A House of Prayer

Do you remember the story of when Jesus cleaned out the Temple of all the money changers and sellers? This is what He said at that time:  ““It is written,” he said to them, “ ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it a ‘den of robbers.’”” (Matthew 21:13)  Since He was cleaning out the Temple at the time, we all associate what He said with that and that's fine, we should do so. But I think there's another meaning we could also see.  Jesus taught that now we are His temple! (1 Corinthians 6:19)  Looking at it that way, the saying that His house will be called a house of prayer, and indeed, the whole story of Him cleaning out the Temple, takes on a whole new meaning!  

Most of all, the part about His house (the temple) being a house of prayer really resonates with me and convicts me too.  Jesus prayed a LOT and He was God!  If He had to pray as much as He did, then we should have to pray a whole lot more!  No wonder His Word tells us to pray constantly! “pray continually;” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) and “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” (Ephesians 6:18) Jesus often told His followers and disciple this:  ““Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is weak.”” (Matthew 26:41) In Acts 6:3–4“ we're told that the Disciples devoted themselves to prayer and studying and speaking God's Word.  Then God tells us through Paul to devote ourselves to prayer:  “Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” (Colossians 4:2) I don't know about you, but I don't think I could honestly say that I devote myself to prayer or that I pray continually every day. I have a problem of my mind starting to wander at times when I'm praying. Then I found this gem that really spoke to me:  “The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray.” (1 Peter 4:7)  Remember when Peter fell asleep when Jesus had asked him to pray?  It looks like he learned from that experience.  It sounds like he may have also had the problem of his mind wandering when he prayed and because of those things, gave us that instruction.  What's really neat though is that self control is one of the fruits of the Spirit, so God is growing our self control all the time, if we are being as obedient as we know how to by reading His Word daily and applying it to our lives. (because God uses His Word to change us and grow us up in our faith).  Isn't that kind of neat though?  We have to use self control (and discipline) to make studying our Bible daily a habit, and the more we do that the more our self control grows. Then as we make prayer a daily habit that also helps grow our self control. Finally we can grow to where we're praying all the time.  

By telling us to pray continually, it doesn't mean we're to stop everything else and do nothing but pray. Instead, we're to pray about whatever we're doing and while doing everything else!  Nor is it saying we have to be on our knees to pray.  Nowhere does the Bible indicate that there's a certain "acceptable way to pray". We can pray while standing, sitting, laying down, walking, running or whatever.  And we should pray while doing all those things.  Prayer is nothing more then talking to God.  We hear about having a personal relationship with the Lord all time, but how often do you think about that relationship?  If you only spoke to your spouse when you wanted something, do you think your relationship with them would be close? Of course not!  It's the same way with the Lord.  If we want a close relationship with Him, then we need to talk to Him, a lot!  So knowing that our body is a temple for the Holy Spirit, let's also make this temple a house of prayer!  

When you have time, please open your Bible and read about the two times Jesus cleansed the temple and meditate on how much of the story can be talking about our lives now. You'll find the stories at: The first cleansing:  John 2:12–25; The Second cleansing: Matt 21:12–17; Mark 11:15–19; Luke 19:45–46.  

Why does 1 Peter 4:7 say we need to be self controlled to pray?

 1 Peter 4:7 says "The end of all things is near, therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so you can pray." Have you ever wondered why Peter says we need to be self-controlled to pray? I did, and then it hit me. We need that because it's so easy to be distracted from praying, or even in the midst of our prayers as our minds tend to wander. See, even Peter knew about that problem! That sure made me feel better to know I wasn't alone with that problem. Plus, Galatians 5:22-23 tells us that self-control is one of the fruits of the Spirit which will increase as we grow in our faith. That's always been a big thing to me as I know that self control/self discipline isn't something easy for me, so it helps to know that the Lord will grow that within me as I continue in His Word every day. 

When you don't know what to pray

I’ve had a number of people ask me what to do when they don’t know what to pray.  First, many people don’t seem to understand what prayer is.  It’s really just talking to the Lord. I usually tell people to talk to Him the same way they’d talk to anyone else they love. You don’t need to use “thee’s and thou’s” when you pray, in fact, I’m sure the Lord would prefer you didn’t – unless of course that’s how you normally talk.  What He wants is to hear what’s in our hearts.

Some people are also in the habit of just reading prayers others have written.  While there’s nothing wrong with that at times, it’s not what the Lord really wants to hear.  Think, how would you feel if your loved one always read something they’d written out beforehand or that someone else had written to you, every time they came to talk to you?  It would sure hurt my feelings if my kids did something like that, because it would show me that they were either afraid to talk to me, or didn’t care enough about me to want to talk to me and tell me what was going on in their lives and in their hearts. So forget about formulas and everything else and just talk to the Lord.  Tell Him what’s going on with you; how you feel, what you think about things.  Ask Him questions (and be sure to pay attention when you read the bible, because He will answer your questions LOL)

There is one thing that many people do like to do when they pray, especially as they come to know God’s Word better and better, and that’s to pray His Word back to Him. You can pray just about any scripture. Just change the “you's” to "me" and so forth. It often happens automatically, as the person is studying His Word with Him… they’ll simply find themselves turning the verse into a prayer.  Or they may read the verse and find that the reading of it starts a prayer.  Like this verse:

Psalm 27:8 —My heart says of you, “Seek his face!” Your face, LORD, I will seek. *

often when I read that I find myself continuing and telling the Lord, “O Lord, I love to seek You and I long for You every day” and so forth.  For those unsure of where to begin as far as praying scriptures go, here’s a few of my favorites:

Psalm 84:1–2 —How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD Almighty! *My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the LORD; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. *

Psalm 63:1–8 —O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. *I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. *Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. *I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. *My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. *On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. *Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. *My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me. *

Psalm 42:1–8 —As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. *My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? *My tears have been my food day and night, while men say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” *These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go with the multitude, leading the procession to the house of God, with shouts of joy and thanksgiving among the festive throng. *Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and *my God. My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar. *Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls; all your waves and breakers have swept over me. *By day the LORD directs his love, at night his song is with me— a prayer to the God of my life. *

Isaiah 26:8–9 —Yes, LORD, walking in the way of your laws, we wait for you; your name and renown are the desire of our hearts. *My soul yearns for you in the night; in the morning my spirit longs for you. When your judgments come upon the earth, the people of the world learn righteousness. *

Psalm 18:35 —You give me your shield of victory, and your right hand sustains me; you stoop down to make me great. *

Psalm 51:1–17 —Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. *Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. *For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. *Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. *Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. *Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place. *Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. *Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. *Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. *Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. *Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. *Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. *Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will turn back to you. *Save me from bloodguilt, O God, the God who saves me, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. *O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. *You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. *The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. *

Psalm 19:12–14 —Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults. *Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression. *May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer. *

Psalm 25:4–5 —Show me your ways, O LORD, teach me your paths; *guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long. *

Psalm 103:1–13 —Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. *Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits— *who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, *who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, *who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. *The LORD works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed. *He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel: *The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. *He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; *he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. *For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; *as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. *As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; *

Psalm 86:11–12 —Teach me your way, O LORD, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. *I will praise you, O Lord my God, with all my heart; I will glorify your name forever. *

Make Paul's prayers your own:

Philippians 1:9–11 —And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, *so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, *filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God. *

Ephesians 1:17–21 —I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. *I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, *and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, *which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, *far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. *

Colossians 1:9–14 —For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. *And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, *being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully *giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. *For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, *in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. *

1 Thessalonians 5:23–24 —May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. *The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. *

2 Thessalonians 3:16 —Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you. *

2 Thessalonians 3:5 —May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance. *

Let's say you come to a verse like this one:
Psalm 147:11 —the LORD delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love. *

You could pray it as it is and then add, "Lord teach me to fear You and to put my hope in Your unfailing love." Or: Ephesians 4:1–2 —As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. *Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. * You can change it to a prayer by praying, "Lord, help me (or "I want to") to be completely humble, gentle, and patient and to bear with others in love. Help me to live a life worthy of your calling."

Do you wish you had a better prayer life or had more spiritual fruit?

For many years it seemed like I found myself constantly wishing something...that I could pray better, more fervently, in a manner that would please the Lord more, that my concentration during prayer was better, etc. Or that I would be more loving, more forgiving, more patient, etc. I'd wish it and then just kind of put it out of my mind, figuring all I could do was my best and hoping that some day, maybe I'd get better.

Then one day, years ago, it finally hit me like a ton of bricks: "Why don't you just ask the Lord for these things???" So I did! And miracle of miracles, each time I asked, He answered and I found myself becoming what I'd previously only wished for! I don't mean to imply that I'd pray and that I'd instantly be transformed into a super intercessor or whatever it was I was praying for but usually within a few weeks of praying for something, as I'd be praying for it yet again, I'd realize that I'd already changed and was already growing toward that goal. Of course that realization just made me more excited each time so that I'd continue praying for whatever it was.

As I was praying for yet more spiritual fruit this morning, it made me think of this and I remembered how I used to feel so hopeless that I'd ever be able to have a really good prayer life or experience the various other things I wanted to have for the Lord's glory, and how shocked I was at how the Lord answers these prayers so quickly as long we continue to obey Him and study His Word and ask Him for help. So I thought I'd share this with you guys in case some of you have ever felt this way. Now whenever I think of this "duh!" moment, it reminds me of these scriptures:

James 4:2b–3 (NIV) — You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

Luke 11:9–13 (NIV) — “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. “Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

John 16:24 (NIV) — Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.

It IS a sin to pray to Mary!

Did or Do the Jews pray to David, or Moses or Abraham? or angels for that matter?

I ask this question to open the eyes of catholics to what they are doing. If you'll recall, ALL the disciples and Jesus and His whole family were Jewish. So were a huge number of converts to them.

This question I asked is VERY relevant to us today . The Jewish people AND Jesus Himself NEVER, NEVER, NEVER prayed to David, or Moses, or Samuel, or to angels or to any other person. They ONLY prayed to God Himself.

The fact that Jesus did NOT do this, should be more than enough to show catholics that this practice is VERY WRONG and is a sin! The fact that none of the Jews ever did this (of which Jesus was one) should also throw up a HUGE red flag for catholics! Jesus and the Jews knew the Old Testament Intimately and would have never gone against God's will like this. At least not those who cared about God.

Jesus Himself also said that He didn't come to do away with the law, but rather to fulfill it. You should also know from reading the Bible that God does not change. Therefore if it was wrong and a sin to pray to others and or angels then, it is still a sin now!

The catholics usually refer to the time that Jesus was caught up in the air with Moses. But Jesus did NOT pray to them and neither did the disciples.

The BIBLE records exactly what they did afterward and Jesus would have had a cow if they had prayed to them. By reading the Bible you can determine that they did NOT pray to them. It's not in there...nowhere...nothing you can say will make it suddenly appear either. Neither Jesus nor his disciples prayed to anyone other than God and that's exactly what they taught others to do. If they had taught differently there would be plenty to read about it in the history books and the Bible too because they would have been run out of town as blasphemers by the Jews specifically for that.

The unavoidable fact is that if they (the disciples,) had taught for people to pray to anyone other than God, there would have been a HUGE hullabaloo over it and the disciples would have been run out of town and most likely killed for that particular heresy, long before they could be killed for preaching the Gospel. Therefore the so called teachings of the individuals that taught this 100 or 200 years later MUST be heresy as anything else does not make sense.

Everything we need for our spiritual growth is in the Bible. If you can't show me where Jesus or his disciples or some other NT or OT writer said that it's ok to pray to dead people, then it conclusively means that it's not ok. As far as what Jesus did, He prayed to the Father and only to the Father. Why should we be any different??? Not one single disciple prayed to anyone but God either.

Consider also that there are quite a few prayers written about in both the OT and the NT. Not one single one is addressed to anyone other than God!

On top of all this there is another obvious example. When Jesus was asked by the disciples to teach them to pray, He taught them to pray to God! Many people seem to think that He was teaching them a single prayer to pray. He wasn't. He was teaching them exactly what they asked: HOW to pray. Prayer should be directed ONLY to God as Jesus Himself taught them.

the evidence is indisputable. It is a sin to pray to anyone or anything but God.

The soul of the departed is alive and conscious in heaven or hell, but there is no communication between the departed and us. Thats why the Bible forbids us from trying to communicate with the dead. Dead saints remain part of the body of Christ, but there is an effective separation from the living saints. One day the Lord will give His people a glorified and immortal body and gather us all together. Until then we must face the sad consequence of death: separation!

Secondly, we note that praying to the saints is not equivalent to asking fellow Christians for prayer. This excuse may be convincing to some Christians who never had any personal experience of the Catholic religion. Otherwise, every Catholic (and former Catholic) knows that praying to Mary or the saints is completely different than asking a fellow believer for prayer.

Suppose a Christian brother comes and kneels before you, imploring you with great devotion to pray for him. Would you allow him? How would you react if he calls you his advocate, his hope and refuge? What if he thanks you for the many graces you conferred on him and for delivering him from hell? Suppose he tells you that he confines his salvation to your care and pleads with you to stay with him until you see him safe in heaven? Would you call that "asking a fellow Christian for prayer"? Of course not! That kind of prayer and confidence is nothing less than divine worship and it should be directed only to the Lord Jesus Christ. And yet that is exactly the kind of prayer that Catholics offer to Mary and the saints.

Re 19:9–10 — 9 Then the angel said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!’ ” And he added, “These are the true words of God.” 10 At this I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

Ac 10:25–26 — 25 As Peter entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence. 26 But Peter made him get up. “Stand up,” he said, “I am only a man myself.”

Col 2:18 — 18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize. Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions.

Only God knows our thoughts. No human (dead or alive) or angel or anything else can know our thoughts or hear our prayers. 1 Corinthians 2:11

Notice that God doesn't tell us to seek Mary or anyone other then Him:

Deuteronomy 4:29 But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30 When you are in distress, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, when you turn to the Lord your God and obey His voice 31. (for the Lord your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.

Psalms 86:5 For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You.

notice it's GOD and NOT Mary?

Psalms 130:7 O Israel, hope in the Lord; For with the Lord there is mercy, And with Him is abundant redemption.

notice that our hope is to be in HIM not Mary!

Joel 2:13 So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm.

Return to the Lord and stop praying to everyone else.

Daniel 9:9 "To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him.

these belong ONLY to God, not Mary!

Psalms 145:18 The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth.

Jeremiah 33:3 `Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.'

again, pray to God, not Mary!

John 4:10 Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, `Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water

Romans 10:13 For "whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

and again, it says to call on HIM!!!! NOT MARY!!!!

Acts 8:24 Then Simon answered and said, "Pray to the Lord for me, that none of the things which you have spoken may come upon me

Genesis 20:17 So Abraham prayed to God; and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and his female servants. Then they bore children;

He prayed to GOD!!!

Acts 10:2 a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always.

James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

notice we're not to ask Mary or anyone but God!

I could go on quoting scripture forever and not one single one says to pray to anyone or anything other than GOD! And many show that we are NOT to pray to anyone or anything other than God.

Anyone that uses common sense and the Bible knows that worship consists of prayer to the "being", songs to and about the "being" candles and incense lit to and for the "being", reverence for the "being", and usually stories that are called "holy" or "sacred" about the "being" and the idea that the "being" can help them in some way, often special feast days or days of fasting to/for the "being" and often some sort of "miracles" are associated with the "being", often parades and banners are done to honor the "being", the "being" is somehow set above normal humans, gifts and sacrifices are often offered in honor of the "being", religious jewelery is often worn to honor the "being", often "special people" will have visions and or dreams about this "being", places of worship are often named after this "being", bowing or kneeling to the "being", etc. This is exactly what catholics do to Mary so they absolutely DO worship her.

I can't find something in the Bible

I have looked and looked and looked, but nowhere in the Bible can I find absolute proof of either a Jew in the Old Testament or a Jew or Christian in the New Testament praying TO anyone other then God. The Only examples of people praying to anyone/thing other then God that I can find in the bible are examples of folks who prayed to pagan gods like Baal.

I knew I had to just be missing something obvious so I even went so far as to ask current Jewish religious leaders if they were allowed to pray to anyone other then God, now or in their past. Surely they must have prayed or still pray to perhaps Moses, or Joseph or David, Solomon, or Isaiah, or maybe Abraham....

One of them was so shocked at my question that they basically called me a blasphemer and refused to answer me. The others were nicer about it though and I guess they just assumed I was really ignorant. Anyway they told me that they have never ever prayed to anyone other then the One True God and never would. They even showed me one of their religious statements which I guess could be likened to our "statements of faith", although it is of course much much older then anything any Christian religion could come up with. Here's what they said about it:

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Here are the Thirteen Principles of Faith that Judaism rests on, according to Maimonides. Please pay particular attention to number 5. 1) I believe with complete faith that the Creator, Blessed is His Name, creates and guides all creatures, and that He alone made, makes, and will make everything. 2) I believe with complete faith that the Creator, Blessed is His Name is unique, and there is no uniqueness like His in any way, and that He alone is our G-d, Who was, Who is, and Who always will be. 3) I believe with complete faith that the Creator, Blessed is His Name, is not physical and is not affected by physical phenomena, and that there is no comparison whatsoever to Him. 4) I believe with complete faith that the Creator, Blessed is His Name - is the very first and the very last. 5) I believe with complete faith that the Creator, Blessed is His Name - to Him alone is it proper to pray and it is not proper to pray to any other. 6) I believe with complete faith that all the words of the prophets are true. 7) I believe with complete faith that the prophecy of Moses our teacher, peace upon him, was true, and that he was the father of the prophets - both those who preceded him and those who followed him. 8) I believe with complete faith that the entire Torah now in our hands is the same one that was given to Moses, our teacher, peace be upon him. 9) I believe with complete faith that this Torah will not be exchanged nor will there be another Torah from the Creator, Blessed is His Name. 10) I believe with complete faith that the Creator, Blessed is His Name, knows all the deeds of human beings and their thoughts, as it is said, "He fashions their hearts all together, He comprehends all their deeds." (Psalms 33:15) 11) I believe with complete faith that the Creator, Bless is His Name, rewards with good those who observe His commandments, and punishes those who violate his commandments. 12) I believe with complete faith in the coming of the Messiah, and even though he may delay, nevertheless I anticipate every day that he will come. 13) I believe with complete faith that there will be a resuscitation of the dead whenever the wish emanates from the Creator, Blessed is His Name and exalted is His mention, forever and for all eternity.

Here are copies of my emails to some of the leading Jewish teachers which will show you how scandalized they were at the thought of praying to someone other then God:

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Is it permissible to pray to anyone or anything other than God? Dear Cynthia: No, absolutely not. In Jewish Law the only entity that can be prayed to is God. Best regards, Rabbi Reuven Lauffer

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Can you please tell me if it is acceptable in the Jewish faith to pray to anyone other than G-d for any reason? Dear Cynthia, No it is not acceptable. If you need further assistance feel free to contact us again, Best wishes, Chani Benjaminson

Quote:

Cindy asked: Can you please tell me if it is acceptable in the Jewish faith to pray to anyone other than G-d for any reason? Dear Cindy, Thank you for your inquiry. Here are the Thirteen Principles of Faith that Judaism rests on, according to Maimonides. Please pay particular attention to number 5. They are written here as they are commonly printed in Jewish prayer books: (I already quoted this one so I won't re-quote this part) Rabbi M. Younger Aish.com

These were all emails so no links are possible; however the last Rabbi did list his site under his signature. And yes, I still have the original emails. There is one other one, but that one is the one where the Rabbi was so incensed that I would even have to ask such a thing that he got a bit rude so I won't post it as I wouldn't want to embarrass him. I'm sure if he understood why I had asked that he then would have been incensed at the RCC and not me.

There is a Jewish CULT that did and does allow prayers to others like Rachel, but again this is a CULT and not representative of the real Jewish religion as Jesus would have honored.

So why would I, as a Christian be looking at what the Jew's believe? Well, basically because there can't be a better source for information about the Jewish people and their belief systems. If anyone would know if the Jewish people would/could/should pray to someone/thing other then God, I would think that it would be the Jewish people! Since my Savior came to this earth as a Jew and lived a sinless life as a Jew, I thought that I could find out for sure if Jesus would have prayed to someone/thing other then God or if He would have taught others to do so.

From everything I've read and learned, Jesus or anyone living in Old Testament times or the New Testament times that tried to teach or even simply "tolerate" someone praying to someone/thing other then the One True God, would have been put to death immediately as a blasphemer! So that leaves me with quite a problem. Where then do the catholics get the idea that it's OK for them to do this?????

God says in His Word that He does not change. He says He doesn't lie. He says that His Word doesn't change either. Nor have I found anywhere in the New Testament anyone including Jesus saying that Jesus came and died on the cross so that we might have life and so we could pray to other people too. Therefore, we must still be only allowed to pray to Him and no other. But that can't be right, because the RCC says it's not right...

You can see my confusion on this surely...both can't be true. Either God is True and men are liars, or the RCC is true and God is lying.  According to the Bible, we are to pray to God and to God alone, period.  So, who do you think is right, God or the catholic church?

Does God hear our prayers when we've sinned or continued to sin?

We know that the Lord loves us, and since we're saved, we've become His children and heirs with Jesus to all that is His. It's an even more drastic change then a pauper becoming a King! It's truly amazing! This is why Jesus tells us that we can now call God, "Abba", or Father, or as it literally translates, "Daddy."

The problem for many of us begins when we sin, or when we know we're not living the way the Lord wants us to. We become convicted by the Holy Spirit. That's good! That's what's supposed to happen and shows that we're hearing from the Holy Spirit. Our job then is to confess our sin and repent. That phrase simply means that we're to agree with God that what we're doing is a sin, ask His forgiveness and then turn away from the sin and not repeat it again. No problem, right? I think we're all used to doing that.

The problem can come though when we do repeat the sin, whether it's right away, or a year later. We again are convicted, but often Satan will join the fight at this point and tell us we can't be forgiven, or that God doesn't love us anymore, or that we can't be saved because if we were, we wouldn't do such a thing, and of course, he usually throws in that God won't hear our prayers any longer because we've sinned. Every single one of those statements is an outright lie from Satan. But he often manages to take our feelings of guilt, and mix it with some scriptures taken out of context or misunderstood, and pulls it off. He causes God's child to stop praying and causes them to believe that God won't listen to their prayers any more. So while Satan rejoices, God and His child are weeping, and the child is feeling lost without their father.

If we think about this logically though, we can easily see through his lies. If you're a parent, and your child disobeys you, what happens? Do you throw your child out of the house, and disown them, or refuse to hear anything they say, refuse to provide for their needs, letting them go hungry until they behave? Of course not! And neither does God. Basically, parents attempt to get their child to admit what they did, they dish out discipline if needed, and let their child know they're forgiven. Before that happens, there's a separation between the parent and child. The child is uncomfortable in the parents presence because they know they've done wrong, even if the parent has discovered it yet. That puts a wall up between them because the child can't be comfortable with the parents love until they come clean. Once they have though, then once again the parent and child can be comfortable together.

And that's pretty much how it is between us and God too. He first convicts us of our sin, so that we will come to Him and tell Him about it. He already knows about it but wants us to tell Him so we can get it off our conscience and know without any doubts, that He's forgiven us. When we don't talk to Him about it, it eats at us and causes us all kinds of problems emotionally.

David tells us how he felt when he didn't go and confess his sin to the Lord in Psalm 32:3–4. He said the longer he went without talking to the Lord about it, the worse he felt. We know that because he wouldn't admit to his sin with Bathsheba and her husband, the Lord had to send a prophet to him, to tell him that the Lord knew about what he'd done with Bathsheba and how he'd killed her husband. Finally then David confessed to the Lord, (psalm 51) and of course, since David was His child, the Lord heard his prayer and forgave him. We know that due to the seriousness of the sin, that David was also disciplined for it and suffered some serious consequences from it as well. The consequences were not the Lord's discipline, they were simply the consequence of sin in his life and that's true for all of us when we sin.

But what about all those scriptures that say that God doesn't hear the prayers of sinners, we ask when we're confused and ashamed of ourselves. Again, we need to really think about what they're saying. God doesn't hear the prayers of the wicked, and sinners are wicked in His eyes. But my dear friend, remember, we are not sinners any longer! We're saints, His children, and there is NO condemnation for those who belong to Christ! God does not stop listening to our prayers when we sin. If He did, I'm afraid that He wouldn't have very many prayers to listen to.

In psalm 51, David asks the Lord not to cast him from His presence or take the Holy Spirit from him. He doesn't ask that because that's what God normally does. He asks that because he knew that because of Saul's great sins, God removed His Spirit from him. The Holy Spirits role in the Old Testament was different then it is now. Having the Holy Spirit didn't have anything to do with salvation then, instead it was given as an enabling presence. The loss of the Spirit then didn't mean loss of salvation, but loss of enablement for whatever ministry the Lord had wanted them to do. God rejected Saul as King and removed His Spirit from him, and David was asking God not to do that to him. And of course, we know He didn't.

You know, we often think about how God chose David to be King of Israel, and then David went and disappointed Him. But the truth of the matter is that God knew what David was going to do, long before He ever told David that He'd chosen him to be King. It's the same with us too. He knows about all our sins. He knows what we're going to do today, next year and every day after that. He knew it when He chose us to be His child and called us to Himself. He knew when He hung on the cross for us. And you know what? He didn't change His mind! He still loved us then, and He still loves us now!

So what happen when we repeat a sin? God wants to hear from us, and He still hears our prayers. When we repeat a sin later, that doesn't mean that we didn't really repent before, it simply means we sinned again. God knows we're not perfect and He knows we will make the same mistakes over and over at times. He doesn't have a set limit for us that once we cross then it's all over. What matters to Him is what's in our hearts. If an alcoholic confesses his drinking and is truly sorry for his sin, repenting of it, promising he won't do it again, then he's forgiven, period. If he turns around an hour later and drinks again, and again confesses his sin, truly repenting of it, he is again forgiven. And he will be forgiven again, and again, and again, and again, as often as it takes until he learns how to overcome it with God's help. The same is true of any other sin as well.

Sadly, it's at times like this that Satan often comes in and convinces the person that God won't listen to them anymore. But God loves us and will always listen to our prayers and answer us. Yes, we may be disciplined for our sin, but that's simply more proof that we're his beloved children, and He loves us!

What happens when we've fallen for Satan's lies and we're too afraid, ashamed or embarrassed to pray and ask His forgiveness? God doesn't leave us. He is always with us and always will be. He will continue to take care of us, and continue to love us, and He will continue to convict us of our sin and constantly try to draw us to Him in prayer and draw us into His Word so He can show us the Truth. Think how you would feel and what you'd do if your child had done something wrong and was too afraid, ashamed or embarrassed to come and talk to you about it... it would break your heart, wouldn't it? And so it breaks our Father's heart too. Hear the heart of our Father: Isaiah 49:15–16 —“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! *See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me. * And again when He had to discipline His children: Jeremiah 31:20 —Is not Ephraim my dear son, the child in whom I delight? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him,” declares the LORD. *

Let's make sure we remember this the next time Satan tries to convince us otherwise, and go running to the Father who loves us and wants only the very best for us!

We can make a HUGE difference...right now!

I know that many folks no longer attend church as they've been unable to find one that teaches the Truth from God's Word, and others can't go because of their health. Yet I feel that we still can have a great deal of influence in the church, even though we can't attend one. We can do that, by praying for the churches in our area as well as the churches of pastors who have blessed us through their teachings, such as Pastor John MacArthur and Pastor Warren Wiersbe. (assuming they're still alive).

At my old church, I was part of a prayer ministry that would pray over the service each Sunday. We took turns so that we'd only miss one service every few weeks. When it was our turn, we'd go into a small prayer room and pray for the pastor, for the congregation as a whole, for individual members, those who couldn't make it to church that day, for the worship team, for the service itself, etc. We'd pray that God would open people's hearts and eyes to His Truth and that His Truth would be preached with power, received and applied by the congregation etc. We'd ask the Lord to protect the pastor and congregation from any disruptions and all sorts of things like that. Remembering that, made me realize that I could continue to do that even though I was no longer able to attend church myself, and I could pray for many of the churches in my area.

But, since I'm not attending any church regularly, how do I know they're teaching the truth? I don't. But the Lord pointed out to me that I didn't need to know that. Instead, I could pray that they would teach the truth and that they'd not fall prey to false teachings.

And so a couple of years ago, I began praying for a bunch of the churches in my area, plus a few other pastors and their churches, like MacArthur's and Wiersbe's. I like to pray God's Word whenever I can because it's so powerful, so I use a lot of scripture in my prayers. Besides, God's Word says exactly what I'd want for them anyway, so why not go with a sure thing?

The main scripture I began praying with was one of Paul's prayer requests, to which I added one of his mighty prayers:

Ephesians 6:19–20 —Pray also for me, that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, *for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. *

Colossians 1:9–11 —For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. *And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, *being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, *

Because we know that pastors are especially targeted by Satan, and that the stronger they are in the Lord, the more they are harassed by Satan, I also ask the Lord to be a sheild around each of them, & each of their families, preventing Satan, his demons, and his children from interfering in their lives and ministries, harassing them, & from causing strife and division. I also ask Him to protect them all from the evil plans & desires of others & from unhealthy or dangerous situations.

Finally, knowing the times we live in and how many people need help, I also ask the Lord to be their provision so that they can in turn provide for the needs of others.

I wanted to share this idea with you guys, just because I think we could have a HUGE impact on the body of Christ and on more people being saved before the rapture, if more joined me in this endeavor.

I thought I'd just type my prayer as I pray it today, hoping it would encourage others to do so as well.

Father, I lift up to You, the body of Christ, and the various churches we attend. Specifically I lift up to you all my local churches, especially: Harvest Christian, New Hope, Trinity, New Wineskin, & Hope Nation, as well as Grace Community Church in California; & all their pastors: Pastor Joshua, Pastor John, Pastor Jeff, Pastor Rob, & Pastor Gabe, & Pastor MacArthur, & also Pastor Mills, & Pastor Wiersbe, asking that You keep all of them in your truth, guide them & inspire them; protect them from all false teaching and give them boldness to always speak your truth in love. I ask that You would fill them with the knowledge of Your will through all spiritual wisdom & understanding in order that they may live a life worthy of You & may please You in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, & being strengthened with all power according to Your glorious might.

Please defend all of them from all error, sin & evil, Keeping them from all false teaching. Lord, I also ask that You would be a shield around each of them, & their families, preventing Satan, his demons, and his children from interfering in their lives and ministries, harassing them, & from causing strife and division in their churches and lives. For we are aware of Satan's schemes and that he attacks those Pastors who are teaching the Truth. Please also protect them all from their evil plans & desires & from unhealthy or dangerous situations.

Help Your Pastors each continue to grow in Christ and to grow the members of their congregations up in Christ. I pray that You would enable them to preach with clarity making it easy for their congregations to understand your Word, and with passion, causing their congregants hearts to be set on fire in love for You. I pray that many would come to Christ and enter His Kingdom through their preaching, and that through their teaching, many will be prepared for the coming of our Lord to catch us up into the air with Him.

Please strengthen them, encourage them, and refresh them. Cause them to preach and teach only Your Truth & to never waver from it.

Please also be their provision so they can give to others in Your Name. Multiply all that they have so they never run out and they're able to provide freely and with great joy, for the needs and wants of all who come to them.

For the body of Christ I would ask that you would grant each of us a heart of love and passion for You and Your Word, & ears to hear what our pastors are teaching. I ask that you grant us each a great, overwhelming longing to always desire an ever closer, more personal relationship with You, and a greater understanding of Your Word so that we can all live lives worthy of Your calling.

I ask all of this that my Lord Jesus would receive the praise, honor and glory due His Awesome Name. Thank You Father! For it's in His Name I pray. Amen

Does God hear our prayers when we've sinned or continued to sin?

We know that the Lord loves us, and since we're saved, we've become His children and heirs with Jesus to all that is His. It's an even more drastic change then a pauper becoming a King! It's truly amazing! This is why Jesus tells us that we can now call God, "Abba", or Father, or as it literally translates, "Daddy."

The problem for many of us begins when we sin, or when we know we're not living the way the Lord wants us to. We become convicted by the Holy Spirit. That's good! That's what's supposed to happen and shows that we're hearing from the Holy Spirit. Our job then is to confess our sin and repent. That phrase simply means that we're to agree with God that what we're doing is a sin, ask His forgiveness and then turn away from the sin and not repeat it again. No problem, right? I think we're all used to doing that.

The problem can come though when we do repeat the sin, whether it's right away, or a year later. We again are convicted, but often Satan will join the fight at this point and tell us we can't be forgiven, or that God doesn't love us anymore, or that we can't be saved because if we were, we wouldn't do such a thing, and of course, he usually throws in that God won't hear our prayers any longer because we've sinned. Every single one of those statements is an outright lie from Satan. But he often manages to take our feelings of guilt, and mix it with some scriptures taken out of context or misunderstood, and pulls it off. He causes God's child to stop praying and causes them to believe that God won't listen to their prayers any more. So while Satan rejoices, God and His child are weeping, and the child is feeling lost without their father.

If we think about this logically though, we can easily see through his lies. If you're a parent, and your child disobeys you, what happens? Do you throw your child out of the house, and disown them, or refuse to hear anything they say, refuse to provide for their needs, letting them go hungry until they behave? Of course not! And neither does God. Basically, parents attempt to get their child to admit what they did, they dish out discipline if needed, and let their child know they're forgiven. Before that happens, there's a separation between the parent and child. The child is uncomfortable in the parents presence because they know they've done wrong, even if the parent has discovered it yet. That puts a wall up between them because the child can't be comfortable with the parents love until they come clean. Once they have though, then once again the parent and child can be comfortable together.

And that's pretty much how it is between us and God too. He first convicts us of our sin, so that we will come to Him and tell Him about it. He already knows about it but wants us to tell Him so we can get it off our conscience and know without any doubts, that He's forgiven us. When we don't talk to Him about it, it eats at us and causes us all kinds of problems emotionally.

David tells us how he felt when he didn't go and confess his sin to the Lord in Psalm 32:3–4. He said the longer he went without talking to the Lord about it, the worse he felt. We know that because he wouldn't admit to his sin with Bathsheba and her husband, the Lord had to send a prophet to him, to tell him that the Lord knew about what he'd done with Bathsheba and how he'd killed her husband. Finally then David confessed to the Lord, (psalm 51) and of course, since David was His child, the Lord heard his prayer and forgave him. We know that due to the seriousness of the sin, that David was also disciplined for it and suffered some serious consequences from it as well. The consequences were not the Lord's discipline, they were simply the consequence of sin in his life and that's true for all of us when we sin.

But what about all those scriptures that say that God doesn't hear the prayers of sinners, we ask when we're confused and ashamed of ourselves. Again, we need to really think about what they're saying. God doesn't hear the prayers of the wicked, and sinners are wicked in His eyes. But my dear friend, remember, we are not sinners any longer! We're saints, His children, and there is NO condemnation for those who belong to Christ! God does not stop listening to our prayers when we sin. If He did, I'm afraid that He wouldn't have very many prayers to listen to.

In psalm 51, David asks the Lord not to cast him from His presence or take the Holy Spirit from him. He doesn't ask that because that's what God normally does. He asks that because he knew that because of Saul's great sins, God removed His Spirit from him. The Holy Spirits role in the Old Testament was different then it is now. Having the Holy Spirit didn't have anything to do with salvation then, instead it was given as an enabling presence. The loss of the Spirit then didn't mean loss of salvation, but loss of enablement for whatever ministry the Lord had wanted them to do. God rejected Saul as King and removed His Spirit from him, and David was asking God not to do that to him. And of course, we know He didn't.

You know, we often think about how God chose David to be King of Israel, and then David went and disappointed Him. But the truth of the matter is that God knew what David was going to do, long before He ever told David that He'd chosen him to be King. It's the same with us too. He knows about all our sins. He knows what we're going to do today, next year and every day after that. He knew it when He chose us to be His child and called us to Himself. He knew when He hung on the cross for us. And you know what? He didn't change His mind! He still loved us then, and He still loves us now!

So what happen when we repeat a sin? God wants to hear from us, and He still hears our prayers. When we repeat a sin later, that doesn't mean that we didn't really repent before, it simply means we sinned again. God knows we're not perfect and He knows we will make the same mistakes over and over at times. He doesn't have a set limit for us that once we cross then it's all over. What matters to Him is what's in our hearts. If an alcoholic confesses his drinking and is truly sorry for his sin, repenting of it, promising he won't do it again, then he's forgiven, period. If he turns around an hour later and drinks again, and again confesses his sin, truly repenting of it, he is again forgiven. And he will be forgiven again, and again, and again, and again, as often as it takes until he learns how to overcome it with God's help. The same is true of any other sin as well.

Sadly, it's at times like this that Satan often comes in and convinces the person that God won't listen to them anymore. But God loves us and will always listen to our prayers and answer us. Yes, we may be disciplined for our sin, but that's simply more proof that we're his beloved children, and He loves us!

What happens when we've fallen for Satan's lies and we're too afraid, ashamed or embarrassed to pray and ask His forgiveness? God doesn't leave us. He is always with us and always will be. He will continue to take care of us, and continue to love us, and He will continue to convict us of our sin and constantly try to draw us to Him in prayer and draw us into His Word so He can show us the Truth. Think how you would feel and what you'd do if your child had done something wrong and was too afraid, ashamed or embarrassed to come and talk to you about it... it would break your heart, wouldn't it? And so it breaks our Father's heart too. Hear the heart of our Father: Isaiah 49:15–16 —“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! *See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me. * And again when He had to discipline His children: Jeremiah 31:20 —Is not Ephraim my dear son, the child in whom I delight? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him,” declares the LORD. *

Let's make sure we remember this the next time Satan tries to convince us otherwise, and go running to the Father who loves us and wants only the very best for us!

 

LiveJournal Tags: sin,condemnation,satan's attacks,lies,Truth,God,love,forgiveness,prayer

Are you a disciple? Are you prepared for the storms of life?

Are you a disciple? Are you prepared for the storms of life?

Matthew 7:24–27, NIV, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

Do you see the key to being prepared? It's by being wise and building our lives on a solid foundation of God's Truth. In other words, it's by being His disciples. The disciple that is obedient and daily lives his life according to God's Word will be prepared when the storms come and will survive them, the ones who aren't real disciples, who aren't walking daily in Him, will be surprised by the storms of life and be defeated by them.

Why do I say that the key is being a disciple? If you read the first sentence of that passage again you'll see that is the definition of a true disciple. A disciple of Jesus is someone who doesn't just "read their bible", but who puts what they read/study into practice.

Let's see what Jesus says about being His disciple since that's what we're concerned with.

John 8:31–32, NIV, To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

In this passage Jesus say those who "hold" to His teachings are really His disciples, as opposed to those who simply hear them and believe them. The word "hold" means to "abide" or "remain" or a more modern way of saying it would be to say "continue " in the teachings.  Also, the word translated "teachings" is also translated "Word", meaning the scriptures of course..

Luke 14:26–27, NIV, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.

Luke 14:33, NIV, In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.

Matthew 16:24, NIV, Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

In the above passages Jesus tells us that anyone that wants to be His disciple must always put Him first above everyone and everything else in their lives. He doesn't say that we have to do this on Sundays, but every moment of every day. Jesus and His Will must come before everything and everyone else, including ourselves. That's the part most people forget about. Our own desires, wills, wants, needs, etc must be in second place to those of Jesus. If we don't do that, then we're not His disciples.

Matthew 10:24–25, NIV, “A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master.

This is again showing that we must submit to Him.

John 13:35, NIV, By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Jesus also tells us that one of the fruits of discipleship that others will see is our love for each other, for all others who are saved.

John 15:8, NIV, This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Jesus tells us that disciples will bear fruit, the more the better and it's that fruit that proves we're disciples. Therefore anyone who claims to be a disciple who's life doesn't show it, isn't telling the truth.

Mark 9:30–31, NIV, They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, because he was teaching his disciples.

John 16:13–14, NIV, But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.

I included the above because it shows that Jesus teaches His disciples and we know that He tells us that once He ascended that the Holy Spirit would be the one teaching all those who follow Him. So another mark of a disciple would be their relationship with the Lord and the fact that they're constantly being taught by Him.

Mark 16:20, NIV, Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.

2 Corinthians 5:19–20, NIV, ...And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.

These passages show that disciples share what they know with others, both with believers & unbelievers and that the Lord actually works with us when we do this.

John 13:13–16, NIV, “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

Finally Jesus tells us that His disciples are to serve others, not Lord it over others.

Many years ago when I looked around at all the people who called themselves "Christians", I knew that something was wrong with them but I didn't know what it was. But their lives sure didn't look anything at all like the lives of the disciples or early Christians. (I was an ancient history buff so I'd studied that too) The vast majority of Christians today simply didn't have the supernatural "power" that the early Christians did. I knew the Bible said that God didn't change, so I figured the fault then had to be with the people today. Something was wrong with us, but what???

I finally realized that most people today who say they are Christians, don't put Christ first. They don't study His Word and they don't live it. They don't hunger and thirst for His Word, in fact if they spend 15 minutes a day reading it they're doing better then most, and that's a very sad commentary. They pray when they want something from Him and then get mad and throw a tantrum if they don't get it, even though they're being disobedient to Him. It's like they think God "owes" them or something. They don't really love Him, because they don't really know Him, they just know about Him. Some of them are actors, pretending to live a Christian life but when the storms come they fall so the storms show them for what they really are.

So that's the difference between Christians today and the disciples and the early Christians. The early Christians were imbued with the power of the Holy Spirit because they weren't "just believers". They were disciples. Maybe the church has preached too much about "believing" and not enough about "following". I don't know but perhaps that is what many of the storms of life are about right now during these end times; to separate the wheat from the chaff and to let those who really are saved know that it's time to show it. Jesus constantly stresses that we have to obey, we have to do what He says, not "just believe".

Luke 11:28, NIV, He replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.”

In fact they must have had problems with some people "just believing" even back then because James specifically says that when people think that's all they have to do, they're deceiving themselves.

James 1:22–25, NIV, Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.

Please don't think that I'm saying we need works to be saved, that's not at all what I'm saying. Works are what naturally occur because someone is saved, they don't precede salvation. So we believe to be saved, but those who truly believe are going to obey and that fact will be evident in their lives by their works and their fruit. See what I mean?

I guess the difference is in thinking that salvation is like those things you check saying you "agree" (believe) with the license agreement when you install a new program on your computer. You check the box saying you agree and the program is installed and you're done. You don't have to do anything else, think about the agreement ever again, or anything. But salvation isn't like that. Yes, belief is the requirement, but when you really believe, you're going to do more then just put a check mark in the box. See what scripture says? (I'll put it in 3 different translations so we can be sure to get the meaning)

Romans 10:8–11, NIV, But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”

Romans 10:8–11, KJV 1900, But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

Romans 10:8–11, ESV, But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.”

jjboehle December 14th, 2010 11:55 PM Re: Are you a disciple? Are you prepared for the storms of life?   Cindy, can you please explain this a bit further...."Works are what naturally occur because someone is saved, they don't precede salvation. So we believe to be saved, but those who truly believe are going to obey and that fact will be evident in their lives by their works and their fruit. See what I mean?" I mean, I think I am understanding....but am not sure. I believe and trust in out Lord and I have been saved and all, but what exactly is meant by works/fruit?

Pathwalker December 15th, 2010 01:46 AM Re: Are you a disciple? Are you prepared for the storms of life?   I know JJ just asked an important question that I also would like to hear what you have to say and I have one as well. I understand that reading and studying the Bible, everyday, is very important thing to do daily and applyling what we learned, because if we dont apply, then what have we learned. What about witnessing, fellowship, ? Isn't this consider a part of fruits/ works?

jammie December 15th, 2010 02:42 AM Re: Are you a disciple? Are you prepared for the storms of life?   your works come from your salvation, your not earning your salvation. you do what God says because you love him!

Cindy December 15th, 2010 09:56 AM Re: Are you a disciple? Are you prepared for the storms of life?   First let me say thank you to all who checked this out and are participating! I was so surprised this morning to see that someone had! Quote: Originally Posted by jjboehle (Post 677808) Cindy, can you please explain this a bit further...."Works are what naturally occur because someone is saved, they don't precede salvation. So we believe to be saved, but those who truly believe are going to obey and that fact will be evident in their lives by their works and their fruit. See what I mean?" I mean, I think I am understanding....but am not sure. I believe and trust in out Lord and I have been saved and all, but what exactly is meant by works/fruit? That's a great question JJ! This can be a very confusing issue for many and is honestly difficult to write about for me because of that. This is what the book of James is all about and he really explains it quite well. Let's look at what he says: James 2:14–17, NIV, What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, “Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. OK, let's put what James says in a scenario for us. I know you're saved JJ, so let's say that I come to your house to visit and you can see that I'm very hungry and obviously haven't eaten for some time and my clothes are pretty worn out. (I'm using you and me in this because James is talking to someone who is saved and you are, and he's talking about a brother or sister in Christ-or another person who is saved, and I am too) Ok, so we're visiting and I admit that I'm hungry. Now you don't have much, but you do have enough for your own lunch at least. Being saved, and having the love of God in your heart, knowing the Lord wants us to help each other, what are you going to do? Are you going to sympathize with me and say, "gee, I'm sorry you're having such a rough time...it seems like everyone is these days!" and then offer to pray for me, and after our visit, send me on my way? Or would you share your lunch with me and even perhaps say that same thing and offer to pray? There's no doubt in my mind that you'd share your lunch with me and you'd probably try and find some other food for me too! I know you would because that's what the Holy Spirit would be telling you to do and your heart would be overflowing with love for me and wanting to help me. :hug: Now someone who isn't saved wouldn't have a problem telling me they were sorry for my problems but gee, everyone's having a tough time and they'd let me leave with nothing to eat. Yet those same people might very well tell you, "oh I believe Jesus is God and died for my sins!" but they're not saved. James puts it like this: James 2:19, NIV, You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. So you see, for someone to simply "believe" something isn't enough. "Just" believing would be like having "head knowledge" without the "heart knowledge". It would be second hand, like knowing about God but actually knowing Him and having a relationship with Him. See what I mean? Again let's look at how James explains it: (keep in mind that the word "faith" could also be translated "belief") James 2:20–26, NIV, You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” and he was called God’s friend. You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone. In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. Let's bring it down to the physical level to make it a bit easier. This reminds me of when my middle son was about 3 years old. Someone had been breaking windows in the apartment building we lived in and my children had heard me talking about it and asked me questions about it. I explained that someone was being very bad by throwing rocks at the windows and making them break. Later that day, sure enough, another window was broken. My 3 year old came to me and told me he did it. I was shocked and asked him if he had broken the others too. He said No, he hadn't but he had thrown the rock at this one because even though he figured the rock probably would break it, he "believed" it would break it, he wanted to check to make sure! :duh: Before he threw the rock, his belief that the rock would break the window was second hand. He promised he wouldn't do it again though because now he "really knew" it would break a window. Now his belief was "heart knowledge" instead of just "head knowledge" so now his deeds would reflect that belief. After that incident he never broke another window and I knew by his deeds that he really believed. See what I mean? Quote: Originally Posted by Pathwalker (Post 677852) I know JJ just asked an important question that I also would like to hear what you have to say and I have one as well. I understand that reading and studying the Bible, everyday, is very important thing to do daily and applyling what we learned, because if we dont apply, then what have we learned. What about witnessing, fellowship, ? Isn't this consider a part of fruits/ works? Another great question and I'd like to include the second part of what JJ asked with yours, the part about fruit if you don't mind. Jesus tells us: Matthew 7:15–20, NIV, “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. So we see that people are the trees He's referring to here, just as in other places He talks about Him being the vine and we are the branches of that vine. As long as we remain in Him, we will bear fruit because He will cause that to happen. So now we need to know what kind of "fruit" to look for. Fruit on a tree is something we can see and from what Jesus said, fruit in our lives will also be something we can see. So let's take a look at what the fruit of the spirit is: Galatians 5:22–23, NIV, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. When we see these qualities in others, we can see that they are growing in their faith. The more the person grows in faith, the more these qualities will show up in their life. Now as for fellowship, the first fruit of the spirit mentioned is love and we know that when we are saved the Holy Spirit pours out His love into our hearts. When we are saved we begin to love God and His love fills us so that we begin to love others who are saved and even those who aren't. Eventually, the more we grow in our faith the more that love grows to include more and more people, even the "unlovable". But when we're first saved usually that love is for God and those we already love and others who are saved. When you love someone, you want to be with them don't you? Hence you spend time with God and you spend time with others who are saved--fellowship! As your faith grows you also begin to realize that you want others to know about your God and all He's done for you. Often at first because we've heard from those who are more mature in their faith, we realize that we "should" witness, before we feel it in our hearts. But again, the Lord has everything under control. The more we grow, the more spiritually mature we become, the more our love for both God and others grow till we do feel in our hearts that we must tell others about Him. As we again continue to grow the Lord then teaches us how to tell others and we begin witnessing from our spirits rather then from our heads. While there's nothing wrong with the various programs etc that teach people to witness to others, I'm afraid that many people are witnessing out of head knowledge and a feeling of "duty" rather then because the Lord has shed His love for the unsaved into their hearts and directed them to witness to others. When we do things God's Way, and in His timing, He will teach us what to do and what to say and even tell us who He wants us to talk to. More importantly when we do things His way, we'll be doing it in the power of the Holy Spirit and not out of our own power. We're much more likely to have success that way. I often think the Lord must look on us the way I used to look on my children when they were babies and trying to copy me...it was so cute lol, but they were doing it all wrong of course since they didn't know how to do those things yet lol and that's pretty much what we do when we try and do things out of duty rather then growing in our faith and doing them because we know the Lord has said it's time for us to be about doing that. Quote: Originally Posted by jammie (Post 677854) your works come from your salvation, your not earning your salvation. you do what God says because you love him! :amen: :yes: I hope this helped and please, do feel free to ask for more clarification!

Cindy December 16th, 2010 12:43 PM Re: Are you a disciple? Are you prepared for the storms of life?   It's neat that you all were asking about the fruit of the spirit yesterday because last night the Lord woke me up to study some more and guess what He chose? It was about a different subject in a way, or at least I thought it was to start with lol, but it turned into this very subject of being a disciple and the fruit of the spirit! :laughing: I just love how He works! So let me share with you what He showed me last night. First no one becomes a disciple of their own choosing. As we know, God calls us into fellowship with Him through salvation. So everyone that is saved, is actually called by God, personally! That's pretty neat when you think of it. I was going over again how Jesus called each of His disciples. If you recall the Gospel accounts, He saw each one as they were working at their normal jobs in their normal lives and simply said to them, "Come, follow me". Let's look at when He called Matthew for an example: Matthew 9:9, NIV, As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. What I love about it is how each of them immediately simply got up, walked away from their normal lives and followed Him. Wow! Can you even imagine it??? Remember Peter and the others? They were working with their fathers as fishermen, but when Jesus called, they left their fathers, their boats and went with Him; no excuses or "just a second let me put my boat away or give my dad this thing he'll need or say good bye to anyone etc; they just obeyed! I had to wonder if it was because Jesus was there in the flesh, so I went back and checked even the old testament: Abraham, Isaiah,Jeremiah, Moses etc. Most of them also immediately obeyed. There were a few however (and I bet you know which ones they are lol) that did try to give God excuses and reasons why they couldn't do what He was calling them to do immediately. I think the worst of the lot was Moses who came up with excuse after excuse. Interestingly though as we all know, God won out and Moses did eventually obey, although He did make God angry with all his excuses. God didn't let one single one of them go until they had obeyed Him. That to me was a relief and I think it shows how God is with us too even before we're saved. He keeps on us until we do submit to His call. There was something else that I bet we've all noticed about the people God calls. Strangely we tend to think of all those people, like Abraham, Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Peter, John, Mark, Matthew, Luke, Paul, Stephen, and so very many others as though they're different from us. Like they're "special" and we couldn't be like them no matter how we tried. Yet every one of them was a perfectly average, normal human being, just like us. Most had little money, most had little education even. Sure some had more then others and there were a few like Paul that were scholars, but for the most part they were just average Joes that wouldn't have stood out in any crowd. What made them stand out though is that God called them. He made them different and of course He put their stories in His Word so we could learn from them. When we study their lives we see that each and every one of them changed when God called them. For some that change was instant and very dramatic, like with Paul, but for most the change, while instant, was gradual and became more and more obvious with time. In fact, that's even true of Paul. Although his initial change was so great that it was obvious to all, the changes God wrought inside him showed up more and more as time went on and he grew in his faith. So, what changed in all these people's lives when they answered God's call? The first thing that changed I think is their relationship with God. For each of them, God became more personal, closer to them and they to Him. He became their teacher as well as their confidant instead of just an impersonal God that they were supposed to somehow obey and work to please. This obviously happens with us when we are saved are obedient and become disciples. We start to hear from God, we feel the pull of the Holy Spirit to study His Word--we feel hungry for His Word like we can't get enough of it. As we study and talk to Him, we begin to realize that He is teaching us and that brings Him even closer to us and we begin to rely on Him more and more. Just like the people in the Bible, the more we learn from Him and about Him as we study, the more our love for Him grows too. Because our love for Him grows, this brings about the next change in us just as it did for each of them. The second change was that their relationship with others changed, just as ours does too. Remember when we're saved, God pours His love into our hearts. His love is different then ours in that He loved us when we were still His enemies--He didn't wait until we were lovable. He loves us without prejudice and knowing just how wretched we really are. It is His love that enables us to love others in the same way. Let's see what some of the scriptures say about this: Romans 5:5, NIV, And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. 1 John 4:12, NIV, No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 1 John 2:5, NIV, But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him 1 John 4:16–19, NIV, And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us. God gives us His love when we are saved and when we are obedient and become disciples, He teaches us and His love grows within us--first for Him and then for others as well. The more we mature in our faith the more this love grows. It is this love combined with what He teaches us about what He's already done for us that will eventually combine to cause us to want to tell others about Him. It is also this love that will show up in our daily lives. The more it grows the more we will be changed and the more the love of God will be evident as fruit in our lives because our relationship with others will change. We'll become more forgiving, more compassionate, more peaceful in ourselves as well as kinder, gentler, and have more self control. The next big change that occurred was a change in their worldview. Again this happens with us as well. We begin to see the world and the people in it in a different light then we did before we were saved. This again is something that can both happen suddenly and instantaneously as well as gradually. For most of us it's a gradual process that occurs as we grow in our faith. How can we be against abortion until we understand how God feels about children and how He feels about murder? How can we understand that divorce is a big deal as is living together with someone without the benefit of marriage until we understand how God feels about those things? How can we understand that we are to bless Israel and pray for her until we understand how God feels about Israel? For an example of how some of their world views changed, we can look at Peter. We know that the Jews weren't allowed to enter the home of a gentile or eat with one either. The Lord had impressed on the Jews that they were to be separate from the world, just as He tells us to be, but they turned that into a set of rules instead of understanding the heart of the matter. God wanted all people to be saved though, not just the Jews, so He sent Peter a vision. Acts 10:27–29, NIV, Talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people. He said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with a Gentile or visit him. But God has shown me that I should not call any man impure or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without raising any objection. May I ask why you sent for me?” Because of this, Peter's worldview was changed as would be the worldview of all believers. Again, the more our love and knowledge of the Lord grows, the more our worldview changes. Finally, the last thing that changed for many of them was their profession. They went from being ordinary men and women, housekeepers, slaves, wives, husbands, fishermen, shepherds, tax collectors, doctors, farmers, etc to being fishers of men, prophets, missionaries, teachers, some even became Kings, but all in one way or another became leaders of others. People who were basically uneducated became great teachers of God's Word--and they didn't have to go to seminary to do it! People who had had others serving them all their lives, became servants to others so they could lead them to God. All their professions changed as they answered His call and were obedient to God. That last one really surprised me when I realized it too! If we study their lives though we see that while there's no way they could have done any of the things God asked of them before He called them and prepared them, every single one of them were successful in their new profession because God equipped them for it before sending them out. He does exactly the same thing with us. He calls us and when we are obedient, He teaches us and prepares us for our new life's work. Often we may not even realize that's what He's doing! I know I sure didn't realize it at first! When I did realize it, the first thing I did, after praying about it of course was call others that I considered "Godly" men and women and talked to them about it. I wanted confirmation of course. I did get confirmation but I was also discouraged from it by the people who should have been the ones to support me. When we look at the lives of others God called in the bible though, we see that the same thing happened to them. Those who were jealous or for any other number of reasons, tried to discourage them from doing what God had called them to do. As I mentioned before though, God doesn't let go of those He calls, regardless of how many excuses or "reason" they give Him. His Will will be done, period! Proverbs 19:21, NIV, Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails. Isaiah 14:24, NIV, The Lord Almighty has sworn, “Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand. So what does this all have to do with the fruit of the spirit? Look at that verse again: Galatians 5:22–23, NIV, But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Can you see how as each of us was called by God and as we each grow in the love and knowledge of Him, that each of these characteristics become more and more a part of our personality? Each of these characteristics are things that grow within us as we grow in Him because they are each things that are part of the Lord's character which He is forming in us. As Paul said too, the most important one of all of these is love for it is the basis of all the others. The fruit of love is talking about both our love for God as well as our love for others. Jesus Himself tells us this as well: Matthew 22:37–40, NIV, Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” The more we grow the more we will fulfill God's law--not because we're obeying rules; not because we "have to" out of duty or fear of losing our salvation, but simply because we love Him. Amazingly even that isn't from ourselves, but a gift from God! He does it all for us! What an amazing God we serve! 2 Corinthians 3:18, NIV, And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Marianne December 16th, 2010 03:41 PM Re: Are you a disciple? Are you prepared for the storms of life?   After we are 'Saved' we become disciples of Jesus Christ, we leave the old person behind and start anew.. it is a willingness to follow Jesus in every way, including the way of the Cross.. we must surrender our selfishness and lay down our lives for the needs of others and help them in any way we can Our lives are not our own anymore.. we live for Christ.. by doing His Will on the earth..

Cindy December 17th, 2010 12:27 PM Re: Are you a disciple? Are you prepared for the storms of life?   Amen Marianne! And we do it not because we "must", but out of love and gratitude for what He's done for us already and what He's going to do for us. The first principal of discipleship as you say is that we submit ourselves to Jesus. He chooses us and we choose to learn under His direction. That doesn't mean we won't experience persecution and trials. In fact it means the opposite, that we will suffer more because we will be becoming like Him. The world hated Him so much they killed Him (or tried to anyway) and therefore the more we become like Him, the more the unbelievers in this world are going to hate us too. Matthew 10:24–25, NIV, “A student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for the student to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If the head of the house has been called Beelzebub, how much more the members of his household! So if we're loved by even unbelievers then we should probably examine ourselves as scripture says: 2 Corinthians 13:5, NIV, Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? . 1 Peter 4:12–14, NIV, Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you. The great thing is that the more obedient we are, the more possible it becomes to triumph even during the suffering! Over and over we are told that we should "rejoice" or "count it all joy" when we suffer trials or persecution and that these things will cause us to grow in our faith so that we will be more like Jesus and make Him proud of us when He returns. We're also told of the marvelous rewards He will have for us then too. I've heard so many people put those down as though they weren't anything to even think about and yet that's exactly what the Lord wants us to do! He wants us to strive for those rewards! No of course there won't be any jealously or envy in Heaven! The whole point of the rewards though is to please Jesus, not ourselves! We're not winning a new TV, we're winning rewards that make HIM look good, not us! Let me quote here what I said about this on another thread: Quote: Yet we are admonished to continue in Him, "abide in Him", to grow in Christ so that we won't be ashamed before Him... It's the difference between being a believer and being a disciple. 1 John 2:28, NIV, And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming. 1 John 2:28 Should a believer fail to abide in Him, however, there is the possibility of shame when Christ comes. This intimates divine disapproval at the judgment seat of Christ, referred to in 4:17-19. The NIV‘s unashamed before Him might be more literally rendered: “not be ashamed before Him.” The possibility is real but does not, of course, suggest the loss of salvation. The Bible knowledge commentary : An exposition of the scriptures 1 John 2:28 We abide in fellowship with Christ by being obedient. Only thus can we have confidence … at His coming. The Christian who practices righteousness shows that he has been given eternal life by Him who is righteous. The Open Bible 1 John 2:28 Abiding in Christ is not only by faith, but by obedience. Spirit filled life study Bible. 2 Peter 1:10–11, NIV, Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:13–15, NIV, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames. Hebrews 10:35–36, NIV, So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 1 John 2:28 “abide in Him” This is a PRESENT ACTIVE IMPERATIVE. This is the third PRESENT IMPERATIVE used to promote Christian perseverance The Beloved Disciple's Memoirs and Letters Philippians 1:20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. 1 Timothy 3:13 Those who have served well gain an excellent standing and great assurance in their faith in Christ Jesus. I like the way this bible teacher explains it: Believer To Follower Q. I have a question about verse Luke 9:23. Is this verse talking about sanctification? or eternal salvation? And finally, what are we to deny ourselves? Thank you for your time. A. Luke 9:23 says, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” After salvation, this is the most important message of the Gospel. If we want to be a follower of Jesus we should set aside our selfish ambitions for life and seek His will for us instead. That’s what the phrase “deny himself and take up his cross” means. In Romans 12:1-2 Paul urged us to offer our whole beings as living sacrifices to God. He said we should no longer conform to the pattern of this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. The way he might say this today is that we should abandon our secular world view and adopt a Biblical world view instead. In Matt. 6:31-34 Jesus put this still another way. He urged us to seek His Kingdom and His righteousness and in return He would accept responsibility for all of our needs. In short, the Lord has a purpose for our life and if we give Him permission, He’ll fulfill that purpose in us and make sure we don’t have to worry about anything along the way. You have my assurance that you won’t find a better deal anywhere. As you look around you, it’s easy to see that most Christians don’t do this, so it can’t be a salvation issue. It turns you from a mere believer into a follower, from living a defeated life into living a victorious one (1 Cor. 9:24-25). 1 Corinthians 9:24–27, NIV, Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. posted with permission http://gracethrufaith.com/ask-a-bibl...r-to-follower/ Edited it add: I meant to add something I read earlier this week that really struck me as true. It was in the book Glorious Appearing. The Tribulation is finally over and the believers are gathering together their first night to talk about what they've been through and have a bible study about what to expect next. The leader or teacher of the group explained that during the Trib when they had been studying this material with others who were like minded, they had discussed if it was even necessary to study this because after all, Jesus Himself would be there and everyone would be able to talk to Him. After prayer and study though they realized that Jesus expects us to know this material, that's why He gave it to us. He didn't inspire men to write the bible because He didn't have anything better to do. Even during the 75 day interval between the Trib and the Millennium and even during the Millennium itself, especially it's beginning, He's not going to stop and explain to people what's happening and why it's happening because they were to lazy to study it for themselves. It will be much the same way when Jesus was here the first time. Only occasionally did He follow a parable or teaching with an explanation and even then it was only for those who had the ears to hear. Obviously I'm speaking about adults who have the blessing of having or being able to have a Bible. For others who were never able to have the blessing of God's Word our Lord will deal with differently. Luke 12:47–48, NIV, “That servant who knows his master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. Not only that, but recently the Lord's made me aware of other kinds of "rewards" that He has for those who are obedient. I mean besides the crowns and things like that. You'll discover these other things when you study all that happens after the Tribulation--before the Millennium, during it and even after it. Many people say that there won't be "divisions" in heaven, and I can't speak to that yet, but I can tell you that there will be divisions during the Millennium, and that includes divisions between those who have been saved and those who are disciples. It's really exciting! let me share something I just saw in a couple of my commentaries about this: Revelation 19:7–8, NIV, Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.) Christ will reward us according to our faithfulness, and the rewards we receive will make up the “wedding gown.” Dr. Lehman Strauss writes, “Has it ever occurred to you … that at the marriage of the Bride to the Lamb, each of us will be wearing the wedding garment of our own making?” What a solemn thought! Wiersbe's expository outlines on the New Testament One of the false interpretations that has plagued the church is the concept that God treats all saints exactly alike. Instead, a literal interpretation of the Bible distinguishes different groups of saints, and here the bride is distinguished from those who are invited to the wedding supper. Instead of treating all alike, God indeed has a program for Israel as a nation and also for those in Israel who are saved. He also has a program for Gentiles in the Old Testament who come to faith in God. And in the New Testament He has a program for the church as still a different group of saints. Again in the Book of Revelation the Tribulation saints are distinguished from other previous groups. The Bible knowledge commentary : An exposition of the scriptures (Re 19:9) Again I'm not saying there will be jealousy or bad feelings in the Millennium or Heaven. There won't be! Everyone will get exactly what they've earned and we'll each know that and be comfortable with it. That doesn't mean however that we won't wish we ourselves had done more for the Lord while we were here. I'm sure though that the Lord won't allow us to dwell on that unduly, but especially initially the thought will be there. That's why I keep harping on this, because few teachers do and I want to see everyone here be able to just heap rewards on our Lord and make Him so very pleased... It thrills me to just think about it! You see, anything we do here to "earn" a reward, isn't actually done by us, but is done by the Lord through us, so He is the one who should be praised for all of it and ultimately that's exactly what will happen. That's why we're supposed to want those rewards because they are yet another form of "fruit" of the spirit--or I suppose you could say that they are the natural outcome of the fruit of the spirit in our lives.

Marianne December 18th, 2010 04:10 PM Re: Are you a disciple? Are you prepared for the storms of life?   I find that each new day that the Lord gives me on this earth.. is one more day to learn more about Him.. Quote: So if we're loved by even unbelievers then we should probably examine ourselves as scripture says: 2 Corinthians 13:5, NIV, Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? I had a friend for 18 years, who said, she had Jesus in her heart.. but I could see the fruit wasn't there.. Nick and I had the opportunity to witness to her and her husband who is into philosophy and asked many questions..(even about reincarnation :shock:) but, you could tell he still didn't believe.. he had his own beliefs.. my friend wouldn't say much in front of her husband.. as she was ashamed to say the name Jesus.. in front of her husband.. It came to the point where I couldn't be around them anymore.. all I felt was darkness.. I thank Jesus for revealing this to me.. He gave me the opportunity to witness, to them.. and I knew He will take care of the rest.. I guess what I am trying to say here, is that I liked my friend to a certain extent.. but, it came to a point where I couldn't be around her anymore.. as it was dragging me down to her level.. and I knew, that as a Child of God.. I had to show her that I was different.. and no longer the person I use to be.. I was living for Jesus now.. and had to do His will on this earth.. she saw the change in me.. and asked me, where is the old Marianne?... I liked her better.. I told her I was a Christian and living my life for Jesus now.. slowly but surely she went out of my life..

Cindy December 19th, 2010 10:13 AM Re: Are you a disciple? Are you prepared for the storms of life?   I know what you mean Marianne. I think this is perhaps one of the most difficult lessons we have to learn. I know it was for the Jews, they never did get what God tried to teach them about being separate and what that meant. I've seen it in my life in several different ways since being saved and learning what God desires of us. It's still something I struggle with though at times. One way I've noticed this is if I go somewhere that I really don't belong, and I just act like myself, other people start feeling very uncomfortable. For example, when I met Bruce he used to hang out at the VFW or the Legion a lot because that's where his friends were. He didn't drink, he just drank coke, but he'd hang out with them. So when we started dating, he took me there. Without me saying anything or even changing my expression in any way, people would stop swearing and stop acting like idiots LOL. It would start out with them being their "normal" selves and swearing, then noticing me and they'd be apologizing all over the place. At first I thought it was just because I was a woman, but I looked around and there were a lot of women there, so that wasn't it. They had to sense there was something different about me deep down and they reacted to it. Of course what they were sensing was the Holy Spirit, although they didn't know that. Within about a year of meeting me, Bruce just stopped going there. The Lord had changed him too by then and he no longer fit in there any more then I had lol My neighbors are the same way as far as swearing and knowing there's something "different" about me that they react to. I don't think they know it's the Holy Spirit though. And this is where I feel I've failed God and am trying to do better at. Although I've often spoken about God with them, I've never clearly presented the Gospel to them so they could be saved. That really bothers me and I've been praying that the Lord will let me rectify that. But this is where the thing about separation comes in.  What bothers me though is I think that if I'd been doing my job and telling them about the gospel from the very beginning that they'd probably already hate me. Since they don't, I know I haven't done a very good job of it. The thing is, I don't want to just go up and start preaching at them either.  I want it to come from my heart, not my head.  In other words, I don't want to do it, just to say that I have, I really do want them to be saved, or at the very least to have planted seeds.  I've tried before to lead into it when they've brought up a problem, and I'll say something about how the Lord can handle whatever it is.  I guess I just haven't been clear enough about it.  I think what I'm going to have to do is literally practice with myself and make up conversations so I'll be ready and know what to say when the time comes.  And of course I always pray that the Lord will give me His Word's to speak then too.