Born2BFree

Ah! I forgot to include gentleness. Yes. THAT is a very important gift too, isn't it? I am so glad to have made the acquaintance of such fine examples of spiritual gifts, not the least of which is gentleness. God Bless you gentlemen in your search for the abundant life beyond the words.

I think you will find they 'can' and 'do'. That is true.. Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Eph 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. ...but in the context of this discussion it is not a gift of the Holy Spirit...the Holy Spirit does not distribute 'salvation'...we are talking about the gifts to empower and help the 'Church' in her mission...and about the baptism in the Holy Spirit. OH! YOU mean MONEY! Yes! MONEY IS A REAL EMPOWERING GIFT... Otherwise... one might consider the following... Peace Love Joy Temperance Meekness (now THAT's a REAL tough gift to hold) Patience Brotherly Love Long Suffering Or...and... Prophesy Healing Miracles Wisdom Knowledge Judgement (discernment) I wouldn't include scholarship, or IQ scores or possession of college degrees in the spiritual gifts, though these may be considered 'gifts' and/or convenient acquisitions. It is my belief that The Gift of the Holy Spirit is the driving base for all expressions of gifts labled 'spiritual'... Of course, without the gift of Love, everything else is nothing but vain posturing. God Bless y'all.

Huh? All sin is a repeat of the first error. Each sin poses as something 'new' when its not. Its a tired old record that is stuck in a groove and relentlessly, persistently ... repeats the same sad refrain... You are free to do it. You are free to do it. You are free to do it. The Christian has given up the 'freedom' to choose his way. His choice is God's choice. God... In Himself, He fixed my choice. Bless His name forever!

No one can dispute the presence of spiritual Gifts in the church today. Salvation is a Gift I most certainly hope has not disappeared. As for 'miracles'... Disciples of Christ say miracles ceased with the death of the last disciple/apostle in the New Testament. If this were so... one should wonder about the role of God in their performance. Also, no one should think Christian re-birth in Christ is anything but a MIRACLE. If its not a miracle in your life, its a miracle you can sustain a straight face when telling the lie that you have been born again. Philosophy isn't reality. Some merely live a standard of conduct without having ever contacted the LIFE of Christ and the POWER He gives to enable His children to live an Abundant Life. Rebirth means: Old things have passed away and ALL things are become NEW. New. New Creatures in Christ. Old nature NO MORE. NEW NATURE evermore. New creatures. New people. New LIFE. New desires, hopes, dreams, motives, responses, appetites and interests. New. god bless you!

Both.

BLESSED ARE THEY WHO LOVE THE LAW........................ AND nothing SHALL OFFEND THEM." Hold your confidence (in the love of God) and walk like you always do. Jesus will deal with the problem using you as His instrument of Grace. Have FAITH in God. It is true the Bible tells us: "There is safety in the multitude of counselors..." However, Wisdom is known of her children. Look to God for direction. HE wants her deliverance far MORE than you ever could. Remember that.

Mandatory Mental Health Screening Mandatory State Enforced Remedies: brain function 'stabilizer' drugs Mandatory Political Correctness: Avoid Hate Crimes Law Violation...via 'sanitized' political thoughts Manditory Euthenasia...?

Excuse me... cows 'bleat' and sheep 'moo'...? Or is it the other way around?

OH! I really LIKE what you said! God BLESS you!

One should ask the question first: What exactly IS knowledge and how do we KNOW when we have it? Knowledge is MORE than sticking another fact in your pocket. Its more than applying a rule and getting an anticipated result again and again. What IS knowledge when it applies to KNOWING God? What is REVELATION and what is its connection with KNOWLEDGE about God? Before one may productively examine a topic, one must first identify a beginning that will yeild productive results. Otherwise, its all just vain pretense and this forum is little more than ego on display on the bullitin board at the local laundry mat. Comments?:

The Strength of God is made 'perfect' in our weakness (inability). The purpose of the Christian is to proclaim the Glory of God...to express His reality. When my inability is most apparant, then God's ability is given its correct expression. I cannot presume to claim anything but receipt of His Grace. It is HIS work: His Gift of Grace to me. The strength of God toward the Christian is the certainty of His Promise that He will do what He said He would do. It is impossible to God to LIE. Saten is identified as the source of all LIES. Many Christians are fearful of asking God for something because they are afraid He will NOT give them what they ask for... however, nothing from God is granted due to a person's worthiness. We are not without 'worth' because the blood of Jesus bought our freedom in Christ. However we are without 'merit', or 'righteousness' of our own. We cannot 'earn' merit before God. What we recieve of God is a Gift, because He LOVES us. If we ask according to what He has promised, we can be certain that it is OURS to claim... providing that we have obliged the simple, few, necessary steps to repentence for sin. God tells us in scripture that if we acknowledge our sins (admit they are present), THEN... God is FAITHFUL (to His Promise toward us...) to FORGIVE us and to CLEANSE us from ALL unrighteousness. Unrighteousness is always the barrior between the Christian and receipt of God's Promise. Get the unrighteousness (sin) out of the way and God's ever-present blessings can touch us in all the right places to accomplish just what God intended. Healing is one of these Promises. Tess, YOU will never be able to attain perfection... unless its the goal of becoming a 'perfect' failure... of a 'perfect' mess. Anything that does not correspond with the description in God's Word...about what we ARE in Christ Jesus is not 'real'. We are to refuse to acknowledge anything but the TRUTH that God has already spoken about our condition before God according to His plan of redemption and His purpose of restoration of all our Adamic rights and privileges. Perfect health is one of these described conditions. The Christian Science people are not in error of what they say is promised in the Bible. Their approach to God is in error... their expectation is false... However, their teaching about health is not inaccurate when they quote God's Word. When I am ill (not often) I seek someone who is most skeptical about God and I inform them that I have been healed of my illness. They usually scoff at the idea drawing immediate attention to my visible symptoms. I listen and smile and tell them what they see is a lie. Usually a skeptic claims acute sensitivity to the presence of a lie... especially in someone who asserts the reality of God and who expresses faith claims. So, I admit I bait them a little. I testify to them about my healing and if they will listen I describe in minute detail what this healing looks like. Usually, it is the direct opposite of all my symptoms. The skeptic has a field day as they try to deal with someone hey believe is unhinged from reality. This action on my part ... places God in a position to defend His Word. The Spirit of Truth always responds to error in a corrective manner. God commands my flesh to obey His Word. I do not command my flesh ... as I cannot. I yeild to the purpose of God according to His Word. Sometimes I have seen immediate results ... diminishment of symptoms and quick cessation and recovery. Other times, the results of faith are slow to arrive. The rate of change does not affect the frequency of my faith claim in my testimony to others. Christians are fully pursuaded about faith-claims (if they are REAL Christians)... the skeptics are resistent, even scornful of such claims. God reacts to their mockery .... "God is not mocked." I believe God has healed you of your illness, because this is what His Word says about YOUR health. I will pray for your awareness of this Great Grace that IS present in your circumstance RIGHT NOW. God bless you as you verbalize your gratitude to God for His blessings in the life He has given to YOU for His purpose.

Job was PERFECT in his SUBMISSION to the will of God in his life. He never challenged God about the correctness of his treatment. He looked for the presence of God in his circumstances and ALWAYS spoke the TRUTH.

Does God expect us to be sinless? When He says, "Be holy as I am holy"..what does that mean? When Jesus told the sinful woman "Go and sin no more" ...did He really expect her to never sin again? ____________________________________________________________________ Only God is sinless. He prepared a position/place in himself where the Christian may stand under His blood and receive the benifit of His righteousness. The remark by God: "Be holy as I am holy..." is not a petition made of man. If it were it would appear pointless for man cannot make himself 'holy' as God. Man cannot even 'know' himself so as to produce of himself a righteous standard of judgement. This statement is of the kind that was spoken in the beginning when God spoke....and the world came into existence. God "pronounced" a creative command upon those He foreknew when he looked at them and said: "Be holy as I am holy..." God produced a special exigency appropriate for the need of mankind. The woman was compelled by Jesus to consider the 'proof' provided by her faith...which was well received by God... and to cease from her doubts, but continue to believe. The comment about 'sin' he was encouraging her not to be 'faithless' after than, but to continue in the confidence she had just received. Please glance at the post above "Thoughts on Repentance"... God Bless you, Tess.

Text: John3:16,4:24,6:44... 1. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God came not into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. 2. No man can come unto Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him: and I will raise him up a the last day. 3. God is a Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. __________________________________________________________________ Thoughts on Repentance: by: Born2BFree (AKA: GWA) It is the Spirit of God that draws a man to repent. "No man cometh to God but first the spirit of God draws (entreats) him." The will to repent is a precious gift from God and evidence of the influence of His Holy Spirit in a life. Blessed is the man whose Will is to repent (turn away from) of sin. God has provided a way into His presence and a way to be sustained (to walk and live) in His Presence. All forms of sin are variations of denial of the promise of God that God makes it possible for a man/woman to become more than just an animal. Saten told Eve she was other than what God had made her. God had made Eve a living soul in the image (pure) image of God. Saten beguiled her by drawing her attention to the shape of the image (her body) of God... at variance to the Spirit of God that lived in it. Because she turned away from the Spirit to view the flesh, her understanding of the purpose of the flesh was corrupted. Saten distorted her Vision of the Truth. This denied her the entrance to the perfection of Eden which was her original condition as ordained by God. Saten uses influences to distort our vision of Jesus. The blessing of God is then blocked by our unbelief... in all of its variations (specific sins). Worship is what its all about: Proper Worship...that is, worship that is acceptable to God. Forms alone are inadequate. Without the right Spirit in the form, it becomes an idol. Pure worship acceptable to God is attitude/conduct that is OBEDIENT to the Word of God. God wants our entire attention. He is disinterested in our actions alone...He wants our heart as well. However, this is not an easy proposition to fill. Humans are frail in every way...particulary in the scope of their committments. God knows that we are dust. He understands. He also took a form like unto our form and was tempted in every way such as is COMMON to man... I love God for this splendid and wonderful gesture of LOVE for us. He does Love YOU, you know? Really, He does. In spite of all the sin, God still loves us... This is a marvelous and wonderful mystery: God's Love. Only God knows the heart of a person to understand its sincerity. Saten will point you to the long list of your past failed attempts to overcome a habit. God only knows of the one you present to Him NOW. He does not recall what was placed under His blood yesterday. All He acknowledges is our most recent error. He does not audit our entire life... because everything else is under His shed blood. It cannot be recalled by God because it is cast into the sea of forgetfulness. The Bible doesn't tell us that we must be 'sincere' on a scale of zero to whatever in order to qualify for forgiveness. Jesus is already WILLING to forgive us. The conditions presented in scripture are clear: "If you will acknowledge your sins, God is faithful to forgive you of your sins and to cleanse you from ALL unrighteousness." We confess with our mouth and we believe with our HEART. God forgives and then forgets. We accept forgiveness, but it is our memory that draws us again to the tree where our old nature hangs. We are cozened by Saten into identifying with that DEAD thing in our OLD nature... and we fall into a repeat practice. Jesus understands the proclivity to fail... having been a man himself, he must have experienced 'failure' of some kind. As a carpenter, he learned from error and trial. He progressed in knowledge and skill. The Bible tells us he also learned obedience through the things he SUFFERED (endured). Self discipline is a learned response: it

A mormon man presented an exquisite argument in support of the mormon mythology... He said, "I won't comment on all the criticism about mormonism. I will say that people who care will either believe it, or they won't. If they believe it, then all the criticism means nothing at all." I thought this was really a worthy argument that was perhaps lost on a bad cause. However, I have known some first rate human beings who held the confusion of mormonism quite close to their soul. Its a dreadful bondage, but no more deathly than any other. The Mormon Church is the chief investor in Space Industries. This should suprise no one. They want to go colonize other worlds. Perhaps they would be the best fit for such a task.