Desiree

I believe the holiness is something that should affect every part of our lives. It is the way we think, act and speak. Our bodies must be used as instruments of righteousness for that is how the Lord intended it when we came to know Him. Our flesh constantly wars against our flesh. We must learn to consecreate and set ourselves apart from evil of every kind that we may fulfill the destiny God has for us. I believe that the only way I am holy now is through salvation, Jesus' atonement for me. My sins are forgiven and I need to constantly renew my mind with the Word of God that His character would be formed in me. That I would obey the word, walk in humility and know that by grace and not anything of my own ability will I continue to offer my self a living sacrifice to Him. My job is demanding and I work long hours at times. I find that at times I set the word aside and that is when the evil thoughts begin to flood my mind. I must learn to find time and focus on prayer and thanksgiving to my Lord. The one the saved me from sin and brought me into His marvelous light that I may continue to be the salt of the earth in my workplace, with my worldly contacts and in my church.

I would like to create analogy here. If you are a woman, when coming in coming you prepare for them. You clean your house, you make something special, you make sure everything is in its place and ready for them. Your focus or attention is given to those things. So it is with us. We need to prepare for the return of Christ we need to prepare our house for Him. That means for me to do a little house cleaning. To clean up what is unacceptable in my life to prepare for Him. Our minds is the greatest area of attack by the enemy. If he can get our thoughts and actions off of Jesus and on to other things we can easily begin to sin... the thought is not the sin but contemplation of the thought can bring us to a point of acting on it. That is way we are told in Romans to renew our minds daily with the Word of God. This is how we learn to live a left worthy of His glory. Our thoughts need to be focused on Jesus... therefore our actions will follow the thought pattern... we will have the mind of Christ and learn to act accordingly. The focus must must be on Him....He must be our vision.

I believe the basis of my joy in Christ Jesus is what he has done for me and the inheritance He has given me... things I have to look forward to...eternity life everlasting. This is inexpressible, how can you explain something so passionate and beautfiul, lifegiving. It is true our emotions should not have anything to do with the joy of our salvation that we can live with if we choose to. At times our joy of salvation is expessed with human emotions but we are not to rely on our emotions but on the faith of the accompishments of the cross and what was accomplished by Jesus there. Genuine joy is someone whose focus is on the Lord in every situation in their lives. They wil express with heartfelt feelings... genuinness... what they know to be true that Jeus is Lord of their lives and nothing can separate them from the love of God. They are pleasant people you want to be around for they are always encouraging and help you to keep your focus on Jesus and not your situation. You feel uplifted after you have spent time with them knowing they love the Lord with all their heart, their soul and their mind. Praise the Lord! For His is worthy of ALL praise glory and honor.

God is good. I did not have full time job for 10 years. When I moved from one city after having my job cut, God had me go through a time where I have learned to trust Him for everything. I was on my own and had no one else. At times I need a place to live, food, money you name it. What little I did have I gave away to others... their need seemed greater than mine. There was a time where I live with christians who would not share their food with me because they thought they would not have enough for themselves. Through all these times I had to learn about God's unconditional love so I would not become bitter towards others who the enemy was using against me. Now I am going on my third year in a job that is truly a blessing and God has given me great favor. Many times I wanted to give up... at the very moment I was going to close the door... God opened one. Things may not have happened the way I wanted them to or prayers may not have been answered the way I thought they would, but God's ways are higher than my ways and His thoughts are higher than mine. He was and is preparing me... emptying me or me and filling me more with the character of Jesus so that His compassion can arise within me and I can learn to show at all times His compassion and love towards others. How great thou art Lord! My trust is in you alone!

I can not imagine being kept by anyone better than God.... who is the all powerful one. No one is greater than He. His power of the Holy Spirit wrought the resurrection of His Son Jesus. That type of power would not and could not allow anything to happen to me. All I have to do is believe. For He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Praise the Lord... this is something to truly rejoice in and as I study this scripture it is becoming more and more real to me. As I am obedient to Hiim and His word believing trusting and relying on Him all things are possible. AMEN. Praise the Lord. Always looking up!

I believe that once we are forgiven we are to live in obedience to the Word of God in all areas of our lives. When we have not been obedient to the Word then we have really not truly embraced what Jesus did on the cross for us.... He has taken all our sin... He has paid a debt that we can not repay. I believe that we should honor Him by giving our lives as a living sacrifice to Him. How can we be obedient to something someone tells us if we do not act on it? So it is with faith. IF we have truly received remission for your sins by accepting what Jesus has done... then we must obey Him and His word. This is the only way the light of Jesus will be displayed to a lost and dying world. It is the only way Jesus is exhalted and lifted up... through our lives and living and breathing His word in our lived daily through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ not anything in our our power but by the resurrection of Jesus who dwells within us.

I believe that if joy is missing in a christian's life they are focusing on things of this world and not looking to heaven. During times of trials and tribulation I have focusedon my situation.. things of this world rather than on Jesus. I need to continually be focusing on Jesus the author and finisher of my faith as the trials, tribualtions and temptations of this world war against my spirit. For by focusing on my Lord I gain the joy or strength to carry me through to victory... going from glory to glory.

Through what Jesus has accomplished as a sacrifice for us. His blood was shed for all mankind that we may be made priests to rule in the earth. We shall serve our God as rulers here on earth. I is nothing that we have done for ourselves but what was accomplished on the cross by what Jesus did for us. He has given us the power and authority to rule. Do we use this power and authority to honor Him. It is our destiny to rule with the all authority given to us by Jesus. All Glory and Honor to Him who is seated on the throne at the right hand of the Father. Glory to God in the Highest.

Hello everyone, Sorry to be so late in sending responses to the questions but my grandmother passed away and I have been away visting and such... My favorite Hymn and the first to come to mind is Holy, Holy, Holy. Blessings to all.

When we have the opportunity to hear the testimony and witness what Christ is doing in our lives we are helping others by our encouraging words. When we have the opportunity to hear what others have endured we can witness with their experiences and know that God is with us as well. It is encouraging to know that we are not alone in facing the challenges put before us. Jesus faced the worst persecution possible.... the hypocrites of the day and those that hated Him never stopped Him.... He knew who He was the the authority and power that resided within Him. This was a testimony about His relationship with His Father. This testimony can encourage us to know that that same Spirit resides in us and we can overcome evil with good not because of who we are but who is working within us.... we then can overcome by the words of our testimony and the blood of the Lamb. We fear being witnesses in our own land where no persecution is because we do not fully have a revelation of who Jesus is. My prayer is that through this study I will begin to receive a deeper revelation of this.

There have been many times in the last couple of years that I have lost faith in the institution of the Church. I have been seriously hurt by the Body of Christ and its leaders in the past. By seeing how important it is to love the Body of Christ regardless of their treatment towards me, their jealousy, and cutting words; I have learned through this study to trust in its leadership but most of all God. I have begun to see the bigger vision and looked beyond those who would try to hinder me in my walk with the Lord. I have now set my sights on those things above. I with my Pastor have teamed up to start a Prayer walking ministry and am believing the Lord to give us our community as part of our inheritance. I have great love and support (from my Pastor) and this has taught me to trust in the Lord with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding and in all my ways He shall direct my path. To God by the Glory.

It is through what Jesus accomplished on the cross that allows us access as citizens with the saints. All those who acknowledge the Lord as Lord of their lives is brought together by one Spirit the Spirit of God. We are God's people conscrated and setapart for Himself causing us to belong to the household of God. We need to have the revelation of the accomplishment of the cross totally, as we live as citizens in the kingdom of God. The holy ones and saints are those who have and are continuing to consecrate their lives for the will and purpose of God... they hear the heart of the Father and are obedient to His call.

God's house is about relationships. The relationships we have in the body of Christ is an extension of the type of relationships we are to have in witnessing. We are to love one another with the agape love of God. God brought us together for a plan and purpose. This is to advance His kingdom through loving realtionships. I have learned to love my brothers and sisters and accept them as they are. At times it is not easy and my past hurts sometimes gets in the road of trusting them. However there is one person I can trust and that is the Lord. If I trust the Lord to see me through then I can continue to love in spite of the hurt. As I build my relationship with the Lord my relationship with others begins to change. I thank the Lord for His love.

I believe that at times we the church have lost the understanding of what was really accomplished at the cross. The revelation of what was accomplished helps us to drawn near to the Father and as we draw near the love in our hearts begins to grow. The enmity we have towards others diminishes and we learn to love others as the Father loves us. A fresh revelation of God's love can conquer anything that besets us and all the walls around us begin to crumble and fall. We must learn to grasp the grace of God so that we can begin to flow in the goodness of God and what He has for us. Love, peace and joy in the community of God (the church).

I want to back up to the verse before where it talks about "to know the love of Christ" . I think that we miss it in the body of Christ, when we don't realize that His mighty working power is in knowing the love of Christ. Then we are able to do abundantly and above anything we can think or ask. I believe that sometimes we focus on the power rather than the giver of that power. When we walk in the love of Christ we have that power becomes evident in our lives. Praise the Lord from whom all things come.

As Christ is head of the Church, we are submitted to Him. As we submit ourselves to His leading, the resurrection power (dunamis) is given to the church and unity begins to happen. It is only when we have submitted our selves, our lives, our plans to Christ can His will go forth which is the power of the gospel unto salvation. He empowers us to do His will. With out the Head, the body of Christ can not function so we must be sure that our lives and our wills line up with that of the Leader who is Christ.

One thing I must always remember is that the authority given to me is a gift of God by the grace of God not anything of my own ability. I am seated with the Father in heavenly places only by believing and accepting what was done for me at Calvary, and what Jesus did for me that I may be resurrected with Him ruling over powers and principalities and rulers of darkness in this present world. The authority with which I use must be used with reverence and in accordance to His word that I may continue to walk in victory and freedom through the accomplishment of the cross. Do I acknowledge daily the grace bestowed upon my life? I should.

Joash had been serving Baal and God obviously. The altar was built on his property, yet Gideon knew of God and had a relationship with Him. So Joash must have been serving both Baal and God. He, therefore was not a leader totally serving God but also serving man as the people were in sin worshipping idols and as a leader seemed to go along with it instead of making a stand for the Lord. Gideon's act of obedience cause his father to see the truth and change the direction of where he was going and make a decision totally serve God. Gideon out of obedience cause a whole town to look at their sin and change their ways. Since Joash had defended Gideon's actions of destroying the alter to Baal, there was a change in direction as to whom he and his family and town would serve. There are times in our lives that when someone "Stands up for Jesus", we should take note and exam our own lives... who do I serve... am I being obedient? Do I need a change of direction?

I would tend to agree that at times we can become "disobedient disciples". Since this whole lesson centers around idol worship... at times we find ourselves following the way of man rather than the way of God (idol worship). Perhaps we tend to want to be accepted by people in the world rather than accepted into the beloved, the family of God. The fear of man and what man may think may sometimes cause us to allow our natural (carnal) nature to surface. Our Spirit and flesh are constantly at war with one another and this battle we must continue as we work our our salvation with fear and trembling... it is a process. We have choices in this life and each day we arise we can determine to be an "obedient or "disobedient disciple". I choose this day to serve the Lord... no matter what the cost. Gideon had choices just as we do... he chose to honor the Lord and serve Him.... good choice don't you think?

Hi this is my first time here and I am looking forward to being a part of this wonderful study. I love bible studies and do them ofen. To go deeper into the word brings greater wisdom and understanding to me. I never thought of Gideon as a Prayer Warrior and since I love to prayer I am excited at looking at this concept through the Word. Blessings I believe that God is always with us.... some times we just don't see how He moves in our lives because we expecting Him to move in a certain way. This resticts our view of how great He really is. I am hoping to have my eyes opened to see Him in a greater light and learn not to restrict Him in moving in my life by thinking He has to move a certain way.