Pastor Don continued with Hebrews 10:19-21 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God,

We can enter with full assurance of faith, and get into the presence of God.  Jonathan Edwards would enter a city and the whole city would come into revival.  He had bold faith.  Smith Wigglesworth had bold faith.

Our faith is not denied when we are in the Presence of God in the Holy Of Holies.  When God shows up sickness, guilt, shame, pain, the devil has to go.  The Shekinah Glory pushes out what is not of God.

Hebrews 10:22-23 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

Without wavering, we are to hold our confession of faith.  We can still have faith in our heart even when there is doubt in our head.  You can know that you know that you know.  God waits for our head to catch up with our heart.  The Holy Spirit knows more than us. HOLD FAST!

Hebrews 10:24-25  And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

This is not often practiced in church, most people are thinking – what can others do for me.  But we are to stir up love and compassion – and do good works for others. 

The Amplified says verse 24-25 And let us consider and give attentive, continuous care to watching over one another, studying how we may stir up (stimulate and incite) to love and helpful deeds and noble activities, Not forsaking or neglecting to assemble together [as believers], as is the habit of some people, but admonishing (warning, urging, and encouraging) one another, and all the more faithfully as you see the day approaching.

Notice this is a very active verse, we want to study how to do this – how to watch over each other, stir and stimulate people to love, helpful deeds and good activities. We need to get on board and help.

Hebrews 10:26-29  For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?

To understand these verses, we looked at Hebrews 6:4-5 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,

This verse applies to those who come to truth, have full experience with Jesus, with signs and wonders, prophesy, healing, and all the good works.  And they have the Holy Spirit within, and then make the decision to reject the sacrifice that Jesus did for them on the cross.  Once they have done that, it is impossible for them to get saved the second time, for they rejected Jesus.  One good example of this is Judas – who betrayed Jesus, never repented, and yet had operated fully in all the giftings that Jesus taught the disciples. 

Hebrews 6:6   if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.

In this we are speaking of blaspheming the Holy Spirit, speaking out against God, and there is no where to repent, for they rejected God with full knowledge of God.  There is nothing left for them to repent on. Christ would have to be re-crucified, and He was crucified once for all.

Hebrews 10:29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?

This would be a total rejection of Jesus, and rejecting the communion that He gave us, to take communion in an unworthy manner, as if it were a common thing – which would insult the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 11:27 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.

What is an unworthy manner?

2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.

We are to test ourselves to see if we are IN FAITH. If we have sinned, we can confess our sins and receive forgiveness.  Pastor Don told us that in the Baptist church he grew up in, people would examine themselves before they took communion to see if they had any sin – and he told us that people would be glancing around to see who took communion and who didn’t.  But that is not what this passage is saying, it is saying to see if we are IN FAITH. 

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.

We confessed our sins when we invited Him in our hearts.  There will be a lot of people who die with unresolved sin, and they can still be saved.  For example, the criminal on the cross.  It isn’t unresolved sin, but IN FAITH.

1 Corinthians 11:27-29 Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.

The problem is if we don’t discern Christ.  You can have the right doctrine, but no faith.  Jesus suffered scourging for a purpose, for the healing of our bodies.  When we take communion it is for the healing of our bodies when we eat the bread.  But often we find more reasons to be sick than to be healed.  We have a divide between the physical and the spiritual.  The devil is a liar and he is good at it.

We have been fed the wrong theology.  Think of the woman at the well, she had the wrong thinking about faith, and Jesus taught her that she needed to worship in Spirit and in truth.  She then went to reach other’s for Christ. The Philippian jailer saw what Paul had and wanted that too.

Now Simon the Sorcerer had wrong theology, for he wanted to receive the power of the Holy Spirit by paying for it.  He had the right theology about how the Holy Spirit empowers a person, but the wrong faith, for he wanted it for wrong reasons, not to serve God and spread the Gospel but to make himself more powerful. 

Saul who had right theology, but wrong faith.  He was sure the Christians were worshipping idols and acted on that.  God had to show him that his theology was wrong, and that Jews and Gentiles could worship God, that Jesus was the Messiah. 

2 Corinthians 11:31-32 For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.

We need to be very careful about what we see and how we judge it.  Pastor Don gave us the example of the Lakeland revival, where the pastor had tatoos.  Pastor Don knew that the tatoos were not the problem, it was the character of the Tod Bentley.  He was sleeping around and damaging his marriage.  Remember our gift can take us where our character cannot sustain us.  Pastor Don was praying that if this was a false revival, that God would show the truth. And the truth came out.

2 Corinthians 12:7-9 And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

So many have made this thorn to be a physical ailment or illness, such as eye trouble.  But this was trouble with the devil and enemies sent by the devil.  Someone gave the example that sometimes we say of a person, they are “a pain in the neck.”  It does not mean that they really give us a physical pain in our neck, but they are an annoyance.  If we read the passage we see that the thorn in the flesh is a MESSENGER of satan to buffet Paul, an annoyance.  Wherever Paul went he was hounded by satan who sent Judaizers and people who were trying to stop him from sharing the message of the Gospel.  Paul prays to God and says, “Do something about satan.”  Paul wanted God to stop this annoyance.  God told Paul that he had given him grace sufficient to deal with the situation himself.  Grace is more than unmerited favor, it is all the help and power necessary to do something himself.  If you look the word “Grace” up in Strongs, you will learn that it is divine influence upon your heart made manifest in the gifts of the Spirit.  We have the ability and the power to do something about the devil.  God gave us the GRACE to do this.  Three times Jesus says, “my grace is sufficient.”

Hebrews 10:29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?

Insulted the Spirit of Grace.   Through Grace God favors us, empowers us to do something – to bind up demons, etc.  When we insult the Spirit of Grace we cut off our blessings.  We need the Spirit of Grace to go to war against what impedes us, blocks us, and holds us in bondage.  When we refuse to accept God’s grace, we refuse to accept the Holy Spirit’s grace.  Don’t bind the Hand of God.

Hebrews 12:25-29 See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.

Stand, don’t blink, don’t pay attention to circumstances, soar above the madness.  Stand and rejoice, witness the glory of God.  Keep our eyes on God, don’t blink.

Psalm 27 tells us to look to trust in the Lord and wait on God. 

Look to the cross.

Again, Bible study was over all too soon.

Heather

Before our study began someone made a comment that made me chuckle, they said, “Don’t be so open minded your brains fall out.”  Before our Friday Bible study we have a wonderful pot luck lunch, and lots of talking to each other.  It is such a blessing to belong to Living Word Chapel – good food, good fellowship, great teaching, and lots of fun.

We then continued our Hebrews study.

Hebrews 10:19  Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus,

BOLDNESS.  In Temple worship there was the outer and the inner courts. There was the Holy and the Holiest of Holies.  It was on Yom Kippur that the priest would come once a year to the holiest place to make atonement for the sins of the nation.  The priest would practice a whole year before Yom Kippur  because making one mistake could cost him his life.  They studied the writings and rituals, how to wash, dress, cleanse themselves, and the proper manner to approach the Holiest of Holies.  The priest even had bells on the bottom of his robe and a rope around his ankle.  If the priest did not prepare himself well, the bells would stop ringing and people would know that the priest died, they would then pull him out by the rope.

But we can boldly go to the Holiest of the Holies.  As the Body of Christ, where is the Holiest of Holies?  It is not the Church.  WE are the Temple of God, and our Spirits become sanctified when we accept Christ in our lives and we have the presence of the Holy Spirit within us.  We are in the presence of the Holy Spirit wherever we are – in the car, the garden, the backyard, the dining room, etc.  (Heather’s comment, this week in our Beth Moore Bible study, Beth mentioned that the first tabernacle was mobile – and God moved with the Israelites in the wilderness – we are God’s mobile tabernacles.)

Psalm 91:1-2  He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust.”

The mind of man wants to attach ourselves to our surroundings, as if somehow our physical surroundings can contain the Holy Spirit. 

The Spirit of God and the Kingdom of God are at hand, within us.  We are physical representatives of the Kingdom of God, churches and temples, In the book of Revelation we see that God will be dwelling with us. 

Revelation 21:10-11  And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,  having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.

The tabernacle and temple will descend out of Heaven from God. The temple and tabernacle we knew on earth is but a type and shadow of what exists in Heaven.  Notice that the light is like a precious stone.  John was describing to the best of his ability what he saw, but he could only compare to what we know.  The real is far grander.

Revelation 21:12 Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:

Spiritual representation, of a physical. 

Revelation 21:13-14 three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west. Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

Notice that the tribes of Israel and the Apostles are mentioned – the Jews and the Gentiles are represented here.

Revelation 21:19 The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones: the first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald,

What are these precious stones?

1 Peter 2:4-5  Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

The biggest problem in the church is smart people, who are too stupid to believe the Bible as it is written.  Our intellect can often get in the way of the Truth of God.

In the Old Testament, Jesus is represented as the chief cornerstone.  If you think it is an actual physical cornerstone you miss it.  The dwelling place of God is IN MAN.  The spiritual house of God is not manifested until Revelation 21. 

Right now we, the stones, are being shaped by God.  Much is being cut away so that we will form a solid connection in the Temple.  So much of what we are is rubble that needs cutting away.  God needs to get us out of the way.  Our minds think that we can achieve this in our own power by trying to be right, but it is beyond our intellect. The only way we can achieve God’s perfect plan for us is by our Spirit man.

We need to accept the fact that we are a “drag” until God works on us.

Revelation 21:19 The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones: the first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald,

We are the precious stones, the Jews and Gentiles under Messiah.  When the true stone is displayed under proper lighting it calls to you.  Pastor Don shared that once when he was visiting England he saw the crown Jewels. The beauty that they displayed took his breath away. 

Pastor Don told us that life is short, that we should seek to see greatness in this earth wherever we can – be it museum masterpieces, great singers, artwork, talent of any kind, wonderful scenery, beautiful edifices.  To appreciate the greatness that God has placed in His creation here on earth. 

Yet God counts us as more beautiful and precious than anything we can see or experience here on earth.

Revelation 21:21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.

Transparent gold – John tried to describe what he saw in the Spirit.

Revelation 21:22  But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.

God does not need a physical temple to reside in. The Glory comes inside of us and shines through us.

Pastor Don then told us that we need to begin to realize exactly who we are in Christ – that many of us forget this.  I have a list of scriptures here if you want to remind yourself.

Revelation 21:23 The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.

Because God and Jesus illuminate it, we can trust that there will be NO DARKNESS there.

In order to arrive at the Spiritual, we need to be transformed.  Man must separate himself from his physical nature or else he can be flesh dominated.  If we are stuck in the physical by a stronghold we need the Holy Spirit to help us restore true physical wholeness – so that we can be physically and mentally healthy and spiritually free. 

We want to have our physical reactions determined by the Spirit, not by the physical or the mind, will, and emotions of a person.  Sometimes a thought that is not from God drops into our mind, and if we attach our emotions to that thought, we end up running away with that thought that is not Godly. 

Pastor Don shared that one time he was driving down the road and the thought dropped into his mind to drive into a tree.  Nothing was wrong in his life, his ministry was powerful, there was no source for that thought in his current life.  He realized that thought was not his own, did not attach his emotions to it, and drove safely to his destination. 

We are seeking an ongoing connection with the Spiritual, but often we end up missing the mark, and do not separate the physical from the spiritual.  The Israelites made that mistake when they mistook the Ark for God, thinking that if they brought the Ark into battle they would win the war – but the Ark was not God and God was not in that action.  They ended up losing the ark for a time to the Philistines.

In the Body of Christ, so called spirit led people are not always spirit led.

Hebrews 10:19  Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus,

God is looking to come into your inner being, we are the Holiest, and God is looking to dwell within us.  We get to God through the veil, but that is not our flesh.  God wants to come into our holiest of holies and stir up the gift that is in us. The veil is our physical eyes and our sins.

Revelation 3:18  I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.

We need spiritual eyes to see through the veil and when we go through the veil we are not looking with eyes of the flesh. This is the state of the Laodicean church in these Last Days.  There is a struggle of faith to get things, but what we really need is to be in the center of the presence of the Lord, where there is healing and deliverance for us.  Seek Him first.

Hebrews 10:19 (see above) we must get into the presence of God, to the deep place where God is.  It is not only at Church, but in private prayer in our car, at home, in the malls, wherever we are God is.  We have a yieldness problem, theologically or fleshly we may not yield our intellect or emotions enough to experience a touch of the Lord.  Some teachers try to convince us that the gifts of the Spirit are not for this day and age, that God doesn’t do these things anymore.  In their mind they have mental blinders, the flesh man is not dominated by the Spirit man. 

Love is a choice and we must yield ourselves to God.  God loves us or He would have been done with us after the golden calf incident.  We can be blocked mentally or emotionally, or flesh concerned.  When our problem becomes an idol, it becomes a problem to get into relationship with God.  God wants relationship first, and then He will remove idols.  God is always present, but is not always active to our perception.

I will continue this study tomorrow, my husband needs the computer.

Praying your day is blessed. We were out of power for 12 hours from 6 last night until almost 7 this morning – so I haven’t been on the computer too much.  We even had snow flurries – and some in our area had over five inches of the white stuff.  Sigh.

Heather

Last Friday a friend and I went to a Christian coffee house, Cross Roads Coffee House in Catskill, New York- the praise and worship music was wonderful and anointed.  I really needed a period of praise and worship that night.  The group that was playing was the Disciples of Faith.  One of the singers joining them that night was Laura Hawthorne.

Scott Morgan, the worship director, gave a message to the people who came that is so relevant for today that I am putting it on my blog before a few other studies.  Scott gave some points about how to maintain peace in trials and a wonderful list of scriptures about peace. He used various versions so I will give you the version he used for each scripture.  I know they will bless you. This is a copy of his handout (shared here with his permission).

PEACE IN TRIALS

 1. We need trials, embrace them.  They show us where we are in our walk and to trust God.  Change the word trials to TRAINING!
 2. Suffering displays God’s grace to us and gets our attention to depend on Him alone!!
 3. Remember God’s faithfulness in your life in the past.
 4. By sharing in His suffering we will also show in His glory.
 5. Reflect on all the things in your life that you are grateful for.
 6. This temporary suffering isn’t even comparable with the eternal glory that is going to be revealed to us and in us.
 7. Praise and Worship God through the trial!!!!
 8. Remember Heaven is our REAL home, we are only here temporary.
 9. You are not alone, others in the world are suffering and have gone through the same kind of trials.
10. How you respond through the trial (test) helps you to comfort others going through similar suffering and brings great God glory!
11. Jesus is right by your side through it all and you can lean on Him for comfort.  He is your best friend and loves you deeply.
12. You must know and believe God is good and He is working everything out in your life for His glory and your benefit (eternal welfare). TRUST HIM!!!!!
13. Rely on His promises in His Word and not your external circumstances or emotions.
14. The more you focus your attention on the Lord the smaller your problems become.
15. GOD IS IN CONTROL!!!! HE knows what HE is doing.
16. If you look to life, material possessions, and people for peace you will always eventually be disappointed, you can only find contentment in a personal relationship with Jesus.
17. Only you can give up your peace, say NO to fear!
18. Fix your thoughts on positive things (effort) and reject negative thinking.
19. Remember this trial will pass (will not last!)
20. Remember doubt and peace cannot coexist HAVE FAITH.
21. Worry and anxiety cannot change our circumstance it only leads to stress, drains us, and can cause health problems.
22. Call on God (pray) and TRUST HIM!!!!

PEACE SCRIPTURES!

2 Corinthians 4:17-18 (Holman) For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen; for what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

Philippians 4:8 (NLT)  And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

Romans 5:3-5 (NLT) We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

Psalm 62:8 (AMP) Trust in, lean on, rely on, and have confidence in Him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts before Him. God is a refuge for us (a fortress and a high tower). Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

Matthew 11:28 (AMP) Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.]

Jeremiah 29:11 (AMP) For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome.

James 1:2-4 (New Century Version) My brothers and sisters, when you have many kinds of troubles, you should be full of joy, because you know that these troubles test your faith, and this will give you patience.Let your patience show itself perfectly in what you do. Then you will be perfect and complete and will have everything you need.

James 1:12 (NIV) Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

1 Peter 4:12-13 (NIV) Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.

John 16:33 (AMP) I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]

Isaiah 26:3 (NLT) You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!

Philippians 4:7, 13 (New Century Version)  And God’s peace, which is so great we cannot understand it, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (13) I can do all things through Christ, because he gives me strength.

1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

2 Thessalonians 3:16 (NLT)  Now may the Lord of peace himself give you his peace at all times and in every situation. The Lord be with you all.

John 14:27 (New Century Version) I leave you peace; my peace I give you. I do not give it to you as the world does. So don’t let your hearts be troubled or afraid.

2 Corinthians 12:10 (NIV) That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (Message) Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn’t get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan’s angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me, ”My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness.” Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.

Ephesians 6:10 (AMP) In conclusion, be strong in the Lord [be empowered through your union with Him]; draw your strength from Him [that strength which His boundless might provides].

Romans 8:28 We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose.

You can find part 1 here  and part 2 here

Pastor Don then brought us to 1 Corinthians 14:1 Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy.

To prophesy is to speak forth the Word of God and it is a spiritual gift.

1 Corinthians 14:2  For he who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands him; however, in the spirit he speaks mysteries.

When a person speaks in tongues that is prophesying, but there are various types of tongues, some for personal edification and others for the edification of the Body of Christ, the Church.  In the Greco Roman times man was very logical, and tongues without understanding did not fit that category.  Most people are more comfortable with logic and analysis.  The Bible is written in that way to help those who seek logic, expressing God’s truth the way that those who studied Plato and Socrates could comprehend.  We can examine thoughts within a passage, but not be connected to it – but can study it from an analytical distance.  Verse 2 speaks of prophesying, when we are speaking in a spirit language (tongues) we are not speaking to man but to God, and no one can understand what is being said in tongues, for we are speaking mysteries.  People hearing tongues can think that all a person is doing is talking gibberish, but really it is the spirit of the person speaking with the Spirit of God.

When this is done in a church setting and there are those who do not understand about tongues, or who do not have that spiritual language, that can cause confusion.  God is not about confusion – He is orderly.  So Paul will set out some guidelines for the speaking of tongues in a congregational setting to avoid confusion.  When all are worshipping in tongues we are speaking to God.

Proverbs 20:27  The spirit of a man is the lamp of the LORD,  searching all the inner depths of his heart.

We are speaking mysteries to God.  Presenting our case to God.  Our spirit speaks mysteries to God.  And we are open and ready to go in any direction that God desires.

1 Corinthians 14:3 But he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men.

When we prophesy it is to edify men, when we speak to God in tongues God understands. Is there any good in speaking in tongues when we don’t comprehend it?  Let’s see verse 4.

1 Corinthians 14:4 He who speaks in a tongue edifies himself, but he who prophesies edifies the church.

Yes, when we speak in tongues it does edify ourselves, but when we are in church we are seeking to edify the church, the Body of Christ, and that is where tongues in prophesy sets in. Edify – building up the edifice, to strengthen something.  Personal tongues edifies and builds up our inner man.  Our intellect can only bring us so far, but our spirit man is necessary for us to go the distance. Remember, our Spirit man is stronger than our flesh man,  If we edify and feed our spirit man by speaking in tongues, than our spirit man can bring our flesh under control.  If we do not feed our spirit man with the Word of God and praying in tongues, then our flesh will continue to seek becoming dominant and we will stay in bondage in those areas we are struggling with.  The Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.  Remember when Jesus was asked to heal the demon possessed son of a man, and Jesus asked him if he could believe, and the man said, “I believe, help my unbelief.” When we stay around Jesus something is bound to change, but often we do not stay around Jesus long enough. 

The only way the scriptures tells us that we can build up our inner man is through tongues, and it is mentioned in more than one place in the scriptures.  For example,

Jude 20 But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,

Jesus’ brother is telling us the same thing Paul tells us, that we need to pray in the Spirit to build up our faith.

We don’t build up our faith by praying memorized prayers, eating crackers, wearing things on our heads or nothing on our heads, doing things, service projects.  But praying in the Spirit is what helps our faith to grow and edify our spirit.

If we focus solely on the intellect and logic our spirit man is not growing.  The spirit man has to grow along with our knowledge. You can’t build a building with bricks alone, you need the mortar to hold them together.  It is similar to our spirit and intellect growing together.

God will not ask you to bench press 400 pounds until he can help you learn to bench press 20 pounds.

1 Corinthians 14:13-14 Therefore let him who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.

If we are praying in tongues, in the Spirit, we can ask God to help us interpret our tongues.  God likes it when we ask for wisdom and interpretation and understanding. 

When we first begin to pray in tongues we are doing it with our logical mind and making sounds in obedience with our lips and voice, as time goes on, our logical mind shuts down and then our spirit speaks with God’s spirit.  What often happens in church is that people want to talk ABOUT prayer, but they don’t want to pray.  God wants us to learn to pray with everything we can – to pray with understanding, and in the Holy Spirit. Ask for God to give you the interpretation and believe in faith that He will.  Pray in faith until you have a sense of completion, that the Spirit of God is done.  Once the Spirit man is built up, our spirit can carry more stuff.  We can’t walk into ministries until we are able to deal with attacks.

In the United States 22,000 people in ministry leave their ministries every year.

Preaching is not listed as one of the five-fold ministries or in spiritual gifts.

Prophesying has a component of speaking forth the Word of God.  You can give a good sermon and never be called into the office of prophet.  You can pastor a church and get by as an intellectual, but get fried for you have not built up your spirit.  There is no way to build up a pastor’s spirit except by edifying one’s self by praying in the spirit.  Praying in the Holy Ghost is no guarantee that you won’t have pressures that seek to crush you, but if you stop and pray in the Holy Ghost you can better face those pressures.  Think of Jesus, He often went off by Himself to pray, and build Himself up.  He did not make errors, dealt with many people’s issues, and did not suffer burnout.  He knew that if He built Himself up, that He could deal with what came His way.

1 Corinthians 14:14 For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.

Our spirit is edified but our understanding is unfruitful.

1 Corinthians 14:15 What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding.

Paul’s conclusion is not to throw the baby out with the bath water, but to DO BOTH.  To edify his spirit by private prayer language, and also to pray with understanding.

1 Corinthians 14:16 Otherwise, if you bless with the spirit, how will he who occupies the place of the uninformed say “Amen” at your giving of thanks, since he does not understand what you say?

If you are blessing with the spirit, you are blessing yourself, but that does not help the others.

Pastor Don shared about a time when he and his wife, when they were newly saved, had gone to a church where the people all spoke in tongues.  The Pastor of that church told the people to begin speaking in their holy language.  The whole church, except Pastor Don and Cynthia were speaking in tongues.  No one noticed Pastor Don and Cynthia and how uncomfortable they were, no one came over and explained what was going on, no one taught about tongues, and while they were doing this, Pastor Don and Cynthia put on their coats and left the building – no one noticed. This church was out of order. It is ok for everyone to praise God in the Spirit, but if there is an uninformed person in the church, then it is important to cue them in on what is happening, or else that person is left out of the praise and worship.  It does not edify the uninformed person, and that person is unable to join in, so there is no prayer of agreement, either.

1 Corinthians 14:17 For you indeed give thanks well, but the other is not edified.

All who are at a service should be able to be edified.

1 Corinthians 14:18-22 I thank my God I speak with tongues more than you all; yet in the church I would rather speak five words with my understanding, that I may teach others also, than ten thousand words in a tongue. Brethren, do not be children in understanding; however, in malice be babes, but in understanding be mature.  In the law it is written: “ With men of other tongues and other lips I will speak to this people; and yet, for all that, they will not hear Me,” says the Lord. Therefore tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe but to unbelievers; but prophesying is not for unbelievers but for those who believe.

Paul is not saying don’t speak in tongues.  Verse 18 shows that he speaks in tongues – he says he speaks in tongues more than most. He does edify himself with tongues, but in Church the purpose of Church is to build up believers, but an uninformed person in church needs interpretation of tongues, so in a corporate body there needs to be order in how tongues are used.  Tongues in this case are for the unbeliever – for if an unbeliever hears a word of prophesy in tongues that is interpreted, and it applies to the person or the prophesy occurs, then the unbeliever will see the sign and wonder, and that will help them to believe.

1 Corinthians 14:23  Therefore if the whole church comes together in one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those who are uninformed or unbelievers, will they not say that you are out of your mind?

Without interpretation, the uninformed will think you are out of our mind.  That is why in those situations interpretation of tongues is necessary.  The Jews look for a sign, and tongues can provide that.  As long as the Church is alive in the world, there is no way that the need for tongues will cease. 

1 Corinthians 14:24 But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an uninformed person comes in, he is convinced by all, he is convicted by all.

Unbelievers can be touched mightily by prophesy and interpretation of tongues.

1 Corinthians 14:27-29  If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two or at the most three, each in turn, and let one interpret. But if there is no interpreter, let him keep silent in church, and let him speak to himself and to God. Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge.

In a realistic setting of a church service, you can have your private prayer life under your breath, quietly, but if you are speaking in tongues in a voice that impacts the whole congregation, there must be an interpretation.  If no one is interpreting the tongues, than the person is out of order.  Pastor Don has been in church services where many, many people have spoken out in tongues, but there was no connection.  One might interpret a tongue, “God is love, let us love one another.”  another then speaks “God’s wrath is going to come on the face of the earth.”  And another says, “God is going to bring financial prosperity to believers.”  These may be true messages for the individual, but there is no cohesiveness in the message, and when there are more and more individual prophesies that is out of order.  In a service 2 or 3 with interpretation is in order, and notice that the others are to judge the message.  See, not all messages are for the whole body, some are for individual believers, and some are not even messages from God.  Does the prophesy in tongues match the Word of God?  Is it accurate.  We need to be like Bereans and judge the word that is spoken. Remember God will not contradict Himself.

If there is a service and people are praising and worshipping, and someone gets up and prophesies in tongues, there had better be an interpretation or else it is just the person edifying themselves.  The purpose of the interpretation of a prophesy is to edify ALL.  God doesn’t need 20 people prophesying in tongues – 2 or 3 in agreement are enough.  The elders are to judge.  God does not have to speak in excess and He doesn’t contradict Himself.

We are not to stop the service just to edify ourselves.  We need to judge the Word spoken and the interpretation.  But no where does it say that we are FORBIDDEN to speak in tongues, just that when it is spoken in the assembly it needs to be judged.

The answer is in 1 Corinthians 39-40 Therefore, brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak with tongues. Let all things be done decently and in order.

Decently and in order. 

Praying your day is blessed.

Heather

Here is the link to part one.

Pastor Don continued helping us to understand the passage:

Romans 8:27-28  Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

Pastor Don told us that we have to qualify, and one of the qualifications for this passage to happen is that we have to fit into God’s will, to answer the call on our life.  When you are in the ministry has God ordained you for, God will bless your life when you are in His perfect will.  He can turn even adversity into something good – but that doesn’t mean that there won’t be adversity.

1 Corinthians 12:1-3 Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant: You know that you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led. Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.

We have to accept the fact that prior to receiving New Birth, the Inborn Spirit, the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, we were fulfilling something to dumb idols.  In the last days we are seeing an increase in idol worship – think of TV shows like American Idol, and Babylonian things – property, riches, excess.  Or our love for ecology and a worshipful awe of sports heros and movie stars, the increase in various forms of sex and pornography. 

The truth is that we are led – there is always something in our lives that is leading us, it can be an idol, an idol debt that we still have to pay or we can choose to be led by God. 

We are never satisfied, no one can pay or no idol can fill that hole within us.  There is no one that can fill that debt in us caused by those who hurt us.  No husband can replace the hole filled by an absent parent in your childhood.  No pastor can fill that gaping need that you have from hurt that you received.  No idol can fill us either.  Only God can fill those needs that we have.  Until we crush whatever we have made an idol in our life and replace it with God, we look at everything under the microscope of our needs, and nothing will sustain us in an idol.

Pastor Don sang the chorus from Jesus Paid it All.

Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.

There are things that we make idols that are not physical. For example: jealousy, I never got mine.  An idol is anything you worship, anything that you lean on and depend on.  Body consciousness can be an idol. We can have a emotional idol, and that may prevent us from permitting someone to love us, we push away what we need the most.

1 Corinthians 12:4-6 There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.

With all the spiritual gifts it is important to remember that it is the SAME GOD who works all in all.

1 Corinthians 12:7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all:

This is done for the profit of all. When we make intercession it is for the profit of all, not just for ourselves.  When we operate in the spiritual gifts it is not only to edify ourselves, but to edify all.  Go do something.  Remember when Jesus healed the 10 lepers, and as they went they were all healed, only one returned to give thanks, but all were healed – only one came back to do something.  God will bless you, but go do something.  A gift manifests when you need it to do His work, it doesn’t manifest just to fulfill your pride or at random, the spiritual gifts are for His Kingdom work.  It is a wasted gift if you only use it to profit yourself. 

1 Corinthians 1:8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit,

When God gives us a spiritual gift or information, He also will let us know what to do with it.  We may get a word of knowledge, but it may not be to share with the general public or with the person you know the word of knowledge about at the moment you receive the word of knowledge.  God will show you what to do with that information at the correct time.

1 Corinthians 12:9  to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit,

The kind of faith mentioned in this verse is not normal faith, but supernatural faith, corporate faith for God, for you to do something.  Pastor Don gave an example of Moses when he was trapped between the Red Sea and the Egyptian army.  God tells Moses to lift up his staff.  Moses did not know what would happen, it did not make sense to his natural mind, but he obeyed God.  When he did in faith what God told him to do it had a phenomenal manifestation – the sea parted.

When God asks us to do something, He gives us the supernatural faith for something.  Begin to do what God wants in obedience to Him, and it produces action.  Act your faith out.

1 Corinthians 12:10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.

God also gives us gifts of healing, discernment of spirits, different kinds of tongues, and interpretation of tongues.  These are used as God directs, and He gives us the supernatural faith to use them.

1 Corinthians 12:11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.

When God repeats himself, it means that what is said in the Bible is important to Him.  Again God lets us know that these Spiritual gifts are given to individuals, but it is the one and same Spirit operating in them.  These gifts are to be used for the profit of all.  The Spirit will manifest through different people in different ways.  At times a person may prophesy to the body of Christ, but that does not mean that because the Spirit worked a gift of prophesy one time in that person’s life that they are to step into the office of the prophet for the rest of their life.  The gift of prophesy can manifest in anyone at a given time for a given need of God.  There are different kinds of tongues, some are for personal edification, others are for the edification of the Body of Christ, and come with interpretation of tongues.  The tongues of Romans 8, comes with interpretation. Sometimes God can use someone to interpret what another person said in tongues. 

Pastor Don’s wife had a prayer group at the school she used to teach at.  The teachers from various denominations were praying for a fellow teacher who was sick.  Some of the members of this group were praying in tongues but not all the members prayed in tongues. Another teacher who did not speak or pray in tongues, knew what the people were saying who were praying in tongues. God used her to interpret, but she had no background of praying or speaking in tongues.

God comes alongside and within us to see how He can use us in prayer.  Pastor Abraham, who visits us from India, once told Pastor Don how his mother used to get his family up at 5:00 AM to pray.  She had six kids and when they were little they did not like the idea of getting up so early to pray.  Pastor Abraham’s mom’s solution was to take cold water and dump it on the children who would not get up.  At the time the kids did not like having to do this, but what their mom did was instill a habit of prayer in those children.  Pastor Abraham often goes into his room to pray and intercede for hours on end.  Pastor Abraham felt the Spirit of the Lord calling him into ministry, and he was baptized into the Holy Spirit, pentecostal, tongue talking.  This upset Pastor Abraham’s mom who was upset with God because she had already given her eldest son to ministry, and his mom wanted Pastor Abraham to get a steady job to support the family in old age.  Instead, he was called into ministry in central India, where he did not know anyone or speak the language.  He kept up with the 5:00 AM prayer.  He and his wife moved into a 6′ by 8′ hut with a mud floor and no door, bathroom, stove, refrigerator.  They stayed there in God’s will and over time began to make inroads into the territory God put them in, and now he has over 200 churches that he administers in a part of India where Christians are not accepted.

There are different kinds of tongues.  Many read Acts Chapter 2 and conclude that the people were speaking Italian, German, etc.  While some do speak a foreign language in tongues, one that they don’t understand with their normal mind, there are also tongues of praise, healing, warfare, intercession, etc.  The Holy Spirit directs the nature and sound of tongues. 

Pastor Don told us that when we pray in tongues in the Spirit, we can also pray that the Holy Spirit will help us to understand what we are praying when we are praying in tongues.  To pray for understanding.  When we pray in tongues, the Holy Spirit helps us to pray in the will of God.  When tongues occur in a corporate environment, there needs to be an interpretation or we are out of order. 

We then went to 1 Corinthians 14.  I want to write about that tomorrow so that this study is not too long to read.  This talks about tongues in a corporate environment.

Have a blessed Saturday.

Heather

The passage in Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. Is used out of context.  All things work together for good to those who love God, is how people read this, they forget the part about those who are called according to God’s purpose, in the will of God.  And that does not mean that bad things will not happen to good people.  Bad things can happen, but God will turn even the bad things to good.

When the Holy Spirit wants to have something done on the Earth, He will get someone to pray in agreement with His (the Holy Spirit’s) will.  The person may pray in the Spirit, and may not even know why they are praying, but they are praying at the deepest level of prayer, with groanings that can’t be understood.  Sometimes the Holy Spirit gives the interpretation to the person, other times the person may not be aware of what the Holy Spirit is doing to them. 

God works through deep spiritual prayer to accomplish His will, through groanings, utterances, travail.  A few weeks previously a visiting pastor, Pastor Abraham went into travail.  Other people picked it up – we were in the upper classroom of the church (the upper room).  God permitted this to happen to demonstrate what had been taught at that time about praying in the Spirit.

It is not our will, but God who exercises His will in us.  When we get to this point of travail it often is not our needs or our problems that we are praying about, but the Spirit of the Lord drops in on you, and you get into an intense sorrow, feeling the Hand of God for someone or some situation we don’t know.  The Holy Spirit works through us, and gives interpretation through our heart. 

When God wants to do something on Earth, because of the Adamic Covenant, He needs a saint to pray.  Some of us never get to that point in prayer because we don’t avail ourselves of what the Spirit of the Lord wants.  God can choose to use us for intercession.  We can step into the office of prayer (1 Corinthians 12), but we need to divorce ourselves of our personal will.  This is not a person who gets lost in emotionalism, but is steady.  The Holy Spirit gives the gift of tongues and interpretation.

Pastor Don shared that one day he was feeling fine, and all of a sudden went into travail, crying out to God with tears and groanings.   His wife came in and asked him what was wrong, he stopped, smiled, and said nothing was wrong.  Went back into prayer and into travail. 

Not everyone is a true prayer warrior.  You must, as a prayer warrior, realize that some things that you are inspired to pray for you may not understand the end result in the here and now, but only later in Heaven may you realize what your prayer accomplished.  God does not have to give you an answer, often won’t until He knows He can trust you with the information.   What God sees, we may not see, but He needs us to pray.  God wants to communicate to us, but everything He tells us can’t be told to others.  Sometimes the information is meant for you alone, not to be spread to others. 

Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

We don’t know the whole matter that we are praying for, and there are many times when we don’t know what we should pray for.  The Holy Spirit knows, and makes intercession for us.  We want to pray according to the will of God, not according to our own limited understanding.  We need the help of the Holy Spirit to do this.  We may want to be an intercessor, but we may not be equipped for that role – an intercessor is a sufferer.  They are often happy with isolation, not needing the spotlight to intercede, comfortable with being in the physical presence of God. They are drawn to pray in accordance with Romans 8:26.  The deep intercessor can accept the fact that they don’t know the answer and may not know the answer until after they have died.

Why do we pray in tongues?  Tongues identify the Spirit filled believer, and they help us to pray in accordance with God’s will.  Tongues are not always interpreted. The Spirit Himself groans with groanings that can’t be uttered.  It is not coming from our intellect.  It is a groan so deep that often no sound comes out, it isn’t praying with understanding.  The Holy Spirit knows what to intercede for.

Romans 8:27  Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

The Spirit intercedes with the mind of God, praying for a saint, but it may not be the saint that is groaning in the Spirit that is being prayed for.  The Holy Spirit is God, and He makes intercession for saints according to the Will of God.  He wants someone to pray for what God wants us to pray for, to touch the depth of our being. We may be praying for a saint in another country, and we are just there awake and willing to be used by God in whatever way that God needs.

We need to discern if what we are doing is emotionalism or the Spirit of God.  Our personal baggage can get in the way, until God purges our rebelion and self-centeredness.  When we have had experiences in the past like abortion, abuse, neglect, anger, etc. that touched us deeply it can be baggage until the Holy Spirit helps us heal.  God has told us that He set His word above Himself.  Adam was to rule and reign on earth, but in disobedience, Adam delegated that role to satan.  Jesus delegated His authority on the earth to the saints, telling us to GO and DO on the earth.  Jesus is at the right hand of the Father, sitting and waiting for the plan of His Father to make His enemies His footstool comes to pass.  WE are the vehicles to do this.

There are many new age teachings now that are teaching a different scripture – lies such as ultimate or universal salvation, with no heaven or hell.  We can’t live this way, for God can’t be both judge and providing universal salvation or else God is not fair.  God gave every man free will to choose, and we are told to choose today whom we will serve. God will not force a person to choose to obey God. 

Ultimate Will (God) said, I give you will, great rewards, great trials, great success, great failure, but this depends on your choice.  If you do not discipline a child they will do foolish things.  The spirit of rebelion is like the spirit of witchcraft.  Disobedience leads to active rebelion.  We end up exercising our will against a benevolent God.  When God says, “don’t” to you, it is because not doing that particular thing is to your benefit.  If we choose to reject God’s direction in our life, we are no longer under the umbrella of protection from this benevolent God, and we will face the fruits of our neglecting God’s best for us. 

The Israelites chose at one point to think about going back to Egypt (slavery) and worship a golden calf.  They ended up wandering in the wilderness for 40 years because of their rejection of God, ultimately dying, and the second generation made the promised land.

In the end, God wants to be with those who love Him.  The depth and height of hell will be determined by how much you hate God. 

Choose wise elders to serve under.  God is watching.  If you choose to sit under an elder and disobey, God will judge you.  It’s not about following someone you can see, but how can you follow someone you can’t see?  Pray in the Spirit, hear instruction and then you will know how to follow Him.

Romans 8:27-28  Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

We know God’s will is good, God’s purpose is eternal and specific.  The Holy Spirit makes intercession for us who are fulfilling God’s will.  We came to Bible study tonight by our free will, chose to come, sit down, open our Bibles, take out a pen and take notes – when we made that free will choice, we made it in the perfect will of God. 

But what happens if someone begins to intercede, God prompts them to get in their car, run in and disrupt the Bible study, telling us to leave the building now.  Do we discern that it is from God and leave immediately or do we sit there and ignore the prompting of the spirit?  If the building collapses and we have chosen to remain in the building, ignoring the intercessor who came in and told us to leave, we may die in the collapse, because we refused to listen and discern the prompting of the spirit.  When we did that, we were out of God’s perfect will and have to face the consequences.  If we stop and pray, receive a confirming word or an inward witness, and Pastor Don and the head elder agrees with the word spoken, and we all get up and leave the building, and then the building collapses, that confirms that the word spoken was accurate. 

We are to test the Word of wisdom or knowledge.

Romans 8:29-30 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

Justified – just as if it never happened. God foreknew and He will get glory out of it.  Watch it and see.  When God gets the glory, and God is doing good for His good people, God get’s the glory.  God does not put sickness on people to get glory.  He doesn’t do evil to get glory or to get what He wants.  The devil will do evil gladly for he is God’s enemy.  Everything that happens to a saint who is in God’s will will meet these qualifications.  He will be called according to God’s purpose, and the saint will love God.  God has a specific purpose for our lives. 

God had a specific mission for the Apostle Paul, and when Paul was shipwrecked, building a fire on the beach and a deadly viper bit him, Paul shook the viper off. The people watched and waited for him to die, but Paul did not die.  Paul was in God’s perfect will, where God wanted him to be, and thus God did not permit the viper’s poison to kill Paul.  God ended up getting glory from this situation because many were converted because of that incident.

God did not make the snake jump up and bite Paul, but God did turn the incident to good.

We then went to look more at spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12. It was a very long lesson, so I think I will stop here and type more of the lesson tomorrow.

Praying your day is blessed. It is a sunny, crisp, beautiful fall day today.

Heather

Pastor Don told us that Hebrews 10 is an important chapter to our faith. This chapter will encourage and strengthen you. 

Given our current financial system, the fact that our government is seeking to make us a socialist nation, politicians are scrambling for a platform that will cause them to take drastic steps to try and ease the financial crisis, and the debt for financial institutions is being passed to us, America is in a crisis.  But we do not have to fear.  Pastor Don said, look up, for our redemption draws nigh. 

Hebrews 10:19-20 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God,

Jesus went to the cross, and then entered the Holiest, by His blood, the perfect sacrifice for us and our sins.

Hebrews 10:21-22  and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

We had an evil conscience, but water is the cleanser, and what exactly is this water?  It is the Word of God.

John 3:5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Jesus was making a distinction between water and Spirit.  The church tends to think that water is physical baptism, but it is not referring to baptism in this passage.

John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

This is not physical water, if it was flesh to flesh it could be physical water.  But we can get wet in the flesh and it doesn’t do anything to our Spirit.  But what is born of the Spirit is Spirit.

John 3:7  Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’

This water is not the physical amniotic fluid in the womb.  It is not a physical baptism.  We do physical baptism as an act of obedience to God, a sign of obedience to God, of discipleship.  A mikvah, a ritual, but Jesus is talking about being born of the water and the Spirit.

John 3:8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

No one knows the source.  There are two types of water, and he is talking about the Spirit.  Jesus gave this spiritual message to Nicodemus, a spiritual leader, and the leader was not able to figure out what Jesus was saying, which amazed Jesus.  The Holy Spirit is the breath of God.  We can walk out the door and feel the wind, but we can’t see the wind.  We can see the effect of the wind.  We rely on manifestation to be a witness to His appearance, and speaking in tongues is what we see when the Holy Spirit comes – that is something we can see and observe, and it only comes if we yield to the Holy Spirit.  It is not a logical process. But there have been experiments where people have been wired to brain scans when they prayed in tongues or prayed in deep spiritual prayer, and parts of the brain that are usually inactive show increased activity during the time of prayer.  Praying in tongues and in that deep prayer helps to separate our self from our conscious mind and helps us to get in the spirit.

Can we believe something we can’t understand or do we have to understand before we believe?  God wants us to act in faith, even if what we are acting on seems foolishness to our conscious mind.

Pastor Don shared with us that when he first spoke in tongues he was preaching in a church, and he covered his mouth, went into a private place and started praying to God.  He told God that if tongues were biblical and something God wanted him to have, then he wanted that also, but if it was something that God did not approve of, to take it away from him.  Over time, through study in the scriptures, he realized that tongues was biblical and Pastor Don stopped fighting their appearance.

Jesus was fully man/fully God, and He had the spiritual ability to step outside of his carnality and believe something that you couldn’t understand with your logical mind.  That is the realm of faith.  That’s where miracles occur.

Water is the Word.

Ephesians 5:25-26 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word,

The Word of God has cleansing and spiritual power to sanctify and set apart for change.  To cleanse, to clean us. 

John 15:3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

1 Peter 1:22-25 Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because  “All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the LORD endures forever.” Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.

God is able to separate the good from the bad, and wash us with His Word. 

Pastor Don then pointed out that sometimes it is difficult to accept that we can be Born Again by the Spirit of God, and yet not be Born Again in other areas of our life.  The Spirit of God can change us.  We can receive Jesus but refuse to be Born Again with our finances, our habits, our marriage, we still can hold on to fleshly habits.  But God will work with us from the inside out to begin to change our fleshly behaviors.  We want to do

Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

God wants to set us free from those things that are holding us in bondage, but we need to be willing to give up those things and put them into God’s hand.  The Word of God can set us free, but we may not be born again in our thinking to believe that we can be set free.  We need to open our hearts to Jesus so that He can come in and shed His light on our situation.  We need to pray over the things that bind us.  Lord come into my money so that I am not afraid to tithe or bless.  Lord come into my marriage so I can be a better spouse and/or parent.

Jesus is the Word of God.  The Holy Spirit is the anointing on the Word. God is the word.  A ritual without faith is an empty action.  We want to get away from magic and idolatry and into the truth and power of the Holy Spirit.  We do not want to participate in empty rituals that do not have life in them.  Some recite prayers from rote because they are in the liturgy.  Also, people can have emotions in worship, but if it is empty emotionalism, it has no basis on anything.

Our words are important.  We have to be careful with the words we speak, they can speak life or death.  Words can help us grow spiritually, but if they are not godly words, they can cause destruction.  When the words are not what we desire, we need to grab them and prevent them from being spoken. Hold our thoughts captive.

Mark 11:22-26 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.  “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.”

Words shape our perception, for what you say will come to pass. What you say will come to pass, so you can succeed or defeat yourself by the habitual words that you are prophesying over yourself. Find yourself someone to help you monitor what you are saying.  Give permission to the people around you to correct you when you are speaking negatively, and that ill increase your discernment about what is coming out of your mouth, your negative thoughts and words.  This may annoy you at times, but the end result will be to correct what you are saying. 

If we are honest with ourselves we will admit that we are not sweet all the time, and what comes out of our mouths at times is doubt, unbelief, put downs, and words that destroy our futures.  Action will always follow confession.  If we confess, speak, something long enough our actions will line up with it. 

If you catch yourself saying something negative, verbally, out loud, repent.  In the name of Jesus I do not want to say that.  I renounce the negative word that AI just spoke.  I will not confess that again. Give a delineated list of scripture in opposition to the negative word.  And pray that God gives you the discernment to accomplish the opposite of whatever we feel is our weakness.  That God gives us the strength and ability to do His will.

As we grow in this, we will begin to catch the words before they come out of our mouths (the tip of our tongues), and then later we will begin to control the thoughts we are thinking so that we are not even thinking the negative thoughts, that they will not enter our mind. 

Pastor Don also told us that everything that we think is not our thoughts.  He gave an example of one day driving down the road and the thought dropped into his mind to drive into a tree.  He was not depressed, had no reason to think that, and he realized it was not his thought, so he rebuked that thought and did not drive into the tree   If a thought drops into your mind that comes out of nowhere, that is not customary to you, or a mood or feeling of depression or sadness drops in and there is no reason for that mood, don’t entertain that thought or mood or feeling.  If you entertain it, you will own it, and wear it, it will begin to be shown in your actions and you can make it happen subconsciously.

Take those thoughts captive. Ask yourself, why am I thinking this?  THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT.   Are  you thinking positive, productive, helpful thoughts or negative thoughts from the pit of hell? 

Even God had angry thoughts, for example when he wanted to work up his anger because of the Israelite’s worship of the golden calf – but God took His thoughts captive, and instead of anger, showed mercy and grace. 

Watch your thoughts for they become words. Watch your words for they become actions.  Watch your actions for they become habits.  Watch your habits for they become your destiny.

Hebrews 10:21-22 and having a High Priest over the house of God,  let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Our bodies, hearts, thoughts, mouth, mind are washed under the water of the Word of God.

Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

We need to figure out what we are hoping for, and confessing for with our mouth, and hold onto that without wavering.  Never change.  Hold fast.  When we stop holding onto our confession, then we lose focus, and what we are hoping for won’t come to pass.

God thought the earth’s design and spoke it into existence.  We are to think our desires, form them in our mind and then speak them to existence, and keep speaking the truth of the Word in spite of evidence.  For example, in these financial times we can trust that in Christ we are well provided for.

Praying your day is blessed!

Heather

On a recent Thursday Bible Study someone asked Pastor Don why they had a vision of horses.  Pastor Don told us that horses have a relationship to what is happening today in our world. As I type these notes from 9/18/08 I am seeing the news and what Pastor Don spoke about is coming to pass as I type.

He told us that spiritual things with prophesy do not happen all at once.  God gives glimpses.  Jesus told us that the signs of the times would be like the birth pangs of pregnant women.  The birth pangs increase as time goes by.  Right now we are in the midst of birth pangs. Jesus will be opening up the seals on the scroll, and there are waves of those seals.

Revelation 6:1-2  Now I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures saying with a voice like thunder, “Come and see.” And I looked, and behold, a white horse. He who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.

This man is not Jesus, but rather satan who is going out to conquer.  Notice he is given a bow and a crown – no arrows though. 

The world is filled with conflicts now, and these conflicts are not isolated, they are all connected.

Revelation 6:3-4 When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come and see.” Another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, and that people should kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword.

The kind of sword mentioned in this passage is a MACHAIRA, a large knife, used for killing animals and cutting up flesh.  It is  a small sword, as distinguished from a large sword. The Romans used it to conquer the world – it is about 16 inches to 2 feet long.  It has been used to kill a sacrifice, and also martyrs.  The larger sword took two hands to manipulate, and when the soldier lifted the sword, when his arm was in the air, the enemy had a chance to strike a blow to the soldier’s side.  The machaira was the best weapon for that for the soldier could reach around his shield and strike a swift blow with this sword.  Often the point was curved and able to do major damage to interior organs.  The Romans had more mobility by using this short, lethal sword. Today we are seeing far more warfare on earth, wars and rumors of wars.

Revelation 6:5-6 When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come and see.” So I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.”

This speaks of famine. A denarius was a whole day’s wage, and it would take that to make one meal, not a whole family’s meal, but one person’s meal.  This speaks of runaway inflation for two reasons.  1. The scales of supply and demand enconomies are out of line.  2. The scales begin to devalue labor, and the same amount of work will not produce the same amount of return.

In the last days you can work a whole day ad not earn enough to support yourself.  The plague in economics is runaway inflation.  Economies are no longer based on labor and products but on things bought on paper, like stocks.  There is a manipulation of paper for supply and demand.  Credit cards took us away from a cash economy.  We are using them to purchase products we want, but not necessarily need, a promissory note, promising to pay but with runaway inflation we will not have the means to pay. (Heather’s note, look at the bank crisis that emerged after this Bible study.)

Many of the jobs in our country do not produce goods, they are invisible labor.  We are having an exchange of money based on someone putting a value on the service offered, not on the goods produced.  Prices are out of kilter relative to supply and demand.  The new world order will determine the value of people and products.  The middle class in this economy has to be destroyed.  America is being brought low and the 3rd world countries are being brought up.

All that we purchase has become inflated, and the prices we pay have gone up.  We can lose our vision of what’s really happening if we don’t study the Scriptures.  The world economy gets us to the position that we will have to work for a full day for food.  Only when we get to that position can they control the population globally.

We reduce our values and increase the world’s job value.  Jobs overseas, labor overseas. 

Someone mentioned that earthquakes are occurring with greater frequency and Pastor Don asked us which is heavier, oil or water?  The answer was water is heavier than oil, and oil would rise to the top.  With the increase in drilling for oil right now, the oil is rising to the top and the vacuum in the earth where the oil is removed is being filled with something – water.  The heavier weight of water could be affecting the geology of the area.  Regarding the creation of oil, the oxygen rich atmosphere at the time of Adam caused lush vegetation.  When the floods came that piled dirt on top of the rotting vegetation and that became oil. It would not be surprising if the earthquakes and tsunamies had something to do with the water replacing the oil in the deep strata of the earth.

God had given us an endless supply of energy with the sources of the sun, the wind and the rain.  When verse six talks about the oil and the wine – the olive tree and grapes are two plants that do not rely on bees to be pollinated.  In the United States over 20% of the bees are disappearing, they are not sure why this is happening, it could be stress, cell phone towers, pesticides.  But without the bees to pollinate the plants, there will be fewer plants growing and that will also raise the cost of goods.

Oil and wine are materials that are often associated with the wealthier people in society, and this is showing that there will be, for a time, products available to the well to do class. They will still have their fancy cars and choice items, but the middle and lower class will be struggling to survive – working a day for a meager amount of food.

We then went over to Revelation 13 which describes the unholy trinity (satan imitates God’s Holy trinity)- the beast, the mouth, and the antichrist.  They will ultimately take over most of the planet.  The antichrist is not God, so he will not be able to control the whole planet.

Revelation 13:7 It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation.

The Church will not be on the earth at that time, for the Bible tells us that Matthew 16:18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

The gates of hell will not prevail against the church on earth.  So who are these saints?  These are individual saints, after the rapture that will face intense persecution, for the antichrist will not want them to survive.

Now that the end times are coming closer we need to begin doing what Jesus wants us to do.

We, the Body of Christ, gather together for worship and activities within the church, contributing to missions, healing, teaching children, and other activities.  But we need to be going outside the church walls.   We are the hands, feet, eyes, ears, part of the Body of Christ.  Jesus went to a lot of parties that were secular.  He used them as opportunities to minister the gospel.  We need to be finding someone who needs Jesus’ love, and begin to share the Gospel with them.  Pastor Don often tells us that we need to be a blessing to someone in the faith and be that person in someone’s life that they know will keep sharing about God to them.

The saints will be in the rapture, these are the ones who are ready for His coming.  Who are like the five virgins with oil in their lamps.  Not everyone who thinks they will go up in the rapture will be going.  If the people are not prepared and waiting with expectation, they will miss it. Today in the Church, many do not think the rapture will come, some have denied the possibility of the rapture.  Some have gotten to the point where they go to church, but it is an outward action, with God not touching their minds or hearts, they are going by rote. Remember Jesus told people that many will say that they did things in His Name, but He did not know them.  Jesus not only wants bodies, but He wants relationship.

Revelation 13:8 All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Some of us will not be dwelling on the earth, we were told to look up, for our redemption draws nigh. 

Pastor Don then went on to share that Russia had shut down their stock market for a day.  (Heather’s note, right now the stock market here is very volatile and banks are in crisis.)  What we are seeing is how much the world markets are tied together.  And at some point we are going to find out that the United States is being reduced to a beggar nation.  Our economy is based on debt that can’t be paid, and in 1938 we were taken off of the gold standard.  The Federal reserve is connected with the new world order. 

Adolph Hitler declared that what was needed was a new world order, and the way Adolph Hitler gained power was due to an economic disaster.

If things get too bad we could find ourselves under martial law.  Many are going to suffer financially.

When the time comes to invest, we need to invest all into the Kingdom.  We need the Word of the Lord.  God will tell us what to do at the right time.  If we do get the economy stabilized, who will pay the bills?  The tax payers will be stuck with the bills.  We can’t cut taxes and prop up banks and lenders, that would be a disaster.  If our hope is in the Lord we will be fine.  We will take care of each other.  We also need to be reaching people for the Kingdom. 

John 12:16 His disciples did not understand these things at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things were written about Him and that they had done these things to Him.

We are like the disciples, we do not fully understand everything that Jesus shared with us.  So many do not believe that there will be a rapture, some think that miracles died out with the Apostles.  Some justify every miracle with their rational mind, talking themselves out of the fact that they received a miracle.  The question is, what are we willing to believe?  The day of God’s wrath is designed to bring us to repentance. 

Notice that this passage says AT FIRST, they did not get it, but later they did get it.  As true followers of Jesus Christ, we will understand everything.  Even if we don’t understand it at the time.  Pastor Don sang a few lines from the old hymn that we will understand it in the sweet by and by. 

Everyone who was in our group that night has had personal words of prophesy at some point in their life, and we put them away, not thinking about them until the event occurs, then we go, “Oh, that’s what was prophesied”. We do need to act upon those words of prophesy.  The Spirit of God causes us to remember and we must not kill the words of the prophets by inaction.  We need to pray, that if it is the will of the Lord, we must yield to it.

John 12:17 Therefore the people, who were with Him when He called Lazarus out of his tomb and raised him from the dead, bore witness.

Willingness to believe.

Pastor Don shared that at times he teaches something, and God reminded him that once he teaches something once it is not enough.  He has to go back to the subject and tweak it so that the teaching is received by the congregation.  To be an effective teacher you have to tweak.  First you tell the people, then you tell them what you told them, bring someone else in to speak the same message that you told them.  Repetition helps people to learn.

Jonah did not want to participate in tweaking the people of Ninevah.  He did not want to keep giving God’s message.  A prophet is to put out God’s word, and then go back later to see that it has been received.  To teach and make adjustments so that people hear God’s Word again.  But Jonah did not want them to be saved, for they had been a terrible enemy for Israel.  Jonah should have done God’s will wholeheartedly and because he didn’t he is not heard of again.

In John 12:17, the people saw something happen – Lazarus was raised from the dead, and they understood what happened in a different light, and were willing to believe.

John 16:14 He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.

Jesus did the will of the Father, and glorified God, sharing God’s revelation with people.

John 16:15 All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you.

As we work in the Earth as the Church, it brings glory to the Father.  Any time the children look like our elder brother, Jesus Christ, it brings glory to God as we become more like Christ.  The Spirit of God helps us to do this, telling us not to do something, that something isn’t right, that doesn’t look like what Jesus would do.   The Holy Spirit reminds us what we did and how it does or doesn’t bring glory to God. If what we choose to do, see, hear, say, etc, is not glorifying God, the Holy Spirit will correct us. Any habit we have that God can’t gain glory from we have to let it go.

John 17:4 I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.

Can we say that?  Are we in the process of doing this?  Are we putting ourselves in the position of Christ, and can we say that we have done all the work God has given us to do?

When we are born again, we have accepted Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary.   We have the Holy Spirit’s seal on us, and we were Jesus’ reason for living, dying, and rising again – He was the perfect sacrifice.  Our sustenance is from Him.  We need to be on the job of bringing glory to God. 

Pastor Don shared how he used to be a master of ceremony at a hotel and he wanted out of that job.  He did not put his whole heart into it, and at some point the Holy Spirit told him that he was living on yesterday’s manna.  He had to come at this job with a renewed spirit of energy.  The Holy Spirit asked him are you a good example?  Are you glorifying the Lord?  Do they see excellence in You?  The answer at first was “no.”  He realized that the Lord would not let him out of that job until he did it with excellence.  This job was good preparation for Pastor Don’s current role of pastor.  For example, he can comfortably speak to large groups of people.

God wants us to bring excellence to what we do.  He gives us the grace to do it.  Grace gives us the power to do what He wills us to do.

John 17:5-8 And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.  “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. Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. 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.

Jesus is talking about US.  We are His glory in the earth.  When we shine, we shine like no one else on earth.  We want to witness and reach those who need Him.

John 17:9-10  I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them.

Pastor Don told us that he looks in the mirror and reminds himself, as we also should, that we are beautiful.  Jesus loves us, we are glorified in Him.  God changes us from the inside out.

John 17:22 And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:

We are that “Them”

John 17:23 I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

We need to pray for that unity. 

Pastor Don then gave us an illustration.  He had six volunteers come forward, each person was given a paper cup with water in it, three of the cups had a piece of paper in the cup (that often blended in with the cup interior).

He then told the six to look into the cup and if there was any reason not to drink the water, to stand up on the altar.  Five people drank the water, one did not.  When questioned why she did not drink the water, she talked about the paper floating in it.  The others looked in their cups, three had no paper, the other two on closer examination had a piece of paper in their cup.  They were then able to join the person on the altar, but only after they gained discernment. 

From the congregation point of view, all six people were in unity -they all had cups of water, and many drank, but they were not really in agreement – only three had the piece of paper in their cups.  Not all were discerning of the difference.

As the Church, we can all be in agreement with certain things, but not all are in unity in the deeper things of faith.  Some might not be willing to be persecuted for the sake of Christ, but they might be willing to support ministries that are willing. To whomever much is given, much is required.  The churches need to shine whatever light they have for Christ. 

We do have the responsibility of discerning.  We are to bring in the harvest and make disciples.  Some who come to church do not want to be disciples, they want to spend time with God on Sunday, but then go about their lives.  But to those who want to be disciples and seek the deeper things of God, we need to remember that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Remember Zacchaeus climbed a tree to be able to see Jesus. Andrew and John traveled with John the Baptist, they were already disciples of John the Baptist, disciples trained, and then they went to seek after Jesus. All the disciples were successful business men in their fields, and they had the means to do things for the Kingdom of God.  God finds individuals and puts them to work. God is looking for the best of the best.

Remember Ruth, who chose to stay with Naomi, instead of going back to her Moabite family.  If we are willing.  God will use us to the fullest.  We want to get to the point where we can say, more of Him, less of me.

I pray that one day I can be one that fully lives out, more of Him, less of me.  With His help I am working toward that, but there is room for improvement.

Heather

MURMURING

Lately God has been convicting me about murmuring and complaining.  While I have learned to guard what I speak in some areas of my life, there are times when I catch myself grousing about things.  But He is showing me that murmuring and complaining is counterproductive, and only tends to bring more of what I am complaining about into my life.  It is something I truly want to remove.  Pastor Don always suggests doing a Word study on what you are trying to change in your life. The Word of God is an agent of change.

When my kids were little we went through a period where they were frustrated and I was frustrated.  I caught myself saying, “No,” to them way too often and only picking on what they were doing that was negative. Instead of improving their behavior it seemed to get worse.  I ended up stopping myself, finding ways to say, “Yes,” more often. And then spent my time focusing on what they were doing good and lavishly dishing out complements and praise for the good that they were doing.  Miraculously their behavior improved – or probably more accurately my perception changed.  It is the same with grousing and complaining and murmuring.  The more we do it, the more we find that there are things to complain about.

Webster’s defines murmuring as 1. A low, indistinct, continuous sound; 2. An indistinct, whispered, or confidential complaint a mutter; 3 An abnormal sound usually emanating from the heart, that sometimes indicates a diseased condition. 4. A mumbled or private expression of discontent.

Strongs’s 3885  Hebrew and 1111 in the Greek  I was so surprised that 3885 came up for murmuring because it seemed like Strong’s had given me the wrong word, so I went to many sources and came up with the same Strong’s address.  Listen to the definition.  Luwn – means to remain, lodge spend the night, abide. ..in the figurative use of the workd it often has the connotation of abiding, remaining.  ,3886  it also means to gulp, swallow down, to be rash. Comes from 1098 bliyl – feed, fodder, provender The Greek 1111 means to mutter, murmur, grumble, say anything in a low tone, used in conjunction with the laborers in the parable of the householder Mat. 20:11, the scribes and Pharisees against Jesus.  (and other places) 

Yet, in retrospect, when we complain and murmur, don’t we end up lodging in the situation we are complaining about?

I am going to venture a guess that WE HAVE ALL BEEN GUILTY OF MURMURING AND COMPLAINING. Sometimes it is almost comical what we complain about.  We ask for more business or ministry and then complain about the work load.  We want children and complain about their behavior, a spouse and then complain when they do the things that spouses do. A car and complain about gas mileage, etc.

Let’s face it.  THERE WILL ALWAYS BE SOMETHING TO COMPLAIN ABOUT IF WE WANT TO COMPLAIN.  We live in a fallen and imperfect world.  Trust me, satan will always make certain that there are people and things in our life to complain about.  At church we can think the service is too long, the music too loud our not our favorite, how people are dressed, who sat in our seat, or after church we serve up roast pastor for dinner. 

Why was this subject of murmuring such an important topic to God, so important that he wrote about it from chapter 11 through 21 in the book of Numbers, and also in the New Testament gave many examples and teachings about murmuring?  It is because God knows that there is power in words.  Proverbs 18:21 tells us, Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.

We have been also studying in discipleship how we will have what we say.  Mark 11:23-26  For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.  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.”

This is talking about prayer but it also mentions speaking.  When we murmur we are speaking negative things into our situation and truthfully we will have whatever we say.   I included the verses about forgiving – because forgiving is one of the routes to ceasing murmuring.  I will talk about that more later.

Matthew 12:33-37 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. Brood of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things, and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things.  But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

We are held responsible for our words, and will have to give an account of them.  But God will help us to temper what we say, if we allow the Holy Spirit to help us to see what we are saying. 

Let’s spend some time looking at the Israelites in the wilderness and study a bit about their murmuring.  I think we can see that it is similar to the things that we murmur about.  When the Israelites sent out spies into the land and came back with an evil report, refusing to believe God and go in and claim the Promised Land, we see how much God too to heart the murmurings of his people.  Numbers 14:22 -23 because all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times, and have not heeded My voice, they certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it.

Who remembers the miracles God performed to bring the Children of Israel out of Egypt? Have them name a few.  The plagues, death of first born sons, the children leaving with riches, parting of the Red sea, etc,  are just a few of the signs God showed the people.  God demonstrated His power in a big way, kept His promises, delivered the people out of slavery and with riches as well.  The people saw many signs and wonders, but still they complained.  I used to shake my head in wonder, thinking that if God did so many things in my life, I wouldn’t complain like that. But the truth is, He has done so many wonderful things in our lives and we do complain.

I was reading Ray Stedman’s commentary on Numbers and he broke down the complaints of the Israelites into three categories and they correspond to the various areas we complain about in our lives today.

THE PEOPLE COMPLAIN AGAINST THEIR CIRCUMSTANCES.  They complained about the manna, the lack of water, the meat, and the wilderness itself.  Nothing was right.  It was only three days from the victory song of Exodus 15 and Miriam and the women’s dance and song ,  until they complained about water.  They came to the waters of Marah.  They complained against Moses who was their leader, pastor, teacher, judge, appointed by God.  God told Moses to cast a tree into the water, and the tree cleared the water of bitterness.  Bitterness leads to complaining & murmuring, and even we in our lives have to cast the tree (the Cross) into the waters of our complaints to cease the bitterness.

Sometimes our tough circumstances can be used by God to test us to see if we will choose to murmur or complain – or if we will choose to trust God and speak God’s truth into our situation.  Murmuring is a choice.

When God provided water for the Israelites, there were easily 2 million Israelites.  So that was a significant amount of water, and the people never suffered from thirst or hunger.  God took care of their provision.  The people also complained against the Manna, God’s food that He provided every day for 40 years.  Manna tasted like oil & honey (symbols of the Holy Spirit), and the people received enough to fed themselves the equivalent of 2 pints a day.  If there were 2 million people in the wilderness that would be 12 million pints of manna, or about 4,500 tons of manna daily.  If we tried to transport that much Manna to people, it would take 10 freight trains with 30 box cars to do that.  But God faithfully provided the manna for the people.  But they got tired of it.

Of course they did.  It wasn’t meant to be enough to satisfy them, just to sustain them, and that it did. The people were not sick, had no diseases, their clothing and shoes did not wear out in all their years of wandering.  But God did not intend them to be in the wilderness for 40 years eating Manna.  He wanted to get them over into the land of Canaan and feed on the abundant food there.  It wasn’t God’s fault they had manna for breakfast, lunch and dinner for 40 years.  They also complained about lack of meat, so God gave them meat for a month until they were sick of meat, then they complained about the abundance of meat.  When they were in the wilderness all they could do was think of the food they had in Egypt, meat, cucumbers, leeks, onions, and garlic in Egypt.  Exodus 16:3  And the children of Israel said to them, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” But did they have that kind of abundance or were their memories faulty – remember they were slaves and the Egyptians were trying to kill them off.  I suspect that they built up in their imaginations what they thought they had.

The problem was that they reduced themselves to thinking about their immediate circumstances and the past.  Yes, they had ample experience with Egypt, and they were aware of their needs in the wilderness, but they had NO VISION. They heard “sermons” about Canaan, but they had no experience of it, no knowledge about Canaan. 

When they murmured about their circumstances they met the judgment of God in three forms – fire, plague, and poisoned serpents.  When we complain about our circumstances all we discover is the fire of gossip, scandal and slander, the plague of anxiety and tension that saps us, and the poison of envy and jealousy as we release that in our lives.

THEY MURMURED AGAINST THE BLESSING OF GOD.  Imagine, they came to the edge of the land of Canaan, right at the land flowing with milk and honey.  The spies went in and brought back samples of the produce of the land, and also tales of the giants, which made the spies feel like grasshoppers.  Only Joshua and Caleb believed that if God wanted them to be in the land of Canaan, that God would defeat the giants.  But the people refused to go into their blessing, because they believed that the giants were greater than God.  They wanted to get out of Egypt, but they were unwilling to take the next step and go into the Promised Land.  They feared dying at the hand of the giants.  They ended up having what they said, here is what they said so often in their complaints against God, Numbers 13:1-3 So all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness! Why has the LORD brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?”  According to God, 10 times the people complained to God and each time their speech was peppered with the idea that they should have stayed in Egypt, and that God brought them into the wilderness so that they would die in the wilderness. God brought them out of Egypt – but he people refused to leave Egypt in their hearts.  So then God replied, Numbers 14:22-24 because all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times, and have not heeded My voice, they certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it. But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it.

When we gripe and complain we have the spirit of Egypt in us, but what we really want is to be like Joshua and Caleb and have a DIFFERENT SPIRIT in us – the Holy Spirit, and we want to speak the words that the Holy Spirit tells us, not our circumstances.

We right now are often living in this wilderness, living on a minimum supply of the Holy Spirit, just enough to keep going.  We spend our lives complaining and murmuring against our circumstances, but we refuse to move into the land God is providing for us.  We can be sustained in the wilderness, but never satisfied.  And the wilderness lasted for the Israelites until all those who were over 20 died off in the wilderness. We will stay in our wilderness until we stop complaining, get the vision God intends for us, and move forward in faith.  But so often we choose to focus on our circumstances and live in defeat. 

It is ironic because the Israelites feared going into the Promised Land because of the giants whom they feared would kill them.  But, besides complaining and grousing, the other thing the Israelites spent doing in the wilderness, according to Stedman,  is burying their dead.  Imagine how many Israelites died in the 40 years in the wilderness.  A census numbered the men over 20 at 603,000, and that did not include the women and older girls.  It could have been well over 2 million people. One million, two hundred thousand of them died in the wilderness – an average of 82 a day.  The wilderness of griping, murmuring and complaining is a huge graveyard, and we need to move beyond that.

MURMURING AGAINST AUTHORITY.  They also murmured against the authority of God expressed through Moses.  Numbers 16:3 They gathered together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “You take too much upon yourselves, for all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?”

Often we think we are holy enough, or we spend our times comparing ourselves against others and begin to resent those who seem to be ahead of us in spiritual growth.  That is what the Israelites did.  God met this challenge with a severe punishment, Korah was swallowed up with all their families alive into the pit.  Numbers 16. 

Yet, even with the judgments that God provided to teach his people, the murmuring went on.  The leaders of the 12 tribes were asked to bring a rod to the tabernacle, and Aaron was told to bring his rod.  When the Israelites came back in the morning only Aaron’s rod had grown branches and fruit – that shows us that when we walk in the fullness and power of God’s resurrection life then we can bear fruit.  If our pastor and ministers are showing fruit in their lives, we need to emulate them, not murmur against them.

Yet, in spite of the Israelites failure and murmurings, God still loved His people, preserved them and protected them, ultimately sending His son to die for us and our sins – including murmuring – so that we can bring ourselves into fellowship with Him.

The New Testament also teaches us that we are not to murmur and complain.

Philippians 2:14-16  Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.

Jude 16-23 These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain advantage. But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And on some have compassion, making a distinction; but others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment defiled by the flesh.

1 Corinthians 10:1-13 Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.” Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

Murmuring also was seen in the Prodigal’s son’s brother, and the workers in the vineyard and many other parables of Jesus. The truth is, anytime we murmur or complain, we are murmuring and complaining against God.

In our lives we can see a few truths.

1. THERE WILL ALWAYS BE SOMETHING TO COMPLAIN ABOUT.
2. A COMPLAINER WILL ALWAYS COMPLAIN ABOUT SOMETHING.  And the problem is that complaining is habit forming.  So often I find that a complaint can trip off my tongue before I am even aware that it is happening.  We need to pay attention to our words and the tone of our speech.
3. THE MAIN REASON WE MURMUR AND COMPLAIN IS THAT WE ARE NOT GRATEFUL.  We tend to focus on the negative instead of thanking God for what he has done in our lives.  If we choose we can look at all the good that God has done.  Psalm 34:1 I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. As Pastor Don showed us with the law of substitution, in order to stop one habit, we need to replace it with another more Godly habit.  If we put words of praise and thanksgiving to God in our mouths, then grumbling and complaining will not come out.  If we want God’s abundant blessings in our lives, we need to be grateful for the blessings He has already given us, and if we are honest we will see that there are many, many blessings.
4. MURMURING AND COMPLAING TURNS THE FAVOR OF GOD AWAY FROM US.  When we murmur and complain we are rejecting God and His goodness.  We are implying that God is not God enough to deal with our situation.  God wants to work miracles in our lives, but when we murmur and complain our words that we speak will turn away the blessings.  Instead of speaking our circumstances, we need to speak the truth of God’s Word into our situation.
5. THE LONGER YOU COMPLAIN, THE LONGER YOU WILL REMAIN IN THAT SITUATION.  Normally it takes about 11 days to travel from Mount Sinai to Canaan, but the Israelites stayed in the wilderness 40 years by virtue of their complaints.  If we look at our situations we can find that there is something good in every situation.  Don’t let the temptations of satan cause you to run away from your blessing.  Remember what Pastor Lafayette Scales taught us, Joel 4:25-27 “So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the crawling locust, the consuming locust, and the chewing locust, my great army which I sent among you.  You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the Lord your God, who has dealt wondrously with you.  And My people shall never be put to shame.  Then you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel:  I am the LORD your God and there is no other.  My people shall never be put to shame.” God cannot turn our situation around if we are wallowing in complaint, but nothing is too difficult for God to restore.
6. YES, WE MAY HAVE BEEN DEALT WHAT SEEMS TO BE AN UNFAIR HAND IN LIFE.  WE MAY THINK OUR COMPLAINTS ARE JUSTIFIED.         Yes, they might be accurate complaints, but we need to ask ourselves, how long do we want to stay in the wilderness?  If we look at our lives honestly, we too have dealt unfairly with other people.  We are given a choice – seek God’s way out of our situation by speaking His Word or mire ourselves more deeply in our situation by speaking our circumstances.

SO WHAT CAN WE DO TO HELP OURSELVES STOP MURMURING AND COMPLAINING?  A few things come to mind.  The first is to FORGIVE – as long as we hold unforgiveness in our hearts there is no way God can interact in our situation to help us change the situation.  BE THANKFUL FOR WHAT GOD HAS PROVIDED.   God does so much for us, and thankfulness will help us to focus on what we do have, not on what we don’t have.  WHEN WE MURMUR COUNTER THOSE WORDS WITH THE TRUTH -  Pastor Don told us that when we say something negative, immediately repent, ask God’s forgiveness, and start speaking many words of truth that show us the truth of the situation, not the murmuring. FILL YOURSELF WITH THE WORD OF GOD  so that we can renew our minds and so that more thoughts of a Godly nature can happen Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.  REMEMBER GOD DOES FORGIVE 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.

WE ARE WORKS IN PROGRESS.  God will give us things to deal with in our lives because He loves us and He is helping us to conform to His Son, Jesus.  We will always have things to work on in our lives, but as we mature and grow in faith, we will find that God will not only remove the rough edges, but then he will burnish and shine us so that His glory will shine forth.  As we grow in Him, we will begin to refine those things in us that God does not like, so that we do them less and less. 

Hope you have a blessed day,

Heather

I got to Bible study late, for I left church to pick up someone who needed a ride.  So here is where I came in. I am not certain of the question that prompted this response, but the subject is good, and something I used to struggle with, feeling forgiven.

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.

If we truly do that, we can know we are forgiven.  When we do not fully believe the above verse, we still hold onto our sins and the guilt of them.  But God removes our sins, and we do not have to be conscious of them.

Hebrews 10:2  For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins.

Pastor Don told us that we need to rebuke our own thoughts.  He said if I told a bold faced lie on Monday at 3:00, at 3:05 I realized the sin and told the truth to the person I lied to.  At 3:06 I asked God to forgive me.  At 3:07 I should be sure that, as the Bible tells us, as sure as Jesus is Lord, I should know that I am forgiven.  I have repented, said that I am sorry, and told the truth.  At 3:30 I should not still be crying about it. By 4:00 if the memory of that sin keeps coming up and making me feel guilty, it has to be the devil trying to prevent me from being assured of God’s forgiveness.  On Tuesday 9:00, if that sin keeps coming to mind, he would have to rebuke his mind and move away from those thoughts.  No more consciousness of sin.

2 Chronicles 7:14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

Hebrews 10:3-4 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.

For us, we have the blood of Christ to permanently take away our sins, something that the blood of bulls and goats could not accomplish.

Someone asked about why the Israelites are trying to rebuilt the Temple and find the red heifer.  It is because they haven’t accepted the truth of Jesus Christ.  It is no different than asking the pope to give up his throne for Jesus.

We are forgiven.  No matter how offensive our sins were to God, Christ died to atone for them.  This is both sins of commission and sins of omission.  This also covers any sins we are currently in the midst of committing.  But as Pastor Don points out to us, as we grow in Christ, we should be sinning less and less.

We need the blood of Jesus.  We cannot use works to eliminate our sins.  No matter how much we volunteer, how much we do as a servant, how often we confess our sins one to another, it is only the act of repentance to God and Jesus’ sacrifice that frees us from sin.  Repentance should be followed by change, a 180 degree turn around.

Do you or don’t you believe that it was done at the cross, that Jesus paid for our sins past, present, future?

Pastor Don told us that we have to turn up the volume or change the station.  Are we on the Oh me, poor me station?  Are we on the Days to Praise station? 

We need to be done with doing penance to get God to help us. He already paid for our sins, and is looking for servants to work until He comes. We need to get past our sins and the guilt of them and begin doing what we can do for Him.

Someone asked about the elections and voting.

When God judges a nation He judges from the top down, not the bottom up.  Solomon permitted some of his wives to worship other gods for political reasons. 

Some people in our country are bringing their idols from other countries, and selling them.  People are buying them and keeping them in their houses, often not realizing that these items were consecrated to other gods.  Hindu statues and gods are right here, as are other pagan gods and images.

We need to reach the lost with the Gospel.  We are members not of one nation, but of the Kingdom of God, and as ambassadors we need to be bringing the truth of God to the nations we are residing in.  People in the nations, no matter how ungodly the nations are, can be saved.  We want to bring them into the Kingdom of God. We want to train up our kids to hold the Kingdom view, not the world view.  It is not local politics that are important, but the Kingdom of God.  The world itself is under the influence of the antichrist, those who speak against Christ.  So we are to build up the Kingdom.

Romans 13:1-2 Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. 2Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.

We are to obey the laws of the country we are in.  Yet we are to be salt and light, and show the light of Christ where we are placed.  We need to go vote, yet know that no matter who is in the office, God is sovereign.

Not all the issues are black and white.  Sometimes we vote on one issue such as abortion, but there are other areas where the candidate is weak.  We need to pray and vote.

Hebrews 10:11-13  And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool.

Jesus is in Heaven waiting for His enemies to be made His footstool.  We are being perfected in Christ.

Hebrews 10:15-17  But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them,”  then He adds, “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

God will remember our sins and lawless deeds no more.

Hebrews 10:18 Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.

There is nothing you can offer now to pay for our sins, our sins are gone forever.

Pastor Don had us read the next verse three times out loud.

Hebrews 10:19 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus,

Jesus as our High Priest made it possible to enter the Holy place, the Heart of God.  We can go into God’s presence with boldness. He is in the midst of us, and we can have the confidence to know that God’s got it, He loves us.  We can bring everything to Him, and lay it at His feet.  

Hope this blesses you.

Heather