Backsliding....

[speechless]

After struggling to be a Christian for 3 months, I am now finding myself backsliding.

I don't know what to do. I don't know how to stop this. No matter how hard I try to get back with God, I feel myself slipping further and further away from Him, until I can no longer feel He is there. I feel a huge void, and I don't know how to fill it. It's not that I don't want to be Christian, because I do more than anything, it just seems so incredibly hard to keep it all up and avoid every single piece of sin.

 

 

 

[OracleX]

You have taken the first few steps already. First you have noticed that you are backsliding. Second you care that you are. And third you are asking for help.

Actually right now I am trying to prevent a backslide in my life. I have let something take up too much time in my life: games. So for the next 30 days I have promised to God and to a friend that I will not play any. What in your life is taking your focus off God? For me games, they were taking time away from reading Gods Word, praying and meditating on Gods Word. I had not stopped but it was enough to have the warning light go on.

How much do you read your Bible? Everyday? How much are you praying? Are you trying to obey God in every area of your life? Are you keeping in fellowship and being taught in a healthy church? If you answered no to any of those questions, there is a good place for you to start.

Just like any human relationship, our relationship with God takes time and effort. It is not easy and some times we don't feel like it, but we must press on. Do not lose hope, for we have the greatest hope imaginable in Christ. He will see you through if you hold tight to Him.

Here are some verses for you - I hope they help.

You need to read the Bible everyday.
Psalm 119:11
"Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You."
Ephesians 6
"In addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints."

Pray everyday.
2 Chronicles 7:14
"And My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
Psalm 145:18
"The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth."

Are you trying to obey God in every area of your life?
Hebrews 12:1
"Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us."

And fellowship.
Acts 2:42
"They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer."

 

[Mr.Cheese]

Awww, go easy on yourself. It's not something that all happens overnight. It's a journey that goes one step at a time, one day at a time. Some days, you don't do so good. So you hang in there. God shook hands on this deal knowing you weren't perfect. In times like this, when you can't see him anywhere. It's just cause you gotta turn around and you'll find he's been right there waiting for you all along.
Believing is just the beginning.
*hug*
Pray. I don't know what you're into, but pray. Read the word. The trick is to not stop doing that.
*nuther hug*
I'll pray for you too!

 

[OracleX]

Mr. Cheese, you shook hands with God!? Was it a big hand? A good firm hand shake I bet!

 

[Susan]

Well, one thing that is kind of helpful for me is to know that God is NOT sitting there with a checklist saying things like "Prayer: she prayed for an hour, that's good but could be better, Bible: she read 5 chapters, that's no good, some people read whole books, Witnessing: what worthless human garbage, she didn't knowingly witness to anyone and personally lead them to Jesus in the last week, Holiness: I'm going to have to send the lightning bolts-she committed at least 3 sins yesterday"

I really, honestly used to believe God was that way. That for every move I made, I was being watched, measured, graded, and never could be good enough. I gave up things I loved to do, I pushed myself to pray, renounce, read, and everything else spiritual until I was literally fried spiritually, yet too "spiritual" to enjoy life, to live without worrying that the punishment was coming somewhere, sometime.

It's taken me a while, but I have realized that while God doesn't grade on a curve, neither does He grade on a checklist. He grades on the Cross. The Christian life is about being thankful to God for our salvation fully paid for by Jesus, about acting out of love for God and for others.

 

[nomad]

Like Mr. Cheese says, "go easy on yourself."

Christianity isn't a feeling.  When you go and sit on a chair you have an automatic faith the chair will not collapse when you sit on it.  You probably never even wonder if it will hold you up.

Your salvation is identical.  In time you will just automatically know that you are a child of God and nothing can change that.  There'll be times when you might question it because how it looks but it will always hold you up.

Take these verses to heart and use it as a shield of defense;

Romans 7:15-25

I do not understand what I do.  For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate to do.  And if I do what I don't want to do, I agree that the law is good.  As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it , but it is sin living in me.  I know that nothing good lives in me, that is , in my sinful nature.  For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.  For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do-this I keep on doing.  Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it but it is sin living in me that does it.

So I find this law at work:  When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.  For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.  What a wretched man I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God-Through Jesus Christ our Lord!

 

 

[nomad]

speechless,

I want to add that you are almost quoting verbatim what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans in the passage I quoted in my previous post.  That in itself should be very significant to you if you know anything at all about the Apostle Paul.

 

 

[repentandbelieve]

Today at 02:59 AM OracleX said this in Post #2

You have taken the first few steps already. First you have noticed that you are backsliding. Second you care that you are. And third you are asking for help.

Actually right now I am trying to prevent a backslide in my life. I have let something take up too much time in my life: games. So for the next 30 days I have promised to God and to a friend that I will not play any. What in your life is taking your focus off God? For me games, they were taking time away from reading Gods Word, praying and meditating on Gods Word. I had not stopped but it was enough to have the warning light go on.

How much do you read your Bible? Everyday? How much are you praying? Are you trying to obey God in every area of your life? Are you keeping in fellowship and being taught in a healthy church? If you answered no to any of those questions, there is a good place for you to start.

Just like any human relationship, our relationship with God takes time and effort. It is not easy and some times we don't feel like it, but we must press on. Do not lose hope, for we have the greatest hope imaginable in Christ. He will see you through if you hold tight to Him.

Here are some verses for you - I hope they help.

You need to read the Bible everyday.
Psalm 119:11
"Your word I have treasured in my heart, That I may not sin against You."
Ephesians 6
"In addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints."

Pray everyday.
2 Chronicles 7:14
"And My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land."
Psalm 145:18
"The LORD is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth."

Are you trying to obey God in every area of your life?
Hebrews 12:1
"Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us."

And fellowship.
Acts 2:42
"They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer."

Wise counsil and self observation Oracle X.

 

[Camebk4God]

Speechless I have been a "believer" in God all my life just never had the opportunity in my own mind to be an active participant with the Lord. Well all that changed, I hit rock bottom and wow. It has only been 6 weeks since I made that hand shake for real. Well i have fell several times that I know of and can recount, I cant count the ones i didnt realize. I have even skipped prayer out of guilt for these things. But everytime I drop to my knees to pray He takes me back he tells me its ok and fixes what it is i brought to the table. The last two weeks have been pretty close to unbarable for me, lossing lots of sleep now and took out a lot of pinned up frustration on th door to my room, man what a waste of 30.00 bucks. But everytime you slip everytime the enemy attacks God gives you that much more, you just need to dig down and Bring that out, as simple as stopping for 30 seconds and just asking Him to give it is what you need. You can and will backslide but dont you dare think that He's gonna let you fall or go under, your head might drop below the waterline but he is never gonna let you sink, TRUST.

Warrior Poet

 

[Mr.Cheese]

Have another one of these!
*hug*

 

[Mr.Cheese]

Yeah, I shook hands with God.
They say He's an all consuming fire so I melted.
He grabbed a bag of chips and some Rotel tomatoes and ate me.
He was wearing a Sombrero I think.

 

[GodOwnsMe]

keep trusting in God all the way, He's a great & awesome God and He loves You, don't give up sista.. God doesn't give up on You !!
I know what you feel about some stuff... just try and love Him, spend time with Him..... without Him we're nothing, but with Him we can do all things (uh somewhere in Phillipians !! )
Father, please show speechless what to do, carry her thru and out of this, please strengthen her faith and help her love and trust You, please let her know how much You love her and care about her, in Jesus' mighty name. Amen

 

[endure]

your foundation and strength in Christ, is your communion with him.
a life that is full of his spirit, is a life that cant be shaken.

you will hear his voice, and you will feel his power surging through you, the more time you spend alone with him.

a person who does not have a daily, secret, time alone in worship, prayer, and study, is a man who will never stand in the troubles of life.
a person who daily comes before the lord in worship prayer and study, is a man whos rooted, and will never be blown over.

and if you are spending quality time alone with him, telling him whats on your heart, and waiting, listening for his reply, you can know that your not working in vain, you are becoming stronger.

we do not live by bread alone, but by everyword that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
the key to living this christian life, is to abide in the place where we can feel his spirit moving, and hear his voice.
and that depends on how close we are to him, and that depends on how much quality time you spend alone with him.

you say your falling, well then i ask,
"do you ever go and meet with him in your secret place?"
becuase he always meets me in myne, and im always refreshed and refilled with strength there.

and if you are doing that, dont be deceived, you storm will soon be over. it is an illusion and lie, sent to discourafge you.

do you go to a church that has people you want to be like regularly?

 

[vibrant]

i guess you're being weighed down by "if we deliberately keep on sinning after we have recieved th eknowledge of the truth, no sarifice for sins is left" hebrews 10:26.

but if you turn the page you'll see that while we're called to be holy (because God is holy), we're not expected to do it alone. in fact, God knows we can't do it alone so that's why we're told to "fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith [while we run the race of life]" hebrews 12:2. In the end, He'll never leave or forsake you (13:5)

Jesus my whole life has changed (it changed when i got down on my knees Father), since that day I cried your name so for every time you've brought me through, i promise you.. i'll spend my always with you.

 

[MyangelDems]

I don't think something you are not aware of can be a sin. It seems to be a requirement that you know that you are doing something wrong for it to be a sin, if you dont know at the time its not a sin until you are aware that you are doing something wrong. Try not to focus so much on how many sins there are and if youre doing them, focus instead of seeking to be in Gods presence constantly. I try to talk to God all the time, and I find myself sending up even small prayers like "thank you for this Lord" and "help that person Lord they look like theyre having a bad day" and "touch this situation of mine Lord" and "Lord give me strength." etc etc, to where it almost seems like im talking to God pretty much all day long. Even if I'm not sure He's hearing me at the time, it seems to make me feel like I'm closer to Him. God never gives up on you though, even when it seems like He's just not there. God doesnt expect you to be perfect either, when/if you find yourself slipping or sining just tell Him youre sorry, youre trying and keep trying to move on.