rockswillcryout

I have never seen mine, but I'm sure he exists. Here's why: 1.) My church for youth group met every Wedneday night and I went for 4 straight years. We usually had a meal (provided by two sets of parents) and then retired to the basement for our lesson. One night my senior year after I got home, my parents asked me if the man found me. They were one of the sets of parents feeding us that night and they said after we all went downstaits, a very well dress handsome young man (in his 20s or 30s they guessed) had come into the fellowship hall where the kitchen was and asked if I was there. My parents did not know who he was, but knew I would be with a large group of people (and our church was out in the middle of the country - 15 miles from the nearest town or 200 people) so they sent him downstairs to our youth group room. I never saw him. No one ever came down to the youth group room to talk to me, my paretns never saw anyone leave. And at that time, the only handsome young men in their 20s and 30s I knew where family members my parents would know. They knew every single friend of mine (none of which were that old), and the town I grew up was small enough that everyone knew everybody. And how did this man know where I went to church? This was in the days before the internet...and my life was pretty small. We went through all the possible scenarios and nothing added up. So I concluded it was my guardian angel. 2.) My sophomore year in college I was on the phone with my parents and our call waiting beeped. I clicked on and a man's voice said, "Stephanie, hi." It sounded like our resident director to me and it made sense he would call because I had applied for an RA position for the next year. I told him I was on the other line with my parents and that it was a long distance call, but it wouldn't be too much longer. He said he would call back in a few minutes. He never did. I asked him the following day when I was in the student union what he needed and he said he didn't call me. No one called for the rest of the night. I asked around and everyone said they didn't call. Now maybe these have logical explainations, but both times I got a very distinct feelings that what was happening wasn't of this earth. Not an evil spirit kind of feeling (I've had a few of those, too) but just a "different" sense. I still believe that man at my church and the man who called me is my guardian angel.

The primary misconception about God is that He will let you into heaven if you do good things and are a good person. And what you believe about him is a personal preference ("your reality is different from my reality") and not an absolute truth, therefore what you believe doesn't matter to God as long are you are a good person.

Thanks to everyone for replying. I was having trouble with these feelings of resentment towards someone with whom I have a very one-sided friendship. It's all give for me and take for them. I was wondering if it was just me, so I thought I would see if I had the right or wrong view of friendship. Click here to learn a little more. Anyone, I appreciate the imput and well, some of your posts left me in tears! Thanks for putting some things into perpective for me - I really needed that!

So are you saying that a person who has a desire that God gave them, that isn't fulfilled, that Jesus doesn't truly live in their hearts? What about my friend Rochelle and Seth, who want to have a baby and they have been trying for 4 years and haven't succeded? What about my friend Lisa who wants to be married and is 33 and still single? These are people who have accepted that it may never happen for them and trust God anyway. But they feel their pain and longing isn't being eased. They want to know why. I think it's a legit question.

Every day God places desires in our hearts. Every day, the world places desire on our hearts. The latter may or not be sinful. But they are two important distinctions to be made. Scripture says God will give us the desires of our hearts "Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart. - Pslam 37:4) and I would thinkg this especially so if that desire was one God placed on our hearts. My devotion this morning was about how faith is holding out your hand. And that sometimes Gd doesn't fulfill our wants because he knows better. And a big part of faith is accepting that. But what of those desires that will never be filled? Why would God place a desire in our hearts that will never be filled? What is the value in that? The lesson learned, certainly. But after the lesson is learned, why doesn't the desire go away? If you ask and ask and the desire still remains, why must we be put through continual disappointment? I've been going through a bible study by John Stott on The Beatitudes. Jesus teaches us that we will be blessed. Then why are we not always blessed with the desires of our heart - the desires He give us? The desires He so promises? Food for thought...

From my experience in having a very good friend who hates it when I cry, for him, it just makes him feel so uncomfortable. Maybe that's why your sister snapped at you. Some people just don't know what to do when someone they are with cries - it makes them feel helpless and they don't like that. Perhaps your sister felt helpless and just didn't know what to do, so that's why she lashed out at you. I know I do that sometimes when I'm in a stressful situation - I say something completely stupid or irrelevant, or something that might make the person feel weird. (It's a lovely gift I have! ) Perhaps it will help if you told hjer you don't need her to do anything, but just be there with you.

But what of a one-sided friendship? There are some that take and take and don't give back. And still think they are your friend. Is it so wrong to want something back?

It is absolutely okay to cry! Jesus did. Is it a sign of weakness? Maybe - but what's so bad about being weak? That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. -2 Corinthians 12:10

What is your definition of a friend? Is it based on the amount of time spent together? Is it based on how long you've known them? Is it based on how close you feel to them? Is it based on mutal respect? Is it based on "you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours"? Is it based on whether or not they are there for you when you need them? How would you define a friend?

That is offically going in my quote book!

No, I don't think you are. I don't believe that being a "joyful" Christian is always an ourward expression of happiness. Joy is deep in your heart, but it does not make you immune to the sadness of the world. I think David was sad when his son was murdered. I think Jesus was sad when he discovered Lazarus had died before he got there. I think that Abraham and Sarah were sad after years and years of trying to have a baby they wanted so badly. My heart aches for you because you are sad, Kristin, but know that doesn't make you any less of the person God created you to be. You can be joyful of your salvation AND sad that your grandmother is ill. We are sad because of what the world does to us - a world that is not our home. I think that if you weren't sad, I would wonder what pills you were taking! But in all seriousness, I think that being sad and overcoming it (as you eventually will) can be a tremendous witness! That will not make you a bad witnese or a bad Christian. If anything, this will only make you stronger. I've been suffering from tremendous sadness the last few weeks. And I have to get up and lead worship in church! And one thing I've discovered in the midst of my sadness is that there is a reason for it. God has something to show you in all of this and it will only draw you closer to him. :hug: Be blessed and encouraged today that Jesus and your friends at Worthy love you very much.

I hadn't thought of it that way... but that makes perfect sense! As James says: "Draw near to God and he will draw near to you."

I hadn't thought of it that way, but that's a very excellent observation. When we ignore the hunger and thirst for God, we feed on other things to get nourishment. For some, it's the "Martha-syndrom" where we do, do and do, and don't spend time at the foot of Jesus taking him in. For some, it can be the service they do for their church, whether it's giving money or organizing a bake sale, or sitting on a missions committee. That can fool us into thinking that's it's enough... that we don't need to intimacy, a daily time with him if we are out serving him. The two must go hand in hand. Those are very good questions. If our hunger and thirst have gone unnourished for so long, how can we know what calls from him we have missed? (KMB said:) I have times like that, too! Where my heart is actually aching, I feel such an intense pain in my chest and all I can do to ease the ache is to cry out to God and let his peace take me over. Maybe I'm the only one who feels this way, (I might be considering the lack of responses on this topic) but it's a prevelant issue in my life.I have few times "up on the mountain" and while they are so good, I still have to go down into the valley and use what God taught my in the "mountain" time. There is such a big part of me that wants that mountain time to be all the time - because it's easier. A time when you are so immersed in God that the whole world around you disappears.

Our physical bodies need things to survive - the air we breath, to food we eat, the water we drink. Without these things, our bodies deteriorate. And what does our soul need to survive? Some say fellowship with other people, some say love. The soul can deteriorate like the body, but may take longer or may not be evident to the outside world as much. The God-shaped hole we are born is why our soul deteriorates - when it

Okay... to all of you who seems to be so offended by my statement: Just because you have the ability to discern sin in people DOES NOT MEAN you are rude or judgemental. And if you are, you are misusing your gift. And I would like to add that I NEVER ONCE said that that a prophet has a license to be rude or judgemental. (Although a friend of mine in college thought it did.) Sheesh! Now who is judgemental and rude?

I totally see that in you LadyC. A prophets main ability is discerning sin in other people. You have a very good grasp on doctine and can detect a slight left or right of it when many people can't. I'm not surprised at all! Mine was Teacher, Pastor, Leadership and Musician were all tied for first. That's kind of a considering my job. A lot of those questions were similar. I guess I will always prefer the first test I every took. Clear, concise, only 7 gifts (based on Romans 12) so the waters weren't muddied so much. And Kay, yes, I do believe our gifts can chance. As we grow and mature as a Christian, it's only natural our gifts will grow and change with us. Plus, I think God can change it to meet the needs we have at the time. However, if you took a different test than this one before, that's another issue. Then I can see where it would be easy to have other gifts listed.

Thanks everyone!

I was wondering around my local Christian book store and saw this book in the Charasmatic section... it was written a while ago and I rememeber hearing a lot of hoopla about it, but I've never taken the time to read it. Has anyone ever read this book? The concept behind it seems good "My soul longs after thee..." but I know there has been a little but controversy surrounding the content. I'm just wondering if it's worth a read or not.

I think your discinctions here are very made well, dad ernie. When I read your post, my conclusion came to close to the same as your - that our spirit, the part of us that connects with God - absolutely keep our soul under it's control. In essence, if our spirit is in step with God, our bodies will be also. Then I looked a little depper into the meaning of each of those words. "Patience" I think of Job. (Doesn't everyone?) Despite the tremendous hardships, he remained faithful. Satan has his was with Job's life and not once did Job curse God. That's endurance. "Posses" Complete ownership of. Maybe win? or gain? (several other translations I looked out suggest those words) but the KJV, and the NKJV use posses, which is acutally more poetic to me. "Souls" a more broad view of what you said - our physical body (the earthly, carnal part) The passage in context is Jesus speaking of the end times. Perhaps he is speaking of those who will have to endure so much hardship under the rule of the antichrist. And his promise is that if they remain faithful in God - satan will not own our souls - God will.

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The NIV is what I was raised on, so that will always be the easist for me to understand. However, I do read the NASB because it is a word for word translation vs. the NIV, which is a "thought for thought" translation - so the NASB reads a little jerkier than the NIV, but many consider it to be more accurate. If English is their second language, though, I would recommend the NIV or the NLT. I'm way past a ninth grade reading level and the KJV just doesn't work for me. I don't have anything against the translation, it's just is hard to read for me. I need to Bible to be real to me, to feel real. The KJV just feels like a different world and I have a hard time relating to that. And I've been a believer for over 20 years! I have no doubt it's a fine translation, and most of the time, it's just about finding what works for you.

I've been bit on a few posts. I need to forgive also. Thank you for that prayer, nebula. :hug:

A friend of mine and I were talking about how Christianity is dieing in the United States right now - or maybe not so much dieing as plateauing. Islam and Buddism are growing at a much faster rate and I can't help but wonder if this "watered-down Christianity" is a response to a fear - fear that our beliefs aren't grabbing people and keeping them the way other religions are. Perhaps this is some attempt to "reach the masses" in a new way without seeming too threatening. Whilte I understand the motive, I don't agree with the compromise!

I don't know what tomorrow holds, but I know who holds tomorrow. Everyday is a gift from God, that's why they call it the present!

This isn't from the book, but I do receive a e-newsletter called "Rick Warren's Tool Box" and he often provides links to valuable articles to assist in your church's ministry. This was one of them last week: Moblizing Member before July 12th Marriage Amendment Although it wasn't written by Warren, he is endorsing it by including it as a link in his newsletter. LadyC, I'll let you know if I see anymore