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.
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At the time I was born again, 1975, I owned a small business in American Indian Arts in Dallas, Tx.
The Dallas Morning News asked me to write an article concerning protecting yourself in purchasing Indian arts. At that time it had become a very big business and many people were interested in buying jewelry and other art objects.
One statement I made is: "If some dealer came down 70%, you should wonder how much the item had been marked up in order to come down."
One day a man came into my shop wearing a tie and tie clasp shaped like handcuffs.
He said, "Little lady. Do you know a man named such and such?"
I replied, "No, I don't."
He said, "Well ... he knows you. He's suing you for a million dollars." (And he handed me some legal papers.)
Apparently he saw the article in Dallas Morning News and he had been selling items at less 70% from a motel room in Dallas.
He was also suing several other dealers in Indian arts and the Better Business Bureau of both cities of Dallas and Fort Worth.
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I had a small shop with very limited amount of merchandise and almost no money in my bank account. I lived in an apartment and drove an old car. I doubt that I could have managed to get even a few thousand dollars if I had sold everything I owned. So it was very difficult to take this law suit seriously.
I just threw the papers on a shelf in my office and forgot about it. But then I realized I would have to respond. I called a friend of mine who was a lawyer. He took my case. And began filing papers with the court in Dallas.
I began receiving regular bills from the law firm. Usually as much as $3000 weekly.
If it continued this way all my money from my savings would be gone very quickly.
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When I saw Isaiah 54:17, I began considering this scripture: I'm now a Christian so this promise from God applied to me now.
* No weapon formed against me would prosper.
* Every tongue that would rise against me in judgment I would condemn.
Is this scripture really true? And for us today?
I decided to dismiss my own lawyers and go to court without human counsel based on this scripture.
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When I called Gordon, my lawyer, and told him this, he said: "Joan ... you can't do this. You don't realize how evil these courts are today. We are willing to work with you. It will only take about $10,000 more to try your case."
I was stunned. I'm sure I had less than $2000 in my bank account. These legal fees would cause me to have to go into debt. God had shown me to get out of debt and stay out of debt, which I had done.
I said, "Gordon ... STOP! Don't do anything more."
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About a week later Gordon came back to my shop.
He said, "Joan ... we've decided to represent you in court without any further cost to you."
Again I was shocked. What is going on here? I didn't hear Gordon mention God in this matter. So what is going on?
One week about $10,000 more .... then no further charge to me?
I said to Gordon, "You're just going to have to let me get back to you on this."
Gordon left.
I began praying. "God ... what do YOU want me to do about this?"
I was reminded of the following scripture:
Genesis 14 (after a victory in a battle)
22 And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth, 23 That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelatchet, and that I will not take any thing that is thine, lest thou shouldest say, I have made Abram rich:
I knew God was telling me to turn down the "free" legal service. So that is what I did immediately. And I planned to go to court without any human legal counsel.
And I also said to God, "I want to be like Abraham. I want my possessions to come from you and not from the world."
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The trial in court was scheduled about 6 weeks away.
God began bringing to my mind scripture to build my faith.
I put the scriptures on cassette tape and played this tape every night. When I awoke in the night I turned the tape over and began playing these scriptures again. I did this every night.
I also wrote these scriptures on paper and kept it in my pocket. When I was at grocery in check out line, I would bring this paper out and look at these scriptures. I would look at them when TV commercials came on screen. I kept these scriptures before me day and night as it says to do in following scripture:
Joshua 1:8.
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.
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Six days before we were to go to trial, I received a phone call from this man's lawyer.
He said: "Since you don't have a lawyer, I'm calling to tell you my client dropped all charges."
I asked, "Did he drop all charges against everyone or just against me?"
He said, "He cut everyone loose." then he added, "We tried to get him not to sue you, that he had no cause. But he wouldn't listen. He was like a mad man." (Yet this lawyer took this man's case against me?)
It was over! I prayed that God would never again let me have to be involved in a court case.
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A few days later Gordon came to my shop. He said, "Joan ... we've been discussing your case at the law firm since your case was dropped from the courts. I wanted you to know that we believe that what you said happened, happened. No weapon formed against you would prosper."
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God used this to begin teaching me to have faith in HIM and the promises of God in the Bible.
God fulfills HIS Word to HIS people.
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