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Charity is not giving your old clothes to salvation army. Charity is "love thy neighbor as thyself." So if you buy yourself new clothes, is it charitable to give your old clothes, clothes you will no longer wear, to the poor? Not saying it is bad to give your clothes to the salvation army. Just don't think it is charible in the Biblical sense.
Charity is not having a wonderful feast with home-cooked food for your family in your comfortable dining room, and serving the homeless people canned spaghetti on folding chairs in a church basement?
Practicing hospitality in our home can't be done on the same scale of numbers as a soup kitchen, but perhaps it would mean more in the long run?
Blessings! Laurie Ann
-------------------- You & Me and Jesus. We are enough!
truelove
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Well how about this? the soup kitchen has it's place, or the rescue missions, or the shelters, or the rehab programs, etc. and they reach the masses, and they meet those needs; such as, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, housing the homeless, counseling and guiding the addicted and dysfunctional... but like Laurie Ann said, "practicing hospitality in our home perhaps would mean more in the long run"... I think in the homes is where we more likely meet the individual (the heart of the individual) vs. just a face or in those cases the mass of faces. Can you imagine how many individuals would be touched deeply if everyone had a mindset like what Laurie Ann proposed... I bet you there'd be less people ing the soup kitchens, rescue missions, shelters, rehab programs, etc. In the home we get personal.. we get real.. and that does speak more rather than to more. Quality vs. quanity.. truelove
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In our life, we have framed the word home with the word quest. We are on a quest for home until we die or until the return of our Lord. Until then, we are foreigners and pilgrimms through out all of the earth. When it comes to 1Cor13, the many versions of the bible use the word love or charity. Are they the same? Are there limits to the love we are called to live with and to practice? "God is love." "Love your enemy." Do not love with your tongue and words but with action and with truth." When it comes to love and/or charity, there seems to be no limit to our calling, other than the measure of Christ that we are each given to live with and to the fellowship we belong to. If this fellowship is healthy by the presence of the Spirit, then there is no limit because God Himself is the one ordaining all matters of circumstances. It all becomes a matter of living by the words that come directly from out of His mouth to our hearts and spirits and followed up with faithful obediance. When I say "directly from out of His mouth" I do mean it literaly. In that sense, the bible is there to confirm His voice, not to replace it. As long as the fellowship does not enter such experience of God's voice, then the limits are not even within the realm of the measure of Christ but in the perpetuated ignorance of His very reality within and amongst us, as He promises.
-------------------- ...all blessings be with us all... Benoit Couture
truelove
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Benoit wrote: When it comes to love and/or charity, there seems to be no limit to our calling, other than the measure of Christ that we are each given to live with and to the fellowship we belong to. If this fellowship is healthy by the presence of the Spirit, then there is no limit because God Himself is the one ordaining all matters of circumstances.
Truelove's response: I think when it comes to love and/or charity, there is no limit to our calling according to the measure of Christ in us.... the fellowship we belong to in Christ is the Body of Christ; the ekklesia; the believer's; past, present, and future.. there lies our fellowship and our love and charity does not have any dependence on Christ and the Body of Christ... It depends on Christ alone and the measure of Christ that we receive within us... the family that we have in the Body of Christ is part of the inheritance that we receive in Christ. the koinonia that we may experience with those in the Body of Christ is organic and flows freely in and out of our lives here on earth, as long as man doesn't put stips and rules and prerequisites to how we fellowship/koinonia.. It's there, unfortunately, it's been covered with substitutes and so we find a thread of those who truly worship in truth and Spirit.. "being" and walking in Him..allowing Him to flow freely from our lives.... etc. .
truelove
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I have an earthly home and I have a spiritual home. I personally have not framed the word home with quest. I guess for those who do not know Christ they may be on a quest for a home. I've been close to people who don't know the Lord and they often times are looking for something.. as I see them filling their lives with more money, more prestige, more toys, drugs, alchohol, and sex. But, maybe they really are looking for the satisfaction that comes from feeling that you have a place you can call home, and that place is not of this earth. Everything down here falls short. I believe it's because my home is in the heavenly places that I am able to be in a place of contentment with my earthly home and I no longer need to find a home. This home of wood is temporary, but it it significant, because it's where I am most of my days; teaching my children, cooking, making it a comfortable place for my husband to come to after a hard day at work. It's here in this earthly home where I am settled until the Lord takes me out of here. It's where I share the majority of my life with others and those who may come for coffee or dinner or an overnight stay. And it's out of this heavenly home (the head.. ie source) that my earthly home operates and it is one where the foundation is of cement, but the invisible foundation is of love and charity. Yes, there are those who are on a quest for a home, but that can really never be truly satisfied until a person comes to know Christ and is seated in the heavenly places.. the heavenly home. It can happen the minute a person comes to know Christ. I don't believe there is anymore quest after that. It's done. and we now are just waiting to leave this earthly body and domain.
posted
The way I understand what you said is that home is each one's "I am" being well established into the One great "I am". My personal maturity level is not stable and steady enough to be at home with who and what I am. My body and soul are still holding back too much of God's gift from my daily life. So my quest for home is the ongoing journey of growing and in that sense of going from death unto life in my body and soul, it will only end when Jesus returns or when I die. In the meantime, home is in the heavenlies as you pointed out, where my heart and spirit are complete, in our Lord's exulted position. As far as I understand, even Jesus had nowhere to call an established residence as His home on earth. Where warfare dominates, there is no home. We are on the front line of such warfare and it is fought at the speed of each impulse that comes and goes through out each and every fibre of spiritual materialisation from the heavenlies into my soul and body. In that sense, victory is home, so that being an overcoming practitioner of the one Faith is the only home experience available and I have yet to be such an overcomer. What a delightful rest it must be, to be as free as your simple witness of His presence demonstrates dear sister. I thank God for such graceful assurance and I praise Him for the materialisation of the one Faith in your life. May the state and the order of worship that you are given go on growing to fill all of the earth with the simplicity of such devotion to Christ-Jesus our Lord, Brother and soon, Husband of us all, whom are His...Thank You Father, and I pray for such simplicity to be restored in my soul and body, by the grace and truth of Your Being in my being and my Being in Your Being...thank You for starting to remove the scales that keep me blinded from Your glory and please, do shine on and forth Your glory, the one spoken of to You by Jesus in John 17 that maintains us in Your Oneness....amen to Your Yes in us all
-------------------- ...all blessings be with us all... Benoit Couture
truelove
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Benoit wrote: The way I understand what you said is that home is each one's "I am" being well established into the One great "I am". truelove's response: I honestly don't understand what you mean by this... my home is merged with the great I am.. but it's less merging and more that the great "I am" is the head, the source of and for our home and maybe in some way there is a merging as you call it.
Benoit wrote: My personal maturity level is not stable and steady enough to be at home with who and what I am. My body and soul are still holding back too much of God's gift from my daily life.
trueloves' response: I really appreciate your being so open and honest and if I understand what you are saying here, "I too, can not feel comfortable with who and what I am... that is apart from God". I'm sorry that you are not able to receive all of God's gifts for your daily life. I wonder if what God's gifts are for you each day is different from what you think they are or should be for you and maybe you truly are receiving God's gifts for you each day and don't realize it and it maybe just that it's too simple.. You talked about simplicity and gosh, I really think that lots of times simplicity is such a hard thing to obtain. I think learning to love, appreciate, and take hold of simplicity in our living in Christ can be a really difficult quest for people. I'm in prayer with you as you prayed in your post, Bless you dear brother. Truelove
So my quest for home is the ongoing journey of growing and in that sense of going from death unto life in my body and soul, it will only end when Jesus returns or when I die. In the meantime, home is in the heavenlies as you pointed out, where my heart and spirit are complete, in our Lord's exulted position. As far as I understand, even Jesus had nowhere to call an established residence as His home on earth. Where warfare dominates, there is no home. We are on the front line of such warfare and it is fought at the speed of each impulse that comes and goes through out each and every fibre of spiritual materialisation from the heavenlies into my soul and body. In that sense, victory is home, so that being an overcoming practitioner of the one Faith is the only home experience available and I have yet to be such an overcomer. What a delightful rest it must be, to be as free as your simple witness of His presence demonstrates dear sister. I thank God for such graceful assurance and I praise Him for the materialisation of the one Faith in your life. May the state and the order of worship that you are given go on growing to fill all of the earth with the simplicity of such devotion to Christ-Jesus our Lord, Brother and soon, Husband of us all, whom are His...Thank You Father, and I pray for such simplicity to be restored in my soul and body, by the grace and truth of Your Being in my being and my Being in Your Being...thank You for starting to remove the scales that keep me blinded from Your glory and please, do shine on and forth Your glory, the one spoken of to You by Jesus in John 17 that maintains us in Your
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truelove wrote: "I honestly don't understand what you mean by this... my home is merged with the great I am." What I mean here deals with the divine nature found in the name that God used to introduce Himself to Israel through Moses, which I am sure that you know of. The reasonbing comes from the affection we need to have focused on the invisible things, described by Paul. Our relationship with God is in the being. Abide in Me says He, and I will abide in you. This abide is the home I am speaking of. Whereas for the possibility that as you say: "...maybe you truly are receiving God's gifts for you each day and don't realize it and it maybe just that it's too simple." That could very well be the case and I certainly am going to pray and see this trough, as peace and joy depend on it. Thank you for taking the time to respond and may your life go on filling up with His presence and word in you...
-------------------- ...all blessings be with us all... Benoit Couture
truelove
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Dear Benoit 17: I understand now.. and I do of course understand "I AM".. and I do understand what it means to abide in Him, the great "I AM". Yes, that is my home.. I wasn't sure when you wrote 'i am' that you were referring to a selfish type of thinking, like.. "Me, Me, Me".. you know there's been this little tug of war going on with the "being" the church and sometimes things are written that aren't clear, so I didn't want to get it wrong With that said, Thank you.. for taking the time to make sure I understood what you were and weren't saying. I think that falls under, "one anothering"..wouldn't you say dear brother. Truelove
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Dear sister, as you've noticed, whenever I touch upon the topic of ME ME ME, I end up in agony to find the release from the wretched man that I am. The Lord allowed me 3 months of blits with Him when He first came to my rescue. After some "out of this world" experiences, He then took me for the apprenticeship of salvation's deployment in my daily life, the one where "the cross is the power of God for those who are BEING saved", which as far as I am concern, settles the matter how Being and Doing the Church come together as one by the glory of God being free to rule in our midst. Those 3 months of blits were 32 years ago and I have yet to settle where I read your witness coming from as an inview of the Calling. In that sense, yes it is Me Me Me, but for the sake of knowing how to keep the wretched man from distorting God's glory, such as what is flavored in your writings. truelove is a very bold and even daring name to take on and yet, you seem like fish in water with it. To me, that is the blits that I remember experiencing. It is as if I fell from grace to where I've become beyond His reach to recover me and I am there, constantly trying to get back in position for the free flow of His blessing through, yes, Me Me Me. The putting off the old man and putting on the new one is short circuited and each time I went to some church or another, I'd find myself confirming this again and again...and on, up to this day.
As I read back what I've just writen, I feel like all those who died in the desert, aside from Calleb and Joshua, who went on into the promised land.
So back to this 32 years grind I find myself in, the activation of eternal life from the cross as the power of God, cannot make sense if the heart and the spirit are not first given the heavenly seating in Christ, by God. The cross is that point of activation of eternal life from heaven, which is into our hearts and spirits and which flows into our soul and body, as we take on the yoke and that the Holy Spirit feeds the Faith with eternal life, as we get transformed by the renewing of our minds. The rest that we get from the yoke spoken of by Jesus, is specified to be for the soul. The body is mentioned by Paul in Ro 8, when he says that the spirit will render life to our mortal bodies, because of the law of the Spirit of life.
So somewhere along the line there is the Me Me Me who is one with the Great I am. When I read The Lord of Hosts, I like to see Hosts as being the armies of heaven and also, His being The Lord of all those who are one by His Hosting us in His glory where His Me Me Me(Trinity of Godhead) adds up to Us All in the oneness of God presence, serving His perfect will. That is the sense in which I apreciate words like assembling, Church, Bride...because they add up to God's hloy selfishness...
-------------------- ...all blessings be with us all... Benoit Couture
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