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The Power of God
- Thread starter Benjamin
- Start date
It definitely rules out the idea of free will.
The "keeping power" of God would relate to the fact that the Holy Spirit IHAS sealed us into Jesus Christ spiritually, placed us positionally into the Body of Christ, and we have been delivered one and for all into Kingdom of God, out of the Kingdom of satan...
The Bible tends to portray it as being saved by God, placed now by Him "In Christ", and no one can take us out of that position, as God has already predestined that we will complete the process and get glorified in the Beloved!
that is why "once saved, always saved", as God Himself seals us, places us into Christ positionally, and He is the One to make sure what was opredentined to occur for us happens...
that which He started, He will also complete on that day!
I thought it might be interesting to see what people believe that power consist of.
To me, the "power" could be translated to the "Awesomeness" of God. He can speak things into existence; He is never-ending; He is clearly the I am. Those of us who have been called by Him have been allowed to realize and come to grips with His Majestic qualities and love for us, can only humbly submit ourselves to His power knowing we are helpless without Him.
Praise The Lord.
To me, the "power" could be translated to the "Awesomeness" of God. He can speak things into existence; He is never-ending; He is clearly the I am. Those of us who have been called by Him have been allowed to realize and come to grips with His Majestic qualities and love for us, can only humbly submit ourselves to His power knowing we are helpless without Him.
Praise The Lord.
freeatlast
New Member
It is in the blood.
glfredrick
New Member
How does one begin to quantify the power of a Personal, Sovereign, Necessary Being, who is transcendent and the First Cause who spoke into existence all that exists and who made atonement to redeem His sinful creation?
We have tried with terms like almighty, omniscient, omnipresent, infinite, omnipotence, immutability, and a few others, but all those terms stem from a very short-sighted human perspective, hence our idea that we somehow have some form of control over our own destiny.
Best we simply fall before Him and depend solely on His mercy, justice, love, and grace...
We have tried with terms like almighty, omniscient, omnipresent, infinite, omnipotence, immutability, and a few others, but all those terms stem from a very short-sighted human perspective, hence our idea that we somehow have some form of control over our own destiny.
Best we simply fall before Him and depend solely on His mercy, justice, love, and grace...
Benjamin,
Good thread.:thumbsup:
There are several means of grace that we are responsible to engage in as part of our sanctification.
Here is the verse and section of scripture where it is spoken of.
We are called of God to holy service,and worship.While we are told we are kept by the power of God on one hand...He enables us to do what he calls us to do.....There are many portions of scripture that we need to view as to show us how to obey, and these work to show us how God has purposed to keep us.
We are responsible to keep our heart
This teaching of what it means to keep the heart with all diligence is a seperate thread all by itself.
Peter speaks of being kept through the trials of our faith.
To be kept is to know God is absoulutely sovereign and unchanging so that we can know ...
1]that nothing comes our way unless God allows it
2] he has foreknown us,set His love upon us, and called us for His Holy purposes in this fallen world.
3] In the midst of trials....He is with us all the days
4] The local church, the word preached, fellowship of the saints,holy service , the ordinances , baptism, and the Lord's supper, bible study [both personal and corporate] , confessions of faith that are biblical, are means we are commanded to use,putting on the full armour of God...all prayer with thanksgiving are part of the means
5] a biblically educated conscience giving necessary discernment.
We are to be spiritually minded.....mortifying all known sin.
6] the law of God put in our heart showing us what God requires of us
7] angelic beings minister to us who are heirs of salvation [heb1]
8] we are also to know and understand the examples given us from the Ot of people who came short of God's rest....1cor 10...hebrews 3-4
9] we are to mark those who are proper examples of godliness, and follow them...phil 3:17-21 1cor 13:20
10] we are to leave off lukewarn professors,and follow a positive view of biblical seperation....
These are some of the ways at first thought that we are kept by the power of God......
These exist because Jesus prayed that we would be kept...not one of His will ever be lost. Jn 17 this prayer is perfectly answered.
reminds me of the story read where Karl barth was asked what he considered to be the greatest fact of biblical theology that he knew...
He was said to have replied, " that jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so".......
How about the power of faith in the Love and Truth God gives?
I keep white racing pigeons, they flap their wings and coo when I come out the door and when I take them in my hands they trusts me, because they know me. I often leave the loft door open and they are "free" to fly around but they come back to where they know they are provided for. I can take them 100 miles or more away and they will still come home.
How much more will a child of God return to his loving Father of his own free will? I think He keeps us by His power of Love.
I keep white racing pigeons, they flap their wings and coo when I come out the door and when I take them in my hands they trusts me, because they know me. I often leave the loft door open and they are "free" to fly around but they come back to where they know they are provided for. I can take them 100 miles or more away and they will still come home.
How much more will a child of God return to his loving Father of his own free will? I think He keeps us by His power of Love.
AMEN. Well said, Benjamin.
This is still saying that one keeps himself.
What if God offers you nothing but suffering?
Salvation is of the Lord, from start to finish...
He is the One who chose me in the beloved, He allowed me to receive jesu, He
granted me the HS, and He is the One who will complete that which he started on that Day!
IF I get lost, its because either God lied, or else I am more than Him, as I would be taking myself away!
As a loving father with a son I know how to give him good things, I tell him the truth and he knows that I love him, will protect him, and that my guidance is from wisdom and always given in love. If he messes up and goes against what I say he knows I will correct him and this too is given because I love him. He will always know that I love him and his heart will never leave me. If I were to adopt a child he would get the same love. What is the power I have over him? How much more God?
I hope you don’t witness to people the Gospel like that telling them they may have no hope.
Nothing can seperate us from the love of God in Christ,That is powerful in and of itself.
The reason is it is an unbreakable covenant love for the objects of the covenant. The sheep, the church, the wheat.
We are told 3-4 times that God has purposed to keep and save us in jn17 and Jesus is speaking of the covenant of redemption there.
as far as your pigeons..you ascribed many things to them.....was just thinking
if I was flying around in the desert and could not find food...I would return where the food was...simply because there was food.
The only hope we should offer people is the hope of the gospel.....we should leave them with no other hope then the true and living hope of the cross.
Last edited by a moderator:
glfredrick
New Member
One of the persons in this life that I admire most for their faith is my own son.
He has been diagnosed (by elimination of all other possibilities) with an extremely rare nerve disorder that has so far only been diagnosed in three other persons in the United States. Akin to ALS or PLS (Lew Gehrig's) there is something in his body that is systematically destroying his upper nervous system (the system within the brain stem and spinal cord -- the difference between ALS and PLS is upper or lower nervous system destruction). He has already lost function in much of his right side. His treatments cost over $8000 every other week and it takes the blood donations of over 2000 persons to isolate the one component that will attack the specific antibody that is presently destroying the nerves in his body (we think... experimental and still in evaluation phase).
He has become so desperate at times that he has actually went out into the garage and clamped a sawsall into a vice and prepared to saw off his own useless right arm -- it was just in his way. Yet, his GREAT faith has prevailed, and that faith is not something that he raises up within himself, it is a gift of God. He has no real power nor a life so great that faith comes easy. Far from it. No, what He has is Christ within him and it shows to all who meet him.
My son is my human hero...
Instead of cursing God and dying as so many might, he refuses to take disability and works as a full mechanic, supporting the 100+ items in the fleet of Southern Seminary. He does all the work in house including heavy suspension work -- with his left hand alone (and he is right handed). He goes home and fabricates the most awesome off-road Jeeps in his garage, where he cuts, grinds, welds, and creates. He is an awesome dad with precious and bright children. He is the children's coordinator at Sojourn, responsible for over 200 children that arrive every Sunday. He is infectious for his love of Christ! Serving Christ is what keeps him moving foreword.
I wish that I could keep up with him...
He is a living example of the power of God to sustain a person who without God would be a wreck.
:godisgood::jesus::godisgood:
He has been diagnosed (by elimination of all other possibilities) with an extremely rare nerve disorder that has so far only been diagnosed in three other persons in the United States. Akin to ALS or PLS (Lew Gehrig's) there is something in his body that is systematically destroying his upper nervous system (the system within the brain stem and spinal cord -- the difference between ALS and PLS is upper or lower nervous system destruction). He has already lost function in much of his right side. His treatments cost over $8000 every other week and it takes the blood donations of over 2000 persons to isolate the one component that will attack the specific antibody that is presently destroying the nerves in his body (we think... experimental and still in evaluation phase).
He has become so desperate at times that he has actually went out into the garage and clamped a sawsall into a vice and prepared to saw off his own useless right arm -- it was just in his way. Yet, his GREAT faith has prevailed, and that faith is not something that he raises up within himself, it is a gift of God. He has no real power nor a life so great that faith comes easy. Far from it. No, what He has is Christ within him and it shows to all who meet him.
My son is my human hero...
Instead of cursing God and dying as so many might, he refuses to take disability and works as a full mechanic, supporting the 100+ items in the fleet of Southern Seminary. He does all the work in house including heavy suspension work -- with his left hand alone (and he is right handed). He goes home and fabricates the most awesome off-road Jeeps in his garage, where he cuts, grinds, welds, and creates. He is an awesome dad with precious and bright children. He is the children's coordinator at Sojourn, responsible for over 200 children that arrive every Sunday. He is infectious for his love of Christ! Serving Christ is what keeps him moving foreword.
I wish that I could keep up with him...
He is a living example of the power of God to sustain a person who without God would be a wreck.
:godisgood::jesus::godisgood:
freeatlast
New Member
Thank you for that testimony. God indeed is the reason we are able to continue to put one foot in front of the other. What a blessing your son is, for you more than us obviously, but for us as well. :1_grouphug:
just think that the Lord has a special blessing promised to those of Hids whom endure/put up with what they have to face here and now...
"Well done thy great and faithful servant, great is thy reward!"