Here is the part that I promised you. If you want to read Part One, this is the link.

Pastor Don continued by sharing examples in the New Testament about Spiritual Blindness. Remember that Spiritual Blindness can be caused by tradition, emotions, expectations, the flesh and temper.

When Jesus came to earth, He did not come to throw out the Old Covenant, but He deepened our understanding of the Old Covenant. He reminded people (for Jesus did as His father did) that God desires Mercy, not sacrifice. He went about reversing Spiritual Blindness. We looked at some examples in the New Testament, so that we could see Spiritual Blindness in others, and realize how that blindness can keep our faith from being operational.

John 9:1-2 Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

This was part of the Spiritual Blindness of the Israelites, that they believed that all sickness or deformity was due to a person’s sin. But this man was blind from birth – blind in the womb. What kind of God would cause a person to be blind from birth so that later he could heal the person? That is not the kind of loving God that we serve. People are always looking for generational curses to be the cause of troubles. A person’s condition is not always because of a generational curse. We live in a fallen world ruled by satan, who is the one who brings sickness, disease and death. Jesus came to free us. Pastor Don told us that we cannot always use the same diagnosis for every situation. We need to look at a person with the eyes of the Spirit to determine the cause of the problem.

John 9:3-4 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work. God would have violated His own covenant if he made everyone sick so that He could look good healing them. This was a person who is blind in the womb. Jesus came to bring light into a dark situation.

John 9:5 (Jesus speaking) “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

John 9:7 (Jesus speaking) And He said to him, “Go wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing.

Here is the exciting part that I told you about yesterday. The Pool of Siloam is actually two pools, an upper pool and a lower one. The water comes from the Kidron Spring and goes through the valley. When we looked at Hezekiah’s tunnel which went under the city we saw that only the upper pool contained water, the lower one which is outside of the city had no water. Here are a few pictures of Hezekiah’s tunnel, which is  a miracle of construction for it was dug from both ends, and the diggers met in the middle. They were digging through rock, and the odds of meeting were minimal. Hezekiah wanted a way to protect Jerusalem’s water source and deny it to the enemy, so the tunnel was his solution.

We had to walk down a number of steps to get to the tunnel.

This tunnel was a huge undertaking.

Can you imagine digging through stone like this??

You can see the height of the walls? I am 5’9 inches so that you can get an idea of the height of the walls. The people would be able to go to the Pool of Siloam protected, and get the water that they needed.

The next pictures are dark, but you can trust me that there is water. That white sheet of paper is floating on water in the Pool of Siloam, the same pool that the blind man washed his eyes in.

Here is another angle of the pool. The wall at the far end of this picture connects with an convent. The nuns used to bathe in this water, until some diggers coming from the other end of the tunnel happened upon the nuns. After that the convent built this wall to protect the nuns.

Now that you have an idea of what the pool looks like, we can continue with the Bible study. Pastor Don said that the next time we take a trip to Israel, he is going to make sure that we spend more time here and he will teach a Bible study on the Pool.

The water in the Pool of Siloam was sacred to the people, so they used it in their worship. During the Feast of Tabernacles ( Also called the Feast of Booths is when people build booths to remember the wandering in the wilderness, living in tents during the time of Moses. The booths have to have spaces in the roof so that the people can see the sky, and the fathers are to tell the children about the wanderings in the wilderness and what God did for His people. The Feast of Booths in prophetic history will be when God comes to tabernacle, abide with His people.) During the time of Jesus it was tradition that the rabbis went to the Pool of Siloam with golden vessels to draw water. They marched in a procession with lots of cheering and singing and praise, bringing the water from the Pool of Siloam and pouring it on the altar.

It is to this sacred pool that Jesus sends the blind man to wash the clay that Jesus put on the blind man’s eyes. The man washed and regained his sight. This was noticed by the people, and the priests and Levites. John 9:11 He answered and said, “A Man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and said to me, “Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.” So I went and washed and I received sight.”

The blind man was a sent one, that Jesus sent to wash in the pool. Because he was Jewish, it made sense that he would wash in the pool within the city walls, not the pool that was without the city walls. Pastor Don said that there was a progression made in verse 11: WENT, WASHED, RECEIVED SIGHT.

When the man received sight, questions began to arise. What happened? Who did this? How can this be done? As a result of the Israelites’ Spiritual Blindness, they missed the real miracle. They missed the picture of Christ bringing the Word, washing people in the Word, and removing the Spiritual Blindness of the people. While the blind man received sight in reality, there was also the symbol of the water being the Word. Just as the water that was brought by the priests to the altar washed the altar, God sent Jesus to wash the people with the Word.

John 9:18 But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind and received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight.

They came to the wrong conclusion about what happened, focused on the physical, and questioned the parents.

John 9:19-20 And they asked them, saying, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” His parents answered them and said, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind.”

Pastor Don told us that when we have questions don’t go to people who don’t see.

John 9:22 His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already that if anyone confessed that He was Christ, he would be put out of the synagogue.

Why would they say this, because of tradition, expectation, emotions and the flesh. They were willing to put up with Spiritual Blindness rather than to be brought into the light of truth. They wanted to exclude the possibility of the Messiah, Christ coming.

Pastor Don said, WE CHOOSE TO REMAIN BLIND.

John 9:25 He answered and said, “Whether He is a sinner or not, I do not know. One thing I know, that though I was blind, now I see”

The blind man realized the important thing, that he could now see.

John 9:26 Then they said to him again, “What did He do to you? How did He open your eyes?”

He tells the truth again, they did not want to hear this.

John 9: 28 Then they reviled him and said, “You are His disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples.”

They chose to remain Spiritually Blind, but the man who had his eyes opened realized that his experience overrode all things that caused his Spiritual Blindness. Your experience should never take a back seat to someone else’s argument, which may be based on Spiritual Blindness. Don’t put reason above faith, for faith is unreasonable.

John 9:30-31 The man answered and said to them, “Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshipper of God and does His will, He hears him.”

This man is preaching already!!!

John 9:32-33 “Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing.”

The man who could now see is not being bound by tradition, experience, emotion, or the flesh.

John 9:35-36 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, “Do you believe in the Son of God?”  He answered and said, “Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?”

He was willing to believe, now that his physical and Spiritual Blindness has been removed.

John 9:37 And Jesus said to him, “You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you.” 

John 9:39 And Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.

John 9: 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.”

These verses answer it all. This is a strong position of faith. If we acknowledge that we do not see, God can help our Spiritual Blindness so that we can see spiritual things. The Pharisees needed to see, but did not acknowledge their blindness, they were unable to see the progression at the Pool of Siloam.

Under the Old Covenant they drank from the Pool of Siloam, and brought water to the altar in a procession. Jesus comes, at the time of the Feast of Booths, and tabernacles with them.

What is most interesting is that there is only water in the upper pool today,  the pool where Jesus had the blind man wash. The sent one was sent under Jesus’ instructions to wash in the water so that He could see. To wash off the clay that Jesus made for his eyes.

The upper pool represents the inner court, and the lower pool the outer court. Jesus broke down the wall of separation. Before that the gentiles had to get water at the lower pool, but because of Jesus the gentiles are now invited inside.

The Old Covenant causes traditions that lead to Spiritual Blindness. The Priests and Levites were invited to wash in the pool, to learn from Jesus’ words. They had the opportunity to remove the Spiritual Blindness. When the lower pool dried up it symbolized the Old Covenant traditions that caused the Spiritual Blindness being dried up.

Under the New Covenant we need to drink the water, wash in the water, and have the Water of the Word, cleaning ourselves in the Water. The scribes and Pharisees were out of faith and did not choose to tabernacle with Jesus.

We then looked at another example of Spiritual Blindness.

John 11:1-2 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.

Pastor Don then summarized the passage for us, pointing out that Jesus did not immediately rush to Lazarus’ side, but waited four days to come. Why four days? Because the Jewish people believed that the spirit stayed near the person for three days. By making sure Lazarus was dead four days, the people could believe that Lazarus was really dead, and when Lazarus rose, there would be no doubt that he rose from the dead. Again we are going to find people who are caught in traditions, emotions, expectations and the flesh.

Lazarus was under the Old Covenant, then Jesus came on the scene.

John 11:38-39 Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.”

Jesus had them take away the stone, to roll away the stone that prevented them from seeing. Jesus was coming to roll away the stone of the Old Covenant to reveal the New Covenant.

He, at a different time, had given a parable about not being able to put new wine into old wineskins. This is similar, for the old rock of Spiritual Blindness had to be rolled away, to be able to Spiritually see in. We can’t see spiritually through the flesh, until our sins are rolled away by Jesus.

John 11:40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?”

To see the glory of God we have to believe by faith for something beyond our comprehension. Believe in the Spirit, and you will see His glory.

John 11:41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.”

The Jews did not get what Jesus was teaching. They felt that they had to be good, and that was enough. But it wasn’t. They needed faith in the Father to open their eyes and make it possible to see what before they could not comprehend.

A GRATITUDE OF ATTITUDE is needed. Thank God before you see the thing in the flesh.

John 11:43-44 Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose him, and let him go.”

The Jews were bound and in tombs. Jesus compared them to white washed tombs. Matthew 23:27 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.

Jesus gave a parable of what he tried to do, when he asked God, instead of cutting down the tree, to let him dig among the roots and see if a shoot grows and the tree shows new life and fruit. That tree was the nation of Israel and for most of that nation at the time of Jesus that did not happen because of Spiritual Blindness.

Lazarus and those under the Old Covenant, were bound, could not see or hear. Pastor Don described how the dead were wrapped in strips of cloth that were 40 feet long, and they were bound by several strips of cloth. Pastor Don speculated that he thinks that the length of cloth that bound Lazarus was 600 plus feet – the number of feet equalling the number of the laws that the Priests concocted from the Ten Commandments, but that is speculation. He does want to ask Jesus about that some time in Heaven.

Lazarus had to be loosed and let go. We cannot see what God has for us without God calling us forth. When we are in Christ, Christ removes the bonds that bind us. We are so bound by tradition, bound by the expectations of parents, pastors, people, ourselves, bound by our emotions both how we affect other people and how they affect us. And bound by our flesh and our desires. Christ came to free us.  God wants us loosed. He wants our eyes uncovered so that we are no longer Spiritually Blind.

Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

People who are spiritual blind do not want to believe

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new.

We need to break loose from the Old and become new creations in Christ Jesus. We are not the same as we were 100 years ago, five years ago, or five minutes ago. We do not want to hold Faith hostage to Spiritual Blindness.

A question was brought up about why Pastor Don thought that the Blind man was sent to the upper pool to wash. He replied, that Jesus was sent to fulfill all the Jewish feasts. The priests and Scribes could not see that Jesus was the fulfillment of the Messianic prophesies, that He was the Christ. He was the sent one from God. So He sent the blind man to the same pool that was used to purify the altar, to show that Jesus was also sent. God used that pool for cleansing, and during the time of tabernacling with God. It is also important to remember that only the upper pool contains water. The upper pool represents the New Covenant, and the New Covenant exists because of Jesus.

Pastor Don pointed out that this pool and the traditions surrounding it were mentioned in non-Biblical sources like Josephus.

The Law was a tutor for us, but the Word of the Lord does not come back void. The Levites, Priests, and Scribes added more and more binding laws and traditions to burden the people. But they lost the Spirit of the law, and caused the people to be Spiritually Blind to God’s mercy and compassion. We all do things that produce Spiritual Blindness, but like David, who repented, God helps to remove the blindness so that we can again see.

We need to let God roll the stone away, to let God unbind us from those traditions, expectations, emotions and flesh that keep us bound. We are saved by grace, but not every person will accept this.

Hoping this lesson blesses you. I count myself so blessed to be able to sit under Pastor Don and learn.

Have a wonderful night!

Heather

Pastor Don has been teaching on various aspects of faith, and knows that we have faith for a number of things. But we want better Bible faith, higher and higher levels of faith. We want to get to a place where our faith increases and reflects Biblical faith.

He pointed out this this is a season of testing for the Body of Christ, and faith that is not based on the meat of the Word will not give us much to stand on.

Those in the universities and seminaries are being tested. The natural is bringing pressure to bear on the supernatural. There is a challenge between science and our faith foundations. What science is revealing, we are not prepared for. Science looks for answers that are based on the physical world for things that are occurring now, even though we know that there is a spiritual basis. Pastor Don gave the example of Matthew 24 which unfolds many of the events that happen today, diseases, pestilence, earthquakes, weather, etc. People are trying to use science to explain the reason why they are occurring.

We have to choose what we believe – do we believe by faith or do we believe what the scientists are saying? The measure of faith is do we have enough faith to be dangerous to evil or do we not operate in faith? How we deal with our perceptions and our senses is determined by the degree of Spiritual Blindness that we have.

When our faith is challenged and we feel that we have run into a wall, and our circumstances do not appear to agree with what we are believing in faith, with what we have prayed for, what do we believe?

When we are Spiritually Blind we have to come to the Lord to ask Him to remove our blindness. Pastor Don then pointed out five things that can affect our level of Spiritual Blindness.

1. TRADITION: Religious tradition can cause Spiritual Blindness. Pastor Don gave a few examples. The Holiness Church considers long white clothing to have spiritual value. Pastor Don has seen hookers saved and operating spiritually even though they are not wearing the right clothing or clothing that comes down to one’s ankles. Anyone who is not dressing according to the tradition of the Holiness Church would be considered by members to be in a state of sin. The Catholic Church has traditions that are not Biblical. Even Word of Faith churches will, when someone lets slip out of their mouths a statement that is not fully faith based, will begin to look upon that person as not being strong in faith, and will judge the person based on one slip of faith. People pray with traditional ways, some are quiet others shout. Those who shout may feel that the quiet ones are not really praying to God. Tradition can cause Spiritual Blindness in a person.

2. EMOTIONS: Affection. The Bible says that God can forgive all sins if a person repents. But there are some in the church who have their pet sins that they feel cannot be forgiven. For example they may feel that murder, assault, or attacks against children cannot be forgiven. They do not understand the magnitude of the grace of God. Pastor Don told us that many of the Mega Churches are having problems in their leadership, Paula White, Jaunita Bynum, and other well known leaders are having marriage problems. These will reflect on the church in general. Pastor Don told us that when we are dealing in our emotions, our flesh, and with our affections, these can lead to Spiritual Blindness. We have to see what the Word of God says, and accept or reject according to what the Word of God says, not according to what our emotions are telling us.

3. EXPECTATIONS: Spiritual Blindness can cause us to have certain expectations. People expect that someone SHOULD act a certain way, or do a certain thing. We want people and God to do what we EXPECT them to do, to be treated in a certain way. They consider it a slight if someone does not respond as expected. One of the sisters in our church was once hurt and upset with Pastor Don because he went to the pulpit, did not look at her during a service, greet her or speak with her. She took offense, was angry, and upset with him. Pastor Don honestly did not see her, he was focusing on the service. But she had expected something else from him, and because of that she stopped being receptive about what was going on in church, her expectations lead to Spiritual Blindness. Her Spiritual Blindness in the situation did not permit her to hear the true word of God, so Spiritual Blindness caused her to shut down. This has since been rectified. There is Spiritual blindness across denominational lines. An example of this is TONGUES, some churches expect that everyone should speak in tongues, and when others don’t speak in tongues, Spiritual Blindness causes people to believe that because someone does not speak in tongues that they have nothing of spiritual value to offer.

4. THE FLESH: (Mind, will, emotions of a person.) People choose to not believe the Bible, to make up their own mind about their fleshly desires, and that can lead to Spiritual Blindness. If a person loves sex so much that they want to disregard what the Word of God says about sex, this leads to Spiritual Blindness. They prefer to give in to their flesh rather than sticking to the truth of the Gospel. They justify their sin, make excuses to continue their actions. They have a long repentance – 360 degrees instead of 180 degrees. They repent from their sin and turn 180 degrees, then the flesh causes them to choose the sin and they end up 360 degrees, full circle. You can know the Word of the Gospel, but choose to let the body rule. God will permit us to destroy ourselves (for He gives us free will). These people reverse the Word of God and respond to their flesh. When they fall they make excuses and that leads to Spiritual Blindness.

Pastor Don shared about a husband who demanded that his wife have sex with him on such a frequent basis that it was not healthy. This man used certain Bible verses to show that the wife had to submit to her husband, and then made them apply in the area of frequent sex. Pastor Don showed him the correct interpretation of verses, so that while she is to submit to her husband, he also is to love her so much that he chooses to do things for her out of love to bring her pleasure. That he had to love her as Christ loved the Church.

Pastor Don was then reminded of another thing that can be a detriment that he added as an aside:

5. TEMPER: People explode at us in anger and that can close our spirit. We are told to be angry and do not sin. Anger can cause Spiritual Blindness. We can gloss over our spirituality and believe that we are justified in our anger.

The fact of Spiritual Blindness is shown both in the Old Covenant and in the New Covenant.

Under the Old Covenant Spiritual Blindness is seen through tradition. Many of the people felt that they were righteous because of all the things that they did, because of works that they did, and they ended up believing that they were entitled to mercy and blessings from God because of their righteousness.

They also believed that if they were successful in spiritual works that it would bring them blessings and they held to the covenant of self-fulfilling works. This is Spiritual Blindness. They felt that if everyone did not do the works that they did according to the Old Covenant, they did not measure up.

God told them, “I desire Mercy, not sacrifice.” It wasn’t works, but God’s mercy. Spiritual Blindness made the people blind to the true mercy of God that was available, not because of works, but because of love and God’s compassion. Whether or not a person did all the works perfectly, God still was going to give mercy and compassion.

The people believed that physical sickness, emotional sickness, and the demoniac were all because of sin. These kinds of attitudes made it tremendously difficult for unity with God that God so desired, for God wanted the hearts of the people, not their deeds.

The first murder in the Bible was because Cain’s offering did not measure up to Abel’s.  God told Cain, Genesis 4:7 If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it. Cain did not rule over the sin, and he chose to remove his brother, thinking that would solve the problem.

Abraham begged God to preserve Sodom and Gomorrah if there could be found 50, 45, 40, 30, 20, or even just 10 righteous men in the city. Pastor Don reminded us that these people probably did good works, even evil people do good works at times. God wasn’t destroying Sodom and Gomorrah over evil works. He destroyed the city because the people kept violating the Covenant of God, it was the relationship that God wanted. Only Lot was in covenant with God, and Lot was not perfect in his works. In fact, after the cities were destroyed he was drunk and ended up sleeping with his daughters.

Moses gave the Law in the Old Covenant, not because God thought that we would keep the Law perfectly, but as a guideline for the people. If you love God, you will keep the commandments. The Scribes and Pharisees added to these laws, and changed the heart of the Commandments from loving God to a works philosophy – that if you do things, it will save you. What God wanted was, because of the Covenant with Him, that their acts would change.

If a husband really loves his wife, over time his behavior will change. He will try to find out what pleases her to make her happy, and he will do things that he knows makes her happy. God wants us to love Him so much that we seek to do things that please Him. God wants us to move closer to Him in relationship, and respect the relationship in Spirit and in Truth.

God even gave the Israelites a way to restore relationship when they got out of relationship – the sacrifice of sheep and goats. The problem is that in the Old Covenant they substituted the rituals and sacrifice of sheep and goats instead of relationship, and that created a spiritual form of Spiritual Blindness.

They established traditions, emotions, expectations, their fleshly attitudes and actions instead of relationship, and that led to Spiritual Blindness.

Pastor Don then brought us to the New Testament to see how Jesus taught about Spiritual Blindness, and how our relationship is to be with God. I will save that part for tomorrow, and let me assure you it is exciting as we cover details in a few chapters, and I learned something that surprised me.

Have a blessed day!

Heather

After the Upper Room, we saw the tomb of King David. I recorded some of the chanting, and tried to show you the tomb – my camera ran out of memory mid-recording, but I thought you would be blessed with what I did record. I focused on the tomb – and chose not to film into the Synagogue, for I thought that would be disrespectful.

Women and men were separated in all the Synagogues we saw, and even at the Wailing Wall they worshipped by gender.

We asked what this throne was – it is Elijah’s throne, waiting for His return to earth.

I loved this Star of David because of the interwoven triangles. It was like an embrace. Nurite, our tour guide told us that she saw the Star of David as God reaching down to his people – and the people reaching up to God form the two triangles that intersect. Later on God showed me that it is God reaching down to His people – sending His son – and His son reaching His arms up on the cross to die for our sins – where are we? – in the center of the Star of David, surrounded by the love of God and Jesus.

Continuing on in our trip to Israel (from May), we visited some places where we could not bring a camera. One of them was the museum that housed the Dead Sea Scrolls. Remember that we saw the cave where they were found. I cannot tell you how awesome it was to see the actual texts. To realize that the words on those scrolls are the exact same words that we read today. The Hebrew texts of today do not vary from the text of old. The very words we read are the words given to the authors of the Bible by God.

To get to this museum we entered the Jewish Quarter of the Old City.

It is here that I realized how hard won Jerusalem was.

This is the Mount Zion Gate. See those pock marks in the walls, these are bullet holes from the time when Israel fought to regain Jerusalem.

I cannot imagine how many lives were lost. It was truly a bloody battle for the streets are narrow, with few places to hide. Jerusalem was gained back by blood.

Here we are entering the Cardo, which is the main heart of Jerusalem.

Laban looking at a Mezuzah.

This area of Jerusalem is divided into four quarters, Armenian (Christian, Orthodox), Jewish, Christian, and Muslim. Pastor Ted was sitting on a bench.

In 1948 to gain supplies, a cable was strung to bring supplies into those who were trapped in the battle. At night bucket after bucket of supplies were brought in.

The following information is from notes hastily scribbled. In 1630 Sulimen built a wall around the city, in the area of the Four Sephardi Synagogues. This was not part of the Muslim city – and although the Muslims want Jerusalem, they do not pray toward Jerusalem, they do not make pilgrimages to Jerusalem – they want Jerusalem because it is wanted by other religions.

The crusaders came and fortified the walls. The Cardo is built over some of these old walls.

Here are some of the original walls.

You can glance down and see some of the old walls under the city.

And an old cistern.

It was Sabbath when we walked through the Cardo, so we could not go to the museum that day, but on clear display was something that took our breath away.

Israel has been rebuilding the tools for use in the Temple that will be rebuilt. They are using scholars to reconstruct from Biblical research all the tools for the Temple. Here is the lampstand for the Holy of Holies – this is made of gold according to the pattern God gave to Moses. Later we will see part of the lampstand up close. This picture makes the lampstand look small, but it is as tall if not taller than a person.

Hoping this walk through the Cardo blesses you!

Heather

I have to tell you that some aspects of our trip to Israel impacted me greatly. Some I have already shared with you, but today I want to share another one – the Upper Room. Obviously when Jesus and His disciples met in the Upper Room it was not a Gothic church building, but the top of a house. As with all sites in Israel, they can only guess about where the site was really located. But so much worship has gone on in this particular site that there is a holiness about the Upper Room.

Again, God showed His hand for our group. We did not have another group in the room with us and we had plenty of time to worship. Pastor Don brought communion for us to share and God touched each of us profoundly.

We first hear about upper room when Jesus held his final Passover Meal with His disciples. He had his disciples prepare the room and the meal. We can read about this in Mark 14:12-26, Matthew 26:17-29 and Luke 22:7-23; and 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 talks about the Lord’s Supper. It is here that Jesus will tell the disciples that one of the 12 will betray Him. Where Jesus showed His disciples true servanthood by washing the disciples’ feet, including Judas’ who would betray Him. He drinks the three cups of wine but leaves the last cup to share with His disciples when we drink it in the kingdom of God. Jesus and his disciples sang a hymn and then went out to the Mt. of Olives to pray, and all the while Jesus knew what would occur shortly – his betrayal, trial, beatings, death on the cross and then the joyous resurrection.

Here we are walking towards the Upper Room

Around us were doorways for various synagogues, for teaching of children and adults. We could hear the sounds of Hebrew prayers and teaching going on. I imagine that when the disciples found their way to the Upper Room many of the same sounds of worship were going on for the people would have been preparing themselves for Passover.

We gathered and looked around the room that the church built over the spot, and there was a holiness about the site that was refreshing. Pastor Don spent a few moments talking about the Upper Room and what occurred there. I want to share one passage with you that touches my heart whenever I read it.

Luke 22:7-13 is the disciples preparing the room according to Jesus’ instructions. Meeting a person and following them to the right spot.

Luke 22:14-15When the hour had come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. Then He said to them, “With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.

(Heather’s note: Can you imagine???? He knows that He is going to suffer and die, going to the cross for our sins, and yet He fervently wanted to eat the Passover (symbol of what He is about to do) with his disciples who are all too human. I cry when I think of the love that He showed them during this meal. I imagine that Jesus was papa in the meal and John would have asked the questions.)

Luke 22:16 “For I say to you, I will no loner eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”

(Heather’s note: Oh my, the wedding feast of the Lamb, we will share a meal with Jesus, only this time it will be celebration.)

Luke 22:17-18 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, “Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”

(Heather’s comment: We need to remember that the sacrifice that Jesus did for us, by His stripes we are healed. Communion, when taken completely – the bread and wine (juice) - body and blood offers healing-mind, body and Spirit. He gave fully of Himself for us, and we remember all that He did through the act of communion. Pastor Don brought the elements of communion for the Upper Room. We did not have cups so used our hand to drink from. Judas did not share the communion with Jesus and the disciples for Jesus sent him to do what he had to do-betray Jesus.)

Pastor Don pouring out the juice into our hands. We also had unleavened bread to share.

(Heather’s comment: What always touches my heart is that, while Jesus knew what was going to be happening, his disciples – all too humanly – started debating about who among them should be the greatest. We still do that with our legalistic beliefs, our traditions, debating who has the one and only true doctrine, etc. Jesus tells his disciples, Luke 22:25 And He said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’ But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves. For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves? Is it not he who sits at the table? Yet I am among you as the One who serves. But you are those who have continued with Me in My trials. And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

I pray to be one who serves and in these last days, to stay true to God, even in the face of what seems to be challenges for believers.)

Then Pastor Don told us to spend some time praying and thinking about Jesus and His sacrifice. Julie went around snapping worship pictures. I thought I would share the few that she shared with me.

This time was so blessed for us – we left the room quietly and I know that God touched the hearts of us all.

Hoping your day is blessed.

Heather

I want to first thank you for your prayers for our trip to drop Christopher off at college. He is happy, has a good roommate, and by the time orientation was over preferred being with his new friends than hanging with his parents. We had traveling mercies and just got home a few hours ago. During the time we were in Richmond the hotel had NO computer access, so I couldn’t check in. I will try to get to your sites over the next few days, but today wanted to share the last bit of the Bible study on hearing from God – Pastor Don’s comments after Ernest’s study.

The characteristics necessary for hearing from God according to Pastor Don are:

Honesty – which Ernest covered

Humble – Pastor Don pointed out that to get to honesty you have to have a Spirit of Humility. To be humble to do the things that the Spirit shows you. This is not just humility on the surface, but a heart humility, to be willing to submit to God, and to put aside the flesh.

Hunger – A hunger to hear from God, to get to the point of honesty. To get to the point of recognizing that if I do not hear from God, I’ll do whatever it takes to make myself receptive – fast, pray, sit and wait on God. I’ll keep seeking in the Word of God, to hear from God.

Happy – To get a word from the Lord. We are not to be afraid, even if we are not hearing what we want to hear right now.

Hearing - Are you hearing from God. 1. In the physical, listening to what the people around you are saying, hearing the peoples’ words, what a TV show might tell you, the radio, the Bible, a little child. We can hear from God through others. 2 Hearing in the Spiritual, listening to you inner voice, your inner witness, not always an audible, but a movement in your Spirit. We just know that we know that we know what we are hearing.

Sometimes we hear:

AUDIBLY INSIDE

INNER WITNESS which Pastor Don said is kind of like hearing a wife inside you (or a husband) inside your heart, having a knowledge of yes or no for a situation, giving the good advice that you need to know, even if it doesn’t agree with what you want.

DREAMS AND VISIONS For a dream or vision to be from God it has to agree with the Word of God, and is usually very clear. It sticks with you and doesn’t dissipate. Pastor Don said that if you do not understand the dream or vision to make sure that if you go to someone for help in interpreting the dream or vision that the person you go to has no ulterior motive, has your best interest in mind, and is willing to give you a correct interpretation. Your vision can be closed, with your eyes closed or awake where you see it with your eyes open and see something acted out in the room. Our Spirit can also help us with interpretation.

There are things that can block hearing from the Lord.

1. Spirit of unworthiness, that you believe God won’t speak to you, that you are not worthy, and you discredit what is God’s word by your belief that it can’t really be from God because you are so unworthy.

2. Pride, elevating yourself to where you refuse to hear what God is saying.

3. Controlling Spirit, where your motive and agenda are wrong, and you lack discernment so God speaks and you refuse to recognize that He is speaking.

4. Habit – you have heard from God one way in the past, and if God doesn’t speak to you exactly that way again you do not think it is from God. You make a ritual of how God is to speak to you.

Without heart honesty we cannot get to where we are hearing from God. We have to make a decision to be honest, make ourselves humble, let go of pride and control unworthy feelings, and believe God. Believe even what seems unbelievable in our minds.

Pastor Don told us that with personal prophesy and hearing from God that we have to get to know the mailman, to know God through relationship with Him and through His word so that we can discern what is truly from God, and what is not from God.  God gives us the ability to immediately evaluate what is being spoken, and we need to agree with what God has already put in us.

Watch our discernment though, making sure that pride doesn’t put us on a wrong channel, accepting a false prophesy, letting our egotism get in the way of truth, putting our self into control instead of obeying God.

When God gives us an answer, He knows when to speak so that we can receive it. God will not let us boss Him around, God is sovereign.

Part of how we deal with God is how we dealt with our parents. If we got our way through temper tantrums, acting a certain way, pouting, stamping our feet, etc. We will try to do that with God. But God will not do that, He seeks to grow us up.

We want to have hearts like David, who loved to be with God, and when he sinned, was quick to repent to restore the relationship.

Our Bible study drew to a close due to time considerations. But these thoughts blessed me a lot. I will hopefully get to your sites over the next few days.

Have a blessed night!

Heather

I had asked Pastor Don a question last Friday. The gist of the question is that someone I know has been diagnosed with beginning Parkinson’s disease. Their spouse is so negative, has no faith for God healing the person, and speaks very emphatically about how there is no cure for this disease, just hoping that it doesn’t become too advanced too soon. I had spoken with them about God being a healer, which was shot down. The couple do not attend a faith based church, and since their kids have grown up, they don’t even attend Catholic Mass. I asked Pastor Don what to say to them and how to pray for them. I suspect some of you might have similar situations, so I thought I would share his answer.

Pastor Don pointed out that it is hardest to minister to a person who has no faith or negative faith. When they are in this position of no or negative faith, when you express positive statements of faith they can get angry or feel condemned. Sometimes it is hard to measure what our own response should be.

The first goal when anyone gets sick is to realize the spiritual law of agreement has to come into effect. We have to locate where the person is in their faith, what they can believe for and then come into agreement with with they can believe. Many try to get the person to take a position of faith, not realizing that it isn’t what they think or say from their head, but from their heart that dominates them. If they aren’t in heart agreement, their head belief may dominate their heart. They need to get to a point where they can get like the father of the mute boy, “Lord I believe, help my unbelief.”

You need to ascertain what their heart’s desire is. What can they believe for? Do they express hope or disappointment? Are they really believing in faith, or do they say they believe in faith, but really don’t believe in faith in their heart? Do they really want to be healed? (Not everyone who comes to the healing line really wants to be healed, some like the attention their sickness gives them). Do they, like some elderly people,  think that they have to get sick to die? Do they think that God cannot do anything?

This is a bit of a harsh statement, but by the time a person has a sickness, it is a little to late to learn faith. It is kind of like learning how to drive a car when we are too old to hold a license. Some figure they will come to God in faith when they have gone through everything else in their lives. Or they will come to God when there is an emergency that causes them to need God. That is an exercise in daring, for how do we know when the last minute to come to God is in a person’s life. Do we say, in 15 minutes they will have a complete change of heart? The only way that can happen is if there is a manifest agreement between you and the Holy Spirit that overrides what you believed. God can do it, for nothing is impossible with God, but God does not do it all the time.

Faith comes from God. No matter where a person’s faith is, God can overcome their lack of faith if He chooses. But if you study how Jesus worked with people you will see that he located their faith and rewarded faith. Think of the Centurion who had such faith that Jesus never saw such great faith. Because of that faith, the Centurion’s servant was healed. Or the woman with the issue of blood who in her heart knew that if she just touched the hem of Jesus’ garment, she would be healed.

Pastor Don said that when you try to minister to relatives that have not been trained in faith, they can come back with rejection if you push too hard. To keep the lines of relationship open you may have to step back a step and pick them up where they are. If they believe that God can get the glory when their life ends, agree with them there. If they won’t agree with that, and if they do not bring Jesus to their heart, then draw back from faith for healing of sickness, and pray for faith for salvation, for salvation deals with their eternal life.

Job’s glory was that he did not blame God for what happened in his life, he realized that God was not the enemy.

In a moment of life and death, locate the person and agree with where they are at. There is no way to try and preach healing if they believe that God wants them to suffer for their faith. That belief will create their reality. Jesus accepts you where you are. There is no sin in dying and going to heaven. God promised us that we can live until we are satisfied. But there is no need to get sick before you choose to die and go to Heaven. (Heather’s note, think of Moses).

Paul wanted to be with the Lord, but chose to stay around on the earth for the sake of the believers.

We want people to know the truth, that God loves them. Also that we love them. Perhaps all they can agree with is that they will have the happiest life possible while going through Parkinson’s. If you try to push a person beyond what they can believe for it may put them into a position where they will curse God or get angry at God, and they will be held accountable for that attitude. We have a ministry of reconciliation, to help people reconcile with God.

This is a hard teaching for me for I love this person very much, but there is truth in what Pastor Don is teaching. I am eager for all to find the joy and healing that I know that God can provide, but at times you have to patiently walk with a person where they are at, and gradually help them to expand their concept of God. Sometimes I get too pushy.

Pastor Don concluded by saying, “We can’t get people to where their faith won’t go.” And then we prayed for these people.

Have a blessed night. Tomorrow we drive my son to college, I don’t know how often I will get to the computer over the next few days, but I will try to check in.

Heather

Remember that one time we were praying for Pastor Abraham in India? Praying for the many Pastors in India who are ministering about Jesus and are being pulled into prison, beaten, and having their homes damaged by non-believers. Right now we have the privilege of having his son, Ernest Abraham with us. Ernest is going to be going to graduate school so that he can go back home and minister. Our church is sponsoring him for his time here in the states. We were blessed to have him teach Bible study on Friday. What a powerful lesson he taught! What was interesting is that without Ernest’s knowledge, one of the members of our Friday Bible study had previously asked Pastor Don to teach about how we hear from God.

Ernest taught from the New Living translation of the Bible, so I will quote that.

Psalm 51:6-10 6 But you desire honesty from the womb, teaching me wisdom even there. 7 Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 8 Oh, give me back my joy again; you have broken me—now let me rejoice.9 Don’t keep looking at my sins. Remove the stain of my guilt. 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me.

I am also going to include the New King James version Psalm 51:6-10 Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me hear joy and gladness, that the bones You have broken may rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Ernest said that he was touched by verse 6, that he trembles in the presence of God, God who is far deeper than what we can grasp most of the time. We can never hear from God unless we are honest on the inside. The Words of the Lord are the source of wisdom, and unless we hear the Word of God and it works in us, we can never be wise.

He said something very profound, “Until we are honest with ourselves, we can never hear from God THE WAY GOD WANTS ME TO.” Which is far different from us thinking we are hearing from God, but it isn’t God, it’s our imagination. We say we want God’s guidance, but often we have ulterior motives, wanting God to do what we want Him to do, not us doing what God is saying. We want to hear from God, but without His discipline. We try to change God’s word so that we can forgive ourselves. God is merciful, but God requires honesty on the inside. He requires us to be in line with His word, and then he will forgive us.

The moment that we hear from God, his wisdom and words work in us. Without putting His words in us, how can we believe? We need submission and honesty with God on a daily basis. This is not about our perfection, but about where we are. God looks at us, at how honest we are, and whether we are trying to do His word or not.

Psalm 51:7 (see above) talks about purifying whiter than snow, whiter than the whitest white we can imagine. Ernest told us that there is a process. That we move from Honesty to Wisdom to Cleansing. But if we are not honest, then we will not become wise, and if we do not become wise we will never ask Him to clean us up. Godly wisdom leads to cleansing.

When God cleanses me I have nothing to worry about because I am whiter than snow, but unless God cleanses me I am not pure white.

Verse 8 (see above) carries the process further. From honesty to wisdom to cleansing and then we can have joy inside of us. We desire Joy, but without being honest, wise and cleansed we cannot experience joy. We want to be the lord of ourselves, and make our own joy. But the truth is that we need God to work on us to attain real joy and honesty is the key.

Verse 9 (see above) When God gives us that joy we ask Him not to keep looking at our sins. We know who we were before we were cleansed, and where we’ve been – so does God, and David desired that God would not keep looking at the past, as we do not want God to keep remembering our sins. (Heather’s note, He doesn’t but we keep thinking He does). David, in this Psalm asked God to remove the stain of his guilt. When we have sinned, there are stains left over from what we have done, and we want God to remove those stains. Little things that bother us, the thought, “I wish I had never done that…”, or thought about that, or when we try to give up something, we keep getting drawn back to it. When we do not do God’s will in our lives there is a stain, an aftermath.

After God cleans us, we sometimes miss doing what God cleaned us up from. We hold onto the past, or feel ourselves drawn to repeat the sins. (Heather’s note, Joy talks about praying for a crop failure from the seeds of sin we sowed in the past.)

Verse 10 (see above) This verse says to “Create in me a clean heart,” And “renew a loyal spirit in me.” Creation means newness, born anew, creating something that wasn’t there. It is not a renovation, but something new and right. God creates a clean heart. When God creates a clean heart that is clean right from the start, we want to keep our heart clean, and that requires honesty. But Ernest pointed out that this verse talks about “create” and “renew”. We ask God to renew a right spirit in us, and when He does that, we can’t go wrong.

Psalm 51:11-13 (New Living Translation) 11 Do not banish me from your presence, and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.13 Then I will teach your ways to rebels, and they will return to you.

Psalm 51:11-13 (NKJ) 11 Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit. 13 Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You.

Ernest told us that David prayed, and we need to pray to ask God to make us willing to obey Him. We need the renewal of the right Spirit in us so that God does not banish the Spirit from us. David knew how much he depended on the Holy Spirit. When David prayed this prayer it was before Jesus, before Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came down in the Upper Room, and the Holy Spirit did not reside in believers, it rested on them. David did not want to lose the Holy Spirit. David was a man after God’s own heart. He pursued God, but messed up, much like we do. He understood that every time he messed up he had to get honest with God.

If he did not get honest with God, he would be king, but God’s Spirit would not be with him. He was appointed by God for a reason, a lone shepherd boy brought in from the field and anointed to be king. David knew where he came from He asks God to examine his heart.

We have the Holy Spirit within us, and we know how much we depend on the Holy Spirit. It is hard for us to ask God to examine our hearts, examine our motives. We can look good on the surface to other people, but not to God who examines our hearts. God knows what I think and what my real motives are.

Ernest shared a song that was appropriate, I can’t find it on the internet, but some of the lyrics are “God rip up those pages of my life uncomfortable to you.” He pointed out that those things that are uncomfortable to God, are often comfortable to us.

Verse 10 reminds us that we depend on His Holy Spirit, or else we wouldn’t be here. We have to realize that we can’t care what other people think of us. Ernest said, “Most people think that I am a nice guy,” but don’t realize the areas in his life that he screwed up totally. Without God’s Spirit leading us, we can go haywire, go off and become a wreck. David prayed, “God I need you so much, if you don’t give your Spirit to me I will not make it.”

Verse 12 (see above) Talks AGAIN about are we really happy? Do we have the joy of being saved or are we just saved and comfortable with that? Make me willing to obey you.

We are back where we started with this Psalm, with God desiring honesty. Verse 12 says to make me willing to obey, submit, depend, never walk outside of your place, and be comfortable about it.

Verse 13 is very important to Ernest. He said that THEN we are to teach. We can talk about God and no one listens to us if we are talking from our head knowledge. That kind of teaching isn’t effective for there is a disconnection, and things don’t line up. If we share from our heart what God has done in our lives, then our speaking about God is effective.

The key to the whole passage is David’s understanding of what God desired: HONESTY. If we are desiring to be honest before God, God can work with us. We can be ZEALOUS, and not HONEST. God looks at the heart. Man looks outside. But God cares about our motives, and wants us to desire to hear and follow God day by day, moment by moment. Hearing the voice of God and walking according to it.

God wants us to be spontaneous. Most of us want a planned Christian life, blah, blah, blah. But God wants us listening and obeying. If we do that, our spiritual walk will not be boring.

It was an awesome and heartfelt Bible teaching. I sure was blessed as were all those who were at the Bible study.

You have a blessed Sunday.

Heather

Click on a title and it will bring you to the article.

Hearing the voice of God
Reply to comment about supporting missionaries
Missions, India, and college update
Living a Free Life In Christ

You can find Part 1 Here.

Where exactly is our heart, not our physical heart, but our spiritual heart?

Romans 10:8-10 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

So what does the Bible say about the heart?

Proverbs 20:27 The spirt of a man is the lamp of the LORD, searching all the inner depths of his heart. (King James speaks of the belly, and the Amplified says innermost parts).

So our spiritual heart is in our bellies. When God wants to know what is going on in our lives, he does not seek out what we are thinking in our head, but looks to our heart to see the true condition of where we are at.

It is embarrassing for people to admit that they do not have faith for a particular thing. Some church settings that place a big store on faith can make a person feel condemned for admitting the truth about their level of faith for that particular thing. That is a tradition of man though, for they think that they have to have faith in all areas to be spirit filled. When a person says that they do not have faith for something, those kinds of churches send out the SIN PATROL, because the lack of faith MUST, in their eyes, be because you have done something wrong or that somewhere you have HIDDEN SIN. Well, if the truth be told, we ALL have hidden sin. To protect themselves, the person pretends to have the faith that they don’t have.

God needs us to be honest about our position in faith. (Heather’s note, there are times when I pray to God, “God, I can’t believe in faith for this, help me to have faith.”)

God, searches the inward parts of our heart knows the state of our faith. When we are honest with Him, He can help us. Remember Mark 9:14-29 when Jesus healed a boy who had a mute spirit. The disciples could not heal this child, so the father of the child came to Jesus and asked him if He could heal the boy. Mark 9:23-24 “Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe: help my unbelief!”

Because the disciples could not cast out the mute spirit, the father’s faith was weakened. Because the father was truthful, he trusted Jesus and had faith by righteousness. You are in good position with God for telling the truth, by confessing the truth if you have a problem with yieldness or a problem with faith. Jesus would ask people, what do you want? What do you want down in your gut where you have heart faith, not in your head?

Proverbs 23:6-7 Do not eat the bread of a miser nor desire his delicacies; for as he thinks in his heart, so is he. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.

What we say with our mouths may not be mirrored in our heart.

Proverbs 23:10-12 Do not remove the ancient landmark, nor enter the fields of the fatherless; for their Redeemer is mighty; He will plead their cause against you. Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to words of knowledge.

You can get out of position with God, but if you apply your mouth, ears and hearing the right Word from God, then it will affect your heart. Some people never pay attention in church, they don’t come to Bible study, they don’t listen to the sermon, they come for praise and worship and then skip out. You can’t grow unless you apply with your heart to what you hear in your teachings at church. Even if you don’t like what you hear, or it isn’t applicable to you at the present time, the Word is still in you ready to be brought forth upon need.

We all have a roller coaster faith development in the Lord. Some days we are strong, other days we are weak. What do you do when you get into those dry places? If you have God’s word in you, you have something to sustain you during the dry times, and can apply that to your heart. If you don’t apply yourself to the Word before the dry spell hits, you don’t have anything to call up. But if you have the Word in you, the Holy Spirit stirs up something and it bubbles to the surface.

Remember, Jesus said, “My words are Spirit and Life.” That is the Zoe kind of life. We need to eat this manna from heaven. We need to open our hearts to instruction.

Proverbs 23:12 Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to words of knowledge. When I open up from the inside, the Words of truth get into my spirit. Pastor Don said that women tend to grow spiritually more quickly than men. Men have to know the answer to everything, women are more teachable.

Proverbs 23:15 My son, if your heart is wise, My heart will rejoice–indeed, I myself:

Who is the I, myself? That is God, and God will rejoice when our hearts are wise.

Proverbs 23:17-21 Do not let your heart envy sinners, but be zealous for the fear of the LORD all the day; for surely there is a hereafter, and your hope will not be cut off. Hear, my son, and be wise; and guide your heart in the way. Do not mix with winebibbers, or with gluttonous eaters of meat; for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.

The Lord has mercy and this is a powerful message. We are to guide our hearts towards God, not towards the flesh.

Proverbs 23:33 Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart will utter perverse things. Those who do not lean toward God, but lean toward the flesh.

Proverbs 24:2 For their heart devises violence, and their lips talk troublemaking.

Proverbs 24:12 If you say, “Surely we did not know this,” Does not He who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps your soul, does He not know it? And will He not render to each man according to his deeds?

Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. God knows our hearts. We can speak from the flesh, but God knows our hearts. He will render to us according to the deeds He sees in our hearts.

What does the word “heart” mean?

In the Greek it is “Kardia” 2588 which means the thoughts or feelings (mind) also the middle, heart. In Hebrew it is 3820 “leb” which is used for the feelings, the will and even the intellect; likewise for the center of anything, which comes from 3824 “lebab” heart, bethink themselves, breast, comfortably, courage, tender heart, midst, mind, unawares, understanding.

The heart is the innermost organ, the inner, and sometimes we are unaware of our understanding.

Pastor Don talked about someone who came for counseling from him who wanted to divorce her husband. He thought it surprising that after someone decided to get a divorce that they would then come to him to ask about divorce. He knew that what he needed to do was to hear from the Spirit. He brought the person to the altar, anointed them and they prayed. The woman started crying, and after awhile Pastor Don realized that she had gotten in touch with her spirit. He then asked her to pray for her situation. She did not pray about divorce, she prayed about her husband gaining understanding and responsibility, that their marriage would begin to work, and that they could work out their differences. She prayed that God would change her heart, and change her husband’s heart. The faith locked up inside was expressed, and she left Pastor Don with a new hope for her relationship. When she came to Pastor Don she had a head idea that she wanted a divorce, but her heart, spirit, had a different plan.

Sometimes in our head the idea of a divorce seems good, a quick solution to a problem, but we don’t realize the other problems that arise from divorce – kids, finances, and other challenges of being a single parent. God does not like divorce. Sometimes there are special circumstances but God doesn’t like divorce because He knows that divorce hurts so bad, not only the couple but children and others are also hurt by divorce.

When a situation comes up we need to ascertain not what the head thinks, but what is being believed in the heart. The Holy Spirit does His most holy work being the candle of the LORD, illuminating what is inside of us.

You may be unaware of your heart understanding if you are operating solely from your head. Ask the Spirit of God to illuminate your heart and you will begin to see your heart understanding. Learn to be honest and dig deep enough down in a meditative state to see what is faith in your heart. So often we stay in our mind and gloss over things. We wonder what will happen if I say out loud in church something about lack of faith, so we push down those doubts and concerns, which blocks our healing, deliverance, understanding, and power that resides in us. Far better to be honest and say, “Lord I believe, help my unbelief.”

Even if you are having trouble believing in your heart it is better to say what the Word of God says. If we say God’s truth long enough, it will get down into our hearts. It is best to believe God, than to listen to those who want to quench our faith.

Mark 22: 22-24 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”

In the flesh your mind is working all the time. Pastor Don said that the other night he could not sleep, his mind would not shut down. He prayed for what he needed to do the next day. In the past he would pray for every problem on the planet, plan for every possibility that might come his way in a counseling session, planning out scenarios. He now spent time seeking the mind of the spirit which comes from the heart, spoke the truth of God’s word, and then went to sleep saying over and over in his mind, “By his stripes I am healed.” He kept repeating that until sleep overtook him. 

If we don’t tune into the voice of the heart, if we don’t latch onto it in faith, we cannot believe in faith. Pastor Don told us that we have to identify the voice coming from our belly (heart), and confess what our heart is telling us with our mouth.

Teaching the truth about faith in this way tends to cross our traditions, our ways of thinking and relating to problems. When we start trying to reach our faith, we often do it by rote, like a habit because we believe it works. If the Holy Spirit responded to you once when you opened up your Bible, ran your finger down the page and stopped at a passage, people tend to think that every time they want to hear form the Holy Spirit they need to open their Bibles and run their fingers down the page. Or they pray in a certain way, in a certain position, or feel something one way, and then think that the Holy Spirit will always respond that way. This can open one up to danger, for satan can also imitate the occurrence and then it may not be the Holy Spirit, but a lie. That is why we have to know the voice of the Spirit within us, in our heart and know God’s Word so well, for the Spirit and the Word MUST agree.

We need righteousness by faith. Pastor Don gave an example about something that is done to honor God, and that is ok, as long as it doesn’t turn into legalism. For example, Pastor Don enters the pulpit in a clean suit or a clean outfit. He doesn’t come in cut offs and dirty clothes. He does this to honor God, for he wants to represent God to the people and show his respect for God. But if this became a ritual, and Pastor Don ascribed power to the clothes that he wears in the pulpit, if it changes from honoring God to becoming a ritual than it is not pleasing to God.

We have to have faith in God, not faith in faith. Notice that Verse 23 says that we “SAY”, that we will have what we say. But saying it alone will not get it, if we have doubt in our heart. We need to pray to believe God. We need to examine ourselves to see if we really believe it in our heart, or is it a head belief.

God is not looking at our past, at what sins we committed before we were saved, at our medical condition, our finances, our current conditions, all God does is examine IF YOU BELIEVE IN YOUR HEART. When you believe in your heart, you make the way for God to act.

How fast the miracle occurs depends on if you believe it now, or are you in the process of believing. We cannot figure out when and how God is going to operate in us. So we need to ask Him to help in our unbelief. With God all things are possible if you believe.

When you are believing can you see or visualize it? Even if your circumstances to not confirm your visualization, keep believing God for what He has shown you is possible. God can work with what you believe. If you can believe that after you see Dr. Moskovitz in Idaho you will get your healing, then that is when you will get it. He will work where you can attach your heart faith. The woman with the issue of blood believed that when she touched the hem of Jesus’ robe that she would be healed.

Have you located where your faith is? Get your heart to confess it. If you believe what you say in your heart, God will meet you at your point of faith.

Romans 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

We need to approach God in honesty and truth. If we don’t have faith for this be honest with God. God will say, “fine.” Then go to His Word and speak the truth from the Word of God, for faith comes by hearing. Listen to the Word of God. Pastor Don has given people CD’s of healing scriptures, when they needed healing. They listen to it once, and then give the CD back to him. Pastor Don used to listen to scriptures over and over and over and over. For faith comes by hearing.

We are always creating our environment. If we are not in faith, pour God’s Word into our lives. The first possible place to hear is in your heart, by your own mouth. Pray out loud, condition yourself out loud.

When Jesus came into town, he did not just say, “Hey, I’m the Messiah,” follow me. He sat them down and taught Isaiah 61, and after teaching God’s word the people were ready to receive Him.

Peter pushed out from the shore, and after the massive catch, came to Jesus and said get away from me for I am unclean, but if you insist I will follow you. The disciples had their faith fed by seeing what Jesus did, and hearing His teachings. Those considered Faith Giants keep hearing and applying the word of God.

Yet there were those who chose not to believe in faith, they heard the Word and rejected it. John 6:66 From that time many of His disciples went back and walked with Him no more. Form the time that he told them that He was the Bread of Life sent in the flesh. The people who heard and had a spirit of offense left Jesus. Jesus asked the disciples, John 6:67 “…Do you also want to go away?” Simon Peter answered, John 6:68 “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life?”

Where can we go? We go to the Word of truth, and believe in faith in righteousness.

Hoping this teaching blesses you. It is challenging, even for me, because it is so easy to try and justify lack of faith in certain areas. Yet, God’s word is true, and He wants us believing in Faith.

Have a blessed night!

Heather

I love God!!!! When He wants me to get a lesson, He repeats it over and over. Pastor Don taught on the love of God. I was smiling through the Bible study because the Holy Spirit was sharing the same information He gave me. Pastor Don started out by praying that our faith would be built to a higher level through this study.

We started out in Romans 9:30 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, but attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith;

It is a mystery, if we have faith and act in faith that God attributes it to righteousness.

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

We must have faith that He is, and that faith lets us know that we are in right standing with God. Was God pleased with Abraham? Yes, for Abraham stepped out in faith and followed God’s direction. Abraham did not attain righteousness by keeping the laws and commandments perfectly. Abraham lived 100′s of years before God gave Moses the law. What pleased God about Abraham is that he trusted God, that He obeyed God because of faith.

Obedience is the result of faith. You can obey and not believe or you can obey because you believe. God values obedience because of belief. God is looking for faith, and our faith is counted as righteousness. Faith puts us in a position to be in right standing with God.

When God gave Moses the law, some obeyed the law from their head, but not from their hearts. They did not fully believe in God, and were just going through the motions. When there would be a choice given between an action based on faith, or an action that had no faith needed, they would choose the action with no faith needed.

Pastor Don then gave a few Biblical examples. He talked about Jacob who went to get a bride, ended up with two brides. One was Rachel. Rachel left with Jacob. Jacob had proved that he was fruitful. He had repeatedly multiplied the animals under his care, showing that he had favor with God. Rachel did not fully have faith in God, so she stole her father’s idols. Hiding them under her buttocks, on her beast of burden. What was the fruit of trying to serve God and idols? She was barren. She didn’t consider that God sent a man 1/2 way around the world to get her, who had proved his productivity. She made her choice to have idols. Her lack of faith put her into a position of unrighteousness.There was no law at this time, but she was not acting in faith in God.

We act in similar ways. We pray for things that do not happen, put our faith in God for a short while, then we start looking elsewhere for answers to what we prayed for. We do not believe God will provide. Sometimes we have put our faith in the wrong place. While our faith is operational in one part of our lives, we did not put our faith where it mattered the most.

Romans 9:31-32 But Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. (Heather’s note, the Israelites stumbled at the stumbling stone who is the Messiah.)

The “it” that the people of Israel did not seek was righteousness by faith. They tried to have righteousness by the law, by works. That is the problem with the modern day church, which is still seeking righteousness, but not operating in faith to receive it. Pastor Don said that people get into routines in their prayer lives, deal with works and actions to try and get God to answer their prayers. When an answer to prayer does not come, or doesn’t come quick enough people start thinking, “God did not answer me because I did or didn’t do ____.”

Pastor Don grew up in a Baptist household, and he told us that Baptists believe in right standing with God, and before communion they are told to check themselves to see if they are in right standing. When prayers are not answered, sometimes they think that they are so righteous that God is not answering a prayer to teach them something, or that God wants them to bear with something.Catholics have so much guilt, so that when prayers are not answered they figure it is their sins, or lack of going to confession that brings the lack of prayer answers.Pentecostals, if there is no immediate response to prayer, embrace one of two thoughts, that I did wrong, or that they are doing so much good that it is causing the devil to beat them up.

What most denominations of the church teach, is that we have to do something to be in right standing with God. But our faith by itself places us in right standing with God. Everything else is excuse making. Why? Pastor Don gave another Biblical example.

Mark 5 talks about the demon possessed man of the Gaderenes. This man saw Jesus and ran to meet and worship Him. Jesus cast out the demon whose name was Legion, because there were many. Pastor Don said that the demons did not have possession of all of the man because there was some part of the man, body, soul or spirit that let him run to the Lord. His diligence in seeking out Jesus set him free from demonic possession. Just like Hebrews 11:6 (see above) says, God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. By placing himself in the right position regarding Jesus, He was rewarded with liberty from demons.

Another example was the two thieves on the cross. One of the thieves said, Luke 23:42 Then he said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”

All the thief did was recognize that Jesus is “Lord”. The act of calling Jesus “Lord” was an act of righteousness. He recognized in his Heart that Jesus was Lord.

Romans 10:1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved.

Where is Paul’s desire, in his heart. Our faith must reside in our heart, not our head. Heart faith pleases God.

Romans 10:8-10 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart (that is the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

With our heart we believe to righteousness, with our mouth to salvation. Someone told Pastor Don that he had a person say the prayer of salvation and that they used this verse with them, but how do they know if the person said it from their head or their heart. Pastor Don said that we cannot judge if a person is speaking from their head or their heart, only God knows. Only when we speak from the heart does real change happen. Not everyone who says they want to change really want to change from their heart.

Someone came to Pastor Don and told him that faith didn’t work for them. Their way of thinking, believing and identity had them thinking that they couldn’t have faith. Pastor Don pointed out to them that maybe they could not ride a bicycle now, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t learn how to ride a bicycle. It wasn’t that they couldn’t, it was just that they had not had the right opportunities, or chance to learn how. But they could learn how if they chose to try. We have to get to a point of being willing to trust God.

In church there is a misunderstanding of what faith in God is. Many want to turn it to legalism or wrong thinking. Others think, “Oil me up, and then faith will work.” Some think that if you can get a few people screaming or having outward manifestations of faith, that faith will work. The are missing the important thing – that it is in the HEART, as verse 10 states With the Heart one believes unto righteousness.

Pastor Don told us that if you say the truth often enough, at some point it can then reach your heart and righteousness, but if it just stays head knowledge, it is belief unto salvation. Many in the church do not operate in righteousness BY FAITH. God sets them apart as saved, but besides salvation, there is wholeness, health, prosperity that comes with being born again. But that does not come unless with the heart one believes unto righteousness.

Psalm 103:2-5 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget now all His benefits. Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, who satisfies your mouth with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

In church people do not believe the benefits. They believe to salvation, but do not believe for heaven on earth, or that God can help them out of their condition. Because of our thinking we limit the benefits that we are not supposed to forget.

Pastor Don continued with more about the heart, which I will share tomorrow.

Hoping your day is blessed.

Heather