I need some suggestions, guys.

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I need some suggestions, guys.
Topic Started: Jul 19 2008, 08:49 PM (814 Views)
w8n4him	Jul 20 2008, 05:30 PM Post #21
Advanced Member Posts: 520 Group: Advanced Members Member #1,473 Joined: July 6, 2007	ok Kathy, but remember, our weakness is His strength......manifested. Only til you can surrender your weakness to Him, will you realize His strength.



SpiritIsWilling	Jul 20 2008, 06:04 PM Post #22
Advanced Member Posts: 520 Group: Advanced Members Member #3,594 Joined: March 22, 2008	emptyme Jul 20 2008, 01:49 PM Dearest Kathy, I've been a lurker here for several months...so, the occasion of encouraging you has brought me out into the open! Forgive my abrupt appearance on the scene, but I am compelled by God's Holy Spirit to write you. Yes, the heart is deceitful above all things, but I don't think it's your heart telling you that "God will expect more of me than I can do; God will hurt me; God will take things from me that I like; God will make me give up things I enjoy and do things I hate." Etc. Those statements are coming from the enemy himself and you have believed them. Satan can't read your mind, but he can put thoughts into your mind. This is a spiritual battle in which satan has managed THUS FAR to keep you from operating in your calling and gifts and has you bound up with fear. His plan is to derail God's plans and purpose for your precious life. He is stealing your testimony and robbing those to whom God would have you minister. Satan is a thief and a liar. God's perfect love - Jesus- casts out fear; you have not been given a spirit of fear, but of one of power, love and a sound mind - the Mind of Christ even! His grace abounds to you and is sufficient for you - in your weakness His power is made perfect! 2 Corinthians 10 is a great passage for you to meditate on. If those thoughts return and they probably will because satan is persistent, demolish them with the truth of the Word, pull them down, take them captive and make them obedient to Christ. These thoughts have been exalted above the knowledge of God. The Name of Jesus is higher, it is above any other name- what is it satan is telling you? That you are weak, inadequate, ill-equipped, stupid? Again, he is a liar. By His divine power He has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of Him. Let's make it personal here: Kathy, by His divine power He has given you everything you need for life and godliness! You might say, "Father God, I thank you that by Your divine power You have given me everything I need for life and godliness!" You can find other Scriptures that fit your specific need, but turn it around and make it a prayer back to God. Above all, remember you can do all things through Christ! His all-surpassing power resides in your jar of clay! Greater is He that is in you than he who is in the world. Step out in faith and watch God do what only He can do through you and in you! You are in my prayers... it is a privilege to lift you up to the Throne. For His glory forevermore, Cheryl Amen Cheryl! I was gonna touch on that earlier today but it slipped my mind Come out of alignment with the enemy Kathy. You are having more faith in his words than what the Lord says. The Lord says that by our mouths confession is made. Don't believe that liar, Satan. I've been through that myself. The enemy told me that if I submit all to God then I will be miserable and that He will do things to embarras or hurt me. I was a baby Christian and I was trying to consume the meat when I was supposed to be on milk (spiritually). I didn't understand who I was in Christ and my foundation was not steady. I was constantly building on an unsteady foundation until the Lord had me to go back to what I first learned about Him and who I am in Him. I was trying to battle Satan with no armor! I am NO WHERE NEAR where I ought to be, but blessed God He has kept me. Satan is a liar and he always will be. He even told me that if I submit all to God that horrible things will happen to my children. When I stopped believeing his lies, as someone else here said, he didn't give up. He then made me believe that I had blasphemed the Holy Spirit and was on my way to hell. Jesus saved me from Satan and his lies and He has kept me HALLELUIAH! Don't let that jerk Satan rob you of your trust in the Lord. He loves you and He only wants whats best for you
	Matthew 16:26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?


kgreen20	Jul 20 2008, 06:12 PM Post #23
Advanced Member Posts: 1,651 Group: Advanced Members Member #96 Joined: January 7, 2006	My foundation, I suspect, is still unsteady, as yours was then. How do I strengthen and steady that foundation? BTW, did your children survive your commitment to God unscathed, I trust? =) Maybe I should watch some more "Touched by an Angel" episodes. Its theme, from start to finish, was "God loves you and wants to be part of your life." Maybe I should just focus on that for a time. That would mean returning to the foundation that is taught to young children in Sunday school. What do you think? Would that help? Edited by kgreen20, Jul 20 2008, 06:14 PM.



w8n4him	Jul 20 2008, 09:12 PM Post #24
Advanced Member Posts: 520 Group: Advanced Members Member #1,473 Joined: July 6, 2007	kgreen20 Jul 20 2008, 06:12 PM My foundation, I suspect, is still unsteady, as yours was then. How do I strengthen and steady that foundation? BTW, did your children survive your commitment to God unscathed, I trust? =) Maybe I should watch some more "Touched by an Angel" episodes. Its theme, from start to finish, was "God loves you and wants to be part of your life." Maybe I should just focus on that for a time. That would mean returning to the foundation that is taught to young children in Sunday school. What do you think? Would that help? ouch! was that the HS speaking?



kgreen20	Jul 20 2008, 09:15 PM Post #25
Advanced Member Posts: 1,651 Group: Advanced Members Member #96 Joined: January 7, 2006	LOL! Seeing as I'm spiritually hard-of-hearing, I'm kind of hard-pressed to answer that one. I'll direct my question to SpiritisWilling. SpiritisWilling, what do you say?



w8n4him	Jul 20 2008, 09:18 PM Post #26
Advanced Member Posts: 520 Group: Advanced Members Member #1,473 Joined: July 6, 2007	kgreen20 Jul 20 2008, 09:15 PM LOL! Seeing as I'm spiritually hard-of-hearing, I'm kind of hard-pressed to answer that one. I'll direct my question to SpiritisWilling. SpiritisWilling, what do you say? you really don't like me do you.................it's ok Lots of people don't like me.



kgreen20	Jul 20 2008, 09:32 PM Post #27
Advanced Member Posts: 1,651 Group: Advanced Members Member #96 Joined: January 7, 2006	LOL.



w8n4him	Jul 20 2008, 09:36 PM Post #28
Advanced Member Posts: 520 Group: Advanced Members Member #1,473 Joined: July 6, 2007



kgreen20	Jul 20 2008, 09:41 PM Post #29
Advanced Member Posts: 1,651 Group: Advanced Members Member #96 Joined: January 7, 2006



MoreofHim	Jul 20 2008, 09:47 PM Post #30
Advanced Member Posts: 546 Group: Advanced Members Member #834 Joined: March 24, 2007	Quote: I didn't understand who I was in Christ and my foundation was not steady. I was constantly building on an unsteady foundation That makes a lot of sense SpiritisWilling and Kathy... if the foundation is not sure then the weight of the "house" can not sustain it. Perfect sense. Kathy, you go back to the basics and rebuild your House on the Rock. A mental ascent to God's word will not sustain you... It is faith (belief) in God's word and obeying God's word as your faith enables you. I started by hungering and thirsting for the things of God. Faith comes by hearing the word... that is how we all start building our spiritual house. I started by learning who I was... what God had to say about me. He has a lot of say about us... He knows us from beginning to end. When I realized who I was (through His word) and through His sacrifice for us on the cross, I drew close to Him like a Father and He became My new Father. My own earthly father hindered me from seeking God, because that fatherly relationship was defiled. As I drew close to God in this way and grew in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, new desires were created in me. Then I only longed to please God, whereas before I only longed to please myself. So change was taking place. He tells us in His word that the Spirit within us will bear witness that we are His. I have this witness in me. When you see yourself changing and there is no logical explanation for the changes... it is supernatural and from God. It was VERY easy, as Christ says: "My yoke is easy." I didn't struggle to lay things down. I didn't TRY to change. I wasn't trying to impress God or EARN my way anywhere. The new desires were PUT there by God. Because I hungered and thirsted for truth and for His Kingdom. That was that all I did. Now I did leave an entire "life" behind... but like I said... it was easy to do so. I have no regrets. And true to God's promise if you seek first the Kingdom of God... He has added EVERYTHING to me... provision, friendship, love, health, peace, shelter, faith, family... and so much more. I am not living in poverty, I am not a broken down vessel, I am not hopeless, I am not alone, I am not sad, I have no regrets, I am not scared, I have no fear, I didn't lose anything of any real value. But I gained EVERYTHING, the greatest being LOVE. The ability to experience love in its purest form and the ability to give it in its purest form. The love that comes from God, with no agenda or self-interest, unconditional, agape love. The kind of love you can give even in the midst of incredible storms, the kind of love that will endure your enemies and give to them even though they strike you. This is divine love. And this is what Jesus came to do... he walked in that love for us so that we might follow Him and become imitators. And what I have now cannot be shaken... But look around, at the world... love is waxing cold. Self-love is what you will see. You'll see the kind of love that seeks its own. The kind of love that says I will love you if you meet my needs, but the minute you stop, I will leave you and find another love. This kind of love is dependent on how it is treated. It is not pure. But the kind of love that comes from God, loves in spite of how it is treated. It is 1 Corinthians 13:4 "Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, It isn't happy when injustice is done, but it is happy with the truth." Kathy, how can you receive Love, if you don't even know what it is? If you consider love, as 1 Corinthians 13:4 defines it, you will conclude that God loves you because He sent His son to walk in this love to show you, even as he was being scourged and accused of wrongdoing and horribly mistreated, he continued to walk in love toward his persecutors FOR YOU. Meditate of this and consider the depth of what this love is and how it was manifest through your Savior on your behalf. And how VERY much God must have loved you to endure this humiliation. I hope this blesses you.
	Quote: "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; That He may teach us concerning His ways, And that we may walk in His paths." Isaiah 2:3


w8n4him	Jul 20 2008, 10:13 PM Post #31
Advanced Member Posts: 520 Group: Advanced Members Member #1,473 Joined: July 6, 2007	you speak to my spirit..... amen, amen and amen



kgreen20	Jul 20 2008, 11:11 PM Post #32
Advanced Member Posts: 1,651 Group: Advanced Members Member #96 Joined: January 7, 2006	Can you give me some tips, MoreofHim? You said, "Kathy, you go back to the basics and rebuild your House on the Rock. A mental ascent to God's word will not sustain you... It is faith (belief) in God's word and obeying God's word as your faith enables you. I started by hungering and thirsting for the things of God. Faith comes by hearing the word... that is how we all start building our spiritual house." Specifically, what steps do I take to rebuild my House, so to speak, my spiritual foundation? I'm already reading my Bible in the mornings and saying my prayers; I also spend some time, during that time, just trying to fellowship with God. Trying to feel His presence. Sometimes I can feel it and sometimes I can't. What, exactly, are the basics I need to go back to? And how? I'm already born again, thank the Lord, so I don't need to go back to that foundation; my spirit is regenerated. But my soul needs to be reprogrammed. Somehow, my spiritual foundation needs to be shored up. How? With what? Edited by kgreen20, Jul 20 2008, 11:11 PM.



SpiritIsWilling	Jul 20 2008, 11:32 PM Post #33
Advanced Member Posts: 520 Group: Advanced Members Member #3,594 Joined: March 22, 2008	Couldn't of said it better MoreofHim! And Kathy, yes my kids are just fine and healthy. Actually, it was Satan that tried to harm them and it was the Lord that sheltered them through it all. Satan was the one who wanted to hurt them, not the Lord As far as building your foundation, there are so many suggestions, but I will give you the ones that worked for me. Strip yourself of EVERYTHING that you have learned from someone else. All of the bible scholars and teachers (even though some are really good). Let the Lord teach you by His Holy Spirit. Forget what someone else's opinion of the word of God says and let Him minister to your spirit. You said that you are already reading John and the gospels, that is a good start. I would stick with the New Testiment like the book of Romans and the others, then go back to the Old Testiment. I found out also that when I was reading the Old Testiment, I found myself getting really frustrated because I thought that there was no way that I was pleasing to a God that HOLY. That is why I had to focus on the New Testiment for a while. Write down all of the verses that pertain to who you are in Christ and what He has done for you. Halleluiah Kathy! God wants ever so much to draw near to you. That is why you are having such a change of heart all of a sudden. It is painful to go through these trying times of your faith, but without the fire, how will the impurities burn off? You are so gonna love the finished product
	Matthew 16:26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?


kgreen20	Jul 20 2008, 11:42 PM Post #34
Advanced Member Posts: 1,651 Group: Advanced Members Member #96 Joined: January 7, 2006	I've been feeling the need for reprogramming for a long time, SpiritisWilling, but I never knew how to go about it or what to do. I've shared my need with others in the past, but while they tried to help me, I never felt that they were really helpful. I just felt that, with the Age of Grace so rapidly drawing to a close and the Rapture looming so near now, time is running out and I need that reprogramming now. OK, I'll focus on the New Testament, as well as those Old Testament passages MoreofHim suggested for me. Any particular New Testament passages I should zero in on, that'll help? Or will just any New Testament passage do? I don't really see myself ceasing all reading of Christian books--that's just not practical. Edited by kgreen20, Jul 20 2008, 11:44 PM.



MoreofHim	Jul 21 2008, 12:12 AM Post #35
Advanced Member Posts: 546 Group: Advanced Members Member #834 Joined: March 24, 2007	Kathy, I gave you my testimony and substantiated it for you with the word of God. I plainly and openly spoke of the regeneration that took place in my heart that came from God, so that you might be blessed. I took you from beginning to end. My life is a living testimony of my faith. Some people think that being unyielding about their beliefs is faith. But the opposite is true. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. The regeneration is a mystery of God and is God-given. You can go to church 365 days a year, you can read your bible 365 days a year, you can pray 365 prayers, you can hang out with 365 Christians. But you can only attain the regeneration through fruits worthy of repentance... For example, there are many homosexuals who are great humanitarians, they can be incredibly giving, very generous, very loving, and good people, even church-going, some are now ministers, preaching the gospel. Through their good works they subconsciously want to be acceptable and pleasing to God... they want to be 'good' people and many of them have done amazing charitable things... Amazing noble things. Adopting starving children, giving to the homeless, donating time and money, laying down their life for a friend... etc. Their deeds are very commendable, even above most Christians that I know. But at the end of the day, despite all of their good deeds, despite all the scriptures that they know and that they stand on, despite all the hours of church service, despite all their "knowledge", despite all the time they spend praying, despite all the times they used Jesus' name, they are unrepentant sinners and their good deeds will not gain them one step into the Kingdom of God. Now please don't shoot me... I actually have a friend who IS gay. I loved her before I knew the Lord and I love her still with the love of the Lord. I have never judged her for being gay, EVER. She knows that I believe every word of the bible, including the part that says that homosexuality is an abomination to the Lord. WE ALL ARE SINNERS. Her sin is just more obvious and out of the closet. And what I love about her, even to this day, is that she KNOWS who she is. She doesn't claim to know anything about God or anything about His ways. Unlike many Christians who do and have far more sinful things in hidden in their closets.
	Quote: "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; That He may teach us concerning His ways, And that we may walk in His paths." Isaiah 2:3


SpiritIsWilling	Jul 21 2008, 08:11 AM Post #36
Advanced Member Posts: 520 Group: Advanced Members Member #3,594 Joined: March 22, 2008	I can relate to that MoreofHim. A few years ago when I was living in sin with my now husband, I didn't want to aknowledge it as sin or confess it as sin. I kept trying to downplay my sin by doing other things that were charitable, hoping that my good deeds would outweigh that one sin (I'm sure I had many other sins, but that was the one that I flat out knew was wrong). Thank God that He opened my eyes to the truth
	Matthew 16:26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?


kgreen20	Jul 21 2008, 09:46 AM Post #37
Advanced Member Posts: 1,651 Group: Advanced Members Member #96 Joined: January 7, 2006	Actually, MoreofHim--and as I type this, I pray this thread won't get sidetracked into a debate over salvation by grace through faith versus salvation by grace through faith plus works--regeneration happens in an instant, when you receive Christ's free gift of salvation. That is when you're made a new person, no longer the old man, so to speak. You cannot attain regeneration through works; it would be futile to even try. And yes, it is God-given; you are right about that. That's why I can confidently say that my spirit has been regenerated. God did that for me when I was born again, decades ago. So that is not the issue here. And I agree that no amount of good deeds will save you. That is not the issue here, either. My issue is my soul. Not the inner part of me that belongs to God, but the part of me that consists of my mind, my emotions, and my will. The part of me that needs rebuilding, reprogramming, etc. We're three parts, believe it or not. We have a spirit; we have a soul; and we have a body. My spirit is reborn and regenerated, and belongs to Christ; my soul is damaged and needs a lot of repair work. In the near future, both my soul and my body will be changed, when I receive my new resurrection body and meet Christ in the air. But in the meantime, my soul needs to be worked on, mended, reprogrammed. Edited by kgreen20, Jul 21 2008, 09:48 AM.



w8n4him	Jul 21 2008, 09:56 AM Post #38
Advanced Member Posts: 520 Group: Advanced Members Member #1,473 Joined: July 6, 2007	For myself, when I recognized and acknowledge and finally understood what it means to die daily, to mySELF, to my SOUL, the regeneration of who I am, began, and continues daily.



MoreofHim	Jul 21 2008, 10:24 AM Post #39
Advanced Member Posts: 546 Group: Advanced Members Member #834 Joined: March 24, 2007	Quote: regeneration happens in an instant You mean like "Abra Cadabra" and poof.. like magic? No discomfort, no surrendering the flesh and its passions through the word of God, no denying oneself, no taking up your cross, no less of me more of you Jesus, you mean... oh thank God I can finally be comforted in my sin. No longer do I have to have a conscious about this sin nature of mine because I believed in Jesus like the demons believed that He was Jesus and so now I am free and a new creation? You mean like, I don't have to do ANYTHING because Jesus will do it all for me? I don't have to surrender my mind? Or my will? Or my emotions? A magic wand will just make me whole and Holy? You mean, I don't even have to repent or lay anything in my life down? You mean like... skipidy doo da... I'm a new man? I've never heard of that gospel. Your safe with your gospel. I won't be taking you off issue any further. I wish you much luck Kathy finding what you are searching for. Many blessings.
	Quote: "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; That He may teach us concerning His ways, And that we may walk in His paths." Isaiah 2:3


w8n4him	Jul 21 2008, 10:59 AM Post #40
Advanced Member Posts: 520 Group: Advanced Members Member #1,473 Joined: July 6, 2007	I will add something further. It's a bit of reading, but it may help explain some things to you..... An understanding of the Hebraic covenants and their application to the scriptures is like watching a black and white TV, and all of a sudden its in color! First is the Blood covenant, entering into a relationship of servitude, wherein we must learn obedience, Next is the salt covenant, that explains the perpetual covenant of friendship.....cannot be broken... then the sandal covenant, also called the covenant of inheritance, and they explain the ancient Hebrew custom of using sandals to define boundaries..... This equivalized in human parenting where if a parent does a good job of training a child in obedience (blood covenant), the child will become a friend (salt covenant).. a son or daughter who matures and becomes a responsible adult eventually qualifies for an inheritance (sandal covenant). As with the covenants we make with God, progressing to the salt and sandal covenant is a major goal of parenting, but neither one is where effective parenting begins. If you start by being a child's friend instead of training him or her in obedeience, you have the whole thing backwards. Likewise in our evolving covenants with God. The relationship offered by each of the preceding covenants makes the next covenant possible. And all of this leads into a major point: As we enter into each new or "renewed" covenant with God we do not leave behind the responsibilities - or the benefits - of the preceding one. all of this points to the final covenant, the one of betrothal. The most intimate relationship we can have with God.......



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