Expert: Dean Gade - 2/22/2006

Question
Thanks for the reply

That means I can't have any sports game or any job or any saving money or any hobbies or any interest or Etc etc in my life. Is that you means? If I live that way I will be a Saint Simon Bernard. My friend I have read the bible about adam & eve. Thanks for the verses. There is another saying God choose the people then only they can do what God wants. Not everyone can follow God. Remember Lord Jesus Christ disciple in the bible. That part they reach a place & one man who have evil spirits in him & god cure him & sent the spirits to the pigs. That person who wants to be God disciple. God say go & tell your family what God has done for you. Not everyone can follow or be a church brother or a priest or a pastor or a nun or a sister. GOD CALL my friend.

Thank you

-------------------------
Followup To
Question -
Thanks for the reply

God has told us that His ways are not ours but are as above our ways as the heavens are above the earth.

But everyone follow their own way but God has helped them what they want in their live. God never say that is wrong. If that is wrong, God will destroy everyone on earth even me too. Why God never do that because he first love us. God allow us to be what he want us to be. Then why should I give up my dreams & goals? Even you have dreams & goals & you have done it - I trained for with eight years of University and Seminary studies. I was diagnosed with Clinical Depression. You have a choice what you want in life. I want my goals & dreams to fulfill. How do I get it done? I know that you care for me & you understand me. Thank you

Pls help me my friend.

-------------------------
Followup To
Question -
Thanks for the reply. Thank you

Let's talk about my best friend Lord Jesus Christ. How can he help me in my goals & dreams in my daily life? I have a problem that my family controls me from my childhood until now 2006. I have no friends since my childhood - I mean it. I have ask help form the priests, the pastors, the social workers & the Samaritans. They say that no one can help you, even God also can't help you. You must help yourself – that is life they told me. I everyday of my life - I feel loneliness, alone, sad, angry & lost. I feel very overwhelming & depressed. I feel like killing myself but in God grace I am trying my best not to kill myself. Then I know that is all lies. Now I am helping myself. I have went through suffering, hardship, pain, hungry & dehydrated finding through jobs. You know about toxics people. I have read about it. I have been caught in their view & there is no way out because it's has been more 10 years in their control. I have work before - my last job contract ended year 2003. From that day until now 2006 I can't find a job. About the job, I never give up. I make the effort. I look through all Recruit Agencies in the Newspaper and call them. I check the internet and the classified ads everyday and call them. So far no answer from the company & the agencies!! How do I feel? My family doesn't allow me to find a job again they are forcing me & make use of me. They are like I one time never get job after my job contract ended year 2003 that means to them is I am not independent & I am lazy. They don't understand & care for me. They are then stubborn & strict family I have. I went & find the job I want, I never listen to them. It's not easy to talk to my family. I am struggling to break free. If I know the way, I will break free. I have read alot of self help books & self improvement books but the problem with the self help books & self improvement books is that they tell me what to do but they can't give me the power to do it. They say things like. Get rid of all your bad habits, be positive, & don't be negative. But how do I get the power to face my problem in my daily life? What is the plan to do it? I don't know what to do? How I am going to face my problem in my daily life? . If I get a job - I will break free. No one likes me, everyone hates me. I don't have any bad habits. I never smoke, I never drink, I never go pub or disco or club, I never go shopping, I never watch movie, I never talk to friends or on the phone, I never buy anything, I never borrow money or steal money or kill people or rape girls.

I have tell you who can help me! What I can do! & What is my problem that I have!!. I just want answer to my question my friend?

Can you tell me how do I get my goals & my dreams come true in my daily life? How to show my urgency in my work in my daily life? How to know that I am succeeding/achieving in my daily life? I try my best to help myself.

I know that Life is in a mess, life isn't perfect. Life doesn't end here, live still goes on. Study while others are sleeping. Work while others are loafing. Prepare while others are playing & dream while others are wishing.

The bible say that - Psalm 27.1 The lord is the strength of my life: of whom shall I be afraid?
I live with Jesus & I reign alive with Jesus, above every sovereignty & power.

I love you, God. Thank you, God, for loving me. I give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His love endures forever. We love because He first loved us. I love the Lord, my God, with all my heart, mind, body, & soul. The Lord loves; the earth is full of His unfailing love.

Thank you for helping me.
-------------------------
Followup To
Question -
Thanks for the reply

I would suggest that you look for some friends who know our Lord and are as desirous as you are to become kind and loving

I know one friend Since childhood until now! He is my best friend. You know one him & everyone know him. Guess who?

-------------------------
Followup To
Question -
Can you tell me how to become generous and loving in my heart in my situation that I am in went there is no one to help me or care for me & I am in control & what my family tells me what to do, I must do?
Answer -
The best that I can do is refer you on to another and others.  Most of us do want to have generous and loving hearts but we have a bunch of enemies trying to prevent us.

The enemies that the Bible talks about are : the devil,  the world , and our own flesh.
The devil is "the accuser". He is always whispering in our ear about how bad we are and pointing out each and every stingy and unloving thing that we ever do.  This is discouraging to us.
The world is all that around us especialy people who put us down or point us to go in directions which end up hurting other people as well as ourselves.
Our flesh is our own inclinations  to satisfy ourselves in whatever looks, sounds or feels good.

On top of all this there is the fact that we do not have the power within ourselves to change for the good for any lenghth of time.  We can do good for a while but we run out of energy and the will to continue being generous and loving.

There is only one solution and that is God. When we recognize that we can't be good always, we can turn to God and find out how good He is toward us.  He really does love us unconditionaly even though He knows all our failings. If we invite Him into our hearts, He can change things within us.  He can be the source of power to change us where and when we allow Him to do so.

This seems like a slow process but at least it is progress toward having the heart of Jesus.  

I would suggest that you look for some friends who know our Lord and are as desirous as you are to become kind and loving.  Set a time each week (or several times a week) to be with them and studying and praying for God's power working in you.  From this come the "fruit" (produce) of the Holy Spirit of God.

Gal 5:22-25

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.
(from New International Version)





Answer -
If you are writing about Jesus, I definitely agree with you. He has promised to be with us always even to the end  of the earth.

But it is also good to seek others who have become your brothers through Jesus.  Jesus says that we should do this because it helps us.

Jesus said,

19 "Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." ( Matt 18:19-20)

And we are also told,  

25 "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching." (Heb 10:25 from New International Version)

May God bless you in your walk with Him.


Answer -
Believe it or not, I can truely sympathize with you.  Much of what you are experiencing, I have experienced and still am experiencing. It is not the same with me.  I have many advantages: a loving family, an adequate pension and great access to God's word through education and research tools.

But all of us who seek to follow God are strangers here on earth.  And often it doesn't seem worth it to our humanity(our will, emotions, intellect).  God has told us that His ways are not ours but are as above our ways as the heavens are above the earth.

He desires us to live by faith...in Him alone.  That is impossible to achieve fully while we are still here on earth.  We can only grow in faith toward Him.  What He wants seems scarey because we often don't know what it is and are pretty sure that we can't achieve it even when we find out!

The secret that I'm coming to understand( a very little at a time) is that God created us to be in fellowship with Him. That's what He wants of all people.  When Adam failed to keep the fellowship, God right away sent us Jesus so we could come back to Him, FOREVER.

God is not like most parents on earth.  His love is unconditional.  He says that even when we were His enemies, He loved us and wants us to know that now that we have the righteousness of Christ as a gift, He is not going to turn away from that love He has for us.

Knowing these things and living them are two different things. Why He allows the life of Job or Jeremiah(The Weeping Prophet), I don't know.  I do know that I had to quit the job that I trained for with eight years of University and Seminary studies.  I was diagnosed with Clinical Depression..or as some call it, "burn -out"  Why? I don't know.

But I know in my heart that God still has a plan for my life even though I don't see it yet.   Do I have doubts? I often do.  Time often goes by with little to no progress in my life.  These are most likely the things that you feel too.  Life seems to be too hard to continue.  But like you, I know God has a plan for us (you AND me).

Reading the Psalms is a great help.  In these writings, which He inspired, we see the weaknesses, failings, lonliness..etc of man......yet the hand of God reaching out to His beloved children.  I find that reading out loud the parts of Psalms that relate to my life and my situation do help.  I read them as a  prayer to our Father and some times just repeat them again and again to Him asking Him to hear and help me.

I've got to close now for a while.  Do write again tomorrow and I will answer more of your question.

An author and speaker who writes easy to read but very helpful books on having a life of joy in the Lord is Joyce Myers.  You will find her website on www.joycemeyer.org   One of them is called "Don't Worry...God is in Control".

God keep you in His arms throughout this night.


Answer -
That most people do what they want in life does not make it right.  There was a desire on God's part of what Adam and Eve were to be and what they were to do.  They rejected God's will for them and did what was right in their own eyes rather than listening to God.  By this they lost the pure image of God and all their children were born in their image instead of God's image.

Adam and Eve and all of us were given a "free will".  But the choice was and is to follow God or follow our own thoughts and dreams.  When we were born, we were born of the flesh in the image of our earthly father, Adam after he disobeyed God.  Jesus came into the world that we could be "born again" into His image again.

Gen 1:27

27 So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.  
 2:16-17
You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."
Gen 3:4-5

4 "You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. 5 "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
Gen 5:3
3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.

John 3:3
3 In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again."
1 Cor 15:44-49
45 So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.

God has a plan for each of our lives.  We can seek to follow it or make our own choices without God's will or consent.

Matt 12:50
50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."

It is true, as you write, that none of us does the will of God perfectly.  This is why we needed Jesus Christ to save us from our sin and still do need Him every day.  But just because we have weaknesses does not allow us to lead a life which is opposed to the will of God.

Rom 7:14-20
14 We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do-this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

2 Peter 2:19-21
19 They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity-for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. 20 If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.
(all above from New International Version)

We do have great freedom in Christ.  Freedom from the power of sin and an evil conscience.  We know have a mind set on doing the will of God because He has called us and made us His children and has given us an eternal life with Him.  

Answer
Out of His love for you, God wants you to have an abundant life!

John 10:9-10
"10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

This was His intent for Adam and Eve. He made them perfect and made the world perfect for them. When they went their own way, they missed out of the perfectly abundant life.
But, as you see from the passage above, God STILL wants us to have a "full" life..a life full of blessings and joy.

When He gives us directions it is toward that good life He wants us to have. It is when we follow the devil, the world and our flesh that we are following "the thief" who comes to "kill, steal and destroy" from us.

If is for our good that we try to discern the will of God for our lives.

NONE OF US discerns this perfectly.  NONE OF US follows His way even when we do discern it.  But that does not stop God from loving us and guiding us.  And our failures should not cause us to run and hide from God....As Adam did in the garden of Eden.

His love for you never ceases.

Heb 13:5-6
God has said,

"Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you."   

6 So we say with confidence,

"The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?"   


This should be our goal: to believe God when He says He will never leave you , never forsake you.  I just SEEMS LIKE He is far away sometimes, has forgotten us or doesn't know us.  But Jesus told us that our Father knows each sparrow that falls, knows the number of hairs on our head.
He is seeking faith in Him from each of us.

You can seek sports, or any enjoyment in life. God wants us to have a happy life. At the same time, Who loves us the most and wants the most for us except God?  Therefore it is good for us to seek what He wants us to have....it is good to learn what is the will of God for us in recreation, in jobs, in savings, in friends.

He has made each of us unique. He gives us each different talents and gifts all with the goal of helping the fellowship of all believers to grow and know God and His love for us.

Yes, you are right, we are not all to be pastors or missionarys, etc.
But we are all to be saints; that is, people set apart for God in whatever God has given us to do to earn a living and enjoy life. And what we all have in common is to love God above all things and to love our neighbor as ourselves.

Where does the good in life come from?  It is not from the devil who would steal our joy, but it is  from God alone.

James 1:16-18
16 Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. 17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
(all passages from New International Version)

So we keep on praying and seeking God and what His will is for us, since He is the one who loves us and wants us to have the abundant life.