I don’t know who this is for, but this morning after reading the Bible, God showed me an image. Lately He has been revealing where He was in my past. He gave me the image of a healing journey, and then showed me how he used new life to stop the progression of satan in my life.

Before I knew God, I spent many years in the occult. In fact, it was one of the things that my husband was very attracted to me about. When we had our first child, I tabled the occult, not wanting my kids to grow up only knowing the occult. My rationale was that they should be able to make a choice and I didn’t want them to be tormented in school because of their occult beliefs.

God showed me this morning that he used NEW LIFE (the birth of my son) to begin His work in my life that brought me to Him.

I praise God so much for His loving me so much to continue pursuing me when the last thing that I wanted at that time was to have any dealings with Him.

I was going to write this in my notebook to remember, and I had the distinct impression that I had to write this here for someone else to read. Please do not condemn yourself for your poor choices in the past. God certainly doesn’t condemn you, He just loves you and wants to open your eyes up to the tremendous love He has for you. You may think that He has not intervened in your life, but don’t be so sure. God intervenes in ways that you may not perceive. Ask Him where He was, and He will show you. It will be in His timing when He shows you, but never for one instant doubt that God is not there.

Have a blessed day,

Heather

This is a continuation of the previous study found here.

Pastor Don went on to look at

Hebrews 2:14-15 AMP Since, therefore, [these His] children share in flesh and blood [in the physical nature of human beings], He [Himself] in a similar manner partook of the same [nature], that by [going through] death He might bring to nought and make of no effect him who had the power of death–that is, the devil– And also that He might deliver and completely set free all those who through the [haunting] fear of death were held in bondage throughout the whole course of their lives.

Pastor Don wanted us to use the Amplified translation for this because of the words the “haunting fear” of death. Many people fear death on all levels.

A person in the Bible study talked about how salvation is a process that we walk out individually. She wondered if people, when they are adults and meet God, do they let the Holy Spirit into their hearts and receive the deliverance of the Holy Spirit? Do they learn to trust the Lord when so much of their life is past and many conflicting words have been spoken into them?

Pastor Don told us that fear has a root cause when there is hurt of children, and it can emit a reaction of mistrust. Pastor Don reminded us of when Jesus cast out the demons from a person, Luke 11:24-26 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it swept and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.”

When it comes to heart stuff there may still be residual from parents. When we start looking at the heart issues, we have to see where our parents were. Perhaps they never conquered alcoholism or their mouth, perhaps they were very messy. Even though you are grown and in your own space, you have to deal with the success or failure of your parent in some context. They were a tremendous influence on everything that you are.  The hardest thing to admit was that this was their failing. Remember, you didn’t grow up in a vacuum, and all that you experienced has an influence on you.

When we begin to see what influenced us, we have the opportunity to overcome mistakes or overlook mistakes. Pastor Don talked about how some children in elementary school are the fastest runners in their schools, then they go on to high school and they are only 3rd fastest, then off to college where they are 14th fastest. If their ego is tied up in their ranking, then all their relationships are reduced to comparisons.

What we need to know is that we have the great opportunity in Christ Jesus to be recreated in His image, and we can only do that if we get our earthly comparisons right. If Jesus has not come into your heart, you will just reproduce failure or the opinions of people. When you get born again and you see yourself as Jesus sees you, you can get beyond the past. The Holy Spirit reviews our mortal stuff, and we can be so changed, that people will note a difference.

Every tree that is not planted by Jesus is uprooted. We don’t always accept that that’s who we really are (changed by our salvation), but when we do we begin to get free of things. In order to change we need to identify ourselves with who Christ says we are. There is real liberty in that. Pastor Don mentioned the “Who am I in Christ” list that he gave us, I have looked up the verses, if you go to the link you will find them. It is good to review who we are in Christ, for that is life changing to begin to believe who Christ says we are.

We have to forgive. Forgiveness is so necessary to start healing. It creates restitution on a far deeper level than earthly restitution for wrongs done, but that is not what conventional worldly wisdom says. To forgive when you have been hurt is so foreign to our flesh. We have to forgo repeating what others did wrong to us, and then there is restitution(true healing). The human condition is to hold onto the memories of the abuse and hurts and try and get back at the person.

But Jesus says, Mark 11:24-26 “Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”

Jesus did not put a condition on that instruction – He did not say forgive if they ask for your forgiveness, or if they even care that they hurt you, or if they restore what they did. We forgive because we want our Father in Heaven to forgive us for our sins.

Jesus loved mankind so much that He gave Himself to save as many as He could, people try to call that altruism (the principle or practice of unselfish concern for or devotion to the welfare of others),  To attach His sacrifice only to altruism is to try and separate the reality that altruism is the ultimate selfishness. People say that we don’t want anything but God, but God built a system of being good and nice to people no matter what comes your way. Forgiveness is the ultimate gift from God. If you forgive others He forgives you. He forgives you because God is all that and more.  He blesses us abundantly.

If you are holding onto anger and saying, “I hate your guts for what you did to me in 1973, I hate you and you should pay big.” Yet, God lets us know that we should forgive the person, before we go to the altar. We do not always need to let the people know that you are forgiving them, although if you can that is also good. If you don’t know where the person is or the died, still let God know that you are forgiving them. We know that when we forgive we free up God’s blessing, and we are complying with God who gave us the commandment to forgive. Jesus said that if we love Him we will obey His commandments. We are to love the brethren the same way that Jesus loves us.

When that command was given, the brethren were also the Jews. There will be no antisemites in Heaven.

Forgiveness of another person is not attached to receiving restitution from them. Forgiveness is a gift of God greater than any thing owed to you. Forgive and YOU will be forgiven. Jesus hung on the cross and said, “Father, forgive them,” and He said that about people who hurt Him far more than anything that we have ever experienced in our lives.

If we forgive those who do evil to us, we give it to God and He will judge and repay them. God can take care of what is necessary.

The next step, Jesus says, for the mature believer is to pray for those who hurt you. There is a problem in this because,sometimes your flesh cannot get to the point of wanting to pray for the person who hurt you so much. So you have to do the mechanics of forgiveness. You say, “I love you Lord and obey by forgiving them because YOU said so. But I need supernatural help.” Only God can reach into a heart and help. The carnal flesh will never be able to do it in its own strength, it will just keep rehearsing the pain.

Pastor Don told us that we need to rehearse forgiveness, and not rehearse the pain. Say to God, “Please give me the gift of forgiveness.” Only when you do that can you be healed.

Pastor Don said that he prays, and we can also pray, “I want to know in my heart what Your (God’s) heart is for her/him, and give me compassion for her/him.”

That is Grace in action. God wants to see all His children restored. If Christ was not raised from the dead, then this would be foolishness to man. But we serve a Risen Lord.

We ran out of time for Friday’s Bible study. I really think that if we could we would spend all day in Bible study.

Have a blessed day,
Heather

In our Friday Bible study, we are still going over the foundational truths mentioned in Hebrews 6:1-3, and have been focusing these past few weeks on the foundational truth of the Resurrection of the Dead. (Heather’s note, this past Friday we moved to another topic.) This time we looked at Romans 8.

Pastor Don said that we have to be ready to be able to reproduce ourselves. It is no longer enough just to attend church, but we need to be able to communicate the truths to those who come seeking so that we can help others grow strong in the Kingdom of God.

Romans 8:11  But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

Pastor Don told us that this is a most powerful verse. The word “Him” is capitalized, and it means God the Father. This verse has the Trinity in it. God the father, Jesus (the Son) and the Holy Spirit. The Father’s Spirit is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit dwells in us and it is not a one time experience.

The Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead. It is that person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit, that dwells in you. We don’t want Him to have to vacate on a regular basis because of our behavior (we always have the Holy Spirit in us, but the Holy Spirit can be less or more active in our lives based on what we do). We do not want to grieve the Holy Spirit. God loves us unconditionally, but we can grieve the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does indwell us, but can be grieved if we allow rage and discord and mood swings take control of our lives and we begin to lash out at God and at others. Then the Holy Spirit will be grieved and we won’t be aware of His presence. (Heather’s note, this is not the blaspheme of the Holy Spirit which is a different thing.)  As we grow in our faith we will begin to have the peace of God that passes all understanding in the midst of our difficulties. We need to stay sweet, be nice, and be steady.

(Heather’s note. God is good, I had a question about the above paragraph because I didn’t think I was explaining from my notes very well, and this morning I was reading Smith Wigglesworth, On the Holy Spirit which is a collection of his sermons, on page 36 I read this, “So the baptism of the Holy Spirit says to me, “You have an anointing.” The anointing has come; the anointing remains; the anointing is with us. But what if you have not lived in the place in which the unction, the anointing, can be increased? Ah! Then the Spirit is grieved; then you are not moved. You are like one who is dead. You feel that all the joy is gone…Is the Unctioner still there? Yes. When He comes in, He comes to remain. He will either be grieved, full of groaning and travail, or He will be there to lift you above the powers of darkness, transform you by His power, and take you to a place where you may be fully equipped.”)

Everybody thinks that they are mature in the Lord, until pressure comes.  A person steps on your toes, sits in your pew, cuts you off in traffic, then what is really inside under that pressure comes out. We want to stay humble. If someone cuts you off, how do you react? The level of the Holy Spirit’s grieving is relative to your level of maturity. The Holy Spirit would be more grieved if you had been saved 5-6 years and stepped off the pulpit and cursed at people, than if you were just saved last week and were not aware that the way that you live reflects love for Christ.

When someone is just saved, instead of legalism, love them into right behavior. Share the Word of God and love them. The water of the Word will wash them and change them. If you are a mature believer and you sin, God holds you accountable for what you know and the way you know.

The Holy Spirit resides in you. He is not there with handcuffs. He wants to operate in your life on the inside, and He expects to be able to have a say about what you are doing.

If you want to know more about the Holy Spirit read John Chapters 14-17.  The Holy Spirit leads you into truth, comes alongside to represent you when satan accuses the brethren day and night. We need to be aware that there is a battle going on.

The Holy Spirit raised Christ, and He (the Holy Spirit) will give life to your mortal bodies. Both your physical and after you have died, your spiritual body. There is a twofold message hidden in scripture, that the Holy Spirit can give life to our mortal bodies and our spiritual bodies. Pastor Don told us that if we are dying, don’t fabricate a death scenario, never give up. We have to face the medical reality and do what is necessary, but never quit believing that God can restore.  We can speak to any part of the body and tell it to get better, or to hold on. The Healing Covenant comes from the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. When you are sick stir up the gift that is in you.

When you are in physical pain it is hard to focus, but when you can focus your mind stir up your faith. That is why it is good to have scripture memorized and in you, because you may not be able to pick up a Bible. It is also why it is important, before a problem sets in, to have a habit of worship. The main way we can stir up our faith is through worship. The assumption is that you have the Holy Spirit. Every Spirit filled born again believer has the Holy Spirit come and reside in them.

Many people believe that the baptism of the Holy Spirit is an anointing for service, and not just for them, but just so the Holy Spirit can work through you, but you can also ask for help from the Holy Spirit for yourself. Therefore, when the atmosphere changes, and the Holy Spirit is indwelling, the Lord will direct what to be done and how. 

When we went to Israel we had a period of deep worshipping and the atmosphere changed. Many were grooving in the Spirit, but some did not jump into the fray. Those who watched and did not worship did not receive the benefits of those who worshipped. God will honor all of us if we make ourselves available. The best way to do this is to stir up the Spirit through worship. Stir up the gift in you. Worship to the Glory of God. Worship is mentioned in the Word, and we combine praise and worship. Worship that humbles you elevates God is Grace full.

We have missed it in Grace. God gives us Grace. Healing is quick. Sometimes we worship on our faces, like a dog kissing his master’s hand because of the dog’s love for the master. When we are in that attitude of worship, the indwelling Spirit is magnified. When God is magnified in you, everything else is diminished -disease, problems, poverty, etc.

Pastor Don told us about a Texas preacher who was given up for dead, and he decided that he was going to worship God. He was so weak that he couldn’t speak loud, just worship. He was going to worship out loud, right where he was. He said, “Praise the Lord,” in little more than a whisper. He kept saying, “Praise the Lord.” His voice got stronger and stronger and louder. He got some strength in his body, rolled over and fell to the floor. Crawled on the floor to the back porch so he could praise God there. Then decided that if he was going to die, he wanted to die under the tree in his back yard. He dragged his body over to the tree, continually saying, “Praise the Lord.” When he got to the tree he was screaming praises to God, standing up, shouting, yelling and praising the Lord.

When the presence of the Lord comes, things have to change. Also on the other end, the Holy Spirit will give life to the mortal bodies where the Spirit dwells. Some wonder why to get the Baptism of the Holy Spirit with evidence of tongues, yet we know that with the Baptism of the Holy Spirt comes power beyond what we can think or imagine.

Hebrews 2:9  But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.

Jesus was crowned with glory and honor. He took death for everyone, although everyone does not accept this gift of salvation.  He was the Passover Lamb, and did for all what is commemorated during the Passover service since the time of Moses.

Hebrews 2:10 AMP For it was an act worthy [of God] and fitting [to the divine nature] that He, for Whose sake and by Whom all things have their existence, in bringing many sons into glory, should make the Pioneer of their salvation perfect [should bring to maturity the human experience necessary to be perfectly equipped for His office as High Priest] through suffering.

Jesus died to bring many sons to glory, and Jesus went to Glory. Therefore we too are brought to Glory through the suffering that He went through for us. We too are perfected through His sufferings.

When we suffer, we often ask God, “Lord, why did I have to go through this?”

Jesus obeyed God, even though it meant that he suffered on the cross. And Jesus was perfected through his suffering.

When we go through the process of trying and failing, working and not having it work out, failing and failure, doing it wrong over and over, and then finally getting it right, we learn to obey God. We learn that when we don’t obey God we suffer, but that is not what happened with Jesus. Jesus obeyed in his head and heart, He perfectly obeyed. We, on the other hand, feel that we have to go out and try and test and then we learn to obey. Far better to learn to obey God first off, rather than learning through trial and error.

Hebrews 2:14  Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil

Jesus died so that the power of satan is destroyed.

Pastor Don shared that we don’t have to always learn through trial and error. We have the scripture to show us the right way to believe, so we don’t have to keep doing the same mistakes and learn through tough situations. We can also see what happens to others in our lives and people in the Bible and learn from that.

Pastor Don talked about when his brother Jerry started sneaking cigarettes. His parents were angry about the sneaking and smoking, and yet, Jerry was old enough that they wished he wouldn’t smoke but couldn’t prevent him from doing that. He kept smoking. Pastor Don, who at the time was 10 years old, watched his brother, and saw that after he started smoking his brother would get up in the morning coughing his face off, and heard him say, “I need a cigarette.” Pastor Don asked himself why did Jerry need something that made him nervous and cough his face off, and he told himself, “I will never go there.” (Heather’s note, Pastor Jerry does not smoke anymore!)

Pastor Don told us that we need to learn that making a decision to act in obedience is better for us than making a decision to obey after you act it out and realize that disobedience does not pay. Sure saves a lot of unnecessary grief.

Jesus did not actively test the law, he meditated on it and decided it was better to obey. Yet, just like us, Jesus was tempted. It is not a temptation if there is no real temptation. So in Luke 4, Jesus was tempted by satan. He just came from being baptized, and was perfectly capable of saying yes to the devil, but Jesus chose obedience to God.

Pastor Don told us to think of the ramifications of a bad day and take steps to prevent them from having. One morning he had a nightmare where he was driving a car to meet an appointment, ran out of gas, couldn’t get to the pump because the gas station was closed. He said that what he did in the dream was to put on worship music. He told us that the Spirit says that we can deal with our nightmares before we wake up. Negate the dream and don’t give into the stressful situation of the dream, stay calm. He did all that before he even woke up from the nightmare. Pastor Don told us that the enemy would rather that Pastor Don would succumb to the stress in the nightmare and wake up ready to jump down people’s throats because he woke up in a negative mood. But Pastor Don defeated that plan of the enemy before he even woke up. That is why we need the Word of God in us and a habit of worship, for that will do more to confound the enemy.

The study continued with more in Hebrews 2, which I will share with you tomorrow. I figure you would rather have two shorter things to read than one long one.

Have a blessed day,

Heather

One time when I had a hard time sleeping Pastor Don suggested reading Psalm 4 over and over. First of all, if you are filling your mind with the Word of God it crowds out the worries, but it also is a wonderful psalm for resting in the Lord.

Pastor Don talked to us about Peace, and the Joy of the Lord being our strength, and His peace helps us to have that Joy of the Lord. You can see Part 1 at this link.

Psalm 4:1 Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have relieved me in my distress; have mercy on me, and hear my prayer. 

This is a wonderful statement of faith. 

Psalm 4:2-3 How long, O you sons of men, will you turn my glory to shame? How long will you love worthlessness and seek falsehood?  Selah  But know that the LORD has set apart for Himself him who is godly; the LORD will hear when I call to Him. 

If we are godly, we are set apart for God, and He will hear us.

Psalm 4:4 Be angry, and do not sin. Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still.  Selah  

Stop lying on your bed being angry, plotting and planning the future. Be still.  Pastor Don talked about the children’s book, “The No Good Very Bad Horrible Day.” He told us that so often we rehearse and plan for tomorrow. What will you do to the person that hurt you? If you are angry at your wife do you spent time thinking about how you will get back at her (or your husband) the next day? I’m not speaking to her/him tomorrow!  She/he can get her/his own coffee!  I’m not warming up her/his car!!! All you end up doing is angrily lying in bed, and it does not promote peace or rest.

When it says to meditate, it is not talking about yoga meditation or any other of the new age practices. We have to be careful about those kinds of meditations. For awhile there were yoga practices where people were given specific words to chant over and over. Further research revealed that they were demonic spirit’s names. And the people were invoking what would not help them in their lives.

The kind of meditation mentioned in the Bible is to quietly mutter the Word of God. To think about the scripture, to praise God, and speak His Word. When we do that we will wake up at peace.

We want to keep the peace of God, to live it and have it. The devil will do anything to try and steal that peace. When we are losing our peace through worry, fear, or any other thing, we need to go back and read the scriptures and meditate on them.

Psalm 4:5 Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust in the LORD. 

When we are on our bed, and our mind is going crazy, we need to put our trust in the Lord. (Heather’s note, remember that Abraham was counted righteous, not for what he did, but because he BELIEVED GOD). So when we trust and believe in God, we are counted as giving a sacrifice of righteousness.

Psalm 4:6 There are many who say, “Who will show us any good?” LORD, lift up the light of Your countenance upon us.

When we have a situation in our lives, we need a God idea, and to have the countenance of the Lord to come on our situation.  If we rehearse our situation with our words – if having financial difficulties, rehearsing our lack with our words; terminal illness, rehearsing our possible death with our words; marital problems, rehearsing the marriage problems with our words. 

At one point in his past, Pastor Don thought he was going to die in 5-8 hours, according to words spoken to him by a doctor. Pastor Don was making plans for his family after he died. Cynthia would not hear of this and told him to start speaking words of life. He did, even though he was feeling he was close to death, and he recovered.

If you finances are sick, speak life over them. Say, “There is a lot of money in this account. Money comes to me.” God is no man’s debtor.

We need to be at peace because the Body of Christ needs to be at peace. If you have to go to court and defend yourself for what you didn’t do, be happy. Be at peace.

(Heather’s note: Pastor Don often asks us the question, will this matter 100 years from now? Sort of puts things into perspective. This does not mean that we too don’t need to do the actions that are necessary. We can’t speak to our finances and go out and max out our credit cards, or stay at home and speak a job into our lives without going out and looking for a job. But in the midst of the situation, if we are doing what God wants us to do, we can speak words of peace and belief, knowing that God has it.)

Psalm 4:7 You have put gladness in my heart, more than in the season that their grain and wine increased.

Pastor Don told us that making other people stupid in our minds doesn’t make us any smarter. No matter how much you put down another person, you are not smarter. That is a false concept, for what really happens when you put another person down is that you go down lower. 

God puts gladness in our hearts, and His gladness is the best for us. There are many lies that society and the devil have sold us into believing produce gladness, but they are lies, and the end result does not lead to peace. We know many rich, miserable people. We’ve bought into consumerism and feel that we will be happy if we go shopping and buy stuff, but all we are doing is digging a bigger debt hole, and that does not make us happy. Some things we have bought under the influence of a demonic spirit, and thought that those things would make us feel better.  

Pastor Don bought a brand new car once, and he loved it because it could go 0 to 60 in 10 seconds. His rationale was that Cynthia would look good in the car, and it was so fast. But what happened, is that once he had a car that could go 0 to 60 in 10 seconds, he had to keep going that fast, or else he felt that the car was not doing what it was capable of doing. The end result was that he kept getting tickets for speeding and almost lost his license. He ended up selling the car and buying a different car that was better suited for what he needed.

Some people think that if you have a TV plasma screen, you can enjoy the game better, but that will give you monthly payments that you cannot pay.

False consumerism can steal our peace.

We don’t need to make our life pursuit to pride, to consumerism, to things, for that is going to steal your peace.

We can have all the truth that we can get, and we can still lose our peace, if we pursue the wrong things.

Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers.” They are blessed (happy) not because they spoke words out, but because peace resides in them. 

Let’s get along. What’s wrong that we don’t get along? We don’t have to agree, but let’s have peace. 

Whether you are happily employed, unemployed, or no matter which “ployed” you are, we need to have peace. Peace is not dependent on circumstances.

Right now, if we are in need, it is a chance for someone to bless us, and get a blessing. It is a chance for us to bless someone else and be blessed. It is not about what you have.

Psalm 4:8 I will both lie down in peace, and sleep; for You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.

When we are faced with a circumstance, a bad doctor’s report, do we look at it with our eyes, or do we look at it from God’s point of view?  People place great stock on historical records, but Jesus doesn’t care about historical records. God is seeking relationship with us. We will get peace but there are steps to take to get it. We need to pray and we need to seek peace. An inner peace. When we know Jesus, we can have peace irrespective of the circumstances. If we are in the midst of war, we can have peace. In the midst of despair, we can have peace.

Jesus is the Prince of Peace, and He brings peace to us. We can remain at peace in our hearts while He fights the battle for us. Jesus’ name is Salem (Peace), Melchizedek was the King of Salem, the King of Peace.

It does not matter who wins the presidential elections, we can have peace. It does not matter who promises us a chicken in every pot. Jesus owns the pot and the chicken. He is our provider, our checkbook, and it is up to us whether or not we Believe Him.

Be happy where you are in your circumstances. If you can’t afford curtains, put tissue paper up on the windows and create a happy home. Be happy, knowing that we have One who can help us make sense of our circumstances.

Pastor Don told us that there is a direct link between sickness and stress. He pointed out that the last year in the United States that people were really happy was 1956. If you look at what was happening then you would realize that it did not require two incomes to support a family, Houses did not cost an arm and a leg, people could support their homes with 28% of their income. The mom stayed home with the kids. TV’s were not in every home, so there were not ads to tell you that you are too short, too tall, so crazy that you need drugs. You didn’t have to take something to fix our problems, and then create 10 more problems and side effects.

We have to realize that God’s got it, and we are well, and tomorrow is a New Day.

In 1956 the 10 commandments were posted in the schools and houses. People were not isolated. They belonged to clubs, church organizations and groups. They sat with their family and played games, board games, cards. and Pastor Don said that they played Bid Wiz.

We need people. The most miserable members of the church are those who do not participate in Church. Some want to stand alone and stay by themselves. We have a whole generation of kids that don’t know how to talk to each other, they IM and send emails, but don’t develop the art of conversation. 

They need to join and participate, and gain the sense that somebody else cares about me. It also helps people to begin to realize that they are not the center of the universe. Seek to help someone else, comfort someone who is crying, visit the sick, seek circumstances to reach out and help people. Know that you have peace.

There is a different paradigm shift in today’s culture. There is competition, pitting me against the other. People are afraid of words, there is sarcasm and fear. Fearful people are not at peace.

The only peace and security that we have is in the Lord. If we don’t have Jesus, we are missing something. People of peace have peace. We need peace, and we do not want to grieve the Holy Spirit. We need to create an atmosphere of peace. Talk to our kids before we yell. 

1 Corinthians 3:19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their own craftiness”;  God gives infinitely more than we can imagine. When we try to reach others to share Christ, intelligent debates are ok, but warring with words is not always the best course. It isn’t about one-upmanship. It is about sharing the love of Christ.

When we teach or hear a word we need to discern if the Spirit and the Word agree. 

Solomon said Ecclesiastes 12:12-14 And further, my son, be admonished by these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh. Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.

We need to fear God (awe and worship) and do right and things will be OK.  We need to believe by faith. Not limiting our thinking just within the context of our circumstantial information, but also with spiritual information.

In sharing with others, we need to give them the basis of our information, so that we plant the seed that the Spirit of God can water. When we resort to intense debate it is quite possible that a spirit of religion can take over, and that blocks the revelations that the Spirit of God can give to a person.

The Spirit and the Word must agree. We get the Word of agreement from the Bible. Intellectuals without a true spiritual commitment will receive in error. That is why the Spirit and the Word must agree.

Satan wants to plant lies. He does not give bold face lies, but plants a little lie to fool the people. It can be garbage, but it looks good. For example, if you have a car that looks sharp, but the engine is bad, plant it in a used car lot with scruffy cars. People may buy the car on the basis of the looks, even though the scruffy cars may have better engines. 

In order for us to detect counterfeits, we need to examine the real thing so that we know the real thing so well that the counterfeit stands out. There are many churches that are not teaching the truth and there are false teachers and prophets out there, many sounding very Christian in their message. But those that are teaching a false Christ, or teaching in error have to be discerned. From satan’s point of view, the more people that can be led astray the better. And satan will do it subtly.

So many are offering  a new and improved message from God. People get confused by the spiritual bling bling that many are offering.  We need to be fruit testers.  We cannot trust all the fruit that is out there. Sometimes an apple looks beautiful on the outside, but when you bite into it it is not ripe and is very tart.  We have to not get diverted by how beautiful a church or a pastor looks, we have to seek the truth of the message.  Taste and see that the Lord is good.

We then read Psalm 32:1-5 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was turned into the drought of summer.  Selah  I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,” and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.  Selah  

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

We are all called to missions.

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

You are God’s Beloved
God, Do You love me?

He who has ears to hear

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

The time of God’s favor

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

Our Love Walk
Stand

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

Rejection, suffering, and Loss