Creation Hymn

[Eleutheros]

Here I am again!
I just typed a reply and hit a wrong button and it all disappeared ☹

Arggg! I hate it when that happens! It's a REAL challenge to goodness not to bang the desk and turn the air fire-red with some well-chosen words! Please know that you have my sympathies for your loss; it was my loss, as well, because I would have loved to read all you wrote.

May I suggest that, after you generate the quotes you wish to use in your reply, that you copy it all to a text document, like MS Word, then type out all your thoughts. When you're done, just copy your text back into the reply box and add any BBCode needed.

Also, CTRL+Z  (COMM+Z on Mac) can undo anything just done and may recover something that was deleted.

I can't tell you how many dents are not in my desk and how many singe-marks on my soul were avoided after I started doing this!

I wrote an apology to marie glenn in my reply to her, and so I also offer to you my apologies for the lateness of my reply. College is always a time-intensive endeavor.

So now I will be summarizing. You asked a specific question in how the things you shared had changed my thinking on human beings.

I think it mainly changed my mind, or actually confirmed my spirit, on the subject of the nature of God and His good plans for humankind, more than on the nature of man.

Whoa. So, you're saying that you choose to believe in the goodness of God, even though the influential theologies of Modern Medieval Christianity are largely unsatisfactory in their explanations of how we got here and how we became who we are?

That is faith, Abigail: the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

For believing myself that "Love Wins" as Gary A. says it, I too, put my trust in the goodness of God far and above the ugliness I saw in the logical conclusions of the deterministic theologies that begin with the postulate that God knew as a fact that Man was going to fall before he created them.

That is why I perceive that our theologies are a non-sequitur in Jehovah's dealings with human beings. He seeks out those who's hearts trust in His goodness and respond with goodness themselves, often despite their religion, or their upbringing at the hands of wicked human beings. As Jesus said, "I've not come to call the (religious) righteous, but sinners to repentance." And what is the sinner who repents if he or she is not someone who wishes to be a better person, deep in their heart of thoughts?

So, that is why, ultimately, all I've typed will amount to nothing - for then, we will know even as we are known.

Abigail, it's not a "correct" theology that makes you righteous, it is a good heart and faith that God is agape that makes you righteous; for those with hearts disposed toward goodness, despite their sins, are the ones Jehovah seeks from among all the creeds and ethnicities of human beings to receive his special focus while this age endures. A selection that leads them to love God such that all things work together for good in their lives because they come to acknowledge that Jesus Christ is their redeemer.

It's an on-going thing with Him that began in the Upper Room and will continue until there is nothing left to do but bring an end to all the unrighteousness and evil human beings are capable of. Those human beings will ultimately have to endure the lake of fire before they can voluntarily worship before Him and confess with gladness that Jesus Christ is LORD (Philippians 2:10).

Yet there have been two major changes in my mind concerning mankind over the last couple of years, since God showed me He is indeed the Saviour of all mankind, namely:
-   the knowledge God never gives up on anyone, the knowledge that we all come from the same Father and all will be completely reconciled back to Him eradicated the 'us-them' idea from my heart and made me see all humans in a way as my brothers and sisters
-   the understanding of judgment as being disciplining/saving instead of punitive also changed my mind about the subjects of His judgments. A change from condemnative thinking to caring and loving thinking.

What a great summation of how changing what you choose to believe can change your heart! For what is the heart if it is not the sum-total of the thoughts within us from which we will speak act and react to the words and actions of others?

Yet I feel I still need some more changing of mind in respect to how I see humans – myself and others. I don't fully grasp what our identity in Christ / new creation means, although I've heard so much about it, I still don't fully get it. Is our 'good nature', so to say, something we were originally created and in a sense, have always been (somewhere??)? Or is totally new, never existed before (after all, the bible speaks about a new creation). Or is it what we are in the process of becoming? Or still need to become?

These are very good questions. I've never been asked the like before. It's questions like these that make me pause and re-examine my understanding. Thank you.

The place to start is to know what I mean when I use the word, "good."

What I mean by good is that I am in-tune with my conscience such that I heed my conscience out of a desire to keep it clear, that is unsullied. And when my conscience is not clear because of something I've done or said, I act quickly to rectify the situation by seeking forgiveness and setting my heart to learn what I can about myself and why I "missed the mark," so I don't repeat it. Note, though, that I have to be taking aim before I can miss the mark!

Good also means to me that I am slow to act on conclusions I've drawn concerning another's motivation (judging), especially if they are negative conclusions, and quick to offer words of encouragement from an attitude of appreciation for the human being I'm interacting with.

It also means that I an quick to forgive others when I feel offended by what they say and do, because it also means to me that I embrace empathy.
I am aware of how I think and why I think what I do, and can remember the feelings generated as I think my thoughts (I Cor 2:11). Therefore, with empathy, I can "know before" what other human beings think and feel, given a similar situation. This makes me slow to act on negative feelings toward others for understanding the times when I may have felt a similar emotion, given the circumstances, and said or done something hurtful or rude. Patience, it is said, is a virtue. This is never more evident than when you strive for empathy. Think of your reactions to your children and your own attempts to be patient with them. Or, how you feel toward others actions when you are driving.

I also perceive that part of being good is humility. Humility, simply put, is an attitude of heart that dissuades me from feeling prideful when I know I am being good. It is what makes me do good things "in secret," for not wishing to receive anything in return. And it's in the little things that humility shows; like doing an unpleasant task with grace, or by giving something up for yourself in order that someone else might benefit.

So, my answer to your questions is that we were created to be good, just as Jehovah is good; He is the model for the Goodness that He was attempting to replicate in us at our beginning. That didn't happen. But, we still acquired a conscience; and when that is coupled to a knowledge of Jehovah's goodness, we can know when we are not up to that standard. Many before Jesus were labeled "good" (righteous) human beings, even perfect human beings, by Jehovah, Himself. But not all, not by a long shot.

This is where Jesus comes in. He was sent to annul the work of The Adversary and complete us one by one to become what we were originally created to be, good human beings, good at being human; for "human" is not something we were put here to rise above, rather, it is what we were created to be!

Indeed, when all is said and done - when the work of The Adversary is annulled - the dwelling place of God is with Mankind on Earth. It is not written that, when all is said and done, the dwelling place of Mankind is with God in Heaven. So, except in goodness, how will human beings be different in the New Heavens and New Earth than we are now?

Yep, being human is a very good thing to be!

As to our "Identity in Christ," I've always seen it as a kind of hero-worship thingy, a religious term coined to convey the idea that we are supposed to feel a powerful need to learn all we can about Him so we can emulate Him, much like a child learns all he or she can about his or her hero so they can be like their hero. In other words, we say that this child is identifying with that hero as he or she attempts to emulate their hero's words and actions.

But it sounds too childish to say, "Jesus is my hero." So we create a religious phrase and call this desire were supposed to have to emulate Him our Identity in Christ.

I do not see my Identity in Christ as me being some one I am not already. A better version of me, perhaps, but not some one different from me. In Christ, I am still Dennis! And Jesus is my Hero.

And how is it that we have to 'put it on', when we already ARE it. To me this is not a interest in dogma's, but a desire to see myself and others as God sees us. I suppose you started writing on these issues. You sometimes sign your posts with 'be good', and I perceive I do not fully grasp the meaning of it. And how to be good. And how to 'put of' the old nature. How to identify.

You speak about being 're-sired'. I wondered what you meant by the word (I am not a native speaker of English). And why you chose it instead of the more common 'reborn'. Could you paint this picture a little further?

I would be delighted to paint that picture a little further, and in so doing, perhaps I will provide an answer to your desire to see your self as other's and God see you.

In English "to sire" means, in its simplest form, to provide the seed for conception. English speakers usually limit that word to a male horse or bull who becomes a sire after a successful copulation.

It was also used as an appellation applied to a King, wherein the Sovereign was addressed as Sire, rather than by his name, presumably to emphasize his role as the Father to a nation.

Now, the reason why I choose to expand the meaning of, "to sire" into the idea of our regeneration, as in re-sire, rather than "born-again" or "reborn" was because of what I discovered when John wrote these words:

Yet he who is doing sin is of the Adversary, for from the beginning is the Adversary sinning. For this was the Son of God manifested, that He should be annulling the acts of the Adversary.
Everyone who is begotten of God is not doing sin, for His seed is remaining in him, and he cannot be sinning, for he is begotten of God.
In this are apparent the children of God and the children of the Adversary: everyone who is not doing righteousness is not of God, and who is not loving his brother.

When he penned those words He choose the Greek word for human male sperm, sperma, which the KJV translated as "seed."

I wrote more on that in my reply of Sep 3rd

So, if John, the human being closer to Jesus than any other while Jesus walked the earth, wrote that it was possible to live one's life freed from sin, after having an infusion of Jehovah's "sperm," then that must be what it means to be born again! For John was the only disciple present when Jesus and Nicodemous had their conversation concerning what Jesus meant when he told Nicodemous that he had to be born again to see the Kingdom of God.

Thus, being re-sired by Jehovah should mean that a human being is freed from sin to live a life of righteousness - doing good from being made good – before God.

This is a bizzare concept to embrace, I know. But John choose to write this way, so he must have intended to convey that somehow our regeneration is pre-figured in our sexuality. That is to say, he utilized our earthly sexuality as a metaphor to convey a heavenly truth.

You see, because we have a conscience, We know the difference between right and wrong, even though that conscience's influence is weak to correct us when it comes to our self-justifications. Still, we know when we are being good or bad - unless we are among the ones who have cauterized their conscience by repeated assaults on it with evil doings.

Abigail, throughout the recorded history of our species as we have it in the Bible, there were many instances where human beings were called righteous by Jehovah before it became possible for them to be to be re-sired. Noah, Daniel and Job as well as the Roman Centurion, Cornelius, in Acts, who embraced the God of Judaism as his God, are all examples of those who were righteous before Jesus made it possible to be born again. Even the penitent thief on the cross was told that his heart, expressed in his words, had won him a place among the righteous.

Thus, being a good human being, good at being human, is not only possible, but for those re-sired of Jehovah, it is expected! And it all begins with a desire to be good.

You wrote:

And how is it that we have to 'put it on', when we already ARE it.

In this you are referring to Paul when he wrote:

But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lusts thereof. Rom 13:14

For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Gal 3:27

And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Eph 4:24

And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. Col 3:10-14

In this, I have determined that Paul is utilizing a different metaphor from John to explain the same thing; the result expected from our regeneration.

Paul's metaphor in these scriptures centers around the idea that we look different when we change our clothing. When we put on Christ we should expect that we will behave accordingly, just like when we wear certain clothing we behave differently among the society our clothing puts us in. In other words, again, good behaviors are expected of those who are regenerated.

It's just a different metaphor to describe the same thing.

Furthering that, Paul also thinks of our regeneration in metaphoric terms as Jesus coming to make his home inside of us.

But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His.
And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. Rom 8:9-11

To which Paul must have been influenced by Jesus's words when Jesus said:

And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you." Luk 17:20-21

So, being good human beings is what we were intended to be from the beginning. And that is what we will be in the end, when Love Wins and the work of The Adversary is annulled.

That is why I say, "Be good! It is, after all, what you were created to be!"

Thanks for sharing from your heart,
Abigail

And I thank you for the same.

[Eleutheros]

   Great challenge   Dennis !
  We are to love the way God loves and that is  impossible to do with the human heart  .
  I have considered this  , it take the new heart God gives  in the Holy Sprint to produce  this kind of LOVE   because He alone is the total source of  LOVE   without partiality.

Hey rosered!

It's been a while since we chatted and, remembering you and your heart, I'm glad you chimed in!

I absolutely agree that it is impossible for human beings as We currently are - beings who know the difference between right and wrong and yet cannot bring to reality the Ideal Society that very knowledge puts within Us - to love others as God loves, that is, without partiality and with our eyes wide-open and our spirits filled with discernment, which is wisdom.

And yet there are those human beings who deeply wish We all could "love as God loves," exactly because of the Ideal that dwells within them ("The Kingdom of God is within you..." ). These humans are aware that they "fall short of the Glory of God" (even if they can't put it into words), and thus are among the ones of which Jehovah has foreknowledge - for "knowing before" their hearts - and thus He predestines them to be molded to resemble Jesus in Character and Speech and in Style, that Jehovah may provide Jesus with the First Fruits of many brothers and sisters, whom are His reward for His suffering. Then, of these human beings that He "marked off with a boundary to accomplish a purpose":

1) He calls them to realize and confess their short-falls, often accompanied by tears of penitence - but not always - and receive - through an act of confession that springs from the belief that the Work of Jesus annuls the work of the Adversary - the very Spirit of Jesus Himself inside of them which results in a re-birth similar to what happens when a sperm unites with an ovum. And thus is their conscience cleansed from feeling the consequence that resulted from all their lying, cheating and stealing, from all their un-empathetic self-centeredness, from all their sexual deviance, and from the down-right meanness to which they where once thralls. A cleansed conscience that is now their responsibility to maintain.

2) He then proves them to discover if they are truly right and reasonable - that is to discover if His work of re-siring results in the birth of a new creature, thus eventually giving Him the justification He needs to declare them righteous.

3) He also watches for opportunities to provide for them circumstances in which they might earn high renown for their notable achievements - a glory of righteousness that will preceded them into the Kingdom of God and earn them their allotment in the Kingdom of God when the dwelling place of God is with Mankind.

Well, at least this is how I've come to comprehend what scripture is saying as I contemplate my own experience with re-birth.

And it's all for Love. For when the work of The Adversary is annulled in all of Us, we will all be human beings who love like God loves because we will all be good human beings, good at being human!


 

Humans are such respecter of persons  and only love what loves them back or for a  exchange ... bible explains this too in other places .   Acts 10  James   4 I think ? ..

Matt 5 is full of  comparisons..
I am not " perfect /LOVING " as fully in GODS SPIRIT   as of  yet  and have to admit it  as a truth   my lack  ..

This is my short answer  :HeartThrob:

Yes, well said rosered! This is the nature of agape; to love expecting nothing in return.

Indeed, Paul wrote out for Us exactly what agape looks like in a Believer!

I researched and reworded I Corinthians 13:4-7 so I would know exactly what I meant when I visualize the word agape. I present this paraphrase because it helps me to understand why Love Wins when all that has been said is done. And so, perhaps, it might bring a better understanding to another.

Love is patient and love is kind.
Love is not jealous, nor boastful, nor inflated with pride.
Love is not rude and it's not selfish and it's not easily exasperated—
And it doesn't keep an inventory of offence.
Love is going to feel sorrow at injustice;
But, it will be elated when the truth is revealed!
Love can easily bear the weight of optimism,
And its vigor will never fade!
Love is the elder member
In the enduring family
Of Faith and Hope and Love.

   Be ye there for LOVING as the FATHER  IN HEAVEN IS LOVING ..

   1 John 4   ;17 Love Comes from God
...16And we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us. God is love; whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

17In this way, love has been perfected among us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment; for in this world we are just like Him.

18There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment. The one who fears has not been perfected in love....



John 17:22
I have given them the glory You gave Me, so that they may be one as We are one--



1 John 2:5
But if anyone keeps His word, the love of God has been truly perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him:

1 John 2:6
Whoever claims to abide in Him must walk as Jesus walked.

1 John 2:28
And now, little children, remain in Him, so that when He appears, we may be confident and unashamed before Him at His coming.

You know, John really knows how to write of agape, doesn't he?

And his writing is so unencumbered with religiosity! Plain, straight-forward and simple sentences that declare what We should be like if We love as God loves for being re-sired of Jehovah. Sentences that simply confound all the Medieval theologies that began with Augustine of Hippo and the Latin Vulgate and continue to enthrall those who delight in the logical conclusions drawn from those ulterior theologies.

I John 4:17 really sums it up, doesn't it!

Imagine that! We can love like God in this age!

And isn't believing that something is possible - like being good or loving as God loves - the first step toward making it a reality in your soul?

In other words, how can anyone love as God loves, and how can anyone be good, if they don't first believe that it is possible to love as God loves, and that it is possible to be good?

Don't Arminianisim, Calvinism, Zwingliisim and Lutheranisim, and even Ultimate Reconciliation, lead one to the logical conclusion that it is impossible to love as God loves; that it is impossible to be good, while this age endures?

Isn't it a truth that there is there is only One who is good, and that One is God?

~

Didn't Jesus say, "Be perfect, even as your Father in Heaven is perfect?"

And if "being perfect" doesn't mean to be complete, lacking nothing needed; to be mature, then what does it mean?

So, how then can we be teleios if we don't even believe that it is possible to love like God in this age; if we don't even believe that it is possible to be good in this age?

How?

Of course, I believe you understand, rosered, about how love leads to our perfection, to our teleios

For in our acting toward and reacting to others from a heart filled with thoughts of agape, it is shown to all, and to God, that we are completed; it is proven that we lack nothing needed to be a good human being; it is revealed that we have grown to maturity.

And that teleios we are to become is accomplished with the help of God, Himself, through the Spirit of Jesus that dwells within us, where the Kingdom of God is, and Who prompts us through our conscience to love and to do what is right.

For I perceive that for Him who dwells within us, we are like the work of a human craftsman who labors over a creation of beauty, sweating out the details with touch and tool, until he or she steps back and realizes there is nothing more that needs to be done because the work of beauty the craftsman labored on with purpose, skill and love lacks nothing to be complete; and so it is declared, "perfect."

~

I thank you for your beautiful and insightful comments, rosered, in answer to my challenge. Please know that you are appreciated.  :declare:  :gimmefive:

And keep on being good! Just as you were created to be!  :Peace2:

[rosered]

 

  Blessings bro Dennis ,
  I was so hoping   others would  also   speak up .
  It is a  wonderful thing to     think upon .
I was blessed by  this  and was helpful with all your  sharing   them .
  I am still a work in progress it shows me my own shortcomings   and  needed work of the Lords Spirit  finishing  it in me still .
   
God bless you always ...   Rose

[marie glen]

I've always thought of it as we are vessels.. if yielded, for Him to pour His love through.. and love being "the" law (imo) that's what makes all the difference.. And like Paul wrote.. not as though I am already perfected (100%).. Like Abigail :gsmile: I can still get the impulse if losing a post I worked on, to cuss and bang the desk/table! But like John wrote, we have an advocate.. I apologise to His Spirit (Presence?) and move on.. I'm not the source of any good thing.. He is the one source of good,.. of life.. So I'm not worried about it. Nor shocked that i am not perfect. I think that too may be part of dying to self.. did I cuss a bit :eek: I'm not shocked,! Nor mortified, though there's the spirit that thinks I should be.. disappointed? Sorry? Yes! But not mortified, etc. Nope,  just thankful I can enter His rest.. And that He is faithful to complete the work in me, in all of us, and faithful with what we commit to Him..

But most of all, His Spirit causes us to love, and love works no evil.. wishes no harm.. defrauds no one.. seduces no one.. After Abba Father in our heart as evidence/seal we are His, is, I believe, love.. True affection for our fellow person, both loved ones, brethren and strangers. (Oh that's more than 'both' isn't it? :laughing7:

We certainly, if truly in tune with Him, will not do evil/bad/opposite of good, unto others! :faint: Amen to that! (What a blessing! How amazing the work (creation) He is doing!!!)  :banana: :cloud9:

[Eleutheros]

  Blessings bro Dennis ,
  I was so hoping   others would  also   speak up .
  It is a  wonderful thing to     think upon .
I was blessed by  this  and was helpful with all your  sharing   them .
  I am still a work in progress it shows me my own shortcomings   and  needed work of the Lords Spirit  finishing  it in me still .
   
God bless you always ...   Rose

And you as well, mi Lady.

We are a work in progress, no doubt. The beautiful thing is that, with each new day's challenges, I perceive that I'm getting better at loving others and being good because I believe that I can love others as God loves and that I can be good, just as I was created to be. I believe this because I believe that I have been re-sired of Jehovah and that the work of the Adversary is being annulled in me through the Spirit of Christ that dwells in me.

Yes, I believe this. And that has made all the difference.

Please know that anything you wish to type out, at any time, will be received with appreciation.

May the Spirit of Jesus dwell richly so that you bring forth the fruits of Love, even as you desire to do.

[Eleutheros]

I've always thought of it as we are vessels.. if yielded, for Him to pour His love through.. and love being "the" law (imo) that's what makes all the difference.. And like Paul wrote.. not as though I am already perfected (100%)..

Hey, mi lady,

Yep, Paul wrote it out well:

"Not that I already obtained, or am already perfected. Yet I am pursuing, if I may be grasping also that for which I was grasped also by Christ Jesus. Brethren, not as yet am I reckoning myself to have grasped, yet one thing—forgetting indeed those things which are behind, yet stretching out to those in front—toward the goal am I pursuing for the prize of God's calling above in Christ Jesus." Phil 3:13-14 CLV

And doesn't God know those who are sincere in heart? Didn't He say to Nathaniel when He saw him walking toward Him: Lo! truly an Israelite in whom there is not guile!"?

I want God to perceive this in me.

Paul used Greek words associated with archery to describe sin. Hence sin is "missing the mark." But, notice that you have to be taking aim before you can miss the mark!

Like Abigail :gsmile: I can still get the impulse if losing a post I worked on, to cuss and bang the desk/table!

*Ahem* That was me who wrote that, not Abigail. I'm the one who bangs the desk and says things I have to repent of when I get frustrated. I don't know how Abigail reacts when things like that happen, but I did want to share with her what I do to keep it from happening.

But like John wrote, we have an advocate.. I apologise to His Spirit (Presence?) and move on.. I'm not the source of any good thing.. He is the one source of good,.. of life.. So I'm not worried about it. Nor shocked that i am not perfect. I think that too may be part of dying to self.. did I cuss a bit :eek: I'm not shocked,! Nor mortified, though there's the spirit that thinks I should be.. disappointed? Sorry? Yes! But not mortified, etc. Nope,  just thankful I can enter His rest.. And that He is faithful to complete the work in me, in all of us, and faithful with what we commit to Him..


But most of all, His Spirit causes us to love, and love works no evil.. wishes no harm.. defrauds no one.. seduces no one.. After Abba Father in our heart as evidence/seal we are His, is, I believe, love.. True affection for our fellow person, both loved ones, brethren and strangers. (Oh that's more than 'both' isn't it? :laughing7:

We certainly, if truly in tune with Him, will not do evil/bad/opposite of good, unto others! :faint: Amen to that! (What a blessing! How amazing the work (creation) He is doing!!!)  :banana: :cloud9:

I couldn't agree more! Because what you wrote is exactly what I perceive happens when we listen to the promptings of our conscience! And the conscience, cleansed by Jehovah is that still and small voice that we've all heard so much about...

Please know that anything you wish to type, at anytime, is appreciated.

Keep being good, marieglenn!

May you, too, be fruitful in love.

[marie glen]

Like Abigail :gsmile: I can still get the impulse if losing a post I worked on, to cuss and bang the desk/table!

*Ahem* That was me who wrote that, not Abigail. I'm the one who bangs the desk and says things I have to repent of when I get frustrated. I don't know how Abigail reacts when things like that happen, but I did want to share with her what I do to keep it from happening.

   Oops! Sorry Abigail! :laughing7:

[rosered]

  Blessings bro Dennis ,
  I was so hoping   others would  also   speak up .
  It is a  wonderful thing to     think upon .
I was blessed by  this  and was helpful with all your  sharing   them .
  I am still a work in progress it shows me my own shortcomings   and  needed work of the Lords Spirit  finishing  it in me still .
   
God bless you always ...   Rose

And you as well, mi Lady.

We are a work in progress, no doubt. The beautiful thing is that, with each new day's challenges, I perceive that I'm getting better at loving others and being good because I believe that I can love others as God loves and that I can be good, just as I was created to be. I believe this because I believe that I have been re-sired of Jehovah and that the work of the Adversary is being annulled in me through the Spirit of Christ that dwells in me.

Yes, I believe this. And that has made all the difference.

Please know that anything you wish to type out, at any time, will be received with appreciation.

May the Spirit of Jesus dwell richly so that you bring forth the fruits of Love, even as you desire to do.

Blessings from on High brother ,

  I thank God for those kind  disciples whom give a cup of cold water  in Jesus name

  The Living waters that flow freely   in the dry and thirsty land   [ body of death]  valley of the shadow of death  , God is with us . :dsunny:  as children of the DAY can see   by His light    and becoming   brighter than the dawns early light given  to us whom once also sat in the darkness .

  We do get to experience  life and death and '' all things ''  are ours ,  just as the  Word teaches us we will  and have become a fool for Christ sake     :HeartThrob:


Christ Our Foundation
(Isaiah 28:14-22; 1 Peter 2:4-12)
10By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise master builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one must be careful how he builds. 11For no one can lay a foundation other than  the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ

12If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, 13his workmanship will be evident, because the Day will bring it to light.

It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will prove the quality of each man's work. 14If what he has built survives, he will receive a reward. 15If it is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as one being snatched from the fire.

You are God's Temple
(Romans 12:1-8; 1 Corinthians 6:18-20)
16Do you not know that you yourselves are God's temple, and that God's Spirit dwells in you? 17If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is holy, and you are that temple.

Worldly Wisdom
18Let no one deceive himself. If any of you thinks he is wise in this age, he should become a fool, so that he may become wise. 19For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight. As it is written: "He catches the wise in their craftiness."a 20And again, "The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile."b

21Therefore stop boasting in men. All things are yours, 22whether Paul or Apollos or Cephasc or the world or life or death or the present or the future. All of them belong to you, 23and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.

  Our  hope is in Jesus Christ   and of Gods desire  to save  us all from the power of the grave  by His Life giving Spirit of  Love that is stronger than death ...

[eaglesway]

And He opened the book and found the place where it was written,

18 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,
Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.
He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives,
And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set free those who are oppressed,
19 To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord."
20 And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. 21 And He began to say to them, "Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

[marie glen]

Amen! "..to set free.." I was reading the account of Cornelius and household, as we know, the Gentiles who first received the baptism of the Holy Spirit which Peter said "just as we (apostles, etc) at the beginning". (At Pentecost.)

The dream God sent to Peter just previous, the sheet let down with unclean critters, as far as food.. but God said eat., and how Peter said, no Lord I've never eaten anything not clean..! But then as we know, God said "don't call what I have cleansed, unclean" I was struck with that.. Reading some commentaries, it seems there was quite a discussion about how it was after the baptism of the Holy Spirit that they were baptized, which I never wondered about before. And then I thought it was ahead of it all, that God said "what I have cleansed" :dontknow: just been thinking about it., He sees the future/end from the beginning..

Also very interesting in the verses was about the words in the dream, for Peter to "kill and eat" - kill in the Greek includes, as a sacrifice / an offering.. That struck me too. A pleasing sacrifice.. and don't say it's unclean if He has cleansed it.. and declared it clean..

:dontknow: being a gentile (and a Christian :laughing7: ) that account is a blessing! {What a great world He is making.. no boasting.. All precious in His sight!