Pastor Don’s Friday Bible study.

A question was asked: How can the Bible help with concerns of Time Management?

This is the classic passage that talks about time management.

Luke 10:38-42 (38)”Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. (39)And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. (40)But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, ‘Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.’ (41)And Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. (42)But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.’”

We are all willful and judgemental. This passage does not tell us not to do work, but it does tell us how to do it.

How do you establish priorities. Life has more for you to do than you have time to do it.

Pastor Don’s father told him, “Your mind will stress you to death.” You have to be careful that your mind doesn’t distract you, you must take your thoughts captive. 2 Cor. 10: 4. You need to make it  a lifestyle to not do anything unles you thought about it and prayed about it. If you don’t take time to take the problems to God, God doesn’t stand a chance to get a word in edgewise. We must give God a chance to help put order in our lives.

We usually operate under different levels of distraction.

Primary distraction: permit the need to direct the day without consulting the Holy Spirt.

Secondary distraction: your mate or someone in the house will set your agenda for the day. And often your spouse will set your agenda without thinking about it or praying about it.

Third distracted – You have Bible time, then a phone call or mail comes, and someone else ends up directing your day.

God wants us not to be distracted, He wants to put order in our life.

When false necessities determine what we do, it leads to emotional imbalance.

False priorities.

In verse 39 above, Mary sat at Jesus feet and heard His word. Martha decided to cook a big meal and entertain the most popular man in all of Judea. She wanted to do it grandly.

Mary felt, He’s here and I want to hear Him.
Martha felt, He’s here and I want to serve Him.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to serve Jesus, but Martha did not ask Jesus what HE wanted. Maybe Jesus would have wanted to visit with Martha and Mary, and have a light snack later. Pastor Don asked us if we have ever travelled a long way to visit a relative, to find out that they had an incredible schedule made up for us. At 3 we go here, 5 we go there, 8 we go here, 9 there is a party for you, 10… etc. When all you wanted to do was to chill out, relax, and visit with your friends.

Jesus probably would have wanted both of them sitting and being with Him.

Most of us lead our lives on presumption. Most marriages fall apart because of presumption. People think, “If you really loved me you would…….(fill in the blank)”. But they don’t tell the spouse what it is they want or need. Sometimes the spouse does things that they think will please their mate, but the mate has other ideas of what would make them happy.

The best thing for a marriage is for both people to talk and list their needs. To do this before they become a problem.

Martha made a decision in verse 40. She was DISTRACTED with much serving, serving that no one asked her to do.  Her distraction caused everything to have her attention EXCEPT what was the most important, namely listening to Jesus.

When distraction becomes the attraction yo are done.

You need to list your priorities or end up at the end of the week more distracted.

Pastor Don told us he keeps longterm and daily lists. And he is careful to honor what God told him to do because often life will steal your goals if you let it.

Another quote that some have in their offices is: “The lack of planning on your part is not an emergency on my part.”

If people do not plan well, they come to a point where they are harried, they feel a sense of emergency, and then they try to make another person come and help them, when the problem is that they did not plan effectively.

Jesus was very firm with Martha when Martha said in effect, Jesus don’t you care that I am slaving away, and Mary is lounging at your feet. She was judgemental, directive, presumptuous, and thinking God (Jesus) was not aware of her problem, her sister’s ‘slaking’ , and wants Jesus to do something, basically she wants Him to tell Mary to get up and work too.

Verse 41. Jesus tells Martha you are worried about many things, and these things are not important right now.

Martha was worried and troubled about things in her own making, and His criticism was not what she wanted to hear. Usually people who are poor time managers drag other people down.

We can presume that if Martha was busy and happy, Jesus’s response would have been different. Her heart would have been in a different place regarding her service.

Pastor Don had us laughing when he pointed out that if Jesus had not spoken so seriously with Martha, Martha would have had a very negative outcome. And he imitated some of the self-talk she might have had. “I worked my hands to the bone making this soufle that did not fall and He didn’t even take a bite of it, I cooked the chicken and the duck, and killed the fatted calf, but Jesus only ate a piece of bread and cheese. He didn’t praise all my hard work, just kept on talking and eating. If He thinks I am ever going to do this again, He, can forget it….”

Verse 42. One thing is needed, Jesus tells Martha, you figure it out. Spend time with God.

Your accomplishments are secondary to your inner man. If you can’t do it with peace, you shouldn’t be doing it.

We then looked at John 11, Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Remember, Jesus got the message but didn’t show up until Lazarus was already in the tomb for 4 days. Martha went out to meet Jesus, and Mary stayed sitting in the house mourning.

Martha was still letting her personality direct her. She went to Jesus and complained about how, had he arrived when she sent for Him, then the outcome would have been different.

Sometimes we excuse our negative behaviors by saying, “Well, this is jsut the way I am.”

But the I AM ain’t working for you, so it needs to be changed. You can change through Christ. If you are a worrier who worries all the time, you need to try and control that. The only way to effectively change this is with the help of Christ.

John 11:21 Martha says, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.“

When people die, or bad things happen, often the first words out of people’s mouths is , where were you God? I fasted, I prayed, I did…. and you did not do what I wanted you to do. If you did what I told you to do, I wouldn’t be this worried or distressed.

John 11:23, Jesus tells her her brother will rise again.

Verse 24 Martha says, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

but here Martha is contradicting herself because at verse 22 she said, But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”

If she really believed that statement in verse 22, then she would have been able to believe that Jesus could raise her brother from the dead. But she is thinking in the flesh, and once a person was dead four days they did not rise again, but she is limiting Jesus’ power by her unbelief.

She then does not answer Jesus question of belief when he said in verse 25-26 “I am the resurrection and the life, He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this.“

In verse 27 Martha says, “Yes Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is come into the world.”

Sometimes when a prayer seems not to be answered it is not that God doesn’t want to answer our prayer, but that we have shortened His hand with our prayer. God can do exceedingly and abundantly more than we can imagine, but we put a limit on what God can do by not asking big.

For example, Lord heal this ache and pain, instead of Lord make me walk in total health from my head to my toes.

In a similar way to what she did when she entertained Jesus in her house, she should have asked Jesus what He could do with Lazarus (or in her house asking Jesus what He wanted her to do).

If you really have faith, you would never be distressed. We all fall short on faith.

If you are distracted and worried, you are out of God’s will.

Heather’s note: Boy can I relate to the above teaching. So often I short change God in the business of my life, and still end up wondering where the day has gone. I often shorten Christ’s hand because I tend not to reach out and ask, or ask for way too small things.

Heather

 

 

Sorry for not writing more frequently. Right now the computer is in high demand with school projects and the kids have finally acquired IM, so there goes the evening many a night. Not to mention Jim has to actually do WORK on the computer.

Well I weighed in the other day and lost four pounds. So far I have been able to stick to the Weight Watcher’s program pretty good. Hoping for another week sticking with it.

Well, there are still food issues that are coming up. I am wondering if you have ever had to fight totally claiming your body. As a kid, to ward off the hurt I learned to pull back so far inside, go somewhere inside my head and detach completely from my body. It made the hurt hurt less, and I began to almost observe my body as if I were another person watching it.

Add to that the self-loathing that I acquired for various reasons. For example, if my father is doing what he did to me, what is wrong with me that he did that, was I so awful that he would do those awful things to me? Or looking at other kids and trying to imitate them, but falling short because I did not have their foundation of love at home. And I spent a lot of time trying to blend in with the crowd, because standing out would make teachers comment about me, and then I would get beaten at home, so I learned to imitate normal. But I wasn’t normal, didn’t act normal, and it caused a greater dissonace with my body.

Then my sister (when I was in her custody) also punished me because I acted abnormally. But truthfully, I didn’t know what normal was. So it was all external.

Then when I ended up in that pagan lifestyle, part of it was the free love generation type of thing, so I saw my body as something you gave to people because they expected it, give it and get it over with. But again I would pull back so far inside that I was lost to what was going on.

So, when eating issues come up, my first thought is to stuff the feelings by eating and push them down and away. But I know that is not what God wants for me right now. He wants me to link the feelings with the memories, and that is terrifying. But it is also healing. And I know that at some point I have to get the anger issue out of the way. Right now I think most of my anger is focused at God, whom I still perceive as having abandoned me to what went on. But I know that is unjust.

That doesn’t take away the hurt though, the hurt that God did not care enough for me to stop what went on. Did not give me a happy family. There are times when I really wonder if God cared. I know people say the footprints poem to me (doesn’t cut it, it is sort of like fingernails squeeking on a blackboard to me, I kind of grit my teeth and hear it), or they say God cried when I cried, or God plans to use me for helping others and this experience is part of the preparation, or they say it is satan and God was there for me.

I think that so many of my doubts and fears about God stem around the million dollar question, where was God back then and why did He not intervene. I also know people will point to Job and God’s response to Him. I have questions about that too, but that is another story.

God and I keep debating this issue, and I suppose it will be relegated to a pat answer like, where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth… just like He answered Job. Right now that feels sort of unsatisfactory.

Sorry for ranting, but this has been an emotional time for me. Depression, wanting to run, wanting to sabatage. And I am fighting back. I am reading the Word, not running and trying to bring myself to remember who I am in Christ. Not always easy, and the battle keeps raging. Sometimes I am just tired of the struggle.

I do have Pastor Don’s Tuesday Bible study on this computer to listen to, and tomorrow is Friday. So that means another Bible study. I will try to put them up more promptly.

Have a great night, and if you don’t mind, please keep me in your prayers.

Heather

Tonight I had to attend a Boy Scout Committee meeting as I am the advancement counselor, so Jim recorded Pastor Don’s Bible study. I will not be able to share that with you until he downloads it and I am able to listen. But I promise to get it to you asap.

Some seem to be debating the woman’s place in church here and on other sites. I shared a bit of what I had been taught, but need to consult with Pastor Don about this some more before I comment anymore. He has references that may prove edifying. But until I do that, I am NOT going to comment about this as it is beyond the scope of what I am learning right now. I guess I could pull out my concordances and do the research myself, but right now time is stretched tightly.

I sometimes think there is a fine line between Biblical and legalistic, and sometimes I think some of the things debated with such vehemence tend to be very close to that borderline.

But right now I thought I would share a Biblical comparison that blew my socks off. The comparison between the birth of Jesus and the crucifixion.  (B) is birth of Jesus  (C) is crucifixion.

1. (B) No room at the inn. Due to taxation and the vast number of people to be counted in the census Bethlehem was filled, so there was no room for Mary and Joseph in the inn.
     (C) The nation of Israel had no room for Jesus the Messiah, they did not want him to rule over them, or lead them.

2. (B) Joseph and Mary stayed in a borrowed room (the barn) and the babe was placed in a manger, and there was where Jesus had his “first supper” which was from his mom. He was born in Bethelehem which means house of bread, and was the bread of life sent from Heaven.
(C) Jesus celebrated the “last supper” in a borrowed room, the upper room. He broke bread and shared it with his disciples, take eat, this is my body…

3. (B) Mary had labor pains, and when she gave birth, as in all births the water broke, there would have been blood and pain.
(C) There was pain when the nails pierced him, and the soldier pierced his side and out came blood and water. When Eve was made from Adam’s rib, that happened after God put a deep sleep on Adam and opened Adam’s side and took a rib and fashioned Eve. This was Adam’s bride. We, as the bride of Christ, are fashioned from the sacrifice of Christ, the blood and water that came from Jesus’s side.

4. (B) Shepherds were told about the birth at night.
  (C) When Jesus hung on the cross, it was dark from about 12-3pm, dark like night.

5. (B) at birth Mary looked at Jesus’s body and heard him cry.
   (C) Mary stood at the foot of the cross and looked at her son’s naked body and cried for Him.

6. (B) Jesus was born and placed in a manger, and the animals were round about Him.
 (C) When Jesus hung on the cross, he cried to His Father. As Psalm 22 says, he was surrounded by people who were like the bulls of Bashar, ravenous dogs, who roared like lions, and spit, and cursed, and shook their fists at Him.

7. (B) Luke 2, shepherds bringing their flocks to Bethlehem.
   (C) Jesus, outside Jerusalem, said that if they smite the shepherd, the sheep would scatter. That is what happened, when Jesus was taken, the disciples scattered, except John who stayed near.

8. (B) At His birth, Joseph and Mary saw the Lamb of God born. He became part of their family.
 (C) When the Lamb of God was sacrificed, Mary was there, Joseph wasn’t, but Jesus made sure that Mary was part of a family by linking her with John.

9. (B) Joseph took the baby Jesus up and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes. Often the clothes were pieces of burial cloths which were soft enough for babies. And Joseph laid the baby in the manger.
  (C) Another Joseph, Joseph of Arimathea took the body of Jesus, and wrapped it in burial cloths and laid it in a tomb.

10. (B) Wise men were looking a a star that shown and saw a sign in the sky. They went to where Jesus was, bringing gifts, one of them was myrrh which is a burial spice.
   (C) Wise women went to the tomb in the morning when the sun (a star) was in the sky, and they brought spices, most probably myrrh to the tomb to anoint the body of Jesus.

11. (B) Shepherds tending their flocks in the field saw angels who told them to fear not, that they had tidings of great Joy, about the birth of Jesus, and that the shepherds were to spread the good news.
  (C) When the women came to the tomb they were told by an angel that Jesus was not in the tomb, that he had risen, that they should go and spread the good news.

I am always amazed at how intricately God paints pictures that show what will happen, how Jesus’ death for our sins was portrayed in His birth, not to mention all the prophesies in the Old Testament. God truly is remarkable in what He shares in His word.

Hope you have a great day. I hope to soon hear Pastor Don’s Bible study, but these next few days are rather busy. I almost can’t wait until summer vacation so that some of the after school activities are eased.

Heather

 

Hope any mothers who are reading this have had a Happy Mother’s Day. I was taken out to breakfast, and my daughter gave me a beautiful cross with a grain of mustard seed in it. She brought it back from her trip to Boston.

Well, life sure has been busy these past few days. My son is playing the music for Grease in the High School Play, and I have been enjoying watching him perform.

Here is Friday’s Bible study.

A person asked about some false teachings she heard on TV, and Pastor Don did an impromptu Bible study on the Identification of false teachers.

Titus 3

This was written to the elders and deacons of the Church. v1-2 Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to me.

One of the first signs of a false teacher is he or she is quick to condemn others and cause separation and division. A true teacher will have humility and be nice to all men. Those teachers who are forcibly opinionated and have no humility are false teachers. Even if someone has a different doctrine or for that matter a different religion, it does not mean that you are mean with them. You need to treat people with love. To find the common ground and work from there. Every religion has some element of truth. An example of how this worked is when Paul went to Athens in Acts 17, and he spoke what their philosophers said, mentioned the altar to the Unknown God, and then told them about God and Jesus. Had he come in with ego, he would never had had them listen to him or made the conversions that happened from his teaching.

2 Timothy 3:1-5 But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power, and from such people turn away!

In these last days we will be seeing an increase of false teachings and teachers. There are those having religious spirits, someone who makes a spiritual judgment based on ritual. Some teachers who are false speak Christianease (the right language to make you think they are acting as Christians), but their teachings do not line up completely with the Word of God. And if you do not meet their expectations of what they deem being a good Christian is, they will slice you and dice you.

2 Timothy 3:8-11 Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was. But you have carefully followed my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, perseverance, persecutions, afflictions, which happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra, what persecutions I endured. And out of the all the Lord delivered me.

Jannes and Jambres were priests who tried to imitate what Moses did, and they did so until the plague of lice, which they couldn’t replicate. Often false teachers will produce signs and wonders similar to those which people with the Holy Spirit can accomplish. But what is important is to watch the fruit of these teachers. At some point they can go no further, their acts do not produce the fruit of the spirit, love, and they do not grow, nor do the people under them grow. If you follow their teachings and examine them carefully, at some point the false teacher will put their foot in their mouth, and you will find them out if you weigh their teachings with the light of the Word.

1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God; Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.

Because we are saved and have the Holy Spirit in us, we have an inner witness. We must be listening to that, and when our inner witness is unquiet, be careful for you may be being exposed to a false teaching. There are increasingly more numbers of false teachers around today, because the end is drawing near. Satan has a limited repertoire and his biggest one is to deceive, not with a whopper, but with a little error, that will lead one astray.

Pastor Don was asked about what if you do not recognize a false teacher. He gave us:

2 Peter: 2 talks much about false doctrines. Remember, the Holy Spirit will lead us to truth. God will lead us back to a position of faith. We have to ask if it is our feelings or the Holy Spirit bringing a check in our spirit. If it is the Holy Spirit, we must examine the doctrine being taught. Get more information and find out the truth. Or get away, for there is a red flag.

Someone asked if it is a small false teaching in a teacher who is speaking mostly the truth. We were told that if there is a little poison in the food you eat, would you still eat it? But if the teacher is mis-directed and is correctable, or if they amend their false teaching, then it was just an error on their part. What must be determined is if the teacher is deliberately bending doctrine, or just made a mistake.

Remember that satan will keep sending false teachers, false prophets, so it is important to test these to see if they are from God or not.

 

Roots of bitterness.

With the upcoming Mother’s Day, devotionals are coming to me regarding being a mother. It is funny, but often I reflect on my mom and the first thing that happens is that I end up with bitterness. I thought I had forgiven completely, but obviously there are still things from my past that I am holding on, that are charged with bitterness.

Oh how insidious is this bitterness. Reminds me of a dandelion or crabb grass, if you don’t get out the whole root it grows back. Guess there is more digging that I have to do.

What surprises me is that this woman has been dead 16 years, and there is still bitterness. I don’t want to carry it with me the rest of my life.

So I am asking for prayers as again I battle this root of bitterness. Perhaps with God rooting around in there, that will go.

Well, week one of Weight Watchers, and I lost only 1.4 pounds. There are reasons for that, I was holding in water due to the particular time of the month and I weighed in several hours later than usual, so perhaps next week the scales will show that I really did stick to the program, but yesterday I went off a bit.

I know that somehow I have to reclaim this body, but most of my life I went through it trying to put off my body by various ways, from suicide to just not caring what was done to me or by whom. To survive the past I had to pull so far back into the depths of my mind that my body was just not connected to me somehow. Now I am reclaiming it, and of course now comes depression.

Someone said that depression is anger turned within. And I can see that. I have never liked myself (people like me, I don’t like me) and I think it stems from feeling that all that was done to me as a child was because there was some sort of flaw in me, and if my own parents couldn’t love me, then there was something unloveable.  Guess that is why I still get sort of suspicious about agape love of God.

So many things to sort out. Now I am trying to apply what Pastor Don told me last Friday, that not all thoughts that go through my mind are really my own thoughts, and that I have to lay claim to my thoughts (which line up with the word) and banish those that are not my thoughts. So pray that this is what I can do. I have to take this to God.

Hope you have a blessed day. You all are in my thoughts and prayers too, but it may be a bit before I get to you on Xanga, I am trying to cut out and prepare the arts and crafts for Sunday School. I have all the tissue paper flower circles cut out and the stems cut, now, I still have to glue 60 pinbacks on cardboard hearts. Never a dull moment.

Heather

REVISED, MORE ADDED INCLUDING THE ANSWER TO THE PUZZLE.

TUESDAY BIBLE STUDY (I am going to start typing it. If I don’t finish the Bible study before 10, consider it a cliffhanger because the end is so awesome…..hmmm maybe I will leave the cliffhanger anyway -just kidding, but I figure if I begin it will good to give the background) If you like puzzles, look up the Word “still” in Strong’s and figure out if you can solve the punch line…..it will blow your mind.

Here are the texts and Bible verses we used.

Psalm 46 is the text. It is an end times Psalm written by the sons of Koran (also spelled Kohath). This prophetic scripture is not only written for their day, but for us as well.

Number 4: 15 (If you read 1-14 you get a detailed description of how the ark of the Testimony was to be packed up for moving, and that it was to be moved by carrying the poles that pass through the various rings on the pieces) then you get to verse 15: “And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, when the camp is set to go, then the sons of Kohath shall come to carry them; but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die. These are the things in the tabernacle of meeting which the sons of Kohath are to carry.“….verse 18: “Do not cut off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites.” This was so that there would be no distinction between the two. As it is the Kohathites were sons of Levi.

1 Chron. 6:31-33 “Now these are the men whom David appointed over the service of song in the house of the Lord, after the ark came to rest. They were ministering with music Berne the dwelling place of the tabernacle of meeting, until Solomon had built the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they served in their office according to their order. And these are the ones who ministered with their sons: Of the sons of the Kohathites were Heman the singer, the son of Joel, the son of Samuel…“

(My note- what a name, Heman, sounds like a great character for a superhero comic book, Heman the worship singer….)

So, once the tabernacle had been moved to whatever spot God directed the Israelites to, then the sons of Korah were instructed to be worship leaders, praise, worship, songs, Psalms.

1 Chron 6:48 “And their brethren, the Levites, were appointed to every kind of service of the tabernacle of the house of God.”

2 Chron 20 recounts a battle Jehoshaphat faced when surrounded by a bunch of ites – Ammonites, and Moabites. The Israelites were surrounded, and it looked grim. Jehoshaphat did the wise thing and prayed. And God told him, v. 14-19 …..v.17 “You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem! Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.”

Everyone bowed down and worshipped God. and then v. 21 “And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the LORD, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying: Praise the Lord for his mercy endures forever.”

So the singers, the sons of Korah were sent out BEFORE the soldiers to praise God.

God told Jehosephat that the battle was God’s, that they just had to stand still and do nothing.  Their position was to STAND STILL and see the salvation of the Lord, to not fear or be dismayed. So the Levites and Kohathites praise God with a voice loud and high.

They get on their faces and give glory to God.

When they did not have to fight, it meant that they did nothing on the external, but that does not mean that they did nothing on the inside. Inside they praised God, they had to stop their fear and dismay.

When we are beset with problems it is important to cease, to stop, to praise God and not have fear. Often we are so busy in our personal lives that we do not have time to stand still and wait on God.

The end result of the Jehosephat situation was that God sent ambushments against the enemy, the enemy got confused and killed each other and themselves. The Israelites did not raise one sword in battle.

Sometimes the hard part is to NOT end up doing what God doesn’t want us to do. Sometimes we have to wait and watch God work in a person’s life even if it means that they may crash and burn for a bit until they learn the lesson that God needs them to learn.

There are only two positions mentioned in the above account.

1. bow with face to the ground, bowed before the Lord and worshipping the Lord.

2. The Levites and Kohathites stood up and praised the Lord with voices loud and high.

Sometimes when we worship God we do it with quiet meditation, but that is usually when there is no battle. When there is a battle you had better get loud and give God loud praises. He needs the shout of the people so that he can act on the earthly realm, for he cannot violate the covenant and act without our asking. He will not force Himself on us.

If you are quiet during a battle, you leave room for doubt and fear and dismay. If you fill your mouth with loud praises, fear and dismay does not have room to manifest.

v, 20 – they went early in the morning, BELIEVING IN THE LORD.

Faith in God will establish you. You can’t establish yourself alone. Your belief in God gives Him permission to bring stuff to our lives. If people grumble, complain, doubt, speak negatively to a situation, their words will tie God’s hands.

Isaiah 7:9 – is the reverse of the above “…If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established.“

Sometimes in retrospect we can look back and see where we were not still and missed the blessings passing us by.

When we first begin we have knowledge of the situation, but knowledge without wisdom because we have not asked God for His guidance. With wisdom, we will know what to do with what we have. We gain this wisdom from sitting and waiting on God, sometimes we find God’s word in the Bible, sometimes from a fellow Christian, our pastor, a prophet, our Holy Spirit.

Jeremiah 29:11-13 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you, and you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.“

The work of being still occurs on the inside, usually with repentance. For the Prodigal son came to his senses and got a plan from God. Jehosephat worshipped God humbly and got a plan from God.

In a tough situation (no matter what the external says) get still, get quiet, and see what possibilities God will show you.

2 Chron 6:38 They are praying from the land of their captivity, and maintained their prayer and supplication, and God delivered them.

David was one to wait on God, he knew how to pray and worship. He knew how to be still and so he achieved many victories.

Now back to Psalm 46:

The Bible says that we are priests and kings of the Lord. Jesus Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. It is good to remember that we are the Kings and Lords that Jesus is King over.

Ps. 46 v. 1-2 sounds very much like the orders given to Jehosephat, but also very much like end times, Revelation prophesies. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea..”

In Revelation it talks about earthquakes, shaking of earth, mountains moving. The climate is unstable. With the last tsunami the earth’s axis was shifted a bit. Zach 14 talks about the Mount of Olives being split in two.

v. 4 “There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.”

Revelation 22:1-3 “And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him.”

So the river mentioned in Psalms will make glad the city of God for it brings healing to the nations (the people of God).

Psalm 46:8 Come, behold the works of the Lord, Who has made desolations in the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariot in the fire.”

Some think God is very vengeful for the desolations he is working on the earth, but he is really destroying what was already dying. If people have not come to the Lord, if they have given way to sin, they are dead in sin. In a sermon a few years ago, Pastor Don once mentioned that if he came into his yard and saw a rabid dog, he would have to kill it. It would be dying from the rabies and would be dead in a matter of time, and the dog would be a danger to his children, so to protect them he would ease the suffering of the dog.

Psalm 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

Now comes the answer to the puzzle I gave you. If you look up still in Strong’s for Psalm 46:10 it’s number is 7503. No other reference to the word still has the number 7503, just this one in this one verse. Raphah, It means to hang limp, sink down, be lazy, weakened, abate, cease, give respite, wax feeble. And in the definiton, it gives reference to 7495 which is the exact same word, Raphah which means to mend by stitching, to cure, to cause to heal, to repair thoroughly, to make whole. And God who heals is called Jehovah Raphah. It is very rare, according to Pastor Don, to have double entries in Strongs for the same word, spelled the same way.

So this sort of describes the be still which seems inactive, which is really an inward seeking of God, the God who will heal the situation. When we get hurt, it is important to rest, for it is in rest that the healing of our body occurs.

Also it is important for us to enter into the Sabbath rest, for it is when we are resting that God comes in to heal us.

So the verse Be still – Rapha and Know (acknowledge and recognize) that I am God.

What was Jesus arrested for, disobeying the Sabbath. It was during the Sabbath times that Jesus did his healings of many people. Sometimes when we are resting on our Sabbath is when God comes in to do his work in us.  By creation, God established the Sabbath (when he rested on the 7th day). If we resist the Sabbath, we are out of order. But the Sabbath does not have to be a particular day, just one day were we rest in, delight, and search out God.

In our lives, there are things that we have in order, and we can act on those, but rest on those situations that are difficult or need God’s help.

God also says that we are to Exalt Him, praise his name. God is our refuge. If we rest in Him, praise Him, and be still, he has the room to work on our situation.

I tried to explain this as best I can. And I did confirm the Strong’s reference, but not all editions are as detailed as the one Pastor Don uses.

I hope this blesses you. I tried to explain it as best I could from my notes. If there are any ambiguities it is because it was very hard to write fast.

What blows me away is that this is the third time this week the message of being still has come my way. I suppose God is trying to tell me something.

Have a blessed day.

 

Tonight is Bible study and I am hoping to get notes transcribed for you either tonight or tomorrow. Tomorrow Katherine goes on her class field trip to Boston, sigh she has to be at school at 6 in the morning, which is about the time I normally get up.

So far, so good, I have been honest in my eating, and have not cheated. But the scales seem not to be budging as much as I hoped they would.

I seem to be battling depression these past few days, and can’t quite get it together to do the necessary things, it is a big struggle, and I haven’t even spent much time on Xanga.  So I am sorry if I haven’t visited you the way I should. I think the depression is part of my self-defeating diet system.

Right now the morning woman’s study group is doing the book by Priscilla Shirer called He Speaks to Me. It is basic in some sense, but the basics dig deep and there is a lot of reflective questions. The videos are very well done and we have a great group of women so our group discussions are very intense.

The basic passage of the Bible that we are studying is the life of Samuel and the various characteristics that made him so ready to hear from God even when Eli the High Priest was not hearing from God. We just finished up week 3. Some of the characteristis was that Samuel was a child, and Jesus said that we had to come to Him as little children. This implies humility, trust, and simple belief. Mrs. Shirer has a little child and she compared the dependence her little son has for her, as the kind of dependence that we need for God, trusting that He will provide what all we need. But being like a child is NOT being childish.

She then pointed out in session two that Samuel was a worshipper. And that implies an intimacy with God. We need to be aware that all we do is for God’s glory, focuses on God’s priorities, It is easy to do this if we realize that God’s attributes of love, mercy, power and justice will come into play with all that he asks us to do.God redeems us even when we fall short of what His best for us is.

A third characteristic of Samuel is that he was set apart, sanctified and holy. She points out that there are three different kinds of sanctification, positional (when we first get saved), lifestyle (the choices we make to yield to the Holy Spirit in our lives) and ultimate (which is not on earth but when we face God’s presence). It is much easier to hold to sanctification if we remember God’s promises. It is not awesome to give in to our sinful inclinations for the moment, when God has such an awesome promise for us in the future. True freedom does not come from fleshly choices, but by choosing to obey God who has our best interests at heart.

Today the movie focused on the fact that Samuel was still. (even though it is week three, it is our fouth movie because you start out with an introductory movie). The idea being be still and know that I am God.

Why does God want us to sit down, we can’t hear him when we are so busy with our day to day lives, and God wants to give us blessings.

She spoke of  the feeding of the 5,000 and pointed out that Jesus wanted the people to sit down in orderly fashing and then he fed those who WERE SEATED. If you weren’t seated you weren’t fed. If we want the void inside of ourselves to be filled we have to be seated to hear what God had to say.  And there was a special purpose to this, God wanted us to be filled and to trust Him. There is a special Place – they sat in the green grass (reminds you of the 23rd Psalm), and there was a special power. For it is IN HIM that we gain our substance.

She pointed out that God will not shout over our noise,.

But the thought that she spoke that blew me away is that Jesus did not feed them until they were hungry, then he had them sit down. Sometimes we do not sit and wait on God until there is a need, a void to be filled.

I keep hoping that God does not have to wait until I am desperate to reach out to him. And today I realized that I was doing what I usually do when I am depressed, which is to withdraw not only from people, but also from God.

Please pray that this passes, and that I can begin to be more myself.

I am hoping you are having an awesome day.

Heather