More Pictures. We were invited to a friend’s property. There was an old quarry which became a swimming hole with a 14 foot jumping off spot. My daughter was the first brave soul to take the leap, and her brothers soon followed. It was our last hurrah before school started. Now we are back to school routine, and all that entails.
Hope you have a wonderful day today.
Heather
It is late and I should be sleeping, but can’t right now. Wanted to share a bit of a victory with you. I managed to lose my first 10% in Weight Watchers. I was thrilled, but plan to try and lose another 10% before deciding how much I want to lose.
I am reading Acts right now and a couple of things sparked my interest.
Acts 21:14 So when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, “The will of the Lord be done.”
What a difference a comma makes in the above passage when Paul would not be persuaded from going to Jerusalem. Most people read the above passage “So when he would not be persuaded we ceased saying, “The will of the Lord be done.” Implying that they gave up on Paul, and let him have his own devices. (If you read further you see that whole believing families accompanied Paul to the harbor, and prayed with him)But the other way to read it is with all the commas, which gives a different slant, that Paul couldn’t be persuaded, so they ceased trying to convince him, and trusted in the will of the Lord.
I realize that often I want to control things way too much, having it done the way I want it done, in the order that I think is best. Usually this is with the best intentions of wanting to spare someone from a mistake that I have made in the past, or from a problem that I can see will occur. Sometimes the will of God is vastly different for God has a greater perspective than my own limited vision. Sometimes I have to remember to let God out of the box and move on with my life. It isn’t always easy to do that for me. But sometimes I just have to turn things over to God’s will. And trust that God will provide, even when those around me don’t seem to listen to my reason.
Acts 23:3 Then Paul said to him (Ananias) “God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! For you sit to judge me according to the law, and do you command me to be struck contrary to the law?
Two interesting tidbits of info. Graves were to be avoided by the priests for it would make them unclean. To make sure that a person knew where a grave was, the people would paint the gravestones and markers with whitewash. So Paul was telling the High Priest, that he was not alive, that he was dead in his faith and life. And also I learned that when a person was guilty, they were to be struck on their back, not on the face like Paul and Jesus were struck, according to the Law. So the priest commanded against the law.
When I am a bit more awake, I will write out another Bible study. For the next several weeks our church is having a discipleship training. I am not certain how that will work, but it will be vastly different from Bible study, so I look forward to sharing some of that with you as well.
Have a blessed day,
Heather
I have seen this before, but think the girls may enjoy this.
Note from Chris: I promised the women they would get the last laugh to the laugh of the 8/26 issue, but then forgot to deliver! Anyway, here it is! 
-Chris
Training Courses Women Wish Were Available for Men:
1. Introduction to Common Household Objects I: The Mop
2. Introduction to Common Household Objects II: The Sponge
3. Dressing Up: Beyond the Funeral and the Wedding
4. Design Pattern or Splatter Stain on the Linoleum?:
You CAN Tell the Difference!
5. If It’s Empty, You Can Throw It Away: Accepting Loss I
6. If the Milk Expired Three Weeks Ago, Keeping It In the Refrigerator
Won’t Bring It Back: Accepting Loss II
7. Going to the Supermarket: It’s Not Just for Women Anymore!
8. Recycling Skills I: Boxes that the Electronics Came In
9. Recycling Skills II: Styrofoam that Came in the Boxes that the
Electronics Came In
10. Bathroom Etiquette I: How to Remove Beard Clippings from the Sink
11. Bathroom Etiquette II: Let’s Wash Those Towels!
12. Bathroom Etiquette III: Five Easy Ways to Tell When You’re About to
Run Out of Toilet Paper!
13. Giving Back to the Community: How to Donate 15-Year-Old Levis to
Goodwill
14. Retro? Or Just Hideous?: Re-examining Your 1970s Polyester Shirts
15. No, The Dishes Won’t Wash Themselves:
Knowing the Limitations of Your Kitchenware
16. Romance: More Than a Cable Channel!
17. Going Out to Dinner: Beyond the Pizza Hut
18. Expand Your Entertainment Options:
Renting Movies That Don’t Fall Under the “Action/Adventure” Category
19. Yours, Mine, and Ours: Sharing the Remote
20. Adventures in Housekeeping I: Let’s Clean the Closet
21. Adventures in Housekeeping II: Let’s Clean Under the Bed
22. “I Don’t Know”: Be the First Man to Say It!
23. The Gas Gauge in Your Car: Sometimes Empty MEANS Empty
24. Directions: It’s Okay to Ask for Them
25. Accepting Your Limitations:
Just Because You Have Power Tools Doesn’t Mean You Can Fix It
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Friday 8/19/05 Pastor Don taught a Bible study on someone’s question about faith. This study blessed me so much, I am excited to share it with you.
Mark 9:14-32 This has to do with the boy who was demon possessed, that the disciples could not heal. Jesus came down from the Mount of Transfiguration, and hears the situation. Jesus then responded Mark 9:19 “He answered him and said, “O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him to Me.”
Pastor Don pointed out that this response of Jesus seems on the surface to be tough, seems to be a rejection or insult.
But there is a reason for this. We then went through some of the miracles that have occurred in the book of Mark, miracles the disciples were present for, and they should have had their faith formed by being present at these.
Mark 4 – calming of the sea
Mark 5 – casting out demons, raising dead girl
Mark 6 – feeding 5,000, walking on the water, multiple healings, drove out demons
Mark 7 – healing of Syro-Phoenician’s daughter, deaf and dumb healed
Mark 8 – feeding of 4,000, healing of blind man
Mark 9 – the transfiguration.
Given all that the disciples had experienced with Jesus, it was surprising that they did not have more faith. Don’t forget they also went out and healed people, cast out demons before.
So, what happened that they couldn’t cast out the demon in this boy?
Sometimes we exercise our faith by rote, praying the same prayer that worked in the past, using the same method as before rather than following the leading of the Holy Spirit. When we don’t get the result by doing the rote method, then our faith is shaken.
How do we build our faith for different situations, there is no magic sentence or words to say. The words we use are not where the power is, where the meaning is, it is the faith that is behind the words.
Mark 9:19 (see above) Given these were the disciples, it seems surprising that they would be unbelieving, for all it takes is the faith as small as a mustard seed.
We have to ask ourselves, at this specific moment do we have faith for what we are dealing with. Faith is not only quantitative but also qualitative.
Sometimes we don’t have healing from foaming at the mouth faith, but we have faith for TB. We may not have wart removal faith.
satan wants us to believe that we get to a point and become permanent faith giants. And when our words do not get results, it leaves us open for disillusionment, and doubt.
But our faith is compartmentalized. We may have faith for salvation, but not for healing of the common cold.
The church today has the theology that if you have salvation, you are good to go. (And salvation is most important).
If you continue reading about this demon possessed boy, you see that the boy became worse after they said their words to cast out the demon. The assumed that they did not cast out the demon, for they went by the external things that they saw, the boy writhing on the ground, foaming at the mouth.
We are to go by faith, not by SIGHT. 90% of miracles are lost during the process of healing. In the process of healing sometimes everything looks worse before it gets better. The symptoms increase, not decrease, and we give up on our healing. Think of a cut, first it becomes a scab, then new skin. Or a cold where you have tons of yucky mucus, and then a healing.
We need a discerning spirit.
Mark 9:20 Then they brought him (the demon possessed boy) to Him. And when he saw Him, immediately the spirit convulsed him, and he fell on the ground and wallowed, foaming at the mouth.
satan is dumb, and has only a few methods to work with. The demon did exactly for Jesus what he did for the disciples. The disciples bought the act of the foaming at the mouth, Jesus saw it for what it was, the last throws of the demon’s possession of the boy.
If a demon does something that strong it is because they have lost. If we buy into it, we are the problem. The demon is stupid and has run out of options.
V. 21 So He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “from childhood.” Jesus is in the natural and he sought to gain information about the situation, to place where the boy was. Jesus is the God man, and the Man of God. The Holy Spirit directed Jesus.
Sometimes when we are working with people the Holy Spirit gives us a tidbit of information, but then we have to follow up and ask questions of the person who we are dealing with to locate where they are in faith and in the situation.
So Jesus asked a question. He had to ascertain why the disciples had trouble, and what kind of demon he was dealing with.
This was a boy, a child, so the demon had no legal right in the boy, because the demon was in the boy from childhood, and the boy had not as a child been of an age of accountability.
The demon usurped possession of the physical child.
The next question of Jesus was v.23 “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” Jesus needed the cooperation of the person who had covenant authority over the child (the father), and the father had asked Jesus to have compassion on US. Not just on the son.
The father was repenting, asking compassion for an outpouring of the supernatural, to break satan’s bonds. This is the man’s legal right as father of the child.
The man answered Jesus, v. 24 “Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.”
The man’s response was enough faith for Jesus to work with. If you can get to neutral from unbelief, then God can heal you.
Pastor Don asked when was the boy healed?
V. 24 Jesus already knew that the boy was delivered, he was delivered in v. 17 when he came to Christ.
In v. 18, the father was wrong. The disciples did not drive out the demon, they did not have enough faith to deliver the boy, and they yielded to satan.
Pastor Don used an example of a woodpecker attacking a tree. Tiny holes, over time cause the tree to disintegrate. We need to identify the woodpeckers which are attacking our faith. We need to seek to gain strength to be like Christ.
v. 26 Then the spirit cried out, convulsed him greatly, and came out of him. And he became as one dead, so that many said, “He is dead.”
The onlookers were giving a negative report of the situation by saying the boy is dead. A negative report is worse than doubt and unbelief.
Demons are not worth all the attention that we give them. Notice what Jesus did, v. 27 “But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose.” Jesus did not speak lots of words, he just extended his hand casually and lifted up the boy. No fuss, no excitement, no concern, just gave the boy a hand up.
v. 2 So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.”
Now the disciples knew that Jesus lived a life of prayer and fasting, he was filled at all times and ready to deal with situations.
Some use Jesus’ teachings like a mantra, like magic. It is not the individual words, but the faith that you attach to the Words that give them power. Our faith doesn’t cast out the demon, it is the power of God. We must obey God in our situations.
When faith is present, if you speak it and believe it, the mountain must move.
For every demonic situation there is an answer from Heaven, but you have to find the key from Heaven. The key is in the Rhema Word of God.
Isaiah 58:6, Mark 9:29 Fasting destroys the work of the oppressor.
When you fast you bring your flesh under control. So the demon cannot bring an accusing statement about something that is not under control in your flesh.
Prayer is a power that causes faith to move., Mark 11:23-24 “For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them and you will have them.”
There was so much to learn about how faith moved in this, that when I had this Bible study, I wanted to skip the previous ones and type this one immediately, but I kept them in order. Just so you know, I will soon type Tuesday’s Bible study, but the following Friday we had a funeral, so there was no Bible study notes for that Friday.
Heather
A member named Tony taught the 8/16/05 Bible study. He spoke about the Holy Spirit also known as the Comforter and the Helper.
John 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.
The Greek word is paraclete and it means one called alongside to give aid and assistance. If you read the above passage in the Amplified Bible it adds that he comes to dwell on the inside of us.
God lives in us. We have a live in God (The Holy Spirit). He is not a freeloader, he is there to give aid and help, a comforter, a helper. We are not helpless.
We are never without help even in what we consider to be the menial things of life. We can talk with the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit talks back to strengthen us. He will excange our downs for ups, and give us endless strength. We must become GOD INSIDE OF ME FOCUSED. He (the Holy Spirit) is our advocate, and will plead our case. We are in the family business, the family of God our Father.
The Holy Spirit is what helped us to find Jesus.
Galatians says that the same Spirit lives in us that worked through Peter and Paul.
John 3, Jesus had the Spirit of God without measure.
We are members of the Body of Christ, and all the powers of darkness are under our feet.
Speaking in tongues is a doorway into other gifts of the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit, has not been sent to do our praying for us, but to help us to pray.
Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
We should expect the Holy Spirit to speak, and listen to His promptings.
The Word of God is the Will of God.
Two preachers, several church members could have opposite points of view, but still could come to agreement in prayer by praying in tongues, for the Holy Spirit would know what we need to pray, even if we have a wrong idea of what we think we want to pray for.
1 Cor. 14: 14-15 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful. What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding.
(Heather’s note, our church teaches that there is a time and a place for tongues, that it must be in order. In our private prayer life, tongues is a way to build us up, to fill our spiritual batteries. At prayer meetings were believers are present tongues are prayed, and with interpretation. We are instructed to pray that God will help us interpret tongues. If it is a Sunday service or unbelievers are present, tongues seldom is prayed for we feel that the soul purpose of church services is to help others to know Christ, to come to salvation, and to learn more about God).
Jeremiah said that God says that He knows the plans He has for us, to build us up. We are to be filled with the Holy Spirit to such a degree that people don’t know where God begins and you end. We are to die to self and the Spirit.
Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.
Tony said, “Some like to read the Bible in Greek or Hebrew, I like to read it in the Holy Spirit.”
Heather’s comment, lately I have been paying more attention to the Holy Spirit than I had been in the past. It is sad when you let your attention slip from the Holy Spirit. I truly know that it was the Holy Spirit that put my feet on a path that led to Christ Jesus, and no amount of gratitude to the Holy Spirit is enough gratitude.
Hope you are enjoying your holiday. Jim took the kids fishing and I get something I so seldom have, a few hours of alone time. What a blessing from God.
Heather
Thank you all for your prayers, we are home safely, and the kids are realizing how rapidly their summer is getting over, so we have been trying to pack a lot in a few days.
I am keeping the people down south in my prayers, it is so incredible to see such devistation and suffering.
I will try to write more tomorrow, but when I was typing in the hotel, Jim took this picture of me
Hope you have a blessed evening.
Heather
