I Have a Creed

[Catherineanne]

I am reminded of an old story. A person goes to eternity, and is shown round before finding where he is to live. First he is taken to the infernal regions, and is shown into a hall. In this hall there is a long table, covered with food, and with people sitting around the table, clearly emaciated and starving. He asks why they are starving, with all that food, and he is told to look closer.

He looks and sees that by each place setting is a massive knife and fork, and that no matter how hard the people try, they cannot use it to pick up the food and eat; the forks are too long to reach their mouths. So in the midst of plenty, they are starving.

This is terrible, says the man, surely heaven can't be like this?

He is then taken to another room; same food, same table, with people chatting away, well fed, laughing and joking and generally having a good time. Do these people have proper sized knives and forks, he wonders, and takes a look. He is amazed to find that the knives and forks are again oversized, and too big to reach from hand to mouth.

The man turns to his guide, and says, how come these people are well fed, while those in the infernal regions are starving?

Simple, says the guide. The people in this room feed one another.

In other words, when we love other people as we would want to be loved, we feed ourselves spiritually. Therefore, in putting aside self love we achieve spiritual wellbeing. We must indeed love other people as ourselves, but that very often will mean putting them first, as indeed Christ puts us first.

Love Christ, by all means, love your neighbour as yourself, and leave it to the Lord to complete the circle and pour out his love on you. Whatever we give to God in acts of love he will repay many times over; he will never leave himself in our debt.

 

[Sharon Swift]

Much love to you Catherineanne. Your story meant to me that I was being fed by my fellow posters. I hope that the LORD does complete me. I am sorry if I come of being egotistical, I am not. I am so ashamed of myself and embarrassed in all my life.

I wonder if one can go back to the other room and teach the emancipated how to feed each other? I care about them. I don't want them to starve for Christ's love.

 

[Catherineanne]

Much love to you Catherineanne. Your story meant to me that I was being fed by my fellow posters. I hope that the LORD does complete me. I am sorry if I come of being egotistical, I am not. I am so ashamed of myself and embarrassed in all my life.

I wonder if one can go back to the other room and teach the emancipated how to feed each other? I care about them. I don't want them to starve for Christ's love.

No, Sharon; you are the one doing the feeding.

The story means that in sharing your love for the Lord, you are spreading that love to all who hear you, and that it is a great blessing to everyone who reads what you have to say.

You do not come across as egotistical at all; your words are striving for truth and purity, and there is nothing wrong with that.

The question arose, do we love ourselves or do we love others? The answer to that is yes; in loving others we receive love; in receiving love we love others. For a Christian the two go together and cannot be divided.

Here is another story. Some people behave as if love is a cake. They get to divide that cake up, but at some point it runs out. So if you want a piece of cake, you have to share with everyone else around. The people they like get a big slice, the people they don't like get nothing.

With the Lord love is not like this. Everyone gets a whole great big cake to himself, and every time you take a bite from it, just as with the loaves and fishes, there is more left than there was to start with.

The Lord's love is not a bucket or a cup that can be emptied. It is a great big river, pouring all over us. It doesn't matter how much we drink; there will always be more, pouring out to us and the whole world.

Don't be ashamed. Like you I aspire to be least in the kingdom of heaven, but even as the least ones there, we have a lot to be thankful for.

 

[Sharon Swift]

Catherineanne, God is giving you all fish and loaves to give out freely and they are being given to me also. I have so much to think about in this thread alone. I see unity and not division. You are all giving me spiritual food and I just have to keep praying.

I have imagined being at the bottom of the heap and I could not lift everyone up, they were too many and to vast to lift up to God. Yet Jesus Christ did this already and I don't have to. I can not be at the bottom of the heap, though I want to stay there with Jesus who is the Least and the Greatest and He always will be in His Nature. I only want to be the little least for Him. Christ is in me to lift up the least in my deeds, but I can not do it on my own. I am a failure without Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit who is strength in both love and conviction. I have been convicted by the Holy Spirit and it was not fun. I was reprimanded so much and I suffered the crime of my sins. I just pray that I am never convicted that deeply again. I really got scared and was terrified of evil. Jesus conquered evil and He WILL conquer evil in us. I will never be pure in this life and I wonder what purity means? To me it means I will be able to be the least and be able to love deeply without ego and to love people so much that they will feel my blessings to them. I will love them so deeply that I will lift up their spirits and they will love me with respect. Because people will be different and they will have respect for one another in their quest to be as close to God as possible.

Thank you all for loving God. I am truly amazed at the devotion you have. I am sorry that there might be division of heart when it comes to religion. I wish that there was no religion and only faith.

Oh yes, it will be great when sin dies.

 

[Catherineanne]

Catherineanne, God is giving you all fish and loaves to give out freely and they are being given to me also. I have so much to think about in this thread alone. I see unity and not division. You are all giving me spiritual food and I just have to keep praying.

I have imagined being at the bottom of the heap and I could not lift everyone up, they were too many and to vast to lift up to God. Yet Jesus Christ did this already and I don't have to. I can not be at the bottom of the heap, though I want to stay there with Jesus who is the Least and the Greatest and He always will be in His Nature. I only want to be the little least for Him. Christ is in me to lift up the least in my deeds, but I can not do it on my own. I am a failure without Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit who is strength in both love and conviction. I have been convicted by the Holy Spirit and it was not fun. I was reprimanded so much and I suffered the crime of my sins. I just pray that I am never convicted that deeply again. I really got scared and was terrified of evil. Jesus conquered evil and He WILL conquer evil in us. I will never be pure in this life and I wonder what purity means? To me it means I will be able to be the least and be able to love deeply without ego and to love people so much that they will feel my blessings to them. I will love them so deeply that I will lift up their spirits and they will love me with respect. Because people will be different and they will have respect for one another in their quest to be as close to God as possible.

Thank you all for loving God. I am truly amazed at the devotion you have. I am sorry that there might be division of heart when it comes to religion. I wish that there was no religion and only faith.

Oh yes, it will be great when sin dies.

I thank God for my sins; awareness of our sin keeps us safe, funnily enough. It prevents us falling into spiritual pride, or hubris, which is the worst of sins. It was hubris that led Lucifer to fall from heaven. I certainly strive to overcome my failings, but I also know that I can never manage to do that completely; I can never be quite good enough for God.

There is a better place to imagine yourself than in a heap, Sharon. Imagine yourself at the foot of the cross, looking up at Our Lord giving himself for you. It is not possible to find ourselves there and remain proud or self satisfied, imo.

It is important, I think, to know what we believe and why. This is why I value the Nicene Creed. It teaches me why Christ is important, who he is to his Church, and who he is to me. I do not want to stray from the narrow way, and remaining with the teachings of the Nicene creed keep me safe. But you are also right; ultimately it is love that shows us how to follow the Lord, and it is love that matters. Heaven and earth will pass away, even Scripture will pass away, but Love will remain.

 

[in1]

Till He sends forth Judgment unto Victory. He is both the Victory and the Judgment that He alone sends forth ... And ye are complete in him ...
The question is who told you that you were naked. This is the 2nd of three anit-feasts that are without the city. The first step in establishing your own righteousness is to eat of this fruit the second is to say I'm naked or, I see. God when speaking to Adam showed the way back in quoting the sequnce of events backwards leading you back to He who is your Righteousness.

 

[Sharon Swift]

Dear Catherineanne:

I am thinking more that I shouldn't have said I have a Creed. No Creed but Christ seems good. I am not a follower of the Nicene Creed and I want to follow the guidelines that Just A Guy did set out for this particular forum.

Yes to say that I am at the bottom of the heap perhaps does not sound too appealing, unless that heap was a heap load of goodness of spirit.

I need more guidance as long it is without doctrine. Can that be done?

I am building my foundation on Jesus Christ. He is the Rock. No matter how much I believe my foundation is cracked (thinking that I am not living on the Rock), no matter how many times the wind blows at me...I find that I am indeed living on the Rock and that He is my foundation. To me, His Church is the Word and only the Word is His Church, we are just members. I guess that is why I drifted to this forum. I didn't want doctrine to scare me or cloud me at all.

Jesus is always there for me. He is my foundation. He bought me back, demanded me back from a life of very deep sin. Jesus chose me, even when I was not too sure that I liked Him choosing me. I want to return the debt I owe Him and become what He wants me to be. That is why I am asking so many questions and there is scripture to base my questions on.

I am Just A Guy's sister and I take his reproach I believe. But as the Lord says, I am to test the spirits. I am a firm believer that prayer will accomplish much and saying that I will also say I am lousy at prayer. But the only prayer that Jesus asked us to pray was the Our Father. That being He, Himself who is Jesus Christ.

Please help me with the foundation of Lord Jesus Christ in my life. I have five boys and I am a single mother who really went overboard on the "false purity" of myself indoctrinated and I alienated my boys from God. I am in the process of praying them now to be received by God, through Lord Jesus Christ. I am afraid for their well being and I don't want to flood them with an understanding that I do not fully posses yet. I have been single for 12 years now. The first few years were terrible and lonely and yes they still are to some extent and I am broke, beyond broke both financially and spiritually. I am now living my life to one day be with God and I hope that He Jesus Christ, accepts me as His.

I am just learning of Christ as the Father. I am just learning that no matter if my physical home's foundation is cracked, He is my true Home and His Foundation is solid and sure.

God bless you and LORD Jesus Christ, please take away my vanity. I do not want to be like Lucifer. I am indebted to You LORD God, LORD Jesus Christ. I love You.

Luke 6:48

It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against thathouse, it stands firm because it is well built.

 

[benidict]

Benidict...I am really pondering all of this and inside me there is indeed a sickly love that combats the love for myself that I speak of. I want that to die in me and it can abate with prayer and talks to LORD Jesus Christ, through and with the Holy Spirit.

Dictator and Just a Guy. You are right about a sickly love that wants to please itself. I wonder really if this is love though? There was a time when I was so abused in my thoughts and my deeds that the treasure within me (The Holy Spirit), seemed too hard to take care of and yes I loved the treasure within me and yes I loved myself enough to care deeply for the Holy Spirit. I felt like I had this great gift inside me that was being looked after by myself and when it came to hard to bear, I asked the angels to care for the Holy Spirit for me. Now I ask LORD Jesus Christ in your presence, to allow me to care for the Holy Spirit again. I really mucked up in life and made horrendous mistakes and I feel that sickly love that you are speaking of. I want it gone in me and I hate it in myself, but it won't leave me completely until I am healed in another existence with the LORD.

I don't know if valuing oneself before the LORD is too bad. I guess it depends on what type of value you place on yourself. Whether you value the sickly self love that you speak of or whether you value yourself as a member of Christ. I want Jesus Christ to flourish in me.

I do believe that my version was a bit watered down as you said. It should be Love the LORD Jesus Christ and love oneself with God's value and love others as oneself. I hate that sickly love you speak of and again I wonder whether or not it is love? Love is the Holy Spirit.

Dictator and Just a Guy. Throughout this thread I have learned two things. 1. I need to concentrate my efforts on abating the sickly "love" and 2. that LORD God Almighty is indeed Jesus Christ and that the Father is the Son and that the Son is the Father. I have always really called on the Father in the Son's name, yet the Father is the Son and the Son is the Greatest, the Father LORD Jesus Christ. I have also learned that I am in dire need of the treasure I had, to return to me now that I am fully aware that He was and is the Holy Spirit. Yes the Holy Spirit is in me already, but His gift to me that was in me needs to come home to me. I want to care for the LORD deeply.

Thank you all for contributing to this thread. It means a lot to me to speak of my faith.

I think you are talking about the flesh my dear sister. Yes. That is a very important issue. We do need to make sure we are walking in the Love that Jesus speaks about, and not after our own fleshly desires, although these in and of themselves are not always sinful. We need to practice The Brotherly love that is taught if we are to see Heaven. It is good to examine yourself. If you were not doing so, then there may be cause to worry. Im lousy at prayer myself. LOL! But...Although Jesus only taught the Lords prayer, There are examples of other types of prayer in the Epistles and the Book of Acts. Fascinating really. We have a treasure house of prayers in the Household of God. Keep you chin up. Dont become a dour Believer, doubting the Good work Christ is able to do thru you. Many of these self depreciating types are infected with the sin of Pride, which is what caused the devil to fall. Its called false humility. We are called to a life of Victory and Joy. We are to trust daily in what Christ has done, and is continuing to do. Be Joyful and enjoy your time here. I have been many places in my life. I just got back from war in a Muslim nation. Iraq to be precise. They have no Joy. They have a culture of death. They kill eachother, and Christians over there. All their holidays are about doom and gloom. WE are called to be different from that. Be greatful for for the Freedom and Choices you have. Make your life a gift well pleasing to God. I believe you are doing just that. And I hope you never loose Your Peace in Christ. You inspire me. P.S. Im sure I have made Far worse mistakes than you. And I hate those in my life too. We need to attone for what we can and move on. Keep the Faith Dear Sister. Charlie Mike...That is continue mission in Military speak..

 

[Sharon Swift]

Well Benidict, the best way to not become dour is to pray not to become dour. The best way not to become bitter, is to pray not to become bitter. I won't be bitter at all I hope and pray. In the past through hurt and pain, bitterness has entered my heart and it is an ugly feeling; however I prayed it away and it went. It takes time for the bitterness to leave, if in fact one knows that the bitterness exists in oneself, but it goes with prayer and simple faith.

John 14:2
In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.

I think it is sad that we can not think that we can walk between rooms and get along with each other. I can't think that Jesus our Father would want us to be stuck in one room and one room only. To think that Jesus is preparing those rooms for us and I do believe that we will be able to walk between the rooms and see the diversity that is LORD Jesus Christ.

I suffer so much Benidict, but I am joyful to others. Sometimes my spirit feels like it is defeated, but I would never inflict that on others. I think it is more than fleshly desires that I speak of, it is a piece of the flesh within my heart that is stained, perhaps with original sin. You know I have felt like I am the first and greatest sinner, the weight has been that heavy, but I won't allow myself to be Lucifer. He will not reign in me. You don't need to compare the depth of your sins to mine and we need not know whose sin is greater or far worse. We are all stained and we all have the same salvation through LORD Jesus Christ, who is the Father.

The LORD will remember our sins no more. I have asked the LORD before to bear all my sins before His saints and angels. I wanted to "come clean" and move on as you say. I felt I could not move on unless I acknowledged every sin and secret that was always exposed to God, yet hidden in my heart in my own neglect. The Holy Spirit did convict me deeply for my sin, because He loves me that is why. I suffered for years the weight of all my sin and I still carry some with me, but that doesn't mean that I am stuck in a story that has no good ending, because the ending is the beginning of a new Creation and the final destiny that I have is the beginning of my true joy. I want to instill joy in others and I give all my prayers and hope to all of you. I will meet you all in Heaven and will walk between the rooms in the House of the LORD. Jesus will introduce me to you and we will be so grateful in joy, that the LORD took all that was good in us and rebuilt us to be pleasing to Him and to live our future lives in joyous peace and without the evil one that has plagued our human selves so much. We WILL get all better for sure.

Have a great day and God bless.

 

[Thedictator]

Let me say this about LOVE. Love is not a filling one has, it is a choice one makes. I hear a lot of times from people who say I have just fallen out of love. Well you can't do that. You may have fallen out of lust but in a Christian marriage that does not matter, You have an obligation to God to love the other person regardless of whether the lust in the relationship is gone.

 

[in1]

Like the two houses there are two knids of love, natural love which without reason simply because that is what He is. Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved Him. Each time Jesus used the word that defines God and Peter replied each time that he only loved Him with the natural love.

The good news is God has shed abroad this Love in our Hearts even as He is that Love.