Bible Questions & Discussion PAGE 833

Hi Belinda , remember the parable of the prodigal son ? If you read it carefully , as soon as the Father sees his son returning in the distance , he runs out to meet him . He doesn't wait for him to get to him . So for every one step the son takes toward his father , his father has ran four paces closer to his son . It's the same for us . God is only ever a thought away from us . When we make the effort to get to know Him by reading His Word and saying our prayers to Him and trying hard to put into practice the life choices that would be acceptable to Him then He pours His blessings on us . Whatever effort we make towards Him He rewards us much more than we could ever imagine in so many different ways . All we have to do is submit to Him and trust Him and wait . Christ is coming and he wants you !

There's nothing more beautiful than God's creation , all the things that man has done can't compare to blue skies , fluffy white clouds and warm sunshine on your face , nothing better , enjoy Alex , much love in Christ .

Pray for all of us in Texas with tornadoes and floods everywhere.

Sometimes I watch: A Call To Anguish by David Wilkerson on YouTube. He's been gone a long time now, but I get mail from his son, Gary, who is continuing the ministry.

David's sermons are still alive and motivating me when the cares of life crowd in and sap the energy to be brave and speak to anyone who will listen.

I buy CHICK TRACTS online. Everybody loves them. On good weather days I go over to Goodwill, Home Depot, Lowes, Walmart; and drop a tract on the ground in the garden depts.

Everybody loves a comic book and pick them up. ( I watch sometimes from a distance.

Pray to the Lord of the Harvest to bring the right person to where you left tracts. :)

Walmarts have McDonalds inside the store. It's easy to start a conversation over coffee. "Can you believe all the crises going on now? (I never encourage political rants.)

I might say, I think maybe all that stuff my pastor speaks on might be true all the trouble in the world? Just drop a line and see if they'll pick it up.

We are fishers of men and women; teenagers.

I trust the lead of the Holy Spirit. If we are available, He'll use our skills. Sometimes I say, " if you could ask God any question, what would you ask? The worst that will happen, is they will smile and excuse they must get back to work.

Wilkerson's sermons always get my mind straight.

Hi dear "Manyele wilson", in this letter it is possible that it was Paul or/and Barnabas who wrote. Paul knows we had great revelations. And he struggled always a lot with the Jews because they wanted to hold on to their legal deeds in which they were brought up. So it seems like that's what's coming out here.

The only worthy Sacrificial Lamb is and remains Jesus Christ forever and ever.

There will never be anything else that was worthy of God the Father Himself.

He loves us. With Eternal Love.

We have so much to be thankful for!

Ephesians 3:8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;

9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:

10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,

11 According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:

Stay blessed in His Holy Name Jesus Christ, love u all.

To god be the glory.. praise the most high...i would greatly appreciate it if i could get some verses sent to me ...on healing forgiveness repentance..reading on marriage

To go outside to jesus what does it mean? Kindly elaborate more at length .

Kay, you have blessed my heart. I had a similar experience. I sought God's answer about why I was always experiencing nightlly dreams about attending college (which I did 40 years ago) or working as a nurse. (I am now retired) I felt in my Spirit that God was correcting me. I always saw myself as a college grad and nurse, that wasn't ME. That was just my profession. I now know that I am complete in Him. I too, am not to look back. thanks for sharing.

I'm having a hard time writing down what I need in my life.Should just let God take control and stop controlling the process?

MATTHEW 6:8

8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

My question is are Father know what you need before praying about it.They when you pray for the things you need sometimes you receive it or never receive anything. I have prayed for thing as as single parent and no answer. I started questioning my Faith at times. I going through a question time now with adult child and still single.

Hello Dennis. The comment that you read, referring to Jeremiah 6:20, is likely the writer's thoughts expanded to include the Christian's stance before God today. What was spoken against Jerusalem in those early times, she who failed to listen to the prophetic Word (v17), refused to "walk in the old paths" (or, live according to God's Directions for them) (v16), & who couldn't even blush for all the abominations that they were committing (v15); all these sins, & more, were before God's Face & He would deal with them.

Yet, in spite of their sins, they had the audacity to offer burnt offerings & sacrifices to God for their sins (v20), when they had no intention of forsaking their sins & their pitiful condition. This is what is termed as 'hypocrisy': their hypocritical behaviour might appease their consciences & they might appear as devout to others, but God, Who looks on the heart, only saw a greater wickedness - sin being compounded by useless penitence & offerings.

We can note a similar warning given by Isaiah to Jerusalem much earlier ( Isaiah 30:1, "Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin"). And you can read the rest of that account in that chapter.

So, the comment you read in your Bible, was the writer's application to Christians today: not to think that our offerings of worship & service to God & to others have any merit, unless we first have a true faith in Christ Jesus, His Spirit living within us, & our lives showing forth God's Graciousness to us by living holy & acceptable lives to Him. Choosing to live a life of hypocrisy negates all that - all that which is wicked before an all-seeing God.

This is succinct! It takea just to confess and believe! Behold what manner love the Father has bestowed on us!

In Greek there were multiple words for our modern usage of "hell."

Gahenna, Hell, Lake of Fire

Try also;

Sheoul, Hades, the pit, the outer darkness and the abyss. Among others.

My apology for such a short reply. If you search these words I believe it may help tremendously.

God Bless!

Carol Ann,

In current culture the term "woman" can/is, at times, be used in a derogatory manner.

In the time of Mary a "woman" was simply a woman.

Most importantly, Jesus also called to Mary as "woman," on the cross.

"Woman, behold, thy son!"

As pure as saying father or mother, with respect.

Hope this helps! God bless!

Ty

Explain what God meant in Genesis when He said my spirit will not always strive with man.

David,

Ezekiel should have asked God to use herb. The Israelites used hallucinogens during ceremonies. Most all theologians will confirm this ritual. Perhaps mushrooms were growing in the cow dung...

The ancients did a lot of strange things. Before battle, a king would kill a calf, cut it open, and "look in the liver". If it was healthy, he would win the battle. Ezekiel 21:21

The OT is so underrated, and under read; glad to see you're talking about it so well.

There was a statement that was made by Jesus to his Mother when she finds him in the Temple and states your Father and I were filled with worries. Jesus says to his Mother in Reply " Women do you not see that I am in the Hiuse of my Father!! Was this not be Disrespectful to his Mother???

In context James 4:1-10 is dealing with wars and fights among Christians that disrupt and divide the church. He attributes it to lusts that war in our members. We crave for things that we cannot have, both because we don't ask God for them and when we do ask we He refuses our requests, because they are wanting to give in to our lusts. Lusts within leading to fights make us Adulterers or Adulteresses trying to be just like the world, which acts as God's enemy.

James reminds us that the Spirit is within us and strives against such desires, since God will jealously claim those who are joined to Him. Yet the Spirit also gives us more grace. The Spirit simultaneously resists our pride and gives us grace when we start to humble ourselves. James then says that as we submit to God in humility the Spirit enables us to turn His resistance to the proud against the devil, who is above all proud, so that he must flee.

Now that brings us to the verse your question is about. The word "nigh" means "at a short distance away". As the devil flees at the sight of us humbling ourselves, rejecting his wicked pride and distancing us from him, the distance between us and God grew shorter and God moves toward us.

However, the grief and betrayal of Adultery must still be acknowledged and faced in repentance to bring true restoration. Adultery has to be put away from us by acknowledging we are sinners in what we've done and that we've acted as double-minded cheaters against our true love. Real grief at the relational harm we've caused is appropriate and necessary in the face of Adultery. But God promises that if we present true humility before Him like this, He will forgive our sins and lift us up to enjoy His everlasting love again.

Read Hosea. That book gives God's view of friendship with the world as Adultery and Hosea has to act out God's jealous love and grace in the face of that kind of betrayal from the wife God called him to marry. That is what James is talking abou

Thank you Kay for your meditations and thoughts! I myself am a member of at least a part of the visible Church. We are many congregations and united and undivided in our love toward Christ as our head and we confess a love toward his doctrines that we read in the New Testament. It is our desire to adorn his doctrines in our lives by grace. We also love one another. It was another brother who has passed into eternity that inspired my recent meditations.

Stay encouraged!

Are there different levels of hell

Dear Marie, The name Jehovah or Yahweh are two pronunciations of the name YHWH that God gave to Moses in Exodus 3:14 which means I AM THAT I AM or ever-living, self-existent One. It is not certain how to exactly say the name God spoke to Moses. In Hebrew there (and Greek and Latin) "J" was not a letter in their alphabet. This does not mean that the "j" sound was absent from their language, but the sound was not spelled with a letter "J". I prefer to use the word Yahweh as a pronunciation because of this, but I do think that the first sound in the either word may have been a sound that was a combined JY type of sound (think J-Y-A-Y as the first sound, squishing all these sound together in a breathy way.) But I may be totally wrong on this. Hebrew became a dead language by the time of the birth of Jesus and few really knew how to read or speak it. I think this was so because as a result of the captivities in Babylon of the Judah and Assyria of Israel hundreds of years before Christ's birth. Also, the name YHWH was considered to holy to say or write by the Jews, so they substituted LORD (Adonai) or God (G-d) in place of YHWH in the Tanakh (Hebrew Old Testament).

Yashua or Yeshua are both Hebrew names for the name Jesus (which is Anglicized, I believe). You will find Jesu in used in Spanish speaking people.

God owns all of His revealed names, not any sect or language group. So, we should be happy to use any of these for our Triune God.

Hope this helps.

Its a joy when we preach the gospel and we call many to CHRIST

Hello, Alex,

I wish you well on your garden. May your projects get finished and you can just sit back and relax when all is done. Glad the weather is good for you in your neck of the woods. Like Grae, I've been thinking of you and praying for you. Blessings to you.

Praise the Lord, Jesus, our Good Shepherd! He knew that His little lamb, Gigi, needed a lift today! All glory to Him for His wonderful care of us!

Manifold blessings, sweet sister!

help me to understand James 4:8 draw nigh to God and he will draw night to you.

Hiya Grae....TY for asking...Yes i am still here....Been working on my house...But i will be back soon....mis you all, GBU in Jesus name...And i am also making a Garden...Love ya Grae...We have been enjoying the most beautiful weather here in Houston Tx...Your friend in Jesus..Alex

yes To verse 20, Jeremiah 6,( I have a comment under this that said (when the Holy Scriptures are thrust aside, incense and burnt offerings become abominable to God. Placing faith in the ceremony instead of in what the ceremony represented, namely, Christ and Him Crucified, presents the wrong object of faith, which God can never accept.)

can someone please explain this statement Thank You very much. ? Dennis Kinyon,

Thanks for the comment. I was also curious where the name Jehovah really originated, too. I've read that Yahshua is a Hebrew name. So I'm also curious about this.

Yes Kay

As one who grew up in poverty, I know what it is like to have little and much as far as necessities being provided and then some. I do think that we are headed for a time when our reliance on worldly prosperity will be shaken, as it should be. But I do believe that God is able to keep us from falling. But, as you said, we need to be firmly rooted in Christ, believing that in Him we have all that we need, for He owns everything! We can learn to seek Him for our daily needs and be thankful for His provision more than we ever have before. For me, now that I am retired, I am reassessing my lifestyle once again. What do I really need to have? I can probably part with 90% of my wardrobe since I don't need to dress for work anymore. I have been purging my closets and cupboards for the past year, donating much to my sons or Goodwill. We have really cut back on eating out.

But then again, it is really more than just these things. It is learning to be content with God providing what we truly need and looking for ways to be able to help meet the needs of others in this time. it is also learning what it may be like to have devastation to our economy and infrastructure and being prepared to face that. It is being ready to spend and be spent for the sake of Christ and others. That is a much deeper change in us. So, I pray that God's children will be made ready and repent from relying on what one can do for themselves and turn to rely solely on God for all things.

Thank you Kay,

This lifted my heart this day.

Hi Sunshine,

Jesse and others have given you good answers.

For me, God is this perfect love and therefore, Jesus is this perfect love. We are called to be imitators of Jesus, so we are to utilize the love of God poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who is perfect love, too, by applying it to our relationships and interactions with others. Though God's love in us is perfect, our use of it will always be imperfect due to our sinful nature. As we walk in the Spirit, He sanctifies us bit by bit, and so our love becomes more perfected along the way in this life. As long as we exist on this earth, we will have our sinful nature affecting all of our "good" actions somewhat, even though our desire and intention is to do what is right. (See Rom. 7)

It will be in the next life that our sinful nature will be removed from us and we will be perfected. Then we will no longer sin and will rejoice in all that is good and right. We will be glorified and therefore be as God intended us to finally become. This state is higher than what Adam and Eve had in Eden prior to sinning. It is the culmination of the plan of the ages begun in the beginning. (See Phil. 3:20-21)

1 Cor. 2:7 says "But we speak of the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, (note that this plan was for our glory) and the chapter goes on to say, "Eye has not seen, Nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him." (verse 9) and then goes on to say (...but (we have) the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. (verse 12)

So, there is much that we know now and possess now because the Spirit lives in use and reveals the mystery of the ages to us from the Word that recounts the salvation we have in Jesus (that the world cannot know without the Spirit). Yet there is still more for us to come in eternity that we have yet to know.