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Topic: What does the Lord ask?
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Bro. Greg
Advanced Member
Member # 2943
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posted
Great Post David! Thanks for your insite as well becauseHelives! ![[thumbsup2]](graemlins/thumbsup2.gif)
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Isaiah 5:20(KJV) 20Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Bro. Greg
In and By His Grace
http://www.mychristiansite.com/ministries/pass_it_on
Posts: 527 | From: Montana, USA | Registered: Mar 2004
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KnowHim
Admin
Member # 1
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posted
Beena,
I did not write that devotion. It was sent by
www.theshepherdsheart.com
you may be able to find their email address, if you would like to address your question to them.
But to give my opinion on the subject:
>> Sounds like you are saying it is not possible to love someone that you do not respect. Is that what you are saying?
No I did not get that out of this devotion. It looks to me like it is just saying it is harder to love someone you don't respect. Which in fact to me is very true. But never the less we are commanded to do so. It is sure a lot harder for someone that I don't respect, to get me to do anything. But that don't mean I don't love them, it just means, I don't think they know whats best.
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Posts: 3276 | From: Charlestown, IN | Registered: Jun 2002
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Beena
Advanced Member
Member # 3518
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posted
Because He Lives:
WOW you Agree with me !! Far out. ![[dance]](graemlins/dance1.gif)
God Bless You.
Your Sister Beena :- ]
Posts: 56 | Registered: Jun 2004
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becauseHElives
Advanced Member
Member # 87
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posted
Beena,
The righteous are being conformed into the image of Yeshua by the Word of Yahweh.
Psalm 104 is a hymn to the God of creation and weather.
The Gospel verse is about weather and grace: “ It rains on the just and the unjust.”
The Letter from Paul speaks to the “ whole of creation .”
The outer world of creation is reflected in our inner spiritual world. The world of God's wind, rain, and fire speaks to the world of our spirit. Psychologists even have a name for it: SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder, when a person's nature is severely out of step with nature.
From the Garden story in Genesis to the River of Life in Revelation, (Rev 22:1) our Bible is filled with messages of God's relationship with His creation and His children, and all that would fall upon us.
Creation and nature can reflect for us the doctrine of grace. The rain that flooded the world for forty days and forty nights (Gen 7:4) is the same rain that gives “ drink to every beast of the field ” (Ps 104:11) and washes away our sins in baptism.
While some within the Church would locate the doctrine of grace within either the pious individualism of Augustine or the moralistic behavior of the Puritan, farmers and other faithful ones believe that rain can be a sign of God's grace.
The great OT scholar, Gerhard von Rad, wrote, “Nature comes from God, cannot be apart from God, and is capable of bearing the ‘glory' of God.” (Theology of OT, p1035 )
The word, Nature , comes from natos , “ to be born .”
To be in nature is to experience a re-creation, not just rec-re-ation, a restoration of body and soul. It is one of the reasons we are here. The stories of the Gospel are a fulfillment of the promises given in the OT, shown in the life of the One who is the Vine and the ones who will be the branches. (Amos Wilder, The Language of the Gospel , p37 )
Paul, in the eighth chapter of Romans, tell us that the “ whole creation will be set free from its bondage to decay. ” (v21)
Dr. Joseph Sittler, professor of Biblical Theology at the University of Chicago Divinity School, writes that in 45 years of preaching he had calculatedly ducked preaching on this chapter. ( Evocations of Grace, Writings on Ecology, Theology, and Ethics , p207) Dr. Sittler also states “ grace comes in colors, ” an understanding of grace that is bound up with a God, the Creator, who loves all colors, textures, forms, nuances, and modes of life. (p86)
The Grace of God is seen in the rain that falls on the just and the unjust.
Many of us experience God's grace somewhere between the narcissism of the one who believes that God loves his team best, thus they win; and the legalism of the one who sees God as a bookkeeper, recording credits and debits.
• Let us live with the promise and hope that God's grace is for each one of us.
Much of American church worship has been influenced by what scholars now call the Great Revival period of the nineteenth century, which was filled with high emotional pitch. Even Presbyterians and Episcopalians, who are known more for their education and style than their enthusiasm and singing, were affected and afflicted.
Emily Dickinson tells of her isolating experience at Holyoke Seminary when girls were asked to stand and come forward, as a sign that they declared themselves for Jesus, and, at age sixteen, how she was the only one left seated after the altar call. (Kathleen Norris, Amazing Grace, p27)
In Sacred Hoops , Phil Jackson, the coach, in a very loving fashion, speaks of his parents, who were Pentecostal preachers. One day, Phil came home from school to find his mother gone, which was so unusual as to put him into state of panic. He assumed that the “Rapture”— the sudden appearance of Jesus to herald the end of the world—had occurred, and that he had been left behind. ( p26 )
• Let us live with the promise and hope that God's Grace is for all of His children.
The wisdom and grace of God, like nature itself, cannot be understood by focusing on one situation or one season, regardless of how much we saturate ourselves with analysis and anxiety.
While we grieve the loss of one tree, the cancellation of one performance, and the suffering of one child, and we do all within our power to protect ourselves, and others, from these personally painful experiences, these experiences should not define our theology.
In thirty years of ministry, I have seen and heard many people create their definition of God, and their declaration of how God deals with His creation and children, as a reaction to one personal and often tragic experience.
God's grace, like our weather, is beyond our control and manipulation, and comes as a gift and as a guide.
Jesus' words, “It will rain on the just and the unjust,” follow the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, and the introductory words to the law of higher righteousness: “ You have heard that it was said…, But I say to you .”
Jesus was telling us then what the reformers, Martin Luther and John Calvin, would tell us later—only God is just.
Each of us struggles with loving our enemies and praying for our persecutors, and it is only by God's grace that we are saved.
All of us are blessed when we trust in the promise, and live in the hope, that whatever happens to us can be transformed into a greater glory by the amazing grace of God.
Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount said, "God sends rain on the just and the unjust" (Mathew 5:45). When we hear that verse we think, "Yep, that's the way it usually works out. You can plan a picnic and it rains." Ogden Nash put it into verse, which says, "The rain falls on the just and the unjust fellas, only the unjust have the umbrellas!" But really, when you think of water symbolizing God's grace, the verse does not mean that bad things happen to good people, but that good things happen to bad people!
God is impartial and loves even the wicked so there is hope. After all we are all sinners. If God should punish the wicked immediately who would be left? That's what grace is all about. None of us gets exactly what he deserves. God is not just. God is merciful. God always has something better for us. He has infinite love. We are not perfect, any of us. And the good news is that Jesus came to tell us that God loves us anyway!
Good things do happen to bad people - that is, to you and me. And that is enough to give us hope to keep on keeping on, even when life doesn't seem fair!
But the fact remains if you love Yahweh you will love HIS Law and do your best by the Spirit HE has placed in you to live by, , obey or any other way there is to say it " KEEP HIS HOLY COMMANDMENTS."
Great post David!
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Strive to enter in at the strait gate:for many, I say unto you will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. ( Luke 13:24 )
Posts: 4578 | From: Southeast Texas | Registered: Jun 2002
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Beena
Advanced Member
Member # 3518
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posted
Hi David! ![[wave3]](graemlins/18.gif)
Sounds like you are saying it is not possible to love someone that you do not respect. Is that what you are saying?
Also - do you mean that if we do not do as God commands/expects then we will not receive good things from Him? Cuz I've read in the Bible that God sends His rain on the Just and the Unjust alike and that He first loved us while we were still sinners.
I guess I'm talking abt unconditional love. That is how I love my children and I always see God as loving ALL humans - with unconditional love, even tho He knows His plan for Salvation will be rejected by some.
Whaddya think?? ![[hyper]](graemlins/hyper.gif)
God Bless You
Beena :- ]
Posts: 56 | Registered: Jun 2004
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Adv.Christian
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Member # 3453
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posted
![[Cross]](graemlins/cross.gif) Amen ![[Prayer]](graemlins/prayer.gif)
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A person talking can not be listening; A person not listening can not be learning.
Posts: 299 | From: Raleigh/North Carolina | Registered: Jun 2004
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KnowHim
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Member # 1
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posted
Deut. 10
[12] What doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul!
Have you ever been around someone who is constantly complaining that they do not know what God wants them to do? I have! There are those who, I believe say this, all the while knowing good and well what God expects! Don't get me wrong, there are also those who from their heart are trying to "wait upon the Lord" for direction in their lives! Although it some times seems to take a while before we find ourselves involved in ministry, we can know just what God expects from us in the realm of faithfulness!
There are 4 basic areas in which we are commanded to be faithful: 1) To fear the Lord, 2) To walk in all of his ways, 3) To love him and 4) To serve him! When the scripture speaks of "Fearing the Lord" what it is simply saying is to "Respect him!" This is unfortunately one of the areas in our churches that is the most abused today! Folks just seem to have little or no respect at all for God's house or his Spirit! Think about it for a moment? If you did not respect someone, you would not follow that individual anywhere, much less believe in them! It would be very improbable for someone to "walk in that persons ways" seeing that they do not respect them! No one wants to be like someone who they do not believe in! There would also be a lack of love for someone that you had no respect for! Finally, you sure would not find yourself "Serving or working" for such an individual!
The easiest way to God's heart, is to Respect, Follow, Love and Serve him with all of your heart! When you think about it, God is really not asking a whole lot out of us, he just wants to be Priority, and rightfully so! If you had a child and I know that some of you do, and that child never showed you any respect, obedience, love or subjection, that child would not receive very much of what it asked of you! It is easy for us some times to see our children and their faults, and wonder why they don't want to listen to us! Still all the while never realizing what we must put our heavenly Father through when we do the very same things to him!
It should be our pleasure to give God our best, seeing that he withheld nothing back from us by sending his only begotten son to die at the hands of this world, so that you and I might live! Neighbor, what is God asking of you today? Do you Respect him? Are you Following him? Do you Love him? Are you willing to Serve him, no matter how hot the battle rages? I hope your answer is a commanding "YES" to all of those questions! How about it neighbor, are you willing to stick in there and fight? "But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." (Isa. 40:31)1
May God's richest blessings be upon you!
The Shepherd!
We invite you to visit our web site at www.theshepherdsheart.com it is continually being updated, so please check back often to see what we have added.
Posts: 3276 | From: Charlestown, IN | Registered: Jun 2002
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