THOUGHTS FOR CONSIDERATION: Greetings again my friends. WOW can you believe 2025 will soon slip into time eternal? I have always heard the older we get the faster time flies, well I am here to tell you I am convinced. Now, I do not know how and why, but next year I will be 71 years old and where did time go. Of course, the only answer is into the hands of God. One day when our #2 son Daniel was married and we met his mother-in-law, a Christian, I made the statement you cannot be a Christian unless you have a passport and like to drive, well she jumped me, “show me that in Bible.” I knew then what I had to look forward too, but the point I was making was if traveling is not for you and you really love God then your lack of desire to travel is going to be a problem. Karen does not like to travel she is a home body, but she submits to God and me in this and has been such a blessing to many people around the world, me and God. One of the hallmarks of a Prophet, as we continue to talk about “the Prophet of God” is being a servant, Prophets go wheresoever they are sent by God. In Jeremaiah we read, “Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child. 7But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.” (Jeremiah 1:6-7) Here in verse seven we see the sending guidance of God not only for Prophets, but for all children that love Him. Plainly God’s guidance to Jeremaiah and us today, go where I send you and say what I tell you to say. Ministry is not really that tough when we follow the LORD’s guidance. We get into trouble with people and the LORD when we have another idea other than what the LORD said to do or we add a few things to what God says. Now, I am talking out of experience. We try to help God out when we embellish His word and what He is doing. Kathryn Kuhlman a lady evangelist out of Pittsburgh, PA in the 1960s and 70s. Now before I continue my thoughts I would like to share a true story from my mother’s life and Kathryn Kulman. My father was in Vietnam (1968-69 second tour) and my mother came down with cancer. Well, she did not want to disturb my father so she prayed about the cancer and the LORD said go to where Kathryn Kuhlman holds her services and you would be healed. So, my mother being a new Christian and in blind faith called a close friend Kitty Lance who had a car (we had no car) and asked if Bud (Kitty’s husband) could drive her to a Kathry Kuhlman meeting in Pittsburgh, about 3 three hours one way. They said sure we would love to go. So, they loaded my mother up in the back seat of the car with a green and brown discard draining out of her, and they drive the three hours to Pittsburgh. Well, they got there well before the Tuesday night service and wondered what they were going to do so, my mother said let go into the auditorium and wait. The second my mother stepped into the auditorium she felt a warm, strong feeling flowing from her head to her toes and from her toes to her head for a few seconds and she knew she was completely healed from the cancer. So, believe it or not Bud and Kitty Lance and my mother got back in the car that Tuesday afternoon and drove three hours back to Ridgeley, WV. They never stayed for the service: to hear Kathryn Kuhlman preach, they never gave an offering, had Kathryn Kulman lay hands on my mother, oh no, that is not what the LORD told my mother to do. She was told go to the place where Kathryn Kuhlman holds her services and she will be healed. My mother did that which the LORD commanded her and she was healed. She did not add to God’s word or take away from what God said, but did that which He spoke. That is it my friend, just go and do what God tells us to say and where God tells us to go. Now, I know what I am talking about here from experience. Sadly, I have not went, out of fear, where God told me to go and a few times I did not say what God wanted me to say, with the intensity, I sugar-coated it. Verse eight, tells us, “Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD.” (Jeremiah 1:8), but I
learned not to do this. To be a true servant of God, when handling the Word of God, we must never look at the faces or see how the people are reacting, but just preach the Word and leave the results in God‘s faithful hands. Last year when I ministered at the Skinia Church in Izmayil, Ukraine I thought I bombed, (no pun intended), I thought my words fell on stony hearts, but to my amazement Bishop Paul got up and took off on what I said and the people where in the aisles. Just speak what God wants. Okay let us go back to Kathryn Kuhlman and ask why God used her in so many miraculously healings in her ministry. Now, I know she was a lighting rod for many people who disagreed with ladies ministers and to be honest I do not know why, but all I know is; God is God and we are not and my mom had cancer and she was miraculously healed because she followed the LORD’s words to her. So, when they asked Kathryn Kuhlman why God uses her in such ways of healings her reply was, “I do not know, but all I do is just share the Gospel.”
Next month we will continue looking at the “Prophet of God” as we look at how we must go on whatsoever errands the LORD send us on. Is this you my friend? Are you a Prophet of God? To be a Prophet we must be able to hear His voice. Listen closely and you will. Written by David Stahl
ARTICLE REVIEW:
Doing Follows Thinking
There is a critical spiritual principle that the LORD has been working into my spirit lately and that is “doing follows thinking.” Our doing in and out of God follows whatsoever we think. We will go nowhere in that we have not yet thought about first. I can go to Germany now (because we used to live there) by just thinking about it or imagining what it would be like. Our thought life is what drives our physical life. There is no sin we will ever commit without first thinking about it. There is no good act that God has ordained in our lives that we first did not think about. The longer I go in God the more I see and understand how God communicates with us through our thoughts, our thinking. In Proverbs some of my favorite verses in the Scriptures are, “Eat thou not the bread of him that hath an evil eye, neither desire thou his dainty meats: 7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is notwiththee8 The morsel which thou hast eaten shalt thou vomit up, and lose thy sweet words.” (Proverbs 23:6-8) As we think in our heart we shall be that, but if we get the wrong understanding from what we think we will be wrong. I can sit in a garage all day and think I am a car and even go beep beep, but that will never make me a car. Our thinking and understanding must align with the reality of what God wants us to do. If not we will get into trouble with God and man. If our wanting to understand at times can overrides what God wants us to know then we will get into trouble with God and man. Wanting to know out of God’s plan got Eve (and the entire world) into a lot of trouble. Today we still suffer from Eve’s lack of understanding and her wanting to know things that God did not want her to know. We again must want to know what God wants us to know. Anything more will get us into trouble with God and man. This thinking and our thoughts even gets down to the ministry of God’s word. The word of God (a message and not a sermon) that we receive from God is from our thoughts/thinking. When we have an opportunity to minister God’s word He will drop some thoughts in our thinking/thoughts and we will get an understanding of what He wants us to communicate to the people. God may even drop a burden in our heart, but for sure He will give us the thoughts on which to build His words from. And out from these thoughts is much external word (what we can write down) and out from the external word we will get the internal word where the Spirit of God dwells and what we share that gives life, the life of God for the people. The key is to get the correct understanding from our thinking, our thoughts. If we get a wrong understanding then we will get the wrong message. I have seen and heard this play out in lives for years. People push for an understanding and what they get is a wrong understanding. You know it is one thing not to know and have a wrong understanding, but it is another thing and worse not to know you do not know and have a wrong understanding. Now if we push for an understanding we will get one make no mistake (no pun intended) it may be wrong, but it is an understanding none the less. For some people sadly this is okay because it fits their agenda and philosophy in ministry. Sadly I have seen this play out for years also. Wrong understanding will lead us over into presumption; thinking we know what is right, but in reality it is wrong. In Philippians we can see this presumption play out if we do not have the right understanding. Paul writes, “Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. 6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanks giving let your requests be made known unto God. 7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:5-7) Here if we stay in the right context of these verses we will get a right understanding and there is even a great safety net that will prevent us from getting into trouble with God and man. Yes, we are to let our needs be known to God there is no question about this, but that is all we do. Then (and only then) “the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” we will not get over into presumption and get into trouble with God and man. Yet again and again I hear pastors and teachers tell people if they do not hear from God keep on asking, seeking, and knocking. They take the verses in Luke and Matthew out of context (twisting them) and try to beat God over His head with His own word. In Luke we read the words of Jesus, “And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. 10 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” (Luke 11:9-10) Now, if you stay with the context of what Jesus was saying and look at the words you will find Jesus was not saying to keep asking, seeking, and knocking till God answers. I cannot begin to tell you of the numbers of pastors and teachers I have heard spin this yarn getting people all worked up and when God does not answer they get disappointed and often fall out of God to the point they totally walk away from God. No my friend get out of the emotional realm and open up your spiritual understanding and Bible. Just ask and it will be given to you? Really? Just seek and you shall find? Really? Just knock and it shall be opened? Really? Jesus was not saying this at all. Jesus was not saying keep on bombarding heaven (as many pastors and teachers say) with your asking, seeking, and knocking till God surrenders and answers your prayer. This asking, seeking knocking teaching is nothing more than a works based performance religion where if I pray long, loud, and hard enough God will finally hear my prayer and answer it. Now read the verses with understanding. “For every one that asketh receiveth;” (it may not be what you were asking for, but if you ask for something you will receive something and it may not be from God) “and he that seeketh findeth;” (so too if you seek and seek you will find something, that is a part of our human nature we seek because we want to find something. We have this need in us to find something instead of waiting on God) and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.” (we knock and knock on this door and that door and if no one answers we keep knocking till someone answers the door we are knocking on, but probably depending on the number of doors we have knocked on it will not be the door God wants to open to us.) Jesus was warning us. Jesus was saying to take heed in our asking, seeking, and knocking because we will probably get some things in our push for understanding (may not be God’s understanding) that will be more destructive to our walk with the LORD than what the LORD has for us if we can wait on Him and receive. Does not God know what we need? Do we really need to ask, seek, and knock till God answers? I know when our kids were growing up and they wanted something (that I wanted to give them) they would ask and I would say okay. Now it is up to me when, where, and how to give them what they ask for, but if they kept bugging me (thinking they will get it sooner trying to manipulate me like many Christians try to do to God) their repeated pleads and petitions for what they have already asked me would become faint in my ears (even though I loved them very much) and would delay till they had the right heart condition to receive what they asked. In Matthew Jesus told the disciples and us, “Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Where withal shall we be clothed?32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.” (Mathew 6:31-32) Does not the Father know what we need? So what is all of this asking, seeking, knocking? Can we not just trust in God without all of this religious arrogance? Oh, I know I am going after some of the religious sacred cows, but it is high time for the Body of Christ to stop all of this “look see pigeon” (what the Chinese would say) when you release a pigeon from a cage that you paid good money for. It is suppose to make you feel good. The next few verses in Luke 11 says, “If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?12Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? 13 If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” (Luke 11:11-13) Do you see that? If we ask for bread is God going to give us a snake? No, He knows what we need. He even knows bread may not be (even though we have asked) what we need, but since God knows what we need He will give us what we need in His good time. I asked God about going to Nepal recently and in spite of having all of the resources and planning done God gave me what He wanted me to have (because He loves me) what I needed, but it was not what I wanted. God is good at this. If you walk with the LORD for any time you will find His love for us overshadows our begging for things we think we need. In God’s answer is always the right understanding. We need not to ask, seek, or knock all we have to do is just in obedience receive what God has for us. If we get our thinking wrong then our doing can only be wrong. It is not we are doing wrong (that seems to be our focus because our actions reveal our doing) but in reality our wrong doing happens as we again and again think wrong. Written by David Stahl
THOUGHTS FROM KAREN:
Not A Good Thing
Ok, so I’m going to tell on myself. What I’d like to touch on this month is that sneaky insidious, streak of stubbornness, which is not a good thing to have and certainly not a good thing to move in. So, here’s the scenario, Dave and I are cleaning out the garage and we came across an old bicycle helmet that I wanted to hang on the bicycle to keep it with the bike and up out of the way. Now, the bicycle is hanging upside down from the ceiling on a few movable hooks attached to long ropes to raise or lower. Dave said, “no don’t put the helmet there, we’ll find another place” So, what did I do? I tried again to hook the helmet on the seat by its strap, Dave seeing me attempting to put the helmet on the bike (again) and says, “no don’t hang it there it may make the bike fall on the truck” (actually, that thought didn’t even enter my pea brain). So, I quit and found a place on the shelves to hang the helmet. What really bothered me was that as soon as Dave said no, I turned around and did it again, I thought to myself, “what are you a stubborn two year old?” I just couldn’t believe I did that. I felt like such a schlemiel. Now, I have heard of people who admit they’re stubborn as if it is a good thing. It’s not. It is an “adherence to our own ideas or desires.” Basically, we’re doing what we want to do or perhaps what we’re not supposed to be doing. At this stage of the game, I’ve seen folks our age who SHOULD know better, but don’t do better. For example, I am absolutely amazed at people who should know how to eat right and spend time in the gym for their health and yet don’t. When we’re young and maybe 25 years old we can eat almost anything and it does not bother us and we can get away without being in the gym and working out. But, as we get older, if we want to enjoy some kind of health we will have to make that change. Trust me, if I could I’d eat brownies, ice cream, and pizza all day long, but that would just about kill me!!! I’m really terrified of standing before the LORD after I die and hear Him say; “Karen, you are here early and I needed you on earth a little longer, but because you ate improperly and didn’t exercise here you are— go sit in a corner.” GOD forbid!!! When I catch myself wanting to do what I want to do I think of that scripture in 1Samuel 15:23. (That scripture came to mind the day in the garage) Now in context Samuel was talking to King Saul, but this is so appropriate to a bonehead like myself. “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.” Pretty stern stuff, GOD forbid. I don’t want to be lumped with that group. GOD bless you all. Read your Bible. Don’t be stubborn! Written by Karen Stahl
NEEDS NOT WANTS:
1. In Dobrich, Bulgaria Pastor Niki Marsov and in Silistra Pastor Yanko. 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. And Pastor Florin in Cernavoda.
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 and Cathy in Istanbul, Turkey and Pastor Metin at the Mavi Kilisesi in Dalaman 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 and their radio station “Good News 105.1 FM” in Kathmandu, Nepal.
7. Bishop Jospeh Gatimu at Jesus Victory Temple in Mombasa, Kenya.
8. Christian and Ina Kopjar Missionaries to the County of Liberia.
9. Pastor Ravindra Shiwnandan and his wife Doctor Michelle at the Herstelling AOG Church in Georgetown, Guyana.
10. B&B in Erbil, Iraq.
11. Bishop Paul and Pastor Costica at the Skinia in Izmayil, Ukraine
NEXT HOME GROUP MEETINGS:
23 December 25 at 7:00 pm
7:00 pm
At 232 Everett Drive
Sneads Ferry, NC 28460
(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:
December: Local Ministry
January: Local Ministry
February: 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.
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