Growing in Christ

[brinny]

Amen. He inhabits our praises. He was opening doors for us even before we were children of the Most High God, as He wooed our hearts, minds, and souls. And by His grace our eyes and ears were opened and His Truth shone. I was meditating on this very thing this morning. He is a GOOD God. He is slowing my hectic, frantic pace by His grace and it becomes easier to see His face, praise His name.

 

[achristian2]

He is slowing my hectic, frantic pace by His grace and it becomes easier to see His face, praise His name.

Happy for you Brinny.

 

[brinny]

Thanks. I believe i was plagued with a terrible case of "hurry sickness".

 

[Forge3]

Yes we have to be able to sit and be still and listen at times.

 

[achristian2]

We have to be able to wait and yet waiting can be so hard especially when we do not know the answers to our questions/problems/trials.

And God just reminded me of this verse.

Philippians 4:6 -9
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me--put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

 

[Forge3]

We have to be able to wait and yet waiting can be so hard especially when we do not know the answers to our questions/problems/trials.

Yes the time of waiting. I use mindfulness meditation to calm my mind. And I listen with my heart. We can do this and consult other Christians of our confusion. It is not fair to expect God shall speak to all of us as a locution. That is reserved for a select vfew. He has countless ways of teaching us through the Bible, a child or even a TV commercial. At least that is how He who is great works in my life

 

[redrose42]

being patient and waiting for Gods time can sometimes hard as we seem to live in a society that wants everything now but learning to wait can be good for us

maggie

 

[winjayoma]

To All:

My reasons for starting this thread are out of obedience to the Lord and because so many of us seem to be struggling to grow in Him. While I in no way know all there is to know of Him, and seek daily to learn from Him - both directly through His Word and His Spirit and from others who sit at His feet in Love - He continues to prompt me to take the risk and share what I have learned.

After He led me to share the following in another thread, He is now telling me to put this here. (In fact, in His gentle way, He will not leave me alone about it!) My constant prayer is to be pleasing to Him always, and be a blessing in some small way to others. And so it is with humility before Him that I offer this.

All I ask is that others will also post here what they have learned and are learning, that we may all grow in Him and come to the unity of faith, bonded together with Him in the Spirit of His great Love.


There was a time in my life when I did not think God liked me very much, when my whole life seemed to go from misery to misery. Yet, I believed; I knew the Bible very well; and I knew there was a love in me for Him. But I could never seem to get close to Him, and never really saw any specific answers to my prayers. I always felt as if I was following Jesus from way back in the crowd; as if I was climbing hills, only to catch a glimpse of Him going over another hill far in front of me. Finally, I just got fed up and told Him, "Lord. I don't care if You like me or not! I am still going to love You!" And right then, I made up my mind to know Him personally.

So what I would like to offer you are some practical steps that He led me to take (although at the time, I did not realize it was Him leading me) that He used to grow me and teach me and help me find Him. And what a difference this has made in my own prayer life.

1) Guard your tongue. Become aware of what you say out loud, for your words can rob you of any blessings He has for you. No matter how you feel, how depressed you get, etc., don't allow yourself to start speaking from those feelings. There are a multitude of scripture in the both the OT and NT which teach this.

2) Praise God. This truly helps in guarding the words of your mouth as well as overcoming negative feelings. You don't have to try to conjure up reasons for praising Him for the situation, just make up your mind to praise Him in the situation. He lead me (and I still do this at times when necessary) to say out loud: "I praise you Father that I am not moved by my feelings, but only by your Word. I praise you Father that I am not moved by what others say about me, but only by your Word." And so on. Truly, praise works!

3) Get His Word from your mind to your spirit. Two ways to help with this are (a) to never read the Bible without praying first, asking the Holy Spirit to guide you in it; to open your heart to receive what He is teaching you; to open your understanding to grasp it. Etc. And (b) go through the NT finding every passage where it talks about who we are in Christ and who He is in us. In other words, everything positive that applies to us being new creatures in Him. Make a tape recording of your own voice saying these passages, applying them to yourself. Our spirits pay attention to what we say, and since it is with our hearts that we believe - not our minds - by saying His Word aloud we can re-program our inner man according to that Word. Example: "I am the Righteousness of God in Christ." Then, play that tape! I would put on headphones at night and play it as I went to sleep, night after night for weeks.

4) Don't try to believe for more than you have faith to believe. Faith is like a muscle; it must be exercised in order to grow. Just as you would not begin lifting weights with the maximum amount - the goal you want to reach - until you built up to it, so don't try to believe too far beyond what you know you can believe for. Judging this is tricky, I agree. But you have to start somewhere and I believe the Lord will guide you. Many, many times I have wanted to believe, but had to admit I really did not have that big of faith. Don't set yourself up to fail; but don't set your sights too low either. Exercise your faith and it will grow, until you can believe for big miracles.

5) Make it your primary goal to know Christ Jesus. More than anything else, seek to know the Giver rather than the gift. Humble yourself - in your attitude especially - before Him and trust Him to guide you. Remember that love is not a feeling, rather love causes feelings. We know He loves us - just like we know anyone loves us - because He says He does. His love for us is not dependent upon our feelings about it, anymore than our parents love for us was dependent upon our feelings. Realizing this is extremely important in our being able to trust Him, for our trust - our faith - is very much dependent upon our knowing and believing in His love for us in Christ. And we know He loves us because His Word says He does, and God does not lie.

6) Remember we have an enemy and he is a liar! Daniel prayed and even though the Lord heard his prayer the first day, it took 21 days for the answer to come. Pray, believe (because of His Word) that in the Name of Jesus we can be sure that the Father hears and answers our prayers, and then persevere in thanking Him for answering our prayer. The enemy delights in robbing of us of our joy, faith, confidence, peace, etc., as well as the answers to our prayers. Stay the course!

7) Practice listening. Set some time (20-30 minutes) aside each day to sit quietly before the Lord. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you. Get a notebook and write what you hear inside. Don't worry about getting big revelations - because you probably won't; and don't worry if you don't get anything - because you may not for awhile. Consider it as you would any conversation: both sides talk in a conversation, not just one. So you are allowing the Lord His opportunity to speak to you and not you just talking to Him. And write down what comes to you. And even when you do begin to hear from Him, don't expect some earth-shattering revelations. For a long time the Lord had me practice this, just to learn how to hear Him no matter what was going on around me. And I am still learning. But measure everything you hear against His Word! And seek to be obedient to what He tells you. It is when we are faithful on the little things that He will trust us with bigger things.

8) Seek His will first and always. The Lord will never get in line with us; we must always get in line with Him. In all your prayers - for others as well as for yourself, seek His will.


May the Lord bless others through this, and continue to bless us all in the coming posts from His faithful ones.

LeastOne

This is wonderful article!

 

[TracyJ1127]

Hi Saints:

The Lord often uses the simplest of events in life to bring some spiritual lesson or another to our notice, if we will but pay attention. In His parables, Jesus did this many times; He would describe great spiritual principles using basic everyday occurances to which everyone could relate. God is always a working in the present moment, for truly He is always Now and is ever working in His creation. May He open the eyes of each of His children, that they may see Him today as He works in and around them in their everyday lives.

Some time ago we had a stray cat come to live in our garage, and she was probably the ugliest cat ever: one gnarly, chewed up ear that permanently flopped halfway over; short little legs and a round, fat body; she looked like a cartoon cat the way she darted around everywhere. But mostly she was the most traumatized animal I have ever seen; you could see it in her eyes, that whatever had happened to her in her previous life had not been good.

We set food and water out for her, but if we came anywhere near her she would cring down, panic in her eyes, ready to run. We decided that rather than traumatize her more by pushing ourselves on her, we would just let her alone to realize for herself that she could trust us. She made herself a bed under an old chair we had, and for the first month or so would hardly come out except to eat and go outside to the restroom. In time, by showing her kindness but requiring nothing in return she eventually realized we meant her no harm, and learned to trust us, allowing us to pet her and even enjoying it. Later, when we had to move, we found her a good home where she is today. And she has become the most loving, sweetest cat; even her looks have changed to where she is actually cute.

I know a woman who didn't leave home until she was 39 years old; up until then she was berated and belittled constantly, forced to chauffer her mother everywhere, basically allowed no life of her own. Finding thoughts of suicide growing stronger and stronger in her, she finally had to just run away from home. Having nowhere to go, she lived with us for a while, until she could find a job. Quite honestly, the darkness surrounding this woman at first was extremely difficult to be around. The spirits of oppression were so heavy around her they were almost physically felt; it was nearly impossible to even have a normal conversation with her because everything that came out of her mouth was so filled with depression and despair.

Rather than have us directly confront her, or go through a lot of spiritual warfare, the Lord asked that we just allow her to be, and for us to just love her. So, that is what we did (as difficult as that was at times). But today, she is a totally different person; saved, and developing her own life. And though she can still be a little much at times, it is mild in comparison - and it has only been a couple of years.

The point of all of this is that there is no set formula that always works for every person and every situation. Jesus healed each person differently when He walked the earth, and He does the same today. It is only by diligently seeking the Lord for whomever He brings our way that we can truly minister His Life to that person. Often He will lead us to just be a friend to them. And we never go wrong with kindness and real loving acceptance.

Col. 3:12 - "And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience..."

By the way, we gave the cat to the woman and both are doing well together.

I used to be very much like this woman in your story. I lived next door to the people I now call my "spiritual mentors". At the time I met them I was living in sin. They were faithful church goers, actually he was an assistant pastor and she was taking classes to be a pastor as well. When I started going to their weekly bible study the enemy came against me in full force. Many times I went to their house crying because of this or that. I know that I was a real burden to them. But as time went on things began to change for me. I have moved far away from them now, but their efforts and their lessons have taken root. I am now "good soil" and I am learning to be the sower.
Your forum is helping me to grow in my faith and I thank you.
God Bless you.

 

[TracyJ1127]

This was something I used to sing years ago when I attended a church (although unsaved and not knowing it at the time), have remembered this.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow
Praise Him all creatures here below
Praise Him above ye heavenly host
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
Amen

I had forgotten this verse until I read it just now. After all these years I actually remembered the melody! I never new all the words back then so I am very thankful to you for posting them here! Very Very Excited!

 

[TracyJ1127]

I tried to send this in a PM, but I don't have enough posts yet...so I'm posting it here. I hope you see it, Smiler33!

Hi Smiler33,
I just read a post you made about listening to God and getting more involved. I feel exactly the way you do. I have a problem being still and just listening. I think that the way you did it will work for me. In the past I've tried to listen, but I wasn't sure if I was hearing God's voice. I like the idea of writing down what comes to mind. Several months ago I felt an urging to do more. Initially I thought I'd like to teach Sunday school for the adults in my church, but the position was already filled. Then I decided to start a bible study in my home. Not many people come, our church is a very small country church, but I do it any way. Tonight I had 4 people here, a married couple, my sister, and one of the ladies from the church. Everyone seems to enjoy it.
Anyway, I just wanted to say hello and let you know that I enjoyed your post.
Your Sister in Christ,
Tracy

 

[parsonsmom]

1 Cor. 12:26 - And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

Greetings Leastone;these are all excellent Scriptures; I teach by subject; so I'm going to pull the whole subject.

14 For the body is not one member, but many.
15 If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
16 And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
17 If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
18 But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.
19 And if they were all one member, where were the body?
20 But now are they many members, yet but one body.
21 And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.
22 Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary:
23 And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness.
24 For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked.
25 That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another.
26 And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.
27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

I want you to understand that this scriptures are speaking about the Gifts that
Christ yhe Annointed One; has sent to the body of Christ Jesus; and how the to build us up. that is why we must pay attention to the subject.
Have you been in Him for awhile? this is a wonderful subject to start with; and
we have to know that we can never be effective with the help our Lord has sent
to us; to equipt; enable
2 Cor 10:6 - and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete.

1 Cor. 12:12 - For as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is [the Body of] Christ

Col 1:18 - He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.

Eph. 4:15 - but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

 

[parsonsmom]

1 Cor. 12:12 - For as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is [the Body of] Christ

1 Cor. 12:26 - And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.


This is an excellent subject; and very interesting one.I teach by subject; so I will pull down the whole subject; and you must understand that the gifts god has set in the body for the equipping; instructing;and helping you to grow to be more like Him.


For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.
13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
14 For the body is not one member, but many.
15 If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
16 And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body?
17 If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling?
18 But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.
19 And if they were all one member, where were the body?
20 But now are they many members, yet but one body. Respectfully; Parsonsmom.

 

[parsonsmom]

He is speaking about Spiritual Gifts; teaching us how to operate in them.

Just as the body is a unity; and yet has many parts; and all the parts; though many; form only; one body; so it is with Christ; The Messiah; the Anointed One;. For by means of the personal agency of one; Holy Spirit we were all, whether Jews or Greeks; slaves or free; baptized; and by baptism united together; into one body; and all made to drink of one; Holy Spirit For the body does not consist of one limb or organ but of many If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear; where would be the sense of smell; But as it is, God has placed and arranged the limbs; and organs; in the body, each particular one of them; just as He wished; and saw fit; and with the best adaptation; But if the whole; were all a single organ; where would the body be; And now there are certainly; many limbs; and organs; but a single body; And if one member suffers; all the parts share the suffering; if one member is honored; all the members ;share in the enjoyment of it; Now you collectively are Christ’s body; and individually; you are members of it; each part severally; and distinct; each with his own place and function. Respectfully;Parsonsmom.

 

[parsonsmom]

1 Cor.12
. Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be ignorant: 2 You know that[a] you were Gentiles, carried away to these dumb idols, however you were led. 3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.
4 There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. 5 There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. 6 And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. 7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: 8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through
the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same[b] Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. Respectfully; Parsonsmom

 

[diamonddove]

Thank you sooo much,,, i was wondering..how i could spend more time w/ God... but couldn't come up w/ much thank you ^^

 

[parsonsmom]

I tried to send this in a PM, but I don't have enough posts yet...so I'm posting it here. I hope you see it, Smiler33!

Hi Smiler33,
I just read a post you made about listening to God and getting more involved. I feel exactly the way you do. I have a problem being still and just listening. I think that the way you did it will work for me. In the past I've tried to listen, but I wasn't sure if I was hearing God's voice. I like the idea of writing down what comes to mind. Several months ago I felt an urging to do more. Initially I thought I'd like to teach Sunday school for the adults in my church, but the position was already filled. Then I decided to start a bible study in my home. Not many people come, our church is a very small country church, but I do it any way. Tonight I had 4 people here, a married couple, my sister, and one of the ladies from the church. Everyone seems to enjoy it.
Anyway, I just wanted to say hello and let you know that I enjoyed your post.
Your Sister in Christ,
Tracy

Praying the word back to the Father is a good place to start; His word can never return to Him void; but will accomplish what Its purpose. Parsonsmom.

 

[christianemploymentseeker]

Sorry it took me 11 days to get back to you, Elshivia! Like many people I'm burdened with a heavy work schedule, and I'm so grateful that I finally found time to take a look at old postings by LeastOne, and, praise the Lord, was I stunned by what he has to say. I chose to re-post one of his old postings(November 1, 2003!!!) below because I was so taken up with his notion that Jesus heals different people in different ways--and I believe that is very true. On top of that, the healed cat and the healed woman became companions later in their lives. A wonderful story! It makes me feel that we can heal one another by uniting our spirits in the Christian Forum.

Welcome, Miarka! Sorry it took so long for me to answer your first posting. I hope that the re-printed posting below from an Christian Forum old-timer, LeastOne, will appeal to you and give you strength and encouragement. I have found myself in the company of a grumpy suffering war veteran in life, and I seen the transformation that kindness and tolerance and even financial assistance brought him. I have also wished to start viable businesses where I could offer good solid employment to people whose trust I've earned and developed--and I pray that that my wish comes true someday. I have also been battling with something that I ashamed to mention, but must, in all trust in the lord, and that is caffeine addiction(in the form of tea, since I at least managed to quit drinking coffee). I have a great fear of not having caffeine by which to wake up, and to stay awake, every day, and I trust in the Lord that the confession of this will help me to quit someday. I welcome your being as specific as you need to with your prayer requests, and would be glad to discuss any bible topic/verse you care to share. We are all different and we all suffer differently and we all heal differently.

Hello, Again, Parsonsmom! Good to know you are still there. I may well want to visit you on Facebook someday. Right now, I'm buried in old postings by LeastOne, who Elshivia brought to my attention. He seems to be quite an inspirational teacher. I pray for his soul wherever in God's creation he is now, and am so glad his spirit is alive. The hope of love and healing lies in the old posting I re-posted below. I hope all are blessed by it.

Thank you in Christ,
Christianemploymentseeker, aka Augie

Hi Saints:

The Lord often uses the simplest of events in life to bring some spiritual lesson or another to our notice, if we will but pay attention. In His parables, Jesus did this many times; He would describe great spiritual principles using basic everyday occurances to which everyone could relate. God is always a working in the present moment, for truly He is always Now and is ever working in His creation. May He open the eyes of each of His children, that they may see Him today as He works in and around them in their everyday lives.

Some time ago we had a stray cat come to live in our garage, and she was probably the ugliest cat ever: one gnarly, chewed up ear that permanently flopped halfway over; short little legs and a round, fat body; she looked like a cartoon cat the way she darted around everywhere. But mostly she was the most traumatized animal I have ever seen; you could see it in her eyes, that whatever had happened to her in her previous life had not been good.

We set food and water out for her, but if we came anywhere near her she would cring down, panic in her eyes, ready to run. We decided that rather than traumatize her more by pushing ourselves on her, we would just let her alone to realize for herself that she could trust us. She made herself a bed under an old chair we had, and for the first month or so would hardly come out except to eat and go outside to the restroom. In time, by showing her kindness but requiring nothing in return she eventually realized we meant her no harm, and learned to trust us, allowing us to pet her and even enjoying it. Later, when we had to move, we found her a good home where she is today. And she has become the most loving, sweetest cat; even her looks have changed to where she is actually cute.

I know a woman who didn't leave home until she was 39 years old; up until then she was berated and belittled constantly, forced to chauffer her mother everywhere, basically allowed no life of her own. Finding thoughts of suicide growing stronger and stronger in her, she finally had to just run away from home. Having nowhere to go, she lived with us for a while, until she could find a job. Quite honestly, the darkness surrounding this woman at first was extremely difficult to be around. The spirits of oppression were so heavy around her they were almost physically felt; it was nearly impossible to even have a normal conversation with her because everything that came out of her mouth was so filled with depression and despair.

Rather than have us directly confront her, or go through a lot of spiritual warfare, the Lord asked that we just allow her to be, and for us to just love her. So, that is what we did (as difficult as that was at times). But today, she is a totally different person; saved, and developing her own life. And though she can still be a little much at times, it is mild in comparison - and it has only been a couple of years.

The point of all of this is that there is no set formula that always works for every person and every situation. Jesus healed each person differently when He walked the earth, and He does the same today. It is only by diligently seeking the Lord for whomever He brings our way that we can truly minister His Life to that person. Often He will lead us to just be a friend to them. And we never go wrong with kindness and real loving acceptance.

Col. 3:12 - "And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience..."

By the way, we gave the cat to the woman and both are doing well together.

 

[noplacetoofar]

Wow, LeastOne's posting from above is deceivingly simplistic, and at the same time speaks so deeply. It served the purpose well and illustrated the point that every person needs healing in a different way. I mean, it's such a simple concept! But... Sometimes when something is simple in our minds it can be next to impossible to physically do. I really enjoyed that posting. I'll have to dig up some more from that person.

Sorry, I'm the new guy here. Nice to meet you all!

 

[brinny]

Praying the word back to the Father is a good place to start; His word can never return to Him void; but will accomplish what Its purpose. Parsonsmom.

how do you do this, read His Word out loud, and pray along with David as he prayed?