Paul Irving

Mostly protection because I’ve been persecuted for my faith. I used to care but if they’re going to hate me anyway, oh well. Jesus Christ told His apostles that the world hated Him before it hated you. God nudges me to be weary of people, and also brings the right people into my life, He knows what He is doing!! I’ve tried to help those that needed Christ, but they lacked the faith and weren’t sorry for turning their back on him. Now I don’t see them anymore. Thanks be to God!! I’ve learned not to judge people because of outward appearances but look into their soul and see if you see light or darkness if it’s dark it’s better to stay away from them unless you can convert them to God.

Hi fellow Christians, My name is Paul and I live in a suburb of Chicago, Illinois. I’ve believed in God my whole life but wasn’t Baptized until I was 33years old in Elmhurst Presbyterian Church. I’ve been walking in the light for more than 30 years, I’m 47 years old. I like to work out at my gym and go there everyday, I love to lift weights.

Hello fellow Christians, My name is Paul, I’ve been a Christian for mostly my whole life. Even though my parents never went to Church I found God on my own. I was addicted to drugs and heading in the wrong path with the wrong people. I’ve been sober for 2 years now and have lost many of my friends who really weren’t my friends when they tried to introduce me to the devil. I have beaten them all with the help of God. I forgive them and have prayed for them. I’ve seen some scary things from them.

Christ set the example for us to, even though we can’t be as holy as Him we should strive to make the effort. Righteous because Christ is righteous never sinning, holiness because Christ is holy and was conceived by the Holy Ghost, redemption because Christ died for our sins not his for He was innocent of any sins. Christ set the example for us, He use parables or short stories as something we can relate to. These attributes of Jesus Christ go far towards laying the basis for living a Christian life. We are children of the light, children of God so let your light shine set examples for anyone who needs redemption.

They don’t understand the gospel and what a tremendous gift God gave us by sacrificing His Son for the life of many. You have to have a gentle approach to those that don’t know the gospel, or they won’t listen. You also might try praying with them and praying for them when you’re by yourself. A lot of the sins people commit have been watered down through the years like fornication, adultery, disobedience to parents, lying, gambling, and the list goes on. Because people have been brought up in the values their parents had. If their parents weren’t Church people, they probably won’t be Church people either, but there are exceptions and lots of them. I want to point out that just because you go to Church doesn’t make you a better person than someone who doesn’t, God knows all of man’s thoughts and actions. As Saint Paul said everyone has sinned and falls short of the the glory of God. However we have a great healper in Jesus Christ, Jesus prays for us and He is more powerful than the devil. The devil is always trying to pull us away from our relationship with God, tempting us and the devil has many of his people in this secular world.

We can have the mind of Christ only with the help of the Holy Ghost. We also need to be spiritual not material, also humility in which Jesus Christ being the Son of God humbled himself to come from heaven to become one of us, and to die for us. Being in the spirit is to be in the realm of God, I find we can only do this when we are bowing and praying. The natural man doesn’t recieve the deep things of God, but the spiritual man does. We all being believers receive different gifts from the Holy Ghost, some can preach, some can do miracles, some can speak in tongues, and other gifts also.

It’s not that God is not taking, it’s that we are not listening. I believe God is always speaking to us, He is Omnipresent and can help anyone at anytime. Yes, sometimes we are not receptive and yet sometimes we just aren’t listening. God wants us to have faith in Him for everything, He loves faith and is constantly testing our faith. If we don’t hear from God, we either have to speak to Him through prayer or just listen more diligently. Because God is still speaking, He never gets tired, or taking a nap, or is not accessible to us, or has given up on us. That’s what the devil wants us to believe that God doesn’t care about us, but that’s a lie God does care about us all of the time.

People think that being rich is better but Jesus Christ said “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God”, this is because rich people most of the time forget about God. Not all the time, God has rich people Job, Solomon, just to name a few, but in general rich people feel that they have all that they need but they are not rich towards God. Divorce is readily accepted in today’s society, but Jesus Christ taught the if a divorced person marries another then they are committing adultery. Jesus also said what God has joined let no man break asunder(in pieces). Fornication is accepted by the general people even promoted. Teens can’t wait to lose their virginity. Even sorcery is glorified by society there have been many movies about the devil and TV shows, one comes to mind that’s current Lucifer.

The children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Midian for seven years. So when Israel sown, the Midianites and the Amalekites came up against them. Then the children of Israel cried to the Lord, then the Lord said I am the Lord your God; don’t fear the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. The Lord sent a prophet named Gideon. An angel spoke with him and said the Lord is with you you mighty man of valor. So later after Gideon realizes that he saw an angel of the Lord and that God is with him. He builds an altar for the Lord and destroys the altar of Baal the false god of the Midianites and Amalekites. When the people of the city see that Gideon has destroyed the altar of Baal they want to kill him, but his father Joash says to them let Baal answer for himself if he’s a god.

The Spirit was telling him in a vision that three men seek him, by showing him all manner of beasts that inhabit the world. The Lord says Rise, Peter; kill and eat. Peter’s reaction is Not so Lord, for I have never eaten anything common or unclean. The Lord God says, What God has cleansed, don’t call common. If Peter didn’t receive this instruction from the Spirit he wouldn’t have met with the three men that were seeking for him, sent by Cornelius. He explained and expounds how he saw the vision of all of the beasts of the earth and how God told him to not call anything that God has cleansed common. It takes a great amount of faith to do something you know you’ll be criticized for later. I try my best to be obedient to the Lord God always but we’ve all sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

Paul knew he had to go to Jerusalem by being in the spirit, for the Holy Ghost led him there, then to Rome to preach Jesus Christ. I wouldn’t try to dissuade him because he was being led by the Holy Ghost and he knew he had to testify that Jesus Christ is Lord to those in Jerusalem then also in Rome. It takes a great amount of faith and maturity to be in danger but still go forward with the plans God has. We could miss God’s blessings if we aren’t obedient to Him, and He could also become upset with us as God loves and expects obedience to Him.

It greatly encourages him that God is aware of his fears and is hurting, for the Lord to speak encouragement to Paul shows the love God has for Paul. That God is love and He knows what He’s doing He has everything planned out for His Triumph and Glory. God cares about His servants and knows what kind of encouragement they need and when they need it.

Because there is such a big difference between the wind, an earthquake, and fire when compared to a still small voice. God knows Elijah needs encouragement and gentleness, because he is in a desperate place. God is telling Elijah that He still has plans for him, God renews Elijah by telling him that He has 7,000 people that are still obedient to Yahweh and that He has a companion and successor for Elijah. Because of all of the distractions of this world, we must get in the spirit to hear God when He is speaking softly to us. If you’re listening attentively God will find a way to get your attention even if He has to be loud.

We speak not in words of a man’s wisdom, but by which the Holy Ghost teaches us. We have the mind of Jesus Christ through the teaching of the Holy Ghost. We are dependent on the Holy Ghost to discern between the natural man and the spiritual man. God pours out His Spirit freely through the Holy Ghost. We must worship God in the Spirit and in the Truth, then we will hear God speak through ways we never thought possible, we have to be listening because when God speaks he has a lot to say. We won’t actually hear him speak as He did to the Prophets because he has set up our salvation through Jesus Christ.

Jesus promises to send the Holy Ghost to His apostles and He shall speak what God the Father and God the Son want Him to speak. The Holy Ghost will reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgement. Of sin because they did not believe Jesus, of righteousness because Jesus goes to the Father, and of judgment because the prince of this world is judged. The Holy Ghost is also called the comforter because the Father tells Him what He wants His servants to do and He comforts them in times of need.

Jesus was always saying that His Father does the works, as I see I do. The Son can do nothing of himself, but what He see’s the Father do He does likewise. Jesus Christ is the perfect example of humility being the Son of God who came from heaven to become flesh. Everyone who humbles themselves will be exalted and everyone that exalts themselves will be abased. Jesus came from the Father so He knows what God looks like. He doesn’t need to hear the Father all of the time because He knows His Father is with Him, however before he was crucified and he prayed to the Father three times, an angel appeared strengthening Him.

Jesus Christ likes to be alone when he prays to God. God was probably increasing his faith constantly to do God’s will. It strengthens him to accomplish all that God the Father has sent Jesus to do. Jesus Christ was always wanting people to have faith, many times after he performed a miracle he says to the person your faith has made you whole. His apostles were making some mistakes in that they wanted Jesus to stay because all men seek for you. But Jesus says let’s go to other towns for I must preach there also. Yes, I have a quiet time with God when I pray. I guess I could pray longer but I don’t want to be like the Pharisees and for a showing make long prayers and Jesus says these will receive the greater damnation. I don’t speak to God until I turn off the light, get down on my knees, and get in the spirit to feel like I’m in God’s realm!!

Hi Paul, I’m Paul as well I’ve just joined this online Bible study. Good luck with being a deacon in the Catholic Church. Feel free to contact me with any questions you may have, even though you have been on here longer than me sometimes it’s good to get other perspectives on subjects. I am your brother in Jesus Christ. Peace be unto you ?

Hi fellow Christians, My name is Paul and I live in Chicagoland, I’ve been a believer for most of my life. God has done many great things for me, I’ve had many years of perfect health thanks to Him!! I was Baptized when I was 33 years old in the Presbyterian Church. I currently go to Yorkfield Presbyterian Church, I attend regularly but I’m not a member yet. I used to go to Elmhurst Presbyterian Church until they married two men!! So I stopped going to Church for about a year, now I am trying to get more involved with the Church. I might have to change denominations because the Presbyterian Church USA has decided to allow same sex marriages. So far there’s none at Yorkfield Presbyterian Church.

Hi Victoria, Nice to see someone else who has zest for the Word of God!! You can always contact me about anything about God, and I’m your brother in Christ. I live in Chicagoland a in the suburbs. Peace ?

Are you a pastor in Church?? I was just interested in what you did with your Masters in Theology and doctorate in Theology as well??

Hi I’m Paul and I’ve been a Christian for most of my life, even though I wasn’t brought up going to Church I always believed in God. My parents didn’t have me Baptized so when I was 33yrs old I was Baptized into the Presbyterian Church in the name of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. I realize that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven. We have all sinned and fall short of the Glory of God and that Jesus’ death on the cross was the perfect sacrifice, for he had no sin in him!!

Yes Kats, you don’t want to blame God for anything because He is Holy and wants the best for us. The Israelites were worshipping Baal and thus provoking God to anger. But Gideon found favor in the sight of God, which is not so easily done

Because Gideon was aware that the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. And Gideon was wondering even maybe doubting the miracles God did for the Israelites. Gideon’s assessment is not accurate because the children of Israel provoked God by worshiping Baal. You don’t want to blame God for anything because He has it all planned out, his correction of his people leave them in a better position than before his divine intervention. Everything happens for a reason, it’s a test God wants us to have faith in Him being the Supreme Being that He is!!!