JesusWalk Bible Study Forum: Q4. The Power of God's Great Promises - JesusWalk Bible Study Forum

Q4. (2 Peter 1:4) How can strong desires erode our faith and corrupt our lives? What strong desires can build our faith? What does a strong desire for God have to do with the "knowledge" of God, or "knowing" God? How are God's promises and evil desires at odds with each other? How does one build and the other erode our faith?

Strong desires are sometimes very subtle and lull us into not realizing that the corruption of our souls is dominating our life rather than the Holy Spirit. A desire to live according to the holiness that God calls us to will prompt us to be diligent in pursuing the knowledge of God. We will apply ourselves to learning of Him and His holiness. God's promises and evil desires war within our souls. Sin strives to prevent us from experiencing the power of God in our lives. Faith empowers us to move forward to more faith and increasingly become partakers of the nature of Jesus.

Strong desires can erode our faith when the desires play to big of a part in our lives. We become weak and the devil is right there waiting for us to fail. A strong desire to please God can build our faith. We must not loose sight of where we are headed. If we vear off the path we do not want to go to far. If we listen God will lead the way.

Strong desires for the thing of this world, ******* after material things and stowing up treasures on this earth can us to lose focus on the creator. Thing of this nature can/will cause us to lose faith and corrupt our lives.
If we have the knowledge of God we will also have a zeal for him. With the knowledge of God and excerising the faith that he has given us we should do our very best to follow the road map (bible) that he has put before us. Evil and good does not
go together, because we cannot serve to masters we will love one and hate the other.

Q4. (2 Peter 1:4) How can strong desires erode our faith and corrupt our lives? What strong desires can build our faith? What does a strong desire for God have to do with the "knowledge" of God, or "knowing" God? How are God's promises and evil desires at odds with each other? How does one build and the other erode our faith?

Desires are linked to the self. Anything linked to self is against God. Anything against God corrupts our lives. Its as simple as that.

Strong desire to study the Word of God and commune with him unceasingly. Only this will build our faith.

Strong desire for God is nothing but the craving to know God more clearly and closely. This is done by studying the Bible in a deep way and having fellowship with Him and His children here.

God promises are for the betterment of mankind as God loves us and wants the best for us, His children. Whereas, the evil desires, inherent in us, lead us away from God and to distrust His promises.

The promises of God are plenty and good for all circumstances. They fill our hearts with joy, confidence, love and positive attitude in distressing circumstances. Thus they build our faith and our Christian life in society. Whereas, the evil desires are a craving of the mind which lead to poisoning of the mind and the resultant negative actions and thoughts that follow. Thus our faith is eroded gradually and we become disoriented.

I suppose that there is an easy answer to this question yet at a deeper level within a church set up sometimes things get blurred and the wood becomes to thick to see the trees. Materialism we are told is a dangerous thing yet sometimes looking at church buildings it is definitely materialism that has got in the way. The devil; uses some very subtle skills to lul us into a false way of thinking and that is when we can be so easily fooled that we feel that our faith is strong yet we ahve lost sight of our reality and reliance upon God. We have to be constantly vigilante so that we are not deceived by the prince of this world. A strong desire can be missed placed if we are trying to please God for the wrong reasons and are doing it falsely. We can not deceive God. The desire to knoe God has and must come from the heart. If we are desiring to serve God then we need the knowl;edge of God and we need to know him in a real way. We will want to serve him according to his pattern and not ours

We should only have one desire in our life, which is to glorify Jesus. We were created by God to glorify Jesus and that purpose only. If we have other strong desires we are not doing what God created us to be doing. So if it not of God it is of Satan.
If you want to glorify Jesus you must study the Word, so you know him and know the desires of his heart. God’s promises guide us toward God. Evil desires lead us away from God and toward Satan.

Everyone have a great day in the Lord Jesus
Ron

Q4. (2 Peter 1:4) How can strong desires erode our faith and corrupt our lives? What strong desires can build our faith? What does a strong desire for God have to do with the "knowledge" of God, or "knowing" God? How are God's promises and evil desires at odds with each other? How does one build and the other erode our faith?

Strong desires erode our faith and corrupt our lives when we remove God as fisrt place and replace him with something that will eventually lead to coruption and sin.

They eat away at our moral character bit by bit until we find ourselves out of control and needing God's help to overcome that evil desire.

"Love the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul and with all you mind" ( Matthew 22:37).

If we have a strong desire for God it with translate into a knowlege of God because we will then really want to know Him intimately, and to learn everything about him. (2 Timithy 2: 15).,

God promises are pure and true and does not make room for coruption; therefore, they cannot work together they are at odds.

These strong desires can nibble away at our relation with God and eventually cause us to stumble. However, if we feed ourselves with the the precious promises of God and carry them out in our Chirstian walk with Christ, will be "partakers of His Divine Nature" and we will experience victory each day.

If satan knows what our "hot buttons" (or things we desire) are, he will attack us in that area making our desires seem not so selfish. That can cloud our faith and corrupt our lives if we toy wth temptation. Strong desire for God's will can build our faith. The desire for knowledge of God is like most things we love, we want to know more about Him. Evil desires are sin, and that conflicts with everything that God is about. Knowledge and a thirst for God will build our faith, while evil desires are there for the sole purpose of destroying our faith.

Q4. (2 Peter 1:4) How can strong desires erode our faith and corrupt our lives? What strong desires can build our faith? What does a strong desire for God have to do with the "knowledge" of God, or "knowing" God? How are God's promises and evil desires at odds with each other? How does one build and the other erode our faith?

Ephesians 4:22 calls these strong desires "lusts of deceit". The falseness of these desires lead to self-indulgence. At one time in my life I was convinced that I could have anything that I wanted and that I was allright, after all I believed in God. I have to tell you the truth, I was mad that I let myself be duped by Satan. If you let yourself be deceived your life will be corrupted and eventially destroyed.

When your desires fall in line with Gods' desires you will find your faith renewed, growing. I prayed constantly that God would create in me a clean heart, to show me my sin and help me deal with it, and to give me a burning desire for the Word of God. Well He has. These desires fall in line with what He wants for me. These desires keep me connected and protected!

Strong desire to know God can only lead to prayer and the Word. This is a mark of a Christian. Knowledge of God leads to an intimate fellowship with God. My strong desire to know God is from God. Any deceitful **** is from Satan. The more I know of God, the more I am able to withstand the deceitful temptations from Satan.

If you are ignorant of the promises of God then you are unprotected from false teaching. Everything pertaining to life and godliness is granted to us through the knowledge of Him who called us 1:3. If we believe we can be self-indulgent we are in direct odds with Gods promises. Gods promises involve giving, self-discipline and love.

If you are being self-sufficient, and in the mean time being duped by Satan, you don't think you need God. There is no faith in that. The divine nature of God is revealed in Scripture, apart from the Word, you have nothing to build on. If you don't know the Gospel, if you don't know the promises of God, how do you have anything to build on. Try going one week without the Word of God and I tell you, you will find yourself lost, weak and afraid. There is no faith in that.

Q4. (2 Peter 1:4) How can strong desires erode our faith and corrupt our lives? What strong desires can build our faith? What does a strong desire for God have to do with the "knowledge" of God, or "knowing" God? How are God's promises and evil desires at odds with each other? How does one build and the other erode our faith?

Wrong desires lead us away from the Lord, thus corrupting our lives. When we lose contact with Him, our faith fails, for we no longer have Him producing that faith in us! It's all about Him--nothing of ourselves!
The strong desire to know Him better and to follow His guidance more closely will lead us to a greater knowledge of God. When we want to know Him better, we will study His word so that we know His written directives. Also, we will spend time in prayer--not just speaking, but listening to His reply and His desires for our lives. Then we go and do! We will not learn the next step He wants us to take until we do the one He has given us already.
God's promises build us up by teaching us to obey His guidance and depend on His help to get through crisis times successfully--or even everyday life! Evil desires, by leading us away from God and His purposes for us, bring us into satan's territory where he and his henchmen can continue to spiral us downward--to the accompaniment of his evil, triumphant cackle.

For me, the question is easier answered than accomplished. What Peter describes, being a passionate person and a passionate follower of Jesus, is that our passion is to be for God and His will. The challenge lies in discerning whether our passion is for God or for something or someone else. Again, it is Christ Jesus' saving passion for us that keeps us in the faith and encourages us to seek Him, ask for His guidance, His forgiveness and to send the Holy Spirit into our lives to empower us to do what needs to be done. The first half of the Lord's Prayer becomes my guide for this way of life. The second half, my request for the provisions to live it.

Strong desires can corrupt our lives, because these desires are of the flesh and only deal with what pleases our sinful nature . A strong desire for God is good but we have to know the will of God and the leading of God for our lives and to know the nature of God that we may reflect the character of God in our lives. God's promises and evil desires are a odds with one another
as the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh,and these are contrary one from another. This is a constant warfare as we continue to walk in Christ. God's promises build our faith, for His promises are yes and amen, and they strenghten us to keep on fighting the good fight of faith,laying hold of eternal life , whereunto I am called. Evil desires
erode our faith, although , they may give pleasure for a season, will utimately be to our spiritual ruin, for the Word says , that if any man love this world , the love of the father is not in him.

Anything that comes between our walk with the LORD and our daily life can erode our faith and corrupt our lives. We must stay focused on Him.

Desire for a close walk with the LORD and for His Word are strong desires that can build our faith.

A person may have a knowledge of GOD but they won't have a strong desire for GOD. To know Him as our LORD and Savior gives us a strong desire for more of Him.

GOD's promises of salvation, peace with Him, daily blessings, and many more build us up while evil desires only tear us down and pull us away from Him, the One Who died for us.

If they are the wrong kind, our desires can lead us into the temptation to sin. However if they are the right kind, they are able to motivate us to get closer to God.

Q4. (2 Peter 1:4) How can strong desires erode our faith and corrupt our lives? What strong desires can build our faith? What does a strong desire for God have to do with the "knowledge" of God, or "knowing" God? How are God's promises and evil desires at odds with each other? How does one build and the other erode our faith?

The strong desires can refocus our attention away from God to the point where we turn the object of the strong desires into a god. Any desire that substitutes the object of the desire in place of God as the ultimate to be desired, would erode faith in God because our faith is put in those things that we believe will satisfy our desires. Since the source of all truth and goodness is God, this would also have a corrupting influence.

Our strongest desire should logically be toward that which is most satisfying and fulfilling. The only way we can be completely satisfied and fulfilled is by enjoying God and fulfilling our desires in Him. That does NOT mean enjoying the things God give us. It means enjoying and delighting in God Himself. And the more "knowledge" we have of God or the more intimate our relationship is with God, the more we understand how only He can fulfill and satisfy our deepest longings.

Tom Nabors, on Jul 14 2004, 03:15 PM, said:

How can strong desires erode our faith and corrupt our lives?
They can take our focus off of what is really important, which is God.

What strong desires can build our faith?
loving God with all our hearts, soul and mind.

What does a strong desire for God have to do with the "knowledge" of God, or "knowing" God?
If you have a strong desire for God you will want to know everything about him. You will want to have a relationship with him because you long for Him.

How are God's promises and evil desires at odds with each other?
God can not have fellowship with sin, because He is holy thus, it is impossible to partake in fellowship with Him because God is good and evil is not.

How does one build and the other erode our faith?
Through the promises we become partakers in God's nature. "one who takes part in something with someone, companion, partner, sharer." We have fellowship with him because we are obeying Him. When we have evil desires we sin, Jesus says, even when we think it, it is sin and sin separates us from God tearing down our relationship with Him. [/COLOR]

Quote

[color="blue"]4a.) I think I can point to the account of the rich young ruler. John Mark recounts that "[/color][color="purple"]Jesus looked at him and loved him.[/color][color="blue"]" Yet when Jesus told him to sell all that he has and follow Him, the man's face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth. His strong desires kept Him from following. I think the message here and from the Apostle Paul is, "Are you sold out for Christ?"[/color]
4b.) (2 Peter 1:4)  What strong desires can build our faith?
[color="blue"]4b. I think my pastor hit it on the head when he shared his vision for the church family: honor God, grow in Christ, bring another.[/color]
4c.) (2 Peter 1:4) What does a strong desire for God have to do with the "knowledge" of God, or "knowing" God?
[color="blue"]4c.) Jesus tells the woman at the well, "[/color][color="purple"] Every one who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.[/color][color="blue"]"[/color]
4d.) (2 Peter 1:4) How are God's promises and evil desires at odds with each other?
[color="blue"][b]4d.) Paul writes, "[/color][color="purple"] I do not understand what I do. for what I want to do I do not do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out...What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord![/color][color="blue"]" Romans 7:15-18, 24-25[/color]

Satan who is very real is just waiting for the right minute/second to pull us into the snare. We need to pray always, be aware of where, what, and who we really are. Sinners.
The desire to help others/love our fellow man and love God above all will keep us in the walk.

Strong desires for thing of this can corrupt our mind and cause us to to turn away from God. If we have a strong desire to learn of God's plan that has been laid out for usthen will our faith increase. The hold that sin has on the men of the world is through ****, and their to rules over them.
the dominionthat sin has over us according to the delight we have in it.