My brethren, please pray for me.

weepingsinner7 said:

Hello all, I am sure that you guys at this forum get a ton of these a day. However, if anyone can just take a minute to read this, and pray, that would help me more than you guys know.

I will be brief. I am a Christian, non denominational, Jesus Christ is my Lord and my God.

I am a 23 year old man, and I live by myself. To go straight to the point, I have been ensnared in a terrible sin for years.

When I was 19, I made a terribly foolish promise to God. I have been single my entire life, I have never married or had a girlfriend, at nineteen in my foolish youth, I made a promise to God that I would never touch again. I bound myself to this vow for the rest of my life, and as you can imagine, four years later that has not gone well.

I can't go back in time, and have tried to marry believe me but I have absolutely no luck in that department, I am single and a virgin, which wouldn't be bad if I didn't have the weight of the guilt of this vow.

I made a foolish mistake, and compounded it by years of sin.
That's why I am in desperate need of prayer, the churches around me are really liberal and I don't attend anywhere nearly as often as I should. I have a very busy work schedule but that's no excuse.

If there are any brethren on here, that can pray for the forgiveness of my sins, I have been through this so many times I feel God isn't listening to me these days.

Maybe there is someone on here that can pray for my forgiveness and deliverance from this sin that has tormented me for four years.

Thank you for reading. My name is Edward.

Click to expand...

Masturbation is not the unforgivable son, nor is breaking a vow that you failed in your weakness, despite your best intentions, to keep. Yet I will pray for you in my daily prayers that God may forgive you and bring you to holiness.

Hi Edward,
dear brother....the truth is what sets us free, and God your Father is with you, feeling your pain and mess. He has already judged your sin and ALREADY forgiven you.
You are a new creation in Christ and as such ARE right now holy and righteous and blameless before God....not by works of righteousness which you imagine you are able to do.....and not by any imagined ability you think you have to NOT SIN.
You have ensnared your soul by making that vow.....but you know that the Lord is your Father. Father's have the authority to free you from all foolish vows you have made in your desperation to please Him.
See, God knew back then 4 years ago that you could not in any way keep your vow. You didnt know it though.
So now you are stuck right in the middle of Romans 7 where Paul himself found himself.

The things I want to do I cannot do...the things I dont wanta do, I do!!

Who will deliver me from this horrible mess that I am??!!

Dear brother!! Edward...may Father show you ---that YOU HAVE BEEN DELIVERED through the action of Jesus Christ your elder brother and kinsman redeemer.
There is now no condemnation to you Edward....for you died with Christ...that old I that was under God's judgement...DIED...WAS BURIED....done away with, rendered inoperable..see romans 6:6.

It is in seeing this and believing it as your own personal experience despite the mess your natural eyes still see that freedom comes.
Your mess does notchange what God has done in you brother.
You are clean and washed and pure and holy right now little brother.
Believe it and rejoice!
The accuser says differently...but GOD says you--Edward in Christ- are my beloved son in whom I am well pleased!

About Vows

Num 30:3 "Or if a woman makes a vow to the LORD, and binds herself by some agreement while in her father's house in her youth,
Num 30:4 and her father hears her vow and the agreement by which she has bound herself, and her father holds his peace, then all her vows shall stand, and every agreement with which she has bound herself shall stand.
Num 30:5 But if her father overrules her on the day that he hears, then none of her vows nor her agreements by which she has bound herself shall stand; and the LORD will release her, because her father overruled her.

I want you to know brother, that even though the passage above is addressed to women, there is neither male nor female in Jesus...The Lord is your Father and he has overruled your vow.
The old covenant failed because men vowed to try to keep God's commandments.
The new covenant made in Jesus blood does not fail, for it is God who fulfills His commandments in us and has done so. Victory is ours ONLY by faith.
It is in coming to see WHO WE REALLY ARE in Christ that sets us free.

Lord blessEdward and this prayer. please set him free from sin and also forgive him. Lord Let him walk with you, fill his life with your love and grace, please bless. In Jesus true name, Amen!

You see brother, religion is based upon man trying to be good enough for God....thus we make vows and promise to not sin.
This is an old covenant mindset and is doomed to fail from the start.
Condemnation and accusation drive the person to try harder for God. We imagine that because we have sinned we need to somehow steal ourselves and pick ourselves up by the bootlaces and try harder next time. We may make certain hurdles and fences to avoid our pet sins...we may gather an army or prayer warriors around us....we may go down the route of confessing to others and being accountable to someone....all of this is self help old covenant based doomed to failure.
The victory is right there in Romans.
It is in seeing how the new covenant has forgiven you all sin, put your sinful self to death, and raised you up in Jesus a brand new man. You are no longer a slave of sin and but have been redeemed by the stronger one-Jesus. You are now a slave of righteousness so present your members to righteousness.
How do you do that?
Pretty hard to do that if you do not even know that you are not a dirty sinner now but a blood washed child of God.
Your Father knows who you are and He sees you in Christ Jesus. You are in Christ Jesus by His working...not by your own. You are now in one day and out the next. You are PERMANENTLY IN HIM. But the old mindset is locked into the old covenant thinking. Which says I am responsible to be good for God. This is the mind set upon the flesh and will only produce death and condemnation in your life.
The mind set on the Spirit is life and peace.
That mind --which you have--the mind of Christ....is set on things above where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God...and you have been raised up in Him and made to sit together with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
It is in seeing this and agreeing with God on these things that we walk clear of the besetting sins.
You dont win by seeing yourself as the defeated one.
You dont gain victory by thinking you have lost again.
You are victorious even though with your outer man you fall into a mess.
The victory is the cross and the resurrection...NOT your performance.
And we overcome by faith--and
faith is expressed first of all with WORDS out of your own mouth brother.
Speak what God says of you
Believe what God says of you.
Keep speaking it everyday --read Eph 1 and 2 for example and personalise every phrase where Paul uses "we" or "you"...say "I Edward".
And when you fail instead of turning to see your sin, see the blood of Jesus and the serpent on the brazen cross crucified for you...so that you would be healed of the serpents poison.

weepingsinner7 said:

Hello all, I am sure that you guys at this forum get a ton of these a day. However, if anyone can just take a minute to read this, and pray, that would help me more than you guys know.

I will be brief. I am a Christian, non denominational, Jesus Christ is my Lord and my God.

I am a 23 year old man, and I live by myself. To go straight to the point, I have been ensnared in a terrible sin for years.

When I was 19, I made a terribly foolish promise to God. I have been single my entire life, I have never married or had a girlfriend, at nineteen in my foolish youth, I made a promise to God that I would never touch again. I bound myself to this vow for the rest of my life, and as you can imagine, four years later that has not gone well.

I can't go back in time, and have tried to marry believe me but I have absolutely no luck in that department, I am single and a virgin, which wouldn't be bad if I didn't have the weight of the guilt of this vow.

I made a foolish mistake, and compounded it by years of sin.
That's why I am in desperate need of prayer, the churches around me are really liberal and I don't attend anywhere nearly as often as I should. I have a very busy work schedule but that's no excuse.

If there are any brethren on here, that can pray for the forgiveness of my sins, I have been through this so many times I feel God isn't listening to me these days.

Maybe there is someone on here that can pray for my forgiveness and deliverance from this sin that has tormented me for four years.

Thank you for reading. My name is Edward.

Click to expand...

Can you minimize your sins, or go from moderating them to minimizing them gradually and over time, and make forward gradual progress in that area, and then maybe eliminating them at some point or the ones your really struggling with maybe...? Because it/this (sin) can act like an addiction, "sin" in "whatever it's form", acts chemically on the brain just like an addiction that some say is harder in some cases to break than hard drugs...

For example, I take medication that it is highly inadvisable I just drop off of it... now I realize for some, with sin, sometimes they have an "overnight big change" so to speak/conversion story at some point sometimes, in "some peoples cases", but that's not the way it is for "everybody", or has to be for everybody with God either... For me, it has been gradually over time, and the battle with sin is not just "one big one time battle with sin" for most, but it's a series of "smaller battles", with strategy and tactics involved and implemented, that win the war over a series of battles and struggles over time, then, hopefully eventually, winning the war, which can happen many different ways with battle strategy and tactics that win the wars or battle and struggle with sin...

That being said I take medication that I cannot just drop off of, and while I'm not telling you to compromise with sin, I am just telling you some battle strategy and tactics might be involved, if your not and overnight convertee...? Well, but, As always though STICK WITH GOD, "ask for his help", have and develop a "personal relationship" with him if you don't have one, or not much of one, and pray sometimes, you will find a great comfort to submit to him over time, if you do not or are not there already that is...?

I tell you a secret though, now that I told you all this "battle stuff", one trick of the enemy is to make your fighting it, feed it even more really, or make it stronger sometimes (it does this and this happens in the brain also BTW)... And he uses guilt and shame to do that sometimes too... for they are some of his weapons that can work like this, others include getting into hatred and bitterness, ect, the list goes on really, "sin"... It's all chemicals in the brain though, but dropping off, unless you really think you can, (but it sounds like you may not be able to to do that right now) anyway...

Anyway, it's been and still is a process for me sometimes now, but I feel like, and not to try and minimize them or justify them (sin or sins) in any way, but now they are, or are getting down to a "minimum" now... again, not to minimize them though, for it took much, much Grace to save me, for my past if anything else... And how I am doing now who I am now, I cannot take credit for and hopefully never would... And, I don't like that I'm not completely out of sin yet either...

But, honestly though, the best way I've found to win, is by "surrendering or submitting yourselves to God, then the Devil will "flee from you" ect, ect"... Many forget about the "surrendering or submitting yourselves to God" part though, to accomplish this astounding victory that can be had in the mystery of that (submitting/surrendering yourselves to God part) Often it will only happen to and with those who spend at least some moments in private maybe, (who call themselves Christians) (not all of you though)... Anyway... who don't even talk to God just in at least a few moments of surrender to and talking to and with him in prayer at those times, ect, just a little bit of that would do...

Anyway, sorry about how I trailed off...

Be praying for you,

God Bless!

Edward,

In the Sermon, Jesus tells us not to make vows. And then He gives the reason: "because you cannot turn one hair white or black". IOW, we can do nothing in our own strength. Taking such a vow initiates a performance dynamic, thereby putting us under law. And as 2cor 3 tells us, the letter kills.

Instead, God wants relationship. He doesn't want you facing sin on your own, He wants to be in you and your strength. The law draws us away from God and into ourselves. Grace draws us to Him and to victory. As Romans 6.14 assures us:


So first, get yourself out from under the weight of that vow, a weight that is crushing you. Confess it to the Lord, ask and receive His forgiveness, and start living your new life of grace and freedom. When you fail, confess it according to 1Jn 1.9, and get right back up and move forward again. Our dear Father, who does not reproach (Jas 1) does not want you in defeat, and so He provided the victory up-front, undeserved, as a free gift, through the completed work of Jesus. Walk in His grace and your heart will be established (Heb 13.9) and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.

weepingsinner7 said:

Hello all, I am sure that you guys at this forum get a ton of these a day. However, if anyone can just take a minute to read this, and pray, that would help me more than you guys know.

I will be brief. I am a Christian, non denominational, Jesus Christ is my Lord and my God.

I am a 23 year old man, and I live by myself. To go straight to the point, I have been ensnared in a terrible sin for years.

When I was 19, I made a terribly foolish promise to God. I have been single my entire life, I have never married or had a girlfriend, at nineteen in my foolish youth, I made a promise to God that I would never touch again. I bound myself to this vow for the rest of my life, and as you can imagine, four years later that has not gone well.

I can't go back in time, and have tried to marry believe me but I have absolutely no luck in that department, I am single and a virgin, which wouldn't be bad if I didn't have the weight of the guilt of this vow.

I made a foolish mistake, and compounded it by years of sin.
That's why I am in desperate need of prayer, the churches around me are really liberal and I don't attend anywhere nearly as often as I should. I have a very busy work schedule but that's no excuse.

If there are any brethren on here, that can pray for the forgiveness of my sins, I have been through this so many times I feel God isn't listening to me these days.

Maybe there is someone on here that can pray for my forgiveness and deliverance from this sin that has tormented me for four years.

Thank you for reading. My name is Edward.

Click to expand...

Hi Edward ...

Pray to God that he forgives your sin ... and for deliverance from sin. Build your relationship with God. Study His Word ... spend time among His people. Don't let sin keep you from getting close to God ... because that is where you will find the strength to purify yourself ...

Psalms 103

11 For as the heavens are high above the earth,
So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;

12 As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our sins from us.

13 For He knows our frame;
He remembers that we are dust.

Matthew 18:21-22 King James Version (KJV)
21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?

22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.

7X70

Meaning a lot, that's how often we are to forgive those who sin against us. So, since God told us to forgive pretty much an endless amount of times, why then would he not do so himself for us? And he does.

You ask him for forgiveness, and it will be done. Then do your best, if it happens again, ask again. I want to tell you, you have to be sincere cuz it's already very clear you never have an intention of doing it again, it just happens by temptation, and believe it or not, sin by temptation, is very forgivable. I'll show you.

Types of sin.

If I'm wrong, and I don't believe i am, I hope someone will correct, and maybe help me out with scripture on this as it is very important for the OP to understand.

There is willful, and sin of temptation, there is also sin out of ignorance, the latter two do not lead to death but we need to ask forgiveness for all of them. If we continue in wilful sin, that's going to be a problem, so get forgiveness and stop, then if we get tempted and do it again, as not a regular thing, it falls into the category of sin of temptation. I'm not getting into sin of ignorance because we all pretty much know what that is and it 's not really relevant here.

I'm recalling this by heart so, again, correct me if I'm wrong.

Wilful sin is intentional sin like smoking, something we intend to do regularly. A given today tomorrow and so on.

I'm going out this weekend to get laid=wilful sin, or something we plan on doing.

I'm going out this weekend to do some coke with my buddies at the lake house=willful sin. Premeditated, planed, things that are a given that we will do, or something we are always open to doing...all wilful sin.

And before I move on let me at least show you this verse and eventually I'm gong to need to prove all this, but this is a start.

1 John 5:17 - All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.

The sins not unto death is either sin of temptation or out of ignorance. Yours is sin of temptation, not wilful as you might be thinking. Not wilful because you don't plane on doing it, you hate it, it just happens out of temptation.

So ask forgiveness an move on, and do that as many times as you need to. See, you aren't in as bad a shape as you think, especially because of the flow of your post, it's easy to see you won't be doing that regularly now, and using these scriptures as an excuse...that's when it will fall into the "willful" category. See? God's pretty fair about this stuff, fortunately for us.

I think that covers your situation and even wilful sin can be forgiven to a point, but keep doing it, and no, I'm convinced that will lose us salvation.

Here is something from the Old testament to show Gods thoughts on unintentional or sin of temptation. It's the same then as now, it's just that now it's all covered by Christs death and we no longer have to offer the sacrifices. Sorry but that's all I have for the moment for scripture.

Numbers 15:27-31 English Standard Version (ESV)
27 “If one person sins unintentionally, he shall offer a female goat a year old for a sin offering. 28 And the priest shall make atonement before the Lord for the person who makes a mistake, when he sins unintentionally, to make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven..”

And the vows, as mentioned, very bad idea, but again, unless I'm sorely mistaken, that is a sin of ignorance, and you know what to do about that....just ask for forgiveness. Ain't it wonderful how patient and understanding of our needs he is?

praying

Edward.

Your sins have been forgiven you.

Hello Friend as West states above, You are forgiven and once you begin to realize this, Only then will you realize you no longer want to sin. The sin will eventually over time lose it's appeal because satan loses his power to torment you. This is sanctification of the heart where God is circumcising your heart and removing those sinful desires.

Edward this is not the advice forum so I will pray that the Lord provides you the spirit of freedom to renounce your vow not to sin and to repent of making vows not to sin, because we all sin and to vow not to sin in my opinion is to bring judgment on yourself. I also pray that you find someone to marry.

-Daniel

You might want to get the book, or look at the webssite associted with, Every Man's Battle. Many, many people have said they were helped that way. Also, you must quit trying. Think about it. Has trying helped any? The Father says the battle is His. The Son says that you can't do anything without Him. Try only in this one thing, to let THEM change your heart.

I pray for your freedom.