> General Discussions
Tribulations, Patience, Experience & Hope
firefly77:
Joe and all,
Thank you for such a timely post :). It is comforting to know that God deals with all of us here in the same way.
--- Quote ---Why is it we must learn to have patience with and love people who make our lives miserable, God could change them if He wanted to, or remove them from our day to day lives but no, they are right there in our face causing anxiety, frustration, maybe even worse. What makes it even more maddening is that it always seems like these people get what they want, it seems like they are the ones getting all the blessings, what's up with that? Why must I be punished for circumstances I had no part in creating, especially when I am not looking for conflicts with anybody?
--- End quote ---
I can soooo relate. I am actually making progress by keeping my mouth shut and not responding in kind or worse. I have learned to step back and to hand the relational problems to God. I am not saying that I don't feel the pain anymore, but since I know that God orders my steps and He is control of all things, I view it as a disciplinary step and am much more peaceful about it. When I think about how much God has forgiven me, I have no room to talk.
Angie
hillsbororiver:
Thanks to all who responded and added to this topic, I am sure some of us have struggled with patience as well as empathy from time to time, some more than others. It is fascinating to hear some of the theologies that promote "petitioning God" for material success, popularity and all the carnal worldly things that would come with it rather than recognizing that these struggles must be met head on and fought tirelessly as we wear the armor of His Spirit.
Saturday morning when I wrote down the first post in this thread I was thinking about a hypothetical situation where someone who was distraught over their particular circumstances had the opportunity to question the Spirit of our Lord as well as voice their frustration.
Sometimes it will take me 20 or 30 minutes to write even a paragraph or two in response to a question or comment but this one just flowed out in record time as the questions, doubts and frustrations as well as the scriptures that would answer the them seemed to fall right into place.
Since reading, rereading and reading again about the "beast within" I have not only learned who is the real enemy of my spirit (I only need to look in the mirror) but that I must stay in constant communication with His Spirit if I have any hope of growing past this worldliness.
Peace,
Joe
Amrhrasach:
--- Quote from: hillsbororiver on June 23, 2009, 07:54:08 AM ---Thanks to all who responded and added to this topic, I am sure some of us have struggled with patience as well as empathy from time to time, some more than others.
Since reading, rereading and reading again about the "beast within" I have not only learned who is the real enemy of my spirit (I only need to look in the mirror) but that I must stay in constant communication with His Spirit if I have any hope of growing past this worldliness.
Peace,
Joe
--- End quote ---
This "struggle" that you speak of, Joe, seems ever constant. I suppose some frustrations can be so deeply rooted that overcoming is often times a distant journey, or seems distant, and the "fruits" often seem non-existent or not growing. So, at least for me, I do so agree (now) that without being in constant touch with his spirit the fruits will not grow. The last couple of days I've been thinking of the fruit that we are to have and show and I truly do believe, now, that any fruit simply can't be produced unless he plants the seed and waters it for growth. Opposite that, all the worldly "you can help yourself" psycho babble is just that. Babble. Smoke and mirrors. Feel good for a while, nothing permanent, nothing with foundation. I don't see this "fruit" so much of the time and I pray even without that sight that it is growing. I pray for a time, as Ray teaches, we will reach a time of looking back and then see from where we've come, even the fruit. The beast lives proudly and for me, as you say, I too only must look in the mirror to see him. There's no way to skip over the challenges and growth we must all journey through and sometimes it's so easy to lose sight of the end goal. Even without sight at times I pray we all have an "ear to hear" that small still voice to keep us on the right pathway.
Gary
Marlene:
Sometimes we just have to get alone with God to hear his voice. Jacobs, glad to see how he is working in you and changed your thoughts.
I too know, I do not have the problems Jesus had.
When, we think about him or others and not ourself God will be with us through it all.
In His Love,
Marlene
hillsbororiver:
--- Quote from: Horseman on June 23, 2009, 09:12:31 AM ---
This "struggle" that you speak of, Joe, seems ever constant. I suppose some frustrations can be so deeply rooted that overcoming is often times a distant journey, or seems distant, and the "fruits" often seem non-existent or not growing. So, at least for me, I do so agree (now) that without being in constant touch with his spirit the fruits will not grow. The last couple of days I've been thinking of the fruit that we are to have and show and I truly do believe, now, that any fruit simply can't be produced unless he plants the seed and waters it for growth. Opposite that, all the worldly "you can help yourself" psycho babble is just that. Babble. Smoke and mirrors. Feel good for a while, nothing permanent, nothing with foundation. I don't see this "fruit" so much of the time and I pray even without that sight that it is growing. I pray for a time, as Ray teaches, we will reach a time of looking back and then see from where we've come, even the fruit. The beast lives proudly and for me, as you say, I too only must look in the mirror to see him. There's no way to skip over the challenges and growth we must all journey through and sometimes it's so easy to lose sight of the end goal. Even without sight at times I pray we all have an "ear to hear" that small still voice to keep us on the right pathway.
Gary
--- End quote ---
Hi Gary,
You know when we think (with human logic) about how our Father has set up His creation process it is totally counter intuitive, we need to repent not only of our deeds but of our thoughts and desires, but we can't even do that without Him leading us to that place where we can recognize that our (self centered) thoughts are our own worst enemy.
We are all familiar with the world's philosophy, in a nutshell it is "if it feels good, do it!"
We know many of the mainstream denominations have a "name it, claim it" doctrine that teaches we should pray for material worldly things in an attempt to create our own heaven on earth even with our Lord adamantly stating that His Kingdom is not of this world and if we are His the world will hate us.
When our eyes begin to open we see the futility of placing our hope and faith in material things or even other people, we slowly but steadily realize this is a One on one journey as God has us plow through rocky, weedy, vermin infested ground, turning over the dust of the earth (which we are) into a path toward Sonship.
Our Father in His infinite love gave us His Firstborn Son to share the yolk of this work and if we consistently depend on Christ to carry us forward, if we faithfully believe He will not tire or allow us to fail we really do become strong in weakness.
Your statement about "smoke and mirrors" brought to mind 1st Corinthians 13:12, the King James has it translated like this;
1Co 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as so I am known.
Better translations of this verse read;
1Co 13:12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. (NIV)
1Co 13:12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. (NASB)
The following translation I believe really nails our experience;
1Co 13:12 For now we see in a mirror, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know fully even as also I was fully known. (ASV)
Imagine being in a dark room facing a mirror trying to coordinate and navigate around the room and we can only use the mirror as our point of reference;
Right is left, left is right, we have no depth perception and on top of it all the room has poor lighting! Of course we will stumble, make mistakes, fall, etc. If only we had a Voice who we could totally trust to lead us out of this distressing situation.....
Thank God we do.
Peace,
Joe
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