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...there is no greater love than the life He's given us.
...what are we going to with this love gift of life?
...that will show our appreciation?
Quote:
Originally Posted by meerkat2
What I see is that it is not about paying God back for his gift - it is about Christ living in us --- Am I there yet noooooo
...dear meerkat...you could not have acknowledged anything more precious than this. It's the truth...it's real...it's honest...it's pure...from the heart...God loves it.
...this is all it takes...is to be able to acknowledge: 1. What the truth is, according to God's Word, and 2. That you're not there yet...and being sorrowful in realizing it.
My whole purpose is not to hurt you or anyone else by what I teach...my whole reason for living is to get the Truth of God out there...into a lost, dying, very dark world...it is because of my love for you...it is why I was created...I live for this.
Meerkat,
I will try to explain to you like I did with ahigherway...the very fact that you are not living the kind of life God ultimately wants you to live (the kind I speak of), clearly shows that you are not born again, yet. You are not changed into the image of Christ, yet. Like you said yourself, "...am I there yet, no..."
I don't know (because we have not discussed it) whether or not you have received Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, but if you have done this with a pure heart, then you are "saved." Meaning you are protected and being watched over...still making wrong choices, and falling, and getting back up, to fall again, over and over again...you are still allowed to go through trials and tests and hardships...but it is all to strengthen you in your faith...to grow you into a mature Christian, who believes by obeying...who has obedient faith to the commandments of God...who does not willfully sin any longer...but it is a long process...a refining...a burning of your flesh, and it is painful, because we are sacrificing what our flesh wants us to do, and choosing what God's will for our life is instead...very difficult to do...that is why it takes so long, and why we must experience so much pain to get there...this is what is called being a "living sacrifice."...it cost's everything...and if we truly do want to know God...and have Him abide in us...and us in Him...we must count the cost first...do we have what it takes?...do we have THAT kind of love for God...?...are we willing to give up our own desires to stop and say to God, "What can I do to please You Father?"..."Just tell me what You want me to do, and I will do it."...and then do it.
"Salvation" is separate from "saved"...but Iwill leave that for another time right now.
Notice the time of this post...it is 5:50am my time, in the morning...I have been thinking of you and your reply above since you sent it yesterday evening. I couldn't get you off of my mind...I didn't try to either...I've been praying to God to give me the words to say to you...that whatever I said to you would be from Him and not from me...I haven't been able to sleep......tears are running down my cheeks right now as I type this to you...it's so much a part of me...concerning myself with you and your eternal future...I don't even know you meerkat, but I can honestly say that I love you with all of my heart............I know it probably hurt you when I explained that anyone who didn't do the will of my Father in heaven was not my brother, sister or neighbor...does it matter in the sense as to whether I love you or not?...No. It absolutely does not. I do love you meerkat, sister in Christ or not, I love you more than you realize...you are very special.........I can't stop crying............I know with everything in me that you will, one day, be my sister in Christ. This is God...all God....He's so amazing in how He works things out...I can see His providence at work.
That's all I have to say...for now. God Bless you sweet friend....the sun is peaking over the tree tops...creation is waking up to a new day...new mercies are awaitng us...Praise God.
In Christ's love...In His truth,
Verna.
Quote:
Originally Posted by meerkat
Rom 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
"Conversion and sanctification are the renewing of the mind; a change, not of the substance, but of the qualities of the soul. The progress of sanctification, dying to sin more and more, and living to righteousness more and more, is the carrying on this renewing work, till it is perfected in glory. The great enemy to this renewal is, conformity to this world. Take heed of forming plans for happiness, as though it lay in the things of this world, which soon pass away. Do not fall in with the customs of those who walk in the lusts of the flesh, and mind earthly things. The work of the Holy Ghost first begins in the understanding, and is carried on to the will, affections, and conversation, till there is a change of the whole man into the likeness of God, in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness. Thus, to be godly, is to give up ourselves to God."
Wesley's Bible commentary.
Last edited by Verna Perry; 05-31-2010 at 04:22 AM..
The number of responses to this thread, and content therein is actually quite curious, as well as disturbing...really, there ought to have been a simple series of post including either a "yes" or "no"...and really, the only responses with any elaborations should, obviously, be the ones with the "no" attached....so why the debate? If god is love to you, then GOD IS LOVE. And that's that. Meerkat said it well (see below), as did June (see below) to Verna who, though I don't mean to single her out, seems awfully determined to attach as many human attributes/faults to god as possible....so of course, I can't help but assume her answer to the query is "no, god is not love". Though I have a feeling she would correct me as she did with June (see below). AND just to defend my verbosity while I earlier criticized it coming from others, (though for a particular reason); I am not as much responding to the thread as I am to the banter within...
With all due respect, if god uses judgement and wrath, as much as "he" offers forgiveness and redemption with regard to certain individual's actions and behaviours, then it stands to reason that god is calculating and judgemental and thus, of course, NOT love. Love does not include judgement or wrath of any kind. Yet that peculiar, hypocritical depiction seems to be the "god" that many here have described...so, in fairness, while I respect the elaborations provided, I do take issue with the fact that those willing to provide the aforementioned elaborations were quicker to question those who actually provided a simple answer such as "yes, god is love", than to provide a simple answer themselves. Which, I would assume would have to be "no, god is not love", otherwise there wouldn't be so much question and doubt involved. Either that or nobody wants to be honest and just say GOD IS NOT LOVE! I wish someone would, because despite all the circumventing, that's what is being inferred...
Seems an awful lot of people view god really horribly- and yet still "proclaim" their love for god, worship god, and separate god from themselves etc...so I guess it's maybe it's no wonder there is actually a question or need for some people to have proven that god is love. I say why bother. if there's that much doubt then just stick to the ugliness and be done with it.
Though on a lighter note, I'm quite glad that, for the most part, those who said they believe that god IS love didn't feel the need to explain themselves too much, and June here explained why that is very well, as she usually does:
Quote:
Originally Posted by june 7th
June was just teasing in a light hearted way. Apologies if she didn't come across the right way. Initially read the title of this thread, and thought what a nice title it was...Found myself smiling in thinking how anyone can 'prove' love. It just is...
And now an excerpt from one of Verna's posts (I'm not singling you out, but you seem very steadfast in doing all you can to dismiss the whole "god is love" thing, and attach unnecessary stipulations and ugliness to what seems to be a healthy belief, and of course this is taken out of context from a much longer single post, among a long series of other posts):
Quote:
Originally Posted by Verna Perry
Where I come from on this is...Many want to use just one of the attributes of God's character...love...to describe Who He is, and disregard ALL of WHO He IS...and He IS SO much MORE!
My response- with all due respect, I personally do not believe god is ANY more than love- god is love, that's it. Why need there be more- or even any explanation?!?
* * *
I have made no secret that I abhor the notion that god has any "attributes" or a "character" with which "he" acts, depending on situations and people within...that would make god a person, and god is not that, in my world. However, some seem to feel comfortable attaching said qualities to god- for reasons I cannot claim to understand- but for whatever the reason, if that is what you believe, then I respect that. But personally- I believe god to be a non-human entity, energy and spirit that lies within all of us and everywhere around us and, as I stated before, it is impossible for god as a spirit and energy to doing anything but consistently, and continuously give and share that which is the essence and spirit; which is LOVE, from where I'm standing, anyway. For others- perhaps god is blackness, evil- or simply null and void. We all have different perspectives and again, I respect that; what I neither respect nor understand is the hypocrisy behind attaching all sorts of horrible qualities to god...and then saying "but god LOVES you"...IF you are deserving...God can NOT be both love AND wrath both... God can't be kind AND vengeful. God is either one, or another; either love, or lack thereof. God is NOT a person. Only people have thoughts, reason, and motivation- particularly when it comes to doing ill against another, whether they 'deserve' it or not so, please, leave all that ill will and ugliness to us humans to perpetrate...which will likely be done in the name of god or religion, ironically!
Here's something deserving of a repost, not much more really need be said:
Quote:
Originally Posted by meerkat2
Verna, Dale, Ilene, me, everyone -- we all try to find unity in our particular doctrinal stances sabbatarianism, catholicism, UR, ET, AN, arminianism, trinity, etc
Biting at each other is not good.
We are all human and are trying to find truth and when we have an ah ha moment like 'keep the commandments' or 'God will have all men saved and come to the truth' it is easy to rest in that and be divided from the rest of those that believe in Christ, who are In Christ (we are not all at the same level of understanding) and say that because "they" do not believe as we do "they" are not christians or do not know "the truth" .........
I believe what we are having is communication problems and interpretation problems......
Verna, Dale, Ilene, me, everyone -- we all try to find unity in our particular doctrinal stances sabbatarianism, catholicism, UR, ET, AN, arminianism, trinity, etc
Biting at each other is not good.
We are all human and are trying to find truth and when we have an ah ha moment like 'keep the commandments' or 'God will have all men saved and come to the truth' it is easy to rest in that and be divided from the rest of those that believe in Christ, who are In Christ (we are not all at the same level of understanding) and say that because "they" do not believe as we do "they" are not christians or do not know "the truth" .........
I believe what we are having is communication problems and interpretation problems......
This thread is 'Is God Love'
and IMO the answer to that is YES
Good post and I agree that we are all on different levels in our search for the truth which I do not think anyone of us will ever find the whole truth in this life..
But you know something? As long as we are focused on Him through prayer and fellowship and study and the way we live these short lives in a difficult world as we seek the truth, God has our attention and vice versa..Isn't He awesome.
Good post and I agree that we are all on different levels in our search for the truth which I do not think anyone of us will ever find the whole truth in this life..
But you know something? As long as we are focused on Him through prayer and fellowship and study and the way we live these short lives in a difficult world as we seek the truth, God has our attention and vice versa..Isn't He awesome.
Good post and I agree that we are all on different levels in our search for the truth which I do not think anyone of us will ever find the whole truth in this life..
Miss Blue there are at least 2 people that come to mind who post regularly who would have us believe they have it all worked out and know all the truth .
Amazingly one of them in one of their last posts said this
"You cannot call yourself a Christian IMO unless you follow ALL the teachings of Christ, which include His deity claims, and until you surrender completely to His will, will there then be regeneration. Otherwise, those who hold to this doctrine, fall short of the faith."
The message here is God is a truth(a doctrine) not God is love .
Truth is the reality of God (who is love) in our lives .
Hi everyone!
I was reflecting on 1 Cor. 13 again tonight. Let's look at another translation:
v. 5- It isn’t rude. It doesn’t think about itself. It isn’t irritable. It doesn’t keep track of wrongs.
v. 7- Love never stops being patient, never stops believing, never stops hoping, never gives up.
Now if God is love:
v. 5- God isn't rude. He doesn't think about Himself. He isn't irritable. He doesn't keep track of wrongs. (!)
v. 7- God never stops being patient, never stops believing, never stops hoping, never gives up.
Praise God! He never gives up! And He doesn't keep track of our wrongs, folks. This is a lesson for ALL of us to learn, that we must forgive and forget the wrongs we have committed towards others. If God is covering our sins everyday, shouldn't we do the same with one another?
Luke 6:39-45 "Parable of the Blind Leading the Blind"
When we stop beholding the mote in our neighbor's eye, and instead pluck the beam that is in ours...then obscurity is removed and we begin to see that "GOD TRULY IS LOVE".
Hi everyone!
I was reflecting on 1 Cor. 13 again tonight. Let's look at another translation:
v. 5- It isn’t rude. It doesn’t think about itself. It isn’t irritable. It doesn’t keep track of wrongs.
v. 7- Love never stops being patient, never stops believing, never stops hoping, never gives up.
Now if God is love:
v. 5- God isn't rude. He doesn't think about Himself. He isn't irritable. He doesn't keep track of wrongs. (!)
v. 7- God never stops being patient, never stops believing, never stops hoping, never gives up.
Praise God! He never gives up! And He doesn't keep track of our wrongs, folks. This is a lesson for ALL of us to learn, that we must forgive and forget the wrongs we have committed towards others. If God is covering our sins everyday, shouldn't we do the same with one another?
Blessings,
brian
Romans 2:4 Do you have contempt for God, who is very kind to you, puts up with you, and deals patiently with you? Don't you realize that it is God's kindness that is >>>!!!TRYING!!!<<< to lead you to him and change the way you think and act?
Revelation 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.
...this is how we know who serves the Almighty...we who endure and suffer as living sacrifices to our fleshly desires!
2 Corinthians 6:3 Instead, our lives demonstrate that we are God's servants. We have endured many things: suffering, distress, anxiety,
Psalm 106:14 In the wilderness their desires ran wild, testing God's patience in that dry wasteland.
Psalm 78:41 Again and again they tested God's patience and provoked the Holy One of Israel.
It's PAST! sins that are covered by the blood of Jesus...that does not mean that ALL sins committed are covered by the blood of Jesus!...
Romans 3:25 God showed that Christ is the throne of mercy where God's approval is given through faith in Christ's blood. In his patience God waited to deal with sins committed in the<<<>>>PAST.
...and it looks like God's patience DOES RUN OUT!!!...
1 Peter 3:20 those who disobeyed God long ago when God waited patiently while Noah was building his boat. Only eight people were saved from drowning in that terrible flood.
...and you CAN! ABSOLUTELY PROVOKE GOD TO ANGER AND WRATH!!! DO NOT BE FOOLED!!!
Deuteronomy 4:25 “When you father children and children’s children, and have grown old in the land, if you act corruptly by making a carved image in the form of anything, and by doing what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God, so asto provoke him to anger,
Deuteronomy 4:27 I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live there long but will certainly be destroyed
Praise God! for His righteousness! and His fairness! and His honor!...He DOES! draw the line!!!...and He DOES remember our sins!!!!!!
In Christ's love..In His truth,
Verna.
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"god is love"
