I agree, Satan is on a short leash , and if we
dwell on Satan having a share of the events that transpire, or the
amount of weight of suppression one feels as a result of these tragic
events then we will have no other place to go except death. But Christ
has promised to meet us at our lowest point of suffering. So that our
feelings must be suppressed by the word of God, being more and more
convinced of His promises to be our present help in time of need. And
sometimes we are left to battle these temptations to depart in a very
intense way. But Gods promises are always YES AND AMEN. His words are
tried like gold in a furnace, and they speak to those who are in the
fire so that the dross of self determination would be burned up, and
then we would come out of that trial with a more intense and pure desire
for Him alone. We go from standing in a big circle of hedges to being
in a very small circle, for the purpose of being devoted to Him alone. Then
Satan does not come as a wizard of the unseen to a believer, but He
stands aloof throwing the darts of questions as to our trust saying "he
trust in Him , let the Lord rescue him." Every pang that we feel is that
dart dipped in the poison of these words. Christ has endured Satans
strongest temptations at the cross, while suffering beyond anything we
could imagine, feeling the pangs of every temptation that every sinner
had to endure , yet these words did not over throw the cross. So now
when we go through trials Christ speaks more plainly and more powerfully
to us in Him being our refuge. And He does not promise us a process to
get out of the testing, but He has determined our time of perseverance
in the fire, delivering us from the temptation. So that we will only
look to Him as our strong deliver. Sometimes our battle in our minds can
become very intense and we grow weary , but this weakening of our
person must be fought with every word that proceeds from the mouth of
God.
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Forums / Main Forum / Re: Occult Recovery Thread
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on: January 18, 2008, 01:48:30 PM
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I think what Calvin is saying here is that we
are quick to get the help from man, and very slow to trust in Gods word
alone. So that we actually shield ourselves from temptation through the
power of mans sword. But its not by our sword that we get the victory.
And we say with all the force we possibly can, no not my sword, it can
do nothing. So that when we fully come to the word, we have a humbleness
to be changed by it no matter what men say. Because the help of man is
worthless, in changing our hearts. And so we are very lonely in coming
through this road. And it will be filled with many trials and
temptations, and then those who try to convince us that there is another
way than the Way. So we are left in a more helpless position, and we
are fighting the battle from both sides of society. And it feels as if
we are the only ones who have this battle, but there are so many who
speak before us, who have been orthodox and have paid dearly. But when
we long for His protection , we will get that protection, so that we
will be able to have the liberty to overcome temptation on our own and
only through faith in Him.
It is only those who have been under
great trials and feeling alone who truly learn to give of themselves to
the needy, not by a works system, or placing man as the center in the
responsible reciprocation. But Christ is the only reason that we open
our lives to helping others. This is a road that is impossible without
Him, because our faith is so small, but He is so big. So that His
presence enlarges our hearts to give by us being under His protection
through prayer.
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6745
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Forums / Main Forum / Re: Occult Recovery Thread
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on: January 18, 2008, 01:23:28 PM
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16. Taking the shield of faith. Though faith and the word of God are one,
yet Paul assigns to them two distinct offices. I call them one, because
the word is the object of faith, and cannot be applied to our use but
by faith; as faith again is nothing, and can do nothing, without the word.
But Paul, neglecting so subtle a distinction, allowed himself to
expatiate at large on the military armor. In the first Epistle to the
Thessalonians he gives both to faith and to love the name of a
breastplate, — “putting on the breastplate of faith and love,” (1
Thessalonians 5:8.) All that was intended, therefore, was obviously
this, — “He who possesses the excellencies of character which are here
described is protected on every hand.”
And yet it is not without
reason that the most necessary instruments of warfare — a sword and a
shield — are compared to faith, and to the word of God. In the spiritual
combat, these two hold the highest rank. By faith we repel all the
attacks of the devil, and by the word of God the enemy himself is slain.
If the word of God shall have its efficacy upon us through faith, we
shall be more than sufficiently armed both for opposing the enemy and
for putting him to flight. And what shall we say of those who take from a Christian people the word of God? Do they not rob them of the necessary armor, and leave them to perish without a struggle? There
is no man of any rank who is not bound to be a soldier of Christ. But
if we enter the field unarmed, if we want our sword, how shall we sustain that character?
Wherewith
ye shall be able to quench all the darts. But quench appears not to be
the proper word. Why did he not use, instead of it, ward off or shake
off, or some such word? Quench is far more expressive; for it is adapted
to the epithet applied to darts The darts of Satan are not only sharp
and penetrating, but — what makes them more destructive — they are fiery
Faith will be found capable, not only of blunting their edge, but of
quenching their heat.
“This,” says John, “is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” (1 John 5:4.)
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6746
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Forums / Main Forum / Re: Occult Recovery Thread
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on: January 18, 2008, 01:07:07 PM
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To impress them still more deeply with their
danger, he points out the nature of the enemy, which he illustrates by a
comparative statement, Not against flesh and blood. The meaning is,
that our difficulties are far greater than if we had to fight with men.
There we resist human strength, sword is opposed to sword, man contends
with man, force is met by force, and skill by skill; but here the case
is widely different. All amounts to this, that our enemies are such as
no human power can withstand. By flesh and blood the apostle denotes
men, who are so denominated in order to contrast them with spiritual
assailants. This is no bodily struggle.
Let us remember this when
the injurious treatment of others provokes us to revenge. Our natural
disposition would lead us to direct all our exertions against the men
themselves; but this foolish desire will be restrained by the
consideration that the men who annoy us are nothing more than darts
thrown by the hand of Satan. While we are employed in destroying those
darts, we lay ourselves open to be wounded on all sides. To wrestle with
flesh and blood will not only be useless, but highly pernicious. We
must go straight to the enemy, who attacks and wounds us from his
concealment, — who slays before he appears.
But to return to
Paul. He describes our enemy as formidable, not to overwhelm us with
fear, but to quicken our diligence and earnestness; for there is a
middle course to be observed. When the enemy is neglected, he does his
utmost to oppress us with sloth, and afterwards disarms us by terror; so
that, ere the engagement has commenced, we are vanquished. By speaking
of the power of the enemy, Paul labors to keep us more on the alert. He
had already called him the devil, but now employs a variety of epithets,
to make the reader understand that this is not an enemy who may be
safely despised.
Against principalities, against powers. Still,
his object in producing alarm is not to fill us with dismay, but to
excite us to caution. He calls them κοσμοκράτορας, that is, princes of
the world; but he explains himself more fully by adding — of the
darkness of the world. The devil reigns in the world, because the world
is nothing else than darkness. Hence it follows, that the corruption of
the world gives way to the kingdom of the devil; for he could not reside
in a pure and upright creature of God, but all arises from the
sinfulness of men. By darkness, it is almost unnecessary to say, are
meant unbelief and ignorance of God, with the consequences to which they
lead. As the whole world is covered with darkness, the devil is called
“the prince of this world.” (John 14:30.) Calvin
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6747
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Forums / Main Forum / Re: Occult Recovery Thread
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on: January 18, 2008, 12:29:05 PM
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10. Finally. Resuming his general
exhortations, he again enjoins them to be strong, — to summon up courage
and vigor; for there is always much to enfeeble us, and we are ill
fitted to resist. But when our weakness is considered, an exhortation
like this would have no effect, unless the Lord were present, and
stretched out his hand to render assistance, or rather, unless he
supplied us with all the power. Paul therefore adds, in the Lord. As if
he had said, “‘You have no right to reply, that you have not the
ability; for all that I require of you is, be strong in the Lord.” To
explain his meaning more fully, he adds, in the power of his might,
which tends greatly to increase our confidence, particularly as it shews
the remarkable assistance which God usually bestows upon believers. If
the Lord aids us by his mighty power, we have no reason to shrink from
the combat. But it will be asked, What purpose did it serve to enjoin
the Ephesians to be strong in the Lord’s mighty power, which they could
not of themselves accomplish? I answer, there are two clauses here which
must be considered. He exhorts them to be courageous, but at the same
time reminds them to ask from God a supply of their own deficiencies,
and promises that, in answer to their prayers, the power of God will be
displayed.
11. Put on the whole armor. God has furnished us with
various defensive weapons, provided we do not indolently refuse what is
offered. But we are almost all chargeable with carelessness and
hesitation in using the offered grace; just as if a soldier, about to
meet the enemy, should take his helmet, and neglect his shield. To
correct this security, or, we should rather say, this indolence, Paul
borrows a comparison from the military art, and bids us put on the whole
armor of God. We ought to be prepared on all sides, so as to want
nothing. The Lord offers to us arms for repelling every kind of attack.
It remains for us to apply them to use, and not leave them hanging on
the wall. To quicken our vigilance, he reminds us that we must not only
engage in open warfare, but that we have a crafty and insidious foe to
encounter, who frequently lies in ambush; for such is the import of the
apostle’s phrase, THE WILES 170170 “Plutarch tells us, (Symp. l. 2.,
page 638,) that wrestling was the most artful and subtle of all the
ancient games, and that the name of it (πάλη) was derived from a word,
which signifies to throw a man down by deceit and craft. And it is
certain that persons who understand this exercise have many fetches, and
turns, and changes of posture, which they make use of to supplant and
trip up their adversaries. And it is with great justice, that a state of
persecution is compared with it; since many are the arts, arising from
the terrors of worldly evil on the one hand, and the natural love which
men have to life, liberty, plenty, and the pleasures of life, on the
other, that the devil makes use of to circumvent and foil them.” —
Chandler. (τὰς μεθοδείας) of the devil. J Calvin
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6748
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Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Assurance
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on: January 18, 2008, 11:25:02 AM
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After struggling for a few days, in mourning
and looking to Him, i have been in a constant overflow , having a sense
of all these things working together for His glory. There is an
assurance of having His name before us as our rock, redemption, Lord,
and just judge, but then there is an assurance that breaks in and
changes our mourning into a day break of rejoicing and resting in Him.
Why does it seem that He is hiding and we not really questioning Him,
but using arguments to support our lukewarmness. So that instead of
depending upon His word, we would seek Him through His word. It is so
easy to long for something short of the real thing. To have our souls
half assured. But really, we are in greater need than we think, and
there is no negative circumstance in life that can really convince us of
our barrenness. No! Our barrenness if better understood with the back
drop of His glorious streams of divine illumination that move us to
worship Him and rejoice in Him. Oh, how all of life is just living with a
longing for those things that are too hard for us to get a real grasp
of . And yet, there is a certain direct assurance of His communication
of Himself to us, that we cannot live without. We would mourn night and
day, for one glimpse of His smile!
| 6750
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Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Jesus' Resurrection: When Truth Confronts Our Worst Suffering
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on: January 18, 2008, 10:30:23 AM
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The resurrection is the basis for our
believing and resting in Christ. It is the amount of understanding about
our union with Christ as He is in being our High Priest sitting at the
rite hand of God that we feed upon, so that eternity is brought into
everything in our developing of our understanding of the powers that
influence this quick sojourning. So that our sense of justice, which has
its final verdict in our personal judgments, does not bring us pain,
but rather makes us face reality, yet find in His death and resurrection
all that we need in understanding the weight of punishment and the
happy sense of the reward. We begin divided about these just scales, but
in Him we have a full confidence in longing for His eternal justness. So
it is in our personal relationships. And how we view the unity of this
building of God is centered on this meeting of all the frustrations that
come as a result of these relational problems, do not find its
completeness in the horizontal closeness, but rather in the amount of
understanding we have of Him who is the fountain of all unity. So that
we have a proper culmination of past frustration that is left beyond the
beginning of any thing, only finding peace in Him who was from eternity
who was always the Son of God , determined to come and die and rise
again. And in this union of the Father and the Son from eternity, we
begin to have a sense of our own smallness so that we are lost in wonder
and praise, being lifted to the rock that is higher than our own finite
views of the future. And in this we find Him who was touched with our
infirmity's, being fully able to give us the power to hope in His ruling
over all things.
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Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Assurance
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on: January 14, 2008, 08:00:29 PM
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We need to long for Him, and then we will have
assurance, as if He were speaking directly to us in a small quiet
voice. And yet we still must keep watch over our own hearts so that we
will not be burdened with things too big for us, or over come with
grief, thinking that its because we do not over come a certain sin ,
leaving us very little strength left to persevere. But it is because we
begin to mourn over the condition of our hearts , being fill with hatred
for our very ways and our own means that we use to try to obtain favor
with Him that we will feel free, but yet we have not fully mourned these
self loathing griefs away. We do not have the strength in
ourselves to make us acceptable. When we become aware of feeling the
sting of mens standards, is when we will be quieting our souls, and
fully handing the problems and temptations to Him. It is only when we
desire to be free of all of the burdens of this life more than we desire
our own lives is when we will have fully mourned over our own hardness
of hearts. To be aware of His presence is to have such strong
desires for His glory, that we are drawn into an eternal paradigm. And
we know this sweet communication when we are drawn into HIs presence in
this desire.
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Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Romans and the Flesh Monster.
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on: January 11, 2008, 11:52:13 AM
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Ive been thinking about all of this post,
after reading RR,TB and every one, as it relates to our position of
being in Christ. We always are in need of a knew understanding of these
gracious paradigms so that their effects over come some of the real
problems that we face and the present effects in our general
disposition. Christ came to earth and got as close as He could to sin
without succumbing to being lesser than praiseworthy in His desire to
please the Father. So that we are always in need of a proper perspective
of being free in Him. And as we face trials of many kinds, we
always have in the sense that in nature of being in this world of
tribulation, we can always have a new life predisposition as a remedy,
in losing some of these battles but in winning the war of trials.
Because our new perspective determines our view of ourselves and how
well we know ourselves. So that freedom involves more than just having a
constant look at our sin and the level of power it has upon us, even in
our failure. We are having a new mind of being in a new realm of
thinking, so that all of the stumbling we have are overshadowed by His
present pleasure. It is really His obligation for our freedom.
| 6790
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Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Grace and Works
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on: January 11, 2008, 11:26:55 AM
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Men will judged according to how they stand
in relation to the imputation of Christ righteousness to their account,
as a legal declaration, and the imputation of their sins to Christ. This
is not just present in the indicative moods, but in the command as
well. Simply speaking a command is fully binding, but indicatively
speaking the biblical mandates of grace are extremely difficult to
understand. Because God does not grade on a curve and man is limited by
his being corrupted in all of his parts. So that the command is not a
remedy. Thats why the bible has the teaching part introduced
first and then interwoven in the command sections of the NT. Since the
laws function is to show us our sin, then in our receiving that
knowledge functions to bring us to a disposition of confidence in being
unable to meet its requirements in ourselves. Our view of what
transpires in a universe of perfect obedience to the commands comes from
transformation from the inside- out. So that when we hear the commands
we fall under the obligation to have a deeper dependence and confidence
in Christ alone.
| 6793
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Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Romans and the Flesh Monster.
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on: January 09, 2008, 05:55:35 PM
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There is a divinity of emotion that comes from
our desires that makes us personally assured of the truth. And since we
have so many emotions, it is impossible to know the origin, other than
defining it as a fountain of emotion in the desire that springs from our
hearts. So if we want to know more about how we are in an inward sense
then we got to grow in our desire so that our fountain of emotion will
create a magnate with divine flavor. If we are given new
desires then that pleasure that God experiences is what makes us
experience pleasure. But we are body and spirit so that we experience a
like pleasure. And so it is when we are gaining an understanding of that
emotion from a divine source, then we experience a greater assurance of
Gods divine light. The attractiveness of a person is that expression of
that pleasure out of the emotion.
| 6794
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Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Romans and the Flesh Monster.
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on: January 09, 2008, 11:38:15 AM
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So
what does it mean that I really want to do (insert sin) what my flesh
desires? I don't want to be good. I don't want to go to hell either;
so am I just looking for Fire Insurance? If it wasn't for the civil
authorities making my life a nightmare with arrests; convicitons and
fines; I probably would not have ever sobered up. I really enjoyed being
drunk. Honestly I really enjoyed being stoned too.
If I could
figure out how to pay the rent and keep the cable on without working for
a living; I would probably enjoy sittting around stoned, drunk and
watching Oprah or fishing. I'm trying to be honest here. I guess what
I'm trying to say is that a lot of what has changed in my life was
because the pain of not changing it was greater than the pain that came
from change. I haven't changed a single behavior in my life until my
back was up against the wall. I probably won't quit smoking until I'm
diagnosed with lung cancer.
What does this say about me?
Hi
John, Whether you sit around stoned and drunk really is not of
consequence to living within our system. Some of the most righteous
looking people sit around, and it usually is that in this culture that
they are also the ones who preach an outward conformity that are the
worse offenders. So you can still trade hard work and looking
responsible with a heart that is full of covetousness, for a life of
drinking. The gospel however changes the view we have of the world
and of ourselves by being ritely related to God by imputed
righteousness, so that we do not trust in the dos and donts of the law
but we are longing after His working in us. This is exactly what
happened in Jesus day. Jesus hung around drunks and prostitutes not
because He was always going to convert them, but because they stood in a
position in the culture that constantly was shouting to them that they
were unable in themselves to get out of the predicament that their
experience taught them and their sin kept them in bondage until they
realized their total inability to change themselves and long for Christ
and long to keep from judgment. They actually were closer to the rite
view of themselves than the self righteous who were only concerned for
the cleaning the cup. And so Jesus talked a lot more about the cleaning
the cup paradigm than He did about being sober. I dont mean to imply that you are self righteous, just esplaining the problems today with hypocrisy.
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