Growing in Christ

[Abbot David]

Watch what I say and getting to know HIM more by spending time with Him and in His Word is something that I feel that that the Lord has been saying at lot to me lately.

I was a meeting with Andy Wommack and he was saying that in trying to get to know the Lord more and spending the time, people have to make sacrifices i.e. less time aimlessly surfing the net or watching soaps and sit coms or cutting those phone conversations short. Has anyone actually made that leap? what have you pushed back in order to spend more time with God?

A long time ago, as a Protestant, I started to find myself wanting to spend more time in the Scriptures and in Prayer. It started my interest in Monastic Spirituality, in particular Benedictine and Eastern Orthodox. But I committed myself to a regular reading of the psalms and that lead me to a desire to pray the morning and evening hours. This was a slow development.

But now, after several years, almost all of my free time is devoted to the Lord in service, study and prayer in a monastic spirit/lifestyle. One does not need to enter a monastery to become a monk.

 

[Dead2Sin]

Awesome!! Lately myself I've been just thanking God for everything! Thanks be unto God who always gives me the victory. The lord showed me that that He doesn't condemn, He gives victory! Positive confession is key! He gave me a good confession a couple monthes ago that I know will bless you and anyone else who reads and uses it to. He told me to confess "God loves me and causes everything to work to my advantage" and I added at the end "and to His glory". And Praise God it works Great! For weeks after really confessing that hardcore I sat back and watched things that were meant to go bad work out to my advantage and to his glory. Really cool stuff!

 

[parsonsmom]

Awesome!! Lately myself I've been just thanking God for everything! Thanks be unto God who always gives me the victory. The lord showed me that that He doesn't condemn, He gives victory! Positive confession is key! He gave me a good confession a couple monthes ago that I know will bless you and anyone else who reads and uses it to. He told me to confess "God loves me and causes everything to work to my advantage" and I added at the end "and to His glory". And Praise God it works Great! For weeks after really confessing that hardcore I sat back and watched things that were meant to go bad work out to my advantage and to his glory. Really cool stuff!

Amen; the words of our mouth are either Life or death. Parsonsmom

 

[Forge3]

Subbed. I have my struggles along with the desire to really follow Him.

 

[relate4ever]

Amen! Daily growth thru the Word and life discipling.

 

[Smiler33]

Hi there, this thread is wonderful and I thought I'd join in too if that's OK.

For a while now I have been yearning to get closer to Jesus and fall in love with Him even more. I have also been wanting to hear from God as I feel that at the moment I'm doing all the praying but not taking the time to listen properly and it's all 'send send' if you know what I mean.

With this in mind I just lay on the sofa with a notepad and pen by my side and prayed to say that I was there and I asked for the Holy Spirit to help me to hear any promptings. The result? Well, I really wrote down thoughts that came into my mind which were as follows:

A staff
Worship Central course (a course our Church is running to help us to worship in a new way)
I need to slow down
'Be still and know that I am God'
A feeling of peace and contentment is very much with me
A feeling I need to contact 2 people who run a house of prayer - somewhere quiet I can go to pray

Before now I've done this and got told off when I said I don't know how much was from me and how much was from our Lord so I will say it's from Him - I asked and I received. The only slight hiccup was that I almost dozed off on the sofa (it's pouring down with rain outside, I am due to go to bed shortly and the dog was snuggled down on me!) but I did enjoy the experience.

I'm also trying to read the Bible more and am doing my 'Closer to God' bible readings almost every day which is a huge improvement.

I was thinking I'd like to come back and post again with how I'm doing and to get more ideas from you guys who all seem a lot more sorted that I am in your faith. I have a very strong sense I want to serve in some way (nothing too huge as I have a non-believing husband and 2 young children) and this is a big part of why I want to listen as I genuinely don't know what plans He has for me; only God knows that.

Blessings to all.

 

[StandingFirm]

Welcome Smiler. May God bless you as you seek Him with all your heart.

 

[Smiler33]

Hi, me again! I've just spent around an hour doing my Bible study readings from 1 John 5 and am finding myself feeling very blessed. I then prayed, listened for God and prayed some more in tongues. I am now feeling very peaceful and looking forward to a walk outside with my dog to enjoy the wonderful beauty God has made for us.

These are the things that came into my mind whilst listening:
God loves me
I had the song 'Jesus be the centre' in my head for a while
The words river of life
The words let me love you
I could picture Jeus taking me by the hand
I was thinking I want to worship you

Whilst praying in tongues (another area I have to have faith that this is from Him because I asked for it) I found I wanted to stop and look down at my Bible where I was drawn to this:
"We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the one who was born of God keeps him safe, and the evil one cannot harm him." (1 John 5:18
I found this so reassuring; like others I sin even though I try so hard not to. I confessed my sins whilst praying, asked for forgiveness and thanked Jesus for paying the ultimate price for our sins.

I do have a question for you though please. When listening quietly is there a good prayer to say to protect yourself - I have seen somewhere that it can be a bit dangerous to sit there with no particular thoughts in your mind and I did say 'I bind any evil spirits' but apart from that am not sure what to do.

Thank you!

 

[StandingFirm]

Hello Smiler, I think the key is to grow your relationship with God. I am not a big fan or recited prayers, simply open your heart to God as you would with your closest friend because in reality Jesus is your closest friend.

 

[Smiler33]

Thanks for getting back to me StandingFirm. I do pray to God very much as I would speak and people have noticed that about me; I don't have a set format at all. What I was talking about was if I should be concerned about sitting to pray and just opening my heart as it were when I listen - the evil one can sometimes jump in at these times even though of course Jesus won the battle over him. I've heard people say they bind the evil spirits but I was just wondering if that's sufficient. I don't like evil spirits one jot, but in my mind I'd rather protect myself.

 

[StandingFirm]

Smiler, I will lift you up in prayer. I would suggest studying Eph chapter 6 and praying the armor.

 

[Smiler33]

Thank you so much StandingFirm - I'll also check out the Ephesians chapter re the armour.

I have to say that already I am feeling closer to God after just 3 days of taking some 'listening time'; my sense that I want to serve in some way is getting stronger in me (slightly worrying!) and I just want everyone to know the joy that comes from what we as Christians believe.

Now I must go and feed my children but have a blessed day everyone

 

[brinny]

This a beautiful thread. Praying for each dear one here.

 

[Forge3]

I share my understanding of God's love to you as I have written today. Hope it inspires

What is Love?

That one lays down their life for a friend
We fall from Him but it does not end
It's takes our wounds and it mends

It is greater than time for it lasts forever
More our bond than holds atoms together
Lifts the fallen as if by Angel's feathers

Indeed God's love is as spiritual leaven
and Jesus is our stairway to heaven
And His number is 777.

Forty days in the desert He did fast
So we may feast on love at last
Healed by His wounds lashed

His love is our heavenly bread
Love raised Him from the dead
Love is the bridegroom we wed.


I too struggle with complete surrender and will pray over all struggling in here

 

[brinny]

God bless you. Beautifully gifted poem my friend.

 

[Denisa Tharsos]

Yes, I do fail obeying him totally...I want to love Him, to obey Him and His commands but sometimes I do fall short. But I really want to obey Him not to gain or maintain something, but just because He is so great and marvelous and I really love Him. The last days I realised I don't really fear Him as I should and I began to pray for the the fear of the Lord, as stated in Isaiah 11. I admit I sometimes fear men more than God, especially when it comes to my unsaved family. I fear my dad and his fights when I go to church, instead of conforting in the verse that says that the persecuted are blessed. And I am not even that persecuted yet...I really hate this and I don't know why don't I fear and love God so much that anything else won't be so important

 

[achristian2]

Hi LFoxx:

Praising God will give you the most immediate results, as the enemy hates hearing that. Developing a constant and continuous habit of praise will soften your attitude towards the Lord such that an awareness of His Presence within you and around you will be stronger than anything else. One of the enemy's biggest deceptions is to get you to focus on him...thinking that you need to constantly fight against him. All this does is distract you from the Lord Jesus, your first Love. Keep your focus, your attention always towards Him - through praise, for "He inhabits the praises of His people" - and those negative thoughts will fade away.

LeastOne

Thank you LeastOne for your posts in this thread.

 

[brinny]

Amen!

 

[achristian2]

Hi Surviving:

I agree (as does James) that controlling the tongue is nearly impossible for us to accomplish under our own efforts. Praise God we are not limited to our own efforts, however! His Spirit lives within us and He is more than able to to do what we cannot. Part of my daily prayer is to ask Him to guard what I say, that I only speak the words He gives me and that He bless my every word so that it is uplifting to others and worthy of Him.

In Hebrews there is a passage which speaks of the "sacrifice of praise", and indeed much of the time it is just that very thing: a sacrifice. During difficult times, when praise is the very last thing you feel like doing, and there seems to be absolutely no reason to praise God for anything...that is the very time to "lift up those weary hands" and praise God the most. You will find that this "sacrifice" is one that is most pleasing to Him, and if you persist in it, you will experience within your spirit a lifting of the burdens from your heart.

Remember, we are not praising God for our troubles, rather we are praising Him in the very midst of those troubles (which is what makes it a sacrifice). So don't worry about trying to find anything positive to praise Him for, just praise Him! Many, many times I have to tell Him, "Lord, I don't understand this, but I trust you and I know you are working in all of this for my good. So I thank you for your patience with me. And I praise you for showing your love toward me, even in this situation."

In fact, much of the time anymore, I find myself just quietly saying, "Praise you, Father. Thank you, Jesus." over and over when I am alone, for no particular reason at all. I believe this is prompted by the Spirit, but I have realized that it maintains an attitude of praise within me without me having to "work" it up.

Don't give up, Surviving. He is working in you to form you into His Image...from the inside out.

To His Glory always,
Leastone

How do you praise God in the midst of one's difficulties. And yet, one must. We must not walk the Christian life with our feelings and yet we are emotional beings. And it causes us to press more into Him as we find ourselves hopeless to save ourselves. Only He can do so for us.

Philippians 1:6
being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

Hebrews 12:2
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

I think its easiest to praise Him when we quote scriptures of His promises to us.

Sorry for the rambling.

 

[achristian2]

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