Just what are we to overcome?

[skyblue888]

Note these words with care:

"In Christ the cry of humanity reached the Father of infinite pity. AS A MAN He supplicated the throne of God till His humanity was charged with a heavenly current that should connect humanity with divinity. Through continual communion He received life from God, that He might impart life to the world. HIS EXPERIENCE IS TO BE OURS." Desire of Ages,363.

"Divine power and the human agency combined will be a complete success for Christ's righteousness accomplishes everything." F.W.27.

"With divinity and humanity combined you can accomplish a work as enduring as eternity." ibid.

To supplicate the throne of God, pleading the merits of Jesus, that we may be filled with all the fullness of God is called "spititual violence."

"The kingdom of God suffers violence and the violent take it be force." Matt.11:12.

"The kingdom of God is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." Rom.14:17.

Will we take it by force as did Jacob and as did Jesus?

Will we take advantage of this opportunity while probation lasts?

That is the question.

sky

[Gerr]

"You are complete in Him."

To be complete in Him means that we are clothed with the robe of Christ's righteousness. And what does it mean to be clothed with His robe of righteousness?

"By His perfect obedience (righteousness), He has made it possible for every human being to obey God's commandments. When we submit ourselves to Christ, he heart is united with His heart, the will is merged in His will, the mind becomes one with His mind, the thoughts are brought into captvity to Him; we live His life. THIS IS WHAT IT MEANS TO BE CLOTHED WITH THE GARMENT OF HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS. Then as the Lord looks upon us, He sees, not the fig-leaf garment, not the nakedness and deformity of sin, but His own robe of righteousness, which is perfect obedience to the law of Jehovah." C.O.L.312.

sky

Living His life means we are imitating/copying His life, trying to reproduce it in our own life.

[skyblue888]

Gerry, I do not believe that we can try reproduce it in our own life. All those who have tried have failed.

"In the work of God humanity can originate nothing." EGW

"Christ's righteousness accomplishes everything." EGW

"Man's part is to lay hold by faith of the merits of Christ." EGW

This is our life business. See T.M.93.

Then His righteousness becomes ours and it is made manifest in the life in obedience to the commandments of God. See T.M.92.

This is the only way we can attain to righteousness: bring to God the merits of Christ. See F.W.101.

Of course if we fall, we have an Advocate at the right hand of God who is faithful to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But the goal is to cease from sin.

"We shall feel that as sinners we must lay hold of the merits of Christ and cease from sin." 1 S.M.312.

sky

[skyblue888]

It is Christ through the Spirit who is to work in us both to will and to do. (Phil.2;13)

Both to will and to do!

"Unless he makes it his life business to behold the uplifted Savior and to accept the merits which it is his privilege to claim, the sinner can no more be saved (form a Christian character) than Peter could walk upon the water unless he kept his eyes fixed steadily upon Jesus." T.M.93.

sky

[Aliensanctuary]

Quote:

For the love of self is the root of all evil.

[skyblue888]

"Bible sanctification is to know the requirements of God and to obey them. There is a pure and holy Heaven in store for those who keep God's commandments. It is worth lifelong, persevering, untiring effort. Satan is on your right hand and on your left; he is before and behind; he has a dish of fables cooked up for every soul who is not cherishing the truth as it is in Jesus. The destroyer is upon you to palsy your every effort. But there is a crown of life to be won, a life that measures with the life of God." EGW B.C. Vol.5,1147.

"The truth as it is in Jesus is obedience to every precept of Jehovah. It is heart work." Ibid.

"For from the heart man believeth unto righteousness." Rom.10:10.

When a man believes from the heart that the merits of Christ's infinite sacrifice are sufficient to plead before the Father in his behalf in order to receive pardon and peace and the grace of the Holy Spirit to enable him to know and to obey God's requirements, He believes unto righteousness. He becomes one with Christ as Christ is one with the Father and Christ's righteousness fills up the measure of the law's demands.

This union he maintains by daily applying to the merits of a crucified and risen Saviour and thus he is made a vessel fit for the Master's use. See F.W.87.

The Lord has long been waiting for His professed people to come into that sacred union with Him so that He may finish the work upon the earth and cut it short in righteousness. (Rom.9:28)

How much longer will He have to wait?

sky

[skyblue888]

We have the Word of God that it will not fail, for has He not said, "For He will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness, because a short work will the Lord make in the earth." Rom.9:28.

But against that Word is the awful witness of sight and circumstances, the most formidable of which is the memory that never in history has Satan failed to bring to an early end every great revival and reformation which the Lord has instituted.

Never has this been because of any failure on the part of the Lord, but ever and always because of the unwillingness of the children of God to go all the way and finish the work so well begun. Always they have come short of the noble work, which coming short has given to the devil the opportunity he seeks, to turn the tide and kill the revival. Had the will of the Lord been fulfilled, then the work would have been finished long ere this and the people of God would now be in the Kingdom. Instead we are still here in this world of sin and sorrow.

When Israel entered the land of Canaan long ago, it was the plan of God that they should be a righteous people who would develop and spread until the whole world was filled with the presence of the Lord and the devil driven out. They began so well, but they left little pockets of evil here and there which grew in power until they were driven out instead. Judges 1:27-36.

In David's time, another day of opportunity was given them, Hebrews 4:7, but again they failed the Lord. Again the devil succeeded in bringing the good work to none effect. In Daniel 9:24-27, the Lord appointed them 490 years in which to "finish transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness and to seal up the vision and the prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy (Jesus)."

The making of an end of sins can only be accomplished when on the one hand it has been forever brought to its end in the lives of the people of God, and, on the other, when all sin and sinners have been destroyed. When such a work is done then the defeat of the devil is final and absolute and the kingdom of God is forever established. That it was God's plan that this should be accomplished for and through Israel within the compass of those 490 years is clear from the text before us, and that the devil succeeded in preventing that which the Lord had planned is equally clear from the testimony of history.

Then came the apostolic church. If ever there was a church invested with the power to finish the work it was that one. Led by men who had personally walked and talked with the Saviour and who had witnessed His life and sacrifice, bound together by the cords of a wonderful and heavenly love, filled with the Spirit and mighty on the Scriptures, they seemed filled with the certainty of carrying the work through to its completion.

Neither were they unaware of the peril of failure for Paul reminded them of the generations which had gone before in which the day of opportunity had passed and then called upon them in this earnest entreaty, "Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering His rest, any of us should seem to have come short of it." Heb.4:1.

Come short of it they did, so that once more the work of God failed and the devil triumphed.

But never could the devil wholly triumph although the slender thread of truth became so fine at times as to seem to disappear altogether. But, living and unquenchable, it rose again strong and vigorous to make another effort to finish the work. Came in 1844 another effort and the now familiar pattern of failure and defeat for the forces of the Lord.

We are familiar with the many statements which state that if the people of God had been faithful, then long ere this the work would have been finished and they would have as surely been in the kingdom but it was not so. See Evangelism,695-6; The Great Controversy,457-8; Desire of Ages,633-4.

Then, in 1888, came another day of opportunity of entering into the promised land in the mighty message of the offer of the righteousness of Christ by the faith that lays right hold upon His all-sufficient merits.

Once again the stage was set for the speedy finishing of the work and once again "Satan succeeded in shutting away from our people in a great measure the special power of the Holy Spirit that God longed to impart to them. The enemy prevented them from obtaining that efficiency which might have been theirs in carrying the truth to the world, as the apostles proclaimed it after the day of Pentecost." Selected Messages, Vol.1,234-5.

So it will be that the enemy of souls will enter the final conflict with a record of unbroken though not complete success behind him. This will give him the courage to hope he can do it again, and the confidence to believe he can do it again, so thouroughly and successfully this time that he might succeed where he has always failed before, in wiping the truth of God off the earth, "If he could blot them from the earth his triumph would be complete," G.C.618, he would gain that which has always so narrowly eluded him.

sky

[JoeMo]

This thread shares so much with several of the threads that have been posted in Theological Townhall and other forums on this site. They boil down to "Are we saved by grace or by our works (the Law)"? As in the other threads, I don't think there are enough scriptural or EGW quotes, strung together with the best iron-clad logic humanity can produce to win the debate. Only a personal encounter with the Holy Spirit and personally experiencing grace (unmerited favor) and supernatural power will empower us to gain victory over sin.

Look at what Hebrews 8:7-13 says:

"7 For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. 8 But God found fault with the people and said:

“The days are coming, declares the Lord,

when I will make a new covenant

with the people of Israel

and with the people of Judah.

9 It will not be like the covenant

I made with their ancestors

when I took them by the hand

to lead them out of Egypt,

because they did not remain faithful to my covenant,

and I turned away from them,

declares the Lord.

10 This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel

after that time, declares the Lord.

I will put my laws in their minds

and write them on their hearts.

I will be their God,

and they will be my people.

11 No longer will they teach their neighbor,

or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’

because they will all know me,

from the least of them to the greatest.

12 For I will forgive their wickedness

and will remember their sins no more. ”

13 By calling this covenant “new,” he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.

(There I go now, quoting scripute to prove my point after I said it would never work ... I hate it when I do that!)

The Bible is divided into Old and New Testement (which means "Covenant") for a reason - the Old Covenant of law was replaced by the New Covenant of grace! God did not change - the circumstances had changed. Before Christ's death, there had been no "perfect sacrifice" offered once and for all as a propitiation for sin. The entire Book of Hebrews is about Jesus being that perfect sacrifice offered once and for all for the remission of sin. We are now covered by His grace. His Commandments are now enablings - fringe benefits available to the members of the Family - rather than barriers to salvation. When we say grace is in any way contingent upon our works, it ceases to be grace. It becomes works. It's either all grace or all works. Try to mix the two and you may be lukewarm.

There's a lot of talk about "overcoming" in this thead (Small wonder - it's named Just what are we to overcome"!). Rev. 12:10-11 has the answer:

"10 And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death."

It is only by the blood of the Lamb that we overcome - not by our works. That is my testimony on which I am staking my eternal life (and I take that stake very seriously).

Jer. 17:5-6 says:

"5 This is what the Lord says:

“Cursed is the one who trusts in man,

who draws strength from mere flesh

and whose heart turns away from the Lord.

6 That person will be like a bush in the wastelands;

they will not see prosperity when it comes.

They will dwell in the parched places of the desert,

in a salt land where no one lives."

Could one of the men that the "cursed" trust in be themselves? Could the "mere flesh" from whom "the cursed" draw stength be themselves?

Jeremiah goes on to say in verses 7 and 8:

7 “But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord,

whose confidence is in him.

8 They will be like a tree planted by the water

that sends out its roots by the stream.

It does not fear when heat comes;

its leaves are always green.

It has no worries in a year of drought

and never fails to bear fruit.”

When we trust in the Lord, we become strong and resilient. Does this make any sense?

[Robert]

To be complete in Him means that we are clothed with the robe of Christ's righteousness.

No, not necessarily. The truth as it is "in Christ" is what Christ did in your humanity 2000 years ago.

[Robert]

Originally Posted By: skyblue888

To be complete in Him means that we are clothed with the robe of Christ's righteousness.

No, not necessarily. The truth as it is "in Christ" is what Christ did in your humanity 2000 years ago.

It's the gospel....Yes, we are clothed in Christ's righteousness, but that doesn't mean we are living His life. His life was one of no self-interests - none!

[skyblue888]

Either we believe the words of inspiration or we choose not to. Which shall it be?

"By His perfect obedience He has made it possible for every human being to obey God's commandments. When we submit ourselves to Christ, he heart is united with His heart, the will is merged in His will, the mind becomes one with His mind, the thoughts are brought into captvity to Him; we live His life. THIS IS WHAT IT MEANS TO BE CLOTHED WITH THE GARMENT OF HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS. Then as the Lord looks upon us, He sees, not the fig-leaf garment, not the nakedness and deformity of sin, but His own robe of righteousness, which is perfect obedience to the law of Jehovah." C.O.L.312.

As to living a selfless life as Jesus did, we read,

"Nothing can take the place of simple faith and entire renunciation of self. But no man can empty himself of self. We can only CONSENT for Christ to accomplish the work." C.O.L.159.

This shows that the dying to self is the work of God and "In the work of God humanity can originate nothing." C.O.L.418.

But if we consent, Christ will accomplish the work. Then there is no reason why any of us should not be able to live His life.

"Jesus revealed no qualities, and exercised no powers, that men may not have through faith in Him. HIS PERFECT HUMANITY is that which all His followers may possess, if they will be in subjection to God as He was." D.A.664.

We are in subjection to God when we believe from the heart that the MERITS of Christ's infinite sacrifice are SUFFICIENT to plead before Him in our behalf. Then we are fortified. The angels of God are around us as a wall of fire, the righteousness of Christ goes before us and the glory of God is our rearward. We become God's fortress which He holds in a revolted world and as we are kept by the heavenly agencies, we become impregnable to the assaults of Satan for Christ intends that no authority shall be known in the soul that is yielded to Him than His own. See D.A.324,414.

This is the ideal, the high standard that God Himself, in His Word, has placed before us. The ending of the great controversy hinges upon accomplishing this work in and through you and me.

This illustrious group of people through whom the Lord will accomplish this the Bible identifies as the 144,000.

sky

[Gerr]

"You are complete in Him."

To be complete in Him means that we are clothed with the robe of Christ's righteousness. And what does it mean to be clothed with His robe of righteousness?

"By His perfect obedience (righteousness), He has made it possible for every human being to obey God's commandments. When we submit ourselves to Christ, he heart is united with His heart, the will is merged in His will, the mind becomes one with His mind, the thoughts are brought into captvity to Him; we live His life. THIS IS WHAT IT MEANS TO BE CLOTHED WITH THE GARMENT OF HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS. Then as the Lord looks upon us, He sees, not the fig-leaf garment, not the nakedness and deformity of sin, but His own robe of righteousness, which is perfect obedience to the law of Jehovah." C.O.L.312.

sky

Indeed!!! Since MY obedience can never reach the perfection of Christ, it is HIS perfect obedience PUT INTO MY account as MY SUBSTITUTE that makes it possible for me to meet the requirements of the law. Live His life by copying Him? YES! But a copy will always be a copy and never as good as the original.

[Gibs]

We are to overcome what christ overcame and where Adam failed. He came to give us His power to do just that and we can, we have no excuse. He took no power but what is ours to overcome as He did. Don't belittle it, to do so is to deny him.

The quote Sky posted above is right on. You put on His righteousness when you take the proffered Divine Nature and our will and love embeded in His and we become one in purpose and desire and all.

Too many are short changing themselves on this. We must be overcomers on our behalf, we work and He works with us making us more than conquerors. We just do not have any excuse whatsoever.

What are we to overcome? Simple, what Christ did, sin, evil Satan, his angels and the world and self and pride.

Do it we must and we can! He in you is your hope of Glory!

1Jo 4:4 ¶ Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

[JoeMo]

If it had been possible for any son/daughter of Adam ever born to lead a perfectly sinless life, Christ would not have needed to die. That would have been enough evidence that man COULD do it on his own. No one ever could; no one can now, and no one will ever be able to do it until the destruction of Satan, death, and the grave in the lake of fire; until we are changed in the twinkling of an eye.

[skyblue888]

"In Him was found the perfect ideal. To reveal this ideal as the only true standard for attainment, to show what every human being might become, through the indwelling of humanity by divinity, all who received Him would become--for this, Christ came to the world." Education,73-4.

[skyblue888]

This is taught in the Scriptures. Ellen did not invent anything. The Lord spoke through her to bring us back to the Scriptures.

2 Peter 1:4; Eph.3:14-19; Col.2:9,10; Phil.2:13; John 17 etc etc

sky

[Gibs]

JoeMoe,

It is not impossible for us. He never asked any to do anything but what He enables us to do. He in you is His enabling power. Man with this help must be an overcomer in this life now. Don't let no man deceice you. To deny this is to deny Him.

Either you WILL to, or you WILL not to. You can. Can't never did anything.

Ro 6:1 ¶ What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

Ro 6:2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

Ro 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

Ro 6:7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.

Joh 5:14 Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee.

1Jo 4:4 ¶ Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

[skyblue888]

Yes our will must be on the side of God's will. Our will must be merged in His will and then it becomes omnipotent.

"As the will of man co-operates with the will of God, it becomes omnipotent." C.O.L.333.

"Through co-operation with Christ they are complete in Him, and in their human weakness they are enabled to do the deeds of omnipotence." D.A.827 (sentence before the last parg)

Think of it this way. God's will is omnipotent but He will not force it upon anyone. His will is expressed in the law of ten precepts. That law of ten commandments is the voice of God speaking to the soul in promise.

Through the merits of Christ's infinite sacrifice God has made known to us the mystery of His will. "He speaks and it is done. He commands and it stands fast." Psalm 33:6,9.

Redemption is creation all over again.

Speaking of the ten commandments, the law of God's mouth, not merely written with ink or engraved on stones, but spoken, Ellen writes, "There is in them power to bring into subjection and to enforce obedience." Test. Vol.1,361.

Trusting in the merits of Christ's sacrifice for our acceptance with God, He opens our ears that we may hear His law as the learned that our will, united with His will, may become omnipotent in the battle with evil and that we may be transformed in character till we reflect Christ fully.

Then the end will come.

sky

[skyblue888]

As we have seen on a different thread, the very reason why the Lord has permitted the great controversy to go on all these years is so that the real character of Satan will stand revealed. We have studied how this will be done, and have seen that it will be accomplished by the living in fallen humanity, the perfect righteousness of the law of God by a remnant of people in these last days, as it was by Jesus in the same fallen humanity in His day.

Then, in the face of this unimpeachable and inconquerable righteousness, the evil one will be forced to so reveal himself as to lose even the support of those nearest and dearest to him. Already, as we have seen, that purpose of the great controversy has been achieved for the unfallen beings of heaven and the other worlds, but it has not yet been accomplished for mankind.

But accomplished, it must be. If there is one thing we have to understand, it is that the Lord is never going to bring the great controversy to an end until the purpose for which it was allowed to go on is fully and finally accomplished.

Until that objective is reached, even though it should take another thousand years, which let us praise the Lord it will not, as the sure word of prophecy assures us, the controversy must and will go on. When, on only when, the objectives have been reached will it come at last to its end.

Until that time, the great multitude will remain in their dusty beds awaiting the final victory and the full revealing to men of the true character and work of Satan to the point where even his followers will withdraw all support from him. This is to be accomplished by the full and complete dedication of a remnant by the power and leadership of Christ. These will be, as it were, the key in the hand of Christ to unlock the prison house and set the prisoners free.

In other words, until they have come to full fruition, then the rest of the harvest cannot be reaped. This is to say that those of us who have professed to be the children of the Lord but have failed to come to the full stature of men and women in Christ Jesus, even though He has provided all the means necessary, are preventing the early harvest of that great multitude which await in their graves the rerurrection morning.

sky

[JoeMo]

Honestly Gibs,

Have you ever met anyone in your life who has consistently met the standard of "sinlessness" (even for a few days)? I haven't; and I know some REAL GOOD Adventists (and non-Adventists). All of them have their moments (some more than others) that appear anything but sinless to me. I don't know - I judge people's behavior from the outside; and God judges it from the heart. Book learning about perfection is one thing; but if I can never see it (outside of the life of Jesus), I have a hard time believing it is possible; and don't know what it should like like in this day and age.

People talk about "Jesus not having any power available to Him that is not available to us". I have to disagree - He had at least one thing - and that is the full indwelling of the Holy Spirit from conception. Furthermore, I have something Christ didn't ever have - and that is a colorful and "action-packed" history of sin that the enemy haunts me with frequently. Jesus might forgive our sins and cleanse us from unrighteousness; but I don't know anyone who, even though converted, isn't assailed by memory of sin. That memory can become a sore source of temptation in itself.

I know that EGW and Scripture speak of perfection; but I believe that the purpose of this is to show our our imperfection and bring us to the desperate conclusion that we CAN'T achieve that goal; and that we must totally trust in the grace (unmerited favor) freely extended by Christ through His death and resurrection.

I'm not saying that I'm right and your wrong. I am saying that I tried the "Law" route for 30 years; and it never worked for me. I've been of the "grace" train for 5 years now; and I feel a lot closer to God and a lot better about myself.

[JoeMo]

Sky,

One can really tell by your posts that you are a writer. Most of the time, I can't tell whether it's your own thoughts or a quote from Ellen White until I get to the bottom of the paragraph. (Meant as a compliment!)

Would you (or any others) be comfortable giving a brief testimony on this thread? I'm always interested in people's stories as well as their opinions. Mine is posted on "a Must for Every Christian" in the Theological Town Hall.

[Gibs]

JoeMoe,

You must forget about your past sins as when you came and got His forgiveness, your slate is clean. You may start a new beginning with His Divine nature.

It is not an all at once thing and it is a severe battle. We overcome one of our shortcomings at a time. With each one ovrecome we grow stronger, with each dabble back in sin we grow weaker. Read is of EGW carefully,

"There are very many who claim to serve God, but who have no experimental knowledge of Him. Their desire to do His will is based upon their own inclination, not upon the deep conviction of the Holy Spirit. Their conduct is not brought into harmony with the law of God. They profess to accept Christ as their Saviour, but they do not believe that He will give them power to overcome their sins. They have not a personal relation with a living Saviour, and their characters reveal defects both hereditary and cultivated. {COL 48.1}

It is one thing to assent in a general way to the agency of the Holy Spirit, and another thing to accept His work as a reprover calling to repentance. Many feel a sense of estrangement from God, a realization of their bondage to self and sin; they make efforts for reform; but they do not crucify self. They do not give themselves entirely into the hands of Christ, seeking for divine power to do His will. They are not willing to be molded after the divine similitude. In a general way they acknowledge their imperfections, but they do not give up their particular sins. With each wrong act the old selfish nature is gaining strength. {COL 48.2}

Really all who find His way of overcoming find it gratefully rewarding and not galling at all. All who do have found peace in Him, wonderful peace.

1Jo 4:4 ¶ Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

[JoeMo]

Thanks for the encouragement, Gibs; I would offer similar advice. I understand the concept of "the race" that Paul refers to in 1 Corinthians, Galatians, and Hebrews. I have a lot more stamina to keep running "the race", knowing that I have the grace and the power to become victorious over sin; and I know He is faithful and just to forgive my sins when do screw up; and then confess. I still think that attaining Christ's level of perfection is the ideal; but I don't lose my membership in the Family just because I fall short of the mark every once and a while (several times a day). If I honor my faith in and relationship with my Savior, and effectively use His grace, I have the power to overcome - sin by sin; but not by my force of will. I admit that I don't use that power all the time. To be honest, when I consider the fact that I am no longer a slave to sin (See Romans 6:5-7) - meaning that I must be sinning voluntarily - it makes me feel bad - not because I jepordized my salvation, but because I just denied my Savior and gave in (albeit momentarily) to the enemy. But I love Jesus all the more; because I know He has already forgiven me. It is solely by His grace and His covering robe of righteousness that I am saved.

Blessings,

JoeMo

[Gibs]

Well JoeMoe, one thing I learned many yrs. ago now is that His Way and the only way worth following is not popular with the world. But it is the only way there is any victory and true peace and there is no stress about it. He draws us to it and gives us all the power we need. We just need to have faith, He supplies it, the power and it will be found He does in abundance.

In overcoming we know we are His and the faith we had to receive the power is even strengthened when we do. It's just like every sin overcome we are stronger. We then are in that narrow upward way and we don't seek no more to go any other.

We Know we are Blessed and that He is our strength and stay and at the same time that impervious covering. We are under His Wings and safe.

What a wonderful Blessing it is.

1Jo 4:4 ¶ Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

[JoeMo]

Wow, Gibs;

That was an awesome post! I think I understand much better where you're coming from. If that's true, we are in much closer agreement than I previously thought. Thank you for that!

Be Blessed;

JoeMo