Willa

And it grieves me to watch.

Sometimes the people who persecute us are the ones that are under conviction by the Holy Spirit and are close to being saved. So stand and be strong in the power of the Holy Spirit. Bless those who persecute you and pray for those who spitefully use you. It is not easy. Our grandson has been bullied at school by a very popular and influencial guy--captain of the football team and ASB president. This has gone on for 6 years since the guy's parents were divorsed. Most of that time our grandson has been very lonely even as a Christian. I made the mistake of marrying someone who was not saved. He also made my life miserable for many years. First God changed my attitude toward my husband! I conclude that God could have saved him at any time, but He was waiting on me, as He was changing me into a more godly wife. Eventualy hubby did receive Christ and was slowly changed into my nearly perfect soul mate. But it took years even after he was saved. It doen't help much to know that we will be rewarded in heaven for being persecuted for Christ's sake. It still feels miserable at the time.

Since you know your pastor so well, his weaknesses and all, it may be hard for you to submit to his leadership in the church. You are submitting outwardly perhaps, but inside you are questioning him and even resenting his guidance, especially in regards to "your" area of music. It may be very hard for him under these circumstances as well. Sometimes I guage my own submission to God by my attitudes toward those He has put in authority over me, or even to civil laws such as speed limits. So part of the problem may be in your heart as well. If you go to him, perhaps it would be best to confess your own problem you are having submitting to his leadershìp as a pastor and to ask for his forgiveness. Tell him how much you miss the fellowship you used to have with him and that you realize a lot of it is your own fault. This may go far in helping you to support your good friend and brother in law through a hard time for him, as well.

When I first started walking with God again I was so overcome with how real He was in my life that I went to every Bible study and prayer group I could find in my hunger and excitement. But it was to the neglect of my children, whom I occasionly put into day cares that were not the best. I had to find balance, to give time to God first and then my family. He directed me back to them to pour His love into them and to serve Him in my home. Since my mom died around that time as well, I needed the support of other Christians desperately, and my husband was not saved. It was a very hard time. In the Revelation God tells a church to return to its first love. I believe that means the passion we first had for Him, even though it was sometimes misguided and done much in the flesh. It was an all consuming hunger for His Presence and a need to express the new found joy.

I no longer question the love of others. I know they are imperfect. The question is how much do I love and forgive them after being deeply hurt and betrayed by them. Am I still loyal to them? Do I continue to value them as a friend? Have i been able to move beyond the pain? Some of those experiences help me to identify with the sufferings of Christ. In doing so I also identify with Him and am brought close to Him. God has used this to forge my relationship with both Christ and those who have offended me when I forgave, so that they are stronger than ever.. Sometimes their correction is from God. It is gentle and done in genuine concern that brings restoration. Remember that satan is the accuser of the brethern. Accusation is not loving correction. Some people have like or brotherly love. That is more fickle and their reproof can be tainted by their own sin. One such person broke all relationship with me afterward, which was sadder than the offence, which amounted to "telling me off". And some people were never friends but were self appointed messengers from God, who instead served the father of lies. Their "correction" brought heaviness of oppression until I realized it was a lying accusation. Some people I recognize are more religious and putting on a pious front, not being open and honost. I don't trust them. And some I waited till I could show them support and kindness after they purposely insulted me. So the question is instead, how do i respond to the correction of others, or the insults and injuries? Do I allow God to use them for good in my life? Do I allow God to turn them into a blessing? It sure isn't easy to go through.

Using the Complete Word Study Dictionary by Spiros Zohiates: 4236 MEEKNESS. Praotes--- mildness, mildness, forbearance. Primarily it--denotes--an inward grace of the soul, calmness toward God in particular. It is the acceptance of God's dealing with us considering them as good in that they enhance the closeness of our relationship with Him. However praotes encompasses expressing anger toward the sin of man as demonstrated by the Lord Jesus. This meakness does not blame God for the persecutions and evil doing of men. It is not the result of weakness. (Someone said it is strength under control) 5012 HUMILITY-- tapeinophrosunes : lowminded, base, from tapeinos 5011: lowly, humble. Humility, lowliness of mind, The esteeming of ourselves small, inasmuch as we are so, The correct estimate of ourselves. For the sinner, it involves the confession of his sin and a deep realization of his unworthiness to receive God's marvelous grace. 3114 LONG-SUFFERING --makrothumeo: long suffering, as opposed to hasty anger or punishment To forbear To endure patiently as opposed to losing faith or giving up. It involves exercising understanding and patience toward antagonistic persons. Your thoughts?

I agree, Bopeep. As much as I want God to heal me and my family, the transformation of our lives is a greater miracle. And salvation is the greatest. Even the angels rejoice over that one.

I have been a member of various prayer groups in the past,, one of which was a regional effort preparing for a crusade. But we have not seen such results. However, there has been great growth in several churches while a couple have shut their doors. One did not wish to participate in the crusade or in prayer because they were afraid they might outgrow their new church! That one died and my Baptist church that had supported prayer for the community bought the church and surrounding land. The church became its youth center and the Baptist church grew much, built more buildings there, even outgrowing the youth center. Our area had been considered a hard area to evangelize but is no longer considered that. However, most prayer groups are more focused on problems of members and their families and friends than the community at large. Perhaps that is where we are failing. I used to walk the streets of our neighborhood praying for the residents of each home. It just occurred to me to suggest starting meeting with our neighbor, a pastor of a struggling church, to pray for our neighborhood and community. He and hubby are already very close.

I am also confused. But to simply be told that we are a Christian because we have read a certain prayer or have been confirmed or even baptized by a certain church doesn't make it so if there has been no change in the heart. If our hearts have not turned from the sins of the world, the flesh and the devil toward Christ as our Savior, we won't know if we are saved. Perhaps when we find our desires and way of life changing we better realize that God has come to reside in us. But my pastor says it is when we start feeling miserable about doing things that we never thought were so bad, it is then that we know we are a Christian. That is the Holy Spirit conviction of sin that shows us we can never be good enough to go to heaven, and that only His Life within us is worthy of heaven. Even if that Life for the moment is making us miserable. So we continue to repent and ask God to remove the bad attitudes from our hearts and replace them with His thoughts and attitudes toward people and things. Actions will follow naturally. But I do remember how amazed hubby was when for the first time he did not curse in his frustration while working on the plumbing under the sink. It is hard to see our own growth. Often the thing we grieve about doing is not what God has been changing, so by focusing on that thing we are blind to all the other changes He has done. It works best to just focus on Jesus and not on our faults or our self. In the same way it is best not to focus on the failures and faults of others, but rather to focus on any good to be found in them. Many people we think are just religious are simply babes in Christ who are very slow to grow because of the false trappings of some churches. Bowing to statues, or trying to earn heaven, or even thinking we can achieve anything of worth through good works can lead us astray. So our basic faith in Christ as Savior has never grown because it has been fed bad food. Good works are produced after salvation by our faith, but they must also be powered by God's love. They are not done to be seen by men but are best to be done in secret and rewarded in heaven. It is God Who knows the password to get us to open the doors of our hearts. But it takes humility to let Him in, and being vulnerable. God is patient and waits for the right opportunity to get our attention. Meanwhile we may be able to soften that person with fairness and undemanding kindness. Just a friendly word can make such a difference. We are light in a dark world. It doesn't take much and normally we don't even realize we are doing it. I hope this somehow applies to your OP.

It takes humility to receive a gift. It is much easier to give. It was hard for me to receive gifts that I can't use or don't want. Now I receive them as a memorial of peoples' love. But it took a long time for me to do that. Now I am so ashamed of my past attitudes. My husband is a person who always gives me little gifts, often things left over from garage sales. I would take a gift of a cup of coffee graciously. Someday there will be something that you can do for them, perhaps. But irrigardless pray first to thank God for this cup of coffee that your friend has so kindly given you. "Owe no man anything but to love one another" Romans 13:8 Some people try to control others by their gifts or wealth, especially politicians. Others feel obligated by such gifts. But when we acknowledge that God is our real Provider then we are only indebted to Him as our Heavenly Father Who enjoys lavishing good gifts on His children. Eph.1:5-8a NASV He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us.

I have to agree that many denominations emphasize one truth at the expense of others. But all true churches contain the basic truths of the Gospel. So I also have looked to God to teach me and let the rest slide off like teflon. 1 Thess. 5:21 But examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good. I have compared all teachings with many scriptures. And in each I grew and was established in truth. In fact, in many God somehow aided me to ignore what was false, such as a church being the only true church (catholics are not the only ones who have said that). Or that only those who are immersed shall go to heaven, since that is the correct method. I think only those who are born again shall be part of the Bride of Christ. Jesus knows His own sheep, calls us by name and we follow Him. Perhaps OT men of faith will be in heaven as friends of the Bridegroom, as John the Baptist called himself. That is God's perrogative. So I have been a member of many different denominations and each for over 10 years till God moved me. The church I now attend has no formal membership and does not call itself a denomination. But after walking closely with God for 40 years, in this church I found only one insignificant detail that God gave me other scriptures that contradicted the belief. It is one that I will ask the Lord about in heaven. It is a pleasant thing to feel so at one with this group and have sound bible teaching. I am thankful that sometimes God uses an imbalanced teaching to straighten some of us who have leaned too far in the opposit direction, so as to bring us all into a perfect unity. God wants us to cling to Him rather than to a certain tradition. It is difficult for me to comprehend clinging to a tradition at the expense of God's word, such as the use of trumpets and cymbols in a church service. Such things have been known to divide a congregation! They are so trivial and have nothing to do with peoples hearts. It is more understandable when language seperates denominations that hold the same basic tenants.

We must first see unbelievers as God does. They are lost, futile in their own imaginations. They are those for whom Jesus died. For God so loved the world---. He traded the life of His own Son for them. So we pray for them and ask God for an opportunity to share the gospel with them. We love them with the love of the Lord.

My father in law had no respect for my husband till he stood up to him--very calmly saying this is what he believes and he didn't want our kids to do what his dad had suggested. After his dad died he had more of a problem keeping a respectful relationship with his mom who had always rejected him. They always had to earn their parents' love and there was no forgiveness. Both were very manipulative. I finally concluded that they did the best that they knew how to do as heathen. They never knew genuine love and forgiveness and could not receive it for themselves, so they could not give it to others. I can't say that I miss watching my husband and kids suffer from their rejection now that they have both passed away. I always remember Jesus praying, Father, forgive them, they know no what they do. I always wonder how well people who are abusive really know the Lord, when they obviously lack His love.

And AMEN! For He shall reign forever and ever.

And the older we get, the more our bodies groan and creak awaiting their redemption.

So much truth in only 2 posts!. WOW!. Thank you Tristen and Joe. I can only proclaim: He is Risen! Hallelujah!

Most people don't realize that Cascade mountains with 14,000 foot Mt. Rainier divide the state. The big tree wet side is only 1/3 of the state. The east part is partly irrigated shrub step, irrigated river valleys and scablands . There is an area known as the "Juniper Forest" that is sand dunes desert sparsly populated with wild juniper. Some is dry wheat land with rolling hills. Some is sagebrush mixed pine forest. WA west, especially Seattle, often acts ashamed of WA east and some don't even speak to its inhabitants except to taste the wines. While I was born on the moldy side with 86" annual rainfall, I am happy to live on the dry side where most of our 5-7" of rain falls while the ground is frozen.

I prefer thin crust. But it was in Canada that I was introduced to Pizza Dogs--a hot dog with pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, and pineapple in a bun--that was down right good eatin.

Mexico had frequently been hit by devastating earthquakes. I remember that one even caused great damage in Mexico City. Volcanos and the tetonic shelf are to blame. The whole west coast of the Americas is vulnerable, including Alaska and Hawaii, Chili and Peru. It becomes a fact of life here. But I do pray for those whose lives are affected by it.

Thanksgiving is now just a head start on Christmas shopping. Most major stores are open now. Spring break also once coincided with Passover/Easter week but that was called discrimination so was seperated from holy week. Someday I expect them to seperate Christmas vacation as well. Halloween has taken over as nearly as big as Christmas for sales and decoration, and Thanksgiving is being pushed out of peoples minds as well as history books. They are trying to downplay any influence of Judeo-christian religion on our country. All of this no longer surprises me. They originally ruled that students should be excused to celebrate their religious services if requested and at first a lot of people did that. I rarely hear of it now. In fact our family has never been able to avoid working on Christmas when schedualed to do so. Too many people wanted it off to do other things than celebrate Christ's birth. The only day that most stores seem to close for is new years day. Everyone is hung over or wants to watch the ball games. Qnts is right. We should continue to hold our holy commemorations sacred no matter what the secular world does.

There are times that we need to be as wise as serpents and as harmless as doves. We need to be outspoken at times to protest the direction our nation is headed or to support godliness, if any is to be found.

It is a strategic millitary position used by Israel's enemies to launch attacks and missils against them during the 1967 war. Israel captured the area then so that it cannot be used against them in battle. It has since been settled and farmed by the Jews who have recently started building homes there. A man from our church has been working there for years to befriend and aide the Jewish people to show Christian support and love in a tangible way.

I have a new question. If Christianity and Jesus Christ are the only way to the Father, then why is the upbringing of Jesus based on Jewish and Judaism roots and not Christian roots. If Judaism is wrong and Christianity is right, then why is God's promised land based on the wrong religion when discussing salvation. Like why does Judaism exist if the religion doesn't point you to the Father? Why does Judaism exist kinda thing? If Christianity and salvation is based on having a relationship with Jesus then why does Judaism exist? (John Hagee wrote in his book......"Every person reading this book has been blessed by the contributions that the Jewish people have given to the world. As we have stated, the Jewish people have given us the Bible, the patriarchs, the first family of Christianity, and the apostles. Christianity cannot explain its existence without Judaism. That's why our faith is referred as the Judeo-Christian faith. Our roots are found in Abraham, Isaac and Jacob." - From the book, Four blood moons If this is so, then I must be missing something. Does Judaism also teach John 14:6? I'm also gonna be reading up more on the Jewish holidays and religion so I can cover my basis. PS I take John Hagee with a grain of salt. It would be safer to stick to the Bible.

I have known several high school coaches who were much loved and respected Christian examples to their teams. They promoted good sportsmanship and did not have to promote Bible study. The members themselves would hold prayer before games. The coaches were distinguished by language free from cursing and profanities, who genuinely cared about the players.. They did not promote win at all costs attitudes where as competing team coaches often would urge players to "take out" key players of the other team with unnecessary roughness. I learned about one coaches' faith from his funeral where they mentioned that he was active in the "Walk to Emmaus" retreats. It has been illegal for the teachers to lead prayer or Bible study in the USA since the early 60s. We have been unable to have Bacculauriet services unless organized by students and now cannot hold them on school property. Our president has discouraged voluntary prayer by students on the national day of prayer. He has done more to curb Christian freedom than any other president, not even allowing Thanksgiving to be celebrated in federally funded programs; We can't sing our national hymns and even the contribution of Christian missionaries is being removed by our history books. It is insidious. Even in Russia our short term missionaries were invited to share their faith in public schools!

While it was prophasied in the old testament, it was in Acts that the Holy Spirit was poured out on all flesh, where we are called the bride of Christ, where we are indwelt and sealed by the Holy Spirit and adopted into God''s family. These aspects set us apart.