5/14/2016 0 Comments The Gift of Faith For A PuppyIn Corinthians it talks about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. I have come to understand that Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God. He has been a part of God forever. (We don’t even know how long forever is). Anyways the Holy Spirit has gifts that He gives to people. These aren’t like Christmas or Birthday presents, they are better. One of them is the gift of faith. I have experienced this a few times and the best way for me to explain it is by using this example. When a child is little and one of their parents says, “Right after lunch I will take you for an ice cream cone,” and because the parent has always kept their word, the child knows they will do it. The child has a knowing in his/her heart that they are going for ice cream. Well with the Holy Spirit there is a knowing in your heart that the thing you just thought or said is going to happen. The Holy Spirit doesn’t shout in your ear, “I will take you for ice cream". Sometimes he may give you that kind of message too but in the instance I am going to share it is the feeling.” The evidence is this strong feeling of faith. What does faith feel like? I’m not sure you can feel assurance but that’s what it felt like assurance that it is going to happen. And it is a gift from the Holy Spirit. I will give you an example from my life. When my husband was sick with leukemia God lead me to a church in Winnipeg. (That is another story I will write in the future) Anyway a couple of months after we returned home from Winnipeg we found ourselves going back to Winnipeg for appointments on a regular basis. For months our youngest daughter pestered us non-stop about us getting her a puppy. We had an American Eskimo at home but Brit wanted a kid dog. (That was her phrase. Buddy our American Eskimo was okay with our kids but not really a dog the kids could cuddle.) We looked around home but there were no dogs that fit my specifications. We were going to stop on our way home from Winnipeg one day to see two sets of puppies but by the time we got back to Brandon they were all gone. I turned to Brit and I knew she was going to be disappointed and for some reason I said, “The puppies have all been given away but don’t worry there will be a puppy and we will know that puppy is yours.” I almost wanted to take the sentence back. Why had I said that? I thought. But at the same time I was feeling that we would know that that puppy was Brit’s. It was a strong feeling and felt good and positive and kind of exciting. So I never recanted my statement. I just believed that what I said was going to happen. A week later we were in Winnipeg but this time was for our other daughter’s ball tournament. At the end of a game I saw a couple of kids holding puppies. I pointed them out to Brit and we went over to see them. I asked if the pups were for sale. The girls said, “yes” and pointed to her mother in the stands. A girl handed a puppy to Brit. It crawled up her hoodie and went to sleep in her hood. Brit said,”I want this one.” I talked to the lady for a few minutes. As we spoke she told me that one of the puppy’s names was Ringo. That was my childhood dog’s name. Then she said something about church. I wanted to ask her what church she went to but I thought that would be presumptuous so I didn’t. I wondered if it would possibly be the church that God led me to but I thought the chances were pretty slim because there were probably a hundred churches in Winnipeg. Anyway the nice lady asked us to go to her house the next day to see the pups. She told us to drive into Winnipeg and turn left at the first set of lights. That was the same street we turned on and the same area we lived in when we lived in Winnipeg just a few weeks before. When we got to her house her husband opened the gate for us and there were eight cute puppies playing and tumbling over each other. The man said his wife was out doing hair. “Your wife is a hairdresser?” I asked. “Yes,” he said “So am I,” I said. Brit was on the ground playing with the puppies. My husband said “They are collies.” Neil had a collie when he was a teenager. The man said, “Yes, but they have a bit of American Eskimo in them.” “We have one of them at home,” I said. I was getting the idea that one of these puppies was Brit’s. Kelly, the man’s wife came home. She showed us which puppy was Ringo and told us he was spoken for. We weren’t sure which one to get but we decided on the blue mural little girl. Kelly said she would be another week before she was ready to go because she was the runt of the litter. I said “That’s ok because Brittanie would be away at camp for a week.” “Which camp? My kids go to Turtle Mountain Bible Camp.” Kelly said. “My oldest daughter is there right now taking a DNT course.” I said in delightful surprise. This camp is an hour and twenty minutes from our home and three hours from Winnipeg. Then I had to ask “Do you mind me asking what church you go to? “Spring’s Church,” Kelly said. That was the church I went to for the six months when we lived in Winnipeg. These people drove the perimeter to the other side of the city every Sunday just like I did, to go to the same church. I was pretty sure that blue mural sheltie collie named Cheka was Brittanie’s puppy. The reason I said “there will be a puppy and we will know that puppy is yours,” a week before and the faith that I felt was all a part of God’s plan. Within a week I heard a speaker telling of how God told Abraham to look at the stars in the sky and the sands of the sea to remind him that he was going to be the father of many nations. At the same time I realized that we got Cheka as a reminder of Spring’s Church. The information I got there has changed my life.
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4/6/2016 0 Comments Supernatural PowerDoes God want us to have anything to do with supernatural powers?
This is something that not many people have knowledge of. Even some Christians are unaware of God’s desires in this area. People are seeking and that is why they are looking for these forms of help and some are just interested. I certainly wasn’t aware of what God has said about this subject, for many years. The powers I am referring to are fortune-telling, omens, psychic mediums, necromancers, ouija boards, witchcraft and astrological zodiac signs.We are to be interested in supernatural power and even have some forms of them working through our lives but let’s look at what the Bible says about all of this. Leviticus 19:31 “Do not turn to mediums or necromancers; do not seek them out, and so make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God. Some could say, “That is Old Testament.” But here is what the New Testament says. Galatians 5:19-21 ESV Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Another Old Testament verse says these forms of supernatural behaviours are not from God. Isaiah 8:19 ESV “And when they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,” should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living?”. The penalty for sorcery in the Old Testament was death. It must have been a serious offence as were a lot of things. Exodus 22:18 Leviticus 20:27 Leviticus 20:6 ESV “If a person turns to mediums and necromancers, whoring after them, I will set my face against that person and will cut him off from among his people. You could search out the verses at the end of this page to learn more about how God feels about these things. What type of supernatural power does God want us to experience? 2 Peter 1:4 (NKJV) 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. What is this divine nature that God wants us to partake in? Divine, this looks to me like I should be partaking in something that in more than I can humanly do. (Look below) 1. of, from, or like God or a god. "heroes with divine powers" synonyms: godly, angelic, seraphic, saintly, beatific; More 2. informaldated excellent; delightful. "that succulent clementine tasted divine" How is this possible? Romans 8:11New King James Version (NKJV) 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. We have the same power in us that raised Jesus from the dead dwelling in us. John 14:12New King James Version (NKJV) The Answered Prayer 12 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. We are to be able to do the same things and more that He did and God knew things supernaturally and was able to speak to people about those things as well as do miracles. 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 (NKJV) 8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same[a] Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. In this verse, we see that some people are given a word of wisdom which is wisdom given to be shared with a person, that will help that person right now or in the future. A word of knowledge is something that has happened in someone’s past or right now that when said to them will help them be comforted or to understand the situation so that they are helped with it. The gift of faith is when you believe something that you couldn’t believe naturally, whatever the faith is for it will then come to pass. Working of miracles is when God gives people the ability to work a miracle. Where something changes in the natural which otherwise wouldn’t. Prophecy is a word that is given to someone else to edify, comfort, or exhort them and therefore help them into God’s plan for their life and with life’s issues as well. Discerning of spirits is when a person will know what spirit is behind another person’s character or actions. Tongues is speaking in another language that they don’t know or haven’t learned. Interpretation of tongues is understanding what was said in that not understood tongue. Those are some of the supernatural gifts that Christians have been given, there are others. We can also have a personal relationship with God, where you can hear Him for yourself in different ways including dreams and visions, which will guide, encourage, and protect, and He can also guide you into His plan for your life. All things are possible with God and all things are possible to those who believe. Matthew 19:26 and Mark 9:23. The truth of it is that God does want us to be interested in the supernatural but He wants us to be safe, happy and with Him as we are experiencing the powers that He and authority He has ordained for us to us. He is the head and we are the body, nothing can be done without Him or without it being His will first. Divination is not from God because it is an unknown supernatural means and we are to put God first and have nothing before Him. div·i·na·tion noun
2 Thessalonians 2:9 ESV 1 Chronicles 10:13, Daniel 2:27 ESV, Zechariah 10:2 ESV, 2 Kings 21:6 ESV, Isaiah 19:3, Micah 5:12. Deuteronomy 18:11 ESV, Ezekiel 13:6-9, 1 Samuel 15:23, Revelation 18:23, Acts 16:16, Ezekiel 12:24, Isaiah 47:9-13, 2 Chronicles 33:6, Acts 8:9, https://www.openbible.info/topics/sorcery |
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