Finally, a chance to sit down and share Bible study notes from Friday. Pastor Don taught, yeah!!!!, on spiritual giftings and spiritual maturity.

Christians almost always feel they are further along in their spiritual path than they are, when our flesh is not being tested. When testing of the flesh occurs, we find out exactly where we are spiritually.

Usually our response to a problem in the body is that someone else has a problem. It isn’t our problem, it is the other person’s immaturity. We tend to want to blame others . Spiritual babies fixate at a certain spiritual age and when a problem occurs, they move from church to church, but stay at the same spiritual age.

There is a difference between having a revelation of Christ and having Christ recreated in you.

Immature Christians are always chasing another revelation, another manifestation of the power of God, the external rather than an inward recreation of themselves.

Jesus had only one calculated tantrum on one day (the chasing of the moneychangers out of the temple), but most of our tantrums are spontaneous combust ions.

We are not always telling ourselves the truth, the right estimation of a situation until Christ is recreated in us.

Col. 1:13 – “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love.”

Col. 1:8 “…who also declared to us your love in the Spirit.”

ALL wisdom and spiritual understanding are fulfilled with knowledge of God’s will. We must be constantly aware of the prime object, to take everything into the reality of 2 Cor. 10:4 “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds…”

When God wants to relay a message to us, we must be more concerned with the information that the person is relaying, not the method of conveyance. Satan will try to get the message lost by causing us to focus on the messenger, not the message. A newborn believer may have a message from God for the mature Christian, but if the mature Christian discounts the newborn believer’s words, he will not get the message.

Pastor Don said that at one point when he was preaching he was very concerned if the congregation would not say hearty Amens at the point where Pastor Don felt that the Amens were called for. His wife pointed out to him that sometimes people may not be responding outloud because they are pondering what they are hearing, they are absorbing something new, and that sometimes the amens will come later, not in the presence of Pastor Don. So he had to let go of the need to get approval and a response from the people.

But he also pointed out that there is a power released when we speak an agreement with an “Amen,” in the airwaves. The presence of your vocalization is your power to establish the Kingdom here on earth. Commands of the mouth and faith in the heart releases power to put satan underfoot.

Our goal is to be filled completely with the Holy Spirit and acting in the Knowledge of His Will. But some are only functioning at 2%, some at 80% of this. A lot of times we are trying to exercise OUR wills, God is ever changing. His will in unchanging but is also inflexible and variable, it has a clarity and a rightness. (Heather note: This seems a bit puzzling to me in the flesh, but then I am forever trying to put God into a box of my own understanding and God is way beyond what I can conceive, so it is not as contradictory as my flesh seems to feel this statement is.)

When we have a problem, we appeal to God to change his dictates to make it more comfortable for us, to release us from the problem. But really we do not have ALL wisdom and spiritual understanding to see what God sees.

Spiritual understanding is the will of God to provide you with what you need to do his will. He will provide funds to do his will concerning your life.

What we don’t believe is that if it isn’t a direct service to God, that God will pay the bill. Within reason, God wants us happy, and that leaves room for God’s provision for some of our wants, and that does not have to always relate to God’s primary purpose for our life.

Because we are a temple of the Holy spirit, and we set a goal that results in a positive end, God will fund your desire. For example an evangelist in India who wants to visit an unsaved relative in the country. It is all in God’s will, and we don’t have knowledge and faith for it. But that does not allow us to spend resources foolishly.

God will give us luxurious things, but his main focus is for us to deal with our own flesh issues. And if the luxurious things will take away from dealing with our flesh issues, God may choose not to provide them.

God has delivered us from demons of darkness and given us ALL blessings, but WITH knowledge of HIS WILL.

We need to do a good thing, and by spiritual understanding we will step out in faith to do God’s will. God wants to fill us with his Wisdom.

Wisdom is to take information and understand what to do with the knowledge.

Knowledge is the information that we have.

Spiritual understanding is the information to know what to do with knowledge in the natural and the supernatural realm. The application of wisdom.

Not all spiritual people who have much knowledge of the Bible act in wisdom and spiritual understanding.

One person in the Old Testament who showed Spiritual understanding was Jehosephat. He had many problems and numerous enemies that were surrounding him. He was outnumbered. But he knew God was greater than his enemy, so he took the position of getting the Israelites to pray and Jehosephat prays for wisdom about the information (the surrounding of the enemy) that he has. God gives him wisdom, “take your position, the battle is not yours, it is the Lord’s.”

He had the spiritual understanding, and against all fleshly circumstances, he stayed in the position of prayer and faith in God. The war in the physical became the spiritual. What happened is that his enemies were confused and killed each other and himself. Jehosephat and his army did not raise one sword in the Lord’s battle.

Another example was King Saul, who chased David. David woke up one night and found that Saul was sleeping in the same cave, and his men had the KNOWLEDGE, that it would be very easy for David to kill King Saul. But David had the WISDOM to seek God, and God gave him the spiritual wisdom of knowledge, and he obeyed God and did not touch God’s anointed, Saul. David takes some of Saul’s things and clips his robe. He learned from this to depend on God in these difficult situations. Sometimes vanquishing the enemy is not always in the cause of God, who can vanquish every enemy. From that time on David was never afraid of Saul and could never claim credit for vanquishing Saul, saving him from the sin of pride in this. So he knew that it was God who gave him the throne.

Col 1:10-12 …”that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.”

Longsuffering with joy and patience.  Pastor Don asked us, “Would you rather be waiting with longsuffering or waiting with longsuffering with patience and joy. When you realize that you are not meant to suffer forever, you will learn the lesson you need to learn and release the suffering. So better to face the trials with patience and joy, work through them, learn what you need to learn and move on, giving thanks to God.

If you are suffering ask for spiritual understanding. Wait for the full manifestation of the reward. Waiting is a whole lot easier than longsuffering. So let us wait keep on going through until you get the lesson of your going through, and once you get your going through, your going through will stop.

God will permit satan to keep bugging you until you say, this is the last time. An example Pastor Don gave was if you have a hard time saying no when a friend asks you out to a place, and you don’t want to go, don’t like going, don’t get edified by it, but can’t say, “no.” Rest assured the person will keep calling you and inviting you out until you finally say, “no” you get what you are going through, and then the calls will stop.

God is offended by the spirit of offence that is seen among Christians. People are quick to judge, condemn, and take offence when no offence should be taken.

There are three levels of Christians.

BABY: wants toys and gifts (signs and wonders), for himself. He wants to see a move of the power of God for himself, wants to fall down under the spirit, have tongues, have all the good things of God. When he attends a church service he is offended if the message doesn’t apply to him, or he wants more time to soak for him, wants prophesy spoken over him, it is a ME, ME, ME thing.

TEENAGERS: they want toys and gifts, but for show and tell, but to show their peers that they have acquired them. It is for their self elevation and impressing others. They are strongly affected by peer influence.

MATURE: have toys and gifts to give away.

Col 1:12-13 (above) we have the inheritance of the saints (toys and gifts) IN THE LIGHT, and it is for the equipping of the saints.

Convey (transferred) take from one place and put to another. convey to us the kingdom of the Son of His love.

A mature Christian will say, “Look at what I can do, you can do it too.”

Eph 4:11-17 “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love. This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind.”

This passage gives us a description of each part of the Body of Christ (apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor, and teacher)-five fold ministry

Every Church which is open to the gifts of the Holy Spirit has at some level all of the five fold ministry. We do not always recognize this for we tend not to see the giftings of those in our church, and often we set our bar so high, comparing people with famous evangelists, prophets, etc.

Pastor Don pointed out that in the Baptist church he was raised many of the women would put their arm around him and speak prophesy. He hated it when they told him that they saw him as a pastor, that he had the gift of preaching, etc. At that time Pastor Don wanted anything BUT that, but these women were prophesying over him. They were not Kenneth Hagins, or any of the other great prophets, but they were prophesying.

We are not to seek these gifts, and if they are there for us to use the focus MUST be the edifying of the Body of Christ, not personal glory, or pride, or showing off.

Everything we do should make us feel better and bring others to salvation.

Ephesians 4:17-18 “This I say threfore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart…”

Our primary purpose is to bring the Light of God’s Kingdom to the darkness of this world.

Not all speak in tongues, not all agree with tongues, but tongues is a private prayer language that you can use to build up your spiritual batteries so that you are ready with the right words, thoughts, and actions. If you are not charged up through tongues, prayer, meditation on the Word, you may miss situations where you can act powerfully.

A smile in the flesh is just a smile, but a smile that is charged and filled with the Holy Spirit can do wonders in another person’s life.

If we are spiritually charged, however we achieve that, we then have power to battle whatever satan throws at us. If we are spiritually charged up, we will not so easily fall into the temptation of sin, and have the power to fight satan.

 

I have to tell you, the above Bible study was very convicting to me. I have seen myself when I have rushed out of the house without any spiritual charge, and I can tell you it isn’t always pretty.

I wish I could tell you that I am spiritually mature, but I can see that in areas of my life I sometimes act like a baby, a teenager, and sometimes spiritually mature. But there is MUCH room for growth in me.

I also find that there are times when I forget the prime directive that we are to build the body of Christ, that we are to help edify each other. There are times when I am judgmental, or don’t reach out when I should reach out. I keep praying for that spiritual understanding. I want to apply the knowledge I am learning and to serve God the best I can, but boy do I still have a lot of growing up to do.

Please always remember that if there are errors in how this is presented it is my error in taking notes. I have to be honest, sometimes Pastor Don talks fast and I have to interpret my scribbles (she says smiling).

I hope you have a blessed Sunday.

Heather

I am so thrilled to see that Pastor Don’s ministry site is up now!!!! It is called In His Name Ministry, found here:

http://www.ihnministries.org/teaching.html

There are teaching tapes available. Let me tell you they are awesome. Two of Pastor Don’s passions are faith and the end times. I have been to his prophesy seminars and have learned so much.

I have been sharing teaching notes with you, but I think you will be blessed by hearing his teachings directly. For I include as much as I can, but I am certain there is much I miss.

By the way, today is FRIDAY, and I will share what we learn at Bible study later on.

Have a blessed day. Thanks for your prayers and encouragement.

Heather

On a personal note, I bit the bullet yesterday and joined Weight Watchers, but it is with fear and trepidation. What has happened in the past is that I have lost 20-40 pounds, then get scared, and go off the program, and gain back the weight. So this time I am trying hard to break this pattern.

I started the study the Lord’s Table (which you can get for free on the internet).to go along with the weight loss, but plan to use the Weight Watcher’s plan which is healthier for me. I figure I haven’t been able to stick to Weight Watchers alone, so perhaps by adding God to the mix it will be easier.  And I am also asking you, my Xanga friends to help me stay accountable to this.

One thing that I started thinking about was the aspect of food in my past. Most of you know that my past was filled with abuse. If you do not know my past, I started writing about it on March 15,  and then there are other entries every few days after that. Well, food also was incorporated in that, so I figure I will explain some of that and maybe find a key that will help me to find a way to fight this stronghold.

As a kid there are a few horrid memories about food. One was when my father wanted me to taste a particular food item, awful ones like pickled pigs’ feet or beer when I was 3 or 4 and I made a face. That caused me to be backhanded, and I soon learned to eat whatever was put in front of me, without reaction.

My mom was a member of the clean plate club, in that whatever she put on my plate I had to finish it, and she put way more than a child should eat.

One thing that I did was to take cookies in secret from the cookie jar. It was stealing so I was breaking a commandment in that, but for me it was one tiny aspect of my childhood that I could control. There was little that I had any power over, but I became quite adept at taking the right amount of cookies that wouldn’t be noticed, removing the metal lid quietly, and there was a sense of triumph because I pulled one over on them.

My mom was very subservient to my father. As you know, he was an alcoholic and a mean drunk, so when he came home, which would be at all hours of the day and night. He could get very brutal if his food was not quickly served. So she would partially cook the meat, leave it coagulating in the fat on the stove, cook all the other food and leave it sitting. Now we couldn’t eat before he got home, so we sat there for awhile. When it got to be about 7 or so, she would quickly serve me, because I had to go to bed. But when she served me I had to scarf down the food so quickly because it was a sure beating if I was caught eating and didn’t wait for him. Now the problem is there were nights when he didn’t get home until after midnight, and sometimes he ate out.

We never ate around the table. My father would eat on the sofa watching TV, and I ate at the kitchen table. My mom would serve my father and me, then take her dinner to the tv table in the living room and eat at her chair. One time, she accidentally slopped some spaghetti on his stomach (he sat in his underwear). He was furious, came into the kitchen, banged his plate on the table, causing everything to jump, and I had to sit there eating calmly on the outside, but not reacting by pulling back or making a face or crying, for then I would have been beaten for he was furious.

Most times there was yelling and screaming in the house, or I would get a beating for doing the wrong thing. The wrong thing was something like smiling when I should have laughed, not smiling, laughing when I should have smiled, being  in a room that he thought I shouldn’t be. I don’t know what the rules were, because they changed all the time. So I spent most of my life tiptoeing around trying not to make a sound, not to cough, not to move, not to react, and to try and read what they wanted. I failed often. And when I did I got beaten or yelled at, and so most of my childhood I was controlling tears that couldn’t be shown because tears would cause a beating, unless you were being beaten and you had to cry the right amount of tears, not too many or not too few.

Do you kind of understand why I tiptoe around Abba Father God? Even though I know that He is not like my earthly father, I still fear him and am afraid that one day I will do something that angers God.

Anyway, after the beating, or when the tears were there, I often had to eat as if there was nothing wrong. That meant, my hand couldn’t shake, I had to chew and smile and swallow, when everything sort of made me want to puke, but puking was out of the question. I really didn’t taste or enjoy the meal, I just wanted to get through it so that he would not come into the kitchen and find something wrong with how I was eating, chewing, or whatever.

So food was not dealt with in the ordinary way when I was a child, and this was stuff that happened before the serious sexual abuse occurred. When that occurred, things got even worse, and food became a way to stuff feelings.

I will write more later, but right now Jim needs the computer. Please pray for Jim and his heath, and that somehow this stuff will get worked out.

I thank you for your patience with me as I sort this stuff.

Heather

We had a visiting evangelist teach Tuesday’s Bible Study. This person was Pastor Theo Smith from Virginia.

He spoke on the coming revival which will overwhelm the traditional church. He believes that God is going to be taking us outside the box.

He said that we are to magnify Jesus and he taught on the transfiguration of Jesus in Matthew 17.

One point that blew me away was that the three who went up with Jesus to the mountain top were Peter, James, and John. But who wrote about the transfiguration: Matthew, Mark and Luke. Why? Pastor Smith thought that it was due to humility, that if others wrote about the experience, then Peter, James and John would not get puffed up about it (but that is theory, not in the Bible).

Transfigured means changed. We need to remember that the disciples and people around Jesus saw him in the flesh. He was God in the flesh, but in Heaven He was wrapped up in glory. On earth, he walked around as an ordinary man, and was so undistinguishable that Judas had to point Him out, even though He had been teaching frequently in the Temple.

When Christ was transfigured, his glory became apparent to the others, but this glory was there all along, just clothed in the flesh.

Pastor Smith pointed out that Peter, James, and John were often singled out by Jesus for certain experiences, and maybe the reason for that was that they were there, close to Jesus, ready to jump in when He called. That we should be that way in our churches, ready to act if the Pastor needs help, or to reach out and serve others.

Matthew 17:1 Jesus took them to the mountaintop. They needed to be separate, a consecration. Before God does a major work on us, we are separated, consecrated, and set apart. Sometimes other people have a way of holding you back from your spiritual best. Many times, the closer you are to God, the less people you have in your life. That doesn’t mean you live the life of a hermit, and it doesn’t mean you don’t fellowship, or reach out to others. But you are not hanging around those who you used to hang out with before you got saved, not going to the same parties, not frequenting the same bars, etc.

If you receive a dream or a vision from God, it is important not to go around spreading this to everyone you meet. Obviously you can speak with your pastor, but your dream is for you. God will make it happen in due season, and other people will often add to the vision or take away from the vision. Better to speak with God about it until it comes to pass.

Pastor Smith also told us that often God does not give us all the details or all the steps along the path. For often, if we knew all that we would have to go through, we might back down from the path. For example, if God told Joseph he was going to rule as second to Pharaoh, and before that he would be sold into slavery, be put in prison, etc. Joseph might have said thanks but no thanks.

So God leads us step by step.

Where was David when he was anointed? He was by himself, with the sheep, singing Psalms. He was separated from his brothers and seemed so odd that when the priest came to anoint him, David’s father paraded all the other brothers who seemed more likely candidates before him, and then reluctantly brought out David.

Most of the time when Jesus went to pray, he went by himself. This time he took Peter, James, and John with him. Pastor Smith theorized that maybe Jesus’ glory always shone out when he talked privately with His Father (but that is a theory).

Jesus had a conference with Moses and Elijah. Both had remarkable encounters with God. Moses prayed and often was able to change God’s mind toward the Israelites when they sinned against God. He is a type of Christ who stood between God and the people to help save them from their sins. Jesus also stood between God and us, so that we can be saved from our sins.

Moses had a relationship with God that few had. He wanted to know God, did not want to move if God would not go with Him, and he asked to see God’s glory. God stood Moses in a cleft of the rock and covered him with His hand, so that he could see the after glory (so to speak). Now Moses is on the mountaintop with a glorified Jesus (God) who is shining brightly in God’s glory. So Moses was finally able to see God’s glory. (my note, not to mention being in the promised land 1700 years later).

Moses died – so he stood for those in Hades, who passed on before Jesus’ time. Elijah did not die and will be coming again. (my note, boy would I have liked to be a fly on the rock to hear what these three talked about, that and a short walk on the road to Emmaus with Jesus and I would be thrilled).

Well Peter asks Jesus about building a shrine to the three. In the Old Testament when God touched the Earth, they built a shrine for it. For example where the wells were created in the Wilderness, the parting of the Red Sea, the Jordan River crossing, etc.

John saw Jesus glorified again in Revelation 1:12 In this vision Jesus had white hair (a sign of maturity), and feet like brass, which looks like fire. Most times when people see God or Jesus they see the feet like brass.

Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14 where there is a vision of the Ancient of Days, and God the Father.

Events in Daniel and Revelation match. (My note, that is very interesting to map out and study)

No matter what god is worshipped on this Earth, Buddha, or any other god or goddess, when the final judgment comes, every knee will bow to the King. Our goal is to make sure that there are very few left on earth that do not become part of God’s kingdom.

He pointed out that often because of being Christians, we are set apart from others. We should be growing more and more Christ-like, and less like the fleshly people we were. This will make us seem strange to some of our old friends. But we have to remember, that once we got saved, we became citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, and thus we are ambassadors on the earth. We are temporarily here until we are called back to the Heavenly Kingdom which is our real home.

If you think about earthly ambassadors from another country, you see that they speak what the leadership of the country wants them to say. So we should speak with God and Jesus want us to say. If we have a problem or don’t know how to answer a question, we need to seek the answer in our ambassadorial manuel (the Bible), and if there is an impending war or conflict in a country, the ambassadors are the first to be warned, and at times they are removed from the country.

SO when God declares war on the enemies on earth, we will be called home.

As ambassadors on earth, we must work for building God’s kingdom while we are here. Part of that work is to make our pastor’s lives easier.

Soon there will be a great revival, bigger than any human being can handle, bigger than any previous revivals, Pastor Smith saw in a vision.

In past revivals, as soon as God began a move, then men came in and touched it, and then it got altered.

We need to understand what we are called to do and do it in obedience to God.

2 Chronicles 7:14 lists them “If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

The four things are: humble themselves, pray, seek God’s face, and turn from wicked ways.

As churches we need to be practicing this, and praying to be ready for the new movement of God.

There are many in the Old Testament who exhibited these qualities, for example Uzziah and also Isaiah who said that he was a man of unclean lips. God sanctified them and purified them and was able to use and work with them.

We broke up into groups of seven to pray for our church and for the coming revival, that many souls will be reached for the Kingdom of Heaven.

This was an interesting Bible study and it convicted me about praying more about revival and being a good servant for God.

Heather

I love Tuesdays, Morning – women’s Bible study, evening, Bible study, and in between I am getting to help out with sewing class in the middle school for the next few weeks.

This morning I was reading Luke 1:37 “For with God nothing will be impossible.” What an awesome promise of God.

What surprised me is the teaching I came across that let me realize that it is such a packed full promise.

I checked it out with the pastor of the church where the Women’s Bible study is to make sure it is accurate.

The word nothing is numbers 3756, 3956, and 4487 in Strongs.

The Word Impossible is 101 in strongs.

3756 is ou – which means full and direct negation

3956 is Pas, which means oneness, totality, whole.

But the real surprise is 4487 which is Rhema, to speak, that which is spoken, a statement, word uttered by a living voice.

I love the Rhema word of God which is so alive, and so full of promise.

The word Impossible is 101, adunateo, which is the opposite of the word Dunami which is power (dynamite power).

So, just like Genesis begins with the Word, John begins with the Word, the virgin birth of Jesus begins with a Word and she gives birth to the Word (Jesus)

The amplified Bible states the verse as, “For with God nothing is ever impossible and no word from God shall be without power or impossible of fulfillment.”

The ASB Bible says, “For no word from God shall be void of power.”

In discussing with this with Pastor Malcom, I found out he reads Greek!!!! and when we looked at this in Greek, he stated that it is a very far reaching word, way beyond Mary and her situation, but implying on all levels at all times.

In a book about Luke, he read a quote that was incredible by J. J. Van Oosterzee, “The laws of nature are not chains which the Divine legislates his hand upon himself; they are threads which he holds in his hand, and which he shortens or lengthens at will.

Kind of implying that we cannot put God in a box, that if He wants to circumvent seemingly impossible situations like virgin births or Elizabeth’s late life birth of John the Baptist, He can do it, for he is the one who holds the threads.

I am always excited when I find a verse that goes beyond my usual reading of it, and this is one that is usually read at Christmas pagents, but how pregnant (pardon the pun) with meaning it is.

Hope you have a blessed day. I will try to put up notes for tonight’s Bible study either late tonight, or early tomorrow.

For those who wonder at my phenomenal memory, please know that I basically frantically write and then have to interepret scribbles. I find it so helpful to take notes though, for I think I learn and remember much more.

If you haven’t seen them yet, go down a few entries and see the pictures of the seder and the explaination of some of the symbolism. Pastor Don’s picture is there, as is one that has our whole family in it, so you can see a picture of Jim who so many of you have been praying for.

I found out from my daughter the reason Jim decided to go back on his medicine (he had told her not to tell me, but she told me anyway), that his blood pressure was 220 over 120, way too high, and I keep praying that he puts this together, loses weight and can come off the pills with the Doctor’s help.

Pastor Don told me to begin working on my weight, so that Jim is inspired to work on his. So I am asking for prayers for that with me, as weight is a tough issue.

Based on my past (posts beginning March 15) when I start losing weight, emotions and memories come up, and I find that weight has been a way to protect myself, but it should not be necessary now, given where I am. So please, pray that I can really work towards this weight loss.

Have a great day, it is sunny here, and finally short sleeve weather.

Heather

For fun:

YOUR AGE BY CHOCOLATE MATH

It takes less than a minute……. Work this out as you read.. Be sure
you don’t read the bottom
until you’ve worked it out! This is not one of those waste of time
things, it’s fun.

1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like to
have chocolate.
(more than once but less than 10)

2. Multiply this number by 2. (Just to be bold)

3. Add 5. (for Sunday)

4. Multiply it by 50 I’ll wait while you get the
calculator…………….

5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1755….
If you haven’t, add 1754 .

6. Now subtract the four-digit year that you were born.

You should have a three digit number.

The first digit of this was your original number (i.e., how many times
you
want to have chocolate each week).

The next two numbers are ………

YOUR AGE! (Oh YES, it is!!!!!)

The funny noises come and go. Jim will vacuum out the guts of the computer if it gets worse.

Pastor Don told me that Pastor Dongo is going to the Arise Christian Center in California, with Pastor Ron Tailor (not sure of spelling) and not sure of city. I teased Pastor Don today that our church seems to have a Don thing. We have Pastor Don, Pastor Dongo, and Pastor Danqua. Lots of Don’s.

Friday Bible study started with a question. Someone was watching a TV special with an “expert” who was pointing out that Jesus had to be human and have sin or why else was he baptized. I did not see this special, butit figures that people keep trying to downgrade Jesus. Pastor Don feels that experts are wrong when they do not consult the whole counsel of the Bible.

So he took us to John 1:24-29,  Since Jesus is the Lamb of God, it would be impossible for the sacrificial lamb of Passover to have a blemish, so Jesus would have to be without sin because sin would have been a blemish on the Lamb of God.

We then went to Matthew 3, and pointed out how John the Baptist quoted many of the prophesies about the Messiah. And in Matt. 3:11 it is water unto repentence. Water is the Word of God which cleanses, washes and purifies, and makes us available to receive the gifts of the Spirit and the blessing of the Holy Ghost.

In Romans it points out that as humans we have to recognize that we are not God, and we are not the creator, we are the creation.

Jesus came to earth, born of woman. As an enlightened man (both God and man) if he wanted to, he could have skipped a few steps along the way, he didn’t need to be baptized to be remitted of sins. But Jesus is our Shephard, and he walked the path that we must follow. If he skipped say steps 3 and 7 (which he could as God), we in our human pride might figure that in following Christ, we too could skip steps. Jesus knew that would not be in our intersest, so he led us through his actions and mentors us by doing all the steps. He did all the steps so that we would know what to do.

Remember when he called Lazarus from the grave, he said that he spoke out loud for oursakes, so we would know what He did. The sacrifices in the temple were sacrifices of repentence, so he had to take that step, so that he could take repentence a step further to full covering of sin through His blood.

No matter how Holy and Righteous you think you are, you have to go and repent. Jesus taught us that. If you think you are perfect, know that Jesus WAS perfect, and yet he repented. Who else did the sky open and a dove descend for, since Jesus’ baptism. NONE.

Righteousness will always humble himself before God in accordance of the first commandment, and be mindful of the possibility of offense.

Jesus described John as the most righteous person alive, and Jesus is told by John that John felt that he needed to be baptized by Jesus.

John’s baptism opens the way for Christ, and for us.

Personal note, I love how Pastor Don answers questions extemporaneously. His knowledge of the Word of God blows my mind, and I hope one day to have such knowledge of the Word. I feel so blessed to sit in his Bible studies.

Then Pastor Don went to the topic he was going to discuss which is Spiritual Discernment.

We looked at Mark 10: 29-30, and the verse says that if you do for Jesus and the Gospel you are going to suffer loss, and changes in the relationships of those near and dear to you. But then you shall receive 100 fold (on earth, now, not heaven later). houses, brothers, sisters, etc.

And Pastor Don pointed out that if his house burned down, he would have hundreds of houses he could go and live in, and family (church family) to lean on in such a time. But persecutions are not optional. Whenever God is moving in our lives, whenever we are making changes, we do attract the attention of satan, and his minions, and there are challenges. But these persecutions are not because we are sinning or unrighteous, it could be because righteousness also attracts persecution. He pointed out that, after the baptism of John, Jesus was led in the wilderness to be tempted. Sometimes the challenges are tests.

Most of us are living below our multiples. We are not living in the full blessings that God wants us to have. God wants us to have houses, and fulfillment.

If we have discernment, we can be aware of when persecution is from a supernatural nature (principalities and powers).

God is ready to bless us,and we need to do the work He wants us to do. We do not want to mess God’s plan up by disobedience. satan will send us persecution to try and mess up the plans of God, to pull us off course and off focus.

When we begin our days, and often through the day, if our spirits are moved or we are unquiet inside, we need to stop, drop, and pray to gain discernment of the situation. For then we can avert problems.

1 Samuel 18,

David was anointed by God to be King, but it was not the time for him to be king yet. He had to deal with demands and demons. David fought Goliath and the Philistines, he had his plate full.

Sometimes when we are very busy for God and our plates are full, people around us, including family add one more straw to the camel’s back, and cause things to be more difficult for us.

So at Chapter 18, David had done everything possible to withstand the Philistines. and if you look at this chapter you see some parallels with Jesus.

Verse 1. David left his family, and was abandoned in part by them for he was the anointed one. His family wanted nothing to do with him, read the conversations before David slew Goliath to see the kind of jealousy he faced. So God gave him a new brother, Jonathan, and Jonathan was very faithful and stuck to David.

So, satan came in in the form of some women to create division. The women sang the song, Saul slayed his thousands and David his 10 thousands. Now this only raised the jealousy in Saul, and Pastor Don said that David probably wished these women had kept silent, for their singing only added to David’s burden, which was Saul’s jealousy.

We also have to be careful in church not to let the seeds of jealousy and competition creep in. Some people are very spiritual and quiet, others are more in the open and loud. Yet both are necessary in God’s kingdom, and we are not to compare and contrast ourselves with each other. Such a spirit of jealousy and comparison can cause division in the church.

Verse 8 – Saul was angry

Verse 9 - Saul eyed David. There was a root of suspicion. Sometimes we, in our jealousy and pride, feel we need to police the saints. To pick and watch them, pointing out where they miss their mark, where they are not Biblical, etc. This causes division in the Body of Christ. Better to let the Holy Spirit police the saints, and if something needs to be done, then the undershephard of the Holy Spirit will take care of the problem. Better we ask the Holy Spirit where we are missing the mark and make corrections in ourselves, rather than looking and eyeing the other saints.

Verse 10 – The spear in Saul’s hand. Saul was a warrior, and his spear throws should have hit the mark. In Hebrew there is no permissive verbs, so when the verse speaks of God sending a distrssing spirit, it really means that God permitted the distressing spirit to trouble Saul. God does not have a distressing spirit at his command. Satan needs permission to act. Sometimes God will permit this to point out a hidden sin, to test us, to help us grow closer. The Holy Spirit took Jesus to the wilderness to tempt Him. Jesus was not a sinner, so sometimes when we face a distressing spirit, it is not because we are living in blatant sin, there could be another reason why it is permitted.

The way we can get a sense of what the spirit is and why, is discernment, and we get the discernment by taking the problem to God in prayer.

Pastor Don had two volunteers go forward and stand one on either side of him.

On one side was Supernatural (Holy Spirit) awareness, then there was the natural man (Pastor Don), and then there was the natural experience.

Most often we live through a natural experience and then later on try to find a supernatural reason for the experience, but this is not the best way.

Sometimes the Supernatural awareness will clue our natural man that something is coming. Now what is coming could be immediate, or it could be in the future. When the event occurs, we remember our supernatural awareness of this, and we discern more about the event.

The greater reality is the supernatural, and it occurs first. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. When something unexpected occurs, we try to rationalize and look for a supernatural reason. This is not always accurate. Sometimes we find a supernatural cause, but the Holy Spirit wasn’t part of it, it was just a random event and we try to put a spiritual meaning onto it. That is called spiritual speculation. And often we succumb to spiritual speculation.

You cannot really ascertain if something has a supernatural cause unless you discern this before the natural event occurs.

Now, once you discern something in the Spirit, then you can pray and ask God to intervene. So it is wise not to start your day until you are prepared for where the natural will be impacting your life, so you can put on your armor of faith.

Back to 1 Samuel 18.

Now David knew what Saul was feeling, so while he was harping, he also was on guard. David escaped two throws of Saul’s spear. Given the kind of fighter Saul was, it meant that David was aware of the situation from a spiritual level.

We know that nothing that is not ordained by God will happen to us. And like David, until we get orders from God to do something else, we cannot let our flesh (the need to flee the madman) to rule the situation.

Later on we see how David’s wife only added to his burden, not helped it.

Satan is always alert for any area of weakness in us, anger, pride, sin, etc. If we show those enemies prompted by satan love they will leave. If we give in to our weaknesses in relation to them, they will push that to the limit.

And it is also important to remember that most of the demonic spirits only are hurting the person who has them, not the whole body of Christ. They are usually causing the person to hurt themselves by actions or thoughts, or behaviors. So if we can love the one who seems “off” then we can help to build them up and help them to get rid of these demonic spirits.

We had to stop for our Bible study had gone on for about two hours. Pastor Don jokingly offered to write out excuses for those of us who would be getting home late.

As always, I was writing notes at a fast pace, if there is a Biblical error, I am certain it is mine, not Pastor Don’s. Some of this stuff is new to me, so I have to sort things out and could have gotten something wrong. Hope you enjoy your weekend.

Heather

 

Our computer is making funny noises, so until the resident geek (aka Jim) figures it out, my time on the computer will be limited. So please forgive me if I don’t manage to get to your sites today or later today. The fan is making loud noises. Funny how it corresponds to when my son plays his video games for some period of time.

Today is a busy day, I type the church bulletin in the AM, then in the PM I have Friday Bible study yeah!!!!! Then off to get a mouse for the ball python (sigh) and crickets for the lizard (sigh times 12). Tomorrow night our church is doing a Sedar, and Jim has signed up our whole family for that. It is led by some Messianic Jews who sometimes use our church as a whole.

I will try to ask today where in California Pastor Dongo is visiting, for any who live out that way.

The fan just started making its noises. So I will have to sign off. But I hope you all have a very blessed day.

Heather

Here is a picture of me holding my birthday cake, taken in front of our house, note the dogwood blooms behind, the tree was covered two days ago. The cake was a  nice surprise.

 

 

Today I was reading Mark 14 about Mary anointing Jesus, and had a few thoughts.

In V. 4 when Judas complains about the oil being wasted – that word for wasted means perdition. Later on Jesus will call Judas the son of perdition.

I have found that in many situations there is a “ring leader” for a cause. And then people follow the ring leader. Sometimes the ring leader has a hidden agenda, and the people who follow the cause are sincere in what they are saying.

It is evident in this that Judas speaks about the waste of money, that the oil could be better spent on the poor. But the hidden agenda of Judas is that he kept the moneybag, and was a thief, so it meant that the lavish worship that Mary poured out on Jesus did not grease Judas’ pockets.

Yet the disciples heard the exernal words of Judas and agreed, that maybe the money could have been used differently, but they did not know Judas’ hidden agenda.

I have to keep remembering that there are many reasons behind some of the “good” causes that have nothing to do with the cause.

One other teaching that I heard awhile back is that when you worship at the feet of Jesus you come away with the fragrance of Jesus. Mary’s hair would hold the smell of the oil that she used to anoint Jesus. That would linger on her for some time.

I have to admit, I am pretty bad about hidden agendas in people. I tend to take things at face value, and am pretty transparent. So often I get fooled by things people say to me.

Thank you for all your prayers and your birthday wishes. I am so blessed to have you as friends.

I am having fun for the next few weeks. Twice a year I get to go into the middle school and help kids in a sewing class. Usually with the preliminary worksheets and getting their “sewing license” so that they can use the machines. It is a pleasure to work with these kids, and the ones I usually get are the ones who can use a positive word of encouragement. So I am asking prayer that I can say the right things to these children. Already I have my eye set on a few, one girl named Katie who told me that her doctor told her she would have to have a hip replacement before she was 30, and two boys who feel that they will never be able to do the work. I haven’t seen all the kids in the classes yet, but I so look forward to meeting them. It is so seldom that a parent gets to get into a classroom to help once the children hit middle school and high school. I jump at every opportunity.