Im a New-ish type of christian..

i dont have that desire and fire for god that i know i shud have..like the apostles had! and its quite annoying

ive prayed to god for this desire/fire but nothing

boywonder123 said:

i dont have that desire and fire for god that i know i shud have..like the apostles had! and its quite annoying

ive prayed to god for this desire/fire but nothing

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Years ago, when my wife and I were the coordinators for an emergency aid and relief service, which operated 7 days a week from 8:00 PM to midnight and was located in the church where we attended, we both discovered something which we didn't expect.

Along with other churches in this region our particular church was to provide volunteers to staff that service. We were assigned 2 nights per month in which various members of our church were to provide the manpower necesssary in order to get whatever aid was needed to the people needing it. However, we found that the people whom we could rely on to help weren't the "I love Jesus so much it hurts" crowd, but instead were the "Why not? There's nothing good on TV anyway" crowd.

We soon realized that those who claimed to be 'on fire for Christ' all too often simply could not handle coming face-to-face with the actual work involved in living lives in accordance with Christ's teachings. So long as the suffering of others was an abstract idea, they were perfectly willing to accept its alleviation, but when the person who was suffering was literally 6 feet away from them and asking them for help, they couldn't handle that.

So don't be discouraged for not feeling extreme emotionalism. God knows what he's doing, and if he doesn't want you to 'get hyper' over accepting Christ, you can rest assured that it's due to his having something else planned for you which requires you to be exactly what you are now.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)

Now Read Hebrews 11. It lists many names of people from Old Testament who believed in God and served him. Where does it mention that ecstatic feelings/signs were needed as part of their faith?

Who teaches the apostles had these desires and fires (assume relates to extremely strong feelings) for God and therefore we should have the same experiences as well?

The Apostles did have a heart for God, however they endured many hardships, often leaving family members, possessions, and giving up their jobs to follow Jesus. They weren't just automatically "on fire" for God. They had to work at it, the same as the rest of us. They still doubted, same as the rest of us do. They still went through hard times. There's no perfect person in the bible, all of them messed up in some way. Many of them did have huge amounts of faith, but it's not like they were instantly given that when they became a follower of Jesus. It took time, dedication, and a leap of faith.

It's okay to pray for God to give you a desire for Him, and a yearning to learn about Him, but God is not just going to instantly force you to like something. You're going to have to put some effort into it. Some work. Some dedication. Some time. All of us share the same struggle.

joey_downunder said in post 3:

Where does it mention that ecstatic feelings/signs were needed as part of their faith?

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Good question. For faith isn't a feeling. Feelings can be deceptive (Prov. 14:12, 28:26, Jer. 17:9). Christians believe that God exists not because of feelings, but because they can see the universe's existence (Rom. 1:20, Ps. 19:1-4). And Christians believe in Jesus Christ, the human/divine Son of God (Jn. 20:31), and his gospel (1 Cor. 15:1-4), not because of feelings, but because God miraculously granted them the gift of faith (Eph. 2:8, Jn. 6:65, 1 Cor. 3:5b, Rom. 12:3b, Heb. 12:2) and some measure of his Spirit (1 Cor. 2:10-16) as they heard (or read) God's Word the Bible (Rom. 10:17, Acts 13:48, 26:22-23).

Spunkn said in post 4:

Many of them did have huge amounts of faith, but it's not like they were instantly given that when they became a follower of Jesus. It took time, dedication, and a leap of faith.

It's okay to pray for God to give you a desire for Him, and a yearning to learn about Him, but God is not just going to instantly force you to like something. You're going to have to put some effort into it. Some work. Some dedication. Some time. All of us share the same struggle.

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That's right. And it brought to mind the following scripture:

"For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also" (James 2:26).

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God grants initial salvation by faith apart from works (Eph. 2:8-9), just as infants are born apart from their works. But just as an infant after it's born needs to begin to breath, & then to continue to breathe, if it's to remain alive, so a new believer after he's born again needs to begin to perform works of faith (1 Thes. 1:3, Gal. 5:6b) (not works of the letter of the Old Covenant Mosaic law), & to continue to perform them (Titus 3:8), if his faith is to remain alive (Jas. 2:26).

For faith is like a body & works of faith are like the breathing (spirit) of that body (Jas. 2:26). Faith without works of faith will die just as a body without breathing (spirit) will die (Jas. 2:26). That's why our ultimate salvation will depend on both our faith & our continued works of faith (Rom. 2:6-8, Jas. 2:24, Mt 7:21). If a believer refuses to continue to perform works of faith, without repentance, he'll ultimately lose his salvation (Mt. 25:26,30, Jn. 15:2a), just as if someone stops himself from breathing by hanging himself, he'll die.

The breathing analogy (Jas. 2:26) doesn't include the automatic aspect of breathing, for believers must be careful to maintain good works (Titus 3:8). The analogies in the Bible don't include every aspect of the analogous thing. E.g., believers, born-again people, being like newborn babies (1 Pet. 2:2) doesn't mean believers have no ability to talk, walk, or control their bowels.

Maybe try a different church some can be a little stagnant and missing the Holy spirit's drive to work in and for The Lord's Kingdom.

Surrounding yourself with more inspired Christians on fire for the gospel and ready to do anything for Jesus could be the spark you need. Keep praying the Lord He could be preparing you for an upgrade in his on special way. His ways are not ours be patient, I'm sure he has a role for you.

Spunkn said:

The Apostles did have a heart for God, however they endured many hardships, often leaving family members, possessions, and giving up their jobs to follow Jesus.

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I mean feelings of "being in love" with God, not demonstrated love for God (as you rightly say) the apostles had. This was proved by their lives and deaths for their faith. The Martyrdom of the Apostles

joey_downunder said:

I mean feelings of "being in love" with God, not demonstrated love for God (as you rightly say) the apostles had. This was proved by their lives and deaths for their faith. The Martyrdom of the Apostles

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Oh I didn't mean anything against your post. I was just saying that the Apostles did have a desire for God or demonstrated a love for God as you said, but it wasn't something that was instant. It took a lot of hard work and dedication. And they all suffered doubt on occasion.

So a strong love for God is not something you're just going to have all the time or at least in the sense that the OP is talking about. Sometimes we have to work at it, to build it up. Sometimes yes, you'll feel like you're on 'fire" for God. But other times, you'll go through periods where you don't feel that, but you still need to make an effort.

Dear boywonder123. Jesus tells us in Matthew 22: 35-40: " The first and great Commandment is: Love God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. The second is like it: Love thy neighbour as thyself." Easy to remember and straightforward. God wants our Love, freely given and no conditions tagged on. How do we show God that we Love Him and love our neighbour? " Treat all we know and all we meet, as we would love to be treated: with kindness and friendly words always, friends and NOT friends alike. God sees our efforts and God will know that we Love God, because we are following God`s Commandments to love and care.
Jesus will give us His Love and Joy, and the Holy Spirit will empower us with His Love, also. We start by: " asking God and thanking God, and then sharing all Love and Joy with our neighbour. ( Jesus tells us in Matthew 7: 7-8)
We just keep asking God and thanking God and then sharing all Love and Joy
with all around us. God will see and God will bless us, and the people around us will notice also, and start treating us the same. Life will be abundant,
as Jesus has promided us. We might stumble and forget at times, but then we get up and ask God to forgive us, and Jesus will help us and guide us all the way, Jesus will be right beside you. Everything we say or do, let it be from Love for God, and love for all around you, treat all others as you would love to be treated, boywonder. I say this with love, try and find out for yourself. Greetings from Emmy, your sister in Christ.