Feeding through Thessalonians . . .

com7fy8

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"and that you may lack nothing." (in 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12)

Well, we could get into an interesting discussion about what it means to "lack nothing".

(1) Ones can say it means you have any and all good things in your life. But . . . what is really good?

(2) And I could understand that to "lack" means to not have something that I really need. So, I could argue that "lack nothing" means not to miss out on things that are necessary, but it does not mean not to have what I don't need.

(3) But now I personally understand that to "lack" could also mean not to have things to enjoy, though I do not need them to stay alive.

"It means to not have anything that God wants for you."

I now understand that God does desire for us to have things for enjoyment, though they may not be practically necessary. But He is the One to know exactly what is really right for each of us :) How we are now, with our present preferences, will become "out-of-date" as we grow in Jesus; so it can be unwise to commit ourselves to only certain enjoyments which we can like, now.

Also > I keep finding how God brings me to more and better quality of enjoying with more creativity > I might keep on with a certain interest, but what I do with it develops more and more in sharing and loving with different people, and enjoying with God Himself . . . not only using things for pleasure and "escape".

So, just having a lot of something "might" not be what He means. But the quality of enjoying, including sharing with Him > this is good.

God "gives us richly all things to enjoy," we have in 1 Timothy 6:17; and "be content with such things as you have" (in Hebrews 13:5) > so trust our Heavenly Father to guide us while He does provide all He has for us . . . with our attention not only on seeing what we get, but first being attentive to Him and how He rules us in His peace and has us discovering the loving we do with Him.

And I think that ones who work for money can understand they are in their jobs so they can reach people for Jesus, not only make money.

And I do not work for money, but there are things I do which could be done for money. And I get more than I have ever thought of seeking, even practically. Every day, even, can be better than my past life, even in practical things and enjoyments. As we grow in Jesus, we grow into more and better living, no matter if we are getting older, and no matter how people and things might fail us, or people may die or leave us > still, there is always better, with God . . . but as we grow in Jesus and obeying in His love and personal leading in us.

"The LORD will guide you continually" (in Isaiah 58:11).

And His grace makes us able to be stable >

"My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." (in 2 Corinthians 12:9)

His grace is almighty to keep us while also having us love and share with Him, personally, while we do all we do to love any and all people. So, yes > to lack nothing includes having this grace making us able and stable in doing good to love any and all people :) and to have one another, for doing this with one another :pray::clap::groupray::ebil::wave::prayer:
 
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brinny

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good study......

got me to thinkin' about "lack" and how it's true that we will not lack any good thing, and a good thing is joy, and another good thing is peace.....

Both are precious and priceless, and He gives both freely to us.

God bless you. :)
 
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com7fy8

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Thank you, Brinny; it is good to see you :) I appreciate your example of taking interest in God's word and honesty and loving and caring for us and encouraging us. God bless you :)

And don't we want to have "something" for our Heavenly Father? that we may please Him? >

"rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God." (1 Peter 3:4)

Therefore, included in not lacking anything is we do not lack having "the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit", which is so preciously pleasing to our Father and our Groom Jesus! :)

I just thought of this; thank You, God :)

And I would say you would want to have enough so you can give to others; you are interested in loving people; so you might say that not lacking includes having good things which we can share with one another and give to others.

As we grow in Jesus and obeying Him, we are not lacking for love :) As we grow in how we are called to be ruled by our Father's own peace (Colossians 3:15) and called to relate in love (Ephesians 4:2), we discover the others who are doing this with us.
 
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com7fy8

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1 Thessalonians 4:13 >

"But I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope."

Paul says he does not want the Thessalonians to be "ignorant". The Thessalonians were example Christians; yet, Paul wants to make sure they are not ignorant about what he is going to say, here.

He starts by talking about the people "who have fallen asleep". This means people who have died, I understand. But Paul does not say they are "dead", but "asleep"; I would say he says it this way to show that their departed loved ones are not totally gone and done-for, but are still alive but not in this life. So, he says "asleep", instead of "dead", in order to encourage them, and to keep them aware that those who have died are still alive but in another way outside their lives on this earth.

And he says they need to not sorrow like worldly people may mourn for their loved ones who have died. There is hope for after this life, he is saying. But ones who do not believe this, "of course", do not have this hope. We now, as Christians, might take this for granted > it has become part of our culture. Even while it is now more cultural to leave God out of things, we can still go to funerals and wakes and hear people talking about how their departed loved ones are still alive but not in this world.

Ones might say someone now "is in a better place."

But, "of course", we will go to judgment; so we need to not assume what will become of people who die. There are people who have loved very wrong people who were their love idols; they can be in denial that their idols could have a hard time during judgment. Ones can seem to have faith . . . that their loved ones have "gone to a better place", but they do not mention that there will be judgment!

And, yes, there are dearly loved ones who have been selfish lovers, picking and choosing who was good enough for them to love and worth their attention > they have done conceited loving which is not what Jesus means for us to do > "For if you love those who love you, what reward have you?" (in Matthew 5:46)

People who are into having love idols and selfish loving can be into fear of death because they fear the judgment which comes after. They can be in denial about judgment, and so they say their loved ones have gone "to a better place"; so their saying this might not mean they have faith. But included in our holiness . . . our being different than this world . . . is how we do not assume and be in denial and we do not fear death.

We do not "sorrow as others who have no hope." (in 1 Thessalonians 4:13). Because in Jesus we can be strong against the slavery of "fear of death" > Jesus came and died for us,


"that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." (in Hebrews 2:14-15)
 
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com7fy8

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1 Thessalonians 4:14 >

"For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him whose who sleep in Jesus." (1 Thessalonians 4:14)

The main thing Paul wants, here, is for the Thessalonians to be encouraged that their loved ones who have died in Jesus are going to come back with Jesus.

"God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus."

God will bring them with Jesus. So, their dying is not their end. They will be with these loved ones of our Jesus family when He comes back!!!

Ones have different ideas about what it means that ones "sleep in Jesus."

In relation to Paul's reason for writing this, if you sleep you will later wake up; so someone who loves you can have hope that, after you have slept, you will wake up and he or she will be able to share with you, again :) So, since Paul's purpose is to encourage the Thessalonians that their departed loved ones in Jesus will come back to them awake in the resurrection, I think this is the main reason Paul says they are ones who "sleep in Jesus."

I have done some reading about what people believe happens to a human while he or she is sleeping. Sleep is a very special and important process, much more complicated than it looks. It is not only resting in order to get energy back. Ones consider that during sleep our nerve endings are cleared of chemicals which have been involved in passing messages from the end of one nerve to the next nerve. Leftover chemicals from this chemical message passing have built up so, I consider, their presence in the spaces between nerves can interfere with chemicals transporting messages from one nerve to the next. So, we need the sleep process in which our body cleans out all the leftover chemicals which have built up from all the day's chemical message passing between nerves. Or else, our nerves' gaps between each other will get more and more "clouded" with unhelpful substances.

We have seen how we can become shut down if we keep going without sleep. I think this can match with the idea that our nerves need cleaning at their message passing endings, so our nerves can start fresh with cleaned-out spaces which they use to pass chemical messages on to the next nerves.

So, to sleep in Jesus can mean the ones who have died will wake up in much better condition than they were in when they died; so if the Thessalonians care about these passed loved ones, they should be glad for how their passed ones will be in better condition than when they died. But, of course, ones can die in peace, not corrupted with fear and doubts and cares, but looking forward to being with our Groom Jesus :groupray:

And, of course, each day we can stop and be still in order for God to cleanse us and clear us of wrong message stuff which can be clogging and messing and distracting and misguiding our minds and hearts. When nasty nonsense starts to take us over, yes be still and trust God to get rid of it.

"Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you." (James 4:7)
 
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com7fy8

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1 Thessalonians 4:15-18 >

In 1 Thessalonians 4:16, here, Paul says,

"the dead in Christ will rise first."

And then we have that we "shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord." (in 1 Thessalonians 4:17)

I consider that our real reward is simply to be with Jesus. But, also, God pleases to have us with one another, and to appreciate this :)

And Paul in the next epistle to the Thessalonians says this about those who refuse Jesus >

"These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power," (2 Thessalonians 1:9)

So, I can see that, for people who refuse Jesus, their real and main loss is to not be with Jesus.

And we can be with God, now . . . more and more as we grow in union with Him in His love >

"But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him." (1 Corinthians 6:17)

"Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us." (Romans 5:5)

So, by growing in His love in intimate sharing with Him in us (Galatians 4:19), we prepare for how we will be with Him for all eternity . . . not only loving and worshiping Jesus from some distance, but in us so intimately sharing with Him. So, our true intimacy is not from some distance and only having feelings for someone, nor is true intimacy only surface-to-surface closeness and caressing and affection, but in us we are each "one spirit with Him"; and this makes us also one in Spirit with one another, intimate by having the same love and goodness of God in us . . . being intimate with each other, by being like Jesus together :groupray:
 
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com7fy8

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1 Thessalonians 5:1-3 >

"the day of the Lord" will come "as a thief in the night"; and ones who say "Peace and safety!" will have "sudden destruction"; "And they shall not escape."

So, yes people can set things up the way they want, but it won't work. I keep seeing how people have made their lives a certain way, but then things happen, even without the Lord coming and judging in the last day. And ones are weak enough so they are devastated by what happens. What happens might not be what really matters, either.

And Christians can be not ready to handle even little things, like a flat tire, without getting very upset because of their deep weakness. We need to be "strong in the Lord" (in Ephesians 6:10) >

"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might." (Ephesians 6:10)

With Jesus, we can be ready for anything, especially by being strong in our nature so things can't get the better of us. But Paul does say, "comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak," in 1 Thessalonians 5:14. So, even though we can and should be strong so things don't get the better of us . . . even if we are, still we should not be self-righteously judging and condemning and looking down on those who are "weak" and "fainthearted", but labor to minister to them, to help them grow stronger . . . like we have needed to do > we were all weak, and needed correction and strengthening. So, we have hope for any person to do better to become truly strong in Jesus our Lord and Savior and soon-coming Groom :)

Now, I have needed to be corrected of looking down on others who have been weak so they can suffer. So, when I read this, I am aware of this. And I have been one who would ignore God's word and keep going the wrong way; so I should not just trash people who refuse Jesus, but know God changed me and so He can change any person, at all, for our good. And we grow to know how we can be with Jesus; you can't tell this in just words; but God proves this, by doing this with us; so we do not depend on ourselves >

"for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." (Philippians 2:13)

We depend purely on Him.

As much as people look to how they can make themselves better, they face defeat and pain and failure and frustration.

I remember how I was displeased and frustrated about not being able to get straight about what the Bible says God wants. Then it came to me, something like this > "I want you to accept Christ, right now, and do not try to straighten yourself out first before you come to Jesus; but Jesus will straighten you out." And I thought of the "thief on the cross", and how all he might have known is he saw who Jesus is and that he needed Jesus, and so he trusted in Jesus. And then Jesus took care of what to do with the man who was on the cross next to Him. And, like this, Jesus would know what to do with me, while I simply submitted to Him.

But, even though I understood I needed to personally submit to Jesus, at every moment, still there has been much correction. And correction of God is not only stopping wrong things, but He brings us to all that is His and so better. I keep finding how He corrects me to better than I have thought of :) Even in reading about all that is so good in the Bible, this does not tell me how it really is, like we can find out by God changing us to be His way in His love's nature (1 John 4:17, Hebrews 12:4-11). We grow in this, to discover this.

You can tell a child a lot about something which the child has not experienced. But the child does not know about someone or something unless the child actually shares with the person and does the thing and experiences and enjoys things you talk about.

So, the Bible means what God means, for us to discover :idea:

"But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day." (in 1 Thessalonians 5:4-5)

Light can show us so much more than any amount of words can tell and explain!

In God's love, we have this light; in His love we discover how we see things. But we grow in this, as we grow in His love.

"Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober." (1 Thessalonians 5:6)

Here, I consider, "watch" can mean to stay alert and attentive to God Himself and how He rules us in His peace > Colossians 3:15. It does not mean to only be looking around us at all that is going on and all that is wrong, but stay attentive first to all that is good with God and loving and sharing with one another as family . . . and not be busy with looking at our past, either!

And "be sober". Arguing and complaining can get us drunk so we are driving ourselves recklessly, and crashing and burning, and wasting ourselves and our relationships and our ability to personally share with God.

"Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain." (Philippians 2:14-16)
 
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Extraneous

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Thanks for the 1 Thessalonians 5 scripture. Its been a blessing. Someone shared 2 Peter 3 yesterday and that was a blessing as well. It adds to the other scriptures i have seen lately, such as Mathew 6:19-22, Mathew 24:43-51, Isaiah 29:9-10, Revelation 19:9-10, 2 Peter 3:10, Isaiah 50:9, Isaiah 51:6-8, Mathew 13:11-23, 1 Co 9:13, and so many others as well.
 
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com7fy8

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"For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night." (1 Thessalonians 5:7)

For me, "sober" means to be quiet with God, sensitive to Him . . . all the time . . . though I am not really doing well with this. But if you "be" something, isn't it all the time? :) So, yes I need more deep correction in my character so I am truly "sober", how God has me sober. This, then, is not only physical sobriety of not being under the influence of drugs or drinking.

But being "sober" in Jesus has to do with . . . I think . . . being quiet in His love.

And there are many things which would come to mess me so I am not being deeply quiet with God. In my case, paranoid stuff comes a lot, and there can be getting distracted with what certain women look like. And arguing and worry and unforgiveness and frustration and craziness for pleasures and other things > all these and other things can keep us from being sober and quiet with God.

So, do you see how that negative, nasty, naughty stuff is a "design play" of Satan to keep us from God? Yes, he will attack us also with boredom and loneliness, in order to make us afraid of quiet, and have us busy with doing things to try to get relief from that boredom and loneliness. But we need to say no to Satan, and wait on God and be still for Him to fight the battle to bring us and restore us more and more into sensitive sharing with Him in His peace, and how our Father personally guides each of us in His own peace . . . more and more with His correction < it does take time . . . all our lives! But this is a good investment :)

And encourage one another to keep on after God and being deeply and pleasantly quiet with Him and sensitive and caring, while we discover how creative He is with us, discovering how He has us loving.

"Sober", then, includes that we do not get drunk with crazy love for only some one person. But God is all-loving; and His love has us learning how to love any and all people. So, "of course", as we learn how to love with that special someone, this can help us know how to care for and love any and all people :) Marriage and other special sharing can be our research laboratory for making breakthrough discoveries in how to love.
 
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com7fy8

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"But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation." (1 Thessalonians 5:8)

So, thank You, God, how You want us to be "sober". Being sober does not come only with working out circumstances "and getting pleasures and excitements to make us feel good"! But in us being "sober" has to do with how You change our character so things can't get us drunk . . . distracted and hung up about things and suffering about how things are going . . . "or how worry can have us thinking things will go or could go or could have" > yes, worry is a pathological liar and emotionally intoxicating. Sober love does have us caring, but not drunk and wrecked in worry.

And in sober love we are forgiving >

"And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you." (Ephesians 4:32)

But some number of people fall into love which is not sober, then they are weak and unstable enough to argue and complain and try to control each other, then fall apart and hurt each other, even > "Love does no harm to a neighbor" (in Romans 13:10).

There are things which can make us drunk with stuff which keeps us from forgiving.

And our attention needs to be where we belong, with God in His peace. So, we need to trust You, O God our Father, to change us so our attention is where You want our attention, with You guiding our minds and hearts, all the time > "The LORD will guide you continually" (in Isaiah 58:11).

So, being sober is like how you can be more settled while you are sharing with someone you feel is trustworthy and strong and who cares for you. God wants us to share with Him, all the time, doing what He has us do with Him, "casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7)

So, I see now a connection between being sober and "putting on the breastplate of faith and love".

Paul also says there is the "breastplate of righteousness", in Ephesians 6:14. Righteousness has to do with what is right. And God's faith and love is right :) A breastplate is over the heart. So, having the breastplate of the righteousness of love and faith has to do with how our hearts are and the desires of our hearts.

There is selfish love, and God's love. God's love makes us safe while also having us desire and seek all that is good >

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love." (1 John 4:18)

Fear is not sober; plus, because of fear, a person can suffer various personality torments. So God's love is safe, in us and our hearts and personalities. And this love is all-loving, not only having a person hung up about some one person, and certainly not having us pick and choose who is good enough for us to love and who is worth our attention. But Jesus cares for any and all people, and we do well to become like Him in this . . . so we also are pleasing to God and compatible with our Groom Jesus so we are ready to spend all eternity with Him >

"Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4:17)
 
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com7fy8

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1 Thessalonians 5:9-10 > this includes how God wants us to live with Jesus >

Jesus "died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him." (in 1 Thessalonians 5:10)

So, God's basic purpose includes that we "live together with" Jesus. And when Jesus called the twelve apostles, this was "that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach," (in Mark 3:14)

So, their calling was not only to preach . . . not only to serve Jesus and be "used" by Him. But we are first, in our calling, called to be with Jesus, in His love and leading personal in each of us. He calls "all" to be in His "yoke" > Matthew 11:28-30. A "yoke" has an animal in connection with whoever is directing the animal. There is a personal relationship, somehow, of the animal who is in a yoke with a human. But, "of course", our relating with Jesus in His "yoke" is much more and better than that of an animal and someone controlling the animal. I consider His "yoke" is spiritual union (1 Corinthians 6:17) with Jesus in His love and leading; and in Isaiah 58:11 it says "the LORD will guide you continually". I would say this comes more and better with correction and maturing so more and better we are with Jesus in His love and submissive in His leading. "Flow with Him." "Win in us," so we succeed in this, more and more, as is possible with You, LORD our Heavenly Father:pray::prayer:

So God wants us to be with Jesus . . . our Groom . . . now.

"But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him." (1 Corinthians 6:17)

So, this is very intimate, more than how humans can be intimate. Because Jesus can be intimate with each of us, right inside of us > Galatians 4:19, 2:20. So, we grow in this, keep trusting You, O God our Father, to correct us and to cure us in Your love so we truly are with You. Then we discover how You have us loving and what You have us doing . . . with You :)
 
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com7fy8

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1 Thessalonians 5:12 >

"And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you," (1 Thessalonians 5:12)

So, there were people who were "over" the Thessalonians. This was "in the Lord", though, so it was for their good. There are people whom God has approved to be over us. So, if God trusts these people, then I think we need to trust ones whom God approves and trusts (1 Timothy 3:1-10), and make sure we know who these people are. But ones can stay with wrong leaders, and just criticize them and use them as their excuse not to help in the church where they are . . . instead of finding out who real leaders are and obeying >

"Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you." (Hebrews 13:17)

So, to me this means that God has provided us with leaders who are qualified and worthy to be obeyed (1 Timothy 3:1-10, 1 Peter 5:3). So, can we tell the difference? Jesus says His sheep know His voice > John 10:1-30. So, yes we can. Sheep have the sense of smell, so we can deeply sense if a person is of God's Spirit, no matter what someone shows and tells.

"'Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.'" (John 7:24)

So, with God, we can evaluate people reliably. So, if I get fooled by someone, I understand this means I did not make sure with God. The person could have fooled me, on purpose, but I understand we are expected to make sure with God; so we are accountable, even, for if and how we trust anyone!

God leads us according to all He knows :) So, I now understand that if I get fooled by someone, this means I was not obeying how God would have led me; so I am my main problem, then. And I need to trust our Father to correct me so I am submitting to His reliable leading. An advantage of this, I think, is I am not going to waste my time criticizing someone else and expecting wrong people to be trustworthy. But instead depend on God, and also not depend on myself!

And it says our true pastoral people "admonish" us. What does this mean? I am now going to try to check this out >

According to my Strong's Concordance Greek dictionary, it can mean to put something in a person's mind . . . in order to caution or correct or warn the person. So, our true leaders do warn and correct us. And in Colossians 3:16 we have what Paul says for us all to do >

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another" (in Colossians 3:16)

So, I think it is clear that we are one another's business. And if our leaders do admonish us, they are our "examples" of what God has us doing, also, to follow the example of our leaders >

"nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock." (1 Peter 5:3)

So, what do we need to be warned about?

"bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking" and "malice" > in Ephesians 4:31.

Also unforgiveness > Mark 11:25.

And "I will not be brought under the power of any" > 1 Corinthians 6:12 with 2 Corinthians 6:12 > we need to become strong and sober and sound in God's love which makes us so that hard things can not get the better of us, and nice things can't have power over us to hook and addict us . . . or get us upset and downcast when they change on us. And this would go for people, too . . . how we are not under the power of how people are not good to us, plus we are not under the power of how nicer people do things, but we are ready for how people can change and we stay stable with the LORD, depending on Him first.

We are ruled in God's own peace > Colossians 3:15 > so we abide in being peaceful, enjoying Him, while doing what He in His creativity personally guides us to do. This is better than how we can choose while seeking to have things the way we can think and want. Even practically, I keep finding that God guides me to do better than I might be thinking about doing, just moments before I do what it turns out that God has me do! :)

He can have me think something, then have me do better than what I thought He meant :)

So, I should not be under the power of how I can understand what I am going to do, even. Trust and submit to Him :)

But better than practical creativity is how He has us relating with one another, learning how to be and how to relate,

"submitting to one another in the fear of God." (Ephesians 5:21)

And we have how to be with Him >

"rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God." (1 Peter 3:4)

This is written to wives, to say they should not let their beauty be what is outward, but have all which is beautiful and precious to God Himself . . . all that our Heavenly Father and our Groom Jesus so value.

But I have seen how even women who claim Jesus can use the "sex bait" to attract a man. And then they get in trouble, because attraction and love are not the same thing. I now can see that God does not have men getting attracted by a "sex drive" to women they do not belong with in marriage. If a "drive" is of God, it will not be misleading a man, or only attracting attention to what a woman looks like . . . I now consider. So, in case I am right about this, we need to help each other about this. And see who we get with, because of growing in love :)

And if we have those who are over us, to help us, then we do well not to only isolate ourselves with certain people, in order to get romance and marriage. But do things with the help and guidance and admonition of our leaders and others who are mature Christian example people, instead of doing things in isolation with our own drives and lusts and wishful craziness and who this gets us isolated with.

See who helps us to get more real with God and discovering how to relate as His family while reaching with hope for any and all others. We belong with leaders and companions who are obviously helping us to get correction and maturity in this. So, thank You, Father, for caring about us, like this:pray::):prayer:
 
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com7fy8

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About how to relate with those who are over us and admonish us >

"and to esteem them very highly in love, for their work's sake." (in 1 Thessalonians 5:13)

So, I understand this means the ones whom God approves; again, we need to make sure with God about who are His leaders whom we belong with. These are "examples", of all that our Father desires for all of us . . . of how blessed and helpful in ministry we can be, plus the good for us all to do >

"nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock." (1 Peter 5:3)

God is trusting His leaders with us. Also, God trusts us with people to love and care for. You are being trusted by God, with every person you see or think about, trusted to love each and every one.

And it says to esteem our leaders "very highly in love". And love has us being humble and seeing how people really are, not making them idols or too high for their own good. And love does not have us just putting leaders up high above us, but we share as family :groupray:

"with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love," (Ephesians 4:2)

"And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you." (Ephesians 4:32)

Now, you would think the Thessalonians would be such good example Christians, that it would go without saying that we should esteem our leaders "in love". But Paul and Silvanus and Timothy make a point of including "in love", here. So, yes it is good to say what people might already know, so we can feed on this, again and again, like we need to eat an orange more than once :)
 
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com7fy8

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In 1 Thessalonians 5:13 >

"Be at peace among yourselves." (in 1 Thessalonians 5:13)

You would think this would go without saying. And the Thessalonians were what ones call a modal, exemplary group of Christians. So, one might want to know why Paul would feel it necessary to tell them to do what they already likely were doing.

Well, there are people who read this, who are not being peaceful in how they relate with Christians. Also, there were people in Thessalonica, who still were not part of the example group. So, there are readers of this who need to get into relating as family in God's peace. Oh, and if we have problems with people, then, we are not relating as family in peace if we retreat and hide from people. God makes us strong and sensitive and forgiving so we can share and not get hurt >

"And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good?" (1 Peter 3:13)

Also . . . we all need to be reminded of this, no matter how well we are doing. It is like how we need to keep eating oranges, in order to stay healthy. Yes, we may be healthy, but we need to keep on doing what helps to keep us healthy. And, like this, we need to keep feeding on things of God's word, though we might already know something.

Also, yes, we need to grow in how to be peaceful with one another. There is always more to learn, more of our Father's correction needed; so thank You, God, for making us more and more mature, correcting us how we need, perfecting us in Your love.

Being at peace with one another is not only getting along. But we are growing in Jesus . . . in His peace > "My peace", Jesus says in John 14:27. So, as we become truly peaceful with one another, we are growing in Jesus, in intimacy with Him in this peace we have and share and enjoy with one another :groupray:

So, if we are not living in peace with others, we can trust You, O God our Father, to more and more change us so we succeed in how You please for us to relate and share and care as family in Jesus.

So, this peace is not only a nice feeling, but personal and intimate with Jesus Himself and one another.

Now, there are times when I have a problem with someone; instead of only going and trying to correct the person, or just staying away from the person, I need to first submit to God, myself, for howsoever He corrects me so I am thinking in a peaceful way about the problem person, then praying with caring and blessing for the person. Then be strong in love so I am ready to be a good example for the person >

"with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love," (Ephesians 4:2)

So, in our relating with one another children of God, we will need to have "longsuffering" ready; because our Father knows how not a one of us is perfect, and at times any of us is going to be wrong; so we need to be ready to be longsuffering with even our really right example leaders, and be ready to be patient even with close friends who we know we can trust > even if we can rightly trust certain people, there are times when they can be wrong. So, we need to be ready to be longsuffering and forgiving and pray for them and be the example they need to help to restore them > Galatians 6:1.

So, peace is very powerful, to keep us and our minds and hearts during problems with people who may mean a lot to us. God is the One who never fails us, and He uses us to help each other. I think it can be like how Paul says for a husband to relate with his wife >

"Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them." (Colossians 3:19)

Another translation says not to be bitter "against" your wives. So, I see God means that a man is never to accept any excuse to get bitter against his wife, but always start with loving her when he has a problem with her. And if he is not starting in love, he is his first trouble to deal with ! !

Now I have not been married; so you might say, how would I know? Understood. But I have a lady friend, and I will offer >

There are times when I can tell that in me I am changing in the way so I could become bitter against her. So, as soon as that turning the wrong way gets started in me, I need to pray and wait for God to get me right in His love. Then I see how I see things and what I do. And, often enough, once I am right in love and peace, then I can see how she has been doing something good, but I was not able to appreciate how well God was blessing her.

So, I am offering, that if you are married or in any involvement with anyone, and if you have a problem about something, first make sure you are with God in peace and how He has you seeing things.

And I have done well to ask her why she did something. Sometimes she is wrong; she might even come right out and say so. But, often enough, her reason is something caring, not only like my wanting things to be practical and controlled. When she is coming from love, I can miss the good of what she is doing. Jesus, too, could do what He did because of love, but ones who did not know how to love could find fault with what Jesus did. And Satan was in Heaven itself, but Heaven with all its loving was not good enough for Satan; so he got thrown out.

So, by the way, yes there are people who have not understood you and have even been mean to you, because they do not know how to love. It was not because of you; or else a person who knows how to love would care for you and do things to help you if you really were wrong. So, if people do not know how to love you, possibly they do not know how to love anyone, and they are missing out on so much. So, have mercy on such people, and pray for them, with hope > love "hopes all things" (in 1 Corinthians 13:7). Ah, yes . . . I, too, need this, plenty more. So, we trust You, O God our Father, to bring us into Your loving as family and with reaching to those who do not know how to love.

So, I would offer > in any relating . . . if you start changing into what is toward bitterness . . . stop and wait for God to correct you into His peace, then prayerfully find out how to relate and do things, and enj:groupray:y how well God does things with us in His peace.
 
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com7fy8

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"Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all." (1 Thessalonians 5:14)

"warn those who are unruly" > I consider this means we are not expected to control unruly people, but still care about them and warn them >

"nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock." (1 Peter 5:3)

Be a good example so they can see how to be and relate and behave and help.

"comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak" > I can be self-righteous, like I'm the strong Christian and what's the matter with you? But . . . then . . . when certain things happen, I am the one who can get bent out of shape, nasty angry and paranoid . . . a real wimp about what might happen to me, myself!! And I can get weak about things which are only physical, only maybe my belongings, while others are suffering about real losses and problems, including troubles and deaths of people they care about. So, I need to become much more real in caring about others.

"be patient with all" >

"with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love," (Ephesians 4:2)

I see a connection between being patient and having "longsuffering". God says to be patient with "all" > I see that "all" includes our good example leaders > at times, even our mature Jesus family people can be wrong or too fussy about certain things. Sometimes their personal preferences can have a way of slipping in to what they feel is God's will and leading for us. But can't we all do this? :)

"He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to weakness." (Hebrews 5:2)

And we help one another to grow in love and get more real in how God has us relating. While we are with each other, we can test to see how we are becoming more and more "tenderhearted" (Ephesians 4:31-32, 1 Peter 3:8-9), plus pleasantly patient and compassionate :groupray:

So, when my lady friend does something and I start to get nasty reacting in me . . . it is not time for me to try to change her, but to get God's correction and restoration so I am in His peace and loving and caring for her, then see how I see things and how I relate with her. And as I go with this, I find how I grow into better than what I can get with my own control.
 
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com7fy8

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"See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all." (1 Thessalonians 5:15)

"See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone" (in 1 Thessalonians 5:15) >

"not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing." (1 Peter 3:9)

So, here Peter speaks against returning evil for evil" and "reviling for reviling". I think reviling can mean bad-mouthing someone > maybe how I can criticize someone without having caring hope for the person to do better. I might get mad at my lady friend about something and it isn't even really wrong. So, I can be reacting badly because I am not getting my own way, not necessarily because something is against God's way!!

So, though > it is clear that even if someone does what really is evil, we are not to return evil for that evil which someone does. But, like I say, people can do what we don't want, but it is not evil; so surely if God does not want us to return evil for evil, then surely He does not want us to return trouble to people just because they don't do things the way we want. And Peter does say,

"nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock." (1 Peter 5:3)

So, by the way, Peter and Paul do say things which agree, about how to relate in love :)

Peter says not to try to be a lord over others. And I understand that returning evil for evil can be a way of trying to be lords over others. Also - - if we return trouble only because people do not give us our way, this can mean we are trying to lord ourselves over them.

So, "be clothed with humility" (in 1 Peter 5:5) :)

"with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love," (Ephesians 4:2)
 
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com7fy8

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Let's do more with 1 Thessalonians 5:15 >

"see that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all." (1 Thessalonians 5:15)

Here Paul and Silvanus and Timothy say, "always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all."

So, it looks like they are saying to pursue good not only for others, but for "yourselves" . . . which I think means make sure you do what is good for yourself while you are doing good for others. And this says seek good "for all" > be all-loving. Only with God can we get this all right! :)

God guides us with His all-loving purpose, all the time. He knows what is good for our own selves plus any and all others . . . if they are capable of benefitting, of course, and therefore have the character to be able to benefit. We know how Satan was in Heaven, itself, with all that is good for all; yet, Satan because of his pride was not able to benefit from being even in Heaven. So, people's circumstances are not really what decide how they are and if they can benefit from what is good. Jesus was in His terrible circumstance, on that cross, but Jesus was doing well, pleasing our Father as "a sweet-smelling aroma" (Ephesians 5:2) and doing good for all of us.

Now, we have here, how we are not to do evil to those who do evil. Also, in the Bible we see how we should not seek revenge, not to try to hurt people. One reason for this, I would say, is because we need to stay busy with doing good to any and all people, instead of wasting ourselves and our time with seeking out some one wrong person in order to make that person suffer. Instead, be busy with doing all the loving good we can for ourselves and any and all others.

And isn't this the perfect revenge against Satan and evil > how we do not let him have power over us to get us into seeking revenge? Also, isn't it perfect revenge, how we be good examples to wrong people, in order to help them become Christians or get restored to living in Jesus? And forgiving, then, can be included in our real revenge . . . against evil.

This possibly is included in what James means by the "perfect work" of patience >

full


In godly patience, we do not only suffer and scrape by to get through things which get in the way of us getting what we want. But love's patience makes us even cheerful and creative in how we handle hard things.

In my case, I have not been through much really hard stuff. But I think I might have an example of becoming more and more caringly patient. For a while I was doing dishes for a church friendship dinner, each month. And ones would bring in dirty stuff and put it in my clean area over the dish machine. Or, ones might even throw dirty silver on the rack of clean utensils which just came out of the washer! And I would get irritated and maybe just take it and say nothing. But then I got how Jesus wants me to be caring with the people who come to me. They are there for me to love them and appreciate having such moments to be with them and care for them and welcome them and be this example of how to love.

So, then, if someone came my way, I would treat them with welcome and being glad to see them and care for them, and I enjoyed this :) I like this :) And I might communicate about how I would appreciate them doing things, or just thank them for doing what they can to help. Yes, they were trying to help! It wasn't all about me and how things were going for me!!

And Paul in Colossians says,

"that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light." (Colossians 1:10-12)

Well, we aren't paying attention to this if we are trying to get people and our lives straightened out so we can have what we want. And patience is not only for getting ourselves through things which interfere with us getting our own way!!

But here we have how we need to be about "fully pleasing Him" our Heavenly Father. And increase "in the knowledge of God". And we know God by being more and more loving like Him >

"And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you." (Ephesians 4:32)

And His "glorious power" in us has us like this, including with "longsuffering with joy" ! ! ! And we are thanking Him. So, if we are thanking God, we are personally relating with our Father. And this is included in our perfect revenge against Satan and his kingdom of evil. But our focus is not merely on revenge against evil and controlling (Luke 10:20), but we are first about seeking God for Himself and therefore being pleasing to Him, while we enjoy loving with one another who are His children, and we run our cup over to even enemies so they can be adopted to join us as our brothers and sisters in Jesus; so we have this hope for any person, at all, like how Jesus on the cross so suffered and died with hope for any evil person, at all, to become family with God and us.

Love "hopes all things" > in 1 Corinthians 13:7. So, this is included, I would say, in what Paul and Silvanus and Timothy mean by pursuing "what is good both for yourselves and for all."

So, we thank You, God our Father, so much, in the name of Jesus who is Your Son and our Lord and Savior and soon-coming Groom. Glory to You in the highest, and may Your own peace rule in us to have us Your way and intimately sharing with You in how You love and have us loving with You :pray::groupray::prayer::clap: :amen: in the name of Jesus Your beloved Son.

God bless you :) It is good to see you :)

Bill
 
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com7fy8

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1 Thessalonians 5:16 >

"Rejoice always,"

Rejoice, all the time. I think of how we have joy, in relating with each other Jesus people, our family. So, we can't have joy if we are hiding from one another and not forgiving. We need to be strong in real love, then, so we can do well with each other, in spite of our faults and problems.

And always we have Jesus our Lord and Savior and Groom, as our reason for joy. Our circumstances might not be a reason for joy, but Jesus is, and having one another as family in Jesus is reason. So, it is wise not to let evil decide how we are!

"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." (Romans 12:21)
 
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