Bianca

We start to get an idea that there is a real life after death that includes seeing God. That life just won't end in darkness away from God. Progressive revelation is more truth coming out as time goes on. But we actually can see this in our own personal lives when we are following God's will for our life (what we are called to do). God doesn't usually reveal everything all at once but as time goes on he reveals more and more about the calling on your life. Sometimes we want everything all at once and it just doesn't always happen that way and sometimes it's for the best.

Hello, My name is Bianca and I am from South Carolina in the United States. I'm looking forward to this study.

We should always be on alert because the devil is always out scheming. Just like God is always working for good, so is the devil working seeking to destroy. We can't get sluggish in our prayer life or in our faith. That's what the devil wants is for us to get sluggish. We have to be persistence in our praying and in our faith. We have to keep standing in prayer believing that God is going to give us the answer. Whether it takes a hour, a day or longer to receive the answer we must be strong, patient and not giving up. Sometimes we get busy with other things going on in our lives and we have to be reminded of how important perseverance is and patience and being alert. Sometimes we fall into a routine and have to be reminded of certain things. The devil loves for us to get off track so he can try to find some way in. It's ok to have good clean fun with our family and friends but we have to keep our mind on track with God's word at all times.

We have to always be prepared for battle standing in faith. We can't grow sluggish with our faith. The devil is always looking to destroy people's lives in some sort of way. We have to always be ready and prepared for what may come our way. But we don't walk around paranoid but we just be prepared for any attack. The helmet protects us in helping us know that we belong to God through our acceptance of Jesus. We have to use that to fight the enemies lies anytime he might try to attack us with lies. The sword of the Spirit is both defensive and offensive. We keep the sword sharp by studying and meditating on his word on a regular daily basis. When we do this we will be ready for anything the enemy tries to throw at us. Situations are not always very easy to deal with but understanding his word and understanding God's character goes a long way when needed.

We live in a world that wants to go by what it sees. It wants to experience and see first and then believe. You also have in some cases Christians that in certain situations that want to see first then believe. But God requires us to walk by faith and not by sight. He requires us to use Godly wisdom but also to walk by faith and not by sight. Well if humans would truly acknowledge that there is a devil that would help explain alot of things to them even their own struggles. Sometimes people can be so blind and just think that is the way they are(their personality) Well I'm just set in my ways mentality and they are not understanding that there is a devil and he can be an influence over your personality if you allow him. Even if you don't believe he exists. We can stand against the devil by putting on the whole armour of God. The devil can't force you to do anything but we can allow his influence to get us to do the wrong thing. So the devil made me do it is really no excuse we can use. So ultimately we have to take responsibility for our own actions even if the devil was behind influencing a situation.

True characteristics of true Christian employee would be practicing integrity which is very important. A good godly employer will always appreciate their employees being honest. Even employers that may not necessary be godly but good in a sense will still appreciate a honest employee that they can trust. In difficult situations it is best to serve the employer anyway as long as they are not asking you to do anything against what God's word says and as long as The Lord hasn't told you to leave and he asked you to remain there. Your Godly influence may change that not Christian employer for the better. Or an employer that may be Christian but needs some better influences. Sometimes God place us in difficult situations to try to help others whether they change or not.

The type of obedience that adult children should give to their parents is to care about them and for them. This can be in different ways. Sometimes it might be financially or in other ways. We are to still honor them for the rest of their lives. It does come to a place when you are an adult you can listen to them and honor them but you can't do something or take a direction that goes against what The Lord is telling you to do that's where the line draws. But still be respectful to them at the same time. There is a healthy balance with this. We are to always be respectful and we are to forgive parents even if they were not in our lives as they should had been. God restored my relationship with my Father who wasn't around like he should have been. He is totally different today. Always talking about God.God did it for me he can do it for others. He wants to do it for others. I'm still enjoy that relationship today. Forgiveness is a key.

Christ is our husband because we are joined to him. He is our Provider, our Leader, our Savior. Each one of us is unique and important to us as individuals. And Jesus cares for us as individuals. Jesus also loves us as individuals. Just like a husband provides and cares for his wife and loves his wife as an individual. The church as a whole is joined and united to Jesus. Just like a husband is united to his wife. As individuals and the church we must submit to Christ. Because Jesus is Lord and God he takes on the responsibility of loving and taking care of his people. He leads us, Jesus is the perfect example of Love and how the perfect son is suppose to act. He was totally submitted to the Father. He Always honor the Father. We are to follow his example. He was responsible for being all those things and he did it perfectly. This is suppose to be our greatest union which is being connected with Jesus as individuals and the church as a whole.

A wife should submit to her husband because he is the head of the wife like Jesus is to the church. A wife is to submit to her husband in the decisions he makes unless it truly goes against something that is wrong according to The Lord. It's takes wisdom from the Lord on how to properly deal with a person who is carnal or not a Christian and they are making poor choices. It's takes prayer also. A wife can verbally disagree with her husband. She has a right to have an opinion as long as it is a godly opinion and advice but in the end sometimes you just have to let people go with their decision even if it's wrong but still pray about it first that the Lord will bring good out of it and that hopefully the husband will change if he is making unwise choices that's hurting himself or the family. The wife must go by the word first in making choices and not do anything against God but ultimately sometimes you have to let the other person make a mistake and believe they will learn from it.

The reason why it can be difficult to forgive someone is because we feel they have wronged us to a point that they don't deserve forgiveness but yet God forgave us. Yes there are things people do that can make you not want to be around them again but we are still call to forgive. You can forgive and still not be around the person anymore and not hold grudges. It doesn't feel good to walk around in bitterness or unforgiveness. It can also start to affect your physical health. God is the example of forgiveness. He is the perfect example. He sent his son Jesus so we can spend eternity with him. Awesome. Kindness and being compassionate are right heart attitudes. Loving forgiving hearts will always want to operate with compassion.

One thing that is common is slander. Trying to get someone else to agree with you just to prove a point by bringing down their character and making them look bad in front of someone else so they can dislike them to. If something being said is not beneficial to say or edifying then we need to keep it to ourselves and bring it to God to be dealt with. Much confusion can be avoided by doing right. Slander is more common then it should be. As Christians we are called to love one another not belittle each other just to prove a point.

People's hearts have hardened to the truth. Society wants so badly to do things their own way by their own rules and want to ignore their creator. They are not using discernment. Some people do not even truly realize they are hearing from the devil and think that it is ok to do this or do that. Their just walking around saying this is the way I feel or want my life to be. It's my life. Which is wrong, but that's the way the world thinks. We are tempted to conform to their values because of every human need to want to be accepted. Also, even though we are save sometimes things can get hard during the Christian walk and it can be tempting for some to go back to the old ways. Though in their heart they may know it's not right. That's why we have to stay in God's word and also constant communication with the Lord. We can't ignore that.

The old model puts all the responsiblity on the leadership when all of us have a ministry be it business ministry or ministry in a church. Then there are those who work in the business world and minister in a church so their doing a combination of some things. All of us are called to minister and serve. It hinders people in the congregation by limiting them in what they could be doing. Sometimes it can give a person an attitude of my job is just to come to church and learn something and get a sermon every Sunday. But what the person is learning on Sundays, they need to take it an apply it to their own ministry of blessing others. The purpose of pastors and teachers is to help equip the body of Christ for their own call in life. The teachings that the Pastor and Teachers are giving should be preparing the congregation for their own ministry. No matter how small of a task something may appear to the person or someone else all is important to God. A person may not be called to go and minister to thousands of people every week but dealing with the one person is just as important to God. A person in the congregation may reach someone the pastor or teacher will never reach or meet. So important for us to do what we are call to do.

It is The Lord who gives spiritual gifts. Yes the natural talents can be related to the spiritual gifts. Some people in the world feels it's just my natural talent to be able to fix this or that, or to paint. I was born this way to be able to do this or I taught myself to do it. So they give themselves the credit. God deserves the credit. There are so many talents and gifts God has given to humans. To me it is an extension of who he is. God is all knowing and the most talented person. And we are blessed that he shared some of this with us as individuals. God delights in variety. It doesn't matter it can be the gifts of healing or simply knowing how to fix watches or to make watches from scratch God gave you the ability. Even if the person doesn't want to recognize God for it, God still gave the ability. Natural talent someone wants to call it or Spiritual, God still gave it. All glory goes to him.

God loves a humble heart if we come across to people with a prideful spirit that can actually limit what God wants to do in a situation, person or in a church. We want people to be patient with us so we need to also practice patience with others. For those who do not understand Jesus, if we come across arrogant but knowing we are still right according to the word it can actually destroy what God is trying to do. The person can be thinking why should I listen to you tell me about Jesus and acting this way. You are suppose to be a representative of Jesus but rude like this. It doesn't make the reputation of Jesus look so good for those who do not understand him. We can be gentle by remembering what the fruit of the spirit is and living by that. Gentleness is important. We can stand strong in faith, be led by The Holy Spirit, speak up according to how The Holy Spirit leads us, but do it we gentleness. The Lord has been teaching me on how important it is to not be harsh with people and knowing when to speak up and say something in kindness and gentleness and knowing when not to say something and still be kind. I plan on growing and getting better and better in making sure I operate in kindness and gentleness while also operating in truth. Truth is something we need especially in this time we are living in.

We are called to be disciples. To give God glory In everything we do. We are called to live lives that glorifies God at all times. It's the way Jesus lived and we are to follow his example. Our attitudes and the way we deal with others should always bring God the glory. Our behavior matters because it is always someone watching. Truly loving others is a part of that calling to. Even if they don't love us back or treat us fairly. That's not always easy but it's the way Jesus lived. Truly following Jesus means living by his rules not just saying I believe in Jesus and not doing what he says.

Because Paul recognizes the mistakes he has done in the past. But yet God is a forgiving God and out of his soveringty he chose Paul regardless of his past. God is such a forgiving God. We also have to recognize our own mistakes and recognize how much we been forgiven for. We also need to remain humble when God uses us. All our talents and gifts come from God almighty we have to always remember that. Our gifts are to be used to bless others not to become prideful and arrogant. God loves a humble heart. Just like Paul, God chooses us regardless of our past.

We have access to the Father because of what Jesus did. Jesus paid the price so we can have a real relationship with our Heavenly Father who is better than what any earthly father could have been to us. We love and honor our earthly father but there is no comparison to the love from Our Heavenly Father. The Holy Spirit lives in us gives us access to our Heavenly Father. Jesus paid the price and is the only way to The Father.

If we truly do not understand what it means to be lost how can we witness. We have to understand what it really will mean for a person if they don't get saved. They are without hope peremantely once this life is over. They are literally cut off from Jesus. Cut off from The Father. We really need to truly understand how important it is to witness to others before it's to late. This is not just meant for ministers but for all Christians to witness to others.

We were created to fullfill the destiny that God has planned for us. That is the good works. We have special skills and abilities that is God given and we are to use them for his purpose and plans. It glorifies God because he is the ultimate creator. We are the little creators. The things we create and any good artistic or good thing we build or do is the inspired from the creator himself so he still gets all the glory. These works are different because these are God given abilties and God gives these giftings for his glory. We didn't get it ourselves, it was a gift from God. Works type mentality or self righteous behavior will depend on self and what self can do with a religious ritual or some kind of tradition to try to impress others and thinking that it pleases God and look good to God when their only fooling themselves. That doesn't impress God. God loves true humility.

It means since Jesus has the victory that means we have the victory to. It's really amazing how God has fixed things. We didn't deserve it but yet God gave us this. What a loving God we have! The devil has not beaten us. Sometimes we as Christians may take on an attitude of defeat. When we simply just need to tell the devil to back off. I've done it many of times in different areas and it has worked sometimes immediately and sometimes Not. Sometimes it took a period of time but still work. We should be bold with our faith and authority. I believe that all of us have experienced fear in one area or another but, when we read scriptures like this about who we are in Jesus that should give us reassurance to use our authority and take on the attitude of Victory no matter how impossible something may look, We have the victory.

People have a sinful nature which goes back to the fall. Alot of human beings do not realize that there is a devil that seeks to destroy. Some people I have notice blames things on that "It's just the way I am or I was born this way or it's my life I can do whatever I want to do with it, besides I'm not killing and stealing so what's wrong with this?" They don't understand that what they are doing is still wrong. It's not just about not murdering or stealing. If a person choose to live in an ungodly way they are following satan whether they realize it or not. We all have rebel in some way or another in our life against God even if it's just considered to be a small thing it's still going against God's righteous laws. That's why we have a savior Jesus because we could not do it on our own.

My answer: I been made holy and blameless because of Jesus. My right standing is because of Jesus. Not because of Bianca. But at the same time I am supposed to be growing in my heart becoming more like Jesus. My character is suppose to reflect Jesus when I'm talking with others. I have already been made blameless but my character is growing. What a good and interesting journey.

My answer: Nothing is really scary about predestination with me. It's the way God created things to be. It's best to just follow God and allow him to lead you. It is very comforting that God had already predestined to send Jesus and already had a way for me to spend eternity with him. He predestined also my destiny and what I am called to do. It has not always been the easiest road trying to figure things out but it's worth it to please God. Out of his great love before I even love him he wanted me to spend eternity with him. He loved us all so much that he paid the price with Jesus. Amazing. I will spend Forever thanking him.

Q1. (Ephesians 1:3) What does it mean to you to be "in Christ" -- incorporated into Christ? What are the implications of this for your life? In him we have redemption" My answer:. This speaks greatly to me because I have experienced redemption in my physical body from disease. I been healed physically in my body because of Jesus paying the price for that. I redeemed from my old nature. I now live to take on Christ nature. I live to become more like Jesus. What a beautiful thing that God has done by sending his son Jesus. Marked in him with a seal" My answer: I am sealed I belong to Jesus forevermore. Only eternity will we get a more complete understanding of all this. No matter what I'm going through I am never alone because I have Jesus. Which he purposed in Christ My answer: I'm so glad to know that The Lord has accepted me it didn't happen because of some good work I did. My works would never be good enough. It happened all because of Jesus righteousness. What a blessing!