This verse actually means every trials is training ground to strengthen our spirit. So that the next time if it happens, you can endure it.

I don't know why in the English, they use the word Providing way out or escape in the KJV because is not really accurate, the right meaning in Greek is

""the (successful) way out" which also means a way to over come. It's not to escape but to go through it with the Strength of God's Spirit.

This post has been edited by unknown warrior: Mar 17 2015, 09:55 PM

Yeah, that's why we don't really use KJV.

The meaning might be different.

Bro UW.

You handled the queries well!

Good job👍😊

Morning guys,

was hoping others will come in to chip in as well.

I guess everyone is quite busy with work or study.

Bible Devotion with UW

Father!



The spirit you received which is the Holy Spirit does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again. The word "again", has to do with Old Testament fear.

Talking about fear, in 1 John 4:18, it says The one who fears is not made perfect in love and the context has to do with "punishment in the day of judgement" before God. (1 John 4:17-18)
If you take away the element of God, there is nothing to fear because God is the one who carries out judgement.

Next if you read the whole context of Romans 8, it talks about Christ setting us free living in fear of condemnation through the Law. And the appropriate question to ask is, condemn before who?
Again The answer is God obviously.

So we can conclude this fear has to do with fearing God because of judgement.
If you can understand the whole context, the Holy Spirit does not want us to fear God as in the way of the OT way of fearing God. Why?

The answer is found in the following verse;
the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father.

He want us to have a Father Son Relationship mentality which denotes closeness rather than a God to creation slavish fear mentality which denotes a distance God.

Yes we know He is Almighty God, He is all that but the HS wants you to call him Abba Father, more than just God.
Many times Jesus says in this Fashion referring to God " Your Father". Can you feel the closeness and the warmth? Your Father!

If you cannot bring yourself to see God as a Father to a son, it means you're still under the bondage of Slave/ Law mentality.

Do you know that slaves during ancient time usually live in fear of their masters? Why? Because they are punished (physically) very severely if they've done wrong. They are whipped and tortured.
It was very bad, if you've read about some of the stories of black slavery in the United States, you will know what I'm talking about.

I want to ask you dear friends, How do you refer God? More as God than as a Father? Perhaps you have missed it here.
If you cannot bring yourself to speak to Father God in a very intimate, tender and loving way but constantly using bombastic royal and regal phrases of word, there is something wrong in your relationship with the Father. I say there is something wrong.

Perhaps it's time to come home and just be a son that Father God is looking for.

Amen? God Bless.

Amen to that. I always try pray in a friendly tone towards God.

However, I'm a bit embarrassed when my church friends ask me to lead the prayer. I can't spill all those poetic and beautiful words

Okay I've been brewing for a long time now I guess it's time to admit it.

I kept thinking that if I don't love God 'enough', I would be rejected in the end days.

Well, here is a passage from Watchman Nee, that might help you:
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Do not think that we can love the Lord by our self. The Lord rejects all that comes out of our self. Even our love for Him is useless. On the one hand, if a believer does not have a deep love for the Lord, He is grieved; on the other hand, even those who love the Lord can grieve Him because they love Him in their souls. If a believer exercises his soulish power to love the Lord, this love is not pleasing to the Lord. The believer's love, even for the purpose of loving the Lord, should be completely under the control of the spirit. Today there are too many who love the Lord with a worldly love; it is rare to see a love that is of God. What does this actually mean?

Believers primarily receive the things of God with their human hearts. They speak about their Father God; they call the Lord their "dear Lord"; and they remember the sufferings of the Lord. When they do this, their hearts are filled with joy and the sensation of love for the Lord. They think that this feeling is from God. Perhaps when they think of the cross of the Lord, they cannot help but shed some tears, as if they have an unspeakable, burning love toward the Lord Jesus. But these things pass through their life like a ship that sails through the sea without leaving any trace. Such is the love of many believers. But what kind of love is this? This is the kind of love which only causes one's self to feel happy. This is not loving God but loving the feeling of happiness. The outward appearance of the Lord's sufferings moves their heart, but the truth contained therein does not influence their lives.

How powerless have the sufferings of the Lord Jesus become in the hearts of today's believers! When they think about these things, they become proud of how they love the Lord and of how others cannot compare with them! When they talk about these things, they are like heavenly people. But, actually, they have not yet left their pitiful self one bit. When you listen to their talk, you think that they love the Lord very much. You praise and admire them. But actually they love themselves completely. The reason they remember the Lord, talk about the Lord, and long for the Lord is just because this makes them feel happy. When they do this, they feel happy. They do these things because their goal is to obtain happiness. It is not for the Lord. Such remembrance causes their "spirituality" to feel comfortable. Therefore, they continue to remember the Lord in this way. This is soulish and earthly. It is not from God. Therefore, it is not spiritual.

What is the difference between spiritual love and soulish love? It is very difficult to tell the difference outwardly. However, every believer can distinguish the source of his own love. The soul is our self. Therefore, all that is soulish cannot be separated from the self. A soulish love towards the Lord is one that is from the self. Loving God for the sake of obtaining a happy feeling for the self is loving God soulishly. If the love for God is spiritual, then there is nothing for the self mixed in with it. This is loving God for His sake, for the sake of loving Him. Any love for God that is for self-happiness or any other reason, totally or partially, is from the soul. Moreover, if we look at the fruit of this love, we can also tell its source. If it is soulish, this kind of love does not have the power to help a believer to be permanently delivered from the world. He has to labor and struggle to stay away from the attractiveness of the world. However, if the love is spiritual, worldly things and matters are naturally abandoned because of this love. The believer looks down upon them and reckons them as something to be hated. He no longer has his eyes on the world because the glorious light of God has blinded his fleshly eyes. After having this experience of loving God, he does not esteem himself highly because of it; rather, he humbles himself, as if he has diminished before men.

The nature of God's love is forever changeless. Our love is very changeable. If we love God with our own love, our love toward God grows cold when we feel unhappy. After a long period of trial, it surely fails because the believer loves God with his own love; he loves God for his own sake, for his own happiness, etc. Therefore, when he cannot obtain the expected happiness, he shrinks back. If it is the love of God, no matter what situation or position he is in, he still loves God without any change. "Love is strong as death;/jealousy is cruel as the grave/...Many waters cannot quench love,/neither can the floods drown it" (S.S. 8:6-7). If a believer truly loves God, regardless of his circumstances and feelings, he still loves God. Soulish love ceases when the effect of the emotion ceases; spiritual love is strong, cruel, and does not let go.

The Lord often causes a believer to experience what he considers to be painful in order that the believer would not love God for himself. When the believer loves the Lord with his own love for himself, he has to sense the Lord's love in order to love Him. But when the believer loves God with God's love and for God, God does not let him sense His love. Instead, God wants the believer to believe in His love. In the beginning of one's Christian life, the Lord always attracts the believer to feel His love in many ways. After the believer experiences this, He leads him to take a much deeper journey. God does not let him feel His love, but He causes him to believe in His love. We should pay attention to the fact that deeply tasting the Lord's love is a step which must be experienced by every believer who desires to go on in a deeper way. Only by the attraction of the Lord's love can the believer leave all for the Lord and come forward to the Lord. In the initial stage of the believer's spiritual life, it is necessary and helpful to have the sense of the Lord's love. This is something the believer should pursue. After the experience of feeling the Lord's love and after a suitable period of time, the believer should not "hold on" to this kind of feeling. Otherwise, his spiritual life will suffer damage. There are different kinds of experiences for different stations on the journey of the spiritual life. It is appropriate and profitable to have a certain kind of experience at a certain station. But if a believer desires to maintain the experiences of the previous stations up to the last station, he would have to go backwards or remain at a certain place. After the believer feels the Lord's love, the Lord wants him to believe in His love; therefore, shortly, but not immediately, after he experiences the feeling of His love, God no longer causes him to sense His love. Then He wants him to believe that His love is still unchanging. If, after an experience of feeling the Lord's love, a believer suddenly does not have the same feeling, he should realize that this is the time for him to believe. He should not be alarmed.

Yeah I know what you mean. Nah, don't worry about it.
Just pray honestly from your heart, even if it sounds lame, it's a valid prayer to God.

Jesus pray the shortest prayer and that short & simple prayer is powerful enough to resurrect Lazarus. He groaned twice and his short prayer is Not even 1 minute long, neither was it bombastic.

Sometimes all these people who pray beautiful prayers, with all the right phraseology I don't know if it's to impress people or to impress God, as if Father God will stop in his Track in Heaven, impressed wow, that's an impressive prayer. No, the Father hears your prayer, be assured.



It's not the matter of you loving God enough.
It's a matter of you receiving God's love enough.

Even Jesus emphasized on this.

ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in prayer, my prayers are usually smooth when I ask Him to =)

Sister, some YouTube time

Can you please share some verses for the bold statements? Definitely wanna remember them

I have this problem of not loving God, but just using Him for salvation. I wanna change that, any suggestions?

This post has been edited by Cryptic: Mar 18 2015, 06:51 PM

And Sophiera


1 John 4:10 (NIV) - This is love: NOT that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

It has nothing to do with you loving God but has everything to do with God LOVING YOU!

Jesus also said this:

Luke 7:47 (NIV) - Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven--as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little."

Those who have eyes to see and ears to hear this will understand what Jesus meant.

This post has been edited by unknown warrior: Mar 18 2015, 07:15 PM

Wow, that was deep. I guess what you were saying is that a lot of believers today who claimed to love God is when they are in worldly peace. When a true trial strikes them, their love towards God can be easily shaken and thus, lose faith in Him.

I do agree in this matter. All those so-called "loving" and "touching" feelings won't hold us forever. Such emotional-dependent believer, one trial or the feeling that God is not there will cause him/her to lose faith. How do we combat this then?

1) We must learn and train to defend our faith. That art of defense is called Apologetics. (read Mere Christianity by CS Lewis // On Guard by William Craig)

2) After item (1) is accomplished, you will learn that the God truly exists and in no way you can deny His existence. Then, read this out aloud and remember it with your heart (Deuteronomy 6:5 - You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.)


All that being said, I admit I have my own struggle as well. As a single with strong sexual drive, I struggled with masturbation (pray for me ). As a guy who is surrounded by non-Christian friends, I tend to be swear a lot (thanks to God's strength all these years, I have greater self control now). Well, human is not perfect and we, Christians certainly are not. We struggle everyday but also grow everyday. Ask God for forgiveness whenever you sin and don't be arrogant to think that God will not forgive you. There is nothing that God cannot forgive. Jesus paid a huge price for that by dying on the cross. Lastly, don't take God's forgiveness and mercy for granted (see Romans 6).

This post has been edited by MassimoTuna: Mar 18 2015, 07:54 PM

My father passed away last week.

I'm so depressed and lost weight because I'm not eating regularly.

But I believed that our Father in heaven will give us encouragement to face further trial and tribulations.

Psalm 18:2 “The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”

Stay Strong. I'll keep you in prayer.

That's the problem. How am I suppose to stay strong when I feel crushed inside?

Just let it all out.

My deepest condolences to you and your family.........





GOD is FAITHFUL ALWAYS

Thank you for all your caring concern. I just want to be alone and concentrate on my work this month.

My deepest heartfelt condolences to you and your family.

Okay time for me to sleep. I will take your advice UW.

I will eat, rest and move on with my life starting tomorrow.