(Comments by Joan Boney)
Example # 1:
At the time I was born again, I owned a small business in American Indian Arts in Dallas, Texas.
One day I saw a short, fat, man wearing a Stetson hat, a tie, and a small tie clasp in the shape of a pair of handcuffs. He entered my shop and came toward me. He said, "Little lady. Do you know a man named Settles?" I replied, "No, I don't believe I do." He said, "Well he knows you. He is suing you for 1-million dollars." And the man served me with legal papers concerning the law suit.
I was so shocked I could even take this seriously! I walked into my office and threw the legal papers on a book shelf. To me, this was ridiculous! (I probably only had a total of about $3,000 inventory at that time in my entire store and about $1000 in my bank account.)
It took me a few days before I realized I would have to respond to this law suit otherwise this man could get judgment against me.
I hired a lawyer.
***
Every week or so, I would receive a copy of legal papers from the lawyer which he had filed with the USA courts.
A bill would follow this, usually for the amount of $2,000 or $3,000.
After a month of this, I realized those legal bills would take all my incoming money and leave me bankrupt .
Something had to be done and soon!
I began praying! asking God what to do.
***
A scripture I had seen in the Bible was called to my attention:
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 this scripture: I'm a Christian now so this verse of scripture applies to me! It says: "No weapon formed against me will prosper." This lawsuit is certainly a weapon formed against me. According to the Bible, this weapon against me will not prosper.
I thought about this for several days. Then I felt I had the answer concerning what to do: I would dismiss my lawyers, stopping the frequent bills, and go to court without any human legal counsel, representing myself.
I was such a new Christian at that time I felt I might run this plan past the pastor of the church I was attending. Word of Faith: Robert Tilton, pastor
As I drove to the church to meet with the pastor, I was praying, asking God to give the pastor wisdom.
James 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
***
After Bob heard the problem and my proposal of a solution, he said: "Joan ... I perceive you have the faith to do this this way."
That's all I needed.
***
I called my lawyer and told him that I am a Christian now and the Bible says no weapon that is formed against me will prosper and every tongue that would rise against me in judgment I would condemn ... This is the heritage of the Lord and my righteousness is of The Lord, saith the Lord. Isaiah 54:17
Now the Bible is true, and if so this law suit against me will not prosper.
If the Bible is only a history book telling about past events, then I do not want any more to do with the Bible. This would be a good way to "prove" the Bible.
Therefore I was terminating the services of the law firm and going to go to court without any human legal council, representing myself.
Gordon was shocked! 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 another $10,000 or so to try your case."
Then I was shocked! "$10,000 more. Gordon STOP, don't do anything else!" said I.
With that, I dismissed my attorneys and planned to go to court without any further legal counsel.
***
I was very frightened!
But God began calling various scriptures to my attention to give me strength and courage and to increase my faith.
I recorded each of those verses on both sides of a cassette tape and began to play that tape each night as I went to bed. (there were about 14 verses) When I got up in the night, I would turn the tape over and play the verses on the other side of the tape.
***
About two weeks after I made this decision, Gordon came to my shop. He said, "Joan, I want you to know that our law firm has decided to represent your case without any further legal cost to you."
I was shocked! One day it was going to cost about $10,000 more ... and now it is free? I didn't hear Gordon mention God in this plan. What is going on here?
I simply said, "Gordon, I'm going to have to get back to you on this."
***
I began to pray: "God ... what do YOU want me to do about this?
God reminded me of a scripture:
Genesis 14
(There was a war and Abraham won)
16 And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.
17 And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and of the kings that were with him, at the valley of Shaveh, which is the king's dale.
21 And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself.
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:
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:
When I read this, I became very excited and said to God, "That's the way I want to live. I don't want to take from this world. I want YOU to provide for me as YOU did for Abraham. I want all my provision to be from YOU."
By this, I knew God wanted me to turn down the free legal service.
***
The man who was suing me was also suing the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth and 4 other dealers of American Indian Arts. He charged us with with conspiracy, saying we were conspiring to keep him from doing business in the metroplex. He was an iterate merchant who came to the two cities and rented a motel room and placed an advertisment in the local papers saying, "Indian jewelry sold at less than 70 percent cost."
The Dallas Morning News had asked me to write an article telling people how to protect themselves when buying Indian jewelry. In the article, I had warned them to beware if someone came saying they sold items at less 70-percent. That was apparently the basis of his lawsuit against us.
***
Six days before we were to appear in US Court for trial, I received a phone call. A man identified himself as the lawyer of the man who was suing us: He said: "I'm calling you because you don't have a lawyer. I need to tell you that our client has dropped all charges and withdrawn the lawsuit."
I asked if he dropped all charges against everyone, and the lawyer said, "He cut everyone lose."
His lawyer said that tried to get him not to sue me. That he really had no grounds to sue me. But, his lawyer said, he was like a "mad man".
Now it was over!
***
A few days later, Gordon, my former lawyer came to my shop. He said, "I need to tell you we have discussed your cast at the law firm and want to you know that we believe that what you said would happen, happened.
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.
***
With this, God began my 44-years in faith in the Word of God and in following God.
Not once has any scripture shown me by God in my various problems failed when I acted upon that scripture as a basis for what I did.
I am convinced that the Word God gives us by HIS Spirit cannot fail. It will always win when it is God who brings it to us and we act upon that Word by faith in God that it was sent to us by God to show us what to do.
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Example #2: God moves me from Texas to Colorado
In 2018, God began showing me something by HIS Holy Spirit. I had been living alone but the time was coming I would not be able to continue to live alone as I had been doing.
One thing the Holy Spirit does is show us things to come, as needed.
John 16:13 Jesus says: Howbeit when HE, the Spirit of truth, is come, HE will guide you into all truth: for HE shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever HE shall hear (from God), that shall HE speak: and HE will shew you things to come.
***
In early December, 2018, I fell at my house in Texas and broke a hip and wrist. After surgery and 2 1/2 months in a rehabilitation hospital, God moved me to the home of Pam Padgett, a great woman of faith, who lived in Colorado.
It was wonderful to live with Pam for God had taught her faith and she lived by the same faith I lived by!
***
Then in September 2022, she was diagnosed as having a very advanced bladder cancer and the doctor said unless she had a series of chemotherapy treatments and had her bladder surgically removed, she would only live one to two years.
I saw this whole thing as being "illegal" and I began to "reason" with God using the following scripture:
James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
I said to God. "YOU are not going to put me to live at Pam's house and then kill Pam. There is "no variableness with You," and "no shadow of turning." YOU will not allow this to happen. It will not happen. It is impossible.
***
Also God gave me an open vision, a spiritual word of knowledge, as follows:
I saw 3 softball size masses attached to each other in a triangle shape. All of a sudden there was a "swoosh" sound and they deflated and fell in on themselves and they disappeared. I felt this pertained to the cancer diagnosed in Pam.
***
Pam told God she didn't mind the chemotherapy, but if there was any way to go other than bladder removal, she would really like to go that way.
A few days later the pharmacist, who handled her case, gave her several papers to read and on one paper there was a statement made by the cancer association of doctors saying: Sometimes cases can be treated by chemotherapy and radiation and achieve the same results as chemo-surgery.
Pam felt this was the answer to prayer and she requested that they use chemo-radiation instead of surgical removal of her bladder.
None of her doctors thought this would work in her case. But they agreed to do this if Pam wanted to.
The treatments were changed to chemo/radiation and were completed in January, 2023.
Follow up exams in April, 2023, showed no sign of cancer in Pam's body.
Subsequent follow up's have also shown no cancer.
The cancer just disappeared! (just as God showed me in the open vision)
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Example # 3 Faith is increased in God when we expand reasoning of scripture
When we meditate upon a verse of scripture which is brought to our attention by the Holy Spirit of God, power to do that scripture increases.
Joshua 1:8 God says: 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.
Psalms 1, says a similar thing:
1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
4 The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
6 For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
4 The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
6 For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
I find the vast majority of Christians I meet read the Bible but fail to meditate in specific scriptures and do those scriptures in their own lives.
They think they gain spiritual strength as they go to church and read the Bible and hear the Word of God, but they do not, for the most part, follow the Holy Spirit of God, doing the actual scripture in their own lives.
Thus they end up eating and drinking damnation unto themselves, as it tells us in I Corinthians 11.
23 For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:
24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.
27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
24 And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.
25 After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me.
26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come.
27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.
31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
The Lord's supper has to do with the way we handle the Word of God, the Holy Scriptures. The Lord's supper has nothing at all to do with eating of crackers nor drinking of grape juice as is done at most churches today.
***
If we read the Word of God improperly, failing to do that scripture in our own lives, we eat and drink "damnation" unto ourselves.
We will not be able to stand in the day of judgment nor in the congregation of the righteous.
It is doing the verses of scripture in our daily lives that makes us strong enough to overcome the various trials of this life and causes us to overcome.
Revelation 3:5 Jesus says: He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.
Our names can be blotted out of the book of life.
***
Jesus says:
John 14:6 I (the Word) am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me (the Word).
John 15
1 I (the Word) am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
4 Abide in me (live in the Word), and I (the Word) in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
3 Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
4 Abide in me (live in the Word), and I (the Word) in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
The way we live in the Word and cause the Word to live in us is by doing what the Word says in our daily lives.
The apostle Peter tells us 3 things that we are to do as we wait for Jesus to return.
2 Peter 3:14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of HIM in peace, without spot, and blameless.
I've been focusing for several months on doing these three things daily: living in peace, without spot, blameless
Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
We renew our mind to the Holy Bible, doing that Word of God daily as we live our lives on this present earth.
Taking heed to this scripture:
James 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.
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