a few things i wanted to ask but didnt want to start a thread for each

does anybody remember 'seal' the guy who sang kiss from a rose,i've been listening to some of his songs and i swear he's a christian, but noone else can see it, anybody else think so? even some of the song titles, newborn friend, bring it on, prayer for the dying, people asking why, the beginning, i'm alive, and the lyrics are full of christian ethics! hmm... perhaps most of you dont listen to his work though, lol.alsohow do you work with someone you try to instruct but then find you cant get through to them, to be a little more specific, i havent been arrogant, but and i know this is silly, i have long started to show my frustration when i know they're just about to walk off with dramatic exits then i've found myself pointing it out to them but they deny it, im simply quoting to them, biblical truths, if they cant hear the words of the bible then what can i do? besides its not like i havent been there, being a stubborn person and throwing other's back at people and i still do when it touches a particular nerve but i do let things hit my heart eventually. the more i feed my spirit the shorter that process is. and it's something i can see now and im working through it with God, on our last words i told them to read the bait of satan, i feel theres just a whole lot of unforgiveness between us, so would it be right for me to just back off? i dont see anyone else taking the steps and trying to reach him though. that dooesnt necessarily mean there arent people God will put in his way, but i figured that if i could help along the way i should take the initiative, step out in faith and lean on God, sorry but this is just something thats been weighing on me for a couple of days. also:why do we pray a whole lot for something when God says "if you remain in me and my words remain in you ask whatever you wish and it will be given to you" -John 15:7 i feel it displays more faith to ask once, believe in the verse above that it will come to pass then walk in that offering thanks for it as though it was.i cant believe that God would be there expecting us to ask so amny times for something to see just how much we want it. besides, could anyone back that one up with scripture? God bless you guys, together we can only grow stronger.-arbustum

Well your looking in the right place. and it says "having eyes they can't see and ears they can't hear."It also says that one must be spiritual to disern spiritual things. will pray for word of knowlage and Holy Spirit to move.I find that I need to not try and think what the other person is thinking and let them just be a person. our part is to bring the word and let them except or reject it.then there blood is free from us, we've done as we are suposed to.

hey, do you think acts 16:40 then acts 20:1-2 has anything to do with it:"so [Paul and silas] left the prison and went to Lydia's house; and when they had seen the brethren, they warned and urged and consoled and encouraged them and departed" then"After the Uproar had ceased, Paul sent for the disciples and warned and consoled and urged and encouraged them; then he embraced them and told them farewell and set forth on his journey to Macedonia. 2. Then after he had gone through those districts and had warned and consoled and urged and encouraged the bretheren with much discourse, he came to Greece."only i think i'm missing something in the way he approached these people, he first warned, then either consoled or urged them then he encouraged them, is this a good way to relate, is it anything to go by? or is it only relevant for that time...

right ill go for an answer to the last point about praying the same thing and asking God for something more than once:James 5:16,17 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. 17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. Here James exhorts us to fervent prayer and gives the example of Elijah, and we know from 1 Kings 18:42-44 that Elijah prayed 7 times for the same thing.The we have the Lord Himself, in mark 8:22-26 a blind man was brought to Jesus and the first time Jesus prayed for him the man couldn't see properly, so Jesus prayed again and the man saw clearly.Then of course there is Gethsemane where Jesus prayed the same prayer 3 times as shown in 26:44 And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. it even says He used the same words!!The Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says pray without ceasing, that sounds like carry on praying for the same thing to me.Back to James then James 1:5,6 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. Here James says that we ask in faith and believe God for the answer but that does not mean ask only once as shown above, so we ask in faith believing for the answer, but that doesn't mean ask only once.

ahh clarity, so even jesus asked for some things more than once, and if thats what it says in the word theres no arguing with that! sweet! thanks saved_matt!

no prob arbustum, i would have put more but i'm not much of a Bible scholar, it's just i heard about this kind of teaching that says if you ask more than once it means you have no faith which is obviously unscriptural.

Hello,It really all depends, that is why we need the leading of the Spirit in this matter of prayer.For example, the thief on the cross asked the Lord once to remember him, he did not repeatdly asked the Lord for this, but once, and the Lord answered him.Another example, Paul pleaded the Lord three times about his thorn in the flesh, and the Lord answered him.The fact that there are no set rules in this matter of prayer, for the simple reason that prayer is a spiritual thing; that is why we need to wait on the Spirit for guidance in this.Manfred

actually, it was the other way around, there were others saying that praying more than once for something was a real act of faith, i dont understand that comment though. however the bible's full of reversals that seem contrary to man's logic but through revelation actually shine through as the real truth.

I can see some of what you are saying about Seal, "I've been kissed (I have met) by a rose (the rose of Sharon) from the grave (who is raised from the dead)." I don't know anything about Seal, so be wary that some artists are fully knowledgeable of God's way, but have never been saved. So some of their lyrics are Biblical, and others are garbage. If you mix Bible with garbage, you get garbage. So read ALL his lyrics to find out what his message is about. If he is a Christian, why isn't he pleading with people to be saved (and that should go for all of us, too).Your second point, man, that's tough. We must make sure we are speaking God's words and not our own, by His Spirit and not our own, and then he brings the increase while we wait like a farmer waits on a crop. Is that easy? Not on your life. I get very frustrated. But God sees things we don't, and will bring his elect around at just the right time.Saved Matt nailed the one about the prayer, but I would add, that the Greek word for ask that is used in the phrase, "ask and ye shall receive," means to ask, ask, ask... So God, like someone mentioned earlier, will either answer your prayer or change your prayer, you just keep asking. The best sermon I ever heard on prayer is John R Rice, "Asking and Receiving."Luke 18: [2] ...There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:[3] And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.[4] And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man;[5] Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.[6] And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.[7] And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?[8] I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

cool, seal's great, uh, i guess seal wears his heart on his sleeve, he's pretty focused on what God has done in his life, like a testimony on a few different cd's like bring it on, 'first i didnt have the will to carry on -illusions in my mind, then it continues, like that picture when you feel you can't go on, he emphasizes 'feel' then says 'like you've been left behind, life goes on now...' in his other lyrics he's pretty spot on, except when he's talking about women... then he sounds like his lonely...and yeh it is tough, persevere you say? this goes for both, the prayer question and the friend question. so its like how people pray for years then i guess, 20 years down the track or so God answers the prayer. timing, it must be all in the timing, ecclesiastes 3 all over again. i have to admit this prayer thing is starting to make sense but i still dont get the continual asking thing, guess there's no real definition, a grey area where you need listen to the spirit to guide you through. thats a good call manfred.if anyone has any more light they'd like to shed on any of these topics go right ahead, i'm always open to hear it.