DISCIPLE! - Please Read the OP

[Faithwoman]

hope you know there is no perfect husband, no perfect wife. They can be the one Jesus chose for you (that's IF He chooses for you to be married), but perfection in them - NO!! God alone is perfect and Holy!

Yes I know there is no perfect one, except the Lord. As far as Mr. B yes I had told him. It was huge victory to not answer the other evening.

I once lived in the danger zone.. I just have to keep my full armor on for the battlefield.

I look at your life and think just amazing.. just amazing the folks you have discipled over the years.. I am honored to be one of those!

Ok, work all day, then travel to pick up my daughter, we go to my parents, she has senior pictures tomorrow, then back home here to keep packing, work all day Friday, my parents are coming up here then and the move on Saturday.. THE FRESH START IN A NEW PURE HOME IS EXCITING!

I will be without internet after Friday for about a week.. I will have withdrawal!
Hugs
Faithwoman

 

[Bondman]

It's been very special and certainly my privilege to be able to be your guide in whatever ways I could. And so wonderful to see that in this rather sad world of today that there are still those whose lives God can get a real hold of and work with... and change by His love and grace and determined workmanship! Ephesians 2:10. What a GOD!!!

Love you,

- BM

You WILL have withdrawal during that week! And I hope I'm not doing anything 'drastic' then (step by step I'm waiting on the Lord for the changes).

 

[Faithwoman]

And I hope I'm not doing anything 'drastic' then (step by step I'm waiting on the Lord for the changes).

hmmm really drastic would be that you and the Mrs. hop on a plane to the USA! what da ya think Sweets and Fluffy..l could handle t hat!

Plans changed here.. no trip to PA due to rainy weather since her pics will be outside.. whew.. i really needed to be here to pack.. going on monday instead to see her and take her for the pics.

now back to packing!
Faithwoman

 

[Bondman]

Haha, fly to the US, hey!

Now let's see... Problem: Beloved hates plane travel, and it's a 22 hr trip! No Problem: I ADORE planes of any size and shape! But... Problem: The degree of my ill-health would prevent me from even making the car trip to the Brisbane Airport! (1 hr from where we are on the outskirts of Brisbane.)

Hmm... spose I could try using 8.8km/h Gertie to the Airport - nice n comfortable for me at least. Nar, she'd never make the distance on one set of batteries!! (Nor would I!!!!)

Oh well, it was a great idea... can't win 'em all, they say!

- BM

 

[Faithwoman]

Doors Closing, Doors Opening

Well, I have two nights left in my "old: home.. in 3 days I will be in my new home, pretty amazing.. it is amazing.. it is beautiful.

As I packed I found things from my "old' life that needed thrown away.
Alot of emotions went through me last night. I finally made it to bed at midnight.
This door to this chapter of my life is closing and the new doors that God has waiting for me are opening.

I feel sorry for the friends that are coming to move me.. the people will be like what the heck.. there are still many boxes. I look at it and think how in the world did I ever accumulate all of this? umm especially the shoes.. like how many pairs of shoes can one person wear?

Anyway, other doors are opening too. I have been asked to come and give my testimony to a local celebrate recovery group on October 29 which is just awesome. When I first came to Batavia. I had started helping get this group off the ground and was going to be a leader, but then God called me to street ministry with Care-A Van which is the same evening as Celebrate recovery and I had to make a choice.. just like all through our lives we all have a choice.. do we walk with God.. or do we continue in our old sinful ways. I prayed and knew God was calling me to the streets. When I look back at my journey the Lord has been preparing me for the streets.

I also most recently have been asked to write an article about Care-A-Van Ministry by an online Christian newspaper. Now that was really an honor!

Honestly Bondman, I cannot wait to wake up that first morning in the new home! I can't wait to slow down and be settled.. and just live for the Lord each and every day..
Hugs
Faithwoman

 

[Bondman]

Y'know what? I'm beginning to think that in so far as HAVING to write to share, that you're even worse than I am!!! *hee!*

Only one pair of shoes. Same for slacks, blouse, and so on... And yes, we certainly DO have CHOICES!! For example...

We ACCUMULATE as part of wanting MORE and MORE - which is pure GREED!!! (Bad choice!)

Love that you were able to write in the online Christian newspaper. WOW-EE!!! That IS awesome!

And finallly you said: (quote) "I can't wait to slow down..." Hmm is that maybe one of those things about which my dear Mum used to say, "I'll believe it when I see it!" *she said it, not me, okay!!*

Bless you. Praying for the big shift!

- BM

 

[Bondman]

Discipleship Message #36

The Tribulation and the Rapture - What Happens WHEN?​

I've previously mentioned about me not getting into prephetic matters much: (a) because so many disagree about them, and (b) we simply MUST focus on our daily life to get IT right - rather than taking up all of our time on prophecy (this can be a major trap!)

However, end times sure CAN look rather close sometimes, and so Beloved and I do always keep our eyes and ears open just in case someone good comes along! Which has NEVER happened - until just RECENTLY!! Hallelujah, and bless Your Holy Name, Lord!!! So I am going to introduce you to the man who's become my Mentor (tho he doesn't know me!) and who is quite clearly the BEST Bible Teacher I've ever struck in my 52 years with the Lord!!! His teaching on end times is as clear as it is good. I've said how I've re-read Revelation recently - which was to check out what he teaches. And I'm rapt with what I now understand!!!

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As I've said he's an Englishman and a Minister of the Gospel, but I think for about the past 30 years or so (he now 79 yrs of age) he's been a world-wide Teacher, Author and Radio and TV Broadcaster. His name is David Pawson. A beautifully gentle man, and a gentleman, he has no arrogance, is loving and caring, yet quietly both definite and authoratative about the Scriptures!

I do love this story. A number of years ago he was asked to come and teach every book of the Bible to local churches in England. Next, others wanted to hear all of this too, so he redid the whole Bible and it was recorded and made available on cassette tapes, listened to by a great many people around the world. Then thirdly, he was requested to put it all into book form, which required quite a deal of editing. And finally, someone contacted him because they wanted it all to go onto video. So he redid the whole 66 books for the the 4th time on video! All of this took 8 years to complete!!

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His approach is that whatever he's teaching about he will have researched and researched until it all "properly fits together" within the framework of the whole Bible!! This is obviously VERY important for Revelation, a very little of which I've set down below. He knows a great pile more than I do, but what God HAS taught me, I've not found one thing where he and I would disagree. That's a WOW!!! I love the clarity of his thought-processes, his common sense, and filled with the Holy Spirit all that he's learnt and now teaches to millions of others.

His books and tapes are available world-wide, some of his videos are on YouTube, and if you're really very keen to understand Revelation there's a free download of 10 sessions in mp3 format HERE. We're currently listening to them. I want to contact his Trust in England that I think is in charge of much of his books and media to see if it's possible to get a lot more onto the Internet for many more millions to access. THAT'S HOW GOOD HIS MATERIAL IS!!! Meantime Amazon has books of his (I reckon Sweets will be in that!) including new and really cheap used!

THE TRIBULATION, RAPTURE AND MILLENNIUM

Alright... do you have any certainty about the Tribulation, the Rapture and the MilIennium? - like when and how things happen? Well, I'm going to mention just a couple of things from David's teachings that I can now see SO CLEARLY in the Scriptures!! First, Christians will go through the Tribulation, he says. It will be tough, and many who won't receive the Mark of the Beast will be martyred and receive from God the Martyrs Crown! (We all die anyway, so just imagine receiving such a Crown!) WOW!! (If you do receive the Mark you die twice - the 2nd death being hell!!)

Second, Jesus returns and we meet Him in the air.Third, with our new bodies we then reign with Jesus on the earth for 1,000 years. (I can't help remembering how Jesus seemingly could be anywhere He wanted to be, no longer BOUND like we are by earth's time and space!! (stuck at one place at that time) - that's way beyond EXCITING to me!!!) David says we will have important tasks and responsibilities to assist Jesus - ruling with him to maintain peace and justice, and being in charge of entities needed for the world to continue. Another WOW!! So learning leadership NOW is a good thing! (I've long thought God is training me for SOMETHING of some importance. Now I know!!)

I will continue to learn and profit from David Pawson's teaching as my Mentor. I hope you can also be blessed by the knowledge and wisdom of this Man of God!!

- BM (with his Lady)

PLEASE NOTE: Disciple! is winding down. Probably one more Message here, then I'll see what can be done (e.g., maybe some extra back in the IR). More news soon!

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[Faithwoman]

Great message Bondman

say, "I'll believe it when I see it!" *she said it, not me, okay!!*

My mother said the same thing to me last night when I told her I was not moving again for a very long time!

Just trying to get through my work day.. excitement is taking over!

Faithwoman

 

[Faithwoman]

Wow, I am so glad the Lord blessed you wish such a wonderful Mentor.
I will look forward to how the Lord leads you and guides you and of sharing of all of this.

What an honor to meet this man through you!
God is soooooooo good!

The church I was attending just had a series of this as well, but to be honest I was still confused. This helped.

I get a bit confused about the mark?

Ok last morning before the big move. It is snowing here! I woke up and there is snow outside. not alot but snow!

Mom and dad coming in today and my friend Shawn from the ministry called last night and said how about if I bring pizza over tomorrow night and help pack.. he is driving the uhaul tomorrow. just when I was wondering how the heck am I going to get it all done.. bingo.. the phone rings! Thank you Jesus! I love being obedient and all the blessings the Lord bestows upon me!

hugs to the Mrs.
Faithwoman

 

[Bondman]

Sounds like it should all work out for your shift. Praying. (Think "HUGS" from Down Under!!!)


The mark of the beast is a mark the beast (antichrist) will cause to be placed on the right hand or forehead of all people on earth during the Tribulation. Anyone WITHOUT the mark will be unable to buy or sell - obviously making it pretty hard to keep living!

We are strongly warned in Revelation NOT to take the mark of the beast, i.e., we'll have to REFUSE to allow this to be done to us. That's going to anger the antichrist one can easily imagine, and martyrdom of at least some of God's people may start right at that point!

The warning NOT to receive the mark is a matter of eternal life OR eternal death:

Revelation 14:9-12

9A third angel followed them and said in a loud voice: "If anyone worships the beast and his image and receives his mark on the forehead or on the hand, 10 he, too, will drink of the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name." 12 This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God's commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.

- BM

 

[Bondman]

Discipleship Message #37

Getting Guidance from the Lord - Closed and Open Doors​

There's a very common saying that if God closes a door He will open another one, i.e., closed and open doors being used as guidance from the Lord. I have some concern with this, because it's nowhere in the New Testament, but is man-made! I certainly understand that a closed door can be SEEN as a useful means of guidance for young or immature Christians. Nonetheless, it's NOT the way to go for the Believer seeking to find God's will, including many established Christians still using it.

To start with this procedure is far too simplistic. I see that if a door closes it can look like God saying, "I don't want you to do that any more. I've got something different for you." People will even say, "Something better!" But neither is necessarily so. To explain: if a door closes for me but I DON'T believe it is God's will, then I will ask Him to HELP me get it OPEN again! This happened to me in The Inner Room last year when mods closed the thread, and I was even removed from CFS!! I couldn't even view the thread or any part of CFS. Now THAT'S A CLOSED DOOR!!!

But I knew this was all wrong and that God wanted me to continue with Messages here. So for two months I worked at getting the thread reopened and me back on CFS. It was long and hard, with no certainty of success - but I BELIEVED so I persisted. Doing this ultimately succeeded - obviously!! This is a good example of a "closed door" NOT being what it looks like. (However it's true that, at other times, a totally closed BLOCKAGE can NOT be reopened!! - experienced THAT also!...)

What's of high importance here is that God wants to guide you via RELATIONSHIP, i.e., for you to LEARN how to hear (directly) from Him! The operative word being "learn", for it does have to be learnt! For some kinds of people, this comes easy! - seems to be no problem to hear Him! For others it can be a lot harder. For myself, for example, with a brain like a computer running 24 hours a day every day, *no laughing please - it's true!* it's not easy for me to hear from Him, and maybe even harder from His end (to get a word in)!!

The Holy Spirit helps with this. He's probably given you the words to speak to God!! That's okay because Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - three seperate Persons - are nonetheless ONE. That is, One God: they are SO totally UNITED!! Before I continue, please note that the Old Testament FLEECE is not advisable to use. I've known people to use it in a time of desperation, and I understand that. I'm not even prepared to say that I disapprove, but it's still NOT the way to go, so do try not to do this.

A couple of things TO do as you're trying to learn to hear God's voice: try to keep it simple, and don't try anything 'fancy'. Let GOD establish the way He speaks to you, and follow through on that. I hope that may help some people, as it's something that I messed up, and messed myself up, and messed my relationship with the Lord over a considerable period, by not doing what I'm advising you here.

Finally, please don't be arrogant about, "God told me." Others mostly do not respond very well to that. And nor should they, as It's my belief that many who say that, God did no such thing!) So just aim to be gentle about that as well; careful and thoughtful, and NOT trying to be the great Spiritual person!

So we're all different - but we still need to learn to hear from Him. Because - God.. wants.. to.. relate.. to you!! He wants to TALK WITH US! He may speak via His Word. Many different ways! But He wants to guide you, He wants to show you the way - HIS way, because ours is hopeless!! He wants you to relate PERSONALLY to Him and say, "Lord, show me, tell me what YOU want me to know and do!" That's the way to get guidance!!

I pray for our great God to seriously bless and guide every one of you who've followed this series of Messages. Pile of love!!

- BM (with his Lady)

NOTICE:

Please read the IMPORTANT NOTE in the next post!

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[Bondman]

With Message #37 that completes Disciple! - at least for the time being. The thread however is NOT closing!

If you've missed any Messages why not go back and read them! If you've read them all, are some worth re-reading?


I expect for messages to continue BACK on The Inner Room - but less frequently (if I can manage to discipline myself to do that... *nods hopefully*) I've just about worked myself into the ground it seems, my health suffering from the pace I've been working at.

Man, I hope that Disciple has been of some value to you dear ones here!! I guess that if it's possible, I've put more of myself and my heart into it than anything I've done like this, here or elsewhere, in recent time (probably why my health is adversely affected).

See you soon, back on the IR!!

I love each and every one of you!!!

- BM

EDIT! Look for NOTICE of re-starting Messages on the IR in the top of my Signature (on the bottom of every post I do).

 

[SweetSurrender]

Thanx, BM, for the David Pawson lead on Revelations. I have yet to look it up. I looked under used books and it looks like most of them would charge a $10+ s/h because they are mostly sent from Australia. So, I'll have to look on Amazon like you said.

Things are mostly going the same here (which is a good thing), except I am going through lots of depression lately. I've been switched drugs again, and that's always hard when you are taken off something.

I've decided to stop worrying about our present leadership here in the U.S. I mean, it does look like he is leading the world down some slippery slops, but it's in God's hands what can be done anyway. And it looks as if we will soon need "someone" (an antichrist?) to get us out of the messes we've all made. But that's not all bad. It just means the starting of the Tribulation and then it will be a short time before we will be serving our Father in Heaven.

Did any of that make sense? Anyway, I am so thankful that the GFA missionaries are working around the clock to bring in the lost and show them the hope they have in Christ before it is too late. I'm sponsoring my first one this month. Thanx for putting us onto that also. Hope you are feeling better. Lotsa love, Bonnie

 

[Bondman]

I'm really sorry to hear about your depression. We know what you mean about changing meds of that kind. Really can knock you around. Between us we take dozens of different medications and a Chronic Fatigue Syndrome sufferer seems to be even more sensitive to drug changes - even going off or onto a 'common' medication can tip us upside down. Not funny, not funny at all.

It's interesting that you see the coming of the Antichrist as the 'fixer' of the world. You're right - he WILL do that for the first 3½ years and so everyone will love him. THEN HE CHANGES, and that's BIG TROUBLE for Christians - which is why we have to get ready by changing our life to what God wants, which means difficulties and hardship to "toughen us up" so we can be strong to not worship or take the mark of the beast during that second 3½ years when the Antichrist changes totally.

You're also VERY, VERY RIGHT to stop worrying about the world and what politicians and greedy banks and financial people have done and are doing to clobber the world. We're NOT part of this (even though we live in it) and have a "secret weapon" in God's Holy Spirit Who supports us in the Spiritual realm to grow us in INNER STRENGTH AND POWER to rise up ABOVE the temporal and live to love God, and love and care for others. How amazing this all is, and How amazing is our GOD!!!

Wow, sponsoring your first GFA missionary!!! - how wonderful! You sure did GET how very important this is (both for them and yourself), and I really honour you for that.

I hope you can get onto some nice cheap Pawson books from Amazon. Don't forget YOUTUBE where you can watch and listen to some of his teaching. Oh, your library MAY have some of his books too.

Love n hugs abounding for you!!!

- BM

EDIT - it's sure going to be kind of strange/funny going back onto the Inner Room in the next little while!!

 

[Garin]

Bondman, I HAVE To thank you for these Disciple posts. I've just discovered them, and I haven't given them a proper thorough read yet, and I've ALREADY begun to feel closer to God. That's thanks to you! I am absolutely going to read these more in-depth soon, over this weekend when I have the time. I thank you so much for these posts, they're truly incredible. God bless

 

[Bondman]

Hi Garin, it was so great to hear from you, and quite wonderful to hear of messages helping you already!

Disciple! is possibly the 'deepest' of my message threads (as you can see in my sig I've done 5 lots of messages, with the other 4 all done within The Inner Room but still quite separate.

Reaching Higher is also pretty serious, as are the later posts in the IR as we call it.

Anyway enjoy! (just don't give yourself 'Spiritual indigestion' first up!! *smile!*) May He clearly reveal to you those things that He wants you to know and learn at this time!

Much love in Jesus!!

- BM

 

[Bondman]

NOTICE: The 1st post in The Inner Room, right near the top, gives a list of the 5 different threads I've written here on CFS. LOTS of great stuff to read!!

If you're NOT a Member, then you wouldn't realise that - so go to the beginning of the IR and you'll find the list!

Blessings!!

- BM