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Thanksgiving is humbling acknowledging that everything is from Him and that we are nothing without Him. God loves humility and sincere thankfulness is humility. Thankfulness also demonstrates our faith - that we believe He will answer our prayers (provided they're in His will) and by thanking Him in advance demonstrates that we know He will grant our request in His time. I am always thankful in everything because I know it is only by His grace that I am alive. I am forever grateful for His love and mercy and never hesitate to express my gratitude by thanking Him. I love to thank Him.

It's both. Sometimes I rejoice in the Lord without feeleing but with the action of singing and boom, I'm emotionally rejoicing. If I feel like rejoicing then it is followed by action. Once, upon driving to a service I thought "I don't want to sing, I just want to hear the message" and that very day the Lord showed me that there's a lot to rejoicing in Him. I became tearful and emotional and realized I was being preached to and healed through the songs we sang that day. I never thought that way again. So I sing whether I feel like it or not and true rejoicing soon follows. Although now I have to sing since I was asked to join the choir.

In order to serve a master we must know who that master is. We must do everything for Christ, our Master. Although we have earthly bosses, we ultimately work for Christ who's authority we must submit to above all others. If we live like we serve another master what kind of disciple are we? We are a disciple to an idol. If we keep our eyes focused on Christ we can trust Him to deliver us from temptations. If we rely on our own strength, the enemy wins. The danger is that were all talk and no action which leads to death. Scripture says we must believe in Christ, and believing is synonomous with obeying according to scripture. If I have only bible knowledge of Christ and no intimate relationship with Him, I'm not really His servant, I am deceiving myself. Faith without works is dead.

Paul was operating on a clean conscience. He not only talked the talk, he walked the walk. I'm hesitant to tell others to imitate me because I know I still have some not-so-good habits that I need to get rid of. I also feel that I should be perfect before I would ever make such a statement and I know that won't happen on this planet. The best teacher is a model. Who would imitate me? Unfortunately, I smoke, so I would say heathens.

I've actually heard a loud thought that wasn't from me. The thought said "you are here to seek the truth". I was around 12 or 13 at the time. A vision accompanied the thought. I believe I was called to teach. I haven't received anything since that would re-confirm the teaching. However, I have been teaching art for two years, so that may be part of the plan. I believe that my straying from God dimmed my hearing. Thank God he brought me back to the fold 4 years ago. I know my hearing His voice will increase as I grow closer to Him. I know He is always speaking to us and it is our sins that prevent us from hearing Him. The content of the call is to preach/teach His message to others.

It clouds our thinking and we don't see Christ. If the past is on my mind, then Christ isn't. We need to forget things that hinder us like doubts and anything that breeds negativity. We are to think of what's pure, admirable, honorable, etc. not on things that serve to bring us down. As the Spirit edifies the Church, we must edify our minds. I forgive daily before I pray. Sometimes I forget to forgive myself. Sometimes when I thought I forgave someone, they pop up again and I have to forgive again. The fact that it's still on my mind and that it creates an emotion must mean I haven't fully forgiven them. I know it's important to forgive others whether they ask for it or not because your prayer life and growth can be hindered.

Knowing means to have faith in and experience a relationship with Him. We cannot expect to know someone if we don't believe in them. It's possible to have faith without a personal relationship, because that's where we all start. In time we have a relationship which brings more knowledge of Him. In my quest to know Him, I read His Word and pray almost daily (99%) and have experienced His working in my life. I have discovered in my own personal experience that He is an awesome, kind, gentle, loving, mercifiul, not afraid to discipline, and funny God. He does have a sense of humor. I know that I need to trust and depend on Him much more. I can honestly say I know Him better today than I did one year ago.

Righteousness cannot be obtained through law observance. The law showed us that we all fall short. The yearly sacrifice atoned for our sins but did not clean our conscience. The blood of Christ cleans our conscience and we gain righteousness by faith which is belief in Christ. Belief is synonomous with obedience. Merely verbalizing our belief without actions to back it up, renders it dead. I'm not seeing any law observance in my church. We are expected to obey His Word. Being justified by faith is very difficult to grasp because we're taught that we must earn everything. It's hard for me, when I've fallen, to grasp His forgiveness. I'm waiting for the axe to fall and I get love and forgiveness instead. What an awesome God we serve!

Paul sees that he was living legalistically- following rules, which is nothing compared to the joy, love and peace of knowing Christ intimately. My religious background was very legalistic. We followed man made rules and each service felt like a brain wash; it was robotic. Reading the bible and knowing the Lord intimately was never promoted. I was led to read and seek the truth because God forced me to. After reading the bible, I realized how wrong my former religious beliefs were. I was raised in my former religion and never questioned it. Now I question everything. I try to match His Word to everything. I can detect red flags more easily now, equipped with the knowledge I've gained from reading His Word.

I can't say that I've noticed it in the congregation, but I sometimes struggle with it by thinking certain actions I perfrom will earn His love.

They lacked a Christ minded (selfless) shepherd because Paul was imprisoned. Timothy, like Paul, is a slave to Christ as he demonstrates by his great concern for their welfare. Epaphroditus was also putting Christ first as he almost died for Christ. These two are clearly committed slaves to Christ and worthy of being honored as they are rare jewels.

Slave implies a permanent selfless obedience whereas preference carries a lighter tone - a temporary selfish obedience. If we give ourselves totally as slaves, we are committed and will accomplish far more than any half-hearted attempt. If we prefer to serve him it's selfish because it's convenient for us at the time. Leaders should be committed, not half hearted. A flock led by a part time shepherd will go astray.

I was raised Catholic. I went to church weekly and was brought up in Catholic schools. My Mother's example was of love and forgiveness. While she still remains a Catholic, I became a member of an Assemblies of God church. I am currently mentoring my older sister.

It is rare today to allow Jesus to be total ruler of our lives allows us to serve him and be selfless. When we serve "other" things we're not serving God. We have our jobs, families, hobbies etc. that fight for our attention and by serving them we're serving our selfish needs, not God. Personally, the Lord had to hit me over the head with a 2 x 4 to pull my attention away from worldly things. I am still afflicted today, but my perspective has changed. I can honestly thank God for the affliction because it brought me back to Him. Now that the major obstacle has been removed, I have other obstacles that need removing. The experience has not only brought me back to Him but has made me depend on Him and get strenght from Him. Even in my afflicted state, I am better off now then when I wasn't afflicted.

If I depend on God and my eyes are focused on God throughout my suffering, I give honor and glory to Him. If I focus on my pain and say "WHY ME?" there's no glory to God. We are told that Jesus was made perfect through suffering and that when we are rejected and insulted because of His name, count it all joy. As a believer, I realize that many trials are necessary to strengthen my faith and dependence on God. I am not at the point where I consider it all joy yet.

To keep His word in our hearts, on our minds and on our lips at all times by reading it daily and speaking it daily. We are not just to memorize His Word but to live it and tell others of it. Jesus commanded His church to spread the gospel to all nations. However, sometimes it's hard for others to digest His truths when the messenger has obvious sinful addictions, i.e. overweight, alcohol, smoking etc. The Church must practice what they preach because the eyes of the world are watching. My non-Christian friend is too quick to point out my faults. I tell him he must be reading the bible in secret since he seems to know so much about it.

Complaining/arguing indicates that we are not trusting Christ and that we are not being humble. To obey His word is to love one another. There is no love shining forth when we walk around in a complaining attitude. What is at the root of complaining? Selfishness- Love is selflessness. I'm not aware that we complain. I don't see any divisions. We are a very small group of 15 people, half of which attend weekly bible study on a regular basis. We're not perfect but I think we operate in unity.

To me it implies obedience to God's Word both as a group and individually. As a group, we can mature much faster in Christ as we help eachother and hold eachother up in prayer. Individually we must keep walking in Christ even when no man is looking because we can be sure God is. Just as an individual is expected to be morally in line as a prerequisite to pastoring a church, so too, the individual must also be striving toward God so they can be effective in the group. The Church is Christ's bride, and if the world sees His "bride" misbehaving, they must wonder about the husband.

If we humble ourselves in expectation of being exalted then our motives prove to be self-minded rather than Christ-minded and God won't honor that nonsense. Our hearts must be sincere in following Christ if it isn't we're not being honest with ourselves. As Christ became perfect through suffering, can we expect to glide through life? Where's the learning, the maturing? Impatience leads to us taking control of the situation rather than letting God and we certainly don't benefit from that.

Jesus was God in human being form. The word "pretending" means lying. Jesus doesn't lie. Does it make a difference that He was human? I really can't articulate an answer for that. I'll pass.

Christ, being equal with God, has the power to do anything. He could have used His power to bring righteousness to all, eliminate hunger, war and everything evil, rather, He humbled himself and allowed Himself to suffer and die for us. He used His power to endure the evil world, overcome it and redeem us back to God. The passage matter of factly states that He was equal to God, not that He thought He was equal or MAY have been equal. God is divine and Christ,being equal to God., makes Christ divine.

Humility honors God first and others second (the two greatest commandments). Anything short of that is putting self first. This means self-minded vs. Christ minded. There's no humility in self mindedness thus unity isn't achieved. Those that put self first disrupt unity because they expect others to take their eyes of Christ and look at them. There's no visible divisions in my church that I am aware of. We do confess our sins and pray for each other. I'm sure we're not totally honest and open about all of our sins, but those that are confessed are prayed for.

I'm glad you cleared that up. I was wondering about that. I know Moses and Elijah appeared with Christ and that Jesus said God is God of the Living (God of Isaac) but I was conflicted with other passages that led me to believe we slumber until His second coming. Thanks for shedding light on that. I love the immediacy. No waiting. Can you tell I'm impatient? It's very comforting to know that as soon as you die you'll be in His arms. I think it'll make the dying process more comforting ...perhaps. How does it energize me? It makes me want to go out and die...to myself and live for Christ!!

I try to witness whenever I can. I don't feel comfortable just preaching publicly but when I'm in a conversation with someone I pray for God to give me the opportunity to witness and He does, and so I do. I usually witness one-on-one. I don't feel comfortable witnessing another way. I can't say that it's fear, I just want it to be sincere otherwise I might scare people away from God's kingdom and be responsible for more lost souls than saved souls. I know that when I get baptized by the Holy Spirit I'll be much, much more effective. To-date I've not yet been baptized by the Holy Spirit. I have the Holy Spirit in me but I haven't received baptism. I know that Jesus didn't start His ministry until after He was baptized by the Holy Spirit and He commanded the apostles to stay in Jerusalem until they received their baptism.

If we fear what others might think of us or do to us, we are then putting more value on them than on God. There's no boldness in fear. Fears are demonic chokeholds that prevent us from fully speaking/doing God's work. The only good fear is fear of God. Losing our life so Christ can live in us allows us to operate at God's level. It isn't us but God through us. As God's ways are higher than ours, we see a more abundant life produced by His Spirit than we could ever do on our own. For example, we can never love someone who hates us, but Christ in us could and to experience His love for others through us must be absolutely the most abundant life filled experience one could hope for. It's all about LOVE with God.