Posted by: the warrioress | January 22, 2012

Seeking The Lord

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Friendship with the Lord

By Charles F. Stanley 

The Holy Spirit depicted as a dove, surrounded...

Would you like to know God? Would you like to be sure that you’re following His will? If you are a believer, more than likely your answer is “yes.” But you may not know how. Even if you read your Bible faithfully, pray daily, tithe, and attend church regularly, you may sense that something is lacking in your relationship with Him.

Perhaps you believe God loves you. But have you experienced the depth of His affection in an intimate and personal way? Until you begin to understand His nature and character, a spiritual window shade will remain closed in your life. You may know right from wrong in certain areas, but it’s important to know why God wants you to live a certain way. Once you begin to understand the way the Lord thinks and operates, you will know Him better. You will be able to grasp that He loves you with an eternal love. And as your knowledge of God deepens, your desire to please Him will naturally increase.

What is required?

I believe the Father reveals Himself to those who hunger to know Him. Consider how Moses responded to the burning bush: he drew near to it and was eager to know the one true God. Later he prayed, “If I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You so that I may find favor in Your sight” (Ex. 33:13, emphasis added). It is obvious that Moses had one clear goal: to know his Creator, not simply know about Him. He wanted to relate to God on an intimate level—something much deeper than simply realizing that He exists. Moses’ quest to know the Lord led him to a relationship with the Almighty that changed his life forever.

In order to draw near to God, we must be willing to seek Him fervently, rather than pursuing solely our own comfort or ambitions. For example, David passionately sought the Lord and His ways. He wrote, “As the deer pants for water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God” (Ps. 42:1-2). As a result, he became the person the Lord called “a man after my own heart” (Acts 13:22 NIV).

And consider Mary, the mother of our Savior—she made a sacrificial choice to surrender to God’s will. When the angel told Mary she would bear a child conceived of the Holy Spirit, she knew obedience would make her life difficult. Yet she replied, “May it be done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).

As Moses, David, and Mary discovered, getting to know God may include walking with Him through life’s darkest valleys. But in these times, we gain tremendous insight into the Father’s character. Some of the most important lessons I’ve learned have come as a result of inexpressible heartache. God could have spared me from disappointment, but that was not His will for my life. He had greater things He wanted to teach me, and they could be learned only through sorrow and suffering.

Should we pray for trouble? No. But when it does strike, I counsel people to ask God to reveal what He wants them to learn through the situation. He “causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28). And as we draw near to the Father, He will reveal “great and mighty things” to our hearts and minds (Jer. 33:3).

What about you?

Perhaps you’ve wondered, Where is God? What is He like? Can I know Him personally? Does He care about me? The good news is that the Lord is here, right now, right beside you. His presence is with you constantly. The Lord calls to you as He did to Moses—inviting you to draw near and learn of His ways so that you may know and experience the depths of His lovingkindness.

My desire is for you to pray, “Let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight” (Ex. 33:13). When you begin to understand God’s mind and the way He works, you suddenly have the right tools to live an abundant life—one that is full and complete. Beyond this, you will have the Holy Spirit abiding within you, and He delights in supplying you with knowledge, love, peace, joy, intimacy, and hope. You will never know all there is to know about the Father’s ways, but you will learn quickly that He is in control and willing to guide you at every turn.

Nothing is more valuable than knowing God. The world may entice you to search for wisdom in any number of ways, but there is only one Source of ultimate truth. He patiently waits to reveal Himself to you.

Adapted from In Step with God: Understanding His Ways and Plans for Your Life (2008).

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Posted by: the warrioress | January 20, 2012

This Year’s Love

This Year’s Love

David Gray

Love is being stupid together

This years love had better last
Heaven knows it’s high time
I’ve been waiting on my own too long
But when you hold me like you do
It feels so right oh now
I start to forget
How my heart gets torn
When that hurt gets thrown
Feeling like you can’t go on

Turning circles and time again
It cut like a knife oh now
If you love me got to know for sure
‘Cause it takes something more this time
Than sweet sweet lies oh now
Before I open up my arms and fall
Losing all control
Every dream inside my soul
When you kiss me on that midnight street
Sweep me off my feet
Singing ain’t this life so sweet

This years love had better last
This years love had better last

Cause who’s to worry
If our hearts get torn
When that hurt gets thrown
Don’t yuh know this life goes on
Won’t you kiss me on that midnight street
Sweep me off my feet
Singing ain’t this life so sweet

This years love had better last
This years love had better last
This years love had better last
This years love had better last
This years love had better last,whoa yeah
This years love had better last

Love for Arts

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Posted by: the warrioress | January 19, 2012

The Biggest Sinner III – Conclusion

Christ and Sinner, version of 1875

Little did I realize when I started this series how controversial the topic is. Leave it to me to find something that would have extremist black or white perspectives.

Believe it or not though, there actually is a middle ground for the more moderate and I found a wonderful writing by a respected minister/teacher that explores this. 

Keith Drury makes the topic easy to understand so that we can all find our personal place, yet still respect and love our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who may differ with us on the topic. You see, what we don’t want is to become confused and begin to question our own salvation or drown in extremist conclusions that we must be perfect or we are not saved, or that we can never not sin.  Neither perspective is reasonable, really.

Remember:  OUR INTENT IS KEY.

Our heart counts.

If we sin unintentionally, there is grace for the believer, and this is the most important thing that every Christian and those who don’t believe need to know. God is not that harsh. We are deeply loved – all of us. God is not here to trick us or make our lives more difficult.

Have a read of the following. I’ve only included some of the paragraphs because it’s long, but you’ll get the gist of the matter, I think. 🙂

=-==-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

How much can a Christian sin and still say he or she is a Christian? Every day? Every hour? Constantly and continually? As a regular practice of life? Just how much can a Christian sin and still say they’re a Christian?

There are two general extremes on this issue of “How much can a Christian sin?”

VIEW #1 “Christians Can’t Sin.”

On one extreme are those who argue a real Christian can’t sin, because being delivered from sin is what being a Christian is all about. These folk argue that if you claim to be a Christian but you are sinning, you are a liar—Christians can’t sin. You might be able to say, “I used to be a Christian,” or “I thought I was a Christian,” but if you are sinning you can’t say, “I sin, but I am a Christian.” Christians can’t sin.

The “can’t sin” people can assemble plenty of Scripture to back up their position. They use verses like 1 John 3:6 & 9, “No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning.” “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in him and he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God.” The Bible is clear. Jesus came to save people from their sins, not in their sins, they assert. Christians don’t sin. They can’t. And if they should sin, they are no longer saved. After all what is the difference between a saved and an unsaved person? One lives like they always have—in sin and disobedience, and the other has a changed life: they have stopped sinning.

Those off on the “can’t sin” edge of doctrine often come from hyper-Arminian or holiness denominations. They have a great concern for the pure life—a life without sin. This is admittedly an admirable hope. But they go too far. They eventually came to insist on absolute purity as the minimum requirement for the Kingdom. They think they are following John Wesley. In fact, they start with Wesley then ride off on a tangent into the sunset with an aberration of Arminian doctrine. Instead of offering the future hope of living above sin, they insist on the present minimum of a sinless life—just to be in Christ’s family.

The “Christians can’t sin” doctrine leads to all kinds of crazy eccentricities in practice and doctrine. For instance, for these folk, every time a Christian does indeed fall into sin, he loses his relationship with Christ and has to start all over again and get saved. To them, sin is not allowed for Christians. So, whether a person sins or not is the ultimate measurement of your Christianity. The spotlight is on sin and self, not Christ and the cross. This is a seriously misplaced focus. (snip)

VIEW #2 “Christians must sin.”

This group takes up position on the other end of the scale. They argue that Christians must sin—they “can’t not sin.” This group teaches that sin is a natural and normal part of being human, and getting saved doesn’t change that at all. Why do we sin? We sin because we’re human, that’s why. We were born sinners. It’s in our blood, or at least our nature to sin. Adam was a sinner, and since then so have all his progeny—we are sinners at heart, and becoming a Christian doesn’t change that a bit. Before I was saved I was a sinner. After I was saved I am still a sinner, just a “saved sinner” now. In a sense God switched the label on me!

Then what does getting saved change? It changes our position before God, these folk teach. Before being saved we were a sinner on the way to hell. Now we are a sinner on the way to heaven. Our position changed: we are now adopted into God’s family. And because of this, all our sins—past present and future—were forgiven at one moment on the cross of Calvary 2000 years ago.

For the “must sin” people the focus is on Christ and the cross, never sin and self. They argue that St. Paul confessed he was the “chiefest of sinners” yet certainly he was a Christian wasn’t he? They like the book of 1 John too, especially preferring chapter one, verses 8 & 10, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us,” and “If we claim we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and His word has no place in our lives.” The Bible is clear, they say. Christians sin. They are human. Sin is just what we do. The point is not to be sinless, it is to recognize that the sins you regularly commit were forgiven in advance. They teach that Christians do not confess to gain forgiveness. Rather the value of confession is internal—a value to the person themselves.

So they say you are destined to keep on sinning. In fact, every Christian sins regularly, even “in word, thought, and deed every day.” These teachers deny that a Christian could ever “stop sinning.” Sorry, it’s just not possible. You might overcome an individual sin. You might even overcome a number of individual sins. But, they say, you will never overcome all sin. You must sin. There will always be some sin in your life. So just expect it and confess your daily sins to God each day. You might as well start now—you’ll have to do it until the day you die. (snip)

THE MIDDLE GROUND

Christians can sin…but they don’t have to.

You can’t help reading the two extremes on this issue without wondering, “They’re really saying the same thing aren’t they?” It’s true. At least in a way. While the teachers of these two extreme positions probably would not admit they agree, the average person in today’s church can quickly see the sensible middle road approach to these doctrines. They say, “Sure, Christians can fall into sin, but they don’t have to.” Where is the middle ground? What is the position where the vast majority of sensible laymen stand?

1. Christians CAN fall into sin.

James was hot-headed, John was judgmental. Peter denied Christ. The Bible is full of sinners—saved ones. To say that Christians can’t sin squares neither with the Bible nor life. Christians can and do sin. When they do sin they don’t immediately “fall from grace” either. Their relationship with God is stronger than that. How can you read in Paul’s epistles the constant call for Christians, saints, the redeemed, to put off sin, lay aside sin, crucify sin, mortify the deeds of the flesh. If Christians never sinned why would Paul address these “saints” and tell them to stop? The truth is, Christians can fall into sin.

2. But Christians don’t HAVE to sin.

While sin is possible for Christians, it is not required. To say that Christians have to sin—that they can never be delivered from disobedience—sells short the blood of Christ and the cross. Sure Christians can sin. But they can not sin too. Sin is a choice we make. We can choose to do it and sin. Or we can choose to refrain, and not sin. But we are not trapped forever in a sinful cycle. It is possible to resist temptation and keep from sinning. I might admit that I sin every day in word, thought, and deed. But I don’t have to. The atonement is powerful enough to not only forgive my sins, but to deliver me from sin. Christians don’t have to sin.

3. There are two ideas of sin.

Perhaps the biggest reason the middle ground is so hard to find on this issue is there are two ideas of sin. These two ideas are both in the Bible. But even our culture and legal system makes a distinction between them.

A) Sin as falling short. This idea of sin focuses on God’s standard of holiness. It says that anything which “falls short” of God’s perfect standard as seen in Jesus is sin. Our life is like an arrow, and any time the arrow of my thought, words, or deeds “falls short” of the perfect target in Jesus, I sin. This is the first idea of sin.

B) Sin as intentional disobedience. The second idea of sin focuses on intentions, or my will. This idea states that sin is knowing something is wrong but doing it anyway. Or it is knowing God wants me to do something right, yet refusing to do it. This idea of sin emphasizes only willful disobedience. Sin is a deliberate, premeditated incident. Sometimes this is called “sin, strictly speaking” to distinguish it from the more global definition of sin in A) above.
(snip)

4. Christians CAN’T live above sin, generally speaking.

In the sense of sin as falling short, Christians will always sin. That is, they will always fall short of being exactly Christ-like in every attitude, word, action, or response to others. This kind of perfection is neither promised nor given on earth. Christians can daily confess that they fall short of absolute perfection every day. This is speaking of sin in its general, or falling short manner. Do you sin every day in word, thought, and deed? In this sense of sin, yes. We all do.

5. Christians CAN live above sin, strictly speaking.

However, on the other hand, Christians can live above sin if you mean sin in the stricter sense—purposeful premeditated sin. A Christians can indeed grow up…be cleansed…get deliverance…be filled with the Spirit…walk in the light…so that they do in fact come to a place where they do not purposefully disobey God in their day to day life. There really is hope for “obedient living.” At least for a life free from defiant and deliberate sin. Sure, such a person may still fall short of perfection, but they can live above purposeful disobedience. This is the optimistic hope of the atonement.

So, what about you? Is there purposeful sin in your life? Is there something you are doing—or not doing—which is out of line with God’s instructions to you? You know its wrong but you are doing it anyway? Or you know God wants you to start something, but you’re dragging your feet? If so, what you need to do is clear. You need to (1) confess this sin to God, then (2) repent—turn away from the sin and “get in line.” If you are sinning in defiance, the issue is not to debate the definitions of sin. The issue is to stop your defiance. And the route to stopping has always been the same: confess and repent. Trust God’s atonement for the power to both forgive and deliver you from this sin. He can do it. And He will do it.

http://www.drurywriting.com/keith/sin.htm

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Posted by: the warrioress | January 18, 2012

The Biggest Sinner II

Beauty of stained glass

Part one of the Biggest Sinner became a bit tense in the comment section; there is  disagreement and misunderstanding on this topic within the body of Christ.  I thought I should try to clarify further with respected, reputable sources from theological scholars and those who are extremely well-studied on this issue.

I found a very interesting reading which tells us a bit more about what happens when we continue to sin as Christians and how God handles the sin that occurs when we slip up. This topic can be confusing. The way things are worded are important. If we don’t understand what Jesus did for us on the cross and continues to do for us, we can be overwhelmed by our struggles with sin and think we are not really saved. It’s important to understand this topic. 
 
Question: “Will God continue to forgive you if you commit the same sin over and over again?”
 
Answer:

To best answer this question, we’re going to look at two powerful passages of Scripture. The first is found in the book of Psalms: “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12).

One of the most effective tricks Satan plays on Christians is to convince us that our sins aren’t really forgiven, despite the promise of God’s Word. If we’ve truly received Jesus as Savior by faith, and still have that uneasy feeling wondering whether or not there is true forgiveness, that may be coming from demonic influences. Demons hate it when people are delivered from their grasp, and they try to plant seeds of doubt in our minds about the reality of our salvation.

In his vast arsenal of tricks, one of Satan’s biggest tools is to constantly remind us of our past transgressions, and he uses those to prove that God couldn’t possibly forgive or restore us. The devil’s attacks make it a real challenge for us to simply rest in the promises of God and trust His love.

But this psalm also tells us that God not only forgives our sins, but removes them completely from His presence. This is a profound thing! Without question, this is a very difficult concept for humans to grasp, which is why it’s so easy for us to worry and wonder about forgiveness instead of just accepting it. The key lies in simply giving up our doubts and our feelings of guilt and resting in His promises of forgiveness.

Another passage is 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” What an incredible promise! God forgives His children when they sin if only they come to Him and in an attitude of repentance and ask to be forgiven. God’s grace is so great that it can cleanse the sinner from his sin so that he becomes a child of God, and, correspondingly, it is so great that even when we stumble, we can be forgiven still.

In Matthew 18:21-22, we read, “Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, ‘Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.’” Peter was probably thinking that he was being generous.

Rather than repay a person who had committed a sin against him with equal retribution, Peter suggested giving the brother some leeway, say, up to seven times. But the eighth time, forgiveness and grace would run out. But Christ challenged the rules of Peter’s suggested economy of grace by saying that forgiveness is infinite for those who are truly seeking it. This is only possible because of the infinite grace of God which is made possible through the shed blood of Christ on the cross. Because of Christ’s forgiving power, we can always be made clean after we sin if we humbly seek it.

At the same time, it must be noted that it is not biblical for a person to sin habitually and continually as a lifestyle and still be a believer (1 John 3:8-9). This is why Paul admonishes us to “examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?” (2 Corinthians 13:5).

As Christians, we do stumble, but we do not live a lifestyle of continual, unrepentant sin. All of us have weaknesses and can fall into sin, even if we don’t want to. Even the apostle Paul did what he didn’t want to do because of the sin at work in his body (Romans 7:15). Like Paul, the response of the believer is to hate the sin, repent of it and ask for divine grace to overcome it (Romans 7:24-25). Although we need not fall because of God’s sufficient grace, sometimes we do because we rely upon our insufficient strength. When our faith grows weak and like Peter, we deny our Lord in word or in life, even then there is still a chance to repent and be forgiven of our sin.

Another one of Satan’s tricks is to get us into thinking that there is no hope, that there is no possibility that we can be forgiven, healed, and restored. He will try to get us to feel consumed and trapped by guilt so that we do not feel worthy of God’s forgiveness any longer. But since when were we ever worthy of God’s grace?

God loved us, forgave us and chose us to be in Christ before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4-6), not because of anything we did, but “in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory” (Ephesians 1:12). We must always keep in mind that there is no place we can go that God’s grace cannot reach, and there is no depth to which we can sink that God is no longer able to pull us out. His grace is greater than all of our sin. Whether we are just starting to wander off course or we are already sinking and drowning in our sin, grace can be received.

Grace is a gift from God (Ephesians 2:8). When we sin, the Spirit will convict us of sin such that a godly sorrow will result (2 Corinthians 7:10-11). He will not condemn our souls as if there is no hope, for there is no longer any condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1). The Spirit’s conviction within us is a movement of love and grace.

Grace is not an excuse to sin (Romans 6:1-2), and it dare not be abused, meaning that sin must be called sin, and it cannot be treated as if it is harmless or inoffensive. Unrepentant believers need to be lovingly confronted and guided to freedom, and unbelievers need to be told that they need to repent. Yet let us also emphasize the remedy, for we have been given grace upon grace (John 1:16). It is how we live, how we are saved, how we are sanctified, and how we will be kept and glorified. Let us receive grace when we sin by repenting and confessing our sin to God. Why live a soiled life when Christ offers to make us clean and whole and right in the eyes of God?

http://www.gotquestions.org/forgive-same-sin.html 

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Posted by: the warrioress | January 17, 2012

The Biggest Sinner

100 SINS TO CONFESS TO GOD

1. Lying
21. Slander
41. Disobeying Parents
61. Coarse Joking
81. Disbelief
2. Stealing
22. Harshness
42. Judgment of others
62. Empty words
82. Praying to be seen
3. Gossip
23. Idleness
43. Dishonor Parents
63. Their god is their stomach
83. Prayer-lessness
4. Lewd Thoughts
24. Wrong for wrong
44. Evil suspicions
64. Their glory is their shame
84. Keeping Jesus outside
5. Profanity
25. Grieving the Spirit
45. Impatience
65. Hollow philosophy
85. Fornication
6. Hatred
26. Quenching the Spirit
46. Lose heart
66. Tradition for truth
86. Uncleanness
7. Anger
27. Pride in what is seen
47. Callousness
67. False humility
87. Forgetting our cleansing
8. Wrath
28. Grumbling
48. Unforgiving
68. Worship of angels
88. Denying our Lord
9. Railing
29. Faultfinders
49. Perverse-ness
69. Carnality
89. Seeking justification by the law
10. Shameful speaking
30. Flattering
50. Meanness
70. Rudeness
90. Arrogant
11. Passion
31. Scoffing
51. Factions
71. Easily angered
91. Faithless
12. Covetousness
32. Pride of possessions
52. Envy
72. Keeping a record of wrongs
92. Seared conscience
13. Sexual Immorality
33. Despise authority
53. Drunkenness
73. Failing to discern the body
93. Loss of first love
14. Idolatry
34. Lording it over others
54. Orgies
74. Luke-warmness
94. Love of money
15. Witchcraft
35. Haughty eyes
55. Hardening of heart
75. Stinginess
95. Unkindness
16. Jealousy
36. Insult for insult
56. Continual lust
76. Loving to have pre-eminence
96. Divorce
17. Selfish Ambition
37. Immodesty
57. Deceit
77. Shepherds who feed only themselves
97. Filthiness
18. Fits of Rage
38. Retaliation
58. Bitterness
78. Stumbling block
98. Unmerciful
19. Dissensions
39. Threatening
59. Greed
79. Disrespect
99. Unyielding-ness
20. Malice
40. Homo-sexuality
60. Foolish talk
80. Fearfulness
100. Always right

(I found the little chart above and the reading below to be quite enlightening, so I thought I would share with the readers here. If you care to read more, the sources are below. Enjoy!)

Who’s the Biggest Sinner?

By David J. Stewart 

“For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” —James 2:10    

 You are! I am! We all are! It is human nature to look upon the sins and faults of others, while often overlooking our own sins. This is hypocrisy. One of the worst deceptions is overlooking our own faults. The Word of God proclaims in James 2:10 that committing even ONE SIN makes a person GUILTY in God’s eyes of breaking every command in the Bible. This is a startling doctrine that is hardly touched upon in churches today.

This is why the divorce rate amongst professed Christians is equal to that of the heathen unsaved world. In filing for divorce, a person is saying: “My spouse is a bigger sinner than I am; therefore, I have a right to abandon, quit and break my marriage vows.” No you don’t! Divorce is a horrible sin rooted in one’s own hypocritical self-righteousness. Nearly everyone who files for divorce blames their spouse. This is evil. The Bible teaches that we are all as guilty as the vilest sinner in God’s eyes. This doctrine is virtually unheard of nowadays, because few preachers stress the Law of God anymore, which condemns all of us as guilty sinners before God…

May I say, no matter how righteous I may try to live, the ONLY reason why I will ever be righteous is because of the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. Jesus paid my sin debt, and He alone is my righteousness. I have no righteousness to offer God, and neither do you.

People tend to selfishly judge themselves based upon what sins they personally DON’T commit. The Bible perfectly illustrates this in Jesus’ account of the Pharisee and the publican who went up to the temple to pray…

“Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted” (Luke 18:10-14).

The Pharisee in Luke 18:10-14 made the grave mistake of comparing himself with other people, instead of measuring himself up against the holy Law of God. If we foolishly look at other people who commit worse sins than we do, then we naturally become self-righteousness and think we are “better” than that person. I tell you, you are as filthy and rotten as Adolf Hitler in God’s eyes, and so am I…

“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away” (Isaiah 64:6).

Would to God that Christians in churches today would stop saying, “he has sinned,” or “she has sinned,” and that we’d all start saying, “we have sinned.” It is sinful pride that causes a wife to publicly criticize or divorce her husband. It is sinful pride that causes the manure spreading newsmedia to mercilessly destroy people’s lives. It is sinful pride that causes children to broadcast their parent’s dirty laundry to others. It is sinful pride that causes self-righteous hypocrites to meddle in other people’s marriages. I came to the realization one day as a believer that I am as rotten and sinful as the worst sinner. I am just as sinful as any adulterer, mass-murderer, homosexual, thief, liar or Satan worshipper. My sins are just as woeful and wrong. I have no room to condemn.

The Apostle Paul realized this great truth…

“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief” (1st Timothy 1:15).

Source

100 Sins

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Posted by: the warrioress | January 15, 2012

A House Divided II

There is no reason for discord or each going his or her own way within the body of Christ. Due to instructions that were clearly given to each one of us through the word of God, we have our commission.

St Matthew the Evangelist

Saint Matthew Evangelist

These instructions are timeless. They were given to us via Jesus Christ Himself. They were backed up by Paul’s words and by the actions of the apostles. If we are following in Christ’s disciple’s footsteps, if we are being faithful to what we committed ourselves to, our commission is carefully and clearly set before us through out the entirety of the New Testament. There is time for little else at this late hour.

There is most definitely no time for argument and bickering over doctrine, dogma, and the like between Christian brethren. There is no time for one-upmanship, self-righteousness, self-promotion, ego, or trivialities that takes us away from our purpose in Christ. As followers of Jesus Christ, we all have diverse gifts given to us by God, with which to bless and build up the body of Christ, but we were all called to evangelize the nations.

See if you don’t agree with our purpose after reading through a few examples below. You’ll see how clearly and thoroughly this was repeated in different ways, again and again.

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The Great Commission

16Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them ina the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Matthew 28: 16-20 

1 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge:

2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.6 For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. 7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing. 2 Timothy 4: 1-8

17 Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy. 18 They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. 19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. 20 “Go, stand in the temple courts,” he said, “and tell the people all about this new life.”  21 At daybreak they entered the temple courts, as they had been told, and began to teach the people. Acts 5: 17 -21

 41 The apostles left the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name. 42 Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah. Acts 5: 41 – 42

The Supremacy of the Son of God

 15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.

 21 Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of[g] your evil behavior. 22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation— 23 if you continue in your faith, established and firm, and do not move from the hope held out in the gospel. This is the gospel that you heard and that has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, have become a servant. Colossians 1: 15-23

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Posted by: the warrioress | January 14, 2012

Come To Me

 

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En toute lumière au marais...!!!

 

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Posted by: the warrioress | January 13, 2012

A House Divided

A house divided against itself cannot stand.

From the Bible, Matthew 12:25 (King James Version):

“And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand”.

It breaks my heart as I witness  Christians bickering with one another over the pettiest of issues like who is right and who is wrong.

For instance there are quarrels about what Jesus meant or did not mean; what He would think about “religion,” or about the state the church is in now. Would Jesus be a Democrat or a Republican? Whose politics would Jesus embrace; whose would He reject?  Frankly, I think Jesus already made it pretty clear what He would think about these in the passage above.

I think Jesus expects us to do the work of the Kingdom, to carry forth the Great Commission, to focus ourselves upon the work that is at hand. He’s not one for great debate and superfluous thought or bickering. As He said in Mark 9:40:

“for whoever is not against us is for us.”

Jesus would want us to embrace one another and remember that we all love Him, and that we are all working together as members of the Body of Christ for one solid renowned purpose — and that purpose is to bring those who don’t know Him, to Him, with great love and compassion as we go about this — our duty.

We should love one another, as He first loved us.  

Jesus H. Christ

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Posted by: the warrioress | January 12, 2012

… dear friend …

Aged Love

Image by Jo and Paul's pics via Flickr

i  really looked at you

underneath fluorescent light

iron gray locks so full,

now a thinning white

 

once leather coarsened arms,

indeed a fragile sight

blue eyes in a small face,

still swimming ever bright

 

your voice gentle soft

even raised in consternation

wiry legs once so strong,

spindly in my mind’s narration

 

dear friend, when did you get old

Aging

Image by Bob AuBuchon via Flickr

it happened right before my eyes

in between the busy moments

i don’t think i ever realized

 

your kindnesses and generosity

never ran low nor too deep

never got tired of being here

at the ready, awake or asleep

 

i don’t know how to let you leave

you’re everything i ever dreamed,

all i asked God for,

and hoped for it seems

 

oh, time sees you fading

as dusk turns to night

where will you be tomorrow

at dawn’s early light

 

our act is over, curtain call

Aging

Image by K. Kendall via Flickr

tattered memories turning frayed

fingers slipping from my grasp

time’s about to turn the page

 

dear friend, i don’t have to wonder

how i’ll find another

there never will be

anything close to any other

 

just tell me what you need

i’ll make it easy on you now

float into oblivious sleep

and rest that weary brow

 

…for donald

from adrienne

january 12, 2012

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Posted by: the warrioress | January 10, 2012

Candle Lighter Award!

I want to thank Cathy Craig Neil (Naphtali) at http://wp.me/p1mGu1-EU for giving me the Candle Lighter Award. I think she’s one of the better writers that I’ve read and I enjoy reading her blog consistently.

In order to be deserving of this award  you must possess FAITH of STEEL… You don’t have to do anything special for this award but if you know other bloggers who are deserving you should list as many of them as possible and go tell them to come get the award no strings attached.

This award belongs to those who believe, who always Survive the day and those who never stop Dreaming, for those who cannot quit, for those who keep trying and if you are in that category you are Entitled to this Award. So, in random order the following are Entitled:

Militant Christianity at http://militantchristianity.wordpress.com/

Pastor Bryan, Broken Believers, at http://brokenbelievers.com/

Out of the Dark Into the Light, at http://outofthedarkintothelight.wordpress.com/

Joan, Angels of Secrets, at http://angelsofsecrets.wordpress.com/

I Want To Believe in God, at http://iwanttobelieveingod.com/

Jessie Jeanine, at http://jessiejeanine.com/

Ernie Earth, The Word is God, at http://thewordisgod.wordpress.com/

Remso, a Voice in the Wilderness, at http://omharris.wordpress.com/

LeRoy Dean, Wordsmith’s Desk, at http://butchdean.wordpress.com/

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