Words of Study & Instruction: Scribes & the Arts Archives Page 34 of 72

Part I of IV: Defining the Opportunist

Posted on 12/01/2016 by Theresa Harvard Johnson

Opportunism is a raging problem impacting the congregation in this hour. While it is a well-known phenomenon – even expected and accepted – in the corporate arena and market place, it often takes individuals and congregations by surprise. The behavior can be so subtle and disarming that it goes unidentified by some believers until long after earned and legitimate opportunities and relationships have been lost.

In using the phrase “earned opportunities,” I am referring to those open doors that a person has legitimately been presented or that they have earned the authority or been given the permission to walk through.

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Ministry Integrity

The Wheat Sifting Process Part I

Posted on 10/08/201605/24/2024 by Theresa Harvard Johnson

By Theresa Harvard Johnson

Luke 22:31-34 The Complete Jewish Bible says:

31 “Shim`on (Simon), Shim`on (Simon), listen! The Adversary demanded to have you people for himself, to sift you like wheat! 32 But I prayed for you, Shim`on (Simon), that your trust might not fail. And you, once you have turned back in repentance, strengthen your brothers!” 33 Shim`on (Simon) said to him, “Lord, I am prepared to go with you both to prison and to death!” 34 Yeshua replied, “I tell you, Kefa (Peter), the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know me.”

The call on our lives is a threat to the kingdom of darkness. The adversary knows that when we come to understand who we are in the Kingdom – His power is demolished. So he keeps temptation before us. He keeps distractions before us. He keeps all manner of familiar sin at our feet in hope that we will pick that sin up and carry it – leaving us professing Yahshua (our Lord Jesus Christ) but walking without power. As Yahshua said here, the adversary has demanded to have us in the midst of his tirade against God and to sift us like wheat…

In the spirit, the WHEAT SIFTING process is a deliberate, methodical, diabolical (extremely cruel and evil) strategy initiated by the adversary to separate the SONS OF GOD from the very PRESENCE of the Lord. You see, farmers will tell you that BEFORE wheat goes through the “sifting” process it has ALREADY BEEN separated from foreign grains, dirt, the chaff and then washed, dried and ground.

Isn’t that amazing! In other words, the “Wheat Making” processing has already taken place. Everything that is needed to “qualify the grain as wheat” is present. I hope you hear me! YOU ARE ALREADY WHEAT! YOU HAVE ALREADY BEEN SEPARATED! NOW THE REAL BATTLE BEGINS! Yahshuah wasn’t talking to a tare here. He was talking to Peter – one of his BELOVED disciples and apostles. Peter was clearly WHEAT. He had finished the hard part of the MAKING process.

Say to yourself today, “I AM WHEAT!”

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Ministry Integrity

The Tower of Babel vs. The Day of Pentecost

Posted on 10/08/201605/24/2024 by Theresa Harvard Johnson

Here I am, making lunch for my son before the school bus arrives… and the Lord starts talking..

I am not trying to be deep here, but I really wanted to share this with you all…

The Father took me back to the scriptures concerning Tower of Babel. (Genesis 11:1-8) We all know the story. The two things the Lord pointed out to me was this: (1) The people at that time spoke in one language. It was Hebrew, the language of God; and (2) because of the unified sin they committed, they were further separated from God by the confounding of the languages. Even brother and sister could not communicate with one another in a single language.

Then the SPIRIT OF THE LORD SAID me, “My Spirit redeemed them.”

Suddenly, my spirit shifted to Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost. When the Holy Spirit fell on the men, they began to speak in foreign languages. Each man spoke in a language that was recognizable to others there. In that moment, the SPIRIT… restored the unity in the faith among believers that had been lost so many years before in that tower. In other words, “Babylon (which represents sin/Gentiles in the bible) is a picture of the world system; and the Day of Pentecost is a picture of Babylon’s restoration.”‘

On that day, Jesus was preached in every language using words that those cultures who were represented could fully understand. He was saying the EXACT THING to all of them in their own respective languages. In the world today, we have all these bible versions and they have manipulated the word of God — adding man’s “spin” on things. This was not the Father’s intent with translations.

Well, I hope this “moment” I’ve just had with the Lord came across clearly to those who’ve been following (and understood) the series on biblical translations and bible versions. Remember, scribes are PROTECTORS of the word by the Lord’s design. This protection includes maintaining every element of the Hebrew translation of the Torah. As new covenant people, it’s easy to forget that Jesus IS the Word (the Torah— the Word God spoke to Moses).

Am I saying that the Gospel and the Letters of The New Testament are not scripture! ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! The entire bible is infallible — but when Jesus walked the earth all He had was the ORIGINAL Word — the books of Moses/Moshe. (But that’s another teaching.)

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Ministry Integrity

Show Me You Love Me

Posted on 10/08/2016 by Theresa Harvard Johnson

Copyright 2009 Theresa Harvard Johnson (This was written for the mentoring group, but I believe I needed to post it here.)Over the past few days, I’ve had some unique experiences with Father. Just last night I was saying what I wasn’t going to do, and just this morning he MADE ME do that very thing….

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Ministry Integrity

The Kind of Legacy God Wants (Part 1 of 2)

Posted on 10/08/2016 by Theresa Harvard Johnson

Copyright 2010 Theresa Harvard JohnsonThe Lord talks to me often about legacy. Why? Because that “little by little” that Father speaks of grows out of the foundations of the Word, that root of Jesse. You see, Father gave us a powerful principle to live by. 1 Corinthians 3:6-7 puts it this way, “I planted the seed, and Apollos watered it, but it…

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Ministry Integrity