Mark_18

Faithwoman I want to say I love you.

Your story and that God's Answers thing helped me like you wouldn't believe just now. I've been praying for the salvation of my family members and friends and I had sins that contributed to how they are lost. I felt sick with guilt. You helped me see Jesus really has died for me. God has forgiven me so that I can forgive myself. And God is always with me.

God really loves us so much and I want you all to know I love you guys as brothers and sisters too. I'm really understanding what that means. I'm in tears of joy. All the pain and agony this life would hold for me is gone!!! There's no love greater! Praise the Lord! I can't believe I was lost for so long, and HE was offering me THIS! I want all to see Him!

God Bless you all!

Mark

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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

Faithwoman

Wow, my dear one, I can tell you that it's a very brave thing to share so much of your life like this - including your sin - for all to read. Some would even say this is not wise, and I can appreciate their point. However, I want to HONOUR you, as

Quote:

our great God HONOURS you, for this oh-so-open sharing with us, and for the way you are Walking with Him. I know you don't seek honour - but I am allowed to give you honour! *so there! lol* Lessons you've been learning from God are lessons for all of us. He wants SO DESPERATELY for us ALL to stand up and truly BE HIS - no matter the cost, taking whatever steps are necessary to do this! Bless you with every possible Spiritual blessing in the Lord Jesus Christ!!!

You know I thought about that after I posted it. Some say even a Pastor in our church had said that we are not to bring our trash before others.. however.. I feel in my heart very strongly that God wants me to share with others my sin of many things.. especially in light of the sexual side and more importantly NOT TRUSTING HIM AND THAT HE DOES FORGIVE US AND LOVES US AND THAT THERE IS LIFE AND HOPE.

It is a dark world that we live in, but may the Lord use my testimony and my written words to help others see, that there is hope, there is salvation. We no longer need to live in the dark, we can live in the light and he shows us the way!
Praise be to God!

Faithwoman

Faithwoman

I love you too! and JESUS LOVES YOU. HE DOES FORGIVE YOU. We do not need to live with guilt and shame. Once we understand who he is and how much he loves us.. man it is so awesome to wake up now every day with that burden lifted off of us.

I pray for all that they may come to know him, how awesome he is!
I hid things for way to long.. well from other people.. but we hide nothing from God.. he knows all... we can sit around in life having all that baggage in our souls, or we can drop that baggage at the foot of the cross.. to the man who died and loved us so much.. and he will carry it forth for us.. and we therefore can go forth and enjoy the peace, freedom.. and more importantly.. share with others.. and help others.

Have an awesome day!

Faithwoman

Faithwoman

As I was showering and praying I wanted to mention one other thing.
Through my journey I prayed to God.. God please let me go forth and be able to share with others. I want to be able to help people. I do not want anyone going through what I have gone through the last 46 years of my life.
I told myself that if I could just save one woman (then I changed the prayer to include men as well) and changed it to anyone.. and I mean anyone, it would be well worth it. I learned I cannot save anyone... only Jesus can!
Allelullia! HOWEVER, I can share his love, grace and mercy with all and encourage and lead them to him.

I realized the most important person first on God's priority list and mine is my 15 year old daughter.. I have been open with her about 2 months ago and told her where my life had been and where it is now going., all due to the love of Jesus!

Have a super day!
Praises to you oh Lord!

Faithwoman

Mark_18

I have been getting so filled. But after the high, the next morning It's almost like drinking and getting a hangover. How? I don't feel that "high" anymore so I kinda feel regretful of what I've said and done in the Spirit. That foolish feeling you get after a night of getting so liquored you are unsure of what you've done... I know this is wrong and once I'm filled again I'll be fine. But it's kinda scary. Why is my worldly mind the default setting?

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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

Bondman

Mark, you 'got' all of this. You understand, and have accepted it. Before anything can become real in our lives, we have to understand it in our mind. That's very important. But then it has to move to our heart, (can be hard, and take time...) where a new, different, and much more effective reality comes. This is the ultimate goal where our heart truly 'gets' the truth.

Then you wrote this:



Most of us need to beware of the highs and lows of FEELINGS. Faith is NOT a feeling. Faith takes you through whatever's happening, be it something that's great, or something that's hard. Please understand that feelings can be extremely unreliable as a guide to how we're going Spiritually. Sounds like you went right to the peak of the mountain top. But none of us can stay THERE! So next day, or whenever, we're back down on the plain, and we are missing - maybe badly missing - the high we had yesterday.

Does this mean you've crashed or something? Unlikely. It's just the trap of feelings getting to you. So what should we do? ENSURE that we are founded on Scripture FACTS (for our mind) and FAITH in Jesus (in our hearts). Both of these can be very very stable and that's how I now live my life. I don't now go up onto highs actually - cos then you don't need to experience any 'withdrawal symptoms'! I'm not at all sure that the highs are really very good for us anyway!

Now, the one who is filled with the Spirit of the living God can be very stable in his life. The Holy Spirit doesn't go up and down!! So just rest in His Presence and in Him filling you always, i.e., don't let yourself get hung up on any of the unstable things above.

Finally, your Christian walk will inevitably be affected by a worldly mind. If you've had that a long time, then it may take some time for it to get healed. ONLY the power of the Holy Spirit can free you to cleanliness. But you can help by your ATTITUDE, like this from Paul:

Colossians Chap. 3
1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

So firstly fill your mind with Spiritual things, Paul says (and do continue reading further into this Chapter for some strong and good words). Secondly, the NT is very clear that you ARE dead (in Christ) to the old things in your mind. They're just taking time to finally lie down and die! Stick with it, for the ultimate victory is more than worth it! - and bear in mind that this Life is never meant to be easy!! Finally, filling of the Spirit is not a feeling either. It's just knowing, and that knowing is based on the truth of His Word.

Much love!

- BM

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Bondman

Yes, the total FORGIVENESS from His inestimable LOVE surely does cover all of our guilt and shame like you said. Your life is showing how powerfully these things can operate when it's given over totally to the Lord. How far you've come and how you're continuing your walk with Him is truly uplifting. Thankyou for sharing!


God places high priority on family. With a married couple, your spouse is first. If you have children they're next. Twice in my life I fell into the trap of ministering to other people's kids more than my own. Please don't let this happen to any of you!

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Bondman

Hon, this is often a quite difficult decision - and it's gonna be different for everyone. If the Lord convicts you that you MUST confess a sin to your spouse, then obviously you must do so. But otherwise, many times you can do more harm than good with unwisely speaking of something better left unsaid. Also, it may not yet be the right time. So please don't go ahead of Him! At the same time, you should not be hanging on to guilt! This is FORGIVEN! Go to Romans 8:1 to get this removed by the Lord (at that time He may well indicate to you whether to speak to your hubby or not).

So I would advise going to the Lord with an open mind and heart, i.e., a total willingness to do whatever He says, and ask Him to guide you what to do. Please be aware that as a young Christian it's possible for our conscience to give us a wrong answer that we can confuse with being the Lord's answer. Our conscience has been affected by our sinful estate just like all other parts of us, and needs to be re-educated like all other parts. So just take care with this. Praying with you on this important matter! (The answers to the rest of your questions are just about ready to be posted as an important Message.)

- BM

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Fluffy

OH, Faithwoman! What a testimony! That knocked my socks off! Wow! How powerful is that? We serve an AWESOME and WONDERFUL Savior, dont we? I look back on my own life (ugh, who wants to go there?) and wonder why did it take so long to 'get it'? But that is no longer important. What's important is that now, we 'get it' and will pass it on to others. Planting seeds that will help other people 'get it' as soon as they can.
Mark, we love you, too! God loves you in such an awesome and passionate way, that its hard to describe, and sometimes hard to comprehend.

Bondman, just love your thread! Such an uplifting place of encouragement and edification! Thank You, Lord! For leading Bondman to start this!

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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.

Mark_18

Thanks for sharing your wisdom BondMan. I should add that I probably had too many energy drinks that night. lol! I forgot. I can see God probably does not like anyone abusing RedBulls. They wake you up, make your mind more active, so made me feel more activley praising God, but I don't think that's right. Just like drinking makes you more emotional and feel music better.

"Faith is not a feeling"

That's a great thing to keep in mind, thanks.

I would think that eventually I can go to those highs without feeling like that after, but you have life experience not me. I guess I'm just addicted to being filled so much that I'm giddy. lol.

__________________
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