Christianity Oasis Forum

[vahn]

Considering the facts that I had come to the point of where I started from , the reasons I came here , stemming from confusion(s) , talking to a fellow Christian , suggested taking the Nazarene Vow , which is similar to our Lords going into the wilderness right after being baptized , and getting One with the Spirit , hence closer to The Father (hmm , you know what I just realized ? , Our Lord never referred to Him as God ? God the name we , as people give Him that is ) interesting , who knows this might be working already !
But anyway , the time - duration - isn't of the essence , like forty days , but as long as I keep it in the same frame as our Lord's so doing .

I was wondering if there's anyone with knowledge on the subject , that can give me some input on the subject . Pros and cons of it , although I should know better than say cons , because anything I do for the Lord cant have any adverse affect except when people get to throw all sorts of differing opinions on it . One such opinion or rather word of caution was temptation , however I deem that as misconception when someone says "He went to the wilderness to be tempted" although He was tempted as a result , but going there just for that purpose doesn't seem to connect the dots for this "fool" , (Ithink that's just a translation glitch , in my opinion), especially when it stands contrary to the prayer He gave us and asks us to ask The Father not to be led into temptation , but rather He went there to cleanse His mind from the worldly clatter His mind had been subjected to the first thirty years of His life and right before His ministry began .

So , as I mentioned before , coming to the point of "too many distractions" and noticing a considerable amount of hostility directed at me in the past few days and especially tonight , I am considering to take that journey for a few days , but , like anything else I do in the spirit of "contempt prior to investigation" thought I'd ask first .

Any input ? alternative ? anyone ? , and please , keep it in the content of the Vow and try not to mix it with other personal clutter that occupies your mind as to who is asking the question , but rather why is it being asked .

[lizzie]

Hello brother vahn

Well im not sure what the nazarene vow is exactly... so cant help there.

Why did Jesus go into the wilderness to be tempted?

Cuz He was LED by the Spirit to do so:

Matthew 4:1 Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

Another example of 'not my will but Yours'

And to me thats the most compelling part of that verse.

His actions were led by the Spirit, rather than how he felt or any other reason.

This would not stand in contradiction to the Sample Prayer Jesus gave us as per the line:

Thy Will Be Done On Earth, As It Is In Heaven

Sure we can pray to not be led into temptation. But God can do whatever He wishes to bring about His plan and purpose.

Its important that we not become so focused on others and what other people do, say, think etc. that we drown out the still small voice of God within us. Cuz it is THIS voice that will lead us to God's will. And it is THIS voice that we should all be seeking first and foremost in our lives.

[comfy]

Considering the facts that I had come to the point of where I started from , the reasons I came here , stemming from confusion(s) , talking to a fellow Christian , suggested taking the Nazarene Vow ,

Nazarite > Numbers 6:2-21, Judges 13:5-7, Judges 16:17, Lamentations 4:7, Amos 2:11-12, and possibly John the Baptist was under some kind of a vow like the Nazarite vow > Luke 1:15, since the angel said he would "drink neither wine nor strong drink."

Jesus is called "a Nazarene", because He came from Nazareth > Matthew 1:23, Acts 3:6. And ones understand that Jesus did drink wine, considering Matthew 11:18-19, Luke 7:33-34. So, Jesus was a Nazarine, not a Nazarite, I consider.

About Jesus being led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Lizzie has handled this beautifully

I'll just offer > Jesus was led there in order to be tested. But it is clear our Father was not tempting Jesus > James 1:13 > "Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am tempted by God'; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone." So, when the prayer says, "lead us not into temptation", it means not to lead us to where God Himself is tempting us. Our Father leads our *hearts* into His love, more and more >

"Now may the Lord direct your hearts
into the love of God
and into the patience of Christ." (2 Thessalonians 3:5)

So , as I mentioned before , coming to the point of "too many distractions" and noticing a considerable amount of hostility directed at me in the past few days and especially tonight , I am considering to take that journey for a few days , but , like anything else I do in the spirit of "contempt prior to investigation" thought I'd ask first .

Any input ? alternative ? anyone ? , and please , keep it in the content of the Vow and try not to mix it with other personal clutter that occupies your mind as to who is asking the question , but rather why is it being asked .

Vahn, I would say Jesus dealt with hostility by praying before He got into those situations. "'The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.'" (Exodus 14:14) You might remember how Jesus said not a word in answer to the false accusations > but then He did say what He had to say > in silent prayer He had command of the situation, especially in His own spirit. He set the terms about when and how He would speak and answer; He did not let liers play Him this way and that.

And if you take time for a special devotion for getting more attentive with God . . . then we want to stay this way while we are involved with ornary and contrary people. How we become in prayer with rest in the LORD is the standard of how to stay, even all the time So, I need to keep confessing about *this*, and trusting God for more correction and maturity so no evil can have power to define me and control me into struggling with wrong people.

Ones can *decoy* us down to arguing and struggling and defending ourselves . . . getting us tangled and mangled with their quack lines, maybe blasted full of buckshot of pain and rage, by the duck hunter. But we have, "No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier." (2 Timothy 2:4) "Do all things without complaining and disputing," (Philippians 2:14) We are not here just to beat the devil. We are here to feed the people with what they need, including feeding our *example* > "nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock." (1 Peter 5:3) So, this is what our vows or devotions are about. In overcoming the evil, we make sure there is the good.

[lizzie]

amen comferelli my brother been missin u

I did wanna comment on this scripture if i may

James 1:13 > "Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am tempted by God'; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone."

I used to wonder about this one too.

Oasis did a study on Temptation, part of which i wanted to share in case others had this question also.

[b]In the Lord's Prayer it asks that we not be lead into temptation

[vahn]

Thank you Lizzie and Comfy with your informative replies .

I am now in my third day since making the decision to commence on taking the journey , and the results of which are already being manifested in my daily routine let alone my walk with our Lord .

As is very obvious , beginning with my own words of "contradiction" , and Lizzies reply with almost agreement quoting yet another's view on the topic of "being led to temptation" , I have come to a , although still leaving myself open for corrections , "conclusion" that the whole point is kind of being "missed"

Here is how I am looking at it .(don't forget , this is only my point of view , subject to correction )

If someone was to say to me , say , "don't go through there , there's a hole in the ground !" , my first reaction to that would be , "watch this" and I go looking for a plank of 2x10 to lay over the hole to cross over it . Now that reaction of course would be determined by how important it is for me to get to the other side of it right ? .
The first thing all of my coaches in my both competitive and team sports (wrestling , boxing , martial arts and basketball respectively) involvements were , including military training , "Now remember , and NEVER forget , they have arms , legs and weapons as well , and they ARE going to use them " .
Now , when I am sent to war , (by the Lord ?) , I would know the enemy is ready to go as well , right ? putting it in Comfy's words ,

Ones can *decoy* us down to arguing and struggling and defending ourselves . . . getting us tangled and mangled with their quack lines, maybe blasted full of buckshot of pain and rage, by the duck hunter.

One would go "hah , why in the world would anyone want to go into a territory like that ?"
Well you see , that is not the point of it is it ? The whole point is in the the REASON of why we are sent (led ? tempted ? tested ? ) to war . Well there is only one obvious reason isn't there ? To restore something that had gone awry , and showing that by me keeping the focus on the One who sent me , the enemy WILL be defeated regardless of the "buckshots" , just so that , by returning , I would be proof that it (His will) can and will be done .

As of for the why's and how's of whether our Lord tempt us , test us , lead us , has absolutely nothing to do with me , It is only Our Father saying , "IT is I that decides how I choose to prove to the confused world of Who I AM , and what I can do , without Me , you are nothing ! "

Duet ; 29-29
"There are secrets the Lord your God has not yet revealed to us , but these words which He has revealed , are for us and our children to obey forever"

And that's exactly what our Lord The Christ , had shown us with His return from both His warfare with His "temptation" and His final return that we know of as of today , that evil WILL be conquered ! no matter what ! it might take some "buckshots" , arrows or NAILS , but conquered he WILL . But not without a fight , he already tried to kill our Lord once , hah ! look what happened !

[comfy]

Yes, Lizzie (outdoing beautiful ) > we could have an interesting word game of naming words which can have exact opposite definitions. One example > a *citation* can be a fine for driving too fast, or a citation can be the annual award for the safest school bus driver. "Love" can mean God who is love (1 John 4:8&18), or "love" can mean "a root of all kinds of evil" (1 Timothy 6:9-10); plus, ones believe "love" can mean agape, phileo, eros . . . . so, there can be various meanings of "love". So, when we find the same word, in the Bible, "contradicting" itself > it "could" be our own understanding is contradicting itself, but not what God means. There are times when "he" is used to talk about the devil or one of the good guys; and we can tell what "he" means in each use. So, like this, we can be more open to how God means the same word, each time He uses it.

Words like "grace" and "faith", I'd say, also can mean different things. But ones latch on to some first definition they have been told, then they use this exact same definition *every* time they read about faith or love or grace, etc. "Prosper" is an interesting one, also . . . what "prosper" can mean.

I have come to a , although still leaving myself open for corrections , "conclusion" that the whole point is kind of being "missed"

Yes, we can get into an issue, then get a conclusion that has nothing to do with what something is really all about It can be good to see a scripture, then just be open to the LORD, and get what we get; then keep on being open to the LORD, because we will grow and develop to be able to learn more and other things, even so better once we have grown to be able to handle what is so more and better. But take what we can, now, and built and grow with this.

Example > faith > many consider faith to be believing what we are told about the Bible. This is good, if we do what is good about what we believe. But then we find out faith involves *obeying*, not only believing while we live a pretty good life. Then we discover > oh > "casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7) So, faith is *trusting* God for everything. And we get to Galatians 5:6 > about "faith working through love" > oh, so faith is about what can be done "through love", and then we can be making the connection how love means God's love "in our hearts" (
Romans 5:5); and God in His love loves all people; so this love is making us *all*-loving . . . so we are not using our "faith" just for ourselves and getting our own selves saved, but . . . lo and behold . . . we brothers and sisters in Jesus are "members of one another", we have in Romans 12:5. So, in "faith working through love" we can be so connected with each other, depending on one another and trusting one another like members of the human body can so depend on each other for support and the supply of blood from one each member to the other > we in Jesus have the *love* blood of the Holy Spirit flowing from one to another > so, yes, we do depend on each other, very much for our salvation and growing in Jesus; and with this comes trusting one another in the Holy Spirit . . . because of *faith* making us able with God to do this safely and well with each other, how You lead, of course

So, Vahn . . . I might offer > keep in yourself how you are not on your own.
Also > wherever you go > Jesus did say,
"'Go your way; behold,
I send you out as lambs among wolves.'" (Luke 10:3)

"And who is he who will harm you
if you become followers of what is good?"
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (1 Peter 3:13)

But this means to do what Jesus has us doing . . . to obey. Or we could get in trouble >

"Good understanding gains favor,
.But the way of the unfaithful is hard."
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (Proverbs 18:15)


The first thing all of my coaches in my both competitive and team sports (wrestling , boxing , martial arts and basketball respectively) involvements were , including military training , "Now remember , and NEVER forget , they have arms , legs and weapons as well , and they ARE going to use them " . But our weapons and potential capability is better than Satan's. It's kind of like in fighting the Arab terrorists > the terrorists have eyesight problems so they can't shoot well, plus they have a way of being suicidal, and use drugs to give them oomf against pain (except I'd say may be those drugs can hinder them from having sense and effectiveness). Satan and his are "handicapped" . . . "challenged" But we can have a way of evening the "odds", by doing things in our own "challenged" egos and thinking we are obeying God. Then we fall, and we need that toilet paper that Pine has been spreading around Lots of toilet paper, after how we can be falling and rolling around, etc.

Not quite in context with this, Vahn, you shared > One would go "hah , why in the world would anyone want to go into a territory like that ?"

Well you see , that is not the point of it is it ? The whole point is in the the REASON of why we are sent (led ? tempted ? tested ? ) to war . Well there is only one obvious reason isn't there ? To restore something that had gone awry , and showing that by me keeping the focus on the One who sent me , the enemy WILL be defeated regardless of the "buckshots" , just so that , by returning , I would be proof that it (His will) can and will be done .

As of for the why's and how's of whether our Lord tempt us , test us , lead us , has absolutely nothing to do with me , It is only Our Father saying , "IT is I that decides how I choose to prove to the confused world of Who I AM , and what I can do , without Me , you are nothing ! "

God does lead us "through the valley of the shadow of death", we can see, through Psalm 23:4 > and we will fear *no* evil. But this means while we are obeying and it is You, LORD, who are leading us through the valley. And we have how

"You prepare a table before me
. . . . . in the presence of my enemies;"
. . . . . . . . . . .(in Psalm 23:5)

So . . . to me, this means that in the presence of any enemies, at all > we can have all that You please to share with us, of Your own table prepared by *You* before us, LORD. Any enemy can mean the most dangerous of people in the world, or it can mean memories that come back to hurt us but Your love almighty makes us immune to being effected in a bad way by these memories. And . . . how I can fail, still > this is maybe the main enemy I have to deal with; but You can keep me and make me safe from *myself* and more and more make me like Jesus so I can't give in to sin and being hurt and being unforgiving, etc.

And Vahn said, "keeping the focus on the One who sent me" > our main interest is God, Himself, not just defeating the devil and doing away with all the evil . . . not only controlling wrong people by means of laws > no law can make anyone love. We need the good that should be instead of the evil. So, it is very practical, even, to be enjoying You, LORD, sensitively sharing with You, most of all, rather than merely trying to solve our problems and troubles so we can get back into our own little bubbles

I notice how the prayer the Lord Jesus has taught us starts with "Our Father" > prayer does not begin with "our sins" and our failures and getting God to solve our problems and doing things on our wish list. But first is loving our Daddy and intimately also sharing with one another. And so, we overcome evil while having this good >

"Do not be overcome by evil,
but overcome evil with good."
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .(Romans 12:21)

Also, we have Luke 10:17-20 about how the disciples came back so joyful about how the demons were subject to them; but Jesus says that's not the main thing to rejoice about > be glad "because your names are written in heaven." So, make sure the good is present. It's like how the Americans could move around however they pleased in Iraq, but *could they keep the peace*? With God, we can beat the evil, and enjoy good that is safe from evil.

[vahn]

Ok , back to the vow .... and the temptations

1) Three temptations , 2) three years if Ministry , 3) three nails , 4) three days later , He's back ! Three as One !. One sends Him , One comes back !

(By the way I just put those #'s , for my own reference , although the "events" #-ed are in sequence .) now I'm writing like comfy , just kidding comfy I love you brother .

1) These "temptations" are EXACTLY the same "orders" that Daniel was subjected to by his then king , remember ? Now let's consider this , before I go to the next , Daniel at that time of course was Law abiding citizen of a "foreign" kingdom . In other words , he was under the Law of Moses abiding the God of Moses , sent to a "far off" land to be tempted by a "king" (of the world ?) , hmm . and , ( "oddly" enough ) THREE times a day he would turn toward the same Temple that our Lord said 2) would tear down and RE-build in THREE days because , ... using my own words ,

To restore something that had gone awry ...

That Temple was built by the son of God loved and chose , but he had blood on his hands and hence "the sword shall never leave thine house " and as if that wasn't enough , even his son , Solomon himself after building the Temple turned to other gods !! Even in his riches wealth and WISDOM , something went wrong !! and Daniel was turning to a Temple that was built in a house that the "sword" would not leave ! Until that is at the giving up of the Spirit of our Lord Jesus the Christ (and the curtain rent in two , the sword left) "I have not come to destroy the Law but to fulfill it " (the way My Father would have it , not Moses , Daniel , Elijah or any other prophet or king , for I knew them all) . And He took James and Peter to a high mountain (again , away) , and Peter saw THREE people (our Lord , Moses and Elijah ) standing there , though he would NOT recognize them , he asked if our Lord if He would prepare THREE tents , why separate ? because even when Peter was with Him in person , He was still under the Law , he was still a Jew following a Master that he didn't even yet know absolutely who He was even though he believed He was the Messiah . "Something" went wrong with these people . Everyone was running to the Temple , to David , to Abraham , to Moses running here running there , yes even when our Lord was WITH them they were still asking Him where do we go ? Are You the Messiah ?Show us signs , some plotting to kill Him , others called Him deranged even his own family asked Him to leave town , that is why He was sent to the wilderness to be tempted three times and with overcoming them He endured three years of hostility and disbelief , now is this a sign of a man "as gentle as a dove" ? I mean this guy even stepped in between an adulteress and a crowd that was about to stone her to death , and another time the crowd was so hostile ready to kill him right there and then , He had to slip through them (literally run for His life) but do we ever hear anywhere Him saying "man , that hurts too much , I better lay off this thing " no ! He fought through and through , gentle my eye ! In fact (and I can be wrong at this) there are only two places that "Dove" is mentioned in His ministry , one is at His baptism (prior to His temptations) even then It is spoken of as the Spirit ascending as a Dove and the next is when He stormed the Temple knocking over the tables of those who were selling the doves .
Tempted by satan three times , tempted by His people for three years until He said if its going to take three nails to show what I can do in three days , ok Pops so be it , Let's go . That is a Vow that only our Nazarene Lord can take . He said "if you have faith as small as a mustard seed ... " That is what I came to show you . This is Him that is in you , and I in the Father and the Father in Me .

[deetu]

My husband and I were working on my property, repairing the things having to do with my goats. Even though I do alot of stuff, my husband has to do most of the heavy stuff, especially since I broke my wrist. Well, that night I asked if he fed the goats since he was down by the barn and he answered with a nasty "Nooo" with the implied they are your goats.

I met a new friend and she was telling me that God told her something but then she started digging in the Bible for additional meaning to the point where she got confused as to whether it was the first thing she heard or if there is something else God wanted her to know.

This same friend and I went to a conference together, sharing a room. It was apparent from the beginning that she expected everything to be done in whatever she wanted. Hogging the bathroom, keeping the light on late and even me bringing her coffee (which I did to be nice)

I am doing a study through the church called the Elijah House. It is about teaching us how to be a better counselor. How to look for the root of a person's problems. Fruit to a bitter root.

So what does all this have to do with anything you may ask.

Well, most times my husband just feeds the goats, like this morning, as I was putting on my dirty cloths to feed in the rain, he told me he already did. But that day he was tired and grumpy and answered in that frame of thought.

My new friend didn't know about letting the Holy Spirit guide her and tried to reason everything out herself. Once she allowed the Holy Spirit to guide her (and got delivered from a religious spirit) she has grown in her ministry at an amazing rate, finding that God gives her prophetic words to help others.

The next time we went to a conference, I prayed that God would give ME the grace to deal with anything that she may say or do. Because I went with a different attitude, we got along great.

This Elijah House counseling training tells of the importance of watching a person's body language and listening to the tone of voice. That makes it difficult for me to answer posts because I don't know how it will be received.

If you decide to go on your Sabbatical vahn, there are a couple of books I think you may like to read. The one is from this training called Transforming the Inner Man by John and Paula Sandford, Making Sense of Spiritual Warfare by Eddie Smith and He Who Has An Ear by Norman Audi.

[vahn]

And the Truth shall set you free

I am now in day 4 in this , I was going to say Journey , as I started typing it came to the realization that it is not , in actuality it had been a walk , and it still is .
I vowed for 7 days , started getting results , as I mentioned in the very first time I posted about the Vow , immediately , I was in probably the second or third sentence , let me check , yep I was right

(hmm , you know what I just realized ? , Our Lord never referred to Him as God ? God the name we , as people give Him that is ) interesting , who knows this might be working already

and you know what ? It had never stopped since .
Every day for the past 4 days I had been doing nothing else but absolute devotion to me Lord , I mean every single moment of my day , I mean I'm eating , breathing , sleeping , waking , sitting and standing with no one else but Him , I even loaded my mp3 with christian music , and short of super-gluing the plugs to my ears except driving , and even then I tuned the radio to a christian channel , devoted 2 hrs of total solitude and quiet trying to clear my head and just listen (without the plugs or ears , for that matter) all except the hour or so I'd been spending here to "report" my thoughts and then go back and contemplate on that .
All except about two hours ago , I came in from work and headed straight to my desk and cranked up my computer and the first thing I did was start up my graphics program and halfway through loading a background for a scene I heard on the radio , I noticed I wasn't shaking anymore ... I had to pause for a min , looking at the monitor , I thought to myself "look at this vahn , you're drawing again ! " then looking at my "subject" , it came to me , that every time that I had come to this "block" is when I had been away from my Lord !
I went back to my "subject" , put together some sheep , white as snow , grazing , then I got me an image of a beautiful , peaceful almost light green meadow , and put my sheep in it keeping the background on a separate layer , the peace was almost overwhelming , I mean the meadow was peaceful as it was , but by putting the white sheep it just simply came alive . But ... listening to this guy on the radio , and in trying to prove his theory , which was the reason of my "drawing" , who said "No matter how white of a fleece that we put on by telling ourselves how good of christians we had been by doing this and showing love and doing that , by asking forgiveness either for ourselves or others , being all charitable and compassionate , if you don't see Jesus in any other person than yourself , and even when you do , if you didn't look at Jesus in them as Jesus Who is in you would see them Our Father would see that blemish a mile away ".
Back to the "drawing" board I fished for a snow laden scenery , I blocked the meadow and turn on the snow scene , and Bingo !! The sheep that looked so white and serene and peaceful in the background that I chose as being peaceful and serene , put against the white snowy background the sheep looked as if the had just come out of a mud bath ... my hands started shaking all over again , the only thing that stayed was my ability to keep drawing even when trembling . The Truth finally came out . I was still holding a personal vendetta against the killer of my daughter , even though , through the help of my fellows here at the Oasis , I had prayed for him , and "thought" I had forgiven him and told everyone that I had done that and acting as if I did , the truth finally hit me smack dab right to the core of my heart . Went to the Chapel ... I came back and finished the picture (yep , still trembling but .. finish I did )

Going backwards by dates of my posts , it had been 40 days of "hostility" .

Our Lord within me was led by the Spirit back to the wilderness to be tempted again , He took me with Him for me to see ... I failed miserably , He cried and said "don't do it for others or even yourself do it for Me"

I would like to dedicate this prayer to my daughter for all here to see , for she had been a part of this family as much as you were a part of hers .

"My Lord , My Redeemer I now lay the burden and the torment that I had been carrying around as a result of secretly seeking vengeance that I thought no one would see , at your feet . You saw my "secret" Lord and how much torment it was causing both me and everyone around me . And my gratitude is endless for Your Love for me , to care enough to show me . I am now ready that You take all of me , good and bad and everything else that stands in between me and being of utmost service to You and my fellows , in our Father's name I pray , Amen "

[vahn]

I would like to take the time to thank everyone here at the Oasis for taking part in helping me get to this point , It had been a journey I would not want anyone to miss , I know no one would want to .

It works , it realy does .

Once againn , thank you all .

[deetu]

I have found the best way to make the forgiveness complete so it never comes back is to bless the person we have forgiven. To put that person in God's hands to deal with. It is hard but the release and lightness after is amazing.

This is from the teaching I am going thru:
When you forgive you're letting go of your right to hold it against the person. You're not saying you are going to pretend it never happened or that it doesn't still hurt but you are able to trust with God.

Glad to have you back again vahn

[vahn]

Day 6 , still at it . The flood gates opened .

Numbers 6: 1 ... , The Lord Gave (Moses) these instructions for His people : " When either a man osr a woman takes the spepecial vow of a Nazarite , consecrating himself to the Lord in a special way , he must not thereafter , during the entire period of his special consecration to the Lord , taste strong drink or wine ....
"Troughout that time he must never cut his hair , for he is holy and consecratdto the Lord ; that is why he must let his hair grow.
And he may not go near any dead body during the entire period of his vow, even if it is the body of his father , mother , brother or sister ..... "

Wooaah hoooaa !!! WHY !!!

It just sends me right into the fourth demension of existence when our Father moves !! And today He did just that .

Certain "events" that took place last night at church here led to the culmination of finally realizing what this vow would produce - Absolute Freedom - the ridding of the last link in the chain that was holding me fettered to the enemy's wrist , not being able to strike him hard enough and say " Do you now want to say something ? "

Going backwards from my sharing at church for all to hear from my own words (By the way I didnt even know if I were to make it to church to begin with , (work) , but the Lord saw to it that I did - He stuck my truck in the mud and couldn't make my run on time , I threw up my hands and ran to the only church I know , HERE ! And lo and behold , tho I didnt know at the time , the topic was about that last link in the chain to my freedom .
First I hear someone saying something about another , nothing bad about the other , but a bit unpleasant nevertheless causing a certain concern , that's ALL , right ? Caring about both parties involved I immediatly became concerned myself , so , without even having to do anything with anything I became a part of it just for hearing it ! I had not even say anything pro or con . Aaah , nothing to cause any concern ther right ? WRONG ! I failed to be of Christ by not heeding His advice "when one says or does something causing another to sin ... " Well , obviously it was that feeling "failure" that grew and grew till it exploded , and everyone around got a piece of it , when another , and hoping the last "gossip" presented its ugly head to and toward me . See , all this time I was fettered to that "what I 'heard' " over six or seven months ago !

What does all this have to do with the vow , you may ask .
Another (word) I heard at church was , "the enemy attacks at your weakest point " hearing that I just went balistic on the enemy and exposed him in front of all . Awsome is my Lord of Lords !

By going to the wilderness ,our Christ showed us how to DEFEAT the enemy and not necessarily be tempted by him , but in order for Him to do so He had to "invite" or , lure him to Himself first right ? And how did He do that ? By making Himself weak , and bingo ! poof ! here I am he says ! hah ! I can just see the grin on our Lord's face .

"My Power works best in your weakness" said my Lord , not the enemy's power !

So , that is why I was led through this walk from the beggining not even knowing about it , to defeat the enemy in his own game .
My Lord "forced" me to come to my weakest point by taking everything I held dear , my wealth , possessions , even my daughter and friends , my dignity , and pride just to bring me to my weakest point to "invite" the enemy within arm's reach and just when I was about to succumb I saw our Lord's face saying "I love you so much , I'll take the blow for you " and the enemy fled !!

My dearest brothers and sisters in Christ He didnt do this for me , He did this for you to see , when the enemy strikes , huddle together rather than run away from each other , "Two or three in My name" He said , well , when you do it in His Name , do as He does , not what you would like "think" He would do . and what does He do ? Here's my two cents worth , The only reason He came here and went through is to show us how to defeat the enemy and nothing else , you play the enemy's game , you kill our Lord for nothing !!