Following this biblestudy, but absolutely not with any relation to this the following:
On suday we had a preacher in our midst, who is guiding a worldwide missionary team. He had chosen as his subject: Philippians 2 v 25: "But I think it necessary to send back to you Epafroditus, my brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier, who is also your messenger, whom you sent to take care of my needs. (26): For he longs for all of you and is distressed because you heard he was ill. (27) Indeed he was ill, and almost died. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him, but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow. (28): Therefore I am all the more eager to send him, so that when yoiu see him again you may be glad and I may have less anxiety" . ........... At first that name! Servant of the goddess of love'', (Apofrodite). So many Christians- out-of- the Gentiles change their names in somethiing respectable. Absolutely O.K.. But (let us call him) Epa did not do that. If he had wanted so..... of course we do not know if he acted like that ....this should have been a good introduction: "Yes ...yes ...you hear it exactly:. But I am a servant of Lord Jesus Christ, who ís LOVE". - Epa is 'a brother in the Lord' of Paul. Well all Christians are this, real brothers of each other, as things are well, perhaps even friends like Paul and Epa. - But there is more: Epa is not only a brother : he has become 'a fellow-worker'. He is not only as 'preach-consumer'....he has become a producer of 'work in the kingdom'. - However: Epa had made so much progress, that he could be a 'fellow-soldier' with Paul, genius as Paul was. - Epa had become so good, that the congregation in Philippi could send him with a message, in this case the reaching of a sack with money , a riskful job in those times. - Delegate (apostle) to Paul and Paul sents him back as an apostle, (delegate), (with this letter ?) - He became ill, very ill, Epa, somewhere during this difficult journey from Philippi, East-Greece , to Rome, (detention-place of aul). This man did not grudge the cost...to be a 'messenger of the Lord'. - But: he recoverd. And then Paul could send hin back. .................... Of course you have understood the message:
You, brothers and sisters; - . if still you are no fellow-workere; become ACTIVE. Think no longer only: "What can the congregation do to make ME happy". Begin to think : "What can I do to make the congregation happy. Placing the chairs perhaps"
- If you are a fellow- worker, but not yet a fellow- soldier: to the ' invisible' frontline. Exercise your spiritual gifts in the great war against satan.
- if you are already a fellow soldier, if the leaders of the congregation can not yet give you an important, but difficult task...become a messenger of Jesus Christ too. ......... Oh...how we were vigorous after this preach to be at least a fellow- worker. The chairs never were assembled so swiftly.
bibel lesen ist wichtig ja aber dadurch hilfe für den Alltag ???Konnte ich bisher net feststellen.
Mein lieber Christof,
Aus deinen Worten nehme ich:
"Die Probleme der heutigen Zeit existieren da nicht wirklich drin"
Aber Christof, meinst du das wirklich?
Komm, ich nehme dich mit nach Richter 13 . Lies das mal ganz genau.... du Christof....hast du überhaupt wohl mal in 'Richter' gelesen ???
-Es gibt in Zora, (Israel), ein Mann, ein Daniet, genannt Manoah. Erste Ueberraschung: wás ???? Dan ?? Das war nun eben nicht der meist hervorragende, sich gut benehmende Stamm in Israel. Kann dá was geschehen. Ja; noch HEUTE kann etwas geschehen an einem unerwarteten Ort.
Seine unfruchtbare Frau, die namentlos ist.... der Mann ist immer der Wichtigste in der Altzeit ......hat eine Begegnung mit dem Engel des Herrn, ( das ist Jesus, bevor er aus Maria geboren wurde. In seiner Gottheit lief er -so zu sagen- auch 'Stage' in der Welt um sein künftiges Arbeitsfeld 'kennen zu lernen'. Was...nicht Manoah selber, seine Frau! Grosze Mitteilungen müssen doch geschehen an die Männer. Noch HEUTE war es so, dasz meine Frau zu mir sagte in 1959: "Ich habe nun neue Geschichten über Glaube gehört. Komm mal mit mir nach der Stelle, wo das gesagt wurde".
- Dä sagt der Manoah, wenn die Frau die ganze Geschichte erzählt hat: " Ach , Herr, lasz den Mann Gottes wieder zu uns kommen, den du gesandt hast, damit er uns lehre, was wir mit dem Knaben tun sollen, der geboren werden soll". Noch HEUTE sind díe Männer weis, die sagen: " Ich glaube , was meine Frau spricht, auch wenn ich nicht selbst so einen wichtigen Botschaft gehört habe. Auf Grund von was sie sagt, nehme ich Kontakt mit Gott". So habe ich in 1959 gehandelt und ich bin noch froh dasz ich das gemacht habe. Und es wird mir zur ewigen Freude.
- Kommt Gott wieder, spricht wieder zu der Frau, aber Manoah kommt zugelaufen und fragt: " Wie sollen wir dieses Kind erziehen, weil er gerufen ist um ganz wichtig zu werden". Und der ' Engel' gibt ihm keine deutliche Richtlinien. Noch HEUTE ist es so, dasz Gott keine deutliche Richtlinien gibt. Er sagt " Dies oder das ist dein Auftrag von Meinentweg. Glaube, vertraue, geh deinen Weg. Der wird sich zeigen. Glaube Mir . Das rechne ich dir zur Gerechtigkeit". (Mose 1: 15 v 6).
- Manoh sitzt zu tief in seinen Denk-kadern. Er kann nicht glauben, das er mit Gott zu tun hat und fragt: "Wollen Sie nicht zu Essen kommen". Noch HEUTE ist es so, dasz wir so starr sind in unserem Denken, dasz wir unter allen Klangen der Welt das sanfte aber dringliche Rufen von Gott nicht gut hören.
- Der 'Engel'sagt: "Ich werde nicht essen, aber ein Brandopfer...das ist gut; bereiten Sie das". Aber Manoah, festgerostet in seinem irdischen Denken fragt; "Wie heiszt du". Auch HEUTE ist es so schwierig um aus unseren irdischen Denkweisen aus zu kommen.
- Und dann geschieht ein Wunder: als die Flamme des Brandopfers ausloderte vom Altar zum Himmel , fuhr der Engel des Herrn auf in der Flamme. Und endlich glaubte Manoah, dasz er den Herrn begegnet hatte. Auch HEUTE ist es noch so, dasz Gott geduldig, freundlich und nachdrücklich zu uns sprechen will, bis wir endlich wissen, dasz ER gesprochen hat.
Nah, du.....Christof... ist es dir jetzt möglich um zu glauben, dasz Gottes Geschichten für FRüHER und HEUTE und für die ZUKUNFT sind , Alles ist für dich, für heute und für hier.
How good that you have come to us. We are all friends here and we all are praying for you.
And now you have heard, that some of us have pain too. Now this is my advice to you. Pray for the friends, having told about their own pain. Praying for other people reliefs your own sorrows. Paul was a man, accustomed to pain. He had, ( 2 Corinthians 12 v 7): ".....a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of satan to torment me...|"
And although he had so much sorrow himself he could say to the Corinthians, ( 2 Cor.13 v 9), to the Philippians, ( 1 v 4), to the Colossians, ( 1 v 3), to the Thessalonians, ( 2 Th 1 v 11), THAT HE PRAYED FOR THEM.
Perhaps here is also a task for you, although youi have so much to bear.
Paul for his heavy mental cross prayed to Lord Jesus.
In 2 Corinth 12 v 8 we read: " Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. " MY GRACE IS SUFFICIENT FOR YOU, FOR MY POWER IS MADE PERFECT IN WEAKNESS", Lord Jesus answered.
We pray for you. Speak to Lord Jesus about it and be full of courage, when you get a similar answer as Paul. But God has his own way with Wayne and with Paul.
Greetings Ger, (from another forum up here, 'Ask Ger', where you also find an ongoing biblestudy).
Waarom evangeliseren wij nu eigenlijk 'ten diepste
luxdei schrieb:
Ich mache mir zur Zeit Gedanken, weshalb Christen missionieren. Welche Motivation dahinter steckt.
Bislang habe ich folgende Motive gefunden - ich habe sie etwas plakativ dargestellt: 1.) Jesus hat gesagt, wir sollen es tun. 2.) Das Christentum ist die beste Religion, deshalb gebe ich sie weiter. 3.) Jesus hat mein Leben bereichert, und ich möchte diese Bereicherung weitergeben. 4.) Missionieren verspricht Lohn bei Gott.
Weshalb missioniert Ihr? Findet Ihr Euch in den oben genannten Motiven wieder? Habt Ihr andere Motive?
Welche Motive habt Ihr?
Freue mich auf Eure Antworten!!
Lux Dei
Liebe Lux dei,
Alles, was du da nennst, hat wohl etwas in sich.
1 Jesus hat gesagt, ich solle es tun. Ja....über diesem Grund habe ich nicht so viel nachgedacht. Natürlich weisz ich, dasz Jesus gesagt hat: " Geht hin in alle Welt und predigt das Evangelium aller kreatur", aber das war so natürlich für mich, dasz ich das eigentlich von selbst getan habe.
2. Und dasz das Christentum.... mit Bereu, Bekehrung, Wiedergeburt, Taufe mit dem Heiligen Geist, mit Geistesgaben und Geistefrucht das beste ist dasz jedermann haben kann, damit bin ich auch sehr froh und davon bin ich überzeugt. Und meine Freude ist auch in der Gnade Gottes, die das alles möglich macht.
3 Und das dritte: Jesus hat mein Leben bereichert und ich will das durchgeben , das lebt sehr stark bei mir. In Holland habe ich einen Rubrik für Jungleute und ich habe da mehr als 3000 Antworte gegeben um meine Freude an andern mit zu teilen. In den letzten Jahren - seit 2005- erzähle ich von dieser Freude auch an Erwachsene.
4 Und das vierte, dasz wir Lohn bekommen, wenn wir das Evangelium weiter verkündigen, auch das findet in meinem Herzen Anklang. Denn um so mehr ich von unserem Heiland erzählte, um so freudiger wurde mein Herz.
Aber: ist das nun alles. Was ich jetzt sagen gehe, ist ziemlich ' un konstruktiert. In 2001 war ich noch 78 und hatte meine kranke Frau schon seit 1992 gepflegt. Ich hatte bis 1992 viel in alle Welt gefahren für allerhand Arbeiten und nuszte weiter zu Hause bleiben. Ich hörte viele gute Predigte und konnte die nicht gut nach auszen austragen. Ich kam unter geistlichem Druck zu stehen, weil ich so viele schöne Dinge hörte und keine Möglichkeit hatte um sie weiter zu erzählen, na ja....wohl ein biszchen, aber nicht so viel, wie ich das eben wollte.
Und dann kam meine Chance. Ich kam auf Internet und baldigst sagte man da zu mir: `Du bekommst einen eignen Jugendrubrik, namens `Vraag het Ger`....(Frage doch Ger).
Und seitdem habe ich immer viele Arbeit um überall von Jesus zu erzälen.
Nun ist es so dasz ich bis auf heute mich selbst 'erwirklichen' kann, ich kann ausgeben, was ich in mir habe.
Und so kann ein fünfter Grund vielleicht sein, dasz ich mit meinen Talenten arbeiten kann. Und ich habe schon andere Talente dazu beiverdient durch Gottes GnadeMatth 25 v 15).
Hierunter gebe ich noch einen übersicht von einigen von den 3000 Fragen. Ich habe auch in Amerika auf heute einen Kolumn, "Ask Ger"
Und nun noch 10 Beispiele von Fragen. - Wer bin ich nun eigentlich - Fortwährend müde - Ich will wieder fröhlich sein - Ich musz immer 'von innen' so fluchen - es geschehen immer von diesen furchtbaren Sachen - Ich kommuniziere so schlecht - Ich sehe immer Dämonen - Ich verdien die Freundlichkeit der Mensche nicht - Meine Frau schläft so schlecht. Immer schwere Träume - Ich habe zu machen mit Zauberei.
Schwierige Fragen, aber immer habe ich in der Bibel Antworten gefunden.
Ik kan God niet liefhebben vanwege al dat nare in de wereld. Dat doet hÃj toch ?
Hello Trekker,
Much of the grief is caused by the enemy of the Lord and of us, the devil. And always when he tempts us by all sorts of grief, the Lord is behind it with his wish that we stand fast in the temptation of illness, loss of beloved ones. And when we come through this temptation.... also temptation to do eveil things ....the Lord comforts us and makes us stronger. God is good .
There were more to say about this , but always love God, because he sent his beloved Son to help us and take our sins away. In 'Ask Ger'(another forum over here) I answer this sort of questions in series 1.
Waarom laat God het verwaarlozen van kinderen toe.
Saweljuschka schrieb:
Ich möchte bei allem Lob wie gut Gott ist, eine andere Seite beleuchten.
Ich habe gerade online Zeitung gelesen, da habe ich wirklich etwas grausames gesehen. Ein Obduktionsfoto der ausgemergelten Leiche der kleinen Lea-Sophie, die im November des vergangenen Jahres qualvoll verhungert ist. Es war ein unfassbar schrecklicker Anblick, ich mußte mich übergeben und kann mich immernoch kaum beruhigen.
Ständig liest man in jüngster Zeit, daß Kinder auf grausame Weise zu Tode gequält und vernachlässigt werden.
In solchen Momenten frage ich mich: WO ist da der gütige Gott?
Klar, es ist der freie Wille der Eltern die Kinder zu Tode zu quälen. Aber es ist NICHT der freie Wille der Kinder, auf so eine bestialische Weise zu Tode zu kommen.
Warum greift Gott da nicht ein? Er greift doch offenbar sonst auch bei - sorry- ziemlichen Kinkerlitzchen ein, wenn ich lese daß manche hier schreiben nach dem Motto Gott hat ihnen geholfen ihre Autoschlüssel wiederzufinden danke Jesus hallelujah.
Wieso hilft er diesen Kindern nicht, Kinder sind das allerwichtigste auf der ganzen Welt, Matthäus 19, 14 "Aber Jesus sprach: Lasset die Kinder und wehret ihnen nicht, zu mir zu kommen; denn solchen gehört das Himmelreich", wieso rettet ER sie nicht vor dieser Grausamkeit? Es steht doch in seiner Macht, wie kann er da nur zusehen. Ich begreife es nicht.
Sorry, wenn ich gerade etwas wütend klinge aber ich bin wirklich ganz durch den Wind in meinen Gedanken.
Meine liebe Saweljuschka,
Oh, ich verstehe die Empörtheit so gut.
Aber: Gott hat einen furchtbaren Feind. Der Teufel.
Gott ist allmächtig. Aber der Teufel ist ( nur) mächtig. Die einzige Aufgave des Teufels ist, jeden Mensch auf Erden zu versuchen ob dieser Mensch im tiefsten seines Wesens für Gott wählen will. Im Buch Hiob steht deutlich, dasz er nicht weiter gehen kann, als Gott es erlaubt, ( 1 v 11). Denn der liebe Herrgott will uns prüfen, ob wir "Ja" zu ihm sagen wollen oder dasz wir im tiefsten unsrer Persönlichkeit "nein" zu ihm sagen.
Nun hat satan, ( der Teufel) in den 9000 Jahren seit Adam-Eva so vielen Unfug gemacht, dasz ein unentwirrbarer Knoten ist entstanden von Greuel und Erschrecken, wovon du dieses und jenes hat gesagt.
Aber in Matth 25 steht, dasz unser lieber Herr Jesus einmal ein rechtfertiges Urteil aus wird sprechen über allen denjenigen, die je auf Erden gelebt haben, leben oder noch leben werden. Und zwischen diesen 1000 Miljard Menschen werden auch diese Kinder stehen , die so grausam verhungerten. Sie sind wieder lebendig geworden wie alle Mensche, die guten und die Bösen. (Daniel 12 v 2)
Und was haltest du? Wird Jesus diese kleine Kinder, die hiee gestorben sind durch die schlechten Dinge von Erwächsenen nicht freundlich ansschauen und die Pforten des Himmelreiches für sie öffnen.
Gott ist Liebe. Aber denke an 5 Mose 29 v 28: " Was verborgen ist, ist des Herrn unseres Gottes; was aber offewnbart ist, das gilt uns und unsern Kindern ewiglich, das wir das tun sollen".
Und meine Liebe, es ist so viel offenbart: und das wichtigste steht schon in 1 Mose 15 v 6: "Abram glaubte dem Herrn und das rechnete er ihm zur Gerechtigkeit".
Glaubest auch du dem Herrn unter allen vielen Schwierigkeiten durch und es wird dir zu Gerechtigkeit.
Over de vele gevaren, die er zijn en de enige troost.
Hello Sunflower,
You tell us about one of the thousand dangers that are menacing people. In Holland, every day, when you listen to the news, you hear about all problems of our world-wide difficulties, such as 'the warming up of the planet', 'the lack of oil in some decades from now ', 'the rising foodprices'. And one of these thousand things is : a too strong dependence of foodhelp and so on by the government.
Proverbs 18 v 10 however says: 'The name of the Lord is a strong tower, the righteous run to it and are safe"
Proverbs 29 v 25 says: "Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe".
All those 'helping hands of the government' they are a steady and remanining situation. We can talk about it, moan about it, but we can not change this situation, neither can we change all the far bigger dangers that menace the world. That is all spoiled energy.
( Of course you can do certain things against pollution by all those cars).
But far the best thing of all is: trusting the Lord: repentance, conversion, deep conversion= rebirth, baptizm with the Holy Spirit. Then you use your energy for the good, remaining, heavenly things, you will not so easily fall into all those snares and the Lord will keep you safe and unassailable
And unassailable you will also be running to the tower of the Lord,the name of God, the name of the Holy Spirit and the name of our dear Lord Jesus.
But therefore it is necessary that you are righteous, because you trust on Jesus'word: "Fulfilled", (John 19 v 30).
And you will see, that: made strong by the name of Lord Jesus, you will be able to do the wise things against all sorts of dangers , menacing us.
Greetings Ger, (from co-forum 'Ask Ger', where you can also find an ongoing biblestudy)
Psalm 12 v 7 sagt: "Die Worte des Herrn sind lauter wie Silber, im Tiegel geschmolzen, geläutert siebenmal".
Oft hat man mir gefragt: "Und die schrecklichen Geschichten aus dem Buch Josua....sind sie auch geläutert wie Silber...im Tiegel geschmolzen....nah...was hast du dazu".
Aber der Heilige Geist hat mir auch darauf Licht gegeben, damit er zu mir sagte: "Erkläre das ganze Alte Testament aus dem Neuen in dem Licht von Jesus Christus". Und das hat mir daran geholfen um eine Lehre zo holen aus ALLEN Teilen von der Bibel.
Psalm 17 v 6 sagt; "Neig deine Ohren zu mir, höre meine Rede". Und dann habe ich mit neuer Energie gelesen, was in Galater 5 v 22 steht: "Die Frucht aber des Geistes ist: - Liebe, Freude, Friede, - Geduld, Freundlichkeit, Gütigkeit - Glaube, Sanftmut, Selbstbeherrschung. Und wenn ich meine Ohren zu dieser Rede neigte, so wurde es besser mit mir in allen diesen Hinsichten. Ich habe übrigens noch viel zu lernen.
Und so gibt es noch tausende von Wegen mehr, dasz die Bibel mich geformt hat und damit noch immer tätig ist.
Jehovah's witnesses do not see Jesus Christ as God and man. They see him only as 'a member of mankind'. They hide it under a flood of words, but the nucleus of their teachings is that they do not accept Jesus Christ as our Heavenly and human Saviour.
1 Corinthians 3 v 11 says: " For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ".
And there are many textes, saying the same.
This brings me to yet another thought. Many people speak very profound, learned and dear about God. But when you ask: "And what do you think about Jesus Christ", they answer: "About him I have no opinion". And after that they soon end the discussion and leave, as once was my experience, although I was only a spectator at that time.
Another thought may be this: "We have so much to be before, that we have not much time to be against this or that".
Let us all be before: repentance, conversion, deep conversion, rebirth, baptizm with the Holy Spirit, gifts and fruit of the Holy Spirit, as I do speak about in my 'ask Ger'-biblestudies. And that is so much that we do not even have much time to pay attention to Jehovah's witnesses or whatsoever.
Let us always think and do: "Let your gentleness be evident to all", (Philippians 4 v 5).
Sometimes it will be necessary to close the door to certain people with a flow of words, like Jehovah witnesses, but remain gentle.
Medegelovigen MOET ik als vrienden beschouwen....en onder 'buitenstaanders' kan ik geen vrienden krijgen
Liebe allen,
Zuerst gab es ein Thema: "Warum habe Christen keine Freunde".
Das wurde geschlossen und nun geht es hier weiter.... befreit von allem, was ungeschickt war; so zu sagen: mit gereinigtem Wappenschild.
Ich will auch etwas dazu sagen.
Man kann nich gut sagen: "Christ war ein Christen". Aber er war wohl ein Beispiel für alle Christen. Und von Jesus wird gesagt: ".....wie ist der Mensch.....der Zöllner und der Sünder Geselle".
Jesus sagt selber in Johannes 11 v 11: "Lazarus, UNSER Freund , schläft".
Aus diesen Texten nehme ich einige Gedanken. - Herr Jesu hatte Freunde in der Gemeinde, seine Jünger - Er sagte eigentlich: "Lazarus gehört zu der Gemeinde. Er ist nur nicht MEIN Freund , aber er ist auch DEIN Freund. Leute die zu der Gemeinde gehören sind auch Freunde von einander" . - Jesus war für 100% erfüllt mit dem Heiligen Geist. Darum konnte er auch ein Freund, Geselle sein für Zöllner und Sünder. (Matth 11 v 19)
Wenn wir so weit gegangen sind , dasz wir nach: - Bekehrung - tiefe Bekehrung, (Nicht- wie anfänglich- in der Seele aber ganz innerlich, in dem menschlichen Geist), - Wiedergeburt - Taufe mit dem Heiligen Geist, das alles durch den Gnaden Gottes in uns haben, dann gilt auch für uns: - das wir die Frucht des Heiligen Geistes haben, ( Galater 5 v 22). Und zu dieser Frucht gehört auch Freundlichkeit. - Wir haben nur nicht Freunde in der Gemeinde, aber wir SIND ein Freund für jeden in der Gemeinde, in Nachfolgung von Jesus, von dem wir alle singen: " Welch eind Freund ist unser Jesus, Der in uns'rem Platz wollt' steh'n. Welch ein Vorrecht dasz ich durch ihn Immer frei zu Gott darf geh'n. Nie entbehren wir den Frieden Nimmer drückt uns Sünde weg Stets die herrliche Gedanke: Jesus Christus ist der Weg". - Weil die Bibel sagt: " Eure Freundlichkeit, (Lindigkeit), (Freundliche Bescheidenheit) lasset kund sein allen Menschen", (Philipper 4 v 5). darum SIND wir ein Freund für alle Mensche und wir werden sicherlich Freunde machen zumal unter denjenigen, die eigentlich ' verborgene Ja-sager' sind, (Römer 2 v 14 u.s.w.)
Trinity is not to be understood. Isaiah 55 v 8 says: "For my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways" declares the Lord: " As the heavens are higher than the earth , so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts"
The Lord knows from eternity all the possibilities every man or woman has in his or her person. He knows this of every member of mankind, who has ever lived, who lives and who will live, (Jeremiah 1 v 5).
This highly elevated being, our dear Lord, has an eternal plan.
And if, in this eternal plan , he sometimes thinks it to be necessary to revelate himself as 'God, our loving Father', sometimes as ''God the Son, who takes the sins away and carries them away in pure love, sometimes as 'God the Holy Spirit', pointing us the way to "God the Father", starting from our sins , taken away by the sacrifice of "God the Son", ( known by us in the dear name: our beloved Lord Jesus)..... we can only be happy with a God, so full of possibilities, trying to help us in all our difficulties.
Deuteronomy 29 v 29 says: "The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us , that we may follow all the words of this law".
Oh.....and there is so much revealed !! Repentance......conversion......deep conversion.....rebirth....baptizm in the Holy Spirit....gifts and fruit of "God the Holy Spirit"....sanctification....bliss...
Greetings Ger (from 'ask Ger', another forum up here, where you also find an ongoing biblestudy)
Het is zo goed om de vervulling met de Heilige geest te ontvangen
Dear Elshevia,
I think it to be the most important to be filled with God the Holy Spirit more and more.
For John 14v 16 and 16 say: "I (Jesus) will ask the Father and he will give you another Couselor ro be with you forever....the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But YOU know him, for he lives with you and will be in you"
v 26: " The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things amd will remind you of everything I have said to you".
15 v 26; "When the Couselor comes , ( in Holland we speak of 'the Comforter') , whom I will send to you from the Father he will testify about me".
16 v 7: "I (Jesus) tell you the truth. It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go, the Couselor cannot come to you, but if I go, I will send him to you".
Oh ...I love Jesus...because he first loved me. And I want to learn every day more about him. And God the Holy Spirit gives me these teachings and reminds me every day, that what Jesus has spoken and he explains it every day more clear. The Holy Spirit has this great task : testifying about Jesus.
And moreover the Holy Spirit comes with all his gifts and fruit to bring me nearer to the kingdom of Jesus and God.
Greetings Ger ( of Forum ' Ask Ger', for ALL questions and with a popular bliblestudy
Eigenlijk behoorde dit artikel éerst gelezen te worden vóor de andere 'Els'
About self-control.
Dear Els,
You wrote referring to my last biblestudy:
Dear ger, The Holy Spirit, the Comforter, Teacher, who tells me no, when my self tries to come to the front, I forget him at times, when my tongue runs away with me, words just come out of my mouth words I have not thought about before I speak, then I have to say sorry to the person I have spoken too, and ask to be forgiven, He is my joy, my tears, and I love him so much his name in Hebrew is Ruach Ha' Kodesh, He has priceless Jewels of Wisdom open to everyone, who seeks them with a humble heart. Elshevia.
My answer only focusses on thís part of your letter: "I forget him ( the Holy Spirit) at times, when my tongue runs away with me, words just come out of my mouth, words I have not thought about before. I speak...... then I have to say 'sorry' to the person I have spoken to, and ask to be forgiven".
But Els......
You know that 1 Corinth 12 is speaking about the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Of course you know them.( 7-11).
But in Galatians 5 you find the fruit of the Holy Spirit. You know them of course too.(7). "But the fruit of the Spirit is: - love, joy, peace - patience, kindness - goodness, faithfulness - gentleness and SELF-CONTROL.
Els.....several people are exercising with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. And at a certain level they can not go forward with: - wisdom, knowledge, faith - gifts of healing, miraculous powers - prophecy, ability to distinghuish between spirits - ability to speak in different kinds of tongues* - interpretation of tongues
*every Christian filled by the Holy Spirit should speak in tongues. But 'different kinds of tongues' is still richer.
And then they discovered the fruit of the Holy Spirit and asked the Holy Spirit to help them with that too.
And one of the nine parts of this fruit is: SELF-CONTROL.
If you are lacking in that peace of the fruit you can always ask to God in his grace and mercy to work in you, what you cannot work yourself. And then time comes that you also get with divine help control over your tongue.
James 3 v 5-10 says about the tongue the following wise things: "The tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire... a world of evil among the parts of the body. IT CORRUPTS THE WHOLE PERSON, sets the whole course of his life on fire and is itself set on fire by hell. No man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil , full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likenss. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. MY BROTHERS, THIS SHOULD NOT BE".
Now you, Els, always ask for forgiveness. That is a good thing. But still better is it to know that the Holy Spirit can also help us, regarding this. We should strive for this part of his fruit too....and with the help of God we shall be conquerors on this part of the front too.
Quote: Originally Posted by Elshevia Dear Ger, I will ask the Holy Spirit to stop my tongue wagging all on its own, but the words just come out, even when I say to myself before I go anywhere keep your mouth shut, if someone in the company says a sarcastic remark, my tongue will move and speak before I can bite on it, and my answers usually shut the person who was talking up, but I will try God bless you ger, in 2008. Elshevia.
Hello Elshevia,
The same difficulties as you have, so have I. Perhaps I can serve you with some of my experiences . There is a possibility, that you say: "Oh...I knew it already for a long time and I have done this a thousand times.
But let us try: You tell me that you sometimes are sinning with your tongue: - the words come out beyond your control - your tongue is moving beyond your control.
When you have done that , you should at first think of 1 John 2 v 1 " If anybody DOES sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defence- Jesus Christ, the Righteous One".
I have myself the experience, that every time I went directly after the sin to Jesus and confessed.... that can be a question of seconds in your brain, so to say: 'piping heat'. .....that I 'heard' Jesus saying: "Also for this I have given my life". And I daresay, that I gradually got victory over many daily sins , when I acted like this several times.
But you can next to it say to God in your prayer: " O Lord...just as Paul said in Romans 7...I have no internal power to resist to many of my iniquities. Just as Paul discovered that all our victories over sin and devil only are possible in Jesus our Lord, so I pledge on your grace and mercy Lord, that they help my inner person, willing, but not being able, to conquer.
And moreover you can say to the Holy Spirit: "O dear God the Holy Spirit....I open up all the rooms of my heart for you. I need so ardently your help. Thank you, Holy Spirit".
These things will help you to be still more blessed on your way upwards.
Proverbs 4 v 18: "The path pf the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day".
Good article, my compliments.Sound, thorough , solid. When I read it, I thought of a word by Paul. This word:1 Corinthians 4 v 3: " I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed I do not even judge myself".
Paul was rejected nearly constantly. But he was a man, filled with the Holy Spirit. And he knew that he was bringing a message, that was given to him by this Holy Spirit. And he lived with his human spirit already in the heavenly realms. There he was fighting the devil in a tremendous way. And one of his big discoveries : Ephesians 6 v 12:.... "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood , but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms". ......is only now newly discovered, since Augustinus pushed it aside with his ' original sin'., circa 400 after Christ.
And that other great discovery in Ephesians 3 v 10:.... "God's intrest was "that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms", which clearly says, that the church of the deciding age we have now, has to be filled with the Holy Spirit and has to fight the devil and his demons in his own strongholds in the heavenly realms and that only in this way, becoming spiritual in the good sense, victory is ours ....that discovery he made first and we are making it only now renewed. is also a fruit of his being active in the heavenly realms
And this Paul with this wide field of observation, was placed IN these heavenly realms. And from there all fuss and all rejection here on earth are no more than mole-heaps.
And every Christian, striving for the baptizm in the Holy Spirit is on his way, to become unassailable for rejection.
This of course is not valid for people, who think that they are reborn and filled with the Holy Spirit, but who are in fact not like that or only just for a short time en route. But when you go further and further , just like Paul, you will grow and grow in your being rejection-proof.
Kunnen onduidelijke bijbelvertalingen verwarring zaaien
Originally Posted by Elshevia Thank you ger, for most informitive dialog, it has helped a lot. Now the next question is this nowhere in Scripture does it say that Jesus Christ delivered us from or dealt with s...n's powers at Calvary, He dealt with s...n's authority. the King James Version uses the greek words dunamis { power } and exousia { authority }. interchangeably which creates confusion, in its readers where other Bibles do not, in Colossians 1:13. "who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, where other Bibles say that Christ has delivered us from the authority of darkness, may I ask what you think of this wrong translation because these two words are not the same, it has been explained to me as.... when you have the authority, you have the power,
what is your idea on this ger. Elshevia.
Hello Elshevia,
Colossians 1 v 12 and 13 says in the New international version: "Let us give thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he, ( the Father) has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves".
Indeed these verses speak of the Father and not of the Son. But it remains a fact that the translation of K.J. was not quite correct and that modern translations have something more 'to the point'.
But...is this catastrophal ? I make a sidestep now. From the 17 th century up to the 20 th century we had in Holland the 'Statenvertaling'. And there was standing in Genesis 22 v 1 that the Lord tempted Abraham, whilie in James 1 v 14 is standing: " ...God does not tempt anyone".
But millions of Dutch Christians have found their Saviour in spite of this manco. And I am sure that millions of K.J.- readers have too.
The word of the Lord is so strong, that little failures do no hurt it. Let us know at least this: The Lord God...to him all the honour...has saved us from the dominion of darkness. He gives us the status of conquerors of darkness an he gave us too the status of ' inheritance of the kingdom of light'.
But we have to verify that in our lifes.
I give you an example: When I had finished my schooling as a puiblic auditor, the head of the office sent me in 1957 into practise with these words: "Now mr Gerritse...you are now in full authority as a public auditor. You have all the licenses...but you don't have any experience 'in the field' except from what you experienced in your stage-period. You must make true in your behaviour and in your handling of all practice-matters that you are worth to exercise this magnificent function. But we all in the office want to help you in the first difficult years".
Now the Lord has given us all these delightful things we have gained by the sacrifice of Lod Jesus and only by God's grace. It is now up to us to step into the works the Lord has prepared for us.
Moewt ik nu onder elke steen een duiveltje gaan zoeken
"De vraag was: "Moet ik nu onder elk steentje kijken of er niet een duiveltje zit ?"
Hello David,
You wrote: ........ I believe that we all (or at least most of us) have had an encounter with or have let ourselves be influenced by an untoward spirit. In fact, there is someone on the forum right now who I believe is letting themselves be affected by some kind of spirit and I don't mean the Holy Spirit.
Sometimes we can believe we are receiving guidance from the Holy Spirit when it's actually the prince of the air doing the talking. Since scripture tells us he can appear as an angel of light if we aren't close to Jesus we can not discriminate and if we don't use Jesus name or pray in the name of Jesus we cannot guard against the spirit or make it go away.
I don't look for demons under every rock but know they are there, can affect us, and are scriptural with at least two kinds being mention: demons that caused illness and demons that caused insanity. I'll write more on this later. ............. My answer: I should like to give some new supply to what you already said. Satan with his helpers has spoiled us all. Just as he peeped at Kain and at certain moment said : "Aha...this is the good smell", (Genesis 4 v 7) he is watching all people. And because he is invisible, he can snatch us already in our childhood and so Romans 3 v 23 can say: "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God ".
And of course people can think that the Holy Spirit is speaking to them , but it is in fact the devil, who has transformed himself into an angel of light, (2 Corinthians 11 v 14). But it is this: we have not made open all the rooms of our spiritual life to the Holy Spirit, who wishes to live in us, but eagerly wishes too to have all the keys of all the rooms. You can give those keys to him by constant praying and telling everything to him quite openly without hiding any circumstance.
But....if your room is closed or if more than one room is closed, the devil makes it a dressing-room for himself. He puts on his 'angle-suit' and comes out to stupify everything.
And if you are one of these people, who has not given up all the keys, then you begin to be in error.
But if you are going on with the Holy Spirit, you also get the gifts of the Spirit. You know them all (Romans 12 v 7- 11) : -wisdom, knowledge, faith - gifts of healing, miraculous powers, - prohecy, ABILITY TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN SPIRITS - different kinds of tongues, interpretation of tongues
And if you exercise your gift of 'distinguish between spirits', you get a powerful weapon against satan.
Let us furthermore read Ephesians 6 v 12: "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood , but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms".
Now you say, that you don't seek a demon under every rock. But in fact it is like this. Ephesians say, that it is the main , the only struggle.
Look, what happened to me when I was six years of age. .............. We had been to the sands near the river. I had played all the day. My older sister said: "Now we go home, to eat Mother is waiting for us". Then a sudden anger awoke in me, as I had never felt before in my very, very young life. I took my little sand scoop and stroke her so that her lip began to bleed. When I saw that, a panic arose in my mind as I had never felt before and I ran from there. Of course later on all these things were settled, but I am sure of one thing: at that moment a demon began his first attact on this young child. ......... Later on, when I was- say - fourteen, I was a real bad boy. I have done very many bad things, just as David said in Psalm 25 v 7: "Remember- oh Lord- not the sins of my youth and my rebellious ways" Later on....as happens to most young people I learned to be a bit civilized, to adapt to society, but that is of course not the same as repentance and conversion. They came to me still later on. But that is another story.
But.....see the devil everywhere, but not in a shy way....: "What shall happen to me", but in a conquering way: "This shall happen to him...in the name of Jesus".
I am beginning to answer. But it is not sure that I can answer all textes in one posting. Be however sure that in the course of time they all will be answered as far as the answer is not already given in a previous posting of mine. In Holland I now have a girl with 14 questions. And after you I go back from California (?) to Holland to give her an answer to her third question.
Here we go:
Luke 9 v 1 - 2. " When Jesus had called the Twelve together , he gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them out to preach the kingdom of God and to heal the sick".
This text is valid up to now. The authority to do these things lies open to us. When Jesus sent out his disciples, the Holy Spirit had not yet been poured out, but Jesus gave them a temporary ' power of that Spirit', in awaiting of that glorious day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came to the believers to remain in those who remained filled with the Holy Spirit.
But nowadays we have many converts, but we don't have so many ' deep converts', ( not with their soul, but with their spirit). And we have even less ' born again' people and the number of people that has been filled by the Holy Spirit and stick to it, without hesitating or sliding back , is even lower.
But if we make profit out of all the good things Jesus left us , when he had said that delightfuil word: "Finished" (John 19 v 30), then it is now possible to do all the great things the disciples did then.
But our God is a generous God. I know of a minister in a dutch church , who did not reckon with all these nice things, (but however: he was a good Christian), and a member of his church said: "Pastor...I am so sick. Come and annoint me with oil" as James 5 v 21 says: "Is anyone of you sick ? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and annoint him with oil in the name of the Lord".
The pastor took with him two elders and they went very shy, but praising the Lord to the sick person and did, what James said. And the sick person was healed.
But of course Els....people who have had such an experience, have to go on with these things. I do not know, whether this pastor did like this.
Let us go together to Luke 16. V 19 to 31 are speaking about 'the rich man and Lazarus'.
Now you can have many preaches about this, but for now this is the only important thing: The rich man and also Lazarus immediately after death had an awareness.
From the rich man this is reported wider than from Lazarus But the impression is given that Lazarus had too an awareness. - the rich man could speak - he could recognize Abraham, so he could see - he could have feelings; "I am in the flames and they torment me". - he could be thirsty, (24).
So some bibles speak about hell, other bibles speak about 'realm of the dead'.
But as you can read: Abraham and Lazarus were at the good side of the realm of the dead. That is the waiting-room for full heavenly joy . But even this waiting- room is an absolute lovely place to be.
But the bad side of the realm of the dead, where the rich man was, is a place of provisionary custody. On the great day, whereabout Matthew 25 is speaking, Lazarus goes to the full joy, but the rich man comes from provisional custody into the place of permanent imprisonment. He had a bad time, he gets a bad time , not in the realm of the dead, but now in hell.
Some people say: "Jesus said this in a simplifying way, connecting to the general thoughts in his time". I do not believe, that about such important questions Jesus should not say exact things. He always said what he meant.
There is much more to say about these things , bur for the moment I leave it by this.
Originally Posted by Elshevia Thank you ger, for most informitive dialog, it has helped a lot. Now the next question is this nowhere in Scripture does it say that Jesus Christ delivered us from or dealt with s...n's powers at Calvary, He dealt with s...n's authority. the King James Version uses the greek words dunamis { power } and exousia { authority }. interchangeably which creates confusion, in its readers where other Bibles do not, in Colossians 1:13. "who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, where other Bibles say that Christ has delivered us from the authority of darkness, may I ask what you think of this wrong translation because these two words are not the same, it has been explained to me as.... when you have the authority, you have the power,
what is your idea on this ger. Elshevia.
Hello Elshevia,
Colossians 1 v 12 and 13 says in the New international version: "Let us give thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he, ( the Father) has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves".
Indeed these verses speak of the Father and not of the Son. But it remains a fact that the translation of K.J. was not quite correct and that modern translations have something more 'to the point'.
But...is this catastrophal ? I make a sidestep now. From the 17 th century up to the 20 th century we had in Holland the 'Statenvertaling'. And there was standing in Genesis 22 v 1 that the Lord tempted Abraham, whilie in James 1 v 14 is standing: " ...God does not tempt anyone".
But millions of Dutch Christians have found there Saviour in spite of this manco. And I am sure that millions of K.J.- readers have too.
The word of the Lord is so strong, that little failures do no hurt it. Let us know at least this: The Lord God...to him all the honour...has saved us from the dominion of darkness. He gives us the status of conquerors of darkness an he gave us too the status of ' inheritance of the kingdom of light'.
But we have to verify that in our lifes.
I give you an example: When I had finished my schooling as a puiblic auditor, the head of the office sent me in 1957 into practise with these words: "Now mr Gerritse...you are now in full authority as a public auditor. You have all the licenses...but you don't have any experience 'in the field' except from what you experienced in your stage-period. You must make true in your behaviour and in your handling of all practice-matters that you are worth to exercise this magnificent function. But we all in the office want to help you in the first difficult years".
Now the Lord has given us all these delightful things we have gained by the sacrifice of Lod Jesus and only by God's grace. It is now up to us to step into the works the Lord has prepared for us.
aul). This man did not grudge the cost...to be a 'messenger of the Lord'.
Matth 25 v 15).
