Bible Study With Jairus

#Bible Study With #Jairus #Deuteronomy18 22 – We Should Nurture Our Prophetic Gifts

When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.

False prophecies have a negative impact on the reputation of modern prophecy. When many charismatic prophets inaccurately predicted that Trump would win in 2020, it was a slap in the face for the modern prophetic movement. Many people began to accuse this movement of hype and inaccuracy. This kept many people from embracing the modern prophetic movement. In addition, famous prophets said that Los Angeles would sink into the Pacific Ocean, and that never came to pass, either.

I still believe that the modern prophetic movement is from God and that God is reintroducing the gift of prophecy to the modern church. But I do agree that we need to examine the movement by the accuracy or inaccuracy of their prophet words. The accuracy of the prophecies given by Brandon Biggs about Trump’s assassination stirred many believers and non-believers alike to listen to his prophecies. Many believers who formerly did not believe in the gift of prophecy became convinced. We need to strive to grow both in our spiritual lives and in the accuracy of our prophetic gifts so we can help the modern prophetic movement gain credence. In this way, we may usher in the great prophets mentioned in the book of Revelation. I don’t believe these prophets will just drop from heaven; they will grow to maturity as the church nurtures their prophetic gifts.

#Bible Study With #Jairus #Deuteronomy18 10-11 - Rebellion is like the sin of divination

“There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead.”

These practices are not common in the United States, since the gospel has been rooted in society for many years. However, they are widely practiced in idol-worshiping countries such as China, India, and many African and Latin American countries. In either case, there is a universal principle behind this command. We should seek God as the source of our prophetic revelation and guidance instead of seeking evil spirits. Saul, the King of Israel, used divination to speak with the deceased Samuel because the Lord was no longer speaking to him through dreams, prophets, or the Urim.

However, Samuel rebuked Saul and told him that “rebellion is like the sin of divination” (1 Samuel 15:23, BSB). Before Saul sinned by seeking evil spirits, he had already broken God’s law in other ways. Today, many Christians may not practice divination outwardly, but they may violate the principle inwardly. If they are disobedient to God in any way, it is as sinful as divination. It shows we have idols in our hearts and are not allowing Christ to rule as King in our hearts. We must learn to be obedient to the leading and prompting of the Holy Spirit, so we can hear from God and follow His prophetic guidance in our lives.

#Bible Study With #Jairus #Deuteronomy 17 18-20  - The Qualities God Required To Be Kings

“And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them,  that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.”

Long before God used Samuel to select the first king for Israel, God gave Moses the following rules for the kings (Deuteronomy 17). As future rulers in Christ’s kingdom, we can apply these principles to our hearts with the following application questions.

If we apply these five requirements in our daily lives, we will rule and reign with Christ. We may not be literal kings right now, but we will have a sphere of influence. We can rule our own lives and influence our families. How we behave as kings will impact our children and many others around us.

#Bible Study With #Jairus #Deuteronomy 17 8-9 -How Should We Make Difficult Decisions?

“If any case arises requiring a decision between one kind of homicide and another, one kind of legal right and another, or one kind of assault and another, any case within your towns that is too difficult for you, then you shall arise and go up to the place that the Lord your God will choose. And you shall come to the Levitical priests and to the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall consult them, and they shall declare to you the decision.

In the Old Testament, people went to the Levitical priests and the judges to seek answers and guidance in their lives. Today, we have laws and courts that help us make decisions in matters of justice. But who can help us make decisions in other areas of our lives? Here are some principles that will help us understand God’s guidance.

If we have taken the above precautions, we will avoid most mistakes. We must remember that the Holy Spirit leads, and Satan pushes. We should not make rushed decisions. Instead, we should always wait on the Lord to give us answers. We must have faith that if we have followed the principles above, the peace of the Lord will eventually guide us on the right path.

#Bible Study With #Jairus #2Kings 13 19 – We Should Never Give Up

Then the man of God was angry with him and said, “You should have struck five or six times; then you would have struck down Syria until you had made an end of it, but now you will strike down Syria only three times.”

In this chapter, the prophet Elisha had fallen sick and was about to die. The King of Israel was crying, since he knew he was about to lose the best weapon that Israel had. Elisha asked the King to shoot an arrow out the window. “This is the Lord’s arrow of victory,” Elisha said. After he shot an arrow, Elisha told him to strike the ground with the remaining arrows. Elisha did not tell the king how many times to strike the ground. He stopped at three. Elisha was angry with him not striking the ground five or six times. If he had, he would have completely defeated Syria. But now, he would only strike them three times.

Let’s apply this story to our everyday lives. Imagine you are facing a difficulty, like the king faced the Syrian army. You heard the voice of God, just like the king heard the voice of the prophet. When the Holy Spirit prompts you to do something, you quit when you don’t see a result. Why did the king quit before the prophet asked him to stop? For the same reasons we often give up on the things God asks us to do. Of course, we should make sure that God is really calling us to do something before we start it. But if God has initiated something and he has not asked us to stop, we SHOULD NOT STOP. Sometimes I become discouraged when I do not see immediate results in the ministry God has asked me to do. This verse encourages me to NOT STOP what God has asked me to do. If God has not asked me to stop, I SHOULD NEVER GIVE UP!

#Bible Study With #Jairus #2Kings 6:33 – We Should Be Humbled Before God

And while he was still speaking with them, the messenger came down to him and said, “This trouble is from the Lord! Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?”

In 2 Kings 6, Elisha saved the king’s life several times by giving him intelligence about the King of Syria. When the Syrian army ambushed Elisha because of his Spirit-directed spy activity, God struck them with blindness. This gave the king of Israel an unexpected opportunity to kill the army of his enemies. However, Elisha asked the king of Israel to spare the Syrian army. Instead of killing them, Elisha prepared a feast for them and allowed them to go home.

Later, Syria came back to attack Israel after a period of peace. The Assyrian king besieged the city, causing a famine in Samaria. The famine was so severe that the people began eating their own children. This greatly angered the king, and he sent a messenger to kill Elisha. Why was he so angry with Elisha? Why did he accuse the Lord of causing this? Perhaps because God did not allow him to kill the Syrian army in the first place. The king thought that if he had killed the Syrians earlier, he could have avoided the current situation.

In the next chapter, God did a miracle. He chased away the Syrian armies, and the Israelites plundered their abandoned camps, solving the problem of famine. However, since the King of Israel did not show genuine repentance, Elisha soon announced a seven-year famine after this rescue.

What can we learn from this story? We can learn from the king’s response. The king’s first reaction to tragedy was to blame the Lord. He said, “This trouble is from the Lord! Why should I wait for the Lord any longer?” This statement contains a half-truth. God really was using the Syrians as a tool to chastise Israel. However, the king’s focus was off. He should have said, “How have I sinned against the Lord so that he sent the enemy again?”

When we face trouble, we should examine our hearts. Will we blame God? Will we accuse the Lord? Or will we humbly ask God what he wants to teach us? Our reaction to the trouble shows our heart.

#Bible Study With #Jairus #Deuteronomy 17:7 - New Testament believers need to be stricter in dealing with sin in our lives

The hand of the witnesses shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

At first glance, this Old Testament law seems cruel. But I believe it has an important lesson for us today. Many times, we as New Testament believers need to be stricter in dealing with sin in our lives.

Many Christian leaders have fallen into sin in the prime of their influence and at the peak of their ministry. If the church was willing to deal with these sins in their early stages, instead of harboring these leaders’ sins, it would save these influential leaders from falling. If Christian leaders were tougher on themselves and dealt with their sins instead of hiding them, it would cause less damage to the people around them.

We need to be ruthless in dealing with sins. Even if it is difficult, we need to be “cruel” toward the sins that violate our conscience, the law, or the Word of God. If we are ruthless in eliminating sin from our lives, we will have more  victory and influence in this world. We will face less problems down the road, and we will have a greater impact on the world for the glory of God.

This passage does not give us permission to point fingers at someone else. Instead, it encourages us to be ruthless in dealing with our own hidden sins. It also motivates us to compassionately help our fellow brothers and sisters overcome their sins and weaknesses.

#Bible Study With #Jairus #Numbers 2:2 - Facing God but not the Enemy

The people of Israel shall camp each by his own standard, with the banners of their fathers’ houses. They shall camp facing the tent of meeting on every side.

When the twelve tribes of Israel set up their campsite in the wilderness, God told them to “camp facing the tent of meeting on every side.” When I first read this passage, I assumed the purpose of this formation was to protect the tent from enemy attack. By surrounding the tent on every side, they would be better informed of enemy strategies and better positioned to defend the tent from attack. In this scenario, it would make sense to camp facing outward in order to be alert to enemy activity.

However, the Bible does not tell us this. Instead, it says the tribes were to camp facing inward, toward the tabernacle. The tent of meeting represented the presence of God. It contained the ark of the covenant, where God spoke to Moses from above the Mercy Seat. Furthermore, it was the place where the priests and Levites brought offerings to God and brought the presence and guidance of God to the people. When the people positioned themselves toward the tabernacle, they could focus on God and receive His guidance.

Instead of facing outward, so they would be prepared to react to threats, they were supposed to focus on the presence of God.

This is a great picture of the Christian life. So many times, we focus on issues, ministry needs, and enemy attacks instead of focusing on the presence of God and His guidance. If we are reactive to the problems around us, we will lose focus and will not win the battle. But as we focus on the presence of God and His word, we will gain victory over our enemies.

He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He. NKJV

God is a God of faithfulness and truth. Although American culture values honesty and truth, many cultures do not. Presenting God as a God of truth may mean very little to cultures who do not value honesty. For example, in the Chinese culture I grew up in, lies and deceitfulness are common business practices. It is the only way to succeed in the business world. How can you do business if you cannot lie? Even after immigrating to the USA, I continued to receive spam messages from Chinese people trying to cheat me. I am not saying that everyone in China is a liar, as there are many good and honest people in China. But deceitfulness is certainly common in this godless culture. In this type of culture, honesty is viewed as a weakness instead of a truth.

On the other hand, honesty is valued in American society. Honesty is rewarded more in America than it is in other countries. People in America often trust you initially but will never trust you again if they find out you are lying to them. America values honesty, which is why it attracts talented people from around the world. These people may not have been successful in their own countries, but they can succeed in America’s honesty-based culture. For example, a hard-working creative artist cannot succeed in China because their art or digital property may be stolen overnight. But they can succeed in America because America protects their creativity and intellectual property.

As a God of truth, God cannot lie. Who do you think has more power: God, who cannot lie, or Satan, who has lied from the beginning? Many people may think that Satan’s lies have more power than God’s truth. After all, he deceived one third of the angels and tricked our ancestors, Adam and Eve. In addition, when we look at the society we live in, we may think that Satan’s lies are very powerful. After all, he has trapped quite a few people in lies. But in the end, when Satan is cast into the lake of fire, we will realize that the God of truth has all power over the god of all lies.

Often, we struggle to overcome our sin and failure because we cannot break free from the strongholds the enemy has created through the lies we believe and practice. The more we understand God’s nature as a truthful and honest God, the more our lies will be dismantled, and the more we will be delivered from the bondage of the enemy.

The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice, A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.

Moses said that God’s work is perfect! Can you say the same thing from the bottom of your heart?

Many people struggle with this idea. For example, people who believe the lie of transgenderism think they are trapped in the wrong body or that God made a mistake in creating them as a man or woman. They would struggle to say that God’s work is perfect.

But they are not the only ones. Many believers who have experienced hardship, neglect, abuse, or betrayal would also find it difficult to say God’s work is perfect.

So how could Moses say this? Because he had an easy life? Definitely not. He faced the difficult task of leading a rebellious, doubting people who often revolted against him. He even faced rejection from his own brother and sister! Yet he could say that God’s work was perfect.

Why did the Israelites struggle to believe this? Because of their corrupted view of God. In Deuteronomy 32:5, God called the Israelites a “crooked and twisted generation” (ESV). Since I grew up in a godless country like China, I can relate to this. Many people in China are twisted and crooked in their minds. They do not value human lives at all. When I was growing up, the older generation told stories of killing their newborn girls in their chamber pots. Although infanticide is longer allowed in modern China, there are still massive amounts of abortions and human trafficking. The people’s minds are so twisted that they do not value every human life as created in the image of God. They cannot say God’s work is perfect.

After 400 years of slavery in Egypt, it is not surprising that Israelites had a slave mindset. When the ten evil spies reported that there were giants in the Promised Land, the Israelites wanted to stone Moses and choose new leaders to take them back to Egypt. They could not say God’s work and guidance were perfect! Instead, they wanted to return to Egyptian slavery!

The journey in the wilderness served the purpose of making their crooked minds straight. As we allow God to transform our minds, we can finally say “His work is perfect.” Perhaps in Deuteronomy, when they were about ready to enter the Promised Land, they could finally believe these words. Perhaps this is why Moses told them this message at the end of his life. Perhaps they finally had ears to hear and minds to believe that God’s work is perfect.