Gideon

Sarcasm is never the appropriate response of a loving heart. It is simply a way to get in a jab under the guise of "I was only kidding!" My post was nothing but declaring what God has promised to do in us. And your take is that this somehow diminishes the sovereignty of God? Do you see how illogical such a statement is? Gids

Who is talking sinless perfection? I am talking being kept from falling by the power of God through faith. There is a huge difference. If Christ is in us, not just with us, but IN us, and we abide in Him, we are promised that we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. These are His words to us, not mine. Can God keep us? Can He deliver us from evil? This is not about our abilities but about His. We must be careful that we go not gut the entire promises of God by simply concluding hat since no one is perfect, then sin will never be escaped. Not sinning is not perfection. It is simply now a blank canvas where God can then begin to paint His image upon us. Unbelief lurks, always trying to get us to limit what God can do for us, in us, despite what He has clearly promised to do for us. It is the root of all of our other sins. We have been made new creatures, but until we believe that with more than our heads, and reckon that the old us really is dead, not slowly never dying, and yield ourselves as those who are alive from the dead, we will continue to walk as old natured people, ruled by lusts and self will. What is lacking in us is a burning desire to be freed from our carnal nature, not positionally, which is simply head knowledge, but practically, where we and others can see it and rejoice. We have become content to be forgiven, yet remain carnal, ruled still by our free will, choosing when we want to sin and when we want to be good. And it is here that change must occur if there is any hope of us leading others to the Lord. This is how evangelism is to work. "The heathen will know that I am the Lord, when I shall be sanctified IN YOU before their very eyes." Ezekiel 36:23 blessings, Enoob Gids

If that were the case, and there is no need for watchmen, then why have preachers and teachers? They have the Holy Spirit inside them, leading them to all truth, right? God has ordained men to lead the saints to walking in the FREE INDEED Jesus promised us. But those men themselves must first be walking there, with lives lived as examples to the flock demonstrating how sure and rich His promises are. Do you think it is just the lost deceived religious tares and not Christians in the church who are doing "that wicked stuff"? The word given to Laodecia was given to the church, not to those outside of it. We so want to squirm out of any conviction of wrongdoing, thinking that because we have grace, we have need of nothing. This is the very sin laid at the feet of Laodecia. But true grace teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. It's purpose is to lead us..... to cause us... to live lives worthy of our calling, in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our lives. Is it only unsaved deceived people in church who are living materialistic lives or who are bound by secret sexual lusts driven by one click of a button on our computers? The sin, dear brother, is in the church, in His children. Multitudes of saved people are 'healed, but only slightly', with no hunger for heart purity or holiness. Most do not even think it possible, so why sweat it? We cannot put off the shallowness of the church on lost people who have infiltrated our ranks. We should be lifting them up to our standard, but instead, they have brought us down to theirs. It is time we took the conviction of God to heart, and admitted our shallowness and secret little sins, sins we have no desire to part with. God can and will heal us, but we must want it more than our next breath. Self must climb off the throne of our lives. In these upcoming final days, each one of us will make our choice.... THE choice.... as to who we will serve. Obedience to self and sin or obedience to righteousness. No, we cannot do it. BUT.... we can want it. So..... do we? God is fully able to deliver us from the power of sin and from the grip of our old nature, but until we long for it, until we see ourselves as wretched men, bringing shame to the name of our God by our compromise and lack of hunger for more, we will continue to draw near Him with our lips, but with our hearts far from Him. blessings, Gids

Trust me, the "if" is not on my part, but simply a logical way to lay out for those not walking in the glorious liberty of the children of God so they may finally see heir great need and more importantly, His greater supply. We read these promises, and often even quote them to one other, marveling at their power, so how can it be that it never dawns on us that if these be really true, then we must be missing something, and yes, not just big but huge? Is there a move overseas? Absolutely. This is not in any a justifier of the church's current overall condition. It is an indictment cast at His churches in the west. Are God's hands tied over us who live in greater freedom and security? Does He not long to fill us too with Him so that we might see satan fleeing? What then is the reason for our lack? Is it not the sin of Sodom? Pride, idleness and fullness of bread? "Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness...." Ezekiel 16:49 Faith is a response to need. Our lifestyle, our "need of nothing" mindset, and yes our prosperity, has made it difficult for true hunger to manifest itself. No hunger. No faith. No faith, no victory. We have gotten religiously comfortable. We have failed to understand that if godliness with contentment is great gain..... and it IS, then contentment without godliness is great loss. It is time we all did some real heart searching. God has shown the intent of His heart in times like these. "Only acknowledge your iniquity, that your heart is far from me." The question for each one of us is... what is the intent of ours? The ball is in our court. One final amazing choice. What God has for each of us is past explaining. But let me tell you.. "Free Indeed" is accurate, but does not do it justice. "The glorious liberty of the children of God" comes a lot closer. ? I humbly implore you, you who are reading these words, to believe that the victory Christ has purchased for us is more real than we can know. If deep down in your heart, there still is a hunger for more, an itch not scratched, a desire for Jesus to be manifestly with you, all day every day, a rest from condemnation and guilt, then that is the Holy Spirit wooing you! Ask Him to do what He has to do to you to bring you to a place of readiness to receive. Give Him permission. Then ASK! I promise you... no, no, HE promises.... that if you draw near unto Him, He will draw near unto you. blessings to all, Gideon

If you read all the many clear promises in my OP, and God is capable as you say, why are so many not walking in victory over the world, the flesh and the devil? If it is just held out as an additional totally optional "benefit" without seeing that something is wrong with our current understanding of holiness and the overcoming life, and correction is not administered, nothing will change. Unbelief has crept into the church to such an extent, we have as a whole totally limited God in His desirecto change and free us. Repentance and hunger is needed. Correction is not fun, but it brings those hungry for more to a place where their hearts are open to instruction. I am sorry you do not understand or accept this. blessings, Gids

Would you mind showing me where in my OP I have attacked the church? Do you agree that most of God's own are not walking in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of their lives? That walking as living sacrifices is to God "our reasonable service" but in our minds is radical legalism? The truth is, whether you want to actually acknowledge it or not, most do not believe walking without fulfilling the lusts of the flesh is even possible in this life. God calls it abiding in Him and tells us He has made it available to even the weakest among us. We have been taught however, that it is flat out impossible this side of Heaven, so why even waste the time seeking it? So what is required to teach victory? Do you not see it first requires an upheaval of our contentment with the low standards we have concerning what Christ is willing to do for us? In order to climb out of the boat of unbelief, we must first admit we are missing the mark and badly. Whether we believe it or not, our current boat will soon to be taking on water. Darkness is coming, despite our hope that all will remain just as it is, and walking as an overcomer will soon not just be a luxury for those with such a leaning, but an absolute necessity for each of us to spiritually survive. i have said again and again, when I share about the condition of the church, it is will tears and not criticism. God has told me to both warn as well as to show people the how of walking with self crucified. If you do not like it or believe what I am sharing, and do not want to receive it, I accept that. You can avoid my posts altogether, can you not? If you were concerned about others walking in victory, I would think you would overlook your objections as to how I share, knowing in your heart that such teaching is woefully lacking in the body and greatly needed. blessings, Gids

What exactly is your objection? Do you not want to see people walk in victory? Why would you object to someone saying it is not only possible, but promised? it makes no sense. Why would you take the time to make such a remark? if you do not like my posts, certainly you know you can ignore them, right? Show me where I stretched the scriptures to say something that they did not intend. These scriptural promises I shared are in your Bible as well as mine. Unbelief has gotten deeply rooted into the church in these last days, and I pray we all understand, It will be cut out. We can either cooperate with God and seek His face for victory or be put into such a spot that we have believe them or perish. Either way, a decision will be required of us. We can either voluntarily come to the place where we hate our contentment with our religious self life, our secret sins, our wayward thoughts, our refusal to allow Him access to ALL parts of our life, and deny ourselves and follow Him, trusting He can and will cause us to will AND to do of His good pleasure ..... OR we can postpone it... for a time. The danger is, that at some point, by refusing to make the choice, we are actually making ours and the outcome will not be pretty. It saddens me that when someone shares what God has promised to do for us, they are met with resistance and sarcasm. Is this not exactly what the enemy would like? May God open our eyes. blessings, Gids

If that is what you got from my post, either I am terrible at explaining my point, or your reading comprehension is lacking, methinks, lol. It is when we come to Him knowing that unless He does it IN US, we have no hope or ever walking as overcomers, and ask for the faith to believe His promises are yea and amen, despite our weakness, that we are finally ready to receive the miracle of walking in the FREE INDEED Jesus clearly promised us. Why the sarcasm? I shared scriptural promises. I am confused by your rssponse. Do you not long to walk in victory over the enemy of your soul? blessings, Gideon

If it is God protecting a man, keeping Him from falling, causing him to obey, equipping him with sword, shield and armor, and then promised that his shield will quench all the fiery arrows of the enemy..... If this man's God has promised His divine intervention into every temptation, assuring him that He will never permit him to be tempted above his ability to resist, and then for added assurance, God declared to the universe that He would also make a way of escape so we could bear it without caving..... If this man's God promised to be his master potter, the one who molds him into an overcomer, victorious over the world, the flesh and the devil..... If God has told this man that His will is his sanctification and then taught him to pray 'Not my will thine be done".... If these things all be true, then should it not melt our hearts to see that the one thing not won over to God that causes all the issues is US? It is our old nature, refusing to yield. Will we sit here like the lame man at the pool of Bethesda, excusing our often willful sins, saying we too have no man to help us get healed and free indeed? Will we be content to be the most 'senior' sinners, as if it somehow proves our humility, or is viewed as some sort of honor, magnifying grace? Or will we finally awake to the fact we DO HAVE A MAN? Will we finally let our hearts be poured out and cry out to God to free us from US? Free us from the unbelief that limits Him, that calls Him a liar to His face, or an exaggerator at best. May we cry out to Jesus, confessing our great need, seeking for the answer that initiates all these promises and causes them to click into action. There is one, I promise. We have a choice. God has given us a way to walk in victory and scripture clearly promises it. We cannot minimize the importance of our believing these powerful promises to be true. We dare not sapp them completely of their strength by an offhanded "Yeah, but we are only human." if God made no provision to get our old nature controlled, why promise anything? Guys, if we are given His promises like heavy gold inks, assuring us He will not fail us, and yet we are one of those anchor chains... the weak link.... what good are they? If they were meant for the strong only, where does that leave us weak ones? God is stirring His own. He wants us victorious. And He WILL do it. BUT..... two things are needed on our parts. First we must want such a walk, more than our next breath. Secondly, we must willing to do something terrifyingly wonderful... absolute surrender. To any who will come to that place, even if it is a trembling "I believe. Help thou my unbelief." that walk is guaranteed. He promises. I know this much. Every single believer WILL be awakened and walk together as the Bride of Christ, spotless, prepared for His arrival.... and our eyes will witness it it..... and BE it. blessings, Gideon

If what you were saying were true, why would they have to be awakened? God addressed the Laodecians as His church. Were they walking in holiness? God has told us that if we abide in Him, we will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. Ge has promised that if we will hold up our shields of faith, we will quench ALL the fiery arrows of the enemy. Do we see that happening today? Do men in the world stand in amazement declaring "Behold how they love one another!"? Bo brother, it is the true church that needs awakening. A watchman' purpose is to warn the people inside the city walls. Watchmen are not for the world, but for the church. As long as we think it pertains to someone else and not us, we will not cry out for Him to transform us and rescue us from US. Repentance is only viable if it is personal. May God open our eyes to our great need. Until believers tire of their failures, their many compromises, their own little secret sins, their lukewarmness towards the fact that many even in their own families are headed to hell and they simply are unmoved in their hearts, we will see no revival of the bride. We are far, far from being ready. We think because we have been given the righteousness of God, all is well. As the Laodecians put it.... "We have need of nothing!" Do we not know that pure seed of Christ planted within us is supposed to grow inside us, bearing fruits for others to see? Is this not how true evangelism is supposed to work? Have we forgotten that to whom much is given, much is required? Until we examine our own hearts and assume it is others who must be awakened, we avoid the conviction of the Spirit upon our own lives. That must change. That will change. The only question is..... will we listen and fall on our knees or be satisfied with making Heaven yet with no desire to actually live wholly for Him? blessings, Gideon

Brother, ever since the wolves entered the flock after Paul's death, the wheat and the tares grow together. The wheat does not lift the tares up in purity. The tares bring the wheat down to their level. Were the Laodecians truly the church. Absolutely. God has promised to lift up the church in the last day by waking it to righteousness. We are about to remember who we are. Shields of faith will again be raised, quenching ALL the fiery arrows of the enemy. The promises of God are about to be believed again, and multitudes will discover God's path to walking as overcomers, victorious over the world, the flesh and the devil. You mention that if someone is truly saved, they are being conformed to the image of his son. But do we actually see that happening? Why is it that in the book of Acts, men would exclaim "Behold how they love one another!" and today the world looks upon Christians as hypocrites? You are correct. We should be transformed into His image. We should be loving our God with all of our hearts. We should be bearing spiritual fruits that teatify that Jesus is living in us. We should be losing our lives so that Christ can live through us. Should. When we finally awake to the fact we are not seeing things occurring in our lives, and it bothers us till we cry out like Paul did in Romans 7, beseeching. God to fulfill what He has promised to do IN us, something wonderfully amazing is going to happen. The true church is going to awaken and BE witnesses to the world that Jesus is Lord. It is this that will trigger the great falling away. What must occur for this happen in our own lives? We must actually believe we ARE new creatures. Knowing we died when Christ died is not enough. We must arm ourselves with that truth when satan comes tempting us to sin. This truth must become our shield of faith for it is the only thing that will cause him to flee from us. Knowing that when Christ rose from the dead, we rose from the dead with Him is not enough. We have to believe it is true for us, right now, this very minute and yield ourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead. If we do not take the step He instructs us to take in Romans 6 and reckon these truths as OUR truths, our knowledge will not suffice to set us free indeed as Jesus promised us. Why do we not see this happening in the body today? Simple. In order for this to take place we have to come to the point where we truly hate our old life. All that is about to change. blessings, Gideon

It has dawned upon me only recently that if one is content in their salvation yet possessing no real hunger and thirst for righteousness, Laodecian lukewarmness is in full bloom. Is it not those who love the light who come to it? Did we come to Jesus just to get out of having to pay the price for our sins or to be free from the power of it? Grace has been twisted in this late hour to promise life to men who have no desire to actually see self crucified. Do we love the light? Do we want Him to reign over us, transforming us into His image, as the master potter? Or, do we want to simply avoid paying the piper by claiming His righteousness as our possession without us being His possession? We are all entering the final valley of decision. Here we all, every single one of us will have to finally choose.... do we want light or darkness, the god of this world or the God of the universe, self to rule or Him to rule in us, old natures or new natures. We have been taught we can have both, saved and yet still living with sin and self rule. But the word of God is clear. it is those who love the light who come to it. Our calling is to make the tree good. This is not an attempt to tell people to earn their salvation by being good. We cannot. Without Him, we can do nothing. But.... we CAN choose. And soon, we MUST choose. Our choice to be good trees, fully light, initiates the process. His job then is to fill the good tree with good fruit. It is time we counted the cost of following Him. What is the cost? Giving up all rights to ur lives. We have forgotten.... or never truly been taught.... that He owns us. He has bought us with a price. A warning must go out. Our choice must be made. Each one of us will be faced with choosing self and sin and darkness which go hand in hand with our old nature, or we will choose goodness, light and righteousness which comes from putting on our new nature. This has nothing to do with ability. God must do the changing. But He will change us only if we ask Him to. Far too many have become content in their Romans 7 Christianity, using Paul's words as their excuse for compromise. They do not understand. Romans 7 is Paul's declaration of hunger and intent. He refused to accept his captivity to darkness, to sin, to self ruling the roost. He cried out to the deliverer of hungry souls to deliver him.... and God did, just as He will for any determined to flee darkness, no matter how big, no matter how small A fork in the road is coming... and fast. Do we want light to reign in us, no matter the cost to us personally? If our free will is constantly refusing to take the way of escape hen we fall into temptation, are we willing to lay even our free will, our most prized possession, on the alter and ask God to give us brand new wills that WILL choose light? He has promised to do just that.... cause us to obey Him. How amazing is our God! He just asks one thing of us. Do we want it? The answer we give will determine EVERYTHING. Choose life. blessings, Gideon

I live in East Tennessee, about 45 minutes from the Smoky Mountain National Park. The mountains start about 20 minutes from my house. When it gets cold in. winter, you can see clearly how tge temperature drops based upon elevation. 10,000 ft elevation drops the temperature probably 20 degrees. We are 93 million miles from the sun. if we were 92,999, oo5 miles away, we would die from the heat. If we were 93,000,005 away, we would all mom and pop cicles, lol. It amazes me we can be so blind as to think we could make living on Mars possible. We could 'exist' on Mars perhaps, but at what cost? Man is screwing up this amazing planet. If we would put the money spent on weapons and space exploration into making this a sustainable place with no poverty, we could do it.... if it were not for fallen natures whose favorite words are ME and MINE. It should be easy for people to see this, but as the Word tells, "Because they did not like to retain God in their knowledge...", the potential for greatness disappears in a flash. Thank God, He is going to fix this mess, but getting to that point is going to bring many a tear. blessings, Gids

The biggest objection I have is with the big bang theory. Once you make that hyper-jump past logic, you can go anywhere. Ok, so at the beginning there is ... nothing. Zero. And somehow, out of nothing comes.... something. How do men of science look past this most obvious illogic mess and swallow it as truth? Far better if they just said the universe had no beginning. But the facts do not corroborate such a belief. So they are stuck with the big bang as their only alternative because the only other possibility is something.......or someone..... caused the universe to come into existence and they will avoid that one at all costs. What is that scripture about "....professing them to be wise, they became fools."? blessings, Gids

I find it ironic that your last sentence about Trump and "insatiable and immoral pursuit of power" did not click like a 10,000 watt light bulb in the heads of many as perfectly describing his own "modus operandii". Do we are Christians believe one side is the "good side" and the other is the devil himself? It concerns me that Christians do not understand that the entire world is corrupt.... the Democrats as well as the Republicans. Picking side and assuming the side you are on is spotless while the other side is a cesspool of sin is simply being blinded by the enemy. When will we have revival? When we finally understand we are not of this world, we are passers through. We cannot legislate morality and the ONLY hope for man is a one on one relationship with God. That is our calling. Nothing less. The early church understood this. How few today do so. blessings, Gids

Do you know how to tell if we are walking in the light of that truth? When temptation comes, do we give in? Or, do we grit our teeth and determine not to yield, which often sadly ends up in yielding anyway. Or... we stand fast in the truth of who we are..... new creatures..... and that God WILL cause us to take the way of escape He assures us He will provide us, knowing that we will be brought out on the other side victorious without yielding to the sin that so easily besets us. It is one thing to agree it is good doctrine, and to know others too have seen this. And no, it is not new. But, understanding we are new is far, far, from reckoning it so. Reckoning it so becomes our shield of faith that quenches ALL the fiery arrows of the enemy. It works. God is not a man that He might lie. If we do not find ourselves overcoming when tempted, the hard truth is we are not believing and still end up trying in our own strength to resist the temptation. I have, in my life, done it both ways. For thirty eight years prior to my visitation, even in the times when I did manage to resist (which were few), it was by my own grit snd determination, with no guarantee nor peace that the next time would bear the same results. But when a man truly comes to the point he hates his old nature and the failure and self-condemnation that follows it, and cries out in desperation for the faith to believe he truly has been made new, God responds and the walk of true victory becomes his possession. God has asked me to share until people see their need and cry out to actually believe with their whole heart rather than be content to understand with their heads.. It is not a pleasant task at times. People do not like to be told that they are missing something. I so get that, I do. But we are entering into dark times, the likes of which we cannot yet imagine. God is even now beginning to restore us to book of Acts strength, insuring that we can weather the coming storm and then come home to Him triumphant, with our heads held high. . I pray with all my heart that readers look past my errors in presentation and simply believe the words of their God, that He can and He will cause us to walk in full obedience to Him as living sacrifices.... what He terms our "reasonable service". In our strength, it is impossible. But when we allow Him to be the potter, and take His promises as rock-hard truths, we see Him rolling up His sleeves and delivering us from evil, just as He promised He would do. I can only testify that for fourteen years He has fulfilled everything He has promised to me as I have reached out in my never-ending weakness to grab hold of Him and His strength by an act of audacious underserved faith. In myself, I am worse than all here. What is my solution? What is yours? To escape self by putting it to death... by faith! When Paul declare that he was crucified with Christ and that it was no longer he that lived, but Christ now lived in Him, this was not a place he arrived at by his diligence, nor by his calling as an apostle. It was the declaration of reckoning that God seeks from each one of our mouths, and as we step out to believe it, despite our weaknesses, He firms the roiling waters under our feet as we walk to Him in palpable victory. We ARE new creatures, right now, this very minute. Satan has no hold on us any longer, and thus is left trying to get us to continue to believe his lies, that somehow we are too weak to walk uprightly towards our God, all day, every day, and that God's hand is shortened so that He cannot save us to the uttermost. Satan reminds us of our weakness, and our undeservedness. But listen! knowing our weakness and the impossibility of walking with sin under our feet is, in truth a great advantage, for we full well know that we need a miracle, and our God has one with each of our names on it. May we be reminded that it is when we have NO strength and KNOW it, that we are ready to cast all our hope of walking in victory as overcomers on His broad shoulders to keep us, to transform us and to cause us to bear fruits... MUCH fruits! He will NOT disappoint. Glory! Humbly, Gids

I like your wit and spunk and also find myself in agreement with you here on this post. blessings, Gideon

You are quite amazing, my dear brother. To say you are not seeing things as they really are is now a personal attack... and one worthy of being reported? Really? This is so very sad. I will leave it at that as anything I say past this will no doubt be reported.... again.... as some sort of nefarious attack. be blessed, dear brother Gids

May God bless you richly. Gids

Brother, I have shared in the past where I have come from and how I have come to this place where I now stand. When I was ready to concede that I would never overcome my evil fleshly nature, God miraculously visited me and showed me why I was failing continually. He then asked me to share with any and all I have come in contact with the missing understanding that unlocks the promises of God to actually see them be fulfilled in our walks. Have i "arrived"? LOL, far from it. But I also would be remiss if I did not testify as well that the changes He has brought about in me these past fourteen years after 38 years in bondage to sin as a child of God astound even me. What reason can be offered for any to believe me? There is none. You do not know me, nor my life, how I live. I could be living the life of a saint, or be a crafty old man with an ipad, ready to enjoy sowing discord among the saints. But what I share are not my "opinions" but simply truths directly from God's Word. And it is here you must go for truth. I pray you who struggle with sin and self know this. Those who long for more than just being forgiven, and actually hunger and thirst for righteousness, and for the Holy character of God to be imprinted on their lives..... they WILL be filled. Of that, there can be no doubt. To you who cannot walk as you desire deep in your soul, to you who hate your life and your inability to live lives that bring glory to your God, rejoice! The words I share..... His words, not mine.... offer great hope. Who is it that will mount up with wings as eagles? Those who have no strength..... and KNOW it. Desperation is a hard place to arrive at, but it is there that the seeds of life can sprout. blessings to all, Gideon

I fully comprehend rhat I may not be sharing an opinion that gets accolades, but at the same time, unless I am missing something, neither am I breaking any of the TOS. If you know that I am, please inform me so I can correct it and I will apologize as well. I fully realize that my discussing my take on the state of the church as a whole is not pleasant to read. However, I have shown scripturally in this post many times what God has specifically promised to do in us if we are truly abiding in Him as He desires. Obedience is not demanded in the New Covenant. It is promised! So, if we are still walking with secret sins, with disobedience in certain areas, with self love, with lukewarmness towards the lost, with lack of spiritual fruits, whether any wants to admit it or not, something is wrong in our understanding. Now, we can get angry with the poster.... me in this case.... for bringing this to our attention. But that does not change what God has promised us, nor the state we find ourselves in. May God open our eyes to the truth. He wants to deliver us from US, but until we get the same heart that Paul had in Romans 7, and admit our wandering heart, and our sin of unbelief in limiting the Holy One of Israel, and our lack of love for others, and understand that time, by itself, will not change us, no matter how long we wait, we will continue to walk towards the tsunami of evil headed our direction, woefully unprepared to weather the storm soom to come upon us. Now is the time to dig deep, to lay our pride down at getting offended because someone points out we are not walking in what God intended. My words are not meant to criticize, but to bring us to our knees to seek His face to save us to the uttermost, which He not only wants but is fully committed to fulfilling in us if we will but admit we need it, and want it. How do I know this? How do I know we are missing the power if God in our lives? How can you? Simply read about the early church. Their love, their zeal, their victory over self- love and self-preservation, their hunger to obey the Lord in all things, their taking the words of God to walk as living sacrifices as a real possibility..... these all make us pale badly in comparison as the modern church who thinks they have the same Spirit, the same heart as the early saints did, content without true godliness, having need of nothing. We can say because we have grace, we have need of nothing, but that simply is revealing the same heart that plagued the saints of Laodecia. I pray earnestly with every fiber of my being that we finally see that, for when we do, and our blinders come off as to the fullness of what our salvation actually is, our world will get rocked and our jaws will hit the floor.... and yes, great joy shall be upon our heads. GREAT joy. blessings to all, Gideon

Your ears translate my words into something berating, when that is simply the furthest thing from the truth. I have simply taken wheat you say and asked you a question concerning it. There is no cleverness, nor trick hidden in it. We see the way God interacted with His children in Laodecia. He did not see them as overcomers. He saw them as overcome with complacency and acceptance of a life less than what He desired for them. He then counseled them to overcome, just as He did all the other churches addressed in Revelation 2 and 3. I bring these things up not to wound, but so that His children can find the full blessing of what Jesus died to give us. Unfortunately, in order to receive it, we must admit we need such a walk, which some take as an accusation. That is why some take offense and see malice in my words, when there simply is none. blessings, Gideon

To abide in christ means to abide in his love. What is christ love ? He gave up himself for us and become sin and died on the cross. We likewise will love our brother like he loved us. If we are doing this then we will bear fruit And this brings us back to the very premise of my post. so, are we? Are we loving our brother like He loved us? In the book of Acts, men would exclaim "Behold how they love one another!" Do we see that happening in our lives? in the church we fellowship at? Is this the opinion of those in the world that we know as to how we are children of God interact with one another? I think we all know the answer to that, even if it is hard to admit it. Should this not be a giant red flag to us, seeing that we are told that it is by our love one for another that all men shall know that we are His disciples? It should, but it is not. Instead, we say "Well, that is what grace is for, because we are only human and no one is perfect." God is not through with us yet. He will have a church ready for the wedding. God has spoken through Ezekiel His plan for how evangelization should work. "...and the heathen will know that I am the Lord, whe I shall be sanctified IN YOU before their very eyes." Ezekiel 36 When it finally bothers us that no one comes up to us asking why we are different, we are on the path to restoration in the body of Christ. His promises are meant to work. The fact that by and large, they are not is testifying to the fact that we are missing a key element in seeing our sanctification process actually work. But how many there are, possessing grace for forgiveness, who declare they have need of nothing. Real grace then teaches us the HOW of denying ungodliness and worldly lusts so thst we can live soberly, righteously and justly in this present world. If that is not the mark we see on our lives, is it not time we examine ourselves to see what we are missing in our understanding of how to walk as overcomers? blessings, Gids

Brother, if you do not mind nor take offense, I would rather stick to the true gist of my OP. I have stated it several times to you to try to clarify why I made the post. However, no matter what I say or do not say, you are determined to undermine the post by finding something... anything.... to find fault with. I will not join you in your endeavor. I would also like to ask you one question. What does "moving on" mean to you? It is obvious to me that your interpretation and mine differ. I have tried and will continue to try to be polite as I refuse to get into an intellectual battle on this matter with you. However, it seems to me that we have arrived at a stalemate of sorts where no profit is there for any other readers. How about, since my posts seem to offend you, you simply ignore my offerings and chalk them up to a simple failure on our parts to communicate. I wish you no ill, That is God's truth. But no matter how hard I have tried to re-direct our conversation back to what I am trying to convey to those reading my posts, you counter with another attack and another reason to get offended, and pull the conversation away from what I am sharing. It is almost as if you do not want that talked about. I simply cannot figure out why that is. Be well. Gids

"You left out the Cals and Arms both trying to convince themselves of their own salvation and both being deceived. " Brother, are you actually serious? From my opening statement, you have somehow twisted it into this? I have no idea how to convince you otherwise. You have fixated on wanting to take offense and it is growing in size, and none of it is true. Can you not just take my word for it that I meant no ill will? Please read my post I just made. I hope it will let you rest on the matter. blessings, Josh Gids