The Will of God

[NickHassan]

Hi sh,
Many come here offering some sort of ethereal salvation by assent.
But we must be born again of water and the Spirit.

[Shania]

In the greek, the text reads, “born from above.” Messiah said many times that He was “from above.” He was the firstborn. He was the first human being to have a right relationship with the Father- unhindered by sin. We were created by the Father to have this relationship with Him.. to fellowship in His light with Him

1 John 1:5-10

5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light , as he is in the light , we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

Being born from above is this: walking in the light. Walking with Him. We are in the world but not of the world….

8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
NIV

Yes we have sin- but we are being set free from it. Jesus did not die so that we could stay in sin. We walk in the light that we have, and as we walk in integrity with that, our sin is exposed and we have to make a choice to either love the light or our sin, the darkness. As we choose Him, He brings more and more light.

Sorry- back to water and spirit: this applies to many things. Water in the scriptures symbolizes the word- we have to be cleansed and washed in the word. Also water baptism: you leave your old self, your former life in the water and you die- but you are raised to life in Messiah and now you are dead to your flesh and alive to Him- you walk in the Spirit. You live by the Spirit, not the flesh. Sounds like a fitting response to explain salvation to Nicodemus

[Shania]

“ethereal salvation by assent.”

sorry dude- those words are to big for me. What is that?

[Shania]

I do not mean that you must be water baptized to be saved. However, in order to walk in salvation you must die to your old self and live to Him: your sole purpose is to fulfill His heart- that is life, that is light

[NickHassan]

Hi Sh,
This is the will of God
Acts 2
38Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.

39For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the LORD our God shall call.

[Shania]

However, the point of my original post was that if we want to know His will (personally, specifically for our lives), we have to know Him. If we want to know Him, we have to spend time with Him. Ask Him! He has plans for you! You will find Him when you seek Him with all of your heart. Do you think you are desparate for Him? Let me tell you, He is far more desperate for you!

[chosenone]

Hi Shania, WOW! that was some post. I read it with much interest, you did a lot of research and I commend you for the effort you put into it. I haven't digested it all yet, but I will make a comment on one part if I may. You say that in Genesis 1:27 that it says that God made us in His image. This is an incorrect translation, if you look in the Interlinear Scripture Analyser, which shows the Hebrew characters along with the translation, it reads “And creating is the Alueim humanity in His image, In the image of the Alueim He creats it. Male and female He creates them”. This means that He hasn't finished creating us yet, (And creating-yet future) we are a work in progress, and when complete, at the “consumation”, we will be in His Image. We can reason this out by the example “Christ is the image of the invisable God”. Surely we are not to be compared with Christ Jesus. But at the “consumation, the finish of creation, we will be “joint heirs” wth Him, Christ Jesus.
Then we will be in the image of God. Hope this is an acceptable explanation, thanks for your post, I'll continue to read it and study your views at a later time.

Blessings.

[Shania]

Nick,

I love the way that you devour the scriptures!

My belief is that water baptism and baptism in the Spirit are scriptural. Water baptism is an act of obedience that reflects your heart towards Him just as circumcision was: a cutting away of the flesh. I have been water baptized in the name above every name, Yahushua Messiah. I have also been immersed in the Spirit and I speak in tongues- that is a gift for everyone.

However, the Father judges the hearts. I do not believe that He would refuse someone who loved Him desperately but maybe grew up baptist and that was all they knew. The theif on the cross was promised eternal life and he was not baptized. It is about the heart.

[NickHassan]

Hi sh,
You must repent and be baptised in his name.
There are many other jesus's out there.
Acts 17
30And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:

31Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

2Cor 11
4For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

[Shania]

Chosenone:

you said, “This means that He hasn't finished creating us yet, (And creating-yet future) we are a work in progress, and when complete, at the “consumation”, we will be in His Image”

I love that!!!!! That was the point that I was getting at! I will look up that verse in my interlinear- {I have a software program with a lot of lexicons and dictionaries}

I did not know that that verse specifically said that, but the whole context of scripture says that being made into His image is a process. This is one example that I love:

2 Cor 4:16-5:1

16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day . 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

NIV

[NickHassan]

Hi CO,
The only difference is that CO, by a sad misconception, believes all men are being transformed into the image of Christ

[Shania]

Nick:

Unlike many who come here, I am open to more understanding of the scriptures- in other words, I appreciate your words. I am in full agreement with the scriptures that you posted, but I do not see the connection you are making with being baptised in His name and salvation. Again, what about the theif on the cross?

[NickHassan]

Hi Sh,
I will bring up the thread.

[Shania]

CO
I love you, I really do. Here is one verse that may cause you to think:

John 17:6-10
6 “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8 For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. 9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world , but for those you have given me, for they are yours.
NIV

[/B]

He does not pray for those who will refuse Him.
What about Judas- the son of destruction?

Also, what about Pharoah? It says that God hardened his heart. What do you make of that?

I am not picking on you- just encouraging you to keep seeking.

[seek and you will find]

Shania You are an old member, so were have you been all this time. If you want to understand sciptures you have to have Gods Holy Spirit working in you. At Baptism hands are layed on us and we receive the Holy Spirit and we are born again, or born from above.

Peace and Love Mrs.
P.S. welcome

[Shania]

Back to the initial question: Does God have a plan for you? What is that plan? How do you find it?

Jer 29:11-14
11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
NIV

Seek Him with all of your heart! Ask Him! Believe me, He wants it more than you and He is faithful to show you!

[NickHassan]

Hi shania,
Indeed, and He will send you Jesus, the door of salvation.

Acts3
20And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you:

Jn3
34For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.

35The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.

36He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.

[NickHassan]

ps Acts 22
Acts 22:14
And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth.

[Shania]

Hey seeker!

Love your name! Yeah, I am an old member and I have changed and grown a lot since I came here about 3-4 years ago.
Where have I been? I took an absence from this place for a while because it was getting out of hand- people were not acting in love and I was not interested in arguments and scripture debates. Don't get me wrong: I love scriptural knowledge and it is very important, but without love, it is powerless.
Arguing about scripture is not what changed my life, but do you know what did change my life? It was breaking before Him and giving Him all of my heart- confessing that there is no good in me and asking for His cleansing fire. Wanna know what this brought on? My world collapsed around me. Serious- within 2 days absolutely nothing in my life was the same. There are details about this that I cannot share openly over the internet- maybe I'll send you a private message. Anyway… Our God is a consuming fire- when you draw near to Him and He draws near to you, there will be some flesh burning- but that is ok, wonderful in fact. Gold has to be refined in fire. Painful, but so worth it.

What will change your life? Seek Him. Reading the scriptures is fantastic, but you have an oppertunity to have a relationship- deep, close, and intimate- with the Author. If you had a lover who was sending you letters and you had the oppertunity to go be with that person, you would jump at the chance. It is the same with Him.

{this was not specifically to seeker, but to all who are hungry- I was so hungry when I first came. I am more hungry now}

[Shania]

Nick:

I believe in water immersion and Spirit immersion. I don't understand why one would not want either of them. Water Imm. is an act of obeidience that typifies your heart attitude towards Him and Spirit Imm. is absolutely wonderful and I agree with Seeker that it opens your understanding to the scriptures. I just do not believe that it is a qualification for salvation. I encourage all to do these things, as they are profitable, but if it were necessary for salvation, what about the theif? [Again, let me say that I am open; it just doesn't line up with the whole of scripture for me. If you could explain the theif, that would help.]

Thanks!!!!

[Author]

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