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Post by tlsitd on May 30, 2018 12:44:42 GMT -5
All Christians need encouragement in their walk with the Lord. We live in a world that opposes us---a world which embodies and exalts everything that contradicts the teachings of Christian doctrine and which influences us constantly with the same. We have inward struggles against temptation, and stumblings into sin, and trials of faith that the world cannot understand or sympathize with or give us encouragement for. We need God and His word to encourage us in our battles and struggles, but He is also pleased for us to do this for one another.
So how do we do it? What is the right way to encourage our precious brothers and sisters in Christ in their faith?
The human instinct and temptation is to tell others what they want to hear, in order to make them feel better when they're in distress or feeling down. But that's not the way we should encourage one another as Christians. Why? Because the goal of Christian encouragement is not to make the other person feel good, first and foremost, but to encourage them to do whatever is pleasing to God, for whom we live, and who loves us and has our best interest at heart, and who we are supposed to reflect and glorify in all our doing and being---which may or may not be what the other person wants to hear, and may not make him or her happy.
Oftentimes the things that God wants us to do are not pleasant or convenient for us. They involve self-denial, self-control, self-sacrifice, patience, loss, humility, and even persecution. We know this. Christian living is hard living if the living is right living---and I don't mean in an ascetic way, or in the sense of having constant hardship or persecution of one kind or the other (which may be the case for some, but probably won't be for most), but rather in terms of obedience to Jesus against ourselves and against the world.
Christians who think that walking with Jesus Christ is effortless and fun probably aren't following Him as closely they should be. And I'm not suggesting that Christians should be miserable, but personal comfort and pleasure and having what we want in life and doing what we want to do is not the purpose or focus of the Christian life. The New Testament does not teach that the purpose of our life in Christ is happiness, or that happiness is our guarantee in this life. It actually teaches the opposite: Joy in the Lord and in the life to come, temptations, trials and persecution in this life. (When I read the New Testament, personal happiness in this life is not a theme of it, but the love of God is.)
So as Christians, we need to be encouraging each other in the things that the Scriptures encourage us in, and in the way that we believe the Lord would have us to do, whether that encouragement is well-received or not. If we are thinking about the favorable reception of what we share with other Christians, our motives are selfish. We don't have what pleases the Lord at heart, or what is best for the other person, but what will make the other person feel good and so make us feel good because of how what we share with the other person is received. That's not a righteous motive.
Instead, we should bear in mind, in our encouragement of our brothers and sisters, what God's goals and desires are, what His word says about a particular matter, and what will benefit the other person spiritually. We should encourage them with godly wisdom, point them to God's word, encourage them to trust and obey and to do what is pleasing to the Lord (at whatever cost), as the apostles did in their epistles and instructed others to do.
An example:
A brother tells me about the boat he's planning to buy and asks me to pray that God would help him to get a loan for it, because he's been wanting this boat forever and he and his family will have so much fun on it.
My response would probably be something to the effect of, "Do you really think that the Lord wants you to go into debt for a boat, brother? I don't believe that God wants us to go into voluntary debt for things; the Bible says 'owe no one anything, except to love each other' (Romans 13:8), and I believe He meant that and that we should abide by that precept. God provides us with everything we need to do His will, and even good things to enjoy, and we should be content with what we can afford without going into debt for things. Do you think that it's the Lord's perfect will for you to go into debt for a boat? Do you think that's the best use of His money? I would pray about that."
Now that brother might hate my advice, but I would have been giving him the advice that I believed was pleasing to the Lord and best for him. He might have gotten some personal happiness out of buying a boat, but I wouldn't have had the peace of God to encourage him to do it, or to agree to pray for what he had asked me to pray for him. This was a valuable opportunity for me to prompt him to consider his desires in the light of the Scriptures and to pray about whether what he had his heart set on was what the Lord wanted him to do, which will hopefully do him some spiritual good---even if it only planted the consideration in his mind and nudged his mind in the direction of God's mind. Now he'll have to think about that and to reconcile his desires and plans with God's word and his own conscience, and will hopefully choose not to violate either one---an invaluable practice for a Christian to hone.
The issue is bigger than the boat: It's a matter of mindset---thinking about what pleases the Lord and what His interests are vs thinking about how to get something that will make him happy. A Christian who makes a habit of choosing what pleases the Lord will have his or her mind increasingly renewed by God to discern and desire the same, and will reap spiritual blessings from Him, while a Christian who does not will not.
We can obtain happiness in lots of ways by getting what we want and doing what we desire to do, but the true joy of the Lord---which Jesus promised would be in us if we obeyed Him (John 15:10,11)---comes from our doing what pleases the Lord, just as Jesus delighted in doing the will of the Father. (Why would we have the joy of the Lord when we don't love the Lord and aren't living for Him but for ourselves? We might be happy doing that, but that happiness is not the joy of the Lord, because Jesus isn't happy with Christians who live that way. (See 2 Corinthians 5:15; Revelation 3:15-19).)
If we don't provoke one another to think as the Lord does and to see as He sees, and exhort one another to pursue what is good and to avoid what is evil, and remind one another of what God's word says---who is going to? The world?
Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called "today," that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. (Hebrews 3:12,13)
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works... (Hebrews 10:24)
And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. (1 Thessalonians 5:14)
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Post by John on May 30, 2018 14:39:58 GMT -5
Your post made me think of Proverbs 27:5,6. "Open rebuke is better than secret love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful."
I lost a friend warning them warning them they were in danger of going into sin. I was very nice in how I said it, but it wasn't what they wanted to hear. I know I did the right thing, and don't regret it. If it is a non sin issue, if they want my advise, I will be straight with them, but if they just ask me to pray, I will ask the Lord to work it out according to what is really in their best interests, not according to my feelings, but I leave it in the hands of God who knows what the end result will be.
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Post by Deleted on May 31, 2018 16:04:38 GMT -5
Amen...that is for sure one way to encourage each other, to remind each other what the will of the Lord is and how to live and walk before Him. Other ways include lifting the other up when someone is downcast:
Psa 42:5 Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. Psa 42:6 My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar. Psa 42:11 Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. Psa 43:5 Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.
And to remind and affirm that the Lord is able to deliver the righteous from all afflictions, and remind and encourage of the faithfulness of the Lord and that they will see the fruit in their life after they have suffered for a little while. Years ago my life fell apart after coming to Christ and I was in a bad way through two nervous breakdowns. The churches I went to didn't seem to offer any opportunity for getting any help with "bearing my burdens", people were nice, but kind of always smiling and keeping everything superficial, as though pretending that nothing was ever wrong. Not until coming out the churches did all those scriptures "click" about not being surprised at the painful trial, and the Lord chastising His children as sons, and the carrying of a cross, etc. Funny how the spirit in those churches had a hold on my mind and kept me blinded from really "seeing" those scriptures and being encouraged by them. I love the Psalms, and even though I was so bewildered at the circumstances of my life, I did find solace in the Psalms....David went through a lot, and there is always something we can find that relates to our trials or the trials of others, to encourage the suffering saint.
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Post by 2fw8212a on May 31, 2018 16:13:11 GMT -5
And to remind and affirm that the Lord is able to deliver the righteous from all afflictions... Nothing you can ask is a surprise for the Lord... "...For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him." - Matthew 6:8And He is just waiting for you... Just believe and trust in Him."Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the Lord delivers him out of them all." - Psalm 34:19
"The fear of the wicked will come upon him, And the desire of the righteous will be granted." - Proverbs 10:24
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Post by Deleted on May 31, 2018 18:48:14 GMT -5
And to remind and affirm that the Lord is able to deliver the righteous from all afflictions... Nothing you can ask is a surprise for the Lord... "...For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him." - Matthew 6:8And He is just waiting for you... Just believe and trust in Him."Many are the afflictions of the righteous, But the Lord delivers him out of them all." - Psalm 34:19
"The fear of the wicked will come upon him, And the desire of the righteous will be granted." - Proverbs 10:24
 Amen! It is so true, and proven true.....and I am smiling because even just a few days ago the Lord answered a prayer for help and He has healed a breach that the devil was intimidating me with and exploiting. Praise the Lord, He is SO good and faithful! i love His ways! 
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Post by tlsitd on May 31, 2018 18:54:40 GMT -5
Amen...that is for sure one way to encourage each other, to remind each other what the will of the Lord is and how to live and walk before Him. Other ways include lifting the other up when someone is downcast: Psa 42:5 Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. Psa 42:6 My soul is downcast within me; therefore I will remember you from the land of the Jordan, the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar. Psa 42:11 Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. Psa 43:5 Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God. And to remind and affirm that the Lord is able to deliver the righteous from all afflictions, and remind and encourage of the faithfulness of the Lord and that they will see the fruit in their life after they have suffered for a little while. Years ago my life fell apart after coming to Christ and I was in a bad way through two nervous breakdowns. The churches I went to didn't seem to offer any opportunity for getting any help with "bearing my burdens", people were nice, but kind of always smiling and keeping everything superficial, as though pretending that nothing was ever wrong. Not until coming out the churches did all those scriptures "click" about not being surprised at the painful trial, and the Lord chastising His children as sons, and the carrying of a cross, etc. Funny how the spirit in those churches had a hold on my mind and kept me blinded from really "seeing" those scriptures and being encouraged by them. I love the Psalms, and even though I was so bewildered at the circumstances of my life, I did find solace in the Psalms....David went through a lot, and there is always something we can find that relates to our trials or the trials of others, to encourage the suffering saint. Yes, the Psalms have helped me much too, and continue to. We definitely need to encourage one another to trust in God and to be patient, to persevere, and to fix our minds on eternal joy and believe in God's love for us and good His purposes towards us in times of trial and weariness. We should follow the Spirit's lead in what we say to all; He knows each person's true needs, and can guide us to exhort, comfort or counsel them appropriately.
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Post by tlsitd on Jun 5, 2018 6:55:37 GMT -5
Make your focus and concern being a good Christian---rather than being something or doing something for Jesus or having some spiritual gift. Let that be your focus and what you pour your heart and soul into, and God will work in and through you in whatever way He may be pleased to do it.
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Post by 2fw8212a on Jun 5, 2018 7:18:58 GMT -5
Make your focus and concern being a good Christian---rather than being something or doing something for Jesus or having some spiritual gift. Let that be your focus and what you pour your heart and soul into, and God will work in and through you in whatever way He may be pleased to do it. Being a christian is what all people should be...
"Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ." - 1 Corinthians 11:1
"Let all that you do be done with love." - 1 Corinthians 16:14
Humility is very important at any point of our walk, at the start it is the hardest and the person will fight hard against pride and self.
"Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation..." - Mark 14:38
"Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life." - Proverbs 4:23
The more we know the Lord, the more responsibility we have.
"Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind." - Philippians 3:16
"...For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more." - Luke 12:48
God bless you in Jesus' name!
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Post by tlsitd on Jun 5, 2018 7:55:26 GMT -5
We live in the presence of a HOLY God. Never forget that.
If we're not holy---practically holy, holy in mind and holy in deed---the other six days of the week, we're NOT holy on the Lord's day either. We should have the same reverence for the holy God we belong to when we are not in a religious place or wearing special clothes or in religious company that we pretend to have when we are. Remember that when you are sitting in the sanctuary, in your special clothes, God sees what you were doing the rest of the week and what is going on in your heart, and He knows what you are going to do and how you are going to be when you leave that place of worship.
Remember the words of the Lord through the prophet Isaiah:
"When you come to appear before Me, who has required of you this trampling of My courts? Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations--- I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. ..Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before My eyes..." (Isaiah 1:12,13,16)
As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, "You shall be holy for I am holy." And if you call on Him as Father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile... (1 Peter 1:14-17)
...In the last days there will come times of difficulty (or 'perilous times'). For people (Christians) will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. (2 Timothy 3:1-5)
God does not want practically unholy saints in special clothes, giving Him lip-service and money one day a week; He wants practically holy saints in clean robes, giving Him heart service all week. Holy in body and in spirit. Serving the Lord; honoring Him in all that we do. Obedience. Faithfulness. Reverence. Righteous fear. Acceptable worship.
If you would be ashamed for other Christians to be able to see you the rest of the week, away from church, shouldn't you be that much more ashamed knowing that God does see you that way the rest of the week? A Christian should not have to assume an appearance to worship the Lord or to be in the presence of other Christians; he or she should be the same all week long---as we live in the presence of God all week long. If this is not the case, then he or she has no business dressing up to offer God lip-service on the Lord's day, and his or her 'worship' is not acceptable to Him.
"Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts..." (Isaiah 6:3)
"Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!" (Revelation 4:8)
(The same God who dwells in heaven dwells in you.)
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Post by frienduff on Jun 5, 2018 9:20:40 GMT -5
Praise the LORD sister lights , praise the Lord . absolutely true . IF HE is truly in us , We understand clearly WHO even is giving us this unction to do as you said sister lights . ITS THE SPIRIT . SEE, the SPIRIT really truly DOES teach us TO BE HOLY , to desire TO BE HOLY . And we know its not that type of HOLY to be seen by men ITS LIVING HOLY FROM the HEART , WHICH has That desire IN US FROM HIM . When I said we are saved soley by grace , SO TRUE . But most folks don't realize , men can and do FAIL of the grace of GOD . One fails , when the fail to HEED that grace and choose rather to obey the flesh , and if left uncorrected , man that end is bad . This is why when any, any believer does err, OH we must be fast to do all to correct that one . And a huge reminder of instruction in righteousness, IS found in them holy scriptures . Thus , let us feast from the HOLY BOOK and walk by the SPIRIT and obey the ONE who can keep us from falling , and we will never fall. As one once said , FOR IF you do these things , YOU SHALL NEVER FALL. ITS all about OBEYING JESUS . and learned men BY the SPIRIT will teach that pattern to their churches . IF NOT , flee them, they hirelings working for mo money . Any true seasoned man who leads a church, WOULD KNOW THAT . If a simple wee thing like me knows it , THE LEADERS of CHURCHES should long have known it . IN fact, till one is TRULY seasoned in the word and doctrine and has had their senses truly exercised to discern between good and evil , THEY ought not lead no one . the office of a deacon, bishop, pastor , teacher , ought be held only by men who are mature, and even they must be tested and even they must be tested every time they teach . For man is infallible , BUT NOT GOD , NOT HIS WORD and not HIS WORDS . THEY alone e, HE ALONE is the PERFECT ONE who is able to guide us into all truth by that holy comforter . As I have said before , any one speaking must be tested . Let all things be done according to that perfect will of GOD. And in all things Let It BE HE who is put first above all, and to love one another as well. Now throw those hands up so high into the air were it not for tendons they would fly straight up and off the body . YEAH its LORD praising time .
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Post by tlsitd on Jun 5, 2018 12:42:56 GMT -5
Human beings are naturally predisposed to be more concerned with and focused on doing than being---with outward activity and appearance rather than with the inward state---and Christians are no exception. But God is exactly the opposite: He wants the inside to be right first so that whatever the person does will be done in the right way and for the right reasons.
When we first get saved, we're zealous for Jesus and we want to do things for Him, but God is more concerned with making us more like Himself than He is with us doing things for Him. We have to be right on the inside before we're any good to do anything on the outside---and far too many of us, rather than sitting at the Lord's feet and getting to know Him and learning to follow orders straight off, get saved and get busy, neither knowing our God well and what is pleasing to Him or what He wants us to do personally, or being much like Him in mind and in heart, and following our own ideas or others' ideas about what we should do and how to do things, rather than seeking to know and do the Lord's will.
I don't believe God sends spiritual infants out to do much of anything for Him (though they may send themselves, or be sent by other Christians). They're not ready. They don't know what they're doing: They don't know the character and desires of the one they're attempting to serve well enough to do so effectively, they aren't enough like Him to represent Him much, and they don't know their spiritual adversaries well enough to combat and resist them---nor have they honed the essential practice of putting themselves to death and choosing the desires and will of the Lord over their own. (The demons love that; they can lead a Christian like that all over hill and dale. The more ignorant and immature, the more self-loving, the easier to subvert---and keep from maturing into a serious obstacle to their cause.)
It would be wise advice for churches to counsel new believers to wait on the Lord, learn from Him, and grow into Him, rather than to get up and do. They'll be busy doing, but the doing will amount to wood, hay and straw; and in their self or man-appointed busy-ness they're missing out on learning from and growing into the character of Christ---being molded by God to be a humble and faithful servant instead of a master who lives for and according to his own will and is loyal to himself and to men rather than his Lord, and who does all sorts of things "for Jesus" that do not in fact honor the Lord and that the Lord isn't pleased for him to be doing.
We must first learn who God is, what He is like (and what He is not like), what He wants and does not want, how to wait on Him, how to listen to Him, how to put ourselves to death in order to do His will, how to trust Him, how to walk in love. (And all this comes by the study of His word and the application of His doctrine to our lives, and the continuous use of God-given faith.) That's where we should start as spiritual infants---sitting at the feet of our Teacher and getting used to the yoke.
Not doing this first makes a mess of a Christian's walk with the Lord; he doesn't know what he's doing, and has never really gotten used to the idea that he is no longer the master of his life. Instead of Jesus leading the Christian, the Christian is leading and pulling Jesus along after him, to help him do what he wants to do and get what he wants (not that the Lord will actually go along with that or do it, but the foolish Christian thinks He will and is). And he's so preoccupied with whatever he's doing "for Jesus" that he doesn't realize how little like the Lord he actually is (but God does). Worse, when the Lord makes known to him that His will for him is different than what he wants for himself, he's jealous for what he's built and acquired for himself (his ministry or organization, his reputation, and the personal benefits thereof) and doesn't want to let it go---which proves that he really isn't doing it for Jesus. If he keeps on, he's a hypocrite and an idolater.
If we're humble, and our hearts are pure and sincere and set on doing whatever pleases the Lord, He will lead us to do and enable us to do all His will in His time; we won't sacrifice sanctification for works, and whatever works we do will be gold, silver and precious stones, for which we will be eternally rewarded.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 5, 2018 13:38:40 GMT -5
A careful study of the life of Moses gives us some excellent insight into how it usually goes from first flush to matured saint.
In an ideal world everyone would be discipled (and properly), just as Jesus discipled the twelve. It's not an ideal world though, as we know...but thankfully the Lord is not too weak or powerless to still help navigate His own on this pilgrimage we call life, as He did Moses. We want to avoid trying to control or quenching the spirit in new believers as well....they bring more to the table than is often realized.
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Post by John on Jun 5, 2018 14:54:19 GMT -5
A new Christian will often make a great evangelist. They are excited about what God did for them, and want to tell everybody. What they are not ready for is trying to be teachers. You can't teach something you know nothing about.
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Post by frienduff on Jun 5, 2018 18:50:42 GMT -5
A new Christian will often make a great evangelist. They are excited about what God did for them, and want to tell everybody. What they are not ready for is trying to be teachers. You can't teach something you know nothing about. That right their is very sad too . I notice that many who were once excited and so greatful for what the LORD had done , no longer are , as the cares and pleasures in life or some other lust choked the word right out of them . The love they had at the first is gone . oh they may still know some things , but the works they did at the first are Gone . And if many repent not , their candlestick will be put out . JESUS knew and knows what can choke the word right out of folks . And it is why paul knew and said to EXHORT daily lest any becomes hardened through the deceitfulness of sin . That and we are also in the days where the love of many has just waxed cold , due to the ever increasing increase of inquity , in the world and worse in the churches who have become as the world . We in the days called LAST . If we cannot see this , something has hindered our walk . WE in the last O the last days . As in the signs are ever clear . Time to armour up , time to solider on , the trenches that others through all ages have dug by the wisdom GOD gave to all who are HIS ITS TIME to rush full force into those trenches , cause the peak , the climax the apex of the final hour is nigh . Let the weapons be sharpened LET the Shields be raised and the LORD praised . have all the whole armour of GOD , cause the devil aint dozing , HE IS ravaging wild with delusion and its infecting masses , all to cause the world and its entirety to come under one mind , one heart , one all inclusive unity mindset ON WHICH THE BEAST WILL STAND . SO the call is sounded , the trumpet calls...................And the song plays as it has in all ages , the final tune of the end time battle rushes right towards us all. I am going to sound it , in a military style manner. COLUMN right , extend to the the right flank and put down suppressive fire on to the flanks , Column Left , extend to the left flank and set down suppressive fire on that flank. TO the rear and to the front , FORM the circle and let each man have overlaying fields of fire that cross over . Let all avenues of approach be covered . The final hour battle DOES approach and let none fall asleep on post .
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