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| #Post#: 34164-------------------------------------------------- | |
| ~Just Saying ~ | |
| By: Justaname Date: June 4, 2023, 9:59 am | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| I�m sure all of us have been on numerous forums over the last | |
| few decades �well I have for sure. And still on a few. | |
| Some lovely ones of great fellowship and even lasting internet | |
| friendships �.and on ,, | |
| Other forum finding much conflict and some of the strangest of | |
| belief systems! | |
| Yet one thing I still find very repetitively , is that many | |
| people seem to be only contented to pick on what is wrong with | |
| other people�s beliefs , yet they never share what God has said | |
| to them personally , or what He has done for them. | |
| It seems that their only strength lies in telling other people | |
| what is not, and what is wrong. | |
| That , as I see it , is not �the gospel� , neither is it the | |
| GOOD NEWS �which we know is what Gospel means . | |
| Needless to say �when I butt heads against this constantly I | |
| find I always have to ask the person if they will ever give us | |
| any good news about who God is to them and what He has done for | |
| them . As they only seem to care about what is wrong with the | |
| belief of others. | |
| For myself , at 81 I can say that my life has been a rich one, | |
| not in substance but in my relationship with Father �His | |
| dealings, His blessings , His constant presence� | |
| Seen miracles, heard the best of preachers , heard His Voice , | |
| seen visions , had dreams, been healed numerous times� and just | |
| the blessing of knowing that �He IS�. | |
| Bottom line�one day we will all gather at His Seat , and | |
| have revealed to us , which things we believed correctly and | |
| which things we got wrong . I think we are in for some | |
| surprises! | |
| Yet, I�ve never ever believed that God cares about �correct | |
| doctrine� �. We see many biblical characters who got things | |
| wrong! Adam, Abraham, Lot, Gideon , Jonah , David , Peter , | |
| even Paul�and in Hebrews 11 we see God commending them , not | |
| remembering their fall. | |
| So I have confidence that God , as He tells us, is a heart God | |
| �At the last great gathering , He will measure our heart and our | |
| love, not our doctrine or mistakes . | |
| Just saying� | |
| #Post#: 34178-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: ~Just Saying ~ | |
| By: Kerry Date: June 5, 2023, 1:31 am | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| [quote author=Helen link=topic=1558.msg34164#msg34164 | |
| date=1685890763] | |
| I�m sure all of us have been on numerous forums over the last | |
| few decades �well I have for sure. And still on a few. | |
| Some lovely ones of great fellowship and even lasting internet | |
| friendships �.and on ,, | |
| Other forum finding much conflict and some of the strangest of | |
| belief systems! | |
| Yet one thing I still find very repetitively , is that many | |
| people seem to be only contented to pick on what is wrong with | |
| other people�s beliefs , yet they never share what God has said | |
| to them personally , or what He has done for them. | |
| It seems that their only strength lies in telling other people | |
| what is not, and what is wrong. | |
| That , as I see it , is not �the gospel� , neither is it the | |
| GOOD NEWS �which we know is what Gospel means . | |
| Needless to say �when I butt heads against this constantly I | |
| find I always have to ask the person if they will ever give us | |
| any good news about who God is to them and what He has done for | |
| them . As they only seem to care about what is wrong with the | |
| belief of others. | |
| For myself , at 81 I can say that my life has been a rich one, | |
| not in substance but in my relationship with Father �His | |
| dealings, His blessings , His constant presence� | |
| Seen miracles, heard the best of preachers , heard His Voice , | |
| seen visions , had dreams, been healed numerous times� and just | |
| the blessing of knowing that �He IS�. | |
| Bottom line�one day we will all gather at His Seat , and | |
| have revealed to us , which things we believed correctly and | |
| which things we got wrong . I think we are in for some | |
| surprises! | |
| Yet, I�ve never ever believed that God cares about �correct | |
| doctrine� �. We see many biblical characters who got things | |
| wrong! Adam, Abraham, Lot, Gideon , Jonah , David , Peter , | |
| even Paul�and in Hebrews 11 we see God commending them , not | |
| remembering their fall. | |
| So I have confidence that God , as He tells us, is a heart God | |
| �At the last great gathering , He will measure our heart and our | |
| love, not our doctrine or mistakes . | |
| Just saying� | |
| [/quote]I believe the things in the Bible were given to us to | |
| teach us how to love God and other people better. Ideas need to | |
| be used to help us make things better. Ideas need to get lined | |
| up with reality. | |
| Deuteronomy 29:29 The secret things belong unto the Lord our | |
| God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to | |
| our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law. | |
| And everything in the law needs to be seen through the lens of | |
| Love. That is the spirit of the Law. | |
| This idea helps me love God more since what He has revealed | |
| shows me His Love for us. | |
| #Post#: 35038-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: ~Just Saying ~ | |
| By: Justaname Date: May 19, 2025, 10:52 am | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| being reluctant to start yet another new thread , I think I�ll | |
| post this here. | |
| I was awake for 4 hours during the wee hours ..sleep | |
| wouldn�t come. | |
| I tried to remember all the names of the other children | |
| in my school class when I was about age 6 � | |
| Then I got onto the topic of � Perfect love casts | |
| out fear �� I mused on that for a while ( being a child and an | |
| adult where most of my life has been dogged by one fear or | |
| another . ) | |
| So I was wondering WHY it says �Perfect Love casts out fear..� | |
| Why doesn�t it say. That Faith casts out fear ? Or -Trust casts | |
| out fear , worship casts out fear . Why and how can it be that | |
| * love cast out fear ?!! How is that done ? | |
| #Post#: 35039-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: ~Just Saying ~ | |
| By: Kerry Date: May 19, 2025, 1:41 pm | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| [quote author=Helen link=topic=1558.msg35038#msg35038 | |
| date=1747669966] | |
| being reluctant to start yet another new thread , I think I�ll | |
| post this here. | |
| I was awake for 4 hours during the wee hours ..sleep | |
| wouldn�t come. | |
| I tried to remember all the names of the other children | |
| in my school class when I was about age 6 � | |
| Then I got onto the topic of � Perfect love casts | |
| out fear �� I mused on that for a while ( being a child and an | |
| adult where most of my life has been dogged by one fear or | |
| another . ) | |
| So I was wondering WHY it says �Perfect Love casts out fear..� | |
| Why doesn�t it say. That Faith casts out fear ? Or -Trust casts | |
| out fear , worship casts out fear . Why and how can it be that | |
| * love cast out fear ?!! How is that done ? | |
| [/quote]I can tell you how I read it. From the context, I read | |
| it as being fearful of some imaginary flaw in God the way we | |
| often wonder about what flaws people we meet might have. The | |
| context seems to be about loving God and others in whom the | |
| Spirit is acting. A person whose actions are being guided in | |
| the here and now by the Holy Spirit could not possibly harm | |
| others, so we ought not to be afraid. | |
| Some things and people should make us afraid. Fear is a good | |
| thing if it keeps us out of trouble by warning us of potential | |
| dangers. If you see a poisonous snake, I wouldn't advise | |
| trying to pet it to show it how much you love it. Perhaps faith | |
| would work better with a snake, having confidence we can take | |
| care of it. | |
| In another way, Faith, Hope and Charity are linked together I | |
| think. If you increase one, it tends to increase the other two. | |
| Now if I started off afraid of the snake but found out I could | |
| deal with it -- that would certainly also decrease my fear and | |
| maybe I could find something to like about it. Doing it once | |
| would increase the hope that I could do it in the future too. | |
| The easiest way to increase all three is to work increasing | |
| Love. | |
| Being afraid of God should send us a signal then that we are | |
| imagining a flaw in Him. God is Perfect. I know the Bible | |
| reads the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; but the | |
| word for "fear" there should be translated as "awe." | |
| Now yes, there can be some "fear" in "awe" too. If you are | |
| standing at the top of a tall cliff, you may be in awe of the | |
| view -- but you shouldn't walk off the cliff. Such are my | |
| thoughts. I'm still thinking about your other post. | |
| #Post#: 35040-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: ~Just Saying ~ | |
| By: Justaname Date: May 19, 2025, 3:32 pm | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| thx Kerry . I�m still musing on this . Maybe I should have | |
| ended my post with asking HOW does perfect love cast out fear. | |
| Most times in my life , the fear ( which can be suffocating | |
| ) raises its ugly head because my body has been attacked by some | |
| sickness. I�ve been on the edge of death twice . Once in �68 | |
| and once in �83 . | |
| I felt no fear either time I knew that it was touch and go | |
| both times and if something didn�t happen I�d be gone. | |
| My �besetting� fear is not actual dying bit or being dead | |
| , it�s more the dread of a long painful scary process . | |
| I can�t get my head around *why love is said to | |
| deal with it! Not faith , belief ,positive thinking, but love! | |
| Why love and how is it done. Love has so many shapes and sizes . | |
| And we haven�t even started talking of the PERFECT love! | |
| #Post#: 35041-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: ~Just Saying ~ | |
| By: Kerry Date: May 20, 2025, 2:14 am | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| [quote author=Helen link=topic=1558.msg35040#msg35040 | |
| date=1747686720] | |
| thx Kerry . I�m still musing on this . Maybe I should have | |
| ended my post with asking HOW does perfect love cast out fear. | |
| Most times in my life , the fear ( which can be suffocating | |
| ) raises its ugly head because my body has been attacked by some | |
| sickness. I�ve been on the edge of death twice . Once in �68 | |
| and once in �83 . | |
| I felt no fear either time I knew that it was touch and go | |
| both times and if something didn�t happen I�d be gone. | |
| My �besetting� fear is not actual dying bit or being dead | |
| , it�s more the dread of a long painful scary process . | |
| I can�t get my head around *why love is said to | |
| deal with it! Not faith , belief ,positive thinking, but love! | |
| Why love and how is it done. Love has so many shapes and sizes . | |
| And we haven�t even started talking of the PERFECT love! | |
| [/quote]Not sure about the HOW of it all; but I believe Love | |
| acts like a solvent. Imagine having two rocks. They won't fit | |
| together exactly. If you can dissolve small parts of both, then | |
| they will. The two become one. In the Body of Christ, there | |
| are many, many members. Bits of "self" need to be sacrificed. | |
| Health problems distract us from the spiritual world; and the | |
| imperfect physical body in pain surely does. Something has to | |
| give, and the imperfect physical body fights the spiritual body. | |
| I believe the correction of the body involves something like | |
| crucifixion. That fallen physical body needs to give up but it | |
| can be a hard fight. | |
| It's so complicated. We are also told bear each other's | |
| burdens. In the end, each of us has to bear our own burdens; | |
| but until perfection is achieved, the stronger spiritual being | |
| will bear some of the burdens of weaker spiritual beings. That | |
| makes it easier for the child to develop strength without | |
| falling flat out of weakness. All things work together for the | |
| good in the end -- although that is so hard to see now. | |
| Perhaps the dread of suffering is what Job had to get over. His | |
| wife told him to curse God and die; but he stuck in there. | |
| #Post#: 35042-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: ~Just Saying ~ | |
| By: Heartsong Date: May 20, 2025, 10:44 am | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| [quote author=Helen link=topic=1558.msg35038#msg35038 | |
| date=1747669966] | |
| being reluctant to start yet another new thread , I think I�ll | |
| post this here. | |
| I was awake for 4 hours during the wee hours ..sleep | |
| wouldn�t come. | |
| I tried to remember all the names of the other children | |
| in my school class when I was about age 6 � | |
| Then I got onto the topic of � Perfect love casts | |
| out fear �� I mused on that for a while ( being a child and an | |
| adult where most of my life has been dogged by one fear or | |
| another . ) | |
| So I was wondering WHY it says �Perfect Love casts out fear..� | |
| Why doesn�t it say. That Faith casts out fear ? Or -Trust casts | |
| out fear , worship casts out fear . Why and how can it be that | |
| * love cast out fear ?!! How is that done ? | |
| [/quote] | |
| I wasn't taught good things about God when I was a child. I was | |
| only taught fear and punishment and burning in hell which caused | |
| nightmares as a child. But still I felt a closeness to God that | |
| brought me comfort and made me feel loved and protected when the | |
| worst things imaginable was happening to me and around me. | |
| I watched my husband and daughter who both had congestive heart | |
| failure die a slow painful death so I know what you're talking | |
| about. I don't want to die that way either. | |
| Aside from having cancer which honestly I wasn't afraid at all | |
| when I was diagnosed or surprised because I was already feeling | |
| really bad so I knew it had to be something serious making me | |
| feel way. There was an incident when my blood pressure collapsed | |
| and I was having chest pains and long story short I came close | |
| that time and I remember I was in bed and could no longer feel | |
| my body and no pain or worry or fear and all I felt was like I | |
| was covered with the love of God and that was the greatest | |
| feeling I've ever had in my life. It felt like I was leaving my | |
| body and moving forward somewhere that I couldn't quite see but | |
| I knew it was there. To be honest, I didn't want the paramedics | |
| to bring me out of that state but they did. | |
| Ultimately for me it has always been the love of God that has | |
| made it possible for me to survive even when fear of something | |
| beyond my control, understanding and strength was happening to | |
| me and I was asked, "Where's your God now"? But they didn't | |
| understand anything about love at all. All they knew about was | |
| evil, hate, and violence and using fear as a method of control | |
| and they enjoyed seeing someone being afraid. Love conquers all | |
| and overcomes evil, fear, hate and darkness. By the way, I'm | |
| seeing this on a much larger scale now out in the open no longer | |
| in secret places. It's being accepted and encouraged. I | |
| recognize it for what it is. | |
| #Post#: 35043-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: ~Just Saying ~ | |
| By: Justaname Date: May 20, 2025, 1:10 pm | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| Thanks so much Cathey , for the testimony of Gods keeping power | |
| during times of stress and sickness. That is so encouraging. | |
| If I’m honest ( which we all should be , but not always | |
| want to be ) I have to say I’m not afraid of death , but I | |
| am afraid of pain and constant discomfort which is so | |
| debilitating and distracting from ‘ Abiding in Him. | |
| I’m sure brave people can pull it off , but I’m a | |
| confessed coward where pain is concerned . I find it all | |
| consuming. | |
| Thx for the encouragement . x | |
| Kerry , that post was so very helpful …it has given me | |
| things to muse upon. | |
| Agree , I think with me LOTS of my self-life is not yet dead to | |
| the soulish self , before Adam fell, I think he was heavily | |
| spiritual and secondly soul , After the fall the top weight was | |
| soul and the spiritual life was then dominated by the fleshly | |
| self. | |
| ( or something like that ) | |
| As I’ve aged I find my fleshly self is very aware , and | |
| the spiritual side kinda squashed by bodily demands and things | |
| dominating. | |
| I even resent having to watch the clock to remember which pill | |
| to take next ! | |
| Little did we know as kids how easily we hopped out of bed and | |
| ran down to breakfast! Haha…I can’t remember the | |
| last time that I ran! | |
| I know that none of this bothers God ! | |
| I liked your use of the two rocks . | |
| I think my problem is I was asking myself what love God was | |
| talking about …ours toward Him or His toward us…I | |
| can see I got that wrong …love is not a | |
| ‘thing’ to be held as a tool, but it is all | |
| encompassing life itself as it says - God is love . | |
| Maybe it means “perfect love casts out fear” | |
| , as in “ God being perfect and being Love Himself , His | |
| total possession of us delivers us from all fear . What is | |
| required of us is perfect surrender …which is really what | |
| each of us heard on the first day of our salvation when we came | |
| to the faith . | |
| #Post#: 35046-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: ~Just Saying ~ | |
| By: Kerry Date: May 21, 2025, 5:42 am | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| [quote author=Helen link=topic=1558.msg35043#msg35043 | |
| date=1747764632] | |
| Agree , I think with me LOTS of my self-life is not yet dead to | |
| the soulish self , before Adam fell, I think he was heavily | |
| spiritual and secondly soul , After the fall the top weight was | |
| soul and the spiritual life was then dominated by the fleshly | |
| self. | |
| ( or something like that ) [/quote] | |
| Yes, something like that indeed. I follow the principle that if | |
| something sounds impossible in earthly terms, it is probably | |
| describing something heavenly. Much of Genesis is like that. I | |
| think Adam and Eve had spiritual bodies and shone. When they | |
| fell, their bodies went dark. They were indeed naked in a new | |
| way. Interesting too is that Genesis 3:21 is mistranslated. | |
| It should read "coats of skin" and not "coats of skin." "Skin" | |
| there is singular; but translators had a picture in their minds | |
| of God killing animals to make coats for them. I think that was | |
| the point they entered physical bodies. | |
| [quote] | |
| As I�ve aged I find my fleshly self is very aware , and the | |
| spiritual side kinda squashed by bodily demands and things | |
| dominating. | |
| I even resent having to watch the clock to remember which pill | |
| to take next ! [/quote]I'm a little naughty to being precise | |
| about the time. It was driving me nuts. I take four meds and | |
| five vitamins or other supplements; and sometimes I take the | |
| meds at one time and the others later since all that water makes | |
| me fill so full. My doctor wanted me to drink a gallon of water | |
| a day. I think I'd explode! | |
| [quote]I liked your use of the two rocks . | |
| I think my problem is I was asking myself what love God was | |
| talking about �ours toward Him or His toward us�I can see I got | |
| that wrong �love is not a �thing� to be held as a tool, but it | |
| is all encompassing life itself as it says - God is love . | |
| Maybe it means �perfect love casts out fear� , as in � | |
| God being perfect and being Love Himself , His total possession | |
| of us delivers us from all fear . What is required of us is | |
| perfect surrender �which is really what each of us heard on the | |
| first day of our salvation when we came to the faith . | |
| [/quote]So was Adam and Eve made out of physical dust or | |
| spiritual dust? If Man is meant to be stones in the Temple, | |
| built on the Foundation Rock, I say it was spiritual dust. | |
| Rocks and stones are quite interesting in the Bible. | |
| The "carnal" heart is like a hard brittle stone in spiritual | |
| terms. It is stubborn and resists change. The "spiritual" | |
| heart we are to receive are yielding. I draw that distinction | |
| from: | |
| Ezekiel 11:19 And I will give them one heart, and I will put a | |
| new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of | |
| their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: | |
| #Post#: 35047-------------------------------------------------- | |
| Re: ~Just Saying ~ | |
| By: Justaname Date: May 24, 2025, 10:14 am | |
| --------------------------------------------------------- | |
| quote Kerry � �From the context, I read it as being fearful | |
| of some imaginary flaw in God the way we often wonder about what | |
| flaws people we meet might have. The context seems to be about | |
| loving God and others in whom the Spirit is acting. � | |
| I went back to your other post and found that I missed or | |
| overlooked , this gem the first time. Probably because I was | |
| looking for a �something� that I could grab hold of and use as a | |
| tool against the enemy when attacks come. | |
| I think I am slowly seeing more of �God is Love �. When we | |
| think that we already know something , we stop looking. | |
| I thought that I knew and understood that God is love , but | |
| I now can see that I have hardly scratched the surface of the | |
| depth of the love of God. Which brings me back to - how much do | |
| I believe , am I a truly a believing believer , or did I give | |
| mental assent and check it off as done! | |
| The depth of Gods word is an amazement . | |
| � further up and deeper in,..� | |
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