Matthew 18
At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?2 And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
5 And whoso shall receive one such little child in MY name receiveth ME.
6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in ME, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
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Comments by Joan Boney:
I believe this means depending on God for everything, even the simple things.
God is like a parent who watches over his child and cares for that child, protecting that child, and helping the child in every way, and giving that child permission to get something that the child would enjoy.
When I noticed a truck loaded with firewood and was thinking how much I would enjoy having a wood burning fireplace, the Holy Spirit said to me: "You can have that." Until I heard that word, I never thought about changing my fireplace from gas logs to wood burning, but I took immediate action to do this after hearing that word from the Holy Spirit.
When I had a defective TV, and was trying to tune it and make it better, the Holy Spirit said to me: "You don't have to put up with that." Immediately I bought another TV which was not a problem to me.
Pam Padgett told me this story:
She said:
One morning I woke hearing various electrical devices starting and stopping, the electricity supply to my house obviously surging, going on and off several times. And when I started walking around the house I realized there was a faint burning smell.
I quickly turned off all electrical devices, but was so shaken that I didn't know what to do next. I was completely overwhelmed and just got back into bed and pulled the covers over my head.
While in bed I heard the very strong winds blowing outside. The Holy Spirit spoke to me saying "Just as God is so powerful that HE controls even the winds, HE is able to help you with this problem."
Thinking about this truth strengthened me and I was able to get out of bed.
Then the Holy Spirit brought a thought, showing me the first thing to do. When that was finished, I was given the next step to take, then the next. I simply followed each step I was given by the Holy Spirit. Within about an hour, most electrical devices in my house were powered up and working properly.
Later while thinking of the steps I was led to take, I marveled in how perfect the sequence of steps was, exactly what was needed to safely start each device.
It turned out that the faint burning smell was only a surge protector power strip, which could easily be replaced. The furnace had also been damaged, but a furnace repairman was able to come shortly after I called and made a temporary repair so the furnace could be used until it could be replaced about a week later.
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