PG4Him
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Post by PG4Him on Aug 10, 2018 8:24:12 GMT -5
We should also remember the time when Martha complained because her sister wasn’t helping her clean the house, and Jesus told Martha to relax. I don’t think it is ever God’s will for us to run ragged and be a nervous Nellie for no good reason. There may be seasons when He tests us, but like sister light is saying, I agree He is always strategic in how He spends our energy.
I think we are all mostly saying the same things in a different way.
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Post by frienduff on Aug 10, 2018 9:25:40 GMT -5
I can see both sides of the burnout debate. Last year when I prayed six months straight for my life to be spared, it was a huge battle. Lots of other people rallied around me. Prayers, encouragement, counsel, everything. When my answer finally came in December, I was done. Empty. Worn out. There were days when I literally had no energy to pray. It took a while before I returned to action. I think sometimes it is His will to push us past our limit so we know we must depend on Him. Moses lost strength in his arms during battle, and men had to stand nearby to prop up his arms. The Bible doesn’t promise we will never feel exhausted. When Paul said he was poured out like water, I think he felt that. It didn’t stop him from doing what he needed to do, but I doubt it felt pleasant. We can rejoice in our trials even as we know they are trials. Be encouraged my dear sister . for men ought always to pray and FAINT NOT . often the reason many do faint , they keep wanting something in their own time , and not in Gods perfect time . And let us rememeber that paul too prayed and asked the LORD three times to remove his thorn . And he was told NO , my strength is made perfect in weakness. THEN paul shouted , OH I would rather glory in my infirmities that the POWER O CHRIST rest upon me . ALWAYS does GOD work together all things for HIS GLORY and unto our own welfare . IF our main focus is , OH LORD never the less your will be done . WE WILL NOT burn out at all. sure it may not FEEL good at the time to suffer , but we KNOW GOD does work all things together for the good of those who love HIM . I HOPE that encouraged you dear sister . You have encouraged me so often . You just throw those hands up and give a shout of praise to the LORD .
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PG4Him
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Post by PG4Him on Aug 10, 2018 10:27:24 GMT -5
My answer did come in due time! I didn’t faint or quit too early. But let me tell you, it used up my last drop. James wasn’t kidding when he said the testing of our faith produces endurance. It takes time and practice to build up the endurance for a long-term fight. Jesus freely gives us grace — but endurance, commitment, and nerves of steel have to be developed.
I just don’t want young people to think that they’re doing something wrong if they feel like their endurance is weak.
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PG4Him
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Post by PG4Him on Aug 10, 2018 10:50:20 GMT -5
Let me also speak a word on the topic of healing/answers. Discernment definitely comes into play. God uses trials to help us grow, but we must be wise in what sort of growth is happening. One sickness over here might a chance to practice depending on grace. Another sickness might be an attack (or a generational issue) that we need to practice standing against.
Attacks and thorns are two different things. Sometimes I've seen ministers hedge their bets because they rarely see God's healing power; if they don't expect a hurting person to actually be healed, they will default to giving the answer that it must be a thorn.
Jesus healed every kind of sickness in the gospels. We don't see a record of Him telling anyone to live without a healing. Of course this doesn't mean there are no thorns. But I believe real thorns are few and far between.
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Post by 2fw8212a on Aug 10, 2018 12:29:37 GMT -5
Sometimes I've seen ministers hedge their bets because they rarely see God's healing power; In the developed world, unbelief is the most impeding factor for healing. It is hard to witness in an unbelieving environment.
There are places where you can just like feel a high degree of unbelief.
"Now He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief." - Matthew 13:58Jesus healed every kind of sickness in the gospels. We don't see a record of Him telling anyone to live without a healing. It is all a matter of faith... if the person can come in faith then they can be healed.
"But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord;" - James 1:6-7
And I mean true, sincere faith... not to be confused with premeditated behavior and the like.
I believe true faith is something that comes differently, you just desire and believe it, and for good reasons.
"For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love." - Galatians 5:6
There are other times the Lord acted by compassion, discernment and faith:
"when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.”" - Luke 13:12
"So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound — think of it — for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?" - Luke 13:16
"When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her and said to her, “Do not weep.”" - Luke 7:13
"Then He came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried him stood still. And He said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.”" - Luke 7:14
"And He said to the man who had the withered hand, “Step forward.”... ...He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other." - Mark 3:3+5
"Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time..." - 1 Peter 5:6
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Post by tlsitd on Aug 10, 2018 13:53:46 GMT -5
Let me also speak a word on the topic of healing/answers. Discernment definitely comes into play. God uses trials to help us grow, but we must be wise in what sort of growth is happening. One sickness over here might a chance to practice depending on grace. Another sickness might be an attack (or a generational issue) that we need to practice standing against. Attacks and thorns are two different things. Sometimes I've seen ministers hedge their bets because they rarely see God's healing power; if they don't expect a hurting person to actually be healed, they will default to giving the answer that it must be a thorn. Jesus healed every kind of sickness in the gospels. We don't see a record of Him telling anyone to live without a healing. Of course this doesn't mean there are no thorns. But I believe real thorns are few and far between. I wouldn't know how common true thorns in the flesh are. Certainly not all sicknesses or afflictions are thorns, and God is as able to heal every affliction today as He ever has been (I have personally experienced the miraculous healing power of Jesus); but as far as the commonness of true thorns, I don't know. I tend to believe they're probably common among saints to whom God has given much in the way of knowledge or power, to keep them from getting puffed up like Satan did. But I don't believe that a thorn is always caused by a demon, as it was in Paul's case. Also, in Jesus' case, everything He did during His earthly ministry was according to the will of the Father, including healing the sick, which was partially to fulfill the Scripture about Him: "He took our illnesses and bore our diseases" (Matthew 8:16,17). There are obviously times when it is not God's will to heal someone for one reason or another, but it's certainly not because He isn't able to. He could be testing their faith by it; He could be chastening them. Or it could be a thorn in the flesh. Jesus warned the one invalid man who He healed at the pool of Bethsaida/Bethesda to stop sinning or something worse might happen to him (John 5:14). I believe that this is likely the case with a lot of Christians, but pastors probably don't want to go there for fear of hurting the person's feelings or being resented by them. I strongly suspect that the majority of pastors just tell people that God is testing their faith, or perhaps that it is a thorn in the flesh; but neither of those answers is going to help the person if they're actually being chastened by God. Another reason pastors might give Christians one of those two answers is because they themselves are afraid that they don't have the spiritual power and authority from God to heal the sick or cast out demons (and they may not). So to avoid getting someone's hopes up---or being embarrassed by failure---they give them an answer that takes their own power and authority from God out of the equation. The Bible gives us several reasons for why a Christian might be sick or have some kind of affliction, whether natural or supernatural (demonic): That the power of God might be demonstrated in their life by healing them (John 9:1-3); sin/God's chastening (1 Corinthians 11:29-32; James 5:14-16); testing of faith (Job); thorn in the flesh (2 Corinthians 12:7). Or it could just be a consequence of living in a fallen world where there is disease, disorder, and demons. I'm not one of those who believes that every infirmity is caused by a demon that needs to be cast out. I think every case has to be examined to determine what the cause and reason is in order to address it appropriately. Otherwise we might wind up doing double harm to the one afflicted, or at the very least, no good.
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PG4Him
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Post by PG4Him on Aug 10, 2018 15:55:13 GMT -5
A sickness can come from just about anywhere! We can bring it on ourselves through lifestyle habits we learned through our parents (these are the majority of so-called generational curses). We can allow uncontrolled stress or personal drama to weaken our bodies. We can choose to live in a particular city or work in a particular industry that endangers us. We can even mentally have a bad attitude that manifests in our bodies. I believe people unwittingly cause much suffering to themselves which was not God's will.
I've found that if we seek the Lord for an explanation, He will give us some idea of where a sickness came from. This is the first step in knowing how to handle it. Christians often waste a lot of time "casting out" a problem that really boils down to bad behavior. And even when there are demonic forces at work, they tend to gain access through behavioral habits that need to change.
A good pastor should be able to work with a Christian on how to get these answers. Paul told Timothy to avoid laying hands on people hastily. We shouldn't just blindly pray in agreement with people who tell us half the story. We definitely shouldn't join them in rebuking a work God is trying to do, or putting blame on the wrong person in our prayers. When people (especially pastors) are just guessing and tossing their prayers to the wind, it's no wonder they rarely get results!
** Disclaimer: I know there are times when we're asked to pray for a friend based on limited information. We must be wise in praying without foolish speculations.
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Cletus
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Post by Cletus on Aug 10, 2018 17:03:36 GMT -5
I was not aware the term burned out was used in reference to a permanent state? i have always heard and used it to have non permanent meaning. I have felt temporarily "burned out" or "worn out" many times in my Christian life, but God has always eventually restored me and kept me going in doing what He wanted me to do. And as Candance said, I believe that God pushes us beyond our own strength in order to teach us to rely on His. We may get fatigued or even give up for a time out of discouragement or despair, but if it is the Lord's will for us to continue to do a thing, He brings us back and renews our strength, and gives whatever we need to keep going. It's a spiritual exercise to increase our dependence upon God and to teach us to trust Him more. When I think of a Christian being burned out I think of a person who just doesn't know when to stop or when to say no. They may be very eager to be involved in a lot of Christian activities or ministries of some kind, but it's not the Lord's will for them to be involved in them all (or even any of them); and they just keep taking on more and more---trying to do everything for everyone who asks them to do something, because they want to (but not because Jesus wants them to do this). So they wind up running themselves into mental and physical exhaustion, and even having health problems; but it's not because God exhausted them or wanted them to become exhausted, but because they didn't discern His will for them. My personal belief is that God sometimes allows Christians to burn themselves out so that they have to be still and spend time alone with Him, learning whatever it is He wants to teach them. There are people that just won't sit still, and they're so busy for God that they don't have time to get to know Him very well or learn what He actually wants them to be doing. So He stops them. What God wants more than doing (which is our natural inclination as humans) is the knowledge of Himself, the understanding of His will for us, and obedience to that. Any activity that springs from those things is appropriate activity; any activity that hinders that (even if the activity itself is good and does good) is not actually beneficial to us or God's desire, and He may put a stop to it, in order to work on those other things with us. It's not the quantity of our activities that matters to God but the quality of them---whether they are His will for us or not (gold, silver and precious stones, vs. wood, hay and straw); and His primary concern is our sanctification. Jesus spent most of His earthly life as a carpenter, and not a year of that time was wasted; John the baptist spent most of his life in the wilderness, and not a year of that time was wasted. If we don't let God do His work in us His way and learn to wait on Him, rely on Him, and follow His lead in doing His will, we're not going to be effective saints, or very Christ-like. Those lessons can't be learned if we're always busy with our own projects and undertakings, even if they are Christian in nature. So Christians who are like this might be sidelined by God in order for Him to teach and do in them what He desires and knows they need. And our sanctification is always God's primary objective, not what we do for Him, in terms of a ministry. thats a fairly bold statement to make to someone that you know Gods will for someone else better than they do. especially when the person you are saying that to did at the time of their involvement of this ministry spend every waking moment praying and singing and God used them to preach the gospel and pray with people and the result is hundredS, plural, of people were saved. and when i say used, i do not mean i spoke my own words. I mean The Holy Ghost took over my mouth and spoke, with such authority even that I was wowed myself the things that came out of my mouth. I know very well when God says to feed His sheep if i say no because its to much work then i say no to Him... which is violence towards Him. Its rebellion.
Its also highly interesting you mentioned silver. I heard me a sermon once about the refining fire, specifically refining silver. Silver smiths back in the day didnt have all these fancy ovens and thermometers, they had to do it the old fashion way. they had to purify the silver of impurities, or dross. the silver had to be heated, hot. the silver could not remain in the fire a moment to long or it was ruined forever. the way a silver smith knew it was pure... His own reflection appeared the moment the dross came out. and quickly he had to remove it from the fire. Now personally, i am what you call a "steel junkie" i like my knives and the type of alloy matters what kind of performance you will get. I have educated myself about how different steel alloys are made, manufacturing processes and steps taken, as well as the cyrotreat or temper process. there is way to much to explain here but the heat causes tremendous pressure on a molecular level and what seems to be tough and hard as steel during the manufacturing process can make it quite soft. if one step is left out its brittle or soft and wont be good to use for a knife. when you get into forging steel you can see how the heat changes the properties and its quite soft compared to before/after its heated. point being... doing Gods will is no walk in the park sometimes. you can expect pressure and heat, even the term the great tribulation means grapes or olives in a vat being "pressed" from all sides. Jesus Himself had drops of blood fall from His forehead as sweat. I forget the medical term for this but its when you are under so much stress tiny blood vessels burst in your forehead and seep out. Doing Gods will can cost you everythiing as Paul and Steven show us in the bible. the silver is not ruined but it does go thru tremendous heat and pressure... silver is fairly soft anyway, but when its melted its even softer. God brings us thru this fire. expect to experience heat and pressure. its not going to destroy you, but you do need to rest... during the cryo-treat or tempering process you have to let it cool(rest). different methods bring about different qualities in steel alloys. some methods use a sub-zero quench. negative 215 degrees is not uncommon. some steels this will cause it to be more brittle... but hold a finer edge longer. some methods cause the edge to dull fast but be able to not chip under great pressure from impact. even more... some help to resist corrosion. its not all about the steel alloy chosen but the manufacturing process matters too. God knows what he is doing, and its true He wont destroy us by doing His will, but its not all daisies and rainbows doing Gods will. expect to experience enough heat to melt you, and be reformed. expect to become worn out and exhausted. expect to push the limits. expect to get out of your comfort zone.
I prefer CPM 3V steel for a knife btw. its a happy medium of edge retention, toughness, and corrosion resistance. no other alloy has such a happy blend of all three characteristics. i like a hardness of 60-62 Rc. I have not sharpened my knife in over one month and i use it every day, a lot. wont pop hair off my arm right now but it'll slice paper and cardboard like hot butter. I sharpen at 15 degree convex grind.
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Post by tlsitd on Aug 10, 2018 17:15:13 GMT -5
I have felt temporarily "burned out" or "worn out" many times in my Christian life, but God has always eventually restored me and kept me going in doing what He wanted me to do. And as Candance said, I believe that God pushes us beyond our own strength in order to teach us to rely on His. We may get fatigued or even give up for a time out of discouragement or despair, but if it is the Lord's will for us to continue to do a thing, He brings us back and renews our strength, and gives whatever we need to keep going. It's a spiritual exercise to increase our dependence upon God and to teach us to trust Him more. When I think of a Christian being burned out I think of a person who just doesn't know when to stop or when to say no. They may be very eager to be involved in a lot of Christian activities or ministries of some kind, but it's not the Lord's will for them to be involved in them all (or even any of them); and they just keep taking on more and more---trying to do everything for everyone who asks them to do something, because they want to (but not because Jesus wants them to do this). So they wind up running themselves into mental and physical exhaustion, and even having health problems; but it's not because God exhausted them or wanted them to become exhausted, but because they didn't discern His will for them. My personal belief is that God sometimes allows Christians to burn themselves out so that they have to be still and spend time alone with Him, learning whatever it is He wants to teach them. There are people that just won't sit still, and they're so busy for God that they don't have time to get to know Him very well or learn what He actually wants them to be doing. So He stops them. What God wants more than doing (which is our natural inclination as humans) is the knowledge of Himself, the understanding of His will for us, and obedience to that. Any activity that springs from those things is appropriate activity; any activity that hinders that (even if the activity itself is good and does good) is not actually beneficial to us or God's desire, and He may put a stop to it, in order to work on those other things with us. It's not the quantity of our activities that matters to God but the quality of them---whether they are His will for us or not (gold, silver and precious stones, vs. wood, hay and straw); and His primary concern is our sanctification. Jesus spent most of His earthly life as a carpenter, and not a year of that time was wasted; John the baptist spent most of his life in the wilderness, and not a year of that time was wasted. If we don't let God do His work in us His way and learn to wait on Him, rely on Him, and follow His lead in doing His will, we're not going to be effective saints, or very Christ-like. Those lessons can't be learned if we're always busy with our own projects and undertakings, even if they are Christian in nature. So Christians who are like this might be sidelined by God in order for Him to teach and do in them what He desires and knows they need. And our sanctification is always God's primary objective, not what we do for Him, in terms of a ministry. thats a fairly bold statement to make to someone that you know Gods will for someone else better than they do. especially when the person you are saying that to did at the time of their involvement of this ministry spend every waking moment praying and singing and God used them to preach the gospel and pray with people and the result is hundredS, plural, of people were saved. and when i say used, i do not mean i spoke my own words. I mean The Holy Ghost took over my mouth and spoke, with such authority even that I was wowed myself the things that came out of my mouth. I know very well when God says to feed His sheep if i say no because its to much work then i say no to Him... which is violence towards Him. Its rebellion.
Its also highly interesting you mentioned silver. I heard me a sermon once about the refining fire, specifically refining silver. Silver smiths back in the day didnt have all these fancy ovens and thermometers, they had to do it the old fashion way. they had to purify the silver of impurities, or dross. the silver had to be heated, hot. the silver could not remain in the fire a moment to long or it was ruined forever. the way a silver smith knew it was pure... His own reflection appeared the moment the dross came out. and quickly he had to remove it from the fire. Now personally, i am what you call a "steel junkie" i like my knives and the type of alloy matters what kind of performance you will get. I have educated myself about how different steel alloys are made, manufacturing processes and steps taken, as well as the cyrotreat or temper process. there is way to much to explain here but the heat causes tremendous pressure on a molecular level and what seems to be tough and hard as steel during the manufacturing process can make it quite soft. if one step is left out its brittle or soft and wont be good to use for a knife. when you get into forging steel you can see how the heat changes the properties and its quite soft compared to before/after its heated. point being... doing Gods will is no walk in the park sometimes. you can expect pressure and heat, even the term the great tribulation means grapes or olives in a vat being "pressed" from all sides. Jesus Himself had drops of blood fall from His forehead as sweat. I forget the medical term for this but its when you are under so much stress tiny blood vessels burst in your forehead and seep out. Doing Gods will can cost you everythiing as Paul and Steven show us in the bible. the silver is not ruined but it does go thru tremendous heat and pressure... silver is fairly soft anyway, but when its melted its even softer. God brings us thru this fire. expect to experience heat and pressure. its not going to destroy you, but you do need to rest... during the cryo-treat or tempering process you have to let it cool(rest). different methods bring about different qualities in steel alloys. some methods use a sub-zero quench. negative 215 degrees is not uncommon. some steels this will cause it to be more brittle... but hold a finer edge longer. some methods cause the edge to dull fast but be able to not chip under great pressure from impact. even more... some help to resist corrosion. its not all about the steel alloy chosen but the manufacturing process matters too. God knows what he is doing, and its true He wont destroy us by doing His will, but its not all daisies and rainbows doing Gods will. expect to experience enough heat to melt you, and be reformed. expect to become worn out and exhausted. expect to push the limits. expect to get out of your comfort zone.
I prefer CPM 3V steel for a knife btw. its a happy medium of edge retention, toughness, and corrosion resistance. no other alloy has such a happy blend of all three characteristics. i like a hardness of 60-62 Rc. I have not sharpened my knife in over one month and i use it every day, a lot. wont pop hair off my arm right now but it'll slice paper and cardboard like hot butter. I sharpen at 15 degree convex grind.
I don't think you're understanding me, brother. I've addressed two different things---being pushed to or beyond the limits of one's endurance in doing God's will and wearing one's self out when it isn't God's will. I was not suggesting that the latter was the case with you.
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Post by 2fw8212a on Aug 10, 2018 17:34:09 GMT -5
...but neither of those answers is going to help the person if they're actually being chastened by God. Most Christians who are suffering from diseases nowadays are being chastened due to their iniquity.
And most of those are apostate Christians who will not receive well a calling to repentance.
Then the question is what to do?! They believe they are fine and you are a liar.
Well, I do not see much room for hope. It is sad.
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Post by tlsitd on Aug 10, 2018 17:54:32 GMT -5
...but neither of those answers is going to help the person if they're actually being chastened by God. Most Christians who are suffering from diseases nowadays are being chastened due to their iniquity.
And most of those are apostate Christians who will not receive well a calling to repentance.
Then the question is what to do?! They believe they are fine and you are a liar.
Well, I do not see much room for hope. It is sad.I'm sorry to say that this is probably true in many cases. The chastening of the Lord is another one of those doctrines that has fallen out of favor in the church in general; but it still holds true. Besides this, we have all had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, that we may share His holiness.
For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:9-11) That's God's purpose in chastening us---but that won't be the result if the person doesn't acknowledge the discipline as such and respond appropriately.
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Cletus
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Posts: 2,517
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Post by Cletus on Aug 10, 2018 18:11:19 GMT -5
thats a fairly bold statement to make to someone that you know Gods will for someone else better than they do. especially when the person you are saying that to did at the time of their involvement of this ministry spend every waking moment praying and singing and God used them to preach the gospel and pray with people and the result is hundredS, plural, of people were saved. and when i say used, i do not mean i spoke my own words. I mean The Holy Ghost took over my mouth and spoke, with such authority even that I was wowed myself the things that came out of my mouth. I know very well when God says to feed His sheep if i say no because its to much work then i say no to Him... which is violence towards Him. Its rebellion.
Its also highly interesting you mentioned silver. I heard me a sermon once about the refining fire, specifically refining silver. Silver smiths back in the day didnt have all these fancy ovens and thermometers, they had to do it the old fashion way. they had to purify the silver of impurities, or dross. the silver had to be heated, hot. the silver could not remain in the fire a moment to long or it was ruined forever. the way a silver smith knew it was pure... His own reflection appeared the moment the dross came out. and quickly he had to remove it from the fire. Now personally, i am what you call a "steel junkie" i like my knives and the type of alloy matters what kind of performance you will get. I have educated myself about how different steel alloys are made, manufacturing processes and steps taken, as well as the cyrotreat or temper process. there is way to much to explain here but the heat causes tremendous pressure on a molecular level and what seems to be tough and hard as steel during the manufacturing process can make it quite soft. if one step is left out its brittle or soft and wont be good to use for a knife. when you get into forging steel you can see how the heat changes the properties and its quite soft compared to before/after its heated. point being... doing Gods will is no walk in the park sometimes. you can expect pressure and heat, even the term the great tribulation means grapes or olives in a vat being "pressed" from all sides. Jesus Himself had drops of blood fall from His forehead as sweat. I forget the medical term for this but its when you are under so much stress tiny blood vessels burst in your forehead and seep out. Doing Gods will can cost you everythiing as Paul and Steven show us in the bible. the silver is not ruined but it does go thru tremendous heat and pressure... silver is fairly soft anyway, but when its melted its even softer. God brings us thru this fire. expect to experience heat and pressure. its not going to destroy you, but you do need to rest... during the cryo-treat or tempering process you have to let it cool(rest). different methods bring about different qualities in steel alloys. some methods use a sub-zero quench. negative 215 degrees is not uncommon. some steels this will cause it to be more brittle... but hold a finer edge longer. some methods cause the edge to dull fast but be able to not chip under great pressure from impact. even more... some help to resist corrosion. its not all about the steel alloy chosen but the manufacturing process matters too. God knows what he is doing, and its true He wont destroy us by doing His will, but its not all daisies and rainbows doing Gods will. expect to experience enough heat to melt you, and be reformed. expect to become worn out and exhausted. expect to push the limits. expect to get out of your comfort zone.
I prefer CPM 3V steel for a knife btw. its a happy medium of edge retention, toughness, and corrosion resistance. no other alloy has such a happy blend of all three characteristics. i like a hardness of 60-62 Rc. I have not sharpened my knife in over one month and i use it every day, a lot. wont pop hair off my arm right now but it'll slice paper and cardboard like hot butter. I sharpen at 15 degree convex grind.
I don't think you're understanding me, brother. I've addressed two different things---being pushed to or beyond the limits of one's endurance in doing God's will and wearing one's self out when it isn't God's will. I was not suggesting that the latter was the case with you. that thought crossed my mind after i clicked create post. i did misunderstand. I am sorry.
some of the confusion i think stems from not only using words different as PG4Him said, but from where i have walked. the scripture i quoted... God had to convince me to take a break because i was not about to abandon my post. So that plus the title of this thread put my mind on that groove and i ran with that.
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Post by tlsitd on Aug 10, 2018 18:16:58 GMT -5
I don't think you're understanding me, brother. I've addressed two different things---being pushed to or beyond the limits of one's endurance in doing God's will and wearing one's self out when it isn't God's will. I was not suggesting that the latter was the case with you. that thought crossed my mind after i clicked create post. i did misunderstand. I am sorry.
some of the confusion i think stems from not only using words different as PG4Him said, but from where i have walked. the scripture i quoted... God had to convince me to take a break because i was not about to abandon my post. So that plus the title of this thread put my mind on that groove and i ran with that.
(Not a problem, brother. It happens.)
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Post by 2fw8212a on Aug 10, 2018 18:40:33 GMT -5
The chastening of the Lord is another one of those doctrines that has fallen out of favor in the church in general; but it still holds true. I believe it is very, very true. I have witnessed with my own eyes.
And people, you do not need to suffer unnecessarily. To obey is better than sacrifice.
"and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled." - 2 Corinthians 10:6
God bless you all in Jesus' name!
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PG4Him
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Post by PG4Him on Aug 10, 2018 19:01:00 GMT -5
I've had some success in helping Christians see chastening. It isn't easy (and it's downright impossible with the seeker crowd) but it can be done. In my experience, people change when they understand how destructive their behavior is. Repentance "because the Bible said so" doesn't last long. The Holy Spirit must open their eyes to conviction. We can't make the Holy Spirit do this, but we can till the soil with some humble, compassionate discussion and Bible study.
(This is not to say anyone here is doing it wrong. I'm just speaking generally.)
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