ANNALS OF AN ANONYMOUS APOSTLE OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST

22. Testimonies of God

2009-05-16T23:08:00.000-07:00

I believe that God gives each of us signs, wonders and miracles of all kinds, large and small, which we may or may not recognize as such at the time. When He does open our minds to recognize them as such, He then wants us to give our testimonies of them to others. I believe that He wants us to do this because these testimonies of His movements amongst us are an extremely important (yet often overlooked) spiritual weapon by which for us to overcome the devil's incessant temptations to get us to fall from our faith.

Revelation 12:11 - ....they overcame him (Satan) because of the blood of the Lamb AND because of the word of their testimony....

This is because the miracles, signs and wonders (large or small) spoken of in our testimonies will bring forth hopes within the hearts of all who hear of them that can only serve to increase and strengthen their faith and inspire them to seek Him more and more in their own daily lives.

Hebrews 11:6 - ...without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

Here's a sample testimony of a small private miracle from God to encourage me that occurred in my life a while back....

One day I was very upset with myself because I had accidentally betrayed a confidence with my uncontrolled mouth. This had a been a problem of mine ever since I was a young person. I had always talked too much and over the years as a Christian I felt that I had been getting this problem under control. But this night, as I drove along, I was under great conviction about this still recurring flaw and I was bawling like a baby before the Lord about what I had said and its consequences. Suddenly a car pulled right in front of me and my tear filled eyes fell upon its license plate which said -

IEXCUSU

At the sight of those words and the realization that they were sent as a sign to me from God to comfort me, all of my tears of repentance turned into tears of joy. I saw these letters on that license plate as being a prophetic word to me from Jesus by which He was reassuring me and consoling me in my extreme distress.

Then I began praising God for this wonderful message of compassion to me. It totally reversed my heartfelt distress! It also led me to ponder and then marvel at all that the Lord would have had to do in order to to put that particular automobile with that particular license plate right in front of me at that particular moment! Truly He is almighty and this sign on the run was a miraculaous wonder for me to behold!

Habakkuk 2:2 (Message Bible) - And then God answered: "Write this. Write what you see.
Write it out in big block letters so that it can be read on the run....

Does not this testimony of this small movement of God on my behalf also give you hope in the Lord? And when it matches right up to His Word as does this sign, does that not also help your faith in His Word. And when it also matches one particular paraphrase of the Scriprures like this one does do you not get more confidence in this paraphrase and maybe even all translations in general?

That's just what I believe that testimonies are supposed to do in order to overcome Satan's lies about God not existing and how we cannot trust the Bible or its translations and paraphrases.

Here's another testimony of one of the Lord's movements in my life....

One time a few brothers and I went to the next state in my van to the home of a Catholic family who had lost 3 of their 6 children to MD. They still had their other 3 healthy children living with them so we were ministering the gospel to the wife and those 3 grown kids. The youngest was moved to to repent of his sins and he asked the Lord into his heart to save Him (praise the Lord)! Just then the house filled up with smoke! Our first thought was that the house was on fire but a quick check revealed that we had been so busy in the Word and prayer that the wife forgot the 2 chickens that she had baking in the oven and they overcooked.

In the natural this seemed like just a small upsetting event but we were later led to see that in the spiritual the smoke in the room had great significance to that boy's true salvation. We came to believe that it occurred to supernaturally signal us that Jesus had entered in glory into the temple of that young boy's heart.

Revelation 15:8 - And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power...

A few weeks later when we heard the tragic news that he had been killed in a traffic accident we were led to encounter the above verse and we were shown that this unusual event of the smoke filled house was actually a reassuring sign to all of us that the Lord had truly entered into that boy's heart-temple before He took him.

Does this testimony not again accomplish the same things? Does it not give us increased faith in the existence of God and the reliability of His living Word? Let me go on with this testimony because we didn't know any of that at that time and there was more coming.

So, we said our goodbyes to them all and climbed into the van to leave. Just as we were about to drive off of their property, the husband, who unbeknownst to us had been secretly drinking in the back yard while we were ministering to his family, staggered around the side of the house and called for us to stop, which we did. We slid the side door open for him and he stumbled up into the back of the van to talk with us. As he got in, his feet were muddied and he tracked that mud onto the van's floor carpet.

When he noticed the mess he had made he apologized profusely but we reassured him that it wasn't important and that we'd easily clean it up right up at the gas station to which we were going. So he sat back in the van's couch and thanked us for coming and talking with his family and encouraging them. He said that he admired our faith and that he too believed in Jesus for his salvation but he just couldn't be religious himself (he was also known as a womanizer). He was very nice though and he wished us all well on our trip back.

I Corinthians 14:24 - But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an ungifted man enters, he is convicted by all, he is called into account by all; the secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so he will fall on his face and worship God, declaring that God is certainly among you.

Suddenly one of the prophetic brothers was moved to say to him, "You have a lot of nightmares don't you?" Startled, he replied, "How did you know about that?" The brother answered, "The thought just came into my mind and I felt moved by God to ask if it was true of you or not." So we all looked at him with compassion and testified to him that he might want to repent of his sins and begin to seek the Lord in His life like his son had just done.

He was half drunk so he peered at each of us a bit dazedly before proclaiming, "God is really with all of you guys! That's the only way you could possibly know about my nightmares! You're right! Maybe I should do that and start going back to church. This way of life really stinks!" Then he hung his head for a moment before thanking each of us again for coming and stumbling back out of the van. Outside he waved goodbye crying and we blessed him and left.

A bit later we were all discussing the subject of whether people in his condition were really saved or not, especially considering the notorious stereotype of Catholics carousing around on Saturday nights and then going to church on Sunday mornings. One of the brother's was thumbing around in his Bible as the discussion ensued when he stopped us by saying, "Hey guys, maybe the Lord is giving us our answer to this in this verse...

John 13:10 - ...He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean...

"Maybe God is saying to us here that this fellow's muddy feet were His sign to us declaring that this fellow is a saved man deep in his heart but he just needs to clean up his walk with the Lord. Maybe the mud on his feet and this verse are our sign from God that even though no drunkard or immoral person can enter the kingdom of heaven, this man just needs to change his attitude and his behavior and repent of and quit these sins and he will still make it. What do you all think?"

Well, after further discussion we all ended up agreeing that God had enlightened us to the truth on the subject of backsliders like this fellow by giving us this sign of his muddy feet and then giving us this verse thru our prophet.

Again do we not get more faith in the existence of God and the fact that His Word is living and active amongst us from this testimony? Aren't we comforted in just reading it? Here's another testimony of the Lord moving within this group which should edify you.

One day our little group went to a drug abuse program to minister to one of the brothers' teenage son who was struggling with addiction. After visiting with him for awhile, we went to leave. Just then an older gentleman came up to us and asked us if we could help him get to another town which was over 50 miles away.

We told him that we were going that way but we were only planning to go about 1/2 that far and we would be willing to take him to where we were going. He turned us down saying that he had no money and wouldn't know what to do if he got stranded where we were going.

Matthew 5:41 - Whoever forces you to go one mile, go with him two (in principle).

So we all discussed his difficulty amongst ourselves and agreed that we had the time, the gas and the inclination from the Lord to go ahead and take him all of the way to where he was going. So he thanked us for this good deed and he got into the van with us and we all departed for his town.

During the journey there he explained to us just why he was there. He told us that he had an uncontrollable addiction to harlots! He said that whenever he got any money at all he'd rush right over to one of them and purchase her services. He said that he was helpless to this addiction and that he had been seeking help at that addiction center for it but they told him that they couldn't help him so he was going home. He told us that he believed in Jesus for his salvation but he was too embarrassed to bring this matter up to Jesus in prayer.

We then discussed his need to truly repent from this sin with him and to not be embarrassed about it with God but to instead actively seek the Lord's help to overcome it because He promises us that he will not give His Christians any more temptations than they can truly handle. As we arrived where he was going he promised us that he'd do that for sure and that he'd also go to church that night (it was Sunday).

As he was exiting the van he stopped and asked us if we could help him get something to eat? Well, we were all dead broke so we said that we couldn't help him with any money to buy food but that we could give him a loaf of bread which we happened to have with us. He accepted our offer by declaring that anything to eat would be fine with him because he hadn't eaten all day. So we gave him the bread, blessed him and left him there on the street.

The next day one of the brothers ran across the following verse -

Proverbs 6:26 - for the prostitute reduces you to a loaf of bread!

Does not this testimony truly prove that this Word of God is living and active even today amongst us!?!

Here's a testimony about fathers...

When our heavenly Father, in His infinite wisdom, decides to take one of His earthly fathers home, He does not leave their kids as fatherless orphans here because God Himself then takes his place to become their Father! And He becomes their Almighty Father (which can't be beaten) for the rest of their lives!

I was raised without my real father and when I began to believe this, I looked back in my life and saw that God had always been doing things for me even before I believed in Him. I also realized that He had done them for me better than any earthly father could have ever done for me.

For instance, I was adrift as a teen-ager and got into some trouble but the Lord opened a door for me to get out of it and go into the Air Force where I was given discipline for 4 years while I matured and great IBM training which endowed me with a well paying lifetime career.

This was better for me than any education which might have been provided for me by an earthly father because I not only got educated for free but I also got paid while I learned and I now enjoy good pay and free Veterans Administration health care which is the best healthcare anywhere in the world for the rest of my life. No earthly father could have done all of this for me, so this is one way that I see my life without a physical father as a blessing, not a curse.

I am also probably now closer to God, my dear (Abba) Father, as a result of that hole in my earthly family life. I've met people who have loved their earthly fathers so much that they even put them above their heavenly Father in their thinking! So I'm thankful that due to my own circumstances from God, I have no earthly father to which to compare Him and perhaps fall into this terrible spiritual trap.

Here's another testimony of God replacing an earthly father that will increase your faith and hope in God -

One time I was moved by God to take 2 pre-teen orphan boys to a Father and Son Fishing contest. It was an overnight campout and fishing contest and we were so excited that we stayed up late the night before the contest, which caused us to oversleep the next day. Well, when we finally woke up and went to rent a rowboat and motor, they were all taken! What a bummer! Those 2 orphan boys were really disappointed as was I.

While we were standing there abjectedly on the dock wondering what we should do now, a very nice gentleman with a beautiful, large speed-boat parked there noticed our plight. So he said that he had some free time and he would be glad to take us all out fishing with him on that gorgeous boat! Wow! What an opportunity for these kids (and for me)!

So he took us for an exciting ride at high speed right to a fishing area that he knew of where we spent a few hours fishing during which time the boys each caught a small fish. When we came back we were quite happy but we were certain that one of the other father / son teams had surely won the contest with a bigger fish. But we were wrong! No one else had caught anything!

So the two boys won $25 to split and they had an absolutely great time and because of that fine gentleman and his boat they had an even better time than any of the other boys who were with their own fathers. This is what I mean about God being a replacement Father who's better than actually having an earthly father. This is one of His ways wherein He compensated these boys for their loss of their earthly father, if we can believe it.

All of these testimonies can increase our faith in the existence of God and the authenticity of His Word and they can give us hope that God will also move in our own lives in some similar manner to so bless us.

These and many more great testimonies may be found at - http://knol.google.com/k/testimonies-of-god#

21. The Spirit led Life

2008-08-21T11:42:00.001-07:00

In both the Old and New Testaments, commandments are repeatedly mentioned and we are repeatedly exhorted to obey and follow them. So why do Christians not need to obey and follow the 10 commandments from Moses (or any other Biblical commandments for that matter)?

Romans 8:2 - ...through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set (us) free from the law of sin and death.

I believe that these commandments have been revealed by Jesus to be guidances to be obeyed only at those times when the Holy Spirit moves upon us to do so.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 - 8 - There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven--

A time to give birth and a time to die;
A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.
A time to kill and a time to heal;
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
A time to weep and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn and a time to dance.
A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing.
A time to search and a time to give up as lost;
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear apart and a time to sew together;
A time to be silent and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate;
A time for war and a time for peace.

I believe that they are not and cannot be commands for us to follow at all times because first of all we could not truly do so and second, many of them would then become contradictory. Instead I believe that we are to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit in our minds and just follow Him.

Romans 8:3 - 14 - For...(we) do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.

The mind (allowed by us to be) controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;

...(for our inherently)... sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.

You, however, (should allow yourself to be) controlled...by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you....

Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it...(but instead, to live) by the Spirit (so that) you (can) put to death the misdeeds of the body...

because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

Only God's Holy Spirit is wise enough to guide and direct us safely through the dangerous spiritual battlefield that is hidden within what is called our daily lives here on earth. He's wise enough to lead us because He is all knowing and all present and all powerful in all of our affairs so nothing eludes His mind or His perceptions of our affairs.

Then when we follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit and things don't seem to go well for us we can be rest assured that God has a purpose for those problems, whatever they may be. But when we follow our own course and things don't seem to be going right for us we can only berate ourselves for not listening to Him and repent of our foolishness in going down our own path.

20. Appropriating the power of God.

2008-07-18T07:21:00.000-07:00

Christian's desire for God's power to solve their problems.

Ephesians 1:18 - 19 - I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is...the surpassing greatness of His power...

All Christians recognize and believe that God is Almighty in His very nature and well able to use His immense power to accomplish anything that He might wish to accomplish.

Psalm 62:11b - ...(for all) power belongs to God.

So, besides Christians' basic faith in Jesus to use His surpassingly great power to save them from the power of death and give them eternal life, all Christians also desire to appropriate His power to work for them to better their lives here, just as did Gideon when he wanted to see God's power manifest itself in his life.

Judges 5:13b - ...Where are all His (God's) wonders that our fathers told us about...?

Christians all believe that at any time the Lord can send focused power to solve their problems, which they themselves just don't have the ability to solve.

Zechariah 4:6 - Not by (man's) might nor by (man's) power, but by (power from) My Spirit.

So Christians universally trust in God to eventually do the things that they can't do for themselves but which they feel need to be done in order to solve their problems and / or to deliver them from their adversities.

Isaiah 59: 1 - Behold, the LORD'S hand is not so short that it cannot save...

Prerequisites for appropriating God's power.

Many Christians believe as I do, that our heavenly Father wants for us, His beloved children, to merely ask Him for the things that we need so that He can give them to us.

James 4:2b - ...you don’t have what you want because you don’t ASK God for it.

Amazingly, God promises to give His children anything at all for which they pray and ask and then believe that He has already granted to them, anything!

Mark 11: 24 - ...ALL THINGS for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you!

In these promise verses God seems to box Himself in to us. These verses seem to advise us that any Christian who prays and asks and believes for something from God will bring forth His mighty power to make that something happen!

Then why doesn't His promised power always manifest?

To find this out, more pertinent prerequisite Scriptures on the subject need to be brought into play....

James 4:3 - [Or] you do ask [God] and yet fail to receive, because you ask with WRONG PURPOSE and EVIL, SELFISH MOTIVES.

Though God is boxing Himself in to giving us our requests, He won't grant us the powerful movements we are looking for from Him when He perceives that our asking is coming from a heart harboring selfish motives or because we're asking with wrong purposes.

So we need to be searching our hearts deeply for unrecognized selfishness which may underlie our requests and we also need to be checking for deep seated evil motives in our requests. As we become more mature in our Christian faith, we will learn to do this before we pray and ask God for any powerful movements on our behalf.

Another hindrance to receiving the power that we request from God may be that our request is just plain not within His will for us or for the circumstance.

I John 5:14 - 15 - This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything ACCORDING TO HIS WILL, He hears us.

And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.

More than likely the powerful movement which we have requested from the Almighty doesn't come because it just isn't something that is within His will to do for us. So we Christians are exhorted by God to cherish ALL OF HIS WORD within our minds so that thru His Word we can become better able to deduce His will for ourselves regarding the various problems in our lives. Then we can pray more properly for His power to solve them.

Deuteronomy 8:3b - ...man lives by EVERY WORD that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.

Just knowing ALL THAT HIS WORD SAYS about the various matters in our lives will lead us to improving our prayer requests for power, because then we won't ask for things that we might have asked for had we been ignorant of what His Word says about that particular matter.

John 15: 7 - "If you abide in Me, and MY WORDS ABIDE IN YOU, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

Once we remove selfish, evil motives and wrong purposes from our requests and once we find His will thru the correct interpretation of His Word for a particular situation, then we are sure to receive His powerful movement which we are believing for.

This is the way in which God has led me over the years to receive so many powerful movements from Him (some of which I testify about within this blog) to solve my own problems.

God receives glory whenever we meet His criteria for receiving His power and then get it.

What many Christians don't realize is that it actually brings glory to God the Father for His son Jesus to make powerful movements on our behalf, after we have met all of His criteria to do so.

John 14:13 - 14 - Whatever you ask in My (Jesus) name, that will I do, so that THE FATHER MIGHT BE GLORIFIED in the Son.

If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.

God the Father is glorified whenever Jesus makes powerful movements on our behalf whenever we ask Him to do so in His name! So, if for no other reason than to glorify the Father, the Lord Jesus certainly wants to do the powerful things for us that we request of Him.

So then, why is it that Jesus does not always do the powerful things for us that we request of Him. when we meet His criteria to do so?

Even though we may feel that we have met all of His criteria to bring forth His hand to move in some way on our behalf, why does He still not give us our requests?

Matthew 22:27 - ...You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God.

In my experience I have learned to view the failure to receive anything for which I have fervently prayed, asked and believed for as actually being a powerful preliminary movement of God on my behalf! How so? Well, I have come to realize that whenever there is no apparent powerful movement on God's part to do that which He has promised and I have requested, that this failure to move is actually a powerful signal to me from God that I have not yet searched my heart enough and /or rightly interpreted the Word of God and / or truly discovered His will for that matter!

II Timothy 2:15 - Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved...correctly analyzing and accurately dividing [rightly handling and skillfully teaching] the Word of Truth.

Since He is boxed in by His promises to give me whatever I ask, I have learned to see His apparent failure to honor them as a strong signal to me that I need to further fix all of the above in order to determine His true will for me for that particular matter.

Revelation 3:8b - ...Behold, I have put before you an open door...because you have a little power, and have kept My word...

Whenever I have not received the big powerful movement from God which I have requested for a particular matter, my faith that God's failure to act is a powerful signal to me, is actually internal power from Him that informs me that He has established an open door for me to search further within my heart and the Scriptures to find the hidden wisdom by which to eventually bring forth His problem solving power for that matter.

Habakkuk 3:4b - ...there is the hiding of His power.

Let me say it another way - the wisdom of interpreting the fact that I have not been given that power which I'm looking for from God - is actually a powerful signal to me to see if I can find more Scriptures that might apply to that particular situation, so that my faith in these new verses might then bring forth His power. Failure to receive therefore, is an automatic call from God for me to search for the power Scripture(s) that fit that particular situation.

Luke 1:37 - ...for no word from God shall be without power...

Let me give you an example - one time I was ministering the Word to a wonderful, devout older lady of the Catholic faith in her home. She was telling me that there were a number of issues about which she had been praying for years and years but they still remained unresolved and they were bothersome enough to her to make her doubt God at times.

So the first thing that I felt led to ask her was if she was submissive to her husband. Over the years I have come to believe that female submission is one of a woman's prerequisites for receiving power from God and I wondered if failure on her part to be submissive was hindering her prayers, especially because I knew that her husband was a rather difficult man.

She answered by telling me that she was from the old school, therefore she believed that God wanted women to be very submissive to their husbands, pretty much no matter what. This was a good answer that led me to ask her if she symbolized her submissive attitude by praying in church with her head covered as old school Catholics did? She said that she did not because no one in her church did that anymore therefore she didn't think that it mattered.

So I read to her the part of I Corinthians 11 wherein the head covering is described as a symbol of female submission to God, His holy angels and man and therefore it is described as a source of supernatural power from God thru His angels for her (this is a controversial interpretation of this section of Scripture).

II Peter 2:11 - ...angels who are greater (than humans) in might and power...

Then I suggested that in the future she might try praying about her issues with her head covered to symbolize her submissiveness to her husband and to her guardian angels.

Numbers 11:23 - ..."Is the LORD'S power limited? Now you shall see whether My word will come true for you or not...

So she put on a head covering the very next time she was in church and immediately a series of rapid fire events occurred within her life to resolve for the better all of the issues about which she had been praying!

The next time I saw her she was rejoicing about all of her new-found good fortune and claiming that she'd never pray again without her shawl on her head, in or out of church. She also declared that she was going to read the Bible now for herself (something most Catholics don't do and are not encouraged to do) and that she was also telling all of her friends about the head covering and some of them had already tried it and had reported similar powerful results!

I Corinthians 2:5 - ...so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.

Here, this woman was given the particular power Scripture that God wanted her and her friends to learn and believe for these particular life situations of theirs. This was a Scripture that they did not know, but it was the one that this ancient tradition of their church had been predicated upon and that they were now willing to retry.

When they did this God moved rapidly and powerfully on their behalf to substantiate their timid, initial faith in following it.

II Timothy 1: 7 - For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power...

His powerful movements in all of their lives proved to these women that by being submissive to their husbands and by symbolically declaring this to God and His angels in covering their heads in public prayer, they would get power from the angels to solve some of their problems. They learned that they should have faith in I Corinthians 11 and stick to this church tradition as being truly from God, not from men.

I Corinthians 11:2 - Now I praise you because you...hold firmly to the (Biblical, not men's) traditions, just as I delivered them to you.

This testimony shows that we will not find His power for a situation if we don't yet know and haven't yet studied and believed all of the pertinent Scriptures regarding it. God sent me as His vessel and mouthpiece to this righteous woman in honor of her faithfulness to Him and her obedience of Him in being submissiveness to her difficult husband whom He had given her.

My job was to show her the open door that He had for her to now solve some of her more persistent problems.

Teachings of knowledge, wisdom and understanding often precede receipt of miraculous powers

I have learned in my own many failures to actually receive asked for and promised powers from God for particular problems (after searching my heart for evil and having sought out, found and correctly interpreted all of the pertinent Scriptures that I could about those problems) that God has been faithful to bring forth a powerful teaching movement upon me from His Holy Spirit to comfort me with an explanation as to why that power had not yet come forth.

John 14:26 - But the Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, Standby), the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name [in My place, to represent Me and act on My behalf],

He will teach you all things.

I have found that when I am frustrated by some failure on God's part to do that for which I have asked and expected Him to do, His will for that situation at that time is to teach me the underlying reason as to why He didn't move on my behalf. This knowledge then gives me His inner man power to overcome my frustration with Him and to patiently endure the situation's unresolved duration.

Proverbs 24:5b - ...a man of knowledge increases (his inner man) power.

God's Holy Spirit is also faithful to enter into intercessory prayer with the Father God for me while I am going thru this usually miserable state of affairs.

Romans 8:26b - ...we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us...

Somewhere along this path He comforts me by reminding me that His ways are much better than mine, even though at the time, I can't yet see how or why they are better for that particular matter.

Isaiah 55:8 - 9 - For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.

He also comforts me with the thought that His power to solve my problems is as nothing to Him, a mere snap of His mighty fingers so to speak, compared to the exertion of so much of His mighty power during the creation.

Isaiah 40:26 - Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars - the One who leads forth their host by number! He calls them all by name; because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power.

His comforting Holy Spirit takes me into a mental place wherein I gain His perspective of things. There, He reminds me that He can solve any of my problems at any time but for good reasons of His own, He has not yet chosen to do so.

Job 38:4 - 11 - Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who set its measurements? ...Or who stretched the line on it? On what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy? Or who enclosed the sea with doors when... I placed boundaries on it and set a bolt and doors, and I said, "Thus far you shall come, but no farther; and here shall your proud waves stop"?

Wow! These awe inspiring thoughts of His immense power to accomplish such huge things become a soothing mental balm to my emotional hurt when He hasn't yet done the small miraculous thing that I am seeking for Him to do for me. These thoughts elevate me beyond my tiny little problems into the enormity of His almighty power!

Psalm 66:3b - ...How awesome are Your works...because of the (fantastic) greatness of Your power...

Especially when a difficult situation is long lasting and I am getting weary with it (as my faith is tried over and over again in it) and as I wait upon Him to bring forth some powerful solution for it.

Isaiah 40:29 - He gives (inner) strength to the weary and to him who lacks might He increases power.

In order to humble me so that I am mentally ready for one of His powerful movements, the Holy Spirit also shames me into realizing my own inevitable hidden self-centeredness in the matter.

Genesis 4:6 -7 - ...why do you look sad and depressed and dejected? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin crouches at your door; its desire is for you, but you must master it.

He reminds me that mastering my sinful ego in a matter can only be done by seeking His humility because the desire for self-inflation is always present in any of my requests for power.

Romans 7:21b - ...when I want to do good, evil is right there with me.

One way He teaches me to accept a difficult situation until He moves powerfully to fix it is by reminding me of Shadrack's, Meshack's and Abednego's faith to the death in God's power to deliver them.

Daniel 3:17 - 18 - our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king.

BUT EVEN IF HE DOES NOT, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up (even though it may mean our gruesome death!)."

These 3 men didn't feel that they had to receive power from God to overcome the terrible difficulty of their immediate imminent death by fire because they believed that He had the power to protect them in death if He didn't save them from it.

I Peter 1:4b - 5a - ...you...are protected (whether in this life or thru death) by the power of God through faith...

This explains why did He not save the many Christian martyrs that the Romans fed to the lions when obviously they had met His criteria for Him to powerfully answer their desperate prayers to do so.

Hebrews 11: 13 - All these died in faith, without receiving the promises...

God approved of their dying faith but for reasons of His own, which we cannot possibly fully understand even to this day, He did not elect to answer their requests to spare their lives from this terrible suffering.

Hebrews 11:39 - 40 - And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better...

All they knew at the time was that if God did not answer their prayers for deliverance, He must have something better awaiting them in heaven. Empathizing with them and their terrible suffering in not receiving the promises from God for deliverance, humbles me.

And God goes on to remind me of all of the Hall of Faith heroes mentioned in Hebrews 11 who, on this earth, never did receive all that He had promised them.

Hebrew 11:13a - All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance.

The Holy Spirit also humbles me by reminding me of Job's terrible suffering and his contrite, accepting attitude when he realizes that God might never restore him back to his accustomed health and wealth on this earth.

Job 1:15 - Though He slay me, yet I will trust Him.

All of these verses explaining God's failure to act on people's behalf even though He has apparently boxed Himself in to do so, are brought to my remembrance by the Holy Spirit to humble me. In this manner I may become fit to receive His mighty power for a situation, should it become His will to send it to me here on this earth.

James 4:6b - God...gives (power thru) grace [continually] to the lowly (who, thru their humility, will be able to receive it)

The Holy Spirit brings me into remembrance of the principles of these kinds of verses to reaffirm to me that He is powerfully working on things much better for me than I can yet perceive.

Isaiah 50:2b - ...have I no power to deliver?

Remembrance of these verses eases my internal mental struggle over His apparent failure to move as I have requested for Him to move and as He has promised me in His Word that He will move for me.

John 14:26 - the Helper, the Holy Spirit... will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance ALL that I said (in the Word of God).

The remembrance of all of these humbling thoughts from God's Word helps me to put my call upon Him to honor His promises to me into the proper, eternal perspective where it belongs.

Colossians 1:10 - 12 ...so that (I) will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;

strengthened with all power (in my inner man), according to His glorious might,

for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father (even and especially when He does not give me that for which I ask)...(personalized)

These humbling thoughts also work together to give me a more powerful faith than I have had before, whenever I am called by God to patiently wait upon Him to powerfully move on my behalf.

Ephesians 3:14 - 16 - For this reason I bow my knees before the Father...that He...(has)...granted me...to be strengthened with power through His Spirit - in my inner man...(personalized)

This humble acceptance of any bad situation until God decides to move is actually His Holy Spirit power already being manifested to me within my inner being!

Luke 4:14 - ...in the power of the Spirit...

My belief from Him in all of these verses is His manifested power within me by which for me to be strong and powerful minded about my unresolved problems and to not whine, whimper or turn away from Him over not getting a requested miracle from Him that I requested to solve them.

Psalm 68:35b - ...God...Himself gives strength and power to the people.

This self control truly is to me, His Holy Spirit given, inner man power and strength!

Acts 1: 8 - ...but you will receive (not only outward but also inner) power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you...(personalized)

His power is manifested to me, not in granting me the powerful movements for which I have been seeking, but rather in strengthening me within my inner being to endure my difficulties until He does or until I'm in heaven!

Ephesians 6:10a - be strong in the Lord [be empowered through your union with Him]...

With this power of His within me, I can humbly and patiently do the good work of waiting upon Him to move in the way that I have asked or to move in a much better way than I can yet envision, to solve my problems.

Colossians 1: 29 - For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.

The following is a true story told to me by a Christian of whom I know which well describes this entire process at work.

This Christian man's wife started and owned their family business and when he joined it she looked to him to lead and run it for her. He did this and did this well because they became quite profitable. He was her 3rd husband and she was his 2nd wife so she had children when he married her. When her oldest boy turned 16 she had him employ the boy and she gave him a very good rate of pay for a person his age.

But the boy resented his step-father because he always believed that his own biological father would have been a much better father for him to have around. The boy wanted a father who would be his companion to hunt and fish with him but this step-father was a city person and too much involved in their business to do things like that with him. Besides, he did not really enjoy doing those outdoor things and would not have been good at them.

So, because of the boy's inherent resentment of his step-father and his upset with his mother for marrying him, he dragged his feet in all of his work, arriving late and leaving as early as possible while being pretty uncooperative. But he was always right there to get his big paycheck on Friday afternoons.

The other employees who were doing their jobs well all grumbled and complained to this man about the boy's poor work behavior because they had to do his work when he didn't do it. So the man went to his wife and explained the situation to her. But she responded by accusing him of picking on the poor kid. This wasn't true but that's how she chose to see it because she was projecting upon this man a fear of abuse of this boy, because her 2nd husband had abused him.

The man went back to her a number of times to try to convince her that she was wrong about the matter telling her that the boy needed to go and work somewhere else until he matured enough to appreciate what they were doing for him. But she still reacted in the same manner, being overly protective of the boy. Nothing he would say could change her mind.

So finally, after months of arguing about this matter the man gave up on trying to reason with her any further and just prayed it out and left it all at God's throne. He then took the humble attitude that until God moved he would just endure the situation, even if it never changed!

Psalm 54:1b - ...(Oh Lord,) vindicate me by Your power.

Though his wife was wrong about him in the whole matter, he loved her deeply and he desired no further arguments with her over the boy. So he resigned himself to permanently suffering in the situation so that they could stay loving towards one another.

John 15:13 - No one has greater love [no one has shown stronger affection] than to lay down (give up) his own life...

The man sensed the boy gloating at his powerlessness to deal with him but he loved his wife enough to even endure that! He just resigned himself to the boy's bad behavior and hoped that eventually the boy would grow up or that she'd open her eyes to realize what was going on.

Numbers 12:2c - 4a - ...the LORD heard it (someone poorly speaking of God's man). Now the man...was very humble more than any man...Suddenly the LORD...(moved on his behalf)...

When this man reached the point where he humbly resigned himself to accepting this abuse for the rest of his life, then he was humble enough for the Lord to move on his behalf, which He did rapidly and powerfully in bringing about a series of events which righted this very wrong situation.

Isaiah 51:22 - 23 - This is what the Sovereign Lord, your God and Defender, says: “See, I have taken the terrible cup from your hands. You will drink no more of (it).

Instead, I will hand that cup to your tormentors, those who said, ‘We will trample you into the dust and walk on your backs.’”

About 3 a.m. one Saturday morning the man and his wife received a phone call from the police telling them that their company vehicle, which the boy was using that Friday night, was sitting on a knocked down light pole on the edge of town with no driver anywhere to be found. The police said that there was blood on the steering wheel and they were searching the surrounding corn fields to see if the driver had staggered off and passed out! They suspected drunken driving because of empty beer cans in the car and they thought that the driver must have hit his head on the steering wheel at impact, leaving blood on it. The police told them that they had notified the local hospitals to report to them if anyone came in with a head injury.

So he and his wife immediately dressed and drove over to the place of the accident. Having by then conducted a thorough search of the area, the police found no one. So the man's wife became deeply distraught about the situation and very worried about the boy's well-being. But at the same time she was angry with the boy because he had already had a number of traffic problems and a couple of accidents resulting in their insurance company warning her that one more incident from him would cancel their policy.Consequently, she had put the boy on notice to be very careful whenever he was in the company car.

Therefore, she was quite upset about the incident because not only was her son possibly severely injured somewhere but, so as to avoid being dropped by them, she would now have to pay big-time for everything involved so as to not report it to the insurance company.

So, they arranged to have the car towed to a repair facility and got the information they needed to determine the cost from the city to repair its light pole. They then went back home hoping that he was ok and that he had just fled the scene to avoid be given a DUI ticket from the police. They both hoped that he would soon call to allay their fears and let them know where he was and if he had been severely injured.

However, they did not receive a call from him that night or the next day, or the next, or the next? But the next day his younger brother told them that he had been in touch with him and that he was only scratched up, otherwise he was fine. His mother asked why he was avoiding her and his brother told her that he had secretly purchased a motorcycle months ago and that he was on it on his way to another state to find his biological father!

Well, she was dead set against any of her children having or riding motorcycles because they were so dangerous, so his disobedience in buying one and now driving it all the way to another state plus the fact that he did not call her to inform her of his condition made her become very angry with him. Her fears for his well-being were now completely replaced by very strong anger towards him. So she told her husband that because of the car accident and his behavior towards her that she had decided that he was just too irresponsible to come back to work at the company!

Isaiah 8:11 - ...the LORD spoke to ...(this man in this event) with mighty power...

This man was very pleased about this turn of events and felt that he saw God's mighty hand bringing it about for him.

Meanwhile, the boy did not call his mother for a couple of months. But during that time he told his brother that he had found his biological father and that they were having a grand time hunting and fishing together and that he liked his father's wife and that he considered the two of them to be a better family for him than the family of his own mother and step-father!

When this man's wife heard this, she hit the roof, declaring that the boy was a lazy, ungrateful son and did not deserve all that she had done for him or to have such a good step-father like her husband!

I Chronicles 29:12 - in Your hand is power and might; and it lies in Your hand to make great...

Wow! It just kept getting better and better for this man! Everything about which he had argued for months with her concerning the boy and which she had rejected was now coming out of her own mouth!

Luke 5:17c - ...the power of the Lord was present...

When the man heard her say all of this, all that he could see was God's mighty power working on his behalf to exonerate him and establish his own goodness in the affair.

I Peter 5:6 - Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.

Well, finally she got a call from the boy, asking if he could come back home? She asked him why he wanted to do that since his other family was so wonderful? He then told her that at first that was what he thought. But his biological father was a biker and had a biker bar and a couple of dangerous events had happened to him there. He confessed that his father had not been at all protective of him in these situations and had left him to fend for himself.

He also felt that the man was a rip-off, having cheated him out of some labor money on a job that he was to be paid for and out of some other money on a purchase that he made from him. Then He declared that he knew his stepfather would never do those kind of things to him and he was sorry about the way he had treated him and he had now come to appreciate him.

Luke 10: 19 - "Behold, I have given you authority...over all the power of the enemy.

So she told him that he could come home but that she would not employ him again until he matured enough to be a worthwhile employee (which did not happen for 4 long years).

Thru these mighty events God substantiated this man's advice and counsel to his wife about the boy while He also worked on the boy to show him the truth about his biological father and about this man being a benevolent step-father.

Psalm 145: 6 - Men shall speak of the power of Your awesome acts...

This man joked with me about this chain of events, declaring that he came to realize that he could have tied them both up and beaten them half to death with whips and chains and never, no never have gotten any of these changes done within their minds. But God, in His wisdom and knowledge of all of their hearts, mightily accomplished this seemingly impossible task in ways of which he, in a million, billion, trillion years could never have thought or dreamed!

II Peter 1:3a - ...His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us...

The true knowledge of God for this situation was that God engineered this situation so that He could display His mighty power to the man.

Exodus 9:16 - for this reason I have allowed you (the stubborn wife) to remain (stubborn), in order to show...My power.

God had called this man to first love his wife above himself even though she was being evil towards him by stubbornly and falsely accusing him. Then his self sacrificial love for her forced him into a position of weakness in regards to her and the boy, a situation where the devil, using his step-son, could mock him. But because of the man's love, humility and persistent patience in that weak and abused position, God could then exerted His power on his behalf.

Luke 24:49 - "And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but...(wait)...until you are clothed with power from on high."

To the man later, his suffering in the situation seemed similar in a way to Christ's own saving work for everyone on the cross, because even though Jesus endured much pain, everyone involved was eventually saved from this evil.

II Corinthians 13:4 - For indeed He was crucified because of weakness, yet He lives because of the power of God, for we also are weak in Him, yet we will live with Him because of the power of God.

God's wise and mighty power for the situation worked perfectly to solve all of their problems in this situation in one fell swoop of powerful events!

II Corinthians 12:9 - for (His) power is perfected in (my) weakness. Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

All this man could see at first was the evil being directed towards him by the boy and his wife's evil reaction. He didn't really sympathize with the evil position that his wife's fear of the boy's abuse forced her into (by Satan). And because of his own misery at the boy's hand, he didn't empathize with the boy's pain at not having his real father when he felt that he needed him. But Jesus saw all of this and knew just what to wisely do to right all of these wrongs.

I Corinthians 1:23 - ...Christ; the power of God and the wisdom of God.

In God's brilliance, He used Satan's temporary victory over each of them to humble this good man before He would bring forth His mighty power for this complicated situation's solution.

Jeremiah 32: 17 - Ah Lord GOD! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for You!

Then He brought forth His wise and mighty power to bring about the events that solved these problems.

Matthew 6:13 - For Thine is...the power...

He brought it forth thru this man's heartfelt prayer and his faithful and humble eventual release to Him of the problem.

Romans 15:18 - ...what Christ has accomplished through (him)...in the power of the Spirit...(personalized)

This beautiful, powerful solution to this complicated problem led all 3 of these people into a new and much better (in a way even heavenly) relationship which they did not have before Satan brought these problems forth.

I Corinthians 14:22 - For the kingdom of heaven (within us) consists not in word but in power.

God never said, "No - period" to the man's request for deliverance from this family problem, He instead said, "No, not now because in the future I have something better for you. For now just humble yourself to the situation and wait upon Me to move on your behalf."

Romans 8: 18 - ...consider...(your) present sufferings...not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed...(personalized)

All the while God gave Satan the power to continue to uphold this bad situation until this suffering man got into the right place of humility and under the right Scriptural principles for God's problem solving power to gloriously manifest.

Hebrews 1:3 - ...He...upholds all things by the Word of His power...

He had to turn from his own evil, argumentative way in order to get Jesus to deal powerfully to solve their problems.

II Corinthians 4:6 - 7 - For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power (for all of our problems) will be of God and not from ourselves.

When this man turned away from using the evil of anger and argumentation in his efforts to correct his wife and instead humbled himself and prayed and sought for God and God alone to solve the problem, then God moved wisely and powerfully on his behalf.

II Chronicles 7:14 - If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave, and require of necessity My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their (spiritual) land (their situations).

Can it not truly be said about the verse above, that in this circumstance...

Hebrew 4:12 - ...the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]

This is how I feel that I have been led by God to teach everyone to find the power of God to solve their immediate problems. When God doesn't move immediately on our behalf we need to see this failure to move as a demonstration of His Spirit and an adequate dose of His power for us to believe that He will reward us with better things for enduring our problems now, in the future and into eternity.

I Corinthians 2:4 - and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.

God hides his powerful movements from us until He has accomplished everything that He wants to accomplish in our difficult situations, then He reveals His power to solve them.

Habakkuk 3:4b - ...there is the hiding of His power.

I believe that Jesus has given me this unusual teaching as a gift of His mighty grace and that He wants me to here record it for others.

Jeremiah 30:2 - Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Write all the words that I have spoken to you...

I believe that the Lord wants this teaching to be a gift to all of you who read it just as it was to me.

Ephesians 3:7 - I was made a minister, according to the gift of God's grace which was given to me according to the working of His power.

I believe that all of the power of this teaching comes from Him and Him alone.

Luke 6:19 - ...power was coming from Him...

It is yours because of your belief in the pertinence of the here a little, there a little Scriptural interpretations that have been used here.

Isaiah 28:9 - 10 - "To whom would He teach knowledge, and to whom would He interpret the message? "For He says...a little here, a little there.'"

Even though I know none of you personally who read this, it is my prayer that you will begin to incorporate this teaching into your own affairs.

II Thessalonians 1:11 - 12 - To this end also we pray for you always, that our God will count you worthy of your calling,

and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power,

so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you...

I pray that this teaching of always getting what we ask for or getting something better in the future with which He has blessed me, benefits all whom God brings here.

Ephesians 1:18 - 19 - I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know

...what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.

(This is) in accordance with the working of the strength of His might.

This teaching can become a mighty spiritual weapon for you to utilize in your own lives' spiritual battles.

II Corinthians 10:4 - 5 - for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God...

I believe that this is an apostolic teaching because of its powerful substantiating verses and testimonies and because of its great hidden power for Christians.

Acts 4: 33 - ...and with great power the apostles were giving testimony

I believe that thru your belief in this teaching, you too can experience many powerful movements of God thru your prayers. Then, just as did Moses, you will find that God will give you the power to perform awesome wonders.

Exodus 4:21 - ...see that you perform...all of the wonders which I have put in your power...

Always remember that God can and will do what we ask from Him or that He will be forced by all of His promises found within His Word to always and only do something better for us than we could think of to ask of Him.

Phillipians 3:21 - by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.

This is the true box in which I believe that our good God has placed Himself! When you ask for something He must give it to you or He must eventually do something better for you that will completely offset your long suffering as you patiently wait forthat for which you asked!

Ephesians 3:20 - 21 - Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

19. God speaks to us thru miracles

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We have discussed signs and wonders and healings which are miracles whereby, in their own way, God speaks to us.

Here we will discuss and testify to many other kinds of miraculous events like angelic appearances, super strength, prayerfully overcoming powerful thugs and rapists, unexpected monetary blessings, etc.

These subjects will then conclude my teaching on the ways in which God speaks to us.

Thank you.

18. God speaks to us thru trial-and-error.

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In the book of Acts, it is pointed out that Paul sought God's will for his next ministerial move by using the trial and error method.

Acts 16:6 - 8 - Then they passed thru Phrygia and the Galatian region, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the Word in Asia.

And having come down to the borders of Mysia, by a trial and error method they kept on attempting to discover whether it was right to go to Bithynia. But the Spirit of Jesus did not permit them to do so...(Wuest's Expanded Translation of the New Testament)

One way to discover God's will in a matter is to try to do what seems right to you but at the same time, to be fully prepared to back off from it if God should send some kind of a hindrance to point out your error.

The story of Balaam and his donkey (Numbers 22 thru 24) is a great example of God speaking by sending hindrances to a man, to try to correct his misguided course of action. Had he not been so stubborn in his evil course, he would have seen these hindrances as God's signal of error in his actions and he would have backed away from them. But he didn't, so later he paid the price of his own death for that stubborn pursuit of an erroneous pathway (Joshuah 13:22).

Thank you.

17. God speaks to us thru 2 or more witnesses.

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II Corinthians 13:1b - ...every fact is to be confirmed by the testimony of two or three witnesses.

God has elected to occasionally speak to us thru the agreeing testimony of more than one witness.

Ecclesiastes 4:9 - 12 -Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor.For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up.

Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone? And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.

When Jesus was being tried by the Sanhedrin, no two agreeing witnesses could be found because the devil and his forces are so divisive that they cannot agree on anything, even something as important to him as prosecuting Jesus Christ.

Mark 14:55 - 59 - Now the chief priests and the whole Council kept trying to obtain testimony against Jesus to put Him to death, and they were not finding any. For many were giving false testimony against Him, but their testimony was not consistent.

Some stood up and began to give false testimony against Him, saying, "We heard Him say, 'I will destroy this temple made with hands, and in three days I will build another made without hands.'"

Not even in this respect was their testimony consistent.

So, God can elect speak to us thru the consistent testimony of two or more witnesses to give us the truth on some matters.

Thank you.

16. God speaks to us thru many counselors

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Wise counselors are men and women who are given special insights by God to be good advisers on certain issues. These people are made available by God to those making decisions in life so that they may choose wise and prudent courses of action for their affairs which will better them and as many of those involved with them as possible.

Proverbs 15:22 - Without consultation, plans are frustrated, but with many counselors they succeed.

Wise people will seek out, carefully listen to and then seriously consider the advice of all of those that they can find who might be knowledgeable of their circumstances and needs.

Proverbs 11: 14 -Without good direction, people lose their way; the more wise counsel you follow, the better your chances.

They will realize that God Himself could be using the mouths of any of these advisers to enlighten them about and to wisely guide them thru their affairs of life. So, in this manner God can speak to the wise.

15. God speaks to us thru all of our authorities

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John 19:11 - ...You would not have any power or authority whatsoever...if it were not given you from above.

According to Jesus, all human power and authority comes down from God. It is distributed to each according to God's will, which all know can be so inscrutable.

Isaiah 55:8 - For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.

So God says in His Word that we are to position ourselves under all of the authorities and powers which He places over us so that he may richly bless us and not punish us.

Romans 13: 1 - 7 - Let every person be loyally subject to the governing (civil) authorities. For there is no authority except from God [by His permission, His sanction], and those that exist do so by God's appointment.

Therefore he who resists and sets himself up against the authorities resists what God has appointed and arranged [in divine order]. And those who resist will bring down judgment upon themselves [receiving the penalty due them]

For civil authorities are not a terror to [people of] good conduct, but to [those of] bad behavior. Would you have no dread of him who is in authority? Then do what is right and you will receive his approval and commendation. For he is God's servant for your good.

But if you do wrong, [you should dread him and] be afraid, for he does not bear and wear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant to execute His wrath (punishment, vengeance) on the wrongdoer.

Therefore one must be subject, not only to avoid God's wrath and escape punishment, but also as a matter of principle and for the sake of conscience.

God constantly works in the lives of men and women thru the powers and authorities which He places over us thru Divinely ordained life circumstances. This is a huge subject and one to which, over time, I will keep adding more Scriptures and testimonies. Suffice to say for now that we need to see anyone who is over us in any way (even if that person or those people are being difficult to deal with) as being a divinely ordained minister for our good!

So, learn to hear God speaking to you in the words and actions of any of your authorities including all civil authorities and...

parents

older relatives

older siblings

your boss(es) at work

any administrator(s) over you

your church officers

etc.

In fact, Jesus admonished us to go so far as to consider ourselves as being servants of all if we wished to be great in God's sight!

14. God speaks to us in healings.

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I Corinthians 4: 20 - For the kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power.

God is actually speaking to us in power, not in words, whenever He brings about a miraculous healing. By giving us a powerful healing He is telling us that He exists and He is helping us. In the book of Acts a number of miraculous healings and even some resurrections from the dead are described. In every case, the observers of the miraculous event confessed that they saw God's working in it. So, can it not be said that God spoke to them in power in these events?

One time I was visiting my mother and she mentioned to me about how she had lost most of her pep recently and she was becoming very distraught about it. So I responded that I would pray for her to get it back but in the meantime, perhaps she should go to a doctor for a checkup.

A couple of days later I was visiting her again and she exclaimed to me how the next morning after I told her that I would pray for her, all of her old pep came back! We both saw this as a miracle from God and rejoiced together in it. To me this was a wonderful, welcome message from God, saying to her that...

Hebrews 11:6b - ...He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.

Another time a woman who worked with me told me that her mother-in-law was seriously ill and riddled with cancer and that she was about to be operated upon the next day. She then told me how much she valued and appreciated her mother-in-law and could not imagine life without her and she was terrified that she would die soon. She told me that the whole family revolved around her wonderful goodness and that her loss would be a disaster for all of them. So I asked her if she could believe that God would heal her?

She responded that she believed that of course God could do it but she did not have any faith that He would do it. So I asked her if she could just have faith that He might heal her. "Yes" she said, she could believe that He might heal her but not that He would for sure heal her. So we prayed together in agreement on that, humbly asking God if He might heal her.

James 4:6b - God...gives grace to the humble.

The day after the operation she came to work rejoicing. She said that when the surgeon opened her mother-in-law up there was not one trace of any cancer being present. He even asked the hospital personnel if they had the right woman on his operating table!

Deuteronomy 32:39b - ...I wound, and I heal...

We both saw this as an event in which God spoke to us in power.

Here is another example of the Lord speaking to us in the power of a miraculous healing.

A lady that I know of had very sore knees. She thought that it was arthritis but I sensed that perhaps a demon was in them. So boldly I commanded the demon to come out of her knees in the name of Jesus and instantly the pain left them. Then I encouraged her to get up and walk around. She did so, no longer hindered in any way.

Again, God spoke to us in the miraculous removal of her pain and discomfort saying that demons can immobilize people but God can remove them. The Lord speaks to us in every healing (or any other miracle for that matter) but He speaks in power, not in words because the kingdom of God consists in power. We just need to learn to hear Him in His manifested power.

13. God speaks to us thru the casting of lots.

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Proverbs 16:33 - The lot is cast into the lap, but the decision is wholly of the Lord [even the events that seem accidental are really ordered by Him].

Is the flipping of coins a viable way to hear from God today? David used something similar (the Urim and the Thumim) to repeatedly inquire of God as to when or how to do battle.

The priests would use this device to determine the guilt or innocence of parties to crimes unseen by humans.

The first apostles resorted to the lot to inquire of God as to which of the accompanying disciples was to replace Judas and become known as one of the twelve apostles.

Acts 1:26 - And they drew lots [between the two], and the lot fell on Matthias

In my own life I feel that I have been moved by the Lord to utilize the casting of lots to help me to find God's will for many, many different events. I have cast lots hundreds of times over the past 25 years of ministry using the yes or no answer symbolized by a coin flip of heads or tails.

However, in order to be sure that God truly wanted to so speak to me whenever I felt moved to cast a lot on an issue, the first coin flip was to ask Him if He did want to so speak to me (heads = yes, tails = no). Whenever I received a tails = no answer to that first coin flip I would then proceed the hard way to act in that event about which I was inquiring. I took that path in order to be sure that I was not self gratifying in my actions.

If I was given the heads = yes answer to go ahead cast another lot on the issue and then I received a tails = no answer, I did the same thing. If I received a heads = yes answer to my query, I would proceed down that path and if it was the easier path I would proceed without fear of self gratification. Either way, in following this procedure, I always reached peace about the matter of which I was inquiring and I always ended up blessed in my subsequent actions.

I do not recommend this method of seeking God's will to anyone who is not absolutely wholehearted to do His will. Remember that after Saul ceased to be sold out to God, he could no longer find the Lord's will thru his use of the Urim and the Thummim!

I Samuel 28:4 - 6 - So the Philistines gathered together and came and camped in Shunem; and Saul gathered all Israel together and they camped in Gilboa.

When Saul saw the camp of the Philistines, he was afraid and his heart trembled greatly.

When Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by prophets.

Also remember that we are not fighting enemies of flesh and blood but we are standing against evil enemies of the spirit world who wish to misdirect us in all of our affairs. So, tools like this one and others like dreams and visions appear like foolishness to the worldly wise who have fallen into their mind trap. But they are actually brilliantly designed faith weapons from God which in certain circumstances are the only means that God will use to show us to not fall for their misdirections!

Never underestimate any of these spiritual devices and not utilize or follow them or you may be very sorry!

12. God speaks to us thru signs and wonders.

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God may elect at any time to speak to His believers thru signs and wonders that He will create by which for them to believe more strongly in Him. Signs and wonders are only for believers and they accompany the correct preaching and teaching of God's Word.

Mark 16:20b - ..the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.

Like sign posts on a road they can become remembrance points in our lives to remind us of His directions to us for some of our affairs. The following testimonies about signs and wonders from God are in that vein.

Marriage within God's will.

This is a story about a prophetic sign God that gave to one of the brethren in our home fellowship when he was struggling over marrying within God's will.

One evening a few of the brethren and I were driving on a toll road just outside of Chicago coming back from a fruitful ministry in southern Wisconsin. One of the brothers was contemplating marriage to a girl who did not believe in Jesus as her personal Savior. So he asked us whether he should marry her unsaved and then work on her salvation or whether he should wait until she was saved before he married her.

We discussed the pros and the cons of unequal yoking for a while then we all prayed together for guidance. Just as we opened our eyes, we found ourselves driving up to a huge roadside commercial billboard that was emblazoned with lights that announced in the darkness -

ZENITH - THE QUALITY GOES IN BEFORE THE NAME GOES ON!

Immediately it entered my mind and I told him that I felt that this billboard was a sign from God to him.

Habakkuk 2:2 - "Write my answer on a billboard, large and clear, so that anyone can read it at a glance...(the Living Bible)

I felt that we had been guided by God to see this message as applying to his situation, just after we prayed about the matter.

Hebrews 4:12 - for the word of God is living and active...

I felt that God was speaking a word right to him thru the billboard, telling him that in order for him to have a zenith marriage, a really top quality marriage, he should first make sure that the girl was saved before he married her, whereby she would assume his name!

Habakkuk 2:2 - Write it out in big block letters so that it can be read on the run.
This vision-message is a witness - pointing to what's coming... (the Message Bible).

I also told him that I felt that the billboard's bright lights were a sign that when he did this, he'd have a wonderful marriage in the darkness of so many bad marriages occurring in our times.

He looked with huge eyes at that sign and he heard my interpretation of it and he knew in his heart that this was a prophetic word to him from God and that my interpretation of it was right. But he still struggled because he wanted to get married to her as soon as possible in order to vent his incessant passions.

Habakkuk 2:3 - It aches for the coming—it can hardly wait! And it doesn't lie.
If it seems slow in coming, just wait. It's on its way. It will come right on time (the Message Bible).

He knew in his heart and was convicted that he was being called by God to wait for Him to do His saving work with her, even though it might be a painful, long wait for him. Finally, he quit struggling against the message and agreed that he would wait for her salvation to happen first, before proposing marriage to her.

As he confessed this, I felt moved to expound to him that sometimes Jesus, as the master fisherman, uses an attractive man or woman as bait to allure a potential mate into their salvation. He uses that unsaved person's unfulfilled desires which are pressing upon them (just as they are upon the saved person), to cause him or her to really listen to the gospel message coming forth from that strongly desired but resistant, potential Christian mate.

God then led me to go on and mention to him that on the other hand, He may want to use some other minister to do the job of leading that unbeliever to Christ, while the saved potential mate stonewalls and suffers and waits, because any suffering on the part of one of the Father's dear children moves strongly upon Him to deliver that child from it.

Forgiveness

Here's another example of a wonderful message from God given in a sign that could be read on the run...

One day I was very upset with myself because I had accidentally betrayed a confidence with my uncontrolled mouth. Ever since I was a young person I had always talked too much and over the years as a Christian I felt that I had been getting this problem under control. But this night, as I drove along, I was under great conviction about this still recurring flaw and I was bawling like a baby before the Lord about it and its consequences. Suddenly a car pulled right in front of me and my tear filled eyes fell upon its license plate which said -

IEXCUSU

At the sight of those words and the realization that they were a sign to me, sent from God; a prophetic word by which He was reassuring me and comforting me, all of my tears of repentance turned into tears of joy.

Then I began praising God for this wonderful message of forgiveness to me in my heartfelt distress. I also began pondering and then marveling at all that He had to do in order to to put that particular car with that particular license plate right in front of me at that particular moment! Truly this sign on the run was a wonder for me to behold!

Deliverance and Freedom

This is a major testimony of a convergence of many signs and wonders that were in the spirit of Moses in Egypt sent to announce the deliverance of an entire fellowship from personal and financial bondage!

A new apostle of whom I know was married to a woman who went to church and to Bible studies with him for a year or so. But after she confessed to him that she felt the call from God to tithe, she then resisted that call, hardened her heart and abandoned all of their Bible studies together and her church attendance.

She claimed to be a Christian herself just as he was, but insisted that she wanted to just stay a normal Catholic (which she claimed was a nationality, not just a religion). She wanted to be able to smoke and drink and have good times with her friends and keep all of their money for her own purposes.

I Timothy 6:10 - for the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith...

So it wasn't long before the devil had her mocking and ridiculing him about his continued growing faith in the Word of God. She said that she felt that he was going way off the deep end with his Biblical religion. She said this because, he had confided to her about his apostolic calling and how he was experiencing many of the supernatural gifts of the Holy Spirit and a whole variety of signs and wonders. The devil now firmly ensconced within her snidely asked him which apostle he felt that he was; Peter, Paul, James or John?

This couple had been struggling financially for a long time and they were just beginning to prosper in their business. So she did not want to give away any of their new-found prosperity into tithing. Therefore, in order to continue to justify herself and fight off God's call to her, she would constantly negate any and all of her husband's testimonies of God's workings in his life by attributing them to pure coincidence or to his imagination or to chance.

When someone she knew very well had a doctor certified healing from cancer right after that person had prayed for a healing with her husband, she said to him that he just got lucky?!? So her hardened heart just kept getting harder and harder towards him and towards God.

One day she encountered a Catholic priest who, upon hearing her complaint about him, told her that he had ministered for years in a religious psychiatric institution and that he had seen much of this kind of apostle-delusion and that it was invariably incurable. He informed her that, from what she was telling him, he felt that her husband was probably going into this same kind of delusional psychosis.So she latched onto that opinion to further justify herself against him and then she secretly began divorce proceedings.

In the meantime, his life with her just got more and more difficult and bitter, which led him to pray long and hard for God to improve their situation and show him how best to deal with her until things did get better.

Ecclesiastes 7:26a - ...more bitter than death is the woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are chains.

One day a freak hailstorm hit their neighborhood and big hailstones shattered all of the front windows in their house. She told him that she was at home alone when it happened and the shattering windows frightened her so badly that she hid behind the sofa in terror until the storm passed!

Next, a small plague of fruit flies which she could not eradicate infested their kitchen for a while. After that he came upon about 20 or so small dead frog carcasses on the floor in his daughter's bedroom! When he showed them to his wife and asked her where these could have come from she told him that unbeknownst to him their daughter had bought some tadpoles. She said that the child probably forgot about them and they must have grown big enough to jump out of their bowl and die from starvation right there on the bedroom floor.

Then God gave him a revelation that these unique events were signs to him telling him that his wife had entered into the pharaoh spirit of hardheartedness and stubbornness. He also felt God telling him to not entertain any bitterness towards her over her resistance to Him but that humility was the way for him to deal with her pharaoh spirit, just as Moses had humility towards the Egyptian Pharaoh and it led to Israel's deliverance.

Numbers 12:3 - Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man on the face of the earth.

One evening shortly thereafter, a windy autumn rain storm hit the area. This apostle was fellowshipping in an old, drafty house with his small and impoverished church group. They were engaging in a prayer session seeking financial help from God to pay the electric bill so that the house's electricity could be turned back on (after being shut off all summer for lack of funds). The gas bill had been paid and gas was available on their stove but the city inspectors said that it was against the law to heat a house from the stoves burners. So, after a few warnings, they said they'd be back to condemn the house the very next day, if its forced air heater's electric fan was not working, so that the heater could function to warm the house instead of the stove.

During the events leading up to this potentially disastrous day a prophet in the group had been given the verse...

Romans 8:1 - There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

The whole fellowship had confirmed this verse's quickening within each of them as applying to the forthcoming day's home condemnation. So prayers of belief and faith in that verse's validity for their situation ensued.

Suddenly someone noticed that 2 of the wallpapered walls in the main room were almost entirely glossing over with roof leak water from the rainstorm. As one of their prophets saw it, he exclaimed, "Walls of water! I believe that God is using these wet walls to signal us that tomorrow we'll all be delivered from our problems, just as Israel was!"

Well, the next morning the renter of the house was unexpectedly handed a few hundred dollars! It came as a loan from a person who had refused to lend any money to him before, but who that morning had a change of heart and brought the loan to him. It was more than enough cash to pay the electric bill, which he immediately did!

He came back home with the paid receipt just as the city inspectors arrived. So he showed them this document which said the electric would be turned on that day (which it was). This receipt stopped the inspector's condemnation so just as the word of knowledge said - there was no condemnation for those who were in Christ Jesus!

What money was left also tided him over until the court settlement check that he was expecting any day, came in (and from which the loan was easily and quickly repaid).

That same morning, this apostle's fully backslidden (at best) wife drove over to further disrespect him and after she left, her car's brakes failed and totally immobilized her car, leaving her stranded on the highway. He found out about it later that day and this was interpreted as a sign from the Lord telling him that just as God knocked off the wheels of the Egyptian Pharaoh's army chariots when they went between the walls of water, He had similarly done that to her car's wheels for coming by the holy place where He had formed the wallpapered walls of water.

Ecclesiastes 7:26b, (a) - One who is pleasing to the Lord will be freed from (the woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are chains)

Right after that, the divorce proceedings from her (which that apostle knew nothing about) came up for trial. When he got over his surprise and initial hurt as he was notified of the proceedings, he felt moved by God to not attend them nor contest the divorce in any way. So during the court proceedings, he was freed by the judge from his marriage to his now demonic wife but without their home or their business which were both in her name alone and all of which she had requested in the divorce suit.

Because he did not attend she won the divorce and both of these properties by default. He had put both of them exclusively into her name because he loved her and if he died, he wanted her to have both of them without having to go thru state probate. So, even though she was killing him out of her life with this divorce and he was hurt terribly by it, he still loved her greatly and he still wanted her to be happy and to have the house and the business in spite of everything. Therefore, in his heart he approved of all of his loss that God permitted to occur.

John 15:13 - Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

But to her chagrin, on one item the judge did rule unexpectedly in his favor. That was to give him all of his IRA retirement money which they had been saving and which, in her now ravenous, devilish greed, she was trying to keep for herself!

With those unanticipated and greatly appreciated funds combined with the other brother's anticipated settlement funds (which he soon received), this small fellowship pulled entirely out of all of their financial distress. Between both of these monetary miracles they had enough money to buy a full ensemble of musical instruments and recording equipment for their music ministry for which they had been praying. They also had enough left over for a six month deposit on a new, modern, well heated, rental townhouse big enough for the apostle and the hosting family to live in!

Opening the Bible to the page

Many Christians have testified to opening to the exact page in the Bible which contained a verse or a passage that directly spoke to them on a matter in their life. The most famous of these that I know of is the testimony of the World War I American hero, Sergeant York. He had His Bible open when he was praying and the wind blew its pages until it stopped on a page with a verse that answered his question to God about whether or not he should go to war.

So here is my testimony about just such an event...

One evening, just after I had just finished reading the whole Bible for the first time, I got into a conversation about it with a Catholic relative of mine. In the course of our conversation I mentioned to her how surprised I was to read that God had moved 2 of His prophets walk around naked, as a testimony against Israel and Judah. To this she responded, "I read my Bible all of the time and I've never read anything like that in there. You must be nuts!"

Well, I just happened to have a brand new copy of the Good News Bible with me, so I pulled it out and told her I'd try to find the verse. Of course, she smugly stated that I'd never find it because it wasn't there!

So I pulled off its cellophane wrapping and flipped it open towards the middle where the prophetic books are located.

Then I looked at the page that I happened to open to and in shock I exclaimed, "Look, it's right here on this page (Isaiah 20:1)! I opened right to the page! Can you believe that! 1200+ pages in this brand spanking new Bible and I just happened to open it right to the exact page! This is a miracle! God opened it to this page for me because I didn't really know where to find it. So, now do you believe it's in your Bible?"

She was embarrassed in front of the whole family, but she stubbornly stuck to her guns by trying to close the subject with, "I know that that verse is not in my Catholic Bible!" So I let her off the hook by responding, "When you go home, look up Isaiah chapter 20, verse 1, in your Catholic Bible and see if it's not there!" Of course, she's never told me whether she did this or not and I've never asked.

Proverbs 9:8 - So don't waste your time on a scoffer; all you'll get for your pains is abuse.

The outcome of a Christian's Dissipations

This is a testimony of how living and active even a very small, obscure passage in the Word of God can really be!

There was an occasion where some of the brothers in the fellowship and I were visiting my relative at a drug abuse program and ministering the gospel to all of those whom we met there. As we hopped into my van to leave, an old man came up to us and asked us for a ride to a suburb over 50 miles away. He said that he had no money and that he had no way to get home.

Well, I had a full tank of gas and we all had the rest of the afternoon free so we talked it over amongst ourselves and agreed to take him there. During the ride we preached to him about salvation and he assured us that he had already received the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior many, many years ago. Then he told us that he was in reduced circumstances and he could only get short-lasting part time jobs or occasional odd jobs. He said that he went to church regularly but he was always broke so he had to live with one of his relatives to whom we were taking him. We then asked him why he thought that God was not letting him prosper?

Sheepishly, he responded that he'd probably never get ahead because he was a habitual frequenter of prostitutes. We asked him how he could do that as a Christian and why he didn't stop it and just look for a wife of his own? He then confessed that he probably would never do that because no matter how many times he repented of it, there was just something about the working girls that got to him on and every time he had any money at all, he was compelled to run right over to one and give it to her for her services.

Of course we then counseled him to seek addiction help from a church counselor or his minister.

As we finished this discussion we arrived at the place to which he was going. So we let him out and told him that we'd be praying for him. He thanked us for that and then asked if we had any food in the van because he was hungry and he didn't think there was any food where he was going.

Well, we were all broke but I had purchased a loaf of bread earlier for my house with my last couple of dollars and that's all that we had with us. So I offered it to him and he took it gratefully and left.

The next day I happened to read the following verse...

Proverbs 6:26 - For on account of a harlot one is reduced to a loaf of bread!

Truly, even this small passage in the word of God was living and active in this case, wasn't it?

Here's another testimony that is similar in nature.

Again, some of the brethren and I were driving in my van. This time we had a new convert on board whom we were carrying to one of our meetings. As we came to a stop sign there was a very pretty girl standing on the corner. This new convert was sitting in the front passenger seat so he noticed her first as we pulled up to the corner and he said, "Hey, look at that cutie!" Then, as we stopped at the crossing, she saw him and she smiled and called to him and beckoned him alluringly by posing and crooking her finger, signaling him to get out of the van and join her.

At that he exclaimed, "Do you see that! She wants me! That pretty thing wants me!" to which I felt led to respond, "But so does God! The question now is which one do you want, He who created that cutie or her, one of his creations?" So he looked at her and then he looked at me and then he looked at her again, to which she then made an exaggerated kiss gesture at him and mouthed, "Come here!" while still wiggling her finger.

"God Almighty she's a doll and she wants me!" he blurted out struggling with the temptation. I felt led to go on, "Then maybe I should just drop you off here so she can have you. But if I do, just remember this, that very God Almighty that you just mentioned in your excitement only reaches out so much to each person and if you leave now you may never be given another chance from Him to come back to Him! That girl could actually be Satan standing right there, using her beauty to lure you right now into eternal damnation!"

He struggled for a moment longer and then finally decided to stick with us and said,"Ah, let's just go!" As we drove off, in my rear view mirror I could see the devil making sure that she showed that she was not too pleased by disgustedly waving him off. But thank God that this young man made the right choice!

Proverbs 9:13 - 18 - A prostitute is loud and brash...she stands at the street corners of the city, whispering to men going by..."Come home with me," she urges simpletons, "Stolen melons are the sweetest; stolen apples taste best!"

But they don't realize that her former guests are now citizens of hell!(the Living Bible)

Again, here in this event, the Word of God was living and active.

Giving the Lord His due

One day one of my younger relatives mentioned to me how he had just purchased a speed boat and how he was going to spend his summer weekends on it. Suspecting that he was backslidden, I then asked him when he was going to go to be able to go church if all of his weekends were so occupied? He replied that he didn't feel that he needed to go to church.

So I then pointed out to him that it seemed to me that in the Bible the Lord asks His true believers to give Him at least a seventh of their time and a tenth of their money. He responded that he didn't think that my beliefs applied to him. So I let the conversation end on that note.

That weekend he got into a boating accident and his new boat was completely ruined! Some drunk in a bigger boat rammed his boat in a spot that made it irreparable. When he told me about it I suggested that maybe he was mistaken about churching and tithing and perhaps the Lord was using this loss to get him to reconsider his beliefs. He responded smugly that he hadn't lost anything because his boat insurance was going to totally replace it, so he didn't see this event as any reason to reconsider his beliefs.

A couple of weeks later he received his new boat and went off again on Friday for another of his boating weekends. A few hours later he came back thoroughly disgruntled. When he encountered me he bitterly snarled, "The Lord got His tithe!" and he stormed away from me.

It seems that as he was driving to the river with his boat cover wadded up inside his boat, a passing smart aleck motorist must have flipped a lit cigarette into it and that set it afire! When he noticed the smoke in his rear-view mirror he pulled right over, just happening to stop right in front of a church. So he ran to the church door for help but the old maintenance man there said that he could not help him.

My relative saw a fire extinguisher hanging there on a wall of the church but the maintenance guy would not let him use it. He would only let him use the phone to call the fire department which he did but by the time they arrived, the boat was utterly destroyed.

So when he told me the whole story later I mentioned to him that when we are not doing that which we know that we should be doing with God, we can lose some of our protection from evil and this can result in these kinds of bad things occurring.

Demonic Truck Driver

One of the men in the first church that I attended upon my conversion to Christ told me this story of his conversion.

Late one night after he'd been on a drunken binge for over a week, he was driving his tractor trailer on an interstate in a very remote area in one of the northwest states. As he proceeded in this dark, barren area he approached another tractor trailer. So he went to pass it and as he did so he looked over to wave to its driver.

To his utter horror there was a huge, terribly ugly frog driving that truck and leering at him!

In shock he finished passing it, trembling uncontrollably yet not really believing what he'd just seen. Then it sped up and began to pass him. He looked over again at the driver and sure enough, there was that horrible, ugly, evil frog leering at him. So he slowed down to let it go by but it slowed down right with him, scaring him immeasurably.

For quite a few miles he could not shake it. It just stayed right even with him no matter how he drove with its demon driver learing evilly at him. Now he was in abject terror. He began to feel like maybe he had died and gone to hell! So he began to think of his dissipated life and how it had led to this terrifying experience.

After about a half an hour, which felt like a lifetime to him, he saw a motel sign off of the road to the right so he exited right to it. Fortunately, the other truck was in the left lane so it just kept on going. When he parked, he grabbed his gun from the truck just in case it came after him and he took a room there.

When he entered the room, there was a Gideon Bible sitting out on the dresser. Well, he said that he grabbed it and began reading it and praying and repenting like crazy and begging God to save him! He said that he never wanted to see that horrible frog ever again and he knew right then and there that he needed Jesus Christ in his life from then on in order to forever avoid it.

If you think about the timing and manifestation of all of these signs and wonders for a while, you will begin to realize and then believe that these things could not be just coincidental! And to further inspire you, I will be putting up many, many more of these kinds of testimonies here as they come back to mind. So, please come back to this entry occasionally to read the new testimonies that I'll be tacking into it.

Thank you and may God richly bless you.

11. God speaks to us in dreams and visions.

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Sometimes God elects to speak to us in our dreams even though (and probably because) most of us think pretty lightly of them. God can use them as a means to give us directions for all kinds of tasks. The best example of this is when He spoke repeatedly as an angel, to Jesus' stepfather Joseph in his dreams, giving him understanding and directing his actions regarding his very unique stepson and the child's mother!

Matthew 1:18 - 25 - Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly.

But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins."

Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: "BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL," which translated means, "GOD WITH US."

And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.

Can we imagine the immense responsibility that was placed upon Joseph by God to respond correctly to mere dreams? Had he not done so he would not have taken Mary to be under his custody and protection as his wife until and after Christ's birth. And what would have happened had he not done as he was directed in another mere dream to take the baby Jesus to Egypt for safety from Herod's jealous wrath?

Matthew 2:13b - 15 - ...behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him."

So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt. He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: "OUT OF EGYPT I CALLED MY SON."

Later, when Herod was no longer a danger to Jesus, Joseph again had to respond to a series of dreams directing him as to where he was to move to raise the Lord.

Matthew 2:19 - 23 - But when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, and said, "Get up, take the Child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel; for those who sought the Child's life are dead."

So Joseph got up, took the Child and His mother, and came into the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Then after being warned by God in a dream, he left for the regions of Galilee, and came and lived in a city called Nazareth This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophets: "He shall be called a Nazarene."

Truly, Joseph was dreamer of the first magnitude and that seems to be a major reason that God entrusted him to do this all important work!

God also spoke to Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel in many important dreams as written about in the Old Testament.

God may also decide to speak in visions, during which the recipient may be asleep or awake. He spoke to Paul in an awake vision that no one else near him could fully perceive.

Acts 9:3b - 7 - ...suddenly a light from heaven flashed around Paul; and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" And he said, "Who are You, Lord?" And He said, "I am Jesus whom you are persecuting,but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do."

The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one.

So, as is described in these Scriptures, dreams and visions are 2 means that God may use to direct His Christians in their activities for him. Sometimes the Lord will combine them as when Peter was freed from Herod's imprisonment.

Acts 12:6b -11 - ...Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter's side and woke him up, saying, "Get up quickly " And his chains fell off his hands.

And the angel said to him, "Gird yourself and put on your sandals." And he did so. And he said to him, "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me."

And he went out and continued to follow, and he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but HE THOUGHT THAT HE WAS HAVING A DREAM. When they had passed the first and second guard, they came to the iron gate that leads into the city, which opened for them by itself; and they went out and went along one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.

When Peter came to himself (out of his sleep walk) , he said, "Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent forth His angel and rescued me..."

Visions and dreams are mental perceptions from God that, just as is true of any other spiritual gift, have to be accepted by faith as having been given by Him because...

Hebrews 11:1 -2 - ...faith is the assurance of things hoped for...

Sometimes an apostle or a prophet is given such a heavy anointing of the spiritual gift from God of dreams that just being around them can cause other people to increase their own amount of dreams. This is God using that so gifted apostle or prophet to impart this gift and at the same time substantiate the apostle's or prophet's heavy anointing in this gift and to spiritually strengthen those to whom it is being imparted...

Romans 1:11 (Amplified Bible) - For I am yearning to see you, that I may impart and share with you some spiritual gift to strengthen and establish you

Thank you.

10. God speaks to us in tongues with interpretations.

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God may elect to speak to Christians thru a prophet or an apostle in a prophecy brought forth as an interpretation of an unknown tongue.

I Corinthians 1:1 - If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels...

God's Holy Spirit gives the tongue to one of the brethren and the interpretation to another, either or both of which may be an apostle or a prophet or just one of the brethren that is present.

This gift of prophesying thru a tongue's interpretation is the same as any prophesying except that for reasons of His own, God elects to send it forth in this manner. The tongue speaker's mind is not edified when it is spoken but it becomes edified, as does the minds of others, by the interpretation that is given in his own language.

I Corinthians 1:2 -4 - For one who speaks in a tongue does not speak to men but to God, for no one understands; but in his spirit he speaks mysteries.

But one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation.

One who speaks in a tongue edifies himself; but one who prophesies edifies the whole church.

Please refer to entry 9 for a complete discussion on prophecy. What is taught there also applies to a prophetic interpretation of a tongue.

Please refer to entry 7 for a complete discussion on tongues. Here I give testimony of how this happened totally unexpectedly to one of my own tongue speakings.

Thank you.

9. God speaks to us in prophecies.

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Matthew 23:34 - ...behold, I am sending you prophets...

Jesus promised that he would send all religious people prophets in order to guide them into taking the right course with God for their lives. But at the same time He prophesied that many of these religious people would reject them and their God-sent messages because they just wouldn't believe them.

Hebrews 3:19 - So we see that they were not able to enter (into truth) because of (their) unbelief.

So for those who can accept and believe in prophets and prophecies as being viable gifts from God for today, we will here discuss how God speaks to us thru prophecies.

God may elect to speak to any one of His Christians or to groups of them by sending a prophet or an apostle to prophesy His message to them. This is a very important means of personal communication from God which he makes available to all of His believers.

I Corinthians 14:22b - ...prophecy is for...those who believe.

Prophecy is so important that Moses desired that all of God's children would be given the gift of becoming a prophet!

Numbers 11:29 - Would that ALL of the LORD'S people were prophets...!

The apostle Paul joined Moses with a similar desire for all Christians to become prophets because he was also shown by God the importance of the bringing forth of inspired messages to help the brethren.

I Corinthians 14:1 -5 - ...desire earnestly (to be given) spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. For one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation (and)...one who prophesiesedifies the church.

How I wish that you ALL...would prophesy.

Paul points out how the gift of a prophetic message from God can spiritually improve each Christian who receives and believes it.

I Corinthians 14:6b - what will I profit you unless I speak to you either by way of revelation or of knowledge or of prophecy...?

Paul also points out that prophetic messages are a given through His prophets as a sign from God to demonstrate that He is personally attentive to each of His Christians.

I Corinthians 14:22b - ...prophecy is for a sign, not to unbelievers but to those who believe.

Paul exhorts Christians everywhere to allow the prophets in their churches to bring forth messages for everyone, one at a time in an orderly manner, at any given church meeting.

I Corinthians 14:29 - 31 - Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others pass judgment. For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all may be exhorted.

He points out that in a church meeting, when the gift of prophecy is allowed to be fully practiced in such an orderly fashion by all those who are present, the effect will be so spiritually powerful that if unbelievers are visiting, they will perceive and believe that God is truly present within that meeting!

I Corinthians 14:24 - But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an ungifted man enters, he is convicted by all, he is called into account by all; the secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so he will fall on his face and worship God, declaring that God is certainly among you.

One time a few brothers and I went in my van to the home of a Catholic family. After ministering for a while to the wife and her grown kids we said our goodbyes and climbed into the van to leave. Just as we were about to drive off the husband, who had been drinking in the back yard while we were there, staggered out front and called for us to stop, which we did. We slid the side door open for him and he stumbled up into the van with us to talk with us. As he got in, his feet were muddied and he tracked that mud onto the van's floor carpet.

When he noticed it he apologized profusely but we reassured him that it wasn't important and that we'd easily clean it right up at the gas station to which we were going. So he thanked us for coming and talking with his family (they had 3 boys with cases of muscular dystrophy who had already died). He said that he admired our faith and that he too believed in Jesus for his salvation but he couldn't be the way that we were himself (he was known as a womanizer). He was very nice though and he wished us all well on our trip back.

Just then one of the prophetic brothers was moved to say to him, "You have a lot of nightmares don't you?" Startled, he replied, "How did you know about that?" to which the brother answered,"The thought just came into my mind and I felt moved to ask it of you." So we all looked at him with compassion and testified to him that he might want to repent of his sins and begin to seek the Lord in His life.

He was drunk so he peered a bit dazedly and slowly at each of us before proclaiming, "God is really with all of you guys! That's the only way you'd know about my nightmares. You're probably right, maybe I should start going back to church. This way of life of mine stinks!" Then he began crying and he thanked each of us for coming and stumbled back out of the van and waved goodbye through his tears as we left.

A bit later we were all discussing the subject of whether people in his condition were really saved, especially considering the stereotype of so many Catholics carousing around all week and then going to church on Sunday. One of the brother's was thumbing around in his Bible as the discussion ensued when all of a sudden he said, "Hey guys, maybe the Lord is giving us our answer in this verse...

John 13:10 - ...He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean...

"Maybe God is saying to us here that this fellow's muddy feet were His sign to us to declare that this man is saved in his heart but he just needs to clean up his walk with the Lord. Maybe the mud on his feet and this verse are our sign from God that even though no drunkard or immoral person can enter the kingdom of heaven, this man just needs to change his attitude and his behavior about these sins and he'll make it. What do you all think?" Well, after further discussion we all ended up agreeing that God had enlightened us to the truth on this man's heart salvation with his muddy feet and this verse.

The first point to be made about this testimony is that when we all prophesied to him together one of the secrets of his heart was revealed and he did just what I Corinthians 14:24 above said he'd do by declaring that God was certainly among us.

Hebrews 4:12 - the Word of God is living and active...

The second point I'd like to to make about this testimony is that God then sent us a Word of wisdom in a verse from the Scriptures to enlighten all of us about the truth of this man's salvation and that offered all of us hope for our friends and loved ones who we see as being backslidden and astray.

Paul sums up his exhortation on the subject of prophesying by encouraging all Christians to greatly desire that they may become gifted by God with the power to prophesy!

I Corinthians 14:39 - Therefore, my brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy.

Thru prophecy God will give each of His saved people and / or the leaders of His local churches; guidance and direction in regards to their life's affairs and needs and doctrines.

Manifestation Prophecy

I Corinthians 9:1b - ...have I not seen Jesus our Lord?

I had been praying for years for some detailed guidance from God about finding the truth of His will in so many issues that were pertinent to my life. Yet I believed that Jesus wouldn't come and visit me to instruct me because His reappearance upon the earth is reserved for His 2nd coming. But, because of the many doctrinal errors that I felt that I was perceiving in every Bible teacher's teachings which I had been encountering, I just wished that somehow He would come and instruct me Himself. I wanted to really know the truth of His Word about the many doctrines around today that seemed to me to contradict it. Well, did He have a surprise for me!

One beautiful spring morning He did an entirely unexpected and totally thrilling thing for me. He led me (unbeknownst to me) to drive out to a local park in my van with one of the young sisters in our fellowship to pray for a while. I was in the driver's seat and she was sitting on the couch in the back of the van when we each started to pray silently to the Lord.

All of a sudden I heard her call my name! But her voice was different? It was somehow very commanding! So I opened my eyes and turned to look at her. Well, there she was sitting in the center of the couch and she had an extremely noble upright quality to her posture! So, unsure of what was happening, I asked her, "Did you call me?" to which she responded, "Jim, I the Lord Jesus Christ who came in the flesh, have called the two of you to come out here this morning so that I could talk with you and answer your questions!"

I John 4:2 - This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God...

Instantly I knew that this was not her speaking but that it was the Lord Jesus Christ Himself somehow possessing her and speaking thru her mouth! Her voice was somehow the most regal voice imaginable and her demeanor was utterly majestic.

John 7:46 - ...No man speaks as this man speaks!

This was definitely not her voice or manner! So instantly, tears of joy began flying from my eyes like machine gun bullets! I knew that somehow thru her I was being addressed by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself right there in my van in that park! For Him to converse with me is what I had hoped to happen for so long but it was being done in a fashion of which I had never heard or read anywhere.

So thru my tears I timidly asked, "Is that you Lord?" to which He responded, "Yes it is I. I've been sent here today in response to your many prayers to My Father asking for Me to help you find the truths for which you are longing." Well at this statement I was struck speechless! So, in awe, I just kept looking at Him (in her) but He kept her eyes shut while He calmly and patiently sat there, waiting for me to recover from my initial shock over all of this.

It took a while but eventually I stopped crying enough to lamely ask Him where she was? He then explained that He had her spirit in a pleasant place while both she and I were experiencing this gift from God which He called Manifestation Prophecy. He explained that this is a supernatural gift wherein His Holy Spirit possesses a vessel (hers in this case) and uses it to converse in human form with the brethren.

He then said that He came in this manner to me alone because He had given me enough faith to believe that it was Him so doing. He said that when we were done conversing, I was to go back to my brethren in the fellowship and help them to also believe in this gift. He said that I was to tell them that if they could have the faith for this gift, He would come thru her again that evening to converse with them also!

Needless to say I was thrilled beyond belief at His appearance but there was of course a tiny doubt within me about the genuineness of such a manifestation. Could she be faking it for some strange reason or could Satan be possessing her and tricking me? After all, the Scriptures say that the devil can come as an angel of light! So I proceeded to ask Him in her a few questions that I felt that she, in her newly embraced but still uneducated faith, could not possibly know.

One question that I asked was about the greatness of His original disciples / apostles compared to other Christians. He surprised me by telling me how those men saw Him and walked with Him and experienced all that He had to say and all of His miracles for years and they still had trouble really believing in Him. Yet thereafter, all Christians have just read a book of words or heard preaching and testimonies of Him and thru that alone they have been able to firmly believe in Him. So why would God consider the original apostles any greater than those who never saw Him and yet still believed?

J0hn 20:29 - ... Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

This answer and this verse has been food for thought for me ever since He spoke it to me, especially because I believe that I also am now one of those He refers to as having seen Him. But technically, the truth is that I didn't really see Him in His own flesh. My encounter with Him as His Holy Spirit manifested in her in this special way is still a matter of my own personal faith that it was truly from God.

Hebrews 11:6 - Without faith it is impossible to please God for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him!

That is the brilliance of God in rewarding me with this Manifestation Prophecy gift because it is an encounter with God that must still be accepted by faith, even after testing it (but not testing God) with pointed questions (which I made of the Spirit manifesting within the person)!

Another question that I asked of Him manifesting in her was where the original autographs of the Scriptures are now? She could not have possibly known the answer to this question since she probably never even heard of the term Biblical autographs. So I felt that it was a good test of the validity of the Manifestation. He in her blew me away and proved that she was not the one giving me the answer by saying very matter of factly, "In Heaven."

Well, of course they're in heaven! But when I asked that question I never even considered that fact because my evil heart was masking my true intentions that even I was not aware of. I was only conscious of the fact that this question was a test of the girl and of the Manifestation. That's why I was referring to the original earthly parchments.

I felt that this was a question that was merely testing the Manifestation Spirit, not the Lord Himself and He knew it.

I John 4:1 - ...do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

However, in giving me this particular answer, He revealed to me the evil motive stuck deep in my deceitful heart for asking this question. That motive was that I would have become exceedingly proud had He answered me by telling me of an earthly place in which to find them! After all, would not finding the original autographs of the Scriptures be the greatest discovery ever for mankind! And where would little old phony me have been when I in turn exposed the secret earthly location of these original autographs to the world? Wicked me would have been right in the center of that discovery, grabbing for glory while feigning humility!

Jeremiah 17:10 - I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

His 2 word matter of fact answer, "In Heaven." cut me to the quick causing my heart to burn. So I knew that this could be no other Spirit in her than that of Jesus Christ Himself! Satan encourages this kind of deceitful evil, but Jesus does not!

Luke 24:32a (the brethren) said to one another, "Were not our hearts burning within us while He (Jesus) was speaking...?"

Knowing the pain that immediately hit me from this conviction of my deceitful heart's deep seated proud motive, He then reassured me to be at peace. He repeatedly exhorted me to peace during His manifestation because every question I posed to Him would bring an answer that I did not expect and that would force me to face my own deceitful heart's reasons for asking it! So pretty soon, in reverent fear, I ran out of questions to ask Him.

Ecclesiastes 5:2 - Do not be hasty in word or impulsive in thought to bring up a matter in the presence of God...therefore let your words be few!

But I was so thrilled and excited at this wonderful, supernatural gift of His actually appearing to me to converse with me, that I didn't absorb all of the really deep stuff that was occurring at the time. Most of it came to me much later. That morning I was just out of my mind with joy at this amazing gift from God of the Lord's personal appearance to me! I was more excited than I've ever been before in my life!

Yet after a little less than an hour, the Lord in her suggested that we stop and He would leave her, but only until that evening when He promised to manifest back within her, if the brethren wanted Him to so appear to them. He also suggested that we write out our questions so that when He appeared, we wouldn't be nervous and forget them.

He then instructed me that the girl would need to be told all that had happened thru her because she was not aware of it. So I thanked Him profusely for visiting me, we said our goodbyes and He left her. Immediately, she blinked her eyes a couple of times and asked me what had happened. So I told her everything about the Lord's use of her to speak with me and she rejoiced exceedingly along with me about His visitation. Even though she was not there for it, she was greatly thankful that He chose her as His vessel thru whom to appear.

Then we drove back to the fellowship house and burst in excitedly to share our testimony of this wondrous event with all of the brethren. Of course they were skeptical at first, but so were Jesus original disciples when Mary Magdalene announced that Jesus had risen and conversed with her. After we all calmed down and could more quietly discuss the event, they all came around and agreed that they too wanted to talk directly with Jesus in this manner, just as I had.

So we all gathered together that evening and when we prayed for Him to come, He reappeared within her and we were all given answers to our many questions by Him for the next couple of hours. Then, when He left, we dissected everything that was discussed and came to the conclusion that this Manifestation was truly the Lord Jesus Christ! So, many times thereafter we prayed for Him to come again and He always did.

According to the Lord (speaking thru this girl), the Manifestation Prophecy gift was given to us only after we had done all that we could do in all of our own Bible studies to find the correct answers to our questions. After many times getting such manifestation appearances from Him, we have not asked for Him to come back in that manner any more because thru them He eventually resolved all of our questions.

He gave most of His answers to our questions by first starting with a question of His own, "What does your current faith tell you?" We'd then respond by telling Him where our thinking on that particular issue was and then He would discuss our position with us. But He never redirected us thru the Manifestation to some new position. He'd only encourage us to go on in our present faith and Bible studies while watching and waiting for God to send us new teachings or events or other prophecies by which to redirect us.

Romans 14:22 - The faith which you have (currently), have as your own conviction before God.

Well, after a while we all began to understand that we should just sit, stand and walk in our current faith positions, whatever they were. As long as those positions were the best that we could come up with, whether they were right or wrong, God would be pleased with us. Then, if they were right, God would be faithful to strengthen us in that particular faith position or if they were wrong, He would somehow direct us into a new, better understanding and wisdom for them.

Also, He would also always manifest in her with the greeting , "Peace be with you. Yes, Jesus Christ has come in the flesh." and He would always depart with similar words.

Collosians 3:15 - And let the peace (soul harmony which comes) from Christ rule (act as umpire continually) in your hearts [deciding and settling with finality all questions that arise in your minds, in that peaceful state] - The Amplified Bible

But when He led one of us to find this version of Col 3:15, we knew that we no longer needed for Him to manifest Himself in this manner amongst us anymore to answer our questions, because His peace in us is what proves to us that we already have the answer to that question that God wants us to have faith for at that time.

Matthew 5:8 - Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

The gift of manifestation prophecy was given to us initially to answer our questions because God had no earthly teacher to take us further along in our faith. But now that we knew how to interpret God's peace within us as being the umpire and the final decider of all of our doctrinal issues, this gift is only an occasionally manifested, just for those times when we feel the need to rest and comfort ourselves in His sweet, loving presence coming through a prophet!

Thank you.

8. Hearing God in conscience, intuition & discernment of spirits

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Intuition

As has already been discussed, we can hear God's voice speaking to us just in the fact that His unwavering peace occupies our minds about any particular faith position that we take. This peace from Him is His voice telling us that we are standing at that moment on correct Scriptural grounds over any particular matter. Inability on our part to reach peace about a matter can also be discerned as God's voice telling us that our faith stand is not correctly Scripturally grounded.

Isaiah 30:20 - 21 - ...He, your Teacher will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will behold your Teacher. Your ears will hear a word behind you, "This is the way, walk in it," whenever you turn to the right or to the left.

Whenever we are positioned wrong in any of our faith positions, God can be relied upon to bring a thought or a Scriptural Word intuitively into our minds in order to attempt to straighten us out. This is one way that we can see and hear Him! His voice is the thought or feeling itself, not an audible sound.

However, Scriptural intuitions within our minds can also have been placed there by Satan in his evil efforts to mislead us. So, in order for any Scriptural intuition to begin to be relied upon as truly being the voice of God, peace of mind must also be present within our minds. If peace won't stay, the intuition is automatically suspect no matter what the verse is from the Biblical Scriptures. After all, did not the devil himself try to deceive Jesus using passages from the Scriptures, at the end of His 40 day fast?

Matthew 4:5 - 6 - Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down. For it is written: 'He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.' "

And did not Jesus overcome Satan's deceptive use of the Word by invoking another Scripture which was of a higher priority for the situation because it had to do with the underlying intent of the action?

Matthew 4: 7 - Jesus answered him, "It is also written: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'

Therefore, just as Jesus did when He dealt with Satan, whenever a Scriptural intuition occurs we also need to be sure that it's the highest priority Biblical Scripture for that particular situation. If we can reach peace that it is, then it might actually be God speaking to us about that situation. But just to be sure, once all of the applicable Scriptures have been prioritized and peace of mind is firmly present, that intuition needs to then be confirmed by some other outside witnesses over which we have no control.

II Corinthians 13:1b - Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.

These establishing witnesses which are outside of ourselves, if they are truly from God about a matter, will be things like the agreement of an authority or of some other Christian or of some event which seems to substantiate the matter. If the Scriptural intuition within us comes with these kinds of backings it can be considered as being most likely a Word which the Lord has spoken to us.

So remember that there is always a chance that an intuition is not actually a message from the Lord, so we should always stay humbly open to further guidance from Him. Yes, we should move into a firm faith in this kind of a substantiated Scriptural intuition as being the voice of God. But even though our faith is firm, we should not be stubborn and unyielding to further correction, just in case it is not really a Word spoken to us from the Lord.

Consequently, a good confession in this regard might be that we firmly believe that the Scriptural intuition for the situation is actually a Word spoken to us from God but we are open to the possibility of being misguided about it and therefore we are open to being corrected by God in some way about it. But until a correction is sent, we will stay firmly within our faith position on that particular matter.

The Biblical story of Gideon's fleece is a good example of a godly man who strongly believes that he's had a Word spoken to him by the Lord but when doubt about it creeps into his mind, he seeks for additional witnessing events from God as to the validity of the message. He wanted to be as sure as he could be that the message that he had gotten was actually from God, not from the devil in disguise, before he went off to take a risk that he might regret.

Judges 6:36 - 40 - Gideon said to God, "If you will save Israel by my hand as you have promised - look, I will place a wool fleece on the threshing floor. If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you said." And that is what happened. Gideon rose early the next day; he squeezed the fleece and wrung out the dew—a bowlful of water.

Then Gideon said to God, "Do not be angry with me. Let me make just one more request. Allow me one more test with the fleece. This time make the fleece dry and the ground covered with dew." That night God did so. Only the fleece was dry; all the ground was covered with dew.

Conscience

If we are open to it, we can hear God's voice within the conscience of our minds. Here we will be given or denied peace from Jesus about anything that we may have rightly or wrongly believed, said or done.

Romans 2:15b - ...their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them.

Our conscience is a substantiating witness within us from God which unequivocally speaks of the truth or falseness of any intuitive Scriptural message as actually being the voice of God. It will allow us no peace about a matter in which we wrongly believe or which we wrongly do.

I Samuel 24:5 - ...David's conscience bothered him because he had...(done a wrong thing even though at the time, he thought he was doing the right thing)...

Our conscience starts out speaking loudly from God to us about an error within us about which He wants us to deal. But if its insistent voice is long resisted, eventually it will be silenced. God calls the silencing of the conscience's voice, the act of searing it.

I Timothy 4:1 -2 - The (Holy) Spirit explicitly says...that some will fall away from the faith...seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron.

Discernment of Spirit

Additionally, we can hear His voice within our minds when we receive a discernment from God about some good or bad spirit's presence and / or activities.

Ephesions 6:12 - For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the despotisms, against the powers, against [the master spirits who are] the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere.

Good and evil spirits are invisible beings whom God allows to have influence over and / or impact upon the events of our lives. So, in order to reveal their activities, God's Holy Spirit will gift some Christians with the ability to somehow sense them or even see and / or hear them.

I Corinthians 12:8 -10 - To one is given in and through the [Holy] Spirit...the ability to discern and distinguish between [the utterances of true] spirits [and false ones]...

This gift quite often infuses the discerner with the loss of peace whenever evil spirits are speaking to them in their minds or through other people or when they sense their presence near them. Discerners will not reach peace within their minds until that spirit or its evil activities are overcome and defeated and / or it is cast out or sent away from them. This is God's voice to them warning them of their evils.

Conclusion

So these are 4 ways by which to hear within our minds the Lord's voice as He speaks to us.

1. Intuition
2. Conscience
3. Discernment of spirits

4. Events that are just too coincidental to be mere coincidence.

Each and every one of them must be substantiated by another witness which is outside of our own personal control in order for them to be considered the Voice of God speaking to us.

Thank you.

7. Communicating with God in prayer & tongues.

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Prayer, both vocally or silently expressed, is the obvious means that we use talk to our invisible God. Prayer is a very huge subject about which many gifted Christians have written in other websites. Much about prayer is beyond the scope that I believe God is giving me to write about in this blog.

So, I believe that the Lord would have me refer the reader to other websites such as allaboutprayer.org, wikipedia-prayer, wikipedia-prayer-in-Christianity, the-God-kind-prayer and spirit-home-intercessory prayer wherein this entire subject is very thoroughly covered.
Please take some time on these websites and study them carefully because their Biblical teachings are fundamental to carrying on communications with the Lord.

Isaiah 8:20 - To the teaching and to the testimony! If the teachings are not in accord with (God's) Word, it is surely because there is no dawn and no morning in them.

I believe that God would have me to only write teachings and testimonies here that give light to my readers about the unique, powerful things that He has done thru my prayers and thru the prayers of those of whom I know.

Romans 15 - 19 - For I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me... in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit...

Hopefully, my testimonies and teachings here will create a brand new spiritual morning for those of you who hunger and thirst for miraculous things from God to also occur in your lives.

Romans 15:20 - 21 - And thus I aspired to preach (about my apostleship today, reliably communicating with God, miracle faith, the correct Biblical church structuring and practices, etc., all of which I have experienced)

so that I would not build on another man's foundation...

There are many other Christians whom I believe that God has employed to give correct teachings on many, many Biblical subjects on the Internet. So I believe that their writings instead of mine are best perused by my readers to learn about those particular subjects and I will provide links to some of them, just as I did above.

I believe that God wants me to limit my writing to teachings on those subjects that I have not yet (April 2008), found to have been put forth anywhere else or taught correctly anywhere else.

If any readers have other good websites on any of the entries on this blog, please make a comment about them on each entry or please e-mail me about them.

So, let me proceed here with my discussion about my own prayers by first testifying that the Lord many times answers my prayer requests by intuitively popping pertinent verses right into my mind, just as I amwas petitioning Him! Sometimes He even puts them there before I mentally formulate my prayer.

Psalm 139:4 - Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord.

This to me is mentally conversing with God I believe and the conversation between us takes place right within the thoughts of my mind.

Isaiah 1:18 - "Come now (today), and let us reason together (with our minds)," says the Lord...

It is by faith that a back and forth of reasoning occurs between us. I make mental inquiries of Him and I believe that He responds to me or beats me to the punch by placing the remembrance of a Scripture passage about my petition, immediately within my mind.

John 14:26b - ...the Holy Spirit...will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance my Words..(which are all of the Scriptures)...

When I'm praying while traveling He sometimes answers my inquiry with a message on a billboard or a truck body or a license plate or by some event that coincidentally happens within my proximity.

Habakkuk 2:2 - ...Write my answer plainly on a billboard...

Here I would route the reader back to April 2008 entry #3 wherein I thoroughly discuss this subject. But again, these kinds of messages within our minds must be believed as having come to us from God.

Proverbs 3:32b - He is intimate with the upright.

I have found that it merely takes a humble and repentant heart on my part (as much as I can consciously achieve considering my heart's desperate deceitfulness) to purify me before God so that He will begin revealing to me His wonderful answers.

Matthew 5: 8 - Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

I believe that God will give revelations to speak directly to us in answer to our prayers when we are spiritually clean in our walk before Him.

Ephesians 3:3a - by revelation there was made known to me (by God) the mystery...of...(my requests...

I believe that personal revelations from God to us of the divinity of Jesus save us from damnation but I also believe that they are one of the means used by God to try to guide us in many of our affairs.

Matthew 16:17 - 18 - Jesus replied, “You are blessed...because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you! You did not learn this from any human being... and upon this rock (of Divine revelation) I will build My church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.

Tongues

Speaking in tongues is a very controversial issue because it is often subjective to each believer. There is an excellent article on the subject in Wikipedia. I personally believe in this gift in all of its Biblically correct manifestations and I practice it, but in a rather unique way.

In my case the the Lord led me to have to "learn" how to speak in tongues! I never had the experience of a tongue of visible fire over my head when I first spoke in an unknown tongue nor did I get a falling down of the Holy Spirit of God upon me in order to receive it.

Instead, one day when I was off-handedly discussing the fact that I did not have this gift with a charismatic brother, he felt led to prophesy to me, "Oh yes you do! Only in your case you will have to receive it by faith. You need to start doing that by just speaking forth some mindless anything, even if it sounds like baby talk because the gift of tongues bypasses the mind! You need to learn that some gifts of the Holy Spirit are often received and then exercised by blind faith! That's how I believe that God is telling me to tell you that you are to move into speaking in tongues."

Hebrews 13:6 - And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him (and His ways, such as speaking in tongues).

So I thought about this for a while and soon began to see the logic to it. It seems that it's when I am alone, by myself, that I'm led by God to move into having faith for things. This has been the case ever since my rebirth in Christ alone in my bed one evening.

So once again, when I was alone, I began to move into this gift by making some childish, one syllable utterances like da-da-goo-la-bo-rah-sta-fa, etc. Well, my mind utterly rebelled against this activity because it was so foolish and utterly mindless to me. Yet I had to admit that I did have peace with it.

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

So I prayed to God asking Him to confirm this silly tongue's validity to me. He responded by giving me a desire to, by faith, just keep practicing it mindlessly. So I did. Then, the way in which He confirmed to me that it was truly a gift from Him was to one night send me to a Bible study at a church whose members did not believe in the gift at all!

Well, once I was there, He led the study leader to inquire if any of us felt that we had the gift of tongues! At this question there was a protracted silence amongst the 20 or so people that were there, during which no one answered and during which I kept feeling that I should not avoid this question but speak out and admit my own gift of tongues (of which I was still not totally certain).

I Corinthians 3:18 - Be God's fool—that's the path to true wisdom. (the Message Bible)

So finally, I realized that I would have no peace if I left there without confessing to it so I threw caution to the wind and declared to him that I felt that I had this gift! The leader looked at me thoughtfully for a moment and replied, "You do? Then would you mind speaking in your tongue for us? We'd all like to hear it, wouldn't we?" All of the brothers there voiced their agreement with him and now I was really on the spot!

To my mind, my tongue talking sounded like baby talk, which I didn't mind speaking in private to God and to the walls. But to bring it forth in front of a group of 20 or so intelligent people was a totally different story! What if it really wasn't a true tongue from the Holy Spirit? What if when they heard it, they all discerned that it was just baby talk type gibberish, the way I felt that it might be? Then I'd be considered a complete fool by all of them!

So, there I was, garroted within the hangman's noose of my admission of the gift and the trap door beneath me of actually speaking in it! What if that trap door of speaking in it, when sprung, might show it up as being a phony gift! And even if it really was from God, how could it possibly be proven to be a true gift of the Holy Spirit to this pack of spiritual curiosity seekers? I felt utterly trapped and possibly doomed! So, unable to find any other course open to me, I took the leap of faith, commending my potentially doomed soul to God as I let loose with my infantile tongue chatter!

Well, I only spoke for a few seconds and then I stopped because my courage ran out rather quickly. Then I sat there in emotional agony, awaiting my ignominious end with this group, which was probably about to now come. There was a long, pregnant pause! Then, entirely unexpectedly, the leader announced that he felt that God had given him an interpretation of my tongue! Next, the group shifted their focus to him and asked him to give it. So, he proceeded to speak it forth and it was a totally encouraging blessing from the Lord to everyone who was there.

I Corinthians 14:3 - But one who prophesies (by interpreting a tongue) strengthens others, encourages them, and comforts them.

Hallelujah! This totally unexpected interpretation totally exonerated me! My gift was proven to be true to me and to all of them in a way that I would never in a million years have guessed it would be done!

Isaiah 55:8 - 9 - "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways," declares the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts."

And, though nerve wracking, it was such a wonderful way in which God confirmed it for me! He proved the validity of both the gift of tongues and the gift of interpretation of tongues to me and to all of this group, all in one fell swoop, by interpreting my tongue thru their study leader!

More to come on this subject...

6. How do we perceive and communicate with God?

2008-04-19T06:51:00.001-07:00

When the Lord reminded me of how I, as a new Christian, suffered from a lack of knowledge about just how to hear or see God, I felt moved to write this teaching about communicating with the Lord. So, all of the April 2008 blog entries will be exclusively on this very large subject about how exactly we may communicate with the Lord.

Isaiah 1:18 - "Come now (today)...let us reason together." says the Lord...

Back then, I couldn't find any teacher or teachings that explained exactly how we are to converse back and forth with God. In fact, my evangelical mentors did not even believe in such a thing and they would counsel me to just make sure that everything I did was "Scriptural" and I would be in God's will. But it was obvious to me that such a thing was impossible because there are Scriptures for a matter that appear to be contradictory.

This ignorance of theirs and mine resulted in many uncertainties and doubts within my mind for a long, long time about whether or not I was actually perceiving and doing God's will in many of my affairs. I kept fearing that I might be doing wrong in so many things because I couldn't seem to find out from Him just what His will for those things really was. But the good thing about all of these concerns of mine was that they worked to humble me and prodded me to keep digging into His Word in search of my answers.

Deuteronomy 8:3 - ...He humbled me and allowed me to hunger (for knowledge of communicating with Him and learning His ways) and (then, in His time, not mine) He fed me with the hidden manna, (the portions of His Word on this subject) which I did not know nor did (any of) my (spiritual) fathers know,

that He might make me recognize (personally understand) that I do not live by bread alone, but I live by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord (found in the Biblical Scriptures and from His Holy Spirit's voice within my own mind). (from the Amplified Bible and personalized by me)

My intense hunger for the answers to my questions about God's true will for me that I could not find, turned out to actually be His will for me at that time! It was a necessary humbling experience for me before He would give me an answer.

Matthew 5:6 - "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

That hunger was used by the Lord to prod me to diligently and humbly keep on praying to Him for guidance and to continuously search all over the Scriptures to find my answers.

Jeremiah 29:13 - When you come looking for me, you'll find me. "Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed.

Now, after whole-heartedly seeking to find out how to communicate with God, He has personally instructed me from His Word and from events within my own life about the many ways in which we can perceive His voice and the conversational movements of His Holy Spirit within our minds. So now, after learning these methods, I have been given tremendous peace of mind about how I'm to determine His will for each of my life affairs.

John 14:27 - Peace I (the living and active Word) leave with you; My peace I (the living and active Word) give to you; not as the world gives do I (the living and active Word) give it to you.

So, do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.

Hopefully, this Biblical instruction on what I have learned over the years about how to perceive the Lord and His Holy Spirit's various means of communicating with me, will shed some needed light for those of you who are also struggling with this problem. Additionally, the instruction here may be useful for those of you who do communicate with God but are not yet familiar with some of the particular means that He says in His Word that His Holy Spirit will use to communicate with us.

Hopefully, the resultant effect of this instruction will be to build up your own personal faith about how to see and hear God so that you can so do.

Matthew 5:8 - Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God!

It is compiled from much of what God's Word says about the subject of supernaturally communicating with God.

Romans 10:17 - So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the Word....

I now ask the reader to read the article in Wikipedia about Pentecostal and Evangelical Rhema

(this is the Greek word for utterance). This article very nicely expresses the difference between these 2 differing approaches to communicating with the Lord. My teaching here (though not Pentecostal) is about what that particular article refers to as the Pentecostal Rhema voice of God.

Before I go on, please be sure that God gives you peace of mind over what I have just taught you and over each segment of this teaching. If He doesn't, that's a sign to you to stop to ponder the teaching further until you can reach peace over it or until you can find a flaw in it. If you do find that there is a flaw in it, please be sure to comment on that flaw here so that I can improve the teaching.

Knowledge of God and His ways

In order to enjoy reliable back and forth communication with God, it stands to reason that we must first gain some knowledge of Him and the ways in which He says He will hear us and speak to us.

To begin to do that, let's first acknowledge the obvious fundamental fact that God has elected to be imperceptible to all of our outward physical senses. We can't physically see Him, hear Him, taste Him, touch Him or feel Him. Therefore it stands to reason that the only means that is left to us by which we may perceive and communicate with Him is for it to happen within our minds.

Romans 1:19 - ...that which is known about God (at any given time) is evident within....(individual people's minds)...for God...(makes)...it evident to them.

And the mind is also the place within us where, after perceiving something thru our senses, we do our pondering and believing. So this is one the place that our imperceptible God has ordained that He will communicate with us. It is in effect the Holy of Holies of our body, which is our personal temple.

Hebrews 11:6b - ... he who comes to God must (use his mind to ponder the possibility of and then reach the conclusion to) believe that He is (even though He is physically imperceptible to our senses) and that He rewards those who (mentally reach out to) seek Him. (my own amplification of this verse)

Consequently, while God remains physically imperceptible to us, He has elected to provide us with the means of learning about Him and His ways within our minds thru His written Word which is found only in the Biblical Scriptures and which we can see or hear or if blind, feel by braille.

II Timothy 3:16 - All Scripture is inspired by God...

This Word about Him and His ways is something from Him that can be physically perceived by our senses and then transfered into our minds where we can think about it. He has provided His Word to us by mentally inspiring believing men over the centuries to transcribe for us what He revealed to them about Him and His ways.

Romans 15:4 - For whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written (by God thru His inspiration to His prophets) for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope (in His existence and His plans for us). (my own amplification of this verse)

He has inspired various faithful, holy men of the past to record the Words which He (in Spirit) somehow spoke to them or showed them about Him and His ways in their own life circumstances. Today, these same Words apply by faith to all people who find themselves in similar life circumstances.

II Timothy 3:16 - 17 - Every Scripture is God-breathed (given by His inspiration to holy, believing men in the past) and profitable for instruction, for reproof and for conviction of sin, for correction of error and for discipline in obedience, [and] for training in righteousness (in holy living, in conformity to God's will in thought, purpose, and action),

so that the man of God may be complete and proficient, well fitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work. (the Amplified Bible)

So first and foremost, we need to fully believe that God has actually sent His Word to the prophets for us as a means by which to give us knowledge of Himself and His ways and that all of His revealed Word is true and now resides within the Biblical Scriptures.

John 17:17b - (Jesus said,) "Thy (God's) Word is truth."

Then we can move forward within our minds, from merely perceiving this Word thru our eyes or ears or fingers, into believing what it says and then establishing a firm faith in what it says about Him and His ways for our lives.

Romans 10:17 - So faith (about Him and His ways) comes from hearing, and hearing by the Word....

After that, from this baseline of Word faith (believing the Biblical record about God and His ways), we can move forward into a deeper faith which believes that today His Holy Spirit will use His Word to actually speak to each of us within our minds about our circumstances.

John 14: 26 - "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I (the living and active Word) have said to you.

In my own experience I believe that God has so spoken to me thousands of times. I feel that His Holy Spirit has done this by quickening (emphasizing - igniting - bringing to life) within my mind, passages of His many Words of Scripture. Each time He speaks anew to me within my mind, His Holy Spirit reminds me of verses that I've seen or heard before and that He wants me to then realize as being truly pertinent to a particular matter in my life.

Hebrews 4:12 - For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective (for all time) ]. (the Amplified Bible)

Accurate knowledge of God and the way that He has for each of us regarding each particular circumstance of our lives can only be achieved by listening to the voice of His Holy Spirit as He speaks to tell us the correct applications of the Biblical Scriptures for those circumstances. Deducing correct interpretations of His Word with His Holy Spirit which apply to our circumstances is absolutely necessary if we are to be able to recognize His will for the matter. Bu faith then, this can be a true communication from God placed by His Holy spirit within our minds about the matter.

II Timothy 2:15 - Be diligent to present yourself approved to God (today and later, at the judgment) as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the Word of truth.

But, what about us instead using the many religious traditions that men nearly universally employ in their efforts to commune with God? Why must we use the Scriptures in the Bible to find out about and then communicate with God? Why not just rely upon our church traditions, especially the ceremonial rites and rituals which have been handed down to us over time?

Well, according to Jesus, religious traditions passed down amongst men as a means by which to get close to God and please Him must conform to the Bible.

Mark 7:13 - ... you are nullifying and making void and of no effect [the authority of] the Word of God through your tradition, which you [in turn] hand on...

So Jesus declared that even these, if used, must always be substantiated within the Word of God which is found in the Biblical Scriptures.

Therefore, to formulate doctrines about God we must use our minds (which are able to perceive the Words of God contained in the Biblical Scriptures thru our senses) along with His Spirit to make and then believe in them. Within our minds each of us can subjectively detect those passages that the Holy Spirit brings to our remembrance (or that we first read or hear), as being quickened by God. This belief that God has energized some of His Biblical Words within our minds in order to talk to us, then becomes a means by which God can then talk to us on different issues.

John 16:12a - I (God) have still many more things to say to you... (the Amplified Bible)

Consequently, as we journey thru life, God will give believers occasional revelations of Himself and His ways, just as He did with Jesus original 12 disciples, but not too often so as to not overburden the limits of our human minds.

John 16:12b - ...but you cannot bear them now.

A very important consideration for us to also ponder about the Biblical Scriptures is that they are a collection of inspired books that have been designed by God to sometimes appear hard to understand and in some places, to even appear to be somewhat contradictory.

II Peter 3:15b - 16 - Paul, according to the wisdom given him (by God), wrote to you (and all of us today), as also in all of his letters, speaking in them of...some things (which are) hard to understand...

So it's important to emphasize that we are to work along with God's Holy Spirit's voice within our minds, to develop well thought out, correct interpretations of the Scriptures that are pertinent to each affair of our life.

John16:13 - "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all of the truth...

Correct interpretations of the Scriptures are necessary in order to get to the truths of God and His ways and to truly hear His Holy Spirit's voice for any particular matter. Then we need to take a firm mental hold (in steady faith) of that interpretation of the Scriptures that we feel He has shown us as being pertinent to that subject in our life.

Romans 14:22 - The faith (from your Spirit led interpretations of God's Word) which you have, have as your own conviction before God.

God tells us in Scripture that this kind of subjective, personal faith by each individual is very pleasing to the Lord.

Hebrews 11:6 - Without faith it is impossible to please God for he (each person) who comes to Him must (personally) believe that...He rewards them who (so) seek Him. (my own personalization of this verse)

The first reward from The Lord for our firm faith is His peace which He plants within us that then serves as evidence to us that we are in His truth, which further reinforces our faith.

Isaiah 26:3 - The steadfast of mind God will keep in perfect peace, because he trusts in God.

One other point to make here is that even though we may be eternally saved from God's wrath upon us for our sins thru our faith in the correct interpretation of God's Word about Jesus Christ's work on the cross to provide us with salvation, each of us will still stand before Jesus at the judgment to give an account of all of the rest of our beliefs. This is the place where God will reward us for those Biblical interpretations that He gave us time and opportunity to work out with His Holy Spirit's voicings. It is also the place where we will suffer eternal loss for those doctrines that we wouldn't work with Him to correctly formulate!

I Corinthians 3:15 - For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is [already] laid, which is Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). But if anyone builds upon the Foundation, whether it be with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw,the work of each [one] will become [plainly, openly] known (shown for what it is); for the day [of Christ] will disclose and declare it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test and critically appraise the character and worth of the work each person has done.

If the work which any person has built on this Foundation [any product of his efforts whatever] survives [this test], he will get his reward. But if any person's work is burned up [under the test], he will suffer the loss [of it all, losing his reward], though he himself will be saved, but only as [one who has passed] through fire. (the Amplified Bible)

This passage says it all regarding how eternally important our efforts should be to us to work carefully with God's Holy Spirit to personally formulate our own knowledge of Him and His ways for each affair of our lives!

By our correctly formulated doctrine for each matter, we can truly hear His voice when His Holy Spirit energizes His Word within our minds about it.

Reaching out by faith to sense His presence.

To perceive the presence of God near us, actually talking to us! Wouldn't that be marvelous! What a wonderful communion that would be! Well, for that to occur we need to find a way to somehow get into His presence so that we can see and hear Him.

From my own experience, the emotional sense of truly being in His presence has rarely been granted to me. And I have never heard His voice audibly as some Christians say that they've heard it. But what has always been given to me and what will always be given to any believer who has the faith for it, is the certainty that when we mentally draw near to God, He will spiritually draw near to us even though we may not in any way sense Him doing it!

James 4:8 - Draw near to God and - HE WILL DRAW NEAR TO YOU!

The Lord promises above to respond to our faithful mental outreach to Him by drawing near to us and this is how we may at any time enter right into His presence! But we must have firm, unswerving faith that this will happen, in order for it to actually occur for us. Therefore, even though He doesn't give us any physical sensation or perception of His nearness, if we draw near to Him in firm mental faith, He promises us that he will not fail to draw very near to us and stay with us!

Hebrews 13:5b - ...(God says) I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake you nor let [you] down (relax My hold on you)! [Assuredly not!] (the Amplified Bible)

The question is, is our faith strong and unswerving enough to believe that when we draw near to Him within our minds, He will actually be there near to us, no matter what? What about in those tough times when we feel utterly forsaken by Him? Will we still believe that when we mentally draw near to Him, that He is instantly within our proximity, even though He remains physically imperceptible? This is a personal matter for each individual Christian to deal with, but it must be dealt with correctly in order to be near to God.

None of us will ever be able to reliably communicate with God until we firmly mentally but blindly physically - sit, stand and / or walk, trusting that He always draws near to us whenever we draw near to Him, no matter what! Then, once we are truly so positioned in our mind, He will be reliable to reward us with a second communication from Him (after His Word which He energizes within our minds) which is also mentally perceptible!

Isaiah 26:3 - The steadfast of mind God will keep in PERFECT PEACE because he trusts in God.

That 2nd Communication with Him is the Peace of Christ.

Strong, unswerving mental peace is the second mentally perceptible communication from God which His Holy spirit will put into our minds, once we take up a firm mental faith in any truth that He gives us. It is a mental sense that God will instill within us about our correct faith positions on the various affairs of our lives!

Colossians 3:15 - And let the peace (soul harmony which comes) from Christ rule (act as umpire continually) in your hearts [deciding and settling with finality - All QUESTIONS THAT ARISE IN YOUR MINDS...(Amplified Bible)

Behind the Holy spirit's ignition of the Word within our minds, this is another mentally perceptible means that He uses by which to communicate His true will to us for any particular matter!

When we are able to reach and keep mental peace about a matter, then that ongoing peace is our proof, our evidence that He has personally spoken to us, telling us that we are centered in His grace and will for that particular matter.

As long as this peace of His is present within our minds over our faith position on any given matter, that peace decides and settles with finality the fact that we are positioned within His will for that matter! In this manner we can believe that He has truly spoken to us about any given matter. But this communication of peace too must be accepted by believing that it has truly come from God and then by taking a firm mental faith position in that belief!So again.....

Isaiah 26:3 - The steadfast of mind God will keep in perfect peace because he trusts in God.

To better grasp this concept of being spoken to by God when we find that we have peace over a matter, we need to look upon the turmoils of our lives as being similar to the storms surrounding the eye of a hurricane. The small area covered by a hurricane's centrally located but moving eye becomes totally peaceful, while the much larger area covered by the storms surrounding it, is extremely and violently tumultuous. Ship's captains caught at sea within a hurricane's gales will try to pull away from them, but if they can't, then they will try to navigate into the storm's eye in order to find peaceful respite from its destructive power.

The same is true for Christians who are attempting to communicate with God. When we seek to find a peaceful mental respite from Him from the turmoil of any uncertainty within our life, we need to navigate our minds to discover the correct Biblical faith haven that His Spirit is trying to take us into for that particular problem. This Biblically correct mental faith position will bring forth an immediate movement of God which will give our minds the peace of Christ about it and that will calm us.

Then later, whenever we are stirred by Satan to again mentally reconsider that problem and then we remember our Biblically correct faith position for it, Christ's peace will again enter and settle our minds. No matter how events swirl around that particular difficulty in our life, as long as we hold onto that correct faith position on the issue, His peace will descend within our minds to give us respite and calm.

John 13:17 - If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them!

But His peace within our minds will not occur if our faith position is wrong, no matter how strongly we hold it, because God's Holy Spirit will not give us Christ's peace about that falsehood.

So, let's sum up our discussion so far. Even though God is physically imperceptible to us, we are able to perceive His Scriptural writings in the Bible about Him and His ways thru our eyes and ears (or thru our fingers with braille). Sensory nerves then transfer God's Words through these physically means into our brains wherein we can ponder them with God in order to reach a correct interpretation of them for a particular matter. Then, also within our minds, we can go on to reach a full and firm belief in a particular correct interpretation and establish a strong mental faith position in it. In so doing, Christ rewards us with His peace within our minds about that matter. This peace is a mentally perceptible proof to us that the Lord has truly spoken to us about that matter.

Romans 8:6b - to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Consequently, as we discuss all of the other ways that our invisible God has said in His Word that He has used to communicate with men, peace is the underlying condition that we will always seek to find present in our own minds to prove to us that we have truly received a communication from His Holy Spirit and not from some deceptive devil.

Thank you.

Please go on to entry #7 for April 2008 to continue with the next segment of this extended teaching about communicating with God.

1ST VISIT? PLEASE START AT IST ENTRY - MARCH 2008.

2008-03-30T12:18:00.001-07:00

Further entries to be created within this blog after #20. will be on the following subjects...

21. The cost of a close walk with Jesus in spiritual warfare.

22. Faith to obtain miracles from God.

23. The tremendous spiritual power that comes forth from pure, relativity faith.

24. The actuality of Jesus Christ dwelling within us!

25. The church, as it should be - from Jesus Christ's ascension until He comes back for it.

5. What are the powers given by God to His apostles and prophets today?

2008-03-29T14:46:00.000-07:00

The subject of apostolic and prophetic powers is very important because there are so many supernatural things that God says in His Word that He wants to do for His Christians thru these 2 high church offices. However, in His great mercy towards those Christians who don't believe in these offices for today, God might still elect to send any of His supernatural powers thru evangelists, healers, miracle workers, teachers and pastors in whose ministry they do believe so that they won't miss out entirely on these blessings. He might also send them thru church helpers or administrators or thru any faithful Christian at all for that matter for the same reason.

But God seems to have established in the Scriptures that He will make all of His supernatural powers accessible first thru the faith of His appointed apostles and prophets. He seems to have ordained this pecking order for the distribution of His supernatural powers in order to certify His supernatural appointment of particular men to these 2 offices.

But before we embark on this discussion of their powers let's just assume that the apostles and prophets spoken of here are truly from God. Let's not take up a discussion about false prophets here in order to not confuse the issue and for the sake of brevity. The subject of dealing with false apostles and false prophets has already been discussed in March 2008's 1st and 2nd blog entries.

1. The greatest and most wonderful power that Jesus gives to His believers is that which comes forth as they (by the movement of the Holy Spirit) preach the gospel.

Romans 1:16 - ...for it (the gospel) is the power of God for salvation...

The magnificent, Holy Spirit given conviction power which will lead sinners who hear the gospel into repentance and salvation, can accompany any believer's preaching of it so this power is not put thru God's apostles only,.But it is the most important power that God does put thru them and they are constrained to bring it forth.

I Corinthians 9:16 - For if I (the apostle) preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the Gospel for...I have a stewardship (from God) entrusted to me!

The dictionary tells us that the word apostle means one who is sent. Therefore, any true apostle of God is by definition, one who is supernaturally sent to preach the gospel to various individuals whom God has chosen.

Romans 10:14b -15 - How will they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how will they hear (about Him) without a preacher? (and) how will they preach unless they are sent (by God)?

Once in these people's presence, the apostle's first and foremost supernatural power will come forth mightily upon them when he preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ to save them from God's righteous wrath upon their sin.

Acts 4:33 - And with great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and abundant grace was upon them all!

During the preaching of the gospel, God the Father will give people a supernatural revelation (via His Holy Spirit) directly into the spirit of their minds that Jesus Christ is His unique, only begotten Son.

Matthew 16:15 - 18 (Jesus) said to (His disciples), "But who do you say that I am?"

...Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!"

...And Jesus said unto him, "Blessed are you...because......flesh and blood did not reveal this to you...

...but MY FATHER WHO IS IN HEAVEN (REVEALED IT TO YOU)!

(Kenneth Wuest Expanded New Testament Translation with my comments added)

When sinners believe in their hearts the revelation that the Lord Jesus Christ is God's unique, only begotten Son and that as such, He is the only One qualified by God to save them from eternal death and damnation at God's holy, righteously wrathful hands, they are saved from it and born-again in their spirits.

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

So, with salvation from God's wrath being the most important thing that can happen to anyone, the preaching of the gospel is the first and foremost power that He gives to His apostles (or any believer for that matter).

I Corinthians 4:20 - For the kingdom of heaven does not consist in (mere) words but in power!

2. God uniquely empowers His apostles to form new churches and to use their supernatural apostolic authority to protect those churches (and also any other existing churches whose members desire to place themselves under their ministry).

The apostle is to gather and bring newly born-again-of-the-Holy-Spirit, infant believers into their new family of God within either a new or an existing Scripturally structured church fellowship. This is the God ordained family within which for these new believers to continue to be fathered by Holy Spirit thru the apostle, so as to grow up in all aspects in the Lord.

I Corinthians 4:15b - ...For in Christ Jesus, I (the apostolic preacher) became your (spiritual) father through the gospel.

Within these church fellowships, these new believers are to be taught the Word of God and about the things of God in order to be built up in Christ. Here their fathering apostles are to exercise all of their unique apostolic supernatural powers to train them (and everyone else within the fellowship) in all of the things of God.

Ephesians 4:11- 12a - ...He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists and some as pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of service...

As the individual believers grow within a Scripturally structured church under the auspices of apostles and all of the other church officers, they will gain more and more knowledge and grace and strength in their faith. Then eventually, they will mature into having Holy Spirit imbued power of their own by which to promote God's heavenly kingdom among men.

Zechariah 4:6b - Not by might nor by power but by my Holy Spirit, says the Lord of Hosts!

Now, it stands to reason that the most spiritually knowledgeable, wisest and most powerful church groups will grow their members in such a way as to become fully equipped to wage very effective spiritual warfare against Satan's kingdom. The best equipped groups will be those church fellowships that have the purest beliefs, as is suggested in the principle of the following verse...

James 3:17 - The wisdom from above (from God) is FIRST - PURE...

Therefore these wise, spiritually powerful churches of God will garrison their brethren who are in various stages of growth and maturity under the pure, Scripturally sound, ministerial structure listed in the Scripture below

I Corinthians 12:28 - 31 - And God has appointed in the church - FIRST APOSTLES, SECOND PROPHETS, THIRD TEACHERS, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues.......but earnestly desire the greater gifts.

Any church group today that is fellowshipping outside of the purity of this church structure in this pecking order, inherently forfeits God's supernaturally offered, top-level spiritual gifts! He has ordained them to come forth thru each church officer's faith and they are absolutely necessary in order to fully defeat all of Satan's foils against their members.

Ephesians 6:11 - Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil!

Unfortunately, most Christian denominations do not put on the full spiritual armor of God because, along with many other supernatural things described in the Scriptures, they do not believe in the validity of the first 2 church offices of apostles and prophets for today. Therefore, because of their own and their spiritual fathers' traditional unbelief, they do not and have not encouraged nor allowed apostles and prophets to operate within their churches.

Matthew 15:6b - ...you make the word of God of no effect because of your traditions.

Consequently, their impurity of faith (in denying the validity of these first 2 church offices for today), causes them to be without the full power needed for completely effective spiritual warfare today. Total spiritual power over Satan's forces requires all of the glorious, supernatural gifts that God wants to send to His Christians. And His very most important gifts He will normally only send forth thru these first 2 denied church offices of apostles and prophets.

Only recognized, appreciated and properly functioning apostles and prophets today can bring forth the special supernatural gifts and unique powers necessary to fully protect and guide individuals within church groups. They are also necessary to lead their members into total victory over all of Satan's activities within their bailiwick. Churches without the first 2 God-ordained ministries of apostles and prophets pierce themselves with many unnecessary pangs, since they wander from faith in these ministries for today.

I Timothy 6:10b - for some... have wandered away from the faith (in the truth of some Scriptures), (and have) pierced themselves with many a pang (for so doing). (the principle of this verse)

As a result, they don't have the God-given, top-drawer powers necessary within their churches to fully empower their brethren's overall efforts to defeat Satan's war machine. So they don't get enlightening and comforting personal prophecies from God, encouraging miraculous healings, deliverances from demons and the problems that they maliciously propagate, miraculous events and signs or wonders. All of the apostolic and prophetic powers being active within a church, along with those of the other officers in the church, help to strengthen all of their brethren's faith and fulfill their growth into mature Christians.

Ephesians 4:11 - 13 - And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.

So, those without these powers are forced to settle for merely the powers of teachers and evangelists, administrators and helpers by which to battle Satan and grow in the Lord. Thus, they have no apostolic authority protecting them from Satanic personal attacks within their church ranks such as misguided brethren who rail against their teacher-pastors. Neither will they have any prophets by which for God to warn and guide and comfort each of their members in their individual lives. And they will not have all of the miracles, healings and signs and wonders that God wishes to give them thru the apostles and prophets to better their lives.

These deficiencies utterly hamstring such churches' brethren from ever maturing enough to win many of the major battles against Satan's forces. This is one reason why so many Christians feel so frustratingly powerless in their church homes.

The upshot of all of this is that only the apostles' God-given powers to establish correctly structured churches (according to the Scriptures) and to protect and nurture their brethren, will lead to the development over time of truly mature, spiritually powerful members. These are the needed brethren who can successfully fight off all of Satan's evil attacks while they effectively promote God's kingdom to more and more people!

3. The third power which apostles are given (which is also the first power that prophets are given) is the power to bring forth prophecies from God thru the Holy Spirit to edify, influence, comfort, caution and / or direct the various believers in their churches.

Christians who believe in apostles and prophets as being valid for today, experience and benefit from many God-given prophecies.

I Corinthians 14:1 - 3 - ...desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy...(for) the one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation.

Of course Christians who believe in apostles and prophets all love to receive every positive prophecy that God will send to them thru either of these offices. So, what else needs to be said about positive prophecies? If one believes in their validity, one will easily accept, believe and benefit from them.

But most Christians hate to get negative prophecies (at least they hate them when they first hear them), because of their inherently sinful nature which is always at work within them to defy God. Apostles and prophets are really challenged to love the brethren to whom they are called upon by God to bring a negative message. Why? Because most recipients of negative messages do not usually wish to hear them and consequently will often cop an attitude towards the apostle or prophet giving it.

However, mature recipients of negative prophecies will immediately do internal battle within themselves and with Satan to humble and soften themselves so as to be able to respond well to the truths coming forth in a negative prophetic message. But recipients who stubbornly resist any negative message sent to them from God, automatically fall from grace and thus into Satan's power, becoming demonically hardened. Eventually, in one way or another, this hardening will be evilly expressed to the apostle or the prophet and that then becomes a personally painful experience for them.

An evil reaction to a negative message can result in the prophesier becoming bitter and thus lose his or her brotherly love for that message's resister. Prophesiers may also get bitter towards and lose their love for any other brethren who might join up with the resister.

Hebrew 12:15 - See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God, that no root of bitterness, springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled.

Negative messages from God are therefore given as a test both for the recipient and for the prophesier and for those who do or don't side with a resister.

4. Apostolic and prophetic authority to bind Satan and loose blessings.

God provides those appointed to these 2 callings with great power to bind all evil Satanic forces that they are gifted by the Holy Spirit to perceive.

Luke 9:1 - And He called...(His apostles)...and gave them power and authority over all the demons...!

They are also empowered by God to loose offsetting blessings that they perceive will be forthcoming from God, upon individual members of their church fellowship. They do both binding and loosing by revelation from by God of the heavenly decrees for these bindings and loosings upon the earth.

Matthew 16:19 - ...(Jesus said to the first apostles) ...whatsoever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven and whatsoever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.

Whenever any brethren willingly place themselves under the apostolic and prophetic authorities within a church fellowship, they will automatically obtain God's great protection from evil for themselves thru their offices, for their church group and for those who are under their own spiritual authority.

For much further information on this subject, the reader might like to view this great 1 hour teaching on apostolic and prophetic authority.

5. Apostolic and prophetic healings and deliverance from demons.

God can do supernatural healings thru a variety of means such as thru the anointing of the sick with oil and the laying of hands upon the sick by church elders or by any of the brethren when the healing is being faithfully requested. Faithful prayers and fastings can also move God to send healings and deliverances.

Mark 9:29 - (Jesus explained that)...This kind (of demon) cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting

But occasionally, especially when God wants to substantiate one of His apostles or prophets, the only way the desired supernatural healing will come forth (after all else may have been tried), is by that apostle or prophet calling for it under his authority from Jesus!

The same can be true of some deliverances from demonic possession. Demons are sometimes given authority by God to occupy someone until an apostle or prophet demands that the demon come out of that person and in the process uses an invocation of their apostolic or prophetic authority vested in them by the Lord Jesus Christ. In this kind of possession the demon is authorized by Jesus to stay in its target person even if the name of Jesus is invoked by a non-apostle or a non-prophet! Only by the apostle or prophet himself invoking both the name of Jesus and the apostolic or prophetic authority vested in him, will that demon depart! This is another means that the Lord uses to elicit respect from members of the flock for a particular apostle or prophet.

6. Bringing forth Miracles

Any Christian that Jesus selects and empowers can bring forth miracles if that Christian has the faith for them. But again, in some circumstances Jesus may decide that a particular desired miracle will not be allowed to occur unless a person's faith plus the authority of an apostle or a prophet is invoked by that apostle or prophet in the request to God for the miracle. This spiritual mechanism again is what is sometimes used by the Lord to substantiate that apostle or that prophet to those to whom he is ministering.

Sometimes apostles are given power which can attach healings to articles of clothing like handkerchiefs or aprons or anything else which can be taken to the sick.

Acts 19:11 - 12 - God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of...(the apostle)...so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried to the sick and the diseases left them.

The following is a testimony of this kind of a miraculous healing...

I ran into a woman one day who told me that her mother was very sick and that she was worried that she was about to die! Then she started crying and my heart went out to her. She said that she was a Catholic believer and that she was looking to find a healing priest to heal her mother but had not been able to find one. God had done a number of healings thru my prayers as an apostle and as she spoke I felt moved to tell her that I had a healing priest friend (I was thinking of Jesus but I didn't tell her that) and that he had given me a handkerchief which he had blessed.

Then I pulled out my brand new hanky and I told her that he had told me to keep it on me and give it to anyone whom I might encounter who might be seriously sick. So she looked at me rather funny-like and said, "Really?" in a not-so-sure-but-desperate-to-try-anything tone of voice. To this I responded by telling her that I didn't really know if it would heal her mother or not but it might at least be worth a try because it wouldn't hurt anything to do so. She thought about it for a moment and then agreed to give it a try. So she took the hanky and left.

About a week later I ran into her again and she came right up to me and thanked me profusely for the handkerchief because she said that right after she laid it on her mother's blankets, she began to feel better immediately! And she said that now her mother was up and about and cooking again! Then she asked me how she might find that priest to thank him? So I told her to just thank Jesus because He was the source of the healing and that my friend the priest wanted to remain anonymous. She accepted that excuse and went off, still rejoicing.

Even an apostle's shadow can bring forth healings.

Acts 5:15 - 16 - ...they even carried the sick out...so that when...(the apostle)...came by, at least his shadow might fall on any one of them...and they were all being healed!

So, as the Scriptures depict, apostles and prophets are vested with very unique powers and authority to do great things by God! This is just one of the reasons that they are so necessary today to every church group!

Thank you and may God richly bless you.

4. What are the functions & duties of apostles today?

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Luke 12:48c - Great gifts mean great responsibilities; greater gifts, greater responsibilities! (The Message Bible)

There are obviously many duties that accompany the high spiritual office gift of apostleship. Yet, no Scriptural list of just what those duties are has been given. So in order to compile one, all of the Scriptures about the functions and activities of the Biblical apostles need to be consulted.

II Timothy 3:16 -17 - All Scripture is inspired of God and is profitable for teaching...for training in righteousness so that the man of God may be...equipped for every good work (including the duties of apostleship).

Therefore, the list being set forth here of an apostle's many duties comes from all of the pertinent Scriptures which I have so far found which describe how the first apostles functioned. To best bring forth this teaching, these Scriptures have been combined with my own many personal experiences as an apostle.

Romans 15:18 - For [of course] I will not venture (presume) to speak...of any work except what Christ has actually done through me [as an instrument in His hands]...

Please review all of this information carefully for yourselves to see if the Holy Spirit confirms its correctness to you.

Acts 7:11 - ...(being) noble-minded...they received the Word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures (for themselves)... to see whether these things were so.

If you find errors, inconsistencies, missed functionings or any distortions of Scripture within my list, please feel free to constructively comment below or send me an e-mail at anonymousapostle@gmail.com, so that it may be corrected.

Ministering unto the Lord

To start, it seems to be the case that the foremost duty of apostles is for them to at first minister exclusively unto the Lord Himself until He is ready to send them out into service with apostolic powers. This is shown when Jesus told his apostles after He was resurrected that they were to stay in Jerusalem and wait there until they were clothed with apostolic powers by the Holy Spirit.

Luke 24:49b - (Jesus said)..."You (speaking to his apostles) are to stay in the city (Jerusalem) until you are clothed with power from on high."

Also, Paul and Barnabas prayed and fasted and ministered unto the Lord before they were sent out by the Holy Spirit with all of their great apostolic powers.

Acts 13:2 - While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."

So, it seems that apostles are to first minister unto the Lord before they will be qualified and empowered by Him to go out and minister unto men for Him.

Ministering to people

Once apostles have been chosen, prepared and then sent out into their ministry by God unto those whom He has selected, it appears that their most important duty is to proclaim the Word of God from the Bible.

Acts 13:4 -5 - So, being sent by the Holy Spirit they went...and began to proclaim the Word of God...

When they go forth to so preach God's Word after His empowerment of them, the Lord then works with them supernaturally. He does this by confirming their preaching with substantiating signs and wonders which are designed by Him to convince the people to whom his apostle is sent that he has truly sent to them by God.

Mark 16:20 - And they (the apostles) went out and preached everywhere, while the Lord worked with them, and confirmed the Word by the signs that followed.

Apostles will be given many wondrous powers by the Holy Spirit, especially those which He knows will be needed as time goes by to further confirm their apostolic ministries.

II Corinthians 12:12 - The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by signs and wonders and miracles.

So, after first ministering unto the Lord. the apostles' next major duty seems to be to preach the Word of God, especially the word of the gospel, to anyone to whom they are sent.

I Corinthians 9:16 - For if I (the apostle) preach the gospel, I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is me if I do not preach the Gospel for...I have a stewardship (from God) entrusted to me!

As people truly receive and believe their preaching of the gospel, an apostle's next duty seems to be to quickly water-baptize them in order to declare to all present, their immediate renunciation of sin and their cleansing from it by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Acts 16:33 - ...immediately(!) he (a brand new believer) was baptized (by an apostle)...

The apostle Paul, after being blinded by the Lord and not eating for 3 days, had his sight restored to him. Immediately Jesus had him baptized, even before he ate anything!

Acts 9:9, 17 -19 - And he was 3 days without sight, and neither ate nor drank...So Ananias...entered the house (where he was staying) and after laying his hands on him said, "Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus...has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit." And immediately...he regained his sight and he got up and was baptized, and (after that) he took food and was strengthened.

After a 3 day fast and considering the ravenous hunger that Paul must have had, being first baptized before eating illustrates just how important to God it seems to be for his newly born-again believers to be immediately baptized! Urgency of baptism is later recounted when Paul quotes Ananias comment to him during this healing event...

Acts 22:16 - "Now (that you are healed from blindness) why do you delay? Get up and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on His name."

The immediate baptismal duty of even the evangelist is illustrated in the Biblical account of the believing response of an Ethiopian eunuch to Phillip's preaching to him of the gospel.

Acts 8:36 - 39 - ...they came to some water and the eunuch said, "Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?"...and...(Phillip) baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Phillip away and the eunuch no longer saw him, but went rejoicing on his way.

Notice that God did not finish ministering the gospel to this eunuch thru Phillip until, at just the right moment, they just happened (!?!) to find a miraculous water supply right there in the dry, arid desert by which for Phillip to immediately baptize him. Then, once the baptism was finished, the Lord instantly removed Phillip from ministering to him any further. (As an aside, this testimony builds a case that we are not always called to minister discipleship to a newly saved person.)

Another duty of apostles seems to be for them to lay hands upon and call for the the Holy Spirit to fall upon any brethren who, after being baptized, have not yet perceived His power as being manifested in some way, upon or within them.

Acts 8:15 -17 - (the apostles) came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. For He had not yet fallen upon them; they had simply been baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus.

Then they began laying their hands on them, and they were receiving the Holy Spirit.

So gospel preaching immediately followed by water baptism for converts are 2 major duties of all apostles everywhere. They should also lay hands on them to bring forth the spiritual baptism upon them of the power of God's Holy Spirit.

Establishing Churches

Apostles also seem to be duty bound to establish local fellowships of and for believing brethren or they are to place them into an existing church. Then, if they minister within that church, they appear to be duty bound to carry on the ministry of God's Word to build up their faith.

Acts 16:5 - So, (by the presence and preaching of the Word of God from the apostles) the churches were being strengthened in the faith...

Apostles seem to be duty bound to exercise all of the gifts of which the Holy Spirit empowers them, bringing forth supernatural signs and wonders, miracles and healings which will help their brethren to perceive and believe that God is truly present among them.

Acts 22:42 - Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place thru the apostles.

Apostles (and the church's prophets) seem to also be duty bound by God to bring forth pertinent prophecies from God to guide that particular assembly's brethren.

I Corinthians 14:3 - ...one who prophesies speaks to men for edification and exhortation and consolation.

As well as bringing forth prophesies, apostles should also be giving teachings and describing their revelations from God to their brethren in order to increase their knowledge of the Lord.

I Corinthians 14:6b - ...what will I (the apostle) profit you unless I speak to you either by way of revelation or of knowledge or of prophesy.

As apostles form churches, they seem to have the duty to initially pastor their brethren and give them various kinds of helps while also conducting any needed administrations. But in so doing, they are not to neglect their ministry of prayer and the Word of God.

Acts 6:2b - 4 - ..."It is not desirable for us to neglect the Word of God in order to serve tables. Therefore brethren, select from among you...men of good reputation, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this task.

But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the Word."

As time goes by, founding apostles seem to have the duty of confirming newly God-appointed junior apostles, prophets and teachers in these groups as God raises them up. They seem to also have the duty of selecting elders and deacons to pastor their brethren and to continue to teach them the Word of God.

Acts 14:23 - When they had appointed elders for them in every church (in various cities), having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord (who is the Word!)...

It seems to be an apostle's duty to teach the brethren over whom God has established their authority, to conduct their church worship meetings in an orderly, Holy Spirit led fashion according to I Corinthians 10:15 thru 14:40. In these meetings, worshiping brethren can speak forth making requests of God and giving their revelations, teachings and prophecies. They can also pray and sing hymns in their native language and also speak and sing in tongues with interpretations.

I Corinthians 14:25b - ...When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all be done for (mutual) edification.

Apostles should encourage Bible study in a fellowship and they should also to teach the brethren how to exercise and control all of their God-given supernatural gifts within the privacy of the home fellowship.

I Corinthians 14:40 - ...all things (taking place in a fellowship meeting) must be done properly and in an orderly fashion.

Apostles seem to also be have authority from God to establish their protective and teaching authority over any existing fellowships, to which they might be invited to do so.

Conclusion

As God's Holy Spirit moves thru the apostle's ministry, brethren to whom they are sent will eventually be raised up as new apostles and prophets, evangelists and teachers, healers and miracle workers, pastors and elders to nurture and shepherd and perpetuate each church of the brethren.

I Corinthians 12:4 - 11 - Now there are distinctive varieties and distributions of endowments (gifts, extraordinary powers distinguishing certain Christians, due to the power of divine grace operating in their souls by the Holy Spirit) and they vary, but the [Holy] Spirit remains the same.

And there are distinctive varieties of service and ministration, but it is the same Lord [Who is served].

And there are distinctive varieties of operation [of working to accomplish things], but it is the same God Who inspires and energizes them all in all.

But to each one is given the manifestation of the [Holy] Spirit [the evidence, the spiritual illumination of the Spirit] for good and profit.

To one is given in and through the [Holy] Spirit [the power to speak] a message of wisdom, and to another [the power to express] a word of knowledge and understanding according to the same [Holy] Spirit;

To another wonder-working] faith by the same [Holy] Spirit, to another the extraordinary powers of healing by the one Spirit;

To another the working of miracles, to another prophetic insight (the gift of interpreting the divine will and purpose); to another the ability to discern and distinguish between [the utterances of true] spirits [and false ones], to another various kinds of [unknown] tongues, to another the ability to interpret [such] tongues.

All these [gifts, achievements, abilities] are inspired and brought to pass by one and the same [Holy] Spirit, Who apportions to each person individually [exactly] as He chooses.

The apostle will be given the ability from God to discern who these gifted brethren are and what gifts they've been given. Apostles then seem to be duty bound to encourage each of them in their gifts and also to encourage the flock to acknowledge them as being so gifted. In time the apostle can train the new apostles within a fellowship to remain with it to protect and guide it if he is called to permanently leave it or to go out from it for a time to minister to others at the Lord's leading.

Matthew 18:12 - "What do you think? If any man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying?

There are some excellent further teachings on the authority and the role of apostles amongst the brethren today. They can be found at Peace Apostolic Ministries, a website that I highly recommend. It has been established by a senior apostle whom I believe to now be an apostolic father from God, even though God has not yet let me meet him personally!

So, just as all Christians regard Biblical apostles and just as you regard me and I regard you, he and I have not yet met and we may never meet until we get to glory! But having reviewed his teachings within his website, I have recognized the grace which has been given to him by God to teach me personally much about the fatherly love, authority, power and functioning of apostleship within the church and therefore to apostolically father my own ministry.

This elder apostle has a great grasp of this entire subject which (it is obvious to me) God has given him over his many years of apostolic ministry. So recognizing his seniority as it was revealed to me by God thru his teachings, I felt led by God to place myself under his apostolic fathering authority and his teaching ministry. I believe that God revealed to me that this is now necessary in order to protect the flock that I lead and myself from evils which, in my prior ignorance of this man's particular apostolic teachings, God Himself protected us.

You the reader, may also reach that same conclusion about his ministry as I have after your own review of everything on his website.

Thank you and may God richly bless you.

3. What are the signs & wonders that substantiate a God-given apostle?

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Because of God's infinite diversity, His substantiating signs and wonders can come in any number of forms. Like the differences in snow flakes or fingerprints or iris scans or DNA, every one will be uniquely designed by God for each individual circumstance. Consequently, there is no exact criteria that can be given as to what the forms of signs or wonders from God will take.

I can only give you my own testimonies of the signs and wonders that I believe that God has sent to me and / or to others. Remember however, a Christian's major attention should always be on the Lord and His Word, not on the signs and wonders that He sends forth thru and for His believing children. They are only meant to be substantiations from God, not things to be sought after.

So here are my testimonies of some of the events that have occurred in my life that I believe are signs and wonders truly sent from God to substantiate my own apostolic ministry from Him and to speak to and / or guide me or others whom I know...

Proof from Jesus to me of my own appointment by Him as His Apostle!

One warm fall afternoon, while I was first struggling with what I felt might be the Lord's call within my spirit to become a modern day apostle, I was sitting at a bandstand in a park near my home. I was meditating upon the beginning verses in James Chapter 1 that are about the testing of our faith. Because of my mental discomfort from these thoughts that kept plaguing me about this huge matter and because of the severe trials then in my personal life, I felt that I was being so tested.

Well, there I sat struggling with whether the thoughts in my mind about apostleship were truly coming from God or from myself to self-exalt me or from some demon who was trying to tempt me to exalt myself. I wanted to step forward and embrace this office if it was truly God's will for me to do so yet I didn't want to be in any way presumptuous if it wasn't. Fully engrossed in this decision making, I didn't notice some people from a band that were active in the core of the park's bandstand, setting up for the evening's entertainment.

Isaiah 8:11 - ...the LORD spoke to me with mighty power...

All of a sudden one of the band setup guys loudly hollers into a microphone, "James! Testing! Testing 1 - 2! James! Testing! Testing 1 - 2!" Well, the band's huge speakers must have been set at their highest volume so that booming voice shouting out from them, using that name (which is also my first name) and declaring a testing with those numbers (which coincided exactly with the Scriptures from James upon which I was meditating) sounded to me just like the voice of Almighty God!

Deuteronomy 4:11 -12 - You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain (this high calling of God to become an apostle)

and the mountain burned with fire (severe, painful testings) to the very heart of the heavens (symbolizing the topmost church office of apostleship);

darkness, cloud and thick gloom (my certainty of much loss in this pursuit and my uncertainty on how to proceed in it and where it would all lead).

Then the Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, but you saw no form - only a voice!

I literally jumped out of my seat in fear at the immensity of the sound of that voice and in the huge coincidence of the setup guy's use of those words. As a result of that booming voice and what it said, I immediately perceived that this was a substantiating sign to me from God that He was the one who was actually bringing these thoughts to me, not myself alone or some clever Satanic tempter. I felt right then and there that these thoughts were truly a test from God of my faith about the validity of apostleship for today and at the same time they were a specific test of my willingness to become one.

Deuteronomy 4:36 - Out of the heavens He let you hear His voice to discipline you...

After I heard that fearsome, booming voice I felt that this was God's way of telling me that He was testing me to see if I would believe in and move on into apostleship. So if it was, I did want to proceed into the gift and please God. But the thought of so doing was also fearsome and that created a temptation to disbelieve in the voice and shrink away from the whole idea!

Hebrews 3:7 -8 - ...just as the Holy Spirit says, "TODAY, IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, do not harden your hearts...(and) provoke Me!

So just to be sure that this sign was truly from God, I prayed and asked Him to further substantiate my apostolic ministry by sending me some other Christians who would also believe that my apostleship was truly His calling and not some Satanic deception.

II Cor 13:1b - ...every fact is to be confirmed by the testimony of two or three witnesses.

Within a week I had met and begun to fellowship with 10 new people (one or two every day) besides the couple of brothers with whom I had been confiding all along. This was a dozen people seeking to disciple with Christ with me! And it wasn't very long after that that just as I had felt would happen, I suffered the loss of all of the worldly things that had been the mainstays my worldly life.

Philippians 3:8b - 9 - ...I (the apostle) have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ and may be found in Him...having...the the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith!

But while those losses of mine were unfolding, these newly found brethren all agreed to meet with me one evening and our discussion turned to the subject of baptism.

For myself, I had recently come to believe that baptism should be performed immediately upon believing in the Lord Jesus Christ as one's Savior. So I explained to all of them about how, in the book of Acts, all of the baptisms described were done immediately and in the name of Jesus and also how, at the end of the book of Matthew we are told to do them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. So, since I had just been baptized myself in this manner, I proposed that they all might want to do the same.

We discussed this for a while and then reached agreement that technically Biblically, immediate baptism both in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ as well as the name of the Father and the Holy Spirit is what should be done. None of these Christians had yet been so baptized, therefore they then agreed to all do so together and quickly.

However, the cool fall weather prevented us from going right down to a nearby river to do it. The Lord used that cold weather to instead lead us into another setting that He had prepared for the baptisms. He guided us there by having us soon discover that we could rent a small beginner's swimming pool at the YMCA in town for only $25 per hour (1980's pricing).

We felt that this would be a fine place to do the baptisms in warmth (our faith was not yet strong enough for cold water baptisms!). So we all pitched in a few bucks and rented the pool for one hour which would be plenty of time in which to do them all (of course not realizing that God had a surprise waiting for us there).

So, when we paid the pool rental fee, the YMCA manager insisted that they provide us with a lifeguard. We accepted this, thinking that a lifeguard was not really necessary for what we would be doing in the pool and not realizing this was the Lord's doing. So, the next night while the lifeguard was watching, I performed each baptism under this young man's gaze. I felt the Lord leading me to preach a strong fire and brimstone gospel message as a part of the baptisms in hopes that the lifeguard might be touched by the message.

Sure enough he was and when we were done baptizing the last person he asked excitedly, "Hey, before you go, can I get baptized too? I don't want to go to hell!" So we told him to repent of his sins to God and truly believe in the Lord Jesus Christ in his heart for his salvation. When he said that he just did that, I then baptized him also, to the glory of God. This was God's surprise first fruit of our small apostolic church fellowship!

To me all of these events were signs from the Lord that He had truly selected me to function as a modern day apostle and that He was the One bringing everyone together as He built this small church fellowship.

The following is a testimony of how God shortly thereafter supported my apostolic appointment during a major testing.

I was staying with a lovely married couple and their three children at their invitation in a suburban town near Chicago. This couple had great gospel musical abilities and they were becoming known in some Christian circles in the area. They had joined up with our fellowship and offered us their home as a place in which for our group to meet. They looked to me as an apostle sent to them by God to help them to grow in the Lord. Together, we had many Holy Spirit led sessions of Bible teachings with many, many signs and wonders occurring.

Mark 16:20 - ...the Lord worked with them and confirmed the Word by the signs that followed.

One day the leader of a larger, more established home fellowship in the town came to visit with them when I was not there and in the course of their discussion suggested that they join his group. They sensed that he craved to use their music ministry to expand his own fellowship. So they balked at that idea and told him that they believed that I was a God-given apostle sent to them to help them and they felt that they should stay with me and our small group. So disappointed, he left and said that he'd come back when I was there so that he could meet with me, which he soon did.

Meanwhile, when I heard of his visit and what he proposed, I began praying for guidance to see whether or not The Lord was leading us to merge our group in with his. When he arrived, we all sat down and engaged in some small talk for a while. But the conversation soon became stilted, and he left.

Later he called the man of the house and told him that he had met many apostles in his day and that he was certain that I was not an apostle!

Luke 22:53 - ...this is your hour, and your delegated authority and the power of the darkness...

He then counseled my friend to send me away and join up with him and bring the rest of the fellowship along too. This rattled the man of the house and he responded that he would take this recommendation into advisement and pray about it.

Luke 22:31 - Satan, by asking, obtained you...for himself...that he may shake you in a sieve, as grain is sifted, by an inward agitation, trying your faith to the verge of overthrow! (Kenneth Wuest's expanded translation of the New Testament)

So he prayed for God to reveal to him just what he should do because he was quite upset about the matter. This established minister's denouncement of my apostleship was severely shaking his faith, making him become quite uncertain about it.

A couple of days later this minister came by to inform him that the person who was providing him and his large family with a big, free house there in town had just unexpectedly notified him that he needed him to move out immediately. His landlord told the minister that he needed the house back right away for his own use. This minister then mentioned that the donations in his fellowship had been down and because of this he was now reduced in income and the only place that he could think of to move his large family into on such short notice was 800 miles away, as a guest of his family in a home on their farm.

Then this minister confided to him that he had never before in his life felt so powerless from God for this kind of a situation and he couldn't understand why the Lord was letting this happen to him. He went on to say that even though he did not want to do so, this event was forcing him to send his church fellowship to another minister and move away immediately.

Proverbs 26:27 - Whoso diggeth a pit (for another) shall fall therein.

A phone call from him a few days later, telling us that he was safely there, was the last any of us heard or saw of him. So in this manner the Lord settled with finality the matter that I had been praying about of whether or not to merge the 2 fellowships.

God went on to use this event to also restore firm faith within the man of the house in my apostolic ministry to him and his family. He soon told me that he viewed this minister's removal from the area as an answer from God to his prayer about my true apostleship.

Luke 22:32 - But as for myself, I made petition for you that your faith should not be totally eclipsed. And as for you, when you have returned to your original position with respect to your faith, stabilize your brethren. (Kenneth Wuest's expanded translation of the New Testament)

He soon shared this whole testimony with all of our church brethren and that also helped to stabilize their faith in my ministry.

Luke 23:34 - ..."Father, forgive them, they know not what they do"

I was still new at apostleship then so unfortunately I didn't pray whole heartedly for this misguided minister's well-being as I should have. This was because his opposition and ankle-bitting hurt me personally and deep down I felt that he got what he deserved from God. But today I'm more experienced and confident in my ordained position as an apostle and I'm more loving towards my enemies, so whenever he now comes to mind, I pray for God's best for him and his family.

As I said in my first entry in this blog, the devil loves to stir up strife by using misguided Christians to attack other Christians who are on a good track. But God forgives the ones at fault and works to correct them and He can be counted upon to eventually help any Christian who is truly seeking Him and His wisdom to find the truth for any matter.

Hebrews 11:6b - ...He rewards those who seek Him.

God will show them how to get past any devilish assaults that are being perpetrated by Satan upon them thru erroneous brethren.

Ephesians 6:12 - For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Manifestation Prophecy

I Corinthians 9:1b - ...have I not seen Jesus our Lord?

I had been praying for years for guidance from God about finding the truth of His will in so many issues that were pertinent to my life. Yet I believed that Jesus couldn't come to visit me to instruct me because His next appearance on earth is reserved for His 2nd coming. But, because of the many doctrinal errors that I felt that I was perceiving in every Bible teacher's teachings which I had been encountering, I felt all alone and up against all of them. So I just wished that somehow He would come and instruct me Himself. I wanted to really know the truth of His Word about the many doctrines around today that seemed to me to be contradicting it. Well, did God have a surprise for me!

Matthew 19:26b - with God all things are possible

One beautiful spring morning He did an entirely unexpected and totally thrilling thing for me that had never entered my mind as being possible. He led me to drive out to a local park in my van with one of the young sisters in our fellowship. Here we were going to pray for a while. I was in the driver's seat and she was sitting on the couch in the back when we each started to pray silently to the Lord.

All of a sudden I heard her call my name! But her voice was different? It was somehow very commanding! So I opened my eyes and turned to look at her. Well, there she was sitting in the center of the couch and she had an extremely noble quality to her posture! So, unsure of what was happening, I asked her, "Did you call me?" to which she responded, "Jim, I the Lord Jesus Christ who came in the flesh, have called the two of you to come out here this morning so that I could talk with you and answer your questions!"

I John 4:2 - This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God...

Instantly I knew that this was not her speaking but that it was the Lord Jesus Christ Himself somehow possessing her and speaking thru her mouth! Her voice had somehow become the most regal voice imaginable and her demeanor was utterly majestic.

John 7:46 - ...No man speaks as this man speaks!

This was definitely not her voice or manner! So tears began flying from my eyes like machine gun bullets! I knew that somehow thru her, right there in my van in that park, I was being addressed by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself! For Him to converse with me is what I had hoped to happen for so long but it was being done in a fashion of which I had never heard or read anywhere.

So thru my tears I timidly asked, "Is that you Lord?" to which He responded, "Yes it is I. I've been sent here today in response to your many prayers to My Father asking for Me to help you find the truths for which you are longing." Well at this statement I was struck speechless because she didn't know anything about this desire of mine! So, in awe, I just kept looking at Him (in her) but He kept her eyes shut while He patiently sat there, waiting for me to recover from my initial shock over all of this.

It took a while but eventually I stopped crying enough to lamely ask Him where she was? He then explained that He had her spirit in a pleasant place while both she and I were experiencing this gift from God which He called Manifestation Prophecy. He explained that this is a supernatural gift wherein His Holy Spirit possesses a willing person and uses that person as a vessel to converse in human form with the brethren.

He then said that He came in this manner to me because He knew that I had enough faith to believe that it was really Him so doing. He said that when we were done conversing, I was to go back to my brethren in the fellowship and help them to also believe in it. He said that I was to tell them that if they could have the faith for it, He would come thru her again that evening to converse with them also!

Needless to say I was thrilled beyond belief at His appearance but there was of course a tiny doubt within me about the genuineness of such a manifestation since I had never heard nor read about such a thing. Could she be faking it for some reason or could Satan be possessing her and tricking me? After all, the Scriptures say that the devil can come as an angel of light! So I proceeded to ask Him in her a few questions that I felt that she, in her newly embraced but still uneducated faith, could not possibly know herself.

One question I asked was about the greatness of His original disciples / apostles compared to other Christians. He surprised me by telling me how those men saw Him and walked with Him and experienced all that He had to say and all of His miracles for years and they still had trouble really believing in Him. Yet thereafter, all Christians have just read a book of words or heard preaching and testimonies of Him and thru that alone they have been able to firmly believe in Him. So why would God consider the original apostles any greater than those who never saw Him and yet still believed?

J0hn 20:29 - ... Jesus told him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

This answer and this verse have been food for thought for me ever since it was given to me, especially because I believe that I also am now one of those whom He refers to as having seen Him. But technically, the truth is that I didn't really see Him in His own flesh. My encounter with Him manifesting in her is still a matter of my own personal faith that it was truly from God.

Hebrews 11:6 - Without faith it is impossible to please God for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him!

That is the brilliance of God in rewarding me with this Manifestation Prophecy gift because it is an encounter with God that must still be accepted by faith, even after testing it (but not God) with pointed questions (which I made of the Spirit within the person)!

Another question which I asked of Him manifesting in her was where the original autographs of the Scriptures are now? She could not have possibly known the answer to this question since she probably never even heard of the term Biblical autographs. So I felt that it was a good test of the validity of the Manifestation. He in her blew me away and proved that she was not the one giving me the answer by saying very matter of factly, "In Heaven."

Well, of course they're in heaven! But when I asked that question I never even considered that fact because my evil heart was masking some evil intentions of which I was not consciously aware. I was only conscious of the fact that this question was merely a test of the girl and of the Manifestation. That's why I was referring to the original earthly parchments. I consciously felt that I was merely testing the Manifestation Spirit, but not the Lord Himself and He knew it.

I John 4:1 - ...do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

However, in giving me this answer, He revealed to me another evil motive stuck deep down in my deceitful heart for asking this question. That motive was that had He answered me with an earthly place in which to find them I would have become exceedingly proud! After all, would not finding the original autographs of the Scriptures be the greatest discovery ever for mankind! And where would little old phony me have been when I exposed the secret earthly location of these original autographs? Wicked me would have been right in the center of that discovery, grabbing for glory while feigning humility!

Jeremiah 17:10 - I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

His 2 word matter of fact answer, "In Heaven." cut me to the quick causing my heart to burn. So I knew that this could be no other Spirit in her than that of Jesus Christ Himself! Satan encourages this kind of deceitful evil in a man's heart, but Jesus does not!

Luke 24:32a (the brethren) said to one another, "Were not our hearts burning within us while He (Jesus) was speaking...?"

Knowing the pain in me from this conviction of my deceitful heart's deep seated proud motive, He then encouraged me to be at peace. He repeatedly exhorted me to be at peace during His manifestation because every question I posed to Him would bring an answer that I did not expect and that would force me to face my own deceitful heart's reasons for asking it! So pretty soon, in reverent fear, I ran out of questions to ask Him.

Ecclesiastes 5:2 - Do not be hasty in word or impulsive in thought to bring up a matter in the presence of God...therefore let your words be few!

But I was so thrilled and excited at this wonderful, supernatural gift of Jesus Christ actually appearing to me to converse with me, that I didn't absorb all of the really deep stuff that was occurring at the time. Most of it came to me much later. That morning I was just out of my mind with joy at this amazing gift from God of the Lord's appearance! I was more excited than I've ever been before in my entire life!

John 15:11 - These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your may be made full.

Yet after a little less than an hour, the Lord in her suggested that we stop and He would leave her, but only until that evening when He promised to manifest back within her, if the brethren wanted Him to so appear to them. He also suggested that we all write out our questions so that when He appeared, we wouldn't be nervous and forget them.

So I told her everything about the Lord's use of her to speak with me and she rejoiced exceedingly along with me about His visitation. Even though she was not there for it, she was greatly thankful that He chose her as His vessel thru whom to appear.

Luke 1:35 -38 - "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the Holy One within you shall be called the Son of God....For nothing will be impossible with God."

And she said, "Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word."

So we all gathered together that evening and when we prayed for Him to come, He reappeared within her and we all were given answers to our many questions by Him for the next couple of hours. Then, when He left, we dissected everything that was discussed and came to the conclusion that this Manifestation was truly the Lord Jesus Christ! Consequently, many times thereafter we prayed for Him to come back again and He always did.

According to the Lord (speaking thru this girl), the Manifestation Prophecy gift was given to us only after we had done all that we could do in all of our own Bible studies to find the correct answers to our questions. Now, after many times getting such manifestation appearances from Him, we no longer ask for Him to come back in that manner any more because He eventually resolved all of our questions.

He gave most of His answers to our questions by first starting with a question of His own, "What does your faith tell you?" We'd then respond by telling Him where our thinking on that particular issue was and then He would discuss our position with us. But He never redirected us thru the Manifestation to some new position. He'd only encourage us to go on in our present faith and Bible studies while watching and waiting for God to send us new teachings or events or other prophecies by which to redirect us.

Romans 14:22 - The faith which you have (currently), have as your own conviction before God.

Well, after a while we all began to understand that we should just sit, stand and walk in our current faith positions, whatever they were. As long as those positions were the best we could come up with, whether they were ultimately right or wrong, God would be pleased with us. Then, if they were right, God would be faithful to strengthen us in that particular faith position but if they were wrong anfd He wanted to correct us about it, He would somehow send us a correction.

Also, He would also always manifest in her with the greeting , "Peace be with you. Yes, Jesus Christ has come in the flesh." and He would always depart with similar words.

But when He led one of us to find this version of Col 3:15, we knew that we no longer needed for Him to manifest Himself in this manner amongst us anymore to answer our questions, because His peace in us is what proves to us that we already have the answer to that particular question that God wants us to have faith for, at that time.

Matthew 5:8 - Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

The gift of manifestation prophecy was given to us initially to answer our questions because God had no earthly teacher with pure enough doctrines that God could send to us to take us further along in our faith. But now that we knew how to interpret God's peace within us as being the umpire and the final decider of all of our doctrinal issues, this gift is only an occasionally manifested, just for those times when we feel the need to rest and comfort ourselves in Jesus Christ's sweet, loving presence!

These are some of the signs and wonders that I believe that the Lord Jesus Christ has given to confirm my own appointment as one of His modern day apostles.

Thank you for allowing me to testify to you about them. I hope that you will now view my teaching ministry here as God given for your edification.