Thoughts and Action

I have seen Christians sinned and we have to be careful how we define sin because the major cause of Christians sinning is the "HEART". Galatians 5:19-21" The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God." We need to focus on Galatians 5:22-26 "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. Sin happens after a "thought" came into my mind, I begin to ponder, contemplate, consider and thinking whatever that my flesh will lead me to sin. Its my heart that took hold of my "thought" that I began to thinking of the pleasurable aspects of my "thought". This where I fail because in Proverbs 4:23, it says "Above all else, guard your heart, for it affects everything you do." An example of one great Bible man who sinned after "thinking". David with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11). David woke up from a nap, went for a stroll on the roof of the palace. As he looked out over the city, he noticed a woman taking a bath. Through the eyes of David, enter into his mind, he sees a beautiful naked woman and began thinking about her. I am a man, and I have a GOOD IDEA what he was thinking. David's thinking led him to self-serving which was motivated by lust and envy. This is where God has a problem with me (as well as with all Christians). The problem is my spiritual condition which is measured by my heart, not my actions. God sees and measures the heart more than He sees my actions. My sinful actions were the RESULT of my sinful heart. I need to control my "thoughts". I am unable to master all of our tendencies and desires on my own however I know and should submit myself to the Holy Spirit so that I can be empowered to exercise self-control. I need to use the spiritual resources God has placed at my disposal. Spiritually, I am an enabled believer and the enablement of the Spirit must be used in my daily life. God already supplied the resources and all I have to do is submit. Simply submit. I am reminded that I am a dust which means flesh and God wants me to be spiritual. If I am to rely on my flesh, God will refuse to help me. If I am to rely on God's Spirit, He has given me His word; He has promised that I would never be tempted above what I am able to bear; He has placed Himself at my disposal in response to believing prayer; He has made available to me the infinite moral power of His Holy Spirit to enable me to do His will here on earth. There is no excuse for ME acting like timid weaklings who falls into sin. Its not the ACTIONS but the THOUGHTS of actions that causes a person to sin. Psalm 51:10 Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 1 Timothy 1:5 The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith. 2 Timothy 2:22 Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

Spiritual training for endurance

In reality, we cannot escape circumstances because they will always happen, one way or another. Without circumstances, our self-discovery of spiritual maturity will not be completed. Our greatest teachers are circumstances because they train us into spiritual growth occurred in the most unfavorable of circumstances. When we most aware of our weaknesses, we are more inclined to collapse into God's strength and experience His amazing grace. "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness." (2 Cor. 12:9). Matthew 13:20-22 (New King James Version) But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. Mark 4:16-18 (NKJV) These likewise are the ones sown on stony ground who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with gladness; and they have no root in themselves, and so endure only for a time. Afterward, when tribulation or persecution arises for the word’s sake, immediately they stumble. Now these are the ones sown among thorns; they are the ones who hear the word, James 1:2-4 (NKJV) My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. Christians are the branches that sometime will fail to bear fruit and this is where God will prune our fruitless branches. The fruitless branches are cut off from our life. Jesus is the vine and our vinedresser is the Father. God is pruning in the concept of purging. The word purge means "to cleanse", "to prune". God purges/prunes a branch that bears fruit (a Christian) so that it might bear more fruit (become spiritually mature). Real Christians will face tests from God because in the Bible, there were many great examples of men and women being tested. The tests are actions to find out who have an honest desire to be Christlike? We should all be aware that every day is a day of testing. It is through the goodness of God we may go to the school of our trials. Reading majority posts of this thread is especially very sad and they are the type of Christians who ignore Christians who are going through spiritual training. We need to learn to separate what is being taught from these things. But, believing something does not make it true. They make promises by referring to Bible verses from whatever will harm them. Word of Faith have a doctrine which translates that they have an arrangement with God: Word of Faith followers will be faithful and righteous and, in return, God will quickly take care of all the problem issues in their lives. When REAL tribulations come, they are NOT spiritually trained to withstand them because they refused to face spiritual training like athletes. God did not promise us a perfect and trouble-free life on this earth. The fact is, all true Christians will suffer while here on earth and we should not be surprised when God does not instantly intervene and rearrange things to our liking. God promises to give us the grace and strength we need to handle anything on earth, see: 2 Corinthians 12:9, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” In our lives, we have to trust God and what He sees. We can only see portion of the present while God sees the entire picture the present and the future. We do not know what God has planned or how He intends to use our adversities for His glory and our eternal gain. Just as parents may allow their child to learn through a difficult situation because they know it will cause personal growth. God will do same for allowing our circumstances for our spiritual development. God have a spiritual goal which those of us are going through will have a positive result in the lives of others. If we could see the end result of things from God’s view point, instead of asking “Why?”, we should be responding in FAITH and allow God to use our disavantage for HIS Glory. We are to give thanks for what He allows and remember that in Romans 8:28: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” James 1:9 The brother in humble circumstances ought to take pride in his high position. 2 Corinthians 12:10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. The causes for our circumstances are often God-given opportunities for our spiritual growth. What at first appear to be thorns may prove to be divine motivation to move us closer to God. Many Christian thinkers have differed regarding this from their own perspective rather than God's perspective. I pray that the Holy Spirit will speak to each of you and convict you to understand what is coming. The end is coming and are we spiritually trained to withstand tribulations that will come?

Hearing God's Word through Faith and Holy Spirit

All of God's promises are sure and we all have learned to judge promises largely on the basis from the human point of view. The more we know God's character and attributes, the more we trust His Word. The blind must see and deaf must hear by the Holy Spirit. The most stubborn Christian is found not among those who quote the Bible to support their convictions, but among those who quote very little from the Bible and claim for their spiritual authority nothing higher than their own opinions. "Much dreaming and many words are meaningless. Therefore stand in awe of God." (Ecclesiastes 5:7). Do we find ourselves hiding behind phrases and terms which sound spiritual but for you are empty of reality? Applying the biblical test will mean accepting what is scripturally accurate and is from the Spirit and rejecting what is not. Needed is a growing knowledge of the Word and increasing sensitivity to the Spirit. I will not let anyone deceive me by forcing pressure into my mind and conscience of questionable doctrines. The Holy Spirit's approach to getting people out of the spiritual must not be to pressure them to do something from a human power. Instead, we must present clearly with love and truth and let the Holy Spirit prompt them to whatever needs to be done according to God's will rather than what we think it is God's will. Sometimes God shouts to us through our circumstances which I notice people will often ignore. We do not need to depend on our faith in doctrine of faith but rather faith in God, His Word and His Character. There is a difference between self-dependency of faith and God-dependency of faith. It is the Holy Spirit who is the ultimate revealer of Christ and His Word. We are to seek our answers from God and His Word. He is sovereign and He is still running everything. It is Jesus, the eternal Son, the express image of God's person, sustaining all things by His powerful Word (Hebrews 1:3). "In him all things hold together" (Colossians 1:17). There will always be people who will dispute God's sovereignty and His power. But they are scared because of the world we live in, the most assuring viewpoint a person can hold is the one I hold which is God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit holds everything together. People can preach by using human fear or preach by using faith in God's sovereignty.