Vine Abider

And that was very similar to my experience! When I was 18 I cried out in utter desperation, "Oh God! If you're real you have to make yourself real to me!" And boy did He ever - flooded me with His love and turned my life completely around! (He brought me up out of a horrible pit - out of the mirey clay . . . and put a new song in my mouth) FYI - I actually realized I had accepted the Lord Jesus at a much younger age and believe I was born-again at that point. But then I completely buried Him and forgot as a teenager, to the point that I seemed to essentially know nothing of God whatsoever. But He was still in me, working . . .

Thanks for that reply! The indwelling Spirit guides us and even supplies us to do it! "For it is God who operates in you both the willing and the working for His good pleasure." (Phil 2:13)

A quick search indicates that the phrase, "Calling on the name of the Lord" (or "call") occurs 56 times in the bible. The first instance is in Genesis 4:26 - "Then began men to call upon the name of the Lord (Yahweh)." In both the Old & New Testaments we have, "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." (Rom 10:13 - slight variation in Joel 2:32 & Acts 2:21) John 20:31 tells us, "Believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and that believing you may have life in His name." And this wonderful verse in 1st Corinthians "To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours." So how do we do this - what is your experience with calling on the name of the Lord?

How does one live according to the moral law of YHVH? A new covenant was made by God whereby His Spirit (the Spirit of Christ) will indwell His believers and live through them to fulfill His law (because we can't do it in ourselves with the fallen, sin-dwelt flesh hanging on us). So now, with born-again children of God, we are under a new law - "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, has freed me from the law of sin and of death." (Romans 8:2) It goes on to say, "For what the law could not do, being weak through the flesh, God did by sending His Son . . . that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to flesh, but according to spirit . . . If by the spirit you put to death the practices of the body, you will live." (vs 13) Is this your understanding?

Let me just reply to this one paragraph as I think it may be the core of what you are wanting to convey. When I stated that "to try is essentially folly" it's pertaining to something we would try to muster up with our own thinking and energies. There certainly can be something genuine, if its source is the Lord. If we are just going to the word and trying to put together dates and times from our own energies and source, then yes, that is essentially folly I think. If it comes to us in revelation of the Lord's Spirit, then it is solid and we can "take it to the bank." I think we all know of date setters who made specific predictions, only to crash and burn when it didn't come to pass at the time they predicted. These instances were then shown to be something sourced in man's own doing and was certainly folly.

Amen! Everything I read in the New Testament says His blood was totally efficacious and therefore we are 100% justified in Christ. We just need to say "amen" and agree with the speaking blood! (as mind-blowing as that can be) We can have absolute confidence in Him - the debt is completely paid . . . HALLELUJAH WHAT A SAVIOR!!! "If our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart." 1 John3:20

Indeed! When I was a young Christian, the Lord gave me a vision. I was living in a large communal Christian house, in Berkeley, with about 45 other brothers. This was the early 70s and many of us had recently come off the street with long hair and bad habits galore. One morning he showed me that He was living in each and every one of these guys - the rough-looking ones and the more clean-cut ones. I saw a supernatural light in all their eyes and realized the one Spirit of Christ was dwelling there, in all of us. It was astounding and lasted maybe a minute, but what an impression it made on me concerning Christ living in His body!

I believe seeing Christ in the members of His body is glorifying Him. A song we used to sing came to me recently with this one line in particular: "His glory broke upon us when we saw Him in the church!"

That's one of the best testimonies I've ever heard on this!

"3 -- B"? Kinda looks like that was part 4 to me . . . LOL I know a brother who does not like the use of "bro" in our Christian vocabulary. He said it's because he was a prison guard for a while and "bro" was used heavily among the inmates and he just doesn't care for it now. In my local fellowship it is very common among many of us - it is very much a term of endearment and just a shortened version of saying "brother" when greeting one another. (as in "Hey bro - how's it going?") But I understand if some might look on it less than favorably - is that the case with you?

That's powerful and speaks to me! (which also goes to show that often His speaking comes through fellow members of His body)

So very true, bro, and thanks for saying that! There is no harm in asking the question in the OP, but you are exactly right too - we can ask Him right now!!! How many times have I asked the Lord something like, "What does this mean Lord" only to have the answer come from either within or without in a couple moments!? But more often some time passes before the answer comes and sometimes I'm not even so aware of the answer right away (He has to say, "Remember that you asked that?). But there are other things that He delays in answering, and we may only get the answer once we pass from this mortal coil. (This reminds me of the famous "What would Jesus Do?" (WWJD) question that made it onto many T-shirts and bumper stickers a while back. The better question is, "What is Jesus doing?" That's because we have Him living in us and as John says, the inner "Anointing teaches us all things." (1 John 2:27) Asking WWJD is sort of an old covenant take on the matter . . .)

As I recall, and I don't remember details, we can put things like the Easter egg (and roll), the Easter bunny, Santa Clause, Christmas trees, Halloween, etc. in the Roman Catholic Church bucket. That is, they were good in incorporating any pagan belief or practice of newly converted cultures, and making it one of their own accepted practices. And that way fewer feathers were ruffled and the coffers kept flowing.

And it occurs to me that one of the big reasons (that the first verse above is speaking about), is that the purpose of the One Grain falling into the ground to die, was to bring forth many after His kind (aka the church)! Imagine how the enemy must have trembled when they say the image of Christ being reproduced in the early church! To them, it was bad enough that Jesus was on the earth, but then suddenly there were hundreds and thousands of people walking around bearing His image!!! Listening to a message yesterday at my local fellowship, a couple verses came to me along these lines: "And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy." Col 1:18 "But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you." Rom 8:11 God's purpose is with man and in Genesis 1:26, when He made man in His image and likeness, He gave us authority over the earth and what inhabits it. He has restored this image and authority to us, who are His many grains --> which were produced in Christ's resurrection.

Wow - I think there is something to "counteracting unpleasant odors" - I'd not thought about the incence in this way, but man does have the stench of death about him...