I believe there is one single answer for all of these questions and so I will start with this.
It is written in God’s word that we will come up against all of these questions as we move through life even as we may put our best foot forward in our walk with Christ. God seems to always bring us back to this one answer. Anything we have questions about when it comes to our will and not His is and has been and always will be the spirit of adversity. God’s long-standing age old enemy. This spirit knows scripture better than we do. Knows God better than we do. Knows us better than we know ourselves. The enemy knows exactly how to turn and twist everything that God means for good (the truth) into something that sounds like good sense. Good explanation. Good , reasonable and sound mindedness.
A seasoned God Loving person can get caught up and tangled in the enemy’s snare very easily. Which takes me right back to God and His Word. Totally makes sense to me now as someone who is in God’s Word every single day and His precepts.
I used to wonder His reasoning behind all the names written, the timestamps, the repeated letters and references over and over again all throughout the Bible.
This is GOD’s gentle and loving way to keep us all on point as we wander around through our lives day after day. To help us keep a firm focused foundation on The Father. God knows how easily swayed we are. He knows all of the enemy’s tactics and trickery. All of the resistance to these things brought to light through your questions are directly from that foul familiar spirit of adversity. ( should I dare say this is satan?) It is vital to our own survival to hold fast to God’s Way. God’s Will. God’s Direction. God’s Good Purpose. Keeping our minds renewed daily. We live forever! This is something the human mind cannot seem to grasp or comprehend.
The reason why is because we watch people pass away all the time. Leaving us behind. But…God’s Word says we live forever.
Until we see this with our own eyes and experience eternal life for ourselves that spirit of the enemy will steadily chisel away at us in our minds, soul and spirit. Because the enemy hates our God.
Well… I don’t know… I’m just telling it the way I see it from what I know and have learned from God.
If it’s not of God it’s not from God. That means it’s from and of the opposition.
You know you’re a good writer, right? Thank you for sharing this perspective and for such a thoughtful engagement with these questions. I also completely agree about our proneness to lose focus being a primary issue here.
No I don’t take any credit for writing anything . Especially if God is the subject . (My favorite subject ). To God be all the Glory!
I know I didn’t address all those questions. But for the ones that stood out to me that’s the answer , He lead me to. I promise to read over and ponder more of your questions and give thoughtful prayer in understanding them well . I love to learn , know and understand everything. I so appreciate and SO look forward to your writings in this little corner of my phone. You are literally my inspiration and my outlet. I have no one else on the earth to express my thoughts or opinions with that will have any kind of reaction /reciprocate or response back to me. I’m either over their head or they are over mine and I just can’t seem to interest anyone on any subjects . I say all that at the risk of sounding desperate for conversation. And , I might be to some extent but the older I get the more I realize it just doesn’t matter. I can talk to God all day long . He listens well and His advice is ALWAYS PERFECT . Like Him ! He IS PERFECT!
14 We know that the Law is spiritual, but I am a creature of the flesh [worldly, self-reliant—carnal and unspiritual], sold into slavery to sin [and serving under its control].
15 For I do not understand my own actions [I am baffled and bewildered by them]. I do not practice what I want to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate [and yielding to my human nature, my worldliness—my sinful capacity].
16 Now if I habitually do what I do not want to do, [that means] I agree with the Law, confessing that it is good (morally excellent).
17 So now [if that is the case, then] it is no longer I who do it [the disobedient thing which I despise], but the sin [nature] which lives in me.
18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh [my human nature, my worldliness—my sinful capacity]. For the willingness [to do good] is present in me, but the doing of good is not.
19 For the good that I want to do, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.
20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not want to do, I am no longer the one doing it [that is, it is not me that acts], but the sin [nature] which lives in me.
I believe there is one single answer for all of these questions and so I will start with this.
It is written in God’s word that we will come up against all of these questions as we move through life even as we may put our best foot forward in our walk with Christ. God seems to always bring us back to this one answer. Anything we have questions about when it comes to our will and not His is and has been and always will be the spirit of adversity. God’s long-standing age old enemy. This spirit knows scripture better than we do. Knows God better than we do. Knows us better than we know ourselves. The enemy knows exactly how to turn and twist everything that God means for good (the truth) into something that sounds like good sense. Good explanation. Good , reasonable and sound mindedness.
A seasoned God Loving person can get caught up and tangled in the enemy’s snare very easily. Which takes me right back to God and His Word. Totally makes sense to me now as someone who is in God’s Word every single day and His precepts.
I used to wonder His reasoning behind all the names written, the timestamps, the repeated letters and references over and over again all throughout the Bible.
This is GOD’s gentle and loving way to keep us all on point as we wander around through our lives day after day. To help us keep a firm focused foundation on The Father. God knows how easily swayed we are. He knows all of the enemy’s tactics and trickery. All of the resistance to these things brought to light through your questions are directly from that foul familiar spirit of adversity. ( should I dare say this is satan?) It is vital to our own survival to hold fast to God’s Way. God’s Will. God’s Direction. God’s Good Purpose. Keeping our minds renewed daily. We live forever! This is something the human mind cannot seem to grasp or comprehend.
The reason why is because we watch people pass away all the time. Leaving us behind. But…God’s Word says we live forever.
Until we see this with our own eyes and experience eternal life for ourselves that spirit of the enemy will steadily chisel away at us in our minds, soul and spirit. Because the enemy hates our God.
Well… I don’t know… I’m just telling it the way I see it from what I know and have learned from God.
If it’s not of God it’s not from God. That means it’s from and of the opposition.
You know you’re a good writer, right? Thank you for sharing this perspective and for such a thoughtful engagement with these questions. I also completely agree about our proneness to lose focus being a primary issue here.
No I don’t take any credit for writing anything . Especially if God is the subject . (My favorite subject ). To God be all the Glory!
I know I didn’t address all those questions. But for the ones that stood out to me that’s the answer , He lead me to. I promise to read over and ponder more of your questions and give thoughtful prayer in understanding them well . I love to learn , know and understand everything. I so appreciate and SO look forward to your writings in this little corner of my phone. You are literally my inspiration and my outlet. I have no one else on the earth to express my thoughts or opinions with that will have any kind of reaction /reciprocate or response back to me. I’m either over their head or they are over mine and I just can’t seem to interest anyone on any subjects . I say all that at the risk of sounding desperate for conversation. And , I might be to some extent but the older I get the more I realize it just doesn’t matter. I can talk to God all day long . He listens well and His advice is ALWAYS PERFECT . Like Him ! He IS PERFECT!
ROMANS 7:14-20
The Conflict of Two Natures
14 We know that the Law is spiritual, but I am a creature of the flesh [worldly, self-reliant—carnal and unspiritual], sold into slavery to sin [and serving under its control].
15 For I do not understand my own actions [I am baffled and bewildered by them]. I do not practice what I want to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate [and yielding to my human nature, my worldliness—my sinful capacity].
16 Now if I habitually do what I do not want to do, [that means] I agree with the Law, confessing that it is good (morally excellent).
17 So now [if that is the case, then] it is no longer I who do it [the disobedient thing which I despise], but the sin [nature] which lives in me.
18 For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh [my human nature, my worldliness—my sinful capacity]. For the willingness [to do good] is present in me, but the doing of good is not.
19 For the good that I want to do, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want.
20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not want to do, I am no longer the one doing it [that is, it is not me that acts], but the sin [nature] which lives in me.
Great questions, Amber! I'd add:
How do we hold difference, of all types, well?
How do we create a feast for the souls? What would it look like for "church" to be spiritual nourishment that people can't get enough of?
How do we help people be embodied? Because the more embodied we are, the more united in love we become.