John,

I loved this excerpt from your book Solomon’s Wisdom. You have to work in this life if you want to be happy and have what God gives you for you and your family. If you are lazy, you become a burden to yourself and everyone else around you.

I found out over time how much I like to work and how much it makes me happy. Not only does that matter in our fleshly lives but also in our spiritual life. We can’t be lazy in any part of our life, nor do I want to be. It takes work to be happy in the flesh, and it takes work to be happy in the spirit.

I have to put out effort to gain anything worth having. I am so thankful that God has blessed us with such wonderful teaching and spiritual guidance in this life. It makes you want to work and not be a burden for your family or anyone around you. That makes you happy and everyone around you happy as well.

Your labor will not go unrewarded because God made it that way for our good.

Stuart

Wow! Wow!! The blog on “The Many Gods of Christianity” is so good and so simple! I mentioned yesterday that while working on the “Mother Earth/Mary” section of the IK notes that I was almost in disbelief of what I was reading. Mary is reverenced so high that she is said to be the one that makes intercession for our souls, not Christ. Jesus is thought to ask “his mother” to speak to the Father on our behalf. Unbelievable!

As I read through the notes, I just had to stop and walk away from my computer. It brought tears to my eyes. It makes me so sad to know that there are so many that have been deceived by these lies!! I just had to start thanking Jesus for rescuing me from that.

When I was a little girl, attending a Catholic Church, I could never bring myself to pray to the “Patron Saints”, or Mary. I would ask within myself, “Why do I have to pray to these people? Why can’t I just pray to God?” Later in my life, when I attended the Free Methodist Church, I was asked to pray the Sinners Prayer and “accept Jesus”. I could not bring myself to pray that prayer. Jesus had given me a desire for HIM! I could not see how saying that prayer would satisfy my soul. Jesus put that desire there, and only he could satisfy it with the sweet holy Ghost.

Amy F

Hi John,

I listened to a message by you this morning, entitled, “Prepare to Die, to Live”, dated 4/98.

In it, you quoted Psalm 90:10-12:
    10. The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason or strength   they be fourscore years, yet is their strength, labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.
    11. Who knoweth the power of thine anger? Even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath.
   12. So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.

Yesterday, Dee and I were at the grocery store. Probably, about a third of the people there, including the workers, were wearing masks. People were not paying attention to the one-way arrows on the floor, and the checkers were not wiping down the counters each time after checking people out.

Now, the country is on the edge of revolt, carrying signs and threatening politicians that they won’t be reelected if they don’t “open up” the country. What foolishness, what profound lack of wisdom! God’s wrath on this countries’s foolishness could create a second wave or possibly a third. It’s already happened in other countries. This protesting is so selfish, not thinking about the safety and well-being of our healthcare and frontline workers.

John, thank you for teaching us against the things that are foolishness and encouraging us in the things that are wise. Let us not be like the Corinthians that seemed such a burden on Paul because of their lack of wisdom. We need help every day. May the Lord help us in our decision making.

God bless,

Jim K.

Good morning Pastor John,

I thought about Jesus fixing relationships, and teaching us what he wants in this body. I thought about all His people in Christianity at home right now and how if they only knew what Jesus really wanted and had for them. We are being corrected… they have nothing. I wanted to tell them I have a Pastor who not only knows my first and last name, but also knows my spiritual condition. My pastor knows where I am doing well and where I need help. My anointed pastor knows how and what to teach me from Jesus. My pastor really cares about where I am going to spend eternity. My pastor will seek Jesus for me, to get me home. We have a real relationship.

I wish I could tell some ppl I know that I have a husband who really does things to get me home to Jesus. I have a husband that encourages me, teaches me, guides me and corrects me, and prays for me because he really wants me to make it home to be with Jesus.

I may not always have that blessing; Jesus could take him tomorrow, and if he does, I have a family that loves me and loves Jesus and encourages me when I do well with Jesus, teaches me how to do better if I fail, prays for me because they really want me to make it home to Jesus.

This world will tell you to know who your real friends are; this is what they should have with Jesus, not shallow hellos to strangers for an hour every Sunday. God is a REAL God!

I want them to know. I wish they could know. Thinking of them this morning stirs me and makes me even more thankful for the care I receive here.

Beth

Good morning,

I got up this morning and listened to the Malachi clip Lee Ann posted yesterday. I have been sitting here with Jesus. I keep thinking about my childhood. Every year at Christmas my dad would spend thousands of dollars on gifts for all eight of us. Tvs, bikes, pool tables, etc, filled the house full of expensive gifts, going into debt every year. Throughout the year we did not shop or buy clothes or things, so this was not usual to receive gifts. Within a few months of receiving these gifts, they would be damaged, left outside, or just thrown into the squalor we lived in. There was no foundation set to appreciate these gifts and it repeated every year until dad died.

I sat with Jesus this morning after listening to this Malachi clip and thought, “This is my greatest fear, Lord, that I will take for granted what you have done for me, that when you grow quiet, I will build a golden calf or puff myself up in what I think pleases you.” I know what I am without Jesus. That is what I am without him.

I feel like if nothing is between me and Jesus, then nothing will be between the body and me. There will be fellowship between us all. I cried to Jesus this morning that nothing be between him and me. I don’t want to have any of that old girl keeping me from Jesus. I realize more and more how much I am nothing. I keep hearing sister Willie’ words ringing in my heart: “a mouth full of thankfulness”.

That is no small thing. That is a lifeline. Thankful for the day Jesus came into the gutter to carry me out. I just wanted to write you this morning. It always eases my heart, always has. I have enjoyed the deep cleaning time with Jesus. Just talking about these things with him has felt cleaner and better. I fell in love with how real God was when I found Him; all the broken parts were ok to be brought to Jesus. I fell in love with the sincerity of Jesus. I fell in the love with the openness of being able to write you and the openness of sharing my heart here.

I want to live in that place you talk about: just to be the person that Jesus created me to be, so that there is nothing between him and me, or between me and anyone else in the body.

Beth

Bess’s Dream 4/16/2020

The dream took place in a house that our family lived in but it looked a little different from our actual house now. It had a screened in back porch that led into our kitchen area.

It was morning time and I was in our house alone in my bedroom when I heard a woman’s voice call out from the screened in porch. The woman and her daughter came on into the kitchen without waiting for me to invite them in. I was working hard to get to them before they came into the main part of the house, but I was struggling to move very fast because of my knee. I saw that it was two relatives of mine, a mother and daughter, whom I had not seen in a long time. As they walked in and looked around our house, the older woman made a sarcastic comment about how our house was plain and how it was dirty looking. I thought to myself that I didn’t remember our house being dirty or strewn about with things the night before when I had gone to bed, but now as I looked around, I saw several piles of laundry that needed to be washed and folded and dishes that needed to be washed. She had a condescending attitude towards me as I tried explaining to her that I had had knee surgery and I kept up with cleaning the best that I could, and that both Tim and Jonathan worked. I kept trying to explain myself to them and yet I felt so ashamed that things were out of order.

The older woman nor her daughter ever stopped to say why they had come to see me, and they never asked how I was doing, but they walked past me looking around as they walked towards the back of the house where our 2nd and 3rd bedrooms were. It felt like I was not in control but that I was following them and trying to figure out what was going on. I felt intimidated by them because they were pointing out all my shortcomings. When they went into the bedroom, the younger girl flopped down in a chair and the older woman picked up some papers and thumbed through them. I sat on the edge of the bed. They both were making cruel remarks about me and telling me I hadn’t amounted to much of anything in my life and that I didn’t have much to show for the life I had lived thus far. I kept trying to explain myself to them and respond to their accusations but they wouldn’t acknowledge me. With tears in my eyes I told them that they should leave. The older woman got right in my face and said it was too late because she was infected by the Corona virus, and she laughed a mocking kind of laugh. I felt an anger from Jesus rise up inside me and I knew I did not have to allow them to dominate me. I stood at the bedroom door and told them to get out of our house now. They started walking towards the back door to leave.

As they stepped out of the back porch door, I stepped out of the door, too. As I turned to step back inside, I saw Brother Earl, Jimmy and Sue standing right there at the back porch doorway. Brother Earl said he loved our family and it felt good being around us. He was very happy and was bouncing like he does in the prayer meetings. He was smiling and patting me on my shoulder. I could feel the good clean feeling and encouragement of the holy Ghost. Then Sue and Jimmy said the same thing, that they loved the feeling of being around us. We all could feel the Spirit moving on us. It was the complete opposite of the feeling I had felt from those two women. I felt encouraged and safe. Then I woke up.

I asked Jesus what the dream was all about. What I saw was that those wrong spirits are cruel, and they come to take over. They accuse and try to make you feel the things they’re accusing you of. They try to make you feel guilty, and they will tell you who you are if you don’t resist them by knowing who Jesus has made you in the holy Ghost and by keeping your conscience clear. In the dream I knew the house was tidy when I went to bed the night before the women came the following morning, but when they were telling me our house was dirty looking, I started seeing things the way they wanted me to see them, such as dirty dishes and dirty laundry, etc. Those spirits are unreasonable and they try to intimidate, and in the dream I found myself trying to reason with them. But when I stood up and had the right kind of anger in the holy Ghost, and told them to leave, they started heading out of the house. We need encouragement and fellowship to help us have right feelings and right thoughts about who we really are. Those feelings with Brother Earl, Jimmy and Sue were clean. We have to let the holy Ghost tell us who we are and not let a wrong spirit define us.

Pastor John,

Bess’s dream reminded me of a couple experiences that I would like to share.

In early 2007, after my divorce, I was alone for the first time in my life. I had never lived on my own and I was learning how to do things I had never done. I was very new in the Lord and in my mind, I thought I had to have a husband over me who knew me better than anyone else to help me and correct me when needed. One day talking with the Lord about it, I asked, “How will I know if something isn’t right with me and needs to be corrected?”

At the time I owned a Kia Sorento, and Jesus set it up so that it would periodically have minor problems that would require me to get it fixed. One of the problems was with the headlights. The bulbs would go out, and I would have to get them replaced. It happened so that whenever I pulled up to a building with a big window or door I would check my lights in the reflection to make sure they were still working. That was easy enough to do, and I was able to keep check on the front lights, but I had no easy way check the taillights.

One day I was slowly driving through the Walmart parking lot in Burlington. My window was open, and I was able to hear someone calling to me. I looked over, and there was a man waving me down. I stopped and cracked my window a little more so I could hear him better. He told me my taillight was out. I thanked him, and as I pulled away, I felt as if Jesus had sent the answer to my question, ‘How will I know if something isn’t right with me and needs to be corrected?’ The answer was simple and very sweet: He will send someone and they will let me know.

I learned as I went through some difficult spiritual battles surrounding my divorce that having fellowship with you, Pastor John, and Barbara, and my brothers and sisters would save me. You had not known me long, but you all could feel if I was doing ok or needed some correction and guidance. That didn’t come from knowing me as a person; that came from knowing the Spirit of God. I could “check my reflection” in Jesus through my fellowship with everyone else, and make the changes I needed, but I also had to keep my window open and listen to the ones that Jesus would send for the things I could not see on my own. When I would follow a wrong spirit and let it control me, you helped me see it so I could learn to fix it!

That was the first experience. The second experience that was brought to mind from Bess’s dream was something that happened a couple of years ago. I was in my kitchen cooking dinner. When I reached into a cabinet to pull out a bowl, I suddenly felt a familiar feeling that I was once very acquainted with and at one time was controlled by it. The feeling was not from within me, but was on the outside of me. If it was something real; I think I could have seen it. Thankfully, I immediately knew it was not me. I said, “Go away!” And just as quickly as it came, it left. I know that if I would have welcomed that old spirit back, it would have once again robbed me of my peace and joy from Jesus.

I am very thankful for you and for the help I have had. I pray that I will always have the “window” to my heart open enough that I can hear you or whoever Jesus sends, if and when I need them.

Love,

Amy F

Pastor John,

I was reading the exchange between some folk on WhatsApp today regarding a shed, and it reminded me of an experience that I had with Jesus – He taught me a very valuable lesson.

Many years ago I went through a period where I would do my best to help anybody that I could, every time that I could, with any project they were working on. I wanted to do those things for people.

It was during one of those projects that the Lord spoke to my heart very clearly and changed my understanding about what I was doing. The Lord told me:
“You haven’t done one thing ‘unto Me’ until you have taken care of all of your responsibilities at home, first.”

With that startling but gentle instruction came this immediate understanding:
If I was tending to other’s needs before taking care of my wife, I was stealing what belonged to her and giving it to someone else. And only what I was doing above and beyond all of my normal responsibilities counted with God. I received no credit from the Lord for substituting something I was supposed to be doing with another task.

It gave me a new way of looking at the choices I had been making, and convicted my heart that I had been giving away what belonged to my wife. I wonder now if she had been praying, because God showed up to help.

The Lord was very kind to me in His instruction; I had been trying very hard to do good, but I found out it wasn’t holy.

Jerry