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Pastor John,
Last night was so sweet to me. Soooo encouraging!!!!! I could not sit in my seat any longer. The Lord was wanting me to move. When I saw Jim and we were in the middle praising God, it did something down deep. My love for my husband bubbled to the top. I knew He would take us both through any difficult times ahead. And I praise and thank Him.
Keep the holy Ghost continually stirred up in us.
Love you, Pastor John.
Diane
Hi John,
I read the first 5 chapters of Daniel this morning when I got up. I loved the faith and the trust in God from Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and even the faith and trust in God that Nebuchadnezzar had after he was turned to a wild animal and restored again. Even the ones not of God at that time knew there was a God over them and wanted His favor. The anointing of God makes all the difference in everything. What does it matter what men say? Our Lord is in control. All we have to do is please him.
What wonderful feelings tonight! I loved all the songs and testimonies from everyone. What faith, to “trust and wait” on him. Wow, what a song from God to Darren!! What an encouraging Savior we have in Jesus. So good hearing you singing tonight, John!! Oh, how sweet is his favor!! Thank you, John!
Stuart
Pastor John,
Your note on Malachi 1:10 is very good! God is the one who led us to you. How wonderful! Shouldn’t that note be a tract?
Julie P
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Thanks, Julie.
I re-read that portion of my book on Malachi, and I think it may be too long for a tract, but it could certainly be a Blog. And the truth about hiring and firing ministers certainly needs to be told!
Pastor John
Hi Pastor John,
I was working in the mountains yesterday. After I finished the job, the homeowner asked me to look at another window in her kitchen. Looking out the window, it has a wonderful view of pasture land which lead to the south-east side of Pilot Mountain. Beautiful!
The homeowner had her printed testimony on the kitchen table. She is a cancer survivor, like me. We shared one another’s cancer testimonies; I loved her humility. You can tell she puts everything she does into what knowledge she has about Jesus, but what is heart-braking is that she didn’t know anything about the Spirit, only what she had read or taught by her Pastor; she doesn’t have the experience of receiving the “Blessing”. I could hardly contain my tears for her.
Right before I arrived at her house, I stopped in a parking lot (because I was early) and read again the tract, Stir Up the Gift of God, and came to the part, “Prayer is the paddle we use to “stir up” God’s unspeakable gift”. It’ only the holy Ghost or God’s “Blessing” inside of us that can pray to God what we really need in our souls. Though prayer is the paddle, I had the thought that it is our experiences or testimonies with and of God that are the hands that hold the paddle.
As I was giving my testimony about my ex-cancer to her, I felt that paddle stirring in my heart and became so thankful for the holy Ghost and what Jesus has done for me. It is no small thing to receive the Truth and then have an anointed man of God to teach us and understand the truth.
She did have a hand written scripture on the kitchen table from, Isaiah 41:10 “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness”.
I gave her a copy of my book, In God’s Shadow and I hope she reads it. It felt very good talking with her. The book is a testimony that leads to the links of us on the web. I know if she would only look up the links to our web pages, it would answer a lot of her questions about Jesus.
On my way home, I started just praising God in my truck and feeling the power of God in my body. I started thanking God for the many experiences that he has given to me and the help that He has put around us, while so many precious souls do not have it. I was praying, “Jesus, if I am to make it in the end, I will need to have more experiences with you.” Past experiences are so wonderful to reflect on, and they help your faith, but it’s the new experiences that keep the paddle moving.
Thank you, Pastor John, for being used by Jesus to rescue me (us). And, thank you to Barbara for making it possible for Judy and me to be there in August 2001.
God is good,
Billy
Good morning John,
I loved reading through the tract last night about stirring up the gift of God. It has always been one of my favorites, but I hadn’t read it in quite a while. I feel like it was needed, because I had been feeling a little “humdrum” in the spirit for a while – letting my thoughts get too caught up in day-to-day activities, work, news, weather, jobs, etc., and not stirring up the holy Ghost in me enough to burn off the daily dirt of the world that builds up. One of the things that stood out to me in the tract was the line that says, “Oh, how we need to stir this gift, which is our only hope, both as individuals and as the body of Christ!” Like you mentioned last night, what a wonderful thing it would be if each of us – and all of God’s people – would stir up the gift that God has given us, every day. What amazing things Jesus could do with us if we all kept the Spirit stirred in us, and made listening for, waiting for, and obeying that still, small voice our top priority every day!
Last night felt so good, praying with everyone and hearing Darren’s song, and Earl’s testimony again, along with Gary’s song. This morning in the shower I was just praying and speaking in tongues, and letting that paddle of prayer stir the holy Ghost up in me. It felt like a shower of warmth that went beyond just the water of the shower. It made me very thankful just to have that free gift to even be able to stir it up. God help us not to neglect it! I like this verse in Jude that we recently went over with the translating group: “But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith, praying in the holy spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, receiving the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.” (20-21).
Vince
Yeah…. so it is one of those prophecies that has multiple (both immediate and future fulfillment), kind of like Isaiah 28 had to do with both the invaders coming in to Israel during Isaiah’s day, and the future fulfillment on the day of Pentecost?
“For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.”
By the way, years ago, when I told pastor E—, at the Assembly of God church, that Isaiah 28:11-12 was a prophecy of speaking in tongues and the “rest” of the new birth – he told me I was wrong and that that verse was talking about invaders coming into Canaan’s land, whom the people of Israel would not be able to understand, and that after that, the land would have rest.
I told him that I agreed with that part, but it was also a dual fulfillment because Paul quoted the same verse in 1 Cor.14:20-22 and said it had to do with tongues today.
He said, maybe so, but you still don’t need to speak in tongues to be saved. What could I say. :/ That’s how those discussions went.
Gary
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Yes, that prophecy had a double fulfillment, it was so great.
Your former pastor’s response sounds like what that Christian minister said about me on his web site, the man who accused me in the local newspaper of teaching that a person has to live in North Carolina to be saved. On his web site, he ridiculed me for saying that Proverbs 8 was the Son of God speaking through the prophet. I mean, how much more of the Son of God could it be?
Tell you what, if a person rejects the truth about the new birth, there is no telling what they will think, say, or do next.
Whew. God have mercy … on him and on us all. Every one of us are fools without Him.
jdc
Hi John,
I always thought these verses from Malachi 4:5-6, also in part at least, were prophetic of John the Baptist:
Luk 1:17-18 “And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years…”
Mat 17:10-13 “And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist.”
I’m assuming that Elias in the NT here is Elijah…. and seems that the wording is similar in Luke and Malachi…is that correct?
Gary
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Hi Gary,
Yes, that is true, but John the Baptist was himself a figure of the real Elijah, whom God will send to Israel, along with Moses, immediately before Jesus returns.
Pastor John
Pastor John,
In this verse from 2Samuel, it speaks of Michal (Saul’s daughter who despised David for dancing before the LORD) bringing up children for Adriel the son of Barzillai. Would it have been customary for the king’s wife to do this? I was thinking maybe also David had mercy on Michal and allowed her to raise these children. Then I thought maybe that was part of the punishment from God for her hard heart and her pride. It would have been hard for her to have them given up for death after raising them.
Seems a little odd that she would raise children after being shunned for conceiving children.
Just wanted to see if you have any information or thoughts on this?
Beth
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Hi Beth,
Those children were Michal’s five sons that she had by Adriel during her years of separation from David, after Saul gave her to Adriel instead of David (1Sam. 18:19). She was not the king’s wife when she was given to Adriel. She was the wife of an outlaw, in King Saul’s eyes. Her marriage to David had been annulled, so to speak, by Saul, and she became Adriel’s wife. When David became king, he demanded that Michal be given back to him, and she was. later, he executed those five sons of Michal (2Sam. 21:1-9).
Pastor John
Good Morning Pastor John!
We are reading Psalms for part of OT homework. I just love Psalms. I feel like saying out loud, “I know David! Isn’t God good!” It’s like knowing a VERY big important secret and stumbling across something written from someone else who knows the secret. I get waves of excitement when reading different Psalms. I would have liked to have met David! So many feelings Jesus gives us can be found in PSALMS! It’s like a sweet, sweet reminder from God that He gave those feelings then, just like He gives to me today.
Even Absalom turning against David, those feelings of loving your child but not being able to be a part of their lives, is part of my life. (I know that was due to David’s sin, but it is still feelings of a longing for a child to get it right so you can be with them.)
It is a shouting kind of excitement to feel the words written!!!!!!
Excited in Jesus,
Beth
Hi John,
I was reading in Malachi this morning and ran across the two verses below.
What is verse 6 saying?
How will hearts be turned? Is he referring to Elijah from verse 5, or is it the Lord?
Malachi 4:
5.
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
6.
And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse”
Tom
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Hi Tom,
We can see many benefits to what God says He will send Elijah to do. Primarily, what God is promising is that He will heal relationships and re-establish the order among us that He intended in the beginning. When elders (“the fathers”) are in God’s order, they have a kindly and nurturing attitude toward those in their care. At the same time, when those who are being cared for (“the children”) are in God’s order, they view their forebears with respect, which is contrary to the way a proud generation thinks, as Solomon’s friend Agur observed:
Proverbs 30
11.
There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother.
12.
There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness.
13.
There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted up.
What else God may have had in mind when He promised to send Elijah with the blessing of good order in the home, I cannot say. But I will say that the blessings that come from God’s order are many, and to be in God’s order is something we pray for, so that we will be a blessing on the earth
Pastor John
