Exhort Pray Praise… – Page 9

Ephesians 4

Posted on February 15, 2012 by Christy Petty

4 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you- Since you are all saved and are Children of God, believers to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, ²with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, ³endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.Be humble,not proud,we are called to walk just as Jesus walked. We are to not have conflict to work towards being by the Holy Spirit we, believers all posses ⁴There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; ⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism;⁶one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you^[a] all. Not Jew Gentile,Baptist Pentecost, all who beleive in Jesus Christ for who HE IS are ONE through him.⁷But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. ^{8 I need help here!!!}Therefore He says:

“When He ascended on high,
He led captivity captive,
And gave gifts to men.”^[b]

⁹(Now this, “He ascended”—what does it mean but that He also first^[c] descended into the lower parts of the earth? ¹⁰He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.) I think this is Paul making point to those who are not accepting Jesus to have come, died and gone to ‘death’ and ascended from.’¹¹And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, ¹²for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, this is the ‘gifts, measure’ spoken of in 7 &8 ? ¹³till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; We are to be taught, learn, teach others, grow in wisdom and faith so that… ¹⁴that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, Men, even believers,immature can be speaking lies, twisting the truth, causing many to be confused lead them astray¹⁵but, speaking the truth in love, Truth in Love, speak Gods truths, even if they go against what some may want to believe false doctrine Paul was.- So we ALL….may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— ¹⁶from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, each person has a ‘job’ to do. causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.¹⁷This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of^[d] the Gentiles walk, Those that do not know the truth, those who have not been taught the truth in the futility of their mind, ¹⁸having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; ¹⁹who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.²⁰But you have not so learned Christ, ²¹if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: In order to NOT be ignorant, blind to God, to not walk in lewdness, uncleanness with greediness we must… ²²that you put off,choose concerning your former conduct, the old man- old ways, OUR FLESH WAY which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, ²³and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, ²⁴and that you put on choose the new man, child of God, not of the world which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.²⁵Therefore, putting away lying, “Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor,”^[e] for we are members of one another. ²⁶“Be angry, and do not sin” It is ok to be angry, but do not sin in the anger:^[f] do not let the sun go down on your wrath,²⁷nor give place to the devil. ²⁸Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands WORK, we are to work, to not work and receive would be to steal!what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. We work to GIVE to those in need!²⁹Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. VERY Convicting, NO Corrupt word, only what will edify, help others. This is on the tail of speak the truth in love, and do not lie. So to speak truthfully and tell one of even WRONGS would not be corrupt, it is truth in love, BUT to speak lies, speak to one for selfish needs would be wrong. ³⁰And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. All of this would go with the contempt, and the correct way to walk 4:2, humble as Christ ³²And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. Forgive as God in Christ forgave you, we are forgiven by God for denying Him, for choosing Satan and all of his ways over God and his righteousness, for disobedience to God, for bringing sin in this world and keeping it here. We were forgiven by God, through the death of Jesus Christ.

Anyone have any other thoughts…..

Ephesians

Ephesians 3

Posted on February 10, 2012 by Christy Petty

Ephesians 3 For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles— ²if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you, ³how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, ⁴by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), ⁵which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: ⁶the secret that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, as the Israelites, ‘Sons of Abraham’ and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, ⁷of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power.⁸To me, who am less than the least of all the saints,humbling himself this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, ⁹and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; ¹⁰to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places,¹¹according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, ¹²in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him. ¹³Therefore I ask that you do not lose heart at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.¹⁴For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,^[c] ¹⁵from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, ¹⁶that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, ¹⁷that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—¹⁹to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

All of these requests by Paul for either these Gentiles or all Believers from this point on, is inspiring and teaching to me as what I ‘can’ request from God , what I have ‘access’ to if I acknowledge?

to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man
Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height
¹⁹to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge;
that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

²⁰Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, this reaffirms my previous thoughts, he is ABLE to do more than we would ask or think, beyond our comprension, I believe FOR us,through the Holy Spirit in us, that also directs… ²¹to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

Anyone have any other ideas?

Exhort Pray Praise...

God NOT a Fighter

Posted on February 7, 2012 by Christy Petty

Recently I read a comment of God and his ‘fighting against evil’ and the various ‘evils’ listed that God fights against. It made me think. I don’t see God as battling anything. Maybe I am fighting over the semantics of ‘fighting’. I think though that so many put God in the humanness that we are, because we are ‘made in his image’. Our simple logic then makes God ‘be’ the same as we. God is NOT made like man. God is not ‘made’.

God is against all evil. God hates sin. God sees disobedience as an abomination. Proverbs 6:¹⁶ There are six things that the Lord hates, that are an abomination to him:¹⁷haughty eyes, ^fa lying tongue,and hands that shed innocent blood,¹⁸ ^ha heart that devises wicked plans,feet that make haste to run to evil,¹⁹ false witness who breathes out lies,and one who sows discord among brothers. God is good, nothing but good. God is righteous, nothing but righteousness. Psalm 7:11 God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day. God is perfect, nothing but perfection.Deuteronomy 32:4 4 “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he. God is omnipotent, he knows absolutely everything that is and is to come. Any battle with God will be lost. So how can God be at war with anything. He can hate, abhor, be against,be intolerant of, and not be fighting. Romans 1:¹⁸For the wrath of God ^lis revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

A fight, a battle is two equal or semi equal beings going against each other. Nothing is equal to God, nothing can conquer God.God has no need to battle evil, he has already won’.

Evil has reason to come up against God, because it will be destroyed by God, it is trying, but will never win. Revelations 20:10 the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. It is like the 5 year old boy who runs a race with his dad; he tries because he must, he hopes he will win, but he actually knows he will not beat his dad. The dad, if honest, will run his best win the race, not to battle, but because he is bigger and stronger. There is no possibility of his losing the race, so there is no battle.

I am not trying to fight with those who say ‘God fights’. I think I understand where we get the idea that God fights against evil. All good does. Batman, Superman, Republic, White hats.. fight against the black hats, the Jokers, the freedom takers of the world. We being simple beings put God in the place of battling an equal adversary with the chance of losing. We are wrong. God does not put on a white hat and cape and try to fight the bad guy to win. God does not try he does win. We are who has to battle evil.2 Corinthians 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. God wants us to fight evil, resist. So we can have Him in our lives. .2John 1:9 Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. God sees the evil as the destroyer of all who live in it, evil consumes. 1 Peter 5:8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.God can not be consumed by evil, but we can. God wants for us to leave evil, to quit feeding evil and one day, he WILL destroy evil, just destroy it. God stands against evil, if we are doing evil (sin) He stands against us. Hebrews 10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. God does no fight, it sets it all right. To me, to say God has to fight to win, actually weakens Him,(not literally, we are not capable of that) as if He has to struggle to win. God never loses.

Bible Study, Ephesians

Ephesians 2:1-22

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Christy Petty

²²And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, ²³which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. Ephesians 2: 1 And you He made alive, by Jesus Death and Resurection who were dead in trespasses and sins, everyone²in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, Satan ³among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. All man follows Satan and are sons of disobedience (Satan) and Christ died for all, those who continue to walk with Satan are DEAD, beleivers USED TO.

⁴But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, ⁵even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), ⁶and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. God provided Christ to save us, to resurect US from death⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹not of works, lest anyone should boast. Gods grace, love, saved us nothing we did, ¹⁰For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. the good works prepared by God¹¹Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision – Jews, God’s chosen, made in the flesh by hands— ¹²that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. ¹³But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. No longer considered alien, nor uncircumcised, now ‘belong’ to God as do the circumcised, as if ARE¹⁴For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, the curtain between man and the Holy of Holies ¹⁵having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, the LAW is gone so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity. ¹⁷And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. ¹⁸For through Him we both Gentile and Jew, Circumcised and unCircumcised, have access by one Spirit to the Father.¹⁹Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, ²⁰having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, ²¹in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, ²²in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. Gentiles, those not of inheritance of Abraham,Jews , those of The Law,are now the same as, Christ’s Death was for all that believe in him. All are of THE inheritance through Christ

Bible Study, Ephesians

Ephesians 1:1-22

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Christy Petty

Ephesians 1 New King James Version (NKJV) Ephesians 1 Greeting 1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus: 2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Redemption in Christ 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

Long sentence. 3-5. We are blessed with every spiritual blessing spiritual blessing- in the heavenly places in Christ- In Christ we were given blessings just as with his authority and in the heavenly places, before earth was created, he chose us- that we SHOULD BE holy and without blame. He chose us to be adopted, become his children (because we are not if we are not prior to becoming believers) I personally do not read this as fact of “predestination”. Everyone is intended to be adopted, but I think we can choose not to be. MY quick predestined theory: God being the beginning and the end does know our future and our choices and our (pre) destiny.

7 In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins,- we are saved and forgiven because of his being and death according to the riches of His grace 8 which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, – His grace is abundant to us 9 having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, 10 that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both[a] which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. I read that 10 is ‘the mystery’ and that is we will all that are in Christ will be gathered together as one 11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, In him we have inheritance 12 that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory. We who trusted meaning not everyone will. 13 In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, trusted after you believed “after you heard” . Received Holy Spirit with belief. 14 who[b] is the guarantee of our inheritance Holy Spirit is our certificate of inheritance with Christ until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory. 15 Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers: 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, 18 the eyes of your understanding[c] being enlightened; Praying FOR wisdom, revelation,understanding, of HIM that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 19 and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power 20 which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places,Heavenly places mentioned again. 21 far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. Jesus has taken his place above all, powers, angels, saints etc. 22 And He put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.

Christy's Concepts, Exhort Pray Praise...

What Am I Thinking.

Posted on December 6, 2011 by Christy Petty

I have a thought:

thought¹|θôt |noun: 1 an idea or opinion produced by thinking or occurring suddenly in the mind

Produced-made up in my mind suddenly from an idea, whim,

idea |īˈdēə| noun: 1 a thought or suggestion as to a possible course of action —a concept or mental impression

Something possibly conjured up, from other ideas, facts, truths. make an opinion, my opinion from this ‘creation’ in my mind.

My opinion.

opinion |əˈpinyən noun a view or judgment formed about something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge

May be based on truth, or knowledge

knowledge |ˈnälij | noun:1 facts, information, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject

But not necessarily. My opinion definately came from thoughts, ideas, conjured in my mind.And probably formed by a feeling a reaction to my thought, or my thought could have been a reaction to a feeling.

feeling |ˈfēli ng | noun:1 an emotional state or reaction( feelings) the emotional side of someone’s character; emotional responses or tendencies to respond :2 a belief, esp. a vague or irrational one

A response from my emotional side. My Spirit? My Soul?My Flesh? Any. All.

emotion |iˈmō sh ən| noun: a natural instinctive state of mind deriving from one’s circumstances, mood, or relationships with others

My emotions are me, inside. Possibly born in me, fears. Placed in me, joy, love. Learned from the past, from experiences. Based on my beliefs.

belief |biˈlēf| noun: an acceptance that a statement is true or that something exists 2:( belief in) trust, faith, or confidence in someone or something.

My beliefs are founded and unfounded. I try to know something is true before I accept it as my belief. Sometimes though I let my feeling decide. I believe truth. I believe fiction, at times, until I find it is. I believe in good and evil. I believe in things I think in my mind, because I believe them to be true. And like fictitious things, sometimes I find my thoughts to not be true, and I have to change my beliefs. I put my beliefs in, my faith and trust in , my husband, my children, my friends, myself, my car, sometimes my government, my doctor, the ‘experts’. At times all of these fail me. I can not put my trust in man, and expect it to never fail. I believe in God, I believe He is truth, He is love, He is constant, He is always right, He never fails.

Then my belief, develops an attitude. Good and bad.

attitude |ˈatiˌt(y)oōd| noun: A settled way of thinking or feeling about someone or something, typically one that is reflected in a person’s behavior

My behavior, my choices, my relationships are effected by my attitude. My thoughts are affected by my attitude, it comes full circle.

Thoughts, ideas, opinions,knowledge, feeling,emotions, belief- the dictionary list these all as nouns. A noun- A person, place or thing.

I can control a thing. I can control what I think. I can choose to think on what is truth, what is good.

Psalm 34:14
Depart from evil and do good; Seek peace and pursue it.

3 John 1:11
Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good. He who does good is of God, but he who does evil has not seen God.

Romans 12:17
Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men.

My choice

Matthew 22:37
Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’
Mark 12:30
And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first
Luke 10:27
So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’”

My choice to lead my heart.

Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.

Out of my heart comes my thoughts.