bower

It is only from a point of grace that the works of love can surface. If you do not receive God's grace and express grace yourself you are not going to be able to love and express that love in service to God and through God to man.

Faith is the common denominator. Demon believes has no faith but fear. Practicing believes, has faith and application, a non practicing Christian believes, has a small amount of faith

I think that the good samaratin question - 'Who is your neighbour?' covers this question. A prayer will either open or close the door to any response to the poor and needy. The response in love and grace as opposed to response in guilt and obligation is often found in the whispered prayer - 'Father show me what to do?'

Faith is a verb as well as a noun. It launches you in a relationship with the Lord and others by action. You can think what you want but until action starts it is unrecognisable. It is the expression of the gift of free will. Blessings

A neighbour is a a neighbour - when God says love your neighbour He does not say love your neighboour with the blue eyes. Turn it around HItler favoured the non jew. This judgement was based on favouritism. Like so many things it is often the step from 'having a favourite' that leads into the sin. The feeling develops into an action - like giving a child the bigger the better item than their brother or sister - this leads them into sin and to have evil thoughts. :..we cause a brother to stumble. rolleyes:

I do confess I try to avoid the 'super christians' the ones who have to report in how wonderful a christian they are. I didn't really think about this until you asked but I do try to hide from them or roll my eyes when they phone. I am grateful that ;you have brought this up - I certainly appreciate the chance to pray about this. It also coincides with a launch of our church into changing the service to please the younger members - to recruit a generation (30's with family) Although I do feel it is a good idea to look at what the church is offering it has made me aware of the balance. So many churches today have to create two services due to the compatability of the ages of the members. Lots to think and pray about. Blessings

I actually feel that both are necessary - that unless you find the time in your life for worship and stillness you do not find out what it is God wants you to do. Taming of the tongue - especially in our relationship with God I think we need to be aware of what, how and why we pray certain things. I have heard God threatened, challenged and disrespected by christians and I thank Him that I know He forgives and understands - but if we can't respect God how can we respect others and ourselves. When we look at the poor it is so easy to avert the eyes, go into denial, justify (charity begins at home) If we find the compassion to pray for that person and await God's response ..He will equip us to give (might be financial relief, emotional support or even just a loving smile. ph' date='18 December 2004 - 06:34 AM' timestamp='1103308487' post='10394'] Q4. (1:26-27) Why does James make taming the tongue and caring for the poor the prime tests of pure religion? Why not the quality of our quiet time or worship?

The perfect law is to love God and love they neighbour. The Royal Law brings the 'myself' - to love as you want to be loved. This brings the liberty.

If it is out in the open in the physical realm, apparent to others we falsely think that it is real..So if we go out and buy 50 bibles that reveals to us and everyone that we are really into our bible studies. Self deception, to me is really connected to pride. Eve was deceived by the devil and herself - taking the deception into justification. It is always a shock to know that God sees all and although people might perceive your actions in a certain way - God knows and if you are self deceived God reveals. Blessings

In the beginning was the word....to me the word of truth represents Jesus. It is through our faith in Jesus that we are reborn into the spiritual world. The beginning of our spiritual life commences with the belief or first breath in this realm. From that moment on everything is revealed - not understood but the faith is released and begins to grow. Blessings J

Both are expressions of our love to each other and opportunities to glorify Him.

The perfect law is to Love one another- agape The Royal Law is to love God. The liberty is that if you love God because He loves all - if we love Him we will follow Him.

Our nature is such that if we read a book on dieting we feel like it is already done. Again the living in the physical realm seems to be apparent. It is necessary to absorb things into a spiritual level. Jesus talked about tickling the ear - it is the same. The token can represent the reality. It is the commitment that lets us live a righteous life. Self Deception comes through justifying - oh yes I have the 'reading the bible through in a year book therefore it is done.

I feel that when I was born again - it was like an activation of the seed already planted in me - God gave me a hunger to seek Him to find out about Him through the Word, His people and religion. As I asked to know more not only did I need to read the Word but the Holy Spirit helped me to discern the truth. This meant that I had to identify the lies in my life. Then I needed to unravel what I had done to align myself with the Lord.

Ask and believe . In our discomfort we ask....we must seek out the answer. When God gave the manna, we had to go out and look for it and pick it up. We knew it would be there. Same with wisdom. If we ask for it - our faith reveals it to us.

Often I find myself dealing with the same situations, conflicts, people. God has allowed the 'lesson' to return. It is the frustration that lets me examine the attitude of my heart and that is when I detect the double mindedness. It is then I can seek the strategy with the faith to learn the lesson. This helps me 'evolve' in the journey. The trials often become the punctuation point at the end of the sentence. In my pain I often retreat - disarm myself and in real desparation seek the Lord.

We seem to need to blame someone - look at Adam in Genesis - it is part of our nature. I think it is built in us to first turn our minds to God - however in the distortion instead of seeking Him in love we tend to blame Him. The attributes we give to God in our weakness are not His. Evil can not be near him. Once this process is put into perspective - it is the next step that is vital. When we hit our finger accidently with a hammer - the pain might cause us to feel a blur, then react, then seek the right attention - I see my job as to try and cut out the react. It is in that react space that I can choose to sin - to swear, to offend or even hit out at a local bipasser, to accuse God.

Discerning the situation in context is the key. To allow the prayers to reveal what is really happening - to pray for wisdom connects me to God, to seek his answer in the word, or another person or situation keeps me alert in my patience. This has changed me - I used to dive into all trials with a 'me fix all' attitude. The trials - unpleasant as they are have helped me know who God is and reconfirm my need for Him in my life.

Hi all - I am already a little over extended with the technical aspect of this course so that has to be my first prayer that I can keep up with it all. I am so looking forward to extending my knowledge in this area. I am 60 plus live in a beautiful seaside area of new zealand with my husband and dog. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.