Rose22

A prosperity doctrine is fundamentally the opposite teaching of Jesus...It will mislead the Christian to have the wrong intent in following Christ. Prosperity will be taught as monetary gain ...whereby true prosperity is spiritual...By way of blessings bestowed upon Us by Christ and by inner prosperity ( fruits of the spirit) and the prosperity of the kingdom of God ( within us) All throughout...the Bible teaches us the importance of renouncing riches in favour of the riches stored up for us above...we must be happy givers....

Paul's basis for His contentment was Love of Christ which encompassed much trust and Faith...He had learned acceptance...of plenty or want..He was content in either state. Knowing all things are possible through Christ...He was always able to see the bigger picture. I don't think this contentment undermines ambition as such..but rather increases Pauls ambition to always press on towards the goal...the upward call of Christ. For us to know this contentment we must die to self and live as Christ..radiating Him and making Him our very centre....never taking our focus off Him for a second. It's a life long effort...not an overnight thing...

When the Phillipian's gave to the Church through Paul they were investing into their spiritual bank account.they were credited by way of Gods Blessings..by giving we recieve. I think temporal Blessings maybe a metaphor for clear conscience...

When the Phillipian's gave to the Church through Paul they were investing into their spiritual bank account.they were credited by way of Gods Blessings..by giving we recieve. I think temporal Blessings maybe a metaphor for clear conscience...

God assures us that He will meet our needs...( not our greed) and that we are not to worry....but rather be as the birds of the air...trusting never doubting....God requires of us to share what we have with others...to respond when we see someone in need....this is pleasing to God...and in return He pours out His blessing upon us...which are to overflowing... This promise is part of my relationship with Christ....trusting that whatever He sends is perfectly matched to my needs...having Faith that He knows Me better than I know myself because He is the Architect of My exsistence and He fore knew Me...is enough..is everything.

To be a true Disciple of Christ we must be aware of our allegiance and citizenship because it makes us realise that by dying to self We fully live in Christ. We set our eyes and hearts on heavenly realms as opposed to earthly things. We desire to please only God and not self. We are saved from debauchery and death by sin. I think if the Church would ever preach politics instead of Gods word it would simply fall into destruction.

For Me rejoicing is a deliberate action! I love rejoicing in the Lord....giving thanks and singing praises...giving glory to God....it always feels of the Heavenly realms to Me when I do this or even see others partaking in doing it! It's wonderful! The effect of rejoicing is intense feeling of Joy and Deep expression of Love of God. It cements the relationship between You and God. And encourages the Holy Spirit to dance within You....

When we ask anything of God in Prayer it is important to be thankful...It's being grateful for the gift of our communion with Him....It reaffirms "real two way" relationship. It also humbles us to thank Him in anticipation for prayers answered. I think thanksgiving in prayer really strengthens our relationship with God. And reaffirms His mighty power. It highlights our dependancy upon Him for everything. It deepens our Love and gratitude for Him and helps us to trust even more....

God has made Himself a gate and a door for us....ways of entry into Him....when we choose to go through the door or the gate by prayer we enter into God's presence....It is here we make known our requests to Him...This is sacred two way communication...a relationship between the Divine and us...a very real relationship. The more we practice doing this the closer our relationship becomes and we feel safe which instills Trust...it is important to know that sometimes God answers our prayers and requests in His timing and also by silence....Trust that both are for our highest good because He so loves us. In John 14 Jesus declares "My peace I give You" He has already done His part now We must do ours and be instruments of that peace..

Mind control is really about stillness so we can enter into presence...which is "GOD" we need to focus and be vigilant if we are to live lives centred on Christ....Even Christ himself often went off into a lonely place to Pray to the Father....let us never take our gaze from Him....but rather ask for strength to focus only on Christ. I have decided to focus on Prayer which for me is the intimate communication between realms....I now enter into early morning prayer and that way I also receive the blessing of the dawn chorus! And I pray before sleeping which really calms me and enables me to have undisturbed rest...which is wonderful...I talk to God constantly throughout My day and give gratitude and in a way this too is prayer.....but not without awareness....

Paul could be bold in His asking of others to imitate Him because He set a perfect example...by which to follow and ultimately He wanted His Brothers and Sisters to obtain the ultimate goal of the upward call of Christ...He reminded them of how far they had all come..and by being united they could gain in strength to achieve the same intent. We tend to be hesitant to do this because we know we fall short of imitating Christ... God uses imitation in building disciples by setting the example to be followed..He Shepherds His flock so they can all learn by example...this is a Fathers Love..the greatest Teacher... People who tell Me I inspire them are the ones who may be more likely to imitate Me...

Yes I have received the upward call of Christ and What I've learned is that with each call Comes responsibility...to do what He asks of us..but We know that He is a "just and fair God" and Would not ask of us anything without giving us the means with which to do it! Wether it be in the form of Grace, courage, wisdom or Mercy...He will afford it to us to enable us to carry out the calling....now that's Amazzing love! God's call is only dimmed by our focus being elsewhere...and by not entering into stillness with Him..."God Prescence" that's when He speaks.... We can renew our Hearing by spending time with Him in stillness....By reading scripture and being aware of a particular passage or word "speaking to us" this is Gods own voice... We need to be attentive and vigilant... We are assured of the prize...all who press on towards the ultimate goal...which is Heavenward....it's beautiful ...a very fruitful relationship....any time I get weary I hang on to Pauls beautiful outpouring....

Yes I have received the upward call of Christ and What I've learned is that with each call Comes responsibility...to do what He asks of us..but We know that He is a "just and fair God" and Would not ask of us anything without giving us the means with which to do it! Wether it be in the form of Grace, courage, wisdom or Mercy...He will afford it to us to enable us to carry out the calling....now that's Amazzing love! God's call is only dimmed by our focus being elsewhere...and by not entering into stillness with Him..."God Prescence" that's when He speaks.... We can renew our Hearing by spending time with Him in stillness....By reading scripture and being aware of a particular passage or word "speaking to us" this is Gods own voice... We need to be attentive and vigilant... We are assured of the prize...all who press on towards the ultimate goal...which is Heavenward....it's beautiful ...a very fruitful relationship....any time I get weary I hang on to Pauls beautiful outpouring....

Righteousness obtained through Faith differs greatly from righteousness obtained through law observance' The latter is a form of self righteousness....centred on self which one could attain outside of Christ...because the righteousness Paul confesses He has is from God which is borne from our Faith in Christ Jesus....which is of the spirit and not of self. It is through relationship with Christ that we learn this knowledge. The concept of justification by Faith is difficult to grasp for so many because of ego or doctrinations that are in a lot of Churches today...People tend to be lazy when it comes to Christ...Paul is a beautiful example for us to follow...We must COMPLETLEY die to self..in order to truly enter into intimate relationship with Christ and that way fully surrendered to the absolute truth of being saved, sanctified and made righteous by His precious Blood.

I think there is a thread of "confidence in the flesh" possibly running through our Church...but fundamentally the congregation has a deep love of God..and are committed to their Faith...to judge is coming from self which I do not want to do.