Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
Exodus 18:1-5 When Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses' father in law, heard of all that God had done for Moses, and for Israel his people, and that the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt; Then Jethro, Moses' father in law, took Zipporah, Moses' wife, after he had sent her back, And her two sons; of which the name of the one was Gershom; for he said, I have been an alien in a strange land: And the name of the other was Eliezer; for the God of my father, said he, was mine help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh: And Jethro, Moses' father in law, came with his sons and his wife unto Moses into the wilderness, where he encamped at the mount of God:
And Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which the Lord had done to Israel, whom HE had delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians.
And Jethro said, Blessed be the Lord, who hath delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh, who hath delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.
Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods: for in the thing wherein they dealt proudly HE was above them.
***
God is going to use Jethro to deliver wisdom to Moses.
Wisdom is knowing a way to deal with a problem.
Wisdom is from God. It might come directly to you in time of need. Or God might bring wisdom through another person.
To me the important thing is this: I usually do not seek wisdom from other people as this world does. They go about asking other people what they think should be done in the situation.
I want my wisdom to come from God.
So this is what I do:
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.
***
In 1976, a man filed a lawsuit against me. He was trying to get personal gain by taking money from my business and he thought he saw a way he could do this against me. He filed a lawsuit for a million-dollars against me.
When the legal papers were served, I had trouble taking this seriously. I probably had in my bank account about $1500. My inventory was less than $10,000. So it was all ridiculous to me. I just threw the papers on my counter in my office and ignored this matter, until I realized this man could take everything I had in the business unless I responded to the courts. So I hired a lawyer.
Legal bills began coming in weekly and I knew these fees were going to destroy me.
I had just become a Christian about 6 months earlier. I had seen James 1:5, so I prayed, asking God to give me wisdom ... What should I do about this problem?
In James 1:5, we are told to ask God for wisdom and God will give wisdom to us.
So I did.
Then, I was reminded of the following scriptures:
Isaiah 54:17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of ME, saith the Lord.
I began to reason with the information from this scripture.
* This lawsuit was certainly a weapon against me.
* As a Christians, which I now was, this weapon could not prosper against me.
So if the weapon against me cannot win, why am I paying all this money to lawyers? I can go to court without any human legal counsel since it cannot win anyway.
I told my lawyer these things and what I was going to do.
Lawyer said to me, "Joan ... you can't do this. You don't realize how evil these courts are."
I told lawyer that the Bible says this weapon will not prosper against me therefore it would not prosper against me, if the Bible is true, which I believed it was true and the promises were for us today that were in the Bible.
But if the Bible is only an history book, then I want no more to do with the Bible. So I would find out whether or not this scripture in Isaiah was true when it said no weapon formed against us would prosper.
I dismissed the lawyer.
About a week later Gordon returned to my business. He said the law firm had decided to try my case without any further cost to me. (The previous week they had told me it would cost about $10,000 more to try my case.)
I didn't hear Gordon mention God in connection with this free legal service, so I told him I would have to get back to him about this.
I prayed, asking God what HE wanted me to do.
Immediately I was reminded of the following scripture:
I don't want my "riches" to come from this world. I want what I have to come from God.
I knew God was showing me to turn down this "free" legal service and to plan to go to court without any human legal council.
I was very frightened during the coming weeks before the court date. But God kept reminding me of scripture, which I wrote down and kept before me to calm me. I even recorded these scriptures over and over on a cassette tape and played the tape each night when I went to bed.
Six-days before the trial was scheduled in US District Court, the man dropped all charges against me.
It was over.
***
When we have a problem, God might communicate directly with us to show us what to do or the information might come from another person.
(Again, I think it is important to talk with God about the problem rather than asking the opinion of other people.)
***
Jethro realized Moses had a problem.
And when Moses' father in law saw all that he did to the people, he said, What is this thing that thou doest to the people? why sittest thou thyself alone, and all the people stand by thee from morning unto even?
And Moses said unto his father in law, Because the people come unto me to enquire of God: When they have a matter, they come unto me; and I judge between one and another, and I do make them know the statutes of God, and his laws.
(The people in those days did not have the Holy Spirit to guide them, in most cases. They went to the prophets to inquire of God.)
And Moses' father in law said unto him, The thing that thou doest is not good. Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for this thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone.
And Moses' father in law said unto him, The thing that thou doest is not good. Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for this thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone.
Hearken now unto my voice, I will give thee counsel, and God shall be with thee: Be thou for the people to God-ward, that thou mayest bring the causes unto God:
And thou shalt teach them ordinances and laws, and shalt shew them the way wherein they must walk, and the work that they must do.
Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens: And let them judge the people at all seasons: and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge: so shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee.
If thou shalt do this thing, and God command thee so, then thou shalt be able to endure, and all this people shall also go to their place in peace.
So Moses hearkened to the voice of his father in law, and did all that he had said.
And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. And they judged the people at all seasons: the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves.
And Moses let his father in law depart; and he went his way into his own land.
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