I started this project this week.  Reading the Bible, and every place that the Bible says, "we,"  "they," etc., I have been inserting
the word "I."  For example.  The Bible says, " We are the righteousness of God, through Christ,"  I have written down,
"I am the righteousness of God through Christ,"  Etc.  Really brings into perspective, who we are.  I have also written down some things
that I would like to share.  I have prayed about them and believe them to be true.  Hope you might be able to use them also.
So many people want to use the Bible against us....tell us we are not supposed to be living as we are.  That we are making a
mockery of who God meant us to be.  So, here are the truths, I have found.
1.  God loves me so much, that He would never allow me to make a decision that would destroy my life.
2.  God loves me too much, to allow me to make a decision that would stop His plan and purpose for my life.
3.  God, that began a good work in me....will not fail to complete it. 
Just wanted to share this, because, my faith, is my life. 

All true promises that we need to remember and trust.

mowdan,
  One thing I like to do is to change the way I sing  lyrics to a song and make it personal. For instance, the line in I Want To See Jesus, where it says "I want to see the saints up there that are led by God's own hand" I change to "I want to see the saints up there that are led by thine own hand." Where it says "I want to see all the people that have gone there by his grace" I sing "I want to see all the people that have gone there by thy grace."
  But that's one thing that I like to do that seems to make singing unto him more personal. Above all I hope he enjoys it.

I remember reading the bible front to back in like 13 weeks when i was living in escondido calif at the morning star ranch a www.twelvetribes.org community. I found that many were struggling back then and God stepped in to direct them. Kinda like a teacher. So many were confused killing or sacraficing their children to a false God Bal. I also realized that much of what was recorded was how sins of the father were left on the sons / children. It really opened my eyes to how my father did what he did and i suffered but then i made sure my sons didn't get any of me and to this day they seem to be free from that strife i could have caused them.

I also loved hannas prayer http://hannahscupboard.com/hannahs-prayer.html

Quote from: mowdan6 on June 16, 2011, 11:37:38 AM
  The Bible says, " We are the righteousness of God, through Christ,"  I have written down,
"I am the righteousness of God through Christ,"

now that you know that you the righteousnes of God every where you read about it you will know it is talking about you and the work that he is doing in you.
For example, "they going about astablish their own righteousness have not sumited themselves unto the righteousness of God which is by faith (of Christ).
There are keys like this to open the door just be looking for them. It sounds to me that he is sharing the mystory of Christ with you. Welcome to the fellowship of the mystroy that is in christ.

Quote from: mowdan6 on June 16, 2011, 11:37:38 AM
1.  God loves me so much, that He would never allow me to make a decision that would destroy my life.

Absolutely, and all this in spite of how hard we sometimes try at destroying our lives by making bad decisions, for He gives us free will. That said, though, I believe that when we sometimes honk things up so bad, He steps in, and like a tornado scatters everything about, so that we can start anew. He is always there to guide us back to paths that are true.

As a teen, when I was first discovered as a CDer, I was made to swear to the Blessed Virgin Mary that I would never ever crossdress again. This is a really big deal for Catholic kid who loved the church and God and Jesus and Mary and was admired by the nuns for being a good kid. After a period of guilt, I was back at it because as I swore that false oath, I knew in my heart that what I was being made to do went against God.  It did take years to get over that, and realise that God loves me as a crossdresser. Hey, He sent my wife, who loves me as I am, to me!

Years later when I was living on my own, my CDing "officially" being something that had been a phase of silliness that had past, I was pretty actively going out. I was outed to my entire family by a cousin who had left the Catholic Church and began aligned within the Jimmy Swaggart organisation. I was devastated. The only place I could turn was to God, and so I sought refuge amongst the Passionist priests at a local Monastery.

Today, I am a humble and devout Catholic, willingly submissive to the will of Christ in my life, asking only for Him to use me as he sees fit. He has blessed me with a wonderful wife who loves me and wants me no other way, and with whom we walk this road of life together as one united by Him.

Huggles

Toni-Lynn

Sometime ago I was having truoble understanding how to draw nigh to God. I knew the verse in James 4:8 draw nigh to God and he will draw nigh to you...    but I did not understand how to draw nigh to God. Kept thinking I was suppost to do soming to get closer to him. Then I found this verse in Hebrews 7:19 for the law made nothing perfect, but the bring in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh to God. Then we aslo have the words that Jesus spoke to his disciple, "no man cometh unto the father but by me." There is a verse that says that Jesus is our hope. This changed my understanding of how to get closer to God.

Jainie,
I believe the scripture you are referring to is

1 Timothy 1:1
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Saviour, and Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope;

It also says that we are saved by hope:


Romans 8:24,25
For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

It is interesting that what we hope for is not seen:

2 Corinthians 4:18
While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

The hope we have is eternal and unseen:

Hebrews 10:34
For ye had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance

That which we hope for is an unseen eternal substance:

Hebrews 11:1
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Using these scriptures we can see that our very faith is this unseen eternal substance in heaven. Which is Christ, the express image of the unseen God.
Christ is our hope and the image of Jehovah God Almighty whom nobody has seen.