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[Heidi]

An excerpt from Ray's LOF 15 D:

"What we have here in Ecc. 3 is "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" and every shade of gray between good and evil. God takes us through such profound experiences as "war and peace," all the way down to tearing a piece of cloth and sewing it together again- "a time to rend [apart] and a time to sew [together] ." Not only do we all tear our pants or tear our shirt at some time or another, but, there is actually a God-appointed time for these things to happen.

I realize that this is a hard concept for most to believe, but this is indeed what God is emphasizing in this third chapter of Ecclesiastes: "To every thing there is a season [Heb: "an appointed season or time'] , and a time to every purpose under the heaven." Can we believe it? Will we believe these grand declarations of God? Not if we are "free-willers" we won't."

I am being humbled by God big time at the moment!  He is showing and teaching me His Sovereignty in all aspects of my life.  I cannot do or think or be anything else other than what He has purposed.

We worship a God that is interested in every aspect of our lives.  Boy, did I have to repent from thinking that He is not aware of even a blade of grass that I bent while walking.

Prayer:" Lord, continue to bless us with the richness of the glory and wisdom of God.  May we be transformed into the image of you Son.  I pray for each one of my brothers and sisters in Christ and that Your perfect peace will control their hearts and minds.  Amen."

[Heidi]

Dan 4:34-37
"And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up my eyes unto heaven, and my understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honored Him that lives for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation:

And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing ['nothing' is pretty small] : and He does according to His Will..

36At the same time my sanity was restored, my honor and splendor returned to me for the glory of my kingdom. My advisers and nobles sought me out, and I was restored to my throne, and surpassing greatness was added to me. 37Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and glorify the King of heaven, for all His works are true, and all His ways are just. And He is able to humble those who walk in pride.

[Prune Soleiado]

Quote: "I cannot do or think or be anything else other than what He has purposed."


So true. So relieving and soothing.

Thank you, Heidi, for this bread sharing.

Glory to God, Our Father in Jesus Christ.

[Prune Soleiado]

It makes me think of 1 Corinthians 12:20:
"20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 ON THE CONTRAY, THOSE PARTS OF THE BODY THAT SEEM TO BE WEAKER ARE INDISPENSABLE 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it."
In the worldwide Church, people that seem to be "possessed by the devil", those souls that can't overcome, now, once and for all, their sins, when they would truely want to get rid of it, being not able to lie smiling and giving a facade of happiness hiding their doubts and flaws Inside of them, are considered to be weak sinner, just like the rest of the world, and their so-called Brothers and sisters Don't hesitate to turn their back on them if they consider them evil, being happy to get rid of those shameful, apparently unproductive parts of their own body of the Christ they made themselves, like wood idols.
What they Don't know is that God's benefits Don't come with a new Ferrari, or Armani suit. It comes in the night, it comes with afflictions, they think tribulation is a misfortune when in fact it is a blessing from God!
1: Peter 2"19 For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God."
As Ray said we "cannot do or think or be anything else other than what He has purposed." at His appointed time.
And provided that we obey His Word and praise Him for the spirit of goodness He put Inside of us, and knowing God is in control of everything, "Through Many Tribulations We MUST Enter the Kingdom of God". (Acts 14:22).
And the ones that go through tribulations, that seem to be weaker, have on the contrary the Opportunity to learn lessons from God that the others, seemingly spared, in fatc desperatly need. And vice versa.
Let's take care of each other, the way Jesus takes care of us, mainly those who suffer most, for they are the true blessing from God Our Father in Christ.

[Musterseed]

Hi Heidi
I am rejoicing with you in your humbling. Remember the apostles rejoiced
after they got beaten. They knew they were being graced by God and doing God’s will.
Sometimes when the chastisement is hard, I throw little hissy fits like a two year old
and taking it out on my poor husband who just accepts it.It does not bode well for me
and I spend all night awake and thinking about a bitterness that I need to work on.
Every time I cut off my tongue 😛  it keeps growing back.
God’s will is being done in all our lives .
Knowing your not in control anymore is freeing. Putting all your trust in God is not easy and
He will make you rely on Him for everything. Jesus is everything.He will do it. Remember
His yoke.

This scripture came to me early before I even started reading the bible, I found it in a magazine.

Gal.6:17 ,,, From now on, let no one cause me trouble, me for I bear in my body the marks
                  Of Jesus.

YLT...Henseforth, let no one give me trouble, for I the scars of the Lord Jesus do bear in my body.

Weymouth,,,,From this time onward, let no one trouble me, for as for me, I bear branded
in my body the scars of Jesus as my Master.

Romans 8,,,, read it often. I can still hear Ray saying this and I also read this quote
from him” God doesn’t choose pansies to do His work” 😁

1 John 4:17
Because as He is , so are we in the world.
Phil.2:5
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.
Matt.10:16
Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves.

Gal.11:18
The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, be with your spirit brothers .Amen

I love you Heidi and all my family at BT 💕
In Christ, Pamela

[Wanda]

Consider yourself blessed Heidi, because you truly are. I
rejoice in your humbling.

When I think of how pridefull I used to be I cringe. Not only was that sinful, but it caused me great emotional anguish for years. Believing I alone could fight against,  and even possibly prevent bad things from happening to me and those I love,  was a heavy burden that weighed me down. But it was God's will for me so that he could teach me I could do nothing without him.

It didn't matter that I could see,  time  and time again my way wasn't working. I continued on, repeating the same prideful behavior, until God brought circumstances into my life that caused such enormous pain and hopelessness,  I was on my knees begging for him to help me. By not relying on God we only hurt ourselves, was my lesson learned. I'll be for ever grateful that God freed me from that never ending insanity.

The bottom line, our sins hurt us. The illusion of free will hurts us and not relying on God in every aspect of our lives hurts us.

For me, true peace and rest began with humility.

. Psalm 62

 5 Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him.

6 He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.

7 My salvation and my honor depend on God  ; he is my mighty rock, my refuge.

8 Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge. Selah

Praise to our loving Father and mighty King and Savior Christ Jesus.

[Heidi]

It is 8:17am here in New Zealand and I am overcome by gratitude and love for all of you.  Thank you for your responses to my post and for the love in Christ that I am feeling.  We are truly one body with many parts and I for one want to take care of this body that Christ has given us.  May God continue to bless us and grace us with His presence on the forum.

Prune, you are spot on, we are all part of one body....."Let's take care of each other, the way Jesus takes care of us, mainly those who suffer most, for they are the true blessing from God Our Father in Christ."

Wanda, I've been there and done that and currently am going through it........."When I think of how pridefull I used to be I cringe"

Pamela, I pray that God etch this verse on my heart.
Gal.6:17 ,,, From now on, let no one cause me trouble, me for I bear in my body the marks of Jesus.

Weymouth,,,,From this time onward, let no one trouble me, for as for me, I bear branded
in my body the scars of Jesus as my Master.

Rejoice and be glad for the time has come and now is for the children of God to worship in spirit and in truth.

[Wanda]

In the worldwide Church, people that seem to be "possessed by the devil", those souls that can't overcome, now, once and for all, their sins, when they would truly want to get rid of it, being not able to lie smiling and giving a facade of happiness hiding their doubts and flaws Inside of them, are considered to be weak sinner, just like the rest of the world, and their so-called Brothers and sisters Don't hesitate to turn their back on them if they consider them evil, being happy to get rid of those shameful, apparently unproductive parts of their own body of the Christ they made themselves, like wood idols.

So true Michele.

One of the saddest memories I have from the church, was that of a brother, who was also an elder. He was the most humble and loving of the 4 elders in our congregation. I came to Sunday service one morning and it was announced he was disfellowshipped and because it was our doctrine we were required to shun him.  That meant even though he was allowed to attend services, we could neither acknowledge or speak to him. He was there that morning, sitting in the back of the room all by himself, with a sad pained expression that had me running to my car crying.  Where was the love of Jesus among the body that day, this sad and broken man sat by himself alone in shame instead of being given love and encouragement from his brothers and sisters? Something he had given so freely to everyone there at one time or another.

His crime, he was loosing his faith, under the heavy burden of caring for a sick wife, running a small business and trying to keep up with the demands of his elder duties. He talked to someone in confidence I'm certain, probably asked for prayers too, and was met with condemning judgement for being spiritually weak, instead of being lovingly counseled. Maybe an offering of lightening his elder duties, or help with his sick wife, any number of things that would help this brother feel he wasn't alone in his struggles. I can only hope God called this man out of the church, but I have no way of knowing because I left myself shortly after this happened.

[Prune Soleiado]

Maybe this was a push button for you, Wanda, to go away from that church, among many things I guess?

When I was a member of an evangelical Church, I started to drive myself away principally because the simple idea of hell was disturbing me. And then all of those stupid human rituals on Sunday Morning. I asked questions around me with my so-called "Brothers and sisters" and the elders from this Church: if we really want to stick to the word of God, then why do we have to drink grape juice instead of wine? (that was the very first question) why Don't we talk about God on those Sunday meals together but rather talk about the last car one has bought yesterday? (I hated this carnal way people refused to talk about the word of God while we were gathered together for those stupid meals) What about the greek word "aion"? Doesn't it question totally the word "Eternal" we found in translated bible?..... All these questions I had in mind, and no answers. When I asked, people used to answer me with this "context" idol Ray mentioned frequently. And I found Bible Truths site by searching the right meaning of "aion"...…
Anyway when I started to bother those false Brothers and sisters, I was sitting, more and more frequently, alone at Church, on Sunday and on wednesday's studies. And when I say alone: no one sat by me like on the one or two chairs all around me! But I was laughing in myself, thinking: God wants to show you you're on the right way! I couldn't say at this time why I was thinking it was a good thing being pushed away by the others, now I know.
I remember the last talk I had with a "sister" at Church, on a Sunday Morning. She was talking about lying to her son, arguing that sometimes it is a good thing to lie, and one of the elder was agreeing her! I told them it was against God's command, we ought not to lie, they didn't respond, went sitting to their places, all together of course, far away from me, and that was the time when I decided it would be a really good thing not to come back again in this temple of satan.
No one, whether the pastor's wife who was a good friend, or another member of the Church, ever contact me again. And they were all acting like good souls ready to give their lives for others!
I am pretty sure when we leave the worldwide Church it never happens without some kind of problems first within the congregation. Am I wrong? Does anyone left it without having one problem with one of the members or its terrestrial doctrine, calmly and without any waves?

[Musterseed]

Quote from Ray
“ Here is what God calls you and me and everyone that has ever lived”

ECC.3: 18
“ I said in my heart concerning the estate of the sons of men( that’s everyone )
that God might manifest them and that they might see that they themselves
are BEASTS”

[Wanda]

Maybe this was a push button for you, Wanda, to go away from that church, among many things I guess?

Yes Michele it was. The straw that broke the camels back. (Some American hyperbole)☺

I am pretty sure when we leave the worldwide Church it never happens without some kind of problems first within the congregation. Am I wrong? Does anyone left it without having one problem with one of the members or its terrestrial doctrine, calmly and without any waves?

Right again. An accumulation of things that add up to one BIG thing, making it impossible to be true to God or know if there even is one anymore.. We were brainwashed to believe this was the one "TRUE" worship, and if you left there was no where in the world to go, because this was Gods truth, and we were his chosen people. No hellfire, tithing, rapture, no pagan holidays, no voting in political elections, no part of the world... and  No True Love or Spirit of God. If you can't see or feel God among the body something is wrong.