Wednesday, August 20, 2008
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How Do I Feel About Revelife?
From the revelifecrew:
We found a post written by a fellow brother that really spoke to us. We realize as we post more and more there's a responsibility in our voice - we will be wrong at times, we may be lucky and get things right...bottomline, we need more posts like these. We ask you to read this post (which we wholeheartedly agree with) and ask that you'll join Barry and us and pray for revelife, for xanga, and everyone else.Thanks so much and as he puts it, To God Be the Glory!
from BereanChristianHow do I feel about Revelife?
I've seen a lot of posts concerning contention about Revelife. Here are a few of my thoughts on the issue.
I personally was turned off by Revelife. In fact for a while I abstained from reading the Revelife articles. I was upset with what some of the posts were talking about. There is a strong atheist group among Revelife as well a fairly large group of Christians who seem to not understand the God whom they put their faith in. So when posts would come up that would have a clear biblical answer (which is most of them), people, even Christians, would dismiss what the Bible said and follow their own thoughts and feelings. It saddened me. Then one day while I was thinking about the Xangans and Revelifers God gave me a clear thought on what we are to do with Revelife.
So, now that I caught your attention!
What are we to do with Revelife?
Revelife is no different than any place we run in to in the real world. It's like going to the grocery store or even the gym. There are going to be those who do not agree with us or the Bible.
Here is a few things that we can apply when we visit Revelife: Some of you are already doing these things but I feel God is telling me this is necessary to say.
Truth
Be always truthful. Sometimes to make a point you might be willing to fug a fact. Don't! With the Internet today take the time to look up a fact and state truth. In time your truthfulness will be as a banner before you and others will see it and know to perk up their ears because what you speak is of Truth.To God Be The Glory
Remember that it is of God. It is His righteousness, His power, His glory, His message, His love and His everlasting life you are sharing. You are just a vessel by which God is doing His work.Faith
Remember in whom your faith is in and what He has done for your life when you don't deserve a grain of sand of it. It is our faith which strengthens us and allows our wounds to heal and makes us ready to defend the Word of God. Faith will turn back the attacks on us.Salvation
Remember the hope of salvation. Salvation protects us against discouragement, against the desire to give up, giving us hope not only in knowing that we are saved, but that we will be saved. It is the assurance that God will triumph.Scripture
Use scripture as much as possible and be in readiness to use it. Scripture is the foundation or the footing by which we stand upon. God's word is sharper than any two edged sword. It will divide the light from the darkness, Christian from the non-Christian, faithful from the non-faithful. It will be the guideline by which we are measured too. When Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness...when ever Satan tried to tempt Jesus what did Jesus do? His response was always the use of scripture. Scripture is not only for defense it also is for building up before you go to Revelife. It is for refreshing your soul and calming your spirit. If you don't spend time with God you can not expect to reflect His light. Stand confident in the scriptures. If we are not confident in Scripture, then we will not use it effectively at all.The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit will help you discern what your next move will be. The Holy Spirit will give you the words to say when you feel you have none. The Holy Spirit will convict. The Holy Spirit will protect. The Holy Spirit will give us the proper timing. Remember you may not be called to win the battle, only plant a seed and someone else or something will come along and cause that seed you planted to grow.Prayer
We need to pray for Revelife.
That they would get strong meat. That the Holy Spirit would move among Revelife.Pray for Your Involvement in Revelife.
Pray that your words are used for God's Glory. Pray that your witness is not corrupted. Pray that you remain steadfast in faith among the controversy.Pray for Revelifers and Xangans
Pray that God's people would stand up for Him and not be quiet. Pray that individuals would come to see the truth of the Bible. Pray for individuals that you have had contact with, that a seed be planted in their hearts and continue to pray for those individuals.Pray for the Faithful to God Revelifers and Xangans
That their words be used for the glory of God. That they would not be disheartened and that they would get encouraged to keep on keeping on.We should use every kind of prayer we can think of. Group prayer, individual prayer, silent prayer, shouting prayer, walking prayer, kneeling prayer, eloquent prayer, groaning prayer, constant prayer, fervent prayer - just pray.
All this is based upon Ephesians 6:13-18 (Putting on the Armor of God). We also need to remember the Parable of the Lost Sheep in Luke 15:4-6. We need to look for that one lost sheep that they may find God and the gift to all who Call upon the name of Jesus.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
To God Be The Glory!
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Comments (40)
Fantastic points!
Revelife is cool...a new gateway to others who want and desire more knowledge as well as a greater way to fellowship about our hardships...=D
I really love this post (but it is by my husband so I may be a tad biased)
I do want to say though that Revelife your comment above the post really touched me. It is wonderful to hear about you understanding the responsibility that comes with something like this.
You are all in my prayers.
May God bless and guide each and everyone of you.
Hugs from your sister in the Lord
Kristen
Berean_Christian, Thanks for your comments. I would agree with pretty much all you've said.
You wrote: "There is a strong atheist group among Revelife..."
Translate that = Open Door to share our faith. It may be a bit threatening or disconcerting from time to time, but as believers since we have the Gospel, it is our responsibility to proclaim the Gospel and watch the Holy Spirit work. I know I don't have too much contact with non-Christians so I consider this a real opportunity for me and I continue to pray for those souls who are hostile to the Gospel (as I once was).
You also wrote: "Faith will turn back the attacks on us."
I think I know what you mean by this...but it sounds like if we share our faith, then we won't be attacked or the attacks will stop, but I believe the NT teaching is quite the opposite. Yes, some will be saved while at the same time others will step up their opposition to the Gospel.
You also wrote: "There is...a fairly large group of Christians who seem to not understand the God whom they put their faith in."
Translate that = Opportunity to teach and mentor. I regret to say this, but far too often the local church has dropped the ball and does not immerse her people in the Word of God and does not take the responsibility to disciple seriously.
Also, on Revelife we have a very large cross-section from across the Body of Christ, from a variety of Christian traditions/denominations. Since I've been a Christian, I've found myself pretty much steeped in the Bible (and I'm guessing you have as well), but many Revelifers haven't had that exposure/opportunity. We definitely need to be encouraging Revelifers to feed on the Word. If that's the main outcome of Revelife, wouldn't that be a most wondrous work of God?
We must also remember that the knowledge we have today, we didn't arrive at overnight. Some Revelifers will be infants in the faith, some toddlers, some children, some adolescents and some adults. Some may even think they are saved but they are not really saved. We must be patient and forbearing and loving to one another, yet not compromising the truth of God's Word.
And we must always have Paul's attitude of humility and remember that we have never arrived but we always have something to learn about our immeasurable, infinite, most high God: Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own...
On that note, we must also remember that even the younger can teach the older.
I consider being in the Revelife community a privilege and stewardship and hope the rest of the Christians involved in Revelife do also, or will now do so because of your post.
Thanks again, Berean_Christian!
So, Revelifers, let's blog to the glory of God!
Thanks for this post and thanks to those who have commented above.
Awesome and I agree.
Blessings
Karen
Thank you Berean! I appreciate your eloquance when stating the above. I too have felt the need to write about Revelife and to think abou the direction it is headed in! God bless!
@naphtali_deer@xanga - Excellent comments. I agree.
Great post thanks for sharing your thoughts
Thanks so much for this! I've been kind of frustrated by some of the comments I've seen lately, and I really hope that people will read this post so that they can have those points in mind while on Revelife.
I also hope people will read this and apply those points to their lives as Christians. Most of those points you made were doctrinally sound and Biblically founded; people could really learn from those!
I think it's also important that we are open to what others are saying. I don't think anyone on here can say they've got it all figured out. We should be ready to listen to what others are saying and not dismiss it prematurely.
"So when posts would come up that would have a clear biblical answer
(which is most of them), people, even Christians, would dismiss what
the Bible said and follow their own thoughts and feelings."
Since when did theology become so easy? There are many questions that exist that do not have a clear biblical answer (just look at the history of the church and the range of issues they debated over), and that is why discussing such issues is a fruitful endeavor- it helps people examine their own stances on issues in comparison to potentially conflicting information from opposing ideas.
If all you are looking for is a group of likeminded people that agree on absolutely everything with you, I pity you. How can someone learn in an environment like that?
Awesome post.
@whataboutbahb@xanga - Clearly, he was talking about the recent posts on revellife. Not all questions on theology.
@mariahatescupcakes@xanga -
Why would that be clear? Did he mention particular posts in this post that I apparently overlooked or what? This is what was said:
"I personally was turned off by Revelife. In fact for a while I
abstained from reading the Revelife articles. I was upset with what
some of the posts were talking about."
That would seem to imply he was talking about many more posts than those recently discussed. Maybe you have some sort of special ability that grants you extra insight into what he said that I don't have though. As for me, I must rely on what he simply writes.
@whataboutbahb@xanga - Oh, sorry, you're right, I had incorperated the text by revellife into that.
That first paragraph did catch my attention! Wow! great attention getter! I felt many of the same sentiments in that paragraph, but I really enjoy how the rest of the article focus on practical application for what we can do beyond venting. Great article! Thanks!
Btw, BereanChristian, from your post, I couldn't tell if that first paragraph was your honest feelings on the topic or just a catchy way of leading us to the applications?
@silvervknight@xanga - I can answer your question (the writer is my husband) It was his honest feelings.
I agree most with asking God before we speak, and I need to do that myself more often.
Thanks for the loving chastisement. I, for one, appreciate it and am spurred on to do better.
~V
great post. agree with some of the topics supposing to have a clear definition but people arguing it.
@whataboutbahb@xanga - I'm gonna have to agree with your comments here.
While I agree with the heart of Berean's post (and a good majority of his points), I always shy away when someone says they have a "clear biblical answer".
Some things are clear...like how we are saved for example. Other things are not so clear and clean cut. That's why, dare I say, personal Bible study seems somewhat dangerous to me...because people are prone to "personal interpretation". While I do believe we can depend on the spirit to help us discern things, I think we were designed to live in community and thus, interpret in community. That's why discussion of what the biblical answer is and not just one person's assertion of what the "clear biblical answer" is, needs to happen in a corporate setting.
One of those corporate settings can be revelife.
Revelife is so depressing. There's just a ton of radicals and that's not the spirit of Christianity anyway.
I've been tremendously reluctant to comment much on Revelife. The greatest reason has been that I'm uncertain of what the central focus is of this site.
Is this just a forum for anyone and everyone who has an opinion about Christianity to make a post?
Is this a forum for Christians to share their personal faith challenges and experiences in hopes of seeking and imparting spiritual counsel?
Is this a forum for exploring current events and how Christians should approach them?
Is this a forum for recognizing the Christian church today is facing some big challenges and we need to talk and pray though those challenges?
Is it something else entirely?
From what I've seen, this has been an "anyone about anything Christian" forum, which makes this site less interesting for me, despite your having posted some interesting blogs.