You have come across "My Personal Study Notes", my limited understanding of what I'm learning in Gods word as I grow in it. It is not meant to be "thus saith the Lord", it is only what I'm seeing as I am growing up in the word, the "word" meaning the Bible, Gods word, using the King James version for now, amplified and other means too, but not another religions book above the real bible.

These are my personal Bible Study pages of things I learn as time goes on. I am only a beginner, lets just say I'm a baby christian, and need much growth, but should have been growing long before now. These writings are meant for anyone who cross their path. As search engines pick up on them, you will find them, but they aren't being published as an "In your Face" book, only things that are meaning something in my life as I'm studying God's word. The punctuation and/or spelling may be off, that's not important, because they may never be seen, and aren't being written to be seen, only for me to have a time of the day, and another avenue to develop my personal time dedicating it to developing myself, growing up in Gods word.

Its also meant to be an avenue of "Output", you cant grow if you don't output. I've heard it said to be like a "tick" and just suck the word up and get fat on the word. But who wants to look like a tick, they're fat and squishy, once you get the word in you, you should exercise and be strong in the word, "Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only" (James 1:22), so this being an avenue for me to "Output" and dedicating time to enter my learning down on "paper", (so to speak) will help me grow.

If you happen to cross their path in a keyword search, you're welcome to read along. The only link to this page is a brief line in my site map, and if it ends up in some search engines database, good, that's one way to get the word out. Its not meant to be a blog, this is my page, my study, if you have thoughts, maybe you should start your own study page on a site, it will be a good investment in your time.

You're welcome to e-mail me with any input, I guarantee in NO WAY that I will get back to you, but you can send what you wish. b i b l e @ a 2 z b i z d i r . c o m. I'm not making this an active link, as you notice I added extra spaces in the address, so take them out if you use it, due to all the spammers out there who send their spiders out looking in the HTML coding of pages finding e-mail addresses to send their spam e-mails to, so you'll have to do it the old fashioned way, and type it in your e-mail tool.

October 21, 2006

Lets start with saying there isn't an original thought anywhere, we all gain knowledge from seeing or hearing something from someone else, God is the creator of all good things, so everything began with Him. Many of my learning's come from people like Kenneth Hagin, where I worked some 25 years ago, and teachings from Billy Joe and Sharon Daugherty in Tulsa Ok. where I grew up. Lately I've been listening to Keith Moore, in Branson Mo., online, so that's where I begin. If you're aware of any of those teachers, you'll know what most of my study will be in line with, faith producing, believing that healing of our natural bodies is for today, speaking in tongues, and that we are to have success in the "here and now", not just happiness when we go to heaven.

My current study deals with the time when Jesus walked on the water, not starting there, but during that time frame so you'll know where I'm at.

Jesus said in Luke 8:22, (the story also found in Mat. 8:22, odd how the KJV puts these references so close in chap. and verse, also found in Mark 4:35 saying the evening was coming up, meaning it was getting dark, which might have been another reason the disciples got scared, a storm at night, you cant see land, you don't know how close you are for swimming to shore.) He said unto the disciples, "Let us go over unto the other side of the lake."

Now from what I understand about Jesus' words, what He says, will come to pass. (Jesus was the First born of God, we become born of God when we become "Born again", so we are only part of the family when we're born into it, we're not all Gods family as some put it, there's two family's, God's family when you are born into it, and Satan's family, when you haven't been born again. Just because you live life with good intentions and do good, doesn't mean you go to heaven, its not based on works, its based on the act of receiving Jesus into your heart and making the active decision to be born again.) So, back from rambling, Jesus being God's son, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us the word says. What Jesus says will come to pass, count on it, and count on it for your own future, what the word says for you will come to pass. So when Jesus said "Let us go over to the other side", he knew they would make it, he was confident, so confident he went to sleep. The disciples should have taken what He said and used their own faith (faith cometh by hearing...) to overcome the storm, (a lesson here somewhere). Jesus even remarked to them in Mark 4:40 "How is it that you have no faith." Why would Jesus have asked them that if He didn't expect them to have faith, and use it. Would you expect Him to tell US anything different nowdays? after all the teachings and examples we have in the bible, would he require anything less from us? Don't belittle the disciples until you have calmed a storm, and storms don't have to be on water, we have storms in life that we need to speak to, Peace, be still.

November 4, 2006

Continuing on the subject of stormy waters. In Matthew 14:21, Jesus told the disciples to get into the ship and go to the other side of the sea ahead of him while he sent the multitudes away that he had just fed. (the 5000 plus people that he had just miraculously fed with the few fish and loaves of bread that got multiplied enough to feed them all, a miracle in itself). He was going to meet them on the other side of the sea. They probably thought he was going to catch the next boat going over. Jesus, once it was evening, instead went up on the mountain to pray. So some time had to have passed because its now evening. The ship had to have traveled some distance by now. A storm, or strong wind developed, now in the middle of the evening, the fourth watch the of the night the bible says. (Storms are disturbances in the air, you cant see the wind, you see the results of the wind. In the spiritual world, I'll call the sixth sense, because faith is not of the 5 physical senses, faith is believing, not in what we see, but its above what our natural senses understand. In the spiritual world, angels travel, and the atmosphere above us is not just dead air, its another realm of life, (Daniel chapter 10) talks about a battle in the spiritual world above us. The winds have been known to stir strongly when battles are being fought in the spiritual world.) So when Jesus was praying, spiritual battles were being fought, and the wind could have picked up due to that. I dont believe God sent the wind to scare the disciples, God is not the author of confussion. Jesus came down from the mountain. It doesnt say how he came down, but if Jesus walked on the water, he can walk on air, whats the difference, think spiritually, not physically, theres no limit in the spiritual world. However he got there out in the middle of the sea, he was there. Remember the ship left before him, it was ahead of him, Jesus may have been transported, why not.Whats His limit, if He walked on water, theres something, some power we dont understand that was unlimited that allowed Jesus to do more than we know about. So there was Jesus, it was at night, Jesus was probably out there more than we know about, praying. Do you know a better place to get away and not be disturbed when you need time alone? No one is going to be out there disturbing you, asking dumb questions, youre out walking on the water, at night, no one can find you, its perfect to be alone with God and pray, commune, intercede.

So the disciples saw something...its at night, Jesus was behind them, the waves are high, the wind is strong, its dark, the only possible light was the moon, they couldnt have turned on their spotlight to see it, remember electrical power hadnt been invented yet, so they think its a ghost, now theyre scared even more. Jesus spoke up, "Dont be afraid". Peter, maybe recognizing his voice, said, "If its really you, bid me to come to you", Jesus spoke, "Come". Now remember, the waves are still high, the wind is still strong, nothing has changed. Peter didnt say "Make the storm stop, and I'll come to you". They didnt say just stop the storm, the thing that stood out in their mind was, something is happening here thats different than anything weve ever seen, theres a man out walking on the water, they didnt say "Howd you get here before us, you were behind us?". Peter just was aware that something miraculous was happening, and he wanted in on the happening. Peter didnt question anything else, he just got out of the boat. (Do you ever get out of your safety range? Do you ever just step out in faith?) Notice the storm didnt stop just because he acted on Jesus's word. The storm was still in full swing, the disciples were afraid just a few minutes before because of the storm. So now, Peter is out in the water, not holding on to the side of the boat, he's walking. Jesus was not the only one to walk on water, Peter is here walking on water. He's far enough from the boat so that when he got his eyes, mind, senses, off Jesus's word, and on the circumstances, that he began to sink, BEGAN, NOT SINK, BEGAN TO SINK. Hes far enough from the boat that he called out to Jesus. He didnt fall back on the side fo the boat, he wasnt close enough, he was closer to Jesus than to the boat. He would have relied on the boat if he was closer. Peter walked on the water. The storm was still going, because now Peter gets his mind on the storm, HE'S OUT WALKING IN THE STORM. Probably walked long enough to start thinking on other things, and gets his mind off of the word, got distracted by earthly things, and not God's word, ever be in that situation? When Jesus caught him, he didnt reach down into the water because Peter was down below, Jesus didnt have to dive in after him. He just reached his hand out and caught him. The disciples didnt have to search all night for Peter, they didnt have to drag the lake for Peter, (like Keith Moore humorously points out). Jesus reached fourth his hand, raised him back on his feet, and THEY BOTH WALK BACK TO THE SHIP. I'm sure that they both could have walked on the the other side if Peter had not of gotten side-tracked, they both could have said, "See you guys on the other side" and took off running. Whats the difference of walking or running on water, and whats the difference of walking on air, or walking on water. Couldnt Jesus have been 10 to 15 feet above the water so he didnt get wet? Whats the difference, youre walking on something un-natural for man to comprehend. So now, what did Jesus say to Peter when he caught him, raised him up? "Peter, you did it, you walked on water, you did a miracle, its going to be written in the bible that you walked on water"...No, he didnt commend him, didnt encourage him, he said,,,,"Oh thou of little faith, (little faith, he just walked on the water?), but Jesus said little faith, so lets just take it for that, little faith, Jesus had a reason for saying that, "wherefore didst thou doubt?" Do you think Jesus would be any easier on us now days, weve had the word to learn from, I think He would be harder on us since weve had all this time to learn from others mistakes that we should be much ahead of them in the past. Jesus didnt say, "Thats ok Peter, you tried, I understand, those waves were big werent they?, No, he said, wheres your faith. Then they walked back to the boat, and AFTER they got into the boat the wind ceased, not before. Noticed that it was the wind that caused the sea to be rough, Its whats not seen that makes the seen to change. The wind, (unseen) caused the sea (seen) to be rough. If we get our mind on whats seen, it can cause us to overlook whats really doing the work. Faith is unseen, the angels in Daniel chaper 10 was in the unseen world, until God showed Daniel into the spiritual world. Remember there are more with us than with the enemy. Peter took action when the storm was at its worst, and walked on the water at the storms worst, nothing changed, Jesus didnt even say "Peace be still", that we know of, for the storm to cease, we cant wait for perfect conditions before we act on Gods word, theres no victory without a battle, theres no learning how to stand against adversity without adversity, no faith developed until faith is challenged, no growth without time passing, and standing strong in the word.