also for envy.
Acts 13:45 But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.
***
In me, the things done by God were so strong, regardless of the pain of the attack against me, I could not deny what God had done and what God had shown me, so I continued in those things of God.
* January 10, 1980 ... in the night while I was sleeping ... a very strong, trumpet-like voice blew three words into my ear: "Hartford, Seattle, KWJS" ... by these words, God put me on radio to exhort the church, starting with station KWJS.
* March 2012 ... in the night, God gave me a dream showing me to start a blog. Within 3 days of this dream, we had set up a blog and began exhorting the church daily, fulling the following scriptures:
Hebrews 3:13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
Hebrews 10:25 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.
Because of the things God had done in my life and because of the above scriptures, I was able to continue doing the work even when individuals brought persecution against me and when they tried to stop me from continuing in this work.
***
The gates of hell will not prevail against that word revealed to us by God.
Joshua 1:5-9 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.
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.
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 withersoever thou goest.
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.
Have not I commanded thee?
(Isn't it God who told us to do these things?)
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.
So as we think on those things done by the Spirit of God in our lives, and think on those things spoken to us by God, and think on those scriptures brought to our attention by the Holy Spirit, and continue in these things, refusing to turn away to follow others, we are sustained by God in the Word and in the Work which HE has called us to do.
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When a religious person tries to understand the Bible without having the Spirit of God:
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
I Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
John 14:26 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.
People without the Spirit of God try to understand the scriptures by their own fleshly minds and they end up putting people into bondage by greatly misunderstanding what is being said in the various passages of scripture. And they often end up blaspheming God and by leading other people to blasphemy against God. Divisions in the body of Christ also occur this way. And if we let them, they will pull us away from that which God has assigned us to do.
Instead we keep our faith in that which God has spoken to us, continuing to follow God by faith in God.
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