THE INNER ROOM - "Learn and Grow - to Maturity". Please read the 1st Post.
- Thread starter Bondman
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Whoo-hoo!!
He is GOOD indeed! That is way beyond what we could have expected humanly!! Oh, wow, that has made my day - and then some!!!
"Father, I don't quite know why we stand amazed at wondrous things like this that You do. Maybe even for the 'best' of us we don't quite feel worthy or something... This result is quite beyond words, but Your people are praising You for Your love and care and tender-mercies - which we're all quite aware we deserve none of!!
"Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou, thankyou!! We bless Your Holy Name, and give You earnest and heartfelt thanks for what You have done in answer to our humble prayers to You!!!"
- BM
He is GOOD indeed! That is way beyond what we could have expected humanly!! Oh, wow, that has made my day - and then some!!!
"Father, I don't quite know why we stand amazed at wondrous things like this that You do. Maybe even for the 'best' of us we don't quite feel worthy or something... This result is quite beyond words, but Your people are praising You for Your love and care and tender-mercies - which we're all quite aware we deserve none of!!
"Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou, thankyou!! We bless Your Holy Name, and give You earnest and heartfelt thanks for what You have done in answer to our humble prayers to You!!!"
- BM
B & B Important Update, Fri 22nd
Sure didn't expect to be writing this!
Last night my dearest Beloved had some sort of a 'turn' that lasted maybe an hour or more. I kind of had my hand on the phone the whole time, thinking I was going to have to ring the Ambulance to get her to hospital.
It appeared to be in her brain because she was sometimes mixing up words, couldn't think of the word, would say the word but it felt all wrong to her, and she was would be quite unsure that it was right. She also had tingling and numbness in different places at different times, and she kind of felt she was not quite sure of where she was in the cosmos. It was really scary for her, and as you can imagine I was extremely concerned.
There's no appointment free for Karen (carer) to take her to see Doc about this before he goes off for the weekend (it's after midday Friday here), but I'll make sure I get him on the phone in the next few hours and run through all the symptoms so he can give me an idea what we should do. She's sleeping at the moment so I don't know what sort of night she's had.
I'll keep you updated here with any news or changes. Thankyou for caring and we'll be very, very grateful for your prayers!!
With love, and bless you each one!
- BM
EDIT: Talked to Doc. He's virtually certain it was a small clot going across the brain, called a TIA whatever that means. It is a precursor to a possible full-blown stroke at some time, as you'd expect.
Bit of a shock for someone young, but she has been sick (literally) for all of her life, so we can hardly be surprised...
I'll get her on Aspirin until we can get her to Doc on Wednesday.
- BM
Sure didn't expect to be writing this!
Last night my dearest Beloved had some sort of a 'turn' that lasted maybe an hour or more. I kind of had my hand on the phone the whole time, thinking I was going to have to ring the Ambulance to get her to hospital.
It appeared to be in her brain because she was sometimes mixing up words, couldn't think of the word, would say the word but it felt all wrong to her, and she was would be quite unsure that it was right. She also had tingling and numbness in different places at different times, and she kind of felt she was not quite sure of where she was in the cosmos. It was really scary for her, and as you can imagine I was extremely concerned.
There's no appointment free for Karen (carer) to take her to see Doc about this before he goes off for the weekend (it's after midday Friday here), but I'll make sure I get him on the phone in the next few hours and run through all the symptoms so he can give me an idea what we should do. She's sleeping at the moment so I don't know what sort of night she's had.
I'll keep you updated here with any news or changes. Thankyou for caring and we'll be very, very grateful for your prayers!!
With love, and bless you each one!
- BM
EDIT: Talked to Doc. He's virtually certain it was a small clot going across the brain, called a TIA whatever that means. It is a precursor to a possible full-blown stroke at some time, as you'd expect.
Bit of a shock for someone young, but she has been sick (literally) for all of her life, so we can hardly be surprised...
I'll get her on Aspirin until we can get her to Doc on Wednesday.
- BM
Oh my. That sounds rather serious. I certainly will be praying for her and you. I'll also be putting that up on the prayer board on my site. Be sure to keep us updated.
Father, I just ask right now that you be with Bondmans Beloved and touch her body. I pray that you would be with Bondman as well and give him comfort during this time. I know we can rely on you to carry them through and rest on that promise. Thanking in advance for what you will be doing. Amen.
Take care my brother know that we ALL will be praying diligently.
Father, I just ask right now that you be with Bondmans Beloved and touch her body. I pray that you would be with Bondman as well and give him comfort during this time. I know we can rely on you to carry them through and rest on that promise. Thanking in advance for what you will be doing. Amen.
Take care my brother know that we ALL will be praying diligently.
Thankyou SO much for your love and care, dear friend!
She's not been feeling terribly well all of today, but she's a sick lady and just had a rather frightening experience, so it's hardly surprising. I'm staying close, just in case... but am hoping maybe it's over, at least for now.
I'm fine. I accept the Lord's will in all of my life these days - praise His Name! - live one day at a time, live my life in His hands, and so not a lot of things are much able to upset me. The devil did have one go at me today - physically! - but I prayed James 4:7b to the Lord, Who soon sent him packing!
I SO love that verse, cos it's ALSO effectively a test of whether satan is behind something, or rather that it's a part of God's will for me: if the verse gets rid of the problem then it was the enemy; if not then it's God, and so I accept it. (I only just saw that clearly this afternoon after the physical attack of 'the pig', being the 'friendly' name I sometimes like to call him! *haha!*)
Blessings my brother!
- BM
She's not been feeling terribly well all of today, but she's a sick lady and just had a rather frightening experience, so it's hardly surprising. I'm staying close, just in case... but am hoping maybe it's over, at least for now.
I'm fine. I accept the Lord's will in all of my life these days - praise His Name! - live one day at a time, live my life in His hands, and so not a lot of things are much able to upset me. The devil did have one go at me today - physically! - but I prayed James 4:7b to the Lord, Who soon sent him packing!
I SO love that verse, cos it's ALSO effectively a test of whether satan is behind something, or rather that it's a part of God's will for me: if the verse gets rid of the problem then it was the enemy; if not then it's God, and so I accept it. (I only just saw that clearly this afternoon after the physical attack of 'the pig', being the 'friendly' name I sometimes like to call him! *haha!*)
Blessings my brother!
- BM
Whoo Hoo Nick! Praise the Lord.
Great , great messages Bondman.. that "pig" can take his squealing somewhere else.
My heart and prayers go out to the Mrs and you both!
I love you both so much with all my heart.
I keep on learning from you and I am forever grateful. One week from today I leave for New York City with Care-A
Van, we are teaming up with NY City relief bus to reach out to the homeless with the Don't walk by Campaign. We will arrive fri nite and do street minisitry in Elisabeth, NJ, the we have training Sat afternoon and Sat night we will be on the streets reaching out the homeless. They try to get them off the streets into shelters, rehab etc.. I can't wait!
Have a very blessed week-end.
Hugs
Faithwoman
Great , great messages Bondman.. that "pig" can take his squealing somewhere else.
My heart and prayers go out to the Mrs and you both!
I love you both so much with all my heart.
I keep on learning from you and I am forever grateful. One week from today I leave for New York City with Care-A
Van, we are teaming up with NY City relief bus to reach out to the homeless with the Don't walk by Campaign. We will arrive fri nite and do street minisitry in Elisabeth, NJ, the we have training Sat afternoon and Sat night we will be on the streets reaching out the homeless. They try to get them off the streets into shelters, rehab etc.. I can't wait!
Have a very blessed week-end.
Hugs
Faithwoman
I was just about to write to find out where you'd got to! *haha!*
Thankyou for your word and prayers. We love you too!!
Another NY excursion. As I recall the last one was pretty good!! - so praying for this one to be even better!
May God continue to bless, keep and teach you, dear one!!
- BM
Thankyou for your word and prayers. We love you too!!
Another NY excursion. As I recall the last one was pretty good!! - so praying for this one to be even better!
May God continue to bless, keep and teach you, dear one!!
- BM
IMPORTANT MESSAGE
During the remainder of today (Sunday here) I hope there'll be enough time to FINISH a most important Message!!
It's my earnest prayer that this is going to help some - no, make that 'many' - to ultimately get seriously CONNECTED to the Lord Jesus Christ... in a way that you've never imagined, nor ever experienced before!
It comes from the sum total of my whole life (of but a few days away from 53 years with the Lord)! It's not really revolutionary or even particularly different or new, yet it took me so many decades to get a grasp of its clarity and simplicity!!
I DO trust and believe that it's going to blow some of you away, AND ultimately lead to changing some lives in a major way, for ever!
Back to work.....
- BM
During the remainder of today (Sunday here) I hope there'll be enough time to FINISH a most important Message!!
It's my earnest prayer that this is going to help some - no, make that 'many' - to ultimately get seriously CONNECTED to the Lord Jesus Christ... in a way that you've never imagined, nor ever experienced before!
It comes from the sum total of my whole life (of but a few days away from 53 years with the Lord)! It's not really revolutionary or even particularly different or new, yet it took me so many decades to get a grasp of its clarity and simplicity!!
I DO trust and believe that it's going to blow some of you away, AND ultimately lead to changing some lives in a major way, for ever!
Back to work.....
- BM
MOST IMPORTANT MESSAGE
The first of probably TWO very important Messages is below.
It's taken a lot of writing and rewriting to ensure it's right, as with all of my heart I want every person here to be able to "get" what it took me so many years to manage. Part 2 will bring some practical things to help with DOING what I've spelt out in Part 1 that you must.
Bless you greatly in Jesus the Lord!!
- BM
The first of probably TWO very important Messages is below.
It's taken a lot of writing and rewriting to ensure it's right, as with all of my heart I want every person here to be able to "get" what it took me so many years to manage. Part 2 will bring some practical things to help with DOING what I've spelt out in Part 1 that you must.
Bless you greatly in Jesus the Lord!!
- BM
Reaching Higher #67
Our ONLY Way Out of Selfishness and Sin - Part 1
And I really do mean THE ONLY WAY that I know of from the Scriptures!!
This is about how to truly get OUTSIDE of yourself - so that you may truly reach and actually GET CONNECTED to Jesus. And THAT in turn is about how to finally begin to stop your selfishness and self-centeredness - which in turn is all about your SIN and SINFULNESS on one hand and, hallelujah, your RIGHTEOUSNESS and HOLINESS on the other!!!
The problem of our inherent sinfulness and self-centeredness is extremely SERIOUS and is extremely difficult to FIX!! Try for a day, a week, or a month or more to GET RID of your personal self-centeredness and you'll find that it's simply IMPOSSIBLE!!! Over a whole pile of decades I've tried many, many abortive routes and it's taken me almost my whole lifetime to finally 'discover' what's below!
#1 is clearly an Unbeliever without Salvation. He is TOTALLY selfish and self-centered andself-absorbed. No matter WHAT he does or how hard he tries, that never changes. He can give $10milllion to charity and that will not in any way change his sin and his self-centered status before God!! - simply because: Romans Ch 3:23 All have sinned and fallen short of God's glory.
#2 at least tried. He has seen the Lord Jesus, and made a serious effort to MOVE TOWARDS Him - to truly get CONNECTED to God the Son. But he's NOT there yet as you can see! So far it's just an attempt, a good try, and well done! But sadly, thus far - because no connection has been made - it's actually achieved nothing!! Thus he is still in his sin, and is as selfish and self-absorbed as ever!!
#3 illustrates with a horrible clarity what happens to so many of these 'try-ers'. The things of self, the oh-so-strong desires to please himself, and wanting to live the way HE wants to, well, this totally cut short his attempted journey to truly CONNECT with the Lord. The result: all that happened was that he turned back in on himself, and so is in the exact same state as #1.
Before going further, I want you to look very CLOSELY and PERSONALLY at #2 and #3, because you may be one of them. What's perfectly clear and is so incredibly SAD, is that many church-goers are. Many who believe themselves to be Born Again Christians are still a #2, which is unbelievably SERIOUS for them - still completely selfish and self-centered, and not CONNECTED to God - even though they believe they are!
It's possible that in their mind they may simply be unclear about how to live the true and real Christian life (rather too common I suspect). Or they may actually be uncertain why their Christian life NEVER seems to get going or to work. Or they may have tried, and ultimately just given up and accepted the status quo of 'oh well, seems like this is the best I can do.' They may have never clearly heard the the real Gospel. Or they be one of the many who never truly intended to get SERIOUS with the Lord Jesus in any case! OR they TRIED - and just could not give up SELF in order to gain JESUS!!! Maybe this group is the saddest of all...
#4 has made some rather amazing progress!! Working hard towards getting himself serious about Jesus, he actually CONNECTED with the Lord and Saviour of all, by earnestly seeking, and KEEPING on SEEKING for Him!! But sadly he's only connected SOMETIMES!!! Which inevitably means that the REMAINDER of the time (being MOST of the time) he's still living a selfish, self-centered and quite UNNECESSARILY sinful life!! I mean, goodness, he and Jesus actually CONNECT sometimes!!! All that's necessary for him to really start growing in righteousness - and thus growing in selflessness!! - it's already all there for him!!
#5 is someone with GREAT SPIRITUAL DETERMINATIONl!! Wow!! Determined to ultimately BECOME NOTHING LESS than a serious, fully committed Believer, and to become utterly sold out to the Lord, seeking also to become more obedient to God's commands because of his LOVE for Him - PREPARED to work and work and work at GIVING UP SELF, learning more and more how to say NO to self's continued demands, (with the help of the Holy Spirit living within him!) - SEEKING FOR nothing less than that sometimes elusive CHRIST-FOCUS... in order to kill off our selfish and ultimately destructive SELF-FOCUS!!!
You will note that even with His constant connection to Jesus, SELF remains alive - and will be until he steps through death to be finally made perfect like unto God's perfection!!! His self-centeredness however, is NO LONGER an "all the time" thing, hallelujah!!! Increasingly he can say 'Yes, YES' to Jesus and 'No, NO' to what his flesh demands! - ever GROWING in personal RIGHTEOUSNESS and HOLINESS, pleasing to God the Father, and so becoming less and less focused on SELF and self's sinful demands - it being his ultimate goal to please his loving LORD and MASTER, even Jesus!!!
And so to what I've discovered in a nutshell. You cannot possibly ever be a true Christian Believer in the Lord Jesus Christ until you realise that GOD and all the THINGS OF GOD are ultimately and absolutely the ONLY WAY to give up sin, selfishness, self-absorption, worldliness, our flesh, and EVERY other wrong you have in your life!! LOVING HIM, SERVING HIM, PUTTING HIM FIRST in every part of your life - your money, your time, what you love, what you want, and more, is the ONLY WAY to get yourSELF KILLED OFF (as much as this is possible here on earth), because you replaced all of SELF with THE FATHER and THE LORD JESUS.
Amen! - may it become and be so for YOU!!!
Continued in Part 2...
With much love and prayers!
- BM, with his Lady
Whoooooooooooooo hooooooooooooooooooooo GREAT MESSAGE and love the illustrations to help! you are so darn creative! Thank you so much! I loved it! I loved it!
I am going to print it off and use on one of my Tues nites. Awesome day on the streets here yesterday... you have a new daughter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes a 22 year old gal accepted the Lord, it was one of the most powerful ones I have seen yet as she stood there amongst my self and other team members tears streaming down her face, confessing to the Lord with her mouth that she was a sinner and how she needed our Lord in her life.. powerful! powerful! As we know , many can give it lip service, now the real work needs to begin. I learned yesterday how important when leading someone to the Lord, how they need to confess it out loud themselves, meaning many will lead them in a sinners prayer, but this event yesterday was so unbelievable. Pastor Mark and Elder Ron were there to help guide me and her. I got to give the message with others listening and I told Pastor Mark to correct me if I was at all wrong. Oh Bondman, God's wisdom and words are rooting in me even more and it is getting easier to share the gospel with a much more deeper understanding!
Thank you, thank you , thank you!
Hugs
Faithwoman PS.. I will post a pic soon of you and Mrs. new daughter!
I am going to print it off and use on one of my Tues nites. Awesome day on the streets here yesterday... you have a new daughter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes a 22 year old gal accepted the Lord, it was one of the most powerful ones I have seen yet as she stood there amongst my self and other team members tears streaming down her face, confessing to the Lord with her mouth that she was a sinner and how she needed our Lord in her life.. powerful! powerful! As we know , many can give it lip service, now the real work needs to begin. I learned yesterday how important when leading someone to the Lord, how they need to confess it out loud themselves, meaning many will lead them in a sinners prayer, but this event yesterday was so unbelievable. Pastor Mark and Elder Ron were there to help guide me and her. I got to give the message with others listening and I told Pastor Mark to correct me if I was at all wrong. Oh Bondman, God's wisdom and words are rooting in me even more and it is getting easier to share the gospel with a much more deeper understanding!
Thank you, thank you , thank you!
Hugs
Faithwoman PS.. I will post a pic soon of you and Mrs. new daughter!
I'm sure everyone has figured out by now that I'm a reasonably emotional person, who feels deeply. Mostly I hold myself in but after reading that, sweetie, I just have to break out:
Wow, wow, WOW, WOW!!! Yeeeeeeeeeeeeee-harrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!
You're absolutely right - she spoke it with her lips!!! It's Scriptural, it's necessary, it's so incredibly exciting and WONDERFUL!!! Romans Ch 10:9 Because if you acknowledge and confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and in your heart believe (adhere to, trust in, and rely on the truth) that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. (Amp)
Your learning curve has been so steep, hasn't it. Now you're beginning to catch up with more understanding with your evangelism. I know you won't do this, but please, PLEASE continue to learn so that you become a powerful speaker of the PURE GOSPEL. So many with your gift end up going the way of 'convention' and 'how it's always been done', and worst of all what's known as "easy believism", meaning the sort of thing you said regarding people being simply led in a prayer (and that seems to be it... ). NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!!
Bless you, bless you, bless you for being such a responsive person as we've worked together on your life in Jesus, and so open to truth, and so prepared to do what was required so your life could be all HIS!!! Ya dun good, hon, real good!! And I KNOW you'll continue!!
I don't do what I do for REWARD from God in heaven. I feel little need of that. Nonetheless we will all either receive our REWARD from the Lord - or LOSE it. And the REWARD will be tailored to exactly what we 'deserve' according to our life and our service to Jesus our Lord and King. You, my dear, dear one, are building your REWARD very nicely indeed!!!
"Bless You wonderful heart, Lord God of all, for what you've done IN Faithwoman and what you're doing THROUGH her. We are Yours, Jesus, Yours forever! Keep teaching us!! Then use us as YOU want, for we are YOUR servants forever!!"
Love and hugs!!
- BM
Wow, wow, WOW, WOW!!! Yeeeeeeeeeeeeee-harrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!
You're absolutely right - she spoke it with her lips!!! It's Scriptural, it's necessary, it's so incredibly exciting and WONDERFUL!!! Romans Ch 10:9 Because if you acknowledge and confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and in your heart believe (adhere to, trust in, and rely on the truth) that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. (Amp)
Your learning curve has been so steep, hasn't it. Now you're beginning to catch up with more understanding with your evangelism. I know you won't do this, but please, PLEASE continue to learn so that you become a powerful speaker of the PURE GOSPEL. So many with your gift end up going the way of 'convention' and 'how it's always been done', and worst of all what's known as "easy believism", meaning the sort of thing you said regarding people being simply led in a prayer (and that seems to be it... ). NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!!
Bless you, bless you, bless you for being such a responsive person as we've worked together on your life in Jesus, and so open to truth, and so prepared to do what was required so your life could be all HIS!!! Ya dun good, hon, real good!! And I KNOW you'll continue!!
I don't do what I do for REWARD from God in heaven. I feel little need of that. Nonetheless we will all either receive our REWARD from the Lord - or LOSE it. And the REWARD will be tailored to exactly what we 'deserve' according to our life and our service to Jesus our Lord and King. You, my dear, dear one, are building your REWARD very nicely indeed!!!
"Bless You wonderful heart, Lord God of all, for what you've done IN Faithwoman and what you're doing THROUGH her. We are Yours, Jesus, Yours forever! Keep teaching us!! Then use us as YOU want, for we are YOUR servants forever!!"
Love and hugs!!
- BM
B and B Update - Mon 25
Sincere apologies for being LATE with this. The latest Message, a rather major one, took hours and hours and hours more time to do that I had expected or planned for. *Which is my excuse, an' I'm stickin' to it! lol* I can't stick to Sundays, I've realised, so will just update as needed like before.
I'm at a bit of a loss to know what to tell you here this morning. Both of us are struggling in our own different ways. Is she totally over the mini-stroke? Not certain. Symptoms she has are probably CFS, but impossible to be sure. I still haven't managed to get back 'on top' after resigning as Helper. I seem to be behind all the time, and that is not good. But I'm workin' on it...
Finally, nikljones, who joined us here fairly recently has taken it upon himself to be my "partner in crime", and a more wonderful supporter I could not possibly wish for!! He's wonderfully churning through important tasks for me that I've not been able to get to - including fixing all of my errors in Messages, such as broken links, and so on! *embarrassment!* Blessings to you, my dear friend, and I praise God for His GOODNESS to me!!
Thankyou to all you guys for all for your love and care and prayer!! NEVER do we take any of this for granted. I continue to pray for each of you who GOD knows read these updates!!
Much love!!
- BM and Mrs
Sincere apologies for being LATE with this. The latest Message, a rather major one, took hours and hours and hours more time to do that I had expected or planned for. *Which is my excuse, an' I'm stickin' to it! lol* I can't stick to Sundays, I've realised, so will just update as needed like before.
I'm at a bit of a loss to know what to tell you here this morning. Both of us are struggling in our own different ways. Is she totally over the mini-stroke? Not certain. Symptoms she has are probably CFS, but impossible to be sure. I still haven't managed to get back 'on top' after resigning as Helper. I seem to be behind all the time, and that is not good. But I'm workin' on it...
Finally, nikljones, who joined us here fairly recently has taken it upon himself to be my "partner in crime", and a more wonderful supporter I could not possibly wish for!! He's wonderfully churning through important tasks for me that I've not been able to get to - including fixing all of my errors in Messages, such as broken links, and so on! *embarrassment!* Blessings to you, my dear friend, and I praise God for His GOODNESS to me!!
Thankyou to all you guys for all for your love and care and prayer!! NEVER do we take any of this for granted. I continue to pray for each of you who GOD knows read these updates!!
Much love!!
- BM and Mrs
Hello all,
Just checking out what we discussed BM. It worked great. I'll get going on that soon. Thanks for the plug but absolutely not necessary. I thank God you are my friend and I'm able to help.
Faithwoman......good going!
BM....I continue to pray for you and your Beloved. As I said to you earlier " Group prayers do work. They're going to work for you and your Beloved too. I believe that wholeheartedly."
Love you all,
Just checking out what we discussed BM. It worked great. I'll get going on that soon. Thanks for the plug but absolutely not necessary. I thank God you are my friend and I'm able to help.
Faithwoman......good going!
BM....I continue to pray for you and your Beloved. As I said to you earlier " Group prayers do work. They're going to work for you and your Beloved too. I believe that wholeheartedly."
Love you all,
I got a little concerned at your test link you sent me
where that naughty curly bracket has sneaked in instead of a square one - which is MY kind of 'trick'!! lol
If I ever knew it, I've long since forgotten these extra coding thingies you're now using, so it's all great what your doing, and will be a great help to visitors to the IR!
Yeah, I know you don't need any 'plug', same as I don't, but "due thanks" and all that sort of thing!
Yes, I believe in group prayer and group faith!! God has so kindly lifted me up to such a state of strong faith for our healing and funding that I am truly rapt about it!!
Bless you so much for all of faithfulness!
- BM
Code:
[post=68228]Test Link{/post]If I ever knew it, I've long since forgotten these extra coding thingies you're now using, so it's all great what your doing, and will be a great help to visitors to the IR!
Yeah, I know you don't need any 'plug', same as I don't, but "due thanks" and all that sort of thing!
Yes, I believe in group prayer and group faith!! God has so kindly lifted me up to such a state of strong faith for our healing and funding that I am truly rapt about it!!
Bless you so much for all of faithfulness!
- BM
Would you believe me if I said I was just testing you? HaHa! Guess not huh?
I have a tendency to do that. That's why I always test my REAL code first.
Reaching Higher #68
Our ONLY Way Out of Selfishness and Sin - Part 2
... Continued from Part 1
In Part 1 spoke about self, selfishness, self-absorption, and self-centeredness. The SELF in me and in you is where our sin and sinfulness come from. Paul speaks of "the old man" of sin, or "the old self". Romans Ch 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man (old self) was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
Our old man or old self is SO BAD that it was necessary for it to be crucified with Jesus to deal with our sin-ridden SELF!!! In order that, as Paul says, we should no longer be SLAVES to sin. Sin does enslave us - the inner SELF being the cause.
So as I asked last time, "HOW can we get rid of our appalling and besetting self-centeredness?" Certainly NOT by trying to kill it off by some human action! Instead we can - and certainly should - CONSIDER the old self as killed off by being crucified with Jesus on the Cross.That is, every time SELF raises its ugly head we go back to the Cross, and SEE our sinful self crucified there.
Romans Ch 6:11 Likewise you also, reckon (consider) yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Here we consider ourselves - our SELF - to be dead to sin and sinfulness! - allowing us to thus be alive to God, in and through our Lord Jesus!!
Instead, looking AWAY from me, AWAY from all of the things that I wanted - BECOMING WILLING to give up "ME" - that was the first part of the equation. But doing this is useless without the second part. Which was to look towards and at HIM!!
You know how Jesus said that the FIRST COMMANDMENT of all is to, "Love God with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength." Mark Ch 12:30. But have you ever wondered - isn't that selfish? Why does God want us all to be worshipping Him, and loving Him and serving Him? Isn't this all rather self-centered??
No, it's not! Just the reverse in fact. IT'S ALL BECAUSE OF HOW MUCH HE LOVES AND CARES ABOUT US!!! You see, God will do just about ANYTHING to help you to get away from SELF. And He knows that by ourselves we are NEVER going to manage this. Plus He knew the only solution: only by making HIM the center of our lives, the focus of our lives, where ALL THINGS in us go to and towards HIM - ONLY by THAT can we begin to get rid of the OLD SELF!!!
Here's how it works: while you're loving HIM, you'll be caring less about YOURSELF!! While you're doing things for HIM, you'll be doing less and less for yourself. While you're seeking to please and obey HIM, you'll be caring a whole lot less about yourself and what YOU want!! It's a TOTAL TRANSFORMATION of the very center of your being - of who you really are!!
And as YOU and what YOU want LESSENS, then self-centeredness reduces, and sin reduces. How about THAT!! Replacing them (and helping to push them out!) will be righteousness (living right for God), godliness, and holiness!! You are FOCUSSING more and more on Jesus - and literally BECOMING more and more like Him!!
This is truly a most WONDERFUL deal! However, it's not going to happen overnight!! But if you seriously go this way and NEVER quit, you are going to slowly but surely be KILLING OFF the all-pervading man of SIN and SELF in your life, GROWING in your love for the Lord, and in righteousness (important!) Stick with this, and the day WILL come when the One Who REALLY IS on the Throne of your life... IS JESUS!!! Go for it!!
- BM, with his Lady
Powerful, powerful.. and yes it does not happen overnight, I can atttest to that.. I am excited , please pray, we are taking the Care-A-Van bus to NY city this Friday. We will do street outreach in Elisabeth, NJ on Friday night, then we take the bus right into the city to team up with New York City Relief bus to partipcate in the Don't Walk by Campaign which is a search and rescue mission for the Homeless! I am excited! oh and God is soooooo good Bondman, while driving to a seminar for my "secular" job.. I prayed for God to keep showing me his path for me.. and I got a call yesterday asking me to speak to the local women's AGLOW group! It will be in July so I have plenty of time to prepare! Wooooooooo eeeeeeeee .. God is good! He gets all the glory and praise.
The women's group on Tuesday night was awesome.. 7 women here! We were all very humbled when the one woman with 7 kids single young mom shared her struggles..it really takes the focus off yourself. and puts it on others!
Here is me giving your new daughter a hug.. Jesus is the bread of life!
Hugs Faithwoman
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