Do You Believe That God Works Through You?

Does God Love People Through You?


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tdidymas

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1 John 4:7 says "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God." This is not talking about the human feeling kind of love that the world always talks about, but it's talking about agape, the God-kind of love.

So, the question is, do you practice the faith that God is working His love through you? Do you find yourself in times of tribulation asking God to love people through you? Are you practicing that prayer daily in your routine life?

Just trying to find out what people think about this.
TD
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Monksailor

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I responded to this according to the Title given here and on "New Threads." Yes, I believe that God works through me. To what extent ONLY He knows. I am far from a perfect reflection of Him but I pray that I emulate some resemblance of Christ. I strive to always speak, write, and behave as He would but most of the time if not all, fall short in some detail or another. BUT one thing I do which can not be perfected any further and for which we are promised will NEVER come back void is offer God's Word for consideration. The more of His Word we sow the greater the Harvest. So there is a twofold, at least, manner in which to show God's love. One which is through personal relationship/transaction and another by sharing God's Word. Both can be simultaneous but sometimes they are separate; both can be intense acts of love, agape love.
 
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brinny

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Yes. It's one of the reasons that He has preserved me in the most impossible and precarious circumstances, and allowed suffering, angst, and heartache and grief. He allows these things so that He comforts us, and we, in turn, comfort, minister to, and love others.
 
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Presbyterian Continuist

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1 John 4:7 says "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God." This is not talking about the human feeling kind of love that the world always talks about, but it's talking about agape, the God-kind of love.

So, the question is, do you practice the faith that God is working His love through you? Do you find yourself in times of tribulation asking God to love people through you? Are you practicing that prayer daily in your routine life?

Just trying to find out what people think about this.
TD
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There is no way that God can show His love for people except through faithful believers who are radiating the fruit of the Spirit.
 
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dqhall

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1 John 4:7 says "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God." This is not talking about the human feeling kind of love that the world always talks about, but it's talking about agape, the God-kind of love.

So, the question is, do you practice the faith that God is working His love through you? Do you find yourself in times of tribulation asking God to love people through you? Are you practicing that prayer daily in your routine life?

Just trying to find out what people think about this.
TD
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Matthew 2 (KJV): Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:

4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
 
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~Anastasia~

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I would say - firstly that's not the best question to ask.

The answer is yes - but it is because God works through ALL things and circumstances. He desires the salvation of every person, and will use everything in their lives to bring that about - but it is up to us to cooperate with Him and we make a decision in every circumstance to either benefit from it spiritually, or not.

But we should look toward God's actions in the world and desires, not focus on ourselves to see if we are "being used" or to what degree.

The more we become like Christ (which should be our goal as Christians) ... the more profoundly God's grace is able to work through us for the sake of others.
 
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tdidymas

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There is no way that God can show His love for people except through faithful believers who are radiating the fruit of the Spirit.
So you don't believe that God can reveal the truth about grace directly by revelation of the Spirit, through the preaching of a spiritually dead preacher who is only doing it for money? (ref. Phil. 1:15-18)
TD:)
 
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tdidymas

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Matthew 2 (KJV): Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:

4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
This question isn't about alms. The question is, "Do you believe God works through you?" That is, do you have some Biblical justification for practicing a conscious faith that God is in you and motivating you to do His will? This is obviously a theological question, as it is in that forum.
TD:)
 
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dqhall

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This question isn't about alms. The question is, "Do you believe God works through you?" That is, do you have some Biblical justification for practicing a conscious faith that God is in you and motivating you to do His will? This is obviously a theological question, as it is in that forum.
TD:)
If God works through me, I do not need to boast about it. Jesus recommended doing good things, but not sounding a trumpet telling people about how much you are doing to help others. In the Gospel Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, not the other way around.
 
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tdidymas

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If God works through me, I do not need to boast about it. Jesus recommended doing good things, but not sounding a trumpet telling people about how much you are doing to help others. In the Gospel Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, not the other way around.
Do you imagine sounding trumpets? The OP is a simple question. It requires a simple "yes" or "no." If your "yes" is boasting, then why do you have a problem? If your acts of grace to others is God working through you, then why do you think that is boasting? Are you trying to boast in God or in yourself? I can understand if you think your works are from yourself, that saying you did something good would be boasting in yourself. But if you deeply believe that God is doing the works of love and righteousness through you, then why wouldn't you want to boast in God's grace? If God's grace is the act of God working His works through you, then why wouldn't you want to tell people that God is at work? If you don't want people to think your works are self-righteous works, then why wouldn't you want to tell people that God is the one doing His works in you by His grace, since the default assumption of many people makes them praise the person who did the good deed (if you say nothing)?
TD:)
 
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tdidymas

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I would say - firstly that's not the best question to ask.

The answer is yes - but it is because God works through ALL things and circumstances. He desires the salvation of every person, and will use everything in their lives to bring that about - but it is up to us to cooperate with Him and we make a decision in every circumstance to either benefit from it spiritually, or not.

But we should look toward God's actions in the world and desires, not focus on ourselves to see if we are "being used" or to what degree.

The more we become like Christ (which should be our goal as Christians) ... the more profoundly God's grace is able to work through us for the sake of others.

Your response begs the question, is God working outside of you only, or does He work inside of you also?
TD:)
 
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dqhall

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Do you imagine sounding trumpets? The OP is a simple question. It requires a simple "yes" or "no." If your "yes" is boasting, then why do you have a problem? If your acts of grace to others is God working through you, then why do you think that is boasting? Are you trying to boast in God or in yourself? I can understand if you think your works are from yourself, that saying you did something good would be boasting in yourself. But if you deeply believe that God is doing the works of love and righteousness through you, then why wouldn't you want to boast in God's grace? If God's grace is the act of God working His works through you, then why wouldn't you want to tell people that God is at work? If you don't want people to think your works are self-righteous works, then why wouldn't you want to tell people that God is the one doing His works in you by His grace, since the default assumption of many people makes them praise the person who did the good deed (if you say nothing)?
TD:)
God’s grace is not your work. It is God’s work. If God tells you to give food to the poor person sitting on a bench and then tells you not to tell anyone about it, could you help? What percent of God’s assignments were you able to complete? Did you ever do something God did not want you to do? Who would believe God is at work in you any more than anyone else?

God gave me work to do. I thanked God for things to do. God supplied me with good things. Sometimes I gave a right answer, sometimes a wrong answer. Is that God at work?

Even if you tell the world God is at work in you and how blessed you are, what would people you gave wrong answers to tell God about you? I do not suppose anyone on earth never made a mistake.
 
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So you don't believe that God can reveal the truth about grace directly by revelation of the Spirit, through the preaching of a spiritually dead preacher who is only doing it for money? (ref. Phil. 1:15-18)
TD:)
Yes, He can. Paul implied this when he said that some preach the gospel through envy and jealousy, but whatever the motive for preaching, the gospel is being preached.

Because we are all sinners and nothing at all, and the only reason why God would want to use us at all is according to His unmerited grace and mercy, then if he can give a guy the message through the mouth of a donkey as He did to Balaam, then He can use anyone if He decides to.

What a lot of people don't understand is that we don't have any power in ourselves. It is the gospel of Christ that is the real and only power of God to turn the unsaved to Christ. If the word is being preached by a spiritually dead preacher, then it is the Word itself that is the power to convict, exhort, guide and instruct the listeners.

Even the high priest, who was part of the faction that opposed Jesus and had a part on His death, rightly prophesied that one man had to die to save the nation. And you can't get more spiritually dead than a hypocritical high priest who was part of the group who had Jesus murdered.

The problem is in those who think they are the most spiritually alive and have some sort of merit and power in themselves that God would specially choose them to reveal the insights of His Word. In reality, they are mere arrogant pelicans who have a high-minded view of themselves and who think they don't have to use deodorant when they use the toilet, and who look down on us mere mortals from their great height of pretended spirituality; when in fact Jesus said those who God is more pleased with are those who come to the faith as little children knowing that in themselves they are nothing, but Jesus is everything.
 
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tdidymas

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Yes, He can. Paul implied this when he said that some preach the gospel through envy and jealousy, but whatever the motive for preaching, the gospel is being preached.

Because we are all sinners and nothing at all, and the only reason why God would want to use us at all is according to His unmerited grace and mercy, then if he can give a guy the message through the mouth of a donkey as He did to Balaam, then He can use anyone if He decides to.

What a lot of people don't understand is that we don't have any power in ourselves. It is the gospel of Christ that is the real and only power of God to turn the unsaved to Christ. If the word is being preached by a spiritually dead preacher, then it is the Word itself that is the power to convict, exhort, guide and instruct the listeners.

Even the high priest, who was part of the faction that opposed Jesus and had a part on His death, rightly prophesied that one man had to die to save the nation. And you can't get more spiritually dead than a hypocritical high priest who was part of the group who had Jesus murdered.

The problem is in those who think they are the most spiritually alive and have some sort of merit and power in themselves that God would specially choose them to reveal the insights of His Word. In reality, they are mere arrogant pelicans who have a high-minded view of themselves and who think they don't have to use deodorant when they use the toilet, and who look down on us mere mortals from their great height of pretended spirituality; when in fact Jesus said those who God is more pleased with are those who come to the faith as little children knowing that in themselves they are nothing, but Jesus is everything.
Ok, but it appears to me this answer conflicts with what you wrote earlier:
"There is no way that God can show His love for people except through faithful believers who are radiating the fruit of the Spirit."
TD:)
 
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Ok, but it appears to me this answer conflicts with what you wrote earlier:
"There is no way that God can show His love for people except through faithful believers who are radiating the fruit of the Spirit."
TD:)
It doesn't really conflict if you think carefully about it. The fruit of the Spirit is all in the way we behave and conduct ourselves toward others and in general. It is not a transfer of any kind of power between one person and another. Radiating the fruit of the Spirit is in the order of other seeing your good works and glorifying God. When we show the fruit of the Spirit in our conduct toward the unsaved, it causes conviction of sin, because every person has a conscience, whether they want to admit it or not, or whether they obey it or not. Conviction of sin can cause a person to move toward Christ as the gospel is shared with them, or they become angry and want to shut you down because they don't want to hear the gospel or the inner voice of their conscience.

But when a person believes that they have some sort of power within them that they can transfer to others, then they are moving into the occult and witchcraft, because the Holy Spirit doesn't work that way. When the prayer of faith is prayed for another person, that prayer in itself is not some force that does anything to that other person. Nor is it a demand on God to do anything. Prayer is a request to God to do what He is able to do according to His will. Because God is sovereign, we can make a request on behalf of ourselves or others, but He does what He thinks is most appropriate in the circumstances. According to Philippians 4:6-7, the immediate effect of making a request to God is receiving the peace of God that passes all understanding. There is no guarantee that the request will be granted, because God is not obligated in any way to us and any request we may make. He is totally sovereign and we cannot demand anything of Him.

The laying on of hands is a demonstration of faith. It is not a transferring of power. It is our request in faith that God gets on that person's case and does in and for that person according to His will. When we see some healing evangelist laying hands on a person, clenching his teeth and screwing his eyes tightly shut as if transferring some kind of power is an effort, what we are observing is just play acting and theatre. When I pray for a person, I take them by the wrist as a point of contact with the view that we are agreeing together in our request to God to do His will.

Therefore, I can take hold of the person's wrist and say, "Jesus heals you" as an act of faith, and then the outcome is completely in God's control. Then the peace of God that passes all understanding comes to both of us.

A healing evangelist telling someone if they believe hard enough the answer will come, is saying total nonsense. It is more akin to pagan Hindu mind control as if the answer will come by the power of the mind. Norman Vincent Peale's Positive Thinking is at the heart of this, and he was a self-confessed believer in occult mind control techniques. Robert Schuller was one of his principle disciples, and Kenneth Copeland is also a proponent of positive thinking and confession to achieve what we want from God. They believe that positive thinking will succeed, but negative thinking will block the answer. This is all pagan mind-control. In fact God was very negative in His thinking when he told Adam and Even that if they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they would die! Jesus was the same. He said that if we hate our brother we are in danger of hell-fire! How negative is that!
 
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tdidymas

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It doesn't really conflict if you think carefully about it. The fruit of the Spirit is all in the way we behave and conduct ourselves toward others and in general. It is not a transfer of any kind of power between one person and another. Radiating the fruit of the Spirit is in the order of other seeing your good works and glorifying God. When we show the fruit of the Spirit in our conduct toward the unsaved, it causes conviction of sin, because every person has a conscience, whether they want to admit it or not, or whether they obey it or not. Conviction of sin can cause a person to move toward Christ as the gospel is shared with them, or they become angry and want to shut you down because they don't want to hear the gospel or the inner voice of their conscience.

But when a person believes that they have some sort of power within them that they can transfer to others, then they are moving into the occult and witchcraft, because the Holy Spirit doesn't work that way. When the prayer of faith is prayed for another person, that prayer in itself is not some force that does anything to that other person. Nor is it a demand on God to do anything. Prayer is a request to God to do what He is able to do according to His will. Because God is sovereign, we can make a request on behalf of ourselves or others, but He does what He thinks is most appropriate in the circumstances. According to Philippians 4:6-7, the immediate effect of making a request to God is receiving the peace of God that passes all understanding. There is no guarantee that the request will be granted, because God is not obligated in any way to us and any request we may make. He is totally sovereign and we cannot demand anything of Him.

The laying on of hands is a demonstration of faith. It is not a transferring of power. It is our request in faith that God gets on that person's case and does in and for that person according to His will. When we see some healing evangelist laying hands on a person, clenching his teeth and screwing his eyes tightly shut as if transferring some kind of power is an effort, what we are observing is just play acting and theatre. When I pray for a person, I take them by the wrist as a point of contact with the view that we are agreeing together in our request to God to do His will.

Therefore, I can take hold of the person's wrist and say, "Jesus heals you" as an act of faith, and then the outcome is completely in God's control. Then the peace of God that passes all understanding comes to both of us.

A healing evangelist telling someone if they believe hard enough the answer will come, is saying total nonsense. It is more akin to pagan Hindu mind control as if the answer will come by the power of the mind. Norman Vincent Peale's Positive Thinking is at the heart of this, and he was a self-confessed believer in occult mind control techniques. Robert Schuller was one of his principle disciples, and Kenneth Copeland is also a proponent of positive thinking and confession to achieve what we want from God. They believe that positive thinking will succeed, but negative thinking will block the answer. This is all pagan mind-control. In fact God was very negative in His thinking when he told Adam and Even that if they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they would die! Jesus was the same. He said that if we hate our brother we are in danger of hell-fire! How negative is that!

Your statement looks like a contradiction to me, and this explanation doesn't clarify.

BTW, your statement "But when a person believes that they have some sort of power within them that they can transfer to others, then they are moving into the occult and witchcraft, because the Holy Spirit doesn't work that way" doesn't look Biblical to me. Jesus once said "I felt power go out of me."
TD:)
 
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Your statement looks like a contradiction to me, and this explanation doesn't clarify.

BTW, your statement "But when a person believes that they have some sort of power within them that they can transfer to others, then they are moving into the occult and witchcraft, because the Holy Spirit doesn't work that way" doesn't look Biblical to me. Jesus once said "I felt power go out of me."
TD:)
That was Jesus Himself. He didn't need faith to perform His miracles. We do to perform the works that He did. It is still His power that works in response to our faith. The Scripture says that the Lord worked with the Apostles, confirming His Word with signs following. It doesn't say that He worked through them. The power, as Paul says, is in the gospel of Christ, not in us.
 
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tdidymas

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That was Jesus Himself. He didn't need faith to perform His miracles. We do to perform the works that He did. It is still His power that works in response to our faith. The Scripture says that the Lord worked with the Apostles, confirming His Word with signs following. It doesn't say that He worked through them. The power, as Paul says, is in the gospel of Christ, not in us.
Do you have an explanation for the impartation of spiritual gifts (Rom. 1:11, Acts 8:17, et al) where touch has something to do with it?
TD:)
 
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Do you have an explanation for the impartation of spiritual gifts (Rom. 1:11, Acts 8:17, et al) where touch has something to do with it?
TD:)
It is still not a transfer of power from one to another. The touch is an act of faith that releases the gift from the Holy Spirit that is already in the person.

The Holy Spirit is not some kind of electrical energy that flows from one person to another. He is a Person. In fact He is God, and being God, He works on the basis of faith.
 
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