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Author
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Topic: Weak and strong at once?
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Eden
unregistered
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posted
MH wrote quote:
Well, if Paul was 'strong' when he was 'weak' it could be because he was not literally meaning that that 'he' was strong. He was saying that when he was weak, Jesus was strong. You know, "He must increase, and I must decrease." (John the Baptist) And if, as he so stated, he 'glories' in his infirmities, it is because that is his decrease. For that is his weakness. And what he was 'good' at, actually would deprive him, spiritually speaking, if he placed any confidence in it.
Exactly. Nice paragraph.
love, Eden
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Michael Harrison
Advanced Member
Member # 6801
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posted
quote:
And because we neglect God when we are "strongest," which is just an illusion, we are at the weakest point in our life because we are neglecting God.
Yea! We shift from trusting and believing in God, to trusting and believing in ourself, or something, or someone else.
Etymology, which is the study of the source of words, indiates that the word 'luck' is a derivative of the word lucifer, or so I was told once, many years ago. So when you wish someone "good luck....." Well!
Posts: 3273 | From: Charlotte N.C. | Registered: Sep 2007
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MentorsRiddle
Advanced Member
Member # 2108
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posted
I have always thought of it like this.
When I am weakest I am strongest -- and when I am strongest I am weakest.
I take that to mean this:
When we are down in life (weakest) we often turn to God for guidance. Because we do this, we are strongest because we are trusting in him and not ourselves.
When we are up in life and in good luck (strongest) we often neglect our relationship with God, because we get caught up in our own pride, thinking we are the ones who caused our good luck and fortune -- when it was actually God who caused us to be in that position in life.
And because we neglect God when we are "strongest," which is just an illusion, we are at the weakest point in our life because we are neglecting God.
Your thoughts?
--------------------
With you I rise,
In you I sleep,
kneeling down I kiss your feet,
Grace abounds upon me now,
I once was lost
but now I'm found.
The gift of God dwells within,
To this love I now give in.
Posts: 1337 | From: Arkansas | Registered: Sep 2003
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Michael Harrison
Advanced Member
Member # 6801
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posted
"When I am weak, then I am strong," he said. But have you thought about it? What in this world do you know of that is strong and weak at the same time? "Well," one might say, trying to come up with an example, "if you place an automobile wheel on a truck it would be weak. But if it were on a car it would be strong."
Granted! However, if it is on the truck it would be weak. And if it were on the car it would be strong, but it would not be both, on either. In other words, it is never weak at the same time it is strong. It cannot be. But Paul said he was strong when he was weak. Now, why could that be?
Well, if Paul was 'strong' when he was 'weak' it could be because he was not literally meaning that that 'he' was strong. He was saying that when he was weak, Jesus was strong. You know, "He must increase, and I must decrease." (John the Baptist) And if, as he so stated, he 'glories' in his infirmities, it is because that is his decrease. For that is his weakness. And what he was 'good' at, actually would deprive him, spiritually speaking, if he placed any confidence in it.
Therefore, when he is weak, since he is somehow strong, he must necessarily be in a 'relationship'. And it must be the other (of the relationship) who is strong. And we will note that no man can say with Paul, in this present hour, "when I am weak, then I am strong," unless Jesus is very present with that one. For future relationship is not covered in the expression, "When [as, like as in right now] I am weak, at that moment, then I am strong."
2Co 6:2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)
The day of salvation is now! And salvation means HE is the strength of your person, of your ability, of your living, now. That is salvation; not some future hope, or change. NOW, is the day of salvation!
*
So that leads to knowing Him. For many claim they know HIM. But just because some are 'known' of Him doesn't mean that they are knowing Him. Knowing HIM goes deeper than just being known. And of course, no man can fault this statement, that the reason we have the Bible is to be able to 'know' Him.
When you are 'born-again' His Spirit bore witness with you that HE is alive. And while that is a revelation of HIM, a kind of knowing HIM, it is not necessarily knowing HIM. For it is very personal, and powerful to know Him.
It is better stated that by being born again he knew you. But knowing Him is more than that. Just because HE knew you doesn't mean that you are 'knowing' Him. Because knowing HIM takes more than just praying the prayer of salvation. Again, to make the case, I will state that that is why we have the Bible.
But just having the Bible, or even reading the Bible doesn't mean one is 'knowing' Him. It is more like one is 'knowing about' Him, by reading the Bible. But if one wants to 'know' HIM, HE will have to be the one to show one what the scriptures mean. Else there are a lot of conclusions one can come to that do not lead to knowing HIM, though one can find a host of people to amen him.
And to KNOW HIM is to serve HIM. And "How do I serve HIM," one may ask? You serve HIM with your thoughts, feelings and emotions. You serve HIM with your activities. You serve HIM with your understanding, and your abilities (but not your natural abilities), but only as you are enlightened to who HE is to you. Enlightened is the key word here. Only HE can enlighten. And unless the heart turns to HIM, he cannot enlighten.
Now, some may mention that simply to follow one’s own feelings, and emotions (both the same actually) is not actually following HIS leading. And that is true, unless you are dead, buried with HIM, and risen with Him from the dead. For if such is the case, and one is not deceived about this, one may know through knowing HIM, through faith, that he has the ‘mind’ of Christ in all that matters. He has the ‘desires’ of Christ working in Him. And thereby one knows he is ‘knowing’ Him. He knows who HE is, and what HE wants to, or will do.
But if we are privy to what it means to be risen with HIM from the dead, we have the mind of Christ. 1Co 2:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we [do]have the mind of Christ.
This verse does not mean HE will give thee what the heart desires, else one may inordinately expect HIM to accommodate his lusts, or misgivings. But HE means that HE will impart HIS desires to the believing one. Psa 37:4 Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
And here is reinforcement: Php 2:13 "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." He who is in you by HIS Spirit worketh in you both [b[to will[/b] and to do…..
of, or by, His good pleasure! Then one is knowing HIM.
Rom 7:22 "For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:"
Jesus is the law of God.
Rom 3:31 "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law."
Jesus is the law of God!
Knowing the law is knowing HIM.
Posts: 3273 | From: Charlotte N.C. | Registered: Sep 2007
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