"The Letter".... continued
So I went back to 'The Book' and reread The New Testament seeking the help I needed. I understood that the wages of sin is death. The dividing line between right and wrong is justice; and justice satisfies an obligation to give either the penalty or reward that was earned. I had violated the law of The Creator of the universe. I rebelled against The King of Kings, usurping His Authority, challenging His right to rule. I had committed the crime of cosmic treason and deserved the death penalty now and for eternity. Offenses against an infinitely worthy Being deserve an infinite penalty.
I accepted the record that Jesus chose to take my place and serve my death sentence for me as my substitute. I believed that Father God poured out His fierce, righteous wrath upon His precious Son, who had taken upon Himself the guilt and shame of all my sin, so that He could purchase my redemption. Because The Lord Jesus had surrendered His life to die for me, I wanted to surrender my life to live for Him. How else could I possibly respond to such a gift of love?
So I got down on my knees and told God I knew I had not right to talk to Him, but since Jesus had already chosen to die for me, I wanted to give what was left of my life to live for Him. I was sorry I had wrecked it, but hoped He could repair the mess I'd made. The following 2 weeks were pretty good; but then I fell back into sinning.
Now I was more miserable than ever. I had tried to repent and believe like The Bible says, but it didn't seem to take. With less boldness than my 1st attempt to get right with God, I got down on my knees and tried again to surrender my heart and life to Christ. That lasted about 2 days. I continued that pattern of 'try to get saved'' and fall back into sin', for about the next year and a half. During that time I read The Bible on and off. It seemed like the more I read the Bible and prayed the more I was able to resist temptation; but I knew something was still missing.
Finally, I read 1 John 1:9 again. This time I saw that it was written to Christians
telling them that if they will confess their sins, God is faithful and just to forgive their sins and cleanse them from all unrighteousness. Ok, so I got that Christians can fall back into sin and blow it; and that God is still faithful and just to forgive them instead of throwing us out of the game for breaking 1 rule too many or 1 rule to nasty.
But that just didn't seem right for Him to keep that up. That's not the response I ever got from anyone else that I repeatedly offended and God's ways are infinitely more valuable than the expectations of everyone else. How could that be fair? How can God justify and accept, let alone love, a selfish promise breaker like me? I just couldn't seem to hold up what I thought was my end of the deal.
I learned that Jesus dying words that are translated, "It is Finished" in English, is actually a Greek accounting term 'tetelestai' that means, "Paid in Full". I'm sure you've heard that Jesus paid for all our sins past present and future. But to really get my brain around that, I had to ask myself, 'How many of my sins were still in the future when Jesus died to cover my entire debt 2,000 years ago. Obviously all of them; but I had still worried that if I sinned after I 'got saved' I'd lose my salvation if I sinned and then died before I got that last sin confessed per 1 John 1:9.
But WAIT here comes the best part. I eventually saw that besides the fact that Jesus' DEATH paid off my whole sin debt so I will never have to make any future payments; His RESSURECTION broke the addictive power of sin over me and I'm no longer a slave to sin, even though I hadn't realized that I had been liberated from sin's authority which had been rendered powerless. (Read Galatians 2:20 & Romans 6-8 just for starters. It's the real deal!) Therefore I do not have to give in to the temptation to surrender to the out of control desires of my body and brain/flesh.
It's like the day that I was born, I did not realize as I took my 1st breath, the amazing resources that God had designed and provided for me in my body and soul, that could equip me for my life in the great wide world. I only knew that I was hungry for food and love. I needed bonding as much as I needed food.
The day that I was 'born again', I did not understand the amazing resources God had given me to enable me to live my new life in Christ. I did know I was hungry for truth and friendship with others who shared my love for my Lord and Savior.
Around that time, I married Grandpa Dennis and over the years we attended many different churches: Lutheran, Baptist, Pentecostal and non-denoms. As I sought for like minded friends I saw what Jesus said about the wheat and the weeds growing together and you can't always tell until harvest time which is which. There are a lot of people who claim to be Bible believers that really don't know the Book or the Author, and according to Jesus on Judgement day they're going to call Him Lord; but He's going to say "Depart from Me I never Knew you."
Most don't realize the difference between choosing to believe the truth of God's word and having faith. This issue is actually what made me decide to share my heart with you at this time; because I was thinking about you as I recently wrote a message for Taycheeda. Here's the part that includes your example. (I did not identify you.)
What does it mean to Believe in Jesus' Name? "..Jesus disciple John said in John 20:31, "These are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is The Christ The Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through His name." What does that mean to 'believe in Jesus name'?
John uses the word 'believe' 101 times, but he never uses the word faith even once in his gospel. Did you ever think about the fact that 'believing' and 'having faith' are different even though they are related? Even though people try to use the words 'believe' and 'have faith' interchangeably The Bible shows the difference. The Bible does not command us to 'have faith'; it commands us to choose to believe.
Did you ever wish you could muster up enough faith to do something you're afraid to do? I have 2 friends who are afraid of flying on an airplane. My friend Gerry chooses not to fly no matter what. My friend Matt rejects his fearful feelings and chooses to believe in the information he has heard about the safety of flying even though he feels scared. Matt does not have faith in flying, (evidenced by his fear), but he chooses to believe he will survive the flight in spite of his feelings; so he gets on the plane and makes the trip.
Believe is a verb, and faith is a noun. Believing is something you chose to do and faith is something you get. Believe is an all or nothing decision. To believe is simply a choice to trust in & depend on it, as opposed to deciding to doubt & reject. To believe is a decision to depend on something or someone as trustworthy enough to stake your life on it."
We regularly make choices to believe in/place our confidence in something or someone; or to doubt the character of a person or thing as being trustworthy. Your choice to believe that the pilot of an airplane is reliable and the aircraft is dependable determines whether or not you will get on the plane. It's an all or nothing decision because once you're in the air it's too late to change your mind. In spite of any doubts you may have, you chose to believe that you can stake your life on the trustworthiness of the pilot and the plane, or you would not get on board.
So you see believing is not a moral quality. To stake your life on what you heard about a pilot or an aircraft is neither righteous nor sinful. It's just a choice based on the information that you choose to accept or reject. Believing is not a virtue.
Faith on the other hand is something you have or don't have; and it comes in varying degrees. Have you ever tried to produce faith in your heart? I know a young man that said if he could just push a button that would make him have faith, he would do that. He'd like to have faith; but he knows can't manufacture it; and to his credit, he's not going to try to fake it as so many people do. I know there are those who say 'fake it until you make it' but that only results in hypocrisy, legalistic self righteousness and fear. Then when the 'faith' your working on producing fails to get your prayers answered, you worry, you can't produce enough faith to tip the scales to get forgiveness and freedom from sin.
You wish you could know for sure you have enough faith to please God, be saved from your sin and know your headed for heaven when you die.
People try to get faith by being religious; but sooner of later they see that following the rules becomes sort of a treadmill that doesn't produce righteousness or assurance of salvation, because they aren't able to live up to the standards of their church. So most work harder at looking good than being good.
The Bible says faith is a gift from God. Ephesians & 1 Corinthians speaks of faith as a gift. That means you don't manufacture faith, God gives it when you chose to believe in the name of Jesus Christ The Lord. In The Bible some people have a little faith and some have a lot.
Romans 10:17 says, "Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God" How do you get faith when you hear the word of God? When you make the choice to believe God' word, God gives you the faith to live it. You don't need to believe in your faith. You need to believe that Jesus is The Christ The Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through His name." (John 20:31)
I love you and since we don't know how much time either one of us has left, I'm depending on your trustworthy kindness and patience with me, and counting on you to carefully consider these things that I have intensely wanted to share with you. I'm praying you will see the truth that can set you free right her, right now as well as for eternity. "If The Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." John 8:36
I accepted the record that Jesus chose to take my place and serve my death sentence for me as my substitute. I believed that Father God poured out His fierce, righteous wrath upon His precious Son, who had taken upon Himself the guilt and shame of all my sin, so that He could purchase my redemption. Because The Lord Jesus had surrendered His life to die for me, I wanted to surrender my life to live for Him. How else could I possibly respond to such a gift of love?
So I got down on my knees and told God I knew I had not right to talk to Him, but since Jesus had already chosen to die for me, I wanted to give what was left of my life to live for Him. I was sorry I had wrecked it, but hoped He could repair the mess I'd made. The following 2 weeks were pretty good; but then I fell back into sinning.
Now I was more miserable than ever. I had tried to repent and believe like The Bible says, but it didn't seem to take. With less boldness than my 1st attempt to get right with God, I got down on my knees and tried again to surrender my heart and life to Christ. That lasted about 2 days. I continued that pattern of 'try to get saved'' and fall back into sin', for about the next year and a half. During that time I read The Bible on and off. It seemed like the more I read the Bible and prayed the more I was able to resist temptation; but I knew something was still missing.
Finally, I read 1 John 1:9 again. This time I saw that it was written to Christians
telling them that if they will confess their sins, God is faithful and just to forgive their sins and cleanse them from all unrighteousness. Ok, so I got that Christians can fall back into sin and blow it; and that God is still faithful and just to forgive them instead of throwing us out of the game for breaking 1 rule too many or 1 rule to nasty.
But that just didn't seem right for Him to keep that up. That's not the response I ever got from anyone else that I repeatedly offended and God's ways are infinitely more valuable than the expectations of everyone else. How could that be fair? How can God justify and accept, let alone love, a selfish promise breaker like me? I just couldn't seem to hold up what I thought was my end of the deal.
I learned that Jesus dying words that are translated, "It is Finished" in English, is actually a Greek accounting term 'tetelestai' that means, "Paid in Full". I'm sure you've heard that Jesus paid for all our sins past present and future. But to really get my brain around that, I had to ask myself, 'How many of my sins were still in the future when Jesus died to cover my entire debt 2,000 years ago. Obviously all of them; but I had still worried that if I sinned after I 'got saved' I'd lose my salvation if I sinned and then died before I got that last sin confessed per 1 John 1:9.
But WAIT here comes the best part. I eventually saw that besides the fact that Jesus' DEATH paid off my whole sin debt so I will never have to make any future payments; His RESSURECTION broke the addictive power of sin over me and I'm no longer a slave to sin, even though I hadn't realized that I had been liberated from sin's authority which had been rendered powerless. (Read Galatians 2:20 & Romans 6-8 just for starters. It's the real deal!) Therefore I do not have to give in to the temptation to surrender to the out of control desires of my body and brain/flesh.
It's like the day that I was born, I did not realize as I took my 1st breath, the amazing resources that God had designed and provided for me in my body and soul, that could equip me for my life in the great wide world. I only knew that I was hungry for food and love. I needed bonding as much as I needed food.
The day that I was 'born again', I did not understand the amazing resources God had given me to enable me to live my new life in Christ. I did know I was hungry for truth and friendship with others who shared my love for my Lord and Savior.
Around that time, I married Grandpa Dennis and over the years we attended many different churches: Lutheran, Baptist, Pentecostal and non-denoms. As I sought for like minded friends I saw what Jesus said about the wheat and the weeds growing together and you can't always tell until harvest time which is which. There are a lot of people who claim to be Bible believers that really don't know the Book or the Author, and according to Jesus on Judgement day they're going to call Him Lord; but He's going to say "Depart from Me I never Knew you."
Most don't realize the difference between choosing to believe the truth of God's word and having faith. This issue is actually what made me decide to share my heart with you at this time; because I was thinking about you as I recently wrote a message for Taycheeda. Here's the part that includes your example. (I did not identify you.)
What does it mean to Believe in Jesus' Name? "..Jesus disciple John said in John 20:31, "These are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is The Christ The Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through His name." What does that mean to 'believe in Jesus name'?
John uses the word 'believe' 101 times, but he never uses the word faith even once in his gospel. Did you ever think about the fact that 'believing' and 'having faith' are different even though they are related? Even though people try to use the words 'believe' and 'have faith' interchangeably The Bible shows the difference. The Bible does not command us to 'have faith'; it commands us to choose to believe.
Did you ever wish you could muster up enough faith to do something you're afraid to do? I have 2 friends who are afraid of flying on an airplane. My friend Gerry chooses not to fly no matter what. My friend Matt rejects his fearful feelings and chooses to believe in the information he has heard about the safety of flying even though he feels scared. Matt does not have faith in flying, (evidenced by his fear), but he chooses to believe he will survive the flight in spite of his feelings; so he gets on the plane and makes the trip.
Believe is a verb, and faith is a noun. Believing is something you chose to do and faith is something you get. Believe is an all or nothing decision. To believe is simply a choice to trust in & depend on it, as opposed to deciding to doubt & reject. To believe is a decision to depend on something or someone as trustworthy enough to stake your life on it."
We regularly make choices to believe in/place our confidence in something or someone; or to doubt the character of a person or thing as being trustworthy. Your choice to believe that the pilot of an airplane is reliable and the aircraft is dependable determines whether or not you will get on the plane. It's an all or nothing decision because once you're in the air it's too late to change your mind. In spite of any doubts you may have, you chose to believe that you can stake your life on the trustworthiness of the pilot and the plane, or you would not get on board.
So you see believing is not a moral quality. To stake your life on what you heard about a pilot or an aircraft is neither righteous nor sinful. It's just a choice based on the information that you choose to accept or reject. Believing is not a virtue.
Faith on the other hand is something you have or don't have; and it comes in varying degrees. Have you ever tried to produce faith in your heart? I know a young man that said if he could just push a button that would make him have faith, he would do that. He'd like to have faith; but he knows can't manufacture it; and to his credit, he's not going to try to fake it as so many people do. I know there are those who say 'fake it until you make it' but that only results in hypocrisy, legalistic self righteousness and fear. Then when the 'faith' your working on producing fails to get your prayers answered, you worry, you can't produce enough faith to tip the scales to get forgiveness and freedom from sin.
You wish you could know for sure you have enough faith to please God, be saved from your sin and know your headed for heaven when you die.
People try to get faith by being religious; but sooner of later they see that following the rules becomes sort of a treadmill that doesn't produce righteousness or assurance of salvation, because they aren't able to live up to the standards of their church. So most work harder at looking good than being good.
The Bible says faith is a gift from God. Ephesians & 1 Corinthians speaks of faith as a gift. That means you don't manufacture faith, God gives it when you chose to believe in the name of Jesus Christ The Lord. In The Bible some people have a little faith and some have a lot.
Romans 10:17 says, "Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God" How do you get faith when you hear the word of God? When you make the choice to believe God' word, God gives you the faith to live it. You don't need to believe in your faith. You need to believe that Jesus is The Christ The Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through His name." (John 20:31)
I love you and since we don't know how much time either one of us has left, I'm depending on your trustworthy kindness and patience with me, and counting on you to carefully consider these things that I have intensely wanted to share with you. I'm praying you will see the truth that can set you free right her, right now as well as for eternity. "If The Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." John 8:36