Willa

Have you read the book of Job lately?? I have lived in his shoes and in the book. Perhaps it was pure stubbornness coupled with God's grace that enabled me to hang tough. It is really hard when we feel like God doesn't hear us or isn't there. Remember that feelings are unreliable and that satan fills our minds with lies to discourage us. You don't have to listen to his lies! Our God is faithful! Worship God for Who He is and for sending His Son to die for us. God does love you. He didn't promise that the Christian life would be easy or free of hardship. 1Pe 4:12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.

Synonyms of abide: stay remain tarry live reside dwell stick with I think rely upon is one of the best translations of pistos--to believe. When we trust in Christ we rely upon him not just for faith but for help in all situations of life

yeh, we were talking about cats and as usual far0uk is talking about tats.

One unsaved granddaughter and one grandson in-law have several. The other 3 have one and are happy with them.

Dad didn't go to church when my kids were toddlers. Thinking of 18 month old babies.

It means to stick to Jesus, to stay with Him.

The Lord's Supper is a celebration of part of the Seder, the Passover meal that Jesus was celebrating with His disciples.

I think James said we are to count it all joy when we endure trials, but I still don't enjoy them. In fact, I am inclined to grumble like the children of Israel in the wilderness with whom God was displeased.

I can accept a woman being a pastor over women's and children's ministries when she is under the authority of a male head pastor. I cannot accept female head pastors except in very rare circumstances. In fact, I know of a male president of a seminary whom my pastor led to saving faith in Christ. I know many pastors who admitted they had not been called by God to the ministry and one graduated summa cum laude from his seminary. Another also had a doctorate. Others had no degrees but were clearly called and gifted in preaching and teaching the word. Two women were called by their congregations following the death of their husbands. One, a missionary in Africa, stayed on permanently; the other stayed on as an interim pastor in their church. One was under the authority of the head pastor as well as her husband. However, I would not choose to attend a church with a female head pastor. The ones that I have seen are mostly attended by women. Women are allowed in Scripture to pray aloud in church when they are under authority. We may prophecy, praise, or exhort when in order and inspired by the Holy Spirit. We may not disrupt by visiting, whispering to our husbands, showing him a message or joke on a cell phone, or otherwise distracting others, or by allowing small children to do the same. I do believe that these Scriptures that establish the chains of command in churches are for today. Yes we are equal in worth, but that doesn't mean we can ignore God's chain of command. Nor can we toss out portions just because we disagree with them.

When I used to pray for my unsaved husband that God would save him and change him, God used trials to change me so that I could accept and love him as he was, as God did. That included removing my self righteousness in thinking I was any better than he was. Ouch! Those trials are painful as they also touched my pride.

The Amplified version adds trust in, rely upon, adhere to. G4100 (Word Study) πιστεύω. pisteúō; fut. pisteúsō, from pístis (G4102), faith. To believe, have faith in, trust. NT meanings:

Yet it is gentle and kind but very strong and has great authority.

He is speaking of our eternal inheritance such as rewards, being seated with Him in heavenly places, ruling and reigning with Christ on earth; these saints walk in the light even as He is in the light.

In Greek patience means patient endurance. I am not sure I endured cheerfully without complaining and all that the word means. Probably not. God may have been trying to move me in that direction but I didn't get very far. Wasn't waiting cheerfully but I didn't fall away. I stubbornly trusted in God's promises and somehow endured due to God's grace. G5281 (Strong) ὑπομονή hupomonē hoop-om-on-ay' From G5278; cheerful (or hopeful) endurance, constancy: - enduring, patience, patient continuance (waiting). G5281 (Word Study) ὑπομονή hupomonḗ; gen. hupomonḗs, fem. noun from hupoménō (G5278), to persevere, remain under. A bearing up under, patience, endurance as to things or circumstances. VINE Patience, Patient, Patiently A. Nouns. 1. hupomone (G5281), lit., "an abiding under" (hupo, "under," meno, "to abide"), is almost invariably rendered "patience." "Patience, which grows only in trial, Jas 1:3 may be passive, i.e., = "endurance," as, (a) in trials, generally, Luk 21:19 (which is to be understood by Mat 24:13), cf. Rom 12:12; Jas 1:12; (b) in trials incident to service in the gospel, 2Co 6:4; 2Co 12:12; 2Ti 3:10; (c) under chastisement, which is trial viewed as coming from the hand of God our Father, Heb 12:7; (d) under undeserved affliction, 1Pe 2:20; or active, i.e. = "persistence, perseverance," as (e) in well doing, Rom 2:7 (KJV, "patient continuance"); (f) in fruit bearing, Luk 8:15; (g) in running the appointed race, Heb 12:1. "Patience perfects Christian character, Jas 1:4, and fellowship in the patience of Christ is therefore the condition upon which believers are to be admitted to reign with Him, 2Ti 2:12; Rev 1:9. For this patience believers are 'strengthened with all power,' Col 1:11, 'through His Spirit in the inward man,' Eph 3:16. "In 2Th 3:5, the phrase 'the patience of Christ,' RV, is possible of three interpretations, (a) the patient waiting for Christ, so KJV paraphrases the words, (b) that they might be patient in their sufferings as Christ was in His, see Heb 12:2, (c) that since Christ is 'expecting till His enemies be made the footstool of His feet,' Heb 10:13, so they might be patient also in their hopes of His triumph and their deliverance. While a too rigid exegesis is to be avoided it may, perhaps, be permissible to paraphrase: 'the Lord teach and enable you to love as God loves, and to be patient as Christ is patient.'"** From Notes on Thessalonians by Hogg and Vine pp. 222, 285. In Rev 3:10, "the word of My patience" is the word which tells of Christ's patience, and its effects in producing "patience" on the part of those who are His (see above on 2Th 3:5). B. Verbs. 1. hupomeno (G5278), akin to A, No. 1, (a) used intransitively, means "to tarry behind, still abide," Luk 2:43; Act 17:14; (b) transitively, "to wait for," Rom 8:24 (in some mss.), "to bear patiently, endure," translated "patient" (present participle) in Rom 12:12; "ye take it patiently," 1Pe 2:20 (twice). See also under A, No. 1.

Do to my spiritual immaturity I married a non believer in 1963. It was 11 years before he received Christ. During at least 6 of those years I compromised my values and beliefs and backslid. Then I realized that my kids would follow my example so I needed to come back to the Lord. So I adopted an attitude that even if I were the only one in the family to go to heaven, then I would do it alone. That is the attitude a secret disciple has. Early in my marriage I had suffered abuse for attending church and he had often taken my keys away from me so I couldn't drive the 7 miles to church. Now in 1969 his abuse was mostly verbal. He was saved in 1974. During that time God arranged circumstances and brought people into his life at work that he was forced to listen to. It wore down his resistance. However, the more I prayed that God change him, the more God changed me and enabled me to love and accept him just as he was.

I always think of Jesus restoring Peter after the resurrection. " Peter, do you AGAPE-love me." God's love. Peter replied twice that he PHILEO-loved Jesus. Brotherly love. So often my human love falls so short of God's perfect love. So often I fall on my face before God and ask Him to refill me with His perfect love for the lost, the obnoxious, the ugly, the repulsive. He died for them too and loves them. The extent that I love others shows me the extent that I love God.

You just told my testimony! Wow,. Hard to believe they could be so similar. The more I prayed for him to change the more God changed me. He didn't say it, He just did it. It took 4 years for God to make me the wife that my husband needed. We were married for 54 years.

The Spiritual person has God's perspective and understanding, having His help to understand the true nature of things. However the natural man doesn't understand him at all. I once had a pastor who was not born again. He invited me to talk with him so he could "get under my skin". He simply couldn't understand what I was saying, where I was coming from, or why I did things the way I did. His shelves were lined with Freud and a lot of other psych books but no Bible dictionaries or commentaries. I asked him why he became a pastor; he said because that was what his mother wanted.

Jesus Christ and Him crucified are the deepest things of God. 1Co 1:18 For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 1Co 1:19 For it is written, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart." 1Co 1:20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 1Co 1:21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 1Co 1:22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 1Co 1:23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 1Co 1:24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 1Co 1:25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than me impart 1Co 2:7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 1Co 2:10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 1Co 2:12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. 1Co 2:13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. 1Co 2:14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 1Co 2:15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 1Co 2:16 "For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

We are supposed to judge so to evaluate, but we are not to pass judgement upon to condemn. Luk 6:37 "Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; Act 15:19 Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to 1Co 10:15 I speak as to sensible people; judge for yourselves what I say.

Our hearts must be cleansed--our innermost being.

You can give to Israeli Christians and their families through George who owns our forum since many from the church he established in Israel are involved in the war. You can also get accurate up to date news from him. His church is near the Dead Sea and Gaza. He gives an account of how the monies are distributed. Currently he has not been there since covid & hasn't been able to return. I visited our local Salvation Army and was not treated well--was not impressed. However I do know they have done good work elsewhere since I have a friend who was saved through them and delivered from alcohol abuse. Locally we have a chaplaincy that offers grief counseling, ministers in hospitals, works in nursing homes etc. It is interdenominational and does a very good work. It may be under the Lutheran Church. I used to minister in a nursing home through it. Just a couple of ideas. Do go to the organization and check it out. Personally I am eager to support God's work and like you I want to be sure the Gospel is being shared with the assistance.

I am unfamiliar with Nova. Scotia. I am more familiar with British Columbia where Washington State has so much in common with BC both historically and today. Both were founded by the Hudson Bay Company long before explorers arrived. It existed for fur trappers. When vacationing in BC we still find much in common with the area. They raise the same crops and celebrate the same holidays. It was more like being in another state than another country. Where faith is concerned I am not sure. It is probably very individual as is always. God has no grandkids. Only children are born again.

I had mine in October. The doctors and pharmacists are masking here.

This is just one more place that King James really stinks. Probably the use of condescend has changed over the centuries because I don't think we are supposed to be condescending toward anyone. We are told to think of others as better than ourselves or at least to not be aware of any difference from ourselves in station or worth. We are not to be heartless, arrogant or high-handed! associated Co