Losing faith and need some help please!

[font=Arial, Helvetica]Hello and welcome to Christian Forums. May you find the help, support and encouragement you are looking for here. I had a nice post written out and accidently lost it, so I will just encourage you to check out the recovery section as their are many threads there where you will find fellow sufferes like myself. There are also threads that have to do with marrige issues and unfaithfulness. Please know their is a variety of us here just like anywhere else. And you will find all sorts of beliefs expressed, but you will also find love and support.

Ask God to reveal himself to you in new ways and to strengthen your faith and help your forgiveness as you forge ahead in this adventure called the life of faith.

I hve also enclosed some of my favorite poems, old hym lyrics etc which help me to keep on track in my battle against bp2. Feel free to pm me as i don't have time to rewrite my post.


God hath not promised skies always blue
Flower strewn pathways, all our lives through;
God hath not promised sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.

But God hath promised strength for the day,
Rest for the labour, light for the way,
Grace for the trials, help from above,
Unfailing kindness, undying love.


[/font]TODAY I WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE
by Max Lucado

Today I will make a difference. I will begin by controlling my thoughts. A person is the product of his thoughts. I want to be happy and hopeful. Therefore, I will have thoughts that are happy and hopeful.

I refuse to be victimized by my circumstances. I will not let petty inconveniences such as stoplights, long lines, and traffic jams be my masters. I will avoid negativism and gossip. Optimism will be my companion, and victory will be my hallmark. Today I will make a difference.

I will be grateful for the twenty-four hours that are before me. Time is a precious commodity. I refuse to allow what little time I have to be contaminated by self-pity, anxiety, or boredom. I will face this day with the joy of a child and the courage of a giant. I will drink each minute as though it is my last. When tomorrow comes, today will be gone forever. While it is here, I will use it for loving and giving. Today I will make a difference.

I will not let past failures haunt me. Even though my life is scarred with mistakes, I refuse to rummage through my trash heap of failures. I will admit them. I will correct them. I will press on victoriously. No failure is fatal. It's OK to stumble. I will get up. It's OK to fail. I will rise again. Today I will make a difference.

I will spend time with those I love. My spouse, my children, my family. A man can own the world but be poor for the lack of love. A man can own nothing and yet be wealthy in relationships. Today I will spend at least five minutes with the significant people in my world. Five quality minutes of talking or hugging or thanking or listening. Five undiluted minutes with my mate, children, and friends. Today I will make a difference.

Even though my life is scarred with mistakes, I refuse to rummage through my trash heap of failure. I will admit them. I will correct them. I will press on.

When I Say "I Am A Christian"

You have suffered quite abit the past few years. But through suffering there is hope. God has not left you alone even though it seems He's not answering your prayers. Through trials such as these...you must rely on God, and depend on Him to pull you out of the pit. Don't be ashamed to cry out to God in your anguish and to recommit yourself to the Lord in a deeper way. Be alert to new spiritual truth he may be trying to tell you. God hears when you cry out to him in your suffering. Search out God's promises of comfort and hope. Constantly remind yourself that your suffering is temporary.

1 Peter 4:12-13

12Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering, as though something strange were happening to you. 13But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.




Lamentations 3:18-26:

18 So I say, "My splendor is gone
and all that I had hoped from the LORD."


19 I remember my affliction and my wandering,
the bitterness and the gall.

20 I well remember them,
and my soul is downcast within me.

21 Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope:
22 Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.




23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.



24 I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him."



25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him,
to the one who seeks him;

26 it is good to wait quietly
for the salvation of the LORD.


Lamentations 3:31-33:

31 For men are not cast off
by the Lord forever.


32 Though he brings grief, he will show compassion,
so great is his unfailing love. 33 For he does not willingly bring affliction
or grief to the children of men.

I like the two replies above ^ and I just wanted to let you know, I will keep you and your family in my prayers. The only advice I can think to give you is to just put God first in your life and give him total control. Trust him to take care of things. I know it's a tough thing to do, and at times you might have second thoughts or wonder if God really knows what he's doing, but remember he'll do only what is best for you and bring you the most joy possible. I've been in some bad situations myself where my troubles just kept piling up like that and I didn't know what to do. It took a major breakdown for me to finally lay it down before God and now I'm back on track and have an awesome relationship with him. The same can happen for you, and that's what I'm praying for. Hang in there!

Life can be so draining.

I like alive-again's comments on refusing to be victimized. I used to scoff at positive thinking until I needed it to survive. We make ourselves sick the more we worry--you must know that, after conquering OCD! That was an interesting one--I hadn't heard of that type before.

Thanks, £amb, for posting those verses. It's so comforting to read of others who went through misery.

I like the one in Hosea 2, "In the very place where they were told, "You are not my people," they will be told "They are the children of the living God."

No amount of distance from churchgoing can separate you from the love of God. He is always ready to lift you up and welcome you.

I've run into a lot of people in the last few years who left very active, thriving lives in the church. Usually it relates to being so overworked, run down and stressed outside of life, that a few tense words from others makes them feel like, what's the use. We should all care for each other more, instead of trying so hard to be right or more spiritual than the next.

I have some great stuff for you

Read this free book called the Cycle Of The Soul
http://home.quicknet.nl/qn/prive/kes/cycle.pdf

And when you are done with that i have

http://www.aleroy.com/contents.html , near death experiences , i want you to read the A Better Way, rediscover life
Bibles, Canons, sacred texts
Choice, a thing of great power
Deke, a love story
Devils, Demons, that bump
Forgiveness, letting-go
Free Will, yours and others
God, by any other name
God Loves You, play it again
Heaven, Hell and Between
Help is Very Close
Inspiration, by quotation
Jesus, Speaker of Love
Learning to Love
Let go of your Banana
Life's a *****, then you die.
Love, the healing force
Miracles, a change
Nature Pictures
Purpose and Meaning of Life
Relationships, learning
Remember who you are,


(ehm wow i didn't think it would copy this good but hey all the better) , page's , then i want you to visit www.near-death.com =D , and when you are done reading all of this ,you will feel a lot better i promise you

Dear Brother,
The first thing I think God wants you to know is that he never promised you a life of ease. Of course no one would expect what you have been through. I sympathize greatly with you. When bad things happen we begin to question God and eternity. The words of Job play in my ears now as he said "Though he slay me I will follow." There was a time in my life where I was accused of a serious crime (praise God nothing even came of it). But during that time of accusation I was unsure of who I was or even where I was going. I had just came from a mission trip and then had my youth pastor asking me questions that I could not palate. I hated myself and for a month the Devil had me down in my shame condemning me. You know one thing I have learned of recent is that what I think doesn't make who I am. What do I mean? well we have the shield of faith mentioned in Galatians to quench the firery darts; those darts are well planted thoughts in our mind, like when you heard of the man who killed his family. Anyhow that summer I went to the depths and thought my entire future was wrecked. I had thought that either I had to runaway or even suicide. I was trapped in sin. It was then that God made me to realize I was wallowing like a pig in other sins to offset the depression. He told me to get up like the prostitute in the Gospels, Go and sin no more. A Band named Switchfoot came out with this song shortly afterwords

It goes like this
Im learning to breathe, I am learning to crawl
Im finding that you and you alone can break my fall

When we hit rock bottom we have to start all over again, learning to breathe and crawl and eventually walk again. Be encouraged brother to start breathing spiritually again, get into the Bible and read until your eyes hurt. God has a plan for you and like Job remember that for him His God was more important than even his state of mind, or his posessions.
Brother I will be praying for you

please IM me if you want through yahoo

to hang in there ... and press into God with all you've got, pour out your heart to Him all the good and the bad ... He hasn't left you!!

Psalm 61:2
From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

One thing I've learned from David is how to cry out to God and I find that He always comforts me.

When things like this happen ... it brings us to brokeness ... you're at the right place because God draws near to the broken heart.

Don't worry about all of the answers, just draw close to God, He'll show you things from His perspective.

SS

Hi.
What can I say really? I love Jesus, but there isn't much I can do to convince you of His love. You have to experience and know it for yourself. All I can do is encourage you to not let it go, because it is SO worth the effort of wrestling. In so many cases, at least in my experience, God reveals himself when I am struggling, when I need Him most. When I want to feel Him, but can't. In my wrestling with who God is I learn who He is. Continue to wrestle, and soon enough you will recognize Him.

One last thing. Travelling Mercies by Anne Lamott. I think you might find her refreshing and real, and she's had her life run through the mud as well. God Bless!
DM

Praying for you.

Psalm 51 is my prayer, and I thought I would share it with you. Never let God go (ie, use the example of Jacob Gen 32)

SingleServant said:

to hang in there ... and press into God with all you've got, pour out your heart to Him all the good and the bad ... He hasn't left you!!

Psalm 61:2
From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

One thing I've learned from David is how to cry out to God and I find that He always comforts me.

When things like this happen ... it brings us to brokeness ... you're at the right place because God draws near to the broken heart.

Don't worry about all of the answers, just draw close to God, He'll show you things from His perspective.

SS

Click to expand...

Good stuff,SS! I'd agree, David is JUST the guy to read about; heck, he spent a large part of his life running from loved ones wanting to kill him. I know how you feel; my mother passed away from cancer last year...

Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

all this scripture is wonderful but not helping the poster is it,is the not 1 among you with the gift of healing or conversion by laying on of hands?the kingdom of god is not of words but of power,to the poster,id be glad to visit you and lay my hands upon you,rid you of your compulsive obsessive disorder,lay you hands on your son to rid him of his homosexual desires and lay my hands on your wifes head also courtesy of christs unstoppable power but im up to my neck with people im looking after and have to visit across the world and in my home town,im only one man unfortunatly but hope somebody with the true holy spirit here helps you........peace

Helllo Friend,

Faith is a gift and cannot be taken away. If you believe you are losing it or don't have it anymore, then most likely you were never given it to begin with (Eph 2:8-10 & Heb 13:5).

Viva

Hi Bill,

It appears that you are not thinking correctly philosophically, theologically, and scientifically. You must first define proof and then establish "what" proof you would be willing to accept.

However, if you are not chosen by God, you will not believe Him no matter what "proof" comes your way. - let's hope that's not the case.

Viva

Yes, exactly - Nobody seeks after God and Nobody ever understand God (Rom 3:11) thus God must enable the person to have the ability to see and believe (2nd Cor 2:14-16).

It is due to this basic point that you're entire thinking is in error.

So again, perhaps you've been simply not chosen for eternal life. I hope that is not the case but nobody knows this but God.

Or you simply do not have the gift of assurance,

but due to this, your mind is not scientific, but rather skeptical and Platonic as the ancient homosexual Greek Philosophers.

Respectfully,

Viva

Dear Confused2

So many excellent comments and answers, I hardly know where to start.

Here are some quotations of yours that I would like to address:
"I guess this is the place to post since I dont feel so "christian" anymore....the faith kind of disappeared in our life....I wonder if God is out there or are we just wanting to believe in something? WHy did i go through all of that pain in the last 5 years when i had recieved the holy spirit? Or did i ever recieve? ....It leaves me feeling very confused alot of the time. I pray now and then but I feel like Im just following the routine of it. Just in case, ya know? I really do "want" to believe in an after-life. A father that loves us and wants to protect us but it just seems so far fetched now. Is it just me or do any of you feel this way? I so want Jesus to reveal himself to me!!!! Prove it to me, ya know? "

I have been so touched by your questions and your struggle and your sincere heart. Much of it reminds me of myself, searching, suffering, bad marital problems, questioning God, obsessive/compulsive, recovery, etc.) and I'd like to quote a pertinent reply of mine to another person in a similar situation, in the hopes that my summary of experiences might also help you:

"Your question reminded me of myself about 35 years ago. Thought you might want to hear about it.

I was raised in a liberal "Christian" church that taught there were mistakes in the Bible. I swallowed it whole, never asking them to show me the mistakes so I could check them out for myself. Instead, I became an atheist for about 12 years. Then I made the mistake of playing the Ouija Board, and became demon oppressed. I quickly realized the reality of the supernatural world. More than that, I would pray when the strange things would happen, and they would immediately stop for a time. That proved to me that there had to be a good supernatural being who had dominance over the evil.

As I was terrified, I started searching various religions to see where the truth was. The puzzle pieces finally fell into place when I read The Late Great Planet Earth, a book on Christian Evidences about Biblical prophecy. It showed that past prophecies had been fulfilled 100% of the time, and convinced me there had to be a God guiding the writing of the Bible. (There are many good Christian Evidences books out there, dealing with various proofs, not just prophetic.) There was a Gospel invitation in the book, and I accepted Christ as my sinbearer at that point.

I have been saved for 33 years now and it just gets better with time. In spite of great sufferings both before and after I trusted Christ as Savior, the God of the Bible has never, ever let me down.

I have come to realize that Christianity is a relationship, not a religion. It is unique - we do not obtain Heaven by our own good works, as all religions try to do. Salvation is based on Christ's goodness, not our own. We receive eternal life when we make the decision to trust in Christ alone to pay for all our sins on the cross, (past present and future), and trust in Him to take us to Heaven one day, without any good works of our own. (Rom. 3:23, Romans 6:23, Ephesians 2:8-9, I Peter 3:18, and John 3:16). The Bible says also that we cannot lose our salvation (see "gift" in Romans 6:23 and Romans 11:29 and also John 10:28-29 - we can't even take ourselves out of God's hand). "

As far as the sufferings, no matter how bad they are, God says all things work together for the good for the Christian who loves and follows Him - at least one good is that we are being conformed to His image (Rom. 8:28-29). And He says we get everything we need "for life and godliness (II Peter 1). I believe that includes not having some of our desires met, if they are bad for us. And there is a huge lesson to be learned from suffering, "In our hearts we felt the sentence of death, but these things happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead." (II Cor. 1) Here is a poem I wrote on part of my suffering.

"Being Tired, A Psalm

Tired again, I sit on the porch and rest,
thinking of things I liked to do best -
(things like swimming and walking,
painting and talking.)

Here I sit, Lord, and I KNOW why me -
to be the one I'm supposed to be.
The one people can call any time of the day,
the one they can lean on, knowing I'll pray.

For I'm the one who has more time to spend
with You, and Your Word - time without end.
You are my feet, Lord, I've no strength of my own.
My chair has wheels, but You've made it a throne."



Seek Him, dear friend. He is a good father. "Let us not be weary in well doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not."

God bless you, I'm praying for you.

Aloha in Jesus