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To meditate on the Word mean to study the Bible not just to read it. Commit it to memory, actually think about what you have read. The difference between Christian mediation and Eastern meditation is that Christian mediation is a filling up of God's Holy Word and meditating on it. The Eastern meditation is and empting. God works through his Word to renew our minds to fill us with his love and his joy. He shows us while we study and meditate how much he loves us and cares for us and each step is exciting.

Joshua's new job was to lead more than 2 million people into the promised land. A land they had to conquer first. The people were a mighty people by the spies accounts and much bigger than they were. They terrain was different than they were used to. Joshua had faith in God. God was with them. Being strong and courageous to me means COMPLETE faith, no doubts what so ever! I believe one can be afraid. But, as long as the fear is taken to God in prayer. All things should be taken to God in prayer. Ask in his name for courage and strength to see you through the difficult time. The courage to stand up to what you need to fight the fear and the strength to go on.. One can be courageous and still be fearful. It keeps you cautious. But walk in faith with God.

God's promise to always be Joshua is important because Joshua and the Israelites had come through and seen so much. Joshua had been with Moses and seen how Moses commanded. God made him a promise even when Joshua felt the burden was heavy God told him he would never leave him or forsake him. He did not do either. Joshua put his faith in God and God kept his promise. This is important to me in my situation because I walk by faith. I believe in God. I keep my eyes on him. He never promised me a day without pain but he promised me if I believed in him I would have eternal life. If God is with me as long as I walk with my Lord I have no limitations.

Unable to find forum to answer question in provided space..... In what way is God's promise to Joshua, "I will give you every place where you set your foot," a conditional promise? What's wrong with a faith that consists primarily of the philosophy; "If God wants me to have it he will give it to me"? What areas that that God has promised you that you must press forward to receive? The conditional promise, "I will give you every place where you set your foot," is God telling them as far as you can see if yours. He is their God and He is taking care of them. the philosophy "If God wants me to have it he will give it to me" is wrong because you must do something to earn it. God expects us to go something in return. We do not just sit on our backsides as do nothing and expect to inherit eternal life. We must work and bring sheep into the fold. We must take care of each other and of the earth and of what God has given us. I must press forward every day for God and for myself. I am a God coin in circulation 24/7. Made in His image. I am a Certified Lay Minister in the United Methodist Church and everywhere I go and everyone come into contact with sees me as a child of God. Some may see me as the only "Bible" or representative of God they know. I have Multiple Sclerosis and cancer. I walk by my faith in God and hopefully I inspire others to walk that way in the cancer centers. I pray with them I am pressing on.

Hi, my name or nickname is Thud. I have taken many of these studies and find them to be very helpful and informative. I am a Certified Lay Minister in the United Methodist Church. My husband is a Local Pastor in the United Methodist Church. I am also an Ordained Non Denominational Minister. In other words we serve our Lord Jesus Christ . I am disabled. I have Multiple Sclerosis and cancer. My husband also has cancer. We jokingly call ourselves the Job family. God equips those He calls! While my husband has a pulpit weekly. My condition limits me weekly however, as I move through doctors and the world I use what I can for the Lord. This works much better for me. I meet people where they need me.

​Jesus is named for his mission. Yahweh saves. Jesus came to save, to deliver, to conquer sin. He will be a warrior against sin. Jesus fulfilled this mission by the cross. He died on the cross for all of us. He took our sins and to that cross even those we had not yet committed and died. Every time I think of what he did, of his suffering I know I can face whatever it is I have to face.

The passages in Philippians and in 2 Corinthians tell us upon death we will be in Christ's presence! This is a comfort and it energizes me. I have a handicapped child. He as ask me what happens when you die. I have always told him you close your eyes here and open them in Heaven. You open them and see Jesus! This is something great to look forward to!!

Fear is a powerful emotion. Praying to God for strength is more powerful. God hears prayers and answers. Sometimes not right away, but he answers. We are afraid of what our friends and neighbors will say about us and do to us. We often are embarrassed. God walks with us if we ask him to. Loosing our life here is the earthly life we live for the christian life we walk with God. This earthly life is full of sin and things that do not please our heavenly father. I learned a long time ago and it took some time for me to figure it out the God must come first. Earthly things will pass away. Heavenly things or things that come from God are the good things in life. They are the things that will last and make you truly happy.

No matter what the problems are we know God is in control and we can rejoice. God promised he would never leave us. In Isaiah it says if we hold out our right hand and ask for help he would grasp it and lead us. I believe that and it has always helped me. Rose, a friend is dying of cancer. She is a believer. She has hours to live. But, she will leave this world in God's time and she fears not. Her faith is strong. She will be missed but she leaves behind a legacy of love and faith in her God that touches us all.

God is alive and in charge!!! Jesus walked on this earth and suffered the woes that we did. He experienced them on steroids. He had feelings. He wept. What I am trying to say is when we have faith in the living God that he will always be there with us. He is in control and if we place our concerns with him he will show us what to do. We must believe with our whole heart and follow..

When one is undergoing personal struggles, stress, and problems the face you present to others and the way you handle your problems show the world who is in charge. God shines through. Your faith shines despite your problems. No matter what is going on in your life you handle it with God. Paul's witness was so powerful because his current circumstances were not as important as what he did with them. His witness for God was the most important thing to him. Right now in my life I have MS. I also have cancer. Yesterday I had surgery for the cancer. The surgery was quite extensive and more than we thought it would be. I remember waking up and seeing the nurse and asking her if I was dead. When she said no I ask what I had left.(what they did not remove)After being put into a bed I was told I was an easy patient. I told them I was blessed. They explained what the surgeon had done and I said I am alive! God is good. In my hospital room last nite were many tears, and much laughter and the Holy Spirit. We prayed and we talked. Today before my discharge a new group came into my room and we prayed and talked. God is good. Sometimes it takes a struggle or an illness, but he is never far away.

Paul wanted the Philippian Christians to be right with God. Not just go through the motions but be right with God. Be praying and living a pure and blameless life filled with the fruits that God blessed them with this would happen. They must discern or think closely the good of their lives. By one thinking of yourself instead of others it clouds your discernment. Others first is how I always think of a situation. I do not know if this is a good example or not but; my husband had/has cancer. He had a stem cell transplant. I was and am his caregiver. While at Duke I found a lump in my breast. I was a physician assistant. I kinda knew what it was but was too busy to take care of it.(stupid I know) but Gary was fighting for his life at the time. When I could I went to the doc. I am a veteran and use the VA Hospital system. It was cancer. Long story short. It had grown quite a bit but I put it in God's hands. I have had my chemo and am scheduled for surgery this week. I discerned which was the most important and placed the rest in God's hands. Really it all was in God's hands but I was needed where I was at the time. God will handle mine too. Probably a poor example but to me it fits. Now he is my caregiver. Others first was my first thought.

We have the responsibility to turn from sin to God. God according to Paul becomes involved in our lives at this point and helps us. When we first met Christ, he came and lived in us. The Holy Spirit lives within us and enables us to become more Christ-like. This is the same today as it was then. Christ died on the cross for us and forgave all of our sins that we had not yet even committed. Then he sent us the Advocate or the Holy Spirit to live within our hearts. What love!

Being a "slave" in this sense is total committement of one's own doing. The root idea of saint being the same as I understand it. One's relationship to God is the the same. It is voluntary. We have set ourselves apart for service to god. we are not perfect but we do our best and we are totally committed. We become slaves of our own free will. A saint is pretty much the same thing. We belong to God.

Hi it has been awhile since I have taken a course and I have missed it. My nickname is Thud and I go by it on almost everything. I am a Certified Lay Minister in the United Methodist Church. I have MS and have added cancer to the list since March of this year. But I am a fighter and neither will win. I must be doing something right or satan would not be chasing me so hard. I live in NC and my husband is a minister and he too has cancer. we have 5 children and 6 grandchildren.

Diotrephes is self centered, feels he is the exclusive authority, is domineering and controlling and is a mean spirited slanderer. He really is the poster child for and unloving Christian. A person most certainly can be a strong pastoral leader without developing these traits. The way I approach this is I may be the spiritual leader, but we are all in this together. I may try something new, but I ask would you like to try this and then get feed back. Everything we do is for the glory of God. We are only his hands and feet.

Supporting missionaries even though they are strangers. Love. I am a missionary and have traveled in Africa. People we did not know who were hungry for the Word feed us and offered us shelter even though they had little themselves. This is Jesus teaching. Love as I have loved you. This is showing the church's love. By assisting these workers you are a Matthew 25 Christian. By helping them you have helped Jesus himself. Without the help of other Christians our work would be very difficult. No man is an island.......

False teachers are not Christians of a different denomination that we should be charitable to or tolerant. They have lost their allegiance to Jesus and are now spreading false information. A congregation does not need to hear this. We should not be hospitable to these false teachers. We should shut them out, turn our backs to them. I feel the divisions of denominationalism should feel justified in this verse. We belong to God the false teachers belong to the devil.

Running ahead distorts the gospel. You go too far in its original meaning and read into it. Running ahead you miss what is in front of you. To abide or continue in Christ and his teachings means to dwell or rest stand firm in his teachings. Do not be swayed by someone or something stand firm in your faith. This is important because if you are easily swayed you never received his grace or his life giving blood.

Keep yourself from idols. Idolatry is substituting something false and unworthy in the place of God. Do not let anything take away from your worship of the true God. I believe, sports on Sunday before Church is over, the TV, shopping on Sundays and a variety of other things that take away from worship. I sometimes have trouble with morning Bible study and getting ready to start the day in a hurry. Morning appointments etc sometimes take up my study time.

There are 2 conditions to answered prayer. One is our obedience and the other is God's will. I pray for and ask if it be your will. God knows better than we do what we need. If it is our will rarely will what we want be achieved. I thought I knew what I wanted years ago. I prayed so hard. Of course I did not get it. I now thank God that he did not give it to me. He always knows best. His will.

If I were to say "this life is in the Christian Church" I would be saying it is the church I believe in. If I say this life is in His Son I would be saying I believe in Jesus Christ. We need to teach that Jesus Christ is the head of the church. In him all things are possible. We come together as a group or the church as believers in Jesus Christ to learn more. He is the vine we are the branches that grow and leave out by touching others. Having faith means you believe in something. I have faith the sun will shine and when it gets cloudy I have faith it will rain. Faith in Jesus is knowing beyond a doubt he is there and always will be. He will never get washed away. He is eternal.

If we believe and follow Christ we are not of this world. Christ's ways and the Christian who follow them do not follow the ways of the those who are of the world. Worldly ways are not Christian ways. We must make a stand against the evil of the world. We may only make a dent, but we must try. a defeatist will not try to change anything.

The fear that is referred to is respect. We respect our Heavenly Father. We love and fear our Heavenly Father and look forward to life eternal with Him. Because he loves us and we respect Him and love him the fear of the unknown is gone. I am waiting with great anticipation to future judgment. All pain is gone, and the God I have read and preached and lived for will soon be a reality!

God is love is so very important because God is love. He is just, righteous, holy, omniscient and many other things. But it all means love. God is patient. This tells me we are not perfect and He does not expect us to be. But He does expect us to know what is expected of us and He will be there to help us. We were created in His image. But we have all fallen short. God is there to help us heal. Hold out your right hand as Isaiah says. He will grasp it and hold you. If you love you must forgive. Love is harmony. Love is on both sides the same as forgiveness. One sided forgiveness does not work and neither does one sided love in any relationship.