What Christian is not doing the works of the flesh?

[quietthinker]

BTW, ever since I became born again I don't even want to do any of those things.

What! ...you've given up kissing?

 

[Blue Dragonfly's]

Come and see :)......words are cheap.

...on a message board....

 

[1stCenturyLady]

What! ...you've given up kissing?

The last man I kissed was my husband in 2001, but no one since as he had no cause to divorce me, so I'm still married, even though he married his mistress. Christians are not allowed to divorce.

10 Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord: A wife is not to depart from her husband. 11 But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife.

 

[Blue Dragonfly's]

The last man I kissed was my husband in 2001, but no one since as he had no cause to divorce me, so I'm still married, even though he married his mistress. Christians are not allowed to divorce.

Was your husband a Christian?

If he had a mistress while you were married, that's adultery. You're no longer married.

Matthew 5 isn't exclusively for men. If your husband committed adultery while married, he's still an adulterer living with his mistress/wife.
And his mistress is an adulterer with him as husband.
You are free. Because that is grounds for divorce according to God.

 

[1stCenturyLady]

Was your husband a Christian?

If he had a mistress while you were married, that's adultery. You're no longer married.

Matthew 5 isn't exclusively for men. If your husband committed adultery while married, he's still an adulterer living with his mistress/wife.
And his mistress is an adulterer with him as husband.
You are free. Because that is grounds for divorce according to God.

Of course! In fact, how he seduced the wife of his best friend was by preaching Jesus to her.

1 Corinthians 7:10 Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord: A wife is not to depart from her husband. 11 But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife.

There is no such thing as remarriage when a Christian spouse is alive, even if he marries another and becomes defiled.

I still wear my rings, but now I do so because of Isaiah 54:5 I will not sin against God, nor add loop holes to commandments.

 

[Blue Dragonfly's]

Of course! In fact, how he seduced the wife of his best friend was by preaching Jesus to her.

1 Corinthians 7:10 Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord: A wife is not to depart from her husband. 11 But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife.

There is no such thing as remarriage when a Christian spouse is alive, even if he marries another and becomes defiled.

I still wear my rings, but now I do so because of Isaiah 54:5 I will not sin against God, nor add loop holes in commandments.

Paul can't override God. It's not a loophole.
You're husband was a devil. Seducing his bff's wife preaching Jesus to her?

Now you're going to let him destroy your life when he violated the commands God says he set you free from.

Listen to God. Paul was a pharisee.

 

[1stCenturyLady]

Paul can't override God. It's not a loophole.
You're husband was a devil. Seducing his bff's wife preaching Jesus to her?

Now you're going to let him destroy your life when he violated the commands God says he set you free from.

Listen to God. Paul was a pharisee.

Granted, not everything Paul said was from God, but that was, and I'm not going to disobey the Lord.

 

[1stCenturyLady]

What! ...you've given up kissing?

What I really miss is back scratches! Prrrrrrrr

 

[quietthinker]

The last man I kissed was my husband in 2001, but no one since as he had no cause to divorce me, so I'm still married, even though he married his mistress. Christians are not allowed to divorce.

10 Now to the married I command, yet not I but the Lord: A wife is not to depart from her husband. 11 But even if she does depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband. And a husband is not to divorce his wife.

See, what I asked was whether you've given kissing up. I didn't ask whether you've engaged in it :)

 

[Lambano]

I no longer sin all the time nor try to, but I do want to stop doing carnal works of the flesh if possible, and if someone is really freed from doing them, then I want to hear from them how that is.

From what I’m hearing, there’s nothing you CAN do to fully walk that kind of walk. God has to do something in you. “This is not of yourself; it is a gift of God.”

Does that discourage you? Don’t let it. It’s good that you want to walk that walk. Trust God. Pray for what you lack. Do those things you can do. Resist sin as best you can. Do good for your neighbors as best you can. Trust God. Always trust God. “The only people who ever get better are those who trust that if they never get better, God will still love them.”

And maybe, just maybe, God will do something in you.

 

[Always Believing]

“…the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18)

“Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.” (1 Peter 4:1-2)

I am thinking that this is something that can really result in becoming a Christian saint, rather than a sinner. I had always thanked Jesus for dying for me to be forgiven for sinning, and I also know He is resurrected and living within us for divine power to have life and desire not to sin, though I was still doing some work of the flesh, not often but I continued to do it, and though I knew it was possible to be a Christian saint and not do it, I had pretty much dropped the whole promise and hope game to become one.

But this is new to me and different, which is why I believe it can work, and also why I was looking for a Christian saint just to tell me how they are doing it. This is it: He didn't just die so that God could forgiven us for sinning, but He died to have fellowship with us. He died to be our friend.

Jesus Christ is dying so to speak to be our Friend, like He was with Abraham, and not just our Lord and Savior and the One forgiving us, but the One that is our best friend on earth, everywhere and at all times, and if anyone ever had a best friend, they know that they never doing anything apart, but always want to do everything together. It's the same way in a true marriage made in heaven, where the law is not what keeps us married and one flesh, but love from the heart. Adultery doesn't ever enter into the picture, the same as not betraying our best friend.

And so, Jesus died to be our best friend in marriage, and He is not a best friend to us, if we forsake Him to go off and sin some more. What we must do is acknowledge He died to be our friend and have fellowship with us. He died for it. He said it to His disciples on earth in John 15, and then He laid down His life and died to make it come to pass.

"This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.

"You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. "No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you." (John 15.12-15)

By acknowledging this with Him plainly we can call upon Him for it to be our Friend and show us His friendship just as real and even more than any friend before. He is not there just to forgive us as Judge, but to be our real and present friend at all times and especially in time of need, so that no works of the flesh is worth forsaking Him for. He is not just standing over us and watching us as Lawgiver and Judge, but is right there with us as best friend. When that is the case, best friends do not betray and forsake one another.

The difference is that when a commander of higher rank orders us to do something, we just do it whether we like it or not, and as Christians we do it as unto the Lord without spite, but when a friend says to do something, it's always understood that he is saying, let's do this, and even if we're not really that partial to it, we do it anyway gladly, because we are best friends. Since that can be the case among sinners and crooks, then how much more should it be with a Christian and Jesus Christ Who has already died for us to be friends.

That is the key I have been missing. Thank you very much Michiah. Very very much. I will keep you posted, but as of right now by friendship of Jesus I am not a Christian sinner thinking of a work of flesh again down the road, but I am a Christian saint and believe I can remain a friend of Jesus unlike before. I have learned not rely on such future hopes and promises before, so I don't make them anymore, but if He does become a best friend with me in a very real way, then I don't see how I can fail to be His friend also. One thing I am not, is a betrayer of friends and of marriage who place their trust in me. I am not and never have been an adulterer and traitor. And that is exactly what the Bible says about those that forsake God for works of the flesh with His enemies of the world, which we all were at one time living for the devil and ourselves.

Traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. (2 Tim 3.4)

If it becomes a matter of betraying a friend and a marriage, then that is much much more different than simply sinning again, and counting on Him to forgive me, which is still true for all Christians that believe Him for it, but it's not enough for Christian saints who look for the best life of all with Jesus, and not just a better life as Lord, where Jesus is not only Lord and Savior but best friend.

I have been a holiness Pentecost calling one another saints, a Christian fornicator but not openly, and then a Christian sinner being what I am honestly without pretense, but never a Christian saint looking to Jesus as my very real and present Friend indeed. Against this there is no law or argument possible by any Christian that would rather be a saint than a sinner.

Thanks again Imla.

 

[Always Believing]

From what I’m hearing, there’s nothing you CAN do to fully walk that kind of walk. God has to do something in you. “This is not of yourself; it is a gift of God.”

Does that discourage you? Don’t let it. It’s good that you want to walk that walk. Trust God. Pray for what you lack. Do those things you can do. Resist sin as best you can. Do good for your neighbors as best you can. Trust God. Always trust God. “The only people who ever get better are those who trust that if they never get better, God will still love them.”

And maybe, just maybe, God will do something in you.

What you say is what mind I had a day ago, and I was no longer interested in talk of waiting for God to do something new in me. I'm military proactive. If there's something we can do, we must do it, or be defeated. I was looking for something that the Christian saints were doing that I could understand and also do, and I believe that is the statement from Imla that we are to purposely look to Jesus as our best friend, and not only as Lord, Savior, and Forgiver.

And so what I look for now and will believe Him for is not just forgiving me when I sin, but being my best Friend that I would never want to sin against. There is no law for best friends that tells us what we ought not do to one another, because it doesn't enter into our hearts, just as there is no need for the law of adultery in a marriage where love is the true bond.

This teaching is what I can grasp hold of and purpose to do and ought to see the same results against doing works of the flesh against Jesus' friendship, as there would be in not betraying my best friend ever. The point being that Jesus is not a best friend of the world, where we sin together gladly with as much gusto as possible, but He is the best friend for Christians in the world, who do not sin against or with one another.

I see now the difference between Christian sinners and saints, is not really about being saved or not, for both are forgiven of their past sinning, but is all about being best friends with Jesus or not day to day. How can I go off and forsake my best friend by doing something together with his worst enemy? For all Christians, whether sinner or saint, it's possible, but for Christian saints it becomes unthinkable. As a Christian sinner is was not only thinkable, but doable, including being forgiven by confession from the heart.

This is not a teaching to get people to agree with or even do it, but is a witness in progress. It's not about whether other Christians agree with it or not, but it is about the fact that I do believe it and know in practice is entirely possible, since I have had a best friend in the past, and so I will be looking to do it and see the results of Jesus showing Himself more a best friend for me, than Lord, Savior, Judge, and Forgiver.

 

[Michiah-Imla]

Thank you very much Michiah. Very very much.

You’re welcome!

But I’m just following biblical principles:

“As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” (1 Peter 4:10)

May the Lord bless you!

 

[1stCenturyLady]

See, what I asked was whether you've given kissing up. I didn't ask whether you've engaged in it :)

Sorry, QTpie, I think you're cute too, but don't touch.

 

[Blue Dragonfly's]

See, what I asked was whether you've given kissing up. I didn't ask whether you've engaged in it :)

That's personal. And none of our business.

 

[Blue Dragonfly's]

Granted, not everything Paul said was from God, but that was, and I'm not going to disobey the Lord.

Do you know what God said about being married,unequally yoked , with an unbeliever?

 

[quietthinker]

That's personal. And none of our business.

the context is 'works of the flesh'. The question begs how it is defined......and as an aside, I'm used to being misunderstood/misinterpreted. :)

 

[farouk]

Do you know what God said about being married,unequally yoked , with an unbeliever?

@Blue Dragonfly's Amos 3.3 is apt: 'Can two walk together, except they be agreed?"

If one spouse is a believer and the other not, they are definitely still married, though..........

 

[Blue Dragonfly's]

@Blue Dragonfly's Amos 3.3 is apt: 'Can two walk together, except they be agreed?"

If one spouse is a believer and the other not, they are definitely still married, though..........

the context is 'works of the flesh'. The question begs how it is defined......and as an aside, I'm used to being misunderstood/misinterpreted. :)

Asking a divorced woman if she still engaged in kissing is none of your business.

 

[farouk]

Asking a divorced woman if she still engaged in kissing is none of your business.

Actually I never did this - if there was such a context originally in the thread, I missed it..............