beblessed

AWESOME GOD! THE LORD IS AT HAND! Thanks for these psalms. beblessed

Sometimes the trials of life are overwelming, especially when we have given our all, prayed and fasted without any answer. Encouraged today by parents of a little three year old with incurable disease. She was in a wheelchair, dressed beautifully, with eyeglasses and her parents are ministers of the gospel, sharing their faith, their trials and pains with joy of knowing that God has all under control. I felt a new strength and joy from their testimony. beblessed

In Nehemiah 8:10 last part of verse it reads: "...for the joy of the Lord is your strength! Thank God that we are kept by the power of God unto salvation. Gratitude is the memory of the heart--so thankful for the multitude blessings and promises of God.

Hi Andy, I am interested in this topic for a number of reasons. I believe that God wants us to develop the faculties of our minds--the ability to reason, discriminate between things, differentiate, and to be logical and seek to understand. However, I believe as Jesse Penn Lewis teaches in Soul and Spirit that our intellect is not to be our teacher and guide because it is part of the fallen soul, our fallen nature that needs to be renewed. ( I read in this valuable small book years ago & another good read on subject is John R.W. Stott's small book Your Mind Matters). As a result, our minds need to be renewed with God's principles, His Word, which is our map and guide for life and to learn the Lord's ways that are not our ways, and God's thoughts on every issue of life. Our intellect is part of our soul- our mind, will, and emotions. I have learned to use my mind to research the scriptures on topics that come up in my life to learn God's perspecive. The scriptures teach us that our "heart is deceitful above all thingss, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings. Jer 17:9,10 KJV. I also agree with you that God makes His call simple although God's wisdom and ways are beyond our understanding. I love that we are not chosen according to our status or intellect or any such worldly thing: "God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty, and base things of the world and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are; that no flesh should glory in His presence" (1 Cor 1:27-29). God's principle here is not to set aside our intellect but to recognize that we are to test, check, and prove all in light of the Word of God. In response to your question, does intelligence help you in your walk with God? I believe our intellect is God given and can be developed and cultivated for God's purposes in our lives and the lives of others. Our intellect is part of our soul--our mind, will, and emotions that needs to be renewed daily with God's Word and in practicall living (Roman 12:1,2). We learn to trust God and grow through our experiences in daily living. I understand that we serve the Lord actively choosing in line with His principles and that is our part. We love God with all our being, which includes our minds as we also love others in line with this commandment. Every part of our being is to grow up into the image and likeness of the Lord - that requires study in God's Word and pruning in the world as we make choices... I agree with your points that God does not discriminate on intelligence but desires relationship above all with genuine seekers. The scriptures are clear on fact that we are not to be taken up with philsophy or man's wisdom but to seek the Wisdom of God (James 1:5) and God gives grace to the humble but resists the proud. Knowledge puffs up but love edifies wrote Apostle Paul. Using our intelllects is part of spiritual warfare see 2 Cor 10: 3-6. beblessed Secondly, faith comes from hearing! Thirdly, we are told not to lean on our own understanding... We are told to study to show ourselves approved, but I do not believe that this requires intelligence, instead, a relationship with God and the Holy Spirit. This is not to say that intelligence is a bad thing, but reliance on wordly wisdom, and the pride that can come from intelligence, do hinder our walk with God. Your thoughts are appreciated .

Thanks so much for the blessing of posting Psalms. My favorite is Ps 139 in Amplified Version. "O Lord, you have searched me thoroughly and have known me. You know my downsitting and my uprising: You understand my thought afar off. You sift and search out my path and my lying down, and You are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue still unuttered, but, behold, O Lord You know it altogether. You hve beset me and shut me in--behind and before, and You have laid Your Hand upon me. Your infinite knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high above me, I cannot reach it. Where could I go from your Spirit? Or where could I flee from Your Presence? If I ascend up into heaven, You are there: If I make my bed in Sheoul (the place of the dead), behold, You are there.If I take the wings of the morning or dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea. Even there shall Your Hand lead me, and Your right Hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me and thhe night shall be the only light about me, Even thhe darkness hides NOTHING from You, but the night shines as the day: the darkness and thhe light are both alike to You ( Please note aside here: my emphasis on Nothing-- so blessed to know God is sovereign and takes care of us in the darkness of times. Bless the Lord.) For You did form my inward parts: You did knit me together in my mother's womb. I will confess and praise You for You are fearful and wonderful and for the awful wonder of my birth! Wonderful are Your works, and thhat my inner self knows right well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was being formed in secret and intricately and curiously wrought as if embroidered with various colors in the depths of the earth a region of darkness and mystery. Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in your book all the days of my life were written before ever they took shape, when as yet there was none of them. How precious and weighty also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I could count them, they would be more in number than the sand, when I awoke, (could I count to the end) I would still be with You. If you would only slay the wickedly, Your enemies who take Your name in vain. Do I not hate them that hate You? An am I not grieved and do I not loathe them that rise up against you? I hate them with a perfect hatred: they have become my enemies. Search me thoroughly O God, and know myy heart! Try me and know my thoughts. And see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

The scriptures you include with this warning sufficiently highlight God's principles we want to follow... The underlying problem in the last days are seducing spirits and it is no small warning in the scriptures for uncompromising remnant -- believers who want to serve the Lord without compromise to this world's standards: "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devlis..." 1Tim 4:1 KJV. ... The methods of seduction are common to man but God is faithful to strengthen us in choices in line with His Word & will... I love the Lord because His commandments are not grievous -- " all scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. That the man of God ma be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto good works." 2 Tim 3:16,17. How I miss my homechurch in NYC but grateful to have relocated and followed the Lord to my homeland. Love this forum - love the Word and know in time I will have the fellowship I crave in this new land... beblessed