My sins

[LukeR]

I posted this in the Ask a Chaplain thread as well.

I do not know if this is the proper place to post this. But I really need to get it off my chest.

I have been struggling with my sins, of the past and the present.

I have been a "Christian" all my life. I have always believed in God and Jesus, as I was brought up in a Christian home.

When I was 15 (give or take a year) I gave my life to Christ. The next year or so, I was baptized. And since then, I consider myself a worse sinner than I was before.

I had struggled with pornography since I was 13 or so. It is truly horrible to live in a time when it is so easily available at our fingertips. When I turned 18, I got a girlfriend. We never had "sex" in the full sense of the word, but we went very far. Certainly farther than we ever should have. This continued for over a year, when it stopped. Since we stopped hanging out, I haven't been with another woman, even on a date. But I continued to struggle with pornography and masturbation, until about July this year, when I stopped cold turkey.

I used to download music, a form of stealing, as well as take it off CDs I got from the library, or from friends, which I also consider stealing. I recently purged my iPod and computer of all music I had obtained illegally.

I lied. A lot. I would lie to get what I wanted. I would lie to keep myself out of trouble. I would lie to make my life seem more interesting. I cheated at school. I used to live for lying. I have stopped, for the most part. I find myself telling one every now and again, and I feel a pang of guilt each time, and if I am able, I confess the lie to the person I lied to.

I used to swear/curse. A lot. I was fascinated with swear words as a child, and would find any excuse to say one. In my more recent years, I swore all the time. Every other word that came out of my mouth would have to be censored on this forum. I have stopped this as well, for the most part. The only time I really swear now is when I stub my toe or something like that, and it is accidental, a dirty old habit rising up.

I want to own/covet my friend's cat. It sounds odd, but this cat is truly amazing. I am still struggling with this...

And this one, in my heart, stands out above them all. When I was younger, maybe 11 or 12, I told a friend I didn't believe in God. I gave into peer pressure. This friend is now very aware that I do, indeed, believe.

There are, of course, many more, but these are the ones that stand out the most to me. I have tried to truly turn away from all of this stuff, but still find myself stumbling (except with the porn and sexual desires, which I find miraculous, considering my track record).

I guess I need to know, can I still be forgiven for these things? I sinned, as a Christian, knowing full well what I was doing. My heart is broken over these things, and I live in fear, every day. I cannot concentrate on most of the things I do, and I fear it will soon effect my school and work.

 

[Gravy Train]

1. Go to confessional
2. Confess your sins
3.??????
4. Profit

 

[ckim121]

Yeah man don't worry. Just turn to God and repent your sins with all of your heart. Whenever you sin, do a quick prayer to God, repent and ask for him to help you to stop your sinful ways. That bad feeling that you have inside will remain until you become truly honest with God and try your best to resist those certain temptations. Remember, God shows mercy and god is love.

That hardest thing in life is to be a Christian! But it's a good thing!

 

[DreamsAreFree]

Hey ... give yourself a pat on the back for the huge changes you have made in your life and how well you have done there. That's awesome! As far as stumbling, any healing journey normally includes times when we stumble and make mistakes. What's important is that we get up and keep going. God forgives if you just ask each time. It sounds like you have really made some significant changes. What's most important is that God sees your heart and the effort you are putting forward and knows how hard you are trying and want to please Him.

As far as the friend you told that you didn't believe in God ... let your life now be a testimony to the way God has come in and lifted you up from where you were before. When your friend sees what changes have happened and the changes in you, you give a great witness.

You can most definitely be forgiven for these things and guess what - you already have! When you gave them to God He washed you clean and He continues to do so daily. It's not God that wants to make you feel down about past mistakes, which we ALL have, and it's not God that wants them to hold you back. Who do you think wants to do that? The devil loves to remind us of our failings and discourage us.

Stand up, stand tall ... and move on. As Paul wrote: "Forgetting the things that lie behind and straining ahead to the things that lie ahead...".

Also, don't forget some of the people in the Bible were great sinners. David, a man after God's own heart, committed some huge ones! None are without sin. Let your regrets run to the blood of Jesus.

 

[Elijah2]

I posted this in the Ask a Chaplain thread as well.

I do not know if this is the proper place to post this. But I really need to get it off my chest.

I have been struggling with my sins, of the past and the present.

I have been a "Christian" all my life. I have always believed in God and Jesus, as I was brought up in a Christian home.

When I was 15 (give or take a year) I gave my life to Christ. The next year or so, I was baptized. And since then, I consider myself a worse sinner than I was before.

I had struggled with pornography since I was 13 or so. It is truly horrible to live in a time when it is so easily available at our fingertips. When I turned 18, I got a girlfriend. We never had "sex" in the full sense of the word, but we went very far. Certainly farther than we ever should have. This continued for over a year, when it stopped. Since we stopped hanging out, I haven't been with another woman, even on a date. But I continued to struggle with pornography and masturbation, until about July this year, when I stopped cold turkey.

I used to download music, a form of stealing, as well as take it off CDs I got from the library, or from friends, which I also consider stealing. I recently purged my iPod and computer of all music I had obtained illegally.

I lied. A lot. I would lie to get what I wanted. I would lie to keep myself out of trouble. I would lie to make my life seem more interesting. I cheated at school. I used to live for lying. I have stopped, for the most part. I find myself telling one every now and again, and I feel a pang of guilt each time, and if I am able, I confess the lie to the person I lied to.

I used to swear/curse. A lot. I was fascinated with swear words as a child, and would find any excuse to say one. In my more recent years, I swore all the time. Every other word that came out of my mouth would have to be censored on this forum. I have stopped this as well, for the most part. The only time I really swear now is when I stub my toe or something like that, and it is accidental, a dirty old habit rising up.

I want to own/covet my friend's cat. It sounds odd, but this cat is truly amazing. I am still struggling with this...

And this one, in my heart, stands out above them all. When I was younger, maybe 11 or 12, I told a friend I didn't believe in God. I gave into peer pressure. This friend is now very aware that I do, indeed, believe.

There are, of course, many more, but these are the ones that stand out the most to me. I have tried to truly turn away from all of this stuff, but still find myself stumbling (except with the porn and sexual desires, which I find miraculous, considering my track record).

I guess I need to know, can I still be forgiven for these things? I sinned, as a Christian, knowing full well what I was doing. My heart is broken over these things, and I live in fear, every day. I cannot concentrate on most of the things I do, and I fear it will soon effect my school and work.

Mate, you have done the lot, and off course HE will forgive you, IF YOU HONESTLY confess and repent, and repent means to STOP doing what you have been doing.

But, it's not that simple, because you need GOOD GOD-anointed ministry from an experience Christian counsellor in the healing and deliverance ministry.

You will struggle with your strongmen and stronholds if not counselled properly. And you will need "after-care" as you become set free from: Pornography; Masturbation; Sexual immorality; Stealing; Lieing; and swearing.

All of these need to be confessed and repented of individually and broken by Spiritual Warfare prayer. And each confession you need to ask our Lord Jesus Christ for forgiveness for you sins.

Because of your life of sin, Satan and his forces have been dwelling in your house and those spirits need to be cast out. They will not flee until you submit to our Lord Jesus Christ.

And please understand that our Lord Jesus Christ is GOD, our Almighty God. It's our Lord Jesus Christ who we serve!

With all that has been going on in your life, there is much things that needs to be sorted out and reconciled, because I guess in your process of SIN, you probably also hurt and offended a lot of people, and you need to to ask them for forgiveness as well.

You need good, sound GOD-anointed Christian counselling.

Maybe if you get a hold of the following books:

Bondage Breakers; Victory Over Darkness; and Freedom in Christ, written by Neil Anderson.

They Shall Exple Demons by Derek Prince

Deliverance from Evil Spirits by Francis MacNutt

Deep Wounds Deep Healing by Charlies Kraft.

These books will bring you to an understanding the serious and consequences of many sins, which most Christians haven't any idea on.

Be blessed in Jesus' Name.

 

[LilLamb219]

Yes, you are forgiven of your sins. All your sins were nailed to the cross at Calvary and you are redeemed. You have seen that you are still a sinful human in need of a Savior...a constant Savior...this is how we all are! Strive as we may to be perfect, we can only find that in Christ Jesus.

I see that no matter how many times you have fallen, you wrote that you kept returning to the cross. That's a sign of faith and God pulling you back to Him Thanks be to God!