Christian Walk questions

well, first of all, pray to God about it, as often as you feal the need. Nobody is perfect of course, and therefore, only God can help us do it consistantly.

Secondly, and I know you arn't going to like this, but I'm saying this as a friend that is concerned for you - i could be wrong, but from what I gather from your sig, you listen to rap, and all of that kind of secular music. well, you don't need to be listening to that - that may be what is pulling you down whether you want to believe it or not. now, don't get me wrong, not all Rap is bad, but some is - for instance, alot of that music has cussing and sexual inuendoes, etc. you might not be listening to songs with that in it, but it is a ssociated with a certain kind of music, and hey, you may be Ok with it, it might not bother you one bit, but let's say your brother or sister in christ came from that kind of back ground, listening to that kind of music, and it is a real stumbling block for them. if they hear you listening to that type of music and get pushed back into that lifestyle, then you have just become a stumbling block for your broher or sister in christ. I would ADVISE you to not listen to secular music anymore - there are plenty of christian rapers out there, you just need to find them.

God Bless

From what Machin Shin said, I noticed the particular song you have in your sig. I have to say I like that song - or rather, a parody of it. Apologetix is a Christian band that does good, Christian parodies of popular songs. You might also want to look into KJ 52, a Christian rapper. There are plenty if you look.

Also, I just read The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis, which mentions this issue in a broad way. It says that every human goes through highs and lows in their walk with God. The ultimate test, the time where God works in us and helps us to grow, in during the low periods. It is during these times of spiritual lows, and a feeling that we want to go with the world that we need to really pray and ask God for help in walking with him.

I pray that you'll be able to find a way to ease this roller coaster into minor hills, and that you will continue to desire to walk the Christian walk at all times. God bless.

Apply the Word of God into actions and truth. As you learn it, do it. Find a mission in life and purpose to do good deeds. Put a little money aside, even a tithe or 10% to do things for other people. That is what love is - God's love gives - to people that don't even deserve it. This is called Agape love.
If we are not busy doing these things, then we have idle time to waste our lives with all kinds of goofy stuff we may stand before God and give an account for. Think about how much time we amuse ourselves in this country "a muse" = not think. I guess we do need an illusion to get us away from the reality of this world. Our brothers blood is on our heads when we let thirty thousand children starve to death over night in the world. This is a crazy world, brother, so go find something to do that will stop the bleeding a little. I found a South Side Mission in the city where I could serve and help. Surely there is something in your area or some Christians you can get together with that do some good works. We have to make our faith an action or of course it wil get boring and show itself as superficial and phoney. Find a few brother's and sisters and pray up and talk about something good you could do for your community. Just think, when people see you doing these things in the Lord's name, they will give glory to Him and thanksgiving. These things will strengthen you in the Lord and the taste of doing His will makes you hungry to do more exploits for Him.
Remember too, that God loves us and gives us the grace and power to grow and learn how to live lives that please Him. He is not here to condemn us, but to help us be what He created us for.

I JOHN 3:16-19 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with ACTIONS and TRUTH. This then is how we KNOW that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us.

Mat. 5:16 In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father.

1 Peter 2:12 Be careful how you live among your unbelieving neighbors. Even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will believe and give honor to God when he comes to judge the world.

You will have many issues to work through. You will need more than Sunday sermons. Is tehre a wise person who you can gettogether with on a regular basis and build principles into your life.

Don't be discouraged. Change does take time, and often a lot of good advice, support and real friendship.

John
NZ

man your in the process,
we all have times like these, but we turn back to God and are restored and learn from them and little by little grow and grow.

as you continue to seek the Lord about these issues hell teach you and walk with you, and youll begin to understand more and know more and see more.
its all just a part of the growth process.

theres a song that "we fall down, we get up, we fall down, we get up"
and i know its only a nice phrase that doesnt seem to be much comfort when your the one dealing with it all, but it really is so true.
i didnt learn it by hearing that phrase, but overtime, by going through the process, im learning its true.
and theres another saying.

"nothing grows on mountain tops"
and just the phrase itself doesnt help much, but as you begin to fall down and make mistakes and fall away at times and have to cry and run back to God.... you really learn that its true.
i dont know where id be without my failures. some joyless lifeless meaningless person on a pointless cloud of calm nothingness.

i love how one man said
"i want not the stale calm of utopia,
or to be humbled and dulled by having this state look after me.
I WANT TO TAKE THE CALCULATED RISK!
TO DREAM AND TO BUILD!
TO FAIL AND TO SUCCEED!"

i dont want a life of guaranteed success, wheres the joy in that?

life without failure, man its not life at all.
go seek the Lord about it and learn from whatever mistakes your making, and get up and go on with your life, this wonderful process full of failure and success.
i dont have time or the knowledge to accurately explain the reason success is only a joy if youve had some failures... but man its so true.
while we where yet sinners.... christ died for us.
im not endorsing or wanting failure, but its a part of life.
and its isnt neccesarily evil.

man just turn back to God and go on.
i love God the more, becuase of my failures.
failures are lights that shine, on the raod to success. and you cant go to far without many of them shining.

ill tell ya man, i dont want a plumber working on my house that doesnt have dirty muddy stains on his pants, and i dont believe in sheperds who dont smell like sheep, and i dont want anyone leading me who has never failed.

Godbless
Lee.

Keep going.

In my personal walk with Jesus I can honestly say that I sinned worse within the first 18 months after my initial repentace then I had done in all the years before. All you have to do is keep going. Things get better, things get easier, and you learn. Trust me my friend, Jesus is always with you, no matter how many times we stumble or just straight fall on our butts along the way.

Peace-

There is no perfect answer to this problem.

Everyone goes through it. They go through the passionate times and the times of famine.

Always be in prayer and hang on.

There was a time in my walk when I felt as if I was falling in and out with God. I finally got upset at myself and asked why do I sin knowing God has been there for me always. Then God asked why is it that you only fall in your Father God's loving arms only after it has been confirmed that you are forgiven? Why not take the time and say Father God I just wish to spend some time in Your arms Your Love just because. And eventually my walk became what it was suppose to be. Yes there are test and at times it seems so easy to say I give up but I don't and you should say I will serve God and that's final.

Well; here it goes; first: pray-pray to God to strengthen your connection and your will power to stop sinning which leads to #2: try to sin less- keep your mind off of sinful things... and really... when you think about this problem... read the bible; when you think about the problem.. pray... just try to keep it on God as much as you can and He'll pull you through.

To maintain your Christianity isnt going to be easy and nobody ever said it would. Once you become a Christian the Devil has this sick and twisted way of intervening in that new Christianity. He will fight back for you and want you to fall into sin just like the way you were living.

You have to base your life around Christian values. I am not saying that you dont but make sure taht everything you do or atleast try to do is God willing. Reading your Bible is definitely a must, and you should try to do it everyday...

Strive to do better, and most of all STAY STRONG!

What is happening is that your good times are happening as a result of other christian praying for you. When those people get busy or are doing other things and there is less prayer then you go into a slump.
I went through the same thing. It simply means that you should start to develop some more consistent fellowship with others. Also, as you grow you will be able to be more consistent yourself without needing all that help all the time.
You are in a spiritual battle and some people out there are praying hard for you. If you find out who they are, thank them. Maybe see if there is a prayer group at your church or some way you cna connect in with prayer instead of just waiting for the prayer support to coem to you by chance.

Pray, yes... and music can influence you greatly. Watch out what you listen to. Another thing I can understand is at your age, and because you want to experience the world, which usually is not in compliance with being a Christian. (Hey, we were all teens at one time...and perhaps influenced by our friends, etc.) Also, I'm guessing when you get fed up with the garbage that is out of the world, you will come home to your Christian faith, and a good, strong, steady relationship with God. It would be to your benefit if that is sooner, rather than later, because remember what ever sinning you do now could adversely affect your entire life. My sons are having to live down some things they got into when they were your age. It's not so easy to dispense with most of the time. They learned the hard way!

SlimShadyJB said:

I became a Christian for the first time a few years ago...I was all happy and I loved God and I felt so great that I was going to Heaven...I read my Bible and prayed almost every day and I was just...you know, satisfied. But a few weeks later I lost it...I started sinning a lot, never reading the Bible, never praying, or thinking about God. Then all of a sudden a few weeks later after that I got the urge to read the Bible and pray again...so I did that and i did it almost every day...but then a couple weeks after doing that it got boring and I stopped doing it.. then the cycle continued...on again..then off...up and down..

...

So what should I do to stop this annoying cycle? Read the Bible for 5 hours? Pray in eight different languages? What? What? Someone answer me honestly...any type of advice can be helpful.

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You need God to help you with this. Going through your post I notice how often you write "I" ... I had similar experiences of an up and down. Until I notice that I was more or less saying "I can do it" but the only way it works is "I can do this with God's help and His help only". I don't know how to describe it but it was as if I said to God: "I know this is wrong, I need to stop it ... watch me how I do it." I never manage until I surrendered this to God and asked Him to help me.

We are to bring our burdens to the Lord, all our burdens (including the burden of falling back). There is noone outside the Lord who knows us better. He knows what we need in order to learn a lesson so that we don't repeat mistakes.

hello Slim,it's about God not you. I mean that in a nice way!!! How about trying to find time for God. Put Him first,maybe join a Youth group,hang out with Christian influence. I went through what you did also. What changed me was reading. I found time and made time. I read when I drink my tea in the morning. An hour before I go to bed,I read. Why not try a devotional. A daily devotional-those are also a great way for you to stay in God's Word.Seek Him first in all things. Set your heart and your mind on Him. That's what our lives are all about,living to please and bring Glory to our creator!

SlimShadyJB said:

Okay, I don't know if any of you have had a problem with this but I'll explain it right here...

I became a Christian for the first time a few years ago...I was all happy and I loved God and I felt so great that I was going to Heaven...I read my Bible and prayed almost every day and I was just...you know, satisfied. But a few weeks later I lost it...I started sinning a lot, never reading the Bible, never praying, or thinking about God. Then all of a sudden a few weeks later after that I got the urge to read the Bible and pray again...so I did that and i did it almost every day...but then a couple weeks after doing that it got boring and I stopped doing it.. then the cycle continued...on again..then off...up and down..

Ever since then, my Christian walk has been a freakin` rollercoaster. For a few weeks I'll be really excited and stuff about God and praying and all that...then I'll gradually stop doing it and fall back into sinning intentiaonally with bad habits and all that....then a few weeks later I'll ask forgiveness from God...and start the whole cycle over again. Is there ANY way to stop this up-and-down crud? I mean seriously, I want to be a Christian and act like it ALL the time...not just for a couple weeks at a time. Like right now I don't really care about Christianity and all..but in a couple weeks I'll get all happy for God again probably, then I'll fall off. I can't control it, really. A person that I know online goes through this same exact problem and we have no idea how to fix it. Is this normal to happen or do I need to change my thinking or something?
Now I'm not even sure if I'd go to Heaven this second because I haven't been spending time with God lately and I sin too much. Sometimes I'm sure, sometimes I'm not. Hopefully some of you understand what I mean.

So what should I do to stop this annoying cycle? Read the Bible for 5 hours? Pray in eight different languages? What? What? Someone answer me honestly...any type of advice can be helpful.

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Endure2 said:

man your in the process,
we all have times like these, but we turn back to God and are restored and learn from them and little by little grow and grow.

as you continue to seek the Lord about these issues hell teach you and walk with you, and youll begin to understand more and know more and see more.
its all just a part of the growth process.

theres a song that "we fall down, we get up, we fall down, we get up"
and i know its only a nice phrase that doesnt seem to be much comfort when your the one dealing with it all, but it really is so true.
i didnt learn it by hearing that phrase, but overtime, by going through the process, im learning its true.
and theres another saying.

"nothing grows on mountain tops"
and just the phrase itself doesnt help much, but as you begin to fall down and make mistakes and fall away at times and have to cry and run back to God.... you really learn that its true.
i dont know where id be without my failures. some joyless lifeless meaningless person on a pointless cloud of calm nothingness.

i love how one man said
"i want not the stale calm of utopia,
or to be humbled and dulled by having this state look after me.
I WANT TO TAKE THE CALCULATED RISK!
TO DREAM AND TO BUILD!
TO FAIL AND TO SUCCEED!"

i dont want a life of guaranteed success, wheres the joy in that?

life without failure, man its not life at all.
go seek the Lord about it and learn from whatever mistakes your making, and get up and go on with your life, this wonderful process full of failure and success.
i dont have time or the knowledge to accurately explain the reason success is only a joy if youve had some failures... but man its so true.
while we where yet sinners.... christ died for us.
im not endorsing or wanting failure, but its a part of life.
and its isnt neccesarily evil.

man just turn back to God and go on.
i love God the more, becuase of my failures.
failures are lights that shine, on the raod to success. and you cant go to far without many of them shining.

ill tell ya man, i dont want a plumber working on my house that doesnt have dirty muddy stains on his pants, and i dont believe in sheperds who dont smell like sheep, and i dont want anyone leading me who has never failed.

Godbless
Lee.

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EXCELLENT EXCELLENT POST!! As a matter of fact, all the posts here have been wonderful!! Don't be too hard on yourself. The key is...give yourself credit. You fall, but at least you GET BACK UP AGAIN. That is the key! I wish we all could be on the mountaintop all the time, but that's not reality or life. Life will always have its ups and downs. I remember how difficult it was to go through my twenties & thirties. As you get older, it will all make sense and one day, it will just click. Lessons of life are painful and most people learn the hard way. They fall, get up, fall again, get back up again, etc. Hopefully, with each fall, you will have learned something. If you keep falling and do not learn anything, then you will feel helpless and hopeless after a while. If you could learn at least one valuable lesson from a fall, then it makes it all worthwhile. I don't think there's a magic formula on how many times a day to read the bible or how long to read the bible. What's more important is that God needs to be in your heart and mind. It's not about "going through the motions." Too many people think being a Christian is just "talking about God" or going through the motions. It's more than that. It's realizing how much God loves us and choosing to walk with Him. It's not based on fear or earning our way to Heaven with deeds. If you love God, pray to Him everyday and just talk to Him as you would to a friend. Don't be so hard on yourself. When you open your heart and your mind to God, you will see God working in your life. Keep the faith and know that God will never leave you.

Don't give up, it is human to sin, Christian to feel bad about, convicted and try to change. There is not a Christian posting here who does not feel like sinning when the occassion to profit from it occurs. That is just how we are, but with God's help we can slowly grow to what we should be. This is an anonymous forum, post your questions and failings here. I am sure there are plenty of people who will hold you accountable if you write what you are struggling with.

SlimShadyJB said:

I'm starting to think Christianity is too difficult for me. I can't follow the rules that we have to, I can't repent of sin no matter how hard I try, I've prayed and believed everything that a person needs to believe to be a Christian but I still feel something isn't right but I have no idea what it is. I'm tired of always having to follow rules and do things that a Christian has to do to be called a Christian cuz they eventually get dull.......I just want to live my life without worrying every day if I'm going to Heaven or not, because I am SO sinful I don't think I would ever make an acceptable Christian. I want to give up but then I'll worry about what happens to me in the afterlife, so then I go back to Christianity. Ugh, I hate this.

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I think what I'm hearing is that you're not trusting God's grace and mercy in your life. NONE of us are free from sin, and never will be. We sin intentionally, we sin unintentionally, and probably every day. What God wants from us is to try to live holy lives, to seek Him above all others. So when you feel tired of following rules, talk to God. Don't make it so much about 'prayer' but an open dialogue with the Lord.

Of course YOU can't repent of sin...no one can or we wouldn't need God. What we do is try to avoid sin, ask God for forgiveness, and take the first step so He'll take the next two for us. God knows our hearts and if you truly want to change and be mindful of God's will in your life, you'll get there, slowly but surely. But don't expect to be perfect, and don't expect it to be overnight. But "be ye steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain". Don't give up! That's what the devil wants you to do and feel! But God will never leave you alone, even when you want him to.

Sure being a Christian is hard. We all face temptations and trials, its all a part of being a child of God. But I think its much harder to be a young person in the world.... always worrying about fitting in, being sexy or attractive, being cool, having material things...I found all of that to be so exhausting! I was never happy with anything and what I've learned is that I'm not supposed to be. I can definitely say that things got harder for me after I gave my life to Christ, but not from the outside...from the inside, from my sinful nature trying to take back command over my life.

BTW, if you think life as a Christian is dull, life in the world is just as dull. There is no fun, satisfaction or fulfillment in empty sinning, searching for something that you'll never find without God. Or maybe that's just my opinion.

SlimShady I'll be praying for you, for God to renew your spirit and give you strength to fight your temptations and courage to move closer to Him. One thing I can say is, your walk will get alot better when you read the Bible and pray more. If every day is too much, try to form a habit and you'll be surprised. Maybe you always pray about being a sinner? Try just praising God sometimes, talking to Jesus, or praying for others. God receives no joy when you condemn yourself.

Lastly, its been suggested before, but I'll say it again (even though I'm getting to feel that you don't want to hear it): when you remove hip hop from your life, your thoughts are better and you will desire of God more. Trust me, I've been there... out of conviction I gave at least 50 cds away, including all of my Eminem, Jay-Z, Trick Daddy, all of it. I still get tempted sometimes when I'm with friends, but whats important is that I still try to be holy and pleasing to God.

You can do it! We are all here for you. PM me if you ever need to talk.

ProseChild said:

But God will never leave you alone, even when you want him to.

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So true! That's the beauty of our almighty God...is that no matter how far away we stray from Him, He will never leave us. We may choose to shut Him out of our lives, but God loves us sooooo much that He will be waiting patiently in our hearts for us to let Him in again. As it has been said, God is always knocking...will we let Him in?