The Stickman's Understanding...

  Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. -Matthew 15:11  Good morning and terrific Thursday to you!  The Lord Jesus was talking to a group that included Pharisee and the scripture above was spoken to their hearing. The profound thing is that physically what goes in can destroy you but not as much spiritually.  Because spiritually we are constantly bombarded and many things enter into our hearing and may settle in our hearts. Those things that find their way into our hearts must be dealt with in our hearts and cast forth not as anything that can go into and replicate itself into someone else’s life.  Solomon wrote in Proverbs 4:23 guard your heart…because out of it comes the issues of life. The Lord Jesus gave this clarity to the disciples later on in Matthew 15, letting them know that we all can have heart issues    that can cause some problem but we are impacted most when those ...

  Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. -Colossians 4:5 Good morning and happy hump day to you! Recently Roe vs Wade was overturned and due to the 49 year old fight there is no need to explain what it is but some time has to be spent explaining its origin. Your homework is to look up Margaret Sanger, Eugenics, racism, Adolph Hitler and final solution.  There… whew assignment on your plate.   Many do not understand the evil intent of the system, while some do, and purposely influence others to have abortions.  The literal sacrifice of children goes back centuries and was a part of all cultures. God specifically forbade the practice saying (Lev 18:21) “do not allow your children to pass through the fire”. In your mind and in the mind of pro-abortion advocates I hear “We are not burning children.” But consider what is done with the aborted babies, as with true medical waste the bodies are burnt.  Though it causes great discomfort to ...

  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 Good morning and tremendous Tuesday to you! “Stand still and know that I am God.”Yet another miss understood and often miss quoted scripture is found in the verse above.  The phrase stand still here means to stand firmly on your belief, it means to follow the word of the Lord allowing your faith to guide you. Some take the words stand still and feel that just because they believe and believe only, there is nothing more that they should have to do.  But brother James clearly said that Faith without works is dead. So in this we must understand that there are godly size tasks and there are things that he assigned to us and in His strength we’re able to do those things that He assigned to us.  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...

  Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness; -Psalms 30:11 Good morning and happy Monday to you! Another great day, not promised but blessed to grace this day. The scripture above is one for those in mourning. Take note that mourning cannot stand up to morning.  The glory of the Lord is so profound that sadness can’t dwell in the joy that He provides. His joy removes the garments of sorrow and provides the clothing of comfort.  Allow His joy to be your nourishment and keep His garments on.  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 cash app $intercedingcc 

  And this did she many days. But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour. -Acts 16:18 Good morning and TGIF! This scripture appears in one of the most misunderstood stories in the Bible. Yet many lessons can be learned in it.  Here is a young lady following them like a groupie and most would have been filled with pride saying “wow, MY ministry is getting recognition.” But Paul saw that the enemy sought to subdue them with the oldest of his tricks, first seen in the garden, the pride of life.  If the pride of life doesn’t bring you down then the natural progression is infiltration. Infiltration is simply when access is granted the intruder is able to destroy from within. Familiarity breeds contempt is simply having a circle too large. The larger the circle the more likely a link can be loosened. Beloved small doses of self helps keep self grounded and small circles pro...

  Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. -Matthew 7:21 Good morning and terrific Thursday to you! In Hebrew when something is repeated twice sequentially it is to emphasize its importance. Consider how Jesus used the word Lord, Lord here.   It does not appear to emphasize the importance of someone pronouncing and praising as much as it shows vain repetition is not the same as true follow-ship.  Some who say Lord, Lord will enter heaven, whilst some who say it will not. The difference is eye serving and boastfulness doesn’t define you as doing the will of the Father.  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 cash app $intercedingcc 

  For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.            -Matthew 7:13 Good morning and happy hump day to you! While listening to Shana Wilson’s song “Give me you, I am writing. In it we are reminded that sometimes this walk is not easy, her declaration says everything else can wait. The everything is found on the wide road.  The world travels that wide road leading to a wide gate through which many will pass to their eternal regret. People who enter in at the strait (narrow)gate are  those who have denied self to follow Christ Jesus .  They have sought the spiritual things over the material things as they have put Him first in their lives.  In all this we must know the importance of putting things in their rightful place. We must not have a life tilted in the wrong direction and walking on the congested road aplenty with the instruments of destruction. Beloved take the road less tra...

  So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. -John 8:7 Good morning and tremendous Tuesday to you! The story found in the scripture above is often used by people desiring to justify their own sin. And condemn anyone who calls their sins as the Bible defines sin.  The same will take Matthew 7:1 using only the part where it says judge not, completely or conveniently omitting lest you be judge, this part here means the standard you hold anyone too, you shouldn’t have the same area of sin actively operating in your life. This is not a edict condemning the Pharisees for calling a sin a sin but rather for them and us to examine self first…remove your own log.  The Lord is calling us to have grace for others the same as His grace covered us when we didn’t acknowledge His amazing love and grace.  God bless you and command your day!!! Your comments and questions are welcome....

  31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word,  then  are ye my disciples indeed; 32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. 33 They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? 34 Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. 35 And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.                 -John 8 245 years ago this country declared freedom from England. And although the nation had declared itself free it took over 7 years of war before the British were defeated. Finally, after the revolutionary war was over and our European brothers and sisters lived in a free society. It took over 80 years for the notion of being free as a right to the African Americans who had been enslaved over 200 years at that...

  And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us LIKE all the nations. -1 Samuel 8:5 Good morning and TGIF! I recently heard a quote that’s attributed to a very well-known teleevangelist. The phrase Culture cancels cognition. The children of Israel contrary the God‘s commandment, had become involved in the culture of the people around them.  Their seeing the things that those people did and thinking that they were missing out on a liberty. Envy set in to the point they want to emulate what the culture around them flaunted. They wanted a king.  Let’s be honest culture has a way of pressuring us to conform. The Lord set forth things which will harm us spiritually, physically or mentally. But He still allows for free will and diversity (variety) which expresses His love of different things.  Some things are set in stone and each of those things can be traced back to idolatry, immorality, destruction or other th...

  ( For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) -2 Corinthians 10:4 Good morning and terrific Thursday to you! Ever used a “butter knife” as a screwdriver? If not how about a brick, rock or shoe as a hammer?  Some Items used may seemed to be just as effective as the item designed to do a given task, but literally they are not. Using a towel as a pot holder might work as a quick substitute or as an alternative, yet the very composition of a potholder makes it more suitable for the task.  A towel used to remove a hot pot in a contingency isn’t suitable to use for regular handling of the same hot pot. Also overtime the towel will wear and lose its ability to perform what is was designed for.  The Apostle Paul gives us insight to using the right instrument or tool for the right job. We face spiritual challenges that natural solutions are powerless against and often these carnal “tools” enhance more than anyt...

  Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. -Ephesians 6:11 Good morning and happy hump day to you!  Underneath the armor knights wore a garment meant to provide a buffer between the heavy, chafing, and cold or hot metal plating.  That garment called a gambeson    covered their vital organs and kept the armor fitting properly. Without that vital piece of clothing the armor was subject to slip, shift or slide leaving the wearer unprotected.  It was therefore of the utmost importance to have the gambeson prepared to host its armor.  That said the whole armor will never fit on a spiritual gambeson that isn’t prepared to host it. To be worthy of hosting the armor our gambeson or body must be purified in Christ and as Romans 12:1 presented as a living sacrifice. Putting on the whole armor without the proper gambeson is futile.  Go back to the alter and prepare your gambeson with brokenness, repentance,...

Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; FOR THE JOY OF THE LORD is your strength. -Nehemiah 8:10 Good morning and tremendous Tuesday to you!    Joy is a gift that God will give to anyone. But joy is often stolen by weapons that the enemy forms.  To obtain and maintain our joy we must understand the nature of the weapons formed.    We must understand the construction or functional composition of weapons that are formed.  For example I for one would not try to defuse an explosive device, mostly because I do not understand enough about how they work, but spiritual devices, traps in particular ones that we bait and that are readily stored in strongholds of our own creation, those I understand. Most weapons are formed in an effort to please either our flesh or someone else’s.  Nehemiah seemed to understand this an...

  In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. -Daniel 5:5 Good morning and happy Monday to you! Society would have you thinking that God’s mystery disallows us from determining what He will do, we may not know how He is going to do it, but know He is going to do it. The thought of absolute blindness is a misnomer and used to keep us from true relationship. Christ after all said in John 15:15 you are no longer untold but get an explanation of truth.  That along with other scriptures express the theme, “the handwriting is on the wall”. In this story God was offended and expressed that His patience had ended with a young man described as rebellious and disrespectful. Do you know that young/old man (woman)?  There are about 537 of them who spend a lot of time in our nations capital (435 Representative/100 Senators/President/Vice...

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  Good morning and TGIF! Faith looks stupid until it starts to rain. I’ve seen that quote often as of late and it is so fitting given the state of the economy. As faithful tithers most have heard from someone at sometime a disparaging remark questioning why we tithe.   But consider tithes as deposits we have put up in the natural,    sacrifices that have compounded interest moment by moment set aside for a time such as this. Joseph set aside a portion of Egypts bounty for what seemed to be an impossible dream interpretation. Who would have dreamed or believed we’d see such inflation?  Now in a season of excessive cost, we may complain with the best of them about the price of gas, yet we are still putting gas into our car/s, we are s...

  For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars. -2 Chronicles 16:9 Good morning and terrific Thursday to you! Beloved the well known scripture above is quoted often in part. The first sentence It speaks of how faith moves God while the second sentence tells of the woes of a King of Judah who sought the help of a pagan King and not God. He walked in fear and not faith.  To further infuriate God, the payment came from the temple treasure. So king Asa not only trusted in a pagan King (some trust in…Psalms 20:7), but he used the house of the Lord to fund his fear.  Further the story tells of how when Asa was outnumbered by a much stronger enemy, he trusted God and God then delivered!  Beloved, God actively seeks to prove Himself through His faithful people, in this He gets glory. Your faith ...

  By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. -Hebrews 11:4 Good morning and happy hump day to you!  The scripture above is found in a place that is often called a gallery of faith. A Who’s Who in the Judeo-Christian tradition are on display and applauded. Also and most importantly their faith was rewarded.  Therein is the beginning of the “bys” in this chapter the Gateway, the portal, the pathway to blessings. Take note that the catalyst to receive was BY faith. You receive nothing from God by begging, crying, or complaining.  Although God does sympathize with you and will wipe away your tears, your tears are not what spurs    God to action.  Those in the gallery didn’t know what we know as they had little knowledge of Shiloh (look it up), but they trusted, obeyed and were blessed.  God bless you and comm...

  For we walk by faith, not by sight: -2 Corinthians 5:7 Good morning and tremendous Tuesday to you! One may ask what does it mean to walk by faith and not by sight?  Simply put we are spiritual beings going through a natural experience, we have both natural sight and spiritual sight. We often do things in the natural that actually requires quite a bit of faith.  Every day (if you are like most of us) you put your key in an ignition and you literally sit on a controlled explosion. Further when you get out on the streets driving, you put at least a limited amount of trust in those who are driving around you.  Walking by spiritual faith means that you trust more than your ability to see. You can’t always see what is going on in the spirit realm, but you trust by faith that God will do what He said He would do and then you continue in your faith doing what His word has said.  God bless you and command your day!!! Your comments and questions are welcome. Contact me ...

  For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains it will do so until he is out of the way.                            -2 Thess 2:7 Good morning and happy Monday to you!  I was watching the trailer for a documentary that interviewed physical and mental health professionals.  They were asked the question “What is a woman?” And not a single one would answer this basic question without tap dancing and carefully constructing an answer that affirmed gender transformations.  People who are confused need and could possibly accept the truth from these influential people. But, they disavowed truth and cowered in fear from the strong lobby of those who benefit from the propagation of the lie.  As sad as this is, these are the beginnings of sorrows and if Holy Spirit didn’t restrain things would be worst. The scripture above warns us that a time is coming where the restraint ...

  And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. -Gal 6:9 Good morning and TGIF. If I said I was tired an amen corner would quickly come into agreement with me. And my tired like theirs (hopefully) refers to giving seemingly so much more than I receive.  Doing good to and for others while they repay with interest hate, despise, betrayal and the such or further seeing those who perpetrate evil seeming to be successful and favored.  I recently saw a film clips of houses built in Canada during the 60s compared to houses built today. In the video it showed that the 60s house took more time and the material was simply quality, as compared to the house of today. To show the effect of poor material they stopped at the framing stage of both houses.  The video continued and then showed the same houses after a heavy snow storm laid on the frame. Needless to say the older house stood straight, whilst the newer house strained and b...

  For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. -1 Corinthians 6:20 Good morning and terrific Thursday to you. Ever give any thought to how much God values you? Upfront God doesn’t make junk. Everything is made for and with purpose.  As the scripture above reminds us we were purchased and we were not an afterthought over a discounted item. In my secular job a distinction is made between two words that are often used interchangeably, cost and PRICE.  Cost includes what has to be paid to obtain whereas price is what is paid to the party who obtained for your use something.  Simply put the minimum wasn’t enough. One strip would be the cost, but 40 was the price paid. One insult or cruel word would have sufficed but He was chastised…one nail or one moment on the cross, but He hung there 6 hours.  We were bought with a price…we receive more than enough via His sacrifice and as a result we give bread and not b...

  So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. -Romans 8:8 Good morning and happy hump day. Those that worship God must worship him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24).  Take note, that the flesh cannot please God. The apostle Paul in the well-known scripture above wrote and seemed to reflect back to the previous scripture reminding us to have a carnal is to embrace death and to embrace death is not life because life is only found in God.  The flesh embraces those things are not of God fear, hate, lust, manipulation and other similar works (Gal 5:19) because the flesh wrestles against the spirit it never can receive the joy of worshiping God.  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 cash app $intercedingcc