"The Lord looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men./From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth." (Ps.33:13-14)
In the earlier post we considered heavens as stretching from end to end. God has his throne from which every circle of the earth is in line of His vision. Each heart is a circle in His sight. This is what resonates in the Parable of Jesus.
The rich man in the Parable could have seen Lazarus if he cared to. There was nothing of His nature in him. Smug and self indulgent his eye only saw what he sought. The seed, planted by God in his heart in effect was as though sown there at all. It is to which Jesus referred,"Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up."(Matt.15:13) Shadow of the Almighty was what empowered Peter, Paul, Elijah and many others. Now the key verse refers to every believer's security. God is figuratively is like an eagle with outstretched wings."my God; in him will I trust./ Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence./He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler."
Having said this let us consider this enigmatic line "And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;"(Re.19:11). The angel is addressing to all the fowls that fly in the mid-air. They are the cloud of witnesses and the rapture that Jesus in his temple discourse alluded to. "All the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." The Son of man in the sun means the shadow of the Almighty.
This shall explain what the single measurement of man-angel signifies. (Re.21:17) We put on glorious bodies. (2 Co.5:1-5)
Please pray for continued connections/friendships with those who ( Daniel, Barbara , Steve, Brandon and Jake), despite my social anxiety and awkwardness have been a little more open-minded, who have extended common courtesies toward me where most do not. I ask for prayers that they may come to know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior if they do not already and live a more GOD honoring life. Lives that reflect a Christian mentality, principals. Additionally perhaps Prayers for more opportunities to connect with these people.
I bought her a bible.She says she was saved young in a pentecostal church.Im giving her time and space until i may have that moment to talk with her.Given her gospel tracts also..Thank you for your prayers.
To be free; Literally from the bondage of past, present, and future "SINS", that will present itself even when "Christ Blood" covers a multitude of sins. Satan places a," Mind Set " retribution in life even when Christ has done his part for;" The Chosen" I am a deep analyzer; I just wany to be submitted and committed to Christ and feel actual "Freedom"!!!
"And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory."
Face of heaven is in terms of heart of man which is a spiritual space indicated as a circle. " It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in."(Is.40:21)
This glory is alike seen and understood by His creation: "For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him." (Col.1:16)
This glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ is knowledge which must give understanding for a believer. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding."(Pr.9:10)
The cloud of witnesses witnesses to the light and the darkness cannot understand it for the simple reason they have no light in them. Peter rebuked Simon because he had no light in him. "But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money."(Ac.8:20)
God who maketh the clouds his chariot, serves the firmament as his handiwork. "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork."(Ps.19:1) This glory gives the heavens a face which must understood as spiritual. First we shall understand it is not simply a face as we know the term from this oft-quoted verse," For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."(2 Co.4:6)
According to the principle of correspondence St Paul corresponds knowledge in the face of Christ with our heart. The Spirit corresponds the Spirit of God moving upon the face of waters (Ge.1:2) giving the light of the knowledge of the glory of God to a body(waters) which has a face. It is what the firmament signifies. It is a spiritual space which is consistent with the selfsame glory on the earth made to appear. Heavens has a throne that rules over all and it is everlasting to everlasting. Similarly the Spirit refers to the throne of Lamb (Is.66:1;Re.22:1) The Spirit sets the course of the pure river of life flowing in the middle. "And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb."
This is the World of the Spirit, where angels are spirits some are holy angels and some are unclean. We have two verse, "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:" (Matt.25:31)"Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:"(v.41)
The Face in short is spiritual space where heavens are stretched. "And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."(Matt.24:30-31)
"Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them."
What is the shadow of Peter but he is set as the double for Christ so his words and works are as though coming from him? "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greaterworksthan these shall he do; because I go unto my Father."( John 14:12). So what Peter signified was the continuation of the ministry of Jesus and now having risen it is demonstrated in such 'little ones' as Peter and other disciples. They were in a manner of speaking the lightening rod for a spiritual awakening on earth. But they were beaten stoned and were abused as the prophets in former times that Jesus had warned, "behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues,"(Matt.23:34-36) But Jesus had assured, "but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven."( Luke 10:20). Their place in the day of regeneration was tied up with the cloud of witnesses that cast its shadow. Peter as a man was meant to shed his vile body and put onthe glorious body which God had prepared in his Son. These witnesses, angels also were part of it. We have several instances that these two worlds moved as one, which we shall take up anon. It illustrated He.11:3 that the world unseen is not yet completed.
"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,/Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. (He.12:1-2)
Very true brother Jesse. That has happened to me a couple of times, when I inadvertently hit the 'Amen' button (on the phone of course - can't happen on my desktop computer) & regretted being so careless as my finger hovered to close to the screen (the Lord does understand, I know). But I did see a positive side to this 'Amen' feature. When you check on your 'Amen' status (under Your Comments), how you perceive & reflect on the amount of 'Amens' you've gotten, can be a wake-up call to the old 'pride/humility or anger/self control' reaction. Will the person who has received only a dozen 'Amens' or 80,000 Amens display the correct spiritual response? Having said that, I rarely look into that Amen storehouse, but when I do, I go in spiritually prepared with the whole armor on. GBU.
Here you have touched the key to abundant life in Christ. The covenant under the third day, we have this verse,"And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good./And the evening and the morning were the third day"(Ge.1:12-13). What is sown is a a seed it is 'the seed was in itself'. It is the word of God and it requires time to mature. " It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:"(1 Co.15:43) Anyone coming to Christ has to die to the world and sin. Faith and works of the believer is in becoming like 'after his kind' that is becoming Christlike. Isaiah's song of my beloved touching his vineyard ends up, strangely."What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?"(Is.5:1-5) Israel's heart was not right in the sight of God. " I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." So the problem lies in one who says he is a branch but his heart is not fully with it.
Please pray for my son Brian and his wife. He just came over and told us that his wife miscarried their first baby a few weeks ago. They had not disclosed they were expecting to us so this was a surprise to us. With our other son and wife having a new baby, Rose, this is especially hard for them. Apparently, the baby stopped growing at 9 weeks and died and she miscarried at 11 weeks. We are sad for them. Brian is 40 and Elfe is 38, so we pray for her to heal well and for them together to be helped in their grief. We also pray for God to bless them with another baby soon and a safe and successful pregnancy to bring a new child into their and our lives.
We needed to put all of our living room furniture in storage for our remodel. My recliner was kind of worn and a bit broken, so we put it behind our garbage cans for the next dump run. I was going to get a new one. Well, after sitting in regular chairs for two weeks my back was aching and spasming really painfully. I knew I needed to sit in a recliner and my new one would not arrive for 8-10 weeks. So, needless to say, the old recliner got pulled out from behind the garbage bins and put under the canopy of our outdoor make-do kitchen area. So, I am keeping it there until the new one arrives and we can move everything back into the living room!
I had not had spasm like that since 2020, so it reminded me of how bad my back was then and how much God heals us, not all in the same way, but my back was pretty well rehabbed until this episode. So Lazy-Boy has made my life easier and less painful. I am grateful for this invention more than ever!
If there's one thing about this site that annoys me, it's you all. No, I'm just kidding! None of you could possibly annoy me as I love you all in the Lord.
What does annoy me is that little "Amen" button at the bottom of each post. Why? Because if you're like me, and I'm sure many of you do this also, sometimes you use your cell phone to read and post messages. Well, this has happened to me at least a dozen times to where I would be scrolling through my screen, and while scrolling, I accidently touch the "Amen" button. You know you did it because a pop-up comes up and "Amen, thank you!"
Now it's like what in the world did I just say amen to? Like I said, this has happened to me several times now, and some of the things I accidently said amen to, I totally disagreed with. I know the Lord's not going to hold that against me for accidently agreeing with something I totally disagreed with, but if this has happened to anyone else, you got to admit it is a little annoying, and you can't take it back!
I know I'm just whining a bit, but I guess I just ran out of something else to say, so I guess I'm off to bed.
This is a great site to come and fellowship together in God's word. I'm glad you have found this website. I am sorry to hear about your friend. There are many here, including myself that will lift up your friend Robin in prayer to the Lord. Have you shared the gospel message with her? The prayers of many here will be heard, but perhaps the Lord might use you to witness Jesus Christ to her in person if that's an option for you.
No worries, I completely understand. Yes, recliners have to be one of the greatest inventions. I love mine. I wonder if it was a lazy person who came up with the idea?
As far as your question asking me if I have found conflict between the Greek (Textus Receptus) and the King James Bible, I'll just say that I have found several places in the KJB (NT) that could have been worded differently, places where a word from the Greek text has a different meaning than what was translated into English for us.
If you are asking me to share with you every single place in question, this is not something I can do in a short amount of time, but I am willing to share with you everything I have found as time permits. Perhaps we can start with Matthew first and work our way through Revelation. Or, if you have something else in mind, I am open, so please let me know.
I do hope you get some good rest, and with our current discussion, please take whatever time you need. I trust that you will get back with me as the Lord leads. Who knows, I'm not even sure if I'll be on here tomorrow!
Hi.I am new to the site.I have a friend who has terminal cancer .Her name is Robin.She is refusing modern treatments.She has stomach cancer.She needs to be saved.Please pray for her
I reading your comment, although I don't know the whole things, I think I can pray for you.Sometimes I think why God allow this things happen, my brother told me maybe you experience you can help others.My English so bad. but I want to pray for you.
Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
Why doesn't a branch in Christ bear a fruit? It is a branch, isn't it? So if it a natural thing to have fruit what makes it to not make one?
John 15:7
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
John 15:10
If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
So for one to abide in Christ, His words must abide in them, and in simple words they must keep His commandments. This is not natural, it is a disicion we make and succeed through God's/Jesus' grace
Psalm 1143:3 For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath smitten my life down to the ground; he hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead.
1 John 1:5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
The clash and contrast between light and darkness is at a fevered pitch in our time. Psalm 7:15 states He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made. Sin is a reproach to anyone; Proverbs 14:34 says Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people. Thus the sins of individuals collectively bring down everyone who is not one of God's children.
My own situation has shown me how elderly people who used to be characterized as having a nice personality show their true nature when running out of options in life. This can have the opposite effect on some who were always nasty; and of course the Lord can intervene; as long as their is breath there is hope; or as Ecclesiastes 9:4 states For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
Proverbs 9:8 says Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee. Those who God has called and chosen will be drawn through warnings of their sinful state; in fact they will be thankful always to find the remedy as only the sick need a physician ( Luke 5:31). In contrast the wicked cannot love God or rebuke; they will only try to avoid the consequences of their actions through self justification or somehow thinking their "good works outweigh the bad". 2 Corinthians 7:10 says For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. Thus; the wicked through conviction are led to self destruction and the righteous have the opposite fate.
The final battle of Armageddon draws ever nearer. May we all be ready at His coming.
Rich P
I will pray for your mom
Please read the third para, fourth line "The seed, planted by God in his heart in effect was as though sown there at all"
as
"The seed, planted by God in his heart in effect was as though not sown there at all".
2.
The quote from Re Ch.19 the number is 17 and not 11.
"The Lord looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men./From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth." (Ps.33:13-14)
In the earlier post we considered heavens as stretching from end to end. God has his throne from which every circle of the earth is in line of His vision. Each heart is a circle in His sight. This is what resonates in the Parable of Jesus.
The rich man in the Parable could have seen Lazarus if he cared to. There was nothing of His nature in him. Smug and self indulgent his eye only saw what he sought. The seed, planted by God in his heart in effect was as though sown there at all. It is to which Jesus referred,"Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up."(Matt.15:13) Shadow of the Almighty was what empowered Peter, Paul, Elijah and many others. Now the key verse refers to every believer's security. God is figuratively is like an eagle with outstretched wings."my God; in him will I trust./ Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence./He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler."
Having said this let us consider this enigmatic line "And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;"(Re.19:11). The angel is addressing to all the fowls that fly in the mid-air. They are the cloud of witnesses and the rapture that Jesus in his temple discourse alluded to. "All the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." The Son of man in the sun means the shadow of the Almighty.
This shall explain what the single measurement of man-angel signifies. (Re.21:17) We put on glorious bodies. (2 Co.5:1-5)
Thank you
I've done it as well.
95% of the time I am on posting or replying from my phone.
What annoy me most is that I am always multitasking and don't proof read.
I have left out whole words and even half a sentence.
God bless
"And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory."
Face of heaven is in terms of heart of man which is a spiritual space indicated as a circle. " It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in."(Is.40:21)
This glory is alike seen and understood by His creation: "For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him." (Col.1:16)
This glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ is knowledge which must give understanding for a believer. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding."(Pr.9:10)
The cloud of witnesses witnesses to the light and the darkness cannot understand it for the simple reason they have no light in them. Peter rebuked Simon because he had no light in him. "But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money."(Ac.8:20)
God who maketh the clouds his chariot, serves the firmament as his handiwork. "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork."(Ps.19:1) This glory gives the heavens a face which must understood as spiritual. First we shall understand it is not simply a face as we know the term from this oft-quoted verse," For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."(2 Co.4:6)
According to the principle of correspondence St Paul corresponds knowledge in the face of Christ with our heart. The Spirit corresponds the Spirit of God moving upon the face of waters (Ge.1:2) giving the light of the knowledge of the glory of God to a body(waters) which has a face. It is what the firmament signifies. It is a spiritual space which is consistent with the selfsame glory on the earth made to appear. Heavens has a throne that rules over all and it is everlasting to everlasting. Similarly the Spirit refers to the throne of Lamb (Is.66:1;Re.22:1) The Spirit sets the course of the pure river of life flowing in the middle. "And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb."
This is the World of the Spirit, where angels are spirits some are holy angels and some are unclean. We have two verse, "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:" (Matt.25:31)"Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:"(v.41)
The Face in short is spiritual space where heavens are stretched. "And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."(Matt.24:30-31)
"Insomuch that they brought forth the sick into the streets, and laid them on beds and couches, that at the least the shadow of Peter passing by might overshadow some of them."
What is the shadow of Peter but he is set as the double for Christ so his words and works are as though coming from him? "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greaterworksthan these shall he do; because I go unto my Father."( John 14:12). So what Peter signified was the continuation of the ministry of Jesus and now having risen it is demonstrated in such 'little ones' as Peter and other disciples. They were in a manner of speaking the lightening rod for a spiritual awakening on earth. But they were beaten stoned and were abused as the prophets in former times that Jesus had warned, "behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues,"(Matt.23:34-36) But Jesus had assured, "but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven."( Luke 10:20). Their place in the day of regeneration was tied up with the cloud of witnesses that cast its shadow. Peter as a man was meant to shed his vile body and put onthe glorious body which God had prepared in his Son. These witnesses, angels also were part of it. We have several instances that these two worlds moved as one, which we shall take up anon. It illustrated He.11:3 that the world unseen is not yet completed.
"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,/Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. (He.12:1-2)
Here you have touched the key to abundant life in Christ. The covenant under the third day, we have this verse,"And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good./And the evening and the morning were the third day"(Ge.1:12-13). What is sown is a a seed it is 'the seed was in itself'. It is the word of God and it requires time to mature. " It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:"(1 Co.15:43) Anyone coming to Christ has to die to the world and sin. Faith and works of the believer is in becoming like 'after his kind' that is becoming Christlike. Isaiah's song of my beloved touching his vineyard ends up, strangely."What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?"(Is.5:1-5) Israel's heart was not right in the sight of God. " I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." So the problem lies in one who says he is a branch but his heart is not fully with it.
Please pray for my son Brian and his wife. He just came over and told us that his wife miscarried their first baby a few weeks ago. They had not disclosed they were expecting to us so this was a surprise to us. With our other son and wife having a new baby, Rose, this is especially hard for them. Apparently, the baby stopped growing at 9 weeks and died and she miscarried at 11 weeks. We are sad for them. Brian is 40 and Elfe is 38, so we pray for her to heal well and for them together to be helped in their grief. We also pray for God to bless them with another baby soon and a safe and successful pregnancy to bring a new child into their and our lives.
Recliners are great. Mine helped my back heal.
We needed to put all of our living room furniture in storage for our remodel. My recliner was kind of worn and a bit broken, so we put it behind our garbage cans for the next dump run. I was going to get a new one. Well, after sitting in regular chairs for two weeks my back was aching and spasming really painfully. I knew I needed to sit in a recliner and my new one would not arrive for 8-10 weeks. So, needless to say, the old recliner got pulled out from behind the garbage bins and put under the canopy of our outdoor make-do kitchen area. So, I am keeping it there until the new one arrives and we can move everything back into the living room!
I had not had spasm like that since 2020, so it reminded me of how bad my back was then and how much God heals us, not all in the same way, but my back was pretty well rehabbed until this episode. So Lazy-Boy has made my life easier and less painful. I am grateful for this invention more than ever!
If there's one thing about this site that annoys me, it's you all. No, I'm just kidding! None of you could possibly annoy me as I love you all in the Lord.
What does annoy me is that little "Amen" button at the bottom of each post. Why? Because if you're like me, and I'm sure many of you do this also, sometimes you use your cell phone to read and post messages. Well, this has happened to me at least a dozen times to where I would be scrolling through my screen, and while scrolling, I accidently touch the "Amen" button. You know you did it because a pop-up comes up and "Amen, thank you!"
Now it's like what in the world did I just say amen to? Like I said, this has happened to me several times now, and some of the things I accidently said amen to, I totally disagreed with. I know the Lord's not going to hold that against me for accidently agreeing with something I totally disagreed with, but if this has happened to anyone else, you got to admit it is a little annoying, and you can't take it back!
I know I'm just whining a bit, but I guess I just ran out of something else to say, so I guess I'm off to bed.
Goodnight and blessings to you all!
This is a great site to come and fellowship together in God's word. I'm glad you have found this website. I am sorry to hear about your friend. There are many here, including myself that will lift up your friend Robin in prayer to the Lord. Have you shared the gospel message with her? The prayers of many here will be heard, but perhaps the Lord might use you to witness Jesus Christ to her in person if that's an option for you.
May God's will be done!
No worries, I completely understand. Yes, recliners have to be one of the greatest inventions. I love mine. I wonder if it was a lazy person who came up with the idea?
As far as your question asking me if I have found conflict between the Greek (Textus Receptus) and the King James Bible, I'll just say that I have found several places in the KJB (NT) that could have been worded differently, places where a word from the Greek text has a different meaning than what was translated into English for us.
If you are asking me to share with you every single place in question, this is not something I can do in a short amount of time, but I am willing to share with you everything I have found as time permits. Perhaps we can start with Matthew first and work our way through Revelation. Or, if you have something else in mind, I am open, so please let me know.
I do hope you get some good rest, and with our current discussion, please take whatever time you need. I trust that you will get back with me as the Lord leads. Who knows, I'm not even sure if I'll be on here tomorrow!
God Bless!!!
John 15:2
Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
Why doesn't a branch in Christ bear a fruit? It is a branch, isn't it? So if it a natural thing to have fruit what makes it to not make one?
John 15:7
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
John 15:10
If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
So for one to abide in Christ, His words must abide in them, and in simple words they must keep His commandments. This is not natural, it is a disicion we make and succeed through God's/Jesus' grace
1 John 1:5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
The clash and contrast between light and darkness is at a fevered pitch in our time. Psalm 7:15 states He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made. Sin is a reproach to anyone; Proverbs 14:34 says Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people. Thus the sins of individuals collectively bring down everyone who is not one of God's children.
My own situation has shown me how elderly people who used to be characterized as having a nice personality show their true nature when running out of options in life. This can have the opposite effect on some who were always nasty; and of course the Lord can intervene; as long as their is breath there is hope; or as Ecclesiastes 9:4 states For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.
Proverbs 9:8 says Reprove not a scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee. Those who God has called and chosen will be drawn through warnings of their sinful state; in fact they will be thankful always to find the remedy as only the sick need a physician ( Luke 5:31). In contrast the wicked cannot love God or rebuke; they will only try to avoid the consequences of their actions through self justification or somehow thinking their "good works outweigh the bad". 2 Corinthians 7:10 says For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. Thus; the wicked through conviction are led to self destruction and the righteous have the opposite fate.
The final battle of Armageddon draws ever nearer. May we all be ready at His coming.