Taking advantage of God's mercy

  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.
Mar 4, 2013
7,761
107
0
#41
Apparently you have not had to deal with any hard issues in your life. As long as we are in the flesh - we will have issues that need to be addressed and we battle with these daily - once we get rid of one flaw it seems another is there in it's place. There is a reason we are told to renew our minds, to put on the new and put off the old, to cast down imaginations and every false thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God . . . we are in this body of death until Christ returns for his purchased possession.

Yes we have discussed this before - leading people to Christ through the law - :(
Thanks for making me angry, but I sin not. Let's see. I grew up on a farm in Minnesota. I've been rejected by family at the age of 16 and that is when I had to make it on my own working as a hired man for other farmers and living with them. I was in the army for 3 years and fought in Vietnam on the DMZ near Quang Tri. I came home to another state but home has been forever gone to this day. I was an alcoholic and cannot remember eating for 6 months. I was sent to the hospital twice in a straight jacket because of the D T's. I was at the end of my road that I had travelled and then I pursued the salvation of Christ in the front seat of my car in a rainstorm in 1972. I am not proud of my past. After salvation I have had a house burn and lost all I had when my daughter was one week old. My oldest son spent 13 years in prison for shooting a homosexual in the jaw because of a unseemly proposition. I lost my second son 10 years ago due to a heart attack. Is that enough or should I continue?

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; James 1:2

Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.Galatians 3:24
 
Last edited:
A

Ariel82

Guest
#42
Sometimes God uses our struggles to help us reach people we would never have meet if we always walked the straight and narrow.

God forgives us 7 times 70 times more than we could ever forgive ourselves. If our heart truly seeks God and His way, He finds ways to help us heal and overcome.
 
Feb 21, 2012
3,794
199
63
#43
Thanks for making me angry, but I sin not. Let's see. I grew up on a farm in Minnesota. I've been rejected by family at the age of 16 and that is when I had to make it on my own working as a hired man for other farmers and living with them. I was in the army for 3 years and fought in Vietnam on the DMZ near Quang Tri. I came home to another state but home has been forever gone to this day. I was an alcoholic and cannot remember eating for 6 months. I was sent to the hospital twice in a straight jacket because of the D T's. I was at the end of my road that I had travelled and then I pursued the salvation of Christ in the front seat of my car in a rainstorm in 1972. I am not proud of my past. After salvation I have had a house burn and lost all I had when my daughter was one week old. My oldest son spent 13 years in prison for shooting a homosexual in the jaw because of a unseemly proposition. I lost my second son 10 years ago due to a heart attack. Is that enough or should I continue?

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; James 1:2

Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.Galatians 3:24
In keeping what we were talking about:
Q. My friend is saved, but he doesn't act like it. He lives a life full of sin.

BUT he has it in his heart to stop and he has tried many times. Each time he tries he last about a month then falls back into the same ole habits . . . he gets made at himself and at times hates himself for falling back into the same patterns. He keeps trying though believing that one day he, as he grows and matures with the help of the holy Spirit, these things will be conquered.

How many times does God forgive? Does God put a limit upon His forgiveness? Does God put a time limit upon a person change in behavior? Some people change automatically [or so they say] and others take time with habits that are so engrained . . .
You responded:
I have known people like that also. They have not been told the whole truth concerning the salvation of Christ. They weren't led to Christ as God intended. . . . .
24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.
My intent was not to make you angry - I believe you read into my post something that was not intended. I believe I was talking about changes from one's sinful habits not about circumstances [hard issues] in life that a person goes through.
These are two completely different things.

I am sure everyone on here has circumstances in their lives that have directly or indirectly had a derogatory effect upon their lives - but I was talking about change occurring within the person.

There must have been a time before "faith" was come because NOW after "faith" is come we are no longer under a schoolmaster - therefore the gospels and epistles can and will in lead someone to Christ. - But we have discussed this :)

I just wanted you to know what I was talking about and that I DID NOT mean to infer that you have not had difficulties in life.

 
Feb 21, 2012
3,794
199
63
#44
I happen to know just-me and I guarantee you that you are way, way off base saying he has apparently not had to deal with hard issues! He has what most of us would consider more than his share. You could ask him about when his family's house burned down when his kids were 2, 4 and 10 days old, or about when his son died at the age of 30, or what it is like to live with PTSD, or any of several other issues but I would suggest doing it in a PM. He very likely won't go into detail in a public forum.
You also misunderstood what I was saying. I can not apologize for something that I DID NOT say or mean.

I was talking about overcoming sin . . . . .
 
Mar 3, 2013
858
30
0
#45
You also misunderstood what I was saying. I can not apologize for something that I DID NOT say or mean.

I was talking about overcoming sin . . . . .
And I was responding to your comment where you made assumptions about another person's spiritual walk and growth - "Apparently you have not had to deal with any hard issues in your life.​" It is one thing to be able to tell by what a person says and does (fruit) that they misunderstand a doctrine and entirely another to demean a person.
 
Mar 4, 2013
7,761
107
0
#46

I am sure everyone on here has circumstances in their lives that have directly or indirectly had a derogatory effect upon their lives - but I was talking about change occurring within the person.

There must have been a time before "faith" was come because NOW after "faith" is come we are no longer under a schoolmaster - therefore the gospels and epistles can and will in lead someone to Christ. - But we have discussed this :)
You did say
Apparently you have not had to deal with any hard issues in your life. As long as we are in the flesh - we will have issues that need to be addressed and we battle with these daily - once we get rid of one flaw it seems another is there in it's place. There is a reason we are told to renew our minds, to put on the new and put off the old, to cast down imaginations and every false thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God . . . we are in this body of death until Christ returns for his purchased possession.

Yes we have discussed this before - leading people to Christ through the law - :(
And you did say that your friend continues to slip back to his old way of life over and over.
Q. My friend is saved, but he doesn't act like it. He lives a life full of sin.

BUT he has it in his heart to stop and he has tried many times. Each time he tries he last about a month then falls back into the same ole habits . . . he gets made at himself and at times hates himself for falling back into the same patterns. He keeps trying though believing that one day he, as he grows and matures with the help of the holy Spirit, these things will be conquered.

How many times does God forgive? Does God put a limit upon His forgiveness? Does God put a time limit upon a person change in behavior? Some people change automatically [or so they say] and others take time with habits that are so engrained . . .
This is an obvious show that there's something substantial that he should know but doesn't. Contemplate Hebrews 6:1-6 for your friend's sake. I exhort you to teach him what I have been trying to help you to understand about the schoolmaster. God gave it and we should certainly use it. This will help you to understand about what those testings of faith have done for me.

http://christianchat.com/bible-disc...ovenants-galatians-4-22-30-a.html#post1739884

This is my favorite scripture
Romans 5:1-5
1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand , and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

I think your friend lacks hope. He obviously is being condemned by the law and cannot find his way out from underneath it because of no hope in his heart. I sounds to me like the "works of the law" that has no faith in order to be out from underneath it. James 4:10

Romans 8:24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

James 1:2-5
2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
 
Last edited:
Feb 21, 2012
3,794
199
63
#47
And I was responding to your comment where you made assumptions about another person's spiritual walk and growth - "Apparently you have not had to deal with any hard issues in your life.​" It is one thing to be able to tell by what a person says and does (fruit) that they misunderstand a doctrine and entirely another to demean a person.
I know what you were responding to and I am sorry that you both took it as "demeaning" because that was not the intent at all and I truly wish that the post could be taken with the intent that I meant it. I was NOT speaking of ADVERSITY in one's life but OVERCOMING sin in one's life. Maybe the misunderstanding comes from my choice of words - "issues in your life" - instead of plainly saying "sins in your life" -

Though it seems one can see that I was speaking of "sin":
My friend is saved, but he doesn't act like it. He lives a life full of sin.

BUT he has it in his heart to stop and he has tried many times. Each time he tries he last about a month then falls back into the same ole habits . . . he gets made at himself and at times hates himself for falling back into the same patterns. He keeps trying though believing that one day he, as he grows and matures with the help of the holy Spirit, these things will be conquered.

How many times does God forgive? Does God put a limit upon His forgiveness? Does God put a time limit upon a person change in behavior? Some people change automatically [or so they say] and others take time with habits that are so engrained . . .
Some things are harder than others to overcome . . . some may have issues with anger, some may have issues with lying, some may have issues with stealing, with addictions, etc. which if read in context with the other posts - one could see that is what I meant . . . but apparently not.

Again, NOT speaking of ADVERSITIES in one's life - but SIN.

 
Feb 21, 2012
3,794
199
63
#48
You did say

And you did say that your friend continues to slip back to his old way of life over and over.

This is an obvious show that there's something substantial that he should know but doesn't. Contemplate Hebrews 6:1-6 for your friend's sake. I exhort you to teach him what I have been trying to help you to understand about the schoolmaster. God gave it and we should certainly use it. This will help you to understand about what those testings of faith have done for me.

http://christianchat.com/bible-disc...ovenants-galatians-4-22-30-a.html#post1739884

This is my favorite scripture
Romans 5:1-5
1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
2 By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand , and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
3 And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; 4 And patience, experience; and experience, hope:
5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

I think your friend lacks hope. He obviously is being condemned by the law and cannot find his way out from underneath it because of no hope in his heart. I sounds to me like the "works of the law" that has no faith in order to be out from underneath it. James 4:10

Romans 8:24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

James 1:2-5
2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
It just means that one struggles from time to time . . . For instance, I may go a month without lying but something comes out - words pop out of my mouth without thinking and before I know it I have lied. I may go a month without getting angry but then something comes up and OOOOOH I am so angry. Hey, it may happen on a day to day basis! [just as an example] Does God know my heart? Does He know that I do not want to do these things? Of course.

I believe that God knows that will happen and he has given us instructions for dealing with it. . . . I don't believe because a person struggles with sin that he is not born again - but that he struggles with sin because NOW he hates it and does not want to do it. [Romans 7]


 
A

Ariel82

Guest
#49
Can I throw my two cents in?

I see where the misunderstanding is in play and I don't think peacefulbeliever meant to imply that just-me never overcame hardships or trials in his life. As is evident in his posts he has through the grace of God faced many hardships.

I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) that she is speaking of the ingrained sin, the ingrained addictions to sin some people have. there are people out there who have been abused and so twisted around that they have so many strongholds they need to tear down and bad habits they need to break, that they don't automatically look like someone you would think of as "saved"

However, I've seen how love, patience and understanding has helped them overcome. They are not perfect but they continue one struggle at a time to resist.

for example if you ever know someone addicted to drugs or alcohol, you know how its a struggle for them to resist.

I think its a blessing not to have been that deep into sin that you despair from every climbing out or ever feeling clean.

If you were to speak to them, you would have to do so with the hope that with God's help they will learn to overcome. It might not happen overnight but they should not give up.

I often tell people it took them years to gain the weight, its not going to be excerised or dieted off in just one week.

In the same way, ingrained sin is based not in just their actions but their thoughts and their desires. They will have to work to find and uproot the lies they have believed so long. It's not an instantaneous over night process. What happens is that God gives you the HEART and the desire to strive to do His will and to learn how to divide truth from lies, good from evil.