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For hope to be a reality, that hope needs to be a reality in our thinking. In other words that hope is who I AM, otherwise its hope how the world hopes.
Any hope is in your thoughts. How could you not hope for it if you don't consciously think about it? I trust/hope in a Father that I absolutely consider reality within my thoughts. I can't conceive that life came about any other way than the Father and I have trust/hope that He will transform us into His image IN DUE TIME. If I thought in my thoughts that I was NOW in the image that will enable me to know His thoughts NOW, react with no selfish reactions whatsoever, I wouldn't be HOPING for or longing for that time. I would be enjoying it, and yet experiencing the selfish desires and reactions that come from this stony heart.
My mother died over 30 years ago. I have memories of her but they are all are things in the past. No conversations with her as the person I am now. She has not evolved in my mind, she is still in my mind the same person she was at the time of her death. But I have TRUST that I will talk with her again, see her and hug her. I do not have that experience now, but I am as certain as TRUST can give certainty that I will be reunited with her. That is how I see our metamorphosis. In my heart I have peace knowing that I can leave our future in the Father's hands. He will have a desire to His own work. I see that I will be much more than just a kinder, more benevolent, less selfish person. We can sometimes achieve a measure of self control but underneath it all, I sometimes don't like my sisters and brothers, I want them to go away and not bother me. I resent sharing sometimes, tho I scold myself for it. When I shed this earthly body tho, when He puts an entirely new heart within me, I won't even have a hint of those feelings. That's why I know no one will resent welcoming a repentant Hitler or Sadaam Hussein with open arms when God has dealt with his old nature.
Interesting discussion. I don't see that it upsets the Father in the least that we see things differently. I know some think that we have to have every t crossed in the right direction and every i dotted with the exact amount of ink in order to be allowed entry into 'heaven.' What a frustrating way to live.
"For what the Spirit unites, no man can separate."
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jerwade
We are being created in his image, while the whole of creation waits in expectation.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jerwade
Indeed, it is reality, not wishful thinking.
"We will be carried to a higher place, even while we yet live."
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jerwade
If the beast nature insists on having its own way; resist it. How we view who we are is what we become.
What the Spirit unites, no man can separate for we are being created in his image.
Thus, we will be carried to a higher place of understanding, even while we yet live.
But how we view who we are, is what we have become in our own minds.
Therefore, if the beast nature insists on having its own way; resist it.
What the Spirit unites, no man can separate for we are being created in his image.
Thus, we will be carried to a higher place of understanding, even while we yet live.
But how we view who we are, is what we have become in our own minds.
Therefore, if the beast nature insists on having its own way; resist it.
"Submit yourselves therefore to [the truth of who you are in] God. Resist the devil [beast nature's lies/flaming arrows], and he will flee from you."
"Submit yourselves therefore to [the truth of who you are in] God. Resist the devil [beast nature's lies/flaming arrows], and he will flee from you."
Great explanation Pleroo. It's difficult to submit to this truth when we have a whole life time believed something we are not, what we became has never been who we really are. Time to let go of this old way of thinking, its safe to let it go.
I fell asleep and I was gone
Into a world I never knew
My memory of who I am
Had all become but a blur
Any hope is in your thoughts. How could you not hope for it if you don't consciously think about it?
It's more than thinking about it, it's being so convinced of it that you are that which you hope in. God called Abram Abraham before Abram was Abraham. Abram believed he was Abraham before it was a physical reality.
Peace to you as well sister.
Sorry for cutting you post to just a sentence, but you universalists love writing long posts
"Submit yourselves therefore to [the truth of who you are in] God. Resist the devil [beast nature's lies/flaming arrows], and he will flee from you."
James 4:7
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
This is the WORD of God: he is speaking/commanding it…it is prophecy.
Are you able to submit yourself to God if he has not changed your heart? Submitting means to bow down to God as Lord and to obey every ordinance, statue, law, judgment etc. No one can do that with a stony stubborn heart.
Now read this:
Isaiah 45:23
I have sworn by myself, the WORD is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear. Isaiah 55:11
So shall my WORD be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
So...the word has gone forth out of his mouth in righteousness...submit yourself to God....resist the devil...he will flee from you. Will this happen?
Sure it will...if God said his word will not return void but will accomplish that which he please and shall prosper in the thing (us) whereto he sent it, then we will submit ourselves to God, resist the devil and when we do, he will flee from us.
I asked you: If you see yourself the image of Christ, then what do you hope for?
This is what you said:
Quote:
Originally Posted by pcamps
That the image beheld is a reality.
So what you are saying is you hope the image you are imagining yourself to be becomes a reality. So then you are admitting that in reality you are not the image of Christ.
What you are failing to understand is, you CANNOT hope for something you already have.
If you are the image then that's the reality
If you are not the image then you can hope to become it.
not at all i choose to believe and strive to demonstrate the principles he taught. not a minute wasted in this effort never.
I honestly don't know how we can think we are able to choose when God has told us that he had authored every moment of our lives even before a single day had begun.
He is writing the story of our lives from beginning to end, if that is the case then where was anything your choice? Can man alter God's story? Could Pharaoh choose not to have his heart hardened and go against what God had spoken to Moses in letting the people go? Could Judas choose not to betray Christ and alter God's plan for his Son's death on the cross? Could Peter choose not to deny Christ and thus prove Christ to be a liar when he said before the rooster crow Peter would have denied him three times? Could Paul have chosen on the road to Damascus not to be enlightened by God?
Christ said you didn't choose him, he chose you and appointed you to produce LASTING fruit (fruits of the Spirit).
So if Christ chose you and APPOINTS you to believe (faith is a fruit of the Spirit) are you not going to believe? You don't have a choice...whatever he speaks happens. If he appoints you to do something, that is what will happen...you will do it.
So the truth is you did not choose to believe...he made you believe when he chose you and gave you the heart to believe.
1 Corinthians 4:7
What do you have that God hasn't given you? And if everything you have is from God, why boast as though it were not a gift?
Great explanation Pleroo. It's difficult to submit to this truth when we have a whole life time believed something we are not, what we became has never been who we really are. Time to let go of this old way of thinking, its safe to let it go.
What do you mean when you say "what we BECAME has never been who we really are?" Are you trying to say that we were first created in his image and then BECAME flesh? I apologize if I am misinterpreting what you are saying.
Did you not read the following:
1 Corinthians 15:46-49
Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
We never became anything....we were created from the dust of the earth. This came first (this was our first nature) and after we die and are born once again (raised/resurrected from the dead) we will be created from above (the spirit of God) as Christ was conceived of the Spirit; bearing the image of Christ (this is our second nature).
God Bless!
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