I'm tired and kind of ticked off at God/Life I suppose.
I look through the threads here and am not finding what's on my brain.
What's on my brain is this.............What the heck is going on here? I'm a person. I didn't do anything wrong, did I? I mean I have done a lot of things wrong after I knew what right and wrong were but you know what I mean. Now I do right or wrong according to what my conscience says or what lawmakers say but even then I am only seeking to survive and find a bit of peace and happiness.
All this talk about God and righteousness and grace and temples and inner and outer courts and arks and floods and crucifixions and winged chariots and on and on and on..........what the heck does any of this have to do with me just trying to survive and pay the bills?
Who is this God who demands so much from us who have so little? I cannot find it in me to even love Him. I am too tired trying to survive this dung hill we call life.
Boy, I sound real negative don't I? I suppose I am but I am trying to say something and those who will hear will hear, those who won't, won't.
We praise God, we cry for mercy, we thank Him for grace. Why? Praise God for this horrible world or for our lives that are filled with pain and misery most of the time? Praise Him for saving us from something that really wasn't our fault? Praise Him for creating us and setting up a hellish existence for us to live in? Praise Him for bringing us to Heaven? Isn't this what He should do?
How about mercy? My God, is this how much we lower ourselves that we beg for mercy for something we didn't really do from Someone who is supposed to love us? Sure I'm no saint, like Michael Jackson was no saint, but the guy was just surviving the best he knew how. People are asking if he was right with God? So what if he was or wasn't. He broke a bunch of rules, Biblical and others, but he worked with what he was born with.
How about Grace? Grace for what? Grace for being born into a cesspool and then trying to swim out of it? Grace for existing. Grace for being born weak and dead and blind?
Oh well gang, I am just airing a bit. Trying to be honest and maybe going too far. I'm just tired of the candlesticks and knocking on the door and the elect and the chosen and free will and sovereignty and forbidden apples and trees and coins in the mouths of fish and on and on and on.
God is. I sense it but I'm tired..................of the mixed messages and mysteriousness of it all and I'm real tired of being blamed for any of this crap I am basically forced to endure.
Better stop before I go too far.
cp
Sounds to me like you're on the right track!
You've got the questions; now find the answers.
Man BServ, you are a bright light in my dark world. I mean it. You've been good for me and I thank you friend!!!
I do have some answers, thanks to you and others here, and they are good. I will take your advice though and keep seeking.
Thanks again!
cp
Hi CP!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0ykm1v9xbU&NR=1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0ykm1v9xbU&NR=1)
I like the part where they are suddenly whisked away to this beautiful land.
CP, y'know... I've been where you are plenty of times, and I'm sure I'll be back to visit plenty MORE times in the future. It's just part of life.
We're here because God has something in store for us. we are going BACK HOME, CP. But God has to SHOW us something first. He has to show us something before we CAN go back home. We have to go through this futility... so that we will HOPE for a better world. He is instilling in all of us... a HOPE. A hope for the unseen.
God is showing us a lot of things. The main thing this life is going to show us, is HIS LOVE. Not that we are horrible creatures, but that we are LOVED. And we ALWAYS HAVE BEEN and we ALWAYS WILL BE.
Get your mind on the unseen eternal, friend.
Yep, this life is futile and you know what? It SHOULD BE. Because this ain't the real life. It's all part of the plan, bro.
There is good and there is bad. It's a contrast. We cling to the good, and sorrow over the bad. But didn't God tell us that our sorrow will be turned to LAUGHTER? LAUGHTER!! Not just joy, but actual LAUGHTER. That is pretty amazing.
We would not UNDERSTAND love, we would not GET IT.... unless we walked through this journey here first.
We're all on a journey back home. And we will never take love for granted ever again.
We will finally ALL be prepared to live in eternity.
The futility is part of the plan, bro...
I love ya.
I have been in complete darkness for weeks now.
And just 2 days ago did he shine the light down on me and reach out and lift me up.
I'm going to say some prayers for you.
I like you a lot.
You are one of my favorite posters here.
You just are.
When you hurt, I hurt.
peace to you, my friend...
your sis,
sparrow
I'm a prisoner in an alien body. I've been exiled to a garbage planet where everybody dies. I survived the 20th century, the darkest in their recorded history, where other inhabitants killed each other by the millions. Yet they think they've made much progress beyond previous eras.
Their best hope surrounds the greatest human who ever lived which they killed. He nevertheless overcame death and went into higher realms so can manifest in any of us as a door into God and incorruptible life. Yet this has been mostly commercialized and taken over by a bureaucracy of deceived professionals who neither enter themselves nor allow anybody else to.
I've spent much time getting my mind and heart free from the sins against me in my early years here in the body of a child. By re-reading many times the record God gave of His Son I'm getting free from religious indoctrination too, though many keep trying to get rid of that book.
They've hurt me, lied about me and even organized against me. Whether they will kill me or not I don't know yet (though they do have a penchant for that sort of thing;) but, I know I'll escape them and be completely free one day. I'm going to be like my Father and none is greater than Him.
Quote from: sparrow on June 26, 2009, 05:45:54 AM
Hi CP!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0ykm1v9xbU&NR=1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0ykm1v9xbU&NR=1)
I like the part where they are suddenly whisked away to this beautiful land.
CP, y'know... I've been where you are plenty of times, and I'm sure I'll be back to visit plenty MORE times in the future. It's just part of life.
We're here because God has something in store for us. we are going BACK HOME, CP. But God has to SHOW us something first. He has to show us something before we CAN go back home. We have to go through this futility... so that we will HOPE for a better world. He is instilling in all of us... a HOPE. A hope for the unseen.
God is showing us a lot of things. The main thing this life is going to show us, is HIS LOVE. Not that we are horrible creatures, but that we are LOVED. And we ALWAYS HAVE BEEN and we ALWAYS WILL BE.
Get your mind on the unseen eternal, friend.
Yep, this life is futile and you know what? It SHOULD BE. Because this ain't the real life. It's all part of the plan, bro.
There is good and there is bad. It's a contrast. We cling to the good, and sorrow over the bad. But didn't God tell us that our sorrow will be turned to LAUGHTER? LAUGHTER!! Not just joy, but actual LAUGHTER. That is pretty amazing.
We would not UNDERSTAND love, we would not GET IT.... unless we walked through this journey here first.
We're all on a journey back home. And we will never take love for granted ever again.
We will finally ALL be prepared to live in eternity.
The futility is part of the plan, bro...
I love ya.
I have been in complete darkness for weeks now.
And just 2 days ago did he shine the light down on me and reach out and lift me up.
I'm going to say some prayers for you.
I like you a lot.
You are one of my favorite posters here.
You just are.
When you hurt, I hurt.
peace to you, my friend...
your sis,
sparrow
Perfect words sparrow, thanks.
It is ingrained on my grey matter that I am a worthless sinner saved by grace and I was at a concert where hundreds of people were like begging God to forgive them and thanking Him for doing so. This went on for hours and I looked up and said to God, what did these people do to you that warrents such groveling? I actually got a response back within my being that seemed to say that God was embarrassed by such groveling. It didn't seem like worship, it seemed like groveling.
I asked Him what we did to Him, what I did to Him. I'm not trying to avoid Him. I firmly believe He can reveal Himself to anyone to the point where sin and darkness must flee. In other words I think no man can see God as He truely is and reject Him. It is the false images of Him we reject, not Him. It is the religious pictures of Him that are planted in our minds that keep us from Him.
Anyway, I think I am moving from the idea we are poor wretched creatures saved by this great Saviour. I really like the way you put it sparrow....................... all your words hit home.
We're in this together............you, me, God, Hitler, all of us, we're in this together.
This really is causing me to reconsider many of my beliefs. We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. OK, I'll buy that but why have we all sinned? Did we all start out with a perfect heavenly mind and then choose to sin? I don't think I did. Maybe in Adam I did and I can accept that, that I am in Adam. But now it starts getting weird doesn't it?
I don't see Adam as one guy who ran around in a garden, naked, a long time ago. Just doesn't make even one tiny bit of sense if looked at that way. If that was true and I am reaping what he sowed then he would be the first person I would look up in Heaven so I could wallop him a good one up side the head! But to me he isn't. He is all of us as is Christ. Our beginning is Adam, our end is Jesus in whom God is well pleased.....................torked as all hell at Adam yet pleased as punch with Jesus.
Again, you worded it so good, thanks again.
cp
Quote from: reFORMer on June 26, 2009, 05:53:48 AM
I'm a prisoner in an alien body. I've been exiled to a garbage planet where everybody dies. I survived the 20th century, the darkest in their recorded history, where other inhabitants killed each other by the millions. Yet they think they've made much progress beyond previous eras.
Their best hope surrounds the greatest human who ever lived which they killed. He nevertheless overcame death and went into higher realms so can manifest in any of us as a door into God and incorruptible life. Yet this has been mostly commercialized and taken over by a bureaucracy of deceived professionals who neither enter themselves nor allow anybody else to.
I've spent much time getting my mind and heart free from the sins against me in my early years here in the body of a child. By re-reading many times the record God gave of His Son I'm getting free from religious indoctrination too, though many keep trying to get rid of that book.
They've hurt me, lied about me and even organized against me. Whether they will kill me or not I don't know yet (though they do have a penchant for that sort of thing;) but, I know I'll escape them and be completely free one day. I'm going to be like my Father and none is greater than Him.
reform, you mystic you! I hear ya and know you heard me. Thanks.
It is hard to learn but it seems even harder to UNlearn!
cp
Why is this thread going from the title "Tired and Ticked" to "What it's Like"?
cp
Im reminded of the movie cast away.
chuck noland had to stay/kept on the island for 4 yrs to build up his muscles among other things before he could be freed from the island.
all is well. martin zender writes:
As a Roaring Lion
"Be sober! Watch! For your plaintiff, the Adversary, is walking about as a roaring lion, seeking someone to swallow up" (First Peter 5:8).
If my plaintiff, the Adversary, is walking about as a roaring lion, then he must not really be one.
If you are going to a Halloween party dressed up as a tube of toothpaste, then it stands to reason that you are really not a tube of toothpaste. Example:
"Phyllis! Is that a tube of toothpaste walking up our driveway?"
"Either that, Bill, or it's someone dressed up as a tube of toothpaste."
How does the Adversary seek to swallow someone? Most people would say, "By making them sin. By putting hate in their heart. By making them quit church." No. These people are giving Satan too much power. He loves it when people think that. Wouldn't you rather drive Satan crazy? Then accept everything from the hand of God. Trouble? Thank you, Lord. Heartache? Thank you, Lord. Frustration? Thank you, Lord. I know this is a radical way of thinking and that it is sometimes nearly impossible to do, but it is the scriptural ideal (see Romans 8:28, Ephesians 1:11, and Job 2:10).
As long as you keep thinking that Satan can do this or that to thwart God's will for your life, then he's got you convinced that he really is a roaring lion. By consciously giving Satan the potential ability to ruin God's designs for you, you have fallen for his trick and have swallowed his line. By getting you to swallow him, he has swallowed you.
The Adversary walks about as a roaring lion.
The big liar.
ALL things © copyright 2001-2009 by Martin Zender. All rights reserved.
chuckt
Quote from: claypot on June 26, 2009, 04:43:47 AM
I'm tired and kind of ticked off at God/Life I suppose.
I look through the threads here and am not finding what's on my brain.
What's on my brain is this.............What the heck is going on here? I'm a person. I didn't do anything wrong, did I? I mean I have done a lot of things wrong after I knew what right and wrong were but you know what I mean. Now I do right or wrong according to what my conscience says or what lawmakers say but even then I am only seeking to survive and find a bit of peace and happiness.
All this talk about God and righteousness and grace and temples and inner and outer courts and arks and floods and crucifixions and winged chariots and on and on and on..........what the heck does any of this have to do with me just trying to survive and pay the bills?
Who is this God who demands so much from us who have so little? I cannot find it in me to even love Him. I am too tired trying to survive this dung hill we call life.
Boy, I sound real negative don't I? I suppose I am but I am trying to say something and those who will hear will hear, those who won't, won't.
We praise God, we cry for mercy, we thank Him for grace. Why? Praise God for this horrible world or for our lives that are filled with pain and misery most of the time? Praise Him for saving us from something that really wasn't our fault? Praise Him for creating us and setting up a hellish existence for us to live in? Praise Him for bringing us to Heaven? Isn't this what He should do?
How about mercy? My God, is this how much we lower ourselves that we beg for mercy for something we didn't really do from Someone who is supposed to love us? Sure I'm no saint, like Michael Jackson was no saint, but the guy was just surviving the best he knew how. People are asking if he was right with God? So what if he was or wasn't. He broke a bunch of rules, Biblical and others, but he worked with what he was born with.
How about Grace? Grace for what? Grace for being born into a cesspool and then trying to swim out of it? Grace for existing. Grace for being born weak and dead and blind?
Oh well gang, I am just airing a bit. Trying to be honest and maybe going too far. I'm just tired of the candlesticks and knocking on the door and the elect and the chosen and free will and sovereignty and forbidden apples and trees and coins in the mouths of fish and on and on and on.
God is. I sense it but I'm tired..................of the mixed messages and mysteriousness of it all and I'm real tired of being blamed for any of this crap I am basically forced to endure.
Better stop before I go too far.
cp
Hi cp, don't let anyone tell you to not be honest about your feelings. Jesus was the most honest of all, people can soft sell it, but Jesus sweated blood in opposition to what Jesus knew God wanted him to do.
He did obey, but no one can give a convincing argument that Jesus (this sweet kind perfect man) in anyway wanted to be crucified. He abhorred the idea, no one just passively honors God in the divine acceptance and sweats blood hoping to get out of it.
We need more people that looks at things and says WTF!!!! Nothing wrong with that at all.
This may not apply to you, but in the past the reason I got so angry at God is because I was taught how terrible I was, taught that I fall short and that I sin and thats why God would not deliver me from all my circumstances. It's hogwash, those teachings aren't worth a plug nickel.
All those references to our "bad" state are about how Glorious we are because we are worthy to be on a path to righteousness. If we are so bad, then God certainly doesn't need to bother giving a crap about us.
Life is and you did nothing to deserve it because no one was asked to be born. I feel ya and only hope that you can see that it is not you, but since it is life and sometimes it sucks, lets try to do what we can to make the best of it together.
A yr and a half ago my friends daughter was murderd, people were telling her its not good to be mad at god and not to question him, i was like HUH??
i told her its fine and be honest shake your fist and question all you want. how can we hide from him?
you are right, be honest, but thankfull as best you can.
peace
chuckt
QuoteWhat's on my brain is this.............What the heck is going on here? I'm a person. I didn't do anything wrong, did I? I mean I have done a lot of things wrong after I knew what right and wrong were but you know what I mean. Now I do right or wrong according to what my conscience says or what lawmakers say but even then I am only seeking to survive and find a bit of peace and happiness.
All this talk about God and righteousness and grace and temples and inner and outer courts and arks and floods and crucifixions and winged chariots and on and on and on..........what the heck does any of this have to do with me just trying to survive and pay the bills?
I hear you cp. Hopefully I can encourage you a bit with my words, as I do identify with what you are saying. You are human! What do the symbols of of temples and outer courts etc have to do with paying the bills? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. These are the deeper things of God, and have nothing to do with the world, and they are not meant to.
I know that sometimes, it gets overwhelming. But don't we see that even Jesus had to take a break? He had to get away too. Paul says to study to show thyself approved of God, a workman rightly dividing the word of truth. But he didn't say shouldn't take a break and .... just BREATHE.
CP, I think you should just breathe a bit. Rest your bones. But don't be surprised if, after resting, you are ready to get back into your search. I just hope that your need for rest doesn't cause you to reject the work entirely. But the deeper things have nothing to do with the cares of the world, which is why for us little humans, it gets to be a weight that we need to step out from and just BE.
QuoteWho is this God who demands so much from us who have so little? I cannot find it in me to even love Him. I am too tired trying to survive this dung hill we call life.
Boy, I sound real negative don't I? I suppose I am but I am trying to say something and those who will hear will hear, those who won't, won't.
I hear you bro.
QuoteWe praise God, we cry for mercy, we thank Him for grace. Why? Praise God for this horrible world or for our lives that are filled with pain and misery most of the time? Praise Him for saving us from something that really wasn't our fault? Praise Him for creating us and setting up a hellish existence for us to live in? Praise Him for bringing us to Heaven? Isn't this what He should do?
Yes! But it takes such a walk in life to understand why and how we can do it. I haven't made it quite yet myself. We have to grow, and growth is HARD! I have cried this out too, and that is why I hope you can take my words as encouragement, because I know it gets DRY to be on a forum and talk, talk, talking. You have to breathe sometimes.
QuoteHow about mercy? My God, is this how much we lower ourselves that we beg for mercy for something we didn't really do from Someone who is supposed to love us? Sure I'm no saint, like Michael Jackson was no saint, but the guy was just surviving the best he knew how. People are asking if he was right with God? So what if he was or wasn't. He broke a bunch of rules, Biblical and others, but he worked with what he was born with.
How about Grace? Grace for what? Grace for being born into a cesspool and then trying to swim out of it? Grace for existing. Grace for being born weak and dead and blind?
It'll all be made right in due time. I'm sorry that the burden is so heavy sometimes. But I know that God has seized upon you and you will get through it. We all are with you. Much love.
:HeartThrob: :HeartThrob: :HeartThrob:
Quote from: cpOur beginning is Adam, our end is Jesus in whom God is well pleased.....................torked as all hell at Adam yet pleased as punch with Jesus
13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
14Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. --Rev 22
Quote from: Molly on June 26, 2009, 09:53:34 PM
Quote from: cpOur beginning is Adam, our end is Jesus in whom God is well pleased.....................torked as all hell at Adam yet pleased as punch with Jesus
13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
14Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
--Rev 22
Amen and amen, Molly!
Being a clay pot is tough. Sometimes the Potter really digs His thumb in.
Man, you all are doing me a world of good. I was a bit worried putting out my thoughts and feelings. Thought I might offend too much. You all are great. I have read and re-read your words and they are ministering.
Now let me say that I am not really burned out or anything although maybe I am but airing my thoughts to you all is like a breath of fresh air. It really makes me feel good. I'm surprised. I've had these thoughts bottled up for a long time. It's weird but the 'God package' I have within me is so riddled with traditional stuff and it is so subtle that I didn't realize how it was affecting me. I thought I was a free spirit especially with seeing so much in the teachings here. But then I realized that even these 'UR' teachings may not really touch the heart of the matter which to me are what I wrote originally here in this thread.
It's not so much I am frustrated or depressed (although those do enter in I suppose) but it's like a light has come on and I'm a bit confused and maybe angry about how deceived I've been. I mean seeing all those people at the concert (and I've seen this a million times in churches and other Christian gatherings) seeing them all just saying how rotten they were and how thankful they are to God for saving them and then begging God to favor them with His presence.........I thought how phony this is. Do they really think they did something wrong? People don't generally THINK and that's our whole problem but then again I think I think too much and that is my problem so what can we do??!!
You all have some good advice that I will heed but know I am still strong in my faith in God, it's just that it almost seems like a new 'God' I am seeing but of course it's not. I'm looking forward to re-studying His word in this new light.
cp
Your not alone CP, just look how Jesus felt
Mt 26:38 Then He is saying to them, Sorrow-stricken is My soul to death. Remain here and watch with Me."
My GOSH CP, I thought being a believer we had to act like Jesus all happy and gleeful all the time, :laughing7:
Glad you are feeling a little better CP. I don't really have any great insights hee and I feel that the others are on the right track,but I will keep you in my prayers...God Bless
This is my first post in about a week. I haven't visited or read any posts either. I just needed time to breathe. There are brothers and sisters in Christ who are more mature than me on here and have blessed me dearly. But the deep things of God must be ingested in portions, not force fed. The 1000 year periods, age abiding chastisements, it's all good, but it's alot to receive.
If anyone were to get offensive to your response I would ask them to question there own insecurities? You mention the God/religion package we all receive at one time. Well being"super spiritual christian guy who's so connected with God he has more conversations with him then he does people" can go into that category. It's OK to have questions. I commend you for posting them. A lot of us just ponder within ourselves because we're afraid to ask them.
Thanx for posting,
Grace and peace,
Brandon
Perhaps, CP,
You feel like you have no where to lay your head?
Quote from: chuckt on June 26, 2009, 06:51:07 PM
Im reminded of the movie cast away.
chuck noland had to stay/kept on the island for 4 yrs to build up his muscles among other things before he could be freed from the island.
all is well. martin zender writes:
As a Roaring Lion
"Be sober! Watch! For your plaintiff, the Adversary, is walking about as a roaring lion, seeking someone to swallow up" (First Peter 5:8).
If my plaintiff, the Adversary, is walking about as a roaring lion, then he must not really be one.
If you are going to a Halloween party dressed up as a tube of toothpaste, then it stands to reason that you are really not a tube of toothpaste. Example:
"Phyllis! Is that a tube of toothpaste walking up our driveway?"
"Either that, Bill, or it's someone dressed up as a tube of toothpaste."
How does the Adversary seek to swallow someone? Most people would say, "By making them sin. By putting hate in their heart. By making them quit church." No. These people are giving Satan too much power. He loves it when people think that. Wouldn't you rather drive Satan crazy? Then accept everything from the hand of God. Trouble? Thank you, Lord. Heartache? Thank you, Lord. Frustration? Thank you, Lord. I know this is a radical way of thinking and that it is sometimes nearly impossible to do, but it is the scriptural ideal (see Romans 8:28, Ephesians 1:11, and Job 2:10).
As long as you keep thinking that Satan can do this or that to thwart God's will for your life, then he's got you convinced that he really is a roaring lion. By consciously giving Satan the potential ability to ruin God's designs for you, you have fallen for his trick and have swallowed his line. By getting you to swallow him, he has swallowed you.
The Adversary walks about as a roaring lion.
The big liar.
ALL things © copyright 2001-2009 by Martin Zender. All rights reserved.
chuckt
Hi Chuck, I just wanted to boast that I had 'Martin Zender' over to my house not too long ago. He's a fighter!
cp
Here, CP,
Is something that gives me finality!
"This is not the church realm we have known, my friend, this is the incorruptible, immortal, unchangeable, omnipotent, eternal realm of God! And it is not a realm we enter after death, in some far-off heaven somewhere, but it is the realm prepared for God's mature sons right here upon earth, the realm of God's fullness, of perfection, of maturity, of wisdom, of power and dominion, where God is all that He is in His people — the realm of manifest sonship!" — Preston Eby
ALL things © copyright 2001-2009 by Martin Zender. All rights reserved.
= beware.
This is such a great thread.
It's in our weakness that the glory of God is truly revealed.
It's true.
CP, I'm so glad that you shared what you shared.
And I'm very grateful to be part of this forum.
I've been a member here for a very long time.
Way back when we had the old board and then we all had to re-register.
This forum has gone through a lot of different phases and I have to say,
I am really digging this current phase.
It's open, honest, and I feel very comfortable.
I wouldn't have said that 2 or so years ago.
But I'm glad it is what it is now...
This thread is a great example of what it means to see each other as brothers and sisters.
This is the way it's supposed to be.
I appreciate each and everyone of you.
Well, sorry to sidetrack but just wanted to share.
peace to you CP.
If we can't share our darkness/frustration/confusion/indifference/fear/whatever, than we are truly not "fellowshipping". Going through the deep valleys are what makes us stronger. What's that saying.."When you're down to nothing, God is up to something" I have found that to be true on many occasions. If you never "go there" in your mind (the wondering, the tearing things apart and examining them, the questioning, the anger, and even fear) if you never go there, you'll never GET ANYWHERE. That's the way I see it.
God WANTS us to tear things apart and QUESTION them. God wants us to shake our fists in the air and ask "WHY GOD??? WHY???" If we didn't... we would be very shallow. We wouldn't have depth. And we wouldn't know very many things about our Father.
Our Father wants us to know Him.
With all of His heart... He wants us to KNOW him.
Peace...
Follow on...
To KNOW HIM,
as I know you.
claypot
I've been depressed and going through some very similar thoughts for several months. Some are more piercingly personal, I mean my worthlessnes and failure to obtain other than mostly words. Over a month ago I wrote that, "What It's Like" in much the same state of mind as you describe. One truth that many share is how we are to find Him in the midst of the world of contradicting experience and a self in a body of humiliation, weakness and corruption. What much of the challenge is about is to obtain the coming into manifestation of God within us enabling us to rise above all things, to "obtain Power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you..." It's not to just suffer, pray to not be bitter and sense the comforting presence of God. That is good as far as it goes. We are supposed to be motivated by the pressure from the inclosing futility and suffering, our helplessness in the face of so much contradiction of God as good. It all should drive us to enter through a gate that is the smallest of all seeds. One brother says, if you are lowly enough you can pass through the mustard seed with plenty of room to not bump your elbows. To inherit the kingdom of God means we escape into the glory of God and obtain power to answer these things in the lives of others. He's the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."
8My friends, I want you to know what a hard time we had in Asia. Our sufferings were so horrible and so unbearable that death seemed certain. 9In fact, we felt sure that we were going to die. But this made us stop trusting in ourselves and start trusting God, who raises the dead to life. 10God saved us from the threat of death, and we are sure that he will do it again and again.
--2 Cor 1
7We are like clay jars in which this treasure is stored. The real power comes from God and not from us. 8We often suffer, but we are never crushed. Even when we don't know what to do, we never give up. 9In times of trouble, God is with us, and when we are knocked down, we get up again. 10-11We face death every day because of Jesus. Our bodies show what his death was like, so that his life can also be seen in us. 12This means that death is working in us, but life is working in you.
--2 Cor 4
Quote from: Beloved Servant on June 27, 2009, 05:32:51 AM
ALL things © copyright 2001-2009 by Martin Zender. All rights reserved.
= beware.
im pretty sure good ol martin dosent mind me posting his stuff and giving him credit. :thumbsup: specially here on tentmaker.
chuckt
Quote from: claypot on June 26, 2009, 04:43:47 AM
I'm tired and kind of ticked off at God/Life I suppose.
I look through the threads here and am not finding what's on my brain.
What's on my brain is this.............What the heck is going on here? I'm a person. I didn't do anything wrong, did I? I mean I have done a lot of things wrong after I knew what right and wrong were but you know what I mean. Now I do right or wrong according to what my conscience says or what lawmakers say but even then I am only seeking to survive and find a bit of peace and happiness.
All this talk about God and righteousness and grace and temples and inner and outer courts and arks and floods and crucifixions and winged chariots and on and on and on..........what the heck does any of this have to do with me just trying to survive and pay the bills?
Who is this God who demands so much from us who have so little? I cannot find it in me to even love Him. I am too tired trying to survive this dung hill we call life.
Boy, I sound real negative don't I? I suppose I am but I am trying to say something and those who will hear will hear, those who won't, won't.
We praise God, we cry for mercy, we thank Him for grace. Why? Praise God for this horrible world or for our lives that are filled with pain and misery most of the time? Praise Him for saving us from something that really wasn't our fault? Praise Him for creating us and setting up a hellish existence for us to live in? Praise Him for bringing us to Heaven? Isn't this what He should do?
How about mercy? My God, is this how much we lower ourselves that we beg for mercy for something we didn't really do from Someone who is supposed to love us? Sure I'm no saint, like Michael Jackson was no saint, but the guy was just surviving the best he knew how. People are asking if he was right with God? So what if he was or wasn't. He broke a bunch of rules, Biblical and others, but he worked with what he was born with.
How about Grace? Grace for what? Grace for being born into a cesspool and then trying to swim out of it? Grace for existing. Grace for being born weak and dead and blind?
Oh well gang, I am just airing a bit. Trying to be honest and maybe going too far. I'm just tired of the candlesticks and knocking on the door and the elect and the chosen and free will and sovereignty and forbidden apples and trees and coins in the mouths of fish and on and on and on.
God is. I sense it but I'm tired..................of the mixed messages and mysteriousness of it all and I'm real tired of being blamed for any of this crap I am basically forced to endure.
Better stop before I go too far.
cp
Behold an Israelite in whom there is no guile!
That's what Jesus said to one that was so transparent.
I don't think your attitude bothers "HIM" at all.
It may a man. ha But not HIM. Solomon sure
knew how you felt! "This is a sore travail that He
hath given to the sons of men to be exercised
therewith" is what he said.
I get sick of all of it too, and then walla.........here comes
the "GIFT" All shiney and New. A revelation. A word
from on High. It makes me forget the travail. It spurs
me on. It makes me know I am the work of HIS Hands.
Really, the only thing we are sick of is our "own" stuff. ha
Don't apologize. Everyone here has those feelings at
times.
Cp,
been there, done that, problably will again :sigh:
There was a time,way back...when I would bury what I was
feeling.out of fear or shame,I don't know,both?
But I tell you...the most wonderful thing happened when
I quit doing that..and just told Him what was on my mind or
in my heart[it isn't always pretty]
I found out that it became easier to bear these things..
and our relationship took on
a level of intimacy that I hadn't had before.
Love,trust and understanding go hand in hand
trust Him enough to know that HE WILL CONTINUE TO LOVE
YOU EVEN THROUGH THE HARD TIMES AND THAT HE
ALONE UNDERSTANDS YOU LIKE NO-ONE ELSE..
He understands your anxiety,fears,frustrations,frailty
He knows when your overwhelmed,tired,at the end of your rope
fed up,beat down,confused,irritable and out of sorts.
Don't worry about measuring up,none of us can....we can't add
a cubit to our stature.HE makes up for what we lack...that
work was done on the cross by His Son.
sometimes all we can do,is endure in hope
there's not a whole lot of joy when your enduring or
long-suffering...but this, too,shall pass,and joy cometh
in the morning .
Sheila
hi ya claypot,
i love honest people like you who do not whitewash life, especially because they are a believer, are honest to say that life isn't hunky dory and God doesn't shield them from the nastier things and people in life.
for years before i came to believe in the truth of universalism, i would go from church to church to find peace in my soul. i just never found it. i used to think that there must be something wrong with me, because the christians i met never seemed to have problems or doubts except yours truly. i would often come home from church in tears. i am slowly trying to be myself in that i believe what i believe regardless of what others think. it is hard though. i am so used to being spoon fed.
Clay, don't ever be ashamed for being honest, as it does seem as others have said that Jesus loved honest people and told off people who were not what they seemed.
give me a sinner any day to a white washed christian who doesn't seem to see life like other people do.
Godbless and praying
Nancy