violet

Bondman

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Mark_18

Uhhggg. I understand all of what I've learned here, but why don't I feel it? Why don't I feel safe and satisfied following Him and resisting worldly ways?

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Luke 15:31 - And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.
Joel 2:28 - I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.
Matthew 7:7 - Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

Psalms 126:5 - Those who sow in tears will reap with songs of joy.

JOKE POLICE

blankgirl

i dont feel anything good either.. and i am guessing others will reply u saying feelings and faith are different.. but only God knows what u re going thru.. or maybe u can give more details of what u're experiencing.

forgivenWretch

forgivenWretch

Good Morning Mark, think about this...


How do you make Kool-Aid?

1st you will need a large container
2nd you will need some water
3rd you will need some sugar
last but not least you will need the Kool-Aid

Pour the water into the container, add sugar and mix well! When mixed, then stir in the Kool-Aid. What do you have?









God is the water (living water), the sugar is our heart, and WE are the Kool-Aid.

Fluffy

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Be transparent before God, He sees right thru you, anyway!
http://www.likepreciousfaith.org/testimony_val.htm
Please pray for your local emergency responders, daily.

Bondman

Violet, I just dunno how I managed to miss your lovely post. Thankyou! *he says in a soft voice*

At times like these I usually say, "Struggling manfully onward!!" But probly not true actually, as computers have just about killed us both, i.e., now going into stress breakdown, which is quite serious for people as ill as we are. So... we're needing to reevaluate what we're doing and how to try and relieve some of the dreadful pressure we're under - basically it's MONEY PRESSURE (read: LACK of money pressure). If we we're so poor we'd have solved all of this over 3 months ago!! *sigh*

Anyway, prayer will be appreciated by anyone who cares to uphold us both before the Lord.

THANKS!

- BM and his Lady

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James B

Thanks Bondman.

I look forward to reading more.

Bondman

PRACTICAL NEW TESTAMENT CHRISTIANITY

MESSAGE #21

HEAD AND HEART


Hi there bg, and hi to you Mark! Please don't despair, man! Hey, will you guys please FORGIVE me for including your quotes in this message. Cos it's SO important!!

This is a very common problem that maybe most of us have experienced, and many still experience.

What it basically boils down to is that we get the truths into our HEAD, but then have trouble getting them to our HEART. Someone has said that the longest distance for the Christian is the 1ft foot between the head and the heart! I had maybe 5 or 6 years struggling with this when first saved. It was NOT nice! My problem was compounded by the fact that I'm a very cerebral person; I think things out; I have to understand. All GOOD of course - but unfortunately not all that helpful to getting from head to heart.

In a sense I spose I had to get to what I'll term 'the end of myself' in order to give up on MY abilities - so that some FAITH could be released into me. Okay, I already trusted God in my head, but just like you say, it didn't seem to translate into knowing that I belonged to God in a personal way, or to helping me living out the Christian life. I encourage you to NEVER give up! To persist. To choose to keep at this till you become the Christian you know you should be and can be - and you will get there!!

Why did I say 'will' with such certainty? Cos referring to a people who have not followed after Him, God then says with wonderful positivity I think: "

Deuteronomy 4:19
But if from there you SEEK the Lord your God, you WILL find Him, IF you seek Him with ALL your heart (and mind) and soul and life."

Very important words these (Jesus spoke similar ones in the Gospels): if, that's IF, you seek me with all of you, then comes His PROMISE! - YOU WILL FIND ME!!! I did this in my early twenties and DID find Him, receiving assurance of Salvation by the Holy Spirit and moving on into a wonderful walk with Him leading to this very day. Do I have head-heart problems now? No, I don't. Not for a very long time! So I tell ya that early seeking was well worth it!!

And I think that's what a lot of this is about. God wants SERIOUS people to live and be with Him for all eternity - serious about HIM I mean! So He doesn't make any of this easy:

• it's not easy to get saved (despite what many say)
• it's not necessarily easy to get assurance of salvation
• it's not necessarily easy to get things you've learnt into your heart, and
• it's not easy to actually LIVE the Christian life!

Cos He never intended it to be easy!! Those who teach this are way off what the NT clearly says. So if you're looking for that, then you're going to be disappointed. But IF you truly SEEK for God - and keep on seeking (in the NT, the Greek word for 'seek' that Jesus said is present continuous tense!! - and that's the CORE of all of this) then God's PROMISE will be fulfilled in you! And you'll know with glorious certainty that you are HIS, and much more...

I hope that may have helped a little. Please ask more if you need to.

Much love!

- BM with his Beloved

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