Peacemaker2012

This was an excellent article, Thank You for sharing! I have so many questions and comments on this I don't know where to begin really but I will start here. As member's of the New Covenant under Christ, we are no longer under the curse of the law, that is what I have been taught and always believed, but when I read Chapter 28 of the Book of Dueteronomy, all the curses that God tells them He will pour out on them if they do not walk in the Way He Commands, are being poured out upon this land, our country and individuals, that is 'on' both... believer's and non-believer's alike. Even myself at one time, I believed in Christ, but like this article points out, I was giving Him lip service really, not living for Him, "honoring Him with my lips while my heart was far from Him".....and I suffered for that ( do not be deceived, God will not be mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he also will reap) and I was being overcome by depression and anxiety and many other 'plagues', but once I turned and started living for Him and reading His word and learning to be obedient, these things started to break off, God began healing me. So I think exploring that area would be really great, the curse of the law and why...... if we are not under it, are we seeing so many of its spoken illnesse/plagues coming upon us..... even within the Body. By the Power of God's Grace we can learn to walk in odedience to The Word of God and that is what we are called to do ...right?.... as Paul says , "Be imitator's of God as Dear Children" and in Peter we hear "be Holy for I am Holy" . So, as I reason this out..... A Dear Child does what they are told out of love and respect/reverence (once they are becoming perfected anyway). I know we DO NOT do this to earn or keep Salvation etc.....but I am wondering here......if somehow this area of scripture is or is not... being taught correctly. I know "We are saved by Grace through Faith, not of ourselves, it is the gift of God not of Works... lest any man should boast".......this part is being taught, but the ending to that scripture is being left out in many cases......"For we are His Workmanship, Created in Christ Jesus, for Good Works, that We should Walk in Them"...... so, is it that the body is not submitting themselves to the inner working of the Holy Spirit and/or not understanding that the Power of God's Grace can and will work in us to turn us away for our 'wicked ways'... if.... we believe AND follow AND obey, are we being deceived or mislead as to the difference between conviction and condemnation? Meaning, when The Holy Spirit moves upon us to convict us of something that God is trying to get us to turn away from, are we chalking it up to condemnation from the enemy and ignoring it? If not, then ..... What is happening? Another point that I wanted to touch on is this......The thing that frightens me at this point, about God being removed from all these area's of our lives (schools, homes etc) is that if we were to turn back and invite Him in again AND if The People as a group were to do that, what God would we invite back at this point. People within the Body do not even agree about many of Gods Characteristic's or Commandments, so......that would pose the question, which God would we invite in and follow? Jesus says, my sheep hear my voice, they will not follow a stranger, but at this point, there are many people following many different Jesus's. So, I keep feeling this laid on my heart....... Everyone seems to view 'god' as the name of our God, but not everyone who says they believe in God, truely believes in all that our God's Holy Character represents. So, we are told in God's Word, that we are not go after 'other gods'.....but when we accept and follow anyone who claims to believe in God, how do we know that we are not creating for ourselves gods that are not gods or that we are not following those who are doing that? (and example of what I mean is this, at my daughter's school one of her teacher's is a 'Christian', but they also taught my daughter that Yoga is not harmful and encouraged the entire class to go home and meditate and clear their mind of all thought"...This is NOT from God...and further another Christian Teacher who believes in Jesus gave a assignment during the study of all religions, for each child to go home and create their own society, giving this society a god with a name of their own making, AND this is definetly wrong on so many levels, but when I spoke to her, she said, "oh,I am Christian to, it's not like that, you are taking it out of context, it's just an assignment) No, I do not believe that it is just and assignment and I can not believe that a fellow Christian does not see it as harmful. So, when I prayed to God and started asking Him to come back to our schools, I was faced with this, if 'they' allowed prayer back in schools, what god would they be praying to? there are so many different religions at this point so.....if they say they pray to God dont' we also need to ask this...... are they praying to God or to 'a god that is NOT a god?...because it doesn't seem to me anymore, that just because they are saying god and/or jesus.....that they really mean God and Jesus ...of the Word of Truth. Does this make sense? It doesn't seem to mean that they pray to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. So, for me it was important to realize that Our God does not have a name, 'god' is a title refering to diety, or refering to 'one who has been given authority over our minds/hearts/lives/nation etc. Yes, I do say I believe in AND follow God...and when I do, I know who I am refering to, but when I hear others say, I pay attention to what they are saying about Him. I am learning to see that His Character is His name, He is Truth, Holiness and all that all Good .....that is Truely Good is Him and comes from Him and it is important that the God we believe in lines up with this in every way, according to the Word. Yes! Yes! Yes! Its the root causes we need to explore! Is it in part perhaps, that People are not submitting themselves to working of the Holy Spirit and understanding that Grace is more than forgiveness, it is the Power working in us. When we say we can Not do it (keep the commandments), we are correct, but when we say, I can do ALL Things Through Christ who strengthens me, then we are understanding were our help comes from and that we can, through God's Grace and Christ our Lord, do what God Commands. I aslo agreee with this statement above...Only God can wake up our conscience and help us, we learn self control by learning obedience to God's Word. Perhaps Accountability should be talked about more as well. What parent out there has every succussfuly raised a child without teaching to that child, among other things, that they are accountable to us when they break the rules we have set for them. Is God not a even Greater and More Loving God when He teaches us accountability to Him. I started thinking about this in part after I watched an interview with Jeffrey Dahmer and they asked him if there was anything that his parents could of have done that he felt would have made a difference and he said basically, that he always believed in evolution and tthat since he came from sludge he would return to sludge, so he no call or pull to be better or different than what he because.....he had no conscience..... he said, once he heard about Jesus and heheard that he was going to be held accountable for all his actions, he said....accountability had never occured to him and if he had known it, it could have made a difference. telling people to stay away from violent video games is considered legalism by many....and this is just one example of what many member's of the body consider "legalism". In the earlier years of raising my kids, my conscience and common sense told me Not to let my kids play these, but then, everyone around me considered in legalistic and I was torn. I didn't even consider at the time that it may have been the Holy Spirit talking to me. So I have to wonder on some level if our definition of legalism off? I know we can go to far over into this field as well and kill the love in our hearts by becoming all about 'rules'.....but it seems to me there is or perhaps should be a balance to be found in this area....Commandments and Faith in Gods Love working it out in us. I mean, if we love what God loves and we know that what God loves is the only Truth for us, then wouldn't the turning away from unrighteous things be a natural thing. Like when our parents tell us drugs are bad and we listen because we trust them and love them and so, we can see with our own hearts that they are not lying, they are telling the truth and we naturally turn away from them, aren't we saved from disaster out of ......first love that leads to obedience/respect/wisdom...so on. . How can we believe he prayed to our God, when he supports so many other beleifs that are not part of the Holy Character of our God? What 'name' did he invoke? Our God has no one specific name and now I can understand why He never gave Himself an exact name, but revealed Himself through each Truth of His Character as it is revealed in His Word and why "Walking with Lord" is a our calling, we learn Him and His Truth in His Character as we continually draw near. Isnt' this what Jesus meant when He said, John 14:12-14 The Answered Prayer 12 “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. 13 And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask[a] anything in My name, I will do it. Is He telling us here that we ask according to His Name, as in His Character..........God's Perfect Will, Truth. Anything that we ask according to God's Word.......... I agree! I Pray for us all.......Father God, please help us to know you in Truth and please, with your right Hand Guide us by the Power of your Grace, work in us both to Will and Do, wake up your laws written in our minds and in our hearts and teach us follow YOU in all YOUR ways, in Truth and Love and Obedience. Help us to see ourselves as you see us and grant us repentance..... teach us to hate sin as you hate sin, help us to love your laws without legalism and without hypocracy. Apart from our Savior we can do nothing, without you we have No Hope, Please Father, return us to our hope, help us to adore You and recongnize Your Truths, please father, do not let us be decieved, give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we also forgive those who trespass against us, lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL, For YOURS and YOURS ALONE is the Kingdom, The Power and The Glory, You and You Alone are worthy to be Praised, In the Name of our Precious Savior who Is Your Word, We Pray. I am Praying for all those involved in this terrible tragedy and for all of us who are so desperate within ourselves to find the root cause of the illeness that has fallen upon us and turn to The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and ask for His help in finding our way Home. Thank You for sharing! Grace and Peace to You!

Thank You for sharing those amazing scriptures, hope you don't mind if I add one of my favorites: Deuteronomy 13 English Standard Version (ESV) 13 “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him. 5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you out of the house of slavery, to make you leave the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil[a] from your midst. I found this scripture to be very helpful in learning to test to the spirits and those who claim to be prophets or who preform miracles in the name of Christ and then have some false doctrine contrary to Gods truth that they try to sell along with it. If they teach anything contrary to the Word of God and call us to sway in any way from the Truth of God's Word or to distort the true character of God as revealed in scripture, they are calling us to go after other gods that are NOT gods. Of course, in the new covenant, we would not put this person to death, but we are called to turn away, not to listen. God will deal with them according thier works. The Bible says that in the last days, many will be decieved by signs and lying wonder's and false prophets who come in the name of Christ so.........Thank You again for posting these scriptures, these are one's we all need to know. God Bless

Thank You for adding this amazing scripture as well! What a Great addition! I am glad that it touched your heart too. I posted this after reflecting on the struggles that I have gone through, realizing that God had a perfect plan and purpose for each one of them. Sometimes in the midst of a struggle, we begin to wonder about HIS Love, but in the harvest season, when we see the fruit and realize how Great HIS Love for us truely is, it drives away all doubts and each struggle becomes easier and easier to handle as you begin to see HIS love at Work in the struggles of your life. I know as a mother myself, some of my labors for my children are such labors of LOVE even though they don't see it that way until they mature a little more and then a little more...time after time. I see God's LOVE reflected in this way towards us as well. Again Thank you for sharing! God Bless You!

Hello Miss Agape! Your heart for God is shown in your words Sister, You have such a poetic way of expressing your Love For HIM! I do not think that you think yourself to important, I do believe that you are important to God even though HE is no respector of person's, HE does love each one of us with a Jealous Love amd O Praise HIM that HE Does! I am at peace knowing I serve a God who does not want to share me with the unfruitful works of darkness! I am Blessed to Know He is protective over me and all of HIS Children! Sister, I am afraid my words will not come out nearly as poetic as yours but please know that my heart for God is true as well and I will try my best to answer your question! =) I do believe Miss Agape that the answer to your question, Does God need us love HIM?...... is absolutely YES...but to be clear on what we say is "need" I would say this…. I believe that our Need FOR God is much different from HIS need …of us. We define Our Need for God by our complete and utter reliance upon HIM; and we show this by confessing our total Dependency on HIM, we submit fully to HIM and recognize that we can NOT accomplish any Good Work in our own lives apart from HIM……as Jesus said to HIS disciples… “Apart from ME you can do Nothing” …. but Paul teaches us that he can “do all things through Christ who strengthens him”. This is our confidence IN God, that we Need HIM totally and completely and above all things and He will in no way disappoint those who trust in HIM. So, even though God does not need us in the same way we need HIM, HE does have need OF us and most definitely He does need us to walk in HIS LOVE and to reach HIS children to share HIS Love with them, He is NOT dependant on us to accomplish this, but HE does have need of us....as Jesus tells HIS disciples in Matthew 9:37-38 “Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” And in Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them So God does have need of us Sister -- to participate in HIS plan for salvation. He has prepared these Good Works for us beforehand and He needs us to walk in them with willing Hearts fully trained and brought to maturity in HIS Love for HIS harvest is Ripe and HE has need of labor’s for HIS field. I can see why HE would be jealous for us then……in 1 peter 3:9 is says that God is ......longsuffering towards us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance…… I hope this answer's your questions Sister and Thank You for your lovely comments! God Bless You Peace

I just wanted to share this beautiful song and also share an inspirational story of our struggles and why we go through them. Its always good to remember that our struggles and God's Love for us go hand in hand, without GOD taking us through our struggle, we would never learn to fly. God Bless You Brother's and Sisters! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWgeUrD4MHI BENEFITS OF STRUGGLING A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared, he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no farther. Then the man decided to help the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly. What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon. Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If God allowed us to go through our life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. And we could never fly.

Hello JTC, Looks to me like God has already sent a few angels to your door with some good advise. I can see that you are letting satan control your thinking and he is doing a number on you my friend! WE CAN NOT spend time alone meditating on nothing but our worries because they will overtake us if we let them.......and that is why your thinking is not healthy right now. The battle against your depression starts in your mind, you have to choose to let God be in Control and the best way to drive Satan out of your thoughts, is start Praising God! If you can't think of your own reason's to praise HIM, go the Psalms and start Praising HIM through those words and accepting those truths into your MIND and into your heart. Then go to your concordance in your bible and look up every scripture on Love, Grace, Mercy, Praise and start getting God's postitive Words and Promises at the forefront of your mind and DON'T STOP, memorize those positive scripture and keep repeating them to yourself! Serving others was a great suggestion but if find that you can't go out and serve other's at this point, then start praying for everyone else who is suffering what you are suffering, go to GOD For Them in Faith asking God to help them and HELP YOU! Intercede in Prayer, this is a way you can serve other's from the privacy of your own home, be a Prayer Warrior, be a Soldier in God's Army. Read your Word! Turn on some Christian music that focuses on praising God. Get your mind saturated with God's promises, with HIS Word, with HOPE. If you are going to stay in solitude, the best meditation is on the Word, not on your worries. Remember too...., God does not want you dependant on any Angel to guide you, He wants you focused on HIM and HIS Word for THEY have the Power to deliver you...if you are willing to follow them. Psalms 91 He who dwells in secret place of the Most High will abide in the Shadow of the Almighty! I will be praying for you! Psalms 34 Taste and See That the Lord Is Good Song Of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away. 1 I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. 2 My soul makes its boast in the Lord; let the humble hear and be glad. 3 Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together! 4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. 5 Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. 6 This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. 7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them. 8 Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him! 9 Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him have no lack! 10 The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. 11 Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. 12 What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good? 13 Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. 14 Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. 15 The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry. 16 The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. 17 When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. 18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. 19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. 20 He keeps all his bones; not one of them is broken. 21 Affliction will slay the wicked, and those who hate the righteous will be condemned. 22 The Lord redeems the life of his servants; none of those who take refuge in him will be condemned.