Willa

There are several people that I thought were friends who actually were not. Some are friends in a condescending manner--because it is the propper thing to do. A few are true friends. The Holy Spirit is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. Only God never lets us down or betrays us. The rest teach us how to forgive the way Jesus does, and how to love as He does. As for the OP, you should treat her with respect and give her a ride if it is convenient, but stay impersonal in a professional relationship, which is courteous but distant. Do no more or less than you would any other co worker. As for how women want to be treated in a personal relationship, My husband was in a Sunday school class for men during the 70s that was based on a book called Tough and tender. It meant that women like to feel protected by a man who is tough and firm to the world, but is tender and gentle toward her. This is true in my own case, and it did wonders for our marriage. God has molded him into the perfect man for me and my best friend. No woman wants to be handled roughly, forced to kiss a man or treated like the movies in the 50s portrayed a lover. We do want to be treated with respect and consideration. 1 Peter 3:7-9 AMP In the same way you married men should live considerately with your wives, with an intelligent recognition of the marriage relation, honoring the woman as physically the weaker, but realizing that you are joint heirs of the grace (God's unmerited favor) of life, in order that your prayers may not be hindered and cut off. ---Otherwise you cannot pray effectively. Finally, all of you should be of one and the same mind (united in spirit), sympathizing with one another, loving each the others as brethern (of one household), compassionate and courteous---tenderhearted and humble-minded. Never return evil for evil or insult for insult---scolding, tongue-lashing, berating; but on the contrary blessing---praying for their welfare, happiness and protection, and truly pitying them and loving them. For know that to this you have been called, that you yourselves may inherit a blessing from God---obtain a blessing as heirs, bringing welfare, happiness and protection. These verses work well in marriage but the latter part would probably also apply in dating relationships in God's household. However, you are not in a dating relationship with this woman, which changes things. A professional friendship is not personal. It is businesslike and you should keep it that way. Don't bare your soul to her any more than you would the grocery clerk. But be appreciative of her as a co worker, and helpful as much as required that you work together. You may have been presumtuous about the relationship and overstepped HER boundaries. Sometimes it is hard to tell a guy to back off.

None of us completely comprehends God or the Trinity. But those who eventually reject that we serve one God in trinity demonstrate that they probably do not belong to God. Genuine believers know that Jesus is God the Son in flesh, that He prayed to His Father God that the Father send Another Comforter Advocate and Helper, the Holy Spirit (John 14:16, 26) Those that do no have the Holy Spirit enlightening indwelling and sealing them do not belong to God. Romans 8:9, John 3:3, 18, 1 Cor.2:11-16. This is not saying that new believers won't become established in this truth. God starts us off as babies, just understanding that we have done wrong, need forgiveness, and that God forgives us because of His love, demonstrated by Jesus' death for our sins and His resurrection.

I don't see the discouragement you are seeing. What I do see is God shaping events to prepare for the return of the Lord. People are still being saved regularly in our church. God is not slow but is not willing that any should perish. We are told that when we see these things occurring, we should look up because our redemption draws near. So I see hope and anticipation where you see discouragement. But I will pray for you, that your eyes might be opened to see what God IS doing, and that you might see the chariots that Elisha could see of God's warriors. Nothing shall ever seperate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. Eph 1:19-20 NKJV That you may know-- what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His might power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, blessings, Willa

We had a next door neighbor who was like that. We have strong winds from the south west and lived at the east bend of the road. On garbage day people would turn loose their large dogs which would knock over the garbage cans and the wind would blow stuff everywhere. We all cleaned our own yards but for our new neighbor who called us everyday for a year to clean their yard, which we did. Meanwhile the man was very abusive toward our kids and cussed them out every time he saw them. Finally after a year of this God told me that He was not being glorified in the situation.. We were being a doormat and that was not what He wanted of us. So after the neighbor threatened to beat up my astonished husband, I was suddenly filled with a holy boldness. I knocked on their door and informed the wife that being a good neighbor goes both ways. We had to put up with the filth and garbage that comes from her husbands mouth, and they will have to deal with the garbage the wind blows into their yard. At that point her husband walked into the room railing on me. I pointed my finger at him and loudly blessed him with Aaron's blessing: The Lord Bless you and keep you, The Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious unto you; the Lord lift up His continance upon you and give you peace. He turned on his heal and retreated, still muttering, while his wife laughed at him. They moved a couple of months later and were divorsing. So I learned that God does not want us continually to be a doormat for a manipulative, abusive person, but He does want us to serve others willingly from a position of power and authority. We had gone the extra mile long enough. It was time to inform them we were not their slaves and that they were being abusive. The only other person I have encountered who exactly fit the OP discription was a woman who did not drive, who would call me to take her shopping. She lived 5 miles away, but I was to drop what I was doing and go. She would add a dozen things to the list that she needed to do, and I would end up spending the day driving her at our expense. She was also not clean and smelled really bad. We ended up in my neighborhood where she wanted to pick up a free kitten a neighbor was giving away. I was asked never to bring her back because the neighbor could not get the offensive odor out of her house. Still, I had compassion on her until the end of the day when I was exhausted and needed to get back to my family. I did this again only once--she found another person to abuse, my best friend, to whom she said something that turned her against me and destroyed our friendship. I continued to try to bless both of them but my efforts were scorned and rejected. I still don't know what was said. But I do agree with the OP. Paul warned against Alexander the Coppersmith who had done him much harm, and also said to avoid a divisive person. Some people will receive neither our love nor God's word. There comes a point when we have to say no.

Our tiny 10 year old grand daughter has something better. She has 2 older brothers who are strong Christians that track her internet activity and after school activities.

0bama's churches have promoted Black Liberation Theology and Liberation Theology, both of which are influenced by Marx. He has never compromised his desire to "spread the wealth around", whether it be to China or to illegal immigrants, ObamaCare, or just massive grants to other nations that may line the pockets of the rich or arm revolutionists. I only wish that he would lead us by example in generosity, honosty, transparency, humility and submission to the constitution and the law of our land, which he swore to uphold. His religion promotes social unrest (he used to be a neighborhood organizer which rally and organize protests). Some beliefs of Liberation Theology: Sin is defined as nations becoming rich at the expense of third world nations, and those who have subitted to this. It is not sin to kill the oppressors. The US is considered an oppressor. Salvation is a new social order. (Marxist) Jesus came to identify with the poor and oppressed, and to save them by bringing about a new social order. God is distorted by Capitalists as being on their behalf, while He is actually on behalf of the poor and oppressed. See Liberation Theology by Ron Rhodes or Got Questions. . So he likes to topple stable governments that are oppressive and he supports civil unrest and dissatisfation here and abroad. Thus was have anti police and anti capitialism (Fanny Mae) rallys. It is called progressive politics.

Each time it comes up, just work through the fact that God loves them and died for them, too. "While we were yet sinners Christ died for us". Ask Him again to demonstrate His love for them through you. Eventually you might come to the place that you pitty them as God does. If such evil is in them they certainly can't be happy. Just don't allow yourself to be consumed by this or they will have won. Your own mental health hangs in the balance here. You must keep trying to work through this and come to peace about it. Forgiving them is a decision to obey God. It does not depend on feelings. It is a choice. Loving prayers, Willa

The Baptist church I used to attend did have church discipline. Those who were in such sin and refused to repent after being gently confronted, then taking 2 or 3 to do so, and finally the pastor counseled, were excommunicated. The circumstances were revealed to the congregation. So to be readmitted to membership they had to confess and tell how they had repented. This was done in cases of adultry, of someone stealing from the church, of someone falsely making public criminal accusations against a board member. Only one ever repented and that was the latter. Since the accusations were public, she was asked to apologize publicly to the church. This is much better than churches that choose to ignore people who are committing adultry in the church, and who even flagrently attend church with the person as though nothing were wrong. I would extend a lot more grace toward new people who may not even be born again, or even to new Christians. One couple that I know have been living together for 20 years and this may be keeping them from attending church. I knew her as a child. The whole thing really makes me sad.

I also own a dumb phone. When it died a few months ago, I had a hard time finding a suitable replacement. Finally I found a refurbished one on the web that AT&T was selling for a prepaid. I bought it and had it converted to our present plan which is $60./mo for two phones and free calling in US. Hubby uses his a lot but I rarely use mine. The old phone had better battery life and was more user friendly. Sigh. We like the ones with large key pad numbers and a large read out, but that are small and light weight. When texting first started we kept getting charged for messages. I called them and yelled at them that we don't know how to text or even how to receive messages, so to just discontinue the feature. I was ticked. Who knows what all they tack on to the bill. So the cameras on the old ones are pretty crude with no memory card, etc. If we got a better one that is the only feature hubby would use other than the phone, but he wouldn't use it for selfies. I prefer more secure connections for internet.

It is really pretty, but the man in the moon is more my speed. It reminds me of the phenomonan of being able to see things over the horizon of the earth due to the bending of light, even though the reason for the bend is different. I think they were blamed on inversions.

I have to say that where we are, most of the people who hold up signs on corners are professional beggers who make more money than the average citizen. Many have been investigated around here and exposed. So it might be better to go get the person a big mac and a cup of coffee than to hand them money. You can hand food to them safely. Sometimes our church will pay a drug store directly for needed meds or pay utilities directly. They also provide work around the church or the pastors' homes so the people can work for the payments. There are people like yourself and Nigel who genuinely needed a helping hand and a friend. But you really need to pray about who you should help and how to go about it. Let God be your guide, not your emotions. I have friends who visit our local mission on a regular basis. He speaks or preaches and she plays her guitar and sings. They also visit with the people and listen to them. It is a real ministry. Blessings, Willa

Just more revisionist history. They deny the holocaust as well. But I have heard that the Norsmen may have preceded Columbus. Alaskans can walk the two miles of ice that seperate them from Siberia. But they are not welcomed. People have also traveled in ancient Polynesian styled boats along the coasts from Japan to the US, just to prove it could be done.

We are told that He was tempted in all ways as we are, yet without sin. He obviously had free will to disobey His Father God, but chose not to. Otherwise He would have not has such a struggle in the Garden of Gesthemine when He prayed 'Nevertheless, not My will be done but Thine". It was not easy for Him to choose to go the the cross.

The weathermen have decided that a huge dust storm in northern Nevada was the source of eastern Washington State's giant mud storm. An area of 200 miles by 70 miles was hit with a mud storm on Saturday. Since WA, OR and CA have been deluged with rain, it has been a puzzle as to where the dust in the upper atmosphere came from. But it was finally traced to Nevada. Car washes had lines blocks long in Spokane, Pendleton OR. and west.

The gay marriage laws have included the non discrimination language in them. They think that race equality has succeded due to "conditioning". So eventually we can be "conditioned" like mice to accept their sin. This world feels less and less like home. And yes, I also read that the pedophiles see this as a green light to make similar laws and propaganda.

Yup, you are a blessing to us, too.

I still remember hearing a politician's total speach on TV. The synopsis written in the paper was fair in its representation. But the headline proclaimed the opposit of even the edited speech in the paper! I was outraged. How many people just read headlines and would be deceived. But it was that headline that won a Nobel peace prize!. So just call me disgusted and disillusioned. Recently an election was won, defeating someone from his own party, by totally twisting and perverting the comments, often taking them out of context. They played on peoples fears just like our president does to manipulate the public, but this time it was the republicans. I am just sick of all the lies. So do they slant to the left or to the right? Who cares. It's all a pack of lies anyhow.

I don't see how the fictional Left Behind series could possibly fit with anything satanic or new age. Do you consider all fiction to be satanic or just that which is based on Bible prophecy? And the fact that global warming has been made an alarmist propaganda agenda of the progressive marxists is what engrages most conservatives.

Nearly every ancient society that had temple prostitutes also practiced abortion. Not much is mentioned in the Bible about it because it was not practiced by the Jews. However, the Didache, written during the first 70 years AD (and found among the dead sea scrolls), listed among the 10 commandments, thou shalt not kill or commit an abortion. This had to be mandated due to the wide practice in the Babylonian, Grecian and Roman communities. It is entirely pagen to not value human life so as to dispose of it as unwanted garbage. Since I was raised in the 40s-50s in a liberal church, I have to tell you that a fetus was always thought of as a baby, as was an embryo. In biology we were taught that dividing cells equaled life, so when human cells started dividing they represented human life. They contain DNA from both the male and the female, therefor the life is not just the mother's tissue but is a distinct, individual human. Period. I have no idea where Billy Graham got his ideas, but they were not the concensus of the churches let alone of science during the 50s.

I like Joseph's reply to his brothers' selling him to the egyptians. You meant it for evil but God meant it for good. God used their treachery to eventually preserve them. He hused Judas' treachery to eventually save all believers from their sin. There is nothing too dark and sinister that God can't triumph in.

Amen. That song came to my mind as well. Angel, if you hadn't posted it I would have. But the other one that I thought of is "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus". Just fiixing my eyes on the face of Jesus and pressing closer to Him imparts so much strength.

Hummm. And my hubby heard on Fox News that our pres. now wants to appoint a muslim to federal court. He is so broad minded, he leads us down the wide path that leads us to destruction.

Sometimes old testament prophets were called seers because the discribed what they saw.

Luke 17:15-16 speaks of the 10 lepers Christ healed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned and with a loud voice glorified God, and HE FELL DOWN on his face AT HIS FEET, GIVING HIM THANKS. John 20:28-29 And Thomas answered and said to Him "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, " Thomas, because you have seen Me you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." Jesus received worship, thanksgiving and praise. He did not rebuke those who did so. Rev..1:17b-18 NKJV I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold I am alive forever more. Amen. And I have the keys of hades and of death. And you don't think this is God???? Only the Holy Spirit can reveal to you Who Jesus is. If you do not have the Holy Spirit, you do not belong to Him. Father God, Son God, and Spirit God are one, are equal, but have seperate functions. While on earth Jesus did and said nothing but what He saw the Father say and do. Now that He is back in heaven He has all power and authority in heaven and on earth. The Father has given Him a Name above all names. When you diminish the Son and the Holy Spirit, by doing so you also diminish the Father. Please reveal what translation you use as well as what church doctrine you subscribe to. The gnostics did not believe that Jesus Christ, The Word, and come in the flesh, among other things.. The christian gnostic cult in Alexandria Egypt changed the text of the Bible to better agree with their herecy. Perhaps you use one of those translations. You have failed to reveal what copywrited translation you quote from as required by law. Many of us forget to do this.

It is speaking of our pride and self, the flesh life being broken so that the contents of our earthen vessels, the Person of Jesus, might be seen in us. Watchman Nee wrote a small book on this that I read at a time that I was going through some hard trials. It helped me to understand what God was doing in my life at that time. 2 Cor. 4:6-11 NKJV For it is God who commanded light to shine out of the darkness, Who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not us. We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed but not in dispair; persecuted but not forsaken; struck down but not destroyed--always carrying about in our bodies the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus might also be manifested in our body. While I am His adopted child, and I choose to be His bond servent.