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Blain, i'm sorry that i didn't respond to this earlier - i got myself tied up trying to determine whether or not there is NT authority for men to wear pants or not (long, dumb story) - fool's errand =\
i didn't see that anyone had replied to this specifically, maybe they did but anyway - this:
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
(Ephesians 2:4-7)
God has raised us up and set us in heavenly places in Christ (past tense!) -- we are in Him and we are with Him in glory, purposed to be used to show His unparalleled grace!
though we are now waiting in the flesh to be fully transformed at His coming, the spiritual truth of the matter is that we are already justified in Him, and being found in Him we are already seated with Him in glory -- this is His marvelous grace, that is not of our own doing at all but the gift of God by faith! taking hold of what we have in Him, following after Him now and doing His will, we are not earning a place in the heavens with Him but demonstrating the grace of God that already works in us! - we were dead and made alive in Him, in the most amazing way that's not even fully revealed to us!
reading on --
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
(Ephesians 2:10)
we are the work of God, demonstrating His mercy and faithfulness even through all our shortcomings and earthly struggle - all that trouble you & i have with self-worth, God is using for good, that He might be glorified in you and for you to see His glory in you, and to know and understand Him. it is God working in us to produce godliness and good fruit, not us working in ourselves!
so how much are we worth? without God, nothing -- but we aren't without God - He is for us, and working in us and through us so how much is an original work of God worth??? a specialty tool hand-crafted by Him for divine purpose??
*** sluuurp ***
mmmm! good stuff.
i didn't see that anyone had replied to this specifically, maybe they did but anyway - this:
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
(Ephesians 2:4-7)
God has raised us up and set us in heavenly places in Christ (past tense!) -- we are in Him and we are with Him in glory, purposed to be used to show His unparalleled grace!
though we are now waiting in the flesh to be fully transformed at His coming, the spiritual truth of the matter is that we are already justified in Him, and being found in Him we are already seated with Him in glory -- this is His marvelous grace, that is not of our own doing at all but the gift of God by faith! taking hold of what we have in Him, following after Him now and doing His will, we are not earning a place in the heavens with Him but demonstrating the grace of God that already works in us! - we were dead and made alive in Him, in the most amazing way that's not even fully revealed to us!
reading on --
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
(Ephesians 2:10)
we are the work of God, demonstrating His mercy and faithfulness even through all our shortcomings and earthly struggle - all that trouble you & i have with self-worth, God is using for good, that He might be glorified in you and for you to see His glory in you, and to know and understand Him. it is God working in us to produce godliness and good fruit, not us working in ourselves!
so how much are we worth? without God, nothing -- but we aren't without God - He is for us, and working in us and through us so how much is an original work of God worth??? a specialty tool hand-crafted by Him for divine purpose??
*** sluuurp ***
mmmm! good stuff.
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Oh wow I didn't see this either! And I struggle with it too honestly. I have heard the best way is to try and see God as He sees us. And I honestly have a hard time doing that too. The only way I can think of is look up some verses about how much He loves us.
Like "For God so loved the world"
But especially I remember one that mentioned God loving us even when we were in emnity to the cross. Like no matter what we do He can never love us any more or less. It's just full on love all the time.
Like "For God so loved the world"
But especially I remember one that mentioned God loving us even when we were in emnity to the cross. Like no matter what we do He can never love us any more or less. It's just full on love all the time.
Blain, i'm sorry that i didn't respond to this earlier - i got myself tied up trying to determine whether or not there is NT authority for men to wear pants or not (long, dumb story) - fool's errand =\
i didn't see that anyone had replied to this specifically, maybe they did but anyway - this:
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
(Ephesians 2:4-7)
God has raised us up and set us in heavenly places in Christ (past tense!) -- we are in Him and we are with Him in glory, purposed to be used to show His unparalleled grace!
though we are now waiting in the flesh to be fully transformed at His coming, the spiritual truth of the matter is that we are already justified in Him, and being found in Him we are already seated with Him in glory -- this is His marvelous grace, that is not of our own doing at all but the gift of God by faith! taking hold of what we have in Him, following after Him now and doing His will, we are not earning a place in the heavens with Him but demonstrating the grace of God that already works in us! - we were dead and made alive in Him, in the most amazing way that's not even fully revealed to us!
reading on --
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
(Ephesians 2:10)
we are the work of God, demonstrating His mercy and faithfulness even through all our shortcomings and earthly struggle - all that trouble you & i have with self-worth, God is using for good, that He might be glorified in you and for you to see His glory in you, and to know and understand Him. it is God working in us to produce godliness and good fruit, not us working in ourselves!
so how much are we worth? without God, nothing -- but we aren't without God - He is for us, and working in us and through us so how much is an original work of God worth??? a specialty tool hand-crafted by Him for divine purpose??
*** sluuurp ***
mmmm! good stuff.
i didn't see that anyone had replied to this specifically, maybe they did but anyway - this:
But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.
(Ephesians 2:4-7)
God has raised us up and set us in heavenly places in Christ (past tense!) -- we are in Him and we are with Him in glory, purposed to be used to show His unparalleled grace!
though we are now waiting in the flesh to be fully transformed at His coming, the spiritual truth of the matter is that we are already justified in Him, and being found in Him we are already seated with Him in glory -- this is His marvelous grace, that is not of our own doing at all but the gift of God by faith! taking hold of what we have in Him, following after Him now and doing His will, we are not earning a place in the heavens with Him but demonstrating the grace of God that already works in us! - we were dead and made alive in Him, in the most amazing way that's not even fully revealed to us!
reading on --
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
(Ephesians 2:10)
we are the work of God, demonstrating His mercy and faithfulness even through all our shortcomings and earthly struggle - all that trouble you & i have with self-worth, God is using for good, that He might be glorified in you and for you to see His glory in you, and to know and understand Him. it is God working in us to produce godliness and good fruit, not us working in ourselves!
so how much are we worth? without God, nothing -- but we aren't without God - He is for us, and working in us and through us so how much is an original work of God worth??? a specialty tool hand-crafted by Him for divine purpose??
*** sluuurp ***
mmmm! good stuff.
Now i easily see the value in other ppl i look at them and i see what this book speaks of I see what amazing treasures they are to God how he adores them how rich and blessed they are however for the life of me i cant see myself like that
Now i easily see the value in other ppl i look at them and i see what this book speaks of I see what amazing treasures they are to God how he adores them how rich and blessed they are however for the life of me i cant see myself like that
being as this is a café, i'm going to settle back into my chair with a steamy cup of tastiness and give you a longish version..
i had a friend growing up that was a staunch atheist, a really smart guy and deep thinker who could argue very strongly against all kinds of religions and philosophies, and spent a lot of his time doing just that.
his father got very sick and was hospitalized, and the doctors had done everything they could do and were just waiting for him to die. my friend was with him in the hospital one night, walking around in despair because there was literally nothing else that could be done, and he happened to pass the chapel - and he told me he went in there to pray, even though he didn't really believe, but he was at his wit's end (and this guy had all kinds of wits!). he said he told God that if he was real, he believed he could heal his father - and you know what, the Lord did just that.
my friend Norris found Christ that night, and was found by Christ. Jah put in him such an appetite for the word, and a great understanding! he read through the whole Bible in a weeks time, and was filled with the Spirit in knowledge and praise and thanksgiving - he of course had a circle of all kinds of atheist and agnostic and pagan friends, and argued and debated with them all ceaselessly showing them that the Bible was true and Christ is the Son of God come down to save the world - all these things he had so strongly argued against before, the same arguments he used to use, he now destroyed. even before finding a church, the Spirit was in him teaching him everything about the truth of God and His grace, and working in him to testify against all the false teachings of the world, proclaiming Christ.
we hadn't spoken for a long time, since we were young and growing up in the same circle of friends, but he remembered how that i had had faith then, and we found each other through facebook and had lots of talks. one day he was talking about how sad he was, that these people who had been his friends were now rejecting him, and having a glimpse of the glory of God in Christ, how poorly he himself measured up to it; that maybe if he could better master his own fleshly desires and all he could be a stronger witness, that they might believe - because of course they threw back at him in their debates what a heathen he had been, and how even though he had found grace, he wasn't a paragon of holiness -- and said something to the effect of that when he looked at himself in the mirror he didn't see Christ, but saw only his own failures.
i told him what i told you - to focus on the light that makes the reflection, not himself. it wasn't me speaking that - it was the Holy Ghost in me ministering to him to encourage him. it just came out, not something i had thought of before or pondered on, and i'd never heard it before - but i had been praying rejoicing and thanking God for the work he did in my friend, and asking the Lord to make me a blessing in some way to him, to help him to grow in Christ, as even though he didn't need to be taught by men, having the spirit in him - i had been a believer for a long time before him, and in a way he looked at me as an elder brother in the faith, though he was older, and wow, so much more zeal than i had (that would be me looking in the mirror, lol).
so this came from God as far as i am concerned. not from me or from anyone else - an encouragement for a friend and brother that was the answer to prayer to be an encouragement. this guy was like Saul turning into Paul - i was overjoyed to be a blessing to him in any small way!
Norris Guthrie died about a year after his conversion, very suddenly. he went to a dentist for a routine cleaning, got an infection somehow that traveled to his heart and killed him within a couple of days. i drove a couple hundred miles to his funeral just to meet the people in the church that he wound up going to, because i knew God was among them, because i knew He was in Norris, and had led him to that church. the pastor told me about how amazed he was too at the Spirit working in him - how they used to sit in a pew for hours and hours together after service talking about the scriptures, and how God taught him through Norris just as much or more as he taught him.
look me up when we get to heaven, i'll introduce you to him
i'm sure you will love him as i do, a true brother and friend.
i had a friend growing up that was a staunch atheist, a really smart guy and deep thinker who could argue very strongly against all kinds of religions and philosophies, and spent a lot of his time doing just that.
his father got very sick and was hospitalized, and the doctors had done everything they could do and were just waiting for him to die. my friend was with him in the hospital one night, walking around in despair because there was literally nothing else that could be done, and he happened to pass the chapel - and he told me he went in there to pray, even though he didn't really believe, but he was at his wit's end (and this guy had all kinds of wits!). he said he told God that if he was real, he believed he could heal his father - and you know what, the Lord did just that.
my friend Norris found Christ that night, and was found by Christ. Jah put in him such an appetite for the word, and a great understanding! he read through the whole Bible in a weeks time, and was filled with the Spirit in knowledge and praise and thanksgiving - he of course had a circle of all kinds of atheist and agnostic and pagan friends, and argued and debated with them all ceaselessly showing them that the Bible was true and Christ is the Son of God come down to save the world - all these things he had so strongly argued against before, the same arguments he used to use, he now destroyed. even before finding a church, the Spirit was in him teaching him everything about the truth of God and His grace, and working in him to testify against all the false teachings of the world, proclaiming Christ.
we hadn't spoken for a long time, since we were young and growing up in the same circle of friends, but he remembered how that i had had faith then, and we found each other through facebook and had lots of talks. one day he was talking about how sad he was, that these people who had been his friends were now rejecting him, and having a glimpse of the glory of God in Christ, how poorly he himself measured up to it; that maybe if he could better master his own fleshly desires and all he could be a stronger witness, that they might believe - because of course they threw back at him in their debates what a heathen he had been, and how even though he had found grace, he wasn't a paragon of holiness -- and said something to the effect of that when he looked at himself in the mirror he didn't see Christ, but saw only his own failures.
i told him what i told you - to focus on the light that makes the reflection, not himself. it wasn't me speaking that - it was the Holy Ghost in me ministering to him to encourage him. it just came out, not something i had thought of before or pondered on, and i'd never heard it before - but i had been praying rejoicing and thanking God for the work he did in my friend, and asking the Lord to make me a blessing in some way to him, to help him to grow in Christ, as even though he didn't need to be taught by men, having the spirit in him - i had been a believer for a long time before him, and in a way he looked at me as an elder brother in the faith, though he was older, and wow, so much more zeal than i had (that would be me looking in the mirror, lol).
so this came from God as far as i am concerned. not from me or from anyone else - an encouragement for a friend and brother that was the answer to prayer to be an encouragement. this guy was like Saul turning into Paul - i was overjoyed to be a blessing to him in any small way!
Norris Guthrie died about a year after his conversion, very suddenly. he went to a dentist for a routine cleaning, got an infection somehow that traveled to his heart and killed him within a couple of days. i drove a couple hundred miles to his funeral just to meet the people in the church that he wound up going to, because i knew God was among them, because i knew He was in Norris, and had led him to that church. the pastor told me about how amazed he was too at the Spirit working in him - how they used to sit in a pew for hours and hours together after service talking about the scriptures, and how God taught him through Norris just as much or more as he taught him.
look me up when we get to heaven, i'll introduce you to him
i'm sure you will love him as i do, a true brother and friend.
being as this is a café, i'm going to settle back into my chair with a steamy cup of tastiness and give you a longish version..
i had a friend growing up that was a staunch atheist, a really smart guy and deep thinker who could argue very strongly against all kinds of religions and philosophies, and spent a lot of his time doing just that.
his father got very sick and was hospitalized, and the doctors had done everything they could do and were just waiting for him to die. my friend was with him in the hospital one night, walking around in despair because there was literally nothing else that could be done, and he happened to pass the chapel - and he told me he went in there to pray, even though he didn't really believe, but he was at his wit's end (and this guy had all kinds of wits!). he said he told God that if he was real, he believed he could heal his father - and you know what, the Lord did just that.
my friend Norris found Christ that night, and was found by Christ. Jah put in him such an appetite for the word, and a great understanding! he read through the whole Bible in a weeks time, and was filled with the Spirit in knowledge and praise and thanksgiving - he of course had a circle of all kinds of atheist and agnostic and pagan friends, and argued and debated with them all ceaselessly showing them that the Bible was true and Christ is the Son of God come down to save the world - all these things he had so strongly argued against before, the same arguments he used to use, he now destroyed. even before finding a church, the Spirit was in him teaching him everything about the truth of God and His grace, and working in him to testify against all the false teachings of the world, proclaiming Christ.
we hadn't spoken for a long time, since we were young and growing up in the same circle of friends, but he remembered how that i had had faith then, and we found each other through facebook and had lots of talks. one day he was talking about how sad he was, that these people who had been his friends were now rejecting him, and having a glimpse of the glory of God in Christ, how poorly he himself measured up to it; that maybe if he could better master his own fleshly desires and all he could be a stronger witness, that they might believe - because of course they threw back at him in their debates what a heathen he had been, and how even though he had found grace, he wasn't a paragon of holiness -- and said something to the effect of that when he looked at himself in the mirror he didn't see Christ, but saw only his own failures.
i told him what i told you - to focus on the light that makes the reflection, not himself. it wasn't me speaking that - it was the Holy Ghost in me ministering to him to encourage him. it just came out, not something i had thought of before or pondered on, and i'd never heard it before - but i had been praying rejoicing and thanking God for the work he did in my friend, and asking the Lord to make me a blessing in some way to him, to help him to grow in Christ, as even though he didn't need to be taught by men, having the spirit in him - i had been a believer for a long time before him, and in a way he looked at me as an elder brother in the faith, though he was older, and wow, so much more zeal than i had (that would be me looking in the mirror, lol).
so this came from God as far as i am concerned. not from me or from anyone else - an encouragement for a friend and brother that was the answer to prayer to be an encouragement. this guy was like Saul turning into Paul - i was overjoyed to be a blessing to him in any small way!
Norris Guthrie died about a year after his conversion, very suddenly. he went to a dentist for a routine cleaning, got an infection somehow that traveled to his heart and killed him within a couple of days. i drove a couple hundred miles to his funeral just to meet the people in the church that he wound up going to, because i knew God was among them, because i knew He was in Norris, and had led him to that church. the pastor told me about how amazed he was too at the Spirit working in him - how they used to sit in a pew for hours and hours together after service talking about the scriptures, and how God taught him through Norris just as much or more as he taught him.
look me up when we get to heaven, i'll introduce you to him
i'm sure you will love him as i do, a true brother and friend.
i had a friend growing up that was a staunch atheist, a really smart guy and deep thinker who could argue very strongly against all kinds of religions and philosophies, and spent a lot of his time doing just that.
his father got very sick and was hospitalized, and the doctors had done everything they could do and were just waiting for him to die. my friend was with him in the hospital one night, walking around in despair because there was literally nothing else that could be done, and he happened to pass the chapel - and he told me he went in there to pray, even though he didn't really believe, but he was at his wit's end (and this guy had all kinds of wits!). he said he told God that if he was real, he believed he could heal his father - and you know what, the Lord did just that.
my friend Norris found Christ that night, and was found by Christ. Jah put in him such an appetite for the word, and a great understanding! he read through the whole Bible in a weeks time, and was filled with the Spirit in knowledge and praise and thanksgiving - he of course had a circle of all kinds of atheist and agnostic and pagan friends, and argued and debated with them all ceaselessly showing them that the Bible was true and Christ is the Son of God come down to save the world - all these things he had so strongly argued against before, the same arguments he used to use, he now destroyed. even before finding a church, the Spirit was in him teaching him everything about the truth of God and His grace, and working in him to testify against all the false teachings of the world, proclaiming Christ.
we hadn't spoken for a long time, since we were young and growing up in the same circle of friends, but he remembered how that i had had faith then, and we found each other through facebook and had lots of talks. one day he was talking about how sad he was, that these people who had been his friends were now rejecting him, and having a glimpse of the glory of God in Christ, how poorly he himself measured up to it; that maybe if he could better master his own fleshly desires and all he could be a stronger witness, that they might believe - because of course they threw back at him in their debates what a heathen he had been, and how even though he had found grace, he wasn't a paragon of holiness -- and said something to the effect of that when he looked at himself in the mirror he didn't see Christ, but saw only his own failures.
i told him what i told you - to focus on the light that makes the reflection, not himself. it wasn't me speaking that - it was the Holy Ghost in me ministering to him to encourage him. it just came out, not something i had thought of before or pondered on, and i'd never heard it before - but i had been praying rejoicing and thanking God for the work he did in my friend, and asking the Lord to make me a blessing in some way to him, to help him to grow in Christ, as even though he didn't need to be taught by men, having the spirit in him - i had been a believer for a long time before him, and in a way he looked at me as an elder brother in the faith, though he was older, and wow, so much more zeal than i had (that would be me looking in the mirror, lol).
so this came from God as far as i am concerned. not from me or from anyone else - an encouragement for a friend and brother that was the answer to prayer to be an encouragement. this guy was like Saul turning into Paul - i was overjoyed to be a blessing to him in any small way!
Norris Guthrie died about a year after his conversion, very suddenly. he went to a dentist for a routine cleaning, got an infection somehow that traveled to his heart and killed him within a couple of days. i drove a couple hundred miles to his funeral just to meet the people in the church that he wound up going to, because i knew God was among them, because i knew He was in Norris, and had led him to that church. the pastor told me about how amazed he was too at the Spirit working in him - how they used to sit in a pew for hours and hours together after service talking about the scriptures, and how God taught him through Norris just as much or more as he taught him.
look me up when we get to heaven, i'll introduce you to him
i'm sure you will love him as i do, a true brother and friend.
I love those songs, I think Phil Colins is the one who wrote them. He's prtty cool
Hilariously enough I actually spent most of yesterday at a cafe Ina bookstore. I had quiche there that was soooo good! It was spinach and artichoke with tomatoes. :9 I also got to buy the entire series book of Azumanga Dioh and hang out with a friend there. Such a good day
Hilariously enough I actually spent most of yesterday at a cafe Ina bookstore. I had quiche there that was soooo good! It was spinach and artichoke with tomatoes. :9 I also got to buy the entire series book of Azumanga Dioh and hang out with a friend there. Such a good day
