2die2self

I have come across Pharisees many times, and I'm quite sure I've been guilty of it myself. We tend to get so caught up in the "thou shalt nots," that we forget the "thou shalts" (Thou shalt love the Lord your God with all your heart...Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself). This is when the "plank in your own eye" scripture comes to mind (Matt. 7:3-5). The Lord ever so gently reminds us that we do not have a judgmental leg to stand on! Love = you want the best for them. Legalism = you know what's best for them. (the Lord just gave me that!) Our obedience is just that...OURS. No one else's. I can't be worrying about what everyone else is doing right or wrong, because I have enough of my own mess to keep asking the Lord to clean up! I am frequently reminded, when confronted by others' lack of obedience, I'm not walking their walk!

(1 John 2:1-2 "My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense

Confession of our sins (admitting we messed up yet again) opens the door for God to sweep out the mess. If we don't confess, we're not opening that door, and the mess piles up, higher and higher until the light is covered and darkness settles in. If we DO confess our sins, Father will come in and clean house, forgiving us for making the mess. Cleansing begins with forgiveness...the forgiveness starts when we open the door and ASK for it; cleansing begins when He comes in to take care of it!

When we continue to willfully sin we are placing ourselves in a position where it will be impossible to have fellowship with fellow believers. We begin lying to ourselves and others, making excuses for our sins..."It's not my fault, I'm just human." "God made me this way." "It's not hurting anyone." "God will forgive me." "It's easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission." If we crucify ourselves (to sin), it is no longer we who live, but Christ lives within us. When we take those steps to turn from the sin (repent) and ask God to forgive us, and genuinely make every effort to live right, our faith will grow by leaps and bounds, our fellowship will grow much deeper with our fellow believers, and the burden of guilt (despite all our excuses) will be lifted from our shoulders. The Lord will bless us tremendously when we purpose ourselves to stay on HIS path!

We are blessed to have this type of fellowship at our church. We unfortunately had a situation that forced our hand and caused a church split, but those of us who left and allowed God to use us to start another church are very close-knit. We all have the same goal...to love the Lord God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind and with all our strength and to love others as ourselves! I believe that is all you need for true Christian fellowship.

This is a concept that is so hard for Christians to accept...of course, it doesn't help that satan is constantly accusing us. I have to think of my own children, just as we are God's children. When they come to me and say, "Mom, I messed up..." or, even when they DON'T take that step to confession and I already know what they have done--I always forgive them, I always love them. Nothing changes that. How much more so does the Father of all creation love His children?

Of course, we rejoice THROUGH our suffering, not because of it. This shows the character that God builds in us. We then become the beacon He wishes us to be to the lost world. What more incredible witness is there than the suffering Christian singing the Lord's praises...think of all those martyrs singing hymns to our Father as they were being led their death! We suffer because the world rains on the just and unjust. We persevere because we know the Lord is with us in all things. We hope of things to come (the Prize that awaits us in the end) and have no fear of what may come here on earth...we know where we will be in the end! And, Christ's character shines through us in the midst of our tribulations.

Justification to me means... I am a sinner, I continue to sin, I will always sin; yet, the Creator of the Universe loves me so much that He forgives me each and every time I run ahead of Him, lag behind Him, wander over to the fence that separates the sheep from the wolves, or just flat out defy Him and decide I'm going to do my own thing. The King of Kings calls me His own...which makes me a Princess of the Most High. No matter how dirty I look, I am still His Princess.

Hi all...I'm Vickie, from New Mexico (USA, for those who didn't pay attention in geography classes ). I did a Joyful Heart study many years ago and enjoyed it very much. I was looking for something challenging, as my personal Bible study has fizzled a bit, and I remembered this site (or, rather, the Lord reminded me!). I'm a mom of 3, a deacon's wife in our small church and on a half dozen committees. We just "lost" our Pastor of 20 years, who had to move to AZ to care for his Mama. So, please pray for our little church to find a new, Holy Spirit led Pastor!