ISSAC LAY OBEDIENTLY ON THE ALTER HIS FATHER ABRAHAM HAD SET UP FOR HIS SACRIFICE. I'm on the alter too, but I can't stay still! I strain my neck hoping to find a ram stuck in the brambles behind me. When I don't see one I climb off the alter and walk away, but I don't get far. I start walking back. I'm not quite dead, but I want to be, so that Christ can be alive in me and at full capacity. Brothers and Sisters let's keep helping each other back onto the alter.
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Posted 6 months ago #
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..I know how you feel, we can ask Him to nail us to the altar (cross), Isaac went obediently with his father and climbed that mountain but then was bound to the altar..this is the point of no turning back and counting it all as loss for His sake! ha-ha! But after that the journey back down the other side of that mountain gets a little easier.
Posted 6 months ago # -
Glenho says, 'Brothers and Sisters let's keep helping each other back onto the alter.'
Amen. And that means to be obedient to the way of the cross... like Abraham, to walk being misunderstood. It must have been costly to lead his son onto the altar... to allow his son to fret... to put his son in that position.
That is what we must do with all that & whom is dear to us. It will eventually hurt you more than it does them.
Glenho, what you are asking for is discipline.
May we walk in that - being willing to be disciplined, and being willing to discipline like our Father (which is harder).
Posted 6 months ago # -
Abraham did not do what he did in HUMAN EFFORT.
Now at first he did! He and Sarah had a revelation of a son but they got a human understanding and figured out how to accomplish it with a feasible idea..."the bondwoman is young and child bearing age"...Good idea right? Well, actually, no, it was a terrible idea that causes problems even until today. Now the second time Abraham had God's faith (God's understanding or God's FAITH), not his and Sarah's human understanding.
Look at Romans ch.4:
19And being not weak in faith (Faith of GOD), he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb:
20He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith (God's FAITH), giving glory to God;(only GOD)
21And being fully persuaded that, what HE(GOD) had promised, HE(GOD) was able also to perform.NOW LOOK AT THIS...Abraham didn't mind killing Isaac because he knew God couldn't lie...
Hebrews ch.11
17By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,18Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called:
19Accounting that GOD WAS ABLE(NOT ABRAHAM) to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.
GOD IS ABLE...HE is the 'HE'...everyone look at these passages and understand this. It will unlock so many truths when you see that we cannot DO anything in our strength or our understanding that does not line up with the WORD of GOD. We must do everything every day by Faith...his faith in us!
WE WILL FOR SURE MAKE AN ISHMAEL EVERY TIME (Our obedience,discipline,effort,idea) if we only use human effort and understanding.
By HIS Faith, Greg.
Posted 6 months ago # -
Dear Greg,
Have you walked an example of what Abraham walked with his son? If so, please share it with us.
Love Varienne
Posted 6 months ago # -
Don't want to interrupt your question you did ask Varienne. But want to share the following I saw regarding what Greg did write.
Oddly, what I saw after reading what Greg said there about what Abraham did at first, but then did later on. Isn't that what we also do when we first begin to follow Jesus?. meaning trying to bring forth our own righteousness? Trying to do so until we realize it doesn't work?
Isn't that what Paul was describing written in Romans chapter 7. Then telling in us the answer in the last two verses of that chapter, plus going on into what he then wrote in chapter 8 is what will work? Because we have no righteousness within self at all.
Blessings,
SandyPosted 6 months ago # -
LOL....there are alot of zombies walking around..thats for sure. My old flesh man keeps rising up from the grave. garlic and onions anyone.
Posted 6 months ago # -
Also somebody worked out the age of Isaac and he was a fully grown man. I would have to validate that but I am sure it is right. God is not in the business of sacrificing children.
Posted 6 months ago # -
Yes Tula, you are probably right, Isaac would have been older than we see in the pictures. God was never going to let Abraham kill Isaac, so what ever age Isaac could have been, the outcome would have been the same. Whether boy or adult a ram would still have been provided.
Thank you Greg for your post I liked a lot of what was in it.
One thing I would say however is that I think, very much Abraham minded killing his only son. It wouldn't have been a test otherwise! I know when I have embarked on something in faith, it is still scary! I can't deny the emotions I feel as a human, but through faith I put God above what I feel, get on and be obedient. This is the test.Incidentally the story of Isaac and Abraham is not the focus here. It was a way in to the challenge that we all face, and that is dying to self. Thank you Mum, Intercessor and 4Jesus for finding the spirit of the post.
Posted 6 months ago # -
Friends,
As a young believer, with others, we prayed some dangerous prayers.
Lord break me...
I was told by other believers that it was not wise to pray for brokenness...
Well, He matched the youthful zeal with trying circumstances and worked His heat deep inside.
Some wise saint pointed out to me this scripture...
Psalm 22:14
I am poured out like water, And all my bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; It is melted within me.Jesus on the cross under the heat of persecution.
And the greatest pain was relational.
Being separated from the Father.
That pain He suffered, healed and bridges the gap between man and God for those who believe.
Blessings,
Carl Emerson.
Posted 6 months ago # -
Lol, the imagery here is funny, looking around for a ram to subsitute, and climbing off every time it gets uncomfortable....I would add bored to that, or too comfortable.
I have found that it is often in the time of trial we can stay focused on God because our need of him is great. But when I get too comfortable, oh deary me!
Fear gets in the way too, fear of an unknown future, fear of loss of close familiy members, fear of having no control in any given sitution, fear of things never ending, fear of not knowing which way God is directing you to move, fear of not hearing any answers, fear of feeling you cann't pray. and so it goes on.
The desire to stay in place I think is the most important thing, he sees the desires of your heart, and if your heart desires to stay close to him, and in the right place, he helps, and he places others around you to do the same for you, and you for them.
Thank you for making me smile this morning. Its been a horrible year, I have been tireder than I have ever been before, in a physical and spiritual sense. I have been more overwhelmed at another time, but didn't feel so alone, or so very very tired.
God Bless
HopePS by the way things are looking up.
Posted 6 months ago # -
Your welcome dear Hope. Your last paragraph just goes to show that we need each other. We are created for freindship and relationships, the body of Christ is not one member.
It is a credit to you that you can still smile is your trial.
Hey that's a cool rhyme! =)
Posted 6 months ago # -
How many of you remember a song you may have sung in Sunday School.
I am a C
I am a C-H
I am a C-H-R-I-S-T-I-A-NYes. It was a favourite of mine too =)
I find it easier to say I'm a Christian than it is to say I'm a sinner. Well today I'm going to take that song and bring it closer to home. I am going to face the fact, and stop pretending.
I am an S
I am an S-I
I am an S-I-N-N-E-R M-A-NAnd I have S-I-N in my L-I-F-E
And will have till I-M P-E-R-F-E-C-T
But that won't be until I'm dead and with Christ.
My quest then is to die!
It is my sinner's quest to leave behind the mould (and mold) of the world, to be transformed by the entire renewal of the mind, through the study of God-breathed scripture that is the word, the Holy Bible. It is my sinner's quest not to have an exaggerated opinion of my own importance. It is my quest to go after Christ - that is to deny myself my SELF and take up Christ's cross. Luke 9:23 throws in the word 'daily' DAILY follow Christ. Daily, I must follow Christ, not only on the good days, on the days I'm feeling well. Daily, when everything around me is going to custard.
And that's a challenge. But thank the Lord that He provides us with a family, that is you and I and our other brothers and sisters in Christ. Thank the Lord for 'JTBTV' where a people seek to give glory to God and while doing so edify the body of Christ. I know I need you guys - we need each other.
Posted 6 months ago # -
Varienne says: "Have you walked an example of what Abraham walked with his son? If so, please share it with us".
I have three boys and I did have to make the choice that Abraham made, in a spiritual sense. 2 years ago, I left everything religious behind much to my parents and friends dismay. I told them that I was going to raise my children to be believers and not religious drones. I thought everyone would be thrilled and follow suit. We have had to literally sacrifice our relationships and I certainly have some understanding of what it was like when Abraham left the land of UR of the Chaldeas to worship ONE of the many gods his people worshipped. Every day I experience having to teach my children contrary things to what the rest of the world are doing. This is certainly an act of Faith that they will be raised up in the way they should go and not depart from it.
Glehno says: "One thing I would say however is that I think, very much Abraham minded killing his only son".
No doubt about it, Abraham had a tough test. It isn't easy to tell your children they are born in sin and have to die to self to be a believer...problem is they see no other children doing that.
Sandy, I did try to do everything in my own righteousness before I truly understood that it is him in us that is righteous. He only took over when I submitted my will to his fully.
Posted 6 months ago # -
Thank you for your testimony Greg. I have no children (I would like to one day), but I don't need children to see that the world is a hard place to raise children, contrary to the rest of the world. When I go to malls. I wince when I see what gets advertised, not only is it's madness and sleaziness before our eyes - it is before the eyes of children!
I feel like crying sometimes.
Posted 6 months ago # -
Sorry Glenn... you know what I'm like with this stuff.
I am glad that people were encouraged... I liked the images, But...
Having gone down this path, desiring freedom from sin and a passion for holiness, but continually failing...I cannot agree that we kill, or render inoperative our sin nature by our efforts.As with everything it is DONE through Christ... It is relational, by faith and requires trust and obedience. We are freed and made alive through Christ, as the scriptures below testify.
Unfortunately, people often get this wrong, like the " I must decrease so He may increase" idea... which unfortunately gets posted here quite often.
Bless you heaps, hope it makes sense, liked the Mary story on another post.
G
Rom 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ WERE BAPTIZED INTO HIS DEATH?
6:11 LIKEWISE RECKON YE ALSO YOURSELVES TO BE DEAD INDEED UNTO SIN, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
6:12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.Gal 2:20 I AM CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Col 2:20 Wherefore IF YE BE DEAD WITH Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances,
2:21 Touch not; taste not; handle not;
2:22 Which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men?Posted 6 months ago # -
Dagazz, Do you see that there is two sides of the cross? I am just asking for your thoughts on this. The old man has to die for Christ to be able to live in us. But once the old man dies (we get crucified) then Christs' life can live in us (his life resurrected in us), that is the life more abundantly that the bible speaks of, is it not? I brought this up because it seems that the way we get people who think they are living a christian life but struggle with sin constantly, is that they skipped that first side of the cross (death) and just slipped in the 'back door' of christianity,so to speak. Thereby allowing the old sin nature to come into the body and try to be perfected. Maybe we end up with false doctrines, denominations, heresies this way. Just some thoughts but tell me where you are on this. Just wondering.
--GregPosted 6 months ago #