Jostler

I think many of us fail to see the whole picture painted in that encounter. Mary and Martha do represent two types but while we tend to disparage Martha, I don't think Jesus did. He didn't accuse her of choosing a "bad" focus, He encouraged her to recognize a balance. He said Mary had chosen the "better" part, but really left no implication that Martha's choice was a bad one. Just one that perhaps needed to be restrained at times and tempered by a conscious choice to put aside all the pressure to "do". I'll ask you a question with an obvious answer Had it not been for Martha, do you think Jesus would have gotten a hot meal to enjoy that evening? God bless the Marthas and i appreciate them. I bet Jesus enjoyed that meal too. Let Him touch that feeling that choosing to sit at His feet when He calls is somehow betraying Martha's responsibilities. It's not...and "Martha" will get a lot more done if she makes time to sit at His feet too. It's not about us. It's not about who we are, what we can do, our gifts, talents, abilities or service. It's not even really about our sin. It's about Who HE is and what HE has FINISHED. I suspect in that time sitting at His feet, you'll also find exactly how He would have you respond to those constant criticisms and external pressures trying to keep you questioning yourself and trying to be "good enough" ( a hopeless task ) to please men whose standards will just change on you if you ever did manage to live up to them.

As with any sin, overcoming it is first recognizing it for what it is, confessing it to Him, repenting of it, and BELIEVING He forgives and cleanses....INSTANTLY I don't care how well meant "advice" might be. If it's not based on truth, it has no power to set anyone free.

made me wanna git up and shout brother. HALLELUJAH!

being busy according to our own understanding of what needs to be done is not pleasing to Him and will be counted a work of the flesh. We are given ONE "work" to do and that is to believe. If we believe we will CEASE doing our own works and enter into His rest. From that place of rest He then begins to work through us and we will be very, very busy. Not in our own power doing what seems right to us, but in His power as He works through us to accomplish His will in the earth. It is through us that His kingdom begins to manifest. Human wills aligned with His power. Diligence in obeying Him in doing the work He indicates is certainly necessary. But it matters a lot just which of us is deciding what needs to be done and when. And it is out of His presence that His works flow. If you spend time in His presence, you can bet you'll feel overwhelmed by what He has assigned you to do And if the doing were up to us and our power, it would never get done. It's not. If He's doing the work through us there is nothing that can't be done.

that is not entirely true. the devil is in the details as they say Sin will prevent some from ever....EVER entering the New Jerusalem and some will NEVER be given access to the Tree of Life...never taste its fruit for all eternity. Receiving Him as Saviour and rejecting His Lordship in this life will cause horrific, eternal losses....more than rewards are at stake at the Judgement

It's hard to give much of an answer without any more detail than you've provided. But it's certainly a serious question. My first gut reaction is to think that if He'd declared you reprobate, you would no longer even care, having rejected retention of knowledge of Him altogether. If you were reprobate in HIS eyes I question whether you'd be here asking this question at all. What has convinced you you're reprobate? The words of a man? A self-accusation? Either of those might be based on misunderstandings or even outright lies that got snuck in under your defenses to deceive you. Only His judgement really counts and I think the fact you're here at all tends to argue against the idea He has pronounced that judgement over you.

That spirit/soul/body "key" to interpreting Scripture truly is one of the legs we need in place to understand where this balance really lies. The other is a good foundation in the doctrines of "eternal judgement". The thing that set me on this search for balance was a time when I'd come to realize I really did know more about the Word than the vast majority of Christians I met. I don't think it had passed into hubris yet but it was certainly headed that way. About that time I was just doing my daily Bible reading and He ambushed me on Hebrews 6:1-3. I've learned to look forward to His ambushes now but they're not always entirely pleasant while they're in progress As He lit up this passage and I began noticing things I'd never noticed before, it became clear He'd just given me a list of six foundational principles I had to have mastered, if I were to ever be able to consider myself in any way "mature". So I began doing an assessment of how much I knew about each of the six. I concluded I had a good understanding of repentance, faith toward God, ditto. I thought "hmm....baptisms I think I know a bit about but probably need to double check that one. Laying on of hands, hmm...maybe? Resurrection....oh I got this one. Eternal judgement? Ouch. I can't recall hearing a single sermon on that one and certainly never purposely studied it myself. Now the real depth of my lack wasn't clear to me but that was what I initially thought Fact is, after quite some time and focus I eventually realized I didn't know diddly squat about any of them except repentance and had a decent handle on faith toward God. The rest it turns out were studies that yielded breathtaking revelations I had no clue existed when I made that initial assessment. But I didn't learn that til much later. At this point He began to speak to my heart and I'll express this as a conversation because I don't know how else to do it. He didn't actually speak these words in my mind but the communication was so clear, the sense of His presence so strong, He might as well have been sitting across the kitchen table from me. I "heard": "Ok, so you can see that maybe there are some foundational principles you have not fully apprehended. I've ordered your life such that you have had far more time to spend in my Word than most will ever be given. You've made a good start at building your foundation and good on you for that. But don't you dare even begin to think you've moved on to maturity." More than a little humbled, and likely spared a harsh fall into pride by His intervention, i decided I probably needed to go into each of the six and check the foundation and shore up any weak spots He identified. Since that time I've learnt a lot more of all six and He's used them to inform and guide my understanding of almost everything I've learned since. And i'm dead certain I haven't exhausted all the revelation available from any of them. We all need a good solid, well cut stone in our personal foundations named "eternal judgement" and He's very focused right now on seeing His people get that stone in place. Finding the balance between OSAS and works based salvation is one of the reasons. He is in need of mature sons and daughters who can be about the Father's business in coming days. And shoring up those six fundamentals is necessary to gaining them. I'm going to make some assertions without detailed displays of the Scriptures that back them up and I don't expect you to take my word for any of it. Go all Berean on me Demand proof. Seek it with Him for yourself. However you choose to do it...I'll happily answer questions if i know an answer or just go hard after the Teacher and let Him do it. The topic of eternal judgement is far richer and more nuanced than I ever imagined. Studying it out will take you into wild and wonderful places. You'll find sets of threes like "called, chosen and faithful" - "slave, servant and son" - "seeing, entering and inheriting" and eventually they all get intermingled and you begin to see relationships between all of them. The people who reject OSAS often do so out of a fundamental rejection of perceived injustice. How can someone who refuses to live a holy life expect to get the same treatment as someone who denies themselves and suffers the sacrifices of Kingdom service??? Fact is they don't. And the study of eternal judgement reveals the horrific cost of that choice. He is just, we can bank on that. And we have NO clue the boundless magnitude of His amazing incredible grace. Nor do we even BEGIN to perceive the abject terror of His judgement. The study of eternal judgement is a beginning of expanding our perception of both. To the new born He is the Lamb. To the growing He is revealed as the Lion-King. To the mature, He is both. We have no clue the magnitude of either, but this study makes a start. Until we can see Him as One in all His manifestations, Lamb, Lion, Bridegroom and Judge (and more) our view of Him is lacking, our knowing of Him incomplete. He is and always will be the Lamb of God who took the sin of the world. But when He comes back He's not coming as the Lamb. He's coming as the roaring Lion-King of Judah and between now and then, we MUST understand that much of what He is about to do is motivated by the lovesick heart of a Bridegroom longing to be united with His Bride. If we do not perceive that, as He begins moving with a terrible, focused intensity, to remove every roadblock to Bridal union, we will misunderstand Him, and might take offense and fall away. Its a sobering, fascinating time and being chosen to live in this generation is an incredible privilege. He's coming soon.

Brother I will never press this issue with you again after this. I promise. Paul certainly did pronounce a judgement that CLEARLY included the consequences for failing to repent. And I am convinced THE WORD tells us what we need to believe and teach. THE WORD tells us how to warn and contend for the faith. Not our fears and adding to it out of some misguided sense that going beyond what the Word teaches will somehow prevent or counteract extremism at the other end of the spectrum. The man repented before the sentence of physical death could be carried out. But the REASON for such a dire judgement, was the PRESERVATION of his spirit. SPARING him the lake of fire, not condemning him to it. Paul condemned him to die PHYSICALLY so his spirit would be saved. Those people mentioned in the verses in Revelation are the result of ones who were warned in this life and refused to repent of their wicked lifestyles.....but they were THERE.....outside the City...AFTER the Great White Throne judgement. NOT in the lake of fire with all the rest. These people you condemn to the lake of fire for their failure to manifest the fruit of sanctification are NOT so condemned by the Word. The only reason I've continued with this as forcefully as I have to this point is because the ONLY thing that is going to help them...set them free from the lies that have kept them immature, unfruitful and overcome by sin after being born again....is the TRUTH. We have many brothers and sisters who have never been taught the TRUTH by a Laodicean clergy far more concerned with building their own little fiefdoms instead of the King's temple. And they've been brought into a bondage that has prevented their eyes seeing the power of God to transform. They've seen no answer to their inability to reject sinning and be transformed and been enticed into believing the only answer is "Oh well, I'm just a sinner saved by grace, I'm only human....nobody's perfect..." They get trapped there by LIES. They need the Truth...not more lies no matter how well intentioned. I love you brother and I love your heart to serve Him, and your willingness to shout the message of holiness from the housetops no matter what you suffer for it. I will leave you to it as best you understand and are able to walk in it. But I will hew hard and fast to the Word, as He wrote it...and trust that He will bring freedom to those of His who are bound and reveal to them there IS a way to defeat sin and the escape the high cost of simply accepting it as inevitable. Adding to the Word instead of simply approaching it as a student is exactly what got Eve deceived in the Garden. It's as harmful as taking away from it. I love you, I bless you and pray He will bless your obvious love for Him and dedication to His service.

I was hoping you'd address what the verses I posted actually say. But I hear you. I do not and never will believe or say that sin is no big deal. Let me try another question. You referred to a time in the church at Corinth when a brother got into some really ugly sin...sleeping with his step-mother, defiling her, himself and his father's bed. Paul rebuked the Corinthians for tolerating such wickedness in their midst and even laughing about it. He passed judgement on the guilty one and cast him out of the fellowship. Later, the judgement and consequences bore fruit and the man repented and Paul commanded his restoration to the fellowship. Paul also pronounced clearly what the judgement was intended to accomplish and the consequences if repentance were rejected. Do you recall what those consequences were? Was the man doomed to the lake of fire if he rejected repentence?

I couldn't leave this alone My conviction that this idea of waiting on Him and stillness in His presence is more important now than it ever has been is strong. It's always been important, but in this season, when His exaltation in the earth and above all nations is getting so close, it's just not optional any more in any sense. There is a knowing of God found in stillness that cannot be had under any other circumstance. Laying aside everything about daily life, time pressure or earthly concerns, by choice, to spend time just sitting with Him, no agenda, no reason and no expectation but to just sit, keep quiet and wait until He shows up is a powerful thing. If you choose to obey Him in the exhortation He delivers in the verse above, I bet the first thing you'll discover is the unruliness of your own mind. I found it takes PRACTICE to be still. And not a little of it. I'd purpose to be still and just let Him reveal Himself in His way, whenever He chose, still my own thinking and wait...and thirty seconds later my mind was waaaaay off over there thinking about what I had to get done at work the next day, figuring out what I wanted for dinner.....ANYTHING but waiting in stillness. So, I'd have to go rope it, hog tie it and drag it back into my intention to be still and focus on Him.....and thirty seconds later......and thirty seconds later......lol I did find after a season the discipline of stillness got easier to just abide in for longer and longer periods of time, but it took some persistence. Eventually, once submission to His command to be still has gained a measure of stability, He does show up. And reveal Himself. These times can become some of the most intensely transformative times where He causes heaps and leaps of change in us, conforming us to His image. In a day when He needs to move quickly to prepare us for what is ahead, submitting to this waiting in stillness can truly accelerate our maturing. It is IMPOSSIBLE to spend time in His manifest presence and emerge unchanged. Unfortunately, it is a perishable skill to be able to still our minds. We have to refresh this discipline regularly or we'll lose it. Fortunately, His manifest presence is downright addictive....

I'll post this again. And once again ask you what I am to do with this? It is what it is and it says what it says. It's up to me to understand it and align my testimony with it. Not in my power to change one iota of it. So how do we take what is here and get it properly assigned it's proper relationship to the rest of the counsel in the Word? reading the whole chapter for context is a good idea, and asking Him to reveal it ...even better.

well I'd sure encourage everyone to read the actual devotion. the excerpts you chose to display in isolation from the whole destroy the whole point Spurgeon was trying to make, twisting it beyond belief. Not sure why anyone would want to do that....

My Dad taught me a little trick right along these lines when I was a child. He called it "counting blessings in reverse". His advice was to ask myself some questions during the times it was hard to see the things we should be grateful for. Am I cold? Am I thirsty? Am I in danger? Am I naked? Hungry? Kinda taught me to begin refocusing on what is going right by noticing and choosing appreciation and thankfulness for the things we take for granted.

I think waiting is a discipline all who desire to know His voice and be led by Him will learn. It's one thing to hear Him and be trained to instant obedience, but the other side of that coin is learning to sit and be still with Him when He isn't giving us something specific to do. In some ways, seeking Him in stillness is harder than obeying His revealed will.

I suspect North Korea will play a significant role in the judgement of the US. All this pretense of negotiations is just that...Kabuki theater designed to distract and buy time til the plan is in place and the elite globalists are ready to pounce. And the US is not the only sovereign nation "they" have in their sights.

IMO both parties and all candidates are fully owned and controlled by the developing beast system. Donald Trump is doing exactly what he was installed to do. That does not mean God is not using him. But IMO to see him as some divine deliverer is horrifically flawed, and many Christians do seem to see him that way. I believe God is using him to expose a LOT of the truly demonic things that have taken over and characterize our government now. We are a republic in name only and one of the biggest deceptions is the belief our votes matter at all. They don't. The system has been long past any real representation of the will of the people...long past. I think God is working out many of His purposes through the Trump administration. As He did through Obama's. And every other President or world leader. He has a history of judging and disciplining His own people THROUGH the actions of some of the most Godless nations and kings. But their ultimate judgement is not sleeping. Even if the Lord uses them where His will and their schemes align, it does not mean He approves them. Some years ago I heard Steve Quayle make a statement that INSTANTLY rang off in my spirit and identified the statement as coming from Him. Steve said God told him "I will reveal the sins of the politicians to the people, and the sins of the people before a holy God" Trump is going to be (has been already to a degree) His agent for revealing the sins of the politicians, and I'm willing to bet the revelation will get far out of hand compared to what these world government elites really want to see. Judgement is coming to this nation, and discipline, a severe wake up call to His own within her. Trump will be used to usher that in.

That doesn't sound a lot different to me We've got a huge amount of controversy being discussed on the forum right now that really need not be controversial Some are saying the evidence of works compatible with sanctification and holiness are so important, a life that does not display them is lost and bound for the lake of fire. Some are so forcefully arguing against a works based salvation, they deny repentance even has a role to play. Fact is, both views are so extreme they've both departed from the wholeness of the Truth. The OP's post here, is a beginning of bringing adjustment to both sides currently sitting at either extreme. This subject of 'eternal judgement' is one of six outlined in Hebrews 6:1-2 that we MUST master before we can even think of moving on to any kind of maturity in Him. He's very focused on bringing revelation to His people on all six of those fundamental doctrines ...I've been expecting to see more and more people focusing on them and it's happening. It's HIS focus (one of them anyway ) A HUGE part of understanding eternal judgement is wrapped up in understanding how He created us in three parts and how His salvation deals differently with each part. It's part of being created to reflect an image of Him into the earth. We are spirit beings, that's the essence of what we are. Our spirits possess a soul, which is what makes us who we are. Both are temporarily housed in a flesh body, which empowers us to perceive, interact with and live here in three dimensions. Eternal judgement is the doctrine we need to learn that unites both the "by grace and faith alone" reality of salvation of the spirit man, which is not won by and cannot be won by any work (and cannot be lost by works) and the progressive salvation (sanctification) of the soul which is ALLL about works.

Great follow-up to the glass half full or glass half empty discussion What we choose to focus on, ponder on and hold as important in our hearts is making a choice about which perspective we're going to allow to influence our thinking most. We were created to be transformed by what we "behold". We can see all kinds of practical ways this truth works in daily life. I think Job understood this and he chose to guard his relationship with God and purity toward his wife by engaging it. God apparently honored him for it: And the single most important expression: The whole world is brainwashed. Including us. And the whole process of sanctification is a process of brainwashing . Thank God that in Him, we've been given power to choose which soap gets used

Life can end in a moment for either party in an engagement. Where does it leave the survivor if the unexpected arrives? The highest expression of the image of God that He placed in mankind is found in the union of male and female, co-creating children in purity. That is an image of a holy trinity - a reality that has nothing to do with gender or sex - expressed in an image of it. The reality is about oneness expressed in three persons. Any violation of that mars and violates the image. It presents a false image of who God really is. Which is one big reason why satan attacks the sanctity of marriage and sexual purity and uses perversion of it so liberally in his plans and works. It's the only blood covenant left among men since the blood of Jesus was shed. There is a shedding of blood at the first union that cannot be repeated. That blood covenant is "til death do us part" and it's serious business in heavenly places. Violation of it has huge consequences.

Jhn 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. imprecise wording..."woo"...."draw" this is the verse I was alluding to by using "wooing"

and the Kindom has three progressive expressions to go through. In the first one ...the Kingdom is given to the Saints. In the second, the Kingdom is given to the King by the Saints who have possessed it in His Name...at His return. In the third the Kingdom is restored to Father, who will also descend out of heaven with the Bride/Jerusalem in tow...to receive the Kingdom from Jesus. The expression of the Kingdom right now, is "in us in Him". That must and will begin to change and in the midst of that the gospel of the Kingdom will be preached, in great power, with great authority. His messengers are about to enter a new phase of preparation for that task. edit: but, first order of business is killing off some sacred cows We'll see how He goes about that....and I think we don't have long to wait

I think it will be better to just let Him unfold it. But in the meantime, ask you to think on something. Is there a difference between the gospel of salvation and the gospel of the Kingdom? Jesus specifically stated that the gospel of the KINGDOM must be preached in every nation, and then the end can come. I think if we understand the two terms to be synonymous, you could make the argument that the gospel has indeed been preached in all nations. Or so close to it that requirement could be fulfilled almost any given day. But, if there is a difference, what is it? Has the gospel of the Kingdom been preached with any consistency at all....anywhere? Much less in every nation. I assert there is a difference, and the gospel of the Kingdom as required to fulfill Jesus' prophecy has NOT been preached in more than pockets here and there since 200 AD. And it MUST be. That is what I believe He is getting VERY focused on preparing His people to engage in. And it will change things around here when He begins that preparation in earnest.

I do understand But if what I'm hearing is accurate, there are some plans He has for this place that will be seen. We shall see. Or not depending on how much earwax I might have and don't know about

I wouldn't be too sure. But of course we'll see