| Topic: |
Religions > Bible |
| User: |
"Carl" |
| Date: |
06 Jun 2007 06:47:41 PM |
| Object: |
God's Love -- God's Voice |
Cindy Burger presents an inspiring testimony concerning God's love for us. I
really believe it will be uplifting for you.
May God bless,
Carl
website -- http://www.nettally.com/saints/
blog -- http://www.anniemayhem.com/cgi-bin/wordpress/
---
GOD'S LOVE - GOD'S VOICE
by Cindy Burger
How do we know God loves us? How can we trust His love? We pray for healing;
we often find pain. We pray for peace; we find struggle. We pray for a job;
we find unemployment. The question so many people ask today begins with the
words, "If God REALLY loved me..."
We have become a nation of independent people. We assume we know what is
best for us, so we pray. We ask for what WE want, and then we are
disappointed when our prayers appear to be unanswered. The TRUTH is, God
DOES love us! He provides for us at ALL times. He gives us what HE KNOWS we
need most. Yet, the deaf ears of His people cannot hear His voice. Their
eyes do not see GOD'S answers to their prayers. They find it too difficult
to accept His love.
Love is TRUST. _T_ rust BEGINS with the cross of our Lord. We may THINK we
know what's good for us, but our Heavenly Father knows what is BEST for us!
We know God loves us because He gave his ONLY Son as proof of that love. The
gift He gave is everlasting! Unfortunately, we have hardened our hearts to
His voice--and His love. God is reaching out to His people. Once again, the
words of Isaiah ring true:
Pay Attention, Israel, for you are my servant;
I made you and I will not forget to help you.
I've blotted out your sins;
they are gone like the morning mist at noon.
Oh return to me, for I have paid the price to set you
free.
Isaiah 44:21-22 (The Living Bible)
Our Lord will not forsake us. THAT is His promise! Why then do we question
the answers to our prayers? Why do we assume He has not heard our cry for
help when He gives us what we need? Our Lord heals in ways that no human
mind can truly understand.
The most important part of our relationship with God is just that--THE
RELATIONSHIP! He WANTS us to pray. He WANTS to meet our needs. He WANTS to
have a conversation with us. Prayer is not just TALKING to God. Prayer is
also listening to HIS VOICE! We must come before Him, asking forgiveness for
our sins. We must ask that our hearts and minds be opened to HIS will, not
ours. We must be willing to be quiet and wait upon His Word. Amazing things
happen when we pray in this way!
God does answer our prayers; we just need to be in the right relationship
with Him in order to hear and see his answers! Pain and suffering can
provide a gift more blessed than we could EVER have asked for. It is a gift
our Lord gave to the world--compassion. When we struggle, we turn to God in
frustration. We ask for His help and He provides. We must have faith,
trusting that God will see us through our trials. We must give thanks for
the gift He is giving us, the gift He gave to the
world--patience. We also find peace beyond all understanding when we can
trust in Him through our struggles.
The Bible teaches that we must be willing to listen and obey. God recently
told me I needed to leave my teaching job. I trembled in fear when I thought
about letting go and risking financial insecurity, but I have learned to
hear my Master's voice. He said, "FEAR NOT, FOR I AM WITH YOU. I WILL LEAD
YOU." I asked God to show me what to do. He said, "I DON'T WANT YOU TO DO
ANYTHING; I WANT YOU TO LOVE ME." I started to protest and say, "Of course I
love you!" He knew my heart and in the silence of my prayer, I heard His
voice: "IF YOU LOVED ME, YOU WOULD TRUST ME." Tears began to flow. I learned
as a child in an abusive family that love meant betrayal. Pain and suffering
were all I ever saw, so THAT is what I expected from love.
Today, God has taught me the real meaning of love. TRUE LOVE can bring me
gifts that I never dreamed could be mine! TRUE LOVE is having a Father who
protects me, looks out for my needs, holds me through my trials and shares
HIS life with me. Love is TRUST--and it BEGINS with the cross of Christ
Jesus!
May you have blessed communion with our Lord. May you hear His voice when
you pray. May you follow His will and know that He loves you more than words
could ever tell!
.
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| User: "SheBlewHimDidYouBlowHim" |
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| Title: Re: God's Love -- God's Voice |
06 Jun 2007 08:16:55 PM |
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where was this idiot when the ALL-LOVING MASS-MURDERING, CHILD-KILLING
COLD-HEARTED ***** christian god idiot was MURDERING 200,000 + people with
the tsunami he created?
DEATH TO THE ALL-LOVING CHRISTIAN GOD
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| User: "Carl" |
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| Title: Re: God's Love -- God's Voice |
06 Jun 2007 09:18:16 PM |
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"SheBlewHimDidYouBlowHim" <killgod@killgod.com> wrote in message
news:b0J9i.17571$Ut6.16780@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net...
where was this idiot when the ALL-LOVING MASS-MURDERING, CHILD-KILLING
COLD-HEARTED ***** christian god idiot was MURDERING 200,000 + people
with the tsunami he created?
DEATH TO THE ALL-LOVING CHRISTIAN GOD
Christ Died For Us
by Walter Martin
Why did Christ die? A simple question, yes, but the answer is most profound.
We might answer, as a Christian, "Christ died for me." But exactly what does
this mean? Did He die merely to appease God's wrath against us? Did He die
only as an example for us? What does the Atonement really mean? The
understanding of this basic scriptural truth eludes many, but it is vital to
the soul's redemption and to our spiritual growth.
To understand this doctrine we must go back to the Old Testament and its
sacrificial offerings. The blood of animals, in itself, was never
efficacious to cleanse from sin (Heb. 10:4). Rather, the blood symbolized
the element of life offered for the life of the sinner. God always intended
that the entire system of sacrificial offerings be of expiatory significance
(Job 1:5; 42:3, 9; Lev. 17:2-11). The alienation of man from God through
human sin made necessary a reconciliation, and the form of that
reconciliation was ordained to be a cross -- on which the ultimate sacrifice
would be made.
The Jewish sacrificial system with its "covering" offerings (the Hebrew word
for atonement, kaphir, means "covering") made possible man's approach to the
presence of a holy God. The sprinkling of blood upon the mercy seat in the
tabernacle (Lev. 16:15-16) and the sprinkling of the blood of the Passover
lamb (Exod. 12:7) underscored the importance of substitutionary sacrifice
under the Old Covenant made between Jehovah and Israel. In the New
Testament, particularly in the Book of Hebrews, the significance of such
sacrifices is revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is pictured as both
officiating Priest and atoning Sacrifice (Heb. 9:11-15; 10:10-12).
The word "vicarious" comes from the Latin vicar, which literally means "in
place of" or "a substitute." Isaiah 53 is a classic passage on the doctrine
of the vicarious atonement: "Surely he took up our infirmities and carried
our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and
afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our
iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his
wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has
turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all"
(vss. 4-6).
Isaiah repeatedly stresses the vicarious aspects of the messianic offering
when he states, "For the transgression of my people he was stricken...he
will bear their iniquities...he bore the sin of many, and made intercession
for the transgressors" (Isa. 53:8, 11, 12). Certainly, the vicarious
atonement of the Messiah of Israel forms one of the great pillars upon which
rests the entire structure of the Christian religion. The Old Testament
points like a massive arrow to the consummation of all sacrifices, an event
of immeasurable importance and worth.
In the New Testament, John the Baptist declares, "Look, the Lamb of God, who
takes away the sin of the world!" (John 1:29). And our Savior Himself
declares His flesh and blood to be the sin offering for the whole world
(John 6:51). When coupled with Paul's declaration that the church of God was
"bought with his own blood" (Acts 20:28), such statements give an
incontrovertible answer to the question, "Why did Jesus die?"
A key Greek word pertinent to understanding the concept of substitutionary
atonement -- the idea that Christ died in our place -- is the word anti. In
speaking of His substitutionary sacrifice, Christ declared, "The Son of Man
did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom
for [anti] many" (Matt. 20:28). At the Last Supper, during which Christ
emphasized the vicarious nature of Calvary, He said, "This is my body given
for [anti] you" (Luke 22:19).
Another key Greek word is huper. In contexts dealing with the
substitutionary atonement, this word means "in place of." We find this word
used in 2 Corinthians 5:21: "Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no
sin to be sin for [huperemon] us, so that in him we might become the
righteousness of God." We likewise read in 1 Peter 3:18, "For Christ died
for sins once for all, the righteous for [huper] the unrighteous, to bring
you to God."
What Christ has done for us is wonderful indeed! Let us resolve to draw
closer to Him who loves us and loosed us from our sins through His own
blood -- "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John
1:29) -- Jesus of Nazareth, "the Son of the Highest" (Luke 1:32).
---
John 3:16-21
"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. For God did not send
his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through
him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe
stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's
one and only Son. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but
men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone
who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear
that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into
the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been
done through God." (John 3:16-21)
May God bless,
Carl
website -- http://www.nettally.com/saints/
blog -- http://www.anniemayhem.com/cgi-bin/wordpress/
.
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| User: "SheBlewHimDidYouBlowHim" |
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| Title: Re: God's Love -- God's Voice |
07 Jun 2007 05:55:18 AM |
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"Carl" <saints@nettally.com> wrote in message
news:f47pta$m1d$1@news.utelfla.com...
"SheBlewHimDidYouBlowHim" <killgod@killgod.com> wrote in message
news:b0J9i.17571$Ut6.16780@newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net...
where was this idiot when the ALL-LOVING MASS-MURDERING, CHILD-KILLING
COLD-HEARTED ***** christian god idiot was MURDERING 200,000 + people
with the tsunami he created?
DEATH TO THE ALL-LOVING CHRISTIAN GOD
Christ Died For Us
by Walter Martin
Why did Christ die? A simple question, yes, but the answer is a crock of
crap.
this supposed ALL-POWERFUL god had to have yet another death added to his
body count to forgive sin which HE CREATED IN THE FIRST ***** PLACE.
why did the all-loving christian god create sin?
why didn't it occur to this ALL-KNOWING god to just say VIOLA, YOUR SINS ARE
FORGIVEN.
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