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[hillsbororiver]

 Just like faith, discernment is something that is a gift from God, it is to be prayed for and when received it should be used in a way that benefits and builds up the true brethren and gives pause to those who seek followers or to cause division and strife.

 Solomon's heart was in the right place (humble) as he prayed this request to the Lord.

 1 Kings 3
 8And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude.

 9Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?

 10And the speech pleased the LORD, that Solomon had asked this thing.

 11And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment;

 Job 6:30Is there iniquity in my tongue? cannot my taste discern perverse things?

  Ecclesiastes 8:5 Whoso keepeth the commandment shall feel no evil thing: and a wise man's heart discerneth both time and judgment.

 Malachi 3:18Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

 1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

 Hebrews 5:14  But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

 This maturity process takes time and prayer and there are many scriptures that testify to this fact, I remember when I first came into contact with the teachings on Bible Truths I was not very temperate in the tone of my words to some I sought to admonish within the Forum or with family and/or friends. I have since learned more patience and the true meaning of charity and I can only thank the Lord for leading this unworthy babe to more understanding and compassion, I know I still have far to go.

 1 Corinthians 9:25  And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
 

 Titus 2:2 That the aged men be sober, grave, temperate, sound in faith, in charity, in patience.

  His Peace and Wisdom to you,
 
 Joe


 

[rrammfcitktturjsp]

Joe,

  I too have such a long way to go.  In my life is just seems to drive the following verse home every day.  "All have fallen short of the glory of God."  Sometimes I forget that his grace abounds in my life.  I too am praying for discernment in dealing with those in my life and the circumstances in my life.  I run too much on emotions sometimes before thinking and go to double commiting myself or gettying way to stressed out.  I guess I am learning peserverance and patience and those 2 lessons are not always pleasant lessons.

  I have read your posts and have enjoyed them.  You are at a place to where I am striving to be, that quiet acceptance generally.  Thanks for being here in the forum.  You have blessed me a lot. 

  Sincerely,


  Anne C. McGuire

[brothertoall]

Joe,


THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKIN ABOUT!!!

 May the lord help us all to be one in Him,

bobby

[hillsbororiver]

Joe,

  I too have such a long way to go.  In my life is just seems to drive the following verse home every day.  "All have fallen short of the glory of God."  Sometimes I forget that his grace abounds in my life.  I too am praying for discernment in dealing with those in my life and the circumstances in my life.  I run too much on emotions sometimes before thinking and go to double commiting myself or gettying way to stressed out.  I guess I am learning peserverance and patience and those 2 lessons are not always pleasant lessons.

  I have read your posts and have enjoyed them.  You are at a place to where I am striving to be, that quiet acceptance generally.  Thanks for being here in the forum.  You have blessed me a lot. 

  Sincerely,


  Anne C. McGuire

Anne,

Thank you for the very generous and kind words, we all need to constantly seek His will and pray for the strength to be able to follow it. I know I fall short all too often, it is a constant battle and challenge to discern our own actions and motives as we attempt to evalute others.

Bobby,

I know how important it is to you and how you strive for unity rather than division always attempting to draw us togther.

We truly appreciate this Brother.

This is something we all should be doing until folks show that they are not receptive to it or are unwilling to let go of pride or self righteousness.

In spending alot of time monitoring posts I have many times noticed certain people do not respond to certain others even when directly addressed, why is this? I will see threads or posts that get ignored by some for it seems just the simple reason a certain other responded to or originated a thread. This may not be readily apparent to some but with all the hours and all the posts I have read over the last year or so it has become glaringly evident to me. Is there a blessing waiting for those who can overcome the inclination to avoid or even diminish another Brother or Sister by ignoring them? Are we only to communicate with those we have an immediate connection with?

This is surely an interesting journey He has us on, sometimes (often with me) it is the self discovery that is the most shocking and distressing.

His Peace and Wisdom to you,

Joe
 

[rrammfcitktturjsp]

To All,

  I just wanted to make a disclaimer.  Sometimes I do let threads go by without answering them, becuase the topic is way to deep for me and I do not feel qualified to offer my two cents for what it is worth.  I hope that I have not offended anyone with this practice.  I would rather lurk in the shadows and read what is said then post something and feel like a complete idiot.

  Sincerely,


  Anne C. McGuire

[John]

To All,

  I just wanted to make a disclaimer.  Sometimes I do let threads go by without answering them, becuase the topic is way to deep for me and I do not feel qualified to offer my two cents for what it is worth.  I hope that I have not offended anyone with this practice.  I would rather lurk in the shadows and read what is said then post something and feel like a complete idiot.

  Sincerely,


  Anne C. McGuire

AMEN to that Anne! You said what I was thinking, thanks.

Peace,
John

[iris]

Amen again Anne and John,

Anne you said what I was thinking, also.

Thanks!!! 


Iris

[rrammfcitktturjsp]

Iris and John,

  I am so glad that I an not the only one.  Sometimes I feel a little guilty about letting good threads get by.  I am just realtively new to Ray's teaching and to this forum.  I guess Spirit is just saying that my gift to this forum is humor, encouragement, and prayer.  Somtimes I go deep in a post, but that does not come up very often.

  Sincerely,



  Anne C. McGuire

[hillsbororiver]

Dear Anne, John & Iris,

My comments were not intended to be an indictment of anyone, just a reminder to be judicious in measuring our motivations and actions as we might when we are looking at others and pondering their motivations and actions.

Those who consider these things may not have any reason to reflect or repent of any thoughts they had about their brethren but some of us may have some issues that we need to confront, repent of and hand off to Him, put this on His yolk.

I really want to underscore the reason I wrote what I did, so each and every one of us look into our hearts and truly see how we feel about our Sisters and Brothers here and all around us, if we do we will see where we are in our walk with the Lord. Remember what Jesus said about doing any harm to the least of His, I don't want to be guilty of harming any of His.

Thank you for the humble and caring responses,

Joe

      

[sansmile]

Amen to all that was said. I think the fact that we all think "oh hope i haven't offended is us recognising we have the beast in ourselves. To recognise that is truly a gift from God.

 He says;

1Co 11:31)  For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.

(1Co 11:32)  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

God Bless this forum and the moderators

Sansmile
(ann thanks for your prayers) xx

[hillsbororiver]

P.S. Let me add this has absolutely nothing to do with all of us having to respond to everybody in every thread, God forbid! We would drive each other bonkers.  

Let's just be charitable in our interaction or non interaction with our brethren as we pray to grow together in Him, I thank God for your fellowship here.

His Peace and Wisdom to you,

Joe

[rrammfcitktturjsp]

Joe,

  In the last reply I was thinking.  Geez, I am going to have a hard time in responding to every post on every thread.  We will not have the moderators for long, they would be worked to death.  Glad to see your very last reply.  Made me smile at least.
 
  Thanks Joe for all the hard work that you do.

  Sincerely,



  Anne C. McGuire

[M_Oliver]

I would rather lurk in the shadows and read what is said then post something and feel like a complete idiot.

 .  Been there done that Anne!  I've had to delete several posts after a little reflection on them.  Alot of the times I wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do or not but I have been where what Joe is describing {noone answered me} so I had to assume I was asking something really stupid and went ahead and deleted.

[hillsbororiver]

I would rather lurk in the shadows and read what is said then post something and feel like a complete idiot.

 .  Been there done that Anne!  I've had to delete several posts after a little reflection on them.  Alot of the times I wasn't sure if it was the right thing to do or not but I have been where what Joe is describing {noone answered me} so I had to assume I was asking something really stupid and went ahead and deleted.

Mark,

It is sometimes a bit confusing or maybe even hurtful when we feel strongly compelled (perhaps Spirit driven) to post a comment or scripture that seems to either be ignored or of little interest to the membership. A while back while privately discussing this with another member through PM's it struck me that perhaps this is exactly the way He planned it because a few things may be happening that we are totally unaware of.

1. The scripture or comment posted may be addressing an issue another (non posting) member may be presently struggling with.

2. A guest who "stumbled" onto Bible Truths may have needed those exact words at that exact time.

3. The poster learns more patience and receives an increased faith that they did the right thing at the right time without any reward or acknowledgement.

We are admonished to treat strangers with charity having no hope for worldly gain as a result, I believe this holds true in our interactions here as well. So my point is if one is compelled to write something there may be an extremely good reason for it no matter what the visable reaction may be.

His Peace and Wisdom to you,

Joe

[jennie]

As most of ya'll already know, I am just an "old country girl" from down south. I put myself through college but ya'll beat the pants off of some of my professors! I am so inadequate to speak about some of the topics that come up. I just don't know enough. I love reading all the posts and am continually amazed at the knowledge of so many here at the forum! Much love, Jennie

[DWIGHT]

Jennie,

I'll take your spirit of love over all the knowledge on this whole forum.

Dwight

[hillsbororiver]

I agree 100% Dwight!

Jennie, the point of this thread was to explore our own motivations in responding or not responding to any post, it is not the number of responses that are important but where our hearts are when we do (or don't).

The intention here is to be aware of the fact that there are many eyes watching and taking in the things going on in this Forum, we should be cognizant of all the guests we "entertain" here and the impact we may have on them.

Jennie, I can say without any hesitation you have a very positive impact on me and I am quite sure many other members and guests.

His Peace and Wisdom to you,

Joe   

[whatslifeallabout]

This thread is an excellent example of how sensitive you all on this forum are to each others feelings -- notably Annie and many others. 

I commend you on that.  By doing so you build one another up and stay humble in the Lord.

That being the case, I have to admit that I've been a little surprised by the frequent use of biting sarcasm and sometimes openly insulting words used by Ray in his posted emails at times.  Not exactly the way I was raised, you know?

I realize the examples of Jesus' language when dealing with the Pharisees... but it appears that sometimes Ray addresses what seems to be an honest question from a person expressing their personal understanding of the Scriptures, with what comes across (at least to me, and no doubt to the recipient) as a surprisingly arrogant and cynical tone. 

I of course don't know Ray personally and for all I know he is gentle, sensitive, loving and kind in his words to all those around him, and only sharp with those who email him on points they disagree with him on. 

Is there anyone who knows him personally that can perhaps shed a little light on this?

Warmly, Rob

[hillsbororiver]

Absolutely Rob,

I have met Ray in person at 2 different weekend Conferences where most of us would spend Friday evening, all day Saturday and most of Sunday together. Ray communicates directly and to the point there as well, the difference being that the body language, smiles and voice intonement projects in a more complete manner than black type on a white background. Also in phone conversations just hearing the way he answers questions or clarifies or corrects statements comes across with straight shooting answers spiced with a bit of humor.

If you look at most of the responses I think you will usually see a difference between those who are legitimately seeking answers or direction and those who are accusing, disputing (without scriptural references) condescending and closed minded.

Rob, if you see some answers to e-mails that put a question in your mind in regard to the severity of Ray's answer you can cut and paste it to the discussion board here and we can all go through it together.

His Peace and Wisdom to you,

Joe 

[jennie]

thanks ya'll from this old country girl! Love, Jennie