The Battleground

Hello aspen

Nice post.

Indeed we are in a Spiritual battle or race(both apply), and this battle is between our flesh and God’s Spirit, within us.............

2 Timothy 2:3-4
V.3 Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
V.4 No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of [this] life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.

and

1 Corinthians 9:24-27
V.24 ¶ Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.
V.25 And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they [do it] to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.
V.26 I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air:
V.27 But I keep under my body, and bring [it] into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.
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The only place that I would tweak your post is here.......

“The question I have to ask myself, every time is 'am I acting in a loving manner towards God, myself, and others'.”

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Actually the question we should ask ourselves is, “is this God’s will” or “am I acting in obedience to God”..........
Ecclesiastes 12:13
“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this [is] the whole [duty] of man.”

But, loving....also fulfills this requirement...........
John 14:15
“If ye love me, keep my commandments.”

aspen said:

Where is it? What is God trying to teach us? And where are we tested?
Some Americans seem to believe that we are tested every time we vote or whenever our school system seems to infringe on our right to pray in school or refuses to teach Creationism as a science.
Others, believe that we are being challenged to spend more time in prayer, reading the Bible, spending time in fellowship and worship with like-minded people.
Still, others believe the battleground is really at the level of witnessing to nonChristians; sharing about their relationship with Christ, Bible knowledge, and hope.

For me, the sanctification of my heart, which I sometimes see as a battleground between my will and God's will occurs every time I interact with another person or make a personal decision (time, health, financial, etc). The question I have to ask myself, every time is 'am I acting in a loving manner towards God, myself, and others'. My vote, personal piety, witness mean nothing if I am running people off the road on my way to do God's work. God's work is the practice of love - that is all it is. Think about it, if you are committed to the practice of love (exercising your sanctification), where is there room for sin? The Kingdom is truly present in your heart - love, humility, and forgiveness are in your heart and in your actions. The only thing that can stop the Kingdom is Pride - it is actually the same choice that Adam and Eve had in the Garden.
Peace

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I like what you bring to the table and the heart in this, aspen.

I see some things ever so slightly differently.
If I may throw a few ideas in the ring... mainly bec I respect you as a brother ever since you arrived.
I think I know what you're after -and it's the truth and the highest place you can be - which is the "right " place.
Here I go,
For one thing - it doesn't matter what anyone thinks about where the battle ground is - waste no more time on what other's may think.
Never ask yourself if you're coming from a loving place, as you say - just come from "that place", period, whether it be clarity, peace, compassion,
charity, fearlessness - simply reflect your inner focus you have on Him.
That is our No 1 priority, focus on Him and all that means. All else will come naturally.

This might just be my thing...I do not believe God is testing us - we are placed here and the Laws of Cause and Effect, Sowing and
Reaping are in place...we learn from our
mistakes naturally - maybe that's what you meant ---it's just I hear so often from some that God tests us or punishes us. Hogwash.
He loves us - our tripping on our faces -we do ourselves.
He draws us to Him; different from 'testing'.

Yes, the Kingdom is within - whenever we say a superlative like the 'only thing' is Pride that keeps us from the Kingdom - there is sure to be something else someone
will come up with.
I will be that someone and say - you forgot Guilt or Shame.

There are 2 doors into the scary place of "bad" emotions (satan's playground, the batlefield between our ears) - meaning worry, fear, envy,
anger, indignation, hate, hurt, depression, etc - one door is pride, the other guilt.
This came from a wise man - not me, btw.
I finally "got" what was meant , tho.
Miss Hepburn

Interesting. As a counselor, I tend to see guilt as a good emotion, if it is resolved immediately or as soon as it is recognized. Unfortunately, many people bury guilt inside and carry it with them - ignoring guilt turns an honest emotion into a very harmful one - shame. Guilt is "I did something against my beliefs", shame is "I am something against my beliefs" - if that makes sense. Did the wise person you learned your ideas about guilt and shame write anything about it? I would be interested in reading it

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aspen,
It was in the early 70s I first heard about the back door and front door into the mind.
Probably took me a year to understand - that pride and guilt were the easiest emotions to unlock the "others".
(Even before anger ---which I was taught in 1970, by a psychiatrist from NY, was the easiest to access. Ha!)

What I remember about guilt and the other "bad" emotions was simply this:
When your cup is full with something it can not be filled with anything else.
If you come to your Lord with guilt in your cup - it cannot be filled with His Love and Presence...let alone wisdom and joy, eh?

Try making love with your wife when she is filled with guilt. Doesn't work.
Try loving your child that is filled with guilt, doesn't work.

God wants us.
He can not fulfill His purpose, our purpose of filling us with His Love - for us to come
"into our own" or full realization of reality - of the creation - if we are full of anger, greed, pride, guilt., depression, envy, indignation, unforgiveness.
This is sin - our separating ourselves from Him.

All my friends are therpists - they are trained that wthout guilt you are an anti-social. New DSM name for sociopath, no?

Psychotherapy is different than the Path of our Soul, imo. These people are coming to you for mental health. You're
thinking is right on in that case. Now, if you were their spiritual advisor I'd say their is a different angle you would take regarding guilt, pride and shame.

I say, see that you made a mistake - feel sorry for your mistake and vow you will not make it again.
This is different than guilt and the carrying of shame.
God does not want us to feel shame ---look how He missed out on His companions that He loved to visit in the cool of the evening when
they were filled with shame.

Our job is not to deprive our Lord --- of us.

But hey, that's just me.
Miss Hepburn