Amen. I admit this, letting go of your preconceived notions of how the world works is tough. But giving them up and having faith is freeing, and it is the lesson we are learning until the Lord calls us home.
The whole process can be said to be both grace and salvation, but I think it's important to recognize that we are not waiting for salvation to come eventually. From the moment we are born again, we are saved and expected to start serving by grace.
My sincere apologies for what must have seemed like nit-picking after all your remarkable posts which add so much to our understanding , for which I am deeply grateful.
I guess I am somewhat extra-aware of the grace element after being in what was essentially a cult for two decades...a sect if I must be charitable....whereby everything is about tongues as the 'evidence 'of salvation and the infilling of the Holy Spirit....everything else is subsumed (?) under this requirement . ( a more grace-less group of people I have yet to meet ) . Needless to say, I have repented of this and am still in catch up mode in many respects.....God is sooo good !
Sounds like a group of Pentacostals that once tried to convince me I wasn't saved and needed to start my Christian walk over in their church, many years ago. You are right to emphasize grace, there's a reason cults always twist that part.
Spot on ! Maybe even the same one.....Revival Centres International. Mainly in Australia and NZ. Your last sentence intrigues me here...."a reason ?" I have always assumed it is their twisting of scripture for their self serving manmade doctrine that can't bear to have any 'competition' in the form of the Holy Spirit being the focus and guide and not them. As Timothy says so succinctly- the doctrines of devils. Is there more than this though ?
I just meant that once you push back God's grace (and therefore His sovereignty and first-action) to some later thing you "earn" or "achieve" you can put infinite obstacles in the way and get people to do crazy things. But if God acts first and saves you by grace right off the bat, then everything that comes after is just trying to improve our walk and deepen our faith.
I am not Catholic but I read a book called “Abandonment to Divine Providence…How to fulfill your daily duties with God Given Purpose” Written by Father Jean-Pierre de Caussade in early 1700’s….letters to nuns he
hand wrote and delivered to them when he travelled. There is a more recent translation by Kitty Mudderidge called “The Sacrament of the Present Moment”. It has been life changing for me.
Hey, somebody else who likes James.
Amen. I admit this, letting go of your preconceived notions of how the world works is tough. But giving them up and having faith is freeing, and it is the lesson we are learning until the Lord calls us home.
Thanks for this article 💕
Thank You for the Wisdom. “As the world dives deeper into madness and evil” we will play our part. The flag analogy is accurate.
Grace comes also before salvation as it is " by grace we are saved".
Great post, thank you !
The whole process can be said to be both grace and salvation, but I think it's important to recognize that we are not waiting for salvation to come eventually. From the moment we are born again, we are saved and expected to start serving by grace.
My sincere apologies for what must have seemed like nit-picking after all your remarkable posts which add so much to our understanding , for which I am deeply grateful.
I guess I am somewhat extra-aware of the grace element after being in what was essentially a cult for two decades...a sect if I must be charitable....whereby everything is about tongues as the 'evidence 'of salvation and the infilling of the Holy Spirit....everything else is subsumed (?) under this requirement . ( a more grace-less group of people I have yet to meet ) . Needless to say, I have repented of this and am still in catch up mode in many respects.....God is sooo good !
Sounds like a group of Pentacostals that once tried to convince me I wasn't saved and needed to start my Christian walk over in their church, many years ago. You are right to emphasize grace, there's a reason cults always twist that part.
Spot on ! Maybe even the same one.....Revival Centres International. Mainly in Australia and NZ. Your last sentence intrigues me here...."a reason ?" I have always assumed it is their twisting of scripture for their self serving manmade doctrine that can't bear to have any 'competition' in the form of the Holy Spirit being the focus and guide and not them. As Timothy says so succinctly- the doctrines of devils. Is there more than this though ?
I just meant that once you push back God's grace (and therefore His sovereignty and first-action) to some later thing you "earn" or "achieve" you can put infinite obstacles in the way and get people to do crazy things. But if God acts first and saves you by grace right off the bat, then everything that comes after is just trying to improve our walk and deepen our faith.
Nice article Terry.
I am not Catholic but I read a book called “Abandonment to Divine Providence…How to fulfill your daily duties with God Given Purpose” Written by Father Jean-Pierre de Caussade in early 1700’s….letters to nuns he
hand wrote and delivered to them when he travelled. There is a more recent translation by Kitty Mudderidge called “The Sacrament of the Present Moment”. It has been life changing for me.