Gracejj

Can a believer be possessed? I recently heard this message, I want to ask your thoughts on this.. "We were taught as a Christian that a believer can't be demon possessed if he has Holy Spirit within them, you are no longer owned by devil, you were bought with a price. However, Ownership and possession is two different things, eg- people own their house but sometimes squatters squats and it comes under squatters's possessions. Just bcos you have Christ in your life but that doesn't mean you become impermeable to the demons schemes and tactics, the way you live your life will determine whether you have violated God's law and coming with the new agreement with devil even though God said you are free from it. " So what do you think? Can a believer be demon possessed? 🤔

Proverbs 11:31- If the righteous receives their due on earth, how much more the ungodly and the sinner! Proverbs 12:1- Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but whoever hates correction is stupid.

Undeserved Mercies, forgiveness and Love.

We often hear that God has forgiven our sins, past, present and future sins. Does " future" sins could be one of those habitual sins that we don't want to but end up doing? 🤔 If yes then I think God knows all the things and even the sins we will be committing even after being saved due to whatever reasons. Not saying that we should not work things out in our life to make sure we try to live according to How God would want us to. God knows our "heart" and knows if we are taking advantage(i couldn't find the better word) of His grace. Anyways, One thing I know for sure that When it comes to being saved or not, seems like we aren't saved because of how sinless we were or are. But because of Jesus Christ paying the price of our sins by laying down His own life for us.

Merry Christmas ✝️🎊🎊

I don't think thats what inspired the lost sheep parables because as @Jedi said above Jesus wouldn't be considered a lost sheep. However, I think what would have been inspired all the analogy of Sheep and shepherd in OT & NT in the bible is simply their occupational, cultural and tradition background at that time in the history.

My exact thought! I agree! But truth be heard, I have many people in my view when I see their actions I often ask myself are they really Christian? Born again? Really real Christian? But then I swiftly gets humbled by God by rememberence of these two instance in the bible- 1st One where the thief receives the gift of being with Jesus in paradise right before his death, where he never had a single chance to do any good work or make any of his wrong doings a right doing, he just humbled himself and recognized Jesus for who He was. 2nd scripture by Jesus himself(this ones humbles me faster than anything else ..lol) Luke 18:10-14 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’ 13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’ 14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Yes, they may go to Heaven if God is willing. I'll let God decide who he wants in heaven or not that's not my job. Our God is Sovereign! Shalom!

Take heart. Don't give up on yourself. After you sin and Holy Spirit confronts you about it, that means God has not given up on you, so why would you give up on yourself? When you find yourself in sin, don't hide from God. That's exactly what that little enemy wants you to do. So pick up your broken self and go straight to God and surrender your nakedness to him and He will clothe you with His love and forgiveness. You never hide from your Father in Heaven, no sin, no falling back is big enough to stop God's merciful embrace. You yourself is a father to your children, if one of your children messes up then what would you expect from them regardless? Running away from you and do more wrong things by assuming that now you hate them? or you would expect them to come straight to you and figure things out or to find out a solution for the mess they have made?? If you find yourself going back to the sin again and you might as well want to start running back to your Father in heaven too. Why stop after sin? Take that as an opportunity to go back to God and dont stop going back, don't hide. The more enemy tempts you the more you bring yourself to God. And show that little enemy how its plan to struck you down actually is bringing you more closer to God. Everyone fights their own battles, they have to improvise their own way. 2 Corinthians 12:9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. Romans 8 37-39. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 👆You are not saved because of your hold on Christ but His hold on you. Yes, He is holding on to you. You stand firm! Be still! Listen to God's voice through prayers and reading & meditating on the word of God. Fill your mind with word of God so there's no room left for word of that little enemy. Praying for you. Shalom!

I learnt from the story that- Men and his so called good works are not good enough to achieve Eternal life, its not possible!.... but only through God its possible.

Growing up we got excited for Christmas because that was the one and only major celebration event in our house hold. We didn't do much gifts exchanges, only 1 pair of a new clothes.

How Christian must look like? Like Jesus!!! Clothed in Love and sacrifice & mercy and forgiveness & Peace & Compassion, obedient towards Father's will for Him. We can't be perfect but atleast we can keep trying to be like Him.

I don't have the Large but small one which I keep it on the table similarly like how you do, near the window. My kids aren't ready for the big tree. Large one would end up on the floor due to kids constantly adding or removing the decorations 😆 when I am not looking. But with the small ones atleast I can put everything back together if something happens 🤯. As a kid we use to go door to door as well to sing Carol in winter weather it use to be fun. Now as parents we have every Sunday leading up to Christmas day we have Chrismas/Christ oriented things going on at Church especially for kids so that they can learn about true meaning of Christmas. Its all just beautiful and truly wonderful time of the year for grown ups and kids altogether up here. :)

I did! I always put up my star 1st(it use to be tradition in my family to put the star light as star of Bethlehem shines bright as a sign of the newborn King). Then comes Christmas tree. My Christmas tree was up since November. I start early and remove late. I just like the Christmassy vibe.

You are right brother!! But one must ask what is the will of Father in the context of above Scriptures? It is important to let the Bible interpret the Bible. If you study the Bible, you will see that the will of the Father is that you believe in the One Whom He has sent and receive eternal life. Jesus said, “For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:40 ). 🙂

groaaanss! 😂😂😁

By Matt Redman. Blessed be Your name When the sun's shining down on me When the world's 'all as it should be' Blessed be Your name Blessed be Your name On the road marked with suffering Though there's pain in the offering Blessed be Your name Every blessing You pour out I'll turn back to praise When the darkness closes in, Lord Still I will say Blessed be the name of the Lord Blessed be Your name🎶🎵🙌

It was very long time ago.

Yes I have medium bob. (Side note)- Did you read all the list of the OP, he included "Tattoos" too.

Oh maann!!! I just got me a short hair cut. My hair was hip long! You should have told me before.😫 Atleast I can change my clothes and fully cover myself with my new Christmas hoodies & "Trousers" and Pjs. Thanks!!

As a Christ follower. We really don't have to go to forest or starve to learn humility or spiritual growth. You just need to exist in this world and choose Jesus every day, really! that's all you need! Jesus said there will be troubles anyway if we are followers of Him. Because the world hated Him so it most likely would hate us too and there comes the "struggle". We need to be alone with Jesus thats all we need. Every day there will be many opportunity to deny our flesh, humble ourselves, obey God, resist the devil, persevere and eventually Spiritual growth. My two cents

Probably they all got exhausted with the Presidential Election circus this year.

I am saying this all in love, I never speak on politics, Not a fan of either candidate. But.. I wonder, were you annoyed exactly like this or felt anything when People have made mockery of DJT, painted urinals as his mouth and painted face on it, did you take it in your heart like this when they made derogatory sculptures and statues to mock this candidates. Did that ruffled your spirit as well? did that made you feel as uncomfortable as a human being as this Christmas trinket making you? Just something to think about in your quiet times. I see it like this,..... People who wanted him to be president has been through a lot, endured all the mockery, all the funny skits, all petty and derogatory small statues and goodies and Tshirts with cussing DTJ and what not, they have went through all. Now after they have experienced that side of the political drama they have finally crossed the other side with all the hard work they did, and got what they wanted, i think they deserve to celebrate that and deserve to hear praises or see good things (may it be praise or goodies like Christmas trinkets) also when their candidate wins. Its like sports for them. They deserve to express their happy moments too, especially when they have endured the bad moments in the past regarding their preferred candidates. (Side note- not saying you can't say anything. Infact Yes you can, if you have any real life situations or policies that you don't like or grievances with this candidate you should Express your feelings too) There's only two party, someday this will win some day that will win! Its okay!! Let people have some good times. In the Grand scheme, All Knees shall bow and all toungue shall confess that Jesus is The Lord. Including the mortal learders and kings and queens and prince and princess of this world, including us. Also making sure our brothers and sisters in christ doesn't lose their focus from our ultimate prize. The Christ Jesus!! He is our ultimate Hero, our Saviour!! Shalom! I pray for Peace that surpasses all understanding for all of us in this post, in Jesus name Amen.

Praise the Lord God Almighty! 🙌🙌

@Figure of eighty @nebula Life in this earth may feel like that many time... for most. There's always seasons of losing and seasons of finding, seasons of doubts & seasons of believing, seasons of happiness and seasons of heartbreaks. That being said, in all these seasons One thing only one thing that remains constant and unchanging, That Jesus died on the cross for us and His love will remain the same for us always, He will never leave us nor forsake us. He will not abandon us. Despite of our feelings or angers or doubts towards Him. God has done his part to unite us back to his kingdom, as His children, as a Co-heir with Christ. Whether we feel like it or not. Yes, it does takes time to be transformed, its different for everybody, it depends on our heart condition and our obedience towards Him and His ways. Jesus did say that we will have tribulations in this world, no matter how we feel during those moments, God knows how you feel and what you are going through. He sees you, in your weakness, in your highs and lows. Closeness to God is should be the ultimate results of all those trials. Bcos He is our refuge in the times of troubles, He is our Fortress our Hiding place. We dont hide from Him, We Hide in Him. It is not easy, it is very draining at times. But be assured that God is with you during those moments, even when we fail to see sometimes. God will always be standing at the gate eagerly waiting to embrace the prodigal son. He will always be there, leaving the ninty nine to get that lost One.