It's never meant to be known between believers...it's only meant between God and the one speaking in tongues. But how to know what you're really praying. You can actually express what you want to pray, only that the vocal that comes out is of the spirit in unintelligible groaning that God will understand, this is nothing surprising bcos God (being God) can see and hear out every kind of thoughts even if you speak gibberish or make no noise at all.

So there is absolutely no reason why God cannot understand you or your thoughts. You do realize groaning makes no intelligible words yet how is it God understands you?


With that being said, interpretation of speaking in tongues cannot come from our human mind but of God's Spirit and in most cases, it's never more than 1 person interpreting. Those who have the gift of interpreting will know what is said by the Holy Spirit. Is this something new? Definitely not.

In times of the OT, there are instances of God's chosen prophet interpreting dreams or vision, the underlying principle is the same...How is it that person would know what a dream or vision mean UNLESS God is the one who reveals it by the Spirit? Same principle in interpreting tongue.

Rest is your default position

Matthew 11:28 (NIV) - "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Time and time again, our Lord Jesus tells us to come to Him, those who are weary burdened, Jesus Christ can give divine rest, that this world crave for.
Many people in this world, try many things to de-stress and try to be relax by doing things like Yoga, or go to secluded isolated places for peace of mind, some will even try meditation. But those are only temporal, when you're back to work or school, you're back to the challenges in life.

Dear Friends...We can have access to our God anytime, meaning you can have access to rest anytime. If you think about the verse above...if you are not weary and burdened, that means you ARE in the position of rest in God. If you see this with revelation, you will begin to understand God constantly want you to be in the position of rest 24/7. Think about both side of the main text verse, in time or weary/burdened vs in time of not being in weariness or burdened. Either way God wants us to be lead to the position of rest, yes?

God also said not to be worried with seeking after money, clothing or food because God promised to provide. Again our Lord Jesus use the word.."Do not worry..."

With that being said; I want to bring to you, the matter of Salvation. Since in every aspect of our Life, God wants us to be at rest, why should Salvation be any different? There are preachers who try to make you worry about Salvation, saying things like you'll never know if you make it to heaven even as a believer. (Such preaching is never from God but the devil..God's dispensation always lead to faith, while the devil's always lead to doubt)

Dear friends....the basis of being restful that Salvation is yours... Has not Christ been resurrected? See and understand that If the matter of sin has not been dealt with, how can Christ be resurrected? If sin is still stronger and prevalent, why should Christ be resurrected by God the Father? If you can began to understand, you cannot keep away, neither wash away your sins by your performance...if you understand this critical key importance....

I leave this to your spirit.

God bless.


This post has been edited by unknown warrior: Nov 5 2018, 09:48 AM

This post has been edited by unknown warrior: Nov 5 2018, 04:21 PM

What is bathing, what is washing the feet? Part 1

John 13:10 (NIV) - Jesus answered, "Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you."

Dear Friends;

Is Jesus really talking about bathing per say? In this same verse, our Lord mentioned this phrase......."And you are clean, though not every one of you" referring to Judas.
I submit to you, our Lord is not talking about the conventional bathing but referring to the matter of clean and unclean (sin) and this has to do with Salvation.

The key note which I believe we may have missed understanding is the phrase..."Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean".
You don't bath over and over again, meaning it is only once that you bath. I'll come straight to the point...this bathing is in reference to Christ's blood washing away our sin.
In Hebrews 10:10 we are made to understand that Christ' blood has made us Holy once and for all.

Then there's

Hebrews 7:27
Unlike the other high priests, He does not need to offer daily sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people; He sacrificed for sin once for all when He offered up Himself.

Hebrews 9:28
so also Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await Him.

Note on the word "Once and for all". It means only once. If indeed, we need to be save over and over again (meaning keep on bathing) then the word 'once and for all make no sense and is contradictory to be stated.

Dear Friends...based on Scripture, Salvation is eternal, we cannot lose it as long as we understand who bears the Salvation. Many a time, theology or preaching that points the work of Salvation to ourselves of what we must do or perform is never of God. What is under the dispensation of God is always of faith and never of doubt.

I hope this devotion will encourage you so that you know you have a God who will never let you go and has assured you of Salvation

God Bless.

This post has been edited by unknown warrior: Nov 7 2018, 11:42 AM

I want to ask about the imagery of sheeps and goats. The sheep is obvious so we won't discuss that. Are the goats Christians who failed to prove themselves and therefore are pretenders, or do they represent unbelievers in general? I've heard the argument was that it's the sorting of proclaimed Christians because goats and sheeps look alike from afar.

Such a coincidence, was just explaining to another brethren about the nature of sheep 🐑 & goat 🐐 in Christianity.

What is bathing, what is washing the feet? Part 2

Ephesians 5:26 (ESV) - that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,

Dear Friends, today we're continuing to part 2 of this series.

In Part 1, it is understood that you're bath only once in the blood of Christ as how our Lord has mentioned in John 13:10, coupled with Hebrews 7:27, Hebrews 9:28 & Hebrews 10:10.

Then what is washing the feet referring to? If we look back in John 13:10, our Lord Jesus mentioned this phrase.."Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet..."
meaning you don't bath over and over again, you just wash the feet and the phrase to wash here is in the aorist infinitive meaning it's a constant future action..to keep doing it over and over again. And our Lord Jesus also said we are to wash one another's feet. (John 13:14)

It's nice to have one's feet washed isn't it? You feel clean wherever you walk.

But what is the significance of washing one's feet? Is it really about washing the feet or something else? The law of interpreting scripture is to allow bible interpret bible. After all, our Lord Jesus did say....Peter would not understand it then but would later so this means the revelation will be given at a later time.

And this is found in the main text of today's devotion. The washing of one's feet has to do with washing by the word of God. Why? The Blood of Christ (AND ONLY THE BLOOD!) washes away sin. The word of God washes us and sanctify us to have a clear conscious toward's God. In other words, by God's word, (when we read, receive, believing God's word) it draws us nearer to God, it empowers us to believe , it also cleanse our conscious not to have guilt or condemnation. When you hold fast to your new inherited position of being cleaned, you don't need to force or conjure up faith, it comes naturally.

Dear Friends..be reminded the finished work of Jesus Christ that has won the victory over death, over sin and the grace given to you in your imperfect character.

God Bless

Salvation is by Faith alone

It's sad to see that today, there are still many professing Christians who do not know the gospel, or are unclear about it.

I would like to invite all Christians, no matter what your denomination is, and even if you are Roman Catholic or non believer, to forget all our differences, and come to examine the scripture, on God's word to see what is the gospel, or how to be right with God, or how are we justified by God.

I'm going to propose that the gospel of by Grace, through faith in Christ is proclaimed even in the old testament. Most of us can agree the grace and Christ part, but we might differ on the means of the gospel, which is by faith alone.

I believe the whole story of Israel shows that salvation can only be by faith alone.

Let's start from the begining.

After God brought the Israelites out of Egypt, He gave them the Mosaic covenant (through Moses). Many people only think of the 10 commandments, but in fact, there are 613 laws in the 5 books of Moses.

Did God think they could ever keep the laws on their own strength?

Of course not. God knew they were going to turn around and break all His laws. In Deuteronomy 31, God called Moses and Joshua into the tabernacle and told them to write down a song that will be a witness to the the offsprings of Israel, to show them how evil their forefathers were:



Now why would God give them a covenant He knew that they were not able to keep? Perhaps to point them to a better covenant? and to show us that there's nothing you can do to earn salvation?

Just want to point out here in the song of Moses, a glimpse of the gospel that it would be open to the gentiles:



We know from the rest of Old Testament, Israel indeed worshipped other idols and played harlotory with neighbouring nations. The prophets came with indictment after indictment. They did all the ceramonial, sacrificial things but their heart was far away from God.



God eventually brought destruction to them as promised.

But that is not the end of the story. God promised another covenant, a saving covenant; The mosaic law could not save!


The new covenant is the regeneration from within, the heart. Salvation is never of external. You cannot save yourself by doing anything. It is only when the Spirit regenerates you from within.

Ezekiel repeats the new covenant:

God causes the believer to believe in Him. The new covenant is of the heart, not of anything you do.

Paul in book of Romans and Galatians repeats and expands the new covenant basis.


The judaizers were going around the Galatian church and preaching it is not enough to believe in Jesus and His death, they were telling them they need to be circumsized, obey the law to be saved.

The heart of the matter of salvation is always the matter of the heart! You can do everything, good works, take communion, philantrophy, donating money to the poor, but still be evil in your heart. That is the whole point of the gospel.

Jesus in Matthew 5 (sermon on the mount) expanded the understanding of the law, taking the 10 commandments:


They thought that obeying the commandments is good enough to get them saved, but deep inside they were all evil.

And I think most people missed this point when the read this book. Do you think you can effect your salvation by yourself?
Maybe give yourself a good pat in the back for believing in the gospel?

No, the bible is clear on this. Only the Spirit can cause you to believe.

The Spirit comes and regenerate the believer to believe. Can you do anything to keep yourself being saved? Is what Paul is saying here.

I leave this with you to think about. Cheers.

Thanks. What a good read perfectly align in time

Great post ThomasThai, but that's the longest extended version and the shortest version has to this, on the subject most people missed this point, is complete & full understanding of the Greatest Commandment and the 2nd most important commandment, upon which the entire Law of Moses & the prophets teachings depends upon.

However I must warn all my dear brethren of my Lord, be exceptionally cautious when one speaks of performance, works etc of others, for that works or performance could very well be the works of the Spirit in those born again.

We would not err especially on those who are not born again but we risk too much if it's otherwise.

I've always love ❤️ miracles not only what God has done for me but also the miracles that our God has done for countless others and I can only give praise our Heavenly Father for such good works and performance that can never be achieve by man nor science. How great is our God !

I'd appreciate the warning ⚠️ notices for our brethren but remember the blade always cuts both ways. God Bless.

It's call fruits of the Holy Spirit, not really works. Fruits is result of God, never something we try to conjure up or exert in our attempts. It is effortless.

And you cannot gain the HS by works of the Law either

Galatians 3:2 (NIV) - I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard?

God has made it simple..it's by believing. The believing on our part will allow the HS to transform us from inside out but the key ingredient in the believer's life (for change) is always on faith.

Here is the supporting verses:



Look at verse 5 especially and take note of verse 10.


ps: the entire law of moses and prophets all hangs on the command to love one another, that is the New Covenant Law..if you want to use the phrase law. When the believer walk in love..there is no law so to speak....

This post has been edited by unknown warrior: Nov 10 2018, 10:00 AM

Yes you are correct those are called the fruits of the Holy Spirit, but for me, it's more than that because Scriptures also says when the Son of Man sets one free, one is totally & really free, it's like I was ”blind” and now I can see !

That's a very good question indeed receiving the Spirit either by works of the Law OR by believing whats heard.

Here's what what happened, those 2 conditions must be fulfilled before one is eligible to God to be born of the Spirit, for they are definately not mutually exclusive of each other.

If I could born of the Spirit by believing in what I heard, I would have been born again a very long time ago but that wasn't the case. Many R. Catholics would have been born again too under such circumstances. Otherwise why does Scriptures says "Why do you call me Lord, Lord but don't DO what I tell you ?" Surely they too must have heard the Word and believed for they too did DO miracles in the Lord's name.

You are probably going to ask what about the Good Thief ? I too had question this for a very long time and this came to me, it's all about repentance at that crucial point in time, between life & the afterlife. The Good Thief probably heard Him for the 1st time & he repented, so he is in paradise.

As for us, we have heard the Word and now we have a choice of doing what's called good works or otherwise.

As for works of the Law on the other hand, firstly its where man is tested like how gold is tested in fire. Correct this initial part is of human effort against the statutes of our Lord, the real standards, yet it means nothing until one has completed all of the training, just to be like our Master and Teacher Jesus Christ.

Afterwhich being born of the Spirit is by the grace of God, works or performance is simply mariculous, until today I have no explanations for nor do I need to know how it came to be. I can only give praise to our loving God otherwise I will be pulling all my hair out looking for a logical answer.

All of Scriptures speaks of the goodness of our Almighty God, the things He had done and is still doing for His people. I strongly believe if by hearing the message was only needed for Salvation without any good works whatsoever, then Scriptures would be extremely short indeed.

Finally having said that, out of all my extensive limited experience, if our loving Father wishes to grant salvation to those who only believes without doing any good works whatsoever ALTHOUGH THEY ARE CAPABLE OF SUCH GOOD WORKS, is there anything else I would dare add ?

After all, that's His Kingdom and He can do just about whatever He is pleased with and I would be a fool to show my displeasure.

You have asked one of the most important question about the christian life here. Who lives our Christian lives?

I'll prepare my answer for that when I get some time.

For me If scripture calls it Fruits then it's fruits, never works. THe problem arise when we put our thoughts into scripture thinking we can enhance it's meaning when it's never the vase. Verse 5 of Galatians 3 tells us clearly..even the miracles of the HS comes by simply believing. Go read it, if you don't believe me.

Galatians 3:5 (NIV) - So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?

I've underlined it. So how can you say, both are involved when scripture says otherwise?

When God sets us free, the origin power is from God. With that being said; God's working in your life is of God and comes effortless by grace through your faith. Hence the origin of good works is never from you and cannot be said it is 'you" who must produce good works. The power does not originate from you.

What I'm trying to say is, it is a grace gift. You don't demand something that doesn't originate from you.

I don't know if you can understand this.

This post has been edited by unknown warrior: Nov 11 2018, 01:05 PM

Oh yes Unknown Warrior, I understand you clearly. In fact if one were to analyze the Gospel properly, it's peppered throughout the Gospel with the word 'believe', which is the contentious issue at hand.

As I was writing the earlier reply, I was thinking how to address the word believe. During this weekend Mass, the reading about Elijah and the widow & her son plus another Gospel reading about the widow who put in 2 coins into the treasury, really hit a raw nerve when compared against what our Lord Jesus Christ is saying explicitly "Unless you people see signs & wonders, you will never believe."

I also know that there are many ways to Rome but at the end of the day it's all about one's need in seeking the heart of God first, until one is born again, which is all that matters.

Whether it's believing only or by works only or by both especially in my situation, does it really matter, as long one is born of the Spirit ?

This is exactly why Paul wrote the book of Galatians:

A works gospel is not the gospel of Christ, it is an assault on Christ, His work, His death on the cross. To say that you can be saved by your own works is to say Christ died in vain on the cross

You are basically saying it doesn't matter what God says is true.

You need to understand the seriousness of this matter, friend.

Hi Thomasthai, is the above reply intended for me or is it someone else ?

This post has been edited by Roman Catholic: Nov 11 2018, 08:29 PM

Salvation is by faith alone (part 2)

To further understand why is salvation by faith alone, we need to dig deeper in Galatians 3. The Abrahamic covenant is a covenant of faith, but the Mosaic covenant is a covenant of works.



Paul forseeing that the judaizers will argue that the Mosaic covenant has superseeded the Abrahamic covenant, plucked a verse from Habbakuk 2:4 "the righteous man shall live by faith ."

Habbakuk lived hundreds of years after Moses. So Paul is making his point that salvation was by faith before AND after Moses. God had never changed the means of salvation.

The Mosaic covenant ended at the death of Christ, for Christ had come to fulfil all the law, and the covenant of faith of Abraham has been ratified (penalty for sin has been paid), and is a standing covenant. We are under the Abrahamic covenant of faith.

Salavation is still by faith alone!

This post has been edited by thomasthai: Nov 11 2018, 09:06 PM

Now to answer this, we can still look at Galatians for the answer.

The Galatians were trying to sanctify their lives by obeying the law:


Since your salvation was initiated by the Spirit, are you trying to sanctify by your flesh? Answer of course is a rhetorical no!

So what was the solution Paul gave them? How do we live our Christian lives?

Jump to chapter 5:


And if you walk in the Spirit, you will produce fruits:


Walk in the Spirit and let the Spirit lead you!

But how do we walk in the Spirit?

Let's see if we can get a clue from other books.

Paul told the Ephesians:


To the Romas:


To the Colossians:


Put all together:
Walk in the Spirit = be filled with the Spirit = put on Christ = let the word of Christ dwell in you

Jesus prayed to the Father in John 17:17


We are sanctified by God's word!

The scripture is also for us to equip us for every good work:

because it is inspired by the Holy Spirit. Only the Spirit can guide you by His words in everything that you do.

That is the missing piece between legalism and antinomianism.



We are not saved by good works, we are saved for good works!

Ok very sleepy edi, dunno if i make any sense now, good night

This post has been edited by thomasthai: Nov 11 2018, 09:36 PM