Greetings sisters who love the Lord!
I hope this day you are strong in Him and triumphing over any issues that arise.
I was pondering this scripture....
"For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,"
Hebrews 5:12-6:1
And I was thinking about how we grow stronger over time as we discern, as it says, whether things are good or evil. I was thinking about seeing that in my own life over time.
Reminds me of this...about the Spirit guiding to truth.
"Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come."
John 16:13
Praise God for the Spirit and His Word to guide us in a world full of deception. We can stand on the Word and keep going back there for truth.
There are seemingly innumerable different opinions and beliefs out there even among those who claim Christ. It can be confusing and lead many astray if we aren't clinging to the Word alone and constantly discerning between good and evil.
And you can't be looking around comparing yourself to others. No, so you might have to be the only one doing what you know the Lord says in His Word. But if you are blessed to know of other holy saints who love the Lord then they can help share things they have learned too. And we can edify, encourage, and provoke unto love and good works.
And speaking of which yes we will most likely be accused of being in the wrong and legalistic by people who say you only need to believe in Jesus and not obey. And we will be told we aren't to judge if we suggest something is not right in their lives. I liked how my sister in the Lord replied to a woman who accused her of that. Her answer was this..."If we judge by the Word of God we too will be judged by the Word, which is what I do and want." Amen we sisters want to be judged by the Word of God. We love the light and truth and don't want any part in darkness or the flesh.
And yes you will have to question everything you once thought you knew or were taught, realising that exactly what Christ and the apostles said and wrote about is surely upon us with error and deception abounding and so little love. Let us sisters be firmly grounded in the Word and striving for holy ways and not living in the flesh with its desires.
So much is really about crucifying our flesh daily. And even if you think of Eve in the Garden, she allowed the lust of her flesh in seeing the good fruit to carry her away into disobedience. There are so many ways we can allow that to happen today if we don't keep discerning and searching our hearts.
And we can grow through obeying what His Word says even if we don't fully understand it. Indeed it is the Lord that opens eyes of the blind, the spiritually blind as we sisters were once.
"I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house."
Isaiah 42:6-7
You learn to see things that once you didn't. You see the foolishness and sin in things where you may have seen none before. You see how far many who claim Christ today often are from truth. And you wonder why they don't see it. Yes it's sad just like the Pharisees in Jesus' day who thought they had it all right, but we can't look at everyone else and not press on in faith ourselves.
And certainly in general the standards that people used to have have grown weaker over the centuries and so now there is such a huge difference between someone with the Spirit and those who claim to be and of course the world. For only one example in that is that not too long ago women wore much more biblical clothing as their standard dress and many head covered. And that is just one area which does go along with the rise of feminism and it is indeed that. So we sisters by just obeying God's Word are simply standing and doing what's right and everyone else is falling away.
And God's Word doesn't have to tell us every single detail of everything. It gives us all we need and the Spirit guides and helps us apply it all to our lives. We can make right judgements on things.
For example in dress. We know we aren't to be about external adornment as godly women. Along with that and the fact our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit we discern what is plain and simple attire for us to clothe ourselves with. We will be convicted if something isn't right.
And because we are to have a meek and quiet spirit we will be making sure we cultivate that and again we will be convicted through the Spirit and the Word if we stray.
And this happens in many areas of course; every area of life in fact. And over time, or as it says in that scripture above "by reason of use" have our senses exercised to discern these things what is right or bad.
This one is good too...
"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."
Romans 12:2
And we can grow through infirmities...
"And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."
2 Corinthians 12:9
And we don't just read the Word we must obey and do it.
"But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed."
James 1:25
So sisters, let us be faithful in all our ways.
"But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul."
Deuteronomy 4:29
"And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened."
Luke 11:9-10
I hope I made some kind of sense. I was thinking about that subject this morning and off and on throughout the day I add thoughts here as they come so it may not run together smoothly. And it's now late and I'm running out of time to make it all exactly how I want it to be. But I hope it makes sense and could bless you in some way perhaps. I know we are all growing in the Lord and have been following Him for different times but we do never stop growing for sure and we can't let ourselves stop growing either.
Love in Christ,
...from one of God's servants
You can find the gospel here.