Spiritual exercise ?

[gallenwalsh]

What was Paul talking about when he said to stir up the gift that is in you ? How does one do that ? What is spiritual exercise?

[hillsbororiver]

Hi Gallenwalsh,

I believe the greatest gift (next to Jesus Himself) is faith, faith in Christ is the foundation of all the subsequent spiritual fruits, without it there is nothing to build on.

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

Once we have been given this gift of faith how exactly do we exercise it? Here might be a few examples;

Acts 24:16 And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void to offense toward God, and toward men.

1Timothy 4:7 But refuse profane and old wives' fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.

This "exercise" can often involve some painful trials but when we faithfully endure them we are better for the experience.

Hebrews 12:11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.

Our ultimate salvation is first predicated on that tiny mustard seed of faith, it is a gift from above.

Peace

Joe

[Deborah-Leigh]

Hello gallenwalsh

To add, here are some excerpts out of Rays paper titled

Saved By Grace Thru Faith
  [By Divine influence upon our HEARTS]


....everything is interrelated in the scriptures.  Everything comes down to one main objective - one main purpose - one thing, remember I've said that so often, it's all ONE.  You study out any subject in the scripture and it all comes down to one thing.... it's all ONE.
1 Cor 15: 10 "But by the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace  (divine influence on the heart) which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all (labored):  yet not I (labored), but the grace of God (labored) which was with me (labored)." 

There it is, the grace of God.... labors.
Grace is a gift, but it's got to be USED.
That's the grace and that's free, it's a gift.  But it doesn't mean there is nothing to be done.  It's like my wife's exercise bike, it's a gift, it's free, but it's meant to be used, you see.
Eph 2:8  for by grace (a gratuitous gift - divine influence upon the heart) are you saved through faith(believing and doing God's will); and that (faith) not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
v. 9  not of (our) works, less any man should boast (you boast when you do your own works).
v. 10  For we are HIS workmanship (His achievement - His works), created in Christ Jesus unto good works,

Do you get that?  Where it says "not of works," but "for good works."  Wait a minute is that a contradiction?  No, "not of (our) works" but "for (His) good works."  There are works, they're just not ours.  But we are of His workmanship.  Workmanship has the word 'work.'  The Concordant translates it 'achievement.'  When you want to achieve something it takes work.  Who's doing the work here?  God is doing the work.  What is that work?  Divine influence upon the heart and then you do things. 

Eph 2:10  "... created in Christ Jesus UNTO GOOD WORKS, which God has afore ordained that we should walk in them."

So there are works.

Rom 8:28  "And we know that God WORKS all (things), together for the good..." 

Then verse 29 "....predestined us to be conformed into the image of His Son."

That is the whole thing.
We are saved by grace.  It's free, gratuitous gift from God, but it does something.  It teaches - it chastens - it educates - it is divine influence upon the seat of our emotions - thinking - plans - purpose - goals - aspirations and everything else.  It divinely influences that heart, you can't help it, it does it. 

This just smacks free will right in the teeth.
Grace is a gift, you don't have it.  Now this is something you can't conjure up, it's a gift of God.  It's always the grace OF God, it comes from God, there is nothing you can do.  You say, 'well what about the faith we've got, that comes from us.'  No no no, it says in Eph 2: 8-10 "... faith; and that NOT OF YOURSELF, it is the gift of God;" 

The faith it's a gift, the grace it's all a gift, everything is a gift.  It's all a gift of God.  It's all faith, it's all grace, they are all one thing.  Grace causes you to live rightly.  What does faith do?  If you believe God, you do what He says.  It is virtually the same thing.

Now what is the goal?  To make you like Christ!

It is a spiritual thing that God is doing.

So the more you study these scriptures, the more God opens your eyes to these things.  It's not that complicated.  He only made it sound complicated, so that those who won't obey, then it's just all this fuzzy sanctimonious stuff that nobody can ever figure out.  It's not that hard.  And all the words they are just different aspects of the same thing.

It's not that hard when you understand the basic parable of the Bible.  That is God is making us into His image

Arc

[Extol]

What a great reminder!!
Thanks Arcturus. 

[aqrinc]

gallenwalsh Joe & Arc,

Excellent Scripture and comments, my 2 cents hopefully can add something to this thread.

Seems i am quoting this 1 verse below over and over daily.

(CLV)Ecc 1:13
I applied my heart to inquiring and exploring by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens:
it is an experience of evil Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it.

This is Training camp for Special Forces Saviors; now remember God is using the foolish, weak, base, despised things for HIS Force. So naturally we have to exercise those unfamiliar to us weapons to develop the right Esprit De Corp (As Ray has likened it).

So GOD takes this:

(All Below from MKJV)
1Co 1:23  but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishness.
1Co 1:24  But to them, the called-out ones, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God.
1Co 1:25  Because the foolish thing of God is wiser than men, and the weak thing of God is stronger than men.
1Co 1:26  For you see your calling, brothers, that not many wise men according to the flesh are called, not many mighty, not many noble.
1Co 1:27  But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;
1Co 1:28  and God has chosen the base things of the world, and things which are despised, and things which are not, in order to bring to nothing things that are;
1Co 1:29  so that no flesh should glory in His presence.
1Co 1:30  But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who of God is made to us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption;
1Co 1:31  so that, according as it is written, "He who glories, let him glory in the Lord."

To learn to use these weapons of our warfare:

Gal 5:22  But the fruit of the Spirit is: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith,
Gal 5:23  meekness (humility), self-control; against such things there is no law.

george.