Growing in Christ

[Mayflower1]

I have a feeling I am going to be on this thread for awhile!!!!

 

[brinny]

How do we continue to grow inspite of the firey trials we encounter personally and observe throughout the world? How do we avoid the adversary's seduction to use our natural emotions in an ungodly way? How do we overcome the tendency to worry?

In my humble opinion, we commit it ALL to God, constantly, never ceasing to praise Him.

Don't worry, pray: the peace of God will keep your heart.

And when you do worry or are overcome with Godly sorrow, don't look around and point fingers at the world, pray. And rejoice. We all struggle with worrying, but the Bible so clearly tells us not to worry about anything, but to pray about everything. Not only is worrying useless, it dishonors God. Worry is the opposite of faith.

May we commit ourselves to pray for increased faith, for that will help us to walk in righteousness and deepen our commitment to turn it all over to Him.
This truly is cause to rejoice!

Your sister in Christ,
EarthMomma

AaaaMEN!

Especially...

constantly, never ceasing to praise Him.

It's that constant turning to Him that I pray for....for Him to 'nudge' me when I forget or drift off....

The praising Him...

reminds me of that song:

"Praise You In This Storm"

..."when my heart is torn
I'll praise You in this storm.."

 

[ImHisServant]

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Have you ever thought of the awesome privilege we have in the ability to praise the Lord? I think we too often take this privilege for granted. Psalm 34:1 states, "I will bless the Lord at all times, His praise shall continually be in my mouth." Do I bless the Lord at all times? Is His praise always in my mouth? I know that I would have avoided a lot of grief had that always been the case in my life.


This verse struck me as I looked further into the meaning of the word "continually". God’s Word is a treasure field! Let’s examine the Hebrew meaning of this word. The word is tamid. It means, "constantly, always, evermore, (now that’s interesting...) perpetually." This literally means that praise to our God and Savior should ALWAYS be in our mouths! Not only this, but praise will be in our mouths forever and ever! Is it possible that as we praise God we enter into something that is eternal? Psalm 111:10 states that His praise ‘endures’ forever. That word means, "to stand, continue, remain". I know that God saves our prayers as incense upon His altar. I wonder what happens to our praise.

The Bible does tell us some things that I think are interesting on this subject. First, He who inhabits eternity inhabits our praises. (Psalm 22:3) Now that’s something to help expand your mind! God actually comes and dwells with us in our praises! That makes me want to shout!!! The second thing that I want to share about praise is that we were redeemed to God in order that we would bring forth praises to Him. What an awesome privilege and responsibility! We are to praise our Lord at all times!

I praise the Lord Jesus for this opportunity to break open the Word of life with you!

Praising Jesus!

[/FONT]
Gina

 

[Savedsis]

Lord, I lift my hands to You today, to honor You and all that You are and for what You've done. The Atonement for my sins was enough, but You didn't stop there. You gave me You written Word in the form of a Bible that feeds me spiritual food, nourishing my body. Calvary was not a pretty picture, but You went there anyway, just for me, where You bore every disease so that I wouldn't have to..What an awesome God You are! Because of the cross, You made avilable to me Eternal Life...You are so wonderful...Your mercy and grace is infinite You forgive me when I sin and promised in Your Word that You would remove my transgressions as far as the east is from the west...You amaze me with Your patience...Just thinking about You, my hands go up and I say..."GLORY"...You are a Holy God and because of You I can be holy too....After all, I am made in Your image and Justified.....
I want to give You my best......Amen

 

[EarthMomma]

thank you Gina and Sis for wonderful inspiration this morning! Bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me.

 

[Savedsis]

You must always remember who you are to Jesus..Remind yourself every day who you are in Him..It will give you a holy confidence...
Remember to tell yourself....
I am His child
I belong to Him
I am His beloved
I am a conaqueror
I am precious in His sight..
Know who you are........................God bless

 

[EarthMomma]

Thanks Sis,
This is such Godly advice, and we can never hear it too often. The natural and carnal world reminds us constantly of all of our inadequacies, we need to refuse to listen to that, for we are blameless in Christ, who died to give us that position. To fail to constantly remind ourselves is to denigrate the blood He shed for us.

You must always remember who you are to Jesus..Remind yourself every day who you are in Him..It will give you a holy confidence...
Remember to tell yourself....
I am His child
I belong to Him
I am His beloved
I am a conaqueror
I am precious in His sight..
Know who you are........................God bless

The only way we can glorify God is if we acknowledge the Christ that lives through us, giving Him all the glory and praise!

Your sister in Christ,
EarthMomma

 

[brinny]

You must always remember who you are to Jesus..Remind yourself every day who you are in Him..It will give you a holy confidence...
Remember to tell yourself....
I am His child
I belong to Him
I am His beloved
I am a conaqueror
I am precious in His sight..
Know who you are........................God bless

Oooo Savedsis, it's exactly what I've been meditating on and repeating to myself. Interesting how, after that, the next day, I felt so low and I couldn't explain it. It didn't make any sense. I dragged myself to Abba and just cried. I realized later what happened. I was being attacked by the enemy, in the deep recesses of my heart. It seems the deeper I open myself up to Abba, the deeper the enemy strikes. it's un-nerving. Yet I remember His promises wafting through the fog of diversionary tactics of the enemy. In tears, if necessary, I go back to Abba.

I talk to hIm more like He's my Abba....there's more conversational talks now in my ups and my downs....we talk. I'm beginning to sorta picture what it must be like to see hIs face...a loving Father delighted by His child. It's a bit overwhelming, still.....but He's enabling me to take baby steps...I plan to continue......moment by moment by moment....

God bless you sis ((((hug))))))

 

[angelwind]

I had something happen to me a few eeks ago as I sat alone in our motorhome...just sort of breathing air and doing nothing (with my life it seemed to me)...

I asked the Lord what He thought of me ... I had a Christian music site playing on line...the speaker said right after that ..."You are washed in the blood...accepted into the Beloved"...just really hit me so sweetly.

Life is about God...as we keep hearing...Who He is and what He has done for us...

This is the direction of my thought life more and more...it is sooo good. I'm taking those words to my heart...LOL

 

[EarthMomma]

Thanks brinny and angelwind for what you've shared here. I just kept shaking my head yes as I read each post. It really is about whose we are, not what we do, isn't it? And once we realize the magnitude of whose we are, we no longer control what we do, HE DOES! Wow

I love Him so! and I love the way He brings His own together to lift each other up!

Praise Him, O my soul!

 

[ImHisServant]

I think the reason marriages do not work are, and it is so sad, God is NOT invited to the marriage, they do not want HIM to tell them what to do, in so many words now a days, they tell HIM to leave them alone in all ways, soooo, being the gentleman that He is, He does. When you think about it, it is that way in other circumstances as well. God is kicked out of our schools, out of our public offices, out of Christmas, all the schools say "winter" break instead of Christmas, and all carols have been banned from school. Geez. The Nativity scene is no longer welcome in public places. Heaven forbid that God be allowed ANYWHERE it seems. Look at all the abortions performed each year, we are murdering HIS children, a gift, that must surely hurt Him. These atheist say that it "Offends" them to see the mention of God anywhere. Well, I say too darn bad. It offends me NOT to see a mention of God anywhere. I want to know, where are the churches and leaders in all this?. They should be standing up against all the abortions, atheist attacks, etc. They seem afraid to make them mad, well, they better start taking up for our Lord before it is too late. Even in this very little town where I live, there were a group of people who wanted this banner taken down that said "God Bless Our Troops". The mention of God "offended" them. Who cares!!!! They offended me when they put that in the paper. The "enemy" is getting such a strong hold on our country, it is not even funny. Satan is ruling us now, not God. That is so evident in everything you see. Immorality, crimes, drugs, permissive living, marriages breaking up, the list goes on. Another thing that gets me is when someone says that they are "a self made millionaire" NO WAY, they are a self made nothing! We are absolutely NOTHING without God. He gives us all that we have, the talents, brains, thoughts, etc. Apart from God, we can do nothing. Self made, I think not!! Another expression that really gets me is when someone says that they know too much science to believe in God. Just shows how ignorant they really are. Why, look at the eye, for example, the intricacy of it, the nerves, blood vessels, arteries, and being able to see with all that. Yeah right, it all evolved from a pool of slime or a stupid explosion, get a life and start living I say to these people. Those who believe in Darwin are so mislead, Evolution would be so much harder for me to believe in than God's creation, Evolution just does not make sense to me. This is kept under cover by the liberals, but on his death bed, Darwin, it has been said, admitted he was wrong, so THAT for those who believe otherwise. I think another way Satan is working is through the CLU, they have their liberal hand in all that is wrong. Can't do this, can't do that, God offends us, don't discipline your children, allow assisted suicide to knock your self off if you are sick, on and on it goes. Oregon, the state next to us, allows that suicide, that is so wrong, I would not want to live there for that reason alone. God, sometimes. will allow us to have these terminal illnesses to wake us up to bring us back to HIM. True, He does want all His children to be healed and happy, but sometimes, for reasons unknown to our puny brain, He says "No" and we accept that knowing we WILL be healed and whole when we join Him in Heaven.

This is the "Me Generation". Everyone is so concerned about themselves, that they have no time to notice anything else going on with their neighbor, nor do they care. As long as all is well with them, fine, who cares who is sick, is lonesome, depressed, hungry,or fearful. It is a sad situation. Gone are the days when people were generally concerned for the others welfare. A friendly smile , a hug in friendship , volunteering to help others when needed . Gone, simply vanished. Now, for the most part, I am not saying everyone, all you see are frowning faces, people trying to rip their fellow man off, little children in the primary grades of school taking guns to school and being handed condoms. What has this world come to, and they have the audacity to say that times are better now than before. From what I have observed, I sure do not think so. I love the magazine "Good Ole Days" and it sure seems that even through the rough times, people were much happier AND healthier. It stands to reason, you can NOT put all these chemical, hormones and junk in your food and expect to feel good after you eat it. They were happier because they were living the "good life" the way our Saviour wanted them to live it. On Sundays, the entire family would dress in their Sunday best, hop into the shined up automobile that they had cleaned on Saturday, and attend church together. Afterwards, they would go on picnics, or just have quality time together. I guess I am old fashioned, but I am proud of it, I think those days were far superior to now. Oh sure, I am very grateful for the modern conveniences, I am the first to admit, I would have a difficult time doing without them. But did we have to go to such drastic extremes in our moral and religious life?

Yes, we sure DO need to spend quality time with God, big time. We need to get down on our knees and ask Him back into our activities, our lives. We need to seek His will in all that we do. The bible must be read and read again. He should be the first One we turn to in times of all trouble and yes, even happiness, for after all, He likes to know that we like and appreciate what He gives us. We all want want want, we never thank Him for what we have. I am guilty of that myself at times.

Discernment, what a wonderful gift and how little it seems to be used anymore. Yes, many a circumstance could have been different if we had discernment. We should pray for that one gift un-ceasingly. I wish I had been more in tune to it before I made some of the mistakes in my life that I regret to this day.

Whoa, did I get on my soap box or what. I love talking about God, and I can go on for hours sometimes. It is good to witness like this. I want to end this by saying, yes, there are good people in the world, there are good things in the world. We, as Christians, have to develop what is out there and see to it that our lost, Christian values are brought back to the forefront. With prayer, anything can be accomplished. Please God, I just pray it is not too late.

God bless

 

[Savedsis]

So many good posts here....It is a delight and so uplifting...
Lord Jesus, I'm like everyone else...I can't make it through life on my own..I'm imperfect..I'm prone to sin..I have come to realize that there is nothing in the world I can do to make myself acceptable to You..But I know that You loved me so much that You were willing to submit to the cross on my behalf. That's a grace so amazing I cannot understand it; I can only accept it.. And I do...Thank You Lord for all Your blessings..Thank You for all who post here and the joy they are.....In Jesus Name I pray...Amen

 

[angelwind]

I think the reason marriages do not work are, and it is so sad, God is NOT invited to the marriage, they do not want HIM to tell them what to do, in so many words now a days, they tell HIM to leave them alone in all ways, soooo, being the gentleman that He is, He does. When you think about it, it is that way in other circumstances as well. God is kicked out of our schools, out of our public offices, out of Christmas, all the schools say "winter" break instead of Christmas, and all carols have been banned from school. Geez. The Nativity scene is no longer welcome in public places. Heaven forbid that God be allowed ANYWHERE it seems. Look at all the abortions performed each year, we are murdering HIS children, a gift, that must surely hurt Him. These atheist say that it "Offends" them to see the mention of God anywhere. Well, I say too darn bad. It offends me NOT to see a mention of God anywhere. I want to know, where are the churches and leaders in all this?. They should be standing up against all the abortions, atheist attacks, etc. They seem afraid to make them mad, well, they better start taking up for our Lord before it is too late. Even in this very little town where I live, there were a group of people who wanted this banner taken down that said "God Bless Our Troops". The mention of God "offended" them. Who cares!!!! They offended me when they put that in the paper. The "enemy" is getting such a strong hold on our country, it is not even funny. Satan is ruling us now, not God. That is so evident in everything you see. Immorality, crimes, drugs, permissive living, marriages breaking up, the list goes on. Another thing that gets me is when someone says that they are "a self made millionaire" NO WAY, they are a self made nothing! We are absolutely NOTHING without God. He gives us all that we have, the talents, brains, thoughts, etc. Apart from God, we can do nothing. Self made, I think not!! Another expression that really gets me is when someone says that they know too much science to believe in God. Just shows how ignorant they really are. Why, look at the eye, for example, the intricacy of it, the nerves, blood vessels, arteries, and being able to see with all that. Yeah right, it all evolved from a pool of slime or a stupid explosion, get a life and start living I say to these people. Those who believe in Darwin are so mislead, Evolution would be so much harder for me to believe in than God's creation, Evolution just does not make sense to me. This is kept under cover by the liberals, but on his death bed, Darwin, it has been said, admitted he was wrong, so THAT for those who believe otherwise. I think another way Satan is working is through the CLU, they have their liberal hand in all that is wrong. Can't do this, can't do that, God offends us, don't discipline your children, allow assisted suicide to knock your self off if you are sick, on and on it goes. Oregon, the state next to us, allows that suicide, that is so wrong, I would not want to live there for that reason alone. God, sometimes. will allow us to have these terminal illnesses to wake us up to bring us back to HIM. True, He does want all His children to be healed and happy, but sometimes, for reasons unknown to our puny brain, He says "No" and we accept that knowing we WILL be healed and whole when we join Him in Heaven.

This is the "Me Generation". Everyone is so concerned about themselves, that they have no time to notice anything else going on with their neighbor, nor do they care. As long as all is well with them, fine, who cares who is sick, is lonesome, depressed, hungry,or fearful. It is a sad situation. Gone are the days when people were generally concerned for the others welfare. A friendly smile , a hug in friendship , volunteering to help others when needed . Gone, simply vanished. Now, for the most part, I am not saying everyone, all you see are frowning faces, people trying to rip their fellow man off, little children in the primary grades of school taking guns to school and being handed condoms. What has this world come to, and they have the audacity to say that times are better now than before. From what I have observed, I sure do not think so. I love the magazine "Good Ole Days" and it sure seems that even through the rough times, people were much happier AND healthier. It stands to reason, you can NOT put all these chemical, hormones and junk in your food and expect to feel good after you eat it. They were happier because they were living the "good life" the way our Saviour wanted them to live it. On Sundays, the entire family would dress in their Sunday best, hop into the shined up automobile that they had cleaned on Saturday, and attend church together. Afterwards, they would go on picnics, or just have quality time together. I guess I am old fashioned, but I am proud of it, I think those days were far superior to now. Oh sure, I am very grateful for the modern conveniences, I am the first to admit, I would have a difficult time doing without them. But did we have to go to such drastic extremes in our moral and religious life?

Yes, we sure DO need to spend quality time with God, big time. We need to get down on our knees and ask Him back into our activities, our lives. We need to seek His will in all that we do. The bible must be read and read again. He should be the first One we turn to in times of all trouble and yes, even happiness, for after all, He likes to know that we like and appreciate what He gives us. We all want want want, we never thank Him for what we have. I am guilty of that myself at times.

Discernment, what a wonderful gift and how little it seems to be used anymore. Yes, many a circumstance could have been different if we had discernment. We should pray for that one gift un-ceasingly. I wish I had been more in tune to it before I made some of the mistakes in my life that I regret to this day.

Whoa, did I get on my soap box or what. I love talking about God, and I can go on for hours sometimes. It is good to witness like this. I want to end this by saying, yes, there are good people in the world, there are good things in the world. We, as Christians, have to develop what is out there and see to it that our lost, Christian values are brought back to the forefront. With prayer, anything can be accomplished. Please God, I just pray it is not too late.

God bless

I don't know if it is too late for America...as a whole...it will take a major move of God's Spirit...nothing is too hard for him.

Something inside me has let go of America in some way...but I am taking firmer hold of the Lord...can't really explain it...I still pray often for my country and have hope...God has bigger ideas than I do.

 

[EarthMomma]

I don't know if it is too late for America...as a whole...it will take a major move of God's Spirit...nothing is too hard for him.

Something inside me has let go of America in some way...but I am taking firmer hold of the Lord...can't really explain it...I still pray often for my country and have hope...God has bigger ideas than I do.

Thanks angelwind for your comments. And yes, our God does move in major ways, and has empowered us to move in major ways through the Christ that lives in us.

I agree with what I think you are saying about "America." Don't get me wrong, I love living in the land of the free, where we can worship without persecution, and enjoy much liberty. But God's world is bigger than an egotistic notion of any one nation. God does have bigger ideas than we do, and I have much hope, because I get that hope from the Word of God.



But my hope is not in a superpower, it is in a supernatural God. And as I've learned to walk more in the spirit, I see His supernatural presence everywhere.

I do feel Godly sorrow for those who don't live in God's love. And I think it's good that we address the "Me Generation" that ImHisServant brings out. This month's Turning Point magazine is devoted to understanding and walking Godly in this "Me Generation". But it has to start first in our hearts, between me and God. Then we can look with eyes of love, Godly love, for He will open the eyes of our understanding, His Word says He will.

Unlike ImHisServant, I don't see that all the good is gone.

Gone are the days when people were generally concerned for the others welfare. A friendly smile , a hug in friendship , volunteering to help others when needed .

I'm an old woman, and I've lived in a variety of communities, rural and urban, and I know from my experience that friendly smiles, hugs, and helping does still go on. Every single day. Her point is a good one (although perhaps taken to extreme) in that we can stir ourselves up to do more each and every day. But from living in rural Missouri in a town that was ravaged by tornadoes, to now living on the gulf coast where we suffered hurricane devastation the last two years, I've seen that good neighbor stuff--genuine Godly love, and I know it's here.

I personally don't believe the adversaries lies that he is winning. It's a tactic to undermine believers, but God will prevail because of the precious blood of our risen Lord, who bled and died to defeat the adversary. Let's walk in that truth!

Jesus is Lord, and through Him we can do and see all things. May we open our eyes to His ever present glory, for it is everywhere!

Love,
EarthMomma

 

[angelwind]

Thanks angelwind for your comments. And yes, our God does move in major ways, and has empowered us to move in major ways through the Christ that lives in us.

I agree with what I think you are saying about "America." Don't get me wrong, I love living in the land of the free, where we can worship without persecution, and enjoy much liberty. But God's world is bigger than an egotistic notion of any one nation. God does have bigger ideas than we do, and I have much hope, because I get that hope from the Word of God.



But my hope is not in a superpower, it is in a supernatural God. And as I've learned to walk more in the spirit, I see His supernatural presence everywhere.

I do feel Godly sorrow for those who don't live in God's love. And I think it's good that we address the "Me Generation" that ImHisServant brings out. This month's InTouch magazine is devoted to understanding and walking Godly in this "Me Generation". But it has to start first in our hearts, between me and God. Then we can look with eyes of love, Godly love, for He will open the eyes of our understanding, His Word says He will.

Unlike ImHisServant, I don't see that all the good is gone. I'm an old woman, and I've lived in a variety of communities, rural and urban, and I know from my experience that friendly smiles, hugs, and helping does still go on. Every single day. Her point is a good one (although perhaps taken to extreme) in that we can stir ourselves up to do more each and every day. But from living in rural Missouri in a town that was ravaged by tornadoes, to now living on the gulf coast where we suffered hurricane devastation the last two years, I've seen that good neighbor stuff--genuine Godly love, and I know it's here.

I personally don't believe the adversaries lies that he is winning. It's a tactic to undermine believers, but God will prevail because of the precious blood of our risen Lord, who bled and died to defeat the adversary. Let's walk in that truth!

Jesus is Lord, and through Him we can do and see all things. May we open our eyes to His ever present glory, for it is everywhere!

Love,
EarthMomma

good comments EM...my hope is not in a superpower either...but it is more and more in God...rejoicing in Him...everything is working out according to His plan...and He is winning...LOL

 

[EarthMomma]

good comments EM...my hope is not in a superpower either...but it is more and more in God...rejoicing in Him...everything is working out according to His plan...and He is winning...LOL

And rejoicing with you!

 

[Savedsis]

And rejoicing with you!

Me too...

 

[ImHisServant]

Yea... I wasn't really saying all the good was gone... obviously there is still good... just doesn't seem to be as carefree. Like I don't remember so many people locking their doors back then and stuff like that. The OP was something I read on myspace... so it wasn't written by me... it just had an impact on me and I could see most of the points made. I thought it was interesting and wanted to share it here. Doesn't seem to have been well received so my apoligies.

 

[EarthMomma]

Dear ImHisServant,

You certainly have no need to apologize for how you feel, or not to me anyway. I just bear a different perspective so I felt led to share that. (Took me a couple of days to respond, as I pondered whether I should speak up).

Yea... I wasn't really saying all the good was gone... obviously there is still good... just doesn't seem to be as carefree. Like I don't remember so many people locking their doors back then and stuff like that. The OP was something I read on myspace... so it wasn't written by me... it just had an impact on me and I could see most of the points made. I thought it was interesting and wanted to share it here. Doesn't seem to have been well received so my apoligies.

And I certainly don't speak for anyone else here, I'm kind of new myself, and welcome you.

The thing I like about this Deeper Fellowship forum is that there is genuine open exchange in love on all topics that are raised, so please don't feel offended that I expressed a different point of view.

I look forward to having you here!

Love and peace,
EarthMomma

 

[ImHisServant]

Thanks EarthMomma... I just think I need to post from my heart and not copy and paste things... cause truthfully if I would have never read that... I would have never posted that. So I will stick with my own original thoughts.