Struggling christian...

[Bingsta]

Hello all

First time at an online christian forum. Thought I'd give it a go, mostly because I'm looking for some encouragement in a not so great time in my life. My name is Bing and I live in Australia. I call myself an evangelical Christian but unfortunately I am struggling with my faith. I go to a small church in which is bible based and has very good teaching. I was brought up by non-christian parents but became christian in high school after attending some talks. My parents were fairly strict and provided me with a great education and thus I have ended up in a fairly specialized line of work which is interesting, pays well though has required a lot of training and exams. Hence even though I have been going to church for the past 10 years and been involved in bible study, my attendance has been sub optimal / intermittent, largely due to odd working hours and having to study a lot.

My other problem is that I don't have an close christian friends from the church I go to which is funny cos I've been going to it for that long and I know all the people there but for some reason can't form any close bonds. I know that part of it is because I don't spend enough time with them, it is more on and off, here and there without having deep conversations, it's like I am always behind when catching up with people rather than being involved in their lives. Funny thing is, I wouldn't think to call any of them first if I was in dire straits / needed an ear to listen; I would rather call one of my non-christian friends.

Furthermore, I struggle with any kind of routine prayer / reading. I know that this is a matter of my own discipline but again after work / study I find it very difficult to have any "down time" for myself and to be honest I don't find prayer to be relaxing.

I have had very good gospel teaching and I know the things I NEED to do i.e. more prayer, more reading to get to know God's word better and have a better relationship with HIM; I know I need to be more REGULAR at church and bible study; I know I need to spend more time in FELLOWSHIP with other christians. Yet part of me doesn't want to do these things and I feel like I am stuck in SIN. It is a bad cycle since the less christian involvement / contact / encouragement I get the less I seek that christian life.

I guess I'm hoping for some encouragement in regards to how to break this cycle and try to be motivated to be a GOOD christian rather than being fearful of being a BAD one.

Looking forward to your replies and words of wisdom.

Many thanks,
Bing

 

[Jesus' Follower]

Welcome to CF @Bingsta!

You will receive some encouragement here; why not go ahead and start a thread in the request for prayer or Chaplin area; these guys have some great advice.

What I will say is, remain strong in prayer, God has a plan for you.

 

[Truthfrees]

Hello all

First time at an online christian forum. Thought I'd give it a go, mostly because I'm looking for some encouragement in a not so great time in my life. My name is Bing and I live in Australia. I call myself an evangelical Christian but unfortunately I am struggling with my faith. I go to a small church in which is bible based and has very good teaching. I was brought up by non-christian parents but became christian in high school after attending some talks. My parents were fairly strict and provided me with a great education and thus I have ended up in a fairly specialized line of work which is interesting, pays well though has required a lot of training and exams. Hence even though I have been going to church for the past 10 years and been involved in bible study, my attendance has been sub optimal / intermittent, largely due to odd working hours and having to study a lot.

My other problem is that I don't have an close christian friends from the church I go to which is funny cos I've been going to it for that long and I know all the people there but for some reason can't form any close bonds. I know that part of it is because I don't spend enough time with them, it is more on and off, here and there without having deep conversations, it's like I am always behind when catching up with people rather than being involved in their lives. Funny thing is, I wouldn't think to call any of them first if I was in dire straits / needed an ear to listen; I would rather call one of my non-christian friends.

Furthermore, I struggle with any kind of routine prayer / reading. I know that this is a matter of my own discipline but again after work / study I find it very difficult to have any "down time" for myself and to be honest I don't find prayer to be relaxing.

I have had very good gospel teaching and I know the things I NEED to do i.e. more prayer, more reading to get to know God's word better and have a better relationship with HIM; I know I need to be more REGULAR at church and bible study; I know I need to spend more time in FELLOWSHIP with other christians. Yet part of me doesn't want to do these things and I feel like I am stuck in SIN. It is a bad cycle since the less christian involvement / contact / encouragement I get the less I seek that christian life.

I guess I'm hoping for some encouragement in regards to how to break this cycle and try to be motivated to be a GOOD christian rather than being fearful of being a BAD one.

Looking forward to your replies and words of wisdom.

Many thanks,
Bing

Welcome to CF Bing!

It's wonderful to have you here!

I'm praying that you'll find your kind of people here easily and quickly!

Sometimes it's easier to find like-minded people on a huge forum like this one because there's thousands of us here.

I guess I'd have to say my best friends don't attend my church either.

God has blessed you with wonderful parents and a wonderful career you love.

That's rare.

God will take as much as we can offer Him.

AND He'll multiply it into more.

It sounds like you're giving as much as you can, so in a sense that's a widow's mite, that Jesus commends. Luke 21:1-4, Mark 12:41-44 (slide the cursor on top of these scripture links and you'll see the scripture open up over top of this post)

God's pleased with you because of your heart desire to please Him. 1 Samuel 16:7

He'll work out the rest as you cast your cares on Him because He cares for you and TAKES care of you. 1 Peter 5:7, Psalms 55:22

The small seed of time you have available will grow into more time with God's help. 1 Corinthians 3:6-7

Rest in the goodness of God. Jeremiah 31:3, 2 Timothy 2:13

Enjoy every moment that you can cheerfully spend with God. 2 Corinthians 9:7

Don't get bound up in performance. Galatians 2:16, Romans 3:28

Remain as a child who enjoys every moment of this precious life God gives us. 1 Thessalonians 5:18

God bless you. Numbers 6:24-26

I'm praying for you to rest in God's goodness so that you can sense how valuable you are to God, and how pleased He is with you right now as is. Romans 5:8

With God's help you will continue to get better and stronger in God and in knowing His will, as we ALL are STILL growing in this. Proverbs 4:18, Hebrews 12:2

 

[David4223]

Hello and welcome.

 

[drjean]

Welcome... seek and you will find

 

[Hattington]

You must ask yourself a few question before you proceed.
1) If you feel out of place why do you keep trying to fit? We change. If you grew up Christian, but now feel out of place, is probably time to start doing something different.
2) Do you really want to be around people that fail to guide you where they are comfortable? Compare this to your own situations. If you see a struggling lad at work, will you shun him for not knowing or guide him through his hard time. The church is no different.
3) Is a god really going to solve your problem or do you need to start doing something different? If you really want to integrate into the church, make an effort. You seem to know what is necessary to become one of the church. It's in your hands.
4) What really means to be a good or bad Christian? For all you know, you may be the best kind-hearted and honest person in your church. The bible contradicts itself more than you can count and people in church have their own views of what being a Christian is like. Look at the good in things, do good things, and who cares whether you're someone's ideal image of Christianity or not.

 

[faroukfarouk]

Hi; good to see you; God bless His Word to you. A regular prayer and Bible reading habit is good to have. John chapter 3; John chapter 14, 1-27; Psalm 46; these are good passages to read.

 

[Dara777]

Hattingtons comment screams of unconverted, It's not a matter of christianity making him feel "in place", what matters is wether the christian faith is true or not.

 

[MiddaySun]

Hi and welcome to CF!

I think you should ask yourself, do you feel the need to go to church more often?
I for one do it very rarely, but I find that I don't really need it. I take walks in the forrest and that makes me feel close to God. When I'm laying down with a good friend I might feel close to God because life is good and God has blessed us all.

I try to pray every day, but sometimes I might fall asleep after long day of studying and that's okay. I feel like God understands that.

Everyone of us expresses our faith differently. So as long as you feel like you've done enough and feel close to Him, then it is enough for God also.
But if you feel like you should take more time, then it is only matter of arrangement. Praying can take as little as a minute or as long as half an hour or even more. And it is totally up to you. There is no real guides how to go about it. And after stressful day of work praying and taking time for yourself and God can be really relaxing.

 

[KenG63]

G'day Bingsta, I live in Australia as well, do you live in a small town, if not, surely there are other suitable churches near to you. I go to a community church, have been for about 6 months, like you I know a few people in my church as well, but they hardly qualify as friends. They don't seem to want to go beyond the usual greet before the start of the service and the coffee afterwards.

To expand your fellowship why not attend men's breakfasts at other churches (I do this as well, it's a slow process growing a circle of friends), why not ask your Pastor if there are any community based works they do where you can assist, that gets you out and about working alongside other members of your church.

Pray mate, it opens doors and God will bring people into your life, you just need to listen and follow where He directs you.

 

[look4hope]

@Bingsta
Welcome to the forums.
Surely most of us can understand how hard forming a solid relationship with the church community can be. It's happened to me.

Don't be a stranger,
God bless!