Remember the Israelites in the wilderness? Bet you thought I would never get back to them, well I figured we ought to check in on them. They have just crossed the Red Sea, God did a mighty miracle of dividing the Red Sea. My husband and I were watching the Creation Moments program on TBN last night and Carl Baugh was giving some facts and figures about the Exodus. I sure wish I had a pen and pencil to take some notes, but alas I did not. But the miracle of the Red Sea was even more spectacular than we sometimes imagine. There were over a million Israelites leaving Egypt, to cross over the Red Sea, they did not cross over two by two, but to do it in a night they had to be 3,000 or more abreast, so the parting of the Red Sea was not just a tiny parting, but a huge gap.

Then he went over the amount of food and water that two million or more would have to be fed. One set of figures that I saw was that for 6 pints of manna, if there were 2 million people, it would be 12 million pints every single day of manna – for forty years! That wold translate into 9 million pounds, 4,500 tons daily. It would take 10 trains with 30 boxcars to bring that much manna to the people each day! Then add to that water, and realize that when God provided water for the people, it was not a tiny well with a trickle of water. Then there would be campfires with wood needed to burn which God had to grow up years previously to provide the fuel, and space for so many people to camp. This was not something Moses could have plotted out our provided, but had to have been the hand of God. And, even though these people did not make it into the Promised Land (their children and Joshua and Caleb did), it is no less of a miracle of God’s provision for the people, to preserve them so that future generations would receive the promise.

Anyway

Exodus 16:1 And they journeyed from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the Wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they departed from the land of Egypt.

Remember, God is taking the people along a series of campsites that help them to grow spiritually, much the same way that Elisha and Elijah went on their trek. Elim means mighty ones, and God sure showed the people His might when he parted the Red Sea and then drowned Pharaoh’s army. El – also is God. Elim also means Palms, and it was an oasis place of rest after the victory. SINAI means thorny, and SIN means thorn, clay. So It is pretty fitting that after leaving the oasis, the victory, much the same way as Elisha and Elijah went down to the Jordan, the Israelites are now going to be going into a thorny situation, into the wilderness of Sin, and facing what we, as clay vessels face. A test and a trial to test where we are in our faith. Their test and trial will be over provision.

Isn’t it funny how we are all tested in the realm of provision. God gives us so much, from salvation, love, comfort. He is sovereign and we sing songs and claim to make him sovereign over our lives, then a trial comes and we squeal and whine about where is God. I do not like trials and tests, but they sure are a good thermometer of our level of faith. The Israelites saw God keep His promise of freedom from Egypt, riches, He parted the Red Sea, destroyed the enemy. Songs were sung and rejoicing given, and now at the next challenge, they complain. You know, Pastor Don often teaches that we need to remember past victories when new trials come our way, so that we can build up our faith and trust God for the next victory. Me, way too often, I want status quo, and God pushes me kicking and screaming to a new level of trust.

Now before I share the next few verses, let’s have a reality check. The Israelites were slaves. They were beaten, forced to work long and hard hours. Their sons were being killed off by Pharaoh, and I guarantee that the Egyptians devalued their lives so much that they probably had pretty poor fare for food. Now listen to what transpires. I love the Bible when it lets us be a fly on the wall and overhear conversations.

Exodus 16:2-3  Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said to them, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.

Oh how often our physical hungers govern us. Some days, if I haven’t had my morning cup of coffee you may not want to know me. Pots of meat could also be flesh pots. When we get freed from an area of bondage in our lives, whatever the bondage, satan reminds us of the kicks that we had when we were in bondage. He might remind us of the great party we went to before we chose to leave that lifestyle, the pleasure of that last rich desert we had before dieting, or if you were addicted to drugs, the kind of release and euphoria you had with your last drug taking. Satan certainly will not remind you of how the thing that held us in bondage kicked us back. He won’t remind us of the hangover, the extra weight that causes such pain in our lives, and the gnawing desire that comes with drug addiction. He may even let us go back to our old ways for a season with little repercussion, but there will be a judgment. The Israelites forgot what they were crying out for deliverance from in Egypt. Let us remember that we do not want to go back to our Egypts, that we need to focus on God and keep our steps going towards the real goal of lasting value.

Notice something else, Moses and Aaron did not lead them from Egypt, God did. And they are now reasoning that God brought them out to kill them. This is a false accusation against God, He could have left them in Egypt and let the Egyptians do that for Him.

Exodus 16:4 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not.

Oh, how incredible this is. God is going to rain bread from heaven – lots of bread. And God is not going to just fill up their pots, the people will have to do some work to get this bread – they will have to gather a CERTAIN QUOTA – and how they gather the bread will also be a test – will they obey God or not.

I love that God cared so much for his people that, instead of raining fire and brimstone for their grousing and questioning the authority of Moses and Aaron, he will rain down bread. We know that Bread is also representative of the Bread of Life, Jesus. Of communion with God.

This bread is going to be called MANNA – and the literal translation of that is “What is this?” or more exactly, “What’s it?” It is sort of a derogatory name that the people gave this Bread from Heaven – kind of like when I would give my kids a new food, they would stare at it and ask me with derision, “What’s this?” God never (except one time when he was quoting the people’s vernacular) called the manna anything but Bread. And for God, since His son was our Bread of life, we can see why He would not want to use a derogatory term.

I think I will wait to go more into Manna later. There is so much to cover about Manna.

Hoping you have a blessed day. Tonight is Bible Study, YEAH!

Heather

Here is the continuation of Friday’s Bible study  I cannot believe that this week the kids have had a snow day on Friday, and also Monday. Yesterday, because I am cookie coordinator, I had to receive a truckload of cookies in the snow. My oldest son, as a teenager, has elevated snowman building to a new level. He made huge snowballs, so that the snowmen were taller than us! And of course since he has received his driver’s licence, he was pulling the huge snowballs for the snowmen on sleds tied to the car’s bumper (with my husband’s permission of course). When I can I will put up a picture of this feat.

Anyway, back to 2 Kings 2.

A question came up about spiritual mentors, and Pastor Don pointed out that you don’t go and pick your mentor, God has one picked for you to be your spiritual daddy (or mommy), and when He brings the two of you together you both will be blessed.

2 Kings 2:9  And so it was, when they had crossed over, that Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask!” What may I do for you, before I am taken away from you?” Elisha said, “Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.”

In the previous post, I mentioned that Pastor Don emphasized that until this point in the spiritual walk, if Elisha had asked this from Elijah the answer would have been, “No.” Because Elisha had to walk with Elijah through the various stages of the spiritual journey, Gilgal, Bethel, Jericho, Jordan. Only then would he be ready to receive such a double portion. And of course, Elisha had to be righteous to receive it.

2 Kings 2:10 So he said, “You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so.”

Pastor Don pointed out that verses 9 and 10 could not have happened if Elisha wasn’t in the Spirit from that time on. Elijah gave Elisha much knowledge in their walk through life, but a teacher can never tell the effectiveness of the sowing until the test comes. You can’t compete with the power of God. You need to be in the Spirit to prophesy, to be able to give such a statement to Elisha, Elijah had to have been in the Spirit. Elijah, at this point, probably knew that he was being taken by God, but did not know how he was going to be taken.

Enoch walked with God and was no more. Elijah knew that he was not like Enoch. Elijah got slapped down by God. At one point he was complaining the he was the only prophet left, and God pointed out that He had preserved 7,000 who would not kneel to baal.

The Holy Spirit told Elisha that a double portion would fall. Remember from the last post that the word used for mantle was ADDERETH, which means glory, a goodly made dress garment of splendor, beauty. Elijah’s mantle, addereth, glory, was what would pass from Elijah to Elisha in a double portion.

No minister of God can create the glory that God gives them, the glory is God’s, but at the moment that the manifestation of the glory is in the minister, that glory is theirs to use, it flows through them. It is dangerous to get puffed up because of the glory that God gives for the moment. The glory does not come because of anything the pastor is doing or not doing. It is because God wills that glory. It is God who is doing the ministering and prophesying.

The requirement made in verse 10 was hard because Elisha had to stay in the Spirit, and view what would come. He could not lose his focus, lose his concentration, for he did not know what or when this would occur. He had to have eyes to see, and his vision had to be totally clean and clear.

The Jordan is not a wide river, it is about 25-30 feet wide, and in most places 12 feet.

What was to occur, occurred in the Spirit realm, you have to be out of the flesh totally to be able to see what God is doing in the Spirit. All distractions needed to be put away, and Elisha had to stay spiritually focused. When God leads us by the Spirit, it is often just step by step, one direction at a time, not the full blueprint of what God wants us to do. So we need to stay focused.

Pastor Don pointed out that a number of people attend church because something is going on. Many churches bring in things to excite the people, to be relevant. Signs and wonders. Signs and wonders alone only lead to the need for greater signs and wonders to impress the people. When you focus on signs and wonders only, you are operating in the flesh. It is far harder to hear a Word from God and do it, depending only on God’s Word, not the signs and wonders. If everyone in the Body of Christ received a double portion, and they were only prophesying in the flesh, what they would prophesy would appeal to the flesh of the person. But that is not God’s design.

2 Kings 2:11  Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

Pastor Don pointed out that Elisha and Elijah needed to be separated for the fulfillment of the promise, so the Spirit of God came between them and separated them. Elijah being caught up in the whirlwind. (Heather’s note, I just realized that Jesus too had to be separated from us in the flesh in order for the Holy Spirit to fall).

2 Kings 2:12 And Elisha saw it, and he cried out, “My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!” So he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes and tore them into two pieces.

You end up separating from something to step into the role of prophet. You can’t function in the old ways anymore. God moved Elisha to another level. Elisha discarded his old clothes. Whatever is fleshly in you must be separated from you. We can let go of the old because we can trust that God will not let us down. God gives us grace to overcome any aspect of your life that needs changing. God will give you the grace to step out of your old fleshly ways, to go down into the Jordan and to cross over to the other side. And when we do this, it is always to the next level. Why stay where you are? To stay where you are is to go backward.

2 Kings 2:13 He also took up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan.

Elijah did not need the mantle when he stepped into the Glory. Remember that it was not the mantle itself that brought power, it is God who gives power.

2 Kings 2:14 Then he took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, and said, “Where is the LORD God of Elijah?” And when he also had struck the water, it was divided this way and that, and Elisha crossed over.

When God gives us the anointing, we take ownership of it, to use it, to apply it as God wills. Elisha manifested the same power as Elijah in dividing the waters. He put the anointing to the test. He took the mantle and struck the water with it, walking free in the new anointing.

2 Kings 2:15 Now when the sons of the prophets who were from Jericho saw him, they said,”The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” And they came to meet him, and bowed to the ground before him.

These sons of the prophets who watched from afar, saw the manifesting of the Spirit, the power of God. God permitted them to see that God conferred the anointing from Elijah to Elisha. Everyone there saw that Elisha was the new real deal.

2 Kings 2:16-18 Then they said to him, “Look now, there are fifty strong men with your servants. Please let them go and search for your master, lest perhaps the Spirit of the LORD has taken him up and cast him upon some mountain or into some valley.” And he said, “You shall not send anyone.” But when they urged him till he was ashamed, he said, “Send them!” Therefore they sent fifty men and they searched for three days but did not find him. And when they came back to him, for he had stayed in Jericho, he said to them, “Did I not say to you, “Do not go?”

This shows that God only opened up Elisha’s eyes to see what happened to Elijah. The others were there looking on, but did not see what Elisha saw. If the 50 had seen it, they would have not needed to search for Elijah.

Pastor Don cautioned us to not fall for spiritual presumption. If God does a spiritual thing, don’t look for a carnal reason. If God opens your eyes and you see, tell the truth. What you know and understand in the spiritual may be closed to the carnal mind. After this Mountain Top Experience, Elisha stayed at Jericho (breath, spirit, knowledge and understanding) He went back to the place where God breathed on him. After a battlefield experience, you have to get back to God. After the struggle of the Jordan, you need to get back to God. Don’t chase around in your flesh, stay with the breath of God. Don’t get confused. Stay with God.

Powerful, powerful teaching. Pastor Don had to stop here, as it was getting late. I can’t wait until Friday!!!!

I count myself so blessed to be able to sit under the teachings of incredible Bible teachers like Pastor Don.

Have a blessed day. It is still snowing here, while two are still sleeping, my oldest is hoping for yet again another snow day. He said that he would love a “triple snowday” for he has never had that before.

Heather

Fasten your seatbelts for an exciting journey. This is a continuation of last Friday’s Bible Study and this study really blesses me. Here are the links for that, the background and 2 Kings 2:1-5.

There were several at Bible study that were not there the week before, so Pastor Don gave a recap for them and to remind us of the material covered. I still recommend reading the detailed accounts linked above, for a recap is not as in depth, but the recap added fresh details!

 Elijah was getting ready to be with the Lord. He was led by the Lord through a series of places significant for him and the Nation of Israel. They also are also places that are significant for our life and work, for they detail the steps that lead us to spiritual maturity. Just like when we are born on the earth we grow through the infant stage, to toddler, to youth, preadolescent, adolescent, young adult, adult, maturity. Each part of the journey Elijah and Elisha took contain experiences we have. And we can learn much by learning where and what the experience at each place entails.

The first stop on the way for the two was GILGAL, which means wheel, circle, rolling. It was the place where the children of Israel rolled away God’s reproach against them. During the 40 years in the wilderness during the Exodus, the children born at that time were not circumcised. So the first thing Joshua did when he brought the people to GILGAL was to circumcise them, for that was a sign of the covenant of Abraham. And God wanted the people to have all that was offered under the covenant of Abraham. When we first met with God, he rolled away reproach against us through the blood of Jesus.

At Gilgal, Joshua made a major mistake, he went into a battle at AI without consulting God and many men died. We need to always consult God first before making any decision in our lives. Talk with our pastors and elders, don’t just blindly make a major decision without knowing what the Word of God says about it. God showed Joshua where the idols were, and he had to cleanse the camp of those who were disobedient to God.

Pastor Don pointed out that whatever is between us and a relationship with God needs to be rolled away. We cannot go into the Promised Land and still practice witchcraft and idol worship.

BETHEL which means House of God, this is where Jacob had his confirmation that he was in the right place. Remember Jacob slept with his head on a rock, and had a vision of a ladder with angels ascending and descending. After that vision, he changed. At our BETHELS God confirms us, and enters more fully into the covenant that we acquired at GILGAL. It is a place of meeting with God. We need to remember this part of our testimony, the first time where and when we met God. This is a place to come back to when we face trials, to gain strength. It puts us in position to go forward and establish a better sense of God in us and with us.

2 Kings 2:4 discusses JERICHO, which means fragrance, smell, blow, sweet fragrance, to perceive and understand quickly, fragrance of flowers. It is where we receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit helps us to perceive and understand what God wants us to focus on and do. The Holy Spirit gives us not just an intellectual understanding of the Bible, but allows us to perceive the Spirit of the Word and have spiritual understanding. Sometimes it can be a perception that all that appears on the surface isn’t true. It can help you to judge circumstances and situations with God’s view of them, not our own understanding. It gives us a heightened perception.

Then we moved to new ground in 2 Kings 2.

2 Kings 2:6  Then Elijah said to him,, “Stay here please, for the LORD has sent me on to the Jordan.” But he said, “As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!” So the two of them went on.

 JORDAN (Strongs’ 3383) means to descend, to go downward, boundary set, sink, bring down, fall, enemies fall, sinking. When we walk through the passages of life, we don’t have to go through them alone.  Elijah felt prepared to go alone to meet God (he probably did not know what this would entail), but Elisha would not permit this. He was dedicated to go with Elijah, even to descend to the Jordan with him. When Elisha was brought on this spiritual journey from Gilgal, to Bethel, to Jericho, to Jordan, he could have stopped at any point, or phase of development. He chose to go with Elijah each step of the way.

2 Kings 2:7 And fifty men of the sons of the prophets went and stood facing them at a distance, while the two of them stood by the Jordan.

Pastor Don pointed out that there is a difference between watching at a distance like the fifty men did, than being where Elijah and Elisha were. These 50 people, as we learned earlier were also prophets, raised up by prophets. (2 Kings 2:3 mentions that they are the sons of prophets). They were trained under different prophets in the school of prophets. They had knowledge to speak to Elisha about Elijah, but they were watching AT A DISTANCE. Jesus had 1000′s of people following him during his time on earth, but there were only 120 in his inner circle (those who would be in the upper room), and then he had a smaller circle of 12 disciples (Judas was replaced by Matthias, with the criterion that the replacement who was chosen knew Jesus and was with him from the beginning – there were two that were considered, Barnabas and Matthias, and had to have been others who followed Jesus from the start).

(Heather’s note, I am reading a book I found on Amazon written by Pastor Don’s father, also a minister, called The Art of Survival by Reverend Ivor Moore, in a chapter written to fellow preachers in the introduction he talks about the crowd waiting for Zachariah to come out from offering incense and give a blessing, and Pastor Ivor Moore says, “But how many of the waiting crowd in the outer court were truly waiting to worship? The preacher-pastor should never outlook the fact, nor allow the congregation to forget, that physical presence in the Sanctuary only heightens the possibility of worship, it does not by any means guarantee a worshipping heart in each of the bodies there present! Whether or not the worshipping hearts are lifted up before God, is what determines if he crowd is a congregation or a mob. The preacher-pastor needs to keep this in mind, lest numbers sway him overmuch. It would surely be startling and, perhaps even frightening to any preacher-pastor to have the ability to stand before his congregation and, from their faces, accurately read the thoughts of their hearts. Remember, God does this all the time, “But Jesus knew their thoughts…”(Luke 9:47) However many are present, the pertinent question is, how many are worshipping?” (p. xii) There is a vast difference between the 50 looking on and Elisha – Elisha will walk away with the blessing, the others will just observe at a distance.

Pastor Don pointed out that you can minister to a large group, but only disciple a few. Pastor Don knows those who he is to disciple by how close they want to be involved with him and his life. How they want to watch what he is doing, learn all that he offers to teach, etc. Elisha spent years walking with Elijah and did not stand at a distance at this crucial time of Elijah’s life. Pastor Don also pointed out that pastors are people, and have weak moments, needing to be ministered to. He mentioned the pastor’s breakfast that he goes to, where pastors can share their concerns and cares and get advice and be ministered to. We all need to have people who can minister to us when trials come.

He suggested that we pick people who we want to learn from and follow them. He has used this in his life even before he became a pastor. When he was building his house, he hired contractors to do various jobs like bulldozing, and made the provision that he got to learn what they did as they did it. By the time his house was built, he had learned much about the contracting business and was able to step out and be a contractor.

When you watch at a distance you don’t get much to protect you when trials come, and you are more easily brought down and defeated.

2 Kings 2:8 Now Elijah took his mantle, rolled it up, and struck the water; and it was divided this way and that, so that the two of them crossed over on dry ground.

Pastor Don told us to write in our Bibles, near the word “mantle” ADDERETH, which means Glory, a goodly wide dress garment of splendor, beauty. Aaron’s priestly garment was called an addereth. The mantle is God’s glory. Elijah takes God’s glory which God gave him to part the waters. It is important to remember that even though Elijah used his addereth, it is God who gave him the addereth. The glory will not work without God.

As a teen, Pastor Don would preach in his father’s church, but the first time he preached a service as a layman was in 1983, and he realized that there was a calling on him to preach. During these years the church had an attitude that it did not matter how you dressed to come to church, that souls were more important than clothes. While this is true on one level, once a person becomes saved and God begins to work in their lives, people choose to dress to honor God. Pastor Don, while not legalistic about it, feels it important to preach in clean clothes. He does not like to preach in a shirt that he wore the day before, but prefers a freshly washed set of clothes. For him, how you dress in the pulpit matters, for you are sharing God’s word. The Levites were struck dead for dishonoring God in their use of what He instructed them.

Pastor Don said that the dress code was not to prevent you from coming to church, for God does care more about souls. But when God really has your heart, he will change your clothes.

When Elijah took the mantle, addereth, and struck the water, it was an application of faith to an inanimate object, sort of like the aprons and handkerchiefs mentioned in Acts. It was not to make an idol of the mantle, but it was used as a touch point for Elijah’s faith. Elijah’s mantle was an expression of the power of God working through the person who held it.

Jesus pointed out that the mantle of Elijah came on John the Baptist, and John was seen as a type of prophet like Elijah. Had John wanted to, he could have used power from God to slay Herod. Remember Elijah destroyed 300 prophets and priests of Baal.

Elisha will ask Elijah for a double portion of the Addereth. For Elisha to have that, he has to walk in righteousness in order to wield the power that that entails. Elisha will do twice the number of miracles that Elijah did because of the transference of Addereth. But there is no way Elisha would have that transference of power if he did not have righteousness, or was not prepared to face the suffering and persecution.

Psalm 34:7 tells us that we will have the desires of our heart. But there is also the fact that we have to qualify for that desire. Elisha walked with Elijah from Gilgal, to Bethel, to Jericho, and then down to the Jordan. He did the spiritual work necessary.

So, Elijah strikes the water, and they cross over on DRY GROUND. To get to the bottom of the riverbed, they would have to walk down, and then cross a boundary. The Jordan was a boundary. After his baptism, Jesus went into a place of dryness, the wilderness, to be tested and tried for 40 days. Satan tempted Him, and Jesus resisted the temptations. Moses led the people around the wilderness, also a place of dryness where they had to depend on God for food and water, as they were formed into a nation of Israel. So often, after we meet with God, and gain a vision for our lives, we are led to a dry place, which God will use to develop us towards more spiritual maturity.

2 Kings 2:9 And so it was, when they had crossed over, that Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask! What may I do for you, before I am taken away from you?” Elisha said, “Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.”

They crossed over, they did not remain in the Jordan, but the promises were on the other side. They went on to achieve the mission, the fruits of the spirit, the victory. You do not do great exploits, reach the promised land, gain the fruits unless you take the mantle given to you. Elisha had to go with Elijah across the river. We need Christ’s mantle on us, the glory of Christ, to carry out His kingdom work. We will have, in order to achieve this mantle, to walk in the dry places in the flesh, to face difficulties, spiritual battles, or warfare. The battles and dry places strengthen us for what is to come. Sometimes we have to go down into places we really don’t want to go. But there are blessings of God on the other side of the Jordan, after you go through the dry place.  We may have to face depression, diseases, snickers, kids messing up to get to where the blessings of God are.

So many ask him for signs, wonders, miracles, but they are not qualified, for they have not walked with Him or crossed over. They want to take the glory and run with it, not realizing that there are conditions and that it can come with persecutions. As someone said the other day, they want Christian-ease.

Elijah tells Elisha to ask what Elijah can do for him. Elisha could have asked for the double portion at Gilgal, at Bethel, at Jericho, or on the other side of the Jordan, but then Elijah would have had to tell him “No.” Only after the spiritual experiences that he had would Elisha be qualified to wield a double portion of Elijah’s power. (Heather’s note, we do know that power in the hands of an unscrupulous leader can cause great harm.)

Pastor Don pointed out that to be slow in obedience to God can block your victory, for to not obey God instantly is disobedience. When we get a clear instruction from God, to do the right thing, we have to do it. If we misunderstood God and yet tried to obey Him, thus making a mistake, it was better to try and obey His command, God will correct us. We obey God no matter the circumstances, He has knowledge of things we don’t see – NOW IS THE RIGHT TIME. Don’t be slow in obeying God. God knows what He put in the plan, and His plan is what is best for us, so follow His instructions.

King Saul tried to make decisions with his head, deciding what he would obey and not. But Saul’s decision was not the heart of God. Instead of destroying all goods and enemies, Saul decided to keep certain items to please the people. By not obeying God, Saul lost the Holy Spirit, and ultimately his kingship and life.

Pastor Don continued on, so I will type the rest tomorrow so that this post is not too long.

Hoping you have a blessed Sunday!

Heather

Let me tell you that I have so much to share. Today I am typing the last of Wednesday’s Bible study, but Friday’s is soooo awesome, that I want to share that too, but that will wait until tomorrow. God is incredibly awesome. I am so amazed at the depth of the Word of God. No matter how deep you go into a Bible passage, you can go deeper still. I smile when I remember I used to wonder why people, once they have read the Bible once, didn’t just move on to another book. Truly, if I were left on a desert island and had three books to bring, I would bring the Bible, a huge journal to take notes in, and a concordance. That would keep me occupied until He came.

As you can probably tell, I fill up journals fast. Some have said that these posts are long, and that is true, but for me, writing out notes helps me to learn what God is trying to show me through the Bible studies, and who am I to pick and choose what I share from my pastors’ teachings? I trust that they are inspired by God, and that all said is necessary and important. These notes bless me so much, and I sure hope they are a blessing to you!

This Bible Study is a continuation of the last post.

We need to hold fast to our confession of faith. To do our best to mind our speech, not to go back to the old way of thinking and talking, but to be continually speaking the truth of God.

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,

Pastor Don pointed out that we need to pick the people in our cloud, to pick those that cause us to have a witness. When you are at a low spot in your life, you want those people around you who can remind you who God is and what He can do. Who can remind you of the goodness of God. At first you might find just one or two. You have choices, you can try to go through life alone, or go to church and be a pew sitter, not really connecting with people, or you can pick some to be in your cloud of witnesses so that when the time of testing comes, you do not have to face the tests without a cloud of witnesses to remind you of God’s truth. Our faith is upheld by the weight of the truth of God’s Word, by the Spirit of God, and by others who help to promote our faith. It is hard to stand alone. We need to keep going, if we stand still, we lose ground. At times, when we face trials, it is good to have someone to tell us that it is OK, to keep going, to remind us that the trial is a passing affliction, a momentary trial, to not be anxious, to remind us that we are not defeated, that depression passes, to tell us that we need to say, “I can,” not “I can’t”. When we are around people who draw enthusiasm from the Word of God, who are renewed and seeking the light, it helps us to move forward. To seek what inspires us.

Pastor Don shared that as a teenager he found a series of books called Short Biographies of Great Men. These were biographies of people who changed the world, that went beyond their limitations and made something of their lives, Ghengis Kahn, Napoleon, Franklin, Roosevelt, etc. In the Bible we also have short biographies of great men, Jesus, Daniel, Paul, etc. What Pastor Don noticed is that all great men had the ability at some point to maintain in their minds the goal, to reinforce their idea of what direction they are moving. They kept their focus.

We too need to keep our focus on what Paul calls the race. David determined to kill the giant, Goliath. He did not want Goliath talking about his God so disrespectfully. Others tried to talk him out of his “foolishness”, but he trusted God, and faced his giant successfully with God’s help.

We do not want to surround ourselves with doubters, unbelievers, or nay sayers. (Of course, we do reach out to them, but we need to have a circle of those close to us who build our faith). We also have the weight of the history in the Bible to support our faith. We need to lay aside every weight and sin. It is easy to get weighed down by our circumstances and fall into sin, especially when we chase the wrong witnesses.  So we need to surround ourselves with a cloud of witnesses so we can run the race with endurance, listening to those who surround us, people of faith. They will help us to release our faith for a situation and help us to expect a miracle beyond the scope of our belief of what is possible.

Joshua asked for the sun to stop. Now that is a creative miracle, and it is proven by scientists who measure these things that a whole day is missing. Elijah shut up heaven for three years at his word (he knew God would honor that promise). It is easier to have faith for things that we know God can do, creative miracles need a faith beyond simple faith.

Hebrews 12:2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Pastor Don pointed out that we can’t whine and endure the cross. We whine at minor disappointments. We complain about our tests and difficulties. We need to declare our faith and stand in faith. Whiners are not acknowledging that they don’t deserve what they are whining about. The Body of Christ needs to wield the power that God gives us. To accept the test and use our faith to walk through it. When we say we want to teach like our pastor, do we want to go through what he went through to get to the point he is at now? Do we want to spend long hours in the Word? Stay up late at night to study? Lovingly take the words that people dish out at him, the criticism, the persecution? We need to keep surrounded by our cloud of witnesses. We need to compare our lives to Jesus, we will then see where we need to improve our walk. He was not a whiner or a crier. As we continue the walk, God keeps upping His expectations of us. We keep moving forward with greater and greater challenges. When I can do 50, he then asks for 60, then 63, then 72. We might ask why he increased it three the last time, why 9 times more now? We realize that he wants us to accept the test and not whine. If it is a test, I have to take the test, and as I do so without whining, I gain more spiritual maturity.

Hebrews 12:3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.

Sometimes we have discontent in our souls (our thinking – for our souls are our mind, will and emotions). Some of the things we are calling tests are not tests, but are the results of our poor choices. Jesus went through persecution. Some of the challenges that other people give to us, are being used by the devil to distract us from our focus. They are helping us to see what parts of our old selves need to be cleaned up to be more in line with Jesus. If a test comes from persecution from the outside, God may be permitting it to help us see where we need to grow. If it is test that comes from something we have wrongly chosen, if we are guilty of sin in the area we are being tested in, if it is a test in an area of unrepented sin, it is a correction, not persecution. When God removed the hedge of protection from around Job the first area satan attacked was Job’s children. Satan could not have touched those children if they had not sinned in their lives. Sin leaves us open for attacks from satan. When we open our lives up to sin, satan will attack the weakest links in our lives, and in the lives of those around us.

Pastor Don pointed out that often satan attacks us through the stupid stuff, the little things that get to us. Whining extends the process and leaves the area open for satan.

Hebrews 12:7-8 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.

The Body of Christ wants to be petted, to float along on a bed of ease, to teach, preach, etc, but with no mess. Christian – ease. If God will put us into situations where we are tested and/or chastened. If He didn’t we would be illegitimate children. Some of the situations are quick, others stick around for a long time. But God is seeking to help us grow to a higher level of spiritual maturity, and to do that at times we are tested. Who will be tested and not whine? We need to face our tests with faith, praise, worship, a good attitude, and the peace of God which passes all understanding. To keep our joy in the midst of challenges. When we focus on Jesus, who is the center of our joy, storms can rage in our lives and we will not be moved. Our ships can be battered by the winds, but our anchor (Jesus) holds. Just sign up for the test, but we won’t know how long the test will last.

Hebrews 12:11-13 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.

Pastor Don asked if anyone had a Amplified Bible or King James version, so here is the same passage in these two Bibles.

Hebrews 12:11-13 Amplified Bible:  11For the time being no discipline brings joy, but seems grievous and painful; but afterwards it yields a peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it [a harvest of fruit which consists in righteousness--in conformity to God's will in purpose, thought, and action, resulting in right living and right standing with God]12So then, brace up and reinvigorate and set right your slackened and weakened and drooping hands and strengthen your feeble and palsied and tottering knees,13And cut through and make firm and plain and smooth, straight paths for your feet [yes, make them safe and upright and happy paths that go in the right direction], so that the lame and halting [limbs] may not be put out of joint, but rather may be cured.

Hebrews 12: 11-13 King James Version 11Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. 12Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; 13And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.

Pastor Don modeled shuffling along a path, arms hung limp at his side, his feet in the straight path, not turning right our left, but keeping the focus. (Heather’s note, I like the King James version that mentions lifting up one’s hands, which I see as worship. And in the Amplified, I like the peaceable fruit of righteousness, and the idea that we can have happy paths for our feet if we walk in obedience).

We have to train ourselves to be buoyed up by our tests and trials, and not let our hands be caught up in sin. It is not actively doing, but acknowledging we are used by God. We make straight paths for our feet. Pastor Don pointed out that when we are stressed to the max, we need to go for a walk. When stressed, pick a way of relief that is not identified as sin (such as taking a walk). Do not fall into temptation or get off the path, don’t turn aside from the way, don’t lose your focus, don’t go back to the old way of dealing with the situation. Testing that lifts us higher does exert pressure.

We need to know we are divinely chosen, if we get more Word in us, and gain more altitude in our faith, God will lift the bar on us. We need to determine that if the bar is raised, that we will achieve the new heights, if we don’t determine that, we will go down. You can’t stay in the same spot, you will either get better or worse. But you will not be able to stay exactly the same. (This is a hard teaching for me, because I prefer to set roots in safe spots, sigh.)

We are an army who occupies. We need to occupy until He comes. To raise up soldiers of faith to defeat the enemy. You can’t do it all by yourself. We need to deal with our tests and stop whining. Use the tests as points of contact to exercise our faith, and grow in spiritual maturity.

Psalm 27:13-14  I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait on the LORD; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the LORD.

Goodness is not determined by our circumstances, we see God’s goodness in spite of the obstacles, it is a joy of knowing that we did what we were called to do, that we made a positive deposit in our lives.

Walk with God, stand in His truths.

Philippians 4:4  Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!

God does not always show us the whole map, usually He shows us the next step or the next few moves. We need to obey God.

Pastor Don pointed out that we need to meditate on the Word, that meditate is to mutter the Word of God.

What an incredible inspiring word this was for me, and my fingers are itching to share yesterday’s Bible study with you, but I will wait patiently until you digest this good word. Believe it or not, this also applies to what was taught yesterday.

Have a blessed day, it is sooo cold here today.

Heather

We had an intense prayer time before Bible study with many requests for salvations of people we know. Pastor Don pointed out that we keep praying and keep sowing seed. Then he used this illustration, Apples are good? we answered yes, but not all people will eat apples. Bananas are good, but not all people will eat bananas. Apples and Bananas are for everyone, but not everyone will consume them.

It is the same with faith. Faith is for everyone, but not everyone will apply faith in their lives or in every part of their lives. The same goes for healing. Pastor Don then pointed out that what most people see as natural healing also is supernatural, for God set that healing process in motion. So some can get healed quickly, others may take what seems to be natural time, but it is still God’s doing.

We need to love people at the level they are at, and seek to aid them to go as far as they can go.

Pastor Don pointed out that Jesus dealt with people where they were at. He treated John & James and Peter at their level, did not tell them to sell all they had and follow Him. But He told the rich young ruler to sell what he had, give to the poor and follow Jesus. Jesus knew where the stronghold was in the rich young ruler’s life. The rich young ruler needed to separate himself from materialism.

Jesus corrects us where we are in error, and it is individual. Jesus did not separate Himself from the rich young ruler, but the ruler left Jesus’s presence. Even though we may not condemn people for their beliefs or actions, people will separate themselves from us because of their perceived sense that we are condemning them.

With a pentecostal mindset, people will see that all that is in the Bible is possible, that we accept that things happened just as the Word says, and that we can have what the Word says. What keeps us from manifesting all the Word says about our situation is our limitations. We can limit the supernatural act of God because of our behavior, our mindset, our emotions, our beliefs. our thinking. So often we want to see something supernatural manifest – have it experiential, but that may not be God’s plan for us. He wants us to operate on the realm of faith.

We may not be able to activate our faith for what we perceive as tough issues such as cancer. But God is bigger than our problems. We know that some can activate their faith, others cannot believe for a cure. Sometimes we cling to a “realistic” view of our situation, and we apply the belief system of what we perceive, even though we are professing to have faith in God. If people could believe the power of God applied 100% of the time we would see more miracles than we do. But sometimes we do not believe 100% and the window of opportunity can pass us by.

At times the miracles we desire are bigger than our faith levels, and we may not have faith adequate for the particular miracle. We are not complete failures because this happens, the only one who has perfect faith on earth is Jesus. Our mind, will, emotions, circumstances are at times beyond our ability to believe and our application of faith.

There were many people around the pool of Siloam, and yet Jesus only healed one there. He asked the man what he wanted, and the man answered that he was seeking a healing, had done so for many years. You could imagine the man’s thoughts about waiting for the angel to stir the water and being the first one in, but incapable of doing that. The man had faith for waiting for the angel to stir the water as a point of contact for his faith. Jesus switched the man’s point of contact to believe for his healing from God, not the angel stirring the water, then his healing came.

We can perpetually preach that God can heal us, by his stripes we are healed, but it is more than just agreeing with this in our minds, we also have to believe it in our hearts. For the man at the pool of Siloam, lack of knowledge that it is God who provides healing, not the angel stirring the water, caused him not to be healed for so many years. God would declare, my people perish for lack of knowledge.

Pastor Don pointed out that there are different kinds of miracles, miracles that occur in the natural, miracles that heal what is broken or hurting or sick, and then there are miracles that he called creative miracles. That is where something is created that wasn’t there at all. Sid Roth one time talked about two parents who were both doctors who gave birth to a child who was born without a full brain, and the amount of brain was so tiny that the child was diagnosed as probably dying within a few days. The parents, who were doctors, started praying for a creative miracle, and when they next visited the doctor the brain was fully formed.  A creative miracle is above and beyond anything we can do, beyond what our normal faith can conjure.

We have to repeatedly elevate our thinking to the possibility of faith in a creative miracle, and speak to cause those things to be even though our senses do not perceive them.

The problem with creative miracles for us is that they do not happen everyday. Circumstances and situations go beyond our normal situations, and test us. We need to understand that it is spiritual warfare. When someone dies at a time when we think it shouldn’t happen, we have to realize that God has his reasons. God may choose to remove us from this planet at the height of our game, rather than allowing us to fail in a situation that is tough for us and ruining our testimony or compromising our faith.

Someone mentioned that life on earth is an opportunity to get right with God and help other people. When our faith is tested, it may not be because we are out of order with God, but that God wants us to know where our level of faith is located, it is a way for us to measure how strong our faith is in the midst of difficulty.

He pointed out that whether a person is born with a golden spoon in their mouth (rich) or a wooden spoon (poor) is not the issue for God. God looks at how we deal with the resources we are given. Pastor Don mentioned the founder of Wendy’s was an orphan and he had a choice, to self-pity or to make something of his life, he chose the latter. We are all children of God and can all apply His Word to our situations. It is our choice how we choose to live. How well we handle the cards dealt to us. We want to run the race, and run it efficiently!

Pastor Don pointed out that he can tell those in church who will grow spiritually mature. Those are the ones who are paying attention, not just sitting in the pews for the time of the service. They are the ones who are learning how to apply God’s word in their lives, and when the inevitable times of testing happens, they have knowledge to handle the cards dealt to them. Those who are not actively seeking God’s knowledge, will not be operating with a full deck.

Pastor Don then asked us which armor we would put on.

He talked about David. (Heather’s note, this excited me because I hadn’t seen this application before). David sees the Philistine giant, Goliath, blaspheming God and gets very angry about it, wondering why people don’t just take him out. He ends up being ridiculed by his brothers for this desire, and ends up in front of King Saul. King Saul also doesn’t believe that the ruddy, little David, would have much impact on Goliath, but figured he could use this for military strategy. He offers David his (Saul’s) armor, but Saul was a big, tall man, and the armor on David would not fit properly. David made the choice to go with the armor God gave him – a slingshot and five smooth stones. We can’t use someone else’s armor. We need to build the armor that God wants us to build in our lives.

We have to prepare ourselves for the inevitable, that at times we will be dealt hands we do not want to play, hands we don’t even want to hold, don’t even want that deck. We will be faced with unexpected circumstances and challenges. We will have to fight these giants with everything we have, in our own armor. If we go into the battle unmotivated, unprepared, we may not succeed in the battle. God wants us to build up our faith, to learn His Word, to know Him BEFORE we face these circumstances in our lives.

I mentioned the Beth Moore, Daniel study where she tells us that we will either influence our Babylons or be influenced by them. Pastor Don pointed out that with supposedly 84% of our country being Christian, there is not much influence of our Babylons. If 1 can put 1,000 to flight and 2 – 10,000, if there were 84% Christians actively exercising their faith, our Babylons should be gone, but they are not. Not everyone exercises their faith.

We also need to be careful who we allow to teach us. Do they teach the whole counsel of the Bible? Or do they pick and choose what they want to accept from the Bible? It comes down to making sure we are studying where our armor can be built.

We then looked at Hebrews 12, which I will share tomorrow.

Hoping you have a blessed day.

Heather

If you haven’t read the background discussion from yesterday, here is the link if you wish to do so.

Elijah recognizes that his is going to be with the Lord. It is not a natural death. Alongside of Elijah is Elisha, his student and follower, who is spiritually aware. Elisha is spiritually mature. He has been following in Elijah’s footsteps for some time now. (Heather’s aha moment, I have had a hard time remembering which prophet came first, and today just noticed that “j” comes before “s”, and will not have that problem again.)

2 Kings 2:1 And it came to pass, when the LORD was about to take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went to Elisha from Gilgal.

Gilgal means a wheel, a rolling circle, going round and round. It was a wilderness place. Moses and Joshua came there at the end of the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness. When Joshua arrived there, after the wandering, he had his men circumcised. In their wandering in the wilderness, they had neglected to do this, something that was a sign of the covenant of Abraham.

When we reach our Gilgals, our flesh is going to be cut off, and we will be dedicated to a new righteousness of God, starting a new phase. We will not be able to continue to sin. It is true that a person who has been saved and received the Holy Ghost can continue to sin, but the Holy Ghost will keep convicting the person, holding them to a higher standard. When we hear from God we have the choice to obey or not to obey. The Holy Spirit leads us to truth, and gives us exact details. If we refuse to listen, continue to disobey, the Holy Spirit will back off, He cannot bless disobedience. This leaves us open for those fiery darts from satan, for our armor will have chinks in it.

At our Gilgals the Holy Spirit will see that we are circumcised and ready to passover. Gilgal means rolling – and God rolls away our flesh, He rolls away our carnality. He also rolls away our Manna. Remember when the Israelites came to Gilgal and ate of the land, the manna stopped. They ate their last heavenly meal because they were going into the promised land, to be in grace. When we reach our Gilgal, God stops doing it all for us, he wants us to be able to do what He has promised us we can do. (Heather’s note, just like as a baby learns to walk, the parent does not always carry them around, but lets them grow and develop).

When the Manna stopped, they had to grow their own food, and depend on God’s grace. If the Manna had continued they would not have had to activate their faith for provision. We cannot get into heaven by someone else’s faith. We are given the grace to stand, and to stand in God’s authority. We need direct empowerment to manifest – faith, power, grace, gifts, manifestations of power is available to believers.

Pastor Don said that even when circumstances do not seem to be happening according to God’s Word, we need to keep speaking His word. For example, “By His stripes I am healed.” We may have to say and believe those words 50, 100, 1000, 5000, 10,000 times until one day we realize that we have what we said.

Gilgal rolls away the reproach against us. Israel was in the wilderness 40 years and did not circumcise their males. Had they walked into the promised land uncircumcised, the promises of Abraham would not have been available to them.  When Born Again believers come into the Holy Ghost, the reproach against us is rolled away or we would all die. If we have sin in us, we cannot see God and live.

Reproach against God is rolled away. There is a power in confession. Pastor Don pointed out that he doesn’t necessarily like sharing his past errors with us, but by being open and transparent, there is no way satan can come in and cast aspersions. It is all in the open. He then pointed out that Obama was wise in writing a book and sharing all of his mistakes in the book, for the candidates might want to dig up dirt, and he can say, “Yes, I know, I wrote about it in my book.” If there is nothing hidden, there is nothing that can be used against you, for the enemy is disarmed.

God rolls way reproach in mature believers, circumcises our flesh. And our Passover is Jesus Christ.

Elisha was with Elijah.

2 Kings 2:2 Then Elijah said to Elisha, “Stay here, please, for the LORD  has sent me on to Bethel.” But Elisha said, “As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you!” So they went down to Bethel.

This is the level of dedication that the mentor needs from the mentee. We may know the teaching, but we also need to walk in the fullness of it and not depart from it. Our dedication is to what Pastor Don teaches, not to Pastor Don. Our dedication is to what he has taught by the truth of God and the Word of the Lord. We are not to depart from the truth of the mentor, but follow Him to the next place.

2 Kings 2:3 Now the sons of the prophets who were at Bethel came out to Elisha, and said to him, “Do you know that the LORD will take away your master from over you today?” And he said, “Yes, I know, keep silent.”

There is always that time and place. We need to defend the church and the ministry. We hold in our tongues the destiny and outcome of the church. If we do not defend the church, the devil will have his way. We have to be fair and emphatic. This is the house I am planted in. We need to know our message and our mission. We need to defend our members, family and support system. It is very easy to kill a Lone Ranger. If someone has your back, you have more protection.

We cannot be talked out of following our mentor. Ruth came out of the flesh and went to where she wanted to be, in the Promised Land. The people in Israel were led to where God wanted them to be – the Promised Land. When we are faced with a struggle, we need to realize that a great test will give a great result.

Bethel means House of God. Abraham went to Bethel, Joshua went to Bethel and faced his great battle of Ai. Remember in Ai Joshua first went up to fight without God and got decimated. God revealed hidden sin (Achan’s taking of the garments and money) and then went with God’s direction to the battle. Jacob wrestled with God at Bethel. At the House of God, Bethel, Jacob’s mission and call was given.

Elisha had to have his own personal place where he could meet God.

We all need our Bethels, where we meet God. We need to remember the Bethel when we first met God and then visit it spiritually. It is a place of strength, of renewal. When we are tested in our lives we need to go to Bethel and refresh ourselves.

We do not want to go back to Gilgal instead of Bethel. We don’t want to get caught back into the same cycle of defeat, rather go to the place where we met God and He changed us. We don’t want to revert to how we used to deal with situation.

2 Kings 2:4 Then Elijah said to him, “Elisha, stay here please, for the LORD has sent me on to Jericho.” But he said, “As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you.! So they came to Jericho.

Jericho means fragrant, to blow, to breath, to smell, to perceive and understand quickly.

We get to Jericho because we have been to Gilgal (roll away reproach) and Bethel (house of God) and now we have discernment.  It is not the discernment of the world. The breath of the Holy Ghost helps us to perceive and discern quickly. When we are in the world, we weigh pros and cons, but we need to consult with the Holy Ghost for direction.

Pastor Don mentioned how people often act in their own understanding, see things falling around them because they did not consult God first, or speak with their mentor or spiritual father. So often they come to him after things have collapsed, and they have clawed, and dug a huge hole for themselves. Sometimes, Pastor Don mentioned, an hour of counseling before a major decision will save five or six hours of counseling to sort out the problems caused by moving before seeking God.  Remember, Peter did not get out of the boat until Jesus called to him.

At our Jerichos the Holy Spirit breathes on us, and gives us direction. We need this to go on in confirmation and understanding of where we are to go. If we are doing God’s best for us or not. If God has given us the green light, we can proceed even if circumstances seem to look wrong.

2 Kings 2:5 Now the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho came to Elisha and said to him, “Do you know that the LORD will take away your master from over you today? So he answered, “Yes, I know; keep silent!”

We should not get to the point where we love the prophetic word from others and forget wisdom. The Holy Spirit protects us, not the prophetic words.

To be gifted in the prophetic means we are willing to listen, to be teachable, and testable. The Body of Christ must discern who is speaking to us, who is leading us.

Someone mentioned that the walls of Jericho were brought down with breath – for they were brought down with a shout.

We had to stop for today, but Pastor Don said that he will continue next Bible study. I am excited about this, for several places in the Bible there are place names that speak about spiritual states in people. And this is one that I hadn’t discovered before.

But it is so true, we come to Gilgal (where our reproach is rolled away by Jesus) and that leaves us open for Bethel (meeting with God) who gives us the Holy Spirit and direction to speak His Word (breath) into a situation. Wonder where He will take us next.

Have a blessed day!

Heather

I have to tell you that I absolutely love how God works. How He takes a theme that is running in my studies and shows me about it from many different angles and through different teachers. Pastor Don’s lesson today is so incredible I am hoping that instead of skimming, that you take time to read. All of his studies are good, some are stellar, and this is one of those stellar studies.

Pastor Don gave some background by pointing out that everything in our lives is being tested. We are being tested by the world system, the financial system, and in the physical. We need to know that testing is part of the process, and to not panic when a test occurs. He said that even funny things are being tested like our patience and our understanding of things.

Pastor Jerry spoke about testing last Sunday and pointed out that how we perform when suffering or difficulty comes in our lives shows us how strong our Christian walk is. Tests and pressures help us to see what we are made up of. One thing to keep in mind is that we learn more about how to pray for the sick after we have been sick, how to pray for forgiveness for others after we have forgiven. We might not be able to perceive where weaknesses is in our lives until pressure is applied.

Pastor Don pointed out that we can’t leave ministry to the minsters anymore, we are all priests, kings and ministers in God’s kingdom. Are we the church we say we are? Do we have love for one another? There is a different kind of love we have for the Church than we have for the world. We need to really care about each other. The failing of the church is appointing ministers as Levites and thinking that we just need to be the congregation. The truth is we are all Levites and ministers. This will be increasingly needed when the world systems begin to fail.

Then Pastor Don pointed out that capitalism will beak down. He said that expansion and growth drive capitalism. When there is no room to expand it will implode, and it will be a bigger catastrophe than before. China and India are now becoming more capitalistic and that will further draw on natural resources, and again, there will cease to be room for expansion, and capitalism will fail.

God’s plan was to grow to a certain size and maintain. But we are not willing to do this. We want more and more and more profits.

We took a side excursion to talk about companies like Monsanto who manufactures chemicals. In order to expand they have to create more and more need for their chemicals.  Pfeizer who creates drugs wants us to purchase and use more drugs. Their advertising campaigns are creating an imagined need for their drugs in people.

Now there is genetic manipulation of plants and animals and powerful lobbies in place to cause the government to create laws to prevent us from knowing which plants and animals are chemically enhanced. In fact, farmers who do not comply with the system are being squeezed out of business by those who play the game. One farmer wanted to put on his products that he did not use bovine hormones, and the companies that manufactured the hormones wanted to sue him, because such labeling implies that these hormones are not safe, and the farmer had to take that label off of his products.

The capitalistic machine wants to expand and will defend itself against those who fight against it, and they seek to sell us what we don’t need.

We live in an immoral and unethical environment. But the Bible prophesied about this. We are now in a world that is unfriendly to us. We have bugs, bacteria, and critters that look so demonic when we magnify them.

Penicillin was used as an antibiotic, and given so freely and at times unnecessarily, so that the germs have mutated. We now have a strain of TB that has no weapon to combat it.

We need to know about what God warns us about so we do not get panicked when the events occur. We need to come to a point where we are exercising prayer before the problems occur, not as a reaction to the problem.

Pastor Don said that he was looking a microscopic pictures of germs, mites, bedbugs, so I thought I would pull up a few pictures.

bacteria

        lice

 bedbug

Someone commented that some of these creatures look demonic. Truly those things which cause sickness in our culture are demonic in origin, for satan is the cause of sickness, disease, and death.

Pastor Don pointed out that the very thing that happens in our bodies when we get physically sick also happens with spiritual sickness. What happens in the natural mirrors what happens in the spiritual realms.

When we are sick the white blood cells come to the site and either create a chemical that destroys the diseased cell or it surrounds and devours the diseased cell. Cancer is rebellious cells loose in the body that multiply at a fast rate. With our spiritual diseased areas of our lives the Bible gives us the Word to destroy the diseased area, and the Word can surround that diseased area and help to devour it. Or we can have a spiritual cancer that grows as we leave room for other unspiritual thoughts and ideas to enter.

For us to stay sanctified, to keep God’s command, we cannot take up our mind space with diseased thoughts and ideas such as pornography, bad thinking, bad ideas, emotional baggage, moral degeneration, this causes us to have a breakdown in our spiritual immune system. Just like we want to stay healthy physically, we need to stay healthy spiritually. We need to maintain a balance.

Pastor Don pointed out that people who are subject to traumatic stress syndrome are used to operating under a high level of stress and they are ok during that. When the level of stress drops, then the body allows all the things that the stress prevented to attack the person. The living under a constant state of adrenalin production causes the body to go out of balance.

We have to prepare ourselves to realize that when troubles come, our coping mechanism has to be based on a certain level of truth. Like the Bereans we have to study the Word of God, know what is happening, and realize that much that we face has roots in the spiritual realm.

When we are in a battle, what roles do we play? How much are we to let it affect our mind and head? Which battles do we fight? When Jesus walked through the pool of Siloam he found one person who was ready to be healed. There were many, many others there that Jesus did not pick out – he was selective of the battle that he picked.

A pastor of a church must be able to say “No,” as much as he says “Yes.” We can pray for every situation, but not all situations that come our way are destined for us to deal with them. Pastor Don pointed out that he gets many emails and letters soliciting causes. The causes are good, but our church has to pick the ones that we are asked by God to support. The others belong to other churches.

To be effective we have to stay physically well and spiritually sound.

Pastor Don says that when he counsels people he is hoping to get them to a point where they are no longer saying, “I am needy and I need your help.” But rather that they say, “I am healthy, how can I help others.” To be productive rather than always asking what someone else can do for me. (Heather’s note – this is part of what Beth Moore is teaching in her Daniel series). It isn’t all about me, me, me.

Mature believers get help by helping others. There is a blessing that happens when you do something for someone else. God blesses us when we choose to obey God by doing His will.

One pastor said, when God gets our hearts, he has our pocketbook. For then we realize it is all His anyway.

In the last days money will be a test. How we use money to advance the kingdom or God or do we use it to bring the pleasures of Babylon into our lives? The world’s message is that money is God. And today there are many preaching a prosperity message that is ungodly. Yes, God wants us to prosper, but what do we do with that prosperity? If it is only to spend on ourselves (and God doesn’t mind us having pleasure) or is it a tool used to advance God’s kingdom? Do you have money or does money have you? Prosperity is not to just accumulate wealth.

Some churches do not like to speak about money, and their pastors do the congregation a disservice. Some churches like to put a basket in the back and if people give, ok, if not, ok. That is not helping people to realize that God blesses those who give. Most times those churches and their congregants are suffering from lack of giving. God will bless giving for His kingdom.

A believer must mature and understand his mission and realize that his mission is not all about me. It isn’t about what I can get out of the supernatural environment and the natural environment.

There is a warfare going on in the supernatural, and it affects our circumstances. We can’t let our emotions and perceptions affect our productivity, difficulties and functions in God’s Kingdom. But God will let the natural test us, so that we can see where we stand spiritually.

The periods of testing as we mature may come closer and closer together, and we will learn how to react as God would have us react, not as our natural man might want to react. God will permit testing of our patience, our ability to see others as God sees them, how well we resist temptation, etc. How are we going to act in the midst of our difficulties.

Then Pastor Don did an incredible study on 2 Kings Chapter 2. I will give you those notes tomorrow. We only got a few verses done, but it opened my eyes to a whole new view of this chapter.

Thanks for reading. Praying you have a blessed weekend.

Heather

This is a continuation of yesterday’s notes.

How can Jesus tell us not to worry when we are surrounded by the natural world and things seem impossible?

1 Corinthians 2:4-5 And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

Prophets take what they hear in the spiritual and present it to those on earth, and for many of the people on earth, the prophet’s words seem foolish. Paul had so many revelations from God, that God permitted satan to give him a thorn in the flesh to buffet him, so that Paul would remain humble, knowing that he needed God’s grace, which was sufficient.

The devil will tempt us through our thoughts and with powers. The thoughts and powers will appear to be supernatural, not of this world, and satan wants us to use them according to the world’s values. But we need to make sure that what we do is OF God and FOR God, and in accord with the divine nature of God.

Peter was in the boat, and he heard Jesus command him to walk on the water. Truth touched reality and Peter was able to walk on the water until he took his eyes off of Jesus and then he sank. So often we go through the natural to get to the spiritual, but often the spiritual is not the first thing that we are touched by.

1 Corinthians 2:10-11 But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.

Our spirit man knows more than we perceive through our senses, and our spirit man is what is in touch with the Spirit of God.

1 Corinthians 2:12-13 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. Those things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

We cannot understand the deep things of the spirit by comparing them to our knowledge of the natural world. We have to compare spiritual with spiritual. We cannot understand the spiritual realm with our natural senses. Carnal minded people can imitate things of the spirit, but they are not from God. A good example of this is Moses (Heather’s note, yes, I will get back to Exodus one day, but may take a side trip through Daniel. Hey we can leave the Israelites in the wilderness a bit longer, they were there for 40 years, what is a month or two?). The magicians were able to imitate what God did through Moses at the beginning, but could not replicate the later miracles such as lice. Remember when Moses first created the serpent, and the magicians copied that. God’s serpent devoured the magician’s serpent. Truth will always devour the false.

1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

It can sometimes be tough for people when you want to talk about spiritual things, they can follow your train of thought for awhile, but then they get lost. Some have left Jesus for a reality of their own making. They want to make their own rules and follow what they want, leaving out the rest. This will not work with God. We are to come out of the world, to sanctify ourselves. To be IN the world, but not OF the world. We want out of everything that Babylon (the world) has confused us with. (This is just what Beth Moore in her Daniel study is teaching.) Achan and Saul in the Old Testament and Ananias and Sapphira in the New Testament,  really needed to die to the self. Instead, they faced serious consequences for bowing to the world system, instead of obeying God.

We have to make a choice to cross over to the things of the spirit. We cannot straddle the two worlds and be effective Christians. When we say we want to be a servant of the LORD the devil tries to pull us back to Babylon.

1 Corinthians 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ.

When we speak with carnally minded people, we cannot speak all that the Spirit shows us for they would not understand.

1 Corinthians 3:2-3 I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?

Paul determined that the Corinthians were still carnally minded. We can assess our spiritual level by checking out where we have strife, envy and divisions. Are we behaving like the world around us? When we are caught up in carnality we block the spiritual things of God.

1 Corinthians 3:4 For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal?

Division among the brethren is satan’s plan for the church. We have so many denominations today tearing each other apart, that we are not acting as one Body of Christ.  Satan’s plan is to divide and conquer all who are called by God. We are not using the gifts in the whole body of Christ.

When you say you are from anyone, you are making yourself and that person an idol.

We are called to have Unity of the Body of Christ.

1 Corinthians 3:10-13 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear, for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is.

The Day is the Day of The Lord referred to in Revelation – and it is a final judgment – those things that are wood, hay, and straw will be burnt up in the fire of judgment – only those things of God, of lasting value will remain. Notice that the fire will test EACH person’s work. We will not stand in judgment for another’s actions or work, just our own, and He reads our hearts too. A work can be good in circumstances, but done from the wrong motive of the heart. Every word we speak or teach will be tested by fire.

No person is now at the same level of faith or revelation. We are at different points in different areas of our lives. We cannot despise small beginnings, each step towards God is a step towards God.

1 Corinthians 3:14-15 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

We need to be thoroughly committed to Christ, not concerned about the result in the world, but rather the eternal result. Remember Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego? They chose to obey God, not concerned about what would happen with their lives, but only that they wanted to obey God. And even when we do not do lasting works, our salvation is still secure.

1 Corinthians 15:29-31 Otherwise, what will they do who are baptized for the dead, if the dead do not rise at all? Why then are they baptized for the dead? And why do we stand in jeopardy every hour? I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

We need to die daily to self. The devil wants to use creation to rob us of our peace. When we die daily to the physical self, then he cannot touch our peace.

1 Corinthians 15:32 If in the manner of men, I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantage is it to me? If the dead do not rise, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” If there is nothing after our lives on earth, then our sacrifice would not have the same value. But we know that there is more to life than just our existence on earth.

1 Corinthians 15:33-36 Do not be deceived: “Evil company corrupts good habits. Awake to righteousness, and do not sin; for some do not have the knowledge of God. I speak this to your shame. But someone will say, “How are the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?” Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies.

If we sow to the spirit, we die to self. To know Christ is to die to the natural man and be born again in the Spirit. Jesus cares about our eternal spirit, and will cause those things in our life that do not line up with his spirit to die.

Some Christians live in survival mode (day to day) instead of overcoming mode.

Do not be drawn into Babylon, do not accept false teachings of peace, peace when there is no peace. The whole of creation is waiting, and we want to rule and reign with Christ. Things of this world do not mean so much when compared to eternity.

Hope this blessed you. It sure opens my eyes, especially with the truths that I have been learning in the Daniel study by Beth Moore. I will share some of that soon.

Have a blessed day,

Heather

A continuation of Pastor Ted’s previous study.

Pastor Ted spoke of two realms, the Natural Man and the Spirit Man. And pointed out that in today’s society mankind has started worshipping the Natural Man – the creation rather than the creator.

He pointed out that we have to take dominion over the natural or it will take dominion over us. (Heather’s note, I am excited about this study because I am now beginning to prepare for the Beth Moore Bible study on Daniel that starts up in a month or so, and she is talking about the same thing. I love how God gives us the same lesson from many points of view – could it be He wants us to get it – she says smiling).

When Adam and Eve listened to satan, they defiled creation, and creation turned against them. Because of the fall of man, we are the children of wrath. Satan now uses what God created for man’s good, against man. And we need, with the help of God, to take dominion again.

In Genesis 3 what happened after God spoke to man? Satan’s voice was then heard. Pastor Ted pointed that out in his previous Bible study, that after God speaks, the next voice you hear is satan’s trying to take away what God said.

The woman was deceived and the order God placed in the universe was changed. Dominion was given to satan, when God really wanted man to have dominion over the earth. Whatever voice you choose to listen to is what will move you. Will you listen to satan or to God? Will you obey God or do you make satan your god through disobedience to God?

There is an order in God’s universe: God ->His Son ->Adam->Woman->Child.. but with man’s disobedience the order was changed.

God gave us a picture of divine order through marriage – where the woman submits to the husband as the husband submits to the Lord. This did not take place in the garden, for the woman did not listen to the husband (and the husband did not properly instruct the wife), so the wife listened to satan, and then her husband listened to the woman. In the garden the woman left the husband and clung to satan.  She left the natural order of things.

Genesis 3:17-18 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’: “Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for your, and you shall eat the herb of the field.”

If we love God we will keep (abide) in his Commandments. When did the wife heed the voice from the serpent? When she did not listen to the voice from above. When Adam was told that he would eat of the herbs of the field, that was God saying that he would eat of the natural world, and Adam would be subject to creation, challenged with the things in creation. (Heather’s note, I just noticed when I was proofreading that the ground was cursed “for our sake” this just adds to what Pastor Ted said about God’s sovereignty and how He can use difficulty and trials to help us grow in faith, for the ground was cursed FOR OUR SAKE!)

We are a product of the covenant.

1 John 4:17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world.

Jesus came in the flesh. He came to His own, but His own received Him not. After His baptism, he was led to the wilderness to be tempted by satan. Satan offered Him (Jesus) all the kingdoms of the world during this period of temptation – and satan had the right to offer this for man had given dominion over to satan. Jesus did not bow down to satan.

Hebrews 1:1-4 God, at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has  appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

When Jesus came to earth, He was God incarnate in the flesh.  It is not enough to just believe that Jesus is the Son of God with our minds, or to keep the letter of the law. The prophets, Levites and Pharisees did that. We need to accept it in our hearts and let it change us. Jesus revealed the divine side of the Law and God, a side that does not always agree with what the natural man feels it should mean. Our natural man is afraid of what Jesus reveals, because the only way to hear the Spirit is to die to self. We must all die to our old fleshly natures.

Change happens when the presence of God shows up, when Christ and the Holy Spirit are within us we cannot remain the same, we will die to self. It is no longer we who live, but Christ in us. My natural mind, will and emotions will die as Christ takes over our lives. We no longer know what will happen, we end up out of our comfort zones. We seek after the presence of God, we can’t find it in our carnal minds. The carnal mind is enmity to the spirit.

Genesis 28 talks about Jacob’s ladder, the vision of angels ascending and descending. Jacob meant supplanter, and later God gave him a new name Israel which meant governed by God. That is what happens when we accept Christ into our hearts, we are no longer supplanted by the things of the earth, but we become governed by God.

When we pray, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done.” it is a powerful prayer, and if we allow that to happen in our lives, we die to self.  Everything created by nature will be taken out of us and replaced by things of the Spirit.

1 Cor 1:18-19 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. (Heather’s note – notice “being” is an ongoing action, we are changed glory to glory, faith to faith). For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”

Our biggest fear is to lose what we, in our own understanding, think we are created to do. But God wants us to get to the other side of the natural and take authority over creation. Listening to satan blinds us. God wrote that our people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

The natural man sees the cross as foolishness. God takes everything in creation and turns it upside down. Jesus was a problem for the scribes and pharisees. For the natural man, Jesus is also a problem. Jesus points out that people will cry out to Him, “Lord, Lord,” but he will not know them.

When you cross to the other side you will be a servant to man. Jesus washed the disciples’s feet. To be a servant of God to man you do not diminish yourself. Jesus was not diminished  by His servanthood. Everything is turned upside down when we come to Christ, we are to love our enemies – something that makes no sense to the natural man. When God’s truth touches what we think is reality, that reality no longer exists.

God is sovereign. (Heather’s note: Beth Moore talks about this too in her Daniel study). Everything we are going through in our lives, the good and the challenging, is allowed by God. He has a perfect plan for our lives, and everything we are going through is part of His plan to grow us in the faith. We are all subject to this, even Elijah had his Jezebel.

When truth comes, the truth does not always make us “feel” good. Truth will cause us to change. Our fleshly man does not want us to change, it wants us to keep things as they are. The truth (God’s Word) is enmity to the flesh, and so often our fleshly personality wants to defend our perception of reality.

1 Corinthians 1:19-23 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.” Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,

Everyone wants a sign. Pastor Ted pointed out that just because we have a supernatural experience that does not mean that it is of God. (Heather’s note, the new agers also do signs and wonders, but the source of those signs and wonders is not God.) We can use the Word and not know God. We need to seek truth, to seek God.

1 Corinthians 1:24  But to those who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God.

 Why were there 120 in the upper room? Jesus comes and the revelation of Jesus is His promise of the Holy Ghost which allows them to receive the power of the Holy Ghost. Pastor Ted pointed out that everything in creation is against us (seeking to pull us down to its level) and we need His power to take our thoughts captive.  It gives us the power to transcend our five senses in the three dimensional realm of earth.

If you are not in the divine nature of God, you are subject to nature. If you waver from divine truth, fear and torment can arise. Do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Followers of Christ need not fear creation. We die to those things that oppress us in creation.

I am going to continue this study tomorrow. It was a long Bible study, but so good that I want to savor it.

Right now it is snowing so heavily that we may end up with 18 or more inches. Tonight is Bible study, but I suspect I may choose not to drive in this.

Hoping you have a blessed day. My kids are thrilled – they got their snow day – for all I know it may be snow days.

Heather

I promise to get a new weblog entry up soon – Xanga just ate my most recent attempt. I have been harried, getting the Girl Scout cookies for my district submitted to council – I had to coordinate 11 troops of girl scout cookie sales, incentives, etc.

Good news, I lost 2 pounds this week, which makes my total weight loss 6.8 pounds on weight watchers.

I have a request, I am on the lookout for good recipes that are low in calories or low in points, that might also fool a family into thinking that they are not diet recipes. Any suggestions?

Also looking for sites that help with ideas. Two good ones are www.weightwatchers.com who gives new recipes frequently and for free, and also www.dwlz.com who has food counters and some recipes. Also restaurants are listed with points values that are not included in the weight watchers restaurant book.

Thanks,

Heather