This forum basically forced me to study further on certain areas of doctrines and I found that what I always believed have been affirmed.
Situations such as this have forced me to study more deeply into great faiths of the Bible and that I have finally learned and understood MORE about why their faith were so great. Its NOT about their faith that were great but rather, how they trust and love God with their lives. They refrained from using their rights and privileges they were entitled to by God's grace because they desired to do God's will out of love and obedience as if they were after God's own heart. Many of them were willing to let go of their rights, privileges and lives in the interests of doing God's will. In other words, they put up with anything that came to them, endured and overcame their circumstances rather than hinder God's will.
Oswald Chambers explains better than anyone could: "If we are willing to give up only wrong things for Jesus, ever let us talk about being in love with Him. Anyone will give up wrong things if he knows how, but are we prepared to give up the best we have for Jesus Christ? The only right a Christian has is the right to give up his rights. If we are to be the best for God, there must be ictory in the realm of legitimate desire as well as in the realm of unlawful indulgence."
Reading 1 Timothy 4 explains that Christians must choose their priorities carefully like an athlete as to have disciplined lives forgo some desires that may hinder doing God's will and please God as you are after God's own heart. "An athlete who aspires to win the coveted prize does not indulge himself"(J. Oswald Sanders).
With God's grace, we have the power to reach the prize of God's will. Reading Hebrews helped me understood that I am to be aware of obstacles and hindrances I would meet during my life, to throw me off balance that hinders doing the Will of God that could entangle my life easily if I do not submit myself to God's power of grace. God's grace is more than sufficient in my life that I am to fix my eyes on Jesus who is my author and perfecter of my faith (Hebrews 12:2). Faith and Grace together is to "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13-14, NIV).
What should motivate me like an athlete who trains for the Olympics to win a gold medal such self-discipline and willing to face the endurance of the spiritual training as Hebrews 12 and other biblical passages describes? What is my spiritual prize since I already have my gift eternal life? What are my eternal rewards? If I am to claim and take my temporal rights and privileges, what happens to God's eternal will? I have learned that it is God's will to submit to the Holy Spirit and keep on filling me (Ephesians 5:18). Like an athlete when training, I should always keep drinking water so that I won't be dehydrated and feeling weak. With that thought in my mind, I should always keep filling the Holy Spirit in my life so that I am able to act and react any difficulties in my life with God's power (Grace). The power of Grace through the Holy Spirit is my strength that I am able to boast and win for Christ at all costs (see 2 Corinthians 12:1-12).
"What I am great advocate of looking into the past, I could warn everybody against living in the past. The only justification for looking to the past is that we may learn great lessons from it and apply them" (Martyn Lloyd-Jones)
By avoiding the mistakes of the past: "Those who fail to remember the past are condemned to repeat it" (George Santayana)
By repeating the victories of the past: "Those who fail to remember the past are condemned not to repeat it" (David B. Calhoun)
Reading Ecclesiastes helps alot. Hearing stories from my elders (old relatives and older Christians) reminded me that their experiences speaks the truth. As they say, "History repeats itself in every generation." Job 8:8-9 "Ask the former generations and find out what their fathers learned, for we were born only yesterday and know nothing, and our days on earth are but a shadow."
Ecclesiastes 8:17 I saw all that God has done. No one can comprehend what goes on under the sun. Despite all his efforts to search it out, man cannot discover its meaning. Even if a wise man claims he knows, he cannot really comprehend it.
This is why this is one of my favorite quotes: Paul Little "Faith recognizes the fact that God is in control of my life. Whether I believe it or not, it's a fact that God is in control of the world. If I don't believe it, I'm just robbing myself of the enjoyment of the fact."
Many of great faiths were willing to let go of their rights, privileges and lives in the interests of doing God's will. In other words, they put up with anything that came to them, endured and overcame their circumstances rather than hinder God's will. They will forget their claim and they will forget to claim, instead, they will only take the eternal gift that grace through Jesus Christ. What is my spiritual prize since I already have my gift eternal life? What are my eternal rewards? If I am to claim and take my temporal rights and privileges, what happens to God's eternal will? I have learned that it is God's will to submit to the Holy Spirit and keep on filling me (Ephesians 5:18).
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).
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.
