meaning of MAKE EVERY EFFORT (or strive) to enter in through the narrow gate.

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2ndTimothyGroup

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Sorry, you feel that way. I would recommend that you begin reading the entire, entire Bible . . . not just the selective verses that your church wants you to focus on.

Below is a link for a 1-year reading plan of the Bible in a timeline, chronological order. It doesn't sound like you are aware of the Full Picture of Christ, His Purpose, and His Holy Work.

Chronological Timeline Reading of the Bible
 

Gardenias

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There have been times in my life where I took the fork in the straight and narrow way. It led me away from God but I let the circumstances that buffeted me to turn me. ( Didn't strive...fight against)
I had to then REPENT in my heart,ask for forgiveness and trample on his gift of love shared by his shed blood and return to the straight and narrow path!
I believe a person can backslide,turn from God and be lost forever. Praise him his mercy is long-suffering.
 
Sorry, you feel that way. I would recommend that you begin reading the entire, entire Bible . . . not just the selective verses that your church wants you to focus on.

Below is a link for a 1-year reading plan of the Bible in a timeline, chronological order. It doesn't sound like you are aware of the Full Picture of Christ, His Purpose, and His Holy Work.

Chronological Timeline Reading of the Bible
Are you saying that sin has been eradicated in your life???
 
There have been times in my life where I took the fork in the straight and narrow way. It led me away from God but I let the circumstances that buffeted me to turn me. ( Didn't strive...fight against)
I had to then REPENT in my heart,ask for forgiveness and trample on his gift of love shared by his shed blood and return to the straight and narrow path!
I believe a person can backslide,turn from God and be lost forever. Praise him his mercy is long-suffering.
Sad that you have no understanding of Eternal Security!

Backsliders are not lost.
But apostates are!
Know the difference!
 
'Sinful nature' is an interpretive narrowing-down of the actual biblical word, 'flesh'.
John, are you walking in the Spirit? or are you walking in the flesh?

Instead of hair-splitting, quibbling, carping and indulging in tendentious arguments, I would say to you and Timothy: Live a righteous life, live a holy life, understand what righteousness & holiness mean. The warning in Revelation 22.11 is very clear. Your moral character is already being fixed (unalterable), and those who waste time in useless discussions will have the gates of heaven shut in their faces.
 

soberxp

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May 3, 2018
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meaning of MAKE EVERY EFFORT (or strive) to enter in through the narrow gate.

"I came not to do my own will"
love everyone, love others as yourself , love your
enemy
(
Who are your enemies?
maybe Buddhism, Islam,jews, white, black, yellow,government,
Ex girlfriend, ex-wife........................................................................)

easy to say and understand, hard to do

Amen
 

JohnRH

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Mar 5, 2018
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John, are you walking in the Spirit? or are you walking in the flesh?

Instead of hair-splitting, quibbling, carping and indulging in tendentious arguments, I would say to you and Timothy: Live a righteous life, live a holy life, understand what righteousness & holiness mean. The warning in Revelation 22.11 is very clear. Your moral character is already being fixed (unalterable), and those who waste time in useless discussions will have the gates of heaven shut in their faces.
Being attentive to the actual words of the Bible will cause the gates of heaven to be shut in your face? You have quite an imagination.
 

2ndTimothyGroup

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Are you saying that sin has been eradicated in your life???
Yes and no. No, made obvious, by the fact that the process of Sanctification is a reality in the life of every Believer, and as I understand, that process will not end until death, or the Spirit of a body has been separated and taken by the Lord.

Yes, because when Christ Spiritually Circumcised my Heart in the Arizona Desert a handful of years ago, that was the day that I became like a Nazarene, which is to be set apart. But set apart from what? When Christ Circumcised my Heart of the Sin Nature, Sinful State of Man, the Adamic Curse, or whatever we want to call it . . . that was the day that I was set apart from any physical, worldly laws . . . and even set apart from the Moral Law that all of humanity has obtained.

When Jesus lifts the Adamic Curse, and sin is no longer spurred on by the Devil, for he has been defeated in the life of a True Belie er, of what use is there any worldly, or Moral Law? As said, True Believers are set apart from the "laws" and now live by the Laws of the Spirit of Life. But first, below is the text that shows that Satan has been defeated in the life of True Believers:

Colossians 2:11-15 KJV - "In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: 12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. 13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; 15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it."

Below, the Romans 7:6 passages talk about being "released" from the Law, which is what Jesus clearly does, as described in the Colossians 2:11-15 passages above.

Romans 7:6 NLT - "But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit."

Romans 4:15 NLT - "For the law always brings punishment on those who try to obey it. (The only way to avoid breaking the law is to have no law to break!)"

And what else was said in the Romans 7:6 verse? The "New way of living in the Spirit"? And what is that? It is what it means to share in the Divine Nature of Christ, the New Nature that replaces the old, Sinful Nature. The New Man has come; the Old Man is dead and cannot return.

2 Peter 1:4 KJV - "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."

So as you can see, we escape corruption through the Holy, Spiritual Circumcision of Christ. By removing the Law, which was the Plan all along (that the Law was like a temporary guardian for the Jews), when a person commits a sin that is normally considered a transgression, this cannot be so, for those old Laws have been removed. True Believers are only judges by the Laws of the Spirit of Life, and no longer the Law of Moses, or even the standard Moral Law, which even Gary Ridgeway and Adolf Hitler both possessed.

So . . . by removing the speed limit on the freeway, once what was normally an offence to drive more than 60 miles per hour is no longer punishable, because that law had been cancelled, terminated and destroyed. Furthermore, Jesus died to pay the penalty for all of my sins, thus, by and through the Right Hand of Christ, I am viewed as perfect to our Holy God. And if you would Turn to Christ, right now, and ask for this same, Holy Circumcision, you too can be viewed as totally and utterly Perfect as well.
 

Funkus

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2nd T, once the laws are become of no effect the new reality is it's between you and the enemy, he wanting the believer to take the wrong action in grace. Us discerning what grace is comfortable with in the relationship! What i'm saying is discernment and awareness of the enemy is essential to live in the spirit. so Jesus said 'my yoke is mild' is true but that doesn't mean it's easy because the enemy's yoke is the opposite and he don't like Christians living by grace sometimes they spectacularly fail and end up in prison or shamed by the world. i'm motivated to avoid that outcome, maybe a hermit could pull it off living in a cave all he has to worry about is mr squirrel
 

Gardenias

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There is ONLY one way to the Father God,and it through the DOOR, Jesus!

I see Free Grace,hyper grace,easy believism,man made doctrine theology ECT. here instead of whole bible believing born again,blood bought believers!

Sin is DEATH! Sin SEVERS our connection to Jesus if it is not repented,confessed and turned away from.

We cannot have our cake and eat it too....not happening!
The WORLD and heaven cannot be mixed,it is either one or the other!

The ONLY division in the bible,God's word,is the Old Testament,and the New Testament. One teaches us about sin or what SEPERATES us from God,the other teaches us God provided a way for us not to owe the PENALTY of sin! There is no cut off or not a need of both!

I do not understand how ppl get so misled,except they are allowing man to teach them INSTEAD of the Spirit to light the way in the Word!

Study to show yourself APPROVED of God,and lean NOT on your OWN understanding,( nor another man's understanding)!
God is a spirit and we must worship in spirit and TRUTH,not pick what tickles our way we want to !I've!

This WAY is hard and full of pitfalls of temptation of sin! We must RESIST and HOLD fast to our faith clinging to Jesus hand for he is that " nail in a sure place"
We can do nothing of ourselves but he must be allowed to work the Father's will in and through us!
 

2ndTimothyGroup

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What I'm saying is discernment and awareness of the enemy is essential to living in the spirit.
Thanks for your input. However, as for your quote above, I'd have to ask, "Why?" If the Devil has been defeated by Christ in a person's life, why must they be aware of the enemy? The enemy is gone!

Colossians 2:15 KJV - 15 "And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it."

Jesus actually gives an example of what it "looks like" to Him when the Devil is defeated in the life of a person. Check it out . . .

Colossians 2:15 KJV - 15 "And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it."

When the Adamic Curse is cut out and removed from a person's Heart, Satan has been defeated and is no longer an influence. I see no other option in the Bible but to conclude these things. And that means, then, that the sin that remains in my life is to be eradicated, something fast . . . sometimes slowly . . . but those sins are not caused by Satan, but by our own habitual behavior and memories of sin and what it was like. But as said, the influence of the Devil is gone, for he once [used] to be our Spiritual Father, marked out by our obedience to him, but a True Christ is influenced by the Holy Spirit if the Holy Spirit is within them.

Romans 8:9 NLT - "But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.)"

I hope that the way that I put these Scriptures together, that they made perfect and rational sense. If not . . . I'm very sorry.
 

JohnRH

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Thanks for your input. However, as for your quote above, I'd have to ask, "Why?" If the Devil has been defeated by Christ in a person's life, why must they be aware of the enemy? The enemy is gone!

Colossians 2:15 KJV - 15 "And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it."

Jesus actually gives an example of what it "looks like" to Him when the Devil is defeated in the life of a person. Check it out . . .

Colossians 2:15 KJV - 15 "And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it."

When the Adamic Curse is cut out and removed from a person's Heart, Satan has been defeated and is no longer an influence. I see no other option in the Bible but to conclude these things. And that means, then, that the sin that remains in my life is to be eradicated, something fast . . . sometimes slowly . . . but those sins are not caused by Satan, but by our own habitual behavior and memories of sin and what it was like. But as said, the influence of the Devil is gone, for he once [used] to be our Spiritual Father, marked out by our obedience to him, but a True Christ is influenced by the Holy Spirit if the Holy Spirit is within them.

Romans 8:9 NLT - "But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.)"

I hope that the way that I put these Scriptures together, that they made perfect and rational sense. If not . . . I'm very sorry.
These two passages are addressed to children of God, not children of the devil:

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.1 Peter 5:8-9 (KJV)

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7 (KJV)

The enemy isn't "gone".
 

JohnRH

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Thanks for your input. However, as for your quote above, I'd have to ask, "Why?" If the Devil has been defeated by Christ in a person's life, why must they be aware of the enemy? The enemy is gone!

Colossians 2:15 KJV - 15 "And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it."

Jesus actually gives an example of what it "looks like" to Him when the Devil is defeated in the life of a person. Check it out . . .

Colossians 2:15 KJV - 15 "And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it."

When the Adamic Curse is cut out and removed from a person's Heart, Satan has been defeated and is no longer an influence. I see no other option in the Bible but to conclude these things. And that means, then, that the sin that remains in my life is to be eradicated, something fast . . . sometimes slowly . . . but those sins are not caused by Satan, but by our own habitual behavior and memories of sin and what it was like. But as said, the influence of the Devil is gone, for he once [used] to be our Spiritual Father, marked out by our obedience to him, but a True Christ is influenced by the Holy Spirit if the Holy Spirit is within them.

Romans 8:9 NLT - "But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.)"

I hope that the way that I put these Scriptures together, that they made perfect and rational sense. If not . . . I'm very sorry.
This is written to Christians:

But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 2 Cor 11:3 (KJV)

The enemy isn't "gone".
 

Funkus

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Thanks for your input. However, as for your quote above, I'd have to ask, "Why?" If the Devil has been defeated by Christ in a person's life, why must they be aware of the enemy? The enemy is gone!
actually i agree we can get sealed and protected but i just think it's work in progress till the seal is fully built up
 

2ndTimothyGroup

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1 Peter 5:8-9 (KJV)

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7 (KJV)
Well, speak for yourself, but the enemy has been defeated in my life, and Colossians 2:9-15 proves that this is, in fact, possible. So what do we do with 1 Peter 5:8-9? No doubt, this is a verse that poses a problem, but the verses that I have provided hold half of the key to the fact . . . that we still have a problem. So . . . good call on 1 Pet 5:8-9!

James 4:7, though, is telling those who have [not] submitted to Christ, to do so. This means those who have not submitted, they cannot be the Children of the Lord.
 

JohnRH

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James 4:7, though, is telling those who have [not] submitted to Christ, to do so. This means those who have not submitted, they cannot be the Children of the Lord.
James is addressing Spirit-indwelt brethren - they are children of God.

Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? 6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:5-7 (KJV)
 

2ndTimothyGroup

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James is addressing Spirit-indwelt brethren - they are children of God.

Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? 6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:5-7 (KJV)
You aren't acknowledging the Scriptures that I have given you (as I have done for you) . . . so I won't entertain this merry-go-round ideology. Take care.
 

2ndTimothyGroup

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This is written to Christians:

But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 2 Cor 11:3 (KJV)

The enemy isn't "gone".
Before Adam and Eve sinned, they only possessed the Human Nature, they were neither indwelt by the Holy Spirit or the Devil. Your reasoning doesn't make any sense to me.
 

randyk

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In Luke 13:24 Jesus said to MAKE EVERY EFFORT (or strive) to enter in through the narrow gate. The Greek verb for "strive" means to agonize. So I'm wondering what "MAKE EVERY EFFORT" (or agonize) means to y'all. This has been on my mind for weeks. I'd love your input.
Embracing salvation is a human choice. Without that choice we do not get saved, and we don't benefit from the salvation that is being presented to us. To "strive," therefore, is to take advantage of conversion and of the benefits of that conversion. We choose righteousness and benefit from this in terms of receiving divine favor.
 

2ndTimothyGroup

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Embracing salvation is a human choice. Without that choice we do not get saved, and we don't benefit from the salvation that is being presented to us. To "strive," therefore, is to take advantage of conversion and of the benefits of that conversion. We choose righteousness and benefit from this in terms of receiving divine favor.
John 15:16, 19 NKJV - "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you." ... 19 "If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you."

Because you were Chosen by God, @randyk - can you say that you are hated, just as Jesus states will be the case for His True Believers? I am 100% hated by my family (I mean, 100%) and all former friends have rejected me because of my Holy Transformation and who I have become in Christ. Has this happened to you, yet?

Luke 12:51-53 NKJV - "Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division. "For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three. "Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law."

If we do not reflect what is described as a True Christian, or a True Jew, then we should be quaking in our boots.