I am going to share last night’s Bible study because it was a continuation of the previous two, and is so important for Believers.

Pastor Don pointed out that there is reality in earth of both the Natural and the Supernatural. There is a veil between the natural (earth) and supernatural (things of the heavenlies), and at times we can see the supernatural when the hand of God opens the veil or by Spiritual Gifts. We then get glimpses of the Supernatural and understand how the veil works.

1 Corinthians 1:27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;

We can be so intelligent in our stupidity that we deny the reality that the veil exists and that there is a supernatural.

Pastor Don said that we can sometimes go to a play or a movie and being in the audience we forget that the play had an author, that there are props, a script, and many stagehands behind the scene. We forget that it isn’t reality, just a play, and that there is a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes that affect our circumstances and situations. It is the same with things going on behind the veil in the supernatural – we get tricked thinking that the world as we perceive it with our senses is the only thing, it isn’t – it is just a tiny part of reality.

One day we wake up and realize, “I need God” there is stuff going on in my life. I need some help to realize that there are other forces that can effect the way we are going in life. When life busts you up we have to realize that there are circumstances beyond our control that are affecting our lives. If we get sick, and keep staying sick, we need to turn around and ask for help from Heaven. If we are thrown out in the streets or our debts become overwhelming we need to make different choices and seek help from beyond the veil.

Spiritual Gifts are the tools and equipment that help us to see through the veil.

Pastor Don gave one of the most excellent examples of Spiritual Warfare that is going on in the Supernatural that I have ever heard.

He said to imagine that there are two armies – say the French Army and the German Army. They are fighting, not in France or Germany, but somewhere in between. We are in the place of somewhere in between, having a tea party in the country where all is peaceful. As we reach for the teacup to take a sip, a cannonball falls into our yard, and then we are bombarded by warfare going on all around us. We don’t know where it comes from, who is fighting, and which side we are taking. We just know that we are sitting in the middle of a war. We need to have the veil lifted so that we can recognize the players.

We are in the midst of such a battle now, the battle of God and His angels against the devil and his angels.  The battle is for souls – will the souls go to heaven or hell?

The reality of God is that He is pulling apart the veil so that we can see that we are in the middle of a war. Sometimes it takes a major tragedy in our lives for the veil to lift so that we perceive the war.

Things do not always go the way we want them to go, we have to figure out what side we are on when we go through tough stuff. Do we want to use supernatural gifts from God to help us discern the real cause or wallow around in total helplessness? Often these wars are accompanied by a feeling of helplessness, but that is never our reality when we are God’s, for God always provides a way.

Pastor Don then shared with us one of his favorite stories, STONE SOUP. The gist of it is, after a war two soldiers come to a town and they are hungry. They know that the townspeople will not feed them, so they come up with a supernatural plan. They go to one house and borrow a huge pot and a spoon. They build a fire in the center of town, clean the pot, fill it with water and start cooking. They take two stones and put them in the pot and stir, smelling the pot and pretending to taste delicious soup. People become curious and come out to learn that the soldiers are making stone soup – but the soldiers tell one person a few spices would make it taste better – a townsperson brings the spices, then the soldiers say that it would even be better if there were a few carrots, those are brought. They continue asking each individual for one item, onions, green peppers, a piece of meat, etc. By the time all the people have contributed there is a wonderful pot of “stone” soup – all shared from the pot and the soldiers were no longer hungry.

Pastor Don pointed out that in times of difficulties we have to look beyond the seeming limitations to other possibilities – as the soldiers in STONE SOUP did. We are in a spiritual battle, and often that feeling of hopelessness that comes with a spiritual battle limits our vision. We need to ask the Lord to give us a clear vision of what is happening behind the veil and what our next steps need to be.

Pastor Don asked us what is the difference between a successful person and an unsuccessful person?

We ventured a few answers, they have a clear vision of where they are going, they are optimistic, not afraid of taking risks. But Pastor Don told us that the one trait that determines success is: DO NOT BE AFRAID OF FAILING.

A successful person looks at failure as an opportunity. The unsuccessful person looks at is as wanting or lack. The successful person looks to change reality and see behind the veil.

A successful person expects that there will be failures, and views failure as a chance to learn something that will ultimately lead to success. Pastor Don said that if an unsuccessful person is faced with a crossroads where there are three possible roads to take, they are so afraid of failure that they don’t go anywhere at all – the stand there trying to decide which to take, but move nowhere. A Successful person will hurry down one path, and if it is a dead end they rejoice for now they know that success is on one of the other two paths, so they hurry back and take another one, sure that success will ultimately be their result.

The successful one has POSSIBILITY RESOLUTION, for they are experiencing the possible, and coming closer and closer to the right possibility that will resolve the problem.

Einstein could stay at a blackboard fiddling with equations until he found a successful resolution. Instead of feeling like a failure, he kept seeking for the correct answer that he knew would be there if he continued to go through the process of trying various solutions.

If we can figure out why something doesn’t work, then we can go in a different direction towards success. A successful person searches for right answers, but doesn’t count the failures.

Pastor Don then gave an example of a man looking for a wife. He may have to date 49 women before he finds the one perfect wife. But if he is afraid of failing, he may not ask those 49 women out because he doesn’t want to get rejected, but the truth is that he won’t find the perfect one without those 49 rejections.

In the Natural God expects us to have a mind toward success. Ecclesiastes 11:1 Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days.

Pastor Don pointed out that this passage does not say “A” bread it says “YOUR” bread – We have to realize that we cast our bread on the water and some of it isn’t going to come back – we are sowing seed, some seed will grow, others won’t. We keep trying different things, and trying to do what God wants us to do, at some point He lifts the veil and shows us the spiritual aspects behind what is going on here in the Natural, and then He makes things happen.

There are forces in the battlefield and we want to be aware of when we are to move. Sometimes we find we missed the opportunity which happened yesterday, but there is an opportunity on next Wednesday. There is a time when God will act, and it isn’t always the time WE think it should be.  We are often not prepared for what is going on in the supernatural. We need a clear vision so that we can act according to God’s Perfect Timing.

Pastor Don shared that before he got into the ministry there was a battle that was waged to try and drag Pastor Don further away from God. The battle was in the Supernatural, but in the Natural he tried to find the right way to go.

Pastor Don then talked about various Spiritual gifts.

THE GIFT OF THE WORD OF PROPHESY or WORD OF KNOWLEDGE - a person says a word of truth to you. It may not agree with the circumstances you see, but later it is confirmed. For example, if Pastor Don tells someone they have four kids, and the person says, “No, that’s not true, I have three children.” Later they learn that they are pregnant with their fourth child – that is a word of prophesy – something only God could have known. God parts the veil and gives knowledge of what is going on in the battle behind the veil.

THE GIFT OF THE WORD OF WISDOM – That will often tell a person what to do with the word of prophesy. For example, it is prophesied that you will get a raise, then the person with a word of wisdom tells that person, “By the way, when you get your raise, make a first fruit offering, put it into Nancy’s ministry, and you will be blessed.” That word of wisdom takes a piece of knowledge and tells the person what to do with it. It shows the person more of what is going on behind the veil.

Some people are not recognized as prophets, but they give a word of knowledge or a word of wisdom and it will affect your life, even though they are not well known, or do not commonly operate in these giftings.

Another example of a Word of Wisdom might be, “When God heals you, you have to get out of real estate and get into a more passive job, for the Lord wants to use you, and doesn’t want you to die an untimely death due to job stress.”

A Word of Wisdom usually tells you what to do with the Word of Knowledge, and it is usually followed by telling you something that you have to do or carry out to get the thing done.

You do have a choice, you can ignore the Word of Wisdom or the Word of knowledge and operate entirely in the Natural, but you won’t then see all that is going on behind the veil and your reality is clouded. Or else you can obey these words (Heather’s note: making sure they line up with the truth of Scripture), and have greater knowledge of what is going on in the battle you face.

THE GIFT OF SUPERNATURAL FAITH – God lifts the veil and and your faith raises. In the natural you maybe still doubt everything, but with Supernatural faith you can believe greater things. So often people do not advance from BELIEVING FOR SOMETHING – to FAITH THAT IT IS. In your natural faith you may need a car and begin believing for a car, but something quickens in your spirit and you end up with a supernatural faith to believe for a fleet of buses, when you don’t even have a car.

Sadly, few people get to FAITH, they stay stuck in BELIEVING FOR.

You speak it and go after it. Pastor Don spoke with his brother who asked Pastor Don how to believe for a car. Pastor Don told him to speak in faith and then go after it. Not sure how to do that, his brother then asked Pastor Don what is the first step of going after it – Pastor Don said to “See it.” Later his brother called and said that he saw himself in a red jeep – being involved in a street ministry of distributing food to the hungry, he wanted a red jeep that would be easily recognized, and the jeep would have a huge compartment in the back so that lots of food could be put in it to distribute. Later, he went to an evangelistic meeting and a rich believer told Pastor Don’s brother that God wanted him to give him a car – his brother said, I want a red Jeep. The business man was floored, because a red jeep was what he was planning to give. This is a supernatural faith that is a result of the parting of the veil.

THE GIFT OF FAITH, AND THE GIFT OF HEALINGS. It is not a faith that is a natural faith, but far beyond what we think we can believe in the natural. Pastor Don talked about how at times the healing anointing comes on him and he knows that it is a time of Supernatural faith for healings -and that many will be healed by God – at other times people come up to him for a healing, but he just has his natural faith – and he prays a prayer of agreement – people are still healed when they agree in prayer, but there are times when God wants to move in a bigger way in healing.

THE GIFT OF THE WORKING OF MIRACLES For example – the feeding of the 5,000, or to speak to the mountain, walking on water, water to wine are examples of miracles. Pastor Don gave an example of a 106 lb. woman who was in the repair shop having her Lincoln Continental car fixed, the jack collapsed and the car fell on the mechanic. The woman was wondering where to go to get help when a voice inside told her to lift up the car. She lifted up the front of the car so the mechanic could wiggle out, and he only had a few broken ribs. The woman in the natural could not lift such a huge weight, but she knew that when the voice told her to lift up the car, that she would have the help of God in this. When the voice came to lift the car she was immediately obedient. We need to be IMMEDIATELY obedient to the voice of God, even when we don’t understand why in the natural.

For years, when Pastor Don was a teenager, the ladies of the church would prophesy over him that he would have a ministry – he did not want to hear that as a teenager, but these women, who ordinarily did not speak words of prophesy, spoke true prophesy over him and he became a minister.

Pastor Don then went on to talk about Acts 16. I will share that with you tomorrow.

Praying your day is blessed.

Heather

Continuing the Bible study – you may want to read the previous entry.which gives the background and deals with the demonic in the body realm.

The Demonic in the realm of the SOUL. Remember, the soul is our mind, our will and our emotions. Some people, no matter how their lives are going are never happy, they are compulsive in certain areas of their life, and live in an emotional realm. There is a spirit of depression that they can’t seem to break free from. Some are manic, or hyperactive, and never have a sense of emotional balance. The demonic convinces the mind to tell the emotions that this is what they are feeling, and that it is OK. No matter what, they feel that it will be a lousy day. That is a demonic influence that keeps a person down like this.

Sometimes the demonic gives a person a to do list that is oppressive, giving them so much to do that they are weighted down by the amount of things to do, and no matter how organized a person is, they will never get things all done. Sometimes Pastor Don says that the demonic tries to convince him that he has so much to do that he will never accomplish it all – but the reality of the situation is that he is an organized person and the list of things he has to do is perfectly doable. But the demonic wants him to stop doing God’s work and uses oppression to try and convince him that he can’t do all God wants him to do.

Sometimes the demonic gets a person so busy with things that are good, things that they know in their intellect are godly things, but they are not the things God has in mind for the person. They can be meaningless to God at that particular time, or pull a person away from the direction that God has for their life. A person can get misdirected, do something hollow and get willful in that area. But are they producing fruit?  They can get so opinionated, refuse to apologize when an apology is due. When they are in a willful state, they have to say to themselves, “Wait a minute,” so that they can step outside of the feeling and examine it. Their spirit can be so bombarded with feelings that they yield to the emotions.

Some of the demons that oppress us, we get used to, so that we end up feeling, “I have a right to be depressed. I have a right to be manic.” Some of us are loquacious, we talk too much, and we end up talking ourselves into false feelings. If you keep speaking the feelings, your soul man can dig a hole and your body falls into it.

The demonic will try to tell us that we will be happy IF – IF we move to a new house, IF we get that new car, or new dress, but these do not keep us happy, for we often want more and more. The demonic will try to keep us distracted, telling us that the emotional realm must not be denied, and that we need to respond to any thought or feeling that pops up in our head. Or we tell ourselves that we are physically ill or tired or depressed or unhappy, we will have faith for these conditions because faith comes by hearing.  So what are we hearing? What our soulish mind tells us or what the word of God tells us?

Emotions will tell us that this (something) is going to make me feel better, but then we find it doesn’t.

Pastor Don says that when he is feeling down, he goes to the movies, seeking out a movie that touches a sense of victory. For him, the movie Gladiator works. (Heather’s comment I suspect that Gladiator is a man sort of a movie, we women may choose a different movie.)

Pastor Don told us that in the emotional realm we need to feel victorious.

Then there is the demonic that touches us in the SPIRIT REALM.

We need to discern if we are hearing from the Spirit man or someone else.

The essence of the Spirit becomes evil when it is influenced by evil thoughts continuously. Noah was told to build the ark because Genesis 6:5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” Our thoughts of evil continually will pollute our spirit man. We can become polluted by what we think on a daily basis, so we need to monitor our thought life, to take every thought captive.

We sometimes think that when the demonic attacks that it is because we are not doing good, that is not true.

We can start out doing good – and then satan comes in and turns the good to evil.

For example we can want to do a good job, and then one day it changes to how can I pull one over on a client. Or we can have a strong drive to succeed that turns to a bully spirit that takes advantage of another. It is also evil to think, “I am worthless or no good.”  We can go into battle, get cleaned up in our lives, and then get so caught up in the spirit that we do not do much about our body and soul. The devil tries to bring us to our lowest depths.

Pastor Don shared about a woman he met when he was on tour with a band before he became a pastor. This woman picked up men and then wanted them to do bathroom things to her. Her level of self hate and worthlessness indicated that evil had penetrated into her spirit. Adolph Hitler and Eichman thought evil continually and participated in it to the point of genocide.  People at times volunteer themselves to evil.

A person can get to the point where their spirit had to do the action, but even if they become that far gone, God can get through and heal them – Son of Sam made a miraculous turn around in his life.

Pastor Don was asked how can a person get to the point where their spirit is turned over to the demonic? He said that the demonic gets control over one aspect of the life of a person, and causes an over focus on the self, everything and every one else does not matter or count, only the self counts.

1 Timothy 4:1-2 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron,

1 Timothy 4:1-2 (AMP, Pastor Don did not use this, but I liked the added info) BUT THE [Holy] Spirit distinctly and expressly declares that in latter times some will turn away from the faith, giving attention to deluding and seducing spirits and doctrines that demons teach, through the hypocrisy and pretensions of liars whose consciences are seared (cauterized),

This doctrine is “Me first,” “I choose to do it my way.” Pastor Don said that this kind of searing is like cauterizing a wound, but the infection is still inside festering. The wound may seem to be healed on the outside, but damage is still being done. In order to have true healing, all the infection needs to be removed.

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

2 Timothy 3:1-5 (AMP – again it gives more info, but Pastor Don did not use it) BUT UNDERSTAND this, that in the last days will come (set in) perilous times of great stress and trouble [hard to deal with and hard to bear]. For people will be lovers of self and [utterly] self-centered, lovers of money and aroused by an inordinate [greedy] desire for wealth, proud and arrogant and contemptuous boasters. They will be abusive (blasphemous, scoffing), disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy and profane. [They will be] without natural [human] affection (callous and inhuman), relentless (admitting of no truce or appeasement); [they will be] slanderers (false accusers, troublemakers), intemperate and loose in morals and conduct, uncontrolled and fierce, haters of good. [They will be] treacherous [betrayers], rash, [and] inflated with self-conceit. [They will be] lovers of sensual pleasures and vain amusements more than and rather than lovers of God. For [although] they hold a form of piety (true religion), they deny and reject and are strangers to the power of it [their conduct belies the genuineness of their profession]. Avoid [all] such people [turn away from them].

This is so prevalent today, for many have become lovers of themselves. And they have an external form of Godliness. This evil gets so deeply into their spirit and we turn away because we can’t reach or convert them away.

The key is that the demonic attempts to get all the way down to the spirit of a person and control the symptoms.  The process is different at times, but it begins by raising up in people a prideful selfish desire to obtain something at any cost, in spite of anyone else. It involves placing “MY NEED” above my character,  MY NEED above the Word of God, and even above my real needs. If you are overwhelmed with selfish desire, feel things all need to be validated to you, and your self is rock hard, it could be a symptom of a demonic root.

The Spirit filled believer can give themselves over to a demonic spirit as easy as an unbeliever. Both can be oppressed or possessed. For if the self is put above God, the person opens the door to the demonic. One way the door is opened is through money.

Pastor Don pointed out that many mega ministries start out in a Godly fashion, but then the need for money causes some to veer from the truth of the Bible, to preach a word that is watered down so they do not offend those who are donating, and a demon spirit can get in the ministry and deceive the minister. For example, a demon spirit may tell the person that because of their ministry they need 300 pairs of shoes, or a private jet, or a huge house. Now the truth is that you can have these things and still have God first, but if you have a spirit of mammon, and you love money more than God, then it has turned to the demonic. It is not money that is evil, but the LOVE of money. Some of the mega ministers lose the focus on God and begin to feel that they are something special.  Recently several mega ministries have come under the scrutiny of the government, and Pastor Don is praying that these ministers have been scrupulous with money – if not, that the truth comes out and that the ministries are shaken and get back to God’s purpose. Pastor Don says that he does not touch the money at church at all. He even chooses if possible, not to open the safe.

Pastor Don said that the ego and self is the problem when covetousness comes into being.

Then the Pastor Don dealt with the demonic in the REALM OF MONEY

2 Timothy points out that men will become lovers of themselves, lovers of money. Remember money in and of itself is not evil, it is the LOVE OF MONEY that is evil, for it becomes an expression of selfishness, and the root of selfishness is pride. If a person who handles money is prideful you can see a demonic influence about it, for the purpose of being rich for them is OWNERSHIP. They really believe that this is MY WEALTH, rather than that they are stewards of the money. When they have a spirit of ownership they are afraid to lose it. When they get to that point money has YOU, and you have been oppressed. We need to be prepared to lose all. Remember, we have it all because God controls it, but he wants us to use it wisely. There is enough for everybody.

The World concept of community is destroyed, for there is a fruit of wanting what they couldn’t have. And now they are looking for united ownership

We get caught up in believing that this is MINE, I’ve GOT to have it, and get attached to money, position, and wealth.

But God is the provider, he has provided it for men, but not for ownership. The person who has a problem with the demonic in the area of money finds it very painful to give. They refuse to understand the concept of tithing, and do not want to be a blessing, or they tithe hoping to receive a blessing, sometimes tithing way out of proportion to their income hoping to receive a huge blessing. When a person is out of balance in the area of money, there is room for the devil. Very, very, very seldom does God want us to borrow money on our credit card to sow a seed.

The solution to the demonic.

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.

If a person has demonic influence they need to begin to believe the reality that they are a new creation in Christ. The Word of God will not return void. Therefore any habit you have that is influenced by the demonic you must bring to Jesus Christ. Eventually, as you give it to Christ, it will lose its power over you, as you become more filled with His Word and permit Him to take control of your life.

Pastor Don then shared a few Biblical examples.

Acts 16:16-18 Now it happened, as we went to prayer, that a certain slave girl possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much profit by fortunetelling. This girl followed Paul and us, and cried out, saying, “These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.” And this she did for many days. But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And he came out that very hour.

This girl was hearing from the spirit – but it wasn’t the Holy Spirit, it was the demonic. The words she was speaking from the spirit had a negative benefit. The spirit had to be driven out of her in the name of Jesus. But Paul did not pick up about the spirit immediately, it took a bit of time before Paul realized that it needed to be cast out.

Pastor Don pointed out that we can have demonic influence in our life and not detect it. God brings focus to it so that we can become aware of it when He’s ready to deliver you. God made it evident to Paul about this woman’s spirit of prophesy so that Paul was able to then deal with it.

Pastor Don then told us that that at times the demonic will come on strong to try and prevent a person from preaching. Paul was in great trouble for casting out the spirit, for it affected the income of the slave owner.

Sometimes we are blind and do not realize that we are in adversarial conditions, but we need not be afraid, for the demonic force is more afraid – and that is the key. Pastor Don said that a little fear can prevent victory. YOU CANNOT CAST OUT ANYTHING UNLESS THE PRESENCE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT MANIFESTS. PRAY UNTIL HE DOES  MANIFEST AND KNOW THAT HE WILL MANIFEST. If you are not afraid it will come out. It can do no harm unless you think that “I’m involved,” Or you do something fleshly. We don’t have authority, the Holy Spirit has authority THROUGH US. It is the Holy Spirit that signs the checks we write.

Acts 8:9-25  But there was a certain man called Simon, who previously practiced sorcery in the city and astonished the people of Samaria, claiming that he was someone great, to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the great power of God.” And they heeded him because he had astonished them with his sorceries for a long time. But when they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, both men and women were baptized. Then Simon himself also believed; and when he was baptized he continued with Philip, and was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs which were done. Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them, who, when they had come down, prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For as yet He had fallen upon none of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit. And when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money, saying, “Give me this power also, that anyone on whom I lay hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” But Peter said to him, “Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity.” Then Simon answered and said, “Pray to the Lord for me, that none of the things which you have spoken may come upon me.” So when they had testified and preached the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many villages of the Samaritans.

Simon the Sorcerer got born again, accepted the Gospel. But money and the desire for power colored the Gospel. He wanted to buy the power. Peter told him to repent and get right with God.

Ananias and Sophira also had a problem with money, holding back some. God had no problem with them holding back some finances, but He did not like them lying about it and pretending to do what they didn’t do – which was give all to the common fund.

One of the members in the Corinthian church was sleeping with his father’s wife. The church was not confronting this sin, and such a sin could pave the way to an even greater and deeper sin.

Even the Church can be deceived. Theology goes bad when people step outside the Word of God, and that opens the door for satan to come in and deceive. You can have deliverance of the Spirit but destruction of the body, if you are not diligent to speak the whole counsel of the Word of God. You cannot embrace sin and tolerate it, people need repentance. It is ok to love the sinner, but it is not ok that they are doing the sin. Believe for repentance.

We need to remember that it is God who does the delivering, but we also have to be aware of where the demonic is acting in our lives and in the lives of those around us. God is more powerful than demons, and He is the conquerer, but we must repent, stay strong in the Word of God, and make sure that we do not leave doorways open for the demonic to come into our lives.

Praying your day is blessed,

Heather

Pastor Don started with 1 Corinthians 2:5 that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.

Pastor Don contends that the reason we don’t discern is because we rely on the wisdom of man, and our carnality causes us to not see the work of the evil one. We do not want to admit struggles or that we need help, and we rationalize what we are feeling and seeing. When we observe behavior we interpret it to agree with what others are saying and what we want to hear.

In today’s culture we have redefined alcoholism as an illness, a disease. A person is now no longer responsible for their behavior, and because of that many of these “illnesses” are becoming more rampant because man has been given a socially acceptable excuse. The wisdom of man has made these “illnesses” even more prevalent.

The one thing that is necessary for all of us is BEING IN TRUTH.  When we define things through the wisdom of man, we create a lie. The wisdom of man redefines, and removes the self from responsibility, defining and permitting the demonic. When we put another label on it, we are not looking for the source of the real problem, and it is easy to get off on a rabbit trail where people deceive, and redefine behavior. We are not to be deceived by our human understanding.

Most often we redefine behavior when it shows up. We see something going on and redefine it. For example, one of our members who is a child psychologist, told us that all ADD behavior is not physical (although some is), some stems from the demonic and others stem from poor parenting. But when we see the behavior, we instantly medicate it. The problem is that teachers and psychologists can’t fix the family so they drug the kids. 

The demonic will defend itself against self and outside influences. It will use the sound of our own voice in our head, pride, ownership, and implanted ideas to gain a hold in us.

Sometimes the Spirit filled believer just loses it and they think they hear from God. They may not discern the demonic. They may believe, “I’m Good. The voice in my head quoted scripture, so it has to be God.” Is it true that if the voice inside our head quotes scripture that it is God? NO!

Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit came to reside in Him – and you could say that He was a spirit-filled believer. Yet, see what happens.

Luke 4:1-11 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry. And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’” Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said to Him, “All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to whomever I wish. Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.” And Jesus answered and said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.’” Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. 10 For it is written:  (10-11) ‘ He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you, and, in their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”

Jesus quoted scripture to the devil (one of our best defenses), but does the devil know scripture? Yes, he has been around since the time of Adam and Eve. He knows scripture better than us. The devil can quote scripture, but in verses 10-11 he quotes them out of context. So Jesus quotes back to him Luke 10:12- And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt the LORD your God.’” Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an opportune time. (Heather’s note, satan left Jesus for a time – for an opportune time. We don’t just defeat him once and he goes away. He will keep coming around looking for weakness.)

Pastor Don said that a person of God can use the right scriptures, but if quoted out of context, can cause us to have a check in our spirit. For example, some use scripture to tell us that we are not to judge, that everyone will be saved. This is not scriptural and if we believe these lies we are in Biblical error. We have to make sure that we see scripture in context.

Also, we can’t just crack open the Bible and put our finger on the page and find a scripture or, as the classic joke goes, we may come across two Bible verses out of context, “Judas went and hanged himself, go ye and do likewise.”

God has told us to take every thought captive and be obedient to Christ. What does Christ do to satan? In Verse 12 Jesus took the thought about jumping off the pinnacle and came to the conclusion that He was not to tempt God by His death, that satan was in error. Jesus discerned the lie that satan was trying to use to destroy the Messiah.

Pastor Don said that sometimes a man will pray to God that a sister in Christ will be made his wife. The man reads the scripture that tells him that God will give him the desires of his heart, but doesn’t subject himself to the whole scripture. The desire of our heart must be in line with scriptural authority. Unless you can confirm your desire in more than one passage of scripture, don’t act. God wants to give you the desires of your heart, but if that sister is married, it is not God’s will that you break apart a marriage to have a relationship with that sister. God will not honor the desire of your heart if it involves a sin like adultery.

People always try to find a way to take scripture out of context. It is dangerous to underestimate a spiritual person. If you are plugged into the Holy Ghost, He will reveal to you errors in doctrine. Pastor Don talked about a time when a pastor came into our church and preached that in the end times the elect would be misled. People in the congregation applauded this pastor, but Pastor Don was surprised that no one challenged him to point out where in scripture that was written. The real passage says, that the elect, IF POSSIBLE, would be misled. If you understand the grammar in that passage, you would see that it was the subjunctive clause, and comes with the supposition that it is contrary to fact, so it could read, “If it were, but it isn’t.” It is not possible to fool the elect who are well grounded in scripture. Pastor Don encourages us to question, with respect, anything that is preached from the pulpit, if we feel that it is not scriptural. Pastor Don told us that to counter the false teaching, for the next few weeks, he taught the truth of those scriptures and that pastor with the false doctrine was never invited back to our pulpit. People are like sheep, easily led, but we are not to blindly follow lies.

Pastor Don then shared about a person with a charismatic personality who came into our church, and people were looking up to him – but the Spirit gave Pastor Don a check in his spirit that told him to keep his eye on this man, and not let him get elevated. The man was wanting to recruit men to himself, and although he claimed to be led by the spirit, the spirit did not lead him the right way. This man was listening to the wrong voice. At one point Pastor Don took a bunch of men from church to a Promise Keeper’s meeting, and they arrived late, so seating was difficult. This man said that people should follow him for the spirit told him where they would get good seats. Pastor Don was told by the Spirit to wait, so he waited. The end result was that Pastor Don and the men who stayed with him had seats 100 feet from the stage – all the seats together in one area. The man who listened to the wrong spirit ended up so far from the stage sitting on a park bench. Pastor Don sent to get the people who went with that man so they could sit up close – this man chose to remain on the park bench, claiming that that was the best seat, but the others left and came to the good seats. It wasn’t long after that that this man moved to another church, and has been church hopping ever since. Sometimes people who look godly, sound godly, and talk godly are not what they appear to be. If you have a check in your spirit, pay attention to that, watch and wait.

Pastor Don said that there are various ways that the demonic can come in to a person: through the body, through the soul, through the spirit, and through money. He then gave detailed information about how to recognize the demonic in these various areas.

BODY: When the demonic comes in through the body it manifests as strange symptoms. Not just high blood pressure, but blood pressure that is so strange that it doesn’t fit the normal symptoms. It can manifest as swellings, rashes, sharp disconnected pains. You can pray for severe symptoms to go away but the pain moves; the pain in the hands then goes up the arms and hits them in the chest. The demonic can knock  you down. There can be strange manifestations that are not of the Lord. Some moving and shaking is not of the Lord, it is a demonic spirit that is seeking to disrupt and block the Spirit of God. The demonic spirit can be very strong, and hold on to the person’s will. It will attack and try to bring down the person, attacking the heart of the person with intent to kill, possess, or scare so that the person will stop praying. We are not to lay hands on a person who is possessed by a demonic spirit, every case when Jesus cast out the demon He did not lay hands on them. Jesus did not need to, He just spoke God’s Word to the demon and the demon had to go. Demons will try to counter attack and jump across space. When they are in the room they can make you uneasy. Pastor Don can tell when a demonic spirit is trying to come to our church by a feeling that he describes as a fullness in his neck area, his hair stands on edge. Sometimes that feeling can last 1/2 an hour or longer even after the presence has left. It is important and a blessing to be able to discern when evil is present, for its goal is to attack and disrupt, and if we know of the presence then we can, through Christ, make the presence leave.

The evil one can also imitate what was at one point a way that God communicated with you. For example if you get a tingle in a particular body part and in the past that was an indicator that someone in the house needed prayer for that body part, satan can use tingles to get you sidetracked from what God is wanting to do. You will end up tingling all over and maybe even bent over in pain from all the supposed areas that need prayer – but it isn’t from God, it is from satan. You need to discern where the source is coming from. Pastor Don pointed out that this is not how God operates, and brought it to its most far flung conclusion – stigmata, where a person has the marks of being crucified and supposedly experiencing the anguish of Christ. Would God really see that as a blessing? Christ was sacrificed ONCE, why would God get the glory of seeing someone He loves experiencing what He went through? If we do not discern the source of the demonic spirit, we can fall into the lie of the devil. God doesn’t want to double you up in pain. God wants us to operate in the Word of Knowledge, not the pain of the body.

It is a demonic spirit that tells us that our suffering is for Christ. The only time that we really suffer for Christ is if we are persecuted for sharing His Truth – not every illness, disease, or tragedy is suffering for Christ – there is no glory in that for God! If we don’t eat right, sleep right, and we get sick – that is not to the Glory of God, that is to the stupidity of us who are not taking care of the bodies God gave us.

When you have strange symptoms in your body, it is important to examine yourself, and see if there is something you are doing that is giving a way for a demonic spirit to touch your life. Pastor Don at times has come to church feeling that he was coming down with a sickness and would be unable to preach, but he does not give into that impulse. In each instance he was able to give a powerful message. Remember satan wants to stop what God is setting up. When you get strange symptoms that seem to come out of nowhere, then you get a thought to not do this or don’t go there, and it is a place that God is directing you to go, examine those thoughts for it could be demonic influence.

What can trip up believers is that they believe that being saved makes them the picture of perfection, and they believe that they can’t become under attack by demonic spirits. Pastor Don told us to pray before we fall asleep that our Spirit protects us, for when we are asleep, the Holy Spirit is the guardian of our Spirit, Soul (mind, will, emotions) and body.

We are to continue to renew our minds. We need to put the Word of God into our minds so that when we are under attack the Word of God comes out of our mouths. We need to quote the Word, to state that no weapon formed against us can prosper. If we fall asleep quoting the word, satan cannot bring you troubling visions so that you wake up in a sweat, terrorized when we remember the dreams. God can bless us to do spiritual warfare in our dreams. Our Spirit can recognize an attack from the evil one and tell us we don’t have to wake up. We can tell the devil to leave us alone.

The mind needs to be subject to the Spirit. What we put in our mind is what will come out. If we have a spirit of infirmity, the person may focus on the symptoms, and not realize that it was a demonic spirit that was able to convince them that there was greater reward in staying sick than in being well. Usually a trauma comes to the person, and they find that they like the attention that they get by being ill. No matter what promises they have from the Word of God about divine health they cling to their illness. Pastor Don said that when an illness is caused by a demonic spirit that there is a central illness that resides, and others revolve around it.

In an alcoholic, demonic possession may have as the central problem addiction. This central demonic addiction then is surrounded by other spirits that seek possession of the person such as spirits of lust, manic depression, and alcoholism.

Some people come for a healing, and they are willing to let go of one aspect of the demonic that is bothering them, but they want to keep their pet sin.

Pastor Don talked about a man who came to him with a transvestite spirit, and psychology was unable to help the man. He came to Pastor Don, and they talked about the symptoms and what was going on. Pastor Don told us that the way to draw out the demon is to talk about the symptoms and about the demon. When you do, the demon manifests and then you can cast it out. When the demonic spirit manifested in this man, Pastor Don wanted to take him to the altar and cast out the demon. The man refused and left – he liked the attention that he got because of the demonic spirit. He liked being so sick that he couldn’t work, keep a job, etc. The lie that the man was believing was that his first marriage was a failure and that he was less of a man because his wife had left him. But until the man was willing to repent and take this to the altar, that spirit would remain with him.

Pastor Don did not let the man stay around, he prayed him out of the church so that the spirit would not try to reach others in the church. Sometimes, when a person is so caught up in their problems and resistant to solutions for help, you are not helping them by helping them. Sometimes they have to reach the bottom, and realize that they really want to get free – if you help them before that point, then the problem persists longer. It is sometimes greater love to let a person reach the bottom of the problem. They have to WANT to be helped.

Pastor Don then gave a Biblical example of a demonic spirit that affected the body.

Mark 5:1-2 Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes. And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit,

An unclean spirit had come to this demonic of the Gadarenes. 

Mark 5: 3who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains,

This spirit in him was extremely strong.

Mark 5:4-5 because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him. And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones.

The demons are strong, but the power for good is even stronger.

Pastor Don then read this in the Amplified Mark 5:4-5 AMP For he had been bound often with shackles for the feet and handcuffs, but the handcuffs of [light] chains he wrenched apart, and the shackles he rubbed and ground together and broke in pieces; and no one had strength enough to restrain or tame him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always shrieking and screaming and beating and bruising and cutting himself with stones.

This is a demon that is attacking the body, and shows the torment to the physical body. It shows the lie of self mutilation – the lie that tells you that you will feel better when you have mutilated yourself, when in reality you end up in shame feeling you deserved the mutilation, your body is scarred, and you do not feel better. You feel worse. A familiar spirit can cause a person to do something, telling them that they will get something for doing something destructive to their lives. For example, when you get drunk, at first you feel fine – the life of the party, a lightness, but that only lasts a little, until you are making friends with the toilet and have the terrible hangover. Depression feels strong, and sometimes the self mutilator thinks that cutting themselves will help to ease their depression.

Mark 5:6-7  When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him. (7) And he cried out with a loud voice and said, “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment me.”

The man’s spirit was able to come forward for a moment, and that caused him to come and fall at Jesus’ feet – the demon spirit did not have complete control over the man. In Verse 7 it is not the man speaking, but the spirit speaking through the man. When the person is under the influence of a demonic spirit the person will say things that they would ordinarily never say. There is a confusion in deep possession and often the tenor of the person’s voice will change. The person would never be expected to say what they are saying. The body may experience a different personality energizing it, and the person may find that they are in self conversations with themselves. They may feel that their self is saying what they normally wouldn’t say. If you find yourself saying weird things, stop and puzzle it out, ask yourself, “What did I say?” See if it is really from you. Sometimes the demonic spirit can turn a moderate reaction to an annoyance to rage, and then we have to ask ourselves, “Where did that come from?” We usually don’t think about what we are thinking about and think about what we are saying. We need to take ownership of our thoughts and words.

When Jesus stepped out of the boat, the demonic of the Gadarenes’s spirit drove him to the feet of Jesus. The man was still under demonic influence, but the Holy Spirit helped the man to bring him to the only One who could help him – Jesus.

Mark 5:8-9  For He (Jesus) said to him, “Come out of the man, unclean spirit!” Then He (Jesus) asked him, “What is your name?” And he answered, saying, “My name is Legion; for we are many.”

When Jesus asked how many demons were in the man, the demon answered legion – that is five to six thousand entities, God is big – demons are small. Jesus spoke to the one in charge – the unclean spirit, but the legion were under the commanding spirit. The will of the person is necessary to come in cooperation to remove the demons.

But sometimes a person does not want to give up all their demons. For example,  if a person has a cocaine addiction, the person might be willing to give up cocaine, but not fornication. Most people on earth are without a clue regarding the demonic, but we have a Wonderful Counselor who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life who can come into a life and dramatically change the life. Most people will stay bound until they run into the Way, the Truth, and the Life (Jesus).

Pastor Don talked about Son of Sam who was in jail for 10-15 years before he met the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one would come close to the Son of Sam, except one fellow inmate who would speak a word abut Jesus. Son of Sam would tell him to leave him alone, but after awhile, after a few seeds of truth were dropped, the Son of Sam met Jesus and was dramatically converted.

King Nebucadnezzar (the book of Daniel) was proud of his kingdom and took credit for it, stating proudly, “Look what I have done.” God permitted a demonic spirit to come on King Nebuchadnezzar for seven years, and King Nebuchadnezzar lived like a wild man, eating the grass, his hair grew so matted it looked like feathers, and his nails were like claws. He remained in this wild state until he came to his senses and acknowledged God’s sovereignty, then the spirit was removed and King Nebuchadnezzar continued being a great king.

Mark 5:10 Also he begged Him earnestly that He would not send them out of the country.

Demons crave a body, and did not want to be disembodied spirits. So they begged that Jesus would not send them out of the country. They were in submission to Jesus.

Mark 5:11-12 Now a large herd of swine was feeding there near the mountains. 12 So all the demons begged Him, saying, “Send us to the swine, that we may enter them.” And at once Jesus gave them permission. Then the unclean spirits went out and entered the swine (there were about two thousand); and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and drowned in the sea.

They asked to be put into the swine – pigs were considered unclean animals by the Jews, so why were they tending the flocks of pigs? But Jesus permitted them into the swine, and notice it was unclean spirits (plural) that went into the pigs. It drove the pigs mad and they drowned.

Mark 5:13-15 So those who fed the swine fled, and they told it in the city and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that had happened. Then they came to Jesus, and saw the one who had been demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid.

The people could see that something was different in the man, for he was now sitting, clothed and in his right mind. With demonic possession the body language changes. Pastor Don says that often the person drops their head and looks at you from the top of the eyes, peering up at you with the eyes like a mad dog. While that looks like an attack and challenging, it is really a fear response, for the demons fear the Greater One (God). They know they have to pay homage to Him. This can happen in the mildest of people, it can happen to a person you love dearly. You can just feel the hate. The person can have an anger response that is off the charts, and you get the feeling of their pure rage. The demon is telling the person that they are justified for their rage, that they were wronged and the other person deserves the worst of rage. The person allows the demon to be in charge. Pastor Don pointed out that at times the drugs that we use to medicate people just give the demon more freedom to move around in the person’s life.

Often a person who has a demonic spirit cannot stand to stay in the sanctuary where praise and worship is going on. They can’t sit, so they get up, leave awhile, come back, get up, etc. That is why Pastor Don does not want the lobby to become a place to socialize during service, but it needs to be an extension of the sanctuary.

Someone asked about where demons came from, assuming that all were destroyed in the flood. But Pastor Don pointed out that the demons left the bodies they were possessing and then started looking for new hosts once the earth was again populated by Noah’s offspring. The demons do not fit in either heaven or hell. If you cast one out and send them to hell, they stay there a few seconds and then come back to look for a new host. It won’t be until the final judgment, the lake of fire, when they are permanently destroyed. Demons were the offspring of the mating between fallen angels and people. They are territorial, staying in their area, moving from host to host. Some are familiar spirits, that are attracted to a particular sin like alcoholism, drug addiction, fornication, etc. They so desire to be in a body that five to six thousand will crowd into one body.

Pastor Don continued with the other categories of the demonic, but I will share that tomorrow.

I hope that this helps you to understand some of what is going on today. I truly expect that this type of behavior will only increase in the end times as satan gets more desperate. After this Bible study I told Pastor Don that I learned more about demons than I ever learned in all my years in the occult, and I had extensive training in the occult circles I traveled in. The problem is that many in the occult, as well as many Christians, do not recognize that there really is an enemy out there that needs addressing. And the one thing that we have the occultists do not have is that we have a Mighty, Powerful, Loving God who is far Bigger than anything satan can throw at us. Satan is a defeated foe, satan knows this, yet he wants to drag down as many as possible. We need to become wise, follow our Shepherd, and have the discernment to recognize the lies when they come at us. This study is a valuable tool for discernment of what is going on in the world today.

I pray that your day is blessed and that your Thanksgiving was a day of giving much thanks for all that God has done in our lives.

Heather

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!! I am so blessed to have a multitude of teachings to share with you. I am so blessed to have had God pursue me for salvation and then to place me under the teachings of Pastor Don. I am blessed to be in a great church family, to have a wonderful husband and three children. God is awesome. Today when I was driving, God spilled clouds all over the mountain and made my view so beautiful. Everywhere I look I have so much to be grateful for. And then, He gave us His living WORD!!!! The Bible. Pastor Don has been teaching on Revelation and I am going to continue his teaching.

On Sundays Pastor Don prays until God gives him an opening scripture. Last Sunday 11/11 it was Psalm 37:1-4 Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb. Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.

Pastor Don then talked about how the Bible is 66 books written by 40 people. Men have tried to prove that the Bible is false and that there are errors in the document. But we can trust the Word of God.

1. The Bible has not been tampered with. It has withstood the test of 5,000 years of history. It has not been rewritten and is the same as the original. In 1948 the Dead Sea Scrolls were found in a cave outside of Jerusalem. In comparing the texts found in those caves with the Bible we have today, the errors were minimal, and mostly punctuation errors. The content was EXACTLY THE SAME. Every book of the Bible was represented in the caves. The scribes of the Essenes and the scribes copied the scriptures. When the scriptures were copied by the scribes, if one mistake was made the whole copy was burned. They believed the scriptures were the Word of God and not one mistake could be tolerated. They memorized whole books of scriptures.  If the Bible had been tampered with in 2000 years, then a simple comparison would have proved this fact, and it did not occur. Not only that but there were different texts of the Bible in different parts of the world – the Babylonian text (Daniel), the Subjective (?) text in Rome and North Africa, and the Hebraic text. They were all the same.

There are over 24,000 copies of all the gospels, and over 24,00 excerpts of the New Testament. If they messed with the text, all you had to do was take the copies and compare. Unlike the Muslims, their sacred text has many versions, and the ruling power would destroy all competing documents, the Bible does not have that history. When King James in 1611 decided to produce an English Bible, he went to all corners of the earth to bring back ancient copies. 3,800 poets and linguists gathered to make the Bible in English. It is the best selling book in the world. Everything that it says will come to pass came to pass. If one prophesy did not come to pass as the Bible said it would, then the whole book would be suspect. But everything that it has said would happen has happened to date. Given the bulk of fulfilled prophesies, we can trust that the few future prophesies remaining will also come to pass.

Prophesy fulfilled also confirms the validity of the Word. In AD 70, after Jesus was crucified the Temple was destroyed. The Jews hid out in Masada, and Jerusalem was burned. 900,000 Jews were sent into captivity all over the world, one million were killed. Jeremiah prophesied that the Jews would disperse all over the world in the last days. Jesus had predicted the destruction of the temple where one stone would not be left on another – and that is what happened in AD 70.

And In Isaiah 66:8 God says Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to give birth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion was in labor, she gave birth to her children.

May 6, 1948 this prophesy came true! The Balfour treaty paved the way for Israel to become a nation. The League of Nations permitted Jews to return to Israel from all over the world. And Israel became a nation in ONE DAY.

Pastor Don gave a brief five minute (or so) synopsis of the previous chapters in Revelation.

Revelation Chapter 1 – The Lord Jesus appears and begins to talk about the seven churches. This is historical churches and also spiritual problems that face the church today.

Revelation Chapter 2 -The Persecuted church- The Church of Ephesus -590-1500 AD the first 100 years Jesus gave them compliments, that they kept a special place. But he also criticizes them that they have left their first love, that their zeal waned.  The Church of Smyrna had hard times and perservered in tribulation. Jesus told them they would suffer, but if they were faithful until death they would gain a crown of life. Then Jesus spoke to the Church of Pergamos, that he knew that they were located where satan’s throne was, at the heart of pagan worship. They were rich and had a lot of money, and listened to the doctrine of the Nicolatians. They had to repent and do right. Jesus also spoke about the church in Thyatiria, that he knew their works, love, service, faith and patience. They were doing these things more than at the first, but they had allowed Jezebel to come in and spread false doctrine and idols. That those who did not fall into that doctrine are to hold fast until Jesus comes, and if they perservere Jesus will give them the morning star.

Revelation Chapter 3 – The church at Sardis, they may appear alive but are really dead. They were falling into idolatry, were rich and needed to hold fast and repent. Those who overcome would be clothed in white garments and their name would not be blotted out of the Book of Life. The church of Philadelphia 1700′s-1900′s They spread the gospel. England evangelized the world Christopher Columbus was a Messianic Jew whose main goal was to bring the gospel to the New World. They have the key of David, and what they open, no one shuts, and what they shut, no one opens. Jesus knew their works, that they had little strength. It doesn’t take much strength to do God’s will, and they have kept His Word and not denied His name. They will be kept from the hour of trial (notice it is only a short time – an hour), they are to hold fast. And lastly the church of today, Laodicea – the lukewarm church. Laodicea made black wool and eye salve, and when Jesus prophesied about them, they were not doing these things. But Jesus tells them that they are neither warm nor cold – but lukewarm and He would spit them out of his mouth. They were wealthy, but did not realize that they were spiritually poor, they were naked, and He would give those who overcame garments of white (not black) and He would open up their blind eyes.

Revelation Chapter 4 – John sees a vision of Heaven and the question of who is worthy to open up the scroll – and the Lamb of God (Jesus) comes forward as worthy. There is worship in heaven and the saints saying to God, the four living creatures say AMEN, and the the 24 elders fall down and worship. (Heather’s note, look at the song that is sung in verse 9 …And you have redeemed us to God by Your blood – only saved believers can sing that).

Revelation Chapter 5 – the Six seals are opened. When the first is opened what appears is a white horse – with a rider that went out conquering and to conquer – a spirit of warfare, The second seal opened and a fiery red horse whose rider is able to take peace from the earth comes, third seal is a black horse with a rider who brings famine – a quart of wheat for a day’s wages. Pastor Don pointed out the rising gas prices and runaway inflation. The fourth seal – a pale horse whose rider is death and Hades followed with him – and 1/4 of the earth would be killed with sword, hunger, death, and beasts of the earth. These beasts of the earth could be rodents, insects and germs.  There are new diseases cropping up that are not being dealt with with our current antibiotics. The fifth seal was when the souls under the altar who had been slain for the word of God and the testimony they held (martyrs) are asking God how long before they are avenged – God gives them white garments and says they should rest a little while longer. There are more people who have died in the last decade for the Word of God than in all of history since the time of Jesus. And the sixth seal being opened causes a great earthquake, the sun becomes black and the moon like blood, and the stars fell to the earth. Everyone hid in the rocks of the mountains for the great day of His wrath has come.

Pastor Don pointed out that many teach a false gospel that separates God’s goodness from God’s wrath. Just because God is not displaying His wrath now, does not mean that at the right time it will not happen. Love has with it certain parameters, it demands obedience, elicits punishment. Many do not want to hear that God can punish, but if the devil was slamming you down into the concrete you would want a punishing God. A parent who does not discipline their children does not love the child. Punishment is correction – not abuse. Rightly applied the child will learn right from wrong, and the repercussions of disobedience will underscore the lesson of doing what is right. We have a whole generation in America that is so permissive, and the fruit of that is the behavior that is being exhibited by the youth today, they are without discipline and act out without concern of others. If you don’t stop this, if we don’t get our lives under control, we will end up in a cycle of self destruction.

Revelation 7:1-4 After these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree. Then I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, saying, “Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.” And I heard the number of those who were sealed. One hundred and forty-four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel were sealed:

God held back this judgment until people could be sealed. If you look at verses 5-8 you see that 12,000 from each tribe of Israel were sealed. We don’t know what this seal is, if it is a physical or a spiritual mark. The Bible doesn’t indicate. What is important to realize is that these tribes are tribes of Israel – if the false teaching that God is done with Israel was true why would God indicate that these tribes would be sealed? God does not lie, and He holds to His covenant that He made with Abraham. The Jews will be saved, not all – but the remnant who accept Him will be saved. Pastor Don gave many scriptures (see previous post) regarding the rapture. When this happens we will not be on the planet, but there will still be believers on earth. Believers who saw what happened, have read the scriptures and realized that God was telling the truth.

At this time in the end times the earth was like a pregnant woman – with birth pangs. They increase until the time of the birth. As we read about the seals, trumpets and bowl judgments we see that the events escalate. Even now things on our planet are intensifying – there are far more serious earthquakes each month than in the past, and they are coming with greater frequency. There are also tsunamis – one of which knocked the earth’s axis a tiny bit, and that has affected our weather patterns. There are also an increase in hurricanes, cyclones, drought, famine and diseases. War has increased on the earth, and we are hearing about wars and rumors of wars. Someone wonders how God will select these 144,000 – and Pastor Don stated that God knows the DNA of each person. There is a false teaching in some cults like the Jehovah Witnesses that state that the 144,000 are not Jews, but why would God not have then placed the Gentiles in this passage instead of the tribes of Israel? God clearly details what will happen to Jews and what will happen to Gentiles.

Revelation 7:9-12 After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: “ Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”

Heavenly worship!!!!

Revelation 7:13-14 Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, “Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from? And I said to him, “Sir, you know.”

Revelation 7:15-17 So he said to me, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

The Lamb is Jesus, and these are wearing white spiritual robes. These are spiritual clothes, for this was taking place in the spiritual realm. (Heather’s note, they came from tough times because it says that they will not hunger or thirst anymore – famine and drought) And God will wipe away their tears. Pastor Don was asked why tears? And he told us that everyone was guilty of something, something that we are ashamed of in our life, and when we get closer to God and those dark areas of our life are exposed by the light of truth, there will be tears. We will have been forgiven for our sins if we have repented, but we will still be sorry for those things that we have done that is not His perfect will for us.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Many will refuse to call on His name and ask His forgiveness. God will gladly help any who call on His name. Satan will not be on earth, for He will be in the bottomless pit for 1000 years.

Revelation 20:2-3 He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.

An angel (not even a big wig angel – Heather’s note) will grab satan with one hand, opening the door of the bottomless pit with the other, and he will be sealed there for 1000 years so that Jesus can rule and reign on the earth. This is necessary for God wants to show people what godly rule looks like, the kind of rule that He wanted Adam and Eve to have.

Before this happens though, the antichrist will emerge (he will emerge after the saints are taken out of the way). Already things are being set in motion to make this easier. The European Union and Europe are soon going to challenge the United States. The Euro is about $1.45, and they are seeking to gain monetary advantage over what used to be the almighty dollar. There is already chips with data on them being inserted in our animals and some people, the UPC code with its 666 is already set in place. Pastor Don feels that the New World Order is here. The United Nations have pulled together to make this happen. We occasionally see military soldiers dressed in black in our area that we think might be UN soldiers, but they wear no insignia that is recognizable, and they practice military maneuvers.

Jesus will come to earth after this time period to rule and reign for 1000 years to show that He can do better than we did. He cannot judge us if He cannot do better. Because satan will be in the pit, people will not be able to say, “The devil made me do it.” We all have wanted to live the way we want to live, do things the way we want to do things, and then not have anyone judge us for our actions. But God does have to judge – we also have to judge. We have to judge good as good, and evil as evil. If we don’t we are out of God’s order. (Heather’s note, it is not our place to judge to condemnation, but if we want to live a decent life we have to make calls. I cannot refuse to judge if my daughter is doing something illegal, that she is out of order and needs correction. If I don’t correct my children and correct my behavior, chaos will come.) It is not true that Jesus told us not to judge, He said:

John 7:24 Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.

You need to make a right call, and when you judge, judge with kindness. We do not judge someone and tell them they are going to Hell, but at the same time, when a person is out of order, they need to be judged.

Revelation 20:7-9 Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.

Jerusalem is the beloved city, and it will be judged by fire. Why are the people coming against Jerusalem? It is because of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists, and they want to try and wipe out the Messiah. After the 1000 years, there will be births on the earth, and all those who were born since satan was cast into the pit, also need a chance to make a choice for Christ or against Christ. What is surprising is that some will not choose to follow Christ, they would rather follow the lies of satan.

Revelation 20:10 The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

The devil who deceived Adam and Eve, will be cast into the lake of fire and will be tormented forever and ever. One translation says for ages and ages. Forever and Eternity are not words in the original language.This is a reference to eonic time. What is time when there is no time? God invented time for man, giving us 24 hour days, seasons, years, etc. But at the end of the millennial period  – Hebrew Word: OLAM or AONIC. From age to age. How long is an age? We don’t know. How long is an eon? we don’t know for it is outside of time as we know it.

Revelation 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.

The Book of Life will be opened and all dead were judged by their works, by what was written in the books.

Revelation 20:13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.

It is not works that gets us to salvation, but we will be judged by our works – by the heart of what we did. Will it be straw, hay and stubble that is burnt up? Or will it be gold, silver, and precious metals? God will read our hearts. It is good to give food to the poor – if we are giving it for a reason that is not God centered, that good work will be burnt up – for example for political gain, not to advance God’s kingdom. If our works are Ego centered, they will not last judgment.

Revelation 20:14-15 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. God will test and try our works by fire. God has told us that the one important work is to Believe Jesus, and that is a choice. It is not blind faith, for we have a reason for our faith.

So in verse 13 the people are judged, there are two deaths. the first is the physical death, and the second death is after the spirit comes out of the body and is judged – either to eternal life or to the second death in the lake of fire. It sounds cruel, but the truth is that there are some who would not be happy in heaven, who do not want to be near God, and God will not force them to be there.

Revelation 20:15 tells us that anyone who makes that choice and is not found in the Book of Life will spend eternity in the lake of fire.

Revelation 21:1  Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.

This is a vision of the New Jerusalem, coming down from Heaven.

Revelation 21:3-4  And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

When you are in the presence of God with all your baggage, you will be facing the truth of where you went wrong and erred. Evangelists stealing money, sexual promiscuity, teachers teaching false doctrine – God will know all – He knows all. And God will wipe away the tears of those who have accepted Christ and repented, for them there will be no fire, and the former things will have passed completely away, but there will be tears.

Revelation 21:6 And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.

IT IS DONE! Does a man who has everything thirst? No. We realize we don’t have to thirst.

Revelation 21:7 He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.

He who overcomes- we will overcome because we are a believer. We overcome in spite of the fact that we can’t get it together, in spite of the fact that we struggle in the flesh. Our belief in Him helps us to overcome.

Revelation 21:8 But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

There will be a judgment. We have all done these things on some level, but as believers we have repented, for we don’t choose to disobey. Our belief in Him helps us to overcome so that we do not face the lake of fire.

Pastor Don shared that you can have been a high priestess of the devil and have repented, and God will cleanse you of your past sins. Pastor Don talked about some who choose to try out the Ouija Board, and said that often it is curiosity that gets us in trouble. Pastor Don prays that all will repent, he doesn’t even want his worst enemy to spend 10 seconds in the lake of fire.

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

So who gets purged? Not all saints have overcome all their flesh, but God needs us to be purged when He tabernacles with us. So what does he purge?

1 Corinthians 3:9-10 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. 10 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.

The best spiritual foundation can be laid, but how a person builds on that foundation will alter their lives. Will it be lasting godly works? or earthly works. If you go off on a tangent and disobey God, that is your choice, not Pastor Don’s responsibility. We have choice.

1 Corinthians 3:11-13For 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 kind of work may not always be clearly delineated as godly or not, but there will be a judgment, and after a time the type of work will be determined by what is lasting, what survives the fire of purification. It will be revealed by fire, by a test. We will be saved (salvation), but our works may be burnt up in the fire of purging.

2 Corinthians 3:14-17 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

We are the temple of God, and God will test what stuff His temple is made of – wood, hay, straw or things of lasting duration.

We need to become fruit testers, to watch and see what fruit comes out of a person’s life.

We want lasting crowns to cast at the feet of Jesus.

Praying you had a blessed Thanksgiving.

Heather

This message has impacted me very much and I will share how later. I really urge you to read Part 1 if you haven’t already done so.

Pastor Don continued: There is nothing wrong with accepting the fact that you talk too much. You may feel that you have a mouth full of wisdom and words and everyone needs to hear what you say, NO THEY DON’T. Until you get OK with the fact that you talk too much God is not going to give you wisdom about when to speak. Some of you have been praying for stuff. And think, “Oh, I should be rich by now.” Pastor Don said, Yes you should, you’ve heard enough prosperity messages but you are not OK with Whose (God) you are so how can God take you to where you want to be. You need to be OK with where you are. If we can just realize this, Pastor Don said we think, “Lord, You’re asking me to change my mind. You are requiring of me that I make my mind a living sacrifice, take my mind and slam it down on the altar and say, ‘Lord, renew my mind.’”"Lord, I’m going to get OK with my stuff. I’m going to get OK until all this is behind me because I want everything that you have in front of me. So, I’m going to get OK with it, with my history, with my parents, with my personality.”

Pastor Don asked, how many people have to tell you that you need to show up on time before you realize you have to submit your mind to show up on time? How many times does that have to happen?

A high school teacher once told Pastor Don that Pastor Don would never do well in algebra. Pastor Don realized that he never would unless he submitted his mind to learning algebra. He had submitted his mind to doing geometry – he liked those squares, triangles and formulas, but he had never submitted his mind to algebra. He had to become OK with the fact that in order to succeed in algebra he would have to study.

Most teenagers’ problem is that they don’t know that teachers are paid to teach them. If they are failing in a class it’s not their fault, they need to go to the teacher, slap their books on his desk and say, “Teach me.” That’s what we all have to do. We have to say, “I’ve got to get OK with the fact that I can’t do this, and I have to apply myself.” I have to get OK with the fact that I have these problems. I have to get OK with the fact that I’m an emotional eater. I have to get OK with the fact that I am self-medicating all the time.

Our planet is filled with self medication. Almost all of us have self-medicated. Most people don’t have a drug addiction, they have an improper self-medication. If the person would get OK with the fact that they are hyper nervous and negative, so they drink, they would then be able to begin to get free.

So what are you doing? You are self medicating to hide the fact that you don’t want to make your mind go to the altar and say, “God, I’m OK with the fact that I am hyper nervous and I am self medicating. Help me find another medication. All of us self medicate, even the people who don’t take drugs. We all have these things we do to bring ourselves happiness, peace and joy. Some of these things work. Others don’t and we are not OK with that. We have to get OK with the fact that sometimes life gets the better of you. Sometimes your job gets the best of you. Well, why don’t you get OK with that? Because if you get OK with that, the Lord can then minister and help you.

And then the final thing with most of these things we are not OK with is: WE NEED TO HEAR FROM THE LORD! If we could get a word from the Lord we could get OK with some of this stuff. If we could just learn to hear from the Lord we could be OK.

Abraham is considered to be the father of faith. God asks Abraham, “Are you OK?” He says, “Well not really Lord.” And God says, “I need you to get OK because I want you to take your family and move everybody, go to a land I’m going to show you and through you is going to come the Messiah. I need you to get OK with this. Are you OK Abraham?” Abraham says, “No, I’m not OK, I have no kids. you tell me I’m going to have an heir and I have no heir. And on top of that Lord, I am a liar. I just get caught in these little white lies along the way. Pressure comes and when I’m under pressure I tell little white lies. Lord, I’m really not OK.” And here’s what the Lord says, “I’m OK with that. I’m OK with the fact that you are 75 years old, and I’ll tell you what I’m going to do. I’m OK with the fact that you ain’t got no kids, but by the time you are 100, I’m going to do it. You’re going to have a kid. And as a matter of fact, I’ll make you rich and powerful all the while you are waiting. Are you OK with that, Abraham?” Abraham says, “OK, I’m OK that I’m a liar, hey Lord, I’m OK.”

What about Moses? Moses says, “Lord, I’m not OK. I am a stutterer. I am a murderer and I was an orphan, they didn’t even send me to an agency to put me in foster care. They dumped me in a basket in the water. I’m not OK with that Lord.” And God says, “Listen. I want to use you Moses–through you is going to come the deliverance. You’re going to be a picture of the Messiah. I really want to use you Moses. the fact that you stutter is not a problem to me. I just need you to get OK with your mouth. I need you to get OK with your stuff. I can handle the fact that you are a murderer. Are you OK with that?” Moses says, “No.” Pastor Don then said that God put his butt for 40 years on the backside of a desert until finally Moses says, “Hey Lord, by the way, I’m OK with that.”

Rahab, what’s with Rahab? She’s a prostitute. God says, “I can use you. I’m going to bring the Messiah right through you. Rahab are you OK with that?” She says, “No, I’m a prostitute. You can’t use me. I’m a woman of the night, a woman of sexual impurity. I have wanted money so bad. I throw away my body to protect my family.” God says, “Yes, you are OK. As a matter of fact, I will save not only you, but your whole family if you will just get OK with it.” Rahab asks, “Wy Lord.” God replies, “Because in the lives of 1000′s of millions of souls that come to me there are going to be women that have sexual immorality that they are going to get OK with. Rahab, I need you to be OK with your stuff.” She says, “Lord, I’m OK, are you OK?” God says, “Yes, I’m OK.”

Pastor Don says, you can go down the line, down the line, down the line in the Bible. There are no perfect people in the Bible. They’re all misfits, disconnected people who had to get OK with their stuff so God could use them.

Pastor Don asked if anyone was willing to give God praise. He’s looking for you. He’s looking for you to get OK with your stuff so He can use you, so you can get everything He says. You might say, “But Lord, I got knocked up at sixteen.” He says, “I’m OK with that, are you OK with that?” You say, “But prove it Lord.” He says, “Well, guess what, they accused my mother of having sex out of wedlock.” You just got to get OK with  your stuff, with your shortcomings, your knuckleheaded ideas, with your crazy decisions about who is religious and who is not. You’ve got to get OK with it. He’s not asking for approval, He’s asking for you to just have acceptance so that the devil cannot stop you in anything.

The biggest problem is that people don’t believe that they can hear from God. If you get a Word from God that He’s OK with your stuff, then guess what, then it’s going to be alright. Well, He’s not going to send you a telegram, he’s going to speak right in here (Pastor Don pointed to his heart).  Whatever comes in here is going to register in your mind as a thought.

You may say, I want to hear from God. Well, then you need to listen to what your thoughts are.

There are four major ways you hear from God.

1. He speaks audibly to your ear, and you hear it just like when someone is speaking to you. This is rare. Most of us will live and die and never hear the audible voice of God or have the impact of the audible voice of God speaking on your ear.

2. We hear the inward voice of God. We hear God speak on the inside of us. It may be nothing that we are saying and nothing that we are thinking – it doesn’t come in our thoughts. It just comes in the volume of the voice inside of  us. We look around because it felt like it was audible, but we know it was an inside voice of God because our mind wasn’t thinking anything like that at the time, and it registers in here (Pastor Don pointed to his heart area).

3. Most important, we have the ability to hear the Word of God through the Word of God (the Bible). The prophetic voice of the Lord. Some of us are hearing the voice of the Lord as Pastor Don is speaking, through words that impress our mind. It is not Pastor Don, but the Lord speaking through Pastor Don that is touching you. Or we hear a prophetic word when a prophet like Leon Forte’ (who is coming to our church in December) speak a word of “Thus says the Lord…” and you go with what he says in prophesy because you know that it is a Word of God for you. Other times in your morning devotion a Word of God flies off the page of the Bible as you are reading it, and you know that that is what God is saying to you. And you know that that was the Lord speaking to you.

4. The next way we hear God is the closest to you and the most available. God wants you to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit with evidence of speaking in tongues so that you can develop an inside witness. God is an inside witness. He speaks to your heart. You know in your inner witness that God is speaking. How do you know it? You don’t know it because you heard it in your ear, or you heard a voice inside you. You just know that you know that you know. This is just some stuff that you are aware if in your relationship with your Daddy (God), you just know. You don’t have to ask Him should I help the Poor. You know that is His desire. You don’t have to ask him if you should buy a lottery ticket to get rich? You should know that His answer is, “No.” You know this answer because you are in RELATIONSHIP with Him. You should know when your children are doing evil. You should know where they are. His voice inside of you will register in here (Heart), and it will pop in your mind as an idea or a sentence, and you will then know that you have to go looking for your child. How do you know you should go and look for him? The voice of the Lord. He didn’t speak to you audibly. It’s a witness. Pastor Don then said, when your husband walks in the door, you can know through your inner witness that he’s had a bad day, and now is not the time to show him your new dress. This is called an INNER WITNESS, and it is the way that the Lord speaks to us the majority of the time. That’s why the Holy Ghost has been given to believers, as a guarantee inside of our hearts. It may register as a thought. You get down on your knees and ask God if I should take that job at the airlines. You pray that you believe that He is going to show you the answer, and you wait on God. You see yourself working there in your mind’s eye and hear, “Yes.” You get up, not realizing you really heard from God, and you say to yourself, “I wish I could hear from the Lord.” And you take a different job that pays more money, but you end up not as happy. Sometimes we get an answer from the Lord and choose not to hear it because we wanted a different answer.

We can all hear from the Lord, it just that we are so bound. We are not OK with ourselves.

Pastor Don then asked us to get by ourselves in the sanctuary. If we came with someone to go to a place away from that person and ask God, “Lord is there anything in me that I am not OK with? And Lord is there anything that you want me or need me to get OK with? And if so, Lord, are you OK with me?”  We were to listen and wait on the Lord, and the Lord will tell us what baggage we need to give to Him. And He will also let us know that we are OK with Him in spite of our baggage. Everyone did this, and some did hear from the Lord. Pastor Don asked people to testify. There were many wonderful testimonies of God’s responses.  Some did not hear then, but Pastor Don is sure that God will speak with them later.

I wanted to share a bit of what I heard, knowing that it will bless some of you. Many of you know my past, if not, you are welcome to read my testimony. Lately God had been showing me some of the roots of the past that still needed to be tended – God has been doing a major pruning in my life, and it is good, but painful. One of the things that God recently showed me through a Beth Moore Bible study, Believing God, was that I had at the core of my being the idea that I was Damaged Goods. This belief has touched a lot of areas – shame where I did sinful things in reaction to my past, shame because my father took away my virginity, and shame because of how long I rejected God. I still sometimes wonder if God really wants to use me or if I am so damaged in my life that I am not really good for God’s Kingdom. I know these are lies from the pit of Hell, but they do at times still color my thinking. God, during this time of prayer at church said to me, “What I have called clean, do not call unclean.”  This comes from Acts 10 when Peter is shown the kosher and nonkosher foods, and that vision lead to him be able to minister to both Jews and Gentiles. But for me that message sunk deep in my Spirit, because God has called me clean – clean through the death of His son Jesus Christ, and I am a new creation IN HIM. And I am not to view myself through the eyes of my past as unclean, damaged goods. I am still processing this, but it was impacting for me.

I urge you to spend some time with God and ask Him about things you are not OK with, and ask Him what you need to get OK with. I urge you to be honest with your Father who loves you so. I know that He too has a word for you.

Have a blessed day, and a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Heather

I finally got the tape of last Sunday’s Bible study, 11/11/07. I heard it in the lobby of the church, but it wasn’t repeated at second service. This study had a profound impact on my life and caused me to have a breakthrough with God, so I am praying that you are blessed as well. I tried to transcribe it as close as possible to what Pastor Don shared – he gave many examples and I have strong feeling to post it even though some is repetitious because I know that it somehow will touch your life with one example. It is not Pastor Don’s usual preaching style and the Holy Spirit was all over the sanctuary when he spoke. Please do not miss this message! This first part lays the foundation.

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Pastor Don began by saying that part of our real problem is that we don’t know how to hear from God when He is trying to point out our flaws and things that hinder us. We don’t want to ‘fess up  and face up, and we end up convincing ourselves that we are OK the way we are, getting mad at people who point out our errors and failings. As a result we live in this condition where we are not OK. We’re just not OK.

Pastor Don sincerely loves people and wants them to get to the point where they can say, “I’m OK, are you OK Lord?” With our Lord and Savior the communication must go on. We don’t arrive at a place where we are happy about everything, but we have to arrive at a place where we are OK about some stuff. In order to do that we have to get real with our feelings and we have to get real with what we’ve done. We also have to get real with what’s been done to us, and where we’ve been. Pastor Don is concerned about why the Church isn’t as dynamic as it could be? Why aren’t we winning the world? Why is it that we have these little pockets where evangelism is getting done. But, in America, our faith is growing slower than anywhere else in the world? What is our problem? What the Spirit of God wants to say today is that there are some hinderances that our lives and the work of the evil one have put into place that prevent us from being all that we can be for Jesus. And these hinderances prevent us from being all that we can be for ourselves because there is just some stuff we don’t get OK with.

When the question is asked, “I’m OK, are You (God) OK?” Pastor Don needs  us to go to the reality of our life. Everyone has some stuff back there in our past, in our memory banks. We have some stuff that has happened to us that has shaped who we are. Things that have positioned us. Our gifts, our anointing, and our personalities have all been shaped by the experiences behind us. But the reality is that there is some of that stuff that has happened to us back there that we are not OK with yet. We haven’t gotten to a place of acceptance. God isn’t expecting us in our service to Him and our becoming the best we can be, that we approve of everything that has happened to us. You see, when you say, I’m OK with something you are not saying that you approve of it. Pastor Don is not saying to the women, the 40% of women who have been sexually abused, that you have to get to a place where you accept that, but you do have to get to a place where you are OK with it.

By OK, Pastor Don means you are accepting the reality that that was what happened. You are not accepting the blame of it. You are accepting the reality that yes, that was in my past. That’s what happened to me. There are men who were sexually abused as kids. Yes, that is in their past, that happened to them. Some of you were greatly hurt because your parents divorced and at a young age and you may have grown up with a single parent. And you may not like it. Pastor Don is not saying that you have to like it. You know, every child in this great land should have been able to grow up with a connected family, a mom and a dad who were there and gave all the presence, the gifts, the ability that these people, a husband and a wife can give to a child. That would be a challenge for a single parent to provide. But the child raised by a single parent has to get to a place away from , “I am ashamed of it,” or “I’m hurt by it” or “I’m angry about it” or “I’m upset about it.” They have to get to the place that they just accept the fact that that’s what happened. I didn’t have anything to do with it. It’s just the way that it was. And some of us have been greatly abused by overbearing parents, or a grandma that is caught in rage, and we come up with the thought, “Where was my daddy?” “Where was my mama?” All of that stuff that happened to you back there, God is not asking you to approve the fact that this happened. Or that maybe your dad died. Mrs. Moore’s dad died. She doesn’t have to approve of that, or say, I’m happy that it happened. No, she just has to get to a place of acceptance that, I’m OK with it. That’s just the way it was. I’m not to blame for his death. I carry no shame or guilt.

But many people cannot get into their ministry, cannot go forward with what God called them to do because there is so much stuff in their closets. They may say, “Well, I would get up and preach the gospel. I would tell somebody about Jesus, but then I am going to have to tell them how many abortions I’ve had. I’m going to have to tell them how many times I’ve fornicated, how many people I got pregnant. I’m unclean, I can’t do it. No way. I’m not accepting it. I can’t be used of God because my hands are so unclean.

And the reality is, most of what’s unclean about you, you had nothing to do about it. Pastor Don said that in our culture it is stupid that we call a child illegitimate. It isn’t the child that is illegitimate, it is the parents.

The reality is that the devil holds us in bondage to the fact that we are not perfect. Pastor Don said that someone came to him and shared this. “I know I’m born again. I know I’m filled with the Spirit, but I’m still smoking these cigarettes.” Pastor Don asked her how she felt, and she said that she believed that she would be delivered but right now she is not delivered. He asked her if she was OK with it? Because as long as she’s not OK with the fact that she’s still touching the unclean thing she can’t be free from it. It doesn’t mean she has to approve of it, and it doesn’t mean she makes excuses for it, or that she tries to hide it. You can’t hide things from Pastor Don or from the Holy Ghost. He knows there is some stuff in your closet and in your past. Pastor Don isn’t asking you, nor is God asking you to approve of it. He’s asking you, “Are you OK?” Because if you can get to the place where you are OK, you are accepting, “Yes, that is the way it was. That is what happened. That’s part of who I am. But it is not who I am today!” If you can get to the position where you are OK with it, then the devil cannot use it against you. He can’t keep you from witnessing, he can’t keep you from hearing God’s voice, he cannot keep you from being able to testify that you are a Christian, that you are a believer, that you believe for God, you believe for prosperity because you are OK with that fact.

When a politician runs for office, usually they attempt get him to be discredited because of his past. For example there was a politician in his 40′s who did dope deals when he was in his 20′s. He was forced to leave office, but Pastor Don said, Wait a minute — the 20 year old that was drug dealing isn’t the same as the guy at 45. If in politics the criterion is a perfect politician , you might as well forget it, because there is some stuff in all their closets. Unfortunately, in the political scene, even if the politician is OK with it, the public won’t allow him to be OK with it.

But guess what, Jesus is. Jesus just wants to know, are you OK with it? Have you reconciled yourself to all your stuff so that God can use you? Are you reconciled to the fact of who your parents were? Grandparents? And all the crap that is in the closet of your history? Are you OK with it yet? Are you willing to face it because, if you’re not willing to face it, if you’re not willing to tell it, then the devil can use it as a point of shame and can keep you off the battlefield.

We have shame, bitterness and disappointment. In your past you have shame, bitterness and disappointment. We have talked about the sins that we have done and that have been done to us, that cause shame. But there is also bitterness. There are those things done to you that you wouldn’t even want to admit publicly. God isn’t asking you to admit them, He’s asking you to get OK with them so that if the devil does expose it you can still stand.

If you’re OK with it, if you’re OK with the fact that you hate God, you’re mad at God because you think He killed my grandma. Jesus is saying you need to get OK with that because Jesus knew the deal. He knew you were praying for your grandma to live, but your grandma was praying to go home. So He’s saying, can you get to the place where you trust in God?  You trust in God to know that disappointing things happen, that shameful things happen, but your bitterness needs to be dealt with so that you can say, I’m OK with the fact that I have been bitter about these things. I’m OK with it. You may not even be healed yet.

Pastor Don said, that he’s going to show us how big our God is. You have some stuff that you’re bitter about, haven’t gotten healed about. Haven’t released it to the Lord, but the Lord is so big he is saying, “Are you OK with it? Meaning, are you willing to accept the fact that you are bitter about it, because if you can at least get to that place of being honest that you really are holding bitterness, He can help you. He will help you. But as long as you are keeping it back there and you’re not OK with it, He can’t deal with it.

And then that last one, disappointment. Is there anyone of you that has never, ever been disappointed about anything? There’s a whole bunch of things we get disappointed about. We get hurt and we ask God for an instant healing. Next thing we know, we’ve got to recuperate for six months and we’re disappointed. We’ve looked across the aisle in the church and think, “my, she’s for me”, and she isn’t even giving you the time of day let alone her phone number. And you say, But Lord you said, “I will have a Proverbs 31 woman.” Yes, He said that, but He didn’t say that was the one. You’re going through your life and you say, “What’s wrong with me? There are other people uglier, thinner, fatter, and I’m disappointed that I don’t have a mate. God doesn’t care about instantly solving it. He is concerned about if we are OK with it. Can you say, “I’m disappointed God. You didn’t show me my mate yet. ” He just wants to know that you can be honest about it, and say, but I’m OK with the fact that I don’t have my mate yet. Does it mean you approve of it? No. You are disappointed. God doesn’t have a problem with you being disappointed. He has a problem with you lying about it. He has a problem with you hiding about it. He can face your anger. You can yell and scream at God. God can handle it. He’s a big God. But if you’re going to walk around holier than sweetness, but all the while you’re very disappointed, stop telling people you’re a person of faith. Demonstrate your faith. Because you’ve been so disappointed God didn’t show up on Wednesday when you told Him to that you ain’t got no faith. Let’s be honest about it. Your faith is in the land of disappointment and you don’t know how to clean it off and get it back on the altar. But if you be straight with God, and say, “I’m OK with the fact that I’m not really a faith person, I have become seriously disappointed in you, Lord. I’m disappointed you didn’t show up when I thought you should show up. If you will at least get to that place where you can say, “Lord, I’m OK with the fact that I don’t have this giant faith and I’m disappointed with my life. I’m disappointed with the way things are turning out. I trusted my faith and it didn’t work. and I’m not happy about the way things turned out. I’m thoroughly, utterly disappointed. Here right now, God is big enough. He can handle that, and you just say, I’m OK with it. You just ‘fess up. “I’m OK with that. Because He’s said, are you OK? And you gotta say, I’m OK. Are You OK?. Jesus says, “Yes, I’m OK, the He’ll move.” But the pivotal problem is that we have no peace because we’re looking for approval of things that are not approvable. If you’re looking to be at peace because finally things have worked out. When I get my husband, when I get my healing, you’re looking for approval and the Lord is saying, Can’t you just have acceptance at some level? Let’s just accept, admit I’m OK. This is my stuff Lord, and I’m OK with my stuff. It’s my stuff. I didn’t make it happen. I didn’t earn all of this. Pastor Don said, “I did not ask to have a bald head, but I have to accept my bald head.” It doesn’t mean he approves of it, but He does have to accept it. Pastor Don then said, yes I would love to be 6’7″ because at 6’7″ I could dunk from any direction at any time. But he has to accept the fact that he’s great at passing the ball to a person who can.

God is not asking for happy, happy, happy. He’s just asking you to get OK with your stuff so that He can deal with it. Because as long as you are not OK with it, you won’t give it to Him. We have lies that we keep in our head that tell us everything is safe and it’s not. We have scenarios that we’ve built up . It amazes Pastor Don to see how we tell ourselves lies, and then try to support these lies with more lies.

For example, if a person is poor he tells himself the lie that it is Biblical to be poor. If a person isn’t healed he tells himself a lie that the reason he’s not healed is that in this particular case it is because there either is something wrong with God or he didn’t pray the right prayer yet.

The truth of the matter is that faith will not be denied when it appears. If faith is present, things must change. But if you are trusting in God, that change must happen according to God’s schedule, not according to yours, because your schedule is based upon the failings of the past and your ego and flesh needs in the present. Therefore God is going to bring the miracle, the prosperity, the wife, the healing, the car at the right and perfect time according to how you’re OK with it. And if you’re not OK with it you’re going to be on a waiting list of circumstances and opportunities, missed and failed and disappointments. What then are we to do? Are we to be lost in this thing? No, it requires a change of our minds and an acceptance of things.

I will continue this tomorrow, and at the end of tomorrow’s teaching, Pastor Don shares a way to get OK with our stuff.

Have a blessed day!

Heather

I went to a woman’s luncheon at Glory Oasis Fellowship, 1903 Route 44, Pleasant Valley, New York. The speaker was Ellen Raimondo. She told us that, besides the Bible, she used two source books Dealing with Rejection and the Praise of Man by Bob Sorge, and God’s Remedy for Rejection by Derek Prince.

We have all faced rejection, whether it is hurtful words, negative attention, malicious assault, being ignored or any other form of rejection. The pain is real and rejection is at the root of many problems like substance abuse, rebellion, depression, divorce, poverty, child abuse, abnormal behavior, unwanted pregnancy, etc.

God created us to feel accepted and we fight to maintain emotional closeness. Rejection wounds our minds, and often we refuse to focus on the rejection we are feeling, but we know it is there.

Proverbs 15:13 A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken

Proverbs 18:14 The spirit of a man will sustain him in sickness, but who can bear a broken spirit?

Pain is compounded with broken trust, and it becomes betrayal. People then say that that is the last time that they will let another person hurt them. They build protective walls that trap them into a pattern of behavior that turns into a vicious circle. For they protect their outward self, and from that position they react to people in ways that end up making other people reject them again, which causes them to build up the protective wall. And the vicious cycle is formed.

When you think about the negative it only aggravates the situation even more. Anger can be used to protect the heart. What is really needed is the Lord’s protection. There is no defense against love. Nothing else but love will work. Ask God to help you forgive and replace your walls with the Lord’s walls to protect you. Learning to respond well to rejection is a process.

We read Psalm 51:6 in two translations, NKJV Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom. and in the Amplified Behold, You desire truth in the inner being; make me therefore to know wisdom in my inmost heart.

When you confess to God your anger and disappointment, and ask Him to forgive your ungodly anger, His grace will cleanse you. Knowing the truth about a relationship frees you from bondage to it. The Lord knows your inner pain because Jesus also experienced pain and rejection.

Isaiah 53:3 He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

John 1:11 He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.

John 15:18 If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you.

Even if you are perfect (and only Jesus was perfect), you still can experience rejection. The more you become like Jesus, the more the world will reject you.

Philippians 3:7-11 NKJV But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;  that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. We also read this passage in the Amplified But whatever former things I had that might have been gains to me, I have come to consider as [one combined] loss for Christ’s sake. Yes, furthermore, I count everything as loss compared to the possession of the priceless privilege (the overwhelming preciousness, the surpassing worth, and supreme advantage) of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord and of progressively becoming more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him [of perceiving and recognizing and understanding Him more fully and clearly]. For His sake I have lost everything and consider it all to be mere rubbish (refuse, dregs), in order that I may win (gain) Christ (the Anointed One), And that I may [actually] be found and known as in Him, not having any [self-achieved] righteousness that can be called my own, based on my obedience to the Law’s demands (ritualistic uprightness and supposed right standing with God thus acquired), but possessing that [genuine righteousness] which comes through faith in Christ (the Anointed One), the [truly] right standing with God, which comes from God by [saving] faith. [For my determined purpose is] that I may know Him [that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly], and that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [which it exerts over believers], and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] to His death, [in the hope] That if possible I may attain to the [spiritual and moral] resurrection [that lifts me] out from among the dead [even while in the body].

Paul wanted to share in Jesus’ sufferings. King David was rejected – after he was anointed to be king, Saul rejected him, chasing him around the country trying to kill him – his own family never bothered to call David in from the field when Samuel came looking for a kingly person to anoint. His brothers mocked David when he came to bring food to them, saying that he was abandoning his duties as shepherd to have a glimpse at the battle. 1 Samuel 17:28  Now Eliab his oldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab’s anger was aroused against David, and he said, “Why did you come down here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the insolence of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.” David’s wife mocked David when he danced unashamedly before the Lord, and even his children plotted against Him. How did he process this? David would go to his secret place and worship and praise God.

Bob Sorge says that Jesus is like Jeremiah. Jeremiah 15:10 AMP Woe is me, my mother, that you bore me to be a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither loaned, nor have men loaned to me, yet everyone curses me.

Jeremiah 15:19 AMP Therefore thus says the Lord [to Jeremiah]: If you return [and give up this mistaken tone of distrust and despair], then I will give you again a settled place of quiet and safety, and you will be My minister; and if you separate the precious from the vile [cleansing your own heart from unworthy and unwarranted suspicions concerning God's faithfulness], you shall be My mouthpiece. [But do not yield to them.] Let them return to you–not you to [the people].

Jeremiah had an awesome calling, but the price tag was rejection. The full impact of his rejection did not happen all at once. Even Jesus felt rejection that increased, and He asked His disciples, “Who do men say that I am?”  Jeremiah has earned a crown for His obedience, so has Jesus.

We may not see the results of our obedience in our lifetime – but our children’s children’s children will. And in eternity we will celebrate our faith.

God will permit rejection in our lives to train us up to be leaders. We need to maintain our hearts in humility and keep humble. Rejection is good for doing that.

Instead of struggling, give thanks to God. and pray that He lets us understand the reason for what is going on in our lives.

Luke 22:28 But you are those who have continued with Me in My trials.

When Jesus was rejected by all – by Judas, by the people that He came to, and even by the disciples during his trial, he never took offense or protected himself, and He was never ruined in his soul by the rejection. He would pray to God and get renewed.

The acceptance of the Father can help bring contentment in the face of trials. We are fueled on the inside with His love. Then we can give His love to others regardless of what they are doing to us. He will raise us up as we give His love and obey His word.

This teaching came as a word in season for me. I love it when God is working, but I have to be honest and tell you that pruning hurts.

Have a blessed day,

Heather

Key Verse: Hebrews 6:1-3 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits.

The Scripture wants us to go on to perfection and to repent from dead works.

We are told to have faith TOWARD God. Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, the Word of God, gave instructions where to place our faith. Faith is based on a relationship of trust. It takes trust to believe something that you cannot see. In the physical, we want to attach our faith to what we are experiencing and feeling, but faith is not based on experience and feelings. If it was based on observation it wouldn’t be faith. Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. It is not seeing. When we have faith toward God we are having faith toward God whom we cannot see. The apostles did see God (Jesus), but they did not see Him in the fullness of His glory. But they had faith toward God (Hebrews 11:1). They had the testimony of Christ, and believed Christ based on faith. They deposited their trust.

What we observe with our senses is untrustworthy. For what we perceive changes due to circumstances. We can trust faith that is not based on feelings or experience. Faith is a free gift given to us by God. We have to have faith to Believe. Trust is a choice that we make. If we can only trust based on experience, we are distrusting.  We make a decision to take a chance to walk in a relationship.

In our relationships when we mess up, in human experience the slate is never clean. People remember, and they look at you waiting for you to mess up again. It is not true trust and faith. We do the same thing toward God as we do to people. We don’t believe Him at His Word. We need to get beyond the emotional content to the person, get beyond the dead carcasses of failed trust in order to be able to alter our position of faith.

We say, “I believe God can do anything,” but we do not trust Him to do it. If we are believing FOR IT, it is faith postponed. For we are not trusting that God already has it in position.

If we messed up last week, do they trust you this week? If they are watching to see if you mess up again it is a test – and a test is not trust.

The way you feel about fighting for life affects your battle plan. Are you in the arena where people are watching, or outside the arena still fighting for life, whether people see it or believe it or not. Do you use faith when you are not in public? It is easy to be a faith giant until a real battle starts. Everybody wants everybody else to act the way we want them to act. Our trust of a person becomes based on if they acted the way we thought they should – did they give you that hug, write, call, smile, etc. Our trust is so connected to emotions. Our faith to what we observe. It is often hard to separate it. We need to develop a faith that you meant well, and I trust you.

The Bible contains both criticism of people and encouragement. We tend to look at the encouragement and ignore God’s criticism. Ask ourselves, by faith, do we still believe in God?

Do we base our faith and trust on what God says to me and about me, so that I can trust Him. We need validated.

John 17:1-2 Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.

We can apply our faith to the Son of God who puts on a body suit to bring glory to the Father and Glory to the Son. He has AUTHORITY over ALL flesh for the purpose of eternal life -to as many as YOU HAVE GIVEN HIM. This is NOT universal salvation as some pastors teach. Jesus has authority over ALL flesh, but He does not give eternal life to all flesh.

Those pastors who are teaching this false doctrine and those who hear and know that they are false doctrines and do not challenge them will answer to God, and God will hold them responsible.

Romans 5:20 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more,

Paul says does that make me want to sin more, God forbid. The lie of the devil is to tell us that these things do not matter. What if we told an athlete that eating, drinking, exercise and rest don’t matter. We would ensure failure in their future. If all were going to be saved, why would Jesus put on a body suit? There will be rewards, punishment, and correction. The Father in His infinite wisdom gave Christ Authority over our planet, but not everyone on our planet will rely on Him.

John 17:3-4 And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.

That is the glory of the Father, Jesus’ work was being a sacrifice on the altar (the cross). Those who looked to Him from unborn generations will have eternal life. It is a blessing to know that God knows what He is doing. Verse 2 only makes sense with John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. This scripture applies regardless of WHOEVER. As many are are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God. God knows we are not perfect, but He did this for us. We are being taught more than ever that all can be saved. He said WHOEVER, He did not say ALL – only those who believe in Jesus will have everlasting life.

Pastor Don shared that he heard a radio broadcast by Ravi Zacharias talking about a Muslim woman who in a moment of despair called, “Jesus help me.” She went home, went to bed, and Jesus appeared to her in a vision – and Jesus changed her world. The book Ravi Zacharias shared from gives many testimonies of people who came to a relationship with Christ by Jesus sovereignly manifesting Himself to them. As long as we are praying, He comes to all who lift Him up in prayer, and He can use our prayers to reach others. Pray for the persecuted church. More Christians are suffering and dying today for Christ than in earlier times.

John 17:5 And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.

This plan was in effect before the world was. Can you trust in the reality of Jesus authority over the earth, all the flesh and all creation – for He was there before the foundation of the World? He spoke the World into existence. How do you know Him? Is he the Creator and Sustainer of the world? Can you trust that He made it all and governs it all?

John 17:6 I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.

This is what upset the scribes and pharisees, for Jesus did not call on the name of the Lord with the terms that were in use, He called God, “Abba,” “Daddy.”"Father.” No one else dared to call God, Father. It was then that people started thinking that Jesus should die.

Pastor Don grew up in the South Bronx and still has Jewish friends from his old neighborhood, which was predominately Jewish. He spent many days in his Jewish friends’ home and knows about their belief concerning the name of God. From the time of Moses, God’s name was considered so holy that they would not speak it. They did not write the name of God completely (they left out the vowels). Only once a year, at the Feast of Atonement, the High Priest would enter the tabernacle to sacrifice a lamb for the people and he would pronounce the name of God. Over time the way to pronounce the most sacred name of God was lost to history. That is why the Jehovah Witnesses have it all wrong regarding “Jehovah.” For that is an English translation of a name that no one knows what it is spelled like or how it is pronounced. Pastor Don often asks them which Jehovah should we use? Jehovah Rapha, Jehovah Nissi, etc. We know the person of God, the Spirit of God, and Jehovah Witnesses do not. We do not want to limit God by limiting Him to just one of His names, when we need a victory we need, The Lord is My Banner, when we need a healer, we need The Lord is My Healer.

Pastor Don suggested a good book for the names of God written by Marilyn Hickey called The Honey of the Name. The greatest name of God is the All Merciful, All Kind God. Muslims claim that that is the name of Allah, but if you look at what Allah does he does not portray that name.

Moses went up to the mountain and asked God to show me your glory. He wanted to see God and Speak with God. God put Moses in a cleft of a rock and let him see the afterglow of God’s glory, but He also told Moses His personal name. Do you want to know His Name?

Exodus 34:6-7 And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and fourth generation. (Heather’s comment -THAT is the God I want to know! I want to see HIS glory! Praise God!)

John 17:7-8 Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. 8 For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me.

We know that He is speaking God’s Words, we can trust and believe Jesus, to believe all that He has said. For Jesus is the Word of God.

Another false teaching is that we are not to judge – yes, we are to judge. We have to judge whether or not a teaching agrees with the Word. Somebody has to make a judgment when kids are killing kids, when there are pedophiles, when there is immorality. We are just not to judge to condemnation, but we do judge. And God will judge as well. If we do not judge, we will end up like Judges 21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

John 17:9 I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.

This is a prayer for believers, not for all in the world.

John 17:10-11 And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them.  Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are.

Jesus is praying for the elect. And the elect will not be fooled by false teachings. Some try to teach that even the elect will be fooled. NO. Matthew 24:23-25 Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There!’ do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand.

It will not be possible to fool those who know God and know God’s Word. Pastor Don gave an example using cheese and Velveta – He said would be be fooled into thinking that Velveta was cheese – no, not if we know what real cheese is like.

But Pastor Don also told us that if we have ever bought a lie in doctrine it does not mean that we are not of the elect, that God will send the Holy Spirit to help us to see the truth. We will not go straight to Hell for accepting a false doctrine in error. Good people make mistakes, get lost in their bearing, say or believe the wrong things. It does not change their status with God. God still loves them and will keep reaching out to them. Even if it takes years to learn the truth.

We need to fight the fight of defending the Word, not defending the doctrines of a particular denomination. We must have faith in God, and trust the Word of God – we have to be
 PRO-WORD, and not whitewash sins on any level.

Jesus deposited the Word in the earth, and He relies on us to share His Word.

John 17:14-15 I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.  I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.

God has given us His Word. But we are going to come into some stuff when we share His word. Not all will be peaches and cream. We will face trials for sharing the truth, and we should thank God for the rapture. In today’s culture we can sometimes get away saying “God” but if we say “Jesus” we ruffle feathers.

John 17:20 I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word

This was not just a prayer for Jesus’ disciples, but for all of us who believe in Jesus. A prayer for believers in the past,  now and also in the future.

John 17:21-22 that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:

Jesus wants us all to be one Body IN Christ..

Trust in the Word deposited into the apostles, and shared with us. The disciples were not perfect and they sinned just as we sin. But we are forgiven through Jesus, and are able to be used by God. We do not do it in our own power, but through Him.

1 Thessalonians 5:24 He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.

If you trust Him, He will perform it.

Mark 11:22 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God.

Have faith to trust the Lord in EVERY situation. Don’t say, God won’t help in your finances, in your health, feelings, obedience. We need to TRUST God. His Word will not come back void. He set His word above Himself. Have faith in God. Trust God.

Say, “I know it, I believe it, I receive it. Trust God.

Ephesians 1:13-14 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.

He has deposited His spirit in us. God is within us, God is outside of us. When we need to seek His guidance we need to make sure we have enough Word in us so that He has word to draw from to guide us. The Holy Spirit has given us a witness that He is operating. The most effective tool is our ability to speak in tongues in our prayer language.

We need to use all tools that God has given us, for as the end times draw nearer, the enemy will increase his attacks on the people. We need to know God’s Word, speak God’s Word, and have faith in God. For God is sovereign. (Heather’s note, I have read the end of the book – satan loses, God wins).

Have a blessed day.

Heather

Vicki has such a sweet spirit, and has a ministry of kindness and gentleness.

Vicki began by reading 1 Thessalonians 5:8-20 But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing. And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among yourselves. Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you are doing.

Vicki told us that the Church is to encourage each other, speaking things to help each other. This is a great need in the church, and we all need encouragement. She likened it to running a marathon, when your energy begins to falter, and there are people along the way clapping and cheering. It gives you that extra little bit of energy to move forward. In our race of life we too need that kind of support, to bolster resistance to the things that we are facing.

She encourages us to make people feel important by being attentive to them. If you are talking to them do not be looking around the room to the next person. Listen to the people, REALLY LISTEN, not thinking what you are going to say, but paying attention to what they are saying. Look at the person for that will let them know you really are listening. Vicki also suggested observing people, looking for a quality that you appreciate about them. Take time to stop and ask how a person is doing, write them a note or an email.

In 1998 God told Vicki to preach His word, encourage, strengthen, and build up God’s people through His Word.

Vicki shared the chorus of a Bing Crosby song:

You’ve got to accentuate the positive
Eliminate the negative
Latch on to the affirmative
Don’t mess with Mister In-Between

She said that we have to focus on someone’s less than ugly truth. There is always something positive that we can find about a person. God wants us to cast off the negative.

Paul wrote the letter to the Thessalonians because they were a young congregation that needed help and encouragement. They were facing persecution and were living in a pagan culture. Because Paul knew that there could be potential problems, he wrote to strengthen their faith.

As believers, we are also to encourage new believers. Lift them up, teach, encourage, and make sure that they don’t get sidetracked by the things of the world. 1 Thessalonians 5 helps us to help others in Christ.

1 Thessalonians 4:12-13 And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among yourselves.

We need to honor our pastors, teachers, leaders, music ministry, secretaries, janitors, Sunday School teachers and all those others who serve Christ. Vicki reminded us that the Lord put them in that position and thus we have to honor and encourage them. They are working to help us on our path. Tell them that you appreciate them, seek ways to help out without being asked. Don’t bring every little thing to them, many we are mature enough to deal with ourselves.

1 Corinthians 16:18 For they refreshed my spirit and yours. Therefore acknowledge such men.

She told us that pastors and other church works refresh our spirits. And she also reminded us to not think that they know that we honor and appreciate them. They need to hear us say it too.

1 Timothy 5:17 Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine.

They do deserve double honor for their job is to labor in the Word. But today pastors and others are expected to do everything in the church from cleaning toilets, to serving in the kitchen, etc. (Heather’s note, Pastor Don will step up and do what is necessary in all these capacities). But to help our elders and pastors, we should step up to help out when we see something that needs doing. We don’t always have to run to our pastor, we just need to do it.

Hebrews 13:17 Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.

We need to obey those over us.

1 Thessalonians 5:13 tells us that we need to be at peace among ourselves. Too often the Church is quarreling and picking over little things. This grieves the Holy Spirit when we fall into stupid arguing. When offenses arise handle them Biblically. Don’t gossip and spread slander. Vicki shared about someone who took offense and yelled rather than talking and straightening out the situation in love. When someone takes offense, or offends you, pray for that person that God will help them sort out the situation.

Ephesians 4:29-32 Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.

We are to pursue peace -which means to run after.

Hebrews 12:14 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord.

1 Thessalonians 5:14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all.

All means all, not just some, but be patient with all, patient with the unruly, idle, disorderly, those walking on dangerous ground. Not to yell, but to quietly instruct, nicely tell, and be patient. (Heather’s note, remember how hard some of the lessons we had to learn were.)

Isaiah 35:3-4 Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who are fearful-hearted, ”Be strong, do not fear! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God; He will come and save you.”

A weak Christian, a baby Christian needs help in their walk. It can be a weakness in the physical, in the spiritual or in the mind. Pray for them. Be observant and talk with them to know where their weakness is, so that you can walk alongside them and be a help. Let them know that you care and that God cares. Be a help to them.

Romans 15:1 We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves.

Take attention off of ourselves and focus on others, helping others with their weakness and infirmities. Lift them up in prayer.

1 Corinthians 13:4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up.

Love is patient. We have to make the choice not to act impatiently with someone. Practice patience. Plan ahead so that you can stay calm in situations. As we begin to practice patience, God will provide those who will help us to practice it.

1 Thessalonians 5:15 See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.

Do not do evil for evil. Do good.

Romans 12:17 Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men.

1 Peter 3:8-9 Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing.

Give a blessing back instead of doing evil. Blessings are like water on fire.

Romans 12:21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

These are spiritual exercises that we do for ourselves. Godly exercises always lead to a God honoring life.

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

No matter what our circumstances look like, we can rejoice because God is still on the throne. Our joy comes with our prayers and thankfulness – it does not fluctuate with circumstances. In the midst of a problem, our natural inclination is to lash out. If we rejoice in the Lord, He will help us to restrain ourselves from lashing out and He will show us the light at the end of the tunnel.

We are to pray always, that doesn’t mean that it always has to be on our knees, but we can inwardly pray throughout our day. We can keep an attitude of prayer. Vicki spoke of bullet prayers, which are small short prayers. Prayer also includes listening for God. Find a place to be quiet and listen for what God has to say to you. We are also to give thanks.

Ephesians 5:20 giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Make lists of what you are thankful for. Vicki suggested making an alphabetical list of things you are thankful for. It is good to fall asleep thanking God. God did not create evil, so be thankful for God’s goodness in our lives. No matter the situation or circumstance, find a way to be thankful. If nothing else we can be thankful for WHO GOD IS. We also need to remember that God will use all things for good. We know God even if we don’t know all about a situation.

1 Thessalonians 5:19 Do not quench the Spirit.

Whenever His ministry is stifled, it quenches the spirit. We are not to ignore or toss aside the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Some churches never teach their members that they have spiritual gifts. Those churches are weak and impoverished. We are fortunate that Pastor Don encourages us to use our gifts, and to operate in the spirit. He expects us to get busy doing what the Spirit is prompting us to do. Some churches deny spiritual gifts and it can cause division in the Church. Some Christians choose to smother their gifts, and that hurts the Church and the Body of Christ and the Holy Spirit. We are not to stifle the gifts in anyone else, and are to encourage the gifts of the Spirit.

1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good.

Never scoff at a prophet. There are two ways prophesies work – Foretelling which is telling what will come to pass and Forthtelling which is what a person does when he teaches the Word of God. We do need to test what is told to us to make sure it agrees with the Word. Ponder the prophesies in our heart to see what is being said to us.

Vicki told us that Leon Forte told her a prophesy, talking about the lion of Judah. She never thought about that, but later in a church in Florida, during communion she was very upset that the members were chit chatting, laughing, and not respecting God. She yelled at the members telling them that they needed to respect the house of the Lord and not gossip, laugh and joke during the communion service. If you knew Vicki you would know that yelling is not her normal way of dealing with a situation, it was a godly anger, a Lion of Judah kind of anger. And it was met with respect afterwards, for the members realized they were in error.

Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.

Hold fast to what is true, noble, just and pure. Think about these things. Look for the lovely. (Heather’s note, Pastor Don often reminds us that we cannot think two thoughts simultaneously.)

1 Thessalonians 5:22  Abstain from every form of evil. Do not despise prophecies.

Not just some evils, but EVERY form of evil. In this day we are surrounded by evil. We are like boats in water. We can’t avoid the water, but we don’t have to sink in the water. TV, radio, books, movies all bombard us with evil. We have a choice what we bring into our lives. We know our temptations.

Jesus wants us to be a light on the earth through us. We need to walk the love walk, walk out the love of Jesus and be the voice of Jesus. Our tongue can be used for evil or good. We need to speak words that are edifying, filled with the fruit of the Word of God. There is life and death in the power of the tongue.

1 Thessalonians 5:5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness

We need to act as children of the light.

1 Thessalonians 5:8 But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation

For some people, we are the only Jesus that they see.

We then closed in a prayer from 1 Thessalonians 5.

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 Amplified And may the God of peace Himself sanctify you through and through [separate you from profane things, make you pure and wholly consecrated to God]; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved sound and complete [and found] blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah). Faithful is He Who is calling you [to Himself] and utterly trustworthy, and He will also do it [fulfill His call by hallowing and keeping you].

Vicki is always a blessing when she teaches. Praying this helps you in your walk.

Heather

Woke up this morning to an inch of snow, fortunately it is beginning to melt. But it did look pretty, with snow in the branches of trees, and yet some color with the fall leaves. God sure is an incredible artist.

Pastor Don continued (see previous notes)

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Pastor Don read the above and inserted “a few unrighteousness”, “some”, “those he wanted” -NO God will cleanse us from ALL.  This is ALL unrighteousness in mind, thought and deed. It is the implanted Word of God that He does this.

James 1:21-25 Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.

God’s Word sets us free. We need to continue in the cycle of repentance and forgiveness. As we grow in Christ we will have less to repent about, but the closer we come to Christ, the more we will see what needs to be removed so that we are clear vessels for Him. We need to remember His Words and do His Words, and He will help us to grow in liberty.

James 1:26 If anyone among you thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless.

Do we hold to the traditions of men and the things we think will lead to salvation? What if you have a mindset that is perfect, never a sinful thought, action, or word, but you fail and stand in a cycle of fear and degradation and don’t know how to get out of it? What if you fall? Do people shun you? This is not the Gospel. No matter how many times you fall down, He picks you up. It is not that you never fail, but that you always get up that is your perfection.

It is a false teaching that we lose our salvation when we sin. Not so – if we repent He is faithful and just to forgive us. We can get caught up in a cycle of evil works, we can speak into existence our demise, failure, and get caught in a negative cycle. God may choose to save our soul, but we may end up being taken out of this life early. Some seem to have pledged to destroy themselves.

If we go to God for miraculous healing but have no intention to change our actions we may not be relieved of our situation. For example if a person is addicted to smoking, they may still be smoking and claim that “I am free of this smoking addiction.” They are speaking into existence their freedom from smoking. Pastor Don pantomimed a person smoking and then saying, “I am free of this smoking addiction.” The more we hear what we say, the more it will come into existence. If the person with the smoking addiction says, “I can’t get free from smoking, I can’t seem to put down those cigarettes,” they will go to their grave confessing their bondage to smoking. Far better to go to their grave confessing God’s truth about victory and deliverance. For our words become action.

If you keep saying, I still believe for my deliverance, the deliverance will come. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.

Psalm 37:23 The steps of a good man are ordered by God.

Sometimes your good purpose can destroy you. Katherine Kuhlman was told by God that she had to slow down her schedule of meetings or she would face an early demise. She chose rather to keep up her schedule, burning brightly for God, and ended up dying earlier than necessary. She did not pace herself. Don’t overload yourself with good works.

Hebrews 6:1 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God.

There is a doctrine of faith which is the foundation of what we believe and testify about. And faith toward God is to overshadow all doctrines. In the final analysis of the reality of the sovereignty of Jesus, the ultimate end of everything we say or do is by faith – BUT GOD is our everything, is our life. We didn’t understand about sickness, healing, etc. before Jesus gave us the key of knowledge Mark 11:22 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.”

The reality of the situation is that people who have no faith in God because they are mad at God, do not bear fruit, for they have compartmentalized their lack of faith under categories such as I’m disappointed in God, I’m angry at God, God did not give me my way. Faith in God must supersede all your understanding or it isn’t faith. For if we perceive it with our senses, or have a tangible response, we are not believing by faith. We are not happy that we don’t understand. But we do want a God bigger than our limited understanding.

We must have faith in God and repentance for dead works. It takes no faith to believe where I am, but we need to believe where we could be.  Faith in God has to be foundational.

People get upset with God when they don’t get their way. This says that what they have is conditional faith.  They are making God into their sugar daddy. Things will not always work out the way we think they should work out. Things happen on planet earth that we won’t get the answer for until we get to glory. God doesn’t tell us everything. He doesn’t send us a telegram informing us of all that He is doing. God is sovereign, and He is wanting us to trust Him. When God set the planet in motion He knew stuff would happen. When gravitational pull exerted itself, it meant that people would fall and get hurt. Gravitational force is for good and  bad.

We need to hold fast to our confession of faith. Keep making it no matter what comes up. Write your confession of faith and put it where you can see it. Say it frequently, and trust God, have faith in God. Then things will change. Once you keep repeating God’s truth to yourself, one day like a bolt of lightening you will realize that you believe it, and things will change. Like Abraham, who was told that he would have a son, laughed and said, “I believe it.” Believe it, Believe God.

Hoping your day is blessed.

Heather