Follow The Lamb Posted September 9, 2017 Group: Members Followers: 3 Topic Count: 35 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 63 Content Per Day: 0.03 Reputation: 73 Days Won: 0 Joined: 08/13/2017 Status: Offline Share Posted September 9, 2017 C.H. Spurgeon: "No matter what level of spiritual maturity we are on, we need renewed appearances, fresh manifestations, new visitations from on high. While it is right to thank God for the past and look back with joy to His visits to you in your early days as a believer, I encourage you to seek God for special visitations of His presence. I do not mean to minimize our daily walk in the light of His countenance, but consider that though the ocean has its high tides twice every day, yet it also has its spring tides. The sun shines whether we see it or not, even through our winter’s fog, and yet it has its summer brightness. If we walk with God constantly, there are special seasons when He opens the very secret of His heart to us and manifests Himself to us – not only as He does not to the world but also as He does not at all times to His own favored ones. Not every day in a palace is a banqueting day, and not all days with God are so clear and glorious as certain special sabbaths of the soul in which the Lord unveils His glory. Happy are we if we have once beheld His face, but happier still if He comes to us again in the fullness of favor. I commend you to be seeking God’s second appearances. We should be crying to God most pleadingly that He would speak to us a second time...We do not need to be converted again, but we do need the windows of heaven to be opened again and again over our heads. We need the Holy Spirit to be given again as at Pentecost and that we should renew our youth like the eagles, to run without weariness and walk without fainting." 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lolly Posted September 11, 2017 Group: Advanced Member Followers: 3 Topic Count: 43 Topics Per Day: 0.02 Content Count: 133 Content Per Day: 0.05 Reputation: 111 Days Won: 0 Joined: 02/26/2017 Status: Offline Share Posted September 11, 2017 (edited) That's wonderful--I love Spurgeon. I've noticed a shift in God's approach to me in recent days. I used to bask in His grace, and I became used to continuous flows of His mercy. However, when America began to drift, I sensed in Him--a reluctance to be approached--by us--unless, we separated ourselves from the profane and mockers. Jesus instructed His disciples not to give sacred things to dogs (Mt. 7:6)--God is not willing to have His holiness be treated as some common toy. He is high and lifted up, and He hides His face from those who try to redefine His standards. I find it very difficult to navigate through this morass. For instance, how do we stay present to those in this lost world without compromising our hearts? Certainly, the disciple whom Jesus loved exhorted: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him (1 John 2:15)." However, when Christians attempt to back away from issues that the Bible deems worldly, we are cast as "unloving." It's a paradox, and I find that temperate Christians are my biggest stumbling blocks, for they are the first to condemn me for judging. The truth is, I am merely trying to stay faithful to God, and to continue to have access to His wonderful presence. Edited September 11, 2017 by Lolly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Follow The Lamb Posted September 11, 2017 Group: Members Followers: 3 Topic Count: 35 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 63 Content Per Day: 0.03 Reputation: 73 Days Won: 0 Joined: 08/13/2017 Status: Offline Author Share Posted September 11, 2017 "God is not willing to have His holiness be treated as some common toy. He is high and lifted up, and He hides His face from those who try to redefine His standards." Amen. As for being judged as as unloving when we take a stand on God's word, I can very much relate to what you are sharing. Without love, nothing profits us anything...yet without the truth of God there can be no real love of God displayed for He is love but He is also the truth and it is the truth that sets people free. "No lie is of the truth" Already there is a falling away in progress, and as greatly disturbing as it is, it is still only a prelude to the great falling away yet to come in years ahead. We must be being prepared and refined by His Spirit to be ready to partake in the reproach of Christ in a way previously unknown and to stand upon His word and promises in a time when the entire world will believe the lie. But oh what glory to be seeking Him more and more and FINDING Him more and more ..may we expect and enter into new realms of faith, obediance and fellowship with Himself even in the midst of all trials and refining fires. Lord, by Your Spirit keep us for You are our hope! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lolly Posted September 11, 2017 Group: Advanced Member Followers: 3 Topic Count: 43 Topics Per Day: 0.02 Content Count: 133 Content Per Day: 0.05 Reputation: 111 Days Won: 0 Joined: 02/26/2017 Status: Offline Share Posted September 11, 2017 Follow the Lamb, I appreciate your words of wisdom. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heleadethme Posted September 12, 2017 Group: Royal Member Followers: 15 Topic Count: 13 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 3,371 Content Per Day: 1.35 Reputation: 3,268 Days Won: 5 Joined: 07/10/2017 Status: Offline Share Posted September 12, 2017 (edited) On 9/9/2017 at 2:53 PM, Follow The Lamb said: C.H. Spurgeon: "No matter what level of spiritual maturity we are on, we need renewed appearances, fresh manifestations, new visitations from on high. While it is right to thank God for the past and look back with joy to His visits to you in your early days as a believer, I encourage you to seek God for special visitations of His presence. I do not mean to minimize our daily walk in the light of His countenance, but consider that though the ocean has its high tides twice every day, yet it also has its spring tides. The sun shines whether we see it or not, even through our winter’s fog, and yet it has its summer brightness. If we walk with God constantly, there are special seasons when He opens the very secret of His heart to us and manifests Himself to us – not only as He does not to the world but also as He does not at all times to His own favored ones. Not every day in a palace is a banqueting day, and not all days with God are so clear and glorious as certain special sabbaths of the soul in which the Lord unveils His glory. Happy are we if we have once beheld His face, but happier still if He comes to us again in the fullness of favor. I commend you to be seeking God’s second appearances. We should be crying to God most pleadingly that He would speak to us a second time...We do not need to be converted again, but we do need the windows of heaven to be opened again and again over our heads. We need the Holy Spirit to be given again as at Pentecost and that we should renew our youth like the eagles, to run without weariness and walk without fainting." Thank you for sharing this word....light for the path. I am wondering how we should seek the Holy Spirit as such, should it be more about seeking the Lord Himself and praying for what we have need of whether strength, light for our way, understanding, holiness, etc. and just in seeking Him He will give us what we need however He deems we need it. I'm leery of how certain groups are sort of fixated on the Holy Spirit and always seeking "a touch", or for Him to "come down" etc and how in spite of that they are going astray......always seeking "experiences" with God but not really following Him in other ways. But then again He says if we ask for bread He wont' give us a stone etc, so we are to ask and seek, but not seeking it in a selfish way for pleasure rather than to be able to serve and have bread or fish to give to somebody else in need. I wonder if the Lord stays away in order to make us thirsty for Him, to know our need, that without Him we can do nothing, and maybe to dry our land out making it fallow so that it will be able to drink in the rain when it comes. And also to test our faithfulness through times when we can't see or feel Him in that way. Edited September 12, 2017 by Heleadethme 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heleadethme Posted September 12, 2017 Group: Royal Member Followers: 15 Topic Count: 13 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 3,371 Content Per Day: 1.35 Reputation: 3,268 Days Won: 5 Joined: 07/10/2017 Status: Offline Share Posted September 12, 2017 On 9/11/2017 at 6:24 AM, Lolly said: That's wonderful--I love Spurgeon. I've noticed a shift in God's approach to me in recent days. I used to bask in His grace, and I became used to continuous flows of His mercy. However, when America began to drift, I sensed in Him--a reluctance to be approached--by us--unless, we separated ourselves from the profane and mockers. Jesus instructed His disciples not to give sacred things to dogs (Mt. 7:6)--God is not willing to have His holiness be treated as some common toy. He is high and lifted up, and He hides His face from those who try to redefine His standards. I find it very difficult to navigate through this morass. For instance, how do we stay present to those in this lost world without compromising our hearts? Certainly, the disciple whom Jesus loved exhorted: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him (1 John 2:15)." However, when Christians attempt to back away from issues that the Bible deems worldly, we are cast as "unloving." It's a paradox, and I find that temperate Christians are my biggest stumbling blocks, for they are the first to condemn me for judging. The truth is, I am merely trying to stay faithful to God, and to continue to have access to His wonderful presence. I am also seeking wisdom on navigating how we are to live in the world but not be of it..... sometimes in specific situations, sometimes I just don't have the wisdom to know how the Lord would have me respond or what to say....not in my own flesh but in His Spirit. In being with people of the world, it sometimes distracts me from the Lord so I can't see or know what His leading is in those moments. It troubles me, because God says friendship with the world is enmity with Him, so it is a very important issue. We are to be separate from the world and not be unequally yoked with unbelievers in every day life and yet in a way that is not standoffish at all, since we are to love them as we love ourselves.....and yet as you are saying, not to compromise the faith one iota, and sometimes I let Him down. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Benevolent Posted September 12, 2017 Group: Junior Member Followers: 7 Topic Count: 30 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 104 Content Per Day: 0.04 Reputation: 93 Days Won: 0 Joined: 08/27/2017 Status: Offline Birthday: 06/28/1993 Share Posted September 12, 2017 Wonderful. Praise God. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Follow The Lamb Posted September 13, 2017 Group: Members Followers: 3 Topic Count: 35 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 63 Content Per Day: 0.03 Reputation: 73 Days Won: 0 Joined: 08/13/2017 Status: Offline Author Share Posted September 13, 2017 (edited) On September 12, 2017 at 8:09 AM, Heleadethme said: Thank you for sharing this word....light for the path. I am wondering how we should seek the Holy Spirit as such, should it be more about seeking the Lord Himself and praying for what we have need of whether strength, light for our way, understanding, holiness, etc. and just in seeking Him He will give us what we need however He deems we need it. I'm leery of how certain groups are sort of fixated on the Holy Spirit and always seeking "a touch", or for Him to "come down" etc and how in spite of that they are going astray......always seeking "experiences" with God but not really following Him in other ways. But then again He says if we ask for bread He wont' give us a stone etc, so we are to ask and seek, but not seeking it in a selfish way for pleasure rather than to be able to serve and have bread or fish to give to somebody else in need. I wonder if the Lord stays away in order to make us thirsty for Him, to know our need, that without Him we can do nothing, and maybe to dry our land out making it fallow so that it will be able to drink in the rain when it comes. And also to test our faithfulness through times when we can't see or feel Him in that way. Heleadethme, You said: "I'm leery of how certain groups are sort of fixated on the Holy Spirit and always seeking "a touch", or for Him to "come down" etc and how in spite of that they are going astray......always seeking "experiences" with God but not really following Him in other ways." Agreed. The same things also give me pause. That is one reason why even on the baptism of the Holy Spirit thread, I felt led to mostly include saints from a non-charismatic type background. Even R.A. Torrey who apparently was against the "tongues movement".... I do believe the gifts of the Spirit are still for today but not that specific gifts are required to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. In reading the testimonies of godly men and women even from hundreds of years ago, it is so encouraging and inspiring that throughout the ages, God has always been found by those who truly seek Him...and manifests Himself in intimate, life changing ways to those who truly desire HIM above His gifts. Hallelu Yah. God bless you this day! :-) Edited September 13, 2017 by Follow The Lamb Typos 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne222 Posted September 13, 2017 Group: Worthy Ministers Followers: 32 Topic Count: 477 Topics Per Day: 0.17 Content Count: 6,560 Content Per Day: 2.27 Reputation: 7,638 Days Won: 9 Joined: 06/12/2016 Status: Offline Share Posted September 13, 2017 I find it's easy to become part of the profain and mockers. At work there are a lot of them but at the same time there friendly and engaging. You have to be on guard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heleadethme Posted September 13, 2017 Group: Royal Member Followers: 15 Topic Count: 13 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 3,371 Content Per Day: 1.35 Reputation: 3,268 Days Won: 5 Joined: 07/10/2017 Status: Offline Share Posted September 13, 2017 1 hour ago, Follow The Lamb said: Heleadethme, You said: "I'm leery of how certain groups are sort of fixated on the Holy Spirit and always seeking "a touch", or for Him to "come down" etc and how in spite of that they are going astray......always seeking "experiences" with God but not really following Him in other ways." Agreed. The same things also give me pause. That is one reason why even on the baptism of the Holy Spirit thread, I felt led to mostly include saints from a non-charismatic type background. Even R.A. Torrey who apparently was against the "tongues movement".... I do believe the gifts of the Spirit are still for today but not that specific gifts are required to be baptized in the Holy Spirit. In reading the testimonies of godly men and women even from hundreds of years ago, it is so encouraging and inspiring that throughout the ages, God has always been found by those who truly seek Him...and manifests Himself in intimate, life changing ways to those who truly desire HIM above His gifts. Hallelu Yah. God bless you this day! :-) Amen sister..........makes us wonder whose glory are some really seeking. Yes we are to love the Giver of the gifts and pour them out for Him, not for our own glory. And like Jesus telling the disciples, don't rejoice that the spirits obey you, but rejoice only that your names are written in heaven........dont' be rejoicing in power and gifts and getting puffed up by them or putting them on a pedestal, just stay grounded and rejoicing in the gospel, that we are thankfully, so thankfully saved from what we deserve. It's so wonderful how Jesus said that, His words shining a light on the wrong, but in love and without condemnation, and while guiding them to what was right. I love this Saviour of ours, such a wonderful Shepherd of our souls, and pray to be hidden in Him. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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