Encouraging scriptures for the day (page 50)

Jesus Christ’s apostle Peter lays out seven necessary steps to become perfect in love. Each step can easily take a year or more. And it could be that our spiritual development has to go in the order the apostle Peter lays it out.

One could ask oneself, on what stage am I regarding this?

1 Peter 1:5-8 (ERV) Because you have these blessings, do all you can to add to your life these things: to your (1) faith add goodness; to your (2) goodness add knowledge; to your (3) knowledge add self-control; to your (4) self-control add patience; to your (5) patience add devotion to God; to your (6) devotion add (7) kindness toward your brothers and sisters in Christ, and to this kindness add (8) love. If all these things are in you and growing, you will never fail to be useful to God. You will produce the kind of fruit that should come from your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Thessalonians 5:17: “Pray constantly.” About each step of progress you want to make.

LV101

Kosonen - 'love' must be one of the many fruitages of the spirit and per a WT journal decades ago - (Galatians?) we don't necessarily possess them all on our own. So praying/effort required - effort for sure.

50 pages - WOW!

Oops - just noticed lots are listed above in 1 Peter -- just catching up.

Queequeg

"Tiiiime, is on my side, yes it is!" - Azazel

Kosonen

Why has God not eliminated sufferings yet? This subject about sufferings deeply touches our feelings.

Here are some scriptures that came to my mind concerning why God allows sufferings to continue on earth:

Romans 2:4 Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, because you do not know that God in his kindness is trying to lead you to repentance? 5 But according to your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and of the revealing of God’s righteous judgment. 6 And he will pay back to each one according to his works: 7 everlasting life to those who are seeking glory and honor and incorruptibleness by endurance in work that is good; 8 however, for those who are contentious and who disobey the truth but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and anger. 9 There will be tribulation and distress on every person who works what is harmful, on the Jew first and also on the Greek; 10 but glory and honor and peace for everyone who works what is good, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 11 For there is no partiality with God.

2 Peter 3:9 Jehovah is not slow concerning his promise, as some people consider slowness, but he is patient with you because he does not desire anyone to be destroyed but desires all to attain to repentance.

Exodus 9:25 The hail struck everything in the field throughout the land of Egypt, from man to beast, and it struck down all the vegetation and shattered all the trees of the field. 26 Only in the land of Goshen, where the Israelites were, there was no hail. 27 So Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron and said to them: “I have sinned this time. Jehovah is righteous, and I and my people are in the wrong. 28 Plead with Jehovah that there may be an end to God’s thunder and hail. Then I will be willing to send you away, and you will not stay any longer.” 29 So Moses said to him: “As soon as I go out of the city, I will spread out my hands before Jehovah. The thunder will stop and the hail will not continue any longer, so that you may know that the earth belongs to Jehovah. 30 But as for you and your servants, I know already that even then, you will not fear Jehovah God.”

34 When Pharaoh saw that the rain, the hail, and the thunder had stopped, he sinned again and hardened his heart, he as well as his servants.

And when we feel that we cannot endure more, we should pray for help in Jesus’ name so that we would not lose our joy, love and faith.

2 Corinthians 1:3 Praised be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of tender mercies and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our trials so that we may be able to comfort others in any sort of trial with the comfort that we receive from God. 5 For just as the sufferings for the Christ abound in us, so the comfort we receive through the Christ also abounds. 6 Now if we face trials, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are being comforted, it is for your comfort, which acts to help you to endure the same sufferings that we also suffer. 7 And our hope for you is unwavering, knowing as we do that just as you share in the sufferings, so you will also share in the comfort. 8 For we do not want you to be unaware, brothers, of the tribulation we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under extreme pressure beyond our own strength, so that we were very uncertain even of our lives. 9 In fact, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. This was so that we would trust, not in ourselves, but in the God who raises up the dead. 10 From such a great risk of death he did rescue us and will rescue us, and our hope is in him that he will also continue to rescue us. 11 You also can help us by your supplication for us, in order that many may give thanks in our behalf for the favor we receive in answer to the prayers of many.

wantingtruth

"With whom, then, will you compare God ?
To what image will you liken him? ” Isaiah 40:18
.
Who are these questions addressed to ?
Of course to all those inclined to idolatry, because people have always tended to use various forms of worship, in which they have made many gods.
It is noteworthy that not only those who make a carved or cast face that they use in worship are to be condemned, but also those who, although they call JEHOVAH as their God, still ran after foreign gods.
The doctrine that leads us to believe that only those who were God's people in ancient times were idolaters is totally wrong!
Why?
Because it is clearly shown in the Scriptures that in the last days idolatrous abominations would be worshiped! Daniel 9:27; Matthew 24:15.
The Scriptures show that such things would happen to God's people in the last days, and it says, "There you will worship man-made gods." "When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days...” (Deuteronomy 4:28a,30).
Related to this, Scripture speaks of the fact that in the Temple would be set up in those times the "adversary", who would pretend to be God (that is, would raise claims to be the sole knower and holder of biblical truth)! 2 Thessalonians 2:4
This intruder "would rise, glorify himself," above all gods, "and would prosper until a certain time" (Daniel 11:36), deceiving the inhabitants of the earth (Revelation 13:14). .
Of course, many were drawn into the race to worship him and his organized system (the beast), becoming worshipers of the beast !
So here it is with whom do some men compare God, they who condemn those who worship "the carved images, and the molten images" -literally!
Are not they more guilty for resembling the "slave-class" with the One who did all things? Romans 1:22, 23.
-- But by the way, are you sure that you do not compare Jehovah to anyone?
- The Reaper.
-

wantingtruth

"At midnight, a people totters and perishes.
The mighty perish, without the intervention of the hand of any man."
Job 34:20
.
The expression 'at midnight' reminds us of JEHOVAH's action against the Egyptians in ancient times.
Then He struck all the first-born of the Egyptians, including Pharaoh's first-born.
Job was inspired to prophetically write these words that I quoted above, regarding an action that JEHOVAH would undertake in the end times. Not with regard to Satan, because he is not perishing now, but will only be bound,
but with regard to the 'man of lawlessness' (Pharaoh), who is indeed destined to perish.
And not only with regard to him, but also with regard to his people, which consists of all those who are faithful to him!
This Pharaoh of our times is that 'mighty' that Job speaks of here, and of which the inspired Isaiah showed that he would be dispossessed of the prey he had taken, namely the "saints" (who were overcome by the "horn" !) Isaiah 49:25; Daniel 7:21.
It should be remembered that these actions that lead to the loss of the 'strong one' and the 'people who waver' (Isaiah 19:14) take place without intervention, without "the intervention of any human hand".
Presenting the identity of the "man of lawlessness" from another angle, JEHOVAH inspired the prophet Isaiah to write:
"And the Assyrian shall fall slain by a sword, but not of a man:..." Isaiah 31:8.
-- Do you believe these things? Do you have the power to 'see' them?
- The Reaper.
-

Kosonen

Hi wanting truth, thanks for your posts. 😊👍 You reminded timely of the danger of idolatry. It will surely become a real trial the final years of this system of things. Its fully possible because in the past political systems and leaders have forced people to engage in idolatry. In Europe where Nazis ruled, Hitler demanded that people say Heil Hitler instead of Good day for example and stretch their arm upwards.

And Catholic church teaches that the Pope should be treated as the infallible Vicar of Christ, who is regarded as God.

Wikipedia:

"Papal infallibility is a dogma of the Catholic Church which states that, in virtue of the promise of Jesus to Peter, the Pope when he speaks ex cathedra is preserved from the possibility of error on doctrine "initially given to the apostolic Church and handed down in Scripture and tradition".

Kosonen

And now the Governing Body of the WT organization teaches essentially exactly the same thing, because they claim that they don't need to apologize for their past wrong teachings, because essentially they claim it was God's will that they taught things wrong. They claim it served a good purpose, since God let it happen.

Encouraging scriptures for the day

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