Praying to Jesus for salvation over and over

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OCD targets our greatest fears and the things that are most important to us. It's not surprising at all that it would latch onto your salvation. God knows you have OCD. He also knows that OCD has also been referred to as 'the doubting disease'. Let's say you have true faith (I'm not saying you don't, just making it clear for the sake of an example)...the OCD will make you think, 'DO I really have true faith?'. So you struggle with that for a little while. Eventually you reach a point where you're feeling secure--you think, yeah, I definitely have true faith!

That's great! But then you come across this list that so-and-so Bible teacher wrote, and he says that true faith will always bring about a, b, c, and d in a person. So then you read over the list, ready to check them all off, but then you get to d and you think...wait...have I got that? Does that apply to me?!

Or you'll read verse so-and-so in the Bible and panic, thinking that it applies to you and is condemning you, even though, when read entirely in context, it's not applying to you at all.

I know because I've done both of those things. With OCD, we will ALWAYS find something to doubt. Does that mean our faith isn't genuine? Honestly, I don't know. I don't think so. We know that we're sinners who deserve to be eternally separated from God, but also that Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected so that we wouldn't have to be separated from God! He paid the price for our sin so we don't have to!

I know that, in the midst of an OCD spike, it's hard to think that. You're probably so desperate to have reassurance that you tell yourself 'Well, I've done this, and this, and I haven't done this or that, so I'm good...right?'

If there's one thing scrupulosity has taught me, it's the meaning of 'cling to Jesus'. Sometimes I don't take my own advice, granted, because my mind will go in a million different directions when my OCD is flaring up...but Jesus is it. When you're struggling, call out to Jesus. He hears you!

Hi Lik3, first off, great post just above^ by theniceiceman

I don't have OCD, at least I've never been diagnosed as having it anyway, but even w/o OCD, doubts can still filter into our minds (ALL Christians get a lot of help with that, BTW .. i.e. 1 Peter 5:8 ). The first thing to do when that happens is look back at your own life and remember all the amazing work God has done in it, then make the choice to trust Him based upon what you know of Him (AND, of course, on the great promises that He has given us in the Bible), not on how you're "feeling" at the moment. I know, it "sounds" easy enough, but you and I both know it's not so easy Still, as theniceiceman just said, "cling to/call out to Jesus" and trust that He will make things better ... as hard as that may be to do ... because it will get better because of Him.

Trust Him, trust His promises, and trust what you know of Him, even when your OCD is trying very hard to get you not to.

And if you don't know His Word well, get into it and stay in it every single day. And if you're not sure of the meaning of a verse or passage (especially if you find one that's troubling to you in this way), then give your pastor a quick call, or come here and ask us and we'll try to help. And again, if you find a verse troubling, decide to put it out of your mind as much as possible until you find someone who can help explain it to you. Always remember .. no matter what you "feel" at a given moment .. that God is always FOR you .. and that He's never against you (see Romans 8:31-39)

The best thing of all, memorize it, memorize Scripture verses and "lock" them into your mind. It is absolutely amazing what the HS can do when you know His word, even a small part of it, that well. By doing this you will empty your mind of bad thoughts and fill it with the word of God instead It's hard, but it is so worth it, and it gets easier as you go along.

Also, when you know God's word that well, it's so much easier to quickly recognize that a thought you are having is a good one or a bad one, which makes taking the bad thoughts "captive" to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5) so much easier to do!!

If you want help getting started with Scripture memorization, just PM me and I'll be happy to help There are wonderful systems which have already been set up to help you with that (like the Navigator's Topical Memory System which I used to get started).

God bless you! .. Number 6:24-26

--David
p.s. - praying!

I suffer from OCD as well, my mind is constantly filled with impulses of doubts about God, and these doubts make me very uncomfortable and I feel terrible because of them.

However, I came across an analogy that helped me a ton yesterday.

Imagine your relationship with God as a train, the head of the train represents the fact that God won't let anything bad happen to you, and your faith in that fact is the engine in the head of the train that moves that train forwards. Then, attached at the end of the train is a wagon, this wagon represents feelings and emotions, or in our case, impulses and thoughts that we can't control.

It would be pointless to try to control the wagon of the train for the train to move forwards and go in the direction you want, you would have to take control of the engine of the train, which is faith, and ignore any doubts or impulses.

theniceiceman said:

OCD targets our greatest fears and the things that are most important to us. It's not surprising at all that it would latch onto your salvation. God knows you have OCD. He also knows that OCD has also been referred to as 'the doubting disease'. Let's say you have true faith (I'm not saying you don't, just making it clear for the sake of an example)...the OCD will make you think, 'DO I really have true faith?'. So you struggle with that for a little while. Eventually you reach a point where you're feeling secure--you think, yeah, I definitely have true faith!

That's great! But then you come across this list that so-and-so Bible teacher wrote, and he says that true faith will always bring about a, b, c, and d in a person. So then you read over the list, ready to check them all off, but then you get to d and you think...wait...have I got that? Does that apply to me?!

Or you'll read verse so-and-so in the Bible and panic, thinking that it applies to you and is condemning you, even though, when read entirely in context, it's not applying to you at all.

I know because I've done both of those things. With OCD, we will ALWAYS find something to doubt. Does that mean our faith isn't genuine? Honestly, I don't know. I don't think so. We know that we're sinners who deserve to be eternally separated from God, but also that Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected so that we wouldn't have to be separated from God! He paid the price for our sin so we don't have to!

I know that, in the midst of an OCD spike, it's hard to think that. You're probably so desperate to have reassurance that you tell yourself 'Well, I've done this, and this, and I haven't done this or that, so I'm good...right?'

If there's one thing scrupulosity has taught me, it's the meaning of 'cling to Jesus'. Sometimes I don't take my own advice, granted, because my mind will go in a million different directions when my OCD is flaring up...but Jesus is it. When you're struggling, call out to Jesus. He hears you!

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I was diagnosed with OCD in 1995 by a doctor, but I didn't believe him. Over the years I've often wondered if maybe he was right, but could never fully accept it. I had all kinds of excuses for denying it like 'I'm just being safe', and I would justify not having trust in anyone because of all the bad things I've seen people do to others. Recently I came across a medical website giving all kinds of information about it, and that's what finally caused me to stop denying it. Until I read your post, I had never heard it called the 'doubting disease'. That really opened my eyes. The doubt I have isn't me, it's the disease. I have a lot of faith, I know God can do miracles, I've even been healed before. I had TMJ for eight years and one day I just got fed up with it and prayed for healing. From that day on I never had any symptoms again. Me and my husband have even seen other people healed that we prayed for. My OCD wasn't so bad when I first got saved, so I thought maybe I had lost my faith. You have really helped me just with that one sentence. I feel like I'm on a whole new path. If God can heal me of TMJ, he can heal me of OCD. I don't believe it's God's will for people to suffer with something that causes doubt when he says we are justified by faith. I really believe God lead me to this forum last week, and to your post. So thank you so much for sharing this!!!!

Like your worries about not believing enough, Martin Luther famously worried that he was not doing enough. This woeful condition lasted until he understood the Gospel of God's grace. His insight launched the Reformation. We do not have to look at ourselves and try to figure out whether or not we have enough faith or works, we are to look outside ourselves and rest in the Gospel, the good news that God is our heavenly Father, that Christ is our Savior, freely, by grace.

I used to pray a sinners prayer over and over even though theologically I did not even believe in the concept of a sinner's prayer. At some point I committed to stop that because it is just a means of temporary emotional relief but also reinforces the doubt because it will not deliver the desired result. I think the better approach is to act as if you are a child of God and pursue him despite the doubts. That is easier said then done , but in time you may come to believe you are his child. He certainty would not want us to keep our eyes on ourselves and off of him. I think just about every biblical character walked with him in some degree of doubt and uncertainty it just may not have been this specific issue.