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listener24

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  1. https://www.christiantoday.com/article/world-evangelical-alliance-general-assembly-opens-with-call-to-christians-to-finish-the-great-commission/133578.htm QUOTES: Dr Njotorahardjo reminded those gathered for the General Assembly that the coming of God's kingdom was part of the Lord's own prayer and were words that they needed to speak out every day. "Pray for Jesus' second coming, long for His appearing," he said. "How many of you are longing for His appearance?" We have to be serious about finishing the Great Commission of Jesus," he said. "We are not here just to gather but to pray, Oh Lord, come quickly and Your kingdom come." ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PERSONAL CONSIDERATIONS: I love this level of clarity about prayer and vision that the Lord is bringing back to the Church in these last days. For too many centuries the Christian message have been watered down/confused/substituted. But the Lord is bringing the Gospel of the Kingdom back to the core tenants, and finally our prayer and actions will be completely oriented to the Return of Jesus. The King is coming back, the kingdoms of this world are about to become the Kingdom of our Lord (Revelation 11:15) and with our prayers, preaching and holy life we are called to be intercessors to hasten the return of the King and the fulfillment of the Kingdom. (2Peter 3:12). Any thoughts/comments?
  2. That's awesome brother @JTC! I'm glad that you've found a good church! Praise the Lord!
  3. @worriedwife69 dear sister, thank you for sharing your struggles with us so that we can be with you in prayer. I'm very sorry for this, and I look forward to the day all our tears will be wiped out. Our Lord is even more eager for the coming of that Day. The Lord is the High Priest who can sympathize with us. He is with you and your husband in this struggle, He knows what it means to suffer, to be tempted, to carry on the weight and consequences of sin. Even if it can be so hard when the circumstances are so terrible, let us remember together that God's infinite love is always with us. He will not abandon us. He is carrying us by hand through these tribulations, ready to celebrate with us in His Kingdom and ready to send us His Spirit while we are still here. Sometimes, even when we are not doing anything wrong, it's not always easy to feel God's love because we are so used to attribute it to the circumstances, or to the love of those around us. But even when the circumstances gets dark and those around us are going through hard time, let us remember Jesus's Words: "A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me." I pray that you may know deep in your heart that God is with you in this dark hour. Also know that the Lord is looking with the same compassion to your husband, He is suffering with him and He is not looking at the behavior he may be having because of the hardships, but at his redeemed soul, with as much love as He Has always had for him. Love in Christ, listener
  4. Hi Kristin, thanks for sharing this tough thought and asking for help. I'm just typing here something generic, it may or may not apply to your situation. Sure, people can do us very bad things. On those we don't have control. But many times, we want to defend our own self image, we create an image of ourselves and the other person in which we are always right, and we fail to see our own shortcomings toward that person. The more the bad feelings toward that person increase, the more our own self-righteousness towards them increases. Again, surely other people make mistakes, sometimes a lot, sometimes they are even intentionally hurtful. But while we can't do anything about it, we can look inwardly and ask ourselves if we are looking the other person and ourselves as objectively as possible, and then as mercifully as possible. In all this, ask the Lord's grace to forgive, 70 times seven. He will be Faithful. ***************************************************************** As for me, I'm grateful that the Lord is Faithful. That if we entrust Him with our lives, we can be sure that He will finish what He started in us, and there is nothing we should be preoccupied about.
  5. Amen @Tigger56! Indeed, when we pray "come Lord Jesus", we are also praying for a great harvest and revival. The Lord will do everything needed to prepare His Return, including the revival. Indeed, to send workers into His fields is one of the very few prayers taught by Jesus. I was thinking at an idea to have more people joining the prayer that the Bible teaches for His Return. Maybe if we start greeting our siblings with "Maranatha" (as the first Christians were doing), or if we just ask them "do you know what maranatha means?", and then proceed to explain it to those who are curious, we will have more people obeying the command of speeding His return, and less people praying for just worldly things. Also if we start praying it more often, Christians around us will get more curious. Maybe it is as simple as to lead by example! What do you think? Other suggestions?
  6. I'm a bit ignorant about this controversy and what are the main discussion points. But I have a testimony... Incredibly, this forum played a big role in my salvation. (and I'm so thankful for all of you guys for that) There are countries out there where the Gospel is completely distorted (or absent), and especially for people from those places, a forum like this can be very very inspiring. (obviously I'm not meaning that a forum should be a substitute to the local community, unless someone has grave obstacles like illness)
  7. Amen! God has always valued the alignment of His people to His plans, when bringing out blessings, and often waited their alignement. He made the Israelites waiting 40 years in the desert, because they decided to not align with His plans. He prolonged the exile 7 times longer than established because of people's unfaithfulness and unwillingness to align with His plans. He honored Anna's pledge and the pledge of all those who were praying for the coming of the Messiah. He taught us that we should ask, insist, even bother Him (Luke 18:1-8) so that He will bring Justice. Then He taught us to pray "your Kingdom come". STILL. We pray for everything else, and we think that He will listen to every other request, except hastening His coming, the very thing He taught us to pray for. Satan rejoices in all of this. This way these words come true: "Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come." And "But his subjects hated him and sent a delegation after him to say, 'We don't want this man to be our king." But as you said, there is hope. The Lord is raising this prayer in the whole world, especially in the persecuted lands where the Spirit and the Bride are already crying "Come". "So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find." Maybe at last, even the rich West will join this cry with one voice Will we be passive observer or active servants in spreading this prayer?
  8. And not only invisibility, but masking himself as an angel of light. "And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. 15 It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve." This is correct, and he is so clever to present his kingdom as based on justice and peace. He makes men believe that they can reach peace and righteousness without God. Then when they forsake God, he drives them to all sorts of selfish delusions. Here's another weapon to shorten his domain, pray to God with a word from the Bible: Maranatha. Maranatha means come Lord Jesus. Put an end to satan's domain Lord, forever. We pledge You, knowing that You will listen to us. "And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”" "as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat."
  9. Amen! That's why building the local Church is crucial part of the Great Commission . (or other forms of edifying the Church such as this forum). Because then people can see the love of Christ in His Church, not in special buildings or hierarchies, but in the living stones, the Royal Priesthood of all believers
  10. I didn't believe that this was possible until I found some amazing communities, obedient to the Lord and His Word and as a result incredibly loving as well. Godly local Churches can indeed be a mighty way in which the Lord touches people's heart, and I've heard and seen people being powerfully saved this way.
  11. Wow how many wonderful responses, really edifying and heartwarming. Praise Jesus! I'll share my thoughts as well. It is definitely different in every situation. Sometimes you get to see a person only one time. In that case I try to understand where their heart is, what they care about and their idea of life. I try to listen what the Holy Spirit has already convicted them of, if anything, and build from there. Some are hurt by negative experiences with Churches, denominations or cults, and I try to remind that Jesus Himself was the first enemy of men-made religion and traditions. Sometimes they get more curious about Jesus because of this reason. If there are opportunities for long term relationship, as you mentioned, I try to value the person and build a relationship, and then the room to share what Jesus has done in my life comes naturally. If I'm in a city with a great local community, really obedient to Jesus, sometimes I invite them to Church as it may be an occasion for them to encounter Jesus through the love that we have for each other. I also suggest to read the Scriptures by themselves, asking God to reveal Himself if He is real. I suggest to start from the Gospel. All of this by praying and do my best to listening the Holy Spirit. It is Him who prepare people's heart in the end, and sometimes we just need to be obedient and show up and He does everything else even through our imperfection. Regarding mistakes I made, sometimes I didn't share the Gospel out of a pure place of love. In those situations I probably did more harm than good.
  12. I know, they are incredible! So deeply inspired by the Scriptures. This whole song is beautiful, the last part in particular melts my heart and spirit. @turtletwo great hearing from you brother
  13. Amen! Beautiful article! So many of the good fruits that we see in the world are because of the obedience of people who laid down their life in very dark times. With the carnal mind, there was nothing to rejoice for them, nor the world seemed to be holding any hope. But they have trusted that the Holy Spirit was doing His work through obedient people. Let us be among them. Send workers in the field Lord! Maranatha. "He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. 32 Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”
  14. What is your style and what are the more important lessons you have learnt while sharing the Gospel with people? "And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”" Matthew (4:19) Fishermen learn their craft with time and patience. They make mistakes and learn from them. Through obedience, I believe the Lord wants to make us better fishermen. So I'm curious to hear your experiences.
  15. I love this "as a practical matter" approach. It is good to ask theological questions, but at the same times when things get too "metaphysical" and there aren't verses in the Bible with particular focus on those questions, it is often a sign that they are the wrong question to begin with. The dangerous thing is that often, while focusing on the wrong question, we waste precious time neglecting the things that are crucial and repeated in the Bible! As an example, a surprising number of modern Christians don't know the meaning of the prayer "Maranatha". They don't even know that they can and should pray for Jesus' Return, as the early Christians did. This is just one of many example of actual Biblical things that we neglect while overly focused on nuances.
  16. The same as 2000 years ago: "And he continued, "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!" (Mark 7:9, see parallels) A clever way to sound legitimate in nullifying several teachings of the Scripture, in particular of the New Covenant. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: 8 “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 9 They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules (Matthew 15:7-9) This was the main characteristic of the Pharisees, who claimed their Tradition as authoritative as the Word of God, because they said that it was "very old" and it "started with Moses". "These men maintained an oral tradition that they believed had originated at Mount Sinai alongside the Torah of Moses; a God-given interpretation of the Torah. " (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharisees) It's not hard to find the same behavior replicated by some.
  17. Watch out for pride. It's the main thing that separates you from God. Trust His Word completely and repent.
  18. Brother, this is a great answer! (sorry for the late reply) I believe this as well, only the Lord can stir and renew our hearts and He is doing incredible things all around the world. I am actually very encouraged, and as I keep praying for His return I'm seeing amazing things happening in His global Church. He is reminding on a global scale that the main prayers He has taught us are "Maranatha", "come quickly Lord", "your Kingdom come". He is also reminding that He is a responsive God (Luke 18:1-8) and that these prayers, in addition to the obedience to the Great Commission, really have a role in speeding His coming. He is doing so by the power of the Spirit and also through the people who is raising. So in addition to praying, I think we can also talk about this beautiful prayer with our fellow Christians, who haven't joined this prayer yet. What do you think?
  19. Well said my friend. So if prayer is powerful and united prayer even more, how can we get the whole body of Christ to pray "Maranatha, speed up you coming Lord"?
  20. Great poem Turtle! I loved it, especially these opening lines. Happy Easter brothers and sisters!!!
  21. @Tigger56 This is a great answer that touches many points, all worth reasoning on. This is true! Some may argue that "God changes not" means that prayer are irrelevant. But this point wouldn't be Biblical at all. From the very beginning to the end God listen to prayers, and hasten or delay things based on prayers. So it is true that the Lord changes not: He has always been listening to prayers and taken them into account for His decision, and He will always be, He will never change this trait of using prayers. He is the God who said: "ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you". This is a great point to keep in mind. Maybe if we have a very comfortable life, in a safe country, from our couch we may think that the Return of the Lord is something to fear. But if we keep in mind all the infants suffering, all the Christians persecuted, all the poors oppressed, then we'll realize that the Return of the King is the greatest mercy. True. We are not to just pray "Maranatha, come quickly Lord" by ourself alone. It is still fundamental to spread the Gospel in the whole world as a testimony to all nations. So for example we should pray the Lord to send workers to harvest His field. The prayer Maranatha, Thy Kingdom Come, Come quickly Lord should be the burning desire out of which every other prayer burns. This is so true! And He is indeed speaking mightly about this in these last day. He is making the prophecy happening: "the Spirit and the Bride say Come". For centuries this prayer was lost, except for some remnants, and now is being restored on a global scale. All out of His will. We can take part of His work of Restoration. Amen! Amazing and encouraging thoughts. Woah!! What a great example from Daniel! I'm very inspired by this. Given all of these considerations, I believe it's safe to state that everyone who join this prayer with their hearts and will, make an important difference. @Tigger56 would you agree? I'm very inspired by the whole answer, thanks!
  22. WOW! @angels4u I've just found another version and I was about to publish it, and just noticed the last video published was this from you! Here the version I found:
  23. I tried to answer your question, hope that gave you some insight! Personally, I enjoyed the question and it made me think. To wrap up: If the oil is the Holy Spirit, or our relationship with God, or anything similar, then the "currency" to buy it is where we put our time and efforts, and the "dealers" are the Church, the Word, the poors and persecuted who are Jesus in disguise, and the unreached. Investing our time, energy and even money on these activities edify us. And it requires the intentional decision to not use our resources in the things of the world instead. By this I didn't mean that we buy the Holy Spirit in weird ways. But I meant that day by day, with our decisions, we decide whether to make a way for the Holy Spirit in our hearts, through obeying what Jesus commanded, or not. Actually, if you consider that in the same speech Jesus continues with the prables of the talents, and the sheep and the goats, this seems to be even more reasonable.
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