Your relationship with God

YCGP

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Hi guys and gals:

I've done a lot of studying about personal development and one day I came across a great lesson:

If you do what you did at the beginning of the relationship, at the end of the relationship, there will be NO END.

So what did you do when you first made you relationship with God?

For me, I went on CF.com :). I also listened to Johnny Cash reading the New Testament on Audible. I would imagine telling my friends and family how I had found God, and I would dream of where I could go in my faith.

If you want to make sure your relationship lasts, do what you did at the beginning of the relationship. If you feel like your losing Him, then make sure you do this NOW!
 

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I get the idea behind this, but I think it assumes that relationships decay rather than grow, an assumption that I find destructive. If my marriage was nothing but the lovey dovey feelings my wife and I had in the beginning, that would be sad indeed. We have grown as persons, and our love for each other has deepened and matured. Our life in Christ should be the same. The naive untested faith that we start with should grow and mature as time goes on. I would say that if you do what you did at the beginning of the relationship, at the end of the relationship, it's already ended. However, there is something special about our initial feelings and experiences that we shouldn't forget as they can keep calling is back to the work at hand.
 
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Messerve

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I was writing my own hymns/worship music and begging my brother to give his life to Jesus, too (which he eventually did).

I still do the first all the time. The second I also do, but more in prayer than in conversation. I often wonder if I should get back to imploring people to make a decision face to face? :scratch: Yet, I was a brother which is different than being a random stranger (and an adult).
 
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YCGP

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I was writing my own hymns/worship music and begging my brother to give his life to Jesus, too (which he eventually did).

I still do the first all the time. The second I also do, but more in prayer than in conversation. I often wonder if I should get back to imploring people to make a decision face to face? :scratch: Yet, I was a brother which is different than being a random stranger (and an adult).

Totally. I struggle with the idea of trying to convince others. How did people usually respond to you?

I feel bad about putting pressure on them but I have read that the men in heaven are "forceful men".
 
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Messerve

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Totally. I struggle with the idea of trying to convince others. How did people usually respond to you?
I feel bad about putting pressure on them but I have read that the men in heaven are "forceful men".
Well, for me it was a vivid picture of how terrible it would be if people I know and love went to hell when they died. Imagine a friend you love screaming in agony and wondering why you held your tongue until it was too late? It gives me chills and makes me sick to think about... :sigh: Dear God, may that never be the "fruit" of my life!

So I think sometimes a relationship is important to build up first. But other times the opportunities just present themselves with zero warning and we find ourselves sharing our faith on the spot.

In the first scenario I think you would be justified in pointing out (to someone that you're close to) the damage that their lifestyle is causing and how they really need to confront their lack of a decision about whether to follow Jesus or not (assuming they already know about Him). In the second scenario, I think you have to be content with planting a seed only and leave it up to God to do something with it.

Friends will be okay with a loving forcefulness often, if they know it comes from your concern for them. Relatives, well, that's tricky. But sometimes a little pressure works with them, too. If a person know all about the Gospel but is content to ride the fence, I think sometimes we have to knock them off the fence with a loving push.^_^
 
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~Anastasia~

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Welcome to TAW. :)

I was writing my own hymns/worship music and begging my brother to give his life to Jesus, too (which he eventually did).

I still do the first all the time. The second I also do, but more in prayer than in conversation. I often wonder if I should get back to imploring people to make a decision face to face? :scratch: Yet, I was a brother which is different than being a random stranger (and an adult).
 
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~Anastasia~

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Haha I never notice what forum a discussion is in before I start replying! Well thanks for the welcome. :)
Some of them have particular rules ...

Just a good idea to check quickly, especially if you disagree with what's being said, before replying. Especially if you're in a congregational forum. The Lutherans don't go into the Baptists home areas and tell them how they are wrong, for example. :)
 
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Messerve

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Some of them have particular rules ...

Just a good idea to check quickly, especially if you disagree with what's being said, before replying. Especially if you're in a congregational forum. The Lutherans don't go into the Baptists home areas and tell them how they are wrong, for example. :)
Yeah, I'll have to start checking from now on. Thoughts just come to me quickly and I like to have them down before I forget them.

As a non-denominational Christian, I'm somewhat of off-the-hook however...
 
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Messerve

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Why are you non-denominational?
Because I've never belonged to one. Too many times I've found that church leadership said one thing, I had doubts (but no one else seemed to...) and then my doubts were confirmed to be correct and the leadership led the congregation down a hurtful path.

So I study the Word for myself, take what others teach with a "grain of salt" and seek God continuously for direction. There's no need to belong to a specific denomination because I'll never find a denomination that is perfectly correct in all its teachings (and neither would my own denomination be if I were to create one).
 
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Moses Medina

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Because I've never belonged to one. Too many times I've found that church leadership said one thing, I had doubts (but no one else seemed to...) and then my doubts were confirmed to be correct and the leadership led the congregation down a hurtful path.

So I study the Word for myself, take what others teach with a "grain of salt" and seek God continuously for direction. There's no need to belong to a specific denomination because I'll never find a denomination that is perfectly correct in all its teachings (and neither would my own denomination be if I were to create one).

Always remember that no church body would ever be perfect because of the humans within. However I do want to say many of us in Orthodoxy to include myself felt the very way you do on some degree before hopping the fence to the East.
 
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Messerve

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Always remember that no church body would ever be perfect because of the humans within. However I do want to say many of us in Orthodoxy to include myself felt the very way you do on some degree before hopping the fence to the East.
Yes, I know of at least one person who would fit that description. I did research on Orthodoxy while in college and had to say that I do not agree with it's theology on how a person is saved. I could probably dig up my research paper if you would like to read it.
 
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Moses Medina

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Yes, I know of at least one person who would fit that description. I did research on Orthodoxy while in college and had to say that I do not agree with it's theology on how a person is saved. I could probably dig up my research paper if you would like to read it.

I would be down to read it.
 
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