cnbarnes

I will do all that I can to follow the Word and love my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. I want my light to shine that men may see my good works, and the glory that I give to the Father by living my life as a true believer. I will pray for humility and love to continue to grow in me. Be forebearing in patience and understanding. I need to repent from not trusting God enough to work in MY life. I trust Him to work in others, but not me. I need to repent from not being bold enough to do what God asks of me.

I look at one baptism to unite us in that we were united in Christ. Adopted by the Father into His family. We are united in that we died to our sins (immersed) and we rose to to be justified with the Lord (rising out of the water), making all those who belong to Him part of the same family. I don't really care what people say the form of baptism should be. I care what scripture says. I believe that none of us has the right to take away or add to what scripture says. We are to be obedient to what it says, and not justify why we or disobedient to the scripture. I don't think we should compromise what the Word says to bring about unity. The true unity first comes in the form of obedience to God's Word and then when we accomplish this we can be unified together. I don't think there is any balance if it doesn't line up with what the Word says. The balance is to follow the Word.

The seven elements that unite all Christians are that we are one body, one spirit, one hope; one Lord, one faith, one baptism and One God and Father of us all. As long as we remember and focus on the fact that we all have a common denominator and that is Jesus. We are all in this race to run for Jesus. If we love God then we love each other. We are one if the Spirit of Jesus. The most compelling two to me is that there is One God and Father and that there is one hope. There is no other God above our God. He is the only one who created heavens and earth and us. The hope for is that there is only one God and that he is the only one who can save our souls. Saints. That is good news. That we have one and only one God who is divine and that the hope He gives us is that we will have eternal life with him.

Greetings all! The way I look at it is that we are to make every effort to bring about unity. But it is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that we are able to do it. Paul lets us know that it is not an easy task to do and we of ourselves would never be able to accomplish it alone. We need the assistance of the Holy Spirit. We are to do what is necessary to maintain unity. With all that is within us, we are to strive, work at keeping the unity. It is here where the characterists and attitudes we are to have come into play. These help us to maintain unity. Bond of peace means that which is connecting believers together. It is that which brings all of us together, no matter what demonominaton, no matter what race, creed or Christian unity is a prime goal for the believer. It is so important that the words used have purpose and meaning, it is the glue that binds us together.

Praise the Lord Saints! What Characteristics? Attitude? We are to be completely humble. Not thinking that we are more than or better than others. We are to exemplify humility as Christ did. We should do all to glorify Juses rather than to glorify ourselves. When we are humble we are not so heavenly board that we are no earthly good as the Pharisees were. We are to be gentle and kind. If you are humble, gentleness really just falls in with that. We will treat people with considerateness. We will be concerned out them rather than about ourselves. We are to be patient, bearing one another in love. In otherwords, we are to put up with each other, in love, just as God has put up with us in love. He did send His son to the cross for us. Importance? I personally think all are important. If I had to choose I would say humility because God hates a proudful spirit. I really do believe that if we walk in humility as Christ walked in humility, the rest will fall in line. Once we conquer ourselves, then there is room for others to come in. Difficult? I would have to say being patient and forebearance, coated with love. It is hard for some of us to put up with other peoples issues. We just don't want to deal with them. We want to write them off with even remember how God was and is patient with us and most definately forebearing. Only God could deal with us in our natural self. We haven't grasped the fact that love really does cover a multitude of sins. The love of God is an unconditional love and we can't have that in ourselves. It is only through allowing the Holy Spirit to have free reign in our lives that we can accomplish this.

I great you with the Love of God! Living a life worhty of your calling is to walk like Christ. We when signed on as a solider of His army, we must then realize that we represent Him. We are to treat everyone with the Love of God. Always carrying ourselves in a upright position. We are to walk as the princes and princesses He created us to be. We are to be holy in our thinking and in our speech. We are the only Jesus that some will ever see. We must always let the Light of Jesus burn in our hearts, "let your light so shine that men will see your good works." When we treat everyone right and walk in that light, people will be attracted to us and want to be a part of those things that we are a part of in the Lord. What is worthy of our calling is exemplified by Paul in Romans 8:28, that all things work together for the good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. We are all called according to His purpose and therefore we must work together that purpose in love and in unity. We come into fellowship first with God and then with our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Our walk and attitude determines whether we will be able to come into unity with others. Separation from fellow Christians is against God. The Word says, " . . . not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more, as ye see the day drawing nigh." - HEB. 10:25 The scripture speaks for itself. Separation for the body does not bring about unity and it is a false sense of security. I know that I draw strength from fellowshipping with saints. If they have been separate from me, how can I be worthy of my calling and I'm not with the saints! Our calling is to tell everyone about a Savior who wants to love them and keep them. Tell them that He died for us that we might be free. That He paid the price for our sins so that we would not have to. God is truly amazing!

There is healing in the dwelling place for the Lord. There is deliverence in the dwelling place of the Lord. There is salvation in the dwelling place of the Lord. There is provision in the dwelling place of the Lord. There is love in the dwelling place of the Lord. There is peace in the dwelling place of the Lord. Everything that we need is in the dwelling place for the Lord in the Spirit. All things that are possible in and through the Lord is in the dwelling place for the Lord in the Spirit. It is here where we, the congregation come together in the Spirit of the Lord with one common goal and purpose, that is to do the work of the Lord. We are to be the spiritual hospital for those who or lost. We are to strength one another, build us up for the work that we were called to do. With us all with one accord, miracles happen. God has given us everything we need to the same works that He did, and more. Jesus came that we would be reconciled with God in order to be prepared for the work to bring others into the dwelling place for the Lord in the Spirit. It is awesome because being the dwelling place for the Lord's Spirit means that He is with us at all times, encouraging us, nudging us, loving us to be with Him and share what we have with Him with others. This relationship helps us all to grow. Our household has made the decision the Lord with all of our heart, mind and soul. When we work together building each other up, God intervenes and allows us to go to depths that we have never experienced before. He is amazing like that! I am one who needs bulilding up and encouraging. I know that this world is not my permanent dwelling place, but I must be able to live here until that time when God calls me home. I need the strength of the saints. I need the encouragement of the saints. If we do this, all will be built up in the temple. More will be brought to salvation, deliverance and healing than ever before. We get empowered through the Spirit which dwells in us, but it helps when we work together in the Lord. It makes us more committed and excited to do the work!

The prophets and apostles contribute a lot to my life because the provide instructions, godly principles that I can live by. The Old Testament prophets prepared the way for us and the New Testament apostles provide principles and guildlines for us to live by daily. We need the new testament to give us histroy and the foundation for the coming of Jesus, but we need the apostles to build upon that foundation with the love of Jesus and all that He taught them to tell us. Prophets like Isaiah gave us hope of the coming of the messiah and apostles like Paul help us to take that hope and live, even in the midst of the storms raging around us. I would have to say that what the prophets and apostles contribute to me, they are doing the same for the church. It is the Word of God that allows us to stand, even when the natural says fall. I look at the cornerstone as that which holds us together. No building is complete without a cornerstone. And we are not complete without Jesus. We grow or rise into a holy temple on ithrough the Lord. We must have a relationship with him. Know that He is the chief cornerstone. We build off of His foundation by being one in the Lord. We must learn that we all are needed to build the temple. That each has something to offer in order to make the temple in the Lord. All of us fit together to make the temple in the Lord. This growth occurs only when we love the Lord and in loving the Lord we can love one another and work together on completing the Great Commission.

"Members of God's household" tells us that God is our heavenly Father. That we belong to Him. That He is our provider; our keeper; and most of all our Redeemer. Belonging to Him shows how much He loves us and how much He wants to be our Father. CeCe Winans has a song out that says, "I want to be your everything." It is talking aboaut how God wants to be our everything, that through our submission to him totally, He becomes our Father, taking care of our every need. God wants us as His children. He has adopted us into His family. It also tells us that we, who are believers, are a family, and that we are to love one another as God has loved us. The nature of both God and Church is to exemplify the love of God. Those who are not faithful in being a part of a local congregation is forsaking the assembly. God said that we are to come together to encourage one another and to strengthen one another. Where one is weak, the other is strong. We truly are our brother's keeper.

Being fellow citizens with Jewish believers is that we are joint-heirs to every promise that God gave them. We are holy because we have accepted Jesus Christ as our saviour and because of His blood we have been adopted into the family of God, making us holy because He is holy.

Access to the Father is so very important because we now are able to speak to God ourselves. We are now in the position to communicate with God. We do not have to depend on anyone to speak on our behalf. There aren't many people I would trust to take my pleas to God. When I need God's presence is not when others need it. I have access 24/7 and that is important. God is always available to me. Access to God is like diplomatic relations because it is an open door policy. I have been special rights and privileges to go through the doorway to God.We have this access because of Jesus and our relationship to Him enables us to have access to God the Father. This access fulfills the two greatest commandments in that because it brings us into relationship with God, meaning that the more we have access to him the more we will love Him with all of our heart, soul and mind and when we love Him like this, we then are able to love our neighbor as we love ourselves, because of our love for God.

Praise the Lord everyone!!! Ephesians 3:20 is an awesome, awesome verse. God is the almighty and everlasting God who can do anything, even those things which we think are impossible. God can do that and more. It hurts too much to image how much He can actually do. I just know that is more than my finite mind could ever comprehend. Imagine, all that we think-wow; all that we ask-wow! God can do it! And all this because He is the omnipotent God, all power in heaven and in earth are His. It is on top of the top of the top of the top! His power that worketh in us is amazing. It is like we give Him the power to do immeasuably more than we can think or ask through our faith because of that power that is in us. We activate His power by our faith. It is amazing. Hallleujah! That power allows us to do what He can do. It is awesome. I believe it is not more evident because, we don't believe. We don't belive that God will do what He said or that He is really capable of doing the impossible. We can believe the Red Sea because it is in the Bible? If that is the case why can't we believe that He can help us? I was seaching for a miracle. Thinking my miracle was money to help pay bills, but the miracle of all miracles was Jesus. He is the miracle that I needed so badly. I had to seek Him again, I found Him to be the One who could help me in my impossible situations. I believe that He will perform those things above that which I can imagine or ask. I did not believe it for myself. When we truly believe it will be evident in our lives that God can and will do more than we could ever imagine or ever think. God is amazing. I just love Him.

It means that all things are in His (Jesus) hands. Jesus is Lord of all things. That as long as we walk with Him as we are raised up with Him, we have the power to do those things which Jesus did: heal the sick, open blinded eyes, cast out demons. Mark 16:15-18 tells us what we are empowered to do.

God is an amazing God. The amazing thing is that He loved us so much that He gave His only Son, Jesus Christ. Not only did He give us Jesus, He shares Jesus's inheritance with us. Everything that God has for Jesus, He has for us as well. I remember thta in Genesis He created man so that He cuold have someone to be in relationship with. He created us for that purpose. That we are raised up with Christ and seated with Him in Heavenly places is so that we could understand our true purpose in God and understand that we are a partaker of all His power.

Freedom. That is what comes to mind. The Gentile Christians were now able to see that the spirit beings could not exercise power over them because we are walk along side Jesus Christ. The power that God has given Christ, His Son, is the same for us. Being under our feet means that we can trample all over them, crushing them into the ground. Defeating our enemy!

Paul was praying for us because he wanted us to be aware of, understand completely, the authority we have as believers. Most of us are walking around with our head in the sand and still calling ourselves believers. Because of Christ, we have been given amazing power to be overcomers of all situations. Paul wanted our eyes to be opened to that fact.