alisonm328

The most difficult obstacle you've faced in your walk with Jesus that he helped you overcome... I'm struggling with a stubborn sin and really need inspiration. I love hearing about what God has done for people. I can't wait to be free of this! On my own I fail at breaking this habit of mine so I'm so ready and patiently waiting for his help. What amazing thing has God done for you?

I've been in situations similar to yours multiple times actually. Not exactly the same but much in common. **Removed**

I better add this: not ALL suffering is from God. Obviously. Some trials will be of our own cause and some from Satan. To figure out where your trial is from you question it and see if it aligns with God's truth. But yes it seems God did allow you to suffer, maybe for testing your faith and seeing if it held up or if it needed more work done. You passed, I believe God made that clear to you! Blessings will be coming your way most definitely!! So inspiring, I hope to faith like yours one day!

Suffering, pain, trials, they're what softens hearts and able to lead a person to the purest form of love. Suffering is the path to so many beautiful things, one being that suffering is desperate for relief from the pain, after suffering through a lot, that person turns to god because they've already tried everything the world has to offer with no relief. Upon looking to him he fills the suffering heart with the perfect medicine, which establishes in hearts the truth that we need him. The father truly desires that we suffer, he will allow us to suffer any time we need it. And we need it a lot! It's wise to see joy in trials because trials bring forth good in us. Sometimes a trial is God disciplining us, he only disciplines his children! A big reason to smile there! He doesn't discipline for nothing, he does it in order to develop our character. Hopefully that answers your question ( :

I like checking online favorite bible verses and do it constantly and usually my favorite translations always end up being ESV, American Standard or King James. I believe God will certainly reveal wisdom and truth to anyone seeking him through reading the bible. Whether the bible was translated using a word for word method, a thought for thought method, or a paraphrasing method, it's gods word! We're blessed to live at this time when we have all these options, and can almost always find the perfect version for any person! Each translation can touch hearts like no other was able to! As a preteen trying to read a King James bible for the first time given to me from my dad, I ended up giving up believing I just couldn't understand it. I tried reading it for over a year, rereading the same chapters and verses over and over and over again lol! I had no idea there were other versions and never asked my dad questions for some reason. Then while at Mardels with my mom more than a year after giving up on reading the bible, I went to the book section right next to the bible section and just glancing over the shelves of bibles noticed a sign "NEW LIVING TRANSLATION". I remember thinking something like what the heck kind of translation is that for a bible lol. Anyway I got it and thanks to the new living version I've never put a bible down! Thanks to being teen friendly and modern, I accepted Jesus and believed! Basically what I am saying to anyone putting down other versions, stop it! Lol just recommend your favorite and forget the bashing, thank you!! Haha. Hopefully I've convinced you!

I hope so!

You said it all perfectly. I'm brand new to this forum so i don't know about the changes or comparisons between pre-election and post-election ...but I have noticed things since joining the site and going through the forums. I assumed it was just the usual and it's sad. I have no fellow believers in my life and I don't attend a church, so I only imagined what it would be like to actually socialize with Christians but I imagined that I would find in my fellow believers/followers of Jesus a place I would finally be OK in my own skin, and where trust came easily, along with trustworthiness. I believed I'd finally feel like I fit in with people! Which ive never felt before! And that I wouldn't be worried about being judged by anyone or looked down on or made fun of. I thought fears of rejection would finally leave me alone! But yeah, i think I expected too much. I think I was imagining everyone as perfect like Christ lol. Obviously I see these forums don't match up with what I've been imagining. I haven't seen someone do anything horrible but I've seen some covertly rude things said and petty things here and there, like arguing back and forth nonstop and then someone saying "lol" in response to another's explanation of their belief, basically laughing as to say they felt that persons belief and explanation was ridiculous.... simply not loving, what we're called to do among other things. I still believe though that I will find a place like I imagine with Christians! Somehow somewhere someway it's going to happen lol! Come on fellow seekers, choose to obey, choose to love!

Luke 13:24 is the verse I quoted above in case anyone is wondering.

Since Jesus said "make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to" I wonder too much about the "church" and how somewhere around a third of the world's population, don't quote me on that, claims to be Christian. (this includes catholics) But according to our authority, entrance into heaven will be few. I cant help but fear being denied entrance when that day comes. Without counting the population throughout history, so only considering the Christian population now, a THIRD of the world couldn't be a "few" right?! If Jesus returned tomorrow to take his chosen home, would all of us claiming we're Christian be going with him? It can't be! So what kind or type of Christian will actually make it to heaven? Which kinds will not make it? Why not? I don't get it. How do I figure out what church or what denomination I should join and become involved with? When I don't know all the answers? And what if there's not a single denomination or 'unaffiliated' church that has everything right? What if every Church has at least one belief/view/principle of God/Jesus distorted???

Thank you sooo much for asking this question! Oh my gosh i could go on forever about the billions of times during or after prayers when I've started wondering this and thinking am I sinning? Lol and even worrying that I could be offending the father or the son. Lol. It's the most simple thing but somehow so confusing!!

Yes,the passage is about praying in tongues.I am not a believer in tongues so I do not know if you want to talk to me about it. I understand why you or anyone wouldn't believe in tongues. I didn't either not long ago! It sounds ridiculous! Lol it makes me so sad when I see Christians and even whole churches doing something they probably shouldn't be and causing issues/confusion for other people seeking God. A great example is Christians who scream out tongues during a church service! Lol all it does is create confusion for some. And even disbelief for a lot of people. In my opinion, tongues should only be spoken in public if it's for a reason like someone is present who can translate it or something like that. Otherwise the purpose of tongues is edifying one's self. And shouldn't be all over the place in public making Christians look a bit crazy lol. 1 Corin 14:4 says that the person speaking in tongues is edifying himself. Tongues is the language of the Holy Spirit. The holy spirit knows us deeply and also knows the plan the father has for us since he was there when the father created that plan! So basically tongues can really strengthen a person in the areas we may not even realize we need help. And it can help so much in revealing his plan for us and what steps to take in any and every situation so it's sad how so many believers don't believe in tongues. I hope I'm not being offensive, I don't want to do that! I didn't believe in tongues or think it was at all essential and never gave it much thought until meeting someone who I grew to really trust and respect his opinions on things about God. He started hounding me about doing it eventually lol. Well one day while in the Middle of praying he called me and when I said I was praying and would call him back he blurted out PRAY IN TONGUES before I hung up lol I had tried speaking in tongues numerous times before than but never felt it was any different from gibberish haha but anyways I hung up and sort of half heartedly said to god that if he wanted me to speak in tongues to help me do it and then I continued on with my prayer as before when all of a sudden I started blurring out some babble lol and realized that my mouth and tongue were moving on it's own! After doing it for a few seconds and realizing what was happening, I freaked out! Lol it truly scared me to feel the holy spirit really taking control like that! I had no idea that's what tongues was. Lol it took me a long time to be brave enough to do it after that since I knew the Holy Spirit would be felt so powerfully! I truly believe tongues is a major help for believers! It's definitely not necessary but I believe it's a huge benefit to those using it. I hope you will try to give it a chance!

Wow. So amazing!! Love everything you said and your perspective and the way you explain all of it is so inspiring. I'm such a "baby" in my walk Jesus. And i am still on milk, not ready for solid food! Lol so reading how you explained all of this was just beautiful. My explanation is soo... simple? Lol or elementary is a better word! God only revealed this stuff to me less than 2 weeks ago, so I'm very new in this stuff but what made me smile while reading your explanation on Christ's death and atonement, was knowing our understanding was given to us, we did not figure this stuff out on our own, but God actually revealed his wisdom to us. Isn't that so amazing? He gave us answers to questions and sent his answers straight to our hearts ( : OK I'll quit babbling lol sorry! Anything about God or Jesus gets me happy and babbling!! Have a great day everyone!

I can explain why his death was more than enough to pay for the sins of mankind. But I have to start at the beginning... Since God is perfect, he is truly unable to be of anything bad or sinful. Try to imagine how perfect he is. He CANNOT lie, cheat, break promises, steal, etc. He is not even capable of anything but LOVE. LOVE that we cant even fathom because the love of this world that we know is actually so very broken and weak when compared to who he is, which is love. God needing an animal sacrifice for sins wasnt for nothing.. it's because since he is so Holy, to make us a part of his family and able to actually be with us and a part of us with all our un-holiness we had to somehow pay for our sins and spilling INNOCENT blood did that. Our life force and all source of life comes from our blood. Also true for animals, reptiles and such. Blood is life. The original Adam and Eve were created pure and good, not unlike the blood of a lamb or goat. Animals have innocent blood because they have no knowledge of evil. The sin of Adam and Eve brought the knowledge of evil (corruption to love) to mankind, a CURSE. He wanted us to be pure and innocent originally but because of the curse, all of mankind no longer has innocent blood. Not even little babies! Because we all come from the same corrupted seed (the same blood) of Adam and Eve. The reason Jesus paid for ALL sins of the whole world is because he has PURE and INNOCENT blood. He did not come from our corrupted and cursed seed, he came from God! Although an animal with innocent blood could pay for 1 man's sins, Jesus' blood paid for every man's sins because his blood is pure even with the knowledge of evil. So even though he knew of evil, he still stayed pure and without sin. How easy is it for an animal to remain innocent without the knowledge of evil? Well Jesus, because of his love for the father and for us, stayed pure and without sin, even while knowing all evil, he still chose to love and love and love. That's why his blood was able to pay the price that God HAD to have in order to reconcile us to himself. I really tried to break it down really really down so anyone could make sense of it... hopefully it's understandable!

I was going to also mention that the goal should not be perfection but didn't want to offend but I'm glad others said it!

Perfection I believe is summed up in 1 word, LOVE. Does that help you understand? Lol and to become perfect one needs to live in Christ, always

Why are you not a believer in tongues if you don't mind me asking? Is there anything else you don't believe that is written of in the Bible? No offense at all I'm really just curious!

Is this verse speaking of praying in tongues? And is there anyone with a lot of experience with speaking in tongues that would be willing to chat through email because I have a lot of questions about it?

Thank you for this! I can honestly say I've learned something new tonight Christ was not blameless because of the spirit, he was blameless because he is the only begotten Son of God. Heb 9:13-14 For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, (14) how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? I don't think it can be said any clearer. It was through the Spirit that He offered Himself without blemish, it was not because He was the Son of God. Likewise, we are to prove ourselves to be blameless and innocent children of God. Php 2:12-16 So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; (13) for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. (14) Do all things without grumbling or disputing; (15) so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, (16) holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain.

Oh sorry about my confusion with that. I believe that is God's will for us, Hebrews 10:10 "For God's will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time." Yes we can be made Holy IN CHRIST. Simply believing alone, no it wouldn't work in my opinion. When I state believe I mean lives according to what God has promised, having faith in God to bring to pass that which He has purposed which is sanctification through the Spirit. Does this change your opinion? If not, why not?

I'm really surprised that someone didn't post this already. Unless someone did and I missed it! But in response to your question, yes we are in a very real battle with Satan and his demons. I have woken up numerous times to see a demon standing directly over me watching me sleeping. Even woke up once and watched as a demon tried to hide from me! But we know exactly what is needed to protect ourselves from the enemy! Ephesians Chapter 6 vs 10-17 "10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers over this present darkness, against the forces of evil in the spiritual realms. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore,having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" We definitely have all the tools needed for God's protection. Feel free to email me for any more questions about this, I'll help you the best I can! AlisonM328@gmail.com

Those people spoken of are brethren according to John. There is nothing a "perfect" person can be accused of. What did Satan accuse Jesus of if that is the case? Show me that in scripture please.

Christ was not blameless because of the spirit, he was blameless because he is the only begotten Son of God.

Simply believing alone, no it wouldn't work in my opinion.