The following is a response that I made to an individual believer who cannot maintain the concept that God truly loves her.

She feels that she has committed a sin which God cannot forget or forgive as many of us have.

She, as many of us may be dealing with other cognitive or emotional issues such as depression, perhaps even bipolar disorder.

This is relevant in understanding the exact nature of what she must deal with on the physical and emotional level.

The spiritual level is what I address concerning her acceptance of God accepting her as a child of his based NOT upon her own behaviors, but upon faith and trust in God concerning the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the cross, who died for believers sins, becoming our sin offering (leaving us to be the “scapegoat”, having our sins placed upon Jesus as our sacrificial sin offering. Leviticus 16:5-27).

Being treated as we deserve to be treated on the cross, where God could not be joined to him because Jesus not only wore the sins of the world and paid the price, but as it says in Corinthians, he became sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21 (KJV) ~ “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.).

Yes this amazing Grace is that Jesus was treated as we deserve to be treated on the cross, so that we believers can be treated as Jesus should be treated in God’s presence.

I felt that this issue may be one that others are grappling with as well.

It also displays what I referred to in the previous article I published concerning teaching styles, wherein I present one main theme, while also making many departures in teaching on a number of different related subjects, so that the individual receives as much information from God’s word as possible, according to the blessing of the Holy Spirit.

This response to this individual was one of many others, therefore if I make a statement without presenting scriptural evidence it is because I’ve already done so in a previous response to her.

If you would like the Scripture, or other reference, please email me and I will provide for you.

There is no sin that we can do TODAY which is not forgivable.

Regarding the “Unforgivable Sin,” please the following LINK.  

Brent

 Jane Doe,

You don’t need to answer this for me, but these are just concerns that I have when I see how you can go from one extreme belief one day to the opposite belief the next.

If you have what is called intruding thoughts, which we all have, but some of us have it at extreme level to where thoughts come into our head, and we try not to think about them, but they seem to overwhelmed us.

If any of these are the case, the main thing is for you to understand how your mind works, and that there are things that you can do to help.

But that is for someone else to help you address.

As a person that deals with depression myself, the one thing I have to remind myself on the down days, is that I really don’t believe what I’m thinking, the negative side which is not what is really part of my worldview.

And that this condition is temporary.

It’s hard to tell someone that what you’re feeling is NOT really true, and that it’s temporary; so just hold on and try to get through it for the day.

But, in certain cases that is the reality that certain people have to endure.

WHAT WILL HELP YOU GROW SPIRITUALLY

The thing I would suggest that would help in your situation, spiritually speaking is for you to read anything I’ve written on “faith,” and “Eternal Security.”

You see the devil and his minions love to take Christians that cognitive or emotional issues and are therefore insecure in their faith, or have felt that they have done something unforgivable such as yourself, and make them question their own salvation.

Remember, what he wants to do concerning believers is to keep them bogged down, not doing God’s will or growing spiritually.

He can’t kill them, so he tries to stop them from producing fruit, which he can’t do because right now in this situation I’m showing you how to stop him and to start producing fruit.

I have no doubt that rather you know what or not you have produced fruit already, but there is a big difference between the state you’re in now in the state that you will become when you become spiritually strong and understand the things that the spirit will use in your life to guide other people that are going through the same thing you are going through right now.

I predict you may be a teacher, teaching other women the deeper things of God’s word, but again this choice is up to you, if you are willing to do what I suggest below.

It was not until I settle this issue in my own life, that of becoming secure in my faith that things changed.

Before, then I always tried to act good enough, or be good enough, because I felt unworthy and was afraid I was going to hell.

I believe that what you need to do is become utterly and completely convinced that you are saved.

FAITH

Romans 10: 17 says:

“so then, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.”

The expression “so then” means that what is said afterwards is in conclusion to what was said before.

The book of Romans has been said to be Paul’s gospel, gospel meaning “good news” as in the other four Gospels.

He systematically goes through the fallen state of man, sin, the law, faith and salvation including all its subgroups such as propitiation and the atonement.

Then he seems to conclude with the above statement.

You see faith is meant to come to us not just reading the word of God, because there are two different Greek words used for “hearing” above (this is why it is so important to dig deep and understand what the Greek New Testament says not the English translation which many times translates two different words into the same English word, wherein a deep understanding is not gained – this is what I do in my teaching articles, explain what the Greek means which is underneath the English translation, and therefore brings much more clarity and understanding as God intended.  For those that don’t want to spend the time and are content to read the English translation only, not seeking to learn from teachers that dig deep such as myself, they will miss the joy of really understanding in its completeness what God’s word has to say.  Yes the superficial will lead someone to Jesus Christ, but the superficial will never lead to the kind of mature Christian walk that is possible if people refuse to commit their time).

The first word for hearing means receiving, as in listening, and the second word for hearing means comprehending as an understanding.

So in the literal Greek what Paul would be saying is:

“faith comes by listening to the things written in God’s word, and that by listening you come to understand what it says.”

So the thing that I would say, which maybe the only way to keep from waffling back-and-forth in the misery that you feel, is to immerse yourself in understanding what God has to say about salvation.

You see if you read the articles on “faith,” and “Eternal Security,” I’ve written, starting with the one entitled “Eternal Security – It’s about God” and then read the rest of them, understanding that you’re going to go over the same material a few times.

Remember Peter saying that, I’ve been going over the same stuff, but it is good for you that I do so, Paul did the same thing; both of them taught that repetition is necessary for gaining understanding as seen in the following verses:

“Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord.  To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.” (Philippians 3:1)

“This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.” (Titus 3:8)

“Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.  Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;” (2 Peter 1:12-13)

“This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance: That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour” (2 Peter 3:1-2)

The first, second or third time you hear something or read it, it may not ring a bell or you may not understand everything that it is saying.

But by showing how much importance you put to reading the passage, shows the Holy Spirit your tenacity, God does not consider your ability very important, but He does consider your availability very important, and that means time.

TIME

Time is the most important thing we have because it is not renewable.

Therefore if you only spend a short amount of time reading God’s word because you want to do the bare minimum, don’t expect much reward in coming to understand more than the superficial.

But if you “…hunger and thirst after righteousness…,” and therefore absorb the word of God, reading not only God’s word but what others who have been inspired by God to say about it, which I would present or my writings as well, you are displaying tenacity in the Holy Spirit, who always rewards us more greater based upon our commitment to God and His will.

[Matthew 5:6 KJV, says: “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”  The righteousness that Jesus speaks about here is not self-righteousness, which he always condemns.  But is the righteousness that is achievable in God which is only found in accepting Jesus Christ as your Savior – it is Christ righteousness that we are to seek.  He is the only one that is righteous, we will never be righteous.  And seeking to be righteous in ourselves is blasphemy.  Now this is not the same as seeking to not sin in more righteous behavior, we are not to let sin be our master’s into rule us, and in a general manner we are to act in a more righteous manner, but this is a verb, these are the actions which should be based upon the Holy Spirit in us giving us the ability to behave better, the noun form of righteousness is something that we cannot achieve, only Jesus could.  So do not be fooled, we are to seek to be good into not to sin, but it is the righteousness of Christ that we must seek which means that we must dig deep into God’s word to understand everything that means.  We have to learn about the atonement of his sacrificial death on the cross, to understand exactly what this means and how heavy of a price he paid for us.  This seeking and hungry after the righteousness of God in understanding and allowing it to become part of our thinking process is much more than simply reading a book, or attempting to be a good person.]

The servants that doesn’t do much, or really care that much about growing in the Lord, will fulfill that desire.

TRAGEDY IN OUR LIVES

This is why God uses tragedy to drive us to him, NOT because he’s mean, but because he loves us and understands that if everything is going great, we don’t feel we really need him and were not driven to his word.

That’s why that which you are going through right now, may be a precious gift in disguise.

Even though it seems to drive you nuts, if it drives you to God’s word in desperation, and you benefit from coming closer to being with the Lord by being closer in understanding what is word means, then you have benefited.

HOW SELF-DISCIPLINE IS GAINED
It’s like a spanking that a child receives for bad behavior, it hurts at the time, but it teaches a child self-discipline.

You see if others cannot discipline use for wrong, then we cannot discipline ourselves.

We learn to discipline ourselves because we have allowed another person to discipline us wherein we have submitted to them our will in trusting them, that the discipline they gave came from a will to do is only good.

Therefore by learning to submit to their will, we learn to be able to submit to our own will and this is where we gain self-discipline, because self has been made to submit to self.

It is normally this lack of self-discipline that puts more people in prison than anything else, besides being drunk are loaded at the time.

And when people are drunk are loaded their self-discipline is minimal.

GOD’S CORRECTION

Therefore God corrects the son that he loves, to teach him discipline so that he will apply tenacity to doing God’s will.

Hebrews 12:6-9 KJV, says:

“For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.  (7)  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?  (8)  But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.  (9)  Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?”

And you cannot do God’s will unless you know what it is, and you understand it fully.

Hence you need to dig deep into God’s word.

Do you know that in the language that God gave to his chosen people, Hebrew; there is no word for the English word “coincidence.”?

The reason why is that God did not want his people to believe in the concept of coincidence or accident, that anything can happen for no reason whatsoever, that chaos is in control.

He wanted them to understand that he is the God, and everything in their life, even those things that are bad that he allows to happen, are because he allows them.

It is understandable that people would say, “Wow, God seems to be mean for allowing bad things to happen to his children.”

But you must understand that is an immature outlook, understandable but lacks maturity.

It is more important that God’s children understand that he is in complete control of their life, and therefore if something bad happens he means it to be good in their life.

I love what Joseph said to his brothers after Jacob had died and they were fearful Joseph would kill them in revenge for what they did decades earlier.

He said:

“you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.” (Literal Hebrew, Genesis 50:20)

You see God in his foreknowledge knew that a great famine was coming and used Joseph to maneuver the family down to Egypt to fulfill his will that he would bring them back into the promised land for hundred years later.

The time was needed for certain things to progress.

[See Genesis 15:1-21 [KJV], which says: “After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.  (2)  And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?  (3)  And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.  (4)  And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.  (5)  And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.  (6)  And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.  (7)  And he said unto him, I am the LORD that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.  (8)  And he said, Lord GOD, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?  (9)  And he said unto him, Take me an heifer of three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtledove, and a young pigeon.  (10)  And he took unto him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece one against another: but the birds divided he not.  (11)  And when the fowls came down upon the carcases, Abram drove them away.  (12)  And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.  (13)  And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;  (14)  And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.  (15)  And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.  (16)  But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full.  Genesis 15:17-21 KJV  And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.  (18)  In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:  (19)  The Kenites, and the Kenizzites, and the Kadmonites,  (20)  And the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Rephaims,  (21)  And the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.“]

You see many times we think since God knows the future, so why doesn’t he change it before it happens, this would be reactive, and stop man’s ability to exercise free will and respond in a reactive manner, rather than an active manner.

Meaning that he knows what the future but still allows it to occur, and he prepares in advance for that situation, wherein his actions can counterbalance the situation when it occurs.

THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ACTIONS AND REACTIONS

Action shows power, reaction shows weakness, so God will not allow himself to constantly being reactive to the plans of the devil and as many as, or the plans of man.

He simply prepares to address them in an action wherein he maintains the integrity of his deity.

Concerning the Israelites leaving Egypt for the promised land, it was important that God bring them back into the land and show them miracles to create a foundation of faith, that even though that generation died because they didn’t trust God despite his miracles, their children and everyone who would read what was chronicled in the Old Testament concerning their exploits into the promised land would gain faith by God taking care of them.

Even when he had to punish and kill certain ones that opposed him.

GOD HAS COMPLETE CONTROL, HE DOES NOT WASTE ANYTHING THAT OCCURS IN OUR LIVES

You see God is in such control of your life that he won’t waste anything, even the negative things that happen to you he will utilize.

There is no such thing as coincidence in your life, God is in total control.

This is one of the things that you need to learn as you come to understand God’s word more deeply.

Knowing or memorizing Scripture sounds like that is the end of the process, it’s not, it’s the beginning of the process.

I know of many people that can quote Scripture, the problem is to they do not fully understand what it means.

This is why we must constantly study and dig deeper and deeper, not simply memorizing the Bible (which is good), but gaining a deeper understanding of what it means, is the goal.

It is coming to understand what it means in its very depths that is the goal, wherein applying what we’ve learned is the final goal of achievement.

Example: anyone that would read a generic sentence that I would put in Facebook is not learning anything about who I really am.

Something that is superficially said does not display personality or individuality.

It is whenever I feel comfortable with you and allow you to see the inner person and I talk about those things that the public doesn’t hear, because I trust you and you have committed yourself to be worthy of that trust because of the tenacity and faithfulness you’ve displayed, it is then that I will share the deeper things about who I am, what I have went through, and what I think.

Do you think it is any different with God.

RESPONSIBILITY TO USE WHAT WE LEARN

James 1:22 (KJV) says:

“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”

And also Luke 12:48:

“…To those that are given much, much is expected…”

We used to think that those that get a lot of money must give a lot of money away is what this passage means, it does not specifically mean this, though the principle is valid.

What it primarily means is that if God gives you great understanding of what his word means because you have committed to digging deep, then he expects you to utilize that which the Holy Spirit has given to you.

And with humans, you cannot teach what you do not know, and it is axiomatic that when something has cost you something because of a commitment of time and energy, by necessity is more important to you, and therefore you are more prone to utilize it, and fulfill the responsibility of passing it on to others.

We don’t appreciate things is much that are given to us, as things that we earn or pay for, this is part of the human condition.

If you spend large amounts of time digging deep, not just reading for the sake of reading, but reading for the sake of learning something deep, then you will appreciate the time that you’ve spent because it cost you the most valuable thing you have in this life, time.

I’m saying all this to convince you of the worthiness of you spending time reading the articles that I have written on “faith,” and “Eternal Security.”

REALLY UNDERSTANDING FAITH

You need to look on the right-hand side of my blog site, were it list articles, and first start off I guess by reading and studying anything that to do with faith.

Because there is a big difference between belief, which according to the dictionary in the English is a mental process only, and faith, which is different because it entails an action connected with that belief.

Remember James saying that the Devils believe, but they’re not saved. (James 2:19)

You need to understand the difference between believing and exercising faith.

It is complicated, the two words are not synonyms even though people try to say they are, they are not synonyms in the original Greek, one will send yourself to hell if you only believe, but if you exercise and live in faith you will end up in heaven.

People think they understand biblical faith and they do not and because of that they do not grow in faith.

If you take faith for granted, which is presumptuous; which is what happens when you think you don’t need to read any more about it or study it, how can you grow in understanding it and more importantly how can you grow in doing it if you do not understand it?

So I would ask you to start with reading everything I’ve written on faith (meaning anything that has faith in the title, even though there are many others that may not have the word faith that also teach about them, such as looking for the word “shoes” in the title, I know it sounds weird, but there is a connection between shoes in faith. 

You see people take the subject for granted and don’t read these articles because they think they know it all about the subjects, therefore as a wise teacher I create curiosity in the titles so that people will start to read and therefore learn something that they didn’t know before, or that they misunderstood before), which is a lot.

Then start reading everything I’ve written which has eternal security in the title.

SO HERE IS YOUR ASSIGNMENT IF YOU CHOOSE TO TAKE IT.

I will be here for you, but I’m not going to keep on saying the same things over and over again, because it becomes a waste of yours and my time, if you are not listening to what I am saying.

But more importantly it is bad for you because it doesn’t get you anywhere and it makes you come to the conclusion that there is no way of getting out of what you’re dealing with.  To falsely come to the conclusion that God cannot meet your needs to deal with your problem.

It’s like giving a patient medicine that they refused to take, they think they’re becoming better, yet they are getting worse and make the process cyclical, a self-fulfilling prophecy because they refuse to do what the doctor has told them to do.

So I will be here for you, but at this point you need to start to exercising faith by doing what I’m saying and reading what the word of God really has to say about faith, for you will not grow, and you will stay at the place you are now, miserable one day unto find the next.

THE TRAINING WHEELS

So now the training are on, are you can a paddle and learn to ride the bike, or you can throw it down in disgust and refuse to do what God is sent me here to tell you to do.

Remember what I said.

There are no such things as coincidence.

You coming to me was not a coincidence, it was God sending you a lifeline.

Now you need to do the things that I say to do, such as read and study the things that I have spent hundreds, if not thousands of hours presenting to fulfill God’s will in my life, wherein people such as yourself can benefit and grow and produce fruit based upon a fuller understanding of “faith,” and “Eternal Security.”

So right now you need to pedal, and I mean pedal like your life depends upon, because perhaps – and I say perhaps, it does.

Your brother in Christ, Brent

Just to let you know, I am publishing this as an article without using your name in case others can benefit from it.