Nickolas Hiemstra's Blog – June 2012 Archive (30)

Over 120 people receive these messages in their email. Oh, some may not read them anymore, I understand that, but I do know a little bit about each of you. Some have walked with the Lord for years (some longer than I have), and some are new to the faith—and several somewhere in the middle.

One thing about us, for those who know Christ’s righteousness, also know that we are not to live as those who are without any hope. We are a different breed; we possess an “unction,” a…

One of my favorite Rabbis, Rabbi Daniel Lapin, sent out his weekly message, and I wanted to share it with you:

During July, 2061 Halley’s Comet will return as it does approximately every seventy-five years. During its November, 1835 appearance the great American writer, Mark Twain, was born. Years later, Twain told friends that since he was born during Halley’s visit, it would be “the greatest disappointment in my life” if he didn’t die during its next appearance. It is no…

Can you imagine a king or the president of a country humbling himself enough to serve you a cup of coffee or carry your groceries for you? He would want servants to perform those tasks for him. Do you think if you visited the home of a “rich and famous” person, you would find that they themselves had cleaned the house in preparation for your visit? I don’t think so! Yet Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, took on himself the form of a servant, and humbled himself for our sakes. Paul…

I want to talk about our “physical” families. I don’t discuss this much because I always try to focus on our “spiritual” family. But we can learn things about our physical family and see how they relate to our “spiritual family.”

Let me explain what I mean by asking you a question. If you are a parent, how do your natural children get to know you, your true character and your desire to love them? I have always believed that our children get to know our nature and character toward…

Since we have been in the 14^th chapter of Exodus, let’s stay there just a little longer and see if there is more for us to look at. What I noticed is that what the Lord set before the Israelites was a path that would lead them to safety. Before, we were discussing how the Pharaoh was in hot pursuit, hoping to take the Israelites captive again. I know, I know. He was probably thinking, “Holy Moly, why did I let them trick me into letting them ‘go worship their God, Mo told me about…

My wife just graduated with a second degree, and is now officially a BSN! She will soon take the exam and become an RN . . . I am excited for her and proud of how hard she worked to earn this degree. However, it got me thinking of something. How many of us have trained and prepared ourselves for our current employment? Have you studied and earned a degree? Or, some of you are “self-made” and w/o any training have become successful in your own business?

The reason I am…

I want to show you something, a principle, if you will, that too many modern-day churches have abandoned. What I am referring to is how our Father will indeed punish folks who profess to be believers, yet continue to do what is wrong. No, he will not leavethem for wrong behavior, but He will at times cause great harm on this earth as a consequence of their wrong behavior.

On the other hand, He willabandon those who claim to be His (and I will not debate whether they…

Near the end of Jesus ministry here on Earth, he provided some advice to his disciples:

"Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish" (Luke 14:28-30).

I was thinking lately that the core of the Christian faith, our hope, if you will, is that the God of Creation, the Almighty, powerful awesome Lord could work a miracle in anyone who would trust and obey him; that Jesus the Christ Himself would be placed within them; that they could do what all the believers of history have done: deliver hope nto a dark world.

Someone said that the wonder of the Gospel is the wonderful preposition: "in." Think about it, it's not that YHWH is…

Many years ago, when I was recovering from a period of rebellion and sin, when I was returning like the Prodigal son: “Father I have sinned against you and I am not worthy to be in your home, but please allow me to return and I am willing to take the lowest place. Only allow me to be in your presence again.”

That’s when I felt the Spirit of God guide me to the letter from Jude, and ran across this passage:

"But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in…

All the great saints and heroes of the Bible have expressed (to one degree or another) a circumstance they cannot understand, let alone explain. Take for instance the story of Hannah. You find her story in the first and second chapters of I Samuel. You can think of Hannah as being like Job: she has found herself in a condition (in her case unable to conceive a child) for reasons she doesn’t understand, but at the same time, receiving the greatest mercies and blessings from the Lord (also)…

Do you remember the story about Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego? You know, the three Hebrews who were thrown into the fiery furnace. Do you remember how a fourth man showed up in the furnace with them? Not only that, while they were in the furnace, they didn’t even get burned. Their clothes and hair didn’t even smell of smoke. Now that is cool! How many of you could experience that? I mean, being confronted with someone in authority.

I believe that’s the kind of deliverance God…

Every week I send out what I call “Vital Viewing.” They are videos/teachings of some prominent prophetic teachers attempting to alert and prepare The Church for the soon return of our Lord. Now watching those videos and reading posts and articles from other teachers—plus shows we see on TV—it is so easy to become excited (or concerned/afraid) about his return. (Our response will be determined by where our heart is in our relationship before the Lord)

Anyway, some of us are relying…

In Numbers, the land the Lord set apart for Israel; the land that Israel would soon conquer and possess at Joshua‘s leadership is the West Bank. Does that name sound familiar? That‘s right, the land that our current administration demands Israel give up to their enemies, the West Bank, is the very land that the Lord said was reserved for Israel and Israel alone. The Israelites have paid a terrible price for 3300 years for refusing to follow the Lord‘s explicit instructions regarding that…

I have spent the past 4 days trying to encourage women, and to correct those domineering men who choose to diminish the value of woman in the Church. I also hope that the women who have relegated themselves to the "back burner" because of what many churches have said or done to them, to step into the full calling the Lord has placed on their lives.

I pray that men who have been taught against letting women minister will see the truth found in the Scriptures and experience for…

Many of Paul's epistles dealt with local problems and his commandments and should never be taken as "commandments" across the board for all situations. Rather, we are to seek the Lord for the basic principal that needs to be incorporated in our churches. Because Old Testament precedents had already been set, it never occurred to Paul to re-establish the case for women in ministry. Why would he have to? The early church took it as a matter of course that Jesus would call and ordain anyone He…

I want to share a few other passages that make it clear that Paul expected women to speak in the church. If not, why would he have given the following instructions? There would be no reason for him to give directions for women who were speaking in the church, if they were never allowed to do speak.

"Every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head—it is the same as having her head shaved." (I Corinthians 11:5)

Adam was the head of the first race of mankind; and Jesus is the head of the last race, the adopted children of God. God only sees two races--the Adamic race (all natural-born mankind) and His children through Jesus (all those born of the Spirit).

"For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive" (I Corinthians 15:21-22).

The next few "Morning Messages" are for Women. I know, I know. That is rather sexist of me, but recently I have been seeing some rather disturbing posts on Facebook regarding the role (or even value of) women in general, but more specifically in the Church—even in the Ministry.

These posts have bothered me, and I feel compelled to defend the importance and significance of woman in the Church. I want to begin with what YHWH said about women.

" God created man…

For the a couple of days. I have looked at the experience of those exiting Egypt. I showed you how the Pharaoh began to chase them down, in hopes of taking them back into enslavement.

What I didn’t mention was how, in the midst of their trial, YHWH told Israel to do three things: “Fear not . . . stand still . . . see the salvation of the Lord.” I don’t know about you, but that doesn’t sound very motivational and comforting to me. Why didn’t he say, “Okay, don’t worry, I will sink them…