Choose Your Battles Wisely

[Guest clancy]

4 minutes ago, Arrabon said:

@Alive

The original posters topic is on BATTLES, and MY POINT IS, that it isn't a Godly thing to be BATTLING when we can be kind and loving as God says we are to be.

It my experience on many forums it seems, I am a moderator on one forum, that LOVE and KINDNESS aren't even a consideration, but being right and WINNING A BATTLE is the whole point of being there.

I'm sure many here would agree.

God bless you in Gods great love.

Arrabon

 

 

Absolutely!!!......spot on! ?

[Arrabon]

13 minutes ago, Sower said:

Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. 2 Timothy 2:3

I know there are combat vets here who have been experienced war.
They know in a war, it is not the ones in the rear who are exposed to much injury,
but those who are on the front lines, where the battle rages.
Understandably, it is these who are wounded and fall, because the enemy
concentrate their forces there, and not on those who do not even realize there
is even a war going on.
God uses His 'soldiers' when they abide in Him.
When we truly abide in Christ, it is Him working through us.
It is Him who chooses the battles to engage, or not.
When we see a battle going on here at Worthy forum, it's obvious that some
do not abide, or have their WiFi (holy spirit) turned on, awaiting orders.

"He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit:
for without me ye can do nothing" John 15:5   Not I but Christ.

Be kind
Everyone's fighting a battle
we know nothing about.

@Sower

I couldn't agree more .

But we have to remember that there is the enemy that we are to battle against, not with and against each other.

A huge difference!!!

God bless my brother in much Godly LOVE.

Arrabon

Edited May 11, 2021 by Arrabon

[David1701]

On 5/10/2021 at 3:47 PM, Hopefully said:

Battles are inevitable. They are going to come your way whether you like it or not. The only control you have, is to choose which battles you will fight, and which battles you will allow to slide on past. If you do not learn how to do this, then you will spend huge amounts of emotional and maybe even physical energy fighting every single battle that pops up.

Your survival as a Christian depends greatly on how you handle battles and how you handle that pesky emotion of anger. Battles make us angry, no doubt about that. Anger, though, is not always a bad thing. Christians often misunderstand the emotion of anger and lump all anger into the same category and label it sin. This is not true. All anger is not sinful. Once we learn to manage the emotion of anger correctly, then we can learn the important skill of choosing our battles wisely.
 

read more at https://www.bible-knowledge.com/choosing-your-battles/

Sometimes the best response is no response. You don’t have to respond to everything that comes your way. 

“Choose your battles wisely. After all, life isn't measured by how many times you stood up to fight. It's not winning battles that makes you happy, but it's how many times you turned away and chose to look into a better direction. Life is too short to spend it on warring. Fight only the most, most, most important ones, let the rest go.” 

― C. JoyBell C.

 

This is an enormous subject!

There are various kinds of battles.

1) Spiritual, including: oppression, casting out demons, temptations, deceptions, false accusations, distractions, etc.

2) Intellectual, including: deceptions (again), distractions (again), temptations (again), speculations, fruitless debates, etc.

3) Emotional, including: insults, disappointments, heartbreaks, bereavements, infatuations, etc.

4) Physical, including: persecutions, wars, revolutions, diseases, injuries, etc.

Quite often, these categories overlap.

Some of these battles we could simply not engage in, but others come to us, and we have only two choices: lie down and be pummelled, or fight.

There are also the questions of why we fight certain battles but not others and how we go about fighting the ones we do fight (differs from case to case).

[Arrabon]

6 minutes ago, David1701 said:

Some of these battles we could simply not engage in, but others come to us, and we have only two choices: lie down and be pummelled, or fight.

There are also the questions of why we fight certain battles but not others and how we go about fighting the ones we do fight (differs from case to case).

@David1701

For me, the word of yours, "FIGHT", is a key word here, and what that means to us as Christians.

Ephesians 4:14-15

14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of people, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in LOVE, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is, Christ,

If you study Christs example, He is either silent or He speaks in love - "MOST OF THE TIME," but never fights or is angrily confrontational.

In Jude 3, we are to "CONTEND" for the faith;

 Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you CONTEND EARNESTLY for the faith that was once for all time handed down to the saints.

We are also to be "APOLOGISTS", 

1 Peter 3:15

15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, "BUT WITH GENTLENESS AND RESPECT".

 

Lastly , we are to be prepared in His word to preach the word in love.

2 Timothy 4:2 

preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and exhort, with great PATIENCE and INSTRUCTION.

God bless all here .

Arrabon

[David1701]

17 minutes ago, Arrabon said:

@David1701

For me, the word of yours, "FIGHT", is a key word here, and what that means to us as Christians.

Ephesians 4:14-15

14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of people, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in LOVE, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, that is, Christ,

If you study Christs example, He is either silent or He speaks in love - "MOST OF THE TIME," but never fights or is angrily confrontational.

In Jude 3, we are to "CONTEND" for the faith;

 Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you CONTEND EARNESTLY for the faith that was once for all time handed down to the saints.

We are also to be "APOLOGISTS", 

1 Peter 3:15

15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, "BUT WITH GENTLENESS AND RESPECT".

 

Lastly , we are to be prepared in His word to preach the word in love.

2 Timothy 4:2 

preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and exhort, with great PATIENCE and INSTRUCTION.

God bless all here .

Arrabon

Some of this is correct; but, there is one part that is definitely not entirely correct.

Quote

If you study Christs example, He is either silent or He speaks in love - "MOST OF THE TIME," but never fights or is angrily confrontational.

The Lord certainly was sometimes "angrily confrontational"; in fact, it's hard to see how an experienced Christian could possibly not know this.

John 2:13-17 (MKJV)

13 And the Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
  14 And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money-changers sitting.
  15 And when He had made a scourge of small cords, He drove them all out of the temple, also the sheep and the oxen. And He poured out the money-changers' money and overthrew the tables.
  16 And He said to those who sold doves, Take these things away from here. Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise.
  17 And His disciples remembered that it was written, "The zeal of Your house has eaten Me up."

Mark 3:3-5 (MKJV)

 3 And He said to the man who had the withered hand, Arise! Come into the middle.
  4 And He said to them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? To save life, or to kill? But they were silent.
  5 And looking around on them with anger, being grieved because of the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, Stretch out your hand! And he stretched it out. And his hand was restored whole, like the other.

Matt. 23:13-33 (MKJV)

 13 But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of Heaven against men. For you neither go in, nor do you allow those entering to go in.
  14 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses, and pray at length as a pretense. Therefore you shall receive the greater condemnation.
  15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you compass sea and the dry land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
  16 Woe to you, blind guides, saying, Whoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor.
  17 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifies the gold?
  18 And, Whoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is a debtor!
  19 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift?
  20 Therefore whoever shall swear by the altar swears by it, and by all things on it.
  21 And whoever shall swear by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it.
  22 And he who shall swear by Heaven swears by the throne of God, and by Him who sits on it.
  23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin, and you have left undone the weightier matters of the Law, judgment, mercy, and faith. You ought to have done these and not to leave the other undone.
  24 Blind guides who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
  25 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of extortion and excess.
  26 Blind Pharisee! First cleanse the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of them may be clean also.
  27 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which indeed appear beautiful outside, but inside they are full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
  28 Even so you also appear righteous to men outwardly, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
  29 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets, and decorate the tombs of the righteous,
  30 and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
  31 Therefore you are witnesses to yourselves, that you are the sons of those who killed the prophets;
  32 and you fill up the measure of your fathers.
  33 Serpents! Offspring of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? 

[PeterR]

8 minutes ago, David1701 said:

Some of this is correct; but, there is one part that is definitely not entirely correct.

The Lord certainly was sometimes "angrily confrontational"; in fact, it's hard to see how an experienced Christian could possibly not know this.

John 2:13-17 (MKJV)

13 And the Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
  14 And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money-changers sitting.
  15 And when He had made a scourge of small cords, He drove them all out of the temple, also the sheep and the oxen. And He poured out the money-changers' money and overthrew the tables.
  16 And He said to those who sold doves, Take these things away from here. Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise.
  17 And His disciples remembered that it was written, "The zeal of Your house has eaten Me up."

Mark 3:3-5 (MKJV)

 3 And He said to the man who had the withered hand, Arise! Come into the middle.
  4 And He said to them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? To save life, or to kill? But they were silent.
  5 And looking around on them with anger, being grieved because of the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, Stretch out your hand! And he stretched it out. And his hand was restored whole, like the other.

Matt. 23:13-33 (MKJV)

 13 But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of Heaven against men. For you neither go in, nor do you allow those entering to go in.
  14 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses, and pray at length as a pretense. Therefore you shall receive the greater condemnation.
  15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you compass sea and the dry land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
  16 Woe to you, blind guides, saying, Whoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor.
  17 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifies the gold?
  18 And, Whoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is a debtor!
  19 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift?
  20 Therefore whoever shall swear by the altar swears by it, and by all things on it.
  21 And whoever shall swear by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it.
  22 And he who shall swear by Heaven swears by the throne of God, and by Him who sits on it.
  23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin, and you have left undone the weightier matters of the Law, judgment, mercy, and faith. You ought to have done these and not to leave the other undone.
  24 Blind guides who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
  25 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of extortion and excess.
  26 Blind Pharisee! First cleanse the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of them may be clean also.
  27 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which indeed appear beautiful outside, but inside they are full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
  28 Even so you also appear righteous to men outwardly, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
  29 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets, and decorate the tombs of the righteous,
  30 and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
  31 Therefore you are witnesses to yourselves, that you are the sons of those who killed the prophets;
  32 and you fill up the measure of your fathers.
  33 Serpents! Offspring of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? 

Moderators on Internet forums today call it a "personal attack" and that is why in the fight against today's Pharisees and scholars we are like those mentioned earlier "gladiators" thrown to the lions, with loud applause from the stands. 

[Arrabon]

28 minutes ago, David1701 said:

Some of this is correct; but, there is one part that is definitely not entirely correct.

The Lord certainly was sometimes "angrily confrontational"; in fact, it's hard to see how an experienced Christian could possibly not know this.

John 2:13-17 (MKJV)

13 And the Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
  14 And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money-changers sitting.
  15 And when He had made a scourge of small cords, He drove them all out of the temple, also the sheep and the oxen. And He poured out the money-changers' money and overthrew the tables.
  16 And He said to those who sold doves, Take these things away from here. Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise.
  17 And His disciples remembered that it was written, "The zeal of Your house has eaten Me up."

Mark 3:3-5 (MKJV)

 3 And He said to the man who had the withered hand, Arise! Come into the middle.
  4 And He said to them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? To save life, or to kill? But they were silent.
  5 And looking around on them with anger, being grieved because of the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, Stretch out your hand! And he stretched it out. And his hand was restored whole, like the other.

Matt. 23:13-33 (MKJV)

 13 But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of Heaven against men. For you neither go in, nor do you allow those entering to go in.
  14 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses, and pray at length as a pretense. Therefore you shall receive the greater condemnation.
  15 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you compass sea and the dry land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
  16 Woe to you, blind guides, saying, Whoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor.
  17 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifies the gold?
  18 And, Whoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is a debtor!
  19 Fools and blind! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift?
  20 Therefore whoever shall swear by the altar swears by it, and by all things on it.
  21 And whoever shall swear by the temple, swears by it and by Him who dwells in it.
  22 And he who shall swear by Heaven swears by the throne of God, and by Him who sits on it.
  23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithes of mint and dill and cummin, and you have left undone the weightier matters of the Law, judgment, mercy, and faith. You ought to have done these and not to leave the other undone.
  24 Blind guides who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!
  25 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of extortion and excess.
  26 Blind Pharisee! First cleanse the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of them may be clean also.
  27 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which indeed appear beautiful outside, but inside they are full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.
  28 Even so you also appear righteous to men outwardly, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
  29 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets, and decorate the tombs of the righteous,
  30 and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
  31 Therefore you are witnesses to yourselves, that you are the sons of those who killed the prophets;
  32 and you fill up the measure of your fathers.
  33 Serpents! Offspring of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? 

@David1701

ABSOLUTELY 

And I totally agree, and that's why I qualified my statement that you quoted, and knew someone would catch that, but is a huge topic for another thread, and I didn't want to get this topic off coarse, and instead stay on point !!

Remember, that God isn't a God of confusion or contradiction, and we have no idea of what Jesus was thinking in His heart, which we should all be mindful of for ourselves.

God and Jesus entire message and communication was about love, so that has to be factored in when we try to analyze Christ's actions and His words spoken to others.

There is a UNITY and HARMONY in Gods message that always must be considered when we are JUDGING anyone's intentions in the bible.

1 Corinthians 14:33

"33 For God is not a God of confusion but of peace."

Thanks for your reply and God bless.

Arrabon

Edited May 11, 2021 by Arrabon

[David1701]

3 hours ago, Arrabon said:

@David1701

ABSOLUTELY 

And I totally agree, and that's why I qualified my statement that you quoted, and knew someone would catch that, but is a huge topic for another thread, and I didn't want to get this topic off coarse, and instead stay on point !!

Remember, that God isn't a God of confusion or contradiction, and we have no idea of what Jesus was thinking in His heart, which we should all be mindful of for ourselves.

God and Jesus entire message and communication was about love, so that has to be factored in when we try to analyze Christ's actions and His words spoken to others.

There is a UNITY and HARMONY in Gods message that always must be considered when we are JUDGING anyone's intentions in the bible.

1 Corinthians 14:33

"33 For God is not a God of confusion but of peace."

Thanks for your reply and God bless.

Arrabon

Well, you changed your stance quickly!  Firstly you claimed that Jesus was never "angrily confrontational", but now you agree "ABSOLUTELY" that he was sometimes.

Here is what you posted, "If you study Christs example, He is either silent or He speaks in love - "MOST OF THE TIME," but never fights or is angrily confrontational.".

I detect that confusion that, as you rightly say, does not come from God...

[Arrabon]

52 minutes ago, David1701 said:

52 minutes ago, David1701 said:

but never fights or is angrily confrontational.".

Well, you changed your stance quickly!

@David1701

What did I change?

 I meerly stated that you can't read what was in the mind of Christ or what was in His heart at the times you quoted.

We should all question our own motives, especially if we're trying to make someone look bad or invalidate what they believe.

No one here has to agree with me.

I'm just sharing my thoughts from my faith, and maybe giving someone reading this another choice about their faith to consider.

To me it's a small point considering everything else I wrote.

There's a lot of us who don't agree with what others say, but many of us do it in love instead of causing an enviornment of hostility and wanting to do verbal battle.

Not pointing fingers though or accusing anyone specifically.

It's all just about a persons heart, like with Jesus and the example he set for us all .

In much Godly love and kindness.

Arrabon 

Edited May 11, 2021 by Arrabon

[David1701]

10 minutes ago, Arrabon said:

@David1701

What did I change?

 I meerly stated that you can't read what was in the mind of Christ or what was in His heart at the times you quoted.

We should all question our own motives, especially if we're trying to make someone look bad or invalidate what they believe.

No one here has to agree with me.

I'm just sharing my thoughts from my faith, and maybe giving someone reading this another choice about their faith to consider.

To me it's a small point considering everything else I wrote.

There's a lot of us who don't agree with what others say, but many of us do it in love instead of causing an enviornment of hostility and wanting to do verbal battle.

Not pointing fingers though or accusing anyone specifically.

It's all just about a persons heart, like with Jesus and the example he set for us all .

In much Godly love and kindness.

Arrabon 

I pointed out very clearly what you changed.

Yes, we should question our motives.  Are you?