Since Mr. Lester may be taking awhile to get the former board up and running I decided to just jump in and start a new thread.

I am starting to learn some new things that I would like to share with you today. Let me ask you a question. Do you think God loves you any less when you are not performing according to his standard?

That is a loaded question because His standard is perfection. We cannot live according to the law, or keep the law now any more than we could before we became Christians. No one can live the Christian life! That is no one except Christ himself and he has offered to live his life in us.

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30

Are you living your life on a spritual roller coaster, high for a while and then low again?

If you are like me you want to please God, you want to please people, you want to please your family. You concentrate on the sin in your life. I can't do this or that so I had better not look at anything that will remind me of this sin in my life that I am trying to get rid of. While you are on a diet, you can go to the Pizza hut and read the menu and see all the things you cannot have. Deprivation! Diet! Negative words. Life, Abundant Life, Victorious Life - Positive Words. How do you get from here to there?

Many people wake up in the morning and think "I have to do my quiet time, I have to witness to my relatives, I have to post on my forums.

I also have to go to work, do the dishes, pick up my daughter, go grocery shopping, and then come home and be nice to my husband. Then on Sunday, I have to teach Sunday School, sing in the choir, play the piano, ........makes a person tired just thinking about it doesn't it? The actual truth is I don't REALLY do all of that. Have you noticed the phrase that keeps cropping up? have to Our natural rebellious nature makes us not want to do things we have to do. At least that is the way I am. I also can't quit thinking about that Pizza Hut menu when I am concentrating on not eating the Pizza.

GRACE! What is that? We talk about it all the time. Grace is unmeritted favor. We didn't earn it, and yet God gives it to us anyway. He lavishes it on us. His GRACE is always there, before we are saved and after.

Do you think that God really wants us to be busy? Each life is different. Remember Mary and Martha? Mary chose to sit at Jesus' feet and learn, while Martha got busy serving. I suppose we need to get those things done, but are we pleasing God because we are busy? I believe the answer is no. Even when praying, I have learned that "Friendship with God" is the most important thing even more important than the activity of praying. He wants US not our activity. The same goes for the average Christian life........

Busyness in serving Christ can, block intimacy with him. What is our responsibility then?

Resting in Christ is the sole responsibility of the Christian. Everything else flows out of that!

Your comments are welcome!
In Christ,
Judy

Judy,

Loved your post and agree with all you say. The thing is that it seems so opposite of what I thought I learned. I thought key to living the Christian life is to try and strive and perform. I looked for formulas and 5 steps to this and 6 steps for that. Yet, over the last 6 1/2 years, I have learned that Christian living involves rest and receiving from Him and depending totally on God. I am learning to rest in Him rather than striving myself and things I do just happen. I have more to say, but no time right now. I would like to hear from others and then join back later this week.

David

Welcome David!

Just a couple of thoughts today? Busyness!!! I have to admit I do not know what some of these gadgets are or what they are for. Ipod? What is that? Well, so you have an Ipod, and you are driving down the interstate talking on your cell phone and eating the french fries you got at the fast food place on the way. You are on the way to your doctor's appointment to talk about your cholesterol?

Company comes and we still have the TV turned on to Entertainment Tonight. We have to see what Dr Phil has to say about...... or lets talk about church. We can't seem to get a breakthrough, so we go to three seminars on prayer and on the way, the Cell phone rings, it seems that the Sunday School Teacher broke her leg and wants you to.......

OK enough already! What was I saying about peace. Does God want us or our busyness?Are we so busy serving God we don't stop long enough to hear what he has to say? Are we afraid to hear what he has to say because maybe he will want us to do yet another thing? NO no no!Besides this a Neurological Board, maybe we just have one giant headache.

When God created the world, he rested!
When Jesus died on the cross, he said "It is Finished!"
What was finished? The payment for our sin debt. He not only died to satisfy a righteous God's requirement for justice, but He died to give us an abundant life. Why are we not living this abundant life? Maybe we are? Any ideas? In the meantime, you think that IPOD (whatever that is) the cell phone the music on the cellphone, and the latest video game keeps us from hearing the still small voice of the Holy Spirit.

Until next time......

Judy

Why are we not living this abundant life? Good question. Seven years ago, I never did though I didn't see it at the time. Now, I am very inconsistent but I have some conclusions. Abundant life comes from depending on Christ, abiding and resting in Him. Judy, I think you were describing in your first post the abundant life. But then, let's get real. How does this happen practically speaking? I think it begins to happen through brokenness. The health issues come up and we just can't bear the pain. Relationships with our spouse or children bring us to our knees. We loose a job and are at wits end on how are we going to make the house payment. Is it possible that God allows suffering in our life to bring us to brokenness and ultimately to abundant life? I think so. Let's look at 2 Corinthians 1:8-9: "For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead." Notice that even Paul was burdenened excessively and even despaired of life. Ever felt that way? Why would God allow such to a great man like Paul, who had important missionary work to accomplish, to be burdened excessively? Why would He allow such great pains to you and me? I doubt we will know all of the answers to this on this side of heaven, but I do think I know part of it. You see we all are born into this world wanting to do our own thing. Even after salvation, we continue to remain in control of our life most of the time. Oh, we may strive and try hard to live the Christian life, but at some point, with the hurts of strained relationship or the frustration with our circumstances, we feel burdened excessively to the point that we give up. "God, you are going to have to live through me." Finally, God replies: are you ready to trust me and not yourself?" Hey, this is what happened to me anyway. Is it possible God has been saying this to you through you awful circumstances? As we give up and let God teach us, we find life liveable again. Slowly, we find some peace on occasions despite circumstances. I loose this peace and continue to struggle and God gently nudges me once again to depend on him. For brief periods of time, I find myself experiencing the "abundant life" promised in John 10:10. Oh, how I want more of that life, the life of Christ living abundantly through me. Enough for now. Any comments? David

I thought that the Abundant Life was a New Testament concept. I guess it is - as Jesus is the one who promised to give us one, but it seems that King David knew something about depending on God.....

Psalm 36:7
How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.

Psalm 37:4
Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
Commit thy ways unto the Lord; trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass.
God wants us to trust him! Right?

Psalm 37:7a
Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for him....

Years ago I remember riding in the car on an open highway on the way to church. We drove 50 miles to be with my parents on Sunday. At that time we lived in a little town in Utah. My dad was a pastor of a small Baptist Church in another town in Utah. Because the church was just starting out, I commuted to play the organ. The problem is is that we had been in an automobile accident a few weeks before. I seemed to have developed a phobia of riding in the car. I am not kidding I was white-knuckling it as my husband was driving, but I was saying "Watch out for that car, slow down....." We had the radio on and it began to play this song.

"Be Still and Know that I am God.....The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge."

from Psalm 46. I love it!

Until next time....
Rest in the Lord!

Judy

Judy,

Excellent post and great O.T. scripture verses. I agree that the Abundant Life is also an O.T. concept. Examine most major O.T. Bible characters and see how they went through brokenness, often a desert experience. Moses had to leave Egypt after he thought he was such a hot shot that he could lead the Israelites by his own strength when he killed the Egyptian. Jacob wrestled with God. Examine David's life especially during the period when he was hiding in caves. Compre David's life to that of Saul who never learned to depend on God. Yes, the O.T. characters learned total dependence too. I've wanted to design an O.T. Bible study which would present N.T. abundant life truths. Maybe someday but too busy now.

David

I just stopped in to check out this forum after visiting the Parkinson's site, and found your conversation; I hope I may join in?

I believe very strongly that God gives us - or allows us to have - trials and afflicions so that we may learn to depend on Him. Long ago I gave up depending on myself and my intellect and energy; I found that those things accounted for very little when I was faced with real trials.

I'll save myself some typing, and just paste in [slightly edited] what I wrote out when I was asked to present my testimony in church a few months back (the sermon topic for the day was "Despair"; the pastor thought this would be a good fit!):

All my adult life, I have suffered from cyclical clinical depression and anxiety disorders. Twenty years ago, I just couldn’t believe there was a God. I tried hard; I wanted the same happiness and calm that I could see among those who did believe. I went along with my wife to a Bible study group , figuring I could treat it all as an intellectual exercise, and at the same time still struggling to believe. One day, it simply came to me that I didn’t have to have all my doubts and questions answered right away; I could believe now, and wait until later to have my questions answered. The relief I felt right away was wonderful! But it didn’t last; my problems did not disappear forever.

About 13 years ago, I went into a spiral, ending up in a very deep breakdown. As I felt worse and worse, I began to drastically increase my Bible reading and prayer life, trying to get some relief. Even though my wife and I knew all of the signs, I didn’t recognize that my fears were imaginary, instead keeping them from her as much as possible.

Eventually, my defense systems gave out, and one noontime I broke down - with a cry of "God help me!" For those who have not suffered from such a collapse, this kind of depression is not about feeling a little sad like you see in the TV ads. About the only way I can describe it is as my own personal glimpse of Hell. There is no hope, no life ahead, no life today. It is a pain as intense as any physical pain. All I could feel was terror and fear. Over the next few years, I found it almost impossible to pray, or to open my Bible. It hurt too much to be reminded of the time of my collapse. *It was not that I had lost my faith in God; it was that I felt distant from Him, as if He had chosen for whatever reason to ignore my pleas and as a punishment for God (me?? Punish God??!

It was a few weeks before I could begin to feel the medications taking hold, and a long, 12-year road out of that breakdown. The first few years, I was feeling out of touch with God. I couldn't see it at the time, but God was helping and using me throughout this time, without ceasing.

• He gave me a loving and supporting wife, who saw immediately what was wrong, and called the doctor. Just knowing that help was available kept me going the next few days.

• He gave me a doctor who knew how to get me the fastest help, and He put me in a time when medications were available, medications that were not available to my father and his father.

• A few years later, when I was exhausted by the depression and on my way back down again, I was preparing to end my life. I checked my life insurance; I figured that my wife would be better off without me, my daughter was nearly grown up, my son was a tough and stable kid. But God made me encounter my doctor by accident, who took one look and said, “Be in my office at 5:00 o'clock.”

• He gave me the wisdom to see when several other people needed to hear my story, and to offer it so that they could also see that there was help available for them.

It is a lot like that little wall plaque, "Footsteps in the Sand." He has carried me through the rough spots, even earlier in my life when I was denying His existence.

• And then, just a few months before my present affliction showed up, He helped me up to a level of strength such that I was able to face a diagnosis of Parkinson's with relative calm, and able to face that all my plans for the future were likely to change.

So, are things going great for me now? Well, no, they aren’t . I still worry about my future - what will Parkinson’s be like in 5 years? Ten years? Can I ever be reliably happy for more than a day at a time?

But after all of this, I have learned that I can and do trust in Him that He will provide whatever is truly needed, and I can forget about the rest.

I believe God will take care of us, even if we don't know who or why. I know the "who" now, and I'm working on the "why".

Thank you Judy for your apt scriptural references, and you David for your insightful analyses.

Kris,

Welcome. What a wonderful post. I am so sorry you have been through so much, but that is the entire reason for this thread is to show that when we can't do it anymore and we realize that, and start depending on God, he will step in and take over.

Self-sufficiency is one thing, I believe, that keeps us from truly experiencing God's help and the abundant life that he promises.

Sorry, I have been slow getting back here. I am reading this in the middle of the night. Thank you for sharing, and please stay with us. We all have a lot to learn and can help each other.

In Christ,
Judy

The Bible talks about Christ in us, but it talks 10 times more about us being "In Christ". When we trust in Christ's sacrifice on the Cross God looks at us as actually having died with him, burried and resurrected to a new life.

The Devil is actively trying to trip us up, but he also is the accuser!

1 Therefore, there is now no condemation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me from from the law of sin and death.
3 For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man.
4 In order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit

First of all, we are not condemned like the devil makes us think we are when we sin. Because as long as we are still alive we are not ever going to be completely free of sin. Walking in the Spirit involves looking to that sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. He does not recognize faith in our own ability to "not sin" The object of our faith has to be Christ and him crucified. Then the Holy Spirit will work in our life as we continue to trust in Christ's sacrifice!

In Christ,
Judy

P.S. Does anyone have any comments about what it means to Walk in the Spirit vs Wallking in the Flesh? Feel free to participate in this thread - anyone!!!!!

hi judy can i say what i think it means to me? walking in spirit means u r following gods laws and commands. walking in the flesh means u r follwing your own laws. correct me if i am wrong