Hi Gracey,
I believe that statement completely! That IS all we have to do! Paul says that the man without the spirit cannot understand the things that come from God. How can someone believe something he doesn't understand? He can't. It's impossible. Therefore, it is the Holy Spirit that enable us to believe Jesus. Once we receive the Holy Spirit, IT now gives us the FRUITS of the spirit which are love, joy, hope, patience, humility, etc. The more we submit to the SPIRIT, the more we operate out of the spirit. Even submitting to the spirit comes from the Holy Spirit because it is stronger than the devil. Jesus said; "for out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks." When our cups are overflowing with his love, then it can't help but spill out onto others. That's why ALL of our good works come from God!

A CHRISTIAN!!!!

Good post, Brother Love. When Paul said that the man without the spirit CANNOT understand the things that come from God, the how can our faith come from ANYTHING OTHER than the Holy Spirit? It is the Holy Spirit that produces EVERYTHING good in me.

The Holy Spirit is what enables us to believe the gospel. I had heard the gospel for years and wanted to believe it but it sounded like gibberish to me. Then when the Holy Spirit entered me, it all suddenly made sense to me! The same thing happened to Paul. He didn't even HAVE the written words of Jesus! All he had was the words of the aposltles and the Holy Spirit!  This proves to me that Paul was right when he said; "The man WITHOUT THE SPIRIT cannot accpet the things of God for they are foolishness to him and he CANNOT understand them for they are spiritually discerned." The Holy Spirit is our enabler, which renders us capable of understanding and believing the bible, ALL the fruits of the SPIRIT and whatever good that is in me. NOTHING comes from me, myself. For NO MAN is righteous except through the Holy Spirit that gives us the power. That's why Jesus said; "No one is good but God alone."

The problem, Gracey, is that we can't help ourselves. Paul said it well when he said "The law;'do not covet' breeds all kinds of covetoues desires in me". In other words, willfully trying Not to sin is like trying not to think of an elephant once someone tells us not to. The first thing we do is think of an elephant. Therefore, we cannot WILLFULLY decide NOT to sin. we can only respond at our maturity level. That is why we NEED Chirst's forgiveness which DOES replace our desire to sin with thankfulness that we are forgiven! It does not necessarliy happen at that moment, but God meets us where we're at. It literally describes what "letting go and letting God" means.  What i do is acknowledge my desire to sin and ask God to help me with it. I truly believe that sometimes he allows us to sin in order to teach us something. The best way to explain it is when paul said; "Everything is permissible for me, but not everything is beneficial." In other words, we are forgiven no matter what we do, so why do it? We CAN sin and we are forgiven, but is it beneficial? The law can only be obeyed by the spirit, not by ourselves. Because we have been forgiven, obedience comes from the DESIRE to do the right thing, not a duty or obligation. Obedience then comes from love, instead of becuase we HAVE to.

Hi ollie,
Our first step is to admit we sin and need forgiveness. Then once we receive it, out of thankfulness and joy, believe me, repentence becomes a desire of our hearts.

yes it is very definietly Christ's blood that cleanses us. Once we believe that, we have accepted His forgiveness!

Gracey, yes we still sin, but it is not as often nor as blatant. That's what the passage in Hebrews means when Paul says that those who have tasted the glories of God's Spirit, to go back to where we were is virtually unthinkable! I don't even remember WHY i wanted to sin many years ago. BUT, there is always another layer of sin im me, although not as much because each day i have more and more of God's forgiveness, love, and mercy, INSTEAD of my sinful nautre. I very DEFINITELY am less sinful than i used to be! And so was Paul. he went from a murderer of christians to a lover of God and people. Only Christ's love, forgiveness and mercy could do that! That is how we grow in Christ.

When i willfully sin, Ollie, i confess to god that that is where i am at the moment, and ask Him to give me the stregnth to resist. he will at HIS timing, not mine. All he wants from us it eh truth and the desire to go His way, and He does the rest.  A perfect example is when Paul said that the very law "Do not covet" produced every kind of convetous desire in him. So the very law that was intended to bring life actually brings death. But thanks be to God who CLEANSES us from our sins because we CANNOT do it on our own!

Ollie, salvation is finished, but God PRUNES us everyday, bringing us closer and closer to Him. Even the thief on the cross was forgiven and entered paradise even though he did NOTHING to deserve it!  God doesn't teach us to swim to let us drown. God is always there to frogive us and give us His love and mercy until we operate more out of His love, forgiveness, and mercy most of the time. God always meets us where we're at.

Faith is a knowledge that supasses all human understanding. It isn't just hoping and praying that something is true, it is KNOWING that it is true. The only thing I KNOW for sure is that Jesus christ is the way, the truth and the life and that NO ONE can come to the father except through Him. This "knoweldge" comes from God in the form of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit enables us to BELIEVE every word Jesus said. Spiritual knowledge is VASTLY different from knowledge that comes from the human mind. Knowledge that comes from the human mind is fallible because our minds our fallible. But knowledge that comes from the spirit is infallible becuase it comes from the spsirit of God.

So how do we know if our knowledge is coming from our minds or the spirit? It's very easy if one looks for it. Knowledge that comes from human nature comes from pride, envy, greed, gluttony, sloth, anger, and lust. Any BELIEF that does NOT agree with Jesus's words but instead glorifies OURSELVES is coming from the sin of pride.  This includes any belief that endorses gratifying our lustful desires in any way OTHER than how God created us is coming from lust. Any belief that gives OURSELVES credit for ANYTHING good in us is coming from pride. Any belief that justifies taking money or possessions for ourselves is coming from greed and gluttony. Any belief that endorses neglecting our neighbors is coming from sloth and so on and so forth.

In contrast, any belief that endorses the fruits of the spirit which are; hope, love, patience, humility, self-control, is coming from the Holy Spirit. Jesus encompasses ALL the fruits of the spirit in every word he said. If his beliefs are distorted so that they endorse pride, envy, hate, etc. then those are false interpretations.

Faith is a gift from God in the form of the Holy Spirit that changes our hearts. The Holy Spirit turns our envy into thankfulness, greed into generosity, pride into humility, sloth into helpfulness, anger into compassion, gluttony into temperance and lust into genuine love. We CANNOT transform ourselves. Only the holy Spirit can transform us into the persons God wants us to be. All we have to do is; "BELIEVE in the one He sent," and the Holy Spirit does the rest. That is truly believing in the power of God, not the power of ourselves.  

EXCELLENT POST, Amanda!
I have been arguing this with the Michael and the "works" oriented people for weeks, now. You have hit the nail on the head! I have also quoted those passages more than once. We ARE slaves to sin UNTIL the Holy Spirit enter us! Once the Holy Spirit enters us, IT now fights the battle between our sinful nature and God's will, and I can assure you, the Holy Spirit will WIN the the battle because it is stronger than the devil. As Paul said, We CANNOT obey the law because of our sinful nature. That's why all we have to do is ASK for GOD'S forgiveness and His forgiveness REPLACES sins! That's how JESUS TAKES AWAY OUR SINS, not we ourselves.  The more love, mercy, and forgiveness we have in our hearts, the more we OPERATE out of that love, mercy, and forgiveness INSTEAD of sin! IT IS FINISHED. We have been forgiven! On my deathbed, REGARDLESS of how I've lived my life, if I ask for forgiveness, then ALL MY SINS ARE TAKEN AWAY. IT IS FINISHED! That's the ONLY way we are pure before God is through Jesus's death on the cross. But we, as Christians, once we've tasted the glories of his forgiveness, we want MORE of it because it provides the ONLY true satisfaction in life! The more love we have in us, the more we WANT to give it to others! "For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks." Our "good works NOW come from the HEART, not to EARN our way to salvation! We can NEVER earn it because ALL of us fall short of the glory of God. And as James says, even we break the law EVEN ONCE, we are guilty of breaking all of it. But as you quoted Paul; "for there is is NO condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus..."

I agree with you 100%, Bronzesnake, that we are in the 'falling away" stage. The onset of homosexual marriages in a so-called Christian culture is a precendent that has never here-to-for been set. The problem is that a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day to God. Every generation thinks the end is near. Jesus said that no one knows the hour and that he will come like a thief in the night which is, I believe, how it's supposed to be. But, the majority of us can't help pondering the subject. So i will agree with you that we are in "birth pains". But none of us knows how long the labor will be.

Jesus did bring peace on earth...inside the soul of each believer. Unfortunately, His words will cause conflict in those who oppose them. But i still have peace inside! A peace and glory that surpasses all understanding. But yes, i do wish EVERYBOD HAD THAT!

No, I get tired of throwing Jesus's words where they will be trampled on. But if you want me to spoon-feed you, I will. If you do not believe that IT IS FINISHED, then you can ONLY BELIEVE that you have to EARN your way to heaven, is that not correct? How else will it be finished?

Oh, so now we're getting into what the definition of "is" is, as Bill Clinton put it. It won't do any good to show you what Jesus means by "it is finished" because you don't believe His words anyway, Michael. Since your interpretations rely on believing the OPPOSITE of what Jesus says, you can justfiy any interpretation you want to yourself. You can no more understand Jesus's words than atheists can believe in God. Until you're interested in what's true and what's not true, you will continue to twist Christ's words around any which way you want. The bottom line is that when you die, you will find out just EXACTLY what He means. Since you're more interested in twisting Christ's words instead of understanding them as written, then there is nothing anyone can do to help you. Your life is in God's hands, not mine.  

So I guess that when Jesus said; "IT IS FINISHED", what he really meant was "IT IS NOT FINISHED". Oops, I guess he was wrong again, according to Michael. Your interpretation is ALWAYS the OPPOSITE of Jesus's words. It would be very amusing if it weren't so sad.

You have also just shown us who your God is, as if i didn't know. "If the church tells me to stand on my right foot, I would do it..." But if JESUS tells you NOT call call anyone 'father' you WILLl! At least you've finally admitted who your HOLY FATHER is. We're FINALLY getting to the truth. Again, this is very sad, Michael. I'll pray that you receive the Holy Spirit someday so you'll know who your REAL teacher is and who your REAL HOLY FATHER is. But as long as you're loyal to the pope instead of Jesus you will never enter heaven because the pope cannot get you there. "A man cannot serve two masters." Sorry. If you truly want to be saved read the ONLY person who has the words of eternal life. You have clearly shown that you don't value them as much as the catholic doctrine.

Some people believe Elvis still lives, Emt, and most people do NOT believe that Jesus is the only way to God. It is a fact that in every generation there are many who think that we are in End Times. That's the nature of the human being.

Michael,
Do you think that the people whose hearts God has hardened and whose eyes he has blinded can obey God?