The Stickman's Understanding...

  But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and  ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in  Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. -Acts 1:8 Good morning and happy hump day to you! The second word that means power is exousia. In Luke 9 Then He called His twelve disciples together and gave them power and authority over all demons, and to cure diseases.”-Luke 9:1. Take note of the one conjunction word in the scripture that conjunction is the word and…And means also or in addition.   So Jesus called the twelve together and gave them first power or dunamis and then he gave the authority or exousia. The word exousia means authority.  You can have the gift of dunamis but without exousia that is the authority to exercise the power… Dunamis is what the sons of sceva had, and they practiced it well until they were called out by demons who knew they did not believe in Jesus and therefore they ...

  But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and  ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in  Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. -Acts 1:8 Good morning and tremendous Tuesday to you! In my study of the word power I discovered that in the Greek power has at least three distinct yet connected meanings.  The first meaning is the word Dunamis. Dunamis is the the root word for dynamite. indicating that an explosive nature exist in a given situation or ability.  Dunamis is used to speak of ability given by God, general talents.    when the talents were given to the servants it was based on their dunamis. Their inherent skill set. Their dunamis is further based in their willingness to be obedient to their own ability to glorify God.  Two of the servants exercised dunamis  and increased,while one didn't and failed. We all have dunamis or inherent abilities,  abilities w...

  But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and  ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in  Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. - Good morning and happy Monday to you! While recently reading the scripture above the thought hit me of how the Lord so thoroughly directed the gospel be spread.  Jerusalem which was locally, Judea and Samaria which was regionally and the uttermost parts of the earth…globally.  Those instructions still stand for us all. We are to spread our faith by word and certainly by deed, but look at the caveat.  The Holy Spirit empowers us to spread the gospel. The action arm of God in the earth is known about, but rarely engaged for that needed power.  Beloved I encourage you to allow Holy Spirit to supernaturally charge your witness!  God bless you and command your day!!!  Your comments and questions are welcome. Contact me at drschaefferintercedin...

  And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. -Acts 2:1 Good morning and TGIF! This Sunday is designated to commemorate Pentecost. Lest we forget to tend the fire, the Lord has provided an everlasting spark. Take note how the wording says “fully come”.  Fully implies completion! If you look back and see the works of Holy Spirit in the Old Testament you see His work was done through people when He came upon them. In contrast to His fully coming, He now infilled believers.  Not withstanding the posture of the gathered believers. They were in unified prayer. Awaiting the coming of what the Lord had promised. The Holy Spirit came when they had come to the unity of Spirit which is the peaceful gathering, seeking    whole heartily which ushered in Holy Spirit.  Go fellowship this weekend, we all need it.  God bless you and command your day!!!  Your comments and questions are welcome. Contact me at drschaeffe...

  And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters. -Exodus 15:27 Good morning and terrific Thursday to you! The final scripture in Exodus, chapter 15 gives us a reason to pause and reflect.  Verses one through verse 21 is a celebration, verses 22 and 23 begins a transition and verse 24 is a full rebellion. Verse 25 is a prayer and an answer and then verse 26 is an admonishment from the Lord.  In less than 30 verses Israel went from hosanna to crucify. The final verse (27) exposes the amazing grace of the Lord as Israel went from bitter water to fresh pools with fruit trees that provided shade.  What a transition. How often do we display instability but yet God’s is steadfastly stable and consistent in His grace. A word for us is certainly be consistent, and while doing things consistently, be patient. In your consistency you may find your self drinking bitter water that leads to healing...

  23 And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah. 24 And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? -Exodus 15 Good morning and happy hump day to you!  How familiar is the tone of the words Israel used when they faced their first challenge coming out of Egypt.  In the desert and natural thirst had taken its toll, then the first water they encounter was bitter. They then began murmuring and from the first tongue that tasted marah, spread the word throughout the camp like wildfire, yes we have found water, but it is bitter.  If someone is snake bitten, medical science tells us to calm them down. Because the more agitated they become, the faster their heart beats, and the faster the heartbeat the more rapidly, the poison enters their system.  In like manner, we all should be careful that the bitterness we taste proceeds no farther than the tip of our t...

  And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee. -Exodus 15:26 Good morning and tremendous Tuesday to you! Bold statement follows…Sometimes He (God) will purposely lead you to bitter water. Bible scholars all over FaceBook world are now scratching their heads.  A very common ailment among the ancient Egyptians was a disease caused by a deficiency of essential minerals called schistosomiasis (bilharziasis).  That lack of mineral content allowed tape worms to flourish in the digestive track. So if this was common among Egyptians, it is reasonable to believe Israel and some Egyptians that departed with them were impacted.  Israel had been just days out of captivity and perhaps just three days since the parting ...

  They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly. -Amos 5:10 Good morning and happy Monday to you! The scripture above really captures my attention. It references when despisers of the truth despise the one who speaks the truth. For the small sum of a penny that if I had just one for each time I have been rejected for saying the truth... In the current state of the world it goes beyond just speaking and covers living the truth. Those who live in normalcy or the intended God given design are subject to shaming but those who abhor the truth.  It goes even further as the scripture makes a reference to “the gate”. In ancient times the gate is the place of judgement. The King would gather himself and his close advisors (court), and together they would receive request for justice.  Witnesses would come to the gate and provide testimony. Truthful testimony in todays courts are often hated by the king, his court and the wicked who lie.  B...

  From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the LORD'S name is to be praised. -Psalms 113:3 Good morning and TGIF! In the well known scripture above David sets a precedent of praise. Stretching praise to cover sunrise to sunset. In it he must have considered all the works of the Lord that can be seen with our physical eyes while the sun is up  One theologian surmised that verse 2 indicates that David at that specific time which wasn’t in the early first risings, had stated while worshipping “from this time”. Which would mean from that very moment.  Another one then said after David noted some time had passed in which it had not been declared and dedicated to the Lord, he then corrected his omission by saying from the rising (early) of the sun.  Where is our heart? Doesn’t God deserve that early, first risings praise? Or are we guilty of omitting praise until a more “civil” hour of the morn?  Later in the Psalms David seems to address that oversi...

  4:7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,  will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus . Philippians Good morning and terrific Thursday to you!  To have God’s peace, you must allow God’s peace to RULE. Ruling mean that it has preeminence over all that is in or attempt to enter your heart  The Apostle Paul ensured that a correlation was made between the mind and the heart. The mind may be what you see before you, but the heart or the spirit, doesn’t allow all you see to get into it.  Finally peace will do something that nothing else will. Peace will guard your peace and keep you in the peace which confuses the enemy and transcends all human understanding.  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 

O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things?  for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.  -Matthew 12:34 Good morning and happy hump day to you! As a parent I’ve been accursed of reading my children’s mind. I’ll plead the 5th. But really there is no such thing as a mind reader as only God can see your thoughts from afar.  But the thoughts that come from your mouth…well that’s a different story. The scripture above were words used by John the Baptist to describe the Pharisees.  Known to have seditious tongues, John merely pointed out what was well documented. No one had to wonder about what was in their heart as it freely came out of their mouths.  In similitude what is in your heart eventually makes its way to and out of your mouth.    Notice the word ABUNDANCE which means full. So full in fact, that the fullness is not depleted as only portions are released out your mouth.  A heart full of hurt and hate releas...

  That the LORD sent a prophet unto the children of Israel, which said unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I brought you up from Egypt, and brought you forth out of the house of bondage; -Judges 6:8 Good morning and tremendous Tuesday to you! The scripture above comes from the story of Gideon and the defeat of the enemies of Israel. I took note that the message of God came to Israel in three parts.  The first part is often missed or conjoined with the second part. The first part is a visit by a prophet, then an Angel (twice), finally the Lord who gave them victory with just a few as compared to their enemy.  In the first part what captured my attention was how God will tell you why you have lost peace. God did this through an unnamed prophet.  The Lord doesn’t do anything that impacts mankind without telling man (Amos 4:7). The prophet here reiterated the warning of the ages, given by Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and Joshua.  The method speaks of a much late...