How To Believe In Your Heart?

[Grafted In]

Believe me, don't ask God to break your heart unless you are totally prepared for Him to answer the prayer. The answer you get may not be a warm, fuzzy, conviction that you have done something wrong but could be a severe chastisement that leads to understanding what the fear of the Lord really is. But if you do ask for it then receive it gratefully.

Jesus said that the mouth speaks from the abundance of the heart. If you can openly confess your faith then that's what you believe in your heart.

Blessings,

Alan

I hope you don't mind, Alan.

HEW,
I just wanted to bring your attention back to this excellent post from Alan.

Are you spending time in The Word? If you've recently gotten saved it is imparative that you feed heavily on His word. I would actually go as far as to say avoid other believers for a time as you study His word. It is a dog-eat-dog world out there and if you are a new Christian believe me, there will be every kook in your area code trying to pull and push you from and to every direction. But if you aren't in His Word solitude will destroy you.
If you are saved your safest place is with God in His Word. He will not lead you astray as will those in the world.

 

[-57]

I hope you don't mind, Alan.

HEW,
I just wanted to bring your attention back to this excellent post from Alan.

Are you spending time in The Word? If you've recently gotten saved it is imparative that you feed heavily on His word. I would actually go as far as to say avoid other believers for a time as you study His word. It is a dog-eat-dog world out there and if you are a new Christian believe me, there will be every kook in your area code trying to pull and push you from and to every direction. But if you aren't in His Word solitude will destroy you.
If you are saved your safest place is with God in His Word. He will not lead you astray as will those in the world.

Good advice Grafted In.
There is a web site called Got Questions that presents great answers. One question from the site asked is...
Question: "I am a new Christian. What is the next step?"

Clicking on the link above will take you to that answer. They too say "First, as a new Christian, begin reading the Bible."

 

[AGTG]

It sounds like you have an analytical personality. There's nothing wrong with that, but the enemy can really work one over if they will entertain thoughts that get you running in circles over your faith.

This is one of the reasons Jesus exhorted His followers to come to Him as little children.

Focus in the simple things of walking out your faith. Not everyone needs a whollop of conviction in their daily walk. It's really not His desire to keep us weeping and wailing over every little thing.

His desires are more of a long-term, big-picture shift in our character in training us to be more righteous in general.

That being said, if one walks into gross sin they should be soft enough to feel that conviction, but walking out your faith simply every day will keep you soft to His promptings.

Also, the cure for pride is simple: Read a chapter of Proverbs every day. You will see what God's truth is, and how you are, and you will be humbled.

It works for me, anyway.

 

[AGTG]

Yes, when I say walk out your faith simply I mean stay in the Word of God daily, devote time every day in private prayer, fellowship with other authentic believers, and don't be afraid to begin walking out your own ministry calling trusting God will guide you.

All of these things will mature you the quickest if you persist, and will strengthen your faith greatly as God is going to move mightily on your behalf when you pray by faith. When you see that happen, it will be unmistakable.

 

[Grafted In]

Who do you suppose urges you to study The Word and pray?

I know how frustrating it can be to go days, weeks, months, even years without feeling God.
Faith is not based in feelings. What need would there be for Him to reward you for what He expects of all believers?
Hang in there. Keep doing what you are doing. His rewards don't come on our time, but His.
I mentioned a few days ago that God has no need of our blueprint as to how to bring us to the place He wants us to be.
My humble advise is to keep reading Scripture, keep praying ( sans requests for feelings) and in His perfect time He will reward you.
My guess is He is trying your faith for a battle sometime soon. Don't be unprepared by neglecting the things you know to do. God bless you

 

[Grafted In]

Two, two, two posts in one.
Double posted.

 

[com7fy8]

"rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God." (1 Peter 3:4)

So, God is pleased with "the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit". This is "very precious" to Him. So, believing in God includes being the way that is preciously pleasing to Him . . . in His love's "incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit".

But possibly we can see how there are many things which attack us so we do not quiet down and share with God. Worry, fear and its personality torments, boredom, loneliness, arguing, complaining, unforgiveness, frustration, bitterness, and dominating and dictatorial drives for pleasure all can work very hard to keep us from having peace and quiet with God and pleasing Him.

We have not succeeded in fighting against these things. Only God is able to change us so we are sensitively and submissively pleasing to Him in His gentle and quiet love. He wins the battle in us; we need to depend on Him. But His love has almighty immunity against all that sin-sick stuff that would rough us up. His love's "gentle and quiet" beauty is "incorruptible" > in this love, we have sweetly soothing immunity almighty. So, this is included in believing, I would say.

Jesus does say,

"'Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.'" (Matthew 11:29)

 

[ToBeLoved]

Good advice Grafted In.
There is a web site called Got Questions that presents great answers. One question from the site asked is...
Question: "I am a new Christian. What is the next step?"

Clicking on the link above will take you to that answer. They too say "First, as a new Christian, begin reading the Bible."

Got Questions is an excellent site and all of the references to scripture (which is pretty much every post) are clearly labeled so one can follow along.

Highly recommend.

 

[cs100]

I feel the same way as you often. Personally I try not to pressure myself. Like many things, faith grows over time....keep reading the Scriptures and talking to God and your faith will grow over your lifetime.... That's just my take

 

[-57]

Got Questions is an excellent site and all of the references to scripture (which is pretty much every post) are clearly labeled so one can follow along.

Highly recommend.

There is also CARM.

 

[ToBeLoved]

I feel the same way as you often. Personally I try not to pressure myself. Like many things, faith grows over time....keep reading the Scriptures and talking to God and your faith will grow over your lifetime.... That's just my take

Great advice.

Faith and your relationship with God do grow over time. We all move forward one step at a time.

 

[Rjj4321]

How do we believe in our heart? More importantly, how do we know when we believe in our heart?

I can't seem to get that part down. In all things, I'm having a rough time understanding and even more so discerning.

One of my biggest struggles I face is pride. Pride like "I don't need Jesus." "I'm not a sinner" "My good deeds will save me." kind of thing. Besides battling that, how can we come to believe in Jesus with all our heart? I read in one place is following His instructions but another place says we have to have a revelation from the Spirit.... ???

One of the biggest things that troubles me is 1) I don't necessarily have an overwhelming fear of hell (no matter how much I want to). 2) The most godly sorrow I've ever been dealt with is sinning and then feeling guilty to a degree and a thought that says either "God doesn't like that" or "that's a sin against God" and then I tell myself "Man, I should pray about that" and then do... other than the few small times i receive a revelation and then start crying and blubbering and praying up to God that He may forgive me of my sins and help me turn from them. So in this point could possibly be a lack of godly sorrow / repentance 3) heartbreak. Like the song that sings "Jesus break our hearts for what breaks yours"...besides the pride that says I'm not a sinner...deep down I don't know what else I feel about being a sinner against God but one thing I do know is that I haven't experienced immense heartbreak as what someone told me they believe everyone must feel to truly repent... 4) Faith and Belief. Yes i know the verses but....how do i know if i truly believe or not and this isn't me just saying things from my head instead of my heart..

...i want to be saved and though my desires are small..I still don't understand if I truly believe in my heart or not..

Please help me as much as you can..

When I got saved in 1996 i was in prison...in the midst of extreem violence which turned me to seek God and the Truth. How can i know for sure this is all true and was Jesus God...after a few months of study and talks with other Christians, pastors and even Jehovah Witness i realized that if Jesus did die for me then HE would have to reveal Himself to me in such a way that I KNOW the TRUTH because ONLY GOD CAN MAKE HIMSELF KNOW IN THAT WAY...SIMPLY GO INTO YOUR PRAYER CLOSET AND SAY LORD JESUS PLEASE REVEAL YOURSELF TO ME SO THAT I MAY KNOW WITHOUT DOUBT WHO YOU ARE...HE WILL HE WILL REVEAL HIMSELF AND BLESS YOU!!!

 

[Greg J.]

How do we believe in our heart? More importantly, how do we know when we believe in our heart?

I can't seem to get that part down. In all things, I'm having a rough time understanding and even more so discerning.

One of my biggest struggles I face is pride. Pride like "I don't need Jesus." "I'm not a sinner" "My good deeds will save me." kind of thing. Besides battling that, how can we come to believe in Jesus with all our heart? I read in one place is following His instructions but another place says we have to have a revelation from the Spirit.... ???

One of the biggest things that troubles me is 1) I don't necessarily have an overwhelming fear of hell (no matter how much I want to). 2) The most godly sorrow I've ever been dealt with is sinning and then feeling guilty to a degree and a thought that says either "God doesn't like that" or "that's a sin against God" and then I tell myself "Man, I should pray about that" and then do... other than the few small times i receive a revelation and then start crying and blubbering and praying up to God that He may forgive me of my sins and help me turn from them. So in this point could possibly be a lack of godly sorrow / repentance 3) heartbreak. Like the song that sings "Jesus break our hearts for what breaks yours"...besides the pride that says I'm not a sinner...deep down I don't know what else I feel about being a sinner against God but one thing I do know is that I haven't experienced immense heartbreak as what someone told me they believe everyone must feel to truly repent... 4) Faith and Belief. Yes i know the verses but....how do i know if i truly believe or not and this isn't me just saying things from my head instead of my heart..

...i want to be saved and though my desires are small..I still don't understand if I truly believe in my heart or not..

Please help me as much as you can..

The Lord grants genuine belief through choosing to be obedient to him, regardless of your motivation for doing so. One good reason is because it carves out the absolute best path for your life and all eternity—and you grow in favor with God. Persist in asking him for what you want and need.

And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. (Luke 2:52, 1984 NIV)

 

[Love &Forgiveness]

Jesus searches for us and saves us, we can't save ourselves. The only Way is through Jesus. What this means is only through admitting guilt and putting our trust in Jesus to Save and Change us can we be saved. Jesus is the Narrow Gate and living a loving life is the Narrow Path. True repentance and trust in Jesus results in a changed life. Jesus comes to us and gives us the Strength to overcome sin in our life. Only through trusting in Jesus alone to Save and Change us can we be Saved and Changed.

 

[Love &Forgiveness]

To answer your question about loving and trusting Jesus... The only Way to Love and Trust Jesus is through a relationship with Jesus. Love and trust is not taught, but lived. The longer you walk with Jesus, the more He proves Himself Trustworthy and Loving.

 

[Gell]

The heart in hebrew means every fiber of our being.
Trust in the Lord because He alone can save your soul.
God bless!