The Stickman's Understanding...

  I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. -Psalms 139:14 God bless you and terrific Thursday.  Someone once called comparison the thief of joy. I am not sure if it can be said better but certainly it applies to us all. We are in a society that constantly assesses itself against what may be false standards.  Thus what someone has done before or currently is being done is compared to what we have done or are doing.  Comparison was a part of the first sin as Satan compared what God said to the lie he told. Comparing what God had for Adam and Eve to the lie that suggested God had not given them a rightful place and authority.  The lie was filled with a “what if”, What if God had not told the truth, what if God was holding them back from becoming gods?  In like manner we see others and say what if? Beloved take to heart that you are who God has made you and the achievements you h...

  Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise. -Jeremiah 17:14 God bless you and tremendous Tuesday to you. Oh how often have we heard that God is still in the healing business? It is heard so often that it becomes clique’.  And things that become clique’, rapidly enter the realm of fables, fairy tales and other places disbelief dwell.  A weapon that is formed against us    and used to some effect is the relegation of truth to hearsay and old wives tales.  Most fairy tales and fables have elements that include life lessons and are based on some truth. In every culture there are stories of a great flood and of giants existing.  It is not by chance, but by stories of real events and things that existed which has been passed down through the ages.  Along with those things being watered down the enemy by purpose and extension includes the children’s bread (healing-Mark 7).  Beloved before you bani...

  And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever. -2 Chronicles 20:21 God bless you and happy Monday to you! Praying you had a pleasant weekend. Beloved did you know that praise is a privilege?  Praise invokes the presence of God and His presence results in changed situations. His presence is so awesome that even if He does not look at a problem or acknowledge that there is a problem…the problem acknowledges His presence and the problem begs His pardon (Luke 8:27).  The scripture above teaches that no matter how dire a situation is praise still can destroy the mission of the enemy.  The scripture above also speaks of the power of praise. The same as it applied then it applies even now. You can praise you way out of trouble and into the presence of God.  God bless you and command your day!!! ...

  Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ: -Philippians 1:6 God bless you and terrific Thursday. The Apostle Paul is found here in the introductory greetings of the book encouraging    the people of Philippi.  The scripture above is one that has always encouraged me and perhaps even you. Christians often have task given of God; and these task are beyond our ability.  The distinction is found in how big and impossible that task is, and how it weighs against your abilities, resources and time.  This is where trust in what God has initiated in and by you, He will not cease to work on, in, and through you.  God does not own a hobby room laden with piles of half begun and half finished projects.  What He has told you to do that you have faithfully began, He will give you that middle tunnel strength to see the end and to cross that line.  God bless you and command...

  Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God. -Psalms 20:7 Good morning and happy hump day.    I recently read a story about a US Marine in the Philippine islands during World War II who was hiding in a cave from the enemy. As the enemy went cave to cave checking he began to pray for God to protect him.  As they got closer and closer he took note that a spider had began to build a web at the top of his cave.    He said he remembered thinking Lord I need a brick wall.  By time the enemy got to his cave, he heard a leader tell the soldiers to pass by because the mouth of the cave was completely covered and there was no way anyone had been in there recently.  There are lessons in his experience. One lesson is never tell God what to use to protect you and the other is whatever He uses it’s gonna be more effective than you thought it would be.  God bless you and command your day!!! Your comments a...

  1 May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble! May the name of the God of Jacob protect you!    -Psalms 29 God bless you and tremendous Tuesday to you. David here is praising God for His steadfastness in time of trouble. As one who has seen the hand of the Lord in His life, He is commending others to trust in the Lord and He will send help.  This help is based in your faithfulness, literally the deposits of faith you have made into your account. Not to say mercy and grace doesn’t extend credit but isn’t there always a credit limit?   My question is which help will God provide you, the help of His grace or the help of one who has faithfully made deposits?  You can draw more from your deposits of your own than you can from credit that you are borrowing.  God bless you and command your day!!! Your comments and questions are welcome. Contact me at drschaefferinterceding@yahoo.com You can give to Interceding Christian Center (ICC) using our ca...

  But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. -Psalms 22:3 Good morning and Happy Monday to you… The scripture above is very well known and used to encourage people in church. When it is heard from the pulpit or praise team, it usually results in louder singing, harder hand clapping, and more foot stomping.  But it is usually a phrase or scripture used often in church but not as often outside the walls of the church. Even if it is used outside the walls many neglect the power derived from simply praising God.  There is such a strength in praise and we miss out on a multitude of blessing simply because we will not open our mouths and render what God is worthy of.  Praise draws the symbiotic presence of the most high God and where God’s presence is there are healings, deliverance, joy, peace and more.   Hence God’s inhabitation. When God is present He displays the attributes of His good name and God’s habitation is the place of His habits...

  Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. -Proverbs 3:7 God bless you and TGIF. I would say that the most dangerous sin is self righteousness and one of its spawning manifestations that your understanding is correct.  The self assurance in your own understanding limits your growth and inhibits a true relationship with God who desires to teach truth.  Our understanding is intricately bound to our flesh and our flesh desires the “things of the flesh”. So will flesh lie to you? Will flesh be an accurate steadfast moral compass?  That would be a resounding yes to the first question and no to the second. Flesh wrestles    against the spirit (Gal 5:17)    and God being the chief spirit all things related to God as well as truth is spirit.  Beloved the answer is to simply ask and trust the word of God to guide your walk.  Go fellowship this Sunday, we all need it.  God bless you and command your day!!! Your comm...

  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. -Romans 12:1 Good morning and Tremendous Thursday to you! In a parallel scripture found in the Old Testament book Isaiah 1:18, the Lord through the prophet asks His children to “be reasonable. Further He wants them to come out of the cities into the desert so they could    not be distracted and hear His voice.  His plea is similar to the scripture above but in a manner expressing the urgency of our making a minor sacrifice of self.   A stark difference in the two scriptures is the Old Testament scripture invites us to examine the evidence of God’s power, love and mercy.  The New Testament scripture here shows after that examination is complete our efforts to serve The Lord should be a natural response.  So wouldn’t it be unreasonable not to serve Him given all He has done, all that...

  For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. -Romans 10:3 God bless you and happy hump day!!! The scripture above opens up our understanding of the sinful nature of the flesh to state its own standard of righteousness triumphs over that of God.  In it the Apostle Paul grieves the Pharisee and Sadducee practice of living the law but not doing so for the Lord, but to glorify their own flesh.  How fitting the practice is placed on trial not many scriptures before the ingrafting scripture of verse 9. That verse promotes the Holiness of God’s righteousness which can draw and admit whosoever will.  Beloved self righteousness contends for your relationship with the Lord and a sturdy    adversary it is. Blessed is the man who commit their way to the Lord and that places flesh on the executioners block daily.  God bless you and command your da...

  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. -Romans 8:28 God bless you and terrific Tuesday to you. Easily the most highlighted chapter in my Bible is Romans 8, also easy to understand why.  In the verse above Paul gives ownership to the believer saying “we know”. There is no question he was talking to the believer using the conjunction “and”. “And” is a continuation of the previous affirmation of who we are in the spirit AND The Holy Spirit’s work in us.  God has said it AND now it is up to the believer to accept fully without reservation God’s ability to carry out what He has said. We must know He has good plans, He will never leave or forsake us, and He is faithful to complete the work He has begun.  God bless you and command your day!!! Your comments and questions are welcome. Contact me at drschaefferinterceding@yahoo.com You can give to Interceding Christian Center (ICC) using ...

  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: -1 Peter 5:8 God bless you and happy Monday! The ApostlePeter gives us not only advice on being watchful but insight into how the enemy works.  His description of a roaring lion depicts a truth in nature and in the spirit. In nature a lion uses its roar to intimidate its prey but normally when it’s prey is cornered.  The roar is so frightening that it could stop you in your tracks, but the roar along will not do any harm to a prey. The roar is used as a bluff to make you hesitate. Sounds familiar? The enemy uses the same tactic as the hungry lion in the spirit seeking to make you hesitate in your faith. The lion doesn’t know who it can devour on a given day but it is seeking nonetheless. Thanks brother Peter for reminding us to not fear but be watchful of the fear built snare of the enemy.  God bless you and command your day!!! Your comments and qu...

  A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. -James 1:8 Good morning and TGIF. The scripture above is often used to emphasize the detriment of being phony, but if one would read the preceding verses you would see that faith and doubt should not operate in the same mind.  Interesting enough is your faith is easily gaged by listening to your conversation. The same writer then refers to the tongues role in releasing your faith or fear (James 3).  The scripture calls that man unstable, unstable because fear destroy the leg called hope and the weight of an unstable mind is heavy and easily upset by any change.  Beloved double mindedness is a result of allowing fear a perch, which will always expand not settling for just a toe hold. Once it destroys the leg called hope, faith bears the load intended to be carried by two.  Go fellowship this Sunday, we all need it.  God bless you and command your day!!! Your comments and questions are welcome. Contact me at ...

  Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. -Philippians 4:4 Tremendous Thursday. One of the most difficult scriptures in light of the world we live in is found above. Rejoice in the Lord always and to emphasize the importance of always seeking the feet of Jesus, the writer repeats rejoice.  Given the prophecy of the Lord is being revealed daily, wars, rumors of, untimely deaths, cold hearts and perversion abound, rejoicing isn’t as easy as in times of peace, abundance and morality.  Yet rejoicing is more critical during hard times than easier time. During hard times is where your faith gets stronger. Faith never grows when times are easy.  Rejoicing in the face of trouble confuses the enemy. It literally disrupts the plan, thwarts, springs empty traps and gives revelation to the rejoicer.  So rejoice in the Lord always and again I say rejoice… God bless you and command your day!!! Your comments and questions are welcome. Contact me at drschaefferinte...

By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. -Hebrews 11:7 God bless you and happy hump day! In the Bible we are told of God prophesying of His action in the earth. In a time whereas rain had yet to fall, God said the very thing He had separated and partitioned into oceans, seas, rivers and lakes would fall from the sky.  God spoke to the one person on earth that would listen, His remnant Noah in faith moved to complete something that had never been built before.  Noah was building something that seemed totally out of place without purpose but in his obedience he saved the lives of his family. Further God assigned him to warn others. In a display of astonishing faith Noah preached 120 years and his only converts was his own family.  Beloved you may be building an ark without a single cloud in the sky, yo...

  Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. -Psalms 46:10 God bless you and Terrific Tuesday! Today may be a great test of your faith; given all the things around us that fight in opposition of hope.  Sometimes that task given by God seems to much and the naysayers pep club is growing bigger along with their jeers and discouragement.  We have some great testifiers of the faith whose examples are noteworthy. Imagine Nehemiah stopping the work on the wall to satisfy naysayers. Or Noah deciding that it was foolish building an ark without a cloud in the sky. If Moses had said the journey back to Egypt is too dangerous and long; Israel may have remained in slavery much longer.  Finally if Jesus had not hung on the cross or came down before the work was done, where would we be?  Beloved keep holding on and trust that God will do the things that only He can to protect, project, provide and promote your effort...

  Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; -Hebrews 11:25 God bless you and happy Monday.    I am praying that you had a wonderful weekend.    Filled with joy, pleasure and comfort; which leads us to an examination of the scripture above.    In the scripture, the apostle Paul compares true blessings to the temporal blessings found as the son of Pharaoh. Moses could have easily chosen the privilege of the palace over the life of a desert shepherd.    He realized first his responsibility long before he realized his role that defined at the burning bush.    The same is applicable to us.    Often we see our responsibility before we realize our role.   God assigns us both and neither should be neglected.    Embrace both because the measure of your blessings are often determined by the strength of your embrace.   God bless you and comma...

  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. -Romans 8:28 Good morning and TGIF. Ever wonder how all things…better yet why? Why would those things that do not reflect godliness still can be used of God? One would think the rebellious kingdom of darkness would not submit themselves to God.  No I don’t think a scriptural basis can be found supporting all of hell singing a rousing chorus of yes Lord.    The only thing that resembles such a scene is found in Phil 2:10-11 (One day every knee…).  But that is not voluntary submission it is compelled. The answer is simply since everything finds its origin in God, willingly and lovingly submissive, corrupt and willingly rebellious. Having their origin in the most high means the omniscient power of God has the reigns on ALL THINGS.  So not just somethings but all things are subject to the Lord and by extension if you are found in Him,...

  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the LIFE: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. -John 14:6 Good morning and terrific Thursday to you. What is life without God? A car without roads would prove as useful as an ark on dry land, so would life be impossible without God simply because in Him and because of Him all creation exist.  Whether you have come to accept and obey Him or not, without His grace you would not have been born and continue to live.  God gives you the reason and no one was created without God’s expressed purpose available to them.  The Lord enthralled some and enraged others in His bold claims. In the scripture above He is asserting that He is the salvation of God and the Messiah Israel had long sought.  In other proclamations He told them How when God the father said “let there be” He was there! So once again He is life and life is in and through Him.   God bless you and command your day!!! Your comments and questions a...

  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. -John 14:6 Good morning and happy hump day! I AM is such a profound statement and it is all encapsulating testifying of the almighty who is omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient without limitation.  The Lord Jesus expressed this in the scripture above. I am the TRUTH. Everything has an origin and all things exist through the expressed word of God. All things maintain from the truth of His word. God does not lie. If it says it in the Bible it is going to happen.  Because Christ is Emanuel meaning God with us, the truth of God is the truth of Christ. Christ informed the crowd who He was and His purpose to lead them back to truth. As the truth the stability needed to stand is not only implied but inherent.  Truth is firm and unmoving, whilst a lie is soft, fluid and compromising. The greatest truth is through His love God gave His son, the truth to offer us the oliv...

  Jesus saith unto him, I am the WAY, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. -John 14:6 Good morning and tremendous Tuesday.  I AM statements by the Lord included the scripture found above. As He says I am shouldn’t    we be saying He Is? In this particular identifying scripture He identifies Himself in a symphonic three part melody. First He is the WAY. Beloved people are lost and it’s obvious as they claim around seeking to fill a satisfaction that never can be fulfilled outside of Christ.  Their WAY fails over and over but the flesh tells them that there is another WAY. A mixture of self and demonic influence tells them to keep “kicking against the pricks” (Acts 9).  There is but one WAY, all other attempts at finding an alternative has or will fail. And certainly do not fall for the false doctrine of new age influences that will tell you there are many ways to reach God, beloved there are various ways we serve His purpose but...