These things confuse me

[Migdala]

Well, there is something in me preventing me from forgiving myself and all that. I'm trying with all my might, but I can't do it on my own.

 

[Johnnz]

Stop trying and accept that Jesus already has forgiven you. It's His forgiveness that is offered to us, there for our acceptance. We can't manufacture it, improve on it, or ever do enough to earn it let alone deserve it.

John
NZ

 

[Migdala]

It's not that easy. I have been trying for a very long time now. NO ONE can come to God unless the Father draws them through the Holy Spirit. No one. God has to open my eyes to believe.....I am unable to do it on my own. It's like there is a veil over my eyes, just like the Bible talks about. I feel nothing but rejection by God. No matter how much I cry and beg, that's all I feel.

 

[Emmy]

Dear Migdala. Jesus tells a Lawyer in Matthew, chapter22, verses 35-40, " The first and great Commandment is: Love God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. The second is like it: Love thy neighbour as thyself." Then Jesus states this fact: " On these two Commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." Love is what God wants from us, Love for God with all our beings, and Love for our neighbour as we love ourselves. To tell people about God is good, but God wants more. God wants us to show that we mean what we say, we treat them kindly and with a smile, forgive them rather than ignore them or give angry replies. Let people know that our Love for God changes us into loving and caring neighbours. Jesus told us about kind and helpful people, how they are thanked and well thought of, and that they get their thanks aready from being well-liked and thought of. God wants us to love as children do, wholehearted without expecting thanks or even gratitude. God wants us to love with hearts, with souls, and with minds, God first and foremost, and our neighbour, ( all others, friends or not friends) as we love ourselves. That does not come easy to us, but it can be done. Jesus will give us His Love and Joy, and the Holy Spirit will give us His Love, too. Jesus told us to " ask and ye receive," and then we thank God and share all with our neighbour, or all all around us. God will see our sincere efforts, and God will know that we love Him: God can see how we follow His Commandments to love, and let the world see that we belong to God, and love God and our neighbour. We will stumble, perhaps often, Migdala, but we ask God to forgive us, and God will forgive us as we will forgive others. We then carry on, getting better and better, Love is a Christian`s weapon, and with God on our side, who or what can be against us. I say this with love. Greetings from Emmy, your sister in Christ.

 

[Pal Handy]

Yes, I already know that the AntiChrist will come as an angel of light. I know the things I said against the Holy Spirit, and I felt God's anger at me-I literally felt His wrath and I felt my soul leave my body. I have had many demonic attacks and I know the difference. I have never in my life felt terror from God, but I felt it at that point.

I do not know if I have gone past the point of no return with God. All I know is that I have been trying and trying to get the Holy Spirit back strong in my life...over and over and over. My pastor does not meet people-I have been going to my church for about 5 months now and have still not met him...and he has absolutely no tolerance whatsoever for people in my position. He calls them "whining, sniveling cowards who do not know the authority they have in Christ". or something similar. My church is all about the POWER of the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues, healing, having lots of money, etc. Very big on spiritual warfare also.

I used to have the assurance of the Holy Spirit in my heart. I want that back....I can do nothing without His assurance. I used to have so much LOVE for Jesus and for others....

I am seeing a counselor at my church, but she thinks nothing is wrong with me and she wants me to join the church and the prayer team....even though I do not have the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and would be absolutely USELESS on a prayer team. So I have not even joined the church until I get the Baptism with evidence of tongues-they probably wouldn't let me anyway.

Honestly-don't you think I have not been praying for God to help me with this? Don't you think I have not been praying for peace and assurance of my salvation and to know if I have been forgiven by God for my horrible sin? I am STILL WAITING on that assurance from Him!

I am severely depressed, living in torment day in and day out, and all I do is sleep so I don't have to THINK about what I said.

Yes, God is love....but He also chastens and disciplines and PUNISHES sinners...yes, even Christians who continue in rebellious sin like I did.

If He does not chasten a person then the Bible says we are not His.

Yes, I sometimes see God working in my life....like if I pray for someone and God answers the prayer.....but I need the joy of my salvation-I need the conviction of sin, I need the leading of the Holy Spirit, to hear His still, small Voice again.

My heart is like a rock, and I fear so much that God is hardening my heart like He did with Pharoah. The closer I try to get to Him, the further I feel and I don't know what to do anymore.

You are believing several lies...

First...God is not angry anymore.
Christ came and made peace between ALL MEN and God.
We live in a time of Grace where Christ's sacrifice has covered
the sin's of all men for all time and God is no longer angry.

There will come a final judgement in which God will judge
but that time is not now.

Jesus has made peace between God and man and because of this peace
God has not judged the earth as He once did in the Old testament.

Romans 2:4
Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering,
not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?

Romans 5:18
Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men,
resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act
the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.


God is not angry with you because Christ paid your debt so you are now free.

John 8:36
So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

You are not greater than God so if He declares you free,
stop calling Him a liar and let go of your sins and let God forgive you.

You are holding God captive by your thoughts that you cannot be forgiven.

These thoughts of yours come from the pit of hell and are lies.

This is the unpardonable sin....
Those that reject Christ and die in their sins will have
committed the upardonable sin in which they would have
called the Holy Spirit's testimony about Christ a lie and then
they would have died in that final sin of rejection of Christ.

All men who are alive have God's grace and mercy upon
them and God does not desire to destroy them but
to show them His love and mercy and grace so that they
may repent and accept His free gift of love, forgiveness and eternal life.

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world through Him might be saved.

God is not angry with you but the devil is the one who brings condemnation
on you everytime you try to get right with God.
The devil is the one who tells you that God is angry and that you
have committed the unpardonable sin in an effort to drive you away from God.

Peter denied the Lord THREE TIMES which according to the Old Testament
law was a complete and utter break of relationship as it was
used in the case of a divorce.

If anyone could have committed the unpardonable sin in the way you
understand it, it would have been Peter. And yet we see Peter restored
and returned to his place as a leader among the disciples.

God is not angry with you but if you keep believing the lies
of the devil you will drive yourself away from God.

Your feelings do not make God into a liar.

Your feelings can be based on lies.

Your feelings should not take authority over God's gospel truth.

Feelings can mislead people and cause them to be mislead.

If your pastor will not meet with you, ask around and find one
who will meet with you and spend time with you in prayer and counseling.

Confess the Lord before man.
Speak the words: "Jesus Christ is Lord"
Renew and avow your faith in Christ for your salvation.
Call the devil a liar when He tells you that God has rejected you and is angry with you.

Christ will confess your name before His Father and His Father will rejoice in
your descion to believe on His Christ for salvation.
Matthew 10:32
“Therefore whoever confesses Me before men,
him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven.

Who condemns you?
God sent Christ to die for you so is He now condemning you when
He gave you His own son to die for you so you could be with Him?
Who is it who condemns you?
Is it Christ who hung on your cross and took all your sins on Himself?
Why would Christ die for you if He desires to condemn you?

Stop believing the devils lies.
Start believing the word of God and leave your feeling out of this matter.

Feelings are not the truth.

Feelings can deceive.

Feelings can be based on lies so they cannot be trusted.

Only God's word can be trusted, all else is subject to failure.

God loves you and that is a fact so stop your "feelings" and base
your life on the truth of God's word and in time your "feelings" will
again line up with truth and not lies.


I will leave you with this scripture that blows the devil's lies out
of the water. Memorize it and let it be the begining of your
healing and assurance of God's love for YOU!

God’s Everlasting Love

Romans 8
31 What then shall we say to these things?
If God is for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all,
how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?

Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect?
It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns?
It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen,
who is even at the right hand of God,
who also makes intercession for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine,
or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written:

“ For Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who
loved us.
For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor
principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come,
nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able
to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

 

[paul1149]

Dear Migdala,

Maybe it will help to relate the vision I had many years ago. I had left a church that turned severely controlling and abusive, and that had gone on to essentially split. It was my first church, and I was devastated. I told God in no uncertain terms that if this is how it was, I wasn’t interested in following Him any longer.

I went into severe spiritual depression, and it took years to get out. At the lowest point, I had a night vision of myself. In it, I was dangling by a single slender thread over the mouth of a great dark abyss. As I contemplated it, I was confronted head-on with some stark realities:

• There was no way that thread could sustain my weight. I was going to fall, and soon.

• If I struggled at all, I would only make it worse and hasten my destruction. I had no power in the matter at all, and was completely at the mercy of that thread.

• Worst of all, I fully realized that I was deserving of falling. I had turned my back on God. I had judged Him to be unfaithful, because of the failings of His church. I was the prodigal that had given up his birthright.​

In sum, I was totally without hope. I went through my days spiritually numb, waiting for a destruction that was absolutely bound to come upon me at any time.

But a funny thing happened on the way to perdition: I didn’t fall. The days turned to weeks, and I began to realize, hey, I haven't fallen yet. I honestly wondered why. I was sure I would, and should. The weeks passed, and I said, hey, I'm still not falling. I was puzzled, perplexed. And finally the day came when I realized, wow, I'm not going to fall. I saw clearly that it was Jesus who was bearing me up, at my weakest and most alienated, when I couldn’t begin to bear myself. Jesus – the one I had turned my back on, had never abandoned me.

This was the turning point. I began to see Jesus' keeping power when we cannot keep ourselves. I began to experience His amazing love in ways I could not have dreamed of. Indeed, that was precisely the reason He allowed me to fail – so He could convince me of the very kind of love I needed but had been missing all my life. At the very moment I expected to be read the riot act, I found mercy:

“Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. -Hos 2.14 ​

Now, Jesus is Lord, and He can deal with various people exactly the way He wants, and without consulting with me. Nonetheless, He has circumscribed His actions with His Word, and where His Word speaks clearly we can rely on that as a guide.

Having become man and died for our sins, does it make sense that He would want to load malignant fears on us? Or alleviate them? Are these fears making you look to Jesus as the Author and Finisher of your faith? Or do they turn you inward toward your own performance?

For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh -Php 3.3​

Clearly, our strength is in Christ alone. He is faithful even when we are not. Any looking to our own performance – whether it be failures or successes, so judged, will lead us away from Him who is our hope.

Blessings,
Paul

 

[Migdala]

Dear Migdala,

Maybe it will help to relate the vision I had many years ago. I had left a church that turned severely controlling and abusive, and that had gone on to essentially split. It was my first church, and I was devastated. I told God in no uncertain terms that if this is how it was, I wasn’t interested in following Him any longer.

I went into severe spiritual depression, and it took years to get out. At the lowest point, I had a night vision of myself. In it, I was dangling by a single slender thread over the mouth of a great dark abyss. As I contemplated it, I was confronted head-on with some stark realities:

• There was no way that thread could sustain my weight. I was going to fall, and soon.

• If I struggled at all, I would only make it worse and hasten my destruction. I had no power in the matter at all, and was completely at the mercy of that thread.

• Worst of all, I fully realized that I was deserving of falling. I had turned my back on God. I had judged Him to be unfaithful, because of the failings of His church. I was the prodigal that had given up his birthright.​

In sum, I was totally without hope. I went through my days spiritually numb, waiting for a destruction that was absolutely bound to come upon me at any time.

But a funny thing happened on the way to perdition: I didn’t fall. The days turned to weeks, and I began to realize, hey, I haven't fallen yet. I honestly wondered why. I was sure I would, and should. The weeks passed, and I said, hey, I'm still not falling. I was puzzled, perplexed. And finally the day came when I realized, wow, I'm not going to fall. I saw clearly that it was Jesus who was bearing me up, at my weakest and most alienated, when I couldn’t begin to bear myself. Jesus – the one I had turned my back on, had never abandoned me.

This was the turning point. I began to see Jesus' keeping power when we cannot keep ourselves. I began to experience His amazing love in ways I could not have dreamed of. Indeed, that was precisely the reason He allowed me to fail – so He could convince me of the very kind of love I needed but had been missing all my life. At the very moment I expected to be read the riot act, I found mercy:

“Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. -Hos 2.14 ​

Now, Jesus is Lord, and He can deal with various people exactly the way He wants, and without consulting with me. Nonetheless, He has circumscribed His actions with His Word, and where His Word speaks clearly we can rely on that as a guide.

Having become man and died for our sins, does it make sense that He would want to load malignant fears on us? Or alleviate them? Are these fears making you look to Jesus as the Author and Finisher of your faith? Or do they turn you inward toward your own performance?

For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh -Php 3.3​

Clearly, our strength is in Christ alone. He is faithful even when we are not. Any looking to our own performance – whether it be failures or successes, so judged, will lead us away from Him who is our hope.

Blessings,
Paul

Thank you-I really appreciate you telling me about that vision. It was close to what I saw in my vision, and what my friends saw...but the exception of mine was that I literally FELT my soul, or what I thought was the Holy Spirit leave. And I have struggled to try to get my relationship back ever since. Some days I do good, but when the spirit of rejection or fear comes on me, I am way, way too weak to fight it. And yeah, it's easy enough to say that Jesus is fighting it for me, but when you're covered with an oppressive heavy spirit so thick that it feels like a blanket suffocating you....well, it's hard.

 

[Pal Handy]

Thank you-I really appreciate you telling me about that vision. It was close to what I saw in my vision, and what my friends saw...but the exception of mine was that I literally FELT my soul, or what I thought was the Holy Spirit leave. And I have struggled to try to get my relationship back ever since. Some days I do good, but when the spirit of rejection or fear comes on me, I am way, way too weak to fight it. And yeah, it's easy enough to say that Jesus is fighting it for me, but when you're covered with an oppressive heavy spirit so thick that it feels like a blanket suffocating you....well, it's hard.

This last statement (in red) contains and accusation against God (you infer that Jesus is not
on your side because evil is oppressing you) and so you need to ask for God's forgiveness
so that you can come to faith in His ability to deliver you from evil.

Sorry but I will not give power to your fears or your feelings
because I care too much about you to coddle you into complacency
and helplessness.

I will not talk the problem and thereby magnify it and empower it
as if it can stand against God and His power but instead I will give you the solution.

Read God's word that will empower you to know that the devil is a liar
and that with God all things are possible, even the destruction of the evil
that torments you.

Stop giving power to your "vision" and the evil it has brought into your life.

Feelings are not faith......
Feelings are not reality so fight the lies with the truth of God's word.
Faith is the weapon that sends the devil running.
Faith is the key that unlocks God's blessings.
Faith brings forgiveness and and peace and causes the enemy to flee.
Faith pleases God.

Romans 14:23
New King James Version (NKJV)
......... for whatever is not from faith is sin.

Hebrews 11:6
But without faith it is impossible to please Him,
for he who comes to God must believe that He is,
and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

May God bless you and lead you to His truth and may
He impart to you greater faith....

I will be praying for you tonight.....

 

[briareos]

Migdala

Your faith should rest in the scriptures, not visions. There is a reason why the bible says to test the spirits. The word of God, the holy scripture specifically says that it is by faith that we are saved, nothing else. Paul exhorted the people to continue in the gospel of grace, and you should too. You will never earn your salvation, Jesus did that for you, you believe unto salvation and nothing else.

It does not matter what the vision said and it does not matter who had the vision, you compare it to the holy word of God and if it does not match the scripture you do not receive it. The devil is a liar and master of trickery, guard your heart and build yourself upon the rock the holy word of God. When Jesus struggled in the wilderness he refutted the devil with the scripture "It is written... it is written... it is written..."

Build yourself on the word of God and do not trust in anything else, no matter who it is. Everyone but God and his word will eventually let you down. Nothing but the word of God can last forever.

 

[dodolah]

You have not truly believe in Jesus if you still doubt His mercy and His sacrifice are sufficient to pardon ALL your sins. All means all. You don't need to fast. You don't need to wait for visions, angels, prophecies, etc etc to know that Jesus has forgiven all your sins. Tell the voices in your mind that try to tell you otherwise to shut up. It's time to give God a chance.

 

[Migdala]

This last statement (in red) contains and accusation against God (you infer that Jesus is not
on your side because evil is oppressing you) and so you need to ask for God's forgiveness
so that you can come to faith in His ability to deliver you from evil.

Sorry but I will not give power to your fears or your feelings
because I care too much about you to coddle you into complacency
and helplessness.

I will not talk the problem and thereby magnify it and empower it
as if it can stand against God and His power but instead I will give you the solution.

Read God's word that will empower you to know that the devil is a liar
and that with God all things are possible, even the destruction of the evil
that torments you.

Stop giving power to your "vision" and the evil it has brought into your life.

Feelings are not faith......
Feelings are not reality so fight the lies with the truth of God's word.
Faith is the weapon that sends the devil running.
Faith is the key that unlocks God's blessings.
Faith brings forgiveness and and peace and causes the enemy to flee.
Faith pleases God.

Romans 14:23
New King James Version (NKJV)
......... for whatever is not from faith is sin.

Hebrews 11:6
But without faith it is impossible to please Him,
for he who comes to God must believe that He is,
and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

May God bless you and lead you to His truth and may
He impart to you greater faith....

I will be praying for you tonight.....

You misunderstood. I was in no way implying that Jesus is not for me. And I do not need, nor want, your coddling. Yes, God forgives....but He has a limit to our sins. You would do well to remember the Israelites who did not make it into the Promised Land because of their unbelief, fornication, etc. God put up with them for many years, but then His anger was unleashed on them and those did not make it. Do not think that God will put up with some things always. Yes, our PAST sins are covered by the blood of Jesus-we have to keep coming to Him in repentance and confess our sins committed after salvation. And no, I do not believe in "OSAS" either. I know the difference between an attack of Satan, and the wrath of God's chastening. God was very, very angry with me, but I am very, very blessed that He did not kill me that night-He is merciful and has given me another chance....I am doing everything I can to come to Him, with all my horrible limitations. I cannot simply "believe" You are of sound mind, with no demonic activity going on in you. I do not have those blessings, so my fight is much harder than yours. You simply cannot understand what struggles I have to go through just to function every day. Walk a mile in my shoes and then see what I have to go through.

 

[Johnnz]

What you stated does not make sense. How can a sin remain unforgiven now when Jesus' death was over 2000 years ago? Did he die for our current (ie all) sins then, or not? And if not, how does Jesus then deal with our present sins?

John
NZ

 

[Migdala]

What you stated does not make sense. How can a sin remain unforgiven now when Jesus' death was over 2000 years ago? Did he die for our current (ie all) sins then, or not? And if not, how does Jesus then deal with our present sins?

John
NZ

When Christ died for our sins, all of our past sins were forgiven and we became new creations in Christ. There is no way we would be able to remember each individual sin committed before our salvation! But just because we are saved, are we to continue in sin? Of course not!

When we sin, we have the conviction of the Holy Spirit to let us know that we have sinned, and we have to go to God and confess those sins and REPENT....not keep doing them and expecting that they are forgiven 2000 years ago if we do not confess them to God! Jesus is our High Priest-He is at the right hand of God, interceding for us, and He forgives us of all our sins if we come to Him for forgiveness!

Do you have unconfessed sin in your life? Do you just go sin, whether it is cussing someone out in traffic, or gossiping about a coworker, telling a dirty joke, etc. etc.....do you ask God to forgive you if you do those things, or do you just say..."Oh, Jesus died on the cross for that-I don't have to confess?"

 

[Johnnz]

Confession is important. So is what I confess about God and Jesus. I confess my sins in the knowledge I am forgiven already and therefore can accept His forgiveness. But my sins aren't unforgiven if I don't confess them. But I cannot live out the fullness of Jesus life if I retain sin in my life by not acknowledging it and moving on from there.

John
NZ

 

[meinabox]

A few things...

In my opinion, a good way to shows others the Lord is by exemplifying christianity (or love), according to the two essential commandments that Jesus used to summarize everything. God is Love, therefore, if you show Love, people will know you are from the Kingdom of God. You will never be perfect (1 Cor 13) but by showing that we understand this, we are essentially speaking the truth...

In addition, not everyone is meant to be the "mouth" of the body of Christ and therefore, perhaps you weren't meant for preaching by mouth (1 Cor 12). Because we are not perfect, we can not be every body part of Christ. We work together. Nevertheless, perhaps you are and perhaps you aren't but you should seek until you find. Basically, don't be hard on yourself if you do not speak to as many people as you would like to about Jesus...

That being said, I think it's important to note that Jesus didn't go around asking every single person if they wanted to be a Christian. He let "the little children" come to him, so to speak. He preached but he never forced anyone to listen and when people didn't listen despite his miracles, he moved on...and I believe He even said that nobody that came to Him that wasn't send by God (John 6:44).

So...keep bettering yourself in Christ and keep your senses open to those being sent by God to YOU, if He is willing...

God bless...

 

[Pal Handy]

Hebrews 11:6
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is,
and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Matthew 26:28
For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

Mark 3:28
28 “Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men,
and whatever blasphemies they may utter;

2 Timothy 2:23
But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife.

 

[paul1149]

Thank you-I really appreciate you telling me about that vision. It was close to what I saw in my vision, and what my friends saw...but the exception of mine was that I literally FELT my soul, or what I thought was the Holy Spirit leave. And I have struggled to try to get my relationship back ever since. Some days I do good, but when the spirit of rejection or fear comes on me, I am way, way too weak to fight it. And yeah, it's easy enough to say that Jesus is fighting it for me, but when you're covered with an oppressive heavy spirit so thick that it feels like a blanket suffocating you....well, it's hard.

You're welcome, Migdala. More of my testimony may also be pertinent:

I told you it took me many years to restore my relationship with the Lord. Progress was very slow. I had been thrust deeply back into works salvation. Most of it was hidden from me, but in my heart I knew it couldn’t be right. But the veil between me and God was so thick that I could see no other way to go.

I only began to be established when I re-learned the grace of God. The more I began to trust in God's love, the more I opened my heart to Him. This was a process. God was rebuilding me from the inside-out.

Then came the day when I had a major grace awakening. I saw that God's intention from the foundations of the world was to choose me for salvation. I saw how little I had to do with it. And I saw that He would never abandon me, because His love for me is so great it led Him to the cross for my benefit.

When I saw that my Father is no longer counting my sins against me, that they have been totally paid for – past, present and future – I finally was able to get over myself. I saw it was all about Jesus. And the more I focus on Him, and not on myself, the more stable, mature and empowered I become: "Looking to Him, the Author and Finisher of our faith" (Heb 12,2). "Sin will not have dominion over you, because you are under grace" (Rom 6.14).

The book of Hebrews is all about the superiority of the new covenant over the old. We are no longer under a covenant of law and judgment, we are under liberating grace (Rom 8.1-2). Yet so many Christians take the condemnations of the law unto themselves, and miss the joy and power of their walk with God.

When Jesus warned you of hell in this vision, were you enveloped in His love? God will not condemn without leaving a way out. Were He to do that, all our focus would be on ourselves. Do you see what a spiritual trap that is? Strike fear into my heart, make me think I need to do something in order to be acceptable to God? The reality is, without Him, we can do nothing.

Most, if not all, of our labor now is to enter the rest provided by the completed work of Jesus (Heb 4.11, and the entire chapter). We do not labor to become acceptable to God by our own works. The latter is essentially Old Testament theology, the very thing Christ came to complete and do away with for our sakes, because it separates us from Him.

So I repeat the question: does this vision take you into the love, peace, acceptance and rest of God, or does it throw you back onto your own efforts to earn salvation?

When I have a troubling experience, either in a vision or in real life, my first task is to reenter the Lord's rest. That is the place of immunity. That's the only place where I can have the peace that passes understanding and circumstances, where I can think with clear perspective, where I can remain receptive to God.

I hope you consider these things. The Bible says to test the spirits, and to make sure of all things and hold fast to what is fine. I spent many years fighting self-condemnation, and it was only when I accepted the grace of God that I entered his rest and gained the victory. I would like others to come to the same place, without the expenditure of years. Hopefully something here will be of use to you.

Blessings,
Paul

 

[Migdala]

Let me ask you this. If our future sins are paid for, then why would Jesus give a warning to the churches in Revelation?

He tells the church in Ephesus that they have left their first love, and if they do not do the first works, He will remove their lampstand-unless they repent. And the church at Sardis, if they did not repent, He would blot them out of the Book of Life.



If their future sins were paid for, there would have been no need for the warnings at all. Jesus would not tell us that those who endure till the End would be saved, nor would He tell those to OVERCOME in order to enter the Kingdom of God.

Paul would not tell us to put on the full armour of God and fight if it was Ok to just go along with Satan's tricks and deceptions. We would have no reason to confess and repent to God if that were the case.

 

[Aibrean]

Repentance is the underlying key.

 

[spr]

That's true, that is in Revelations. That bit about being blotted out of the book of life brings my thoughts to unforgivable sins and the once saved always saved doctrine.

I've never come to a solid conclusion about those issues. Honestly I don't even want to touch that area. I hope in time I'll come to some understanding and peace on the subject.