Ray12614

I have known some brothers and sisters in the Lord who have lost spouses to death or divorce. Its tough for them. Regarding solitude, I think its beneficial when its time alone with God. Special times of fellowship. But If its just me . . . then I never can get away from me . . . I tell the same old stale jokes that are really not funny . . . have the same old complaints, and really don't like me to the point that I would choose myself as a friend. Just saying . . . .

Simply put . . . its Cafeteria Christianity that causes people to reject the teachings of Paul . . . . Yes . . . give me that deep fried food, yes give me some of that sugary dessert, yes . . . give me ice cream . . . NO . . . I don't want any vegetables . . . no . . . I will pass on spinach and salad greens . . . Oh yes . . . give me the free salvation of grace through faith . . . No . . . I don't want accountability, no . . . I don't want to forsake sin, no . . . I don't want to change my life and live for Jesus . . . Yes . . . I like certain truths of the Bible, but, other truths that demand change in my life . . . ummm . . . not today . . . maybe tomorrow. When we pick and choose our spiritual nutrition from the Bible we often reject truth that we should be consuming and end up spiritually malnourished and off-balanced.

Very good post, and so important . . . Not only do we partake of this fruit but those aspects of the fruit should be extended towards others and especially to our brothers and sisters in Christ.

EXACTLY!!! Selfishness is the answer to this OP's question. When we are so selfish that we put our wants, desires, needs above Jesus, then, that bleeds over into our relationships with others . . . . very simple when it is boiled down to the root cause. Ray . . .

I would think that the intent of the verses is that God's mercies and faithfulness never gets old and stale . . . . Every day they are new and fresh for any struggles and trials that we may face. A precious friend of mine who is a Christian man and served faithfully in church over the years died yesterday. EVEN in death the Lords' mercies and faithfulness never abandoned him, and he undoubtedly is in the Prescence of Jesus this first day after his death. He found out that the Lords' faithfulness and mercies are new and fresh for him this morning, and, for every morning in eternity to come. Ray . . .

Agreed and Amen! Kind of goes with the parable of the Sower right?

I believe you have hit the nail on the head . . . so to speak. Both of these things operate by love as you have noted in your OP. Someone in your replies has noted the Great Commission of sharing Christ to those in need . . . that also falls under #1. Such a pleasure to know you online! . . . can't wait to meet in person when we all stand before Jesus . . . . Grace and Peace . . . Ray . . .

Maybe . . . hummm . . . let me think about this . . . word of faith vs word of doubt/unbelief . . . it really is a no-brainer for me. However . . . I freely admit that a few of the wof ministers have preached some error, JUST like non wof preachers have done and still do today. We need to be like the Bereans who search the scriptures to verify if what is preached is true or not. My point is that we personally are responsible for what we believe based upon the scriptures, and not upon preached messages that can go off-the-rails so to speak. Unless you hear it from the scriptures . . . it is open for scrutiny . . . let God be true and every man/woman a liar when the two disagree. Grace and Peace . . . . Ray . . .

Interesting topic. I have had quite a few men who have influenced my Christian life. Many teachers who I will not name because some of the readers of this post are hostile to 'word-of-faith' ministers accusing them of heresy and/or worse. So, to avoid that mess of having them speak of what they clearly don't understand, I will focus on one word-of-faith man who have had an great impact on my life and my family and countless unknown people world wide. Bobby Walker, an traveling apostle who spent many years in Hatti pioneering churches and my church supported him as we were able. Countless times he visited us when we could not afford to pay rent, much less support him. He invested money in us, and loved on us as people with the love of Jesus. Countless stories about Hatti and other nations he preached in. All those stories helped us with our personal walk with the Lord, and inspired us to never give up on people and ministry. He and his wife Inna took some of our kids on mission trips to Hatti and they came back changed for the better. One time he visited my church he came in with tattered shoes/sandals and told of reaching out to 'shoe shiners' who would shine westerners shoes for a living. He focused in on one man who he bartered with over price and Bobby got the man to shine his shoes for free, and all the other shoe shiners were enraged over it, but, the man shined his shoes for free. Then, Bobby had the man sit down on his chair and he took off the shoe shiners shoes, and took of his own newly polished shoes, and put them on the shiners feet, and Bobby took the old tattered shoes and put them on his feet. Then Bobby ministered the gospel to the man, and he received Jesus as savior and Lord. Bobby basically labelled his message to us as 'Walk a mile in peoples shoes before you decide they are not worthy of ministering to'. The funny thing about this, is that I could not stand him the first few times he came to our church. I thought he was an loud-mouth blow hard who just wanted to push people around. Then, I saw him minister tenderly to little church kids, and hurting people, and those who just about had given up on life. He gave them encouragement, help, counselling, and yes, money to help several families through financial crisis's. After I saw his compassion on people I changed my opinion of him and listened to him and loved him greatly. Bobby gave countless illustrations and stories like this about how he reached people with the gospel, and helped me personally mature in my walk with Jesus. NO, he is not on the list of generals and pioneers of the faith, but, Bobby was faithful wherever Jesus called him to go ministering to those many of us would pass by and ignore. I love him dearly as an father in the faith and his legacy has changed this man (Ray) for the better, and showed me how to serve Jesus wherever I am at. Bobby died peacefully in his sleep after he called Inna and told her he was going to heaven and would see her soon, during the last mission trip he took to Cuba. His wife Inna continued his ministry until her death serving at their home church in Alabama. He may not be great in most people's eyes, but, I guarantee Jesus is pleased with him as an faithful servant. I look forward to seeing him again soon. Ray . . .

I would love to see the faces of those who would eavesdrop on my life . . . They would be bored out of their minds!!! Oh look . . . Ray is having a bologna sandwich . . . Oh look . . . Ray is going to bed . . . Oh look . . . Ray is watching re-runs of the Andy Griffith show . . . wait for it . . . wait for it . . . ah yes . . . Ray just used the bathroom and flushed the toilet with 1/2 gallon of water more than is allowed by law . . . . bad Ray . . . bad Ray . . . . I am not making light of privicy issues . . . most times when I leave for church my GPS on my car knows that I normally go to church on Sundays and Wednesdays . . . and tells me how far it is to church and traffic etc. without me asking it to . . . .

Agreed. Something we should expect from an non-believer, or, conversely an immature new believer. God knows for sure . . . .

DJT is definately NOT an prophet or Christian leader of any kind. I think he is more of an Cyrus in Isaiah 45. Paraphrasing . . . Cyrus will be used by God to do some things in spite of him 'not knowing' God. So . . . the question needs to be thoughtfully considered is: . . . IF Kamala had been elected . . . where would we (the USA) be right now . . . . ? Then tell us how 50 million Christian votes did not matter . . . .

So .. . If I hear you correctly . . . I need to get up off of my Blessed Assurance and do something . . . ?

Okay . . . I suppose I see where you are coming from . . . But . . . simple things . . . non of us live in an vacuum . . . surely you must have friends, family, or church members you have connections to . . . What about them ? ? ? Can you be an help to them by doing some basic preparations against what is/may come? Just asking . . .

Involved - YES Complicit - NO I like Otherone's comment that by voting we are conforming the world to us. I also like Alive's comment that we are salt . . . Both good action items for Christians who are actively engaged within the world around them . . .