Feel like a hypocrite

[DeerGlow]

So I say live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature
For the sinfull nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other so that you do not do what you want
Gal5:16&17

But if I'm not saved I cannot live by the Spirit, because if I don't have the Spirit I can only be selfish and bad.

 

[DeerGlow]

DeerGlow, I will try my best to address your concerns, with the Help and grace of the Lord. As you are finding out, our Christian life is a WAR. Each of us who come to faith in Christ are "born" into our own personal corner of the battlefield where we are soldiers in God's army and responsible for making war against the powers of darkness and the lies of the devil......to the glory of God. Followers of Christ are not condemned for having a thought that is displeasing to the Lord, but only if we keep on willfully entertain them instead of fighting them. The bible says we are to take captive every thought that exalts itself against the truth of God's word and bring it into obedience to Christ, the Word. Every time you have a thought that you know is sinful, repent of it immediately and ask for the Lord's help to take your thoughts captive. Believe what His word says that if we acknowledge and confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us of all unrighteousness.......He truly will.

Since your thought-life is an area of particular difficulty for you, and also bubbles over into your speech at times, make it your goal to overcome your wrong thoughts and do not ever give up. Consider it your battlefield. Pray regularly and fervently for the Lord God to help you take your thoughts captive and deliver you from any demonic strongholds. If you have faith in Jesus Christ then it is no longer you who sin, but sin living in you....nevertheless your part and all our parts is to overcome the sin living in us. Because when we are saved, if we are sincere in wanting to follow Jesus, we also must begin working out our salvation. So do not to entertain or obey wrong and sinful thoughts, but fight the good fight of faith against them using your spiritual weapons of warfare......the sword of the Lord, His mighty word of truth.

I'm afraid that I'm not sincere enough though. I have a fear of hell but that doesn't equate to being a sincere follower of Christ.

Ask Him to lead you to scriptures that you particularly need or that He wants to speak to you each day. If you have trouble concentrating when reading the bible, try reading it out loud to yourself, and even while you are walking up and down the room if you need to. Read it prayerfully, in the Spirit...draw near to God and He will draw near to you by His Spirit. Listen to good old bible-based Christian hymns regularly and perhaps audio recordings of the bible. King James is the most accurate translation that we have, hence the most powerful in spirit. You have to fight the devil, really fight, with the help of God's Holy Spirit, as you prayerfully seek the Lord and His help, and do not give up.

I can't use the KJV though. I know a lot of people are KJV only but it's too difficult for me. I can't understand the English let alone the concepts.

Anything in your past that you know is sin that you haven't yet repented of, do so, and ask the Lord to forgive and cleanse you. If you have dabbled in Taoism or any other false or occultic beliefs or practices you need to confess it to the Lord and utterly and sincerely renounce and forsake these things, turn away from them in repentance...........AND GOD WILL FORGIVE YOU AND CLEANSE YOU. BELIEVE IT AND RECEIVE HIS FORGIVENESS. Because He cannot lie. And then as Jesus admonishes us, go and sin no more.

Taoism tempts me sometimes but I've gotten rid of almost everything, except a few pictures I remembered I need to delete still.

1 John 1:7-10 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

2 Co 10:3-5 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh:

(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds

Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ

I don't know if I'm in the light though.

 

[Rakis]

I'm afraid that I'm not sincere enough though. I have a fear of hell but that doesn't equate to being a sincere follower of Christ.



I can't use the KJV though. I know a lot of people are KJV only but it's too difficult for me. I can't understand the English let alone the concepts.



Taoism tempts me sometimes but I've gotten rid of almost everything, except a few pictures I remembered I need to delete still.



I don't know if I'm in the light though.

Go away and read your bible and come back and share with us what you've read!

 

[stuart lawrence]

But if I'm not saved I cannot live by the Spirit, because if I don't have the Spirit I can only be selfish and bad.

You are limiting how great the love of God is for those who have accepted his Son as their Saviour and been born again of the Spirit.
I can assure you, if you have been unsaved due to your imperfections, I could also not be saved. But I know I am

 

[HeLeadethMe]

Dearglow, have you ever read the scripture that says the carnal mind is ENMITY with God? Yes it is, and it sure does try to mess us around and fight against the truth instead of just humbly receiving it and being corrected by it. Because the mind wants to be God, it actually thinks it is a god sitting up there on top of everything.....see how deceived it is? When really it can't even perceive the things of the Spirit. So stop listening to your own mind because it's a false, weak and deluded god which has no truth. The thoughts of the mind are deceived, the devil is a liar and thief, so start letting the mind of Christ be in you instead.........His Word, His truth........believe His mind, His word. If you are not sincere with the Lord then yes you are right, you will perish, and I would be lying if I said otherwise. If that's the case, you better decide to get sincere. Because you NEED Jesus......as we all do. Make up your mind to enlist in His war and start fighting on His side. If you don't yet realize that you NEED Him, then He is going to have to try and prove it to you and that could be a long rough ride and I truly truly hope you avoid that route.

If you believe in Jesus Christ, and that He is the Son of God and died for your sins and rose from the dead.........then start there. If you fell, repent of it, be forgiven and turn away from sin and begin again. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, let it cause you to seek the Lord (in prayer and scripture) and sincerely try to follow Him and be pleasing to Him in how you live. If you need His Spirit, or more of it, as we all do, then ask Him for it and keep asking.....ask, seek, knock and the door will be opened. We're not responsible for the answer, or how and when the Lord will answer, our part is to pray and ask, and be in obedience, so when you ask, leave it with Him.

Our enemy, our carnal minds, can try to cause us to be discouraged and give up on following the Lord.......do not believe the lies and negativity, since the carnal mind is ENMITY with God, but keep on following Jesus. As for sincerity......if you follow Jesus, carry your cross, obey Him, obey His word even when it hurts, and it will at times, that is how He knows you are sincere. A time came when I told the Lord, even if you were to throw me into hell, I would still keep following you, for the simple reason that you are the Truth, how can I deny the Truth that I have met face to face, who was revealed to my heart, and who keeps talking to me, and leading me, and walking beside me day after day. Remember Jesus trying to put the gentile woman off from receiving her child's healing.....and she would have none of it, she wouldn't be put off, but clung to Him harder, saying even the dogs lick up the crumbs from the children's table. That is both humble and persistent.....faith. Be like that, little sister. We're just humble little doggies so don't anybody pay us never mind......BUT OH WE WANT THOSE CRUMBS!

 

[Meowzltov]

Mental illness tells you LIES. As someone who is bipolar I know this all too well -- every time I become depressed, I am tempted to believe that it is all in my imagination, that no God exists, or that God exists but doesn't love me. Your schizophrenia is messing with you, my friend.

You should have a therapist as well as a psychiatrist. In addition to getting our advice here, this is a really good thing to talk to your therapist about. A GOOD therapist will not challenge your faith, but will help you discern between real doubts and what is your illness.

 

[peter2]

Hi, Deerglow,
I happened once to be in a similar state. I read à book from Vittoz, who was a swiss christian GP, in thé early 20th, that gave me a great comfort.
Actually, Vittoz speaks of coming back to development of your 5 senses, or to their ré-éducation, so as not to let your brain be imagination, or émotion's toy.
Indeed, all the time you spend reeducating your senses, you can't let jour brain functionning, and you rebuild a balance. with your sensory body, that channels imagination and brain.
It takes a weight off one's mind, but of course, you first have to give temporarily your thinking up as lost. It depends how addicted you are to fear to know how much training you need to escape from your state of powerlessness to react.
God bless.

 

[SarahsKnight]

But there's so many things in the bible suggestion you can lose salvation. How can I have any comfort? Like my pastor said there is comfort in mourning for a believer's family but you can't lie and say an unbeliever's okay. I know he thinks I'm okay but I have the image in my head of him at my funeral saying "We know [DeerGlow] was a believer and is in heaven with Jesus." and me being in the fires screaming and crying.

Please listen to @stuart lawrence on this, DeerGlow. I totally empathize with your situation, as i went through it myself for about a year some time ago. And Stuart is right; the more afraid you are of doing or saying or thinking of something that will make God want to put you in hell, the more frequently the bad thoughts will come to mind, and thus also the more likely you will full yourself into thinking that you secretly want to believe or speak aloud the bad thoughts. Trust me, i know this from personal experience, and I understand that it is extremely hard to get over this mental condition. Somehow, you will have to discipline yourself to not feel fear or alarm when the thoughts pop into your head, for a time, and then they should eventually fade away, or at least be far less frequent. It is a very difficult task, I know. It will be very painful to deal with in the meantime. But I pray that God will be with you. Why is He called merciful far more often than angry or vengeful in the Bible, if He does not sympathize with your plight? I firmly believe He is not one to condemn so easily, and that He is well aware that in your heart you do not actually hate Him and want these blasphemous thoughts about Him. Do not let the fear of a false notion of God wanting to torture unbelievers in the fires of Gehenna forever overtake you, or that God's mercy ends so easily when here you are so disturbed by the bad thoughts about Him and cry for His mercy.