heatherdills

Non-Christians try to get you to sin with them because they do not have the truth and morality of the Lord in their lives. They are trying to find happiness in the flesh and do not understand why we do not have the same flesh driven desires. We are tempted to do so because we were born into sin. We can resist this temptation by asking for the armor of God and His protection on a daily basis.

When the scripture says "arm yourselves with the same attitude" as Christ had, this attitude should help keep me from sin by obedience to the Word of God. The attitude we are talking about is submitting our flesh to the spirit and doing what we know is right in the eyes of God.

If Scripture is "breathed" by God, it can help us draw close to God by making it come to life for us. I think God's Spirit (pneuma, "breath, wind") is so important in helping us understand Scripture because He reveals His truth to us when we need it and helps us to apply it to our lives.

A person can be speaking and God can be speaking when the Holy Spirit speaks to the person's heart and then they express what the Spirit told them through their mouth. The image of a ship being moved by the wind helps me understand this in that just because you cannot see the wind, it does not mean that it is not pushing the ship along in its path.

The Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments act as "a light shining in a dark place" for me in that they show when men fail, God prevails. The darkness represents sin, evil, despair, etc. The light represents Christ, hope, life, etc.

Our culture avoids talking about death because it si seen as final. Describing my earthly body as a "tent" is freeing and motivating in that it is a temporary shelter to house my spirit until my time has come. The significance of Peter referring to his death as a "departure" or "exodus" is that when we die we leave the natural realm and enter into the spiritual one.

Yes I have pledged my faith in Jesus Christ and have promised to serve him as his disciple. This pledge relates to my own baptism in that I was baptized as an infant, so my life was consecrated to Him. However, I have just recently accepted Him as my Savior and understand the principles behind immersion and look forward to my own.

Of these three aspects of the verse, God has impressed most strongly on me is my reconciliation with God. I can call on God every minute of every day and know that He loves me and will bless me is more than I can imagine anyone doing for me. He gives me the peace and love I need. All I have to do is ask for it and it shall be done.

It is so hard for us to be a witness when we're persecuted because we live in the flesh. It is easy in tough places to be the wrong kind of witness because fear sets in and we do not rely on the Lord. Of Peter's four instructions, I find the most needed in your particular situation is to focus on Christ instead of my fears.

The qualities Peter mentions in 3:8-9 that are most evident in my congregation are love as brothers and being humble. The most needed is harmony. My friends and I can practice these qualities in ourselves so we can be an example and reach out to others to change the relational climate at your Church so it is more Christ-like.

Christian character is an essential indicator of being saved or rescued by Christ because His character overtakes our lives when we submit to His will. The Biblical assurance of salvation I can offer the fruitless, barren "believer" is that as long as He is the Lord of our life, He will keep us unto Him forever.

We imagine that "agape love" is easier than loving church members because it is easier to love manking in general than it is to love a specific person. If we avoid church because of our hurts at the hands of church members, we cannot mature fully in Christ because God will never give us anything we cannot bear and will never do anything that will hurt us. If someone abuses us, God will turn that situation around into our favor.

Adisciplined devotional life is important to me because it keeps focused on the Lord. When I forget or don't have time I get into a rut. Christian disciplines I employ to help me open my spirit to God's Spirit are prayer, meditation and Bible study.

The virtue of goodness so far has been the easiest for me to move into. The hardest has been perseverance because I have a hard time dying to my logical mind. For example, I stopped tithing because my bills were getting tight because my mind told me that that would be some money I could use to pay my bills. It didn't get any easier, so now I have starrted tithing again and so far, God's grace has been there. I know that God tested me and I failed miserably, but He picked me back up and now I am going again!!!

Strong desires can erode our faith and corrupt our lives by cancelling the standards of God we had been building. Strong desires can build our faith if our desires are in His will for our lives. A strong desire for God has to do with the "knowledge" of God, or "knowing" God leads us to grow more intimate with Him! God's promises and evil desires are at odds with each other in that evil is easier to get involved with than righteousness. One builds and the other erodes our faith in that good makes us better, whereas evil leaves us worse off than before.

For me personally to be called "by his own glory and goodness" means that I am called to be in the presence of my God. God's glory and awesome Presence affects me in that I long for it more and more. His goodness and moral excellence affects me by making me want to be a better person, pleasing to Him!!!

The scope and extent and boundaries of "everything we need for life and godliness" is exactly what it says. "Knowledge" or "knowing God" has to do with this promise because it is the key to fulfilling this promise.

"Received a faith as precious as ours" means in this verse that everyone has received faith in equal amounts. Our faith compares to St. Peter's faith according to our use of it. Our faith IS equal to his because we are all equal before God. The discrepancy is the way and amount we utilize what God has given us.

Treating one's wife/husband wrongly can hinder a husband's/wife's prayers by not making them heard by God.

A husband should relate to his wife with knowledge and wisdom to create mutual respect. This demonstrates love becuase they will respect each other. This demonstrates self-interest because it shows his agenda. Men sometimes try to dominate their wives because they think they can. Wives sometime try to dominate their husbands because they don't want to be vulnerable. Harm this does is it upsets the balance God created. Domination of another person is contrary to God's nature because we are supposed to be humble and love one another.

A person cultivates inner beauty by being kind and gentle. One gains character by being true to God and themselves. True character is so important and precious to God because we are living as He created us to be. Character can help a Christian woman win and hang onto her husband by showing him there is more than the physical, which will fade away in the end.

Women should try to look their best to be a good representation og God, themselves, and their spouse. Trying to look their best can divert women from what is more important by placing the importance on the external rather than the internal. The balance is to have good personal hygeine as well as a sense of modesty.

Submission is so difficult for us humans because we are selfish in nature. Submission does not require me to be silent when I don't agree or feel something can be improved. Submission is wrong for a Christian when it goes against the Word of God.

If Jesus died to set us free from sin's power, sin has such power over us still because we have free will. According to 2:24b, we must deal with sin by living in righteousness and die to sin every day. In practical terms, we can "die to sin" by the choices we make. In everyday language, "live for righteousness" means that we are to do what we know is right according to the word of God.

The significance to me personally that Jesus bore my sins in his own body on the cross is that He loved me so much that He wanted my salvation even though He knew I would fall short and waiver.