[christkid777]

A friend stopped by last night to drop off something. We talked about the things of God until way past dark. He made an interesting comment about something the Lord was teaching him. It is based on the story of the fig tree. What the Lord had pointed out to him was where it said " for it was not yet the season of figs". The Lord pointed out that Jesus knew there would be no figs on the tree. That was when my friend got the message: this parable is not about the fig tree. It is about the future.

Mr 11:13 And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.
Mr 11:14 In response Jesus said to it, "Let no one eat fruit from you ever again." And His disciples heard it.
Mr 11:20 Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.
Mr 11:21 And Peter, remembering, said to Him, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away."
Mr 11:22 So Jesus answered and said to them, "Have faith in God.
Mr 11:23 "For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.
Mr 11:24 "Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

When Jesus walked up to the fig tree He was looking at the future hope for figs. It was not a present possibility. When He cursed the fig tree He was cursing it's future. When He and His disciples passed by latter the tree was withered. All hope of ever getting anything from that tree was gone. Even when it was the season for figs.

So what was the message? When you curse something today, even when it is not the season for this thing, you destroy its ability to produce for you when it's season does finally come.

My question is then: Have we cursed our own hope of unity and prosperity when we curse each other and pray against each other? Can we see that the way we deal with each other is making it hard, if not impossible, for us to unite? Now when we are separate from each other our lack of love is killing the future when we might be one. Are we killing our own future hope to satisfy our present pride?

So what was the message? When you curse something today, even when it is not the season for this thing, you destroy its ability to produce for you when it's season does finally come.

My question is then: Have we cursed our own hope of unity and prosperity when we curse each other and pray against each other? Can we see that the way we deal with each other is making it hard, if not impossible, for us to unite? Now when we are separate from each other our lack of love is killing the future when we might be one. Are we killing our own future hope to satisfy our present pride?
Perhaps I'm slow James, because we have many threads which come up about love, words, unity and ways which in which things could be done better. Can you be more specific in how you see us cursing each other, how we are praying against each other and maybe specific ways that we may be dealing with each other here that are not conducive to create unity but cursing it. I realize that some things are obvious yet maybe you could make this more clear rather than general with examples. I find this interesting and there is power in our words. Doesn't Deuteronomy talk about Blessing and cursing. Thanks James.

[Dewayne]

Originally Posted by christkid777

My question is then: Have we cursed our own hope of unity and prosperity when we curse each other and pray against each other? Can we see that the way we deal with each other is making it hard, if not impossible, for us to unite? Now when we are separate from each other our lack of love is killing the future when we might be one. Are we killing our own future hope to satisfy our present pride?

Yes to a point we have, but then again there is unity here with alot of us. Brother there are some here that will only try to TEACH you there way, one can go back and just read some of the threads and see.

Originally Posted by Dewayne

Yes to a point we have, but then again there is unity here with alot of us. Brother there are some here that will only try to TEACH you there way, one can go back and just read some of the threads and see.

DeWayne,
I agree with you, and you my friend are not one of those who do this. You are accepting and a good example as are others. I believe with this many people it would be difficult for this not to happen to some degree. But what James is talking about needs to begin somewhere this is why I ask for specifics. What does he see that is being done that we need to do differently. And if others are teaching their way and let's say it is heresy how do we handle this? If it is just their way how do we deal with it? I believe we can find Godly ways to speak life into situations rather than "kill" each other as James refers to. I hope I am getting this right. God Bless you DeWayne.

[Soulheart3]

Originally Posted by MMari

DeWayne,
I agree with you, and you my friend are not one of those who do this. You are accepting and a good example as are others. I believe with this many people it would be difficult for this not to happen to some degree. But what James is talking about needs to begin somewhere this is why I ask for specifics. What does he see that is being done that we need to do differently. And if others are teaching their way and let's say it is heresy how do we handle this? If it is just their way how do we deal with it? I believe we can find Godly ways to speak life into situations rather than "kill" each other as James refers to. I hope I am getting this right. God Bless you DeWayne.

Yes, I would leave the slaying to the Spirit. As to how we deal with it Marilyn, I would love to hear ideas as to how. The way to deal with it in a church is pretty biblical, but we here dont have decons, elders, etc who can confront the heretics and deal with it. Me personally, I just think its best to not take the bait (although I have been know to; hook, line, and sinker). Anyone with a false message often gets tired of broadcasting it if they feel no one is listening. But I am curious as to what others feel.

[Amadeus]

When man kills someone, it is often on the spur of the moment giving no thought at all to what the results of his action will be for himself and for others. When he kills premeditatively it is really not any different because how many hearts do we know?

God always knows when the heart of a person still retains hope for salvation. He also knows when the heart is reprobate, gone beyond the point of ever turning back to Him.

When we have the complete mind of Christ so that we know exactly what is in another's heart, then we too may be able to recognize the reprobate who will never produced good fruit and is occupying space for no good purpose.

The question here is: when is the point of no return to God reached? God knows, but usually we do not, even though we might speak of the evil of a Hitler or of a Stalin, we usually do not really know!

"Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?

And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it:

And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down." Luke 13:7-9

John,

[Dewayne]

Originally Posted by MMari

DeWayne,
I agree with you, and you my friend are not one of those who do this. You are accepting and a good example as are others. I believe with this many people it would be difficult for this not to happen to some degree. But what James is talking about needs to begin somewhere this is why I ask for specifics. What does he see that is being done that we need to do differently. And if others are teaching their way and let's say it is heresy how do we handle this? If it is just their way how do we deal with it? I believe we can find Godly ways to speak life into situations rather than "kill" each other as James refers to. I hope I am getting this right. God Bless you DeWayne.

I think I know what your talking about, as far as heresy goes, I just pray for the Lord to show me if its real or not, and I want as James says "kill" that person. and I,m not saying that James does. There has been alot of times I have responded with hatefull words and the Holy Spirit would ask me if that is what I should say, so I would deleat it all off and just let it go.
If you and me just keep on at each other I,m right your wrong, with all the name calling then yes I would think we would curse our on hope of having unity.
I always remember the big debate between Watchmen and P E, how that got out of hand,and I myself couldnt waite to get up and get on line to see who said what, and it didnt do nothing but divide, and look what has happened to PE,

How do we handle this? I guess Prayer. I,m a 90 percent viewer, 10 percent poster, and if we was all like that, this site would be boring.

Dewayne

[christkid777]

Perhaps I should not have posted this at this time. I was so intrigued by the difference between what my friend saw and the way I had always seen this story that I might have shared too quickly. The first thing I must remind myself of is that not everyone wants the same thing from this site. For some it is their entertainement. For others, like myself, it is a chance to share the insights into the Word we receive from the Spirit.

The things I shared were more of a "Wow! isn't that interesting? I never thought of it that way. I wonder if we have been doing this to ourselves?" kind of thing. There was no intent to chasten or point out anyone's sin. If someone told you that you were killing your house plants by watering them to much you might check in to it. The question is: Could we be killing our future hope with our present behavior? To elaborate: Does our frustration with failure today cause us to speak evil of the whole process and thereby hinder the process for tomorrow?

James,
Some of us get intrigued by the same things. I know I do but sometimes it would be good to qualify it. I would say for the very reason we've had threads referring to how we can treat each other better is why personally I received this in this regard. Now, I need to think about it again as it can be interesting and intriguing.

Brad, I am going to give a thought to what you said but I do believe it is worth thinking about; even though we are not a church. I know that on another forum I was on we called some the tag team (as a joke) but they were a little overbearing trying to keep out heresy; I think one would have to be careful with that as it can be subjective. I guess there is no harm in discussing it if anyone wants to.