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Judging Ourselves

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judith collier:
John, how good it is to know who and what you are and that All is of God. The more you trust the less you fear even your proclivity to sin. You know you are incapable so just agree with God about your condition. The torture is in bearing ourselves once we've seen His perfection and that too can take the turn of adoring Him even more. That he loves me is still difficult to fanthom but i cast that aside because beholding Him is so much more than beholding myself.
You re a good reminder John!
love, judy

DougE6:

Tit 3:8  This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.

Heb 12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

Heb 2:3  How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;

2Ti 2:10  Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

1Co 9:24  Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.

Php 3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

2Ti 2:3  Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

Mat 24:13  But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

Rev 2:26  And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:

Mat 5:16  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Jas 2:26  For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

Jas 2:22  Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?

Jas 2:18  Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

Jas 2:24  Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

Tit 3:14  And let ours also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, that they be not unfruitful.

Tit 2:7  In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity,

1Co 9:26  I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:
1Co 9:27  But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.

Php 3:14  I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.

2Pe 1:10  Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:

Rom 13:11  And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.

Jud 1:3  Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

2Co 5:2  For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven:

1Th 5:17  Pray without ceasing.

2Co 7:1  Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Heb 6:12  That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

2Pe 1:4  Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Heb 6:12  That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

Mat 5:12  Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

Heb 10:35  Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward.

Rev 3:4  Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.
Rev 3:5  He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.


Mat 22:37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.


1Ti 6:11  But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
1Ti 6:12  Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.


OK first I apologize for writing  so many scriptures, but there are SO MANY exhortations, I just wanted to write some to remind us. I could write page after page.

Speaking for myself, I will seek the First Resurrection with all my heart.  It matters not that God has already predetermined who is in or not.  It only matters that I obey Him.  It only matters that I love Him.  And I keep the goal of my Faith in sight at all times.  I do not want to be a castaway.  Please God, I do  not want to be a castaway.  I would be terribly sad to miss the First Resurrection.   And I consider his great and precious promises, something incredibly precious and meaningful, something I will earnestly  strive for,  even if there was only a tiny chance that I was one that was chosen.

I full well know it is all of God and I/we are His workmanship, but I will have the attitude above. God willing.  I love God, and I love the attitude to be earnestly contending, to be obeying, to be overcoming, to try and try again, always wanting more and seeing Him change me, and the attitude I want found in me, because I want to please Him.  Maybe I am like a puppy, eager to please His Master.  I do not know, but His precious promises speak to my heart and through these promises I live in the Spirit.

Lord, I pray that I/we will be in the First Resurrection.  Please mold me/us and change me/us,  teach me/us to walk in the Spirit, please give me/us the victory that overcomes the world.  I/we know I /we cannot do it without you. I/we want to be a bride without spot or wrinkle.  I/we want to hear Well done my good and faithful servant.   I/we know I/we  are spiritually weak as water in my/our own strength.  But you make me/us strong.  In you I/we are so much stronger. I beg you Please don't go.  Don't let me/us go back to Egypt, to back to self reliance, as you have delivered me/us and shown me/us  how good you are, and how in you I/we can live victoriously.  I/we thirst for you more than anything else.

I do not want to be a castaway.  I want to be in the First Resurrection!

DougE6:
Hello

Is it wrong of me if I gently point out a couple things written above which I do not understand?

It was written " We are not important"  That does not seem scriptural to me, in any sense.  Jesus died for us.  God did His very best and went through the trouble of making us. Everything God does is important. And God spent a great deal of time energy and effort on us. Just look at the creation, the stars and universe, and how fearfully and wonderfully we are made. As Ray once said, God did His very best. God is not a slacker.  He put forth His best effort. That is why everything is so unimaginably greater than we.  So we must be very important to Him.  Compared to God, yes we are like an ant. True. But are we unimportant? I think not.

It was also written " There is much suffering.  I feel bad that I can't do anything about it."  That does not seem scriptural to me. We are to help relieve suffering. We have two arms, two legs, and many gifts and talents to help others.  We can pray, we can give, we can love.  These are very tangible things we can do to do something about suffering.  God has chosen to work through his people in this world.  We must let Him motivate and work through us.  I am so happy people have helped me in times of suffering.  And I love it when God uses me to help someone when they are suffering.

I think we must be careful to NOT let "no free will" to somehow become AN excuse to prevent us from actually trying.  Just because God ultimately does the work, does not mean we are not to try. The Bible is full of admonitions to try.  How do we know our very trying is not the very agency God is going to use to help alleviate the suffering of others?  Or to be the very agency that God is going to save or heal someone?

Should we not respect the scriptures commands and admonitions? Are they not supposed to cause us to will and to do? Does anyone get saved without some input from another human being obeying God and reaching out? Does anyone hear without a preacher?  Does anyone preach without being sent? 

It was written, " But only God can save and heal, which He will do in due time."  these words are completely true.  But maybe His due time is when we do the works we are to do in obedience to our Lord.  Or when we pray and struggle on the behalf of others. This is what Love actually does. Love demonstrates.  Love struggles on the behalf of others.  And when we Love, and we struggle on the behalf of others, we find that God starts saving and healing.

If I Love God or Love others, then I better show it by tangible action. Otherwise it is meaningless and worthless.  God is going to judge our actions.  They are very important. my summation....(to get back to the thread topic more targeted) is our actions are very important and as we judge ourselves, we must plead with God and strive so our resulting of judging ourselves eventually sees change. It will come when God sees fit, and maybe a lot later than we wish, but it doesn't change the fact that the exhortations are there. I will not accept myself the way I am, all carnal and selfish and unloving. .  I love seeing God change me.  He has changed me in ways that I could not do on my own, already.  I am so grateful for that. And I see how much weakness is there, but I also have known how I can resist when He makes me strong, and how I can be brave when I am fearful, and so on.  And I can love those whom I have no natural desire to love at all.

grapehound:
Beautifully said Doug, however I can understand every point of view here.
This Free Will issue seems to be something of a 'nugget' at the heart of a lot of threads, and it's understandable that this can sometimes lead to a form of lethargy.

I was recently watching The Matrix , for the umpteenth time.
There's a great piece of dialogue that might be useful for those sheeple struggling with the Free Will issue.
 
The excellent Mr. Reeves is in an exchange with the woman character playing the 'Oracle'.
She offers him a candy.
 
He:       " You already know if I'm going to take it. "
 
She:     " I wouldn't be much of an Oracle if I didn't ! "
 
He:       " But if you already know, how can I make a choice? "
 
She:     "  Because you didn't come here to make the choice.  You already made it.
                 You're here to try to understand WHY you made it . "
 
I think that's as succinct as I've ever heard it.  We're here to understand why we made those choices.
 
It doesn't take a Philadelphia lawyer to understand that  we don’t worship God for His sake. We worship Him for our sake.
 
'Sin' is not revealed so that God can see it.
It’s revealed so that we can see it.
God doesn’t desire prayer for Him to hear.
It is for us to hear.
 

Grape x

hillsbororiver:

--- Quote from: longhorn on February 06, 2011, 11:31:04 PM ---Good Question Joe.  I think for me it's more of seeing " Me " in all of God's word.  I'm Joseph's brothers, I'm Abel, I'm Peter and Judas who denied Christ.  I mainly pray that God will give me the ability to truly Love others.  I pray for a forgiving spirit and that he will continue to reveal himself to me.  Col 3:14 " But above all these things put on Love, which is the bond of perfection.

Longhorn

--- End quote ---

Hi Longhorn,

I totally relate to what you are saying...

It was a revelation to me when I contemplated what Ray stated in the very last sentence of Truth #8;

"If you cannot identify yourself, personally, with all the stories and accounts in the Old Testament, then you have not even begun to overcome all the carnality that you are."

http://bible-truths.com/twelve.htm

Peace,

Joe

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