I'm stuck in a rut here and can't move forward.
I believe in God, but can't make that next step.
I believe I once was a Christian and my Dad always believed in once saved always saved...but seeing how far I've gone away from God, I'm finding it hard to believe.
Any words of wisdom?
Anyone else going through the same thing who might want to talk with me about it and maybe together get through it?
Thanks
Hi, I believe osas is accurate, but really it does not matter in a sense.
The thing I would recommend as sounds like you desire to move forward, is to read some, read about Jesus in the bible, so in the gospels..
And then take God at His word.. so where God says He loves you.. you take what God says as truth.
Once you take what God says as truth (which you may already do) but once we do that, we aren't tossed around as much..
It's sort of like a decision to make perhaps.
Is what God says about Himself, me and others truth?
If so, if you believe that it is, then you know it's truth and truth can never be taken away.
While lies will come, from ourselves, satan, demons, other Christians, and non believers, if we are rooted and grounded in the truth, who is Jesus, we take all those things and bring them to Jesus.
The verse that speaks of taking all our thoughts captive to Jesus so that they are obedient to Him.
So, if we have a lie in our head; may be our own, or from another.. bring it to Jesus as often as need to, and it can not stand before Jesus as is not truth.
Being renewed in the mind is very important and that is what I'm writing about in this post.
Changing the lies for the truth.. renewing. our minds..same thing..
It's a lifelong process of course, but the more we take God at His word, the stronger we can be in our faith in God.
Our faith is often under attack as you are probably familiar with the Ephesians passage which says our battle is not against flesh and blood but against spiritual wickedness in high places (paraphrased.)
In that same passage, we are told what to do to deal with all that comes our way, and I'll post that here:
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.
12For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
13Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.
14Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.
So above we have truth... truth is what we get from the bible.. put that on as a belt around you the bible says..
breastplate of righteousness; doing the right thing..keep that on..always keep doing right. We will fail, we all do, but that is what is being encouarged here, and is important.. We know what is right from Gods word.
feet fitted with readiness - not sure what this means, but imagine it means be prepared at all times.. and in peace we serve others, and so always to be ready to do good things;
next one is why I posted this... shield of faith.. this is what I was speaking of before the passage.. With our faith protecting us, a shield about us, the lies, can not stand.
Helmet of salvation means to me.. be confident in your position in Jesus.. Go forward and walk in confidence; we've nothing to fear as children of God, we are saved, and God will never let us go.
Prayer is vital.. Often may be difficult to pray.. not to worry.. keep just telling God all that's on your heart, no matter what it is.. and prayer is vital.
What we pray for changes things thru Jesus. It's vital, but for some reason is one of the hardest things to be constantly doing or even doing daily. i believe the reason is so hard is not our natural habit to do so, and we need develop the good habit of always going to God.
We are standing in the gap for others; praying for their needs, salvation, and healing, and for ourselves as well..
Prayer is so very vital..
We are in a spritual battle, and we face stuggles of all kinds and without prayer and faith..that no matter what happens to us or others, we are Gods' and while we may not see here on earth certain things, we have hope, as we believe in who is unseen (who is Jesus) and have great hope and faith as we walk thru this world, or we can have.. if we take God at His word.
His will is layed out in the bible.. He desires us to love God with all our heart, love our neighbors as ourselves, serve others, forgive our enemies, to not sin, and much much more..
His complete will is not all in the bible but what we need is there.. We do as commanded (again we will fall short and fail, and all the time) as well as we do not do the things commanded not to do, and so we clearly see Gods will.
But we know what Jesus did while on earth.. we know the desire of God is that his will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
So whenever we do what God wills, we are helping the kingdom to grow, we are aligned with God's will as we ourselves do those things He's given us to do.
And we grow in faith as we take Him at His word, and do His will.
So, it's like God no matter what happens I trust you.. that's the committment many make in coming to Jesus. I trust you, i have faith in you, that you are who you are and did as you did for me,, us..
God bless,
tapero
