Showing posts with label Obedience. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Obedience. Show all posts

Sunday, December 12, 2021

Healthy Faith Versus Foolish Faith

Many dangers that we fear today are justified. To move forward with plans that include these dangers, when we don't have to and when we know they exist, is foolish. It's misguided faith that is not faith at all, but a type of tempting God. We know that Our Father will help us when we make mistakes. Being resistant and disobedient to warnings is very different.

Faith in God's deliverance doesn't mean we should take any kind of risk and expect him to save us or repair the situation. If I feel that God is leading me, confirming my plans and opening doors, despite my anxieties and the obvious dangers, then it would be ok to move forward with the challenging goal. That would mean that He has a plan for my plan.

From Religion/Tempting God at encyclopedia.com:

It is tempting God for anyone to expect miraculous protection while neglecting the immediate and obvious ways of protecting oneself that divine providence has already provided. 

It also says that tempting God is when we don't heed and regard warnings and what we know in order to prevent and avoid misadventure. 

We can choose to trust God about anything that we want to do. It is personal and relative. However, before moving forward with questionable goals that can be alarming, we should ask ourselves,

  • is this a wise choice or is this just foolishness rooted in a rebellious desire to have our way?
  • Is our determination rooted in the fear that we won't obtain, in any other way, what we want?
  • Is our plan and the determination to enforce it a sign that we don't trust God?


When we make an unwise choice that we could have avoided, we end up blaming God when he doesn't prevent the negative results of our foolish actions. Our relationship with Our Heavenly Father is then damaged because of our unhappiness as a result of our presumptuous decisions.

Sometimes, we also bring upon ourselves the fears that are related to what we know we should not do, without a direct impression from God. That's why we end up kicking ourselves and paying heavy prices. We end up berating ourselves with inner statements like,

  • You knew this could happen, so why did you do it?
  • Why didn't you listen to your instincts?
  • Why didn't you listen to the reborn spirit within?
  • Why didn't you sincerely check with God first?
  • Why didn't you listen diligently for God's prompting one way or another?

If a goal that you have could be questionable, presumptuous, foolish or just plain dangerous in any way, stop and consider the wisdom of it, any fears that may be clear warnings and if your trust level in God is high enough regarding the fulfillment your desire.



Monday, September 13, 2021

Trusting In God

We who love God choose to lean on him in spirit and in deed, just as we lean on the arm of a person for support so that we will safely arrive at a destination. We lean on Our Father God to arrive at a destination of strong faith and obedience. (Isaiah 51:5)

Trust means to not turn right or left off of the path on which we discern God has us. We might not know all of the facts about what God is doing in our lives but we have an impression in our spirits of how and where God is leading us.

Because we can't see very far in advance, we hesitate, ruminate and complicate our obedience to Our Heavenly Father. Despite that, we know that his Spirit is bearing witness with our spirits that The Most High God is doing this thing.  

Because we choose everyday to live by trusting The One True God, we know him and he knows us. (Nahum 1:7)

We have a personal relationship with The Great I AM. We know that we can go to him anytime of the day or night, physically in formal prayer or mentally when we can't be alone with him. We do this so often that we are familiar to each other. We trust him because we ask all according to his will and in the name of his precious Son and the only Savior to mankind, Jesus Christ.

We are meek and humble. We choose to not only trust in God but in his very name. (Zephaniah 3:12) We may not know what to pray but we remember that we can call out any name in the Godhead when we are afraid, distressed or confused. Jesus! Jesus! Jesus! Father! Father! Father! Holy Spirit help me! Help me! Help me! God recognizes and honors our trust in him everyday.



Sunday, August 8, 2021

How Can I Forgive II?

Forgiveness is a choice.
Forgiveness Is A Choice


You can forgive by saying to yourself and to God,

I forgive her, I forgive him, I forgive them. 

Forgiveness is a choice that we make, just like the choice we can make to be happy against all odds. 

Just choose to say to yourself that you forgive someone, even though you feel you can't. Choose to say it to God even if you feel like you hate the person. When we are obedient, the heart feeling eventually comes.

Our job is to be obedient. God will do the rest in our hearts and spirits.  

This guidance does not include actions after forgiving, such as,

  • what you should do regarding those that you forgive,
  • whether or not you should approach the person(s) and tell him/her that you forgive them. Often we don't have that option, so it's a different subject than forgiveness between you and God.

For now, just focus on the basics of confessing forgiveness to yourself and to God. Don't bite off too much. God is not trying to burden you. God is leading you to a place where sincere forgiveness will be not traumatic but automatic, no matter what the offense. He want you to become strengthened to where you will not allow the flesh to afflict you about forgiveness.

In 2 Corinthians 2:8-11, Paul talks about forgiving through obedience and how Satan can take advantage of us if we refuse to understand.

8 Therefore I urge you to reaffirm your love to him.


9 For to this end I also wrote, that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things.


10 Now whom you forgive anything, I also forgive. For if indeed I have forgiven anything, I have forgiven that one for your sakes in the presence of Christ,


11 lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices.

Take baby steps and just say it. No one has to know at this time when you find it so very difficult to forgive. You don't have to try to say it to anyone else at this time. When we are obedient in private, God always rewards us in the open. He is always faithful to strengthen us.

 


Tuesday, August 3, 2021

Walking With Christ: Esther From Germany Shares A Few Thoughts

We draw closer to God through the reading of his word for ourselves and in having faith in him alone.

Growing spiritually requires dying to our flesh daily. It isn't easy but our willingness to please God gives room for the Grace of God to help us grow spiritually and to overcome our weaknesses.
Regarding age difference and marriage, the Lord knows our needs. His will concerning this area in our lives, regarding a Christian partner, will be done.
 
As Christians, we are supposed to be dating with a purpose. Sadly in today's society, not a lot of Christians see it that way. They have fully embraced the way of the world when it comes to dating.
There are many new, born again Christians out there but unfortunately many are being continuously fed milk instead of hard meat. They totally depend on the pastor, not reading the Bible for themselves.
 
Many of these new Believers still believe that fornication is okay in the eyes of God. 
One of the problems with new generation Christianity is that they are not rooted in God's Word. They are sensitive and easily offended at the same time. They think it's okay to keep having a little bit of the world and a little bit of Jesus.
 
They think the Grace of God is there to continue to endure willful sin. When someone tries to show them light in those areas, they scream don't judge me.
 
See Esther's mini-bio below.
 
 
 
Esther is 43, single/never married and she has no children. She lives in Fürth, Bayern (Bavaria) Germany and is a Christian who fervently loves the Lord. She works with elderly nursing home residents who are living in their final stages of earthly life and are in need of full support and assistance, including palliative care, on a daily basis. Esther shares about her personal life and relationship with God:
 
My last romantic relationship was 7 years ago and I was unequally-yoked. I remember while taking a shower that I told God I was going to totally commit my life to Him. I vowed that the next relationship I became involved in was going to be courting to get married. I promised my Heavenly Father that I was going to honor His word and not defile myself again with sexual sin, which the Bible calls fornication. By God's grace, I will not have an intimate relationship again until after I am married. 
 
I came to a point in my life where I decided that if I am going to fully dedicate my life to Christ, I would have to let go of one very obvious sin. I was a slave to the sin of fornication. That turning point was 7 years ago and I have never looked back. My relationship with Jesus has grown ever since, through His grace.
 
My relationship with Christ is my top priority and means everything to me. The more I see how the devil has perverted marriage in our world today, the more I am becoming focused on living for Christ. The shocking part is that I have actually met single men who professed to be Christians but confessed that they can't wait for marriage in order to have sex. They have accused me of being too "religious and extreme" because I have quoted scriptures which clearly state that fornication is a sin. Because of this, they deserted me.
 
I am very active in my local Church but since I started working full-time and studying, I have become less active. That has not, however, negatively impacted my relationship with Jesus.