| Poster | Thread | roaringlamb
Member
Joined: 2003/6/11
Posts: 1519
Santa Cruz California
| | Re: | | Quote:
we share the same testimony! i went thru the same exact things you went thru.
Oh there were as John of the cross aptly called them "dark nights of the soul", yet I have come through. Praise our God for He is able to save to the uttermost them that come to Him through Christ!
There was a time that I never thought this possible, and Christianity meant only to go on in the roller coaster of spirituality. Only know it seems that He has definately taken residence, and Lordship of my all!
_________________
patrick heaviside
|
|  2006/5/19 23:23 | Profile | Compton
Member
Joined: 2005/2/24
Posts: 2732
| | Re: | | Quote:
Oh there were as John of the cross aptly called them "dark nights of the soul", yet I have come through.
Roaringlamb, how interesting that you would mention "Dark Night of the Soul." Tonight I had just read from that very book... I came across these words that fit so perfectly with your wonderful testimony.
"Oh, how happy a chance is this for the soul which can free itself from the house of its sensuality! None can understand it, unless, as it seems to me, it be the soul that has experienced it. For such a soul will see clearly how wretched was the servitude in which it lay and to how many miseries it was subject when it was at the mercy of its faculties and desires, and will know how the life of the spirit is true liberty and wealth, bringing with it inestimable blessings."
Often this discussion can become focused on the "removal" of sin with the emphasis on being sinless...but I think writers like John of the Cross would remind us that a pure heart is not achieved when the heart is devoid of sin but when the heart is filled with the love of God.
Sensuality's self love can not be dislodged and forced out leaving the heart like a sanitized vacuum sealed tight with human will power; carnality's pollutants can only be displaced with a greater overflowing and abundant volume of God's Spirit!
So seeking sinlessness will achieve nothing but an empty house that is spacious and inviting for sin to re-enter. I think what we are talking about is nothing less then our soul's continued abiding fellowship with God. It is our union, our communion, with God that drives out the darkness. So often I talk in terms of removing the old and wretched when what I really need is a flowing and constant filling of the new and pure.
"I need Thee every hour, in joy or pain;
Come quickly and abide, or life is in vain."
Amen!
MC
_________________
Mike Compton
|
| | 2006/5/20 5:25 | Profile |
| | Re: A clean heart is possible | | Patrick said
Quote:
All in all, it just comes down to wanting Jesus to show you all the sin within, and let Him cleanse you. No more making excuses, or blaming others, but really getting down to business with the Holy Spirit
I think this is a place of bravery which many of us procrastinate to embrace, yet, once pushed towards the final step (which turns out to be the first of many final steps), we find ourselves in God's presence, with a reality which cannot be disputed - as you said - by the person who experiences it. Praise God. He is SO real and SO willing to meet us....... where we are. Glory to His NAME! |
| | 2006/5/20 7:09 | | roaringlamb
Member
Joined: 2003/6/11
Posts: 1519
Santa Cruz California
| | Re: | | It is glorious!! But do not think that the flesh, and the very enemy of God will not try to coerce us into avoiding this very stripping and filling.
Compton, I would have to agree with you about the filling of the love of God. For is not holiness simply Christ living through us? Is that not 1 Corinthians 13, or the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5?
It is not so much that I am sinless, as that I am full of God.
Truly the sin that self loved, or had no power not to commit has been made horrific in the sight of Him, and His love.
Let us not get hung up on terms, let us simply look unto Jesus, and believe there is a "highway of holiness", but it comes at a price. :-D
_________________
patrick heaviside
|
| | 2006/5/20 12:38 | Profile | Scroggins
Member
Joined: 2006/4/13
Posts: 129
Dallas, TX
| | Re: | | Bro. Patrick your testimony is great. Praise GOD.
Amen. Lets not get caught up on terms. I did not mean to imply that we were talking about "sinless perfection" here, as I dont believe in the pursuit of it.
Therefore we should focus on the giver of all gifts rather than the gifts themselves. And get on that "highway of holiness" as you say.
Praise our Holy and Loving GOD! Let us bask in HIS Glory!
_________________
Scroggins
|
| | 2006/5/20 17:04 | Profile | Compton
Member
Joined: 2005/2/24
Posts: 2732
| | Re: | | Great conversation.
Quote:
Let us not get hung up on terms
In the case of our most common and vital terms, maybe a little hang up now and then is profitable to the body. ;-) Sometimes, what is deeply and profoundly meaningful to some, remains mere pious platitude to others.
For instance, what do we mean experiencially with the oft used phrase "Christ living through us? It may be that we each have various pieces of this most practical mystery that could benifit one another.
MC
_________________
Mike Compton
|
| | 2006/5/20 18:13 | Profile | myfirstLove
Member
Joined: 2005/11/26
Posts: 496
| | Re: | | Psalm 18:23-25 (New King James Version)
23 I was also blameless before Him,
And I kept myself from my iniquity.
24 Therefore the LORD has recompensed me according to my righteousness,
According to the cleanness of my hands in His sight.
25 With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful;
With a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless;
Psalm 24:3-5
3 Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD?
Or who may stand in His holy place?
4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Who has not lifted up his soul to an idol,
Nor sworn deceitfully.
5 He shall receive blessing from the LORD,
And righteousness from the God of his salvation.
Psalm 66:18
18 If I regard iniquity in my heart,
The Lord will not hear.
these verses shows that it is possible to have a sinless heart before God, not saying that you will never sin again after that. you will always have that possibility, especially when you are not abiding in the Lord. but when a person who understands and lives rom. 6 does sin, that person will quickly confess and get right with God that his heart may not harden and become blind to that one sin causing more sins to follow if correction from the Lord gets unheeded. for sure, one who is a disciple of Christ has no habitual (practices) sins.
read 2 peter1:1-11
God has given us His divine power (grace)to live in godliness and escape the coruption of this world thru lust thru the knowledge of him (knowing Him). peter says if these things abound in you (His fruit)you will neither be barren or unfruitful in the knowledge of Him. peter says if you do these things (obedience)you will NEVER STUMBLE, but those who lack those things (diligence, virtue, self control,brotherly kindness, FAITH) WILL BE SHORTSIGHTED, EVEN TO BLINDNESS AND HAS FORGOTTEN HE WAS CLEANED FROM HIS OLD SINS.
Jesus says that He came to save us FROM sin.
Matthew 1:21
21 And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.
yes, we are of flesh and flesh sin, but thank God for His Holy Spirit who is here to HELP us to be pleasing before God.
gal. 5:16
walk in the Spirit and you SHALL NOT FULFILL THE LUST OF THE FLESH.
what does that mean? if you walk in Him you will not sin. so if you sin its because you are NOT walking in the Spirit, but flesh.
surely this is focusing on the Giver. without focusing on Him first and loving Him we cannot even walk in the Spirit.
for we should desire to walk in Him daily that we may truly glorify Him. it is when you walk with a pure heart and clean hands that you really glorify the Father. if we want to give Him the glory and not ourselves then we must walk with a pure heart, free from habitual sins. what hope is it to the world if they see christians struggling with the same sins? how does that glorify God?
_________________
Lisa
|
| | 2006/5/20 18:17 | Profile |
| | Re: A Clean Heart Is Possible | | Is'nt it wonderful to know that our Saviour is ALL powerfull, ALL knowing, and in complete control of everything in heaven and on earth and everything we go through is for a reason? This is where I draw my peace from even in the mist of a storm.
He'll never leave us or forsake us no matter what the demons of hell might try and tell us. Satan is on a leash. He's defeated. Jesus has won the battle. Satan is a created being. He's not the opposite of God. He's created by God. We have victory through Christ if we will claim it.
|
| | 2006/5/20 20:51 | | myfirstLove
Member
Joined: 2005/11/26
Posts: 496
| | Re: | | 2 Timothy 2:12-14
12 If we endure,
We shall also reign with Him.
If we deny Him,
HE ALSO WILL DENY US.
13 If we are faithless,
He remains faithful;
He cannot deny Himself. (NOTE: paul is encouraging timothy to remind the church of this saying)
we must continue to pray and watch as Jesus says. for the devil roars about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. this is a warning to the church from paul. God allows us to go thru certain things, but many of us go thru many things that God did not choose for us, but we CHOSE IT, but thank God for His discipline if we take heed to His rod of correction (heb. 12:5-11).
brothers and sisters as john ends his letter to the church in 1 john, KEEP YOURSELVES FROM IDOLS
let us endure that we may reign with Him (2 tim 2:12)
peace and grace will multiply as we seek to KNOW HIM(2 peter 1-11)
may our one desire is for God to be glorified!
lisa
_________________
Lisa
|
| | 2006/5/20 22:48 | Profile | pullpit
Member
Joined: 2006/6/2
Posts: 1
| | Re: true holliness | | hi we can not say holy life is not possible that what the enemy wants us to thank it is through the blood of christ :-) Quote:
roaringlamb wrote:
It is glorious!! But do not think that the flesh, and the very enemy of God will not try to coerce us into avoiding this very stripping and filling.
Compton, I would have to agree with you about the filling of the love of God. For is not holiness simply Christ living through us? Is that not 1 Corinthians 13, or the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5?
It is not so much that I am sinless, as that I am full of God.
Truly the sin that self loved, or had no power not to commit has been made horrific in the sight of Him, and His love.
Let us not get hung up on terms, let us simply look unto Jesus, and believe there is a "highway of holiness", but it comes at a price. :-D
|
| | 2006/6/2 22:39 | Profile |
|
