Class 8A: The Love of Jesus

Section 1: Getting to know Jesus

The gift of getting to know Jesus
The story is told by the Persians of the great Shah Abbas, who reigned magnificently in Persia, but loved to mingle with the people in disguise. Once, dressed as a poor man, he descended the long flight of stairs, dark and damp, to the tiny cellar where the fire man, seated on ashes, was tending the furnace.
The king sat down beside him and began to talk. At mealtime the fire man produced some coarse, black bread and a jug of water and they ate and drank together. The Shah went away, but returned again and again, for his heart was filled with sympathy for the lonely man. He gave him sweet counsel, and the poor man opened his whole heart and loved this friend, so kind, so wise, and yet poor like himself.
At last the emperor thought, ‘I will tell him who I am, and see what gift he will ask.’ So he said, ‘You think me poor, but I am Shah Abbas your emperor.’ He expected a petition for some great thing, but the man sat silent, gazing on him with love and wonder. Then the king said. ‘Haven’t you understood? I can make you rich and noble, can give you a city, can appoint you as a great ruler. Have you nothing to ask?’
The man replied gently, ‘Yes, my lord, I understood. But what is this you have done, to leave your palace and glory, to sit with me in this dark place, to partake of my coarse fare, to care whether my heart is glad or sorry? Even you can give nothing more precious. On others you may bestow rich presents, but to me you have given yourself; it only remains to ask that you never withdraw this gift of your friendship.’
Mark 10:45-For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.
Galatians 2:20-I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Ephesians 5:2-Walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

Section 2: God’s Great Love for You

Introduction
The really important thing to know and realize is that Jesus understands what we go through, and He loves us and wants to help us. He promises to always be with us. His love is so great that He died an agonizing death on the cross for us. His love is so great that He hasn’t expected any one of us to earn our salvation, but He gives it to us as a great gift. No matter what mistakes and sins we’ve committed, as we bathe in the ocean of His love, we receive forgiveness. We can receive His blessings, all the goodness that He offers to us freely.
We’re going to spend a few minutes now talking about the Lord’s love for us. We hope these readings will bring the reality of the Lord’s presence closer to you, that you will feel His great love for you personally and He will wash away anything that is troubling you.

Romans 8:35-39-Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? (36) As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” (37) Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. (38) For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, (39) nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Jude 1:21-Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
Ephesians 3:19-To know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Jesus calls us His friends
John 15:14-15-You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. (15) No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.
James 2:23b-”Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” And he was called the friend of God.
Luke 12:4a-And I say to you, My friends…
Hosea 2:23b-I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’ And they shall say, ‘You are my God!’

Jesus wants to be close to you
Jesus really cares about you and He wants you to be happy. When you’re lonely and sad, He sees and He feels and He knows. He’s always right there, just waiting to be your Best Friend. He’s lonely sometimes, too, because He wants to be with you more. He wants to understand you, to listen to you, and to give you answers. You might think you’re not very important and wonder why Jesus would want to spend time with you, but that’s not the way He sees it. He’s your Friend. He wants to talk to you. He wants to listen to you, and He wants you to listen to Him. He’s always there; He never goes away. Jesus, your wonderful Best Friend, is always there for you, so don’t forget it.

Jesus loves each of us personally, and cares about us as individuals
Luke 12:7a-The very hairs of your head are all numbered.
John 10:2-3-But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. (3) To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.
Isaiah 43:1b-”Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine.”
He loves each one of us, as though there were no one else to love. He died for each one of us, as if there were no one else to die for. He calls us by our names, for He cares for each of us as individuals.

Don’t be afraid, Papa is here!
A husband had been happily married for a handful of years. He dearly loved his beautiful wife and their sweet little daughter. Sudden sorrow struck the home when the young wife was killed in a traffic accident, and it seemed that all of the light had gone out of his life forever. The night after the funeral, the young father was putting his three-year-old daughter to bed, and with awkward fingers was buttoning her sleeping garment when the lights suddenly went out all over the house. He suspected that a fuse had blown out in the basement, and said to the little child, “Papa will be right back; you lie still and wait here.”
But she, frightened at the thought of being left alone, pleaded to be taken with him, so he picked her up in his arms and started through the darkened hallways and down the stairs. The child snuggled in his arms for a while in silence; but as they entered the basement she tightened her arms about his neck, and said, “It’s awfully dark; but I’m not afraid, because my papa is here!”
A sob shook the man’s whole body. He buried his face in the baby’s hair and wept, as he said, “Yes, dear, it is dark, indeed; but I also am not afraid, because my Father is here!”
“I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5b).

How the grapes are ripened
Galileo, the pioneer Italian astronomer, is best remembered for his work based on the theory of Copernicus, that the sun, rather than the earth, is the center of our universe. He was also the first man to use a telescope to study the skies.
One day someone asked him how he could reconcile the vastness of the universe with the idea of the care of God for every one of His creatures. His reply bears thinking about, especially as on first reading, it doesn’t even seem to be an answer to the question asked. He said: “The sun, which has all those planets revolving around it, is able to ripen the smallest bunch of grapes as though it had nothing else to do in the universe.”

He holds our hand. He holds us in His arms. He is always with us!
Psalm 139:7-10-Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? (8) If I ascend into Heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Hell, behold, You are there. (9) If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, (10) even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me.
Isaiah 41:13-For I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you.’
Isaiah 42:6a-I, the Lord, have called You in righteousness, and will hold Your hand; I will keep You…
Matthew 18:20-For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.
You’ll never walk alone if you have Jesus in your heart and your hand in His! If you have Jesus, you always have company and love. No matter where you are, you are in His hands and He’ll take care of you. Jesus is the one possession you’ll never have to give up, never have to leave behind, never lose. You can give Him away as much as you like but you’ll always have Him with you. He’ll always be near.

Footprints in the sand
One night a man had a dream. He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the Lord. Across the sky flashed scenes from his life. For each scene he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand, one belonging to him and the other to the Lord.
When the last scene of his life flashed before him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of his life there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times in his life.
This really bothered him and he questioned the Lord about it. “Lord, You said that once I decided to follow You, You’d walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life, there is only one set of footprints. I don’t understand why when I needed You most, You would leave me.”
The Lord replied, “My son, My precious child, I love you and would never leave you. During your times of trial and suffering, when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.”

Jesus hears our cries and answers our prayers
Exodus 22:27b-And it will be that when he cries to Me, I will hear, for I am gracious.
2 Samuel 22:7-In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, and my cry entered His ears.
Psalm 4:3-But know that the Lord has set apart for Himself him who is godly; the Lord will hear when I call to Him.
Psalm 55:17-Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, and He shall hear my voice.
Psalm 66:19-But certainly God has heard me; he has attended to the voice of my prayer.
Psalm 102:19-20 -For He looked down from the height of His sanctuary; from Heaven the Lord viewed the earth, (20) to hear the groaning of the prisoner, to release those appointed to death.
Psalm 145:19-He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; he also will hear their cry and save them.
Isaiah 65:24-It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear.

The Lord not only listens, but talks to us too-a faithful Counselor
Proverbs 8:17-I love those who love Me, and those who seek Me diligently will find Me.
Psalm 85:8a-I will hear what God the Lord will speak, for He will speak peace to His people and to His saints.
We have a dear Friend who is always ready to listen to what we have to say-and not only listen; He is eager to speak to us in return.

God’s life-saving intervention
Peter Marshall (chaplain to the U.S. Senate for a number of years), in his youth, spent a summer working in the English village of Bamburgh, sixteen miles southeast of the Scottish border. One very dark night as he was walking back to Bamburgh from a nearby village, he decided to take a shortcut. He knew that there was a deep, deserted limestone quarry in the area, but he thought he could avoid the danger spot. So he struck out across the moors. The night was starless and inky black, and the sound of the wind seemed to give it an eerie quality.
Suddenly he heard someone call, “Peter!” The voice was urgent.
He stopped. “Yes, who is it? What do you want?”
For a second he listened, but there was only the sound of the wind. Thinking he must have been mistaken, he walked on a few paces. Then he heard it again, even more urgent: “Peter!”
This time he stopped dead still and tried to peer into the impenetrable blackness, and suddenly he stumbled, falling to his knees. He put out his hand to catch himself, but there was nothing there. Cautiously he felt around in a semicircle and found that he was on the very brink of the abandoned stone quarry. Just one more step would have sent him plummeting to his death!
Peter Marshall never forgot that voice. And there was never any doubt in his mind about the source of it.

The Pencil
By Mrs. Theo Hill
It was a cold midwinter day in South Carolina, but I was busy-and warm-inside the house I had lived in alone for the past 15 years. I needed some wrapping paper, so I pulled down the folding stairs and started climbing to the attic. I was 81 at the time, and the moment the frigid attic air hit me, I knew I should have put on a coat. Oh well, I’d hurry.
To keep the warm air downstairs, I shut the door to the attic storage room behind me. I heard a click. I knew immediately that I was locked in. The door had no knob; I’d taken it off to replace one downstairs. And there was no one else in the house.
The cold penetrated my bones. I wrapped myself in a blanket to stop my shaking and looked out the attic window. No neighbors in sight. Anyway, the window was stuck shut from years of disuse.
An hour passed … then another. “Dear Lord, please send my children to help me.” I knew this prayer was unrealistic. None of my four children was due to visit.
At my feet sat a yellowed and dusty pile of my son Billy’s school papers. On top of them lay an old pencil. I picked it up, thinking of the hours it had spent in Billy’s hand.
Once again I prayed for help. Immediately, as clear as any words I’ve ever heard, a question came to me, “What is that in thy hand?”
I looked at the pencil, my glance falling not on the leaded end, but on the metal end that had once held an eraser. It was now flattened, no doubt by my Billy’s biting down as he sought to unlock a math problem.
I went to the door and inserted the end of the pencil into the keyhole. The lock turned. The door opened.

He carries our burdens
Nehemiah 4:20b-Our God will fight for us.
Isaiah 41:17-The poor and needy seek water, but there is none, their tongues fail for thirst. I, the Lord, will hear them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them.
Luke 5:15-However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities.
Matthew 11:28-30-Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (29) Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (30) For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

A testimony of what happens when we keep holding tight to Jesus!
From Joyce, Philippines
One very hot day, my son and I stepped into a shop to buy some bottled drinking water, and he handed the saleslady a copy of our To You!-With Love tract.
“Does God love me?” she asked glumly.
“Yes, He does!” we answered. “Whatever our troubles may be, no matter how heavy our burdens may be, God loves us! He loves us so much, in fact, that He sent Jesus to help us. During our most difficult times, Jesus carries us and holds us tight. It’s we who sometimes let go of Him.”
At that, the saleslady, who turned out to also be the owner of the shop, began to explain her problems. Her husband had passed away recently, and she was left with a lot of debts. On top of that, she had just received notice from municipal hall that all the shops in that area were going to be demolished. “What am I to do?” she asked. “This shop is my only source of income.”
By the time we finished our conversation, she had decided to plead her cause to the mayor’s office. We prayed for her, bid her farewell, and parted with these words: “Keep holding tight to Jesus! Whatever happens, don’t let go!”
Five days later we dropped by to say hello and see how she was doing. As soon as she saw us, she lit up and excused herself from the customers she was with. “The Lord answered your prayer!” she told us excitedly. “I can keep my shop! The first official I talked to said he couldn’t do anything, but the words, `Keep holding tight to Jesus,’ kept ringing in my ears. This renewed my determination. I appealed to higher authorities, and my request was granted!”

He comforts us
Isaiah 30:19b-You shall weep no more. He will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you.
Psalm 119:50-This is my comfort in my affliction, for Your word has given me life.
Isaiah 40:1-”Comfort, yes, comfort My people!” says your God.
Isaiah 66:13a-As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you.
Matthew 9:22-But Jesus turned around, and when He saw her He said, “Be of good cheer, daughter; your faith has made you well.” And the woman was made well from that hour.
2 Corinthians 1:4-Who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.
John 14:1-Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.

Praying at her side
By Sam Nix
Here in South Korea, I recently met Ms. Kyong Cha Lee, a woman who had suffered a terrible loss.
Ms. Lee’s house, like many older homes in Korea, is heated by large charcoal briquettes placed under the floor. During a cold spell last spring this primitive heating system malfunctioned, spreading poisonous carbon monoxide fumes throughout the house, almost killing Ms. Lee.
She lay in the hospital in a coma for days, with her family at her bedside. When she finally awoke, they were too grieved to tell her the extent of her loss. But she astonished them when she said she already knew her two children had been killed in the tragedy. “The doctor told me when he came to look after me,” she explained.
“What doctor?” they asked.
“The doctor who prayed by my side and promised that God would watch over me.”
They assured her they had seen no such visitor and they had been with her constantly. The physician must have been a dream, they said.
When Ms. Lee was well enough to go home, she was making her way out of the hospital when she caught sight of a portrait in the lobby.
“There,” she said, “that’s the doctor who came to my bedside. What is his name?”
“Jesus Christ,” came the answer.

He strengthens us. We can depend upon His help.
Exodus 15:2-The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation; He is my God, and I will praise Him; my father’s God, and I will exalt Him.
2 Samuel 22:33-God is my strength and power, and He makes my way perfect.
Psalm 28:7a-The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in Him, and I am helped.
Psalm 37:39-But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; He is their strength in the time of trouble.
Isaiah 25:4-For You have been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat; for the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.
Isaiah 40:29-31-He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. (39) Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, (31) but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.
Daniel 11:32b-The people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.
2 Corinthians 12:9-10-And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (10) Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Trust Him!
A man slid down a rope into a well. He supposed the rope to be of ample length, but to his dismay he reached the end of it without touching the bottom of the well with his feet. He tried in vain to climb up the rope, and dared not let go for fear of being dashed to pieces. He held on as long as he could, and when utterly exhausted let the rope slip from his grasp. He fell-just three inches!

Jump into His arms
In order to clarify what faith involved, C.H. Spurgeon used to employ this illustration. Suppose there is a fire on the third floor of a house, and a child is trapped in a room there. A huge, strong man stands on the ground beneath the window where the child’s face appears, and he calls “Jump! Drop into my arms.”
“It is a part of faith,” Spurgeon would say, “to know that there is a man there; still another part of faith to believe him to be a strong man; but the essence of faith lies in trusting him fully and dropping into his arms.” Thus it is with us and Jesus.

He will hold you up!
Some at times are like the man that was crossing the ice-frozen Ohio River on his hands and knees, fearful that he was going to break through and drown, when all of a sudden he saw a double team of horses coming pulling a load of iron confidently over the very ice on which he was so hesitantly crawling! Let me tell you: God can take it! He can handle any load you want to give Him!

In Jesus we find peace
Psalm 29:11-The Lord will give strength to His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace.
Isaiah 26:3-You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.
John 14:27-Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
Philippians 4:7-And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Psalm 55:22-Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.
Hebrews 4:9-There remains therefore a rest for the people of God.

Without a knock!
The following story was told by Olga Kristensen, who spent forty years in China as a missionary:
“Toward the end of my stay I had nearly 80 refugees at the mission station besides the women living there. One night we heard bandits approaching. There were shots at the end of the street. We all knew that without intervention, murder and disaster were on the way. I went into my closet and prayed to God for a verse to calm myself and the others with me. My tortured soul then found a verse I had often read before, but which now had a real meaning for me-”When you lie down, you will not be afraid; yes, you will lie down and your sleep will be sweet. Do not be afraid of sudden terror, nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes” (Proverbs 3:24-26).
Could I have a better message? I brought it to all the others and told them to go to rest. When I was going to bed I was tempted to lie down with my clothes on, but after a little struggle I undressed and lying down, slept soundly. The next morning the dead were lying outside our premises. There had been fighting and murder, but no one had even gone so far as to knock on our door.”

The One who rules the past, future, and present!
Oliver Cromwell’s secretary was dispatched to the Continent on some important business. He stayed one night at a seaport town, and tossed on his bed, unable to sleep.
According to an old custom, a servant slept in his room, and on this occasion slept soundly enough. The secretary at length awakened the man who asked how it was that his master could not rest.
“I am so afraid something will go wrong with the embassage,” was the reply.
“Master,” said the valet, “may I ask a question or two?”
“To be sure.”
“Did God rule the world before we were born?”
“Most assuredly He did.”
“And will He rule it after we are dead?”
“Certainly He will.”
“Then, master, why not let Him rule the present, too?”
The secretary’s faith was stirred, peace was the result, and in a few minutes both he and his servant were sound asleep.

He takes care of our needs
John 14:13-14-And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. (14) If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.
Psalm 37:4-Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Philippians 4:19-And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
Matthew 6:33-But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.

The preacher robin
Martin Luther once said: “I have one preacher that I love better than any other on Earth; it is my little tame robin, who preaches to me daily. In the evening, he hops onto the windowsill where I put crumbs and takes as much as he desires to satisfy his need. From thence he always hops to a little tree close by and lifts up his voice to God and sings his carols of praise and gratitude, tucks his little head under his wing and goes fast to sleep, and leaves tomorrow to look after itself. He is the best preacher that I have on Earth.”

He brings solutions to our problems
1 Peter 5:7-Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
Whatever our problems are, Jesus has the answers. If you’ll just put your life in His hands, then He’ll take care of and help you to deal with any problem that you have!-He can help you through it and make it easier for you and be the kind of support and comfort and friend that you need. Jesus cares about you and He loves you very much, and He sees and understands the suffering you’re going through. His Word says that He cares for you, and that you can cast your cares upon Him. If you give your problems to Jesus, then He’ll take care of you, and He’ll give you the comfort and solutions you need.
Of course, the Lord does not instantly and automatically dissolve every single one of our problems as soon as we get saved, and this doesn’t mean that you’ll never have any problems again, but the Lord helps us with our problems and makes them easier to solve, easier to bear, and He does dissolve some of them entirely and completely delivers us from them. However, there are other problems that He knows are good for us for one reason or another, and He helps us to handle these problems, and gives us the grace and the patience and the love to bear them.
It’s sort of like having a wise counselor that you go to about your problems. The counselor cannot get rid of all your problems by himself, but he can give you help and counsel and wisdom that you can take back with you and use to your advantage to make things better and easier.
With the Lord, we know a lot of His help is supernatural, He does a lot for us by His supernatural power. But it is a relationship, it is teamwork, and we usually have to do something. We have to cooperate with Him. We have to go by His rules and carry out certain procedures in order for Him to do the work in our lives.
We’ll talk more about this subject of how to handle the problems and difficulties and challenges of life in a later class, but for the moment we want to focus on the fact that Jesus is our Good Friend who lovingly wants to help us with whatever problems we face!

He wants us to be happy
2 Chronicles 9:7-Happy are your men and happy are these your servants, who stand continually before you and hear your wisdom!
Nehemiah 8:10b-The joy of the Lord is your strength.
John 10:10b-I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.
John 16:24-Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
Psalm 144:15-Happy are the people who are in such a state; happy are the people whose God is the Lord!
Psalm 19:8a-The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.
Luke 10:20b-Rejoice because your names are written in Heaven.
John 15:10-11-If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. (11) These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.
Psalm 100:1-2-Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! (2) Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing.
He works things out for our benefit
Romans 8:28-And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
The Lord loves us and works out the circumstances of life for our benefit, even if we can’t always easily recognize things as “good.”

Bread that looks like a stone
The Lord’s answers to prayer are infinitely perfect, and they will show that often when we were asking for a stone that looked like bread, He was giving us bread that to our short-sightedness looked like a stone (Luke 11:11).

The oyster
An oyster on the ocean floor opened wide its shell to let the water pass over it. As the water flushed through, its gills picked out food, sending it to its stomach. Suddenly a large fish nearby stirred up a cloud of sand and silt with a flip of its tail. Sand! Oh, how the oyster disliked sand. It was so rough and made life so unpleasant and uncomfortable and was such a bother whenever any got inside its shell. Quickly the oyster slammed its shell shut, but it was too late. One hard gritty grain of sand had gotten in and lodged itself between his inner flesh and his shell.
My, how that piece of sand bothered the oyster! But almost immediately, special glands God had given him for coating the inside of his shell began working to coat the irritating grain of sand with a lovely smooth and shiny covering. Year after year the oyster added a few more layers of the coating onto the tiny grain of sand until at last, it had produced a beautiful lustrous pearl of great value.
Sometimes the problems we have are a bit like that grain of sand. They bother us and we wonder why we have the irritation and inconvenience they can be. But the grace of God begins to work a wonder with our problems and weaknesses, if we let Him. We become more humble and yielded, more desperate in prayer, closer to the Lord, wiser, and better able to resist the problems. Like blessings in disguise, the Lord soon takes the rough pieces of sand in our life and turns them into precious pearls of strength and power and they become a hope and inspiration to many.

The life-saving fire
One chilly winter morning, a fishing fleet launched out from a small harbor on the east coast of Newfoundland. In the afternoon there arose a great storm. When night settled, not a single vessel of all the fleet had found its way back into port.
All night long, wives, mothers, children, and sweethearts paced up and down the windswept beach, wringing their hands and calling on God to save their lost loved ones. To add to the horror of the situation, one of their cottages caught fire. Since the men were away, it was impossible to put out the blaze and save it.
When morning broke, to the joy of all, the entire fleet had returned safely to harbor in the bay. But there was one face which was a picture of despair-the wife of the man whose home had been destroyed in the fire.
Meeting her husband as he landed, she cried, “Oh, Honey, we are ruined! Our home and everything in it was destroyed by fire!”
But the man exclaimed to her surprise, “Thank God for that fire! It was the light of our burning cottage that safely guided the whole fleet into port!”

Through Jesus we receive forgiveness
Psalm 103:8-12-The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. (9) He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever. (10) He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. (11) For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; (12) As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.
Psalm 86:5-For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You.
Psalm 130:3-4-If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? (4) But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared.
Lamentations 3:22-23-Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. (23) They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.
Ephesians 1:7-In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.
1 John 1:9-If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 2:12-I write to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name’s sake.

He came to save us and give us eternal life!
John 3:16-17-For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (17) For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
The greatest gift of love that God has given us is Jesus! And Jesus loved us enough to leave His Home in Heaven to come to earth with a mission from His Heavenly Father-to live, love and die for humankind. He left the splendors of Heaven to suffer a cruel death at the hands of cruel men. Why?-That we may be saved. God knows that none of us could be good enough to earn our way to Heaven. It’s only Jesus’ sacrifice in our place that makes it possible for us to obtain salvation, the blessing of spending eternity in Heaven with the Creator of Love.
(In our next class we’ll focus more on salvation and the gift of forgiveness.)

Jesus left Heaven for our sake!
Jesus left the Halls of Heaven for our sakes! Jesus Himself temporarily renounced the rights of His citizenship in Heaven and became a citizen of this world, and though He was rich, for our sakes He became poor that we through His poverty might become rich. He was human-He got tired, He got hungry, He got weary. He was subject to all these things even as we are, yet without sin, that He might be a good High Priest, have compassion upon us, know how we feel, know when we’re footsore and weary, know when we’ve had enough.
God sent Jesus to become a human being in order that He might better reach us with His love and communicate with us on the lowly level of our own human understanding, and have more mercy and patience with us than God Himself. Think of that!
The Bible says, “He knows our frame, He remembers that we are dust,” having worn that frame Himself, suffering in it and dying in it for our sakes. He came down to our level that He might take us with Him back up to His. What a miracle!-All for our sakes.
Hebrews 4:15-For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Psalm 103:14-For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.

His love is unchanging and never-ending
Matthew 28:20b-Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
Jude 1:24-25-Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, (25) To God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.
We have Someone in whom we can rest reassured, eternally secure, knowing that we don’t have anything to even worry about! He’s going to solve every problem and always meet the need, whatever it is, and keep us safely wherever we are, whatever we’re doing! So hold on to the Lord!
Malachi 3:6a-For I am the Lord, I do not change.
Hebrews 13:5b-Be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Hebrews 13:8-Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Praise the Lord! He remains the same-faithful, always trustworthy, always there, always solving every problem, answering every need!

Recommended Bible reading after this class: John chapters 14 and 15

Class 7A: Daniel Two A Picture of the Future

Bible Study on Daniel 2

Part of this is fulfilled; part is yet to happen. Knowing that parts of the prophecies in this chapter have been fulfilled increases our faith and expectation that just as surely, the rest will come to pass! Let’s see what is yet to happen!

The prophet Daniel
Daniel was born sometime around 620 B.C., and he was therefore already a teenager when Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem for the first time in early 605 B.C. Daniel, along with other Jews of royal blood, was taken captive and brought to Babylon.
Daniel 1:1-3, 6 – In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. (2) And the Lord gaSve Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the articles of the house of God, which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the articles into the treasure house of his god. (3) Then the king instructed Ashpenaz, the master of his eunuchs, to bring some of the children of Israel and some of the king’s descendants and some of the nobles. (6) Now from among those of the sons of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. [The names of Daniel's companions were later changed to Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.]
There he spent three years studying “the learning and the tongue of the Chaldeans.” – Daniel 1:4. He and his three friends were made wise men and counselors of the king.
Daniel 1:19-20 – Then the king interviewed them, and among them all none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; therefore they served before the king. (20) And in all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers who were in all his realm.
Daniel lived at least 72 years in Babylon and his life there extended from the first year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar through the reigns of the succeeding five Babylonian kings, past the Fall of Babylon into the Persian Empire, through the governorship of Darius the Mede and the first three years of Cyrus the Persian.
Daniel 10:1 – In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a message was revealed to Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar. The message was true, but the appointed time was long; and he understood the message, and had understanding of the vision.

Daniel chapter 2

Daniel Chapter 2 is the briefest and most concise overall picture of the history and future of the world in the entire Bible. The prophetic dream in this chapter describes five of the seven great empires of man from ancient Babylon to the final World Empire of the Antichrist, which is destroyed by the Kingdom of God. This dream was originally given to Nebuchadnezzar and was interpreted for him by Daniel during his reign.

Daniel 2:1 – Now in the second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; and his spirit was so troubled that his sleep left him.
The second year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign was approximately 603 B.C.

The Dream

Daniel 2:2-5 – Then the king gave the command to call the magicians, the astrologers, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king. (3) And the king said to them, “I have had a dream, and my spirit is anxious to know the dream.” (4) Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic, “O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will give the interpretation.” (5) The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, “My decision is firm: if you do not make known the dream to me, and its interpretation, you shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made an ash heap.”

The king knew that it was a very important dream.
Daniel 2:6-13 – “However, if you tell the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts, rewards, and great honor. Therefore tell me the dream and its interpretation.” (7) They answered again and said, “Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will give its interpretation.” (8) The king answered and said, “I know for certain that you would gain time, because you see that my decision is firm: (9) if you do not make known the dream to me, there is only one decree for you! For you have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till the time has changed. Therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can give me its interpretation.” (10) The Chaldeans answered the king, and said, “There is not a man on earth who can tell the king’s matter; therefore no king, lord, or ruler has ever asked such things of any magician, astrologer, or Chaldean. (11) It is a difficult thing that the king requests, and there is no other who can tell it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh.” (12) For this reason the king was angry and very furious, and gave a command to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. (13) So the decree went out, and they began killing the wise men; and they sought Daniel and his companions, to kill them.

God’s prophet Daniel was a captive in Babylon at the time this decree was made and was serving with some fellow Jews as one of the king’s wise men.
Daniel 2:14-15 – Then with counsel and wisdom Daniel answered Arioch, the captain of the king’s guard, who had gone out to kill the wise men of Babylon; (15) he answered and said to Arioch the king’s captain, “Why is the decree from the king so urgent?” Then Arioch made the decision known to Daniel.
Daniel 2:16-18 – Then Daniel went in, and desired of the king that he would give him time, and that he would shew the king the interpretation. (17) Then Daniel went to his house, and made the thing known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions: (18) That they would desire mercies of the God of Heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon.

Imagine how Daniel must have prayed and cried out desperately to God! He didn’t know what to do; he didn’t know the answer! How in the world could he possibly tell the king his dream, how could he interpret it, when he didn’t even know the dream? – He prayed!

Daniel 2:19 – Then the secret was revealed to Daniel in a night vision. So Daniel blessed the God of Heaven.
Daniel 2:20-23 – Daniel answered and said: “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and might are His. (21) And He changes the times and the seasons; he removes kings and raises up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. (22) He reveals deep and secret things; he knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with Him. (23) I thank You and praise You, O God of my fathers; You have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of You, for You have made known to us the king’s demand.”
Daniel 2:24-28 – Therefore Daniel went to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon. He went and said thus to him: “Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon; take me before the king, and I will tell the king the interpretation.” (25) Then Arioch brought Daniel before the king, and said thus to him, “I have found a man of the captives of Judah, who will make known to the king the interpretation.” (26) The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, “Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen, and its interpretation?” (27) Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, “The secret which the king has demanded, the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers cannot declare to the king. (28) But there is a God in Heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head upon your bed, were these.”

God alone is the One Who could reveal the king’s dream and its interpretation to His prophet.

Daniel was faithful to give God all the credit and all the glory!
Daniel 2:29-30 – As for thee, O king, thy thoughts came into thy mind upon thy bed, what should come to pass hereafter: and he that revealeth secrets maketh known to thee what shall come to pass. (30) But as for me, this secret is not revealed to me for any wisdom that I have more than any living, but for their sakes that shall make known the interpretation to the king, and that thou mightest know the thoughts of thy heart.

The Image

Daniel 2:31 – You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome.
Here now begins the description of one of the most amazingly prophetic dreams ever given to man! In this astonishing vision, each of the different parts of this “great and awesome” image symbolizes a different empire.
Daniel 2:32-33 – This image’s head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, (33) its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.

Looking closer, we see that each major section of this image’s body is made of a different metal:
“Head of gold” – we’ll look at the interpretation in verse 38.
“Chest and arms of silver” – we’ll find the interpretation in verse 39.
“Belly and thighs of bronze” – interpretation comes in verse 39. [Bronze is translated as "brass" in the King James Version.]
“Legs of iron” – interpretation in verse 40.
“Feet part of iron and part of clay” – interpretation in verses 41-43.

Daniel 2:34 – You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces.
“The Stone” – interpretation in verse 44.

This stone was not part of the image but was “cut out of a mountain.” We’ll look at this more in verses 44 and 45. This great stone struck the image upon its feet. The reason it struck the image on the feet and not on the head, was because God wanted to show at what point in history the kingdoms of man would be destroyed! – In the days of the feet.

Daniel 2:35 – Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
In the days of these ten toes, the stone will strike the image and the image will be turned to powder, “like chaff.” That will be the world’s last big dust storm, when God crushes the image and blows it all away! (See interpretation in verses 44 and 45.)

The head of gold = Babylon

Daniel 2:36-38 – This is the dream. Now we will tell the interpretation of it before the king. (37) You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of Heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory; (38) and wherever the children of men dwell, or the beasts of the field and the birds of the heaven, He has given them into your hand, and has made you ruler over them all – you are this head of gold.
According to God’s Word, the great kingdom of Babylon, the “golden city” of ancient times, with its great King Nebuchadnezzar, was the head of gold. He was the first part of the image. Babylon was also represented in other verses by gold:
Isaiah 14:4 – That you will take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, and say: “How the oppressor has ceased, the golden city ceased!”
Nebuchadnezzar later proclaimed God as the most high God above all other Gods, and he commanded all of his people to reverence the Lord.
Daniel 2:47 – The king answered Daniel, and said, “Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you could reveal this secret.”
Daniel 3:29 – Therefore I make a decree that any people, nation, or language which speaks anything amiss against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made an ash heap; because there is no other God who can deliver like this.
Daniel 4:37a – Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of Heaven, all of whose works are truth, and His ways justice.

The chest and arms of silver = Medo-Persia

Daniel 2:39a – But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours …
Daniel 2:32 – … its chest and arms of silver …
Since the head is definitely pinpointed as Babylon, all we have to do in order to find out what this next kingdom was is to look at history to see which kingdom arose after Babylon. According to world history, the kingdom of Medo-Persia followed Babylon, conquering it in 538 B.C.
It is even specifically named later on in Daniel 5:30-31, as being the kingdom that conquered Babylon.
Daniel 5:30-31 – That very night Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, was slain. (31) And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.
Also, the prophet Jeremiah, about 55 years earlier in 593 B.C., had prophesied that the Medes would conquer Babylon.
Jeremiah 51:11, 28 – Make the arrows bright! Gather the shields! The Lord has raised up the spirit of the kings of the Medes. For His plan is against Babylon to destroy it, because it is the vengeance of the Lord, the vengeance for His temple. (28) Prepare against her the nations, with the kings of the Medes, its governors and all its rulers, all the land of his dominion.
The kingdom of Persia is depicted here by two arms. The Medes were the first nation to be incorporated into the Persian Empire. Previous to Cyrus, the Medes had dominated the Persians, but Cyrus beat the Median king at the Battle of Persepolis. Afterwards, many Medes held important places in the Persian Empire.

Historical Notes
(Based on information from the Microsoft Encarta encyclopedia.)
Media, an ancient country of Asia, corresponds to the northeastern section of present-day Iran. The inhabitants, who were known as Medes, and their neighbors, the Persians, spoke Indo-Iranian languages that were closely related to Old Persian.
Beginning about 835 B.C. the Median tribes became subject intermittently to the kings of Assyria.
In 625 Median king Cyaxares (625-585 B.C.) drove the Scythians out of Media and imposed his rule over the Persians. He attacked the Assyrians next and captured (614 B.C.) the city of Ashur. In 612, in alliance with the newly independent kingdom of Babylonia, he captured the city of Nineveh and overthrew the Assyrian Empire. He chose as his capital the city of Ecbatana (present-day Hamadan, Iran).
In about 550 B.C., the Persians, under Cyrus the Great, revolted against a later Median king Astyages (r. about 584-c. 550 B.C.). Joined by a portion of the Median army under a chief named Harpagus, they took Ecbatana and deposed the Median king. From that time Media was politically subservient to Persia; the Persians, however, regarded the Medes as equals, and thenceforth the two peoples were considered as one.

More on Medo-Persia
Medo-Persia is specifically named in a later chapter, the “Mene Mene” handwriting on the wall vision of Daniel 5:18-31, as being the kingdom that conquered Babylon. – See Daniel 5:18-31.
Notice also the remarkable symbolism in the image: The dual kingdom of Medo-Persia is depicted here by two arms. Persia was the stronger of the two, just as in the body one arm is usually stronger than the other!

The belly of bronze = Greece

Daniel 2:39b – … another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth.
We know from history that this third kingdom of bronze, the one to follow Persia, was the Grecian Empire.
In a later chapter Daniel specifically prophesies that Greece will be the conqueror of Medo-Persia. In this passage in Daniel chapter 8, nations are symbolized as animals. Greece is pictured as a “male goat.” The “horn” is its prominent leader.
Daniel 8:21-22 – And the male goat is the kingdom of Greece. The large horn that is between its eyes is the first king. (22) As for the broken horn and the four that stood up in its place, four kingdoms shall arise out of that nation, but not with its power.
This was fulfilled in 333 B.C., 219 years after the prophecy was given, when Alexander the Great led the Greek army in conquering the Persian Empire. Following the death of Alexander, the Greek Empire was divided between its four principal generals – “four kingdoms shall arise.”

Historical notes
Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.), king of Macedonia, is known as the conqueror of the Persian Empire. He began his war against Persia in the spring of 334 B.C.. During the next ten years, his conquests extended Greek influence as well as the Greek civilization and language throughout a Macedonian empire that ranged as far east as northern India and as far south and west as Egypt.
Alexander’s army defeated the Persians under the leadership of King Darius in the Battle of Guagamela on October 1, 331 B.C. Darius fled and was later slain by two of his own generals. Babylon surrendered after Gaugamela.
Alexander arrived in Babylon in the spring of 323 B.C. In June he contracted a fever and died. Following the death of Alexander, the Macedonian generals began to partition his vast empire among themselves. The disagreements arising from this division resulted in a series of wars from 322 to 275 B.C., many of which took place in Greece.
The symbolism of the Greek Empire as a belly was appropriate for a few reasons. The Greeks were known for being uninhibited about sex, and made nude statues of the human body that left the sexual organs uncovered. – It was therefore fitting that they were also symbolized by the thighs and sexual parts in the image.
The Greeks were also interested in philosophy, religion, and spiritual things.

The seat of the spirit.
It is held by many religions that the seat of the spirit is in the belly. As Jesus Himself said, John 7:38-39 – “Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit.
The word “heart” in this verse is from the Greek koilia which means a cavity, especially the abdomen. It stands metaphorically for the innermost part of man, the soul, the heart. Thus the term “heart” used in this translation is figurative. In the King James Version it is translated as “belly.”

The legs of iron = Rome

Daniel 2:40 – And the fourth kingdom shall be as strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others.
Since we already have the fulfillment of actual history, we know that this fourth kingdom was Rome. Rome was the tough, iron-fisted kingdom, which clamped down with iron military rule over the entire known (Western) world in the days before Christ.
Rome is symbolized here by two legs of iron: Was Rome ever divided into two parts? Yes! It was often administered governmentally as two different halves, the Western and Eastern regions, and in its decline it was completely divided into an Eastern and Western Empire. The Western Empire had its capital at Rome, and the Eastern Empire, later called the Byzantine Empire, had its capital at Constantinople.
Italy, which was the heart of the Roman Empire, is even shaped like a leg!
Rome was the strongest of all these kingdoms. That’s why it is symbolized here by iron. And why was Rome not only the strongest, like iron, but also like a pair of legs? Because they were great on marching! They were the first World Empire to build a network of paved roads. They built stone highways everywhere and the main purpose of their paved roads was so their Roman legions could march rapidly to quell any revolt that would break out.
What’s the longest part of the image? – The legs! And of all those empires – Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome – which of those empires ruled the longest? – Rome! In fact Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, was only finally conquered by the Ottoman Turks in 1453 A.D., about 1700 years after Rome had conquered Greece.

The feet and toes = strong and weak governments of the Endtime

Daniel 2:41 – Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter’s clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay.
The iron which continues from the legs down into the feet and toes of the image is sort of a continuation of the Roman Empire. After its fall, Rome was broken up into the “iron” and “clay” countries of the feet and toes. These represent the basic types of governments the world has known since the fall of Rome: Strong and weak governments; dictatorships and democracies.
“The kingdom shall be divided.” Since the fall of Rome there has been division amongst the nations, with no one power completely dominant, though some – like Napoleon and Hitler – have tried. At times, equally powerful “empires” have existed simultaneously, such as the British, French, Spanish, etc., but no one nation has ruled over all of the world’s people since the Romans.
Daniel 2:42 – And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile.
“The kingdom shall be partly strong” – iron – “and partly fragile” – clay.
Daniel 2:43 – As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay.
They “will not adhere one to another.” This is seen in the political alliances of the nations in today’s world.
However, the soon-to-arise empire of the Devil-possessed dictator known as the Antichrist (which we will cover in detail in a later class), will for a very brief period, unite all of these iron and clay nations, ruling the world in some kind of One World Order. Many Bible teachers have said that “the Kingdom,” the Antichrist World Empire, will be a revival of the old Roman Empire. The nations represented by the 10 toes will be united under the Antichrist, and although the kingdom will be a mixture of iron and clay, he is going to unite them all with his iron hand.

The Rock = Jesus/The Mountain = The Kingdom of God

The stone was cut out of a mountain completely separate from the image. Other passages also refer to Jesus as a stone.
Matthew 21:42-44 – Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? (43) Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. (44) And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.”
1 Peter 2:6 – Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.”
“The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner” – of this new Kingdom of God!
Daniel 2:44 – And in the days of these kings the God of Heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.

The stone that “struck the image” (Daniel 2:34) is Jesus, and this “great mountain” that “filled the whole earth” (Daniel 2:35) is none other than the Millennial Kingdom of God, Christ’s Kingdom on Earth!
Micah 4:1-3 – Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it. (2) Many nations shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; he will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion the law shall go forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. (3) He shall judge between many peoples, and rebuke strong nations afar off; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
Christ will set up His Kingdom on Earth, in the Millennium at the end of the Battle of Armageddon (Revelation 19:11-21).
Revelation 19:11, 19-21 – Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. (19) And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. (20) Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. (21) And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh.
This stone smashes the image by force and destroys it and leaves nothing of it! It says the wind carried away the image (man’s governments) “as chaff.”
Isaiah 17:13 – The nations will rush like the rushing of many waters; but God will rebuke them and they will flee far away, and be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind, like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
Notice the return of Jesus was not in the legs (Rome), but on the feet, “in the days of these kings” at the very end of man’s governments.
“These kings”: Other passages mention there being 10 kingdoms (nations) that align themselves with the Antichrist to form the core of his empire. We will look at that subject in later classes.
God’s Kingdom will then “fill the whole earth.”

World history in a nutshell

Daniel 2:45 – Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold – the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure.
This image represents a historical sequence of the great empires of man.
“The interpretation thereof is sure.” We know exactly what’s going to happen!
Daniel 2:46-48 – Then King Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face, prostrate before Daniel, and commanded that they should present an offering and incense to him. (47) The king answered Daniel, and said, “Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you could reveal this secret.” (48) Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts; and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief administrator over all the wise men of Babylon.
God revealed to Daniel the dream Nebuchadnezzar had forgotten, and then gave Daniel the interpretation of the king’s dream. Daniel advised the king wisely, so the king made him the highest ranking man in the kingdom, aside from himself.

Where are we now?

We believe that today we are living in the time of the feet.
From the symbolism of the feet we know that the final Antichrist Empire will be a very strange type of government. It will be a mixture of these iron and clay nations, ruling the world in some kind of federation of nations. There are all kinds of theories about this, ranging from it being the United Nations to the European Union.
There are also many Bible passages that tell us what happens before, during, and after the time that the “stone hits the image” and Jesus sets up His Kingdom. We’ll look at these in detail in our next class.

Class 6B: Prophets and People

Section 1: Fulfilled Prophecy About Jesus

Born of a virgin
Nearly 750 years before Christ’s birth, the Old Testament prophet Isaiah prophesied:
Isaiah 7:14 – Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.
Fulfillment: Mary was a virgin engaged to be married to Joseph, a carpenter of Nazareth, when the angel appeared to her saying,
Luke 1:35 – “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.”
Immanuel means “God with us,” and that’s who Jesus is when we receive Him; God is with us!

Born in Bethlehem
Micah, prophesying in the eighth century B.C., predicted:
Micah 5:2 – But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.
Fulfillment: The Gospel says Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea.
Matthew 2:1 – Now after Jesus waWs born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king …

Triumphal entry into Jerusalem
Around 450 B.C., the prophet Zechariah commanded the people by the Spirit of the Lord to:
Zechariah 9:9 – Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; he is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Fulfillment: Five days before his crucifixion, Jesus returned to Jerusalem and told His disciples,
Matthew 21:2-10 – “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Loose them and bring them to Me.” (6) So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them. (7) They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them. (9) Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: “Hosanna to the Son of David! ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’”
Besides the fact that Jesus, riding into Jerusalem on an ass, fulfilled the prophecy of Zechariah, another outstanding aspect of this passage is that the same people who were shouting “Hosanna to the Son of David” when He rode in, were five days later going to demand His crucifixion. It was like riding into your enemy’s stronghold and expecting a warm welcome! But that’s what He did! He knew that the Scripture had to be fulfilled that the people were going to shout when He rode in. He even said to some of the religious hypocrites, who were trying to make the crowd keep quiet,
Luke 19:40 – “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.”

His betrayal
In 450 B.C., Zechariah also prophesied:
Zechariah 11:12-13 – Then I said to them, “If it is agreeable to you, give me my wages; and if not, refrain.” So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver. (13) And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter” – that princely price they set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord for the potter.
Fulfillment:
Matthew 26:14-15 – Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests (15) and said, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?” And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver.
Matthew 27:3-7 – Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders. (5) Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself. (6) But the chief priests took the silver pieces and said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, because they are the price of blood.” (7) And they consulted together and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in.

His crucifixion
About 1000 B.C., King David prophesied:
Psalm 22:16-18 – For dogs have surrounded Me; the congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet; (17) I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me. (18) They divide My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots.
(See also Zechariah 12:10; 13:6.)
Fulfillment: That was written by King David, who died a natural death (recorded in 1 Kings Chapter 1), so he wasn’t talking about himself. But being a prophet, he predicted the type of death that Christ would die! It says in the New Testament:
John 19:23-24 – Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus [pierced His hands and feet], took His garments and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also the tunic. Now the tunic was without seam, woven from the top in one piece. (24) They said therefore among themselves, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be.”
Crucifixion was not practiced by the Jews of David’s time (they used stoning), but David predicted this type of death for the Messiah, a method of execution unknown to the Jews of his time – foretold 1000 years before it happened!

His burial
Isaiah 53:9 – And they made His grave with the wicked – but with the rich at His death.
Fulfillment: Jesus died as a criminal (”with the wicked”) in the eyes of the world, as there were
Matthew 27:38 – Two robbers were crucified with Him.
And after His death -
Matthew 27:57-60 – A rich man named Joseph went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. …When Joseph had taken the body, he … laid it in his new tomb.
- a grave with the rich!

His resurrection
Psalm 16:10 – For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
The Hebrew word here sheol is sometimes translated “hell” (the place of eternal punishment) and other times “grave” or the “unseen state.” King David, who gave the prophecy, died and was buried and his flesh saw corruption, but Jesus was raised from the grave and Hell three days after His death.
Acts 2:31 – His soul was not left in Hades [the underworld of the dead], nor did His flesh see corruption.
As the angel said to the mourners who came to Jesus’ tomb,
Luke 24:6,5 – He is not here, but is risen! … Why do you seek the living among the dead?
Jesus is alive! The Scriptures show that He walked the earth for 40 days after His resurrection and was seen by hundreds of followers!
Acts 1:3 – To whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
1 Corinthians 15:4-6 – He was buried … He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, (5) … He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. (6) After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep.
He then ascended up to Heaven where He sits at the right hand of the throne of God, and from which He shall soon return to take over the earth and rule it for a thousand years!
Mark 16:19 – So then, after the Lord had spoken to them, He was received up into Heaven, and sat down at the right hand of God.
Now, of course, one of the arguments used against these prophecies is, “Well, the Church had almost total control of the old manuscripts from which the Bible is translated and they just doctored up the Old Testament prophecies so that they’d look like Jesus fulfilled them.” This argument fell apart in 1947, when an Arab shepherd boy in Palestine stumbled across a cave containing ancient scrolls of the Old Testament, all dated before 68 A.D., and some as early as 200 B.C.! The scrolls agreed in almost every respect with the traditional Hebrew texts used in the translation of our Bible, containing the same prophecies word for word. (For more on this, see the section “Dead Sea Scrolls” in the previous class.)
The other argument is that the New Testament was doctored up a little in order to make it appear that Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies. If that’s so, how do you explain the following three prophecies and the now historical events they describe?

Exact year of His crucifixion
Daniel 9:25-26 – Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times. (26) And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end of it shall be with a flood, and till the end of the war desolations are determined.

Summary of the prophecy, given by Daniel around 530 B.C., and its fulfillment:
1. There would be a decree to rebuild Jerusalem.
2. Jerusalem and the Temple would be rebuilt.
3. Then an “anointed one” (Messiah) would arrive.
4. But the Messiah would be “cut off” (an idiom for rejected or killed; see Isaiah 53:8).
5. Then Jerusalem and the Temple would be destroyed again.

All of these historically recorded events later happened, in the same order in which they are described in Daniel 9:24-26:

1. The neo-Babylonian empire was conquered by the Persian empire about 2539 years ago. The Persians ruled a vast empire that included the Jewish homeland (Israel). The Persian king Cyrus gave permission to the captive Jews in Babylon to return to Jerusalem and to rebuild the Temple. Then, about 2453 years ago (about 453 B.C.), the Persian king Artaxerxes gave permission to the Jews to rebuild Jerusalem, which was still in ruins after having been destroyed earlier by the Babylonians.
2. The Jews rebuilt the Temple and the city of Jerusalem.
3. Then, about 2000 years ago, Jesus entered Jerusalem as the Messiah that was promised by the Old Testament prophets.
4. But, many of the people rejected Jesus as the Messiah and He was crucified and killed.
5. Then, about 40 years after Jesus was crucified, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple. (The Temple has not been rebuilt since then).

Let’s look at the details of this amazing prophecy.

The commandment to “restore and build Jerusalem” – 453 B.C.
In 453 B.C., Artaxerxes Longimanus, king of the Persians, commanded the Jews who remained in other parts of the Persian Empire to return to the land of Israel “to restore and to build Jerusalem.”

69 “weeks” or 69 x 7 = 483 years from the commandment to build Jerusalem until the “cutting off” of the Messiah
The prophecy of Daniel predicted that from the time of this commandment unto the Messiah the Prince shall be – how long? – “seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks” – or 7 + 62 = 69 weeks.
The word that’s translated “weeks” here in the Bible is the Hebrew word shabua which means “seven.” Therefore a little better, more literal translation would be “69 sevens,” instead of “69 weeks.” Taken literally, 69 “shabuas,” or 69 sevens, would be 69 x 7, which equals 483.
In the book of Genesis, a week was symbolically used to represent Jacob’s seven-year service for his wife Rachel. His uncle told him,
Genesis 29:27 – Fulfill her week, and we will give you this one also for the service which you will serve with me still another seven years.

453 B.C. until 30 A. D. – the year of Jesus’ crucifixion = 483 years!
69 sevens of years, or 483 years, were to pass between the going forth of the commandment to build Jerusalem and the cutting off the Messiah.
Modern historians now date the birth of Jesus at 4 B.C. and His crucifixion or “cutting off” in 30 A.D.
(This is because of a miscalculation on the part of the Catholic monk, Dionysius (”Denis the Short”), who in the sixth century devised our present Christian-centered calendar system without the use of the more precise archaeological information we now have.)
So Jesus actually began His ministry at 30 years of age (Luke 3:23), in the year 27 A.D., and was crucified three years later, in 30 A.D.
We know from history that the commandment went forth in 453 B.C., and Jesus was “cut off” in 30 A.D. Therefore, if we add the 453 years B.C. to the 30 years A.D., it equals 483 years, the fulfillment of the 69 sevens or 483 years that Daniel predicted would transpire between the decree to rebuild Jerusalem and the death of the Messiah!
- And this was prophesied in the year 538 B.C. – almost 600 years before Jesus the Messiah was crucified!

Why the prophecy is divided into two parts
Just as the prophecy divides the 69 weeks into two parts, one of seven weeks, and then 62 weeks, so there were two events that were fulfilled in these two time periods.
1) The wall and the city were built in the first seven weeks or 49 years.
2) After that, there were still 62 weeks, or 62 sevens (434 years), before the crucifixion of Christ.

Daniel’s prophecy continues with undeniable proof that this Messiah had to be Jesus…

Destruction of Jerusalem after His coming
Daniel 9:26 – And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself; and the people of the prince who is to come shall destroy the city [of Jerusalem] and the sanctuary [the temple].
This prophecy given in 540 B.C. shows that after the Messiah’s death the city of Jerusalem and the Jews’ temple would be destroyed.
Fulfillment: After Jesus was cut off [crucified] in 30 A.D., not for Himself, but for the sins of the world, do you know what happened to Jerusalem and to the Jews’ temple? In 70 A.D., the Roman legions marched in and burnt Jerusalem to the ground.

Section 2: Heroes with Clay Feet

The people God uses!
Acts 14:15 – And saying, “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them.”
The people we read about in the Bible, including the ones whom the Lord used to write the Bible, were people just like us. They were men and women “with clay feet” who made mistakes and committed sins. The Lord still used them, just as He can use any of us who open our lives to Him today.
God’s Word portrays its heroes as they really were! It doesn’t depict them as men who were perfect and never made a mistake and supernatural and all that sort of thing, but they were just ordinary men like you and me. They made their big mistakes just like you and I do, and if it weren’t for God, why, they really would have been a mess – just like you and I are without God!
In fact, one of the proofs that the Bible is a supernatural, miraculous book of God and not man, is that when man writes history, much of the time he covers up the failings and mistakes of his heroes, whereas God lays them out wide open there, the mistakes that they made and their sins! – And yet they repented and God forgave them and they were restored and they were still useful in spite of it all, which gives all of us sinners hope.
Let’s look at a few examples. We’ve chosen three characters who did great things for God, and we’re giving you one example each of how they failed.

Moses
Moses lived around 1400 B.C. He led the Israelites out of their bondage as slaves in Egypt. Through Him, God gave the Israelites the first five books of the Bible that contained the Law, a mixture of both civil and religious ordinances, by which they were to be governed.
A mistake: When Moses was 40 years old, he got in a hurry to deliver the children of Israel and killed an Egyptian. He had to flee for his life, and lived 40 years in the wilderness with the sheep and his father-in-law. It was only after 40 years of patiently and humbly tending sheep in the wilderness, with time to listen to the Voice of God instead of his own impulses, that he was ready for the slow, laborious, patient work of the Exodus to deliver the Israelites from Egypt – slow, but sure!
Exodus 2:11-12,15 – Now it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. (12) So he looked this way and that way, and when he saw no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. (15) When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian.

Striking the rock
Another example is when Moses disobeyed and struck the rock twice in the energy of the flesh rather than in the power of the Spirit.
The Children of Israel had left Egypt and were passing through the wilderness. The Lord had already done miracles to supply them with water and food. On this occasion, again there was no water and the people began to murmur. God directed Moses through to bring forth water out of the rock by speaking to it.
Numbers 20:8 – Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals.
But instead Moses shouted angrily at the people,
Numbers 20:10-11 – “Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?” Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank.
The Lord was angry with Moses for having behaved in this very wrathful and impatient fashion before the people in this display of a fit of anger and impatience with them in which he also acted almost as though he were angry at the rock as well, which was a type of Christ, so that he smote it angrily twice with his rod instead of just speaking to it. Well, it got the results that he wanted and needed and got the water out of the rock to supply the people and their beasts with their needs, but God didn’t like the way he did it!
He did the right thing but in the wrong way, and God was so angry with him for this display of temper (angry impatience is a sign of lack of perfect faith and rest in the Lord) that He punished Moses by telling him,
Numbers 27:14 – You rebelled against My command to hallow Me at the waters before their eyes. (These are the waters of Meribah, at Kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin.)
Numbers 20:12 – Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.
Because he wasn’t a better example of God’s own patience with the people, therefore Moses was only allowed to see the Promised Land from afar, from the top of a mountain, before he died.

King David

David was the greatest king of ancient Israel and lived around 1000 B.C. Although a man of force and faults who sinned greatly, the Bible says of him that he was a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 3:14). He wrote many of the songs of praise that constitute the largest book of the Bible, the Book of Psalms.

A mistake:
Read all of 2 Samuel chapters 11 and 12 (up to verse 25), or read the explanation below:
David fell in love with Bathsheba, a beautiful woman, who lived within the shadow of the walls of the palace. Her husband Uriah, a heroic general, was battling in David’s army. David saw Bathsheba taking a bath. He stood up on the roof, breathing in the night air and taking a look at Bathsheba every now and then. The king fell in love with Bathsheba. He eventually invited her to the palace where he made love to her and she conceived.
David then recalled her husband Uriah home from the battlefront with the feint of having him report how the war went. Once he had heard the report, he told Uriah to go spend the night with his wife. He refused to do so. He said, “My lord Joab and the men of Israel are sleeping in tents and on the ground. How can I go down and enjoy my wife and my own home?” So instead, he slept out by David’s gate.
This made David really angry, as he wanted Uriah to sleep with his wife so it would appear that he had fathered the child. So he arranged with his top general Joab to have Uriah placed in the frontline of the battle and then have his escort withdraw, so he would be killed – which he was! He sent Uriah to his death!
As God’s punishment, the son born to David and Bathsheba got sick and died. But God allowed David to marry Bathsheba, who became the queen. Then after they were married, their next child, Solomon, later became the next king – one of the forerunners of Christ Himself!
It’s a strange thing how the Lord let this happen. Perhaps, if Bathsheba was the one that God wanted for the job (of being the mother of the next king), God could have done it some other way – without David committing murder! But sad to say, that’s the way it happened! The way David went about this was a very great sin in the sight of the Lord!
The incident of David’s sin brought Nathan the prophet to David’s side. The prophet poured out upon him such a scathing denunciation that David cried out: “I have sinned against the Lord!” (2 Samuel 12:13.) And so he had!
David greatly repented. However, the Lord pronounced certain judgments upon him that would happen, even in spite of his repentance: Their first child would die, the sword would never depart from his house, the kingdom would be taken from his heirs, and it would be divided!
Psalm 51 is David’s prayer of repentance on this occasion. King David is a great inspiration and comfort to many of us, because if such a big sinner could be forgiven such big sins and the Lord still turned around and called him a man after His own heart, then you know how great the love and mercy of the Lord is! Despite David’s sins, the Lord forgave him because he loved the Lord. He knew he was a sinner and he confessed it and he repented.

Paul

Paul was the greatest evangelist and teacher of the early Christians. He was not one of those who personally followed Jesus while He was on earth, but was, in fact, a persecutor of the early Christians after Jesus’ ascension. That changed when, while on a mission to arrest some Christians, he was temporarily blinded by a brilliant light out of which Jesus spoke to him. After being blind for three days, his sight was restored after a Christian prayed for him, and from that point on Paul became the dynamic leader of the early Christians. Aside from tirelessly traveling to preach the Gospel and establishing Christian communities in many cities in the eastern areas of the Roman empire, he also wrote many letters of instruction, 14 of which were incorporated into the New Testament over 150 years later.
The Apostle Paul did not consider himself to have “attained.”
Philippians 3:13-14 – Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

A mistake:
Besides having been a vicious persecutor of the Christians before he got saved, Paul later curtailed his own ministry by stubbornly going back to Jerusalem and trying to appease the religionists of his time. After being warned not to by the Spirit, Paul returned to the temple at Jerusalem and was arrested. He spent most of his remaining life in bonds until his final execution in Rome.
It certainly seems that it was a mistake when he went back to the temple. He went in spite of every warning that God’s prophets gave him not to go.
Acts 20:16 – For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he would not have to spend time in Asia; for he was hurrying to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on the Day of Pentecost.
Acts 20:22-23 – [He told his friends:] “And see, now I go bound in the Spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, (23) except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me.”
Paul obviously disobeyed the checks of the Lord! God tried to stop him from going to Jerusalem. He even got to one place where a prophet took his belt and tied his hands together and said, “If you go to Jerusalem, this is what’s going to happen to you!” God was warning him not to go, yet he went anyway.
Acts 21:10-12 – And as we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. (11) When he had come to us, he took Paul’s belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’” (12) Now when we heard these things, both we and those from that place pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem.
In spite of all the warnings God gave Paul not to go he went anyway, and it didn’t do anything but cause him trouble.
The Lord used him anyway. He wrote a lot of letters and he got to witness to Caesar’s household, and perhaps it was of the Lord in order to get him to go to Rome. Maybe that’s why the Lord let it happen, but it certainly didn’t do the Jews any good and it certainly didn’t bring about any peace with the Temple or the religious leaders. So it was just a matter of God using Paul’s mistake for His glory; it didn’t vindicate or justify Paul in what he did.
The Lord did use him, but how much more might he have accomplished if he had not been imprisoned. Compare this with the time he did act more wisely (for example, his preaching in Athens, see Acts 17:16-34).

Learning from our mistakes

One important point to note is that we only make progress if we learn from our mistakes. Not all of God’s people have learned from their mistakes and therefore they didn’t make the progress He was hoping they would! Mistakes are useful tools for learning, but only if we learn from them.

Within reach!

Some people make characters in the Bible sound so far above and beyond us that they seem unrelatable to our present existence. – But the Lord wants us to realize how human they were and how much like us they were. We’ve pointed out a few of their mistakes to show you that even the greatest heroes were not perfect!
It’s important to bring some of these characters down closer to our level where we can see there is hope for us. If those in the Bible could serve the Lord, despite their weaknesses and character flaws and mistakes, so can we!

The Lord is not going to expect more of you than you’re able to bear.
He’s not going to ask more of you than what you are capable of, and what He asks of you He will give you the strength for. – And even when you fail, as long as you ask His forgiveness, He will forgive you and help you up and help you try again.
1 Corinthians 10:13 – No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.
Philippians 4:13 – I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Proverbs 24:16 – For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again.
Daniel 11:34a – Now when they fall, they shall be aided with a little help.
Isaiah 41:10 – Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.

The Lord has shown us that anyone who accepts Him, and wants to serve Him, He accepts.
Jesus walked those dusty roads and talked to the simple fishermen and the tax collectors, prostitutes and drunks, as well as the influential and the educated, in order to show them that God loved them all and they could all love God, they could all love each other and serve each other and serve the world with the Gospel.
He came to try to make it as easy as He could!
- And that’s why the religious leaders of His day wanted to crucify Him, because they taught the people that you couldn’t get close to God without them and without following all of their religious laws.
But that’s not what Jesus preached! The only standards and requirements He has given us are contained in the Law of Love: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart … and your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37,39).

Conclusion

All the Bible knowledge without love in action will be nothing. Knowing the Bible backwards and forwards is not going to help us if we’re not living it and applying it. Lord help us all to apply what we read, to be doers of the Word, not hearers only. – And Lord help us all never to be discouraged by our limitations or failures, remembering the sample of God’s people of years gone by, and how they, too, fell and made mistakes, yet because of their love for the Lord He could keep on using them. Help us to follow that example, of love and dedication of the heart.

Class 6A: Know The Book

Section 1: Why Study the Bible?

You should study the Bible for your own benefit
It’s important that you know your Bible, first of all for your own benefit! – So you know where to find what you’re looking for and what you want to study and what you want to read, etc.
The Lord is the Author! Remember, the people who “wrote” the Bible were merely tools in His hands. The Lord inspired them to write what they did. If you want to get to know His views, His explanation of history and His outlook for the future, read what He has to say!

The Author made me!
A learned Chinese scholar was employed by some missionaries to translate the New Testament into Chinese. At first the work of translating had no effect upon the man. But after some time he became quite agitated and said, “What a wonderful book this is!”
“Why so?” asked the missionary.
“Because,” said the man, “it tells me exactly about myself. It knows all that is in me. The One Who made this book must have made me!”

Reading the Bible, you get closer to the Author
Psalm 119:9 – How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your Word.
Psalm 119:15 – I will meditate on Your precepts, and contemplate Your ways.
Psalm 119:27 – Make me understand the way of Your precepts; so shall I meditate on Your wondrous works.
Psalm 119:42 – So shall I have an answer for him who reproaches me, for I trust in Your Word.
Psalm 119:97 – Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day.
Psalm 119:99 – I have more understanding than all my teachers, for Your testimonies are my meditation.
Psalm 119:100 – I understand more than the ancients, because I keep Your precepts.
Psalm 119:104 – Through Your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way.
Psalm 119:105 – Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.
Psalm 119:144 – The righteousness of Your testimonies is everlasting; give me understanding, and I shall live.
Psalm 119:151 – You are near, O Lord, and all Your commandments are truth.
Psalm 119:160 – The entirety of Your Word is truth, and every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever.
Psalm 119:165 – Great peace have those who love Your law, and nothing causes them to stumble.

You should study the Bible for your witness
The Bible is well known and is a well-recognized authority. Most people at least have heard about it and a lot of people respect it, and there are millions of people who even believe in it!
If you can quote the Bible to them, or if you can even find the verses and the proof you want in the Bible and show it to them, a lot of people will believe it. But if you don’t even know how to find the verses in the Bible, how can you purport to be wise enough to tell others how to find Heaven, if you don’t even know the names of the Books or where the passages are and how to find them!
Even for the people who pretend not to believe it, the Word is powerful just the same! – “Sharper than any two-edged sword,” full of the power of the Spirit and very convicting.
Hebrews 4:12 – For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

To know the future: The Bible tells us what’s going to happen!
The Bible contains hundreds of specific prophecies about people, nations, places, times, and events that have already been fulfilled down to the smallest detail. Some of these were fulfilled almost immediately, others took hundreds of years, but each came to pass exactly as God said they would. (There are also many other prophecies in the Bible that are yet to be fulfilled, which will be fulfilled just as surely.)
Fulfilled prophecy is one of the greatest proofs of the Bible! Who else but God could have revealed the future thousands of years before it would unfold? Who else but God could have foretold the future in perfect detail, long before it happened? A lot of these prophecies haven’t happened yet, so they’re not yet proven, but there are hundreds and hundreds of prophecies in the Bible that have already been fulfilled and are already proven! They say there are over 300 prophecies about Jesus alone and His first coming that have already been fulfilled in detail!
In the book Understanding God’s Word (Get Activated series), pages 80-87, you’ll find over sixty of the most outstanding fulfilled prophecies, arranged into two groups: 1) those fulfilled by Jesus and 2) others from both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Take the time to study these. For now, we’ll look at one example.

A place for fishermen’s nets – The fall of Tyre
Tyre was a city in ancient Lebanon which still exists today. In the years when the prophecy was given, Tyre was part of a country called Phoenicia. This was about 600 years before Jesus was born.
In the year 590 B.C., God spoke to the prophet Ezekiel and told him what was going to happen in the future to the city of Tyre.
From Ezekiel chapters 26-30 – Son of man, because Tyre has said against Jerusalem, ‘Aha! She is broken.’ And hast said, ‘I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas – I am of perfect beauty!’ Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against you. And they shall destroy the walls of Tyre and break down her towers; I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock. It shall be a place for spreading nets in the midst of the sea, for I have spoken,’ says the Lord God; ‘it shall become plunder for the nations. I will make you a terror, and you shall be no more; though you are sought for, you will never be found again. I will make you like the top of a rock; you shall be a place for spreading nets, and you shall never be rebuilt. Behold, I will bring against Tyre from the north Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished at thee: … and they shall know that I am the Lord [when] I will give the land of Egypt unto Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; yet had he no wages, nor his army, for Tyrus.
God told Ezekiel that because the city of Tyre was proud and rebellious against God, then God was going to allow the king of another country to come and destroy the city. He said that the city would end up in ruins, just piles of rocks for the fishermen to spread their nets over.
If you were living in Tyre in those days, you would have thought this was a silly prediction. Tyre was the great city of the Phoenicians, built on a hill overlooking the Mediterranean Sea in what is now the modern nation of Lebanon. The Phoenicians were a great seafaring and trading people – “all the ships of the sea” came to Tyre. The Phoenicians were one of the outstanding civilizations of ancient times.
Ezekiel 27:9 – Elders of Gebal and its wise men were in you to caulk your seams; all the ships of the sea and their oarsmen were in you to market your merchandise.
But just look what happened to Tyre!
Nebuchadnezzar was the heathen king of Babylon. He went out conquering many countries.
God even allowed him to conquer His people in the land of Israel because they had turned their backs on God’s ways.
In 586 B.C. four years later, Nebuchadnezzar’s armies went through the cities of Tyre and Sidon. Just like God had told Ezekiel, Nebuchadnezzar tore down ancient Tyre and leveled it to the very ground, but left the ruins there.
The whole prophecy still had not been fulfilled because the old city of Tyre had not been scraped “as bare as the top of a rock” and its ruins were not yet “a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea.”
Nebuchadnezzar received no wages for destroying Tyre – no jewels or gold or loot – because the people of Tyre fled to a little island that was a half mile offshore. There the people built a new city and took all of their wealth with them. Nebuchadnezzar was not a seafaring man. He had no ships or navy and he was unable to cross that little half mile of ocean between him and the island to conquer them.
So on the mainland lay the ruins of ancient Tyre, while a new city of Tyre was built on the island. The prophecy was still not completely fulfilled.
But what God says, eventually comes to pass! Sometimes it takes a long time, but God’s prophecies never fail! And that’s what happened. About 250 years later a Macedonian king named Alexander the Great came along sweeping the world with his armies, fighting great battles with minimal losses on his side.
In 332 B.C., Alexander came to Tyre. He heard all about this wealthy city out there on the island. Alexander was a very smart general. He looked out across that half mile of water and said, “How can I get there? I want to get all that money they have out there!”
So he began looking around for something to use, and he saw this big pile of rubble that used to be the ancient city of Tyre – all those bricks and stones and mortar and timbers. So Alexander’s army got it all together and they scraped everything they could find right into the Mediterranean Sea. They scraped the area bare and used the materials to build a causeway right across the shallow floor of the Mediterranean to the island city! And soon Alexander captured and plundered the island city of Tyre.
And do you know what? Along the sides of that road the fishermen spread their nets exactly like God had prophesied! Tyre was thrown into the sea! This exact end of ancient Tyre was predicted over 250 years before it happened! Only God could have predicted that so many years before!

In the next class we’ll be looking at fulfilled prophecies about Jesus, which is an amazing study all in itself. In later classes we’ll look at prophecies concerning the time we are now living in.

Quick summary of reasons to study the Bible:

For our own benefit and spiritual growth
To get closer to the Author and to know His mind
For the sake of our witness to others
To know the future: The Bible tells us what’s going to happen!

Section 2: Basic Bible Knowledge

Who wrote the Bible?
Would you like to know a little something about the general content of the Bible? It’s helpful to know something about how the Bible is composed or constituted, how it’s set up. It’s very well organized.
The Bible is a collection of 66 books. God used about 40 men to write the Bible. In some cases quite a few books were written by the same man. – But that’s not really the most important thing because God is the Author of the Bible!
2 Timothy 3:16 – All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
2 Peter 1:21b – Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
The books of the Bible were written during a 1,500-year period. That 1,500-year period began with Moses about 3,400 years ago and ended with the book of Revelation over 1,900 years ago.
Difference between Old and New Testaments and what they are
Have you all got your Bibles? The Table of Contents in the front of your Bible will make it simple for you. You can follow along by looking at the list of books.
The Bible contains two major sections: the Old Testament and the New Testament. (Testament in this case means “covenant” or “contract,” so the Old and New Testaments can be thought of as the old and new binding agreements between God and man.)
The Old Testament is a compilation of the Holy Scriptures of the Jews, written over a 1,100-year period. The Old Testament has many prophecies about a Messiah or “Anointed One,” who would be a “son” who would be called “Mighty God,” or “Eternal Father.” These prophecies were written hundreds of years before Jesus Christ was born.
The New Testament contains the sacred writings of the early Christian period. The 27 books of the New Testament were written in Greek over a period of about 100 years. They tell of Jesus’ life and ministry and the growth of the Early Church, and present the basics of Christian faith.

Old Testament Groups
The Old Testament has 39 books. Scholars generally agree that they were written over a period of about 1,100 years, from the 14th to the 4th century B.C. They were written in Hebrew, except for a few passages in the book of Daniel, which were written in Aramaic.
The Old Testament is divided into three major divisions: Historical, Poetical and Prophetic. The books are organized partly chronologically and partly according to content. The Bible is very well organized and it was put in this order to make it clearer for us.

Old Testament Historical books

The Old Testament begins with 17 historical books. The historical books begin with the first five “Books of Moses.” They are called the “Pentateuch” or the “Five Books of Moses” and they are also spoken of by Jesus and others as the “Law” or the “Torah.”
Esther is the last of what are called the Historical Books. All those first Books from Genesis to Esther are classified as Historical Books.
Those first historical books are about the history of the world, history of God’s people, and history of God’s dealings with man before the birth of Christ.
1 Corinthians 10:11 – Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come.

Outline of historical books: Five books of Moses
Genesis. The book of Origins. The origin of the universe, human race, etc. Largely a record of the early history of God’s people. The first part of the book covers the history of early mankind, narrating the events of the Creation, the Fall, the Flood, and the Dispersion of the races (people scattered across the world following the Tower of Babel). The second section concerns the lives of the patriarchs – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph.
Exodus. The bondage, deliverance, and beginnings of the history of the Hebrews on the way to Canaan, under the leadership of Moses. Includes the life story of Moses and the Hebrews’ deliverance from Egypt, and the giving of the law.
Leviticus. The book of Mosaic laws. It teaches access to God through sacrifices. We are no longer under these laws since Jesus’ death. The book has mostly priestly legislation and the practical application of the law among the people. Much importance is placed upon the Hebrews’ separation from all heathen influences so that the nation would retain its religious purity.
Numbers. The book of the pilgrimages of Israel. It is a continuation of Exodus, describing the forty years’ wanderings in the wilderness.
Deuteronomy. A repetition of the laws given shortly before the children of Israel entered Canaan. It is a sequel to Numbers. The last three chapters tell the last days of Moses.

Outline of other Historical Books
Joshua. This tells the story of Joshua, Moses’ successor. It was Joshua who led the people into the Promised Land after the death of Moses. The book records the conquest of Canaan under the leadership of Joshua, and the division of the land among the twelve tribes.
Judges is so called because it relates the times of various rulers, or judges, of Israel from the possession of Canaan until the time of Samuel. Covers 300 years of history – the six conquests and subjugations of the Israelites, and the various deliverances of the land through the fifteen judges. Includes the adventures of Samson.
Ruth. A beautiful story of how Ruth, a foreigner, became the ancestress of David and of Jesus. A love story! Ruth, the Moabitess, goes to Judah with her mother-in-law, Naomi. There Ruth meets and marries Boaz.
1 and 2 Samuel. The history of Samuel (priest and prophet) and the beginning and early years of the monarchical period in Israel (when they were first ruled by kings) under the reigns of Saul and David.
1 Samuel tells of the organization of the kingdom, the actions of Samuel, how Saul was made king, his fall, and the beginning of the reign of King David. 2 Samuel tells of the reign of David.
1 and 2 Kings. The early history of the kingdom of Israel, and later of the divided Kingdom. (Israel and Judah split.) Includes the lives of Elijah and Elisha, prominent prophets.
1 and 2 Chronicles. Largely a record of the reigns of David, Solomon, and the kings of Judah up to the time of the Captivity (when Babylon conquered Judah and carried many Jews away to become slaves in Babylon). Some repetition of what is in the books of Samuel and Kings.
Ezra. Continues from Chronicles. A record of the return of the Jews from captivity in Babylon, and the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem.
Nehemiah. An account of the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, and a “revival” amongst God’s people.
Esther. The story of Queen Esther’s (Jewish wife of the Persian king) deliverance of the Jews from the plot of Haman in the courts of the king of Persia.

Old Testament Poetical Books
Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon are called the Poetical Books. They are the poetry of the Bible, and they were grouped together because they were used largely in devotional services, being either read or sung.
Psalms and Proverbs are beautiful books to read at your devotional times.
Psalms is also a tremendous prophetic book full of Messianic prophecies.
Parts of the book of Proverbs are proverbs of other kings and other men, as it says in the Bible, but King Solomon wrote most of it. Of course, in many of those proverbs he was repeating the wisdom which had been given by God to men down through the ages. He was simply making a list and recording them.
As there are 31 chapters in Proverbs, a good project is to read one chapter each day, corresponding with the day of the month.

Outline of Poetical Books
Job. The problem of affliction, showing the malice of Satan, the patience of Job, the problem of self-righteousness, the vanity of human philosophy, the divine wisdom, and the final deliverance of the sufferer. This is generally accepted as the oldest book in the Bible, and probably was written before the time of Moses.
Psalms. A collection of 150 spiritual songs, poems, praises, prayers, and prophecies. King David wrote many of these. Psalms are very inspiring to read during your devotional quiet times. Some key chapters of Psalms are also very beautiful and helpful to memorize.
Proverbs. A collection of moral and religious maxims, and discourses on wisdom, temperance, justice, etc. King Solomon wrote many, and the rest are considered to be authored by others.
Ecclesiastes. Wise Solomon’s reflections on the vanity of life, and man’s duties and obligations to God, etc.
Song of Solomon. A beautiful, passionate love poem. Some people look at this simply as a literal love poem; others take it as an allegory of our relationship with the Lord describing the love of Jesus for His Bride (us).

Old Testament Major Prophets
There are 17 prophetic books. Five are “major” and twelve are “minor.”
The four major prophets are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. They are considered major not because of the size of the books but because of the importance of the prophet and what he predicted. Even though Daniel is a relatively small book with just 12 chapters, there are more specific amazing prophecies about the future, and time prophecies, than there are in the other Major Prophets.
Isaiah was the Messianic Prophet because he prophesied a good deal about Jesus, both about His first coming and about His second coming! There are more prophecies about the Millennium* in Isaiah than anywhere else in the Bible. Isaiah is devotional reading, not only a study of Bible Prophecy. Isaiah is easier reading because it’s so beautiful and poetic and so much about the coming Messiah and the Millennium, His Messianic Kingdom, etc.
(*The Millennium: The coming thousand-year reign of Christ and His saints upon earth that will take place after His return.)

Jeremiah was known as the “Weeping Prophet,” concerned mostly about the Jews – their history, their fall, and their future and the restoration when they would return to Israel, which has since happened.
Ezekiel also prophesied mostly about the Jews, but he had many more prophecies regarding the distant future, particularly about the Antichrist and the Battle of Armageddon, even clear up to the Heavenly City.

Daniel was a Prophet of the Endtime, the future! They all prophesied about the Endtime, but he especially prophesied about the distant future – very little about the current history of Israel at his time or even shortly after, mostly about the prophecies of the distant future. He was told to shut up the book until the Time of the End, because it wouldn’t be revealed what it meant until the very End.
Daniel 12:4 – But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.
In a later class we will study some of Daniel’s prophecies.

Outline of Major Prophets
Isaiah. A book rich in Messianic prophecies, and other prophecies of the future, mingled with woes pronounced upon sinful nations.
Jeremiah. Jeremiah lived from the time of King Josiah to the captivity in Babylon. The main theme of the book is the backsliding, bondage, and restoration of the Jews. Jeremiah received the call to prophesy while very young. It was his mission to predict doom upon his nation for its many sins. For this the priests and the people hated him. Jeremiah warned the Jews not to fight Babylon, but to surrender, and God would temper their punishment.
Lamentations. Also written by Jeremiah. A dirge over the desolation of Jerusalem.
Ezekiel lived during the exile (in Babylon). The book is divided into two sections: The first denounces the sins and abominations of Jerusalem and the second looks to the future with the hope that the city will be restored after it has been cleansed. The latter also contains prophecies about the coming Kingdom of Heaven and of Jesus.
Daniel. Prophecies of the future: some have been fulfilled, some are specific prophecies of the Endtime which were only meant to be understood in the Last Days.

Minor prophets
Then come the twelve Minor Prophets. The final book in the series is Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament.

Outline of Minor Prophets
Hosea. Lived at the same time as Isaiah and Micah. The central thought: The apostasy of Israel characterized as spiritual adultery. The book is filled with striking pictures describing the sins of the people. Hosea was even instructed by the Lord to marry a harlot as a picture of God’s unfailing love for His errant bride! He urges a return to God.
Joel. A prophet of Judah, he wrote this book during a plague of locusts, a time of great distress for the people. This book contains discussion of repentance and its blessings, and predictions of the Holy Spirit.
Amos was a herdsman prophet who denounced selfishness and sin. The book contains a series of five visions and predicts the ultimate universal rule of the Lord. Amos proclaimed that God was the ruler of the whole world.
Obadiah. Leading topic – the doom of Edom and final deliverance of Israel. The shortest book in the Old Testament, it has only one chapter.
Jonah. The story of the “reluctant missionary” to the great city of Nineveh who was taught by bitter experience the lesson of obedience and the depth of divine mercy. This is the man who was “swallowed by the great fish” or whale.
Micah. This book gives a dark picture of the moral condition of Israel and Judah, and foretells the establishment of the Kingdom of the Lord in which righteousness shall prevail.
Nahum. The destruction of Nineveh, capital of Assyria. Also contains a classic rebuke against warfare and militarism.
Habakkuk. Written in the Chaldean period. This book is concerned with the problem of unpunished evil in the world. It was revealed to Habakkuk that the Chaldean (Babylonian) armies were to be God’s means of punishing the wicked and that evil would destroy itself. The book concludes with a poem of thanksgiving and great faith.
Zephaniah. This book is filled with God’s threatenings to the rebellious, but ends with a vision of the future glory of God’s people.
Haggai. A colleague of Zechariah. He reproves the Jewish people for slackness in building the second temple; but promises a return of God’s glory when the building should be completed.
Zechariah. Contemporary of Haggai. He helped to arouse the Jews to rebuild the temple. He had a series of eight visions, and saw the ultimate triumph of God’s kingdom. Zechariah gives very specific predictions about the coming of Jesus the Messiah: His death to remove sin, Christ as King and Priest, His Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, being betrayed for 30 pieces of silver, His hands pierced at the crucifixion, and more.
Malachi. He gives a graphic picture of the closing period of Old Testament history. He shows the necessity of reforms before the coming of the Messiah. The final message to a disobedient people.

New Testament Groups
The New Testament is composed of 27 books. It is divided into three major categories: History (the Gospels and book of Acts) , Epistles (letters) and Prophetic. It parallels the same arrangement as the Old Testament with one exception: The central section, instead of Poetic books, contains Epistles.

Historical: Gospels and Acts
The first five books of the New Testament are historical: four Gospels and the book of Acts.
The Gospels deal with the ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus. The book of Acts tells of some of the major happenings of the Early Church over the next 30 years, and is a sort of sequel to the Gospels.
The first three Gospels – Matthew, Mark, and Luke – are called the “Synoptic Gospels” because they are similar in content. The Gospel of John is the Gospel of Salvation. Each Gospel tells the same basic story – of the life and ministry of Jesus, and the meaning of His coming – yet they each tell it in a slightly different way. The authors mention what was important to them about certain events, which explains why the accounts of the same events are slightly different.
Outline of New Testament Historical Books
Matthew. Matthew had been a tax collector and became one of the apostles. His book was written mostly with the Jews in mind, to convince them that Jesus was the Messiah. You’ll find many references to the Old Testament in this book as Matthew wanted to show how Jesus was fulfilling the prophecies. Matthew was an eyewitness to many of the events that he wrote about.
Mark was a companion of Peter, as well as Paul. His Gospel contains what he heard Peter recount. He emphasized the supernatural power of Jesus over nature, disease, and demons. All this divine energy was exercised for the good of man.
Luke was a Greek physician (the only non-Jewish author in the New Testament) and was a companion of Paul. He wrote the most complete biography of Jesus, portraying Him as the Son of man, full of compassion for the sinful and the poor.
John was one of the original 12 apostles. John understood the spiritual depths of the Love of God and His salvation and what Jesus meant to the whole world, and not just to the Jews. The book of John contains more of the actual quoted words of Jesus than any other book.
Acts follows on from the Book of Luke and is believed to be written by the same author. It tells what happened to Jesus’ disciples after His resurrection, then going on to explain the history of the Early Church, the conversion of Paul and his journeys, etc. Acts emphasizes that the Church is guided continually by the Holy Spirit.

The Epistles
“Epistles” means letters. Paul wrote the 14 so-called “Pauline Epistles.” Then there are seven “General” Epistles. They are called “General Epistles” because they are not addressed to anybody in particular, whereas the earlier Epistles were written specifically to certain people. Paul’s Epistles to the Romans, Corinthians, Galatians and Ephesians, etc., are all addressed to specific individuals or groups of believers and are named after whom the letters were addressed to. The following Epistles from James, Peter, John and Jude are named after those who wrote them..
Paul’s epistles are deep, legal theology, as Peter said:
2 Peter 3:16 – As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.
Paul was a religious lawyer and he was trying to interpret the Gospel for the sake of lawyers and brilliant minds and legalists like himself, to his own kind like the Pharisees and the scribes, trying to prove to them in legal language and legal arguments that he was right.
He does a very good job of it, but many people can only understand some of it, and a lot of it they can’t; a lot of it is quite lengthy, as Peter says, and a little bit difficult to comprehend. That’s why many of us like reading the Gospels best, particularly the words of Jesus.
Paul’s writings were necessary too. It was important for Paul to explain in convincing legal arguments why the Gospel had to be so, why Jesus had to come and why things were different now – no longer under law, but grace. He gives legal arguments like he’s talking before a judge to convince a judge of his case, and if you have that kind of a mind, you’ll enjoy his writings.
You should also bear in mind when reading the Epistles that some of what Paul wrote on behavior and so on, was pertaining to the customs of the day and does not necessarily apply today, just as much of the Old Testament law is no longer relevant.

Outline of 14 Epistles of Paul
Most of these were written to the churches in that specific area. If you look at a map of the area in New Testament times (you’ll probably find one in the back of your Bible), you’ll be able to find these locations. These places still exist today! Corinth, for instance, is near Athens.
Romans. Addressed to Roman Christians. Chapters 1-11 discuss the plan of salvation. Chapters 12-16 are largely exhortations relating to spiritual, social, and civic duties.
1 Corinthians. Addressed to the Corinthian church. Leading topics – the cleansing of the church from various evils, together with doctrinal instructions.
2 Corinthians. The characteristics of the ministry and vindication of Paul’s apostleship.
Galatians. Important book because it explains clearly the concept of salvation by faith, not works.
Ephesians. The plan of salvation. All barriers between Jews and Gentiles have been broken down.
Philippians. A letter to the Philippian church. It reveals Paul’s intense devotion to Christ, his experience in prison, and his deep concern that the Church should be steadfast in sound doctrine.
Colossians. Counsel to abandon worldly philosophy and sin. Jesus is the head of the Church.
1 Thessalonians. Exhortations and counsel. Also prophecies of the Endtime.
2 Thessalonians. More about Jesus’ Second Coming and warnings to believers.
1 Timothy. Counsel to a young pastor concerning his conduct and ministry.
2 Timothy. Paul’s last letter, written shortly before his death, giving counsel to his beloved “son in the Gospel.”
Titus. Counsel given to a trusted friend.
Philemon. A private letter written to Philemon, beseeching him to receive and forgive Onesimus, a runaway slave.
Hebrews. Author is most likely Paul. Written to Jewish Christians, this explains the doctrine of salvation. Also contains very inspiring history of God’s people (Chapter 11).

Outline of 7 General Epistles
James. Probably written by James, the brother of Jesus. Addressed to Jewish converts who had dispersed from Israel. The main theme is practical religion, manifesting itself in good works, as contrasted with only a profession of faith.
1 Peter. A letter of encouragement written by the Apostle Peter to the believers scattered throughout Asia Minor. Leading topic: The privilege of believers following the example of Jesus, to have victory in the midst of trials, and to live consecrated lives in an unfriendly world.
2 Peter. A warning against false teachers and scoffers.
1 John. Written by the Apostle John. It lays great importance upon the believer’s privilege of spiritual knowledge, the duty of fellowship, and brotherly love.
2 John. A brief message on divine truth and worldly error.
3 John. A letter of commendation written to Gaius.
Jude. The writer was probably the brother of James, and brother of Jesus. Historical examples of apostasy and divine judgments upon sinners.

The Prophetic Book: Revelation
Revelation or the Apocalypse is the last book in the New Testament. Note that the title is “The Revelation of Jesus Christ to St. John.” This is a message that Jesus gave to John. Revelation is the one thoroughly Prophetic book in the New Testament, although many of the other New Testament books contain Endtime prophecies. Revelation is the only book of the New Testament devoted entirely to prophecy.

Outline of Revelation
Revelation. It was written by the Apostle John (while in exile), who was also the author of the Gospel of John and three Epistles. The book of Revelation contains complex and detailed prophecies about the future, with much detail on the Endtime, the events preceding and following Jesus’ Second Coming, on into the Millennium. It concludes with a wonderful description of Heaven.

How the Bible came into being

The first recorded instance in the Bible of God telling someone to write is in the book of Exodus. Following a victory in battle, God instructed Moses to “Write this for a memorial in the book” (Exodus 17:14). In another example several chapters later, “Moses wrote all the words of the Lord … Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people” (Exodus 24:4, 7).
From that time until the end of the New Testament age, the writing of the many books and parts of the Bible continued.
None of the original biblical documents has survived. But before the original documents disappeared, they were copied. These precise copies of the original writings are the texts on which current translations of the Bible are based.
The process of copying and recopying the Bible has continued to our time. Until the middle of the 15th century A.D., all the copying was done by hand. Then, with the invention of the printing press in Europe, copies could be made in greater quantities by using this new process. Before, each copy of the Bible had to be produced slowly by hand, but now the printing press could produce thousands of copies in a short time. This made the Scriptures available to many people, rather than just the few who could afford expensive handmade copies.

How the Bible was put together
It’s quite amazing when you realize that here is a Book that was written over a 1,500-year span – 40 generations. It was written by over 40 authors from every walk of life including kings, shepherds, philosophers, fishermen, poets, statesmen, scholars, etc. Yet the Biblical authors wrote in harmony and continuity from Genesis to Revelation. There is one unfolding story: God’s redemption of man.
This grouping of the Old Testament that you study today was put in this final canonical form and organized in this order by a group of 70 scholars in Alexandria, Egypt, somewhere between 250-100 B.C.
These 70 scholars decided on which were authentic books, recognized as genuinely inspired. That was probably the most important gathering of scholars for thoroughly translating all of the Old Testament Hebrew-language books.
Their product was a translation into Greek and became the accepted Authorized Greek Version of the Old Testament, which was the literary language of the people of that day, of both the Greek and Roman empires. They called it the Septuagint, meaning the one produced by 70 men, and that has been the accepted Authorized Version of the Old Testament ever since.
In the second century A.D., when officials of the Early Church sought to make a list of books about Jesus and the Early Church that they considered authoritative, they retained the Old Testament, on the authority of Jesus and His apostles. Along with these books they recognized as authoritative the new writings – four Gospels, or biographies on the life and ministry of Jesus; the 14 letters of Paul; and letters of other apostles and their companions. The Gospel collection and the apostolic collection were joined together by the book of Acts, which served as a sequel to the Gospel story, as well as a narrative background for the earlier Epistles.
The primary standard applied to a book was that it must be written either by an apostle or by someone close to the apostles. This guaranteed that their writing about Jesus and the Early Church would have the authenticity of an eyewitness account. The apostolic writings formed the charter, or foundation documents, of the Christian movement.

Language and translation
The beautiful poetic books in the Bible, in the original language, had both meter and rhyme! They were beautifully translated, but you can imagine how difficult it would be to try to translate them into our modern language with meter and rhyme.
The Old Testament was mostly written in Hebrew. That’s one reason why it is simple to read, as Hebrew is a simple language. You don’t find nearly as many big words in the Old Testament as you do in the New Testament. The New Testament was written in Greek, a far more prolific and expressive language.
The Old Testament was first translated from Hebrew, and the New Testament from Greek. The Jews, of course, spoke Hebrew, but in the New Testament era, because of the domination of the Greek Empire they also spoke Greek as the language of culture, philosophy, religion, art, and music. After the Roman conquest, they also spoke Latin, which was the language of the law or the government.
Most of the early Christians already knew three languages. The educated ones knew Hebrew, Greek, and Latin. And because the Greek language is by far the most expressive, much more even than Hebrew or Latin, they used Greek to write the New Testament in.
The common language or vernacular of the time in the area around Israel was Aramaic and Jesus could have also spoken Aramaic.

Compiling the Bible and its division into chapters and verses
The Bible originally was not divided into chapters and verses; in fact, in the original manuscripts or scrolls they didn’t write in the vowels nor even divide the words. There were no spaces between the words, no punctuation, and it just all ran together.
Scribes wrote and copied the Scriptures. It was a very important, highly technical task, and they were checked and checked and re-checked by others to make sure they got every jot and tittle!
Do you know where that expression comes from, “jot and tittle”? It is part of the Hebrew alphabet. Jot comes from the Hebrew “Jod,” which is nothing but a little tiny apostrophe, but it’s actually a Hebrew letter sort of like a “Y.” And the tittle comes from the next smallest Hebrew character.
Can you imagine what it would look like if you didn’t put spaces between your words or any punctuation or vowels? Scholars learnt the text by heart and knew what it said.

What’s this?
frgdslvdthwrldththgvhsnlybgttnsn

(Answer: For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.)

The Bible was not divided into chapters and verses until the 1200’s. It certainly is handy to have it divided into chapters and verses so you can find something. In the days of the apostles and the Old Testament, all they could say was, “Well, it’s in David” or “It’s in Isaiah” or “It’s in this or that!” – And you had to hunt for it.
The Bible, or portions of it, have been translated into approximately 2,233 languages, making its message available to about 98% of the world’s population. The history of how the Bible was put together, and how it was translated into English and other languages is fascinating, but we don’t have time to get more into it now.

Section 3: Archaeological Finds Confirm the Bible

Now we’ll take a little time to look at some of the archaeological finds that are encouraging confirmations of the Bible’s veracity. The main reasons we know the Bible is truly the Word of God is because it works and because we know the Author! Even without archaeological evidence, we know it’s true, but the archaeological finds are faith building. Science and the artifacts of archaeology confirm the Bible; they do not disprove it but are proving it more every day.

Nelson Glueck, the renowned Jewish archaeologist (1900-1971), wrote: “It may be stated categorically that no archaeological discovery has ever controverted a biblical reference.”

Dr. W. F. Albright (1891-1971), leading Biblical archeologist and scholar, author of more than 800 publications, wrote: “Discovery after discovery has established the accuracy of innumerable details, and has brought increased recognition to the value of the Bible as a source of history.”

The finding of Babylon
The remains of Babylon have now been discovered, but for a long time no one could find it! Some higher critics of the Bible said, “Well, it shows you the Bible’s wrong, if it had been such a great city and all that, we should have found the remains by this time, so the Bible must not be so.” Yet they have been found!

Details:
BABYLON, the mightiest metropolis of the ancient world, was largely built by the efforts of Hammurabi (1728-1686 B.C.) and Nebuchadnezzar II (604-562 B.C.). It declined after the death of Nebuchadnezzar and came to ruin about 130 B.C. at the hands of the Parthians. Archaeologists probed the ruins of the place, which lay on both sides of the river.
The discoveries in Babylon were no less than phenomenal. Among the more important finds were almost 300 cuneiform tablets relating mostly to the distribution of oil and barley to captives and skilled workmen from many nations who lived in and around Babylon between 595 and 570 B.C. Among those mentioned were Yow-keen (Jehoiakim) King of the land of Yehud (Judah) and his five young sons who were in the hands of Keniah, their attendant.
To understand the significance of this: In the third year of Jehoiakim, the eighteenth king of Judah (B.C. 605), Nebuchadnezzar, having overcome the Egyptians at Carchemish, advanced to Jerusalem with a great army. After a brief siege he took that city, and carried away the vessels of the sanctuary to Babylon, and dedicated them in the Temple of Belus. He also took captives, including King Jehoiakim.
2 Kings 24:1 – In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years. Then he turned and rebelled against him.
2 Chronicles 36:6-7 – Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against him [Jehoiakim], and bound him in bronze fetters to carry him off to Babylon. (7) Nebuchadnezzar also carried off some of the articles from the house of the Lord to Babylon, and put them in his temple at Babylon.

Ancient kings
An obelisk (stone pillar with pyramidical top) found in Calah, on the banks of the Tigris River, was set up by Shalmaneser II. It mentions by name a king of Syria and king of Israel who are also mentioned in the Bible.
Details:
The place of Calah, now called Nimrud, lies about twenty miles south of Nineveh, on the west bank of the Tigris River. According to Gen.10:11, it was first built by Nimrud:
Genesis 10:11 – From that land he [Nimrud] went to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah.
Austin Henry Layard, during his excavations between 1847 and 1851, found that the remains of the ancient city walls measured 7,000 by 5,500 feet. Within these walls he found the remains of the palaces of three kings: Ashur-nasir-pal (885-860 B.C.), Shalmaneser III (860-825 B.C.), and Esarhaddon (680-669 B.C.), along with many wall sculptures.
The most interesting of these sculptures was a series that record the victories of Tiglath-pileser III, the Pul of 2 Kings.15:19. These figures show, in graphic style, the evacuation of a city, military operations connected with a siege, and the harsh treatment meted out to prisoners.
The most important of all discoveries was the Black Obelisk which had been set up by Shalmaneser III in the central building. It is a large, imposing monument of black marble, six feet, six inches high; and tapering at the top. It has twenty small bas-reliefs, five on each side, showing the officials from five different countries bringing tribute to the king. Above, below, and between the reliefs are 210 lines of cuneiform inscription which tell the story of the monarch’s achievements in war and peace during the first thirty-one years of his reign.
Among other individuals it mentions “Hazael of Damascus and Jehu of Israel.”
2 Kings 19:15-17 – Then the Lord said to him: “Go, return on your way to the Wilderness of Damascus; and when you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Syria. Also you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel. And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah you shall anoint as prophet in your place.”
On the obelisk Shalmaneser says:
In the eighteenth year of my reign I crossed the Euphrates for the sixteenth time. Hazael of Damascus put his trust in his large army, and mustered his troops in great numbers, making Mount Senir (sa-ni-ru), facing the Lebanon, as his fortress. I fought with him and inflicted defeat upon him, killing with the sword 16,000 of his experienced soldiers. I took away from him 1121 chariots, 470 riding horses as well as his camp. He disappeared to save his life, but I followed him in Damascus, his royal residence. There I cut down his gardens outside the city and took my departure. I marched as far as Mount Hauran destroying, tearing down and burning innumerable towns, carrying booty away from them that was beyond counting. I then marched as far as the mountains of Ba’lira’si, by the sea-side, and erected there a stela* with my image as King. At that time I received the tribute of the inhabitants of Tyre, Sideon, and of Jehu, son of Omri. (*stela or stele: an ancient stone slab or pillar, usually engraved, inscribed, or painted, and set upright.)
Then, later, comes the section that is of even greater interest to the Bible student. It reads:
The tribute of Jehu, son of Omri: I received from him silver, gold, a golden bowl, a golden vase with pointed bottom, golden goblets, pictures of gold, bars of lead, staffs for the hand of the king, and javelins, I received.
Jehu is shown kneeling, with tribute, in front of Shalmaneser. The Assyrian monarch is accompanied by two attendants (one holding a sunshade above him), and stands proudly, with the symbols of Ashur and Ishtar in the area above. King Jehu of Israel wears a short, rounded beard, a soft leather cap, and a sleeveless jacket, which marks him as a prisoner. Following him come Israelites dressed in long garments and carrying precious metals and other tribute. This is the only sculptured relief we have of any Israelite king.

The Dead Sea Scrolls
“Dead Sea Scrolls” is the name given to a collection of ancient Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek manuscripts (and fragments of manuscripts), found in a number of caves in the barren foothills of the Judean Wilderness, west of the Dead Sea. More than one-third of these are copies of books of the Old Testament, which are older by at least 1,000 years than the hitherto earliest known Old Testament manuscripts.
The jars that they found around the Dead Sea, with parts of the book of Isaiah in them, sealed with clay, had been preserved for 2,000 years!
God saw to it that they were preserved, because they destroyed the higher critics of Isaiah who claimed that the book of Isaiah had been written by two authors at different times, because the prophecies in the book were so accurate and came to pass so perfectly. They said therefore that the prophetic part of Isaiah must have been written a long time after the first Isaiah, by some other Isaiah. But they have discovered the actual scrolls of the writings of Isaiah, which date back before the prophecies were fulfilled. So now it can’t be denied that Isaiah wrote it, and they were genuine prophecies!
Even though the two copies of Isaiah discovered in Qumran Cave 1 near the Dead Sea were a thousand years earlier than the oldest dated manuscript previously known (980 A.D.), they proved to be word for word identical with our standard Hebrew Bible in more than 95% of the text. The 5% of variation consisted chiefly of obvious slips of the pen and variations in spelling.
Details:
The discovery of the scrolls began in the spring of 1947 when an Arab shepherd boy missed one of his goats. While searching for it in one of the steep valleys, he threw a stone into a hillside cave and heard what sounded to him like the breaking of pottery. Summoning his companion, the two entered the cave and found some pottery jars 25 to 29 inches high and about 10 inches wide. In these, they found objects which looked much like miniature mummies, but were actually leather scrolls wrapped in squares of linen cloth, and covered over with a pitch like substance possibly derived from the Dead Sea. With a vague idea that they had discovered antiques that might bring them money, they divided the scrolls and set off for Bethlehem where they located an antique dealer and offered him the scrolls for twenty pounds. He refused them. Afterwards they were directed to Jerusalem where, after bargaining for weeks, they sold four of the scrolls to Archbishop Athanasius Samuel of St. Mark’s Syrian Orthodox Monastery, and three to E. L. Sukenik, Professor of Archaeology at the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. Archbishop Samuel showed his scrolls to several authorities who were uncertain about their content and value. Finally they were taken to Dr. John C. Trever, acting director of the American School of Oriental Research (Jerusalem), who photographed and studied some of them, then sent copies to Dr. W. F. Albright of Johns Hopkins University. This well-known authority tentatively dated them about 100 B.C., and declared them an amazing discovery.
The Arab shepherds revealed the cave where the scrolls had been found, but war between the Arabs and Jews made scientific investigation impossible until February of 1949, when Dr. Laukester Harding of the Jordan Department of Antiquities, and Pere R. de Vaux of the Dominican Bible School of Jerusalem carefully excavated its floor level. Within three weeks they found some 800 scroll fragments belonging to about seventy-five different leather scrolls, a few fragments of papyrus scrolls, portions of linen in which scrolls had been wrapped, Roman lamps, and portions of jars and potsherds belonging to about fifty different jars.
Apparently some 200 scrolls had been hidden away in the cave. Origen, an Alexandrian church father who lived during the third century, is said to have used certain manuscripts which he found in a jar near Jericho. Also, Timotheus, Patriarch of Baghdad, wrote a letter to Sergius, Archbishop of Elam, about A.D. 800, saying that a certain person from Jerusalem told him of an Arab hunter’s dog that went into a cave entrance near Jericho. When the animal did not return for some time, his master went in after him, and found himself in a little house in the rock in which were many manuscripts. He reported the find to some Jewish scholars in Jerusalem who came down to the cave and removed many of the scrolls, which they said were books of the Old Testament and other Hebrew works.
Thirty-seven caves in the Qumran were examined during 1952 and found to contain pottery; but eleven of them also contained manuscript material, in large or small quantities. Cave II yielded biblical and apocryphal fragments. In Cave III were 274 portions of manuscripts, and two copper scrolls which originally were made up of three strips of copper, riveted together and measuring nearly eight feet in length. But in Cave IV were found over four hundred manuscripts, and about a hundred thousand fragments, varying in size from a thumbnail to a sheet of legal-size paper. Altogether, the remains of more than 500 different manuscripts, or large portions of manuscripts, and multiplied thousands of fragments were found in these eleven caves. About one-third of the manuscripts are books of the Old Testament, the remainder are commentaries on some Old Testament books, Apocryphal and wisdom books, hymns and psalms, liturgies, theological works, and works relating to the people who lived at Qumran and wrote the scrolls. There are manuscripts or fragments of every book of the Old Testament, except Esther. The most popular books, to judge from the number of copies found of each, were Isaiah, the Psalms, Deuteronomy, and Genesis. These were written on rolls of leather which had been carefully ruled to guide the scribes. A few were written on papyrus, and one on copper.
Some of the most important and best preserved of all these manuscripts were:
The scroll of Isaiah, known as St. Mark’s Isaiah Scroll, which was written on seventeen sheets of parchment sewn together end-to-end, making a scroll 24 feet long and 10.2 inches high. It is the largest and best preserved of all the scrolls, and was written in an early form of the square letter, which according to Dr. Albright places it in the second century B.C. This makes it the oldest known complete Hebrew manuscript of any biblical book, and it agrees in almost every respect with our traditional Hebrew texts, as used in the translation to the King James Version of our Bible.
Discoveries at Kirbet Mird: In 1950 members of the Ta’amireh Bedouin tribe found manuscript material of great interest at Kirbet Mird, a ruined Christian monastery on top of a conical peak 2 miles northeast of Mar Saba. A Belgian expedition made further searches there in February and March of 1953. Altogether, these discoveries include papyrus fragments of private letters in Arabic, a fragment of the Andromache of Euripides, and a number of Biblical texts in Greek and Syriac. The Greek texts include fragments from Mark, John, and Acts. Those in Syriac include fragments of Joshua, Luke, John, Acts, and Colossians. They all date from the 7th and 8th centuries of our Christian Era.

Class 5B: Love Is The Answer

Section 1: Bible Study on the Law of Love

There is a lot in the Bible about human relationships and having love toward others. That’s the whole purpose for living, to love God and others – the whole purpose for everything is love. And if you love God you’ll love others too, because loving others is one way you show love for the Lord.

The Good Samaritan

Let’s look at Luke chapter 10 and the parable of the Good Samaritan.
Luke 10:25-37 – And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (26) He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?” (27) So he answered and said, ” ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’” (28) And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.” (29) But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
(30) Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. (31) “Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. (32) “Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. (33) “But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. (34) “So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. (35) “On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’
(36) “So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?” (37) And he said, “He who showed mercy on him” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
What did Jesus say when He was asked, “But who is my neighbor?” You talk about legalists; they want to know exactly, technically, ‘Who’s my neighbor’? In other words, “Tell me exactly who I have to love, so I know who I don’t have to love.”
That’s when He gave the example of the Good Samaritan. Jesus told them the story of a Samaritan who helped a poor beaten-up Jew who had been robbed. He picked him up and bound his wounds and took him to a hotel and paid his bill.
The Samaritans were a people whom the Jews hated and despised. If they even touched a Samaritan they’d have to wash afterwards! They would avoid traveling through Samaria. Rather than taking the shortest route to Galilee that went through Samaria, they would go clear across the Jordan River and around it just to keep from going near the Samaritans!
Jesus said this was a good neighbor, a Samaritan who was good to a Jew, how about that? In other words, He was as good as telling the Jews, “Listen, you know who your neighbors are. Those Samaritans up there in Samaria, the ones you hate and you won’t even touch and you won’t even go near and have nothing to do with, they’re your neighbors. You’d better get busy and love them!”
Your neighbor is anybody that needs your love – anybody – even if he lives halfway around the world. He may not live next door, but if he lives on this earth he’s your neighbor, so you’re responsible for him. And we’re certainly responsible for those who are right around you, that’s for sure!

The supernatural love of God empowers you to love people you don’t even like!
Luke 6:32-36 – But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. (33) And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. (34) And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back. (35) But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. (36) Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.
How can you love someone you don’t like? – And does the Lord even expect you to do this? One notable aspect of the story of the Good Samaritan is how the Samaritan went out of his way to help someone who was more or less of an enemy nationality.
The answer is that empowered by the supernatural love of God, you can love anyone, even those you don’t like, even someone who has done you wrong or harmed you in some way. Ask Jesus for His love. – He will respond to your fervent request. (We’ll talk more about the “strength to love” later in this class.)

The greatest commandment: to love!
Let’s turn to Matthew 22. The religious leaders questioned Jesus:
Matthew 22:36 – Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?
Of the hundreds of commandments in the Mosaic law, this is what Jesus picked:
Matthew 22:37-39 – Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ (38) This is the first and great commandment. (39) And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Jesus proceeded to shock these Pharisees – whose entire religion was built on their attempts to keep the hundreds of laws, ordinances, and traditions of their Jewish religion – by telling them that these two simple commandments summed up all the other commandments of the entire Old Testament! – That love was God’s law! – That if you love, you are fulfilling all the laws of God! He proclaimed,
Matthew 22:40 – On these two commandments [to love God and your neighbor] hang all the Law and the Prophets.
We call this the “Law of Love.” The Law of Love is the Godly principle by which our entire lives, as Christians, should be governed. Jesus summed it up very simply in the famous “Golden Rule,” giving us the key to our relationships with others.

Review of Matthew 7:12
Matthew 7:12 – Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
This means that loving your neighbor as yourself fulfills God’s laws. This loving principle should guide all of our actions with others. (This is a belief that binds millions of Christians together.)

Living the Law of Love is simply living what Jesus said is the law, the great commandment – to love.
Galatians 5:14 – For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
This Law of Love that Jesus proclaimed – loving God first, and loving others as yourself – fulfills all the other Biblical law. It means that we are free from all the old Biblical law. For example, if you love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind, then you won’t put other gods before Him or take His Name in vain. If you love your neighbor as yourself, you won’t kill him, steal from him, lie to him, or covet what he has. And the reason you won’t do these things is because of love. You don’t need the Biblical law to keep you from doing these things; you simply refrain from doing them because to do them would be unloving. This freedom from the Biblical law, based on the Lord’s instruction to govern ourselves by loving God above all and our neighbors as ourselves, is the whole concept of the Law of Love in a nutshell.

Putting love into action
When we talk about living the Law of Love, we’re talking about loving those around you, about putting that love into tangible, everyday action. It’s about sacrificial living, giving of yourself to others, helping those in need, and bearing one another’s burdens.
The Law of Love is simply loving others unselfishly. In this unselfishness and in this life of sacrificial giving and loving, you not only allow yourselves to help many others, but you allow the Lord to pour out His blessings upon you. For He blesses the unselfish and the sacrificial.
God’s Law of Love is first of all that you love the Lord with all your heart and soul and mind, and second that you love your neighbor as yourself. The greatest way His love is manifested is in the laying down of your life for another.

The Law of Love should be the guiding principle of our lives.
It’s what everything we do should be based on. It includes so much: encouragement, comfort, simplicity, preferring one another, doing a little extra for those around you, sympathy, compassion, and feeling the pain that others suffer.
Love on a day-to-day level
1 Peter 4:8a – And above all things have fervent love for one another.
John 15:12 – Love one another.
In Jesus’ last message to His disciples at the Last Supper, before he was arrested, taken to jail, beaten, and then killed, what did He tell them? He talked about love, that love was the most important thing!
(You can read about this in John 13:1-17.)
What is the greatest commandment? – To love God. What’s the next greatest? To love your neighbor as yourself! He said that’s like unto the first commandment. To love your neighbor is to love God!
As you can see, the Lord is clearly trying to make the point that we should walk in love in all that we do, that love should be the main motivating factor in our every action, and that our love should be manifested in tangible, loving deeds which help to supply the needs of others.

When we see someone with a need, it is our duty, in love, to help supply that need.
If we don’t help, how can God’s love dwell in us?
1 John 3:17-18 – But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him? (18) My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.
When you help a child, or an overworked, sick, lonely or needy person, you are giving yourself to them in love; you are fulfilling Jesus’ Law of Love. If you were sick or hungry, if you needed help with your children, if you needed some friendship, if you needed a coat or a pair of shoes or something to eat, wouldn’t you want someone to give you the help you needed? (Matthew 7:12).
The essence of the Law of Love is having enough love to do to others what you would want them to do to you; to have enough love to help those in need, whatever the need, just as you would want them to help you in your need; to put the needs of others above your own, even when it’s a sacrifice for you to do so. That’s love.

Try to remember this important principle of the Law of Love as you go about your day.
If you see someone who needs help, pitch in to help for a few minutes. That’s love. If you love your neighbor as yourself, you’ll put yourself in his place, and wonder how you would feel if you were there, and wonder what you would want and need to have fulfilled. This is what the Law of Love is all about – giving love, in deed and in truth, to those in need.
Giving love to others isn’t always a matter of going out of your way to do some outstanding action like feeding the homeless, but it also means being a sharing person with those around you. Being generous and being giving needs to be a part of our everyday lives.

Love in action
If we have real love, we won’t face a needy situation without doing something about it. We won’t just pass by the poor man on the road to Jericho! We will take action like the Samaritan did.
Many people today, when faced with suffering of the needy or the poor, say, “Oh, I’m so sorry, how sad!” But compassion must be put into action! That’s the difference between pity and compassion: Pity just feels sorry; compassion does something about it!
Love can seldom be proven without tangible manifestation in action. The need for real love is a spiritual need, but it must be manifested physically in works.
Galatians 5:6 – Faith working through love.
James 2:18 – But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
In other words, if in the faith of God you really love people, they cannot understand it or believe it unless you really show them by some visible, tangible work or action that puts your words into action and puts your faith into effect and makes it fact and not fiction, a sample not just a sermon!

Compassion is loving deeds, not only loving words

James 2:15-17 – If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, (16) and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? (17) Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
What is compassion? – It is loving to the point of really helping. To be compassionate means to really care and truly be concerned, not to just say, “I love you” and then walk off and forget it. It’s not saying, “Be warmed and filled,” but not giving them what they need (James 2:16). But the compassionate are those who try to put feet to their prayers and kind deeds to their kind words and try to do good as well as speak good.
Our responsibility to give to others
There are many Scriptures that make it clear that we have a responsibility to help the needy in practical ways.
Psalm 41:1a – Blessed is he who considers the poor.
In this next example we see that if we have something our neighbor needs, we owe it to him.
Proverbs 3:27-28 – Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in the power of your hand to do so. Do not say to your neighbor, “Go, and come back, and tomorrow I will give it,” when you have it with you.

To love and share
A little orphan newsboy was selling his papers on the street. A man stopped to buy a paper from him. While the man was searching his pocket for a coin, he questioned the newsboy as to where he lived. The answer was that he lived in a little cabin way down in the dark district of the city, on the river bank. The next question was, “Who lives with you?”
The answer was, “Only Jim. Jim is crippled and can’t do any work. He’s my pal.”
The man ventured the remark, “You’d be better off without Jim, wouldn’t you?”
The answer came with some scorn. “No, Sir, I couldn’t spare Jim. I wouldn’t have anybody to go home to. And Mister, I wouldn’t want to live and work with nobody to divide with, would you?”

Helping the needy is giving to the Lord.
Proverbs 19:17 – He who has pity on the poor lends to the Lord, and He will pay back what he has given.
Matthew 25:31-40 – When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. (32) All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. (33) And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. (34) Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: (35) ‘for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; (36) ‘I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ (37) Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? (38) ‘When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? (39) ‘Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ (40) And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’

We should support each other in our work for the Lord
Our responsibility to help also extends to one another. We have each been blessed with many gifts that we are responsible to use for the good of others. If God has given us the ability to teach His Word, He expects us to use that ability. If He has given some of us money or other material possessions, He expects us to use them to help others – not only the “strangers on the street,” but also our fellow-believers.
Romans 12:13 – Distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.
Here are examples of unity and helpfulness in action during the days of the Early Church:
Acts 11:27-30 – And in these days prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. (38) Then one of them, named Agabus, stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar. (29) Then the disciples, each according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea. (30) This they also did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.
Romans 15:26 – For it pleased those from Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for the poor among the saints who are in Jerusalem.

One particular aspect of our responsibility to each other is regarding helping those who are ministering the Gospel.
The Apostle Paul wrote to a group of believers whom he had personally led to the Lord:
1 Corinthians 9:11 and 14 – If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your material things? (14) Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel.
Romans 15:27b – For if the Gentiles have been partakers of their spiritual things, their duty is also to minister to them in material things.

God blesses us for giving to His work and to His workers!
Hebrews 6:10 – For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
Matthew 10:42 – And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.

God blesses us when we give!
From John and Susan, missionaries in South America
When we arrived here in this small city that the Lord had showed us to come to, there was another missionary family here with six children who were on their way south. They were waiting for money that was being sent from the States.
Time dragged on and their money hadn’t come, so we prayed and then offered to help them. They said they needed $200, which was about one third of our available funds. But when we prayed, we got the Scriptures Acts 2:44-45 and Luke 6:38, so we brought them the money.
The next day in the post we got a check for $4,000 – an inheritance that we had not known about. The check had been lost in the mail a year before, and the bank had discovered that it had not been cashed. What a fulfillment of God’s promises and a real blessing for us to help us as we get established in South America!

What happened to the widow who supported God’s worker?
This incident is described in 1 Kings 17:9-16. The land of Israel was suffering from a drought around 900 B.C. During the resultant famine, God’s prophet Elijah was told by the Lord to visit the town of Zarephath, “See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you” ( verse 9).
We can picture Elijah traveling through the dry land, arriving at Zarephath weary, hot and caked in dust. As he approached the city gate he spotted a woman gathering sticks. “Water!” he cried out to her, “please bring me some water in a cup that I may drink!” Taking pity on the weary stranger, the woman rose to bring him some water when he called out to her again, “And please, could you bring me something to eat also!” Turning to him, she exclaimed,
(verse 12:) “As the Lord lives, I don’t even have a piece of bread, but only a handful of flour in a jar and a few drops of oil in a jug. – Look, I’m out here gathering a few twigs to cook with, to take home and make a final meal for myself and my son, that we may eat, and then die.”
Elijah must have then realized that this poor little impoverished woman was the widow that the Lord had promised would feed and care for him! He then told her,
(verse 13-14:) “Fear not, but go and do as you said. – But make me a small cake of bread first, and then make something for yourself and your son! For thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Your jar of flour will not be used up, nor shall your jug of oil run dry, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon this land!’”
She may have thought to herself, “I told him how poor I am, how I’m gathering twigs to cook a final tiny meal for my son and myself, and that afterwards we expect to starve to death. – Yet he is asking me to make a little loaf of bread for him first!” But because Elijah spoke to her with such authority in the name of the Lord, she knew that he must be a man of God, a prophet, and she decided to trust God and do as Elijah instructed her. She hurried home and scraped together the last tiny handful of flour from the bottom of the large clay jar that it was kept in. She took her oil jug, tipped it, and drained out the last few drops of precious oil.
It was probably after she had mixed the flour and oil together into a paste and baked the little piece of bread for Elijah, that she received the surprise of her life: Picture this lowly widow, tidying things up while the bread-cake for Elijah was cooking. She goes to put the empty oil jug in its proper place, and suddenly she notices it’s much heavier than it was a moment ago. Barely tipping it, she can hardly believe her eyes when fresh oil flows out of it! – It is full!
Setting it down, she rushes over to the large earthen pot where the flour is kept, and gasps aloud in astonishment when she lifts its lid! – Instead of the empty, dusty jar she knows it was just a few minutes earlier, it is now filled to the brim with fresh flour! – A miracle has taken place! Her heart overflows with thankfulness to the Lord for such a wonderful manifestation of His blessing! As a result of her care for God’s worker, and just as Elijah had prophesied, in the midst of three long years of famine, “Her jar of flour was not used up, and her jug of oil did not run dry throughout the entire duration of the famine!” (verses 15-16)

Tithing – One way of giving to the Lord
Tithing – giving a tenth of one’s income or property as an offering to God.
Many believers practice tithing – regularly giving one tenth of their income to the Lord’s work. The dedication of a tenth to God was recognized as a duty before the time of Moses. Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek (Genesis 14:20; Hebrews 7:6). Jacob vowed unto the Lord and promised a tenth to Him:
Genesis 28:22b – Of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You.
Nowhere does the New Testament expressly command Christians to tithe. Nevertheless, the principle of giving remains and is incorporated in the Gospels. Ten percent is an easy figure to calculate and budget. However, the tithe is a guideline and shouldn’t be a cap on a Christian’s giving.
Luke 6:38 – Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.

God’s blessings are promised to those who tithe:
Malachi 3:10 – “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,” says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.”

Whether or not you have something material to share, you can still help others
We consider that the sharing of our time, our love, and our life with others, is the greatest of all sharing. Jesus Himself did not usually have anything material to share with His disciples, only His love and His life, which He gave for them and for us, that we too might have life and love forever.
1 John 3:16 – By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
John 15:13 – Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.
James 1:27 – Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble.

Giving of yourself
A story is told about two brothers, soldiers in the trenches during World War 1. One was lying wounded in action in no-man’s land, a deadly, dangerous area between the opposing forces. When the older brother in the trench heard of the plight of his brother in the field, he said to his officer, “I’ve got to go get him!”
His officer said, “It’s impossible! You’ll be killed the minute you stick your head out of this trench. You know the enemy always starts shooting the minute you go over the top!” But the older brother tore himself loose from the officer’s grip, scrambled out of the trench, and plunged into no-man’s land to find his kid brother, despite the withering fire of the enemy.
There he found him, mortally wounded, and whispering, “I knew you’d come! I knew you’d come!” The older brother, himself now wounded, barely managed to drag his younger brother back to the Allied lines, both of them falling into the trench dying.
With tears streaming down his face, his officer said to the older brother, “Why did you do it? I told you, you’d both be killed!”
But the older brother replied with a final smile, “I had to do it! You see – he expected it of me, and I couldn’t fail him!”

The highland boy who averted a disaster at the cost of his life.
In the north of Scotland, the main railway line crosses a gully which is bridged by a viaduct. One night a fearful storm raged, and the little creek under the viaduct became a raging torrent.
A young shepherd, a Highland boy, sheltered his sheep as best he could for the night, and in the morning, long before dawn, he set out to see how they fared. As he made his way up the hillside he noticed, to his dismay, that the central column of the viaduct was gone, and the bridge was broken. He knew the train was due and, if not warned, would be dashed to pieces and many lives lost. He made his way up as best he could, wondering if he would be in time. As soon as he reached the rails he heard the pound of the mighty engine. He stood and beckoned wildly, but the engine driver, making up time, drove on. The train drew nearer, and still he stood, beckoning it to stop. At last it came to where he stood, and he flung himself in front of the engine.
The driver applied the brakes and managed to stop the train in its own length. The stop was sudden and the passengers, awakened, came to see what was the matter. The driver said, `It has been a close shave this time. We might all have been lost. Come and I’ll show you the one who saved us tonight.’
A little way along they saw the mangled remains of the shepherd boy who gave his life for them, dying that they might live (1Thessalonians 5:10; Titus 2:13-14).

The best gift of love is Jesus!
People are looking around for some little ray of hope, some salvation, some kind of bright spot somewhere – a little love, a little mercy, someplace where they can find some relief.
The greatest joy they could find is coming to know Jesus! And therefore the greatest gift of love you can give to someone is leading them to the Lord – through your words, your sample, through giving out literature. Even if you don’t feel capable yet of explaining to others about the Lord, you could at least give them tracts.
We’re going to talk more about witnessing and how to lead people to the Lord in a later class.

Testimony: The poster that saved a life
From Esther, James, and Nathan, USA
“One of your posters saved my life,” Jack told us. “Someone handed it to me in a parking lot. When I got home, I left it in the bathroom and forgot about it.
“Later that evening, I was feeling so hopeless and defeated that I took out my gun and went into the bathroom to end my life. I put the gun to my stomach and started to say one last prayer. ‘Oh God…’
“Just as the words left my mouth, my eyes fell on the poster. The title was ‘Peace in the Midst of Storm.’ I read the text on the back, and cried myself to sleep that night.”
Three days later Jack met The Family again. This time he stopped to talk and got saved. No longer “hopeless and defeated,” Jack has become one of our closest friends and a big help to our work. God bless him!

Testimony: On call!
From Vicky, Italy
The phone rang, and I picked it up. “Hi, I love you!” a man’s voice at the other end of the line said in a very sweet way. I tried to place the voice or think who might be phoning me with such a message, but quickly realized it was a wrong number.
I wanted to take the opportunity to tell whoever it was about the Lord, so I answered, “Thank you. I love you, too. And do you know what? Jesus loves you even more!”
Needless to say, the person on the other end was surprised at my answer. Now it was his turn to try to find out who I was! His questions gave me a chance to explain how I had met Jesus and dedicated my life to Him, and also a little about The Family’s work here.
Before long, my anonymous caller was telling me all about himself. He had been an alcoholic until five months earlier, when he saw that his drinking problem was about to destroy him and he managed to quit. Still, he felt empty inside, he said.
At that point in the conversation, he explained that he was calling long distance and his phone card was about to run out. “Quick, give me your phone number, please, so I can call you back. I would love to stay in touch with you.”
That day he went through four phone cards, talking with me. The next day he went through two more, and so on. He had so many questions about life and the times we live in! All those calls were getting quite expensive, of course, so finally he decided that it would be better if we discussed those things by mail.
Nothing ever happens by accident, and I’m sure Jesus wanted this dear man to know that he was loved in a special way – which surely he must be, to have been led to get to know Jesus through such unexpected and unorthodox means. I sure am glad I didn’t lightly dismiss that first call as a wrong number and hang up. It was a good reminder that we need to be “on call” for Him and others at all times!

Followers of the Man of Love should also be loving!

Jesus was the Man of Love who went about everywhere doing good, loving and caring for those He met. How can we prove that we are His followers? – By following in His steps and being loving. This loving does not only extend outwards to those who cross our path. It also includes unity amongst ourselves, the body of believers.
John 13:35 – By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.
Always be tender, loving, and kind and “love one another” as He said:
Ephesians 4:32 – And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you.
What everybody needs is love! If they’re not going to find it here, amongst the followers of the God of love, where are they going to find it?

Loving Hands
The Rev. Ira Gillett, missionary in the former Portuguese East Africa, tells the story of a group of natives who had made a long journey and walked past a government hospital to come to the mission hospital for treatment. When asked why they had walked the extra distance to reach the mission hospital when the same medicines were available at the government institution, they replied, “The medicines may be the same, but the hands are different!”

The Love Chapter
Love is a constant theme of the New Testament. 1 Corinthians 13 is the “Love chapter” and gives us much practical advice about how to live according to the Law of Love. (Read it after the class!)

Section 2: Strength to Love

If you give in love, you will be rewarded: The “Boomerang” Principle
Galatians 6:7 – Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
It’s just one of God’s rules and laws of the Spirit – just as definite and certain as some of the scientific laws of gravity. The laws of the Spirit, however, never fail! They always work – either for you or against you, according to how you obey them and whether or not you obey them. The first law is the Law of Love – unselfish love – love for Him and others. If you will obey that one and give that love which is His and their due, so shall you also receive.
Matthew 7:2 – With the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.
Ecclesiastes 11:1 – Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days.

Testimony: Overflowing with blessings
From Michael, Latvia
One morning while praying about what to do that day, Sara saw a vision of one drop of water falling into a cup, which caused the cup to overflow. She had the impression that the drop of water symbolized our helping the poor: It often seems too little to do much good, but because we try to do what we can, the Lord causes our cup to overflow with blessings.
So Sara decided to bring some bread and flour to Nina, a friend at the local market, who scrapes together a living for herself and her children selling little trinkets and forest berries.
Nina wasn’t at the market that day, but another woman said, “Oh, you have bread and flour? Why don’t you give it to me? I’m also poor!” But when Sara handed the food to her, the woman changed her mind. “Actually, my sister needs it more than I do. Why don’t we give it to her instead?”
Just then her sister arrived on the scene. When Sara and the other woman offered her the bread, her eyes widened in amazement. She raised her arms heavenward and said, “God sent you! This morning I prayed that He would give me bread. My children and I had nothing to eat, and God sent you with this bread!”
The next time we visited a baker who supports us and our work by donating bread each week, he gave us much more than we could possibly eat ourselves – more to pass on to others who are hungry and needy! As soon as we did our part to fulfill that little vision the Lord gave Sara, He did His part and poured out abundant blessings on us!

Whether you see the results or not…
Whether those you help show their appreciation or not, or whether you see results right away or not, you should not let this discourage you. What’s most important is that you are doing your part to fulfill the Lord’s Law of Love. Trust Him for the results!

Blossoming flowers
A young woman who was a great lover of flowers had set out a rare vine at the base of a stone wall. It grew vigorously but it did not blossom. Day after day she cultivated it and watered it and tried in every way to coax it into bloom.
One morning as she stood disappointed before it, her invalid neighbor, whose back lot adjoined her own, called over and said, “You cannot imagine how much I have been enjoying the blooms of that vine you planted.” The owner looked and on the other side of the wall was a mass of bloom. The vine had crept through the crevices and flowered luxuriantly on the other side.
There is a lesson for every Christian here. So often we think our efforts thrown away because we do not see their fruit. We need to learn that in God’s service our prayers, our toil, our crosses are never in vain. Somewhere they bear their fruit and some heart will receive their blessing and their joy.

If you feel your efforts don’t count for much, know this – you can make a difference!
I was walking down a deserted beach at sunset. As I ambled along, I noticed a local man in the distance. Coming closer, I saw that he kept leaning down, picking something up and throwing it into the water. Time and again he kept hurling things into the ocean.
As I approached even closer, I saw that the man was picking up starfish that had been washed up on the beach and, one at a time, he was throwing them back into the water.
I was puzzled. I approached the man and said, “Good evening, friend. I was wondering what you are doing.”
“I’m throwing these starfish back into the ocean. You see, it’s low tide right now and all of these starfish have been washed up onto the shore. If I don’t throw them back into the sea, they’ll die.”
“I understand,” I replied, “but there must be thousands of starfish on this beach! You can’t possibly get to all of them. There are simply too many. And don’t you realize this is probably happening on hundreds of beaches all up and down the coast. Can’t you see that you can’t possibly make a difference?”
The man smiled, bent down and picked up yet another starfish, and as he threw it back into the sea, he replied, “Made a difference to that one!”

Living the Law of Love requires the love of God!
It’s no easy task to live Jesus’ commandments of love. To love the Lord with all our heart, soul, and mind, to love others as ourselves, and to lay down our lives for the brethren, all require living a life of self-sacrifice. It means putting Jesus first, others next, and ourselves last. Doing so goes against the natural man, against human nature. To have this kind of love, the love that causes you to lay down your life for your brethren, living for others, requires the supernatural love of God. That’s why Jesus says,
John 15:5 – Without Me you can do nothing.

We know that:
Philippians 4:13 – I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
2 Corinthians 12:9 – And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.”

You can’t possibly keep His Law of Love unless you have Jesus in your heart and the Spirit of God’s love within you, to give you the power and the strength to love others more than you love yourself.
Living the Law of Love means consistently, sacrificially thinking of others and serving them. That’s a tall order! It’s so easy to be lazy, selfish, and self-centered; most of us are that way naturally. Our first reactions are usually about ourselves, what we want, what will make us happy. But if we ask the Lord to help us and we put forth a genuine effort, we can develop new habits and reactions, which, with time, will help us to become more loving, caring, sacrificial individuals.
The Lord understands that we don’t naturally have enough love to live in the loving manner that He’s asking us to. But just because we can’t do it doesn’t mean He doesn’t expect us to, because He will do it for us and through us! He’s promised that He can give us the love we need, that He will pour His love through us and make us new creatures!

Getting filled up with His love!
If you call out to the Lord, simply asking Him for the love you need, and are then willing to put that love into action by faith, He will give you His love in such tremendous volume and power that you will know you have witnessed a miracle!
It takes fervent prayer, a believing spirit, and a willing mind and heart. Then follow this with many small steps of unselfish love, and you will become a new creature. You will think of others, have more concern, and feel for others’ needs more readily. You’ll be willing to give up your own plans and ideas to care for the weak.
Love is action, love is doing, love is outgoing concern. But all of this must come from the Lord’s hand if it is to last. He has such love for us!
He is the God of miracles, and He will give us this miracle of love. He is love, and we can have more of Him than we’ve ever had before.
Matthew 7:7 – Ask, and it will be given to you.
The Lord will give you the strength, the grace, and the power to give of yourself to others, to put the needs of others before your own, if you ask Him, if you let Him fill you with His Spirit, if you give your life to Him. You can’t do it, but Jesus can! And He will, if you let Him!

Class 5A: Success With People

Section 1: The Golden Rule

Matthew 22:37-40
We’re going to start by looking briefly at what the Bible says about relationships with others. The key verses are in Matthew 22:37-40:
Matthew 22:37-40 – Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ (38) This is the first and great commandment. (39) And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ (40) On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

The Golden Rule
Matthew 7:12 – Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.
Philosophers have been speculating on the rules of human relationships for thousands of years, and out of all that speculation there has come one important precept. Jesus taught it among the stony hills of Judea 20 centuries ago and summed it up in one thought: Do to others as you would have others do to you. So let’s give to others what we would have others give to us.
How? When? Where? The answer is … in every way, all the time, everywhere!

More verses on love
1 John 4:7-11 – Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. (8) He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. (9) In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. (10) In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (11) Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
1 John 4:12,16-17,21 – If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us (16) And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. (17) Love has been perfected among us in this because as He is, so are we in this world. (21) And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.
John 15:12 – This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
1 John 3:16 – By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
John 13:34-35 – A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. (35) By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.
Galatians 5:22 – The fruit of the Spirit is love.
Romans 5:5 – The love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.
Galatians 5:14 – For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Love loves whom?
Love loves the unlovely and casts a veil over countless sins! Love prefers the happiness of others to your own. It’s hard for you to see anything good in someone you don’t love, but if you really love someone, it’s much easier to overlook and forgive his or her faults.
Proverbs 10:12 – Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all sins.
God’s love can love anybody, even your enemies! Love begets love, and we love Him because He first loved us. Ask God to help you love others with His love which passes all understanding!
Love is not blind. – It has an extra spiritual eye that sees the good and possibilities that others cannot see!
Matthew 5:44 – But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.
1 John 4:19 – We love Him because He first loved us.
Philippians 4:7 – And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
2 Corinthians 5:14 – For the love of Christ compels us.

Love never fails!
Do you want to be successful for the Lord and with others? – Love, and you can’t lose – for love never fails! Do you want the key to every heart? – Try love! – It never fails, because God is love, and it’s impossible for Him to fail!
1 Corinthians 13:8 – Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away.

God’s love: The answer to everything!
God’s love is the answer to everything: It saves souls, forgives sins, satisfies hearts, purifies minds, redeems bodies, wins friends, and makes life worth living. It’s the only truth, the only way, and the only peace!
Love works no ill to his neighbor: you’ll not curse him, cheat him, steal from him, or lie to him if you love him – much less hurt him!
Love even prevents accidents! A safety lecture in college once told how most traffic accidents are caused by a lack of love and consideration for the other driver, believe it or not. So not only wars, but also slaughter on the highways is caused by pride, selfishness, and lack of love.
John 14:15 – If you love Me, keep My commandments.
John 14:23 – Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.”
God’s love is endless and without limit and without bounds. The ways that we can show His love are also limitless!

Section 2: Ten Tips for getting along with others, using Love!

Introduction
The verses we’ve just read tell us that love is the most important thing in our relations with others. The Golden Rule of God’s love should reign over our actions and interactions.
Now we’re going to talk about how to apply this in our daily lives. How can you put the Golden Rule into action? How can you get along with practically anybody? We all struggle sometimes with acquaintances, work colleagues, relatives, and even occasionally friends and those closest to us. We sometimes have a hard time getting along with people whom we like, just because we are all so different or something comes up. … Then there are cantankerous personalities, and people who we simply don’t get along with. It’s obvious that we’re meant to get along with people, but how to do this?
We’re going to take a little time to discuss practical ways of relating to others in a loving manner. We can’t cover everything in one class, but we’re going to look at Ten Tips to help you in your interactions with others. Of course these Ten Tips are not all there is to know, but as much as we’ll have time for in this class.

Being kind to others is being kind to the Lord!
When you show people love in little ways, when you show them little courtesies and are well mannered around them, it’s really showing love to the Lord, because people are His creation and He loves them dearly. When you take good care of people, show them love, do loving things for them, treat them with courtesy and good manners, this is honoring and respecting the Lord. You’re being loving and kind to the Lord. You’re telling the Lord that you love His creation, His people, and you want to be loving to them not only for their sakes, which is a good enough reason, but also out of love for Him.

Ask the Lord for the love you need and do your best to put it into practice!
There are hundreds of things you can do throughout the day, little things that make someone’s life more beautiful because of your kindness. If you follow Jesus’ golden rule to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” then you’ll be kind and courteous.
When you pray and ask the Lord to help you be more loving, at the same time ask Him how you can be more loving, and then start working on those practical areas.
That’s like putting feet to your prayers. As you do your part, He’ll put the love in your heart, and soon it will become a loving habit to do those things.
You can’t just ask the Lord for more love but then not work on it or do the practical things the Lord shows you to do. Neither can you just try to work it up in the flesh, or it won’t come across right. It’ll just be dead works, a superficial tradition without the Spirit. You’ve got to both ask the Lord for the love you need and do your best to put it into practice!

1. Speak to people
Colossians 4:6 – Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one.
1 Peter 3:8 – Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous;
Courtesy, kind words, loving and considerate language are all part of showing love, and part of our sample of the Lord’s Love.
Give a warm greeting instead of an indifferent glance. A smile and cheerful words show a person that you’re interested in them.
Take a moment to answer a question with consideration and sincerity, instead of in pressured haste and busy rush, making others feel belittled or in the way.
Slow down. Sure we’re all busy, but we’re not so busy that we can’t take a little time to acknowledge each person we meet. Be sure when you first meet someone each day to greet them.
A tip for married couples: Hug and kiss when waking, when leaving your room for the day, when returning home after a day out, before sleeping, etc.

Show love by being courteous
You can show others love by being kind and courteous. It’s amazing how much little courtesies and good manners affect people. It means a lot to people and they appreciate it when others treat them with love and courtesy. Just ask anyone if they don’t feel better when someone says, “Excuse me” if they happen to bump into them, or pass something in front of them, or walk in front of them when they’re having a conversation.
It’s part of our duty as Jesus’ followers to be loving to one another. Showing courtesy and kind manners to others in the little things is a wonderful way to show them the Lord’s love. You don’t have to do big things to be loving, and as a matter of fact, it’s often the little things that are so important.
Little phrases, such as “I’m sorry to bother you.” “Would you please?” “Would you mind?” “Thank you!” – little courtesies like these oil the cogs of everyday life and are just plain good manners!

Humor: Please!
Jessica was trying to teach her two-year-old son how to say “Please” and “Thank you.” She gave him a biscuit and asked, “What do you say?”
“Please,” replied Mark.
“No, what do you say after you’ve been given something?”
“More please,” came the reply.

Show love by including others
It’s so easy to unintentionally hurt people or make them feel unloved or unappreciated, when just a little courtesy can do the opposite and make them feel appreciated and loved.
Stop and wait for someone if you’re walking too fast and give him or her a chance to catch up, and slow down your pace.
If someone walks up to you while you’re having a conversation with another person, try to include him or her in the conversation and fill him or her in on what you’ve just been talking about. That’s just good manners; it is rude and hurtful to people to ignore them or exclude them from your activity or conversation.
We all yearn for attention. We want our ideas and opinions to be heard. The desire for attention is present in all of us. If you think not, let me ask you if you’ve ever been snubbed by a haughty waiter, passed by at a bus stop by a bus driver or completely ignored by some store clerk!

2. Smile at people
Proverbs 15:13 – A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance.
Actions speak louder than words, and a smile says, “I like you. You make me happy. I’m glad to see you.”
This is why dogs are such a hit. They are so glad to see us they practically jump out of their skin. So naturally, we are glad to see them. A baby’s smile has the same effect.
The effect of a smile is powerful! – Even when it seems unseen. Telephone companies suggest you smile when talking over the phone. Your “smile” comes through your voice.
Smile! Nobody needs a smile so much as those who have none left to give!

The sun and the wind (Based on the fable by Aesop)
One day the sun and the wind quarreled about which was the stronger. The wind said, “I’ll prove I am. See that old man down there with a coat? I bet I can make him take his coat off quicker than you can.”
So the sun went behind a cloud and the wind blew until it was almost a tornado, but the harder it blew, the tighter the old man wrapped his coat about him.
Finally the wind calmed down and gave up; and then the sun came out from behind the cloud and smiled kindly on the old man. Presently, the man mopped his brow and pulled off his coat. The sun then told the wind that gentleness and friendliness were always stronger than fury and force.

The language of a smile
They say it takes 72 muscles to frown; 14 to smile.
All people smile in the same language.
A warm smile is the universal language of kindness.
A smile of encouragement at the right moment may act like sunlight on a closed flower. – It may be the turning point for a struggling life.
If you see someone without a smile, give him one of yours.

Your life is bound to affect others! “No man is an island!” Everybody’s influencing somebody – even when you seem to be all alone! Sometimes just a word or a glance or a smile can make a difference. You’re either going to pull people up to your level or drag them down to yours – one or the other!

3. Address people by their names
The sweetest music to almost everyone is the sound of their own name! Here are some tips for remembering names:
When you are introduced to someone, you are not likely to forget his face, at least not at once, since it is right there before you. His name, however, is another matter. A common embarrassment is to fail to catch a name, or instantly forget it.
To overcome that problem:
a. If you are not sure you heard the name right, ask to have it repeated.
b. If you are still in doubt, then ask to have it not only repeated but also spelled.
c. Check any uncertainties immediately. If you let the moment pass, it becomes awkward to ask the person’s name later on – though it would be better to do that than miss the name completely.

4. Be friendly and helpful
Friendliness, helpfulness, kindness, generosity, and unselfishness are all part of love.
“Little deeds of kindness, little words of love, help to make Earth happy, like the Heaven above.”

* Unselfishness – the J-O-Y formula – Jesus, Others, You
Seeking the happiness of others as God has ordered us to do, is the only way to have true happiness! If you’ll try to make others happy, it’ll make you happy, and you’ll have a little Heaven right here on Earth! You don’t find happiness by chasing it. Happiness finds you by your bringing happiness to others. That’s God’s system; that’s God’s rule; that’s God’s way; that’s God’s Law of Love. God will make you happy if you make others happy. It’s that simple!
Love prefers the happiness of others to your own. True happiness comes not in your personal pursuit of selfish pleasure and satisfaction, but in finding God and giving His life to others and bringing them happiness!
If you’ll just forget yourself and think more about others, and really try to help and pray for and love them, you’ll find that will solve almost all of your problems! If you get your mind off of yourself and on others you’ll find that this is what will bring you true joy and happiness. That’s the formula for finding joy: Put Jesus first, then others, and then you! – J-O-Y!
First of all, get your mind on Jesus, and then He’ll help you get it on to your neighbor, and help you love him as yourself.

The sort of impression that kindness makes…
In the city of Philadelphia there was a little third-class hotel. Into it one night there came two tired elderly people. They went up to the night clerk and the husband pleadingly said, “Mister, please don’t tell us you don’t have a room. My wife and I have been all over the city looking for a place to stay. We did not know about the big conventions that are here. The hotels at which we usually stay are all full. We’re dead tired and it’s after midnight. Please don’t tell us you don’t have a place where we can sleep.”
The clerk looked at them a long moment and then answered, “Well, I don’t have a single room except my own. I work at night and sleep in the daytime. It’s not as nice as the other rooms, but it’s clean, and I’ll be happy for you to be my guests for tonight.”
The wife said, “God bless you, young man.”
The next morning at the breakfast table, the couple sent the waiter to tell the night clerk they wanted to see him on very important business. The night clerk went in, recognized the two people, sat down at the table and said he hoped they had had a good night’s sleep. They thanked him most sincerely. Then the husband astounded the clerk with this statement, “You are too fine a hotel man to stay in a hotel like this. How would you like for me to build a big, beautiful, luxurious hotel in the city of New York and make you general manager?”
The clerk didn’t know what to say. He thought there might be something wrong with their minds. He finally stammered, “It sounds wonderful.”
His guest then introduced himself. “I’m John Jacob Astor.” So, the Waldorf Astoria Hotel was built, and the night clerk became, in the years to follow, the best-known hotel man in the world.
In 1976, the 47-story Waldorf-Astoria in New York City served three-quarters of a million guests in its 1,900 rooms.

5. Communicate
Hebrews 13:16 – But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
Proverbs 10:11a – The mouth of the righteous is a well of life..
Proverbs 15:23 – A man has joy by the answer of his mouth, and a word spoken in due season, how good it is!
Obviously, for people to feel our love and care for them, we need to communicate with them. That means giving and taking in conversation. We need to take the time to listen, but we should not only listen in silence: We also need to convey our own thoughts and feelings.

The power of listening!
(From a group of Family members who helps counsel UN peacekeepers in an active zone.)
When we first met one group of UN soldiers, most of them were very much on the defensive. They were “realists” and agnostics, they said. But after a while they saw that we weren’t trying to “give them religion” but rather a listening ear, understanding and Jesus – and they became very receptive.
They returned the next day so we could talk some more. At that time we were able to explain more basic principles from the Bible.
One fellow already knew the Lord and had begun reading through the New Testament. “I have a Bible and am reading through it, but with you I have the missing ingredient. – I’m getting the love I need!” he said.
We all prayed together before parting. When we looked up, some of these burly soldiers were in tears.
Later we discovered one example that showed how important our work is: Sheridan is a Canadian peacekeeper who has an extremely dangerous job; he drives a specially designed UN bulldozer that clears mine fields. He just returned from a mission in the field, and sought us out to tell us this story.
As he was clearing a mined area, he drove over an anti-tank mine, which didn’t explode. The 30-ton vehicle behind him ran over that same mine and was blown into the treetops. The driver survived, but he lost both of his legs. Sheridan told us that he believes it was our prayers that protected him. He had received the Lord with us just before going on this mission.
These soldiers constantly face life-and-death situations, so our witnessing to them is also a matter of life-and-death.

Listening with your eyes
A young child returned home with a crayon drawing she had done at school. She almost danced into the kitchen where her busy mother was preparing dinner. “Mummy,” she cried in glee, “you’ll never guess what!”
“Right,” replied the mother not looking up, “I don’t know what.”
“Mummy, you’re not listening.” “Yes, I am, darling,” said the mother as she attended to her pots.
“But, Mummy, you’re not listening with your eyes.”

6. Be concerned
Galatians 6:2 – Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
Romans 12:15 – Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.
There isn’t any point in paying attention to the other person unless you honestly care about him, unless you are willing to share his pain and help him solve his problems. To be concerned about the other person is the basic foundation for all deep and lasting human relationships.

Empathy
A vital quality for getting along with people is empathy. Empathy comes from the German word einfulung, which means to feel into or to feel with. Empathy is viewing life through another’s eyes, feeling as another feels, hearing a story through the perceptions of the other person. Christians are called to empathy by bearing one another’s burdens and by rejoicing with others in their joys and weeping with others in their pain.

Prophecy helps!
Ask the Lord to give you prophecies for people you know. If you’re having difficulties getting along with someone, ask the Lord to give you something about that person that will help you understand them and empathize with them.

Understanding
It was a cold winter morning. The shopping center parking lot was ridged with piles of fresh snow. I parked my car and headed for the sidewalk, the only exit that had been freed from the drifts of snow. But there was a car left directly in front of the shoveled pathway! I had to trudge around the vehicle, wading into snow up to my knees, to get onto the walk. “How thoughtless can people be!” These words rang through my mind along with a few others. But as I turned to stamp the snow off my trousers, there, struggling along the walk, was a lady with crutches extending from both arms, her legs encased in braces. Slowly, ever so slowly, she inched her way along the slippery pathway, got to the car blocking the walk, tussled herself into the front seat, and drove away. I stood for a moment, ashamed that I had felt the way I had. In seconds I had changed. I saw the woman and her plight. Suddenly I understood!
The absolutely indispensable ingredient to getting along with others is understanding! Differences, displeasures, wrath, frustration, conflict, and separation start where understanding stops.

7. Be generous with praise, encouragement and appreciation
Philippians 4:8 – Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy – meditate on these things. [Song: "Whatsoever Things Are True"]
One of the deepest needs of human nature is the desire to be appreciated. Give sincere, honest appreciation. Be hearty in your approval and lavish in your praise, and people will cherish your words and treasure them and repeat them over a lifetime.
Everyone likes to feel important. People are hungry for praise and starving for honest appreciation.
“I am proud of you” are five of the most precious words you can ever use to make another person feel important.
Almost everybody needs encouragement! Most people are not really conceited, but feel a certain amount of inferiority complex and tend to get a little discouraged with themselves. Therefore, encouragement is a very important thing!
Children thrive on praise! It’s more important to praise a child for his good works and his good behavior than it is to scold him for his bad behavior. Always accentuate the positive!
That applies to your spouse as well! Try to remind yourself constantly of his or her good qualities, the good things, and try not to think about the bad things. One of the worst things you can do is pick on every little fault, always belittling, nagging, henpecking! – And that will really break up marriages!
In marriage, with children, at work, in any association – an ounce of praise, of sincere appreciation of some act or attribute, can often do more than a ton of fault-finding. If we look for it we can usually find something to commend and encourage in even the most unlikely, unlikable and incapable person. Most of us, in the glow of feeling we have pleased, want to do more to please, and knowing we have done well, want to do better.

Encouragement motivates!
Aleida Huissen, 78, of Rotterdam, Netherlands, has been smoking for 50 years. And for 50 years she has been trying to give up her harmful habit. But she has not been successful – that is, until recently. She has now given up cigarettes, cigars, and pipes. The secret? Leo Jansen, 79, proposed marriage last year, but refused to go through with the wedding until Aleida gave up smoking. Says Aleida now: “Will power never was enough to get me off the tobacco habit. Love did it.”

Giving sincere appreciation and praise
Praise spurs people to achieve, gives them inner confidence, and makes them grow. But how many flowers go ungiven? How many compliments go unsaid? How many people do you admire for certain qualities or accomplishments but have never bothered saying so? Why not practice praise? When you do, consider these thoughts:
- Be sincere, don’t give flattery. Being sincere is just a matter of looking for the good in others. You’ll find it if you’re sincerely looking.
- Be specific. Don’t just say a person is “nice” or “good.” Pick out specific things to praise.

The doggie example!
Why read a book to find out how to win friends? Why not study the technique of the greatest winner of friends the world has ever known? Who is he? You may meet him tomorrow coming down the street. When you get within ten feet of him, he will begin to wag his tail. If you stop and pat him, he will almost jump out of his skin to show you how much he likes you. And you know that behind this show of affection on his part, there are no ulterior motives: He doesn’t want to sell you any real estate, and he doesn’t want to marry you. Did you ever stop to think that a dog is the only animal that doesn’t have to work for a living? A hen has to lay eggs, a cow has to give milk, and a canary has to sing. But a dog makes his living by giving you nothing but love!

Humor: Overlooking the faults of others
At her golden wedding celebration, Grandmother told guests the secret of her happy marriage: “On my wedding day, I decided to make a list of ten of my husband’s faults which, for the sake of our marriage, I would overlook.”
As the guests were leaving, a young woman whose marriage had recently been in difficulty asked Grandmother what some of the faults were that she had seen fit to overlook. Grandmother said, “To tell you the truth, my dear, I never did get around to listing them. But whenever my husband did something that made me hopping mad, I would say to myself, “Lucky for him that’s one of the ten!”

8. Be genuinely interested in the feelings of others
Giving and taking goes on continuously in conversation. Human relationships are sustained by this back and forth flow. If the flow becomes one-sided, the conversation wanes for the moment. The conversational fire burns low and dies out.
People need outlets for their feelings. They need someone who will listen with understanding; who will give them assurance for their anxiety, a vent for their anger, acceptance and forgiveness when they need it, sympathy for their grief, and who will share their joy.
Part of consideration is listening. You can’t consider someone’s feelings if you don’t know what they are! And to find out, you’ll need to listen to them.
To someone in need of an outlet for his thoughts and feelings, your attention can be a precious gift. As a listener you are more than a recipient of information. You often help the speaker clarify his thoughts and discharge his feelings.
An individual who is annoyed or worried or joyful or guilty about something has to carry the burden of these pent up feelings until he can vent them. Probably the most common way of venting feelings is talking, and talking calls for a listener.
Sometimes all some people need is for somebody to listen.

Samples of conversation in the book of Job
Job’s appeal to his friends to listen to him.
Job 21:2-3a – Listen carefully to my speech, and let this be your consolation. Bear with me that I may speak.
Sample of listening and then speaking:
Job 32:10-12a – “Therefore I say, ‘Listen to me, I also will declare my opinion.’ (11) Indeed I waited for your words, I listened to your reasonings, while you searched out what to say. (12a) I paid close attention to you.”

Listening is a proof of care
“When the word got around that I had cancer,” Jan reported, “I soon discovered something surprising about people. After five or six conversations one day, I realized that I had little doubt about who really cared. Those who cared were those who listened, who really heard me without trying to explain or advise or catalogue their own illnesses. It’s not hard to tell if you’ve been cared for. The measuring is done by the listening.”
Do you hear Jan? She is scared, confused, angry, and full of feelings that deserve expression. And she is not looking for someone to tell her what to do with her pain or where to go with her problem. Listening is one sign of caring she recognizes.

9. Avoid arguments

2 Timothy 2:24 – And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient.
James 1:19-20 – So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; (20) for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

Avoid getting drawn into arguments
It’s been said that there’s only one way to get the best of an argument – avoid it!
Proverbs 17:14 – The beginning of strife is like releasing water; therefore stop contention before a quarrel starts.
1 Peter 3:8-9 – Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; (9) not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing.

By choosing your words wisely, you can avoid provoking an argument
Proverbs 15:1 – A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
Proverbs 17:9 – He who covers a transgression seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates friends.
Ecclesiastes 5:2a – Do not be rash with your mouth.

Love, humility and prayer solve all problems!
Philippians 2:3 – Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.
Colossians 3:13 – Bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

Share your opinions without starting an argument!
Proverbs 11:14 – In the multitude of counselors there is safety.
Sometimes when you’re discussing something with another person, like plans or a project or whatever, you’ll find they have a different opinion than you as to what should be done. It’s at times like these you should pray and ask the Lord to give you real wisdom and to help you avoid getting pushy or into an argumentative spirit.
You may feel your ideas are the best and therefore you may really push them to the point that you’re actually arguing with others. That’s a mistake! You are supposed to present your side of the picture, that’s expected; you shouldn’t just sit there and say nothing when you know some extra facts or other details or important information that might change the outcome.
The problem comes when you become too pushy and argumentative in presenting the facts as you try to get across your point of view. A lot of times it’s just your desire to see things done properly and you want the right thing to happen, but if you start pushing and really aggressively advocating your side, then it creates tension.
If you feel the other person is wrong, then you should question it in a nice, loving manner. You shouldn’t say, “You’re wrong! I think you’re making a mistake,” but rather something like, “Don’t you think maybe we should consider the possibility of doing it this way?” or “Perhaps we should consider this other alternative.”

How wars begin
A boy once asked his father, “Dad, how do wars begin?”
“Well, take the First World War,” said his father. “That got started when Germany invaded Belgium.”
Immediately his wife interrupted him, “Tell the boy the truth! It began because somebody was assassinated!”
The husband drew himself up with an air of superiority and snapped back, “Are you answering the question or am I?”
Turning her back upon him in a huff, the wife stormed out the room and slammed the door as hard as she could! When the dishes stopped rattling in the cupboard an uneasy silence followed, broken at length by the boy: “Daddy, you don’t have to tell me how wars begin. I know now!”

10. Be alert to give service
We’re going to talk more about this in the next class, but for now, here is some food for thought:

Jesus set the example of being a Servant of others.
John 13:13-15 – (Jesus said:) You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. (14) If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. (15) For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.
Luke 22:24-26 – Now there was also a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest. (25) And He said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’ (26) But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves.”

Love not only in word, but in deed.
A chaplain on the battlefield came to a man who was wounded, lying on the ground. “Would you like me to read you something from this Book – the Bible?” he asked the soldier.
“I’m so thirsty,” replied the man. “I would rather have a drink of water.” As quickly as he could the chaplain brought the water. Then the soldier asked, “Could you put something under my head?” The chaplain took off his light overcoat, rolled it, and put it gently under the soldier’s head for a pillow “Now,” said the soldier, “if I had something over me! I am very cold.” There was only one thing the chaplain could do. He took off his own coat, and spread it over the soldier.
The wounded man looked up into his face, and said gratefully, “Thank you.” Then he added feebly, “If there is anything in that Book in your hand that makes a man do for another what you have done for me, please read it to me.”

The Good Samaritan
One semester, a seminary professor set up his preaching class in an unusual way. He scheduled his students to preach on the Parable of the Good Samaritan and on the day of the class, he choreographed his experiment so that each student would go, one at a time, from one classroom to another where he or she would preach a sermon. The professor gave some students ten minutes to go from one room to the other; to others he allowed less time, forcing them to rush in order to meet the schedule. Each student, one at a time, had to walk down a certain corridor and pass by an indigent man (penniless and homeless), who was deliberately planted there, obviously in need of some sort of aid.
The results were surprising, and offered a powerful lesson to them. The percentage of those good men and women who stopped to help was extremely low, especially for those who were under the pressure of a shorter time period. The tighter the schedule, the fewer were those who stopped to help the indigent man.
When the professor revealed his experiment, you can imagine the impact on that class of future spiritual leaders. Rushing to preach a sermon on the Good Samaritan they had walked past the beggar at the heart of the parable. We must have eyes to see as well as hands to help, or we may never help at all.

Summary of the Ten Tips

1. Speak to people
2. Smile at people
3. Address people by their name
4. Be friendly and helpful
5. Communicate
6. Be concerned
7. Be generous with praise, encouragement and appreciation
8. Be genuinely interested in the feelings of others
9. Avoid arguments
10. Be alert to give service

A principle to base your life on!
It all boils down to what the Lord said nearly 2,000 years ago: “Love the Lord with all your heart and soul and mind, and your neighbor as yourself.”
How do you like to be loved and treated? Think about it. That’s how you should love and treat others. “Whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them.” It’s not just a Bible verse or some abstract spiritual principle, but it’s something to base your life on!
When you’re out and about during the day, look at the people passing by as if they were you. They need love, encouragement, cheerfulness, comfort, hope, peace, concern, and compassion just like you do – and the Lord most of all, of course. What if that person on the street or in the shop or school were you? How would you want to be loved and reached? That’s how you can love and reach others, and change their lives forever!
Your family at home deserves the same love, appreciation, and support. Make it a true home of hearts, and in loving and helping both the lost and your family in this way you’ll influence multitudes of others! The love will spread from heart to heart, person to person, and you have no idea how far it will go!

Class 4B: Prophecy In Action

Introduction

Make Cars!
What would happen if you’d take a large number of unskilled laborers, suddenly place them in an automobile factory, and say: “Make cars!” Without training, experience, guidance, or instructions this would be impossible! It would be nothing but chaos, every man with his own ideas, going his own way and doing his own thing, and you’d probably end up with a crazy contraption. It might even be a very elaborate, intricate, and complicated machine, but without coordination, purpose, or guidance, it would get nowhere.
But if you would tell these factory workers: “Now, see here! You don’t know anything and you never made a car before, but if you’ll just listen to the instructions from our central computer through your earphones on your little radio sets, each one of you will know exactly what to do and when and how to do it! Just listen and obey instructions!” – And they might actually be able to make a car with a little time, patience, and experience! – For the computer knows how!
But if the workers decided they didn’t need the computer, they’d rather figure it out for themselves, and they turned off their radios and laid aside their headsets, because they were so busy and didn’t want to be bothered with having to listen, they would soon have nothing but confusion, frustration, and failure.

To consider: Have you been going to the Lord for His instructions? Have you heard from the Lord since your last class?

Section 1: Prophecy Pointers

Why get prophecies?
Prophecy gives you guidance for specific questions.
Psalm 73:24a – You will guide me with Your counsel.
Psalm 143:10 – Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God; your Spirit is good. Lead me in the land of uprightness.
You should let the principles in the written Word of God guide you as much as you can, but there are things that the written Word doesn’t tell us about some situations that we need to know specifics about. The printed Word gives you the fundamentals, the basics, but often the Lord wants to give you specifics for your particular situation through speaking to you directly in prophecy.
If possible, share some examples of when you have needed and received the Lord’s guidance for a specific question. In addition, you may like to read either of the following examples.

Examples of prophecy giving specific guidance

Example 1: Witnessing
We know from the Word that we’re supposed witness (share our faith).
Mark 16:15 – And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature.”
But to whom are you supposed to witness? Where should you witness? Should you give out literature? Should you try to talk to strangers on the street or should you knock on people’s doors or should you talk just to your colleagues and relatives? There is a whole range of ways to fulfill what Jesus told us about witnessing. But to find God’s specific plan for you, you might need to hear from the Lord about it.

Example 2: The Cookie Story
By Aaron
It was near Christmastime in Belgium. We had a few orphanages that we were bringing supplies to. We wanted to bring cookies and snacks for the children but didn’t have the money to buy them, so we prayed asking Jesus to show us what to do and what He would do to supply this need. In prophecy He told us to follow the first truck that we would see and that that would lead us to where we needed to go.
We opened our eyes and looked. A truck pulled up right in front of our car. We started the engine and we followed by faith, having no idea what the truck did or where it went or anything. We followed it and followed it for about 20 minutes around different areas of town until it finally arrived in front of a factory.
By faith we went into the factory, and lo and behold, it was a cookie factory! When we asked to see the director and told him why we came, he immediately said, “Who told you to come here?”
We said, “Well, we prayed and we asked the Lord to direct our path and He told us to follow the first truck we saw.” He was in shock.
He said, “This is a miracle! Saint Nicholas’ Day is past and I have about 50 boxes of cookies from the holiday that I don’t know what to do with and it’s my pleasure to be able to give them to you.” – And off we went with a car loaded down with boxes and boxes of cookies for our Christmas gift to the orphans and other needy families in Belgium.

How wonderful to have the Lord’s help!
It’s often the case that when things seem difficult and muddled and we can’t seem to find any kind of solution, or when things look complicated, if we’ll just go to the Lord and desperately seek Him, He gives us the simplest answer. We may look at it in amazement and say, “Why in the world didn’t I ever see that? Of course I should have seen that! – How dumb of me!”
The Lord often allows this to happen just to show that no matter how clear things should be, if we don’t seek Him for the answers, and if we try to do things in the “arm of the flesh,” which means without relying on His help, we can’t really do anything.
John 15:5 – I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

Keys for hearing from the Lord
We’ve established that prophecy is helpful. It’s encouraging. It’s a gift that we want to have and use. Now let’s look at some keys for receiving prophecies:

Earnest desire
Psalm 119:2 – Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, who seek Him with the whole heart!
Jeremiah 29:13 – And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
If you’re seeking with your whole heart and are asking Him, He’ll answer!

Concentration
As we discussed in our earlier classes on prayer, concentration is important. Try to focus on the Lord and clear your mind from other thoughts.

Look at the map
Taking time to hear from the Lord about your direction is like using a map in order to find the easiest, safest, and smoothest route to your destination. But you can’t look at the map while you go speeding down the road. You’ve got to stop and study the map, just like you have to stop and get quiet and listen in order to have close communion with the Lord and get your directions from Him.

Have an open heart
Ask the Lord to help you have an open mind and heart, to be ready to accept whatever He gives, even if it is not what you were expecting, or completely to your liking, or you don’t understand it fully.

Carefully word your questions
The answers you receive will depend on the questions you ask. Be sure it is clear in your mind what you are asking the Lord, so that when you get the answer, you’ll know what He is referring to. Sometimes it helps to write out your question.

More tips!
Be sure to study over Hearing from Heaven (Get Activated! booklet) for more keys. The chapters “Basic Operating Instructions” and “General Maintenance” are very useful.

* God speaks at any time
Many of us find that we occasionally wake up in the night, unable to sleep. During such sleepless hours, it is a good time to pray and think about the Lord and commune with Him within your heart.

Section 2: Judging Prophecies

Two terms to understand:
Judging prophecy is the act of discerning if a prophecy was given by the Spirit of God.
Interpreting prophecy is the act of coming to an understanding of what a prophecy means, and knowing how to apply it.

How can you tell if a prophecy is truly inspired by God?
Over the centuries, many people have claimed to hear from God. In some cases, their lives bore good testimony through their deeds of love and righteousness. But in other cases, the fruit it bore in their lives or their subsequent actions makes you wonder, were they really being inspired by God, or were the ideas their own, or even worse, were they deceived by the Devil?
Perhaps you too are wondering how you can know whether a prophecy you receive is from God, whether you’ve received it directly through your own prayers or through another source.
Or perhaps you have prayed and it seems the Lord has given you His Words, but you do not understand how to apply what He has said or even what He means.
We’ll look at these questions now. It is our prayer that the guidance we share and our own experiences in hearing from the Lord will be a help to you.

The voice that tells me to do something good
Prophecy is one of the ways that you can find the will of God, one of the ways that He can speak to you. But how can you tell if what you have received is really from the Lord? Let’s take a look at this question.
There’s a story told of a young boy who accepted the Lord. The old elders of the church seemed skeptical about his conversion and asked him, “How do you know you’re saved? How can you tell? How are you going to know what to do when the Devil comes and tells you to do something bad? How are you going to know the difference between the voice of God and the voice of the Devil?”
The little boy had a very simple answer. He said, “If the voice tells me to do something bad, I’ll know it’s the Devil! If it tells me to do something good, I’ll know it’s God!”
It’s that simple! If you love the Lord, what you receive from Him is good and ministers faith, joy, hope, love, and praise.

Jesus told us to judge prophecies by their fruit
Jesus gave the basic criteria for judging a prophet or a prophecy when He told us to look at the fruits:
Matthew 7:15-20 – Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. (16) You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? (17) Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. (18) A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. (19) Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. (20) Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

How to tell the difference between a prophecy that is from God and one that is not

To judge a prophecy, check these points:

Is it in harmony with the Bible?
It should not contradict the written recorded Word of God, though it may fill in “gaps” in our understanding. Is it according to the written Word in the Bible? The Word is the measurement, the standard by which prophecy should be judged.
Isaiah 8:20b – If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
You can recommend they read page 53 of Hearing from Heaven for more on judging prophecy.

Is it helpful?
Does it motivate you to do good? Does it encourage you to follow God’s way? What are its fruits?
Matthew 7:20 – Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
Galatians 5:22-23 – But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (23) gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

Does it bring peace and unity with your fellow-believers?
A godly prophecy usually flows with and confirms what God has already said. It brings unity and peace, never confusion.
1 Corinthians 14:33 – For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.

Does it result in humility? It should not lift you up in pride.
1 Corinthians 1:29 – That no flesh should glory in His presence.
? You can read pages 51-52 of Hearing from Heaven for more on this.

Does it encourage you? It should not condemn you or others.
Revelations 12:10b – Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.

Does it bring faith to your heart? It should not bring fear.
2 Timothy 1:7 – For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
1 John 4:18a – There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment.

Does it provide helpful instruction?
Proverbs 9:9 – Give instruction Wto a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a just man, and he will increase in learning.

Warnings about false prophecy

We’ve talked about being able to judge whether the things you personally are receiving are from the Lord or not. What about other people? How can you tell if somebody is a true prophet of God? The same criteria apply (as explained above), and here are a few additional points to ponder:

A false prophet leads you away from God.
Deuteronomy 13:1-3 – If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, (2) and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, “Let us go after other gods” – which you have not known – “and let us serve them,” (3) you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

A false prophet will not lift up Jesus as the only begotten Son of God
1 John 4:1-2 – Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. (2) By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God.

False prophets claim greatness for themselves; some even claim to be the Messiah
Matthew 24:4-5,11 – And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. (5) For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many. …(11) Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.”

A false prophet may perform “great signs,” but not by the Lord’s power.
Matthew 24:23-24 – Then if anyone says to you, “Look, here is the Christ!” or “There!” do not believe it. (24) For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.

Review

Judging prophecy is the act of discerning if a prophecy was given by the Spirit of God.
Interpreting prophecy is the act of coming to an understanding of what a prophecy means.
How can you tell if a prophecy is truly inspired by God? – “The voice that tells me to do something good”; Jesus told us, judge by their fruits.
How to tell the difference between a prophecy from God and one that is not:
Is it in harmony with the Bible? Is it helpful? Does it bring peace and unity with your fellow-believers? Does it bring humility and not pride? Does it encourage you? Does it bring faith to your heart? Does it provide helpful instruction?
Warnings about false prophecy: A false prophet leads you away from God; a false prophet will not lift up Jesus as the only begotten Son of God. False prophets claim greatness for themselves. A false prophet may perform “great signs,” but not by the Lord’s power.

Section 3: Interpreting Prophecy

Interpreting prophecy
There are many reasons to ask the Lord to speak to us in prophecy. Some of these include a need for encouragement, direction, instruction, help in decision-making, insight into problems, finding the Lord’s will in a matter, etc.
Once the Lord has spoken on a matter, we must prayerfully look at what He has said and determine what instruction or answer He is giving us. To do this, we must interpret the prophecy; we must find the meaning of what He has said to us.
In order to fully benefit from the gift of prophecy, we must learn to properly interpret the prophecy, as it doesn’t help much to get a message from the Lord if you don’t understand the meaning of what He’s telling you!

The gifts of wisdom, understanding, and discernment
There are a number of factors for properly interpreting prophecy. The gifts of wisdom, understanding, and discernment help us to interpret. These are spiritual gifts, which can be prayed for.
Daniel 8:15 – Then it happened, when I, Daniel, had seen the vision and was seeking the meaning, that suddenly there stood before me one having the appearance of a man.
Daniel prayed for understanding when he had seen a vision and “sought for the meaning.” The Hebrew word translated in that verse as “meaning” is generally translated throughout the Old Testament as “understanding,” so he sought for understanding of the vision, which we must often do with prophecy as well.

Seek the counsel of others
Prayerful counsel with faithful and wise fellow-believers will help you determine exactly what the Lord has told you in prophecy. The Lord doesn’t necessarily give any one person the full interpretation to every prophecy. Counsel in these matters is so important, because sometimes what may be very unclear to you might be very clear to someone else, through the discernment the Lord has given them.
1 Corinthians 14:29 – Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others judge.
Proverbs 11:14 – Where there is no counsel, the people fall; but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.
Proverbs 15:22 – Without counsel, plans go awry, but in the multitude of counselors they are established.
Proverbs 19:20-21 – Listen to counsel and receive instruction, that you may be wise in your latter days. (21) There are many plans in a man’s heart, nevertheless the Lord’s counsel – that will stand.
Proverbs 27:9 – Ointment and perfume delight the heart, and the sweetness of a man’s friend gives delight by hearty counsel.

Choose the right counselors!
A godly counselor is someone who loves the Lord, and whose life shows the good fruit of living close to Him. If you want to learn how to play the piano you wouldn’t go to business college; you’d go to a pianist who knows how to play well. If you want to learn how to cook you wouldn’t go to a computer technician, but to somebody who knows how to cook, whose meals you’ve enjoyed. So godly counselors are people whom you can trust because they bear good spiritual fruit.

Be guided by the Word
A prophecy should be interpreted in light of the Word. As mentioned earlier, true prophecy should not contradict the recorded Word of God in the Bible, but it may fill in gaps in our understanding. Let the Word be the standard by which you measure and interpret the prophecies you receive.
Psalm 119:105 – Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

Be open to the Lord
Another major factor in interpreting prophecy is the need to be open to all the Lord may be saying. To understand what the Lord is telling you in a prophecy, faith, yieldedness, and humility are the keys.
Pray with an open heart and be earnest in your desire to hear the Lord clearly.
Receive His Words with praise and thanksgiving.
Ask the Lord to clear your mind of your own thoughts.
Be yielded to what He shows you.
Believe that what you receive is from Him.
Have the faith to act upon it.
We shouldn’t interpret prophecy according to what we want it to say.
- Nor should we be pulled by our desires or preconceived ideas.
In order to understand and accept the Words the Lord gives, we must be of a believing heart and an open mind and of pure intentions. If you already have your mind made up about the matter, it will be difficult to be open to what the Lord may be trying to show you through prophecy.

Prophecy cannot be interpreted just by using carnal reasoning, logic, or analytical study.
It requires the wisdom of God and the leading and the discernment of God’s Spirit. We cannot just assume in our own pride that we know what the Lord is saying.
Proverbs 3:5-6 – Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; (6) In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.
2 Peter 1:20 – Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation.

When you do not understand
Isaiah 55:9 – For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.
We don’t always understand what the Lord is telling us. Some of what He says might be very clear; some might be shrouded in mystery. Sometimes part of what He tells us might be for now; sometimes it might be for the future.

Even prophets like Daniel and Ezekiel did not always understand what the Lord gave to them.
Daniel 12:8a – Although I heard, I did not understand.
Ezekiel 3:14-15 – So the Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the Lord was strong upon me. (15) Then I came to the captives at Tel Abib, who dwelt by the River Chebar; and I sat where they sat, and remained there astonished among them seven days.

Wrap it up in a “bundle of faith.
Don’t be worried if you cannot always interpret everything that the Lord gives. The Lord may reveal His meaning to you at a later time. If you don’t understand something, wrap it up in a “bundle of faith” and put it on the shelf. Trust the Lord that He will show it to you in His own time.

The Story of Lazarus – and how the Lord’s meaning is not always clear
It’s a bit like when the Lord told His disciples that Lazarus’ sickness was “not unto death.” He later said that Lazarus was sleeping, and eventually He told them “Lazarus is dead.” This might have seemed a bit contradictory to them. His disciples could have asked how Jesus could say the sickness was not unto death, yet Lazarus was dead; in fact, he was in the grave for four days! Yet Jesus eventually raised him from the dead, so even though the disciples didn’t understand it at the time, they eventually did, after Lazarus was raised up. They could have accused Jesus of giving false or inaccurate statements at the time He made them, but because they had faith in the Words that He had spoken, they could trust what He said even though they didn’t understand it:
John 11:1-15 – Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. (2) It was that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. (3) Therefore the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.” (4) When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” (5) Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. (6) So, when He heard that he was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. (7) Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” (8) The disciples said to Him, “Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?” (9) Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. (10) “But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” (11) These things He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.” (12) Then His disciples said, “Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.” (13) However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking rest in sleep. (14) Then Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. (15) And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him.”

Review
Keys to interpreting prophecy: the gifts of wisdom, understanding, and discernment. Seek the counsel of others. Be guided by the Word. Be open to the Lord.
When you do not understand, wrap it up in a bundle of faith!

Section 4: Prophecy in Perspective

Is prophecy infallible? What if a prophecy does not come true?
Sometimes things do not seem to work out as it seems God said in prophecy. Was the prophecy really inspired by God in the first place? There are a few points to understand.

Prophecies can “fail.”
1 Corinthians 13:8-9 – Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. (9) For we know in part and we prophesy in part.
Even though prophecy is a wonderful means by which the Lord speaks to us and encourages us, it is not necessarily a “written in stone” unalterable means of discerning God’s will.
Just because you or someone else receives a prophecy that indicates something will happen or should be this or that way, we shouldn’t get locked into taking it as, “Thus saith the Lord, this is how it will be, this is exactly how it will happen,” or “This is exactly what you must do!”

The future is somewhat dependent on the choices that we and others make.
It is important to understand that our own decisions and choices, based often on the knowledge and wisdom that He gives us (which, of course, are also “gifts of the Spirit”), are still very instrumental in our determining God’s will, even after specific prophecies may have been received.

The Lord often leads us one step at a time on the path of His will.
The Lord apparently knows that it’s best that we don’t always know all the details of the future, at least not very often. He usually hides the future from us and makes us take things one step at a time.
2 Corinthians 5:7 – For we walk by faith, not by sight.
He likes to see us exercise our faith. We learn a lot from following step by step, going along on just the little bit at a time that the Lord reveals to us. We follow Him from point “a” to point “b,” and then from there we have to make another decision, “Where do we go from here?” We desperately pray and ask the Lord and He shows us a little more, how to get from point “b” to point “c,” and we then go on and on to the next steps. But the Lord doesn’t usually show us the whole picture “a” to “z” in advance.

Depending on our decisions…
In many ways, the Lord confines Himself to operating within our frame of reference, within our circumstances. He does “go along with us” a good deal of the time, and when we decide something, He acts or reacts accordingly.
It’s like He says “Well, you have now decided to do this, so I have promised to do such-and-such, in light of your decision.” But if we later change our mind and decide to do something else so that our previous plans are no longer in effect, then His promises or His instructions for our former plans are no longer in effect either.

Jonah and the story of how prophecies are fulfilled
Jonah was a prophet of God who lived in ancient Israel hundreds of years before Jesus. God told him to go to the city of Nineveh and warn the people that because of their great wickedness, within 40 days their city was going to be destroyed. Jonah didn’t even want to obey this prophecy at first and tried to run away from God but finally decided to go to Nineveh and obey God’s commandment to him to “preach unto it the preaching that I bid you” (Jonah 3:2).
Upon hearing Jonah’s words of coming doom, the people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed a fast throughout the land, dressed in sackcloth, and truly repented.
Jonah 3:10 – Then God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it.
Because the people had repented, God did not (at that time) destroy Nineveh. But Jonah didn’t seem to grasp the point of God’s forgiveness. He sat a short distance from the city, waiting for God’s judgments to come down. When the judgments did not arrive, he was dismayed.
Had this been a false prophecy? Why did God say that Nineveh would be destroyed in 40 days, knowing that it wasn’t going to be? Some people might even say that God lied to them. The Word says,
Romans 3:4 – Let God be true but every man a liar.
God said it: Nineveh was going to be destroyed in 40 days! According to their circumstances at the time, that was what was going to happen. God was just warning them about what was actually going to occur; that was what they were headed for. But when Jonah went and preached to them, they had a wonderful repentance, and their change caused God to change! He went along with them. The circumstances changed, so what God originally said was no longer applicable.
God gives us the majesty of choice, and then He goes along with our decisions and gives us what we need or tells us what to do according to what we have decided.
So instead of automatically concluding that a prophecy was not from God if it doesn’t come to pass exactly as expected, we might consider that maybe somebody here on earth changed their mind, and as a result God changed His.

Matters of misunderstanding
Something to keep in mind is that sometimes we think that a prophecy didn’t come true either because we don’t remember correctly what the prophecy said, or we didn’t interpret it properly. Sometimes, when encountering a situation where things seemed to turn out differently than a prophecy said they would, if you’ll go back and study that prophecy, you’ll see things in a different light. So before you presume that a prophecy “went wrong” somehow, go back and re-read it, and you may find that what the Lord said was just what happened – you just didn’t understand it clearly the first time, or you didn’t remember correctly what it said.

Other ways to find God’s will

Prophecy is not the only way of finding God’s will. We will learn more about these other ways in a later class, but in brief, you can also find God’s will through …
1. Applying the written Word to your situation.
2. The “voice of the Word” – which is when you’re reading the Word and suddenly something stands out to you and really speaks to your heart concerning the Lord’s will, or gives the answer to a question you had.
3. Receiving direct revelations in ways other than prophecy, such as dreams, visions, or impressions.
4. Seeking counsel from others who are strong in faith and knowledge of the Word.
5. Circumstances that you believe to be engineered by the Lord – also known as “open and closed doors.”
6. Personal concern or conviction.
7. Specific, predetermined signs received in answer to your prayers.
When you face an important decision, or one that will affect other people, it’s wise to find and confirm God’s will through more than one means. Ask God to use His Word or one or more of the other ways listed here to confirm what He’s told you in prophecy.

Prophecy: Not only for instruction, but also for encouragement

We have discussed the benefits of prophecy as far as guidance and instruction. Another very important benefit we can receive through prophecy is encouragement.It is a very precious gift to receive the Lord’s personal words for us.
Psalm 85:8a – I will hear what God the Lord will speak, for He will speak peace to His people and to His saints.
Psalm 119:50 – This is my comfort in my affliction, for Your Word has given me life.
Psalm 27:14 – Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the Lord!
Proverbs 16:20 – He who heeds the Word wisely will find good, and whoever trusts in the Lord, happy is he.
Psalm 144:15b – Happy are the people whose God is the Lord!

What if you feel incapable, discouraged, or that God can’t speak to you?
If you feel discouraged and like you can’t do it – that you can’t be good enough to receive something as wonderful as His messages from Heaven – all you have to do is ask the Lord to override all of those feelings and replace them with a gift of faith.
You don’t have to have “great faith.” Just ask Him for the faith of a child who reaches up and receives her father’s gifts. She doesn’t think about it and analyze the message, because she has childlike faith and trusts that her father knows what he’s doing and he knows what’s best, and all she has to do is trust.
The Lord delights in using men or women who don’t think much of themselves and are little in their own eyes.
1 Corinthians 1:26-29 – For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence.
Don’t worry if you feel incapable, because if that’s how you feel, you will stay humble and more dependent on the Lord. – And that’s how He wants you to be!

Learning to use the gift
There is a lot to learn about prophecy. Just like any talent or tool, as we start using it and keep using it, we gradually learn more and more.
Be sure to study the Hearing from Heaven booklet, as there are many more lessons on prophecy than we have had time to discuss in these two classes.

Review

Why a prophecy may not seem to come true: Prophecies can “fail.” The future is somewhat dependent on the choices that we and others make. The Lord often leads us one step at a time on the path of His will.
Other ways to find God’s will, besides prophecy: (1) the written Word; (2) the “voice of the Word”; (3) direct revelations such as dreams, visions, or impressions; (4) seeking counsel from faithful and wise fellow-believers; (5) circumstances; (6) personal concern or conviction; (7) receiving specific, predetermined signs in answer to your requests.
Why prophecy? It’s not only for instruction, but also for encouragement.

Class 4A: How to Receive Prophecies

Section 1: What Is Prophecy?

Prayer includes listening to God
As was discussed in “Prayer, Part 1: Principles and Practice,” prayer is not meant to be a one-way conversation with the Lord in which you do all the talking! Your relationship with the Lord should also include listening to Him. Prayer is communion with the Lord, directly conversing with the Lord. You come to Him with quietness and respect and you sincerely present your petition, and you wait silently to get the answer. If you really want to hear Him, He’ll talk to you.
1 Samuel 3:9-10 – Eli said to Samuel, “Go, lie down; and it shall be, if He calls you, that you must say, ‘Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place. (10) Now the Lord came and stood and called as at other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” And Samuel answered, “Speak, for Your servant hears.”
Numbers 9:8 – And Moses said to them, “Stand still, that I may hear what the Lord will command concerning you.”
Psalm 4:4b – Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still.
Psalm 46:10a – Be still, and know that I am God.

When God speaks…
When the Lord speaks and gives a message through one of His people, we refer to such inspired utterances as “prophecy.” Throughout the Bible the Lord spoke to His people this way, inspiring His prophets to give His words and messages.
In both the Old and New Testaments, God tells us that in the days prior to Jesus’ Second Coming, a period known in the Scriptures as the “Time of the End,” or the “Last Days,” He is going to pour out His Spirit in a special way, anointing many of His servants to prophesy. He says,
Acts 2:17-18 (also Joel 2:28-39) – And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. (18) And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy.

Prophecy: One of the gifts of the Spirit
When we ask the Lord to fill us with His Holy Spirit, we can then receive what the Bible calls the “gifts of the Spirit.” These are special spiritual gifts from our Heavenly Father to strengthen and assist us in many different ways. The gift of prophecy is included among the nine basic gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12:
1 Corinthians 12:4,10-11 – There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. … (10) to another prophecy … (11) But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills.
These are gifts from a loving Heavenly Father to His children to help communicate understanding of Himself and His Will.
In the Old Testament, only certain kings and prophets and leaders received the Holy Spirit and the whole burden of leadership fell on them. But when the New Testament age dawned, on the Day of Pentecost, God completely threw out the old system of making believers so totally dependent on human leadership for their guidance, and He made every single individual Christian responsible, directly, to His Own Holy Spirit.
Everyone can have just as much of the Holy Spirit as they want or can take, and should be led individually of the Lord. The Lord did this to prepare the Church (His followers) for an age when it was going to have to survive a lot of persecution and its members would need to be individually led by Him.

The desirable gift
The Bible also tells us that the gift of prophecy in particular should be desired and sought by God’s people. In other Bible passages we are encouraged to desire this spiritual gift, and to let God speak to us and through us via prophecy.
1 Corinthians 14:1,5,39 – Pursue love, and desire spiritual gifts, but especially that you may prophesy. (5) I wish you all spoke with tongues, but even more that you prophesied; for he who prophesies is greater than he who speaks with tongues, unless indeed he interprets, that the Church may receive edification. (39) Therefore, brethren, desire earnestly to prophesy, and do not forbid to speak with tongues.

Forthtelling
Many people think of “prophecy” as predicting the future, but this is not always the case. The word “prophecy” is taken from a Greek word propheteia that means “the speaking forth of the mind and counsel of God.”
Prophets do a lot of foretelling under the inspiration of God’s Spirit. But a further meaning of prophecy is to speak under divine inspiration, to forthtell the Words of God – to simply give God’s Word, whatever it may be, whenever it may be, at any time, at any place, to any people, whenever it is God’s will.

Section 2: About Prophecy in the Bible

Let’s look at some of the ways God has used the gift of prophecy to speak to His people through history.

Prophecy comes from God
2 Peter 1:21 – For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.
Acts 3:21 – God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.
Hosea 12:10 – I have also spoken by the prophets, and have multiplied visions; I have given symbols through the witness of the prophets.
Romans 12:6 – Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith.

Prophecy and prophets in the Old Testament
In the days of Moses 70 elders prophesied
Numbers 11:24-30 – So Moses went out and told the people the Words of the Lord, and he gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tabernacle. (25) Then the Lord came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was upon him, and placed the same upon the seventy elders; and it happened, when the Spirit rested upon them, that they prophesied, although they never did so again. (26) But two men had remained in the camp: the name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad. And the Spirit rested upon them. Now they were among those listed, but who had not gone out to the tabernacle; yet they prophesied in the camp. (27) And a young man ran and told Moses, and said, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” (28) So Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, one of his choice men, answered and said, “Moses my lord, forbid them!” (29) Then Moses said to him, “Are you zealous for my sake? Oh, that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!” (30) And Moses returned to the camp, both he and the elders of Israel.

Elijah was the main prophet, but there were at least 100 others:
1 Kings 18:1,3-4 – And it came to pass after many days that the word of the Lord came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, “Go, present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the earth.” (3) And Ahab had called Obadiah, who was in charge of his house. (Now Obadiah feared the Lord greatly. (4) For so it was, while Jezebel massacred the prophets of the Lord, that Obadiah had taken one hundred prophets and hidden them, fifty to a cave, and had fed them with bread and water.)

Elisha’s schools for prophets
(Elisha trained a group of prophets called “the sons of the prophets”)
2 Kings 2:3,5 – Now the sons of the prophets who were at Bethel came out to Elisha. … (5) Now the sons of the prophets who were at Jericho came to Elisha.
2 Kings 4:38 – And Elisha returned to Gilgal, and there was a famine in the land. Now the sons of the prophets were sitting before him.
2 Kings 6:1 – And the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, “See now, the place where we dwell with you is too small for us.”

Samuel’s group of prophets
1 Samuel 19:20 – Then Saul sent messengers to take David. And when they saw the group of prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as leader over them, the Spirit of God came upon the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied.

The Early Church and the gift of prophecy

It is very interesting to study over the experience of the Early Church and how they not only got their directions from the written, recorded Word of God, but also relied on the gift of prophesy. Here are just a few examples of the first Christians’ reliance on the Living Word (received through prophecy):
Acts 11:27-30 – And in these days prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch. (28) Then one of them, named Agabus, stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar. (29) Then the disciples, each according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Judea. (30) This they also did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul.
Acts 13:1-3 – Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. (2) As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” (3) Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away.
Acts 19:6 – And when Paul had laid hands on them, the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they spoke with tongues and prophesied.
Acts 21:8-9 – On the next day we who were Paul’s companions departed and came to Caesarea, and entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him. (9) Now this man had four virgin daughters who prophesied.
Acts 21:10-14 – And as we stayed many days, a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea.(11) When he had come to us, he took Paul’s belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, “Thus says the Holy Spirit, ‘So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.’” (12) Now when we heard these things, both we and those from that place pleaded with him not to go up to Jerusalem. (13) Then Paul answered, “What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.” (14) So when he would not be persuaded, we ceased, saying, “The will of the Lord be done.”

The gift of prophecy was a respected ministry in the Early Church
1 Corinthians 12:28 – And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues.
1 Thessalonians 5:20 – Do not despise prophecies.
Romans 12:6 – Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith.

You can hear from Heaven too!

Reading about some of the times God has spoken to His children in the past, as well as becoming familiar with His many promises to speak to you, will strengthen your faith that you, too, can hear from Heaven!

Section 3: God Speaks Today

Why the Living Word is needed
We have a permanent, written record of God’s unchangeable Words in the Bible, but God is still speaking today, through prophecies, visions, and signs. These current messages from the Lord are His “Living Word.”
You may ask, “Why isn’t reading the Bible enough? Why can’t we just get our answers from the recorded, printed Word?”
Yes, you should get as many answers from the recorded Word as you can, but where the printed Word doesn’t go far enough to answer your specific needs, the Lord has given His Word through prophecy as a further way of finding His direction. The written Word gives you the fundamentals, the basics, but often the Lord wants to give you specifics for your particular situation through speaking to you directly in prophecy.

Counsel for today
The basic principles of the written Word do apply. However, there is much counsel needed that will not be found specifically in the Bible. Therefore, the Lord is offering you this priceless gift of speaking to you directly about your own individual situation.
The Lord wants to speak to us to guide and encourage us. He promises,
Isaiah 30:21 – Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it.”

Prophecy will not contradict the written Word
A prophecy that is truly inspired by the Lord will not contradict the written recorded Word of God in the Bible, though it may fill in “gaps” in our understanding. The Word is the measurement, the standard by which it should be judged. (We’ll discuss more about this in the next class.)

Testimonies: How God speaks today!

Listen to the voice of God
Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965, Nobel Prize winner, missionary doctor in Cameroon and French Equatorial Africa [now called Gabon]) was a great musician and doctor who went to Africa to be a missionary and help the sick. One time he was traveling up a river with a boat loaded with supplies for a hospital he had built. As they were traveling he noticed a big tree had fallen in the water. If they hit it, the boat could sink and they would drown.
After his visit to the hospital, Albert returned back down the river. It was late at night and very dark. He warned the men not to go too near the bank of the river but to stay out closer toward the middle. Suddenly the Lord gave Albert a check in the Spirit that they were getting too close to the shore. All the men said they weren’t and that it was fine where they were, so Albert sat down again. I guess they know best, he thought. After all, they go up and down this river all the time and their eyes are trained to see into the dark forest. My eyes are not as good as theirs!
Suddenly the Lord spoke again to Albert’s heart, this time with a much stronger warning. You need to obey Me or you’ll all drown! Albert jumped up and commanded the men to instantly move the boat farther out to the middle of the river. They had no sooner obeyed than suddenly they saw the huge, dark mass of a giant tree that had fallen in the water. Had they not turned aside at that instant the boat would have rammed it and sunk!

The faith of a child!
From Mary
Hearing from the Lord is so thrilling that even the young kids like it and are excited about it, praise the Lord! One of our kids wears a brace for her teeth, which she has to take out every time she eats, and one day she misplaced it. We looked everywhere but could not find it.
She suggested we get together and hear from the Lord about it. I felt that was brave of her, and I wondered if she was really ready to hear what I thought the Lord wanted to say about her not being so faithful with her things. I did not expect to get anything myself, since it was such a specific question, and I have had a hard time believing that I could receive specific answers from the Lord. – Others, yes, but not me.
But lo and behold, I got, “With the orange peels, in the garbage can.” I didn’t share it at first, because it was just so unbelievable, so I waited for others to share what they had received. No one else received anything though, so I said, “This sounds crazy, but I got ‘With the orange peels, in the garbage can.’” My daughter looked – and there it was! He gives direct answers!

Music and prophecy
Music definitely is a vehicle for getting in the Spirit! Look at this verse about Elisha, who, when he was asked to hear from the Lord, said, “Bring me a minstrel” (2 Kings 3:15). The verse goes on to say, “Then it happened, when the musician played, that the hand of the Lord came upon him.”
Here’s another verse concerning music and getting songs in prophecy, as it says that certain musicians would actually prophesy with their musical instruments: “Moreover David and the captains of the army separated for the service some of the sons of Asaph, of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with harps, stringed instruments, and cymbals” (1 Chronicles 25:1).

Section 4: How To Hear From God in Prophecy

How to hear from the Lord
Find a quiet place.
Begin your time with the Lord by praising Him and/or by reading His Word.
Then, either ask the Lord a specific question or just generally ask Him what He wants to tell you.
Closing your eyes will help eliminate distractions.
Be still and focus your mind on the Lord. Concentrate on Him.
Sometimes the Lord may speak by bringing to mind a verse or passage from the Bible. He brings it to life or He applies it to a particular situation or decision you are faced with. If He reminds you of something like this while you are praying, then look it up and read it right then, asking the Lord to help you apply it.
Sometimes the Lord may speak a new message that you’ve never heard before. The words will probably not be audible, but a “still, small voice” in your mind.
Speak or write down or record what you get, then the Lord will give you more. By recording what He has given you, it shows the Lord your faith that you believe it is from Him. Then He’ll give you more.
Try not to think, analyze, or judge the message as it is coming; just accept it and thank God for it.
Some messages are short; some are lengthy.
Sometimes, instead of words, the Lord will give you a picture or vision.

Have faith and create a vacuum!
You can bring this section to life by using a radio to illustrate the principle of turning on the switch and receiving the message.
This section is enlarged upon in the Study Notes book in the Mountain Streams article “Faith.”
You have to have faith. When you ask the Lord for an answer, expect an answer, and take the first thing that comes. If you really believe and ask the Lord, and you want to hear or see, you won’t be disappointed!
In the air right now all around us, there are radio waves. But until you turn on this little switch on the radio, you’re not going to hear them. You have to open a channel, an electric circuit.
God’s Spirit is like a broadcasting station broadcasting all the time. All you have to do is throw the switch and tune in!
You have to believe when you when you ask the Lord to speak to you, that the first words that come into your mind and the first things you see are from the Lord, and go on from there. You must begin to speak (or write down) that Scripture or phrase He gives you. – And then He’ll give you more!

Recognizing God’s voice
1 King 19:9,11-12 – And there he [Elijah] went into a cave, and spent the night in that place; and behold, the Word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” … (11) Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; (12) and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.
God speaks in a still, small voice. It doesn’t have to be with an audible voice. It can just be in a still, small voice that you feel inside of you. Sometimes it’s not even words, but just an impression that you have. God doesn’t always communicate in words; He can just give you a feeling or a picture or an idea.
As you continue to study His Word in faith, letting it fill your heart and mind, the more your ability will grow to recognize His still, small voice when you ask Him to speak to you.
John 10:27a – My sheep hear My Voice.

For more advice on how to hear from Heaven, see “Ground Rules” (page 10) “Getting Started” (page 18) and “Basic Operating Instructions” (page 32) in the Hearing from Heaven (Get Activated!) booklet.

Class 3B: Communicating With God

Section 1: Our Relationship with the Lord

A good relationship
It takes time and effort to build a good relationship with someone. Let’s look at some of the ways we can apply the lessons we learn with people to our relationship with the Lord.
We need to invest time into building a relationship and give the person our attention. – We talked in the last class about focusing on the Lord when we pray, even visualizing Him if we can.
We should talk to Jesus as we would to our dearest loved one. In a good marriage or relationship, one person doesn’t do all the talking! So we need to be sure to not only talk to Him, but most importantly, listen to Him.
A good relationship also needs lots of appreciation and thankfulness and not taking the other for granted. We need to thank the Lord for what He gives us and does for us.
A good relationship is one where we can trust and confide in our partner, knowing he or she will listen and keep on loving us unconditionally. Our partner will comfort us when we need it, and he or she will honestly point out our shortcomings when we need help in facing things. But no matter how we fail or what mistakes we make, he or she will keep loving us. That is how Jesus is with us.

The story of Mary and Martha
Whatever happens, we know the Lord wants us to draw closer to Him. We should not get so wrapped up in our work and the day-to-day grind of living that we forget that we need to be close to Jesus, and that that is very important to the Lord! All our activities and work might be good and necessary, but we should not neglect our relationship with Jesus. We can be assured that everything else will fall into the proper place as long as we keep close to the Lord.
Let’s look at this in the Bible.
The following could be acted out as a skit, getting the students involved:
Luke 10:38-42 – Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. (39) And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. (40) But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” (41) And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. (42) But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

To consider:
Who do you identify more with – Mary or Martha?
If you were Martha, how would you have reacted to Jesus’ words?

What if you feel you’ve failed?
When we slip and fall because of sin or disobedience, it’s easy to feel condemned, like, “Oh, I can’t possibly be close to the Lord because of my sins, because of all my faults and shortcomings!” But you must not let the Devil – or even your own heart – condemn you.
1 John 3:20 – For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.
Romans 8:1 – There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
Even if you have disobeyed the Lord, if you’re sorry for your sins and you sincerely desire to be close to Him, He forgives you.
Psalm 103:8 – The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.
Psalm 37:24 – Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the Lord upholds him with His hand.
I John 1:9 – If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Psalm 51:17 – The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart – these, O God, You will not despise.
A lot has to do with your heart, with your attitude. If you sincerely want to please the Lord and do His will, love Jesus and live for Him, then He will certainly “draw nigh unto you” when you call out to Him. David of old wrote:
Psalm 145:18 – The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth.
Psalm 34:18 – The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit.
So regardless of any feelings of discouragement or condemnation that the Devil may try to barrage you with, if you know you’re truly seeking to love and please the Lord, obey His Word and follow Him, then you’re close to Him! – Whether you happen to feel close to Him or not!

The Lord is always there, no matter how you feel
We’ve talking about concentrating and we’ve talked about visualizing the Lord when you pray, and we’ve talked in the previous classes about the gifts of the Spirit, but maybe you haven’t felt any different. Maybe you don’t feel close to Jesus. The Bible makes it very clear that we’re not supposed to go by our feelings, or by any of our physical senses!
2 Corinthians 5:7 – For we walk by faith, not by sight.
The Lord loves each of us very much and promises to be with us. Whether we feel we are close to Him or not, we can know from His Word that He is close to us! His Love for us is unchangeable, unwavering.
Hebrews 13:5b – For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Isaiah 54:10 – “For the mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, who has mercy on you.

Poem: Three men walking on the wall.
Three men were walking on the wall -
Feeling, Faith and Fact.
Feeling had an awful fall.
Faith was taken back.
Only Fact remained.
So Fact pulled up Faith.
And Faith pulled up Feeling.
And they walked on the wall again. (”Fact” is the Word!)

Don’t rely on feelings
If we start trusting or relying too much on our feelings as an indicator of how well we’re doing spiritually, we’re going to be very unstable! We’ll be continually tossed to and fro by every wind of feeling that happens to come along.
James 1:6 – Let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.
We’ll never know how we’re going to be doing tomorrow, as that would be determined by how we feel when we get up in the morning. Regardless of how we may happen to feel, if we love the Lord and are walking by faith and obeying His Word, then we know that our relationship with the Lord is still firm.
Some people do feel close to Jesus. Some people just have more creativity to be able to picture things. We all have certain personalities, and some of us are much more emotional than others. But just because some people don’t feel a big emotional closeness to the Lord, they don’t need to sit around feeling sorry for themselves or feel that they are not close to the Lord. We all just need to take things by faith! There aren’t too many verses in the Bible on going by feelings, but there are a lot about faith and trusting the Lord and believing His Word!
Even if you can’t feel any closeness at all, you can still know you’re close to Him if you’re doing your best to love the Lord and please Him and obey His Word and do what you know He has said.
We’ve got to just go by the Facts, by the Word, and your faith in His Word, your obedience and yieldedness have nothing to do with your feelings! So it doesn’t really matter whether you feel close to the Lord or not. You don’t have to feel that emotion!

The closer walk
How do you get close to Jesus? You get close to Jesus by obeying His Word and yielding to His will and taking time with Him! Jesus says,
John 14:23 – If anyone loves Me, he will keep My Word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.
If you’re obeying what He says in His Word, if you’re spending time praising Him, talking to Him, listening to Him, and reading His Word, then of course you’re close to the Lord! – He’ll come and make His home with you. Paul says,
Hebrews 10:22 – Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.

Poem: Feelings come and feelings go
(By Martin Luther)

For feelings come and feelings go,
And feelings are deceiving;
My warrant is the Word of God,
Naught else is worth believing!

Though all my heart should feel condemned,
For lack of some sweet token,
There is One greater than my heart,
Whose Word cannot be broken!

I’ll trust in God’s unchanging Word,
Till soul and body sever;
For, though all things shall pass away,
His Word shall stand forever!

To consider:
How do you usually pray? Do you have a set time or a set place or are you more spontaneous?
What occupies most of your time in prayer? Praise; pouring out your heart to the Lord about personal situations or trials; asking the Lord for things you need; praying for others?
What do you find most distracting when you are praying? Have you found any ways to overcome this?

Section 2: The Prayer “Habit”

The good habit of prayer
Luke 18:1 – Men always ought to pray and not lose heart.
1 Chronicles 16:11 – Seek the Lord and His strength; seek His face evermore!
1 Thessalonians 5:17 – Pray without ceasing.
Ephesians 6:18 – Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.
Philippians 4:6-7 – Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; (7) and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Making prayer a habit!
The key to being prayerful is making it a habit. There’s not really anything that’s so mystical or mysterious about it, you just have to keep doing it and keep at it, faithfully acknowledging Him in all your ways
Proverbs 3:6 – In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.
To truly make prayer a habit you have to endeavor to pray about everything! Of course, it’s a good start if you pray before you eat and before you drive and before you go to bed and upon waking up, but what about all the other things you do during the day? You could pray about which work you should do, or if you already know, if it’s a set pattern, you could pray about how to do it. If you faithfully pray every day before doing your work, the Lord might show you a better way of doing it that day, or a faster way.
One of the most important phrases we could introduce to our vocabulary and which we should frequently use is, “Let’s stop and pray.”
To form a good habit takes a lot of conscious effort over a period of time. It also usually involves a lot of forgetting and some remembering. Then, finally we start remembering more than we forget!
Just like with teaching little kids to brush their teeth every day, you have to keep reminding them and keep reminding them every morning and every night. They’ll forget half the time unless you remind them. But as they get older and they keep doing it year after year, finally, they’ll rarely forget! When they get up to their teens, lo and behold, after all those years they’ve finally made it a habit!
That’s what it takes with prayer, although we certainly hope it won’t take that long! Pray for the Lord to help you cultivate the habit as quickly as possible. It takes effort on our part, but if we pray and ask the Lord to check us when we don’t pray, then cultivating a good habit of prayer will go much easier and much faster.
We should learn to pray over everything! The Bible says,
1Thessalonians 5:17 – Pray without ceasing.
We need to strive to really make it a habit in some of these areas where we don’t normally pray.

Thoughts on prayer
Prayer is a connecting link between human need and divine resources.
Seventeenth-century physicist Isaac Newton, considered by many as the father of modern science and discoverer of gravitation, said: “All my discoveries have been made in answer to prayer.”
We should believe that nothing is too small to be named before God. What should we think of the patient who told his doctor he was ill, but never went into particulars?

Nothing is too small for the Lord
Sometimes we don’t think about praying for little things. Maybe you lose your pen or you have a cold or you need a certain article of clothing. None of these are drastic situations. However, one of the ways that the Lord can get us into the habit of praying is to teach us to pray for the little things. If we only pray for big things, big things don’t usually come along very often, at least not often enough to cause us to make a habit of prayer.
If we get into the habit of praying for the little things that come along, then we will automatically get in the habit of praying for everything – big or small. And if we pray for the little things and see how the Lord answers in those miraculous little ways that He does, then our faith will be increased to face the bigger needs when they come up!
Another reason to pray for little things could be illustrated by the above example of the case of someone with a simple cold. If you don’t pray for healing, you could get sicker. The “little” thing can become a very big thing if we don’t pray!

Pray! – And God will bless and answer!
2 Chronicles 26:5 – He sought God … and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper.
Psalm 62:8 – Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him; God is a refuge for us.
Isaiah 30:19b – He will be very gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you.
Jeremiah 29:13 – And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.
Jeremiah 33:3 – Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.
Matthew 7:7-8 – Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. (8) For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
Isaiah 55:6 – Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near.

Truly a God of miracles!
From Lucas, Rute, and Madalena, Brazil
Maria is a friend who has been learning about the Lord with us, and most recently about the Lord’s power to heal. She’s been putting those lessons into practice with great results.
First she read some Family literature with her mother who had insomnia. The two prayed that the mother would be able to sleep well, and for the first time in years, she slept soundly all night. The next morning she told Maria that she wanted to keep reading those wonderful words together. They’ve been doing so ever since, and Maria’s mother has continued to sleep well all night, every night.
Maria also prayed for her brother who was in the hospital waiting to have surgery to remove a tumor from his stomach. He had been in the hospital for three days and was so weak that he couldn’t even talk. As Maria prayed for the Lord to heal him, she felt a great peace come over her.
The next day when Maria arrived at work (where her brother also works), she found him already on the job. The doctors had done another examination, he explained, and had told him there was no need to operate because the tumor was gone. They had released him from the hospital, and since he felt just fine he decided to go to work.
Maria said later that when she saw him at work she didn’t know whether to cry or laugh. “Lord, You really do answer prayer!” she exclaimed for her brother and all to hear. “Truly You are a God of miracles!”

God’s supply!
The Christian elementary school in Vacaville, California, had just been remodeled. That is, it had been remodeled except for shingles (roof slates). Funds had run just that much short. And the need was serious, for the rainy season was approaching.
The smaller children, in Kay Buzelli’s room, had memorized the Words of Jesus, “With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). And they believed those Words were true. For days they had prayed for shingles. And earlier that September morning, in Bible class, little Karen had prayed, “Dear Jesus, please be with us today. Help us to do something to show we love others. And please, dear God, don’t forget to take care of our school.”
Then it happened. The freeway was only a stone’s throw away. Suddenly there was a great “boom” as a giant truck tire blew out. Seventeen frightened children looked up to see the big truck swerve into the path of oncoming traffic. But those little people, believe it or not, did not race outside, or even to the window to see what was happening. One of them said, “Let’s pray that no one will get hurt.” And seventeen children gathered in one circle with their teacher and prayed – while the screeching, thumping, bumping, crashing sounds of a serious accident continued.
Their prayer was answered even as they prayed. The big truck had turned over and dumped its contents on the edge of the freeway. A smaller truck, in which a two-year-old boy was riding with his father had turned over and landed in the creek beside the school. But there were no serious injuries. Even the newspaper called it a miracle.
But wait! What had the big truck dumped on the edge of the freeway? Shingles! Shingles just the right color needed for the school! Shingles strewn everywhere, it seemed! And nobody wanted to pick them up!
A school board member was at the school at the time, and he negotiated with the insurance adjuster to buy them all for a very small sum. The children picked them up and stacked them neatly. The roof was finished before the rains, and the shingles left over were sold for a profit of $300!
Could anyone tell those Vacaville children that God doesn’t answer prayer?

We put God on the spot! – God’s supply
From Sammy and Belen Siervos, Latin America
Our rent went up 600% in one month. The day we had to pay it we didn’t have the money, due to some unexpected expenses. So that morning we all got together and prayed desperately for the Lord to do a miracle right away as we wanted and needed to pay the rent on time. We specifically asked the Lord to supply the money we needed that morning, although we didn’t know from where the money was going to come. We had to really stretch our faith as it was such an impossible situation!
After we prayed we went to have breakfast. Ten minutes later somebody knocked at the door. It was our friend who came in, kissed and hugged everybody and sat down at the table and wrote out a cheque for us, saying he just came to give us this donation because the Lord told him to do so. He gave us a cheque for the amount we needed to pay the rent! A genuine and immediate answer to prayer!
Isaiah 65:24 – It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear.

Waiting for the Lord to work
Someone once said “God’s delays are not denials.” We don’t always get immediate answers to our prayers, and that causes us to exercise patience.
James 1:3-4 – Knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.
James 5:10 – My brethren, take the prophets, who spoke in the name of the Lord, as an example of suffering and patience.
We can’t always see how the Lord is going to answer prayer, and we can’t always see why He may delay answering. Whatever happens, we need to remember that the Lord will never fail. He will bring what He knows is best to pass. Sometimes when we pray He answers with a “yes”; sometimes with a “no”; and sometimes with a “wait”!

God’s answers
The Lord’s answers to prayer are infinitely perfect, and they will show that often when we were asking for a stone that looked like bread, He was giving us bread that to our shortsightedness looked like a stone (Matthew 7:7-11).

Believing the promises!
Even if we can’t always see with our eyes what the Lord is doing, we can see with eyes of faith because He’s promised to answer prayer.
Matthew 7:7 – Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
John 15:7 – If you abide in Me, and My Words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
Mark 11:24 – Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

Just for fun!
A dignified old clergyman owned a parrot that he was exceedingly fond of, but the bird had picked up an appalling vocabulary of cuss words from a previous owner and, after a series of embarrassing episodes, the clergyman decided he would have to get rid of his pet.
A lady in his parish suggested a last-ditch remedy. “I have a female parrot,” she said, “who is an absolute saint. She sits quietly on her perch and says nothing but, `Let’s pray.’ Why don’t you bring your parrot over and see if my own bird’s good influence doesn’t reform him?”
The clergyman said it was worth a try, and the next night he arrived with his pet tucked under his arm. The bird took one look at the lady parrot and chirped, “Hi, Toots! How about a little kiss?”
The lady parrot responded gleefully, “My prayers have been answered!”

The importance of praying for others
1 Samuel 12:23a – Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you.
Romans 15:30 – Now I beg you, brethren, through the Lord Jesus Christ, and through the love of the Spirit, that you strive together with me in prayers to God for me.
1Thessalonians 1:2 – We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers.
Praying for others is an important part of your prayer life. Sometimes it helps to keep a list of those in special need of prayer. When you know people who are struggling with health problems or job problems or financial problems or personal problems – just any problems – the very best you can do for them is pray for them!

Miraculous change through prayer!
From Sarah, India
One of our fellowship members was still quite distant until the Lord proved Himself to her through a miracle. At a meeting she asked for prayer for her brother who was on drugs and who had embezzled some money from their company and then stole a motor scooter and disappeared!
At the next meeting she shared the testimony of how her brother had come to them a few days after we’d prayed and confessed how much money he had stolen and offered to pay it back. He also returned the scooter and testified that he had given up drugs. He said that he himself didn’t know how he had made this complete turn-around, and he confessed that it must have been due to our prayers! As a result of this miraculous answer to prayer, this dear member is really enthusiastic now and wants to have a closer walk with the Lord.

Her lasting legacy
There was once a young invalid who lay upon her deathbed. She had given herself to God and was distressed because she could not labor for Him actively among the lost. Her pastor visited her, and hearing her complaint, told her that from her sick bed she could pray earnestly. He went away and thought of the subject no more. Soon a feeling of religious interest sprung up in the village and the churches were crowded nightly. The little invalid heard of the progress of the revival and inquired anxiously for the names of the saved. A few weeks later she died and among a roll of papers that was found under her pillow was one bearing the names of 56 persons, every one of whom had been converted in the revival. By each name was a little cross, by which the poor crippled saint had checked off the names of the converts as they had been reported to her.

Ways to pray
Prayer is not judged by the length of words. Sometimes you’ll be praying for a desperate situation and you’ll want to go into details with the Lord. Other times your prayer can be very short.
The most important thing about your prayer is that you’re concentrating on the Lord, whether you pray a lengthy or short prayer!
When you use different ways of praying, such variety can help keep your inspiration for prayer high and help you to concentrate.
Look at “Ways to Pray” in Prayer Power, a Get Activated! booklet, for more ideas. See pages 58-63.

ABC…
A little lad was keeping his sheep one Sunday morning. The bells were ringing for church and the people were going over the field, when the little fellow began to think that he, too, would like to pray to God. But what could he say? He had never learned a prayer. So he knelt down and commenced the alphabet – A, B, C, and so on to Z.
A gentleman happening to pass on the other side of the hedge heard the lad’s voice, and, looking through the bushes, saw the little fellow kneeling with folded hands and closed eyes, saying, “A, B, C.”
“What are you doing, my little man?”
“Please, sir, I was praying.”
“But what are you saying your letters for?”
“Why, I didn’t know any prayer, only I felt that I wanted God to take care of me and help me to care for the sheep; so I thought if I said all I knew, He would put it together and spell all I want.”
“Bless your heart, my little man, He will, He will, He will. When the heart speaks right, the lips can’t say wrong.”

Praying Written Prayers
Although most of the time it is good to pray as you are led of the Lord, out of the fullness of your heart, at other times, praying prayers that have already been thought out and have been powerfully expressed, even though by someone else, can be very meaningful. If you can find an already written prayer that’s appropriate for whatever you are praying for, you may like to use it as your prayer.
Jesus Himself set the precedent for printed prayers in the most famous prayer of all, the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13). When His disciples asked Him how to pray, He didn’t give them generalities like, “Well, just pray from your heart. Just say what you feel.” He actually gave them a prayer – word for word that they could memorize and repeat – not their own words, but His Words. What better example of the power and effectiveness of written prayers could we ask for than that?

Section 3: Praise

The importance of thanking and praising the Lord
We’ve talked a lot today about the petition aspect of prayer. Now we want to focus on praise and thankfulness.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 – In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
Psalm 34:1 – I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.
Psalm 86:12 – I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and I will glorify Your name forevermore.
Psalm 118:21 – I will praise You, for You have answered me, and have become my salvation.
Psalm 105:1-2 – Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples! (2) Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; talk of all His wondrous works!
Any relationship is very one-sided if it involves a lot of taking but not much giving. The Lord certainly doesn’t mind our taking all that He has for us, but in return He looks for our thanks and appreciation. He wants us to acknowledge that we are pleased with all the gifts that He has given us and how He takes care of us so well! He delights in taking care of us, but part of His pleasure is receiving our gratitude.

The story of the leper who returned to praise God
Luke 17:12-19 – Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off. (13) And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” (14) So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed. (15) And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, (16) and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. (17) So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? (18) “Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?” (19) And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”

Taking time to say “thank you” to Jesus
Often we keep asking for our needs, but then we almost get too busy gathering up all our blessings that we don’t take time to thank Him for them!
The courteous, polite thing to do when one receives a gift is to sit down and write a thank-you letter – to take the time and effort to acknowledge your gratitude. When you take this special time to voice your appreciation, the sender then knows that it meant something to you. However, if he hears nothing, or maybe just a “one-liner” stuck in the middle of another barrage of requests, he figures that his gift must not have meant very much to you. He also can quite legitimately figure that giving you all the other things that you are asking for will be met with the same lack of gratitude.
Therefore it’s a little difficult for the Lord to keep pouring out His gifts to you when you don’t take time to properly acknowledge them, showing your gratefulness and thankfulness by stopping and formulating your “letter of thanks” to Him for the wonderful gifts that He has sent you – in this case, God’s priceless gifts, treasures so rich and so valuable they can only come from His hand – blessing upon blessing!

The banquet
There was once a king in Spain called Alfonso XII. Now it came to the ears of this king that the pages at his court forgot to ask God’s blessing on their daily meals, and he determined to rebuke them. He invited them to a banquet that they all attended. The table was spread with every kind of good thing, and the boys ate with evident relish; but none of them remembered to ask God’s blessing on the food.
During the feast a beggar entered, dirty and ill-clad. He seated himself at the royal table and ate and drank to his heart’s content. At first the pages were amazed, and they expected that the king would order him away. But King Alfonso said never a word. When the beggar had finished, he rose and left without a word of thanks. Then the boys could keep silence no longer. “What a despicably mean fellow!” they cried.
But the king silenced them, and in clear, calm tones he said, “Boys, bolder and more audacious than this beggar have you all been. Every day you sit down to a table supplied by the bounty of your Heavenly Father, yet you ask not His blessing nor express to Him your gratitude.”

The only excuse…
The only excuse for not praising the Lord is if you are out of breath:
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
(But of course you could still praise the Lord in your mind and heart!)

Fitting “Praise Time” into our daily life
If we don’t have a special time allotted solely for the purpose of praising the Lord, we often do not do it, because there are so many other demands on our time.
Something we have tried is scheduling five minutes three times a day when we stop and praise the Lord. We call this “Praise Time.” We specifically use this time to praise the Lord. We don’t ask Him for anything or petition Him. We only thank Him.
We’ve found that setting aside specified daily times for praise has helped us get more in the habit of praising the Lord.
Although these should not be the only times we praise the Lord, at least we know that we have these special periods three times a day to stop and acknowledge the Lord, to thank Him for how much He has done for us.

Here are some ideas of what to do in Praise Time:
Sing a song of praise to the Lord.
Close your eyes and thank Him for specific blessings.
Read a poem of thanks.
Read a written “praise.”

Class 3A: Principles and Practice

Section 1: Prayer Principles

We want to start our study of prayer by looking at our relationship with the Lord. Prayer is not a ritual. The position of your body doesn’t matter very much. What counts is the position of your heart. When we talk about prayer we’re talking about your relationship and communication with the Lord and His relationship and communication with you.

Our constant Companion
God sent Jesus into the world to be our Savior. He is the Son of God. God also sent Jesus into the world so that through Him we could develop a relationship with God. God is too big, too infinite for our understanding. We don’t know what He looks like. We can’t really picture Him in our mind’s eye because He is too vast.
But we can think of Jesus. We can comprehend and picture Jesus, because He took on the form of a man and lived a life here on Earth.
Jesus came to save us for eternity, and He also came to be our companion through life. You can picture Jesus as a constant Companion Who is always beside you and to Whom you can go for counsel and comfort.
Here is a little story about this:

Jim, It’s Jesus!
The story is told of a certain minister who was disturbed to see a shabby old man go into his church at noon every day and come out again after a few minutes. What could he be doing? He informed the caretaker and asked him to question the old man. After all, the place contained valuable furnishings.
“I go to pray,” the old man said in reply to the caretaker’s questioning.
“Come, come now,” said the other, “you are never long enough in the church to pray.”
“Well, you see,” the shabby old man went on, “I cannot pray a long prayer, but every day at twelve o’clock I just come and say, `Jesus, it’s Jim,’ and wait a minute and then come away. It’s just a little prayer, but I guess He hears me.”
When Jim was injured some time later and taken to the hospital, he had a wonderful influence on the ward. Grumbling patients became cheerful and often the ward would ring with laughter.
“Well, Jim,” said the sister to him one day, “the men say you are responsible for this change in the ward. They say you are always happy.”
“Aye, sister, that I am. I can’t help being happy. You see, it’s my Visitor. Every day He makes me happy.”
“Your visitor?” The sister was puzzled. She always noticed that Jim’s chair was empty on visiting days, for he was a lonely old man, with no relations. “Your visitor? But when does he come?”
“Every day,” Jim replied, the light in his eyes growing brighter. “Yes, every day at twelve o’clock He comes and stands at the foot of my bed. I see Him and He smiles and says, `Jim, it’s Jesus.’”

Prayer is praise, petition, listening

We’ve seen how prayer is our communication with the Lord. Understanding these three principles of prayer will enhance your relationship with the Lord: 1) praise, 2) petition, and 3) listening. We’ll talk about these in more detail during the next classes, but in brief:

Praise
The Lord gives a lot of instruction in His Word that you should come into His presence with thanksgiving and enter His courts with praise. Thank and praise the Lord! Give Him the praise and honor that is His due.
Psalm 100:4 – Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

Petition
After you’ve thanked the Lord for what He has already done for you and given you, then you can pray for what you still need. He encourages us to ask:
John 16:24b – Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

Listening
Prayer is not a one-way street where you’re just asking the Lord for things, but it’s communication with the Lord, conversing with the Lord. A lot of people have a conversation with the Lord and it’s a one-way conversation. They talk to Him and tell Him everything they want, but they never give Him time to say anything! – Except they hope He’ll say “yes” to whatever it is they’re asking Him for. After they’ve given Him their long list, they then hope that He okays it!
That isn’t the way it should be! Your relationship with the Lord should also include you listening to Him. Prayer is not just speaking your piece, but most of all letting God speak His piece, and waiting in quietness and confidence until He answers. Take time to hear from God, and He’ll take the time to straighten out your problems.
Mark 4:2-3 – Then He … said to them in His teaching: “Listen!”
Mark 7:14b – He said to them, “Hear Me, everyone, and understand:”

Concentration and visualizing Jesus
John 4:24 – God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.
When you pray, think about the Lord and visualize Him if you can.
It’s good to shut your eyes. You don’t have to shut your eyes to pray, you don’t even have to bow your head, but it generally helps. Shutting your eyes closes out everything else that’s distracting and opens the inner eyes of your mind and heart and you can think of and even visualize Jesus.
Try to close your mind to other things and distracting thoughts. If you make an effort to concentrate on Him, you’re less likely to think of other things or be distracted while you pray. You’re thinking about the Lord! Isaiah wrote,
Isaiah 26:3 – You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.
You can’t think of too many things at once. There may be a few peripheral things around the fringes of your mind, but your concentration can only be focused on one point at a time. When you pray, that focal point needs to be the Lord!

Jesus on the chair
F.W. Boreham, the writer, tells the story of an old Scot who lay very ill. His minister came to see him. As the minister sat down on a chair near the bedside he noticed on the other side of the bed another chair placed at such an angle as to suggest that another visitor had just left it. “Well, Donald,” said the minister, “I see I am not your first visitor.”
The Scotsman looked up in surprise; so the minister pointed to the chair. “Ah,” said the sufferer, “I’ll tell you about that chair. Years ago I found it impossible to pray. I often fell asleep on my knees, I was so tired. And if I kept awake, I could not control my thoughts from wandering. One day I was so worried I spoke to my minister about it. He told me not to worry about kneeling down. `Just sit down,’ he told me, `and put a chair opposite you, and imagine Jesus is in it, and talk to Him as you would to a friend.’” The Scotsman added, “I have been doing that ever since. And so, now you know why the chair is positioned like that.”
A week later the daughter of the old Scot drove up to the minister’s house and knocked on the door. She was shown into the study, and when the minister came in she could hardly restrain herself. “Father died in the night,” she sobbed, “I had no idea death could be so near. I had just gone to lie down for an hour or two, for he seemed to be sleeping so comfortably. And when I went back he was dead. He had not moved since I had last seen him, except that his hand was on the empty chair at the side of the bed. Do you understand?” asked the daughter.
“Yes,” said the minister, “I understand.”

Praise Time

Take some time to praise the Lord now.

We give You glory, Lord! You dwell in the praises of Your people; You inhabit the praises of Your people! We love You, Jesus! You put our feet on the Rock! (Psalm 40:2). You’ve done so much for us! We exalt Your name! Thank You for Your love! Thank You for Your care! Jesus, help us to praise You more, to give You the glory that You deserve, the glory that’s due Your name. Help us to honor You before the people, before each other! Everything that we get accomplished, everything that we do is through Your grace and power, Jesus! Hallelujah!
Please bless our relationship with You, that we would be closer to You. Help us to learn to acknowledge You in all our ways, and to take time with You each day. We love You, dear Lord, and thank You for the wonderful gifts You’ve given us. You’re the best gift of all!

Section 2: Twelve Steps of Effective Prayer

Prayer works! We’d like to spend a few minutes telling some testimonies of how God has answered prayer, and then we’ll examine the twelve steps to help your prayers accomplish what you want them to.

Testimonies of how God answers prayer

Healing testimonies
From Manuel: “One night we were talking about Jesus to a girl who visits us often and loves God’s Word. She had brought her friend with her for us to witness to her and the Lord led us to share with her about healing and the importance of prayer. When they returned home they found out that the friend’s baby was sick with a high fever! So they both prayed for the baby and the Lord did a miracle and healed the baby right before their eyes! Needless to say, this inspired them both that it pays to put their trust in the Lord.”
From Nigel: “A friend who is a barber was, at first, quite cold to our message and our work. We prayed for the Lord to change him and when we visited him, we found him crying! He told us that he had throat cancer. We witnessed to him and he received Jesus as his Savior. We specifically prayed for his healing and he told us that he felt the Lord touching him. The next time he visited the doctors they didn’t find anything wrong with him! Now he’s faithfully studying the Word.”
From Alison: “One day I got a phone call from my sister who desperately asked me to come and pray for her two-week-old daughter who was in the hospital dying of bronchial pneumonia! The doctors said it was too late and that it was an impossible and hopeless situation and she would surely die! My parents and brother-in-law were staunch unbelievers at this time. So I explained that my prayers couldn’t save their little girl if they didn’t get their hearts right with God and pray desperately for a miracle. I told my brother-in-law that maybe the Lord wanted to show him that He exists and that He loves him and if he prayed to Him with his whole heart, God could heal his daughter right away! Finally, he felt a need for the Lord and he humbled himself and prayed, asking the Lord to do a miracle! The next day the doctors were going to do some tests in order to find out more precisely what the baby’s condition was. So we prayed specifically that when the doctors did their tests they would find the baby completely healed. That is exactly what happened! The next day the baby was completely well and there was no explanation whatsoever! It was a miracle! After this my brother-in-law started witnessing to all his friends and the people he works with, telling them that God really does exist and that He saved his baby’s life!”

Transformed!
From Emma and Corrie, Russia:
When we went to visit a close friend, she wasn’t there, but her best friend, Olga, was. When she realized we were the Christians her friend had told her about, Olga began asking us different questions about God and His ability to protect His children. She went on to tell us that her husband had started to drink, and at times seemed almost psychotic. He would change from a gentle, loving husband, to a violent monster. To add to her fears, she had found an unexplained weapon in their home. “I’m so desperate, I’m willing to try anything,” she said.
We told Olga about the power of prayer, and what it has done in our lives. Then we encouraged her to be honest with her husband and tell him how she felt. We prayed with her, and assured her that the Lord was able to change her husband and their situation.
When we bumped into Olga a couple of days later, she threw her arms around us, and hugged us. She said she had taken our advice, told her husband how she felt, and listened to what he had to say. As a result, he had stopped drinking and their relationship was much better already. She told her husband that we had prayed with her, and they both credit the Lord with changing their lives. Now they want to learn more about God, the Bible, and prayer.

1. Have a praiseful, thankful attitude
Key principle: Please Him by praising Him!
Before you begin to list all the things you would like God to do, take a minute to praise and thank Him for all He has already done.
Philippians 4:6 – With thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.
(We’ll further explore the principle of praise in the next class.)

2. Start with a clean heart
Key principle: “Create in me a clean heart, O God” (Psalm 51:10).
Before you can have faith that the Lord will answer your prayers, you need to be sure that things are right between the Lord and you.
1 John 3:20-22 – If our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. If our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.
Psalm 32:5 – I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.
If you have done wrong, what you need to do to set things straight is to acknowledge your guilt, ask the Lord to forgive you, and pledge to try to rectify the matter or be reconciled with any others involved. Once you do that, the Lord is quick to forgive, and to hear and answer your other prayers.
1 John 1:9 – If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
God does not ask for perfection. He only asks that we put our will over on His side; that with all our heart we try the very best we know how. Let us pray, as David of old,
Psalm 51:10 – Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Psalm 139:23 – Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties.

3. Pray for God’s will to be done
Key principle: The best way to know God’s will is to say I will to God.
When you are doing your best to please the Lord, then it pleases Him to grant you your heart’s desires.
Psalm 37:4 – Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.
1 John 5:14-15 – Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

4. Put the needs of others ahead of your own
Key principle: “Jesus,” then “others,” then “you” spells J-O-Y!
God expects us to pray not only for ourselves, but also for others.
Job 42:10 – And the Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.
1 Thessalonians 1:2 – We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers.
Psalm 31:1 – Blessed is he who considers the poor; the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.
(We’ll talk more about our responsibility to pray for others in the next class.)

5. Be specific
Key principle: Specific prayers get specific answers.
Jesus wants us to be definite in our requests. He asks us,
John 15:7 – “What would you have Me do for you?”
Specific prayers get specific answers. Vague, aimless prayers usually indicate one of three things: Either you’re not very concerned, or you don’t really know what you want Him to do, or you don’t have faith that He can do it. So be as clear and definite as you would if you were writing a check drawn on the Bank of Heaven. Fill it out for the exact amount you want, make it payable to yourself or someone else who needs it, date it, sign it – and it’s yours!
We are definite in our business dealings with others – especially in any matter of importance that involves a money transaction. How careful we are to have a perfect understanding. We say we are “making a deal” or “closing a deal” with a person, and there comes a time when we sign our name on the dotted line and in a very definite, careful manner, we close the deal. Just so, there must be a definiteness in closing a deal with God. There must be a definite moment in which we, so to speak, sign our name on the dotted line under His promises, take Him at His Word, and close the deal.

6. Be wholehearted
Key principle: It’s not how long you pray or how much you pray, it’s how much you believe.
It’s true that God knows what you need before you even ask Him, but He still expects you to pray. It shows that you are depending on Him, that you need Him. It’s a positive declaration of your faith that He can answer your prayers, and that pleases Him.
God wants you to show concern and pray about things. – And in serious matters, He expects you to be serious about asking for His help. If you stir yourself, God will stir Himself!
Jeremiah 29:13 – You will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.

7. Exercise your faith
Key principle: When faith goes to market it always takes a basket.
What is faith? It’s taking God at His Word. It’s believing that what He has promised, He will do. With faith, it doesn’t matter whether reason or logic point in that direction; you just know it will be because God promised it so, whether your human mind can figure it all out or not.
The greater your faith in the Lord’s ability to answer, the greater answers to prayer you will receive. These two contrasting examples demonstrate the point especially well: When two blind men besought Jesus to restore their sight, He asked them if they believed He was able to do so. When they answered yes, He told them that it would be done to them “according to their faith” – and He proceeded to heal them!
Matthew 9:27-30 – When Jesus departed from there, two blind men followed Him, crying out and saying, “Son of David, have mercy on us!” (28) And when He had come into the house, the blind men came to Him. And Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.” (29) Then He touched their eyes, saying, “According to your faith let it be to you.” (30) And their eyes were opened.
But another time we read that He didn’t do many miracles in one town because of the people’s unbelief.
Matthew 13:58 – Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.
So it’s pretty clear that your measure of faith determines the measure of God’s response.
How do you build your faith muscles? You nourish them with God’s Word, and exercise them daily through prayer.

The one who gets things from God will show his faith by his actions.
James 2:17-18,26 – Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (18) But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. … (26) For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
What is a dead faith? It is a faith that is not working. It is a faith that is not operative. Real faith is not a passive thing; it will act out what it believes.
A believing person puts faith into action. When he has asked God for something, he proceeds as if he possesses. When he takes God at His Word on some promise, he proceeds exactly as if he already possesses the thing which he desires (which by believing faith he really does), though the natural senses may deny every step of the way that which faith has claimed as true.
An illustration of this thought is given in the Bible in the instance of the lepers who were told by Jesus to go show themselves to the priest for cleansing; the Scripture says,
Luke 17:14 – As they went, they were cleansed.
As they went, as they put their faith into action, God did it. If we put forth the effort of a believing will, God honors that step and does it. Look at the case of the man with the withered hand.
Matthew 12:10,13 – And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. … (13) Then He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other.
The seat of faith is in the will. God certainly expects us to put our faith into action.

8. Pray in the name of Jesus
Key principle: There is power in the name of Jesus!
When Jesus came to Earth to die for our sins, He became our Mediator with God, the Father. The Bible tells us:
1 Timothy 2:5 – For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.
We approach God via Jesus.
John 14:6 – Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
We know that’s true of salvation, but this is true also of prayer! Jesus repeatedly told His disciples to pray in His name:
John 14:13-14 – And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. (14) If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.
John 16:23b-24 – Whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. (24) Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.

9. Claim God’s Word
Key principle: Quote Scripture when you pray. Hold God to His Promises.
God has a storehouse of matchless treasures and infinite wealth, all that you could ever ask or need or imagine – and it’s all been promised to you in His Word.
2 Peter 1:4 – There have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature.
All you have to do is lay claim to the promises!
God’s Word is a contract that He has bound Himself to. The first step is to familiarize yourself with the terms of the contract. You do that by reading His Word. Then, when you pray, He wants you to hold Him to those terms. When you remind Him of His promises, it shows you have faith in what He has said, and that you believe He is able and will do what you are asking.
Of course, the contract also has terms that you must fulfill. Many of God’s promises come with conditions.
1 John 3:22 – Whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.
In order to claim His promise, “whatever you ask,” you must do your best to keep His commandments and please Him. When you keep your part of the bargain, you can boldly claim all that is rightfully yours according to His Word.
Memorize a few key promises to claim when you pray. They will greatly strengthen your faith in time of need. Besides the verses you have committed to memory, you can also claim verses by reading them.

Favorite verses
Here are a few promises that have been favorites for many of us over the years:
John 15:7 – If you abide in Me, and My Words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.
Mark 9:23 – Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”
Jeremiah 33:3 – Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.

10. Refuse to doubt
Key principle: When you pray – believe!
James 1:6-8 – Ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. (7) For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; (8) he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.
Refuse to entertain any thoughts that contradict the Word.
It has been said that there are two different kinds of Christians – those who pray and really expect to see something happen, and those who just pray but do not expect anything to happen. Accept that God has answered even before you see the answer!
Mark 11:24 – Whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
When you pray – believe! It is simply amazing how many people, who, after having asked God to do the giving actually expect Him to do the taking, also! We want Him, without the least effort on our part, to come right down and lay it in our laps instead of us reaching up and receiving it. He will give us what we’re asking Him for, but on His own conditions, and those conditions are: “Believe that you receive them, and you will have them.”

11. Count it done
Key principle: “Stand fast in the faith” (1 Corinthians 16:13).
Every prayer that is in line with God’s will and according to what God wants and knows is best for everyone involved, is answered – as far as God is concerned – before the prayer itself is even finished.
Isaiah 65:24 – It shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear.
He may not answer the way we expect Him to, or we may not see the answer right away, but God has set things in motion to be fulfilled in His time, providing its His will. So once you have presented your request to the Lord, it’s time to take what is known as the “stand of faith.” You must trust that the answer is on its way, and believe that if you’ve fulfilled your part of the bargain, He will come through for you, even if it sometimes takes a while. Count it done!
(We’ll look more at the subject of delayed answers to prayer as well as unexpected answers in the next class.)

12. Thank God for answering
Key principle: What we win by prayer we must wear with praise.
It’s just as important to end your prayers with praise and thanksgiving, as it is to start them that way.
Just like we get specific with God in the things we ask for, we should be just as specific in thanking Him for the things He gives us. Let’s get just as enthusiastic in thanking Him, as we were desperate in asking Him!
If you really believe that God has heard and answered your prayer, you won’t wait till you see the answer to thank Him for it; you’ll thank Him by faith.

Review of the Twelve Steps

1. Have a praiseful, thankful attitude.
2. Start with a clean heart.
3. Pray for God’s will to be done.
4. Put the needs of others ahead of your own.
5. Be specific.
6. Be wholehearted.
7. Exercise your faith.
8. Pray in the name of Jesus.
9. Claim God’s Word.
10. Refuse to doubt.
11. Count it done.
12. Thank God for answering.

Ending note

There are other aspects of prayer that we haven’t had much time to get into, such as delayed answers, types of prayer, how to form good prayer habits, more on praise, listening to the Lord, and so on. These are subjects we will be discussing in our next class.

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