All Change!!

[lolaboo]

Just an update for those of you who I know are rooting for me with my quest to "know" Jesus.

I am so blessed to have you all here, the replies I receive are wonderful, you are all marvelous witnesses. I have been spending all my free time reading and researching and talking to people, and I am amazed by what I didn't know I didn't know (if you follow me!) about Jesus.

And I know that some of you must be getting frustrated with me by now - here you are giving me wonderful feedback and information, and here I am......still asking questions.

None of you really know anything about me at all, so I wanted to share with you that I am one of the most impatient people ever!! There is no-one here more frustrated than me that I still dont get it. I am also a people pleaser (something that leaves me with a feeling of not being true to myself) - but there is good news!!

Up until very recently, I would have said to you all by now "yes!! I get it!! It's happened, you are all so marvelous, look what you've helped me achieve!!!!" Not as a statement of Truth, but to make you happy. But the good news is - I AM NOT DOING THAT! Which means there has been a shift inside me, I can feel it, its a need to be truthful to myself and if others dont like it, thats their issue. (Gosh did I just say that) For the first time, I realise how important the Truth is, and how damaging it has been to me to ignore that.

Today I gave up a sin which I have been perpetuating for many years, it was easy for me to lie and fool people and i gained much money from this. It has never (knowingly) bothered me before, well apart from being worried about being found out. I thought I was being clever by outwitting lots of people. I realise I was just sinning. I made 3 phone calls today which has ended this - I feel purified. Money wise I am a LOT worse off, but I have no fear, I just KNOW everything will be ok...total certainty about that (ps. i have no idea how at the moment!!!)

So I guess, what I am trying to say is, today for the first time, I actually feel a "rightness" in me I do not remember having before. I am poorer financially, will probably offend people now I am no longer "people pleasing" but I know i am, at last, being ME

No, I have not had any thunderbolts, visions, dreams, voices or angels, and believe me I would just love it for that to happen. But I am s-l-o-w-l-y doing my research, and even just by doing this, without the great Revelation I had hoped for, I am experiencing positive changes in me. Who knows, maybe this is what it will be like for me. I would still feel fraudulent to call myself a Christian just now. I will know if and when the time comes for that to happen (and i pray it does). But for now, my prayers are still addressed to God.

Thank you all for being here
xxx

[Gulah Papyrus]

Great news Lola, keep searching for Truth and I'm sure it will lead you to the foot of The Cross. If it's an honest quest, and from what you said about this 'shift', it seems like it is, where else could it lead?

It sure seems that God is drawing you in so continue your research and keep your heart open and you will be shown great and unsearchable things, which thou knowest not(Jeremiah 33:3)...

...and keep an eye on that empty tomb.

[tango]

Hey lolaboo, that feeling that everything will be OK is much like what I experienced when I turned away from my past ways. Even before making the final decision to come back to God I'd realised that God wanted me for some purpose and nothing could happen to me unless God allowed it, and until I had fulfilled whatever purpose it was that God had in mind for me.

Don't worry about asking the questions, keep them coming! Don't forget to talk to God for yourself as well, what you hear directly from God will beat anything we can tell you!

[ConqueredbyLove]

lolaboo...

You are such a blessing to me

[watchinginawe]

So I guess, what I am trying to say is, today for the first time, I actually feel a "rightness" in me I do not remember having before. I am poorer financially, will probably offend people now I am no longer "people pleasing" but I know i am, at last, being ME

Hello lolaboo. This is good, but we need to take it apart some. You have shown yourself to be sensitive to conviction of wrong doing, or sin. Your response right now is to just correct it. But there are a couple of problems with that.

First of all, who says that you can just draw a line and decide to be a good person on one side of that line and just forget about what happened on the other side? Is there a statute of limitations with God that simply excuses our previous transgressions by us doing better? It doesn't work that way.

Secondly, such a system is ultimately doomed to fail by our imperfections. We might feel better about ourselves in trying harder to be a better person, but our own self efforts will always fall (already have fallen) short of the perfection of God. We might imagine defending ourselves in front of God by showing Him how hard we worked on being better but ultimately if God is perfect and judges us in perfection, then we would be basically asking God to excuse our shortcomings because of how hard we worked to overcome them. Note that we would be asking God to overlook our transgressions in judgment on the basis of our own efforts, or a justification by our good works. Basically, we expect to earn God's good graces by "deserving" them.

No, I have not had any thunderbolts, visions, dreams, voices or angels, and believe me I would just love it for that to happen. But I am s-l-o-w-l-y doing my research, and even just by doing this, without the great Revelation I had hoped for, I am experiencing positive changes in me. Who knows, maybe this is what it will be like for me. I would still feel fraudulent to call myself a Christian just now. I will know if and when the time comes for that to happen (and i pray it does). But for now, my prayers are still addressed to God.

Thank you all for being here
xxx

lolaboo, God has provided a way by His Grace for us to be justified before Him in judgment. What has God provided? God has provided us justification through faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. Our justification before God then resides upon one who IS perfect and meets all qualifications of God's judgment and not upon ourselves. That is the reason why Jesus died on the cross. When we say that Jesus died for us, we mean that as a man Jesus' sinless life, ministry, and death was on our behalf, so that we might be justified before God through Jesus' perfection. We don't take our own righteousness unto us which is imperfect, but rather we take on Jesus Christ's reighteousness unto us which is perfect! We have been given the assurance of God's approval of such because that Jesus was resurrected the third day. Death, which is the result of sin, had no claim on Jesus since He was without sin. Thus, Jesus accomplished victory over sin and death for all those who place their faith in Him and enter into eternal life.

When we find rest in Jesus Christ by ceasing from our own attempts at justification before God, we then can strive earnestly for His high mark of perfection; but we are able to do so without fear of coming short of the mark on account of our shortcomings. Jesus has already overcome and achieved the victory for us!

God Bless!

[CoffeeCat]

lolaboo, keep the questions coming.... that's EXACTLY what this forum's for! As long as you're seeking the truth, I'm also confident, as I see others are too, that it'll lead you to Jesus Christ. As you seek Him, seek to know Him because YOU want to -- and not just because others want you to as well. You ask good questions. Don't be impatient with yourself on this one -- salvation's the most important thing we CAN ask about as human beings.... so keep on asking... and just know that Christ is waiting for you.

[markinro]

Just an update for those of you who I know are rooting for me with my quest to "know" Jesus.

I am so blessed to have you all here, the replies I receive are wonderful, you are all marvelous witnesses. I have been spending all my free time reading and researching and talking to people, and I am amazed by what I didn't know I didn't know (if you follow me!) about Jesus.

And I know that some of you must be getting frustrated with me by now - here you are giving me wonderful feedback and information, and here I am......still asking questions.

None of you really know anything about me at all, so I wanted to share with you that I am one of the most impatient people ever!! There is no-one here more frustrated than me that I still dont get it. I am also a people pleaser (something that leaves me with a feeling of not being true to myself) - but there is good news!!

Up until very recently, I would have said to you all by now "yes!! I get it!! It's happened, you are all so marvelous, look what you've helped me achieve!!!!" Not as a statement of Truth, but to make you happy. But the good news is - I AM NOT DOING THAT! Which means there has been a shift inside me, I can feel it, its a need to be truthful to myself and if others dont like it, thats their issue. (Gosh did I just say that) For the first time, I realise how important the Truth is, and how damaging it has been to me to ignore that.

Today I gave up a sin which I have been perpetuating for many years, it was easy for me to lie and fool people and i gained much money from this. It has never (knowingly) bothered me before, well apart from being worried about being found out. I thought I was being clever by outwitting lots of people. I realise I was just sinning. I made 3 phone calls today which has ended this - I feel purified. Money wise I am a LOT worse off, but I have no fear, I just KNOW everything will be ok...total certainty about that (ps. i have no idea how at the moment!!!)

So I guess, what I am trying to say is, today for the first time, I actually feel a "rightness" in me I do not remember having before. I am poorer financially, will probably offend people now I am no longer "people pleasing" but I know i am, at last, being ME

No, I have not had any thunderbolts, visions, dreams, voices or angels, and believe me I would just love it for that to happen. But I am s-l-o-w-l-y doing my research, and even just by doing this, without the great Revelation I had hoped for, I am experiencing positive changes in me. Who knows, maybe this is what it will be like for me. I would still feel fraudulent to call myself a Christian just now. I will know if and when the time comes for that to happen (and i pray it does). But for now, my prayers are still addressed to God.

Thank you all for being here
xxx

I don't recall the exact OT scripture but to paraphrase "all heaven rejoices for new christians". The NT parallel is the story of the prodigal son (or in this case, daughter) Welcome home

[tt1106]

Blessings Lolaboo,
That peace you feel is familiar to alot of us.

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose.

Mat 6:25 "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?
Mat 6:26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
Mat 6:27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?
Mat 6:28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin,
Mat 6:29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Mat 6:30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
Mat 6:31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?'
Mat 6:32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.
Mat 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.
Mat 6:34 "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Luk 15:10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents."