God leads us through the inner prompting of the Holy Spirit.
Read the following statement carefully:
So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12–13)
The inner prompting of the Holy Spirit gives us a sense of God's leading, although that leading is not always what we might call a "feel-good" experience. In my own life, my decision to accept the presidency of Dallas Theological Seminary was not an easy one. Ultimately, it was an "at-peace" decision, but it was not what I would have wanted or chosen. I found all kinds of ways to resist when the position was first offered to me. I wrote the president and the chairman a two-page letter, well thought through, carefully stated, and full of Scripture. It should have convinced anybody that I was the wrong person for the job. Except that God was busy convincing them—and, later, me—that Iwasthe right person. Although it went against my own wishes at the time, I could not resist the compelling, all-powerful prompting of the Holy Spirit.
So I can testify from personal experience that you can believe you really know God's will, and you may be dead wrong. But if you are, the prompting of the Holy Spirit will be nudging you within.
The mind of man plans his way, But the LORDdirects his steps. (Proverbs 16:9)
It's easier to steer a moving car—just get the car rolling and you can push it into the filling station to get the gas. But it's hard to get it moving from a dead stop. So you're on your way, you're making your plans, you're thinking it through. In the process, stay open. By doing so, you may well sense inner promptings from the Holy Spirit steering you.
That inner prompting is crucial, because much of the time we just can't figure it out.
Man's steps are ordained by the LORD, How then can man understand his way? (Proverbs 20:24)
(I love that!) When all is said and done, you'll say, "Honestly, I didn't figure this thing out. It must have been God." Talk about mysterious! The longer I live the Christian life, the less I know about why He leads as He does. But I am absolutely confident that He leads.
Your grace and mercy, brought me through I'm living this moment because of You I want to thank You, and praise You too Your grace and mercy, brought me through Thank You, for saving a sinner like me To tell the world salvation is free There...there were times when I just didn’t do right But You watched over me Both day and night Justice demanded, that I, I should die But grace and mercy said oh, no, oh, no, oh no, we've already paid the price I once was blind, but thank God now I can see It was because grace and mercy came along and rescued me Your grace and mercy brought me through I'm living this moment because of You I want to thank You and praise You too Your grace and mercy Your grace and mercy Your grace and mercy Brought me through.
1.) A woman begged Jesus to heal her demon-possessed daughter and Jesus said to her, "Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs." Why did he say this to her? D). The woman was a gentile. (Matthew 15:21-28)
2.) What was wrong with the man whom Jesus asked, "What do you want me to do for you?" A). He was blind. (Mark 10:51)
3.) How many lepers were in the group that Jesus healed and told to go and show themselves to the priests? B). Ten (Luke 17:11-19)
Scripture Reading For this lesson Mark 5
How long had the woman had the issue of blood? (Mark 5:25)
B). Twelve years (Mark 5:25)
According to this study: Questions
1). What is God’s mercy?
The very nature of God is mercy. " But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
2). Have you ever experienced God’s mercy?
Oh so many times in my life! I truly believe each morning I wake I experience God’s mercy on my life. I am so grateful! I was in an accident once which should have killed me, but God’s mercy was on my life and He place an angel between the car I was in and the electric box we were headed for, if it were not for God we would have blew up, I am sure of that. Even the police officer and ambulance attender said the same thing.
3). When they called on Jesus, what was they calling on?
They called on the compassion—or the mercy—of God. In other words, He called on the very nature of God, which was Jesus Himself.
4). Explain the compassion in Mark 9:17, 18, 22.
The issue here was a boy was possessed with a spirit and Jesus (including his disciples) were called upon to cast the spirit out. Jesus disciples were unsuccessful at doing that however. So we could say that there were two issues here.
The deliverance of the boy from the spirit that tormented him.
The failure of the disciples to heal the boy.
It is interesting that the failure of the disciples to heal the boy resulted or diverted into an argument with the Scribes. You could probably assume that there attention was taken away from the boy and onto something else, which they were arguing with the Scribes about. Apparently Jesus was not pleased with what he saw. The passage says that he replied to them. Who is the “them?” Was it the disciples or the people who were gathered around? I would have to say that his remarks were directed at his disciples since they were the ones who were expected to heal the boy. The man exercised some faith by bringing the boy to the disciples so it is doubtful that Jesus’ remarks were addressed at him. Notice the emotion suggested by Jesus’ statements. He stated that the disciples were unbelieving (faithless). He also indicated his displeasure with the fact that they failed to heal the boy. However, with all of that Jesus intended to take care of the boy himself since he called for the boy. The compassion was revealed when Jesus looked beyond the disciples’ failure, and saw the need of the young boy, and the heart of his father. There is so much in that passage to consider, but just a thought to share.
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
Matthew 8:17
That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.
1 Peter 2:24
Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
Psalm 103:3
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
Matthew 4:23
And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
Matthew 8:3
And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
Revelation 22:6
And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.
Yes, I read these scriptures as many times as I can. We must get them in our spirit and our hearts. AMEN.
Father God, we come to You with praises in our hearts today, we thank You for Your grace and mercy today. You are an awesome God! We love You, Lord. We stand in agreement for Your will to be done in our life, just as it is said in “The Lord’s Prayer.” Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in US, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. As the Christmas season come, Lord, help all of us to remember that You are the Reason for the Season. Bless our Nation, all our leaders, both natural and spiritual too. We stand with Israel as they stand for You, Lord. Open their eyes to see You right now in Jesus’ mighty Name. We are reminded as said in Isaiah 7:14 and Matthew 1:23 “God is with us” Immanuel, Thank You, Lord. Amen.
And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit; and wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not. But if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.—Mark9:17,18,22
In this passage a man brought his son to Jesus' disciples asking them to deliver his son from seizures. After the disciples' unsuccessful attempt to help the boy, they took him to Jesus. Then the father said to Jesus, "Your disciples couldn't do anything. If You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." The man called on the compassion—or the mercy—of God. In other words, He called on the very nature of God. God is the God of mercy; He's the God of compassion. In Matthew20:30, two blind men cried out, "Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou son of David." The disciples and the people in the crowd tried to quiet them down, but they kept crying, "Have mercy on us, O Lord…." Jesus didn't say, "Do you want your healing?" He just asked, "What would you have Me do?" You see, the blind men in Matthew 20 and the father in Mark 9 called on God's nature. So Jesus responded, "I'm at your disposal. Whatever you need is yours because you've called on the nature of God. I'm here to meet your needs." And He's ready to meet your needs as well.
My Confession:My God is full of mercy and compassion. I call upon His compassion and mercy and by faith receive my healing.
Please read these scriptures (Isaiah 53:5; Matthew 8:17; 1 Peter 2:24; Psalm 103:3; Matthew 4:23, 8:3. Revelation 22:6.
Week # 11: Weekly prayer:
Father God, we come to You with praises in our hearts today, we thank You for Your grace and mercy today. You are an awesome God! We love You, Lord. We stand in agreement for Your will to be done in our life, just as it is said in "The Lord's Prayer." Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in US, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. As the Christmas season come, Lord, help all of us to remember that You are the Reason for the Season. Bless our Nation, all our leaders, both natural and spiritual too. We stand with Israel as they stand for You, Lord. Open their eyes to see You right now in Jesus' mighty Name. We are reminded as said in Isaiah 7:14 and Matthew 1:23 "God is with us" Immanuel, Thank You, Lord. Amen.
Week # 11: Quiz:
1.) A woman begged Jesus to heal her demon-possessed daughter and Jesus said to her, "Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs." Why did he say this to her? A). The woman was his neighbor and they had a squabble going. B). The woman owned a lot of dogs, which had made the child sick. C). The woman reminded him of a dog. D). The woman was a gentile.
2.) What was wrong with the man whom Jesus asked, "What do you want me to do for you?" A). He was blind. B). He was deaf. C). He was paralyzed. D). He was demon-possessed.
3.) How many lepers were in the group that Jesus healed and told to go and show themselves to the priests? A). Five B). Ten C). Fifteen D). Twenty
Scripture Reading For this lesson Mark 5
How long had the woman had the issue of blood? (Mark 5:25)
A). Seven years
B). Twelve years
C). Eighteen years
D). Thirty-eight years
According to this study: Questions
1). What is God's mercy?
2). Have you ever experienced God's mercy?
3). When they called on Jesus, what was they calling on?
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
Matthew 8:17
That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.
1 Peter 2:24
Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
Psalm 103:3
Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;
Matthew 4:23
And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
Matthew 8:3
And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
Revelation 22:6
And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.
Week # 10: Quiz:
1.) When Jesus said to the sisters of Lazarus, "Take away the stone." What did Martha, the sister of Lazarus, say to the Lord?
Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.
2.) Jesus was walking through a crowd and someone touched him. He said, "Who touched Me?" How did he know that it wasn't just an accidental bump? Jesus perceived that virtue was gone out
3.) A man at the Gazerenes, when he saw Jesus, cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, "What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not." and Jesus said, "What is your name?" What was wrong with the man? He was demon-possessed.
Scripture Reading Luke 17
What do we learn about what happened to the other nine?
B). Scripture doesn't say
But, it is noted that the ten lepersrepresent the Jews, and the one leper (stranger) represent the Gentiles, who is the integration of the Gentiles into the Church, which is at hand.
According to this study: Questions
1). Why couldn't the disciples heal the young boy?
1. There was lack of faith. Matthew 17:20 says, ""Because you have so little faith."" The disciples didn't have the faith to believe that Jesus could operate through them and give deliverance. We often fail for the same reason. We ask, ""Can God……?"" (Psalm 78:19), and we doubt the ability of Jesus to put forth His power. We are filled with unbelief –- compare Matthew 13:58; Matthew 17:19-20.
2. There was lack of prayer (Mark 9:29). Certain situations require urgent and persistent prayer, and if this is deficient there will be a deficiency of power. Evidently the disciples had not prayed enough –- they were powerless. How challenging when our own ministry may be powerless and fruitless!
3. There was lack of fasting (Mark 9:29). Fasting denotes such an intensity of desire and purpose that we are ready to put aside legitimate things to seek God's face and get His blessing. It may mean denying ourselves secondary things for a time so that spiritual power may be released and souls who are in bondage may be delivered for a time –- compare Exodus 19:14-15; 2 Samuel 12:16-17; Esther 4:16; Jonah 3:7-8; John 7:53; 8:1; 1 Corinthians 7:5. How far are we willing to make a voluntary denial of things, which of themselves are quite lawful and legitimate, in order that God's face may be sought in earnest and persistent prayer and that souls may be delivered from terrible bondage?
2). How did Jesus reveal God's will?
Jesus is the one who reveals God to us. If we want to know what God is like, all we have to do is look at Jesus. If we want to know how God cares for people, we can look at how Jesus ministered to them. If we want to know God's will for our lives, we can listen to Jesus' words and know they reveal God's truth. Jesus reveals the nature of God in his actions and his words. And, Jesus continues to reveal God to us. He is the one through whom the fullest revelation of God comes. Let's look to Jesus if we really want to know God.
3). What was the disciples called in this lesson?
They were called a "faithless and perverse generation."
My Confession:
To I know that Jesus is the will of God in action, because He has revealed God to me through the Holy Spirit, and I know God wants me free from sickness. Thank You, Father, for Your healing power at work in me right now, I experience God's healing power in my life every day!
Week # 10 NUGGESTS:
God leads us through His written Word.
As the psalmist said: Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path. (Psalm 119:105)
Whenever you see the phrase "This is the will of God" in Scripture, you can count on it: that's God's will. You also know that to disobey is to reject His Word. Other clear indications of His leading are the precepts and principles in Scripture.
Precepts are clearly marked statements, such as "Abstain from sexual immorality." That's like saying, "Speed Limit 35." What is speeding? Anything over 35 miles an hour! That's a precept.
Then there are principles in Scripture, and these are general guidelines that require discernment and maturity if we are to grasp them. Paul writes of "the peace of God" guarding and guiding our hearts and our minds (Philippians 4:7). That's like the sign that says, "Drive Carefully." This may mean 40 miles an hour on a clear, uncongested road, or it may mean less than 10 miles an hour on an ice-covered curve. But it always means that we must be alert and aware of conditions . . . we have to be discerning. There is no sign large enough to list all the options you have when you're behind the wheel. So you must know the rules of the road, follow the signs that are there, and use all your best judgment combined with discernment.
You will never, ever go wrong in consulting Scripture. Just be sure you pay close attention to the context. Don't use the "open-window method," letting the wind blow across the pages of your Bible and then closing your eyes and pointing to a verse and saying, "This is God's leading on that." If you do that, you could end up with "Judas went away and hanged himself" as your verse for the day! Don't go there.
