Please help

brinny

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Wow, very powerful and amazingly well put @brinny ! Thank you!

:heart: Thank you and God bless you brother. God is GOOD. What our brother described was what i struggled with as well. BUT God's grace superseded ALL of it, that was throwing me to and fro like a wave on the ocean. He really IS an inexplicably gracious God, isn't He?

This song i'm listening to kinda' fits:

 
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W2L

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I'm posting here only because my membership hasn't updated yet and I can't post in the proper forum yet.
I am REALLY struggling. I have been seeking God for three months straight, after ignoring Him for quite awhile. I am having so much trouble with assurance of salvation, because I can't feel much love for God/Christ. I feel like I really want nothing to do with any of this, it is so hard. But I have to because I don't want to go to hell. I know that is a terrible reason, but I am doing everything I can - reading the word, prayer, reading theology and so forth, to seek God so that I CAN love Him and have a real relationship based on love and not on fear.
I try to read the Bible, but I end up crying because I feel so afraid when I read it. Everything is so life and death and so scary and I can't find any comfort in the Word. It doesn't feel like love to me. It feels like pressure and scary warnings and all. When I pray I usually end up in tears too. I don't know what to do. The one positive thing is that I have done some research on things that REALLY bug me like the problem of evil, harsh penalties in the OT, and hell - and my research has been helping me understand these things better - thank God! But really I am so full of fear and doubt all the time. I plead with God to give me a right heart so I can be what a Christian is supposed to be. I just want to be able to hate sin, feel truly sorry for it, own my culpability - which I really struggle with, and feel truly grateful for Christ's redeeming work. I don't know how to get out of this hardness of heart. There is so much resistance in me. When I read the Bible I get nasty blasphemous thoughts against God and against Jesus. I am so discouraged and afraid.
I use to fear reading proverbs, because i knew that i was foolish. I hated how it made me feel. However once i humbled myself before God i was lifted up. Things will get better. We must be patient and let God do His work in us. I use to fear a lot but it got so severe that i felt like it killed me inside. So after that i wasnt afraid anymore and was free to stand firm in faith, to be reborn. I have doubts that creep in once in a while, doubts that God is real, but i know from experience that they will diminish and fade away in the presence of Gods truth. All i must do when doubt creeps in is look at this wonderful creation of Gods, and i know Hes real. God has done so much for me, how could i doubt Him? Regardless im happy that God is patient with me and guides me. .Im free to worship God without doubts. I use to only feel God once in a while, but now i feel Him much more often. His love invaded my heart and assures me that the best is yet to come, in the next life.
 
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riesie

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:heart: Thank you and God bless you brother. God is GOOD. What our brother described was what i struggled with as well. BUT God's grace superseded ALL of it, that was throwing me to and fro like a wave on the ocean. He really IS an inexplicably gracious God, isn't He?

This song i'm listening to kinda' fits:

He sure is @brinny, He sure is. Great song too. I've struggled with it too by the way @blacksheep78 . Now I can not live without him for even one day because my love for Him grew to such an extent that I just have to be with Him. But even still i have fear sometimes. Of course I'm still only human....
 
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brinny

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He sure is @brinny, He sure is. Great song too. I've struggled with it too by the way @blacksheep78 . Now I can not live without him for even one day because my love for Him grew to such an extent that I just have to be with Him. But even still i have fear sometimes. Of course I'm still only human....

:heart: God is gracious. He works through each of us to be an encourager and to lift each others heads and to remind each other that we will all have times of uncertainty and fear and angst, just like we are doing here. We each recognize ourselves in each of our struggles. I struggle with the same. What God does is that He encourages BOTH of us, the encourager and the one being encouraged, as we support, pray for, and edify each other.

How delightful is THAT???!!!

I've also been listening to this song. I can sooooo relate to the lyrics. Sometimes we ALL get just sooooo weary. It's like a modern-day Psalm for me:




 
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riesie

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:heart: God is gracious. He works through each of us to be an encourager and to lift each others heads and to remind each other that we will all have times of uncertainty and fear and angst, just like we are doing here. We each recognize ourselves in each of our struggles. I struggle with the same. What God does is that He encourages BOTH of us, the encourager and the one being encouraged, as we support, pray for, and edify each other.

How delightful is THAT???!!!

I've also been listening to this song. I can sooooo relate to the lyrics. Sometimes we ALL get just sooooo weary. It's like a modern-day Psalm for me:




Amazing, just amazing!
 
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Dan61861

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:heart: God has not forgotten, rejected, or condemned you. He hateth you not. The "love for God" is a gift from God Himself. We cannot love God on our own. Keep seeking God. Tell Him ALL that is in your heart. It DELIGHTS Him when we come to Him and confess all that is in our hearts. PRAY to Him. TELL Him all about it.

We are told that when we seek God with all of our hearts we WILL find Him, for it is God Himself, Who gives us the unction to seek Him even if we do because we fear going to hell (such was my own beginnings in seeking God). His grace WILL intercede. KEEP seeking Him brother. Remember ALWAYS that He LOVES you more than you can fathom. Praying that you see His Light breaking through the murkiness of all that is swirling around you and that His peace and His joy becomes yours, and that you find yourself DELIGHTING in the Lord, as He surely DELIGHTS in you, as He rejoices over you with singing. Father may this be so. Shoo away ALL that is distracting and causing the fear that shrouds him all around, and clear his spiritual vision. Grant him wisdom, discernment, and clarity, as all of heaven celebrates his heart for You, in the name of Jesus, amen (((hug)))

Brinny, I love reading your post. The Lord knows your name, may God be magnified!

In Christ
Daniel
 
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brinny

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Brinny, I love reading your post. The Lord knows your name, may God be magnified!

In Christ
Daniel

:heart: Thank you Dan. I just speak from my own struggles. i know how much encouragements are needed at times and reminders that God does not have a "slippery palm", so to speak. He's GOT us. If we've EVER, from our hearts, sought the living God, even silently, He HAS heard us. We may get distracted, discouraged, and forget those tears or cries of our hearts, but HE hasn't. He fights for us and defends us and once again, inclines our hearts to Him, even if we are just scared to go to hell. His grace kicks in even stronger. He has ALREADY heard that cry from the heart, and THAT is why He will move heaven and earth on our behalf, including why He sent His only begotten Son here, to shed His precious and powerful blood for us.

He's GOT us. We just need to be here for each other, and remind each other that He does, and pray for each other.

God bless you Dan.
 
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Dan61861

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:heart: Thank you Dan. I just speak from my own struggles. i know how much encouragements are needed at times and reminders that God does not have a "slippery palm", so to speak. He's GOT us. If we've EVER, from our hearts, sought the living God, even silently, He HAS heard us. We may get distracted, discouraged, and forget those tears or cries of our hearts, but HE hasn't. He fights for us and defends us and once again, inclines our hearts to Him, even if we are just scared to go to hell. His grace kicks in even stronger. He has ALREADY heard that cry from the heart, and THAT is why He will move heaven and earth on our behalf, including why He sent His only begotten Son here, to shed His precious and powerful blood for us.

He's GOT us. We just need to be here for each other, and remind each other that He does, and pray for each other.

God bless you Dan.
May the Lord bless you as well. It's so true, He's got us. Nothing can pluck us out of His hand. Fearing God or hell is a love for the gift of life He has given to us. Those that don't fear, do not love life. Yet we have hope, true hope in Christ our Lord. What is a man without hope? Christ is our goodness, our righteousness, I cleave unto him day and night. I do so love that word, cleave. I do truly appreciate your posts, they are filled with the love of Christ. We may struggle, we may fall...yet we rest in Jesus our Lord.

In Christ
Daniel

In Christ
Daniel
 
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brinny

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May the Lord bless you as well. It's so true, He's got us. Nothing can pluck us out of His hand. Fearing God or hell is a love for the gift of life He has given to us. Those that don't fear, do not love life. Yet we have hope, true hope in Christ our Lord. What is a man without hope? Christ is our goodness, our righteousness, I cleave unto him day and night. I do so love that word, cleave. I do truly appreciate your posts, they are filled with the love of Christ. We may struggle, we may fall...yet we rest in Jesus our Lord.

In Christ
Daniel

In Christ
Daniel

Amen, He is a GOOD Shepherd, and we His sheep can "rest" in our Shepherd's care, knowing that He "watches out" for us, and when we wander off (as sheep tend to do), He comes after us, just as it is written.

How precious is THAT???!!
 
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@blacksheep78 You should read the book of Job or some of the Psalms where they get upset with God. Also remember that Moses argued with God and not only lived but got God to change his mind about about wiping out the Israelites Exodus 32:9-14 (well he might have been doing this as a test to Moses) My point is that it's ok to have questions/disagreements with God. He's not someone who's insecure. Also the harsh punishments in the OT did not say anything about whether the person punished would be saved and the people who were punished had already agreed to the law that they were punished under: Exodus 19:8
 
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1 John 4:1

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This doesn't even get into all the ways we misread the Bible because we aren't part of that culture: (everyone who reads seems to interpret things differently based on their culture) For instance what is translated "slavery" is much different than what is brought to mind historically in the U.S. http://christianthinktank.com/qnoslave.html (there's other parts of the site that aren't exactly conservative but I've found it be informative) (not sure what the protocol of posting non-conservative links here is)
 
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Sound Doctrine

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I'm posting here only because my membership hasn't updated yet and I can't post in the proper forum yet.
I am REALLY struggling. I have been seeking God for three months straight, after ignoring Him for quite awhile. I am having so much trouble with assurance of salvation, because I can't feel much love for God/Christ. I feel like I really want nothing to do with any of this, it is so hard. But I have to because I don't want to go to hell. I know that is a terrible reason, but I am doing everything I can - reading the word, prayer, reading theology and so forth, to seek God so that I CAN love Him and have a real relationship based on love and not on fear.
I try to read the Bible, but I end up crying because I feel so afraid when I read it. Everything is so life and death and so scary and I can't find any comfort in the Word. It doesn't feel like love to me. It feels like pressure and scary warnings and all. When I pray I usually end up in tears too. I don't know what to do. The one positive thing is that I have done some research on things that REALLY bug me like the problem of evil, harsh penalties in the OT, and hell - and my research has been helping me understand these things better - thank God! But really I am so full of fear and doubt all the time. I plead with God to give me a right heart so I can be what a Christian is supposed to be. I just want to be able to hate sin, feel truly sorry for it, own my culpability - which I really struggle with, and feel truly grateful for Christ's redeeming work. I don't know how to get out of this hardness of heart. There is so much resistance in me. When I read the Bible I get nasty blasphemous thoughts against God and against Jesus. I am so discouraged and afraid.

You evidently believe the Bible is the truth. That it is the inerrant word of God from beginning to end. Jesus Christ died for all sinners, especially those who believe on Him as Lord and Savior, and that there is no other way to the Father but by Him. Never mind hell, what about Jesus? Here is where you are at.

Romans 10:8-11 - "8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; 9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed."
 
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Sound Doctrine

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There is so much resistance in me. When I read the Bible I get nasty blasphemous thoughts against God and against Jesus. I am so discouraged and afraid.

This resistance comes from Satan. "Resist the Devil and he will flee from you." How do we resist? Call upon the name of Jesus Christ to save you and to cast out the Devil. Say and believe the things I posted in my previous post from Scripture. God alone knows all that is in our hearts, more than we know ourselves. If you are contrite, He will save you for eternity. Once saved, because this is an act of God, you cannot lose your salvation. Even if you stray, He will always bring you back. Jesus spoke of the 99 sheep and one went astray. He went and found that sheep and brought it back into the fold and there was much rejoicing over finding that lost sheep. So it is with believers. What a graceful, faithful, loving God we have. He says to believers, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."
 
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