At the end of my rope!

Notmyname · May 26, 2019

So I’m honestly tired of being a Christian I have zero energy to pursue God anymore. When I wasn’t in my walk with Christ my life was so much better I was happy I had fun I had great friends but now it’s all gone.

I don’t say my prayers anymore because they don’t get answered and even when I do pray my life seems to get worse I don’t read my bible anymore because I have no energy to do so and I don’t want to throw away my relationship with god I really don’t but I’m just sick of living like how I am and I want to just give up.

I look around and the people who don’t follow god seem to be blessed financially and in other areas and they have so much fun like why does everyone else around me seem to have such great lives even other Christians and I’m here struggling.

Any advice

Presbyterian Continuist · May 26, 2019

Notmyname said:
So I’m honestly tired of being a Christian I have zero energy to pursue God anymore. When I wasn’t in my walk with Christ my life was so much better I was happy I had fun I had great friends but now it’s all gone.

I don’t say my prayers anymore because they don’t get answered and even when I do pray my life seems to get worse I don’t read my bible anymore because I have no energy to do so and I don’t want to throw away my relationship with god I really don’t but I’m just sick of living like how I am and I want to just give up.

I look around and the people who don’t follow god seem to be blessed financially and in other areas and they have so much fun like why does everyone else around me seem to have such great lives even other Christians and I’m here struggling.

Any advice

You are actually in a good place, because then you will have no option but to get your dependence off yourself and your ability to live the Christian life, and to put it totally on Christ to live it through you. It is only when we come to the end of ourselves that we find the strength and the power of the Holy Spirit to win through.

The Scripture says that when we are weak, then He is strong, and His strength is made perfect in our weakness. The main blockage in the grace and power of the Holy Spirit working through us is our own self dependence. So what God does is that He holds back until you run out of steam, start to depend on His strength instead of your own, and then He can start working with you.

The problem is that many areas of the church have taught the opposite - that when we come to the point where we don't have the strength to continue, there is something wrong with our faith, and that we have to somehow recharge our batteries so we can continue in our own strength. There is a teaching about positive thinking, positive confession and faith as a power in itself in which we can name it and claim it. But this is false teaching.

If you read through the book of Psalms you will see that the psalmist is constantly sensing his own weakness and physical, emotional, mental bankruptcy and he cries out to God for strength. Then he gets the promise: "They who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall rise up as eagles. They shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint".

It is the very moment when we feel like giving up, that we discover God's strength and support. What modern religious teachers don't teach us is that God deliberately does this so that we stop depending on ourselves but on God. Paul discovered this in Asia when he got so depressed about what was happening to him, that he despaired of live itself. Then he got the point: "We have the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead." That's why he could write to the Philippians while in prison facing execution for them to "count it all joy".

If you decide to give up your Christian faith because things are not going right for you, then you are grievously sinning because of your own pride,in that you have trusted in yourself and thought that you could live the Christian life by yourself and to treat God as some sort of vending machine to hand you what you want, and so when things fall apart, and God is not supplying you with what you think He should, then you are going to give Him the "flick".

The psalmist in Psalm 42, asked, "Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God" (Psalm 42:11).

A Christian brother once told me one day when I was moaning about things, "Who told you that you were born again worse than anyone else?" That woke me up to myself and I asked, "Who do I think I am to tell God how to run my life and what I should have or not have from Him?" What! Am I going to divorce Him like a selfish wife divorcing her husband because he won't supply the things she wants in life? How selfish is that???

I'm not being easy on you because you need to get wise to yourself. You can't be the Christian you want to be by yourself. You will fail every time. This is a good time to learn to put your life in God's hands. I think He would tell you, "I have observed what you have tried to do in your life; now that you are giving up, just sit down, do nothing and observe what I can do with your life!"

Richard T · May 26, 2019

It is interesting that when you pray things get worse. That itself, must show you that your life is in a battle. Jesus never said you would never have adversity, in fact the bible promises us problems but God will deliver us. And yes it is true that some sinners prosper. The bible even notes this.

Ps. 73:3 For I was envious of the arrogant As I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

Job 21:13 "They spend their days in prosperity, And suddenly they go down to Sheol.

Media, and modern culture portrays a life of holiness as a downer. The reality is the glamour of this world is nothing when compared to a life knowing and following Jesus. With that said be careful not to try to work your way to God by your good deeds. Cut yourself some slack and replace your own efforts with the power and joy of God. Learn to rest in Him, learn to take His joy as your strength and overcome those feelings that God has abandoned you.

I Peter 1:7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

Lastly, find some Christians that are dynamic enough to help lift you up. Going it alone is very difficult. Get some help from mature Christians. You too are going to prosper, far more than you can imagine.

Presbyterian Continuist · May 26, 2019

Get hold of "Pilgrims Progress" by John Bunyan. It is the best study of the Christian life that I know of. At one stage Christian took a wrong path and ended up in Doubting Castle, the prisoner of Giant Despair. He didn't know what to do, and then he found a key to unlock the door so he could escape. It was the Key of Promise.

What this teaches us is that when we are imprisoned within our doubts, and falling into despair, we take hold of the promises of God in the Scriptures and place our dependence on them. We stop trying to release ourselves from our prison of despair, use the Key of God's Promises, unlock the door and walk out. Through that we learn not to trust in our own thoughts, emotions and ability to live the Christian life, but to trust in God's promises. We then stop struggling to achieve something we can never achieve, and trust Christ through the Holy Spirit to achieve His will in us.

The big problem is see in many churches is that they are teaching believers to follow a set of religious rules in order to succeed in the Christian life, and if we break one of their man-made rules, then we are accused of "walking in the flesh", but the Scripture says that we live by faith. "It is no longer I that liveth, but Christ who lives in me, and the life I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loves me and gave Himself for me."

Dave L · May 26, 2019

Notmyname said:
So I’m honestly tired of being a Christian I have zero energy to pursue God anymore. When I wasn’t in my walk with Christ my life was so much better I was happy I had fun I had great friends but now it’s all gone.

I don’t say my prayers anymore because they don’t get answered and even when I do pray my life seems to get worse I don’t read my bible anymore because I have no energy to do so and I don’t want to throw away my relationship with god I really don’t but I’m just sick of living like how I am and I want to just give up.

I look around and the people who don’t follow god seem to be blessed financially and in other areas and they have so much fun like why does everyone else around me seem to have such great lives even other Christians and I’m here struggling.

Any advice

Why did you become a Christian?

Notmyname · May 26, 2019

Thank you I really needed to hear that

Oscarr said:
You are actually in a good place, because then you will have no option but to get your dependence off yourself and your ability to live the Christian life, and to put it totally on Christ to live it through you. It is only when we come to the end of ourselves that we find the strength and the power of the Holy Spirit to win through.

The Scripture says that when we are weak, then He is strong, and His strength is made perfect in our weakness. The main blockage in the grace and power of the Holy Spirit working through us is our own self dependence. So what God does is that He holds back until you run out of steam, start to depend on His strength instead of your own, and then He can start working with you.

The problem is that many areas of the church have taught the opposite - that when we come to the point where we don't have the strength to continue, there is something wrong with our faith, and that we have to somehow recharge our batteries so we can continue in our own strength. There is a teaching about positive thinking, positive confession and faith as a power in itself in which we can name it and claim it. But this is false teaching.

If you read through the book of Psalms you will see that the psalmist is constantly sensing his own weakness and physical, emotional, mental bankruptcy and he cries out to God for strength. Then he gets the promise: "They who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall rise up as eagles. They shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint".

It is the very moment when we feel like giving up, that we discover God's strength and support. What modern religious teachers don't teach us is that God deliberately does this so that we stop depending on ourselves but on God. Paul discovered this in Asia when he got so depressed about what was happening to him, that he despaired of live itself. Then he got the point: "We have the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead." That's why he could write to the Philippians while in prison facing execution for them to "count it all joy".

If you decide to give up your Christian faith because things are not going right for you, then you are grievously sinning because of your own pride,in that you have trusted in yourself and thought that you could live the Christian life by yourself and to treat God as some sort of vending machine to hand you what you want, and so when things fall apart, and God is not supplying you with what you think He should, then you are going to give Him the "flick".

The psalmist in Psalm 42, asked, "Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God" (Psalm 42:11).

A Christian brother once told me one day when I was moaning about things, "Who told you that you were born again worse than anyone else?" That woke me up to myself and I asked, "Who do I think I am to tell God how to run my life and what I should have or not have from Him?" What! Am I going to divorce Him like a selfish wife divorcing her husband because he won't supply the things she wants in life? How selfish is that???

I'm not being easy on you because you need to get wise to yourself. You can't be the Christian you want to be by yourself. You will fail every time. This is a good time to learn to put your life in God's hands. I think He would tell you, "I have observed what you have tried to do in your life; now that you are giving up, just sit down, do nothing and observe what I can do with your life!"

Daniel C · May 26, 2019

Notmyname said:
So I’m honestly tired of being a Christian I have zero energy to pursue God anymore. When I wasn’t in my walk with Christ my life was so much better I was happy I had fun I had great friends but now it’s all gone.

I don’t say my prayers anymore because they don’t get answered and even when I do pray my life seems to get worse I don’t read my bible anymore because I have no energy to do so and I don’t want to throw away my relationship with god I really don’t but I’m just sick of living like how I am and I want to just give up.

I look around and the people who don’t follow god seem to be blessed financially and in other areas and they have so much fun like why does everyone else around me seem to have such great lives even other Christians and I’m here struggling.

Any advice

Hi friend.

The reality is the only way to get right with God is through prayer and scripture/Bible. Making a connection with God.

Looking at people who have obtained wealth with envy that is not the Christian outlook Christ set for us. Christs view on money: "No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money'' Matthew 6:24.

People who are ''blessed'' or who have gained riches have often accomplished this at a price, their bank account well being over their spiritually well being.

We give alms as a reminder that our possessions are not really ours,they are Gods and we enter the world with nothing and our souls exit the world with nothing. The wealthy often bypass this practice and attribute their gains to self,rather than God. mistake.

If you need energy ask God in prayer to give it to you. Don't rely on yours, Gods is more powerful and we climb down from our human pride when we declare God is stronger and greater than we are.

All the best.

Tigger45 · May 26, 2019

I’ve gone through the wringer more times than I can count that used to result in me questioning God. Ultimately those times always ended with God revealing Himself in the end. Its caused me to trust God ‘through’ the trials and my faith has matured because of it.

Prayers for God’s peace and wisdom :pray:

Akita Suggagaki · May 26, 2019

Where is your energy? What gives you joy? What nourishes your spirit? Start there. Recognize Christ already present in your life,

Chris V++ · May 26, 2019

Sorry you are feeling so depressed. It never helps when you feel this way and look around and everyone else seems to be so happy by contrast. Thanks to this Facebook culture where you are expected to show the world that your life is so fulfilling and meaningful a lot of people put on airs so believe half of what you see. I like to read parts of Ecclesiastes when I start worrying too much about prosperity.
Christian Forums

One advantage to being 19 and not having a lot of stuff is that you are presumably physically fit and mobile. (If not, get fit, and by mobile I mean nothing can stop you from going on a 30 day wilderness walkabout to NZ if you become so inspired and plan accordingly.

WESTOZZIE · May 26, 2019

Oscarr nailed it.....Yep, ya wont hear this preached in many churches these days.

"If you decide to give up your Christian faith because things are not going right for you, then you are grievously sinning because of your own pride,in that you have trusted in yourself and thought that you could live the Christian life by yourself and to treat God as some sort of vending machine to hand you what you want, and so when things fall apart, and God is not supplying you with what you think He should, then you are going to give Him the "flick"."

Joined2krist · May 26, 2019

"Do not desire another man's wife, his possession or his slaves" rather count your blessings, name them one by one, it will surprise you what God has done for you.

Are you actively pursing God's Kingdom? are you concerned with righteousness? "Be concerned above everything else..." with these things and God will provide you with all you need (Matt 6:33) God bless

W2L · May 26, 2019

You say things get worse when you pray? What do you pray for? Sometimes hardship might be an answer to a prayer. We enter the kingdom through tribulation. So if we pray for growth, wisdom, or to enter the kingdom then we might expect some hardship along the way.

AvgJoe · May 26, 2019

Notmyname said:
So I’m honestly tired of being a Christian I have zero energy to pursue God anymore. When I wasn’t in my walk with Christ my life was so much better I was happy I had fun I had great friends but now it’s all gone.

I don’t say my prayers anymore because they don’t get answered and even when I do pray my life seems to get worse I don’t read my bible anymore because I have no energy to do so and I don’t want to throw away my relationship with god I really don’t but I’m just sick of living like how I am and I want to just give up.

I look around and the people who don’t follow god seem to be blessed financially and in other areas and they have so much fun like why does everyone else around me seem to have such great lives even other Christians and I’m here struggling.

Any advice

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. (Matthew 6:33)

Question: "What does it mean to seek first the kingdom of God? Is seeking the kingdom of God first a matter of priorities?"

Answer: Jesus said to seek first the kingdom of God in His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:33). The verse’s meaning is as direct as it sounds. We are to seek the things of God as a priority over the things of the world. Primarily, it means we are to seek the salvation that is inherent in the kingdom of God because it is of greater value than all the world’s riches. Does this mean that we should neglect the reasonable and daily duties that help sustain our lives? Certainly not. But for the Christian, there should be a difference in attitude toward them. If we are taking care of God’s business as a priority—seeking His salvation, living in obedience to Him, and sharing the good news of the kingdom with others—then He will take care of our business as He promised—and if that’s the arrangement, where is worrying?

But how do we know if we’re truly seeking God’s kingdom first? There are questions we can ask ourselves. “Where do I primarily spend my energies? Is all my time and money spent on goods and activities that will certainly perish, or in the services of God—the results of which live on for eternity?” Believers who have learned to truly put God first may then rest in this holy dynamic: “…and all these things will be given to you as well.”

God has promised to provide for His own, supplying every need (Philippians 4:19), but His idea of what we need is often different from ours, and His timing will only occasionally meet our expectations. For example, we may see our need as riches or advancement, but perhaps God knows that what truly we need is a time of poverty, loss or solitude. When this happens, we are in good company. God loved both Job and Elijah, but He allowed Satan to absolutely pound Job (all under His watchful eye), and He let that evil woman, Jezebel, break the spirit of His own prophet Elijah (Job 1–2; 1 Kings 18–19). In both cases, God followed these trials with restoration and sustenance.

These “negative” aspects of the kingdom run counter to a heresy which is gaining ground around the world, the so-called "prosperity" gospel. A growing number of false teachers are gathering followers under the message “God wants you to be rich!” But that philosophy is not the counsel of the Bible—and it is certainly not the counsel of Matthew 6:33, which is not a formula for gaining wealth. It is a description of how God works. Jesus taught that our focus should be away from this world—its status and its lying allurements—and placed upon the things of God’s kingdom.

www.gotquestions.org/seek-first-kingdom-God.html

Lost4words · May 26, 2019

Offer up your suffering to God. Ask Him to replace the way you feel with His grace.

Its not easy to follow Jesus. We have to carry our cross/s.

Be confident that as you carry yours, Jesus is indeed carrying you. Be strong, especially in these difficult times you are going through. Persevere and dont let the devil pull you away from God. However hard it gets!

God bless and protect you friend.

Willing-heart · May 26, 2019

Wealth can create a false sense of security, self-sufficiency, attachment to this world, and even God’s favour. When David prayed that Psalm, the beloved we all psalm 23 many of us memorised as children, “The Lord is my shepherd, therefore I shall not want” He understood that his total security is in the hand of the Lord.
• Physically he was confident that the Lord will meet all of his needs
• Emotionally he trusted the Lord to give him peace
• Spiritually, he rested in God’s power of restitution
• Morally, he knew that God is the one who going to guide him as guidance is needed
• In the time of crisis, God is going to give him hope
• Eternally he was assured of a place in Heaven.

longwait · May 26, 2019

Notmyname said:
So I’m honestly tired of being a Christian I have zero energy to pursue God anymore. When I wasn’t in my walk with Christ my life was so much better I was happy I had fun I had great friends but now it’s all gone.

I don’t say my prayers anymore because they don’t get answered and even when I do pray my life seems to get worse I don’t read my bible anymore because I have no energy to do so and I don’t want to throw away my relationship with god I really don’t but I’m just sick of living like how I am and I want to just give up.

I look around and the people who don’t follow god seem to be blessed financially and in other areas and they have so much fun like why does everyone else around me seem to have such great lives even other Christians and I’m here struggling.

Any advice

Is your love for God only conditional? Will you only love Him if He does everything your way or in the way you want it to be?
And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. Matthew 11:6.
Your friends might be in the world and sooner or later they are going to realise that chasing after the world was not worth it. Everything of the world is only an illusion. I am not blaming you. Its not easy being 19 and seeing all around you people having fun while you are struggling. Experience is the best teacher and as you grow older life will teach you many valuable lessons along the way. Just don't give up on God. You will never regret it. I guarantee you that and live life His way and obey His rules and commandments. Thats the best way.

blackhole · May 26, 2019

Notmyname said:
So I’m honestly tired of being a Christian I have zero energy to pursue God anymore. When I wasn’t in my walk with Christ my life was so much better I was happy I had fun I had great friends but now it’s all gone.

I don’t say my prayers anymore because they don’t get answered and even when I do pray my life seems to get worse I don’t read my bible anymore because I have no energy to do so and I don’t want to throw away my relationship with god I really don’t but I’m just sick of living like how I am and I want to just give up.

I look around and the people who don’t follow god seem to be blessed financially and in other areas and they have so much fun like why does everyone else around me seem to have such great lives even other Christians and I’m here struggling.

Any advice

Christianity is suffering. If you came for your best life now, you were totally deceived. Leave while it's still easy to do so. Or, come to Christ because he's the treasure you can't be satisfied without, no matter the cost.

1Co 15:19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
[...]
1Co 15:32 If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantages it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.

Luk 14:26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
Luk 14:27 And whoever does not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.
Luk 14:28 For which of you, intending to build a tower, sits not down first, and counts the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it?

Heb 10:34 For you had compassion of me in my bonds, and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that you have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.

Mat 13:47 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like to a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind:
Mat 13:48 Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.

1Co 16:22 If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.

Mat 24:9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and you shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
Mat 24:10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
Mat 24:11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
Mat 24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
Mat 24:13 But he that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved.

Joh 15:18 If the world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you.

Joh 15:19 If you were of the world, the world would love his own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
Joh 15:20 Remember the word that I said to you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

1Ti 6:9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.

Notmyname · May 26, 2019

longwait said:
Is your love for God only conditional? Will you only love Him if He does everything your way or in the way you want it to be?
And blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in me. Matthew 11:6.
Your friends might be in the world and sooner or later they are going to realise that chasing after the world was not worth it. Everything of the world is only an illusion. I am not blaming you. Its not easy being 19 and seeing all around you people having fun while you are struggling. Experience is the best teacher and as you grow older life will teach you many valuable lessons along the way. Just don't give up on God. You will never regret it. I guarantee you that and live life His way and obey His rules and commandments. Thats the best way.

I want to be a Christian, I want to serve God and lead others to the grace of God but I also want earthly riches because I feel like being wealthy and having cool stuff will elevate my self esteem.

blackhole · May 26, 2019

Notmyname said:
I want to be a Christian, I want to serve God and lead others to the grace of God but I also want earthly riches because I feel like being wealthy and having cool stuff will elevate my self esteem.

Mat 19:22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
Mat 19:23 Then said Jesus to his disciples, Truly I say to you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 19:24 And again I say to you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

At the end of my rope!

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