Joan Boney ... apostle/prophet
There is a vast difference between hunting a scripture by our flesh and mind, and hearing a scripture by the Spirit of God.
It is by the Spirit of God that we know exactly that portion of scripture that is needful to us. When we have a scripture called to our mind or when we are reading Bible and attention is drawn by the Spirit to that scripture, we can safely focus on that scripture knowing the way God works through HIS Spirit in the life of the believer.
Romans 8:1-14 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
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Those who walk after the flesh are led by fleshly desires such as:
Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, Galatians 5:19-20
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Romans 8 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.
Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.
And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you.
Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
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If you have the Spirit of God in you then you know the great difference between being led by the Spirit vs. being led by the flesh and feelings and emotions.
So many people are tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. Man speaks one thing and they follow that until another man speaks something else and, for a while, they follow that.
But when the Spirit of truth brings a concept to our mind, it is solid, stable, established in us so we no longer waver from one things to another. We are always grounded by that which the Spirit spoke to us.
Also if the doctrine is wrong, the spirit reminds us of scripture to set us right and if we stop and look at that scripture, we recognize that other doctrine is wrong.
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Here is an example of the flesh vs. the Spirit.
When I was approximately 15-years-old, I went forward at a church service and was baptized in water. I did not want to go to hell and it was my understanding being baptized in water was one thing required to avoid hell.
My life didn't change at all.
When I was 37-years-old, God spoke to me by HIS Spirit in the form of a thought, and I was changed instantly. It was completely different from my previous religious attempts.
A few weeks after that, I was enroute to Albuquerque, NM (USA) on buying trip for my store. As the plane landed the thought came, "Be baptized."
My cousin, a Church of Christ member, was picking me up at the airport.
I said to her, "Jeanne, if you can arrange it at church, I will be baptized this afternoon."
She replied, "But you've already been baptized."
"Yes," I said. "But I was not born again then and now I am born again."
Being born again, made no sense to my cousin. Her view was you, as the individual, make up your mind as to how you will live and you live accordingly. She stated, "It is just a matter of your choice."
But this is nothing like God had done with me nor is it like the examples we have of the Spirit being given to the apostle Paul.
When God choses to speak to us by HIS Spirit we are instantly changed forever!
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I was baptized that afternoon at Church of Christ.
When the minister lowered me into the water, the Spirit of God said to me:
"This is like being buried with Christ."
When I came out of the water, the Spirit said:
"This is like being raised with Christ."
God was teaching me by HIS Spirit.
The apostle John said:
I John 2:27 But the anointing which ye have received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him.
The apostle Paul said:
Romans 9:15-16 For HE saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
We, who are born again, know this truth.
As we think on those times God has revealed something to us, we rejoice in HIM.
We rejoice in HIS works ... not in our works.
The greatest thing that ever happened to me was being born again. I wasn't looking to find God. He revealed HIMSELF to me by the word HE spoke to me, and changed me forever. No other experience equals this.
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Acts 9:1-6 And Saul, 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 the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.
Paul was changed forever instantly ... after that Paul was baptized.
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Paul was a chosen vessel unto God.
I believe each of us who are born again are chosen vessels unto God to witness to the great works of God in our lives, giving glory to God as we tell that which God has done in our lives.
As we hear from the Spirit of God and follow God by HIS Spirit we show HIS works and exalt HIM.
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