What is the best "way" to, if possible, to work toward of follow in keeping the commandments...?

[1stcenturylady]

I spent 38 years seeking the answer(s) to the questions you ask. God has told us to be holy as He is holy. The problem is how, right?

But after almost four decades of trying and failing miserably, God appeared to me twelve years ago and gave me the answer I had long sought.

I will share in a separate post about that miraculous night, but here I will simply give you the synopsis.

1) We are sinners, and in our flesh we cannot be holy.
2) Despite this, we are told to give diligence to holy.
3) After much failure, and not giving into the temptation to assume grace makes our need for holy character unnecessary, we must come to a breaking point where we long to be holy as He is holy but realize that just as it was with our initial salvation, so it is with our sanctification. We need a miracle.

This step is by far the hardest, for we have a hard time breaking and arriving at the point where we hate our own life, our efforts, our flesh itself. Yet it is precisely at this point that we can finally ONLY believe.

4) Thus, we are eventually to come to the point where our only hope is faith that His goodness is stronger than our failure and that He can and will do in us, what we could never do. He can make us holy. And here I am not talking about “positional” holiness,but His holiness actually manifested in our character.

So what is it we are to believe? We all know He died for our sins. We all have received His forgiveness. We cannot believe that any more than we do right now. What is it then that we are not believing?

We must believe that when He died, so DID we. We must believe that when He rose to newness of life, so DID we.
Knowing these things with our heads is not enough. We are told that with this knowledge, we are asked to step out and appropriate this newness of life by faith. It is the reckoning that Paul spoke of. This act of desperation faith perfectly epitomizes the principle Jesus gave us where we believe that we receive (with nothing to back up this except that God said it was so) and as we do, to our amazement, we discover that it truly becomes so.

And in these last days, we are about to be awakened to who we truly are, new creatures, and finally pick up our shields of faith that truly do quench ALL the fiery arrows that the enemy casts at us.

We as the church have spent 1900 years trying to “be good”, and have messed it up, and good. We are about to understand our mission is not to knock off the bad fruits we produce for new ones simply replace them. Our job is to make our tree good and that, dear brother, is done by our reckoning of faith.

Blessings,

Gideon

I would just like to add, that not only is this "done by our reckoning of faith," it is essential we are born again of the Spirit. We can have all the knowledge that Jesus is the Christ, but until we repent unto Him of our inability to stop sinning and make Him Lord, it is then he literally baptized us in the Holy Spirit, strengthening us to live holy lives and stop sinning. And again, as you said, this is not 'positional,' it is actual and you KNOW it when the old man is killed and replaced with His Spirit. Its amazing!

 

[fhansen]

What is the best "way" to, if possible, to work toward of follow in keeping the commandments...?

What does keeping the commandments mean to you...? What does it look like...?

And/if because if you do have a different view, then, "What is it, basically or IOW's...?"

Or some of you might think keeping the commandments is not the main point, and if so, could you explain that maybe...?

Or some of might think it/that is not the point at all, and if so, could you explain that maybe...? Or tell us what is the point then maybe...?

Is is possible to keep the commandments or not...? And, if not, should we pursue or work toward keeping them at all...? And then if so, or if that answer is yes, then, "how"...?

Comments...?

God Bless!

The best, and only right, way to keep the commandments is to love God and neighbor. This love is what makes a person just in the eyes of God, which is why the Greatest Commandments are what they are.

And this fulfillment of these commandments, this love IOW, is realized as God places the Law in our minds and writes it on our hearts, fulfilling the New Convenant prophecy of Jer 31 by doing a work in us, of transforming us into His own image.

And all of this is possible only by intimate relationship, or communion, with Him. This is the reconciliation between man and God that Jesus came to accomplish .

 

[eleos1954]

While I do like that a lot, I still have, and for some reason feel like I am still left with some of the same kinds of questions though...? Just being honest...

God Bless!

well ... the way it works with me is ... the Holy Spirit brings to my mind/heart what that sin I have committed, then I humbly repent and accept His forgiveness and rest in Him. Sometimes, I commit the same sin ... same process. Over time though the temptation gets less and less and sometimes disappears. It's a life-long daily process ... we can never be perfect ... but with the Lord helping us we can become a better person. ;o)

Struggling with Sin

13Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Certainly not! But in order that sin might be exposed as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.

14We know that the Law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do, I do not do. But what I hate, I do. 16And if I do what I do not want to do, I admit that the Law is good. 17In that case, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh; for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For I do not do the good I want to do. Instead, I keep on doing the evil I do not want to do. 20And if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

21So this is the principle I have discovered: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God’s Law. 23But I see another law at work in my body, warring against the law of my mind and holding me captive to the law of sin that dwells within me. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!

So then, with my mind I serve the law of God, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.

Philippians 3

14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize of God’s heavenly calling in Christ Jesus.

God Bless

 

[corinth77777]

What is the best "way" to, if possible, to work toward of follow in keeping the commandments...?

What does keeping the commandments mean to you...? What does it look like...?

And/if because if you do have a different view, then, "What is it, basically or IOW's...?"

Or some of you might think keeping the commandments is not the main point, and if so, could you explain that maybe...?

Or some of might think it/that is not the point at all, and if so, could you explain that maybe...? Or tell us what is the point then maybe...?

Is is possible to keep the commandments or not...? And, if not, should we pursue or work toward keeping them at all...? And then if so, or if that answer is yes, then, "how"...?

Comments...?

God Bless!

Hi
Well there are those in Christ
And there are those not in Christ

We do not keep the commands by trying to focus on keeping them. We keep them by
Gal 5;16 walking in the Spirit.
Walking in or by the Spirit transforms the human heart..When the heart is right the deeds follow
Someone who heart loves...doesn't desire to break any commands. For love is not selfish,seeks not its own,builds up...etc

A person not in Christ who sees a person who says they are Christian yet intends on cheating on His wife may cause the one that is not in Christ to fail to accept Jesus as Lord.
Jesus died to destroy the works of the devil...which brought death.

So if we live by trusting Christ those works of death are destroyed.
So yes it's important that commandments are kept because people are watching us.

Christ is the righteousness of God and we are to be the righteousness of God in Christ..my thought is so that the kingdom comes.

 

[Gideons300]

I would just like to add, that not only is this "done by our reckoning of faith," it is essential we are born again of the Spirit. We can have all the knowledge that Jesus is the Christ, but until we repent unto Him of our inability to stop sinning and make Him Lord, it is then he literally baptized us in the Holy Spirit, strengthening us to live holy lives and stop sinning. And again, as you said, this is not 'positional,' it is actual and you KNOW it when the old man is killed and replaced with His Spirit. Its amazing!

So good to see you again, dear sister. I have always enjoyed your wisdom. I have had a few things in my life that have kept me from posting for a while but hopefully, I will be able to be a part of the community here again. I have missed the fellowship.

Blessings,

Gids

 

[Strong in Him]

What is the best "way" to, if possible, to work toward of follow in keeping the commandments...?

Think about the cross, who God is and how much he has done for you; ask to be filled with his love - then you won't want to do anything against him or to break fellowship. It won't be about keeping a set of rules because you have to keep a set of rules; it'll be about not hurting the One you love.

 

[Strong in Him]

Another aspect of this is, "If we all have to be or become "exactly like Jesus" to be one of His, following in His ways, ect, or to be saved, ect, if we have to be or becomes "exactly like Him" and "measure up" to Him in any extensive or highly detailed way, somehow, I think we all fail, period...

That's why it's not down to us, by our efforts, it's the work of the Spirit, 2 Corinthians 3:18.
All we have to do is remain open to the Spirit, remain in Jesus and walk in the light.

 

[1stcenturylady]

So good to see you again, dear sister. I have always enjoyed your wisdom. I have had a few things in my life that have kept me from posting for a while but hopefully, I will be able to be a part of the community here again. I have missed the fellowship.

Blessings,

Gids

Nice to see you posting. I've always enjoyed them. Hope all is good on the home front.

 

[Maria Billingsley]

What is the best "way" to, if possible, to work toward of follow in keeping the commandments...?

What does keeping the commandments mean to you...? What does it look like...?

And/if because if you do have a different view, then, "What is it, basically or IOW's...?"

Or some of you might think keeping the commandments is not the main point, and if so, could you explain that maybe...?

Or some of might think it/that is not the point at all, and if so, could you explain that maybe...? Or tell us what is the point then maybe...?

Is is possible to keep the commandments or not...? And, if not, should we pursue or work toward keeping them at all...? And then if so, or if that answer is yes, then, "how"...?

Comments...?

God Bless!

When you have been regenerated,you receive the Holy Spirit to help you walk in righteousness. We all quench the Holy Spirit so this is an on going work through sanctification. Rather than look at the list of commands given by God, we should be tuning into His Holy Spirit for guidance. The law is written in our hearts so we will be able to distinguish laws that are not important vs laws that we know should be observed. It will become second nature if you walk with His Holy Spirit.

 

[1stcenturylady]

We all quench the Holy Spirit so this is an on going work through sanctification.

The apostles gave warnings, but they never said it was impossible to maintain consistency in the Spirit. Even if we've quenched the Spirit, ourselves, we can't speak for everyone.

 

[dstamps]

What is the best "way" to, if possible, to work toward of follow in keeping the commandments...?

What does keeping the commandments mean to you...? What does it look like...?
And/if because if you do have a different view, then, "What is it, basically or IOW's...?"
Or some of you might think keeping the commandments is not the main point, and if so, could you explain that maybe...?
Or some of might think it/that is not the point at all, and if so, could you explain that maybe...? Or tell us what is the point then maybe...?
Is is possible to keep the commandments or not...? And, if not, should we pursue or work toward keeping them at all...? And then if so, or if that answer is yes, then, "how"...?

Comments...?

God Bless!

I view the Bible somewhat differently than I interpret many others' view of it, and the word "Commandments" provides me with an opportunity to express a portion of that difference. I do not believe Scripture's focus relates to our physical world. Instead it relates to our Spiritual being. Therefore, where Man says, "This is a Commandment of GOD", the true purpose of the 'commandment' is to describe how a Child of GOD is--not how he/she acts. Therefore, the message does not relate to actions made on the physical plane; but, rather, the life we are on the Spiritual plane if we are truly a Child of GOD. Consider Matt 23:25-26 where the inside of the cup is the Spiritual life in us, and the outside of the cup is the actions we make on the physical plane.

In the same sense, a Child of GOD is not under law (what is viewed as GOD's Law) because his/her actions will always be according to the intent of that law. The purpose of law is to reveal that our actions are not according to those of a Child of GOD, and we must change the life in us so that we will always manifest outer actions according to the law naturally.

 

[salt-n-light]

What is the best "way" to, if possible, to work toward of follow in keeping the commandments...?

What does keeping the commandments mean to you...? What does it look like...?

And/if because if you do have a different view, then, "What is it, basically or IOW's...?"

Or some of you might think keeping the commandments is not the main point, and if so, could you explain that maybe...?

Or some of might think it/that is not the point at all, and if so, could you explain that maybe...? Or tell us what is the point then maybe...?

Is is possible to keep the commandments or not...? And, if not, should we pursue or work toward keeping them at all...? And then if so, or if that answer is yes, then, "how"...?

Comments...?

God Bless!

You’re not able to without the Holy Spirit. Sure people can pursue doing morally right things, but that would be different than keeping the commandments.

So the only way is to operate under that Spirit. With a renew mind and contrite heart. Then naturally you would be keeping the commandments.

 

[Maria Billingsley]

The apostles gave warnings, but they never said it was impossible to maintain consistency in the Spirit. Even if we've quenched the Spirit, ourselves, we can't speak for everyone.

I agree however no one is sinless and that is quenching the Holy Spirit as well as grieving the Holy Spirit. The flesh is weak, this is why we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

BTW- I am not talking about the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Blessings

 

[Monna]

What is the best "way" to, if possible, to work toward of follow in keeping the commandments...?

Jesus himself put it in a nutshell:
Love the Lord your God with all your strength and with all your mind and with all your heart; and love your neighbour has your self.

Is is possible to keep the commandments or not...? And, if not, should we pursue or work toward keeping them at all...? And then if so, or if that answer is yes, then, "how"...?

Jesus never asked people to do the impossible. So yes it "must" be possible to live HIS reinterpretation of the commandments - necessarily with and through HIM. If you love Him, you will trust him with your life, and it should be a logical consequence then, that you can truly surrender your body, your mind and will to HIM and let HIM do the living IN and through YOU.

Without me you can do NOTHING! he said, but Paul said "I can do ALL things through Christ." Even Jesus himself said that his followers would be able to do greater deeds than he had demonstrated. And GOD's purpose is that we shall be like HIM (Jesus).

Having said that, I personally have a continous struggle to give up control and must return to him often in repentance and submission...again...

 

[1stcenturylady]

I agree however no one is sinless and that is quenching the Holy Spirit as well as grieving the Holy Spirit. The flesh is weak, this is why we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

BTW- I am not talking about the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

Blessings

So there is no such thing as being cleansed of all sin? We are still sinners, and not "sons" as Jesus said? John 8:34-36

 

[anna ~ grace]

What is the best "way" to, if possible, to work toward of follow in keeping the commandments...?

What does keeping the commandments mean to you...? What does it look like...?

And/if because if you do have a different view, then, "What is it, basically or IOW's...?"

Or some of you might think keeping the commandments is not the main point, and if so, could you explain that maybe...?

Or some of might think it/that is not the point at all, and if so, could you explain that maybe...? Or tell us what is the point then maybe...?

Is is possible to keep the commandments or not...? And, if not, should we pursue or work toward keeping them at all...? And then if so, or if that answer is yes, then, "how"...?

Comments...?

God Bless!

Yes, it is possible. I think that working on being humble and loving is a good, solid place to start.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

What I have discovered is that we are not saved by works, but saved for them.
What this means is that God as a portfolio of works tailor-made for each believer.
"For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:10).
These are not the type of works like keeping the Ten Commandments in order to try and please God and be saved. That was all dealt with by Jesus on the cross for us.
The works that God has prepared for us are the works of faith and power that He has prepared for us in order to do His will throughout our lives.

The problems is that too many believers are too busy navel-gazing trying to get rid of their sin consciousness (because their view of the finished work of Christ for them is defective), and they are unable to do the works of faith and power that God has for them to do.

 

[Maria Billingsley]

So there is no such thing as being cleansed of all sin? We are still sinners, and not "sons" as Jesus said? John 8:34-36

I am a sinner and my sin's are cleansed.
Blessings

 

[1stcenturylady]

I am a sinner and my sin's are cleansed.
Blessings

Are they cleansed as you commit them?

I'm asking to get an understanding of your beliefs. If you have scripture, than would be something I could look up. Thanks.

 

[Shempster]

There is a hidden meaning in the 10 commandments and the law of Moses.
It was hidden until Jesus explained it. It is to Love God, love others and love yourself...and that's it!

If you are very observant, you can see that all of the law has as its underlying point to love God, others and self. Some of them are actually reverse-psychology though. Like if your son speaks evil of you, you are to kill him dead. God doesn't really want you to kill your son, but to have compassion in love.

So, loving God means loving what he loves. Loving Jesus means actually DOING what he said, rather than doing what preachers tell you to do. I realize people get mad about this but if you read Jesus actual commands, you'll see that practically nobody actually does them, so that's a problem.
Loving others is another thing that practically nobody does. Well, they love their friends and families, but how about their enemies? I have yet to hear a conservative Christian speak well of liberals. They mostly call them names. Of course, same goes with Liberal Christians. Love is respecting other people as equals. It means respecting their space, personal possessions, their opinions, their mannerisms and beliefs.

So in a way, it is super easy to love God others and self. But only if we replace the "little-g-god" which is our own selves, living under the guise of the ego, with the Living Creator God.
Once we do that, it becomes easy to love God and all his creation. We can love others truly because we place them above ourselves in value and worth and we can love ourselves by being mindful of what we eat and drink.