Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
Judges 8:1 And the men of Ephraim said unto him (to Gideon), Why hast thou served us thus, that thou calledst us not, when thou wentest to fight with the Midianites? And they did chide with him sharply.
There are over 600,000 men in the 12 tribes of Israel. One would expect all manner of problems to surface.
In this situation, the men of Ephraim are upset because Gideon did not call them to battle with the armies of Israel.
Gideon explains that the grape harvest was more important for them than the fighting. This appeased the men of Ephraim and peace returned.
In every uprising that we encounter during our life times on the earth, God knows the solution. When we pray, asking God for HIS wisdom in dealing with the matter, God gives us HIS wisdom.
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.
The way of God is usually a way of peace unless God is trying to drive that other person away from us. And even then, after that person leaves, it is a way of peace for us.
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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Joshua continues to deal with the enemies of God:
Joshua 8:4-21 And Gideon came to Jordan, and passed over, he, and the three hundred men that were with him, faint, yet pursuing them.
And he said unto the men of Succoth, Give, I pray you, loaves of bread unto the people that follow me; for they be faint, and I am pursuing after Zebah and Zalmunna, kings of Midian.
And the princes of Succoth said, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thine hand, that we should give bread unto thine army?
And Gideon said, Therefore when the Lord hath delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into mine hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with briers.
And he went up thence to Penuel, and spake unto them likewise: and the men of Penuel answered him as the men of Succoth had answered him.
And he spake also unto the men of Penuel, saying, When I come again in peace, I will break down this tower.
Those people who assist us bless themselves. Those who fight us bring curses upon themselves.
Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their hosts with them, about fifteen thousand men, all that were left of all the hosts of the children of the east: for there fell an hundred and twenty thousand men that drew sword. (120,000 were killed in previous battles)
Now Zebah and Zalmunna were in Karkor, and their hosts with them, about fifteen thousand men, all that were left of all the hosts of the children of the east: for there fell an hundred and twenty thousand men that drew sword. (120,000 were killed in previous battles)
And Gideon went up by the way of them that dwelt in tents on the east of Nobah and Jogbehah, and smote the host; for the host was secure.
And when Zebah and Zalmunna fled, he pursued after them, and took the two kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna, and discomfited all the host.
And Gideon the son of Joash returned from battle before the sun was up,
And caught a young man of the men of Succoth (who had refused bread for the army of Gideon), and enquired of him: and he described unto him the princes of Succoth, and the elders thereof, even threescore and seventeen men. (77 men)
And he (Gideon) came unto the men of Succoth, and said, Behold Zebah and Zalmunna, with whom ye did upbraid me, saying, Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna now in thine hand, that we should give bread unto thy men that are weary?
And he took the elders of the city, and thorns of the wilderness and briers, and with them he taught the men of Succoth.
And he beat down the tower of Penuel, and slew the men of the city.
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Then said he (Gideon) unto Zebah and Zalmunna, What manner of men were they whom ye slew at Tabor? And they answered, As thou art, so were they; each one resembled the children of a king.
And he (Gideon) said, They were my brethren, even the sons of my mother: as the Lord liveth, if ye had saved them alive, I would not slay you.
And he said unto Jether his firstborn, Up, and slay them. But the youth drew not his sword: for he feared, because he was yet a youth.
Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, Rise thou, and fall upon us: for as the man is, so is his strength.
Then Zebah and Zalmunna said, Rise thou, and fall upon us: for as the man is, so is his strength.
And Gideon arose, and slew Zebah and Zalmunna, and took away the ornaments that were on their camels' necks.
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We must kill all our enemies, but we kill another way in the New Testament church.
We turn to God in prayer, laying out before God all perceived trespasses and asking God to heal us, thus putting to death enemy thoughts concerning that which was done to us!
We must put to death, through God, each offense, otherwise that offense will rise up in the future to harm us spiritually.
I have often spoken of that which has been done against me by others but I speak such as teaching examples, and I assure you I do not have evil in my heart toward these individuals though I use what they did to help others.
Some offenses require repeated prayer before we are fully freed. Just pray each time that offense troubles your mind. I've found, in time, I no longer think of what was done by them against me.
One woman was very concerned over that which she did to me. She did this when I was in the rehabilitation hospital after an accident and surgery. She said to me, "I showed no mercy toward you." (I was helpless at that time, unable to walk.)
I very quickly replied: "What you did actually worked out better for me. God had shown me before you did this that you were going to do this. It freed me when you did this for you have been a problem for me for 39-years in the church group and I've never been able to help you."
In her case, I recommended she go to a medical doctor and have some tests to see if something was wrong with her physically, for she often couldn't remember what she'd said or had done and this was causing a problem for me and for some others in the church group.
I certainly have no problem over this woman although I use what she did as a teaching example, hoping to help others.
Another woman was a much more serious problem to me for what she did could have caused me to stop the work of the ministry, which was assigned to me by God. But to avert that I turned to God immediately with her accusations against me and asked God to judge me.
If I had done as she said, I considered I was unfit to be a minister of God. So I requested that God judge me immediately. And HE did.
That same night, God gave me a dream. I opened the front door of my house and someone had dumped piles of garbage bags filled with their garbage in front of my door and all the way across the front of my house.
I had often corrected this woman to try to get her to share what I believed to be "word of knowledge" with our church group. She stored these words inside herself, often without sharing them with our group. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are for the church. But I couldn't get her to see this situation and she became more and more twisted as the time passed. (She was in our group 39-years.)
She said it was like I had been "throwing rocks" at her all these years.
The only judgment important is God's judgment which I believe HE showed me in that dream.
There was "garbage" in this woman and she didn't dispose of it correctly. Instead in her heart, she stored up her perceived grievance against me and let them burn inside her for many years before she exploded against me.
We must not do that!
We must take each offence that we think has happened to us to God in prayer and work through that offence with God.
Offenses and trespasses are enemies to us and must be dealt with in spiritual ways and put to death one way or another through God.
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After the enemies of Israel were defeated and Israel was freed, the following happened.
And Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son rule over you: the Lord shall rule over you.
But after this Gideon did something that became a snare to him.
And they answered, We will willingly give them. And they spread a garment, and did cast therein every man the earrings of his prey. And the weight of the golden earrings that he requested was a thousand and seven hundred shekels of gold; beside ornaments, and collars, and purple raiment that was on the kings of Midian, and beside the chains that were about their camels' necks.
And Gideon made an ephod thereof, and put it in his city, even in Ophrah: and all Israel went thither a whoring after it: which thing became a snare unto Gideon, and to his house.
In a time of battle, we are alert! In the times of peace, we often lose that alertness and step into that which we should not be doing.
But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto HIS eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.
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Judges 8:28-35 Thus was Midian subdued before the children of Israel, so that they lifted up their heads no more. And the country was in quietness forty years in the days of Gideon.
And Jerubbaal (Gideon) the son of Joash went and dwelt in his own house.
And Gideon had threescore and ten sons of his body begotten: for he had many wives. (70-sons)
And his concubine that was in Shechem, she also bare him a son, whose name he called Abimelech. (Abimelech was going to be a problem in the coming days as he sought for power.)
And Gideon the son of Joash died in a good old age, and was buried in the sepulchre of Joash his father, in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.
And it came to pass, as soon as Gideon was dead, that the children of Israel turned again, and went a whoring after Baalim, and made Baalberith their god.
And the children of Israel remembered not the Lord their God, who had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on every side:
Neither shewed they kindness to the house of Jerubbaal, namely, Gideon, according to all the goodness which he had shewed unto Israel.
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