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We can not allow the actions of our leaders to sway us from the truths we know. We can not rebel against our worldly leaders [govt, church, family,...] since God put them there for a reason. We must accept responsibility in our position in the pyramid of life and society. Obama can sign legislation into reality for the USA, causing money to be allocated, and people to act upon it. We must pray for their wisdom and abide by the law of our government, and protest if desired by legal process. We must pray for heaven to help us in all matters dealt with by our leaders.

We are ALL ungodly ainners. Only the great I AM was sinless. Our best will never be good enough to deserve grace and eternal life. Thank goodness He is loving beyond our dreams. Thanks goodness for His Grace. We are like a cry in the wilderness when we let Him come through us, and witness to His Glory

Our sufferings are nothing compared to what Christ did for us. We need to seek Him, and ask for deeper relationship. As we approach the Cross, we slowly let Him rule us, though really God is doing all the work in leading us on this path of humility and service to our Savior. There is no suffering we can imagine for us that compares to His. So we must rejoice, and seek to grow in this way, to be a better servant and to be able to better glorify Him with our lives!

To have faith is learned by our experience in being led by the Holy Spirit. The apostles were with Jesus 3 ys and didn't have faith till after he was re-born/resurrected and showed himself to them. We are among the blessed {John 17] to believe though we have not seen HIM. He lives in us and grows deeper and deeper. We have no logical basis to be justified. We are justified by His blood and His grace.

I would mostly blame Watching-TV and having the Microsoft-stock-market mentality that money is God. sin, sex and money, it feels good at the moment, but is empty and has no future except more fo the same. If you believe this is your only option then might as well. Thank God we are not like this. Thank you Jesus fo finding me and saving me!!!!!

The idea of 'capturing every thought' might seem like a tall order, but the deeper Christ brings the Holy Spirit into us, the more deep our peace and the possibility of capturing thoughts and actions before they become outward sins is a step that we can not do. But we can let God lead us and when He does it we only notice that we are a little better than we were before. This can become a progressive process, but it seems that it requires a discipline that is exactly what is stated above "arm yourselves with an attitude" So we ask our might God to fill our hearts with his love and compassion, to slow our actions and thoughts so that we can receive the "attitude" that will bring us to a new level, and we don't look back!

MY TESTIMONY OF FAITH: I was re-baptized Sept 30, 2007 in a planter church because the preacher only did it once a month. It was a great moment. Also, on Sunday Sept 2 at 6AM the Holy Spirit didn't wait for my scheduled baptism. My transformation as a child of God began that morning when I was reading aloud John 20:11-16 Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene - 11 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. 13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” "They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. 15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” 16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”). When I read the word aloud "RABBONI" the Holy Spirit came upon me and I cried for a long time, but don't know how long. My transformation had begun. Today I walk trusting Jesus and asking to be closer to Him, and His loving direction to my life. I pray that all will come to know Him and that He may use me any way He wishes, at any moment in my life. And He does it all the time. Praise GOD!

1 peter 3:15-16 15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander The only people who speak negatively of my "Jesus talk" seem to be my family members who are non believers. So I have asked our most gracious Father to make my light shine without me needing ot say words. For those who do not believe, being respectful of their current state of thinking is very important, or they will never feel accepted by us. Jesus accepted people as they were/are, sinners, and loves us just the same. We need to be more like HIM.

1 peter 3:8-9 " 8 Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. 9 Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. My congregation is very much "love-one-another... and prayerful compassion and humble actions of compassion" there is so much love I can't explain it, I just wish other churches had it,...maybe they do? It starts and continues by oneself being loving and humble.

There is no humility in domination, it is pure manipulation. How can a person learn to go to God with their trials, if we insist on helping them and manipulating them? Domination is a sign that ego is out of control. Humbly letting a friend or spouse solve their own problem, unless they ask for help, is one of the steps on St Benedict's "Ladder of Humility"

If we listen to Jesus, we get the basic lesson - LOVE GOD FIRST AND FOREMOST! Say "Holy Spirit - please teach me to LOVE GOD and BE CLOSER TO HIM. name, Amen" Then we turn it all over to HIM and our work is done. We need to ask for this every day, and ask God to break our hearts, from earthly things, every day. A Christian man can apply this just as well as a Christian woman.

Only after we have deep love n our hearts from Christ can be begin to submit and be silent when it is impossible to be silent. Seeking deeper love is loke going out on a lot of dates with your best girl or boy friend. It requires so honest discussion with the FAther and the Holy Spirit. Every second of it is worth it. There is nothing better. When we see something wrong, especailly for those who have dispair or have lost the hope that we know is there for them, we need to access what we can do to help realistically and then do it. Whe we are attacked by the evil one we need to recognize it and not submit ot the ploy that is tring to mess up our life at the moment. We need to remember that by the blood of Jesus we can overcome the works of the evil one. if God is for us than who can be against?

Jesus said, "remain in me and I will remain in you" this is not easy in a fallen world; weI slip up or foeget during a situation and don't bring God with us in all our events. We are destined to fall into sin when we are not looking at Him and for Him; we are not letting Him in. We can only succeed hy staying colse to God, and relying on Him

This is a major thing, he did this for my salvation. For all the foolish things I did before I was saved in Sept 2007, and for all the foolish things I will do until my death. I thank the Father for sending Jesus, unworthy sinner I am. Thank you for grace and mercy. Thank you for taking the nails for me Jesus! Amen

Jesus is my creator, my savior, my redeemer. he knows everything about me. He suffered personally for me on the cross, as he did for everyone he created. This is part of the amazement and mystery of what God is, and how he loves each of us in a way we are not capable of fully understanding. How can he know so much about me and everyone? It is in his plan for us to glorify him with the joy of knowing our salvation, which we simply don't deserve. We are sinners and are lost without him. What would it mean to be lost for all eternity, to be dead? His blood bought us life with him. His suffering for our sins bought us freedom from sin, or at least the guilt of sin. He is is our all in all. He is our everything.

I know that I can't heal people by touching them, but He has taught me to see better when someone passing is hurting in some way. Then it is simple, do it, look long enough, and with humility and empathy, to see if they want help; and if not move on. Try in some way to shine, and again with humility as a servant, and pass it on, in all situations. Be humble, alert, careful and respectful, we don't have Jesus' power, since we live in this fallen world and haven't spent three years directly walking with him in the physical plane. But let's try to do the best we can, God is watching!

Having prolonged unfair treatment at work for me, it means that somehow I've not heard God's message how to resolve the "unfairness" Today times are tough and everyone has to work harder. I'm blessed to not have been put in a situation where I'm treated unfairly, or at least not since June 30, 2010. Can we really judge what is fair and unfair? Life is unfair for many the situation they have been born into. Jesus was treated so unfairly, but he more or less brought it on and had to do it so they'd kill him. His example is amazing, something to shoot for, to be perfect as he has asked us to do. He didn't complain, so can we honestly say it ok to complain? I can see talking to God in prayer about these things, but not to people unless they can help improved the "unjustness." I long to be more sober, humble and have a servant heart.

When we are rebellious we are not obeying the law of the land. The protesters of the Vietnam war are a hard example. They were "ruight" but think of how it hurt our soldiers stationed in Vietnam to hear of war protesters. It was a lose-lose situation. Now we have the war in Iraq, we don't seem to have the same level of protest from our youth. Are we living in the "Fifth great spiritual awakening" so as to not rebel and make God sad? I pray to submit my ego to the firing squad, such that I can truly submit to God's will in my heart, soul, and mind. Giving Him the Glory all the time is what it is all about!

Conforming is a dangerous habit. It leads to the 2nd point SIN. What does SIN do, it kills us. It stays in our body and hurts us if we continue to do it. We can not succeed by TRYING to STOP SINNING. We must turn it over to God, and let Him fill us with replacement activities, whcih we do for the joy of pleasing Him. It is easy to say, and almost impossible to do for a very long time.

We are told to shine, to remain in HIM. When we shine and give it all to the Lord, then people know He is great. When we blend in we are luke warm. God is not happy with this. It is the reverse o praise. It is hiding our light from Him. We must examine ourselves when we notice we're doing this. Are we getting a spiritual attack? Is it time to call on Jesus or the Holy Spiriti to save us at that moment?

We are told to shine, to remain in HIM. When we shine and give it all to the Lord, then people know He is great. When we blend in we are luke warm. God is not happy with this. It is the reverse o praise. It is hiding our light from Him. We must examine ourselves when we notice we're doing this. Are we getting a spiritual attack? Is it time to call on Jesus or the Holy Spiriti to save us at that moment?