SermonIndex Audio Sermons
SermonIndex - Promoting Revival to this Generation
Give To SermonIndex
Discussion Forum : General Topics : Testimony ( elizabeth )

Print Thread (PDF)

Goto page ( Previous Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 Next Page )
PosterThread









 Re:

Thank you so much Elizabeth, so encouraging and good to see something refreshing.
You probably know the following song:

"The Word is working mightily in me
The Word is working mightily in me
No matter what the circumstance
Or what I feel or see
The Word is working mightily in me "

You might also have heard of
"The Village That Lived By The Bible "
(For those who don't know it, you find it on the Internet )
I can highly recommend it

Colossians 3:16
"Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God."

 2016/6/10 3:00









 Re:

Wow! I just looked up that story The Village that Lived by the Bible and it's incredible. The powerful word that brought such a serene life to that Japanese Village. This is a word that is bringing such a serene life to our sister.

What can that word do for us?

 2016/6/10 4:02
AbideinHim
Member



Joined: 2006/11/26
Posts: 5185
Louisiana

 Re: Testimony ( elizabeth )

Elizabeth,

Thank you so much dear sister for sharing your testimony from your heart, and how God has done an incredible work in your life, which demonstrates the Kingdom of God in many aspects.

"I was so desirous of Him and His Way.Was hungry to read His Word,He told me ,...not get any books,...literature,...not any other material,...just His Word,and He would teach me.and
that is what I did,and it was He who taught me...Now at that time I did not know that was even in The Bible."(1Jn.2:37)

Sister, I can certainly relate to the hunger that comes into our heart when the Spirit of God is allowed to have His way, and the need to get in His presence, sit at His feet, and hear His Word.

"You may say,'But that is innocent ! But Our God is a jealous
God,..He must be our first love ! Oh,I went to church,...went to Bible studies,..sang with every body else in church,...felt good with the music / songs,...But that is not the calling for us with God,....He has called us into a relationship with Him,..that is
Having a Spiritual ear,hearing His voice and following Him,...wherever He goeth,....leads us."

What you have described here happens to so many of us. Our first love begins to wane, and it is because we have put other things before the Lord, many religious things that are good but have actually taken the place of the Lord such as church meetings, ministry work, and just being busy believing that we are doing the will of God, and some of it is, but much of it is our living out of our soul, what is pleasing to us. But then the Lord comes to us and calls us back to our first love. This seems to happen to us not once or twice, but many times in our walk with the Lord. God does indeed have a ministry and calling for our lives, but it all comes out of relationship, and the only way that we will be fruitful is to abide in the Vine and live in fellowship with the Lord.

"Where there is a kingdom,there is a king,...and in God'Kingdom,The King is Jesus,...that has come to be our King over God'Kingdom,...that He comes in by way of The Holy Spirit,to Rule,,...be Lord in our lives....In other words,To lead us in righteousness in His Kingdom,...by His Spirit.'For as many,as are lead by The Spirit of God,THEY ARE...THEY ARE,THEY ARE,the son's / children of God.',....The Holy Spirit came to do a work in us.
The Kingdom,...and The Holy Spirit is within us."

Amen sister! Jesus is Lord, and He wants to be Lord over all of our lives. His Kingdom is within us, and it starts out as a small seed, but it grows into a mighty tree. His Kingdom is within us to the degree that He rules and reigns in our lives.

"The kingdom of God is the Resurrected Lord IN US !"

Amen! "Christ in us,the hope of glory." We die to self, so that He can live His life in us and through us.

."Paul often would say,he preached the gospel of God,...the gospel of Jesus,..Jesus said,'THIS GOSPEL'of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world,and then shall the end be...
He said,'I must preach the kingdom of God',..( Lk.4:43 )
He sent His deciples out to 'preach the kingdom of God ..
( Lk.9:2 ),..( Lk: 9:60 )

* John the Baptist,came preaching 'the kingdom of God',...
Jesus came preaching,'the kingdom of God / Heaven,...Paul came preaching the kingdom,and things pertaining / concerning the kingdom,...so did Peter,James,and John."

Amen!!


_________________
Mike

 2016/6/10 9:05Profile
Elibeth
Member



Joined: 2011/8/14
Posts: 1148


 Re:

JFW
David
Tozsu
Julius
Neil
Bear
Followthelamb
Markuskive
Abideinhim

You have blessed my very soul.
Praise God for His goodness,for it was He,who put this in my heart
last evening,..

Loving you in our Lord,

I so much,would love to write to each of you concerning the dear things I saw in your writings,...if time permits.

David,you said you would like to ask me some questions concerning
this post,....please do...I would be happy to try to answer.

--------------
elizabeth

 2016/6/10 11:10Profile
AbideinHim
Member



Joined: 2006/11/26
Posts: 5185
Louisiana

 Re:

Elizabeth,

Thank you for your initial posting on the
Kingdom of God. Brother Blaine has also
attempted to revive your post.

I am hoping that we can have some good
discussion on this subject. It is important
to God, and the Word is full of references
to the Kingdom.

Lysa has posted some excellent teachings
by Lance Lambert on the Kingdom.


_________________
Mike

 2016/6/10 11:54Profile









 Re:

Elizabeth,

It seems our first love wanes for so many different reasons. The Enemy is crafty and seeks to derail us.

For one, there are the "cares of the world" that entrap and distract many of us and when we are young in the Lord we don't have the wisdom and knowledge to understand how to handle them. We are slowly moved away from our steadfastness and rest in Him, by problems in life and the constant attacks of the Enemy and pull of the world and the flesh. We often try to handle them in our own strength forgetting we are yoked up to the Lord and He wants us to remember to "cast our cares upon Him, for He careth for us".

So, there are our basic needs in life (cares of the world) and then there are relationships that we now have to learn to navigate in the will and love of God:

When I was first saved, I was so caught up in the Lord's deliverance from sin and the love that He shed abroad in my heart, it seemed I was walking around with a force field and nothing could harm me. I had love for everyone and it seems easy to walk with Jesus. I literally sang songs to Him all the time. I enjoyed learning all of the old hymns which had so much depth to them. One of my favorite hymns is, "And Can It Be That I Should Gain" ( http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/a/c/acanitbe.htm ). I think feeling "good" and "blessed" in the Lord actually became my focus rather than Jesus Himself.

My "honeymoon" lasted a very long time...several years. But, the Lord knew I needed depth and lots of it. It was time to go to "school", it was time to have my heart and love for Him really tested. God does not want us to stay immature, superficial. He wants us to learn what true love really is. So, I was taken off the mountain and brought into deep valleys (where the "rubber meets the road").

The Enemy works much damage through ungodly men and weak Christians (relationships), and I was really a weak Christian and sustained attacks. Blindsided, you could say. I expected attacks from the world and they never bothered me...I received a lot of persecution from the ungodly when I was first saved as they challenged my new life in Christ. But, the Lord always kept me above reproach and gave me a lot of love for those who did not know Him. The persecution actually, brought me closer to Jesus. But, when I was first blindsided by those I considered as fellow Believers, it was a whole other story and this is where my education was to take a new turn and God was going to show me things, deep in my heart.

So much could be written on the things that draw us away from God and take us out of His Rest, but then again, much could be written on what is available to us in the Person of Jesus Christ, to keep us in His Rest (in Him). This is what we all have to learn...no exceptions.

I am reminded of Moses (type of Christ) after leading the children of Israel out of Egypt (great deliverance) and through the Red Sea, God then takes them into the wilderness.

How does leading the Children of Israel through the wilderness related to us, today?

First question is: Why did the Lord lead the children of Israel through the wilderness? What was the purpose?

Exo 13:17-18 And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt: But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea: and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt.

The Lord did not want the Children of Israel to return to Egypt (their old life). He wanted them to progress in their new life to Canaan which was to be their "Promised Land". But, little did they know, progressing in the New Life is not automatic. It requires faith in a Person (God, Jesus). Faith in a belief system, doctrine, or anything other than Christ won't do it for us.

The second question is: Why did Israel take 40 years to travel just an 11 day journey? (Good lessons in this one for all of us). Canaan was actually that close. 11 days journey from Egypt.

I will admit, I have gone around "Mt. Sinai", far too many times. In my early days, I seemed to be so close to Canaan, and then I sustained a huge attack from the enemy and my faith waned and I could not enter "Canaan". I had more to learn so around the mountain I had to go. Back into the wilderness until the Lord could bring me understanding and purge my heart of things that were not of Him. Without His grace, none of us would make it. He leads us over and over to repent and follow Him anew. Without His loving hand and encouragement we would faint and lose hope.

(The Kingdom of God, actually starts way back in Genesis with Adam and Eve, and that is probably where we should start, too.)

But, back to the journey in the wilderness and how it relates to our lives. The Bible says, "The Lord's anger was kindled against Israel and He made them wander in the wilderness for forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord was dead". (Numbers 32:13). The reason the Lord led them around in circles for forty years, is because way back in those days, they were a stubborn, disobedient, rebellious, unfaithful, wicked, stiff-necked people, who complained incessantly and were constantly ungrateful for the good things the Lord did for them. There are so many scriptures that tell us this but I will give a few. I am sure we can all relate to the Children of Israel in some way.

"Behold, it is a stiffnecked people". (Exodus 32:9); "Thou art a stiff-necked people" (Exodus 33:3); "Ye have been rebellious against the Lord... Ye have been rebellious against the Lord... O Lord God... look not unto the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin:" (Deuteronomy 9:7, 24, 27); "Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets" (Nehemiah 9:26); "And might not be as their fathers (ancestors), a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God." (Psalm 78:8); "That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD" (Isaiah 30:9); "And he said unto me, Son of man, I send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto this very day … and they are impudent and hard of heart...though they be a rebellious house." (Ezekiel 2:3 to 5).

They were still like that in Jesus’ day; ‘Jesus said, "O you unbelieving, faithless and perverse generation. How long am I to remain...and bear with you?" (Matthew 17:17). They were like that in the days of the early church. They were so sinful, the Apostle Stephen gave them an almighty mouthful of rebuke which infuriated the Jews and they stoned Stephen to death with the help of the man who would become the Apostle Paul (Acts 7:51 to 58). There are a lot more scriptures but can anyone relate to the Children of Israel? I sure can.

The Israelites saw many miracles performed by God in Egypt and later in the desert. Firstly, there were the ten plagues in Egypt (Exodus 7:17 to 12:33) then the parting of the Red Sea (Exodus 14:16 to 22). They had an incredible, supernatural cloud by day to lead and protect them, and a fire by night to lead and warm them (Exodus 13:21). Nothing was burned by this pillar of fire – it was wholly supernatural – yet the Israelites became fearful and complained against God. The Lord purified bitter water (Exodus 15:23 to 25). God gave them Manna to eat (Exodus 16:14 & 15) which was angel’s food (Psalm 78:25) but they complained about it (Numbers 11:1 to 13). God gave them quail to eat (Exodus 16:13) then the Lord gave them so much meat it made them sick and many died (Numbers 11:20 to 34). They saw God bring water out of a rock (Exodus 17:6). That Rock supernaturally followed them; the Rock was Jesus (1 Corinthians 10:4). They moaned against Moses (Exodus 14:11 & 12). At one point they wanted to stone Moses (Exodus 17:2 to 4). God gave them everything they wanted and they still complained about their hardships (Numbers 11:1), and finally God's anger towards them came to a point where He disowned them and threatened to wipe them out (Exodus 32:7 to 11). They ended up bringing judgement upon themselves, by kindling the Lord’s anger just by their incessant complaining.

And on and on and on it goes. I was blessed amazingly my first few years in the Lord before I fell into sin, again. Why does that happen to us? The Children of Israel can teach us many things.

How does this relate to us in the Kingdom of God?

1 Cor 10:6-12 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

Exo 32:6-8 And they rose up early on the morrow, and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play. And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.


Back to 1 Cor 10:6-12 Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted...

The Lord does not want us to go back to the bondage of "Egypt" (our old sinful lives) and back to the slavery of sin, but to continue to walk with Him and live in freedom from sin. That is freedom from sin, not freedom to sin. We may not bow to idols as the people of old did, and if we have someone or something in our life that we love more than Jesus it is an idol and we are not worthy of the Lord Jesus. "He who loves his father and mother more than Me is not worthy of Me, and he who loves his son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me" (Matthew 10:37). There are explicit scriptures that show us what the Lord wants from us. "We must love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our soul, all our mind and all our strength" (Mark 12:30). We just don't really know what Mark 12:30 means in the depths of our soul when we are young babes in Christ. That is why the Lord takes us into the wilderness, the real "school of the Spirit".

If we want God’s blessing in our lives we need to be faithful to Him. He does not ask us to produce results, just be faithful and obedient and He will take care of the rest. Along with faithfulness, we can also learn from the mistakes of the Children of Israel to be grateful (content in all things. Godliness with contentment is great gain). If we are not spending time with Him (prayer, praising Him, offering thanksgiving) we will wither on the Vine. We need to stay yoked up with Jesus and abiding in Him. If we can be content in all things, (Hebrews 13:5) we will have nothing to fear from God (Philippians 4:7). We need to avoid bringing judgement upon ourselves by acting in the same manner the Israelites did, and trying the Lord’s patience. We can all learn from their mistakes.

I know we all have stories of our own in going "around the mountain" and how we have allowed the enemy to work through us, but this is not God's plan for us. He wants us to enjoy His Rest and Peace and Abundance now, in His Kingdom. Eternal life has already begun for us and the "Resurrection and the Life" lives in us. It is a wonderful thing to walk with the King and be a member of the Kingdom of God and we should not faint or lose hope "for God is at work in us to will and to do for His good pleasure", and we need to respond in faith always trusting in Him.

2Co_4:16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

Gal_6:9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

Heb_12:3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

Heb_12:5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:





 2016/6/10 14:01









 Re:

Dear Elizabeth,
I understand what the kingdom of God means to you. The life and the revelation of the kingdom came to you after much longing and real knocking. It is true that it will be open to those who knock.
I traveled a different path but, in many ways similar to yours.
...I knew when I was dying and I knew when I was dead (or almost), yet there was no fear in me. I was hard and ignorant. It didn't start like that. I truly gave my life to Jesus, all of it, I did walk with Him and He showed me things, and when I read the Bible it was made alive to me. This lasted for about a couple month. Then slowly I starte*d to die. I went to church, listening to sermons replaced my precious bible reading between God and me. I always revered the word of God. Even before I was a Christian,
(I had a cultural protestant heritage), I did not know that verses could be taken out of context and made look like a revelation to me. After 3 years I remembered asking myself: "what is the difference between me and the non christians?" I completely forgot what I came to God for in the first place. I forgot that it was he WAY! It was the new way of life that Jesus could offer. I got rid of my most annoying sins in 3 month, what am I to do now besides supporting conservative politicians and clapping in church. You see satan covered the fact that christianity has anything to do with morality. Then I heard about the "personal relationship with God"
I started to seek hard after him, but I took it the wrong way: I thought I should mystically and physically experience Him which should give me great pleasures. I did not remember about sin repentance or surrender. (My church and the TV evangelists did not teach about sanctification.)
However God rewarded my seeking and occassionally I spent time with Him, I was rebuked of my sins and I repented but the power that I knew as a baby Christian was also forgotten. I did not know that I was living a life not a bit less selfish than an unbelivers life, all I knew was that I was dying, and cried out: "please God do not let this little light in me darken!"
I always had bible verses in the back of my mind that I did not understand. Such were the verses about the kingdom of God.
The verse "Seek ye first the kingdom of God" was totally hijacked by the TV evangelists:
In the distorted view by prosperity and WOF teachings this verse meant something like this:
Seek meant: give money.
First meant: if I want something I need to do this first.
Kingdom meant: world evangelism
His righteousness meant: God who is righteous (nothing to do with my righteousness)
"If I want my own desires be fulfilled I give money to the televangelists who work for our righteous God."
I felt this could not be the truth, but certainly appeared to be. By this time I completely lost my calling as a Christian. No more personal time with God, just the longing remained. I had a hardened life with many hidden but no blatant sin, no growing, I did not feel responsibility for my sins, since I thought everyone's doing them. In spite of all this God was there and when I was in distress I cried out to him and he comforted me. I lived out my "Christianity" through looking for signs of the end times. But even in this God blessed me as he gave the love of the truth in my heart. My search for the end time signs turned more and more to look for the truth.
I was dead. I whished I could be a baby christian again, cried after the first love that I lost. As was on the internet looking for christian testimonies I found this video that profoundly stirred my heart:
Not long after this I found myself in a situation where I was completely alone working at home for a month. I listened to sermons and praise songs constantly. In one sermon Paul Washer said something like this:
If you do anything , you have to ask yourselves: "How does it advance the kingdom?" I went like: "What? What kingdom? He is saying this because he is a full time minister. An evengelist! He does not understand my situation: I am an average christian! I do not work for world evangelism!"
But I kept thinking about the kingdom and debated in myself: "Surely there has to be something in it for ME. God loves ME. He gives me healing and stuff. How can it be all about the kingdom? Maybe some percentages are for me since I am not a full time minister." I heard an other sermon about praying in the closet. I knew about "closet praying" before I did not know it's not the closet that makes it good but the attitude
that I have when going to the closet. So I went to the closet (even though I was always alone in the apartment) with the desperation to meet God.
As I read through some psalms I became even more desperate because nothing happened and suddenly as if I felt a heavy hand on my head. That's when I understood that I am not Aladdin and God is not my genie.
When I came out of the closet I googled the fear of God because I did not know what it meant. This was my introduction to the Kingdom of God, this is what the word "seek" means. In "seek ye first the kingdom of God.
Now that I understood that, I still did not know how to go about doing it.
This was about the time when I found sermonindex. I listened to sermons intensely. (I could not read my bible for a time because I knew how every verse was explained to me before) I learned about sanctification repentance and other basics of the christian life, and unlearned word of faith, prosperity etc., but still I was puzzled every time obedience was discussed. To my knowledge obedience was confessing that I believe in Jesus who died on the cross for me, I did not know anything else was required of me. I listened to Andrew Murray's school of obedience twice and cried out "O, God I want to obey, but I don't know what to obey" I did not know that God would reveal it to me as I go, and that's what relationship really means, it's a work done WITH him. Taking a yoke together with him. All he was waiting for is for me to say I WANT it.
By understanding that he the resurrected Christ is alive and wants to work with me in his kingdom, what Paul Washer said about the kingdom of God became clear: "first the kingdom of God". All is left from the quote: "and His righteousness" It obviously means more than what I used to think God is righteous, I means (in the verse) that I want to be righteous as god is, and not only positionally but by my every deed. I can not do it myself it is designed this way, I only can do it with God, I hunger and thirst for his righteousness, I want to do righteous works by his power through christ. Everything is given to me but I can not run away with it and take it home. Everything is mine as long as I remain in Christ (this abiding means much more than just confessing him as savior) It means obedience longing and understanding communication, working together!
This is what being a citizen in His Kingdom means to me.

God bless everyone,
Zsuzsanna

 2016/6/10 14:52
ginnyrose
Member



Joined: 2004/7/7
Posts: 7534
Mississippi

 Re: Testimony ( elizabeth )

Wonderful, beautiful testimony of how God works in the lives of people willing to submit to Him....being changed from glory to glory...and it will not end until you draw your last breath.

Deeply appreciate you sharing your story. God bless.

Sandra


_________________
Sandra Miller

 2016/6/10 15:38Profile
ginnyrose
Member



Joined: 2004/7/7
Posts: 7534
Mississippi

 Re:

One more comment.

I find it very interesting how you had no desire for books, etc but that you concentrated on the pure WORD of God. I may be ignorant on this issue, but I have never met anyone else who felt this way. Many good books out there, I am sure, but too many are like eating a casserole that has sat in the frig a week uncovered and now you want to reheat it and eat it. Not tasty at all. So it is when you concentrate on other literature instead of God's WORD. When you immerse yourself in the pure WORD of God, allowing it to speak to you, shape you you will experience joy because God loves that too! He enjoys that fellowship with you - I can feel his joy!

God bless - your post blessed me so.

Sandra


_________________
Sandra Miller

 2016/6/10 15:49Profile









 Re:GinnyRose

Sister I think I can identify where our sister Elizabeth is coming from. I just recently sent off two big boxes of books do a ministry that distribute such to people that desire such books. Not that the books weren't good they were. Many were books on the persecuted church.

What the Lord has been impressing upon be to stay in the word. And the word alone. Specifically the New Testament. So I can identify with our sister longing for that pure milk of the word.

But I think God put this on my heart to also identify with the persecuted Church. For many in restricted nations do not have access to books other than the Bible. If they are that blessed. They consider themselves blessed if they have a New Testament. So I guess this is my way of identifying with their persecuted brothers and sisters in restricted nations. At least one way.

The other reason I got rid of the books as I may relocate to Salt Lake City for ministry purposes. Thus I'm having to get rid of the extra stuffed in my life.

Just thought I would share.





 2016/6/10 16:25





©2002-2024 SermonIndex.net
Promoting Revival to this Generation.
Privacy Policy