Couldn't sleep...

Quotes by Luci Swindoll:

1- Don't bypass the potential for meaningful friendships just because of differences. Explore them. Embrace them. Love them.

2- The best of times in life are made a thousand times better when shared with a dear friend.

i feel that friends are a direct reflection of God's love manifested in our dialy lives. may you be blessed with many!
recluse1

I have put the hurt enacted by others behind me.

Psalm 18:1 I will love thee, O Lord, my strength.

Quote by Beth Moore:

God calls upon the loved not just to love but to be loving. God calls upon the forgiven not just to forgive but to be forgiving.

Deu 7:13 He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land—your grain, new wine and oil—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land that he swore to your forefathers to give you.

Who is the Holy Spirit, the One that leads me, makes me uncomfortable when something in my life isn't right and leads me to the right path to take?

Commentary by Chuck Smith

THE HOLY SPIRIT
I. THE TRINITY

A There is one God manifested in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (1 Timothy 3:16).

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

B I think the term "triunity" more clearly indicates the "Three-in-One" aspect of the Godhead.

II The Holy Spirit is a person.

A The Holy Spirit is thought by some to be an "essence" or "power" of God rather than a separate person, because "ruach", the Hebrew word for Spirit, also means breath, and "pneuma", the Greek word for Spirit, also means wind or air. Christians know He is a person.

B. The Holy Spirit has the characteristics of a person

1. I Corinthians 2:10-11 - the Holy Spirit searches and has knowledge.

2. I Corinthians 12:11 - the Holy Spirit distributes gifts as He wills.

3. Romans 8:27 - He has a mind.

4. Romans 15:30 - He loves us.

5. John 15:26,16:13- He testifies of Jesus and exalts the Father and Son over Himself.

6. Personal pronouns are used when referring to the Holy Spirit (John 14:16-17, John 16:7-15). "Comforter" in John 14:16 is "parakletos" which means "One who comes alongside of to help". The Holy Spirit is always with us ready to help when we ask Him to.

C. Personal acts are ascribed to the Holy Spirit.

1. Acts 13:2 - the Holy Spirit speaks.

2. Romans 8:26 - the Holy Spirit intercedes for us.

3. I John 2:20-27. John 14:26 - He teaches us.

4. Acts 16:6-7 - the Holy Spirit guides Paul, sometimes forbidding things.

5. Genesis 6:3 - the Spirit strives with man.

D. The Holy Spirit can receive treatment as a person.

1. Ephesians 4:30 - He can be grieved by us.

2. Hebrews 10:29 - We can insult Him.

3. Acts 5:3 - He can be lied to.

4. Matthew 12:31-32 - He can be blasphemed.

E. The Holy Spirit is identified with the Father and the Son as a person.

1. Matthew 28:19 - He is named with the Father and Son in baptism.

2. 2 Corinthians 13:14 - He is named with the Father and Son in benediction.

3. Acts 15:28 - He is identified with the believers as a person.

I like the idea of "triunity" which is layman's terms for trinity, yes indeed. However, as you aptly show, each part IS God, so they aren't just a unity.

Perhaps it is easier to believe in the TRINITY (another word description of God, though not specifically used in Scripture) if we remember that God is Omnipresent. We have to expand our perspective (and maybe think in quantum physical/metaphysical terms) and realize that while it is God the Holy Spirit who indwells us, it isn't like God the Father is only in heaven, and God the Holy Spirit is only here... but that God in HIS expanse, is everywhere and not limited nor divided up into 3 parts as we humans have a tendency (imo) to think.

Good post, btw.

Another thought, we are not to pray TO the Holy Spirit, but to the Father, though the Holy Spirit is our mediator. We can ask anything of the Father because of the work of the Son on the cross.

Exactly! Somewhere in this forum I explained the Trinity as I see It. He's very much like us; a body, a spirit and a soul. We aren't necessarily three different parts in one body. All three aspects are part of the whole.

Thanks for making that perfectly clear, Sky. I would have never thought of it since it's such a part of me that I don't stop to think about it any more. It just IS, ya know?

Commentary on 1 Corinthians 13:13
by Pastor Chuck Smith

K. Faith is abiding, when every thing else falls apart, our faith sustains us.
L. Faith that God loves me, faith that God will work out the difficulties that I am facing and faith that I will come out on top with the help of God.
M. If I did not have faith in God I would be the greatest cynic in the world. I would be in total despair, for you cannot rationally look at the moral trends of the world in which we live and not realize that we cannot continue this path very far before we crash. Look at every other civilization before us, they have all crashed.
II. HOPE.
A. We as Christians have a hope for the future.
1. Jesus said to Martha when she was grieving over her brothers death, "I am the resurrection and the life, he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and he that lives and believes in Me shall never die. Martha, do you believe this?" You see how immediately all of mankind is divided into one of two camps, those who believe and those who do not believe. Those who have a hope of eternal life, and those who have no hope of eternal life.
2. Before you try to argue that there are millions who have lived and believed in Jesus Christ who have died. You must realize that the Bible has two definitions for death.
a. The separation of your consciousness from your body.
b. The separation of your consciousness from God. If you live without the consciousness of God from a Biblical standpoint you are dead. The Bible declares that you are living just for pleasure, you are dead while you are still alive.
c. Jesus is not promising that we are going to live forever in these ageing bodies. God forbid, He is saying that we will never be consciously separated from God.
d. That is the hope of every child of God.
B. This hope sustains us through the darkest experiences of life.
1. David the Psalmist asked, "Why are you cast down O my soul? Why are you disquieted within me?" He then commanded himself, "Hope in the Lord, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance."
2. Sometimes our circumstances have a tendency to get us down. We get discouraged or depressed, the answer is to put our hope in the Lord, for He will yet bring His good purposes to pass.
C. What a dark shroud covers us when all hope is lost.
1. When my dad and brother didn't show up at the Orange County airport on schedule, in my brothers private plane we knew that they must have crashed. Yet there was always that hope that maybe they landed at some remote airport where there was no phone, maybe they landed safely in some remote area. Maybe the phone will ring soon and we will discover that they are safe, All night long we clung to this hope, but in the morning when the phone did ring, and the man identified himself as a member of the Civil Air Patrol and informed us that the plane had been found at Camp Pendleton and that there were no survivors, all hope was gone, and the realization of our tragic loss began to settle upon our consciousness.
2. We have heard the saying as long as there is life, there is hope.
D. When everything looks so bleak, how can we have such joyful hope?
1. We have the guide book. We know the end of the story.
2. We sing, "And though the wrong, seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet. This is my Fathers world, the battle is not done, Jesus who died shall be satisfied, and heaven and earth be one."
3. Hope is the anticipation of a good ending.
4. Paul the Apostle spoke of rejoicing in hope, and then he stated that the scriptures were written that we might we through the patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
5. The book of Hebrews speaks of the hope as an anchor for our soul.
III. THE FINAL PLANK IS LOVE.
A. Jesus was asked by an attorney, "What is the greatest commandment?" His answer was, "You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, and mind, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself." He declared that this is the summation of all of scripture, the law and the prophets.
B. This is not the Hollywood version of the word. Hollywood has skewed the meaning. We are prone to think of some passionate bedroom scene as making love.
C. True love is demonstrated by reaching out a helping hand to one that is need. When Jesus said to the attorney, "Love your neighbor as yourself," the attorney responded in typical attorney style, "Who is my neighbor?" Jesus then told the story of the good Samaritan.
D. The three Greek words for love that express love on the physical the emotional and the spiritual level.
1. Eros, he was the Greek god of love. We get our English word erotic from his name. This is love Hollywood style. It is nothing more than pure lust.
2. The Greek word phileo speaks of love on a much higher plane. This is emotional love, the love that you feel for your children, for your family, for your friends. Philadelphia.
3. There is another dimension to love that is even greater than phileo, the New Testament more or less coined this word to describe this love. It is the Greek word agape. This is spiritual love. When in the New Testament you read the word love, it is never eros, for that word is not found in the Bible. The vast majority of times it is the word agape. Only 22 times it is the word phileo.
E. When a new word is coined, there comes the necessity to define the word. This 13th chapter of Corinthians is a definition of the word agape.
F. These are the three planks upon which Christianity stands, but the greatest of the three is Love. If you do not have this, you do not have true Christianity.

Psalm 42:8 (NLT)
Each day the Lord pours His unfailing love upon me, and through each night i sing His songs, praying to God who gives me life.

Lamentations 3:22-23
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

(God's love, mercy, and faithfulness are everlasting to everlasting! how wonderful is that!)

My only contribution today is bring up the second part of the verse that says "Love thy neighbor..." The second part says "as you LOVE YOURSELF."

We can turn that verse around to make it say, "love yourself as you love your neighbor."

Just HOW do we love ourself? Is it a healthy, well-rounded love, or can we improve on that?

Most of us can admit that we need much improvement in this area. Let's just read and think about it for a while, me included.

very good point SeptemberMorn.....

Maybe this is part of the issue with those who are not well? They treat themselves poorly, and because of that also treat those about them poorly? I liken this more as a comparison with the "do unto others" verse.

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8: 38-39

It IS most definitely part of the issue! You've got that right. IMO, even supposed mentally "healthy" people have the same issue, or are at some point in the spectrum.

At one end, we have those who go out of their way to show others how much they are cared for, will even make themselves sick in the giving. At the other end you will find those that "love" themselves so much that no one else matters to them and they'll trample on anyone's feelings to get what they want. Doing a quick "scan" of my memories, I doubt that I have ever met anyone that is truly balanced in perfect love for others and for themselves. But of course, we'll never find "perfection" anywhere in the human community.

However, if we are to be Imitatiors of Christ, or be the best that we can be, we need to do whatever we possibly can to try and reach the best balance that is possible for us as individuals.

<font color="blue">If we are to love our neighbor as ourself, Love needs to begin at home, within US. </font>

We need to apply the whole chapter of 1 Corinthians 13 to ourselves, first, and as we grow in that love for self, we can reach out to others with that same love... IMHO, of course. The reverse is also, true. If we give others the benefit of a doubt, if we give them respect until, for some reason, they give us cause to lose that respect, if we give them consideration and compassion, then we need to be doing that for ourselves, too, in equal amounts.

(Boy, does that go against everything I was taught by an extended family of ministers and missionaries when I was growing up!!)

Very true, Perna... but may I make an observation here? We as individuals can separate ourselvs from God and from His acts of mercy and love. We do that by going against His will, by rebelling and thinking we can handle our own lives better than He can; by breaking all of His commandments on a continual basis, by being self-serving, disrespectful to others, in short, by loving self more than God. He will still love us and be in the background waiting for us, but He won't be active in our lives as we continually grieve His Holy Spirit.

How often do you hear people say "God doesn't love me. He never answers my prayers. God is mad at me. He won't do what I ask. He's punishing me. God must hate me"? Could it be, just maybe, that we have rejected Him in every part of our lives? He doesn't push Himself on us. We have to accept His will and His ways in our lives. He doesn't move away from us. It is US that move away from HIM.

We cannot separate ourselves from God. We can think or feel like we have separated ourselves but our impressions are not the reality. He's always there, despite our perceptions of the situation. Not to be gross, but one can pray on the toilet or a couple can pray before/during sex, etc. just as effectively as one can on one's knees in a church.

As Psalm 139 says,

“O Jehovah, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising; Thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou searchest out my path and my lying down, And art acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word in my tongue, But, lo, O Jehovah, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, And laid thy hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain unto it” (1-6).

I appreciate your opinion, Perna. Thank you very much.

Leaving God and His love out of it, do you believe in the consquences we pay for our actions? Or in your opinion, is it always "poop happens"?

I believe in "karma" in the sense that we learn from our actions, eventually :-) I don't think many people deliberately make mistakes or say/do things to hurt others. People handicapped with true antisocial personalities that do ugly things I think of as being sort of like people who suicide or even alzheimer people who burn their houses down because they "forgot" they turned all the stove burners on high or something.

I think I can learn from everyone I come in contact with in reality or read about, etc. No one and nothing is "wasted." There's that "joke" about, if nothing else, serving as a bad example but there's some truth to that; that's why people identify with that.

I love the movie, It's A Wonderful Life, because it shows the impact we can have without even knowing it. I believe my "job" is to become the best Perna I can.

I read a book once that talked about how we're like cells of a body, some of us a freckle or mole near the elbow and others more important-seeming like brain or heart cells perhaps. But all are needed. The mole has to work hard, make sure it doesn't give in to cancer, etc.

I like the second book of Madelaine L'Engle's Wrinkle in Time quintet, A Wind in the Door too, http://www.amazon.com/Wind-Door-Made...dp/0312368593/ for its attempt at showing us what our bodies go through on a cellular level to become "us" and make us whole and well.

Very interesting!

i too believe nothing can seperate us from the love of God. the proof of His love is the cross.

though we may turn away from Him, live a life of sin and have a contrite spirit, He still loves us and want us. the world may forsake us; but The Father will not. That is the beauty of His love, grace, and mercy.

there is a saying that i heard once, "If God seems far away; who moved?" i like that because we know thru His word that God's love is from everlasting to everlasting, He never faulters, His love is true and perfect.

Yes, people can choose to turn their back on God. but still, He loves them. Still, He is there. Still He fights to win their hearts and souls. And Oh how i thank Him for that! He loved me enough to keep working on me and help me find my way back to Him.

<font color="blue">Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:

Quote by Max Lucado

Though we may not act like our Father, there is no greater truth than this: We are His. Unalterably. He loves us. Undyingly. Nothing can seperate us from the love of Christ.

My only response to the above posts is:

Ephesians 5:1 Therefore be imitators of God as dear children.
2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us...