”But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. “ (2 Corinthians 3:18)
Greetings again my Brethren. Three times a month Karen and I drive 1 1/2 hours one way to Craven Correctional Institution (used to be called Craven Prison) to share the Word of God with the inmates. What a wonderful opportunity to share the Word of God with these men. I have seen there is more of a hunger and love for the Word of God in most prison than in most churches we have ministered in. One message I often feel to share with the inmates is God must put us in a fix so He can fix us. I will let that sink in a minute before I drive on. But, this is true God must be able (our choice) to get us in a bind so that He can straighten us out. My Bible Teacher Charles Haun always said, “the bottom of the barrel always offers the best view of God.” Something about allowing (our choice) God to get us in a fix that really opens up our eyes to our “true” need for God. Last month we looked at a pleasant place to have God work on us, the palace. I mean who would not want God to work on them in the courts of the king? In the lap of luxury? Well, this month we will look at a making place of God that most people would not want God to lead them too and that is a prison. A place most people shun, but not so in the Bible. Paul spent most of his latter years in prison or chained to a Roman solider. As a matter of fact, Paul was in prison when he was beheaded. Paul and usually a companion, no matter where they would go would end up in a prison for some time. But in time God would deliver them. You know many Christians want God to be with them, but rarely do anything that would necessitate God to do anything miraculous to deliver them. Oh no, we just want to go to church one time a week, sing the three fast ones and slow one, pass the plate, hear some announcements and maybe a 15-20 minute sermon, then rush off to a restaurant, beating the others churches to lunch, while feel good about ourselves for going to church. Does this sound like your Sunday routine my friend? If so, maybe you should do something for God where you will end up in a prison like Jospeh, Paul and Peter? In the Book of Acts there seems to be a relationship with prisons and witnessing of the Gospel. I wonder what God is trying to teach us about witnessing? At the same time there is a relationship with prisons and God delivering people out of prison in special ways. In Acts, the transition Book between the Old and New Testament, we see a wonderful story where Peter was thrown in prison, but God delivered him from his prison. You know God is really good at delivering us from different types of prisons if we have allowed God to work in our lives. Here though, it was a physical prison, but I am sure when Peter was delivered he was developed inwardly the more. Luke writes, but was not there, “Peter therefore was kept in prison: but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him. 6And when Herod would have brought him forth, the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains: and the keepers before the door kept the prison. 7And, behold, the angel of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison: and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Arise up quickly. And his chains fell off from his hands. 8And the angel said unto him, Gird thyself, and bind on thy sandals. And so he did. And he saith unto him, Cast thy garment about thee, and follow me. 9And he went out, and followed him; and wist not that it was true which was done by the angel; but thought he saw a vision. 10When they were past the first and the second ward, they came unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city; which opened to them of his own accord: and they went out, and passed on through one street; and forthwith the angel departed from him. 11And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.” (Acts 12:5-11) In verse seven the Angel of the LORD arrived just in time while Peter was in prison and not before and delivered him. My friend God wants our journey through life to be a meaningful experience so that we can learn of Him and His ways. If Peter had not gone to prison then Peter would not come to know God as a deliverer. Want to know God? Well, get sick then you can come to know God as a healer. Want to know God as a provider, well go bankrupt. Want to know God, well God has a special way to come to know Him. In verse 11 Peter said, “I know of a surety, that the Lord hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me” what a place in God to come to know God (and only God) has delivered us. Well, that place is in a prison God has especially prepared just for us.
More next month as we look at a storm and other diversities of circumstances in the months to come. Are you there my friend? In tough situations and circumstances? Have you heard His voice? Listen closely and you will. Written by David Stahl
ARTICLE REVIEW:
Miracles
When the Scriptures say, “God’s ways are not our ways” we think that does not apply to miracles. After all who would not like a great miracle? But to be honest miracles are not God’s best for our lives blessings which He has already been given us is. I know this thought runs contrary to most Christian’s belief and teachings, but come on brother, let’s get God to jump through the victory hoop for us so we can get Him to give us a new car or bigger house. Or even touch our body when we have overindulged to the point our weight is killing us. Now I speak from personal experience. To have God’s best for our lives we must cooperate with God’s natural laws and His divine spiritual principles. When God does a miracle for us He supersedes (suspends) or extends His natural laws and/or divine spiritual principles sometimes to cover our disobedience and failure to walk in the way He would have us go. Often, we will pray for God to touch our body to help us lose weight and we even ask for a miracle when all we have to do is push away from the table, but no a miracle lets us off the hook. Or we pray for God to do a miracle in our finances (probably living beyond our means) when all we have to do is cut up some credit cards and stop over spending, but no a miracle lets us off the hook and we can go and shop till we drop. Well, God has already provided all we need for our daily healthy living, prosperity, and so much more there really is no need for Him to give us a miracle. He may (He does not have to) if He does He knows the plan He has for our life could be in jeopardy of failure or we will experience an early untimely death. It is when we fail to follow God’s natural and spiritual divine principles we need a miracle. In Ephesians Paul tells us, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:” (Ephesians 1:3) God has already given us everything we need to do what He wants us to do. God “hath blessed us with all spiritual blessing” that is past tense. What more can we add to “all?” In the Bible “all” means just that “all.” God hath blessed us with “all” spiritual blessing. Shall we add a miracle to the word “all?” The hunger for miracles in some people (Christians included) is greater than the hunger for God. The root and source of all we do MUST be found in Christ. Most Christians do not know miracles return or go back to a normal condition because miracles are not permanent in our lives. God gave the Children of Israel manna (heavenly food) to eat while in the wilderness what a wonderful miracle, but it ended and manna was never again recorded in the Bible. In the Book of Joshua after the Children of Israel crossed the Jordan river, “And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Jericho. 11 And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame day. 12 And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.” (Joshua 5:10-12) The wonderful miracle of manna ceased and things went back to the natural law of food (seed time and harvest) in the divine spiritual principles God established. Principles like if you do not work you should not eat, “For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.” (2 Thessalonians 3:10) Many Christians today expect God to supernaturally provide food and shelter, but have no intention of finding work. In the 80s and 90s many Christians went on “love walks” not working so other Christians could provide for them as they spent more time with God. What a bunch of mule fritters! These Christians were just lazy. Peter never walked on the water again after the episode with Jesus correcting him. Matthew gives us a good account of this. “And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me. 31 And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? 32 And when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.” (Matthew 14:29-32) After Jesus and Peter hit the boat Peter never walked on water again. I wonder why Peter left a place of safety? Looks and sounds like Peter wanted Jesus to do a miracle for him so he could do something supernatural. The natural laws of gravity and weight kicked in for Peter the rest of his life. I remember when we lived in Ridgeley, West Virginia and my father was working in Quantico VA while in the USMC. Well, it was time to go to church, but we had no gas in our car. What to do, well, a good friend of my mother Mill Miller, a dear woman of God said, “Beverly do you believe Jesus turned the water into wine?” And my mother replied, “yes.” So, Mill said, “do you believe God can turn water into gas?” My mother replied, “yes.” So, Mill said, “fill her up.” So, in blind faith my mother filled the gas tank with water and off we drove to church. As a matter of fact, we drove all week on that tank of water and when my mother told my father he went high and to the right. As special as that miracle was at that time the next week the car needed gas to run on. Miracles are not permanent because they are an extension or stopping of normal conditions or circumstances of natural laws and divine spiritual principles. Miracles are not God’s best His best is for us to operate in the natural laws and divine spiritual principles in obedience to His word that He has established for us to live successfully now and in the future. After all miracles are not a guarantee from God, but a blessing “hath” been done (already given to us) where miracles have not been done. To make things even more confused we have problems with determining the outcome between a miracle and a healing. A healing is something that happens over time where a miracle is a suspension or extension of God’s natural laws and divine spiritual principles. Often, we pray for a miracle when in reality what we want is a healing. We must not get confused and ask the LORD for what we want. After all our prayers for such things are things we want from God and even in this we must be careful not to get over in the misuse of our asking the LORD for things. The word “amiss” is an interesting word that is often used. James tells us, “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” (James 4:3) The word “amiss” means to be sick, to be diseased, evil, or grievous. It has more to do with our heart condition than asking not according to God’s will for the situation. Here James was saying you receive not because of your evil, grievous heart. When we go after miracles instead of walking in the natural laws and divine spiritual principles we can get over into tempting God. You can ask Brother Peter. Again, I know this is NOT mainstream Christian doctrine, but miracles seem to have a magical spell on us. My friend, God is not in the business of doing magic He is looking for our obedience in following His divine order and spiritual principles so that He will not have to pull a rabbit out of His hat. Sadly, if He has to do something supernatural (and He will because He has a plan and purpose in His heart for us) to save us He knows the plan and purpose He has for us is in jeopardy of failing. Now do not think we have succeeded when we get God to do something supernatural for us we have not we have failed. When we look at the greatest miracle in our lives — salvation it is not done by God doing something supernatural for us, but by us in obedience confessing our sins. John tells us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) The word “confess” means we agree with God what He is saying about us is true. The greatest confession we can make is our need for God and out from that we must follow His divine principles and laws He “hath” already given us. Now that would be a real miracle. Written by David Stahl
THOUGHTS FROM KAREN:
This Age of Grace
I am ever amazed at the Grace of GOD. How He has bent over backwards to save man. Daily, He holds His hand out to humankind, offering salvation and daily He gets rebuffed by most in the world. Folks, the age of Grace is not forever. It is not a license to act anyhow. The Bible is full of examples of how to and how NOT to live our lives. It’s full of examples that we judge and take heed to ourselves and others so that we do not follow after them. Grace in the Old Testament is translated most of the time as: graciousness, kindness, favor, or beauty, grace, pleasant, precious, and well favored. Has GOD not been this way to us? And in the New Testament most of the time it is translated: graciousness of manner or act, or spiritual especially divine influence upon the heart and it’s reflection in the life, including gratitude, acceptable benefit, favor, gift joy, liberality, pleasure, thanks worthy. Is this not our GOD? Now this age of Grace will NOT last forever. GOD will not keep back His hand slack from judging the world. Beloved, those of us that are saved—does He not chasten us when we are wrong? Did not Jesus say,
“If you love me keep my commandments.” (John 14:15) Is this not the least we can do for such a wonderful GOD and precious Savior? To live any old which way, say anything, and retort in our own fleshy ways, and say, “well we’re under Grace.” Is a slap in GOD’S face. We are NOT to live anyhow. Read Your Bible. We are to change! We are not supposed to be the same person we were 20—10—5—or even 2 years ago. God expects change in our lives. God expects Christ to be formed in us. Paul writes in Galatians: “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,” (Galatians 4:19) Are we not exceedingly grateful to a benevolent Creator and Savior? Then why do we take GOD’S Grace for granted? Nay why do we error exceedingly? We should accept GOD’S Grace with humility and gratitude and then do our best to “Grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3:18) Read Your Bible, spend time with the Lord. There’s a lot of time wasters in our day reading the Bible ISN’T one of them. Written by Karen Stahl
NEEDS NOT WANTS:
1. In Dobrich, Bulgaria Pastor Niki Marsov and in Silistra Pastor(s) Yanko, and Marcho. Times are troubled in Bulgaria much prayer and support is needed.
2. Constanta, Romania Pastors Luke and Jacob at Bethel Church and in Agigea Brother John Vlad as the Director of the Romanian Center for Cross-cultural Studies Bible School.
3. Pastor S. J. Peter, Founder of DAWN Ministries in Hyderabad and Pastor Wilson and his son Pastor Julian at Gospel Assembly in Sankaraguptham, India.
4. Dan, Cathy, and members of Uskudar Son Buyruk Kilisesi in Istanbul, Turkey.
5. Pastor Elieti Msangi in Dar Es Salaam and Pastors Isreal Mutaitina and John Balone in Bukoba, Tanzania.
6. Pastor Tek Dahl at Gethsemane, Church (his church) and their radio station “Good News 105.1 FM” in Kathmandu, Nepal.
7. Bishop John, Samuel Kamanzi (from the Congo), and, Emmanuel Ndolimana in Ruhengeli, Rwanda.
8. Christian and Ina Kopjar Missionaries to the County of Liberia.
NEXT HOME GROUP MEETINGS:
19 March 24 at 7:00 pm
At 232 Everett Drive
Sneads Ferry, NC 28460
7:00 pm please RSVP
(910) 382-9287
BEHOLDING HIS GLORY ON THE RADIO:
On WJCV Jacksonville, NC
“Pebbles of Truth”
1290 AM or 98.3 FM
Every Tuesday and Thursday morning at 7:30 am
FUTURE BHG SCHEDULE:
March: Local Ministry
April: Poland and Czech
May: Local Ministry
I am still available to share what God has given me at churches and/or home groups. If God moves on your heart to support BHG or other ministries we personally know we would be honored to serve as a go between. Remember, if we want a blessing from God the spiritual principle is we must bless others. Remember, God is to you what you are to God.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Address:
David and Karen Stahl
232 Everett Drive
Sneads Ferry, NC 28460
Phone:
Mobile: (910) 382-9287
FAX: (910) 741-0489
Email:
Website:
Blog:
http://bhisglory.blogspot.com/
FREE OFFERS
Booklets on Spiritual Authority, Spiritual Leadership, Prayer, Body of Christ, and Righteous Living the Four Anchors of God are now available by contacting us and requesting one. You can see them on our home page. Get one now.
The Author House link below will lead you to our latest book, “Thoughts for Consideration.” Just copy it into your web browser and return. Also you can purchase two of our other books “Adventures with God.” and “God Still Performs Miracles: A Book of Personal Encouragement.”
http://www.authorhouse.com/AuthorCenter/Protected/BookHome.aspx?bookID=61464
Please take a minute and take a look, they all make for a great encouraging gift, giving hope and sharing God’s love through a deeper teaching that someone can enjoy again and again. All of our books can be purchased at all book stores like Barnes and Nobles, Borders, Book-A-Million, and etc., any Christian Book Store that orders, and all book ordering on-line companies like Amazon.com. Or if you are like me from the old school just contact us, we will let you know the price and then we will mail it out to your home address. Postage and handling is on a case by case basis. If you know someone you think would enjoy receiving this newsletter or if you receive this newsletter and do not wish to please let me know. Contributions to this ministry is always appreciated and needed the more time continues. Please feel free to contact us with the above information
