It is good good news to tell someone that you know what, all the pain and hurt I am now so glad of it because Jesus has taken it. I sound that sounds so out there but I am so grateful for what he has done. I gave it to Him, I let down the wall that was supposed to protect me from getting hurt. I was experiencing a lot of pain, and got upset that the Lord was letting me got through it. I said something along the lines to Him how can you let me go through all of this, don’t you care that I am hurting? In my spirit, I sensed Him say, that he has always cared about me, but I have held on to my pain and would not let Him in. I was afraid to be hurt, and the wall I thought protected me was keeping Him out (by my will). I had to let the wall come down, ask Jesus to forgive me for holding on to my hurts and trying to protect myself, something I was never intended to do. If you give it to Jesus, there is freedom. When someone wants to hurt you or says something or does something that is cruel, you can take it, for the first time in your life, you can take it because you are giving it right there and then to Him! You were never intended to deal with the pain by yourself. No doctor can take it away but Jesus can, he really can. This is not self help, it is giving it to Jesus and He will help you. The weight on your shoulders will lift because you are not alone, it is good to share with friends, etc., but in the end only Jesus is the answer you need.

This is good news. SAlvation now that is alive.
I am not saying Christianity is all about floating on clouds because that is nonsense, but what I can promise you is that in the midst of life, you have a friend, who is present and you can do it.

The hope that exists within you to have the perfect life, you were designed to have. The hope of it is real and not to be denied. Your life really only begins when you accept Jesus as SAvior and Lord. People will hate you but you will know the truth. What is the truth. It can be found in the Word, Jesus is alive, your sins have been nailed to a tree, you are not to be feeling guilty any longer, you are to live today for righteousness, you are to desire the Holy of Holies, you are to be a child of God, and even greater, a son or daughter of God, that grows up to know the FAther, son of God – Jesus Christ, and Holy Ghost.
Your salvation is available and making Jesus Lord, Master in your life will radically do in you what this world could not do for you. He is the way , the truth, and the life. All you have to do is repent of your sins, tell Him you believe that He loved you so much that he allowed his only son to come to earth, live life blamelessly as a man, and be killed as a perfect sacrifice, so that you may have a right relationship with Father God. Take a bible, read in one of the gospels such as John or Luke to bring further revelation to your spirit about who He says you are.
If you want to talk it over with another Christian about your profession of Jesus Christ being your savior or someother issue to possibly help clarify, I would be happy to respond. Just try not to spam me. lol
ronnieobrien(at)hotmail(dot)com
Ronnie
God bless

You commented, “Besides criticize them, what have you done for those outside of Christianity?”

April, there are Christians who are doing what you have said, giving love, with that should be the Word. I am not attacking your walk with Jesus and I think it is absolutely wonderful that you are serving Him. Jesus knows who are His and who is doing what. I agree, Christians need to be doing something, but apart from Christ we can do nothing. Is it possible that an infant knows that they experience Jesus’ love in Mother Theresa when she held them. Yes. I agree with you. I do not mock it, I love the love.

You said”You state that we should stand on God’s Word, but are you really loving your brother if you are looking for the faults in him?”

Why is the much of the present church so content on saying nothing is wrong. Do you see the cripple in the church, they come and they go. Churches are full hurting Christians. You may disagree, perhaps you are not, I don’t know, but I do know that there are many pew warmers who are hurting and are waiting for the truth to set them free but are not getting the Word they need. How rampant is it to hear a preacher preach on prosperity, or self help messages! That is the worst. We are failures, in our own right! That should be a revelation every person needs to hear. I heard the comment put negatively more than once, how druggies and prisoners got nothing better to look forward to then accept Jesus -
First of all, that is there witness, what they said is accurate. Why accept Jesus? When you truly know that everything life throws at you in this world does not fix you and your longing to be whole, only then will you finally admit that I am a failure, that everything I have done, is worthless in comparison to what I am looking for. Our failure is to strive to make it on our own, and it is very difficult to admit that against the wind it is hopeless. Wave after wave, we are beaten and feel more burden and hurt then before. We can not do it. Jesus is the answer! I believed the message of salvation for years and believe I was saved for years. But I could not understand how could I still be miserable inside and yet look at the faces around me seem to have it together?? The professing Christian who sits in church and looks down on another sinner is missing the mark. The man in himself is void, living but void, a failure in need of a savior and Lord. I knew Jesus as my SAvior but never knew Him as Lord. I felt like what many Christians felt like, having to pretend everything was all good, when in fact, I was desperately looking for help, and waves of an emotional roller coaster rider would sweep me and throw me around. I thank Jesus, in my worst moments of hopelessness, he revealed to me that that despite being a Christian, I was living as though I still had to make it, get it together, be a success in my work.

I could share with others that one needed to be saved to go to heaven and believed the truth of the bible, but could not express to live as a Christian now!
Now I can! You see when you are raised thinking you must get yourself together, in God’s grace I was saved, I had no one else to go to. Everything hit a dead end, my attempts to get the dream life, the paradise, the life I want now, I could not get. In my thinking and pride, I thought I could do it. You can not.
When all these things of your success is based on what you can do, you will feel inferior, you were never meant to do it! The garden of Eden, tells the story of how man desired something other than God, and chose it.
When you choose your career, your success, sex, drugs, a ‘happy’ family or ‘perfect’ spouse, you are making that the most important thing to you, your god, your lord!
When I Jesus revealed this truth to me, I asked for forgiveness, if anyone said I was doing this, I would have called out to lunch. Jesus is the savior of the world for those who believe. HE is also to be Lord, but many Christians do not realize that they live as thought he were not.

John 3:16 says 16″For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

When you accept Jesus as your savior, you need to know that your identity is no longer your failure or your success. It is what He did, not what you can do. That does not mean you do nothing, you have purpose and that is found in giving your life over to Him. You need to crucify, give up your self, and give it to Him. The Word says He will give you the desires of your heart if you seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.
You are not meant to kill you desire. Jesus desires you to desire Him. You will find your answers in Him and nothing else. God bless.

The answer is near you, for the Kingdom of God is near you. Take it.

Ronnie

Christians are never to look down on another or think they are better.

I definitely agree with that – I like that you got this from that passage.

Very solid responses!

” WHy is is that Jesus was hated for loving, he let the world know they needed to repent, and they resisted this, and hated Him for it and wanted darkness instead.”

Ronnie,

What you said above was interesting because it was the religious people of the day who resisted Jesus the most. Those who needed Jesus the most, the sinners, the poor, etc., were the ones that Jesus hung with the most. It was often the religious whom Jesus got the most angry at. You talk about salvation being the reason for Jesus dying for us, and I agree, but I wonder what you mean by salvation. To you is salvation only a ticket for us to reach heaven in the hereafter or is salvation also a way of living out our lives like Jesus. Living the Kingdom of God here on earth is central to what most are saying here on this board.

That is why Paul said to make the most out of every opportunity, to be salt to the world.

I think we would all agree that any food that is too salty is not tasty. Salt is something that should be used sparingly and with great care. No one here has advocated doing anything that goes against scripture. They have only advocated caring about people even if they are the current outcasts of our generation.

You state that we should stand on God’s Word, but are you really loving your brother if you are looking for the faults in him? The Bible speaks to that and says go out and take the log in your own eye before you start taking the mote out of your brother’s eye.

Besides criticize them, what have you done for those outside of Christianity?

I don’t ask that question lightly. I have stood in the shoes you are currently wearing and while I stood there, I never once brought anyone closer to God. I turned people away from God. What I learned is that loving people is a far greater virtue than telling people what I think is the truth. People want to see the truth in action, not in words. There is a place for words, but they would rather see the action first. Once they have seen your love in action, they will be willing to listen to your words.

My recommendation to you is that you show us your action first. Go out into your community and serve those who need Christ the most, and after you have done that, come back and give us your words.

“5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.
”
IT has all to do with what is being said in regards to our relationships with people. Those who are Christian are not to take what Jesus did for us, for He loved us while we still were an enemy to God.

If Jesus is having you talk with witches to share His love, that should not be a surprise seeing we were once no different.

That scripture cuts deep for me because that is really where we are to be and we are to be so grateful for being saved. Christians are never to look down on another or think they are better. I agree that we should not fear as the world fears. Sin can be enticing to the flesh, and I have found that if you do not beat around the bush about who you are, a child of God, it often dispels the sin desire. I am not saying you have to be mean in making them feel like dirt when talking about JEsus, but go in this spirit that this scripture talks about, considering yourself lucky and fortunate, sharing your testimony of Jesus and how he has changed your life. It should be joy to share that. That is why Paul said to make the most out of every opportunity, to be salt to the world.

I mentioned previously about the friends business, perhaps that depends on your definition of friends. Christians have to hate sin, and love the sinner, which goes for us as well. It is true that love can draw a sinner to want it because they long for it. I agree with this. I have spoken against the move away from speaking the Word as coming off preaching and ineffective. If Christ lives inside you, then the Word will be effective. Because you will or should be practicing all those things anyway in the above scripture. The seed we sow, which can manifest itself in love from the Word, does not return void. It is the Word that has ultimately brought the believer to revelation, the Holy Ghost that moves as a result of the Word. I just see so many cultured Christians who will make it a habit to say love first, and then tell the Word, if they will hear it. WE are not the one to decide if they will listen. The Word will speak to the spirit, all we have to do is speak the truth. In truth we will love anyway, otherwise what you know as truth is not really truth, as far as revelation for you is concerned, or not practicing it. The biggest problem with Christianity is not that the Word is ineffective, but we are ineffective in using the Word, whether in love, action, faith, or speaking it.

How many Christians excuse themselves in speaking the Word because they think they have a better way then what God has commanded in the great commission. Our culture wants to not be rejected, Jesus paid a price to be hated by man in what he did, to love the world. WHy is is that Jesus was hated for loving, he let the world know they needed to repent, and they resisted this, and hated Him for it and wanted darkness instead.
Perhaps, some witches will be born-again, that would be awesome, and perhaps they may get a glimmer of hope in the love they see to want it here, now. But salvation is the reason to be born again, and that is why John the Baptist preached, Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand. The love comes from the message, and should live in the believer, for Christ dwells there, and if so, then he should love because he nows knows love. Look at all the woes Jesus taught. The message will and should always remain as Jesus began his ministry… Matthew 4:17
From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.

Ronnie

6And in [exercising] knowledge [develop] self-control, and in [exercising] self-control [develop] steadfastness (patience, endurance), and in [exercising] steadfastness [develop] godliness (piety),

7And in [exercising] godliness [develop] brotherly affection, and in [exercising] brotherly affection [develop] Christian love.

8For as these qualities are yours and increasingly abound in you, they will keep [you] from being idle or unfruitful unto the [[c]full personal] knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).

9For whoever lacks these qualities is blind, [[d]spiritually] shortsighted, [e]seeing only what is near to him, and has become oblivious [to the fact] that he was cleansed from his old sins.

God bless
Ronnie

If you would like to contact me outside of this post, I have a ministry website at http://www.newhoperoad.org that will provide a link for you to do so.

I encourage your conversation, and I think you would find that most of the people on this message board are solid, thoughtful, and knowledgable Christians who also agree with you in many areas. What I disagree with you on is how to respond to those who don’t believe as we do. That doesn’t mean that I am ignoring any danger, but I am not allowing it rule my life or hold me back from doing what God has tasked me to do. “God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of love and of power of a sound mind.”