SELFISH PRAYER REQUEST:
My husband and son have gone out fishing today and caught nothing. They are getting disheartened because the last three times they have gone out this month no fish. I told my oldest son that I would pray for them that they get an abundance of fish. Jim could use that pleasure right now in the midst of the things he is dealing with.
Thanks,
Heather
Sunday we were blessed to have Rabbis Michael and Gayle Zeitler speak at our church. They are from Baruch Ha Shem Ministries International. Gayle spoke about what is happening in Israel today. She mentioned how God shields Israel, and that many of the missiles that were targeting Israel missed their mark, that God’s hand was protecting Israel. She talked about Judges 7 and Gideon and his army, pointing out that God does not need many to fight His battles, because God is able. God waits until His people turn away from their sin, away from their idols and turn toward Him, then He intervenes. But in this case today, much of Israel is secular, but God is intervening to protect Israel in spite of their spiritual condition.
Rabbi Michael spoke about Josiah, 2 Kings Chapters 22-25.
He had us turn to 2 Kings 23:25 Regarding Josiah Now before him there was no king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses; nor after him did any arise like him.
Rabbi Michael said that we need to come together in Righteousness because of where we are in today’s world. We don’t know the time that the Messiah will come again, but it will happen. If we look at the signs of the times, 1000′s of weather incidents, earthquakes, and all the signs that Jeshua spoke. Now more than ever we have to come together in unity through His Righteousness.
He continued to say that we need to speak God’s words, not our words.
He gave an example that in Communist Russia, underground churches would meet and invariably the KGB would come and the worshippers would scatter, running for their lives. After many times of this, the pastor stated that the Holy Spirit would tell them when and were to gather, to listen for the Holy Spirit’s instructions. The next time they met all were there but one person – that was the person who was the informant. Given the way our world is going now, we may soon be put into a similar situation, where we need the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Josiah wanted to be like David, walking in the Righteousness of God. In Josiah’s day there were high places (altars to idols) even in Jerusalem. He ordered that the high places be torn down, the bones of the priests of the idols were scattered, and at 19 he made a concerted effort to cleanse the land of all unrighteousness. Josiah thought, after that, that he had done everything in his power. But he realized that the Temple was in shambles and uncared for. He had the High Priest take treasury money and give it to carpenters to buy the supplies to begin to rebuild Solomon’s Temple. There is actually archeological proof of this because a piece of slate was found with a list of carpentry supplies on it and Josiah’s signature.
In the rebuilding of the temple, they also found idols of pagan worship within the temple!. They were destroyed, and in a secret spot were found scrolls of the Torah. When the Words were read to him, Josiah wept and ripped his clothes in grief. He realized how short of righteousness he was, even though he thought he had done everything in a righteous way, but it wasn’t even close to what God proclaimed.
This is true also in our lives. That we think we are walking in righteousness, but when we hold our lives up to the Word of God, to God’s truth, we will see how far we fall short of God’s Word.
The Bible says that not one jot or tittle will pass away. We do not follow the entire Word of God completely in our lives.
Josiah had all the people gathered, so that they could hear the reading of the True Word of God. This lead to a great revival in the land, and a return to Beth-el – the House of God. Rabbi Michael said that the mountains near Beth-el are in the shape of the letter Shem if you look at an aerial photograph of the mountains.
It was at Beth-el that the people built a golden calf and worshiped at an idol’s altar. Josiah pulled down that altar and found a grave site. The grave was the grave of a prophet who had prophesied that this event of the returning of Israel to God would happen 300 years previous to the time of Josiah.
The prophets today are telling us to walk in righteousness, walk in holiness. There can be no fluctuation, no wolves among the sheep, no hidden idols in our temples (not our churches, not our bodies which are the temple of God), we need to get ourselves cleansed.
We were told to write down idols in our lives on a piece of paper and bring them to the altar. Pastor Don was going to burn them. We prayed for release of the idols so that we can walk in God’s righteousness.
Rabbi Michael suggested a book, In His Steps by Charles Shelden, which shows us how to walk in righteousness.
It was a profoundly moving service on Sunday, and I am so blessed to be able to sit under good teachings.
Heather
After I wrote what is below, I went to the grocery store to pick up supplies for dinner. In the car I was feeling pretty down because I realized how much I fall short in what is taught below. The Holy Spirit reminded me that we are not perfect when we come into the Kingdom, that it is His job to convict us so that we can grow and change and become more like Christ. It is a process, and one part of the process is realizing that we fall short of God’s best for us. Then we can begin to change with His help.
The Holy Spirit is impressing Pastor Don to keep teaching regarding the topic of study that we that we covered from the Wednesday Bible study. He taught it Friday (which is what I am going to write on today), and he also taught it Sunday. The Holy Spirit wants us to walk in freedom.
Feelings are our enemy unless they are of the Holy Spirit. Nothing out of our feelings has any validity unless they line up with the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. If we are justifying our feelings, to try and believe that they are valid, we are in error. FAITH is different from feelings. If our feelings line up with FAITH, then act upon them. If our feelings do not line up with faith, and are outside of what God speaks, they are a lie, an antichrist.
IT IS THE FEELINGS OF MAN THAT LEAD US INTO JUSTIFYING ERROR. We are so attached to our traditions, in church, in our lives, in our relationships. Traditions FEEL good to us, but often they have nothing to do with faith or the Word of God. When we accept the traditions that feel good, we are approving a lie. Pastor Don talked about how every church has traditions that aren’t directly written in the Word of God. That when we get to Heaven and look at what God really said, we are all going to be surprised. No denomination has the truth 100%. But, once we realize that some tradition does not line up with the truth of God, we are then responsible about what we do with that information.
When you let your feelings speak and have an improper emotion like hating your brother, you talk about the feeling in your mind, you speak the feeling, and keep elaborating on the feeling – ultimately giving the improper feeling substance which can lead to action.
When we realize we are in error, we need to make a correction, honestly assess where we are in error and repent (change direction). We can end up stepping outside of righteousness by our feelings if we don’t judge them.
Remember when Jesus spoke about adultery, Matthew 5:27-28 You have heard that it was said to those of old, You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
The person that Jesus was referring to did not do the act, but in his heart and mind he did commit adultery. There were no outward physical signs of this, just a heart feeling, a thought.
Heather’s note, Jesus also said, Matthew 12:34 “….For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”
When we are outside of God’s purpose for us, we bring evil on ourselves. We want to project onto God things that are not the God of the Bible. God is a God of judgement, not a God who lives up to our feelings. We can’t let our feelings lead us to stupid illogical things.
We make feelings our idol, and emotions our god. We need to define our words. Our kids would like us to believe that loving them means that we let them do whatever they want, but that is not true love – love judges. If we tell our kid not to touch a woodburning stove because they are going to get burned, that limitation is love.
God loves us and limits us. If we go by feeling, we will have the wrong definition of love. God who is love gave us the 10 Commandments (not the ten suggestions), and if we go by them, our life will be better.
We need to keep a reign on our feelings when they are not accurate. We can trust feelings that are impartial, show good judgement, and line up with the Word of God.
We also need to keep a bridle on our mouth because our mouth reflects what we are feeling. When we take what we feel in the heart and speak it, it gives air to the feeling, and thus the feeling has more power. We need to make sure we are speaking what is within God’s parameter.
(Heather’s note, in a previous Bible study, Pastor Don talked about how satan cannot read our minds but he can hear what we say and sees what we do. Do we really want to give him more ammunition?)
Job said that he felt his kids may have sinned and he made sacrifices for them. He did not judge them, or put limits on their behavior. He stayed in the feeling realm, and satan was able to use those feelings, those fears of losing his kids, to satan’s advantage to try and pull Job away from God.
If Job acted in faith, saying “I believe my kids will do well,” spoke words that lined up with God’s words, and corrected his kids, satan would not have been able to do what he did. Faith covers what feelings don’t cover.
Feelings produce words which produce action.
David brought his feelings to the Lord, the only safe place to bring our feelings. He asked the Lord to help him. God then showed David how to feel about his situation.
You have a thought life, before you speak with your tongue the thoughts you have, you need to first pay attention to what you are thinking, so you do not speak into action something that is not true. You need to ask yourself why am I thinking what I am thinking? We need to judge our thought life.
(Heather’s note, I have to tell you that before the weekend was out I realized that I said many things that I should not have said, and it is being brought to my mind so that I can repent of them. I really need to discipline my thought life and my mouth so much more).
Proverbs 23:7-9 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, but his heart is not with you. The morsel you have eaten, you will vomit up, and waste your pleasant words. Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.”
Isaiah 10:7 Yet he does not mean so, nor does his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy, and cut off not a few nations.
Things get into your mind that may not be what is deep in your heart. What your mind can think or what you are speaking, may be speaking against what’s in your heart. But if you have accepted into your heart lies, what you speak from your mouth will be what is in your heart.
Mark 11:23 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.
Here the person is speaking from his heart, no doubt in his heart.
Matthew 6:7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.
Here is an example of THINKING a wrong thing, wanting to believe that if you repeat over and over and over the same thing God will hear you. The truth is God hears you before you even speak, and he hears your prayer the first time you say it. This kind of thinking that the heathen do is an effort in futility.
Emotions give us standards and traditions that we approve of (such as if you pray many times the same prayer, if your dress is so long, if you kneel and bow three times, if you spend 15 minutes in devotions, or whatever), these do not bear fruit. God does not approve. It isn’t volume, quantity, density that brings results, but God’s grace and mercy.
John 5:39 You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.
We get attached to what we like, for when God says no, we have to decide, God our our belief. Notice that Jesus said YOU THINK. It is dangerous to think you have arrived until you have a relationship with Jesus.
1 Corinthians 8:2-3 And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.
Thinking will not edify us, only knowing God and loving God edifies us.
The application of the above is 1 Corinthians 8:4 Therefore concerning the eating of things offered to idols, we know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is no other God but one.
We cannot feed our minds (eat of thoughts or food or actions) that are idols, that doesn’t edify. We must realize that there is only God.
1 Corinthians 10:12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.
The Amplified version of 1 Corinthians 10:12 So if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!
To be an effective Christian, you have to doubt what you believe by tradition, throw out the bad theology, and find the foundational rock of the truth of God’s Word.
Galatians 6:1-5 Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For each one shall bear his own load.
This verse is about a believer who is caught in sin. Part of the endtimes harvest is going to be people like this, who have been ostracized by the church, and they are coming back to be restored. They will not come back clean, but will often come back into the church with their sin. God will clean them. We have to let them know that they are welcome, but their sins are not welcome. We love them, but not the sin.
How we do it, Galatians 6:6-9 Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.
Don’t think you are hot stuff at the expense of another person. Brag on God, not on yourself. When there is a battle do not lose heart, the battle is in the feelings, not in the truth of God. If you are always feeling that life is a struggle, you are sowing into negative feelings. Sometimes God’s timing is different from our desired timing, so if we lose heart, and start speaking the words of doubt from our feeling, we can lose the blessing that was being sent to us, killing the blessing.
Notice it is in DUE SEASON, and God’s idea of what is due season can differ from us. God knows the proper timing.
Pastor Don said: YOUR TALENT CAN TAKE YOU TO PLACES YOUR CHARACTER CAN’T SUSTAIN YOU.
Sometimes when we get promoted too early, we haven’t developed our characters enough to sustain the position. That is why God waits, until we are really ready for the position.
Pastor Don said that there were two books that affected him when he was a teenager.
The Power of the Superconscious Mind, and the other one was The Power of Positive Thought by Fulton Sheen.
And then Pastor Don concluded with “Don’t let someone’s feelings or mood talk you out of your dream.
Hope this teaching was a blessing to you. I know that God is working on me in this area and with His help, I can do what I can’t do in the flesh.
Heather
Here is the continuation of yesterday’s study:
THE SOLUTION (Continued)
THE LAW OF SUBSTITUTION.
We need to implement the Law of Substitution if we ever want to get well. We need to realize that we are in control about what we feel about the situations we are in. We can choose to believe God’s truth or a lie about the situation.
We tend to make ourselves into an IDOL, we think we are the only ones who can do something. We believe that we need to ___, we have to ____, we want to ___ - so we end up trying to do things in our own power that are not God’s best will for us. This can lead to sickness, stress, and heart attacks. We overfill and over pressurize our lives. We have to realize that there is always something that we can drop. It is often a battle for us to really drop something that God tells us to drop. We FEEL we HAVE to do something, but that is a deceitful lie if the feeling does not come from God. People will defend to the death their stress.
THE SOLUTION
2 Corinthians 3:4-6 And we have such trust through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God.
If the Body of Christ would only realize that we can do nothing of our own, but can only really accomplish great things THROUGH Christ, we could move mountains!
When we rely on feelings, we become subject to what we are supposed to be masters of. TO BE SUBJECT TO YOUR FEELINGS IS TO BE MASTER OF NOTHING. Our sufficiency is from God. It is not the letter of the Law, but the Spirit of the Law that we need to follow. The letter kills, the Spirit brings life.
When we read the Letter of the Word of God, often we take that Word and write laws for ourselves from the emotional realm, but that may not be what the Letter of the Word has in mind for us.
(Heather’s note: What came to mind when Pastor Don was describing this is the laws of the Sabbath, laws that are still today sorely contested – when is Sabbath, is is Sunday, Saturday, etc. When Jesus walked on the earth he constantly defied the restricting laws of the Sabbath that the Scribes and Pharisees made. He made his point that the Sabbath was for the people, not the people for the Sabbath. It was a time that God ordained for His people to take a rest – something that no other culture ever conceived of – a day off. It was to be a time of communion with God, rest and enjoying God’s creation – but the Scribes and the Pharisees killed that with all their restrictive rules that were not the heart of God about the Sabbath. What was considered work was so micro-managed, and then they devised ways around the rules, sigh).
Off topic for a second, Pastor Don talked about a conference that he attended and one speaker, Daryl Copes said, “Institute a 10 foot rule. Anyone within 10 feet of you speak to them and smile.”
2 Corinthians 5:16-17 Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
We are to see people as new creations, as Christ sees them. And Pastor Don said that the above doesn’t only apply to other people, but we are not even to see OURSELVES according to the flesh. We have no business, as a believer, to be flesh dominated.
Pastor Don asked if anyone had an Amplified Bible, and had them read the above verses, it was so profound that I am going to share the Amplified version with you. 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 Consequently, from now on we estimate and regard no one from a [purely] human point of view [in terms of natural standards of value]. [No] even though we once did estimate Christ from a human viewpoint and as a man, yet now [we have such knowledge of Him that] we know Him no longer [in terms of the flesh]. Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come!
We are born again. Pastor Don says that many, when they die and go to Heaven, want to take their baggage with them. When we are saved we are to drop all the old. But we want to REFURBISH rather than RECREATE. All the old stuff has to go. When our old feelings dominate us we are refusing to be a new creation. We have to die to self.
When we want to know if it is a feeling or a fact we have to ask our selves, WHERE IS THE TRUTH AND WHAT AM I FEELING?
We have to stop taking orders from our Body, and we cannot do it in our own strength, we have to apply the Law of Substitution.
Take back the old and substitute the new. New knowledge of Christ replaces old knowledge of the flesh.
How does it happen? God uses substitution to change anything He doesn’t like.
Pastor Don used the example of diet – where you say to yourself, “I am not going to eat dessert. I am not going to eat that cheesecake, I am not going to reach out and touch that tempting dessert, etc.” We spend so much time focusing on what we are not going to do – but the fallacy is that while we are saying I am not going to…. we are thinking about the very thing that we are trying to avoid. It is a trick of satan.
We will never win a battle in the emotional realm by deciding NOT TO THINK about something. Old things pass away period. Bring the new over the old to crowd out the old.
(Heather’s note – don’t think about blue monkeys – can’t do that.)
Trust in God’s sufficiency, and substitute what you know is of God. You can’t think two thoughts simultaneously. Take your mind off the battle. The devil defeats you in the realm of feelings when you directly fight him, that is implying that he is big. But no weapon formed against me will prosper. We are to think on those things which are pure, holy, and of God, substitute the good things and thoughts for what you are not wanting to think about. The devil can’t grab hold of you when you are in the joy of the Lord. satan can only leave you alone.
James 4:7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you doubleminded.
The above verse does not mean, repeating over and over “satan I resist you, satan I resist you, satan I resist YOU.” That just gives satan power, the way to resist satan is by submitting to God, drawing near to Him. He is close to us, and the very act of drawing near to God cleanses our hands and minds and hearts, and keeps us from being double minded. THAT is how you resist satan.
(Heather’s note, when I had insomnia once, Pastor Don wrote me a prescription: Read Psalms 1 through Psalms 4, when finished start over and do it again. Repeat as needed).
Psalm 4:1-2 Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have relieved me in my distress; Have mercy on me, and hear my prayer. How long, O you sons of men, Will you turn my glory to shame? How long will you love worthlessness and seek falsehood? Selah.
When we speak lies and stick to our old ways of thinking that is exactly what we are doing, loving worthlessness and seeking falsehood.
Psalm 4:3-4 But know that the LORD has set apart for Himself him who is godly; The LORD will hear when I call to Him. Be angry, and do not sin. Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still. Selah.
Here is how we fight, we know that God will hear when we call Him – even though circumstances do not seem to indicate that this is happening. We can be righteously angry (Like Jesus with the temple moneychangers, but not let the sun set on our anger), When we are in bed (and for that matter all the time during the day) we need to meditate on God’s truth, God’s Word, and God’s love. That way we fill our minds and hearts with truth, not lies. Then there is no room in our minds for the lies.
Psalm 4:5 Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD.
What is a sacrifice of righteousness? It is when we choose to believe God and put our trust in him. (Heather’s note – just like we have been seeing in Genesis, Abraham believed God and God accounted it for righteousness.)
Psalm 4:6-7 There are many who say, “Who will show us any good?” LORD, lift up the light of Your countenance upon us. You have put gladness in my heart, more than in the season that their grain and wine increased.”
Instead of thinking of the troubles that he, David, was having, David chose to recount the blessings of the Lord, the harvest, the bounty that God provided, not the difficulties that he was currently in. It is when we worship and praise God that we are free from the chains of the past. There is one Psalm where the Israelites say, how can I sing the praises of God when I am here in captivity. Pastor Don pointed out that it is when we are in captivity that we have to sing the praises. (Heather’s note: We need to talk to our Spirit and our emotions and tell them God’s goodness. No good comes from burdening us with the circumstances and the hurt and the pain. But praise frees.)
Psalm 4:8 I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; for You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.”
That is the result of praising God in the midst of our circumstances.
(Heather’s note: Think of Paul and Silas in prison singing, and I think of the 23rd Psalm. When we trust God we can rest. A sheep will not rest if it feels unsafe, and our only way to feel truly safe is in God’s Hands.)
Hope this blesses you. I know it challenges me a lot, but I also know that it is true and I have to remind myself to apply these teachings in my life.
Heather
Two years ago I would have heard this teaching and my hackles would have risen, it is not an easy teaching even now for me, but now I recognize the truth of the teaching and know that I am learning to apply these truths to my life. But I warn you to fasten your seatbelts. Please read through this because the first part didn’t make sense to me until the later part. I am just giving you my notes on Pastor Don’s teaching in the order that he presented them. First I will present the problem, then the solution.
THE PROBLEM
Psalm 52:1-4 Why do you boast in evil, O mighty man? The goodness of God endures continually. Your tongue devises destruction, like a sharp razor working deceitfully. You love evil more than good, lying rather than speaking righteousness. You love all devouring words, you deceitful tongue.
We are spirits who live in a body and and have a soul (mind, will, emotions).
Our spirit also has a mind, will, and emotions and when we die, it will still feel.
In our carnal bodies, our spirit is encased in a physical body. When we die, our Spirit will not be so encased. Because our spirit is a mirror of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit feels, we can assume that our spirits also feel.
Right now we have a pride of the flesh. Our bodies stimulate our emotional feelings, but that won’t be so when we go to the Lord. For example, in the physical we obsess over dress, but in our glorified bodies that will not be needed. In the flesh we respond to things according to physical circumstances, but in the Spirit we will respond to the truth of God.
Our emotions fluctuate. Bad news on a “good” day may not impact us as much as bad news on a “bad” day.
When we say “I feel” we have to ask ourselves where we feel, is it in the Spirit or in the flesh.
God feels – Jesus is God and he wept, God has shown many emotions: anger, jealousy, joyous, loving, sad, weeping. The Holy Spirit feels – it can be grieved. Remember Jesus did what He saw His Father do, and Jesus showed all the above emotions.
Moses saw God angry, and Moses interceeded with God so that God’s anger was not acted immediately on the Israelites. But yet, his anger did get acted on – the Israelites died in the wilderness for disobedience, but God gave them the chance to repent and change.
We were created in God’s image, and we have feelings – God has feelings, but in His Sovereign nature, God’s feelings are righteous. In our limited, physical understanding we cannot understand God’s feelings. His thoughts are not our thoughts.
We have our pet ways of doing things, and we continue to do them that way. Do we really expect God to reward us if we continue to do or say something that God tells us not to do?
Pastor Don gave the example of your kid screaming, and do we then give in and teach them that screaming will get them what they want, or do we withhold the blessing until they learn a more appropriate way to ask for things.
When God withholds from us it is from love, because God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son for us.
Our Spirit man must rise up and dominate our feelings and emotions, and then the body will follow God’s ways.
Our words (like the above Psalm says) have force and creation. If our words express our feelings and emotions, not the truth of the Spirit we can talk ourselves into some rather negative thinking and believing. We have to let our Spirit be in control, not our feelings and emotions.
We lie to ourselves when we say, “I can’t help it.” That is letting our emotions set our parameters. We need to follow God’s parameters. God wants us to feel, but within the confines of His Word. The Word bids us to control our feelings within the acceptable realm of righteousness.
You words will determine what you will.
Your words set the parameters of your life.
Your feelings are no longer permitted to take you beyond righteousness, no longer are you allowed to make excuses to speak evil.
(Heather’s note: The above is hard to swallow for me. This is a teaching for believers, because when we believe, we are new creations in Christ. The old passes away and we are new creations. What we cannot do in the flesh, we can do when we are IN Christ. When we keep speaking the negative things that we are used to speaking, our words will bring forth the negative things that we speak. A few years ago I would have bristled at that comment because I would have felt that if someone hurt me, or if something went wrong, that I had the “right” to speak my peace. That would have dug me into a deeper hole and not helped at all. We have to speak God’s truth into a situation, not our outward circumstances. That is not to say you deny the circumstances or feelings, but you must take steps to go beyond it. Today I was talking with Pastor Don and telling him that a few years ago I would have heard this teaching and stamped my foot and said, “It isn’t fair – I was hurt, I was the abused person, and now I have to control what I say about the situation. Where do I come in? When do I get to be pitied and comforted, listened to?” Now I see that it is God’s love that causes Him to teach me to speak edifying words, to speak His truth, because that is His best for me. When I cling to the past, the hurt, the anger, the unforgiveness, the complaining, it doesn’t help get me out of the situation. Years of therapy, focusing on the feelings, etc. did nothing to heal me, but God’s Word heals. I can honestly say that when I follow God’s principles as laid out below this, life is much better for me. If your old way isn’t working, consider giving the following a try. What can it hurt?)
Back to the above mentioned Psalm – It is not just what we talk about out loud that affects us, but what we think in our minds. We have, as verse 3 says, to accept the fact that we like evil thoughts (evil thoughts being thoughts that do not agree with God’s Word), we say them in our heads, and let them out of our mouths. Then we complain about how bad we feel. There is no excuse for feeling bad if we are causing those bad feelings by speaking things that do not line up with God’s truth.
(Heather’s comment: OUCH!!!! that one strikes home for me. Every time I speak the circumstances instead of God’s truth, I focus more on the circumstances than on the way to get out of them – that way being speaking God’s truth. It “feels” good to be able to gripe and complain about my circumstances, but it sure doesn’t help me to escape them, and then I get others speaking to me and enforcing the circumstances, sigh.)
Verse 4 talks about devouring words, those words that we make excuses about, feel justified in saying – but they are evil. It can be gossip, evil speaking, or jealousy. The Korah Rebellion, the sons of Korah spoke what was going on in the minds of the other Israelites – their thoughts about why does God use Moses and Aaron – aren’t all good, why are they singled out. What happened? God opened up the earth and it swallowed up all the sons of Korah, their possessions, tents, etc. They spoke outside of God’s parameters. satan loves to cause us to speak negative things, it does his work for him.
Verses 5-7 God shall likewise destroy you forever; he shall take you away, and pluck you out of your dwelling place, and uproot you from the land of the living. Selah. The righteous also shall see and fear, and shall laugh at him saying, “Here is the man who did not make God his strength but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness.”
How hard it is to not gossip. And Christians can get holy and gossip under the guise of prayer, “Let’s pray for brother/sister so and so, that they do not continue to commit adultery, etc.”
(Heather’s note, Proverbs 6:16-19 These six things the LORD hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among brethren.)
Psalm 52:8-9 But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever. I will praise You forever, because You have done it; and in the presence of Your saints I will wait on Your name, for it is good.
THE SOLUTION
The LAW OF SPIRITUAL SUBSTITUTION
There are truths that must always work. One such truth is gravity. We can choose not to believe in gravity, but if we throw something up, it will fall down. We also have the law of inertia- that an object in motion will stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside force, etc.
The law of faith – Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. Or the law that says, you shall have what you say.
Whether we know the law or not, believe the law or not, the law will work every time.
Mark 11:22-24 “So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. 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.”
Romans 4:17 (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did..
Spiritual laws affect our feelings, thinking, and reactions. What comes out of our mouths can lead us to unrighteousness.
Pastor Don gave an example. Say if God anointed his wife with a powerful teaching ministry. Pastor Don then gets jealous, feeling she is usurping his position, feeling rejected, etc. Then he would have feelings of jealousy and begin to get annoyed when he was around her, then his body language toward her would change, the tone of his voice, etc. The adjectives and adverbs he uses about her would change. His body poses would change, his relationship would weaken. He might choose to undermine her ministry. But Pastor Don’s Spirit Man would know better, that God gave her that ministry as a blessing, perhaps to free himself for a new level of ministry, to reach other people for God’s glory, etc.
When he is around her, those feelings would not make him feel good, and he might choose alternative actions to make him “feel” good, going to a bar, a diner, hanging out with friends away from the home. His body would start being stressed, using up vitamins and maybe losing sleep. His health would suffer, etc.
So Pastor Don has a choice in the above example. When the thoughts and feelings come, he has to ask where they are coming from. Are they a physical emotional feeling, or from the Spirit. Then he can choose to dismiss the false feelings, and align with God’s Word and Spirit.
The feelings cause thoughts, the body responds, and this leads to what the above Psalm calls “devouring words.” That is believing a lie.
Far too often we yield to the lie, in big and little ways. Never stopping to ask ourselves, “What is the truth? Where am I stepping outside the boundaries of God’s Truth?”
To put a stop to the above example, or similar situations in our lives is to recognize is that the feelings I am feeling are a physical feeling, and seek God’s truth about it.
So often we say the word “feel” and we don’t hear that word. We substantiate what comes after the word “feel” as if it is a fact and a truth. It may have nothing to do with anything true. When we say “I feel” it negates the truth. If it is a bad feeling, a lie, it comes from outside the realm of God’s parameters. If it is a good feeling, it is within the range. Bad is what does not line up with the truth of God, and good is that which lines up with the truth of God.
When we realize that we have adopted and accepted a lie, we need to take it to the Lord. Faith is a fact, it is when we call those things which aren’t as if they are.
Two thoughts cannot hold the same space in our mind – if we substitute the Truth of God for a lie, we can no longer keep the lie in our minds, for our minds are taken up with the truth. This is the Law of Substitution.
This is such a long study that I am going to stop here – I did not want to stop after the problem without giving a hint at the hope. Tomorrow I will share the rest of the study and go into the solution more.
I think that each and everyone of us at times succumbs to lying thoughts that do not line up with the Word of God. As we grow in the Spirit, they will become apparent to us sooner, and eventually, I hope, we do not act or think them anymore.
Have a blessed night.
Heather
Last chapter, Genesis 35, was a chapter about deaths, we lost Rachel; Jacob’s son, Reuben, had an incestuous relationship with his father’s concubine; and then Isaac, Jacob’s father, died at one hundred and eighty years.
Beth Moore comments in her book the Patriarchs, that death takes us from a relative cocoon of our thus-far existence into an inconceivably larger world. She then wonders what possessed Reuben to sleep with Bilhah. He surrendered to evil and disturbing desires. According to Beth, one commentator states, “Whatever his actual motives, Reuben’s deed represents a powerful challenge to Jacob’s authority. He simultaneously exacts revenge for the humiliation of his mother, prevents Rachel’s concubine from again usurping his mother’s place as Jacob’s (primary) wife, lays premature claim to his inheritance, and most important, directly challenges his father for leadership by assertion of greater sexual prowess and preeminence over his own wives. Reuben’s incestuous act is, in its inner meaning, an act of patricide, the removal of father as father.” This comes from the Beginning of Wisdom by Kass.
Beth then mentions Rachel’s labor and comments about the difficult labor and the birth that led to Rachel’s death. Rachel named the child Ben-oni (son of my trouble/sorrow), and Jacob renamed the child Ben-jamin (son of my right hand). This is the only child that Jacob named, so his choice to change the name cannot be taken lightly. They have one syllable in common – “ben” which means son. Beth Moore says on page 165 “Who in the world knew the power of a name more vividly than Jacob? He was named Jacob because he grabbed his brother’s heel, but the name also implied meanings like cheater, supplanter, and deceiver. And he lived up to the broader implications, how often do you think Jacob felt mocked by his name? Surely the self-fulfilling, dark power of his name motivated the following dialogue as Jacob wrestled with the divine by the Jabbok.
But Jacob replied, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”
The man answered him, “What is your name?”
“Jacob,” he answered.
Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome.” (Gen 32:26-28
Beth continues p. 165 “Overcome what, I ask you? His own name, for starters. He’d learned to fight fair, and God in His mercy released him from the noose of his own name.”
It is funny. When I was born neither parent wanted me, so the naming of me fell to my sister. She named me Shirley Pauline – Shirley after Shirley Temple, and Pauline so I would have a middle name. She never had a middle name and resents that fact to this day. I have always hated my name – first of all I can’t carry a tune and I have two left feet. During my “hippie” days, after I decided to live and not die, I gave myself the nick-name, Heather Dawn, Heather being a plant that is growing, alive and living, Dawn being a rebirth, a reawakening, a coming anew. It stuck. I am far more a Heather than I am a Shirley. We have to remember to call me Shirley to my relatives but all the people that matter in my life call me Heather.
I remember picking the title wondering04 for the blog – 04 I started the blog in November 2004. But I picked “wondering” because at the time I was wondering where God was. Now I wonder what wonderful things He is going to do in my life and in the lives of my Xanga friends. I always love learning why people pick their Xanga names.
Names are powerful, and they are spoken often. Remember God changed Abraham’s name from Abram. Abraham means father of many nations. Can you imagine having to introduce yourself as Abraham and then being asked how many children you have, none…. Not an easy thing to do. But by changing his name, God had Abraham speak into existence his son.
Beth Moore reminds us of 1 Chronicles 4:9-10 and Jabez, which means I bore him in pain. Jabez asks God to enlarge his territory and make him free from causing any more pain.
Beth then asked a question: What kinds of circumstances can haunt a child today? And some of our group’s answers were being unwanted, death of a parent, and an accident of conception.
Beth then said on p. 165-166 “Deliver us, Lord. Deliver us from these negative events or emotions that may have somehow identified us. Deliver us from inheriting some else’s sorrow and taking ownership over something that wasn’t our fault. Even if we’ve not been named after difficult circumstances, we may have felt the heavy burden of association. Jabez needed a dad like Jacob: A dad who refused to let his son become saddled with his mother’s sorrow. A father could as easily saddle a child with guilt as a mother. Maybe checks and balances is another reason God wisely assigned two parents to each child. You and I have a heavenly Father who refuses to call us by our old identities. God temporarily reversed His own Son’s identity that ours might be reversed. The Son of His right hand descended to this broken world to become a Son of sorrows so that you and I might “be called children of God! And that is what we are!” (1 John 3:1) How great is the love the Father has lavished on us.”
Genesis Chapter 36
I think we could give Chapter 36 the title, the folly of the flesh. Our flesh says, “I want what I want when I want it. It is contrary to the Spirit. The flesh lives outside of the presence of God. The Bible says all scripture is given by inspiration of God. Inspired means God breathed life into each and every word He spoke. So, while it might seem easier to bypass chapter 36, God included all the lineage information for a purpose. There are lessons to be learned even from the “begats.”
We are now going to see the genealogy of Esau – remember Esau is Jacob’s twin brother, the elder one. But Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of pottage, and also was tricked out of Isaac’s blessing.
Esau took wives from the daughters of Canaan, these were pagan women. Esau’s parents were not happy with these marriages, and they troubled his mother. Esau settled in Edom, which is outside of the promised land. It is funny that Esau’s children were born within the Promised Land that God gave Abraham, and Esau made a decision to leave the land and settle outside of the land of promise. Jacob, on the other hand, had his children outside the Promised Land, and brought his family back to the Promised Land. This is another example of Esau despising his birthright, and leaving.
Deuteronomy 7 the Israelites will be instructed not to marry Cananites.
The following is notes from a teaching of Jon Courson on this chapter.
The first wife Esau married was Adah, the daughter of Elon the Hittite. We have seen the name Adah before, Genesis 4:19 where Lamech took two wives, one of whom was Adah – this was before the flood. Lamech was a descendant of the family of Cain (the one who killed Abel).
I know the next two paragraphs are a mouthful, but there is a lesson in this. And we might see where the Spice Girls got their name (just kidding).
Esau married Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, Aholibaman the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite, and Basemath, Ishmael’s daughter. Notice that in Genesis 26:34 that Esau changed her name to Basemath (which means – no kidding- Spice Girl). When he met a Basemath later on in life, he had to change her name so that there were not two Basemath’s.
He also took Aholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite as a wife. I believe he renamed her Judith, a Jewish name, but that name did not seem to stick. If you look at Genesis 36:41 you see that she is mentioned as Chief Aholibamah (or Duke), and he may have married her for the power.
But one thing we can see is that Esau learned the power of changing names. But unfortunately the flesh has a tendency to change the name of a sin into something that seems more palatable.
For example today instead of adultery we have an affair, instead of fornication we have a fling, instead of sodomy we are gay. The sin is the same, no matter the name it is called.
Esau chose not to marry within the nation of Israel, again he chooses to disregard God’s guidance, and not honor his birthright.
When Esau saw that his choice of wives did not please his parents, he then went to Ishmael and selected Mahalath (whose original name was Basemath- but that was the name he changed one of his former wives to, so he had to change Basemath’s name).
I AM NOT MAKING THIS UP!!!! What a string of confusion the flesh can make us go into.
Don’t forget Ishmael was Abraham’s son by Hagar, and God did not recognize that “marriage” or that Ishmael was the first born. So Ishmael probably was stewing in the wilderness, feeling that Isaac had stolen his birthright, and now with this marriage, I am certain seeds of dissension were sowed.
Verse 6-7 Then Esau took his wives, his sons, his daughters, and all the persons of his household, his cattle and all his animals, and all his goods which he had gained in the land of Canaan, and went to a country away from the presence of his brother Jacob. For their possessions were too great for them to dwell together, and the land where they were strangers could not support them because of their livestock.
This is similar to what happened between Lot and Abraham, where they had to divide because the land could not support both groups.
Verse 8 So Esau dwelt in Mount Seir. Esau is EDOM.
Remember that this is where the Edomites come from, and we will see that the Edomites continue to torment Jacob and the Israelites.
Then follows a detailed description of the genealogy of all the sons of Esau. In this we can see how the flesh proliferates and begins to gain control.
One famous name is Eliphaz mentioned in verse 11 – this could be the same Eliphaz that is mentioned in the book of Job.
Then the chapter talks about chiefs of Edom, one of them is mentioned in verse 15 Chief Teman – who was from the AMALEKITES – yet again another enemy of Israel.
Then there were the sons of Seir. Verse 24 These were the sons of Zibeon: both Ajah and Anah. This was the Anah who found the water in the wilderness as he pastured the donkeys of his father Zibeon. He was made famous for finding water, springs and water in this arid land was like gold.
I have not studied all the meanings of the names in the above chapter, but did touch on some of them that are most important. I wonder whether there is an embedded message in the names. Pastor Don frequently points out that no one speaks Moabite, Jebusite, Amalekite, or any other language from the tribes of Esau, only the Hebrew language remains from this time.
Beth Moore comments on page 166 about the descendants of Esau, “Scholars believe the positioning of Esau’s descendants in Genesis 36 may be a deliberate divider between the Jacob-Esau saga of recent chapters and the Jacob-Joseph saga to come. The spotlight of the narrative will now shift its gaze from the third generation to the fourth as Joseph takes center stage.”
Jon Courson stated that in this chapter are 8 things that depict the flesh.
1. The flesh is pious – Esau changed the names of his wives so that they sounded acceptable, religious, but underneath all they were the same.
2. The flesh is prolific -the groups of people who were descendants of Esau multiplied. When we sow to the flesh, we plant a seed that will multiply and grow, and soon there is a large crop from one tiny seed sown to the flesh. (Of course, the same thing can be said if we sow to God).
3. The flesh is prosperous. Sometimes it seems that those who are not godly seem to prosper. God will prosper the just and the unjust.
4. The flesh is persuasive. Eliphaz (Genesis 36:11) was one of the people who sat with Job and argued with him to try and convince him that Job had sinned.
5. The flesh is pernicious. verse 16 – the Amalekites would be a perpetual problem for Israel.
6. The flesh is powerful. Deuteronomy 2:12 – Esau dispossessed the Horites who dwelt in Seir, and destroyed them just like Israel did with the land God gave him to possess.
7. The flesh is persistent. verse 31-35 there was many kings who reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the children of Israel.
8. The flesh is proud, boastful of what it has brought about. We have seen this with the meeting of Esau and Jacob after their father’s death, where Esau stated that “I have enough.” and Jacob showed Esau, “What God gave him.”
But given the supposed power of Esau, today we know of no Edomites, Hittites, Jebusites, or any other ite that still is in existence. The language that they spoke is dead, and one of their best cities, Petra is right now empty with no sign of what happened to the people. They were totally wiped out and obliterated. Romans 8:6 “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
Tomorrow we begin a great study, Joseph, whose life takes up about 1/4 of the book of Genesis. His life is a picture of Jesus in so many ways. I have heard speakers say that in over 100 ways Joseph is a picture of Jesus, but I haven’t catalogued all those ways.
Hope you have a blessed day, and I just got back from Bible study – are you going to be blessed when I start transcribing the notes tomorrow. Incredible is an understatement.
Heather
Some of you have been following the secret correspondence between Buzz and Rocky the Wonder Dog. If you haven’t read the previous posts, here is the link.
http://www.xanga.com/item.aspx?tab=weblogs&user=wondering04&uid=494437026
We heard that Buzz had an allergic reaction to his rabies booster shot, his back got infected and he had to have 137 stitches. He is well now, but it makes it difficult for our neice to put him in a kennel because you can’t kennel a dog without a rabies booster. We had never heard of an allergic reaction before.
Anyway, we intercepted some secret correspondence between the two dogs and thought we would share it.
