Needing advice in my struggles.

[andrea0601]

As of late I have felt like a failure, I don't intentionally do anything against God, no hidden sin or anything like that. I've repented of my past, and changed. I still feel like I haven't done enough and that God doesn't want to hear me. I can't seem to break free of these thoughts. I don't pray enough, don't read my bible enough. I can't tell enough of the truth, when I accidentally misspeak when I'm not really thinking about it I dwell on it. I feel unloved and confused. I pray for guidance and help and peace but all I feel is pain, at night when I lay in my bed is when I think about it the most. My entire life seems to be in shambles right now, how do I cry loud enough to be heard? What am I doing wrong? Unrepented sin? I just need guidance and I need help.

 

[mukk_in]

You're trying too hard, almost as if you're trying to earn His favor. God's grace has to be received as an unmerited favor and gift. God has already heard you. Question is, do you believe and accept that? Try to relax and let the Holy Spirit lead. Peace in Christ.

 

[andrea0601]

You're trying too hard, almost as if you're trying to earn His favor. God's grace has to be received as an unmerited favor and gift. God has already heard you. Question is, do you believe and accept that? Try to relax and let the Holy Spirit lead. Peace in Christ.

I would like to say that I do but it's so hard for me to understand, I know that nothing I do is worthy of His grace and mercy, I don't know how to please God, i mean i understand faith in Him but beyond that I feel clueless. I just feel like if i mess up in the slightest i've lost His love.

 

[SkyWriting]

As of late I have felt like a failure, I don't intentionally do anything against God, no hidden sin or anything like that. I've repented of my past, and changed. I still feel like I haven't done enough and that God doesn't want to hear me. I can't seem to break free of these thoughts. I don't pray enough, don't read my bible enough. I can't tell enough of the truth, when I accidentally misspeak when I'm not really thinking about it I dwell on it. I feel unloved and confused. I pray for guidance and help and peace but all I feel is pain, at night when I lay in my bed is when I think about it the most. My entire life seems to be in shambles right now, how do I cry loud enough to be heard? What am I doing wrong? Unrepented sin? I just need guidance and I need help.

All successful people will have a life of shambles for a while. You are learning how to deal with shambles and growing each day.
Who Else would Like to Have Prayers Answered Exactly When You Are Ready?

 

[Jeshu]

I would like to say that I do but it's so hard for me to understand, I know that nothing I do is worthy of His grace and mercy, I don't know how to please God, i mean i understand faith in Him but beyond that I feel clueless. I just feel like if i mess up in the slightest i've lost His love.

There is a battle for control going on inside of your heart. On the one hand satan wants to keep you under his control and is trying to scare you away from the Lord. On the other hand there is The Lord longing to have communion with you.

It has to do with trust in His grace and believing the truth of His Word and not the scaremongering of satan as the accuser of your life.

Find the love of God in His grace that works best. Understand His blood washes you clean no matter how fearful you might have been about that. It is undeserved favour that sets us apart and brings us His loving mercy and grace.

It is about those all surrounding thoughts opposed to God's loving truth that Jesus wants to take care of. Faith in His love will always do that.

be blessed pondering His love over you.

Peace.

An invitation to The Chosen.

God's Love will not take or will
you to conform to rules or demand
which imprison, enslave, burn or kill you.

God's Love will not pervert what's Good
The Lord loves truthfully Wise and Good.
True Love was, is and always will be Good!

In God's Love you are free to be right!
In His love everything is good proper and kind.
He loves all who love good and true to rule!

His Love is caring, providing, and sharing.
His Love always enjoys and protects good life.
His love rules even when bad life has being in us!

Hear Jesus call - 'Come join up with us all!
Leave whatever ties you down and be free
loving good life with all God's own to be.'

To the rest in your heart God's asks
how long will you tarry in the darkness?
Please leave such bad existence within.

For life must not, no never should, or would, or could,
be forceful, rude, prideful, arrogant, selfish, lustful
or otherwise be untrue to God's loving truth.

Neither should life be hurting or ill,
hungry, oppressed, despised, hated
or otherwise have existence in wrong.

Please hand your Bad Life over to Jesus
Humbly ask for His Good Life back in return
and go love God, self and neighbour with Joy.

The Church knows that Jesus is coming soon
All bad life will be our shameful past then,
so please leave your bad life while you can!

Love

 

[com7fy8]

There is so much in the Bible which can help you with this. So, when you read anything . . . be quiet and trust God for how it can help you.

And any sermon by a real pastor can somehow help you.

The Bible and God's sermons can feed your attention to the good we have with God, and how God has us loving.

But yes we do need correction, and there is pain in it. But God's correction is not just keeping us suffering and feeling guilty and disappointed and doubting. Our Heavenly Father delights in the child whom He corrects. So, it is good to pray for how God gives us real correction > Hebrews 12:4-14.

And a child needs to grow so the child can benefit from correction which he or she needs, plus the child needs to grow in order to be able to understand things and do things which are good.

Even if ones of us are mature after years of growing > still, Andrea, we can have times when we do not understand and do not know what to do about things. Always God is bringing us to more than we now are ready to handle. We grow to where we are going.

Being quiet in trust of God can help, because God is quiet . . . not silent!!!

"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)

"casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7)

God bless you, it is nice to meet you Welcome to Christian Forums
Bill

 

[Rescued One]

I read the Psalms and listen to Christian music when I need encouragement.

Don't listen to Satan's lies that tear you down!

 

[longwait]

As of late I have felt like a failure, I don't intentionally do anything against God, no hidden sin or anything like that. I've repented of my past, and changed. I still feel like I haven't done enough and that God doesn't want to hear me. I can't seem to break free of these thoughts. I don't pray enough, don't read my bible enough. I can't tell enough of the truth, when I accidentally misspeak when I'm not really thinking about it I dwell on it. I feel unloved and confused. I pray for guidance and help and peace but all I feel is pain, at night when I lay in my bed is when I think about it the most. My entire life seems to be in shambles right now, how do I cry loud enough to be heard? What am I doing wrong? Unrepented sin? I just need guidance and I need help.

Most of us went through such emotions in our teens. Once you come out of that phase you will find it easier to accept yourself.

 

[Quort]

As of late I have felt like a failure, I don't intentionally do anything against God, no hidden sin or anything like that. I've repented of my past, and changed. I still feel like I haven't done enough and that God doesn't want to hear me. I can't seem to break free of these thoughts. I don't pray enough, don't read my bible enough. I can't tell enough of the truth, when I accidentally misspeak when I'm not really thinking about it I dwell on it. I feel unloved and confused. I pray for guidance and help and peace but all I feel is pain, at night when I lay in my bed is when I think about it the most. My entire life seems to be in shambles right now, how do I cry loud enough to be heard? What am I doing wrong? Unrepented sin? I just need guidance and I need help.

Do you attend your church regularly? I see you are Pentecostal. Does what they believe and teach contribute to your feelings of failure?

If your church is somewhat legalistic, this can cause feelings of failure and being not accepted by God.

It is important for the believer to know God's attitude towards him, even when the believer is not doing all he should as a believer. I like to remember Abraham and Sarah in this regard.

Paul tells us of Abraham, (Rom. 4:18-21) "Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations;....And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform."

That is a glowing testimony and true as this is how God remembers Abraham's faith. But how did it play out in his life? First of all, Abraham tried to get God to accept his servant Eliezer as his son in order to fulfill God's promise to him of a seed, as Abraham was getting old and childless. Where is his faith there? (Gen. 15:2-3) "And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir."

Then Abram took Sari's handmaid to try and have a child by her to help God with His promise. (Gen. 16:1-2) "Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: and she had an Handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai."

Then Abram tried to have his son of the handmaid, Ishmael, accepted by God as the seed. And Abram laughed at God at the thought of him now being able to have a son. (Gen. 17:17-18) " Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!"

Makes you wonder if (Rom 4) and (Gen. 15, 16, 17) are talking about the same person. But, they are. In (Rom) we see God's attitude towards Abraham even though he struggled and failed miserably with his faith. In (Gen) we see the struggles and failures, the real life experience.

In (Gen) Abraham is laughing at God. Yet God says in (Rom.) "He staggered not at the promise of God"
And, Sarah was just the same as was God's remembrance of her. See (Gen. 18:12) and (Heb. 11:11).

Sorry to be lengthy, but take heart. God is for you. He sees the failures. But He remembers only what He wants to. As a child of God, He only remembers the good He sees in you.

Quort

 

[Lady O]

As of late I have felt like a failure, I don't intentionally do anything against God, no hidden sin or anything like that. I've repented of my past, and changed. I still feel like I haven't done enough and that God doesn't want to hear me. I can't seem to break free of these thoughts. I don't pray enough, don't read my bible enough. I can't tell enough of the truth, when I accidentally misspeak when I'm not really thinking about it I dwell on it. I feel unloved and confused. I pray for guidance and help and peace but all I feel is pain, at night when I lay in my bed is when I think about it the most. My entire life seems to be in shambles right now, how do I cry loud enough to be heard? What am I doing wrong? Unrepented sin? I just need guidance and I need help.

I feel so sad you have to live with these debilitating thoughts plaguing your mind. The enemy of our soul knows our weak spots, and they are usually the areas of our life where we are trying to trust Jesus more. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." In Him are found the sustenance we need to live the way He planned.

You sound somewhat depressed also, or have a low self-esteem. I was that way too. We can't let that keep us from believing what God says about us though. It's easy to evaluate ourselves based on how we measure ourselves from the past, but God looks at us differently than we look at ourselves. In Him there is no guilt or condemnation. Your worth is not based on what you do sweetheart. God loves you in spite of what you think of yourself.

If you'd like, we can do a Bible study together. Would you be open to the idea? Let me know, and we can correspond more. In the meantime, try writing out a scripture verse or two and put it up where you can read it often. Believe what God says about you. His words are meant to bring life. Ask Him to remove the stronghold of false self perception off your life, and give you the eyes to believe how precious you are to Him. He died for you.

I'll wait to hear back from you.

 

[Tolworth John]

I don't know how to please God,

Two suggestions.
1. Go and talk to your doctor, have a health check, tell him about your worries etc. Or do this with your minister or with his wife.
Talk out your worries and listen to the advice you get back.

2. Jesus said that he and his Father would love and be with those who.... obeyed his command to love others.

If Jesus is your saviour can you not show love to others.

 

[andrea0601]

I feel so sad you have to live with these debilitating thoughts plaguing your mind. The enemy of our soul knows our weak spots, and they are usually the areas of our life where we are trying to trust Jesus more. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life." In Him are found the sustenance we need to live the way He planned.

You sound somewhat depressed also, or have a low self-esteem. I was that way too. We can't let that keep us from believing what God says about us though. It's easy to evaluate ourselves based on how we measure ourselves from the past, but God looks at us differently than we look at ourselves. In Him there is no guilt or condemnation. Your worth is not based on what you do sweetheart. God loves you in spite of what you think of yourself.

If you'd like, we can do a Bible study together. Would you be open to the idea? Let me know, and we can correspond more. In the meantime, try writing out a scripture verse or two and put it up where you can read it often. Believe what God says about you. His words are meant to bring life. Ask Him to remove the stronghold of false self perception off your life, and give you the eyes to believe how precious you are to Him. He died for you.

I'll wait to hear back from you.

I really appreciate the advice and I'd like to.

 

[andrea0601]

Do you attend your church regularly? I see you are Pentecostal. Does what they believe and teach contribute to your feelings of failure?

If your church is somewhat legalistic, this can cause feelings of failure and being not accepted by God.

It is important for the believer to know God's attitude towards him, even when the believer is not doing all he should as a believer. I like to remember Abraham and Sarah in this regard.

Paul tells us of Abraham, (Rom. 4:18-21) "Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations;....And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform."

That is a glowing testimony and true as this is how God remembers Abraham's faith. But how did it play out in his life? First of all, Abraham tried to get God to accept his servant Eliezer as his son in order to fulfill God's promise to him of a seed, as Abraham was getting old and childless. Where is his faith there? (Gen. 15:2-3) "And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir."

Then Abram took Sari's handmaid to try and have a child by her to help God with His promise. (Gen. 16:1-2) "Now Sarai Abram's wife bare him no children: and she had an Handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the LORD hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai."

Then Abram tried to have his son of the handmaid, Ishmael, accepted by God as the seed. And Abram laughed at God at the thought of him now being able to have a son. (Gen. 17:17-18) " Then Abraham fell upon his face, and laughed, and said in his heart, shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years old? and shall Sarah, that is ninety years old, bear? And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!"

Makes you wonder if (Rom 4) and (Gen. 15, 16, 17) are talking about the same person. But, they are. In (Rom) we see God's attitude towards Abraham even though he struggled and failed miserably with his faith. In (Gen) we see the struggles and failures, the real life experience.

In (Gen) Abraham is laughing at God. Yet God says in (Rom.) "He staggered not at the promise of God"
And, Sarah was just the same as was God's remembrance of her. See (Gen. 18:12) and (Heb. 11:11).

Sorry to be lengthy, but take heart. God is for you. He sees the failures. But He remembers only what He wants to. As a child of God, He only remembers the good He sees in you.

Quort

I'm not currently a member of any church and the one i now attend regularly is non-denominational Pentecostal, when i stay where im planning to move to i go to a good church of God church where i feel closer to God. i don't think either church is legalistic per say, i used to go to one like that up until 13 or 14 years of age. thank you for sharing that comforting thought with me, i really appreciate it. i feel like i have a bit of confusion in how someone can come short and still be saved and loved by God, i know that Jesus forgave me, but does he continually forgive or must i repent every day and every night even when i didnt intentionally sin? is there such thing as being good enough in His eyes and steady in the faith?

 

[SleepingAtLast]

Andrea, the Bible says that God loves and delights in you regardless of your obedience to Him. We all have sin to confess and repent of even after we become Christians, but that sin has been forgiven and paid for because you have placed your trust in Christ for salvation. Once you have done that, you can be confident that all of God's wrath toward you and your sin was poured out on Jesus on the cross, and because Jesus' righteousness was imputed to you, God sees you as 100% righteous and white as snow. There is nothing you can do to cause God to love you more or less. His love for you is not dependent on your actions or obedience. Our obedience toward God is a response to the work He has done for us on the cross and the freedom He has given us, and it also comes out of faith and trust in Him that, as our Creator, He knows what is best for us. You are a precious child of His. If you have a child or imagine having a child, think about the immense affection that you have or would have toward that child. God feels that way about you, only to a much greater degree, and He loves you as you are, not some future improved version or only the obedient version of you.

It is in our nature as human beings to believe that we are only lovable when we are treating the other person in the relationship well, and that is where God's love is so incredible. He loves us even in our moments of rebellion. You just have to preach that truth to yourself every day. I know I have to.

 

[andrea0601]

There is so much in the Bible which can help you with this. So, when you read anything . . . be quiet and trust God for how it can help you.

And any sermon by a real pastor can somehow help you.

The Bible and God's sermons can feed your attention to the good we have with God, and how God has us loving.

But yes we do need correction, and there is pain in it. But God's correction is not just keeping us suffering and feeling guilty and disappointed and doubting. Our Heavenly Father delights in the child whom He corrects. So, it is good to pray for how God gives us real correction > Hebrews 12:4-14.

And a child needs to grow so the child can benefit from correction which he or she needs, plus the child needs to grow in order to be able to understand things and do things which are good.

Even if ones of us are mature after years of growing > still, Andrea, we can have times when we do not understand and do not know what to do about things. Always God is bringing us to more than we now are ready to handle. We grow to where we are going.

Being quiet in trust of God can help, because God is quiet . . . not silent!!!

"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)o

"casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you." (1 Peter 5:7)

God bless you, it is nice to meet you Welcome to Christian Forums
Bill

Thanks, nice to meet you too. I know that I am extremely immature in the faith and have much to learn and that there are such things as christian growing pains. I'm just a bit confused as to what you mean by correction, of a sin or of my lack of faith? I do my best to listen to sermons, i really enjoy hearing the Word of God and often times that's when i feel most clarity.

 

[andrea0601]

Andrea, the Bible says that God loves and delights in you regardless of your obedience to Him. We all have sin to confess and repent of even after we become Christians, but that sin has been forgiven and paid for because you have placed your trust in Christ for salvation. Once you have done that, you can be confident that all of God's wrath toward you and your sin was poured out on Jesus on the cross, and because Jesus' righteousness was imputed to you, God sees you as 100% righteous and white as snow. There is nothing you can do to cause God to love you more or less. His love for you is not dependent on your actions or obedience. Our obedience toward God is a response to the work He has done for us on the cross and the freedom He has given us, and it also comes out of faith and trust in Him that, as our Creator, He knows what is best for us. You are a precious child of His. If you have a child or imagine having a child, think about the immense affection that you have or would have toward that child. God feels that way about you, only to a much greater degree, and He loves you as you are, not some future improved version or only the obedient version of you.

It is in our nature as human beings to believe that we are only lovable when we are treating the other person in the relationship well, and that is where God's love is so incredible. He loves us even in our moments of rebellion. You just have to preach that truth to yourself every day. I know I have to.

Unconditional love is one of the most difficult things for me to understand, I will admit. I know all of this but struggle to get it, how Jesus came down and died for me in spite of what i've done and what i will do in the future. How he knows and knew all of it but still went through the pain because of His love for me. How God sent his son down, His only begotten son to a world that mocked Him and ridiculed Him. I appreciate the great reminder, it is indeed a truth that I need to remember.

 

[SleepingAtLast]

I like to watch these couple of videos every once in awhile just to help remind myself of what the truth is too. It can be really helpful to hear it from someone else instead of always inside my own head.

 

[sunshine100]

I'm so sorry to hear this,all you need to do is pray,pray to Lord Jesus,he will forgive you of anything that you have done,he loves you and cares about you and for you,you are in my prayers.

 

[com7fy8]

I know that I am extremely immature in the faith and have much to learn and that there are such things as christian growing pains.

So . . . as you would have compassion for those you love and care for, who might be not so mature . . . have compassion for yourself, knowing Jesus does and any of us who care for you do And as you find your way, now you can feel for others and have compassion for them and encouragement for them as God proves Himself to you >

"He can have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since himself is also subject to weakness." (Hebrews 5:2)

I'm just a bit confused as to what you mean by correction, of a sin or of my lack of faith?

Any sin would be included, but maybe God will not directly deal with certain things, right away, while He is correcting what is more significant . . . maybe deeper. And yes He corrects us about our lack of faith. But I am finding how He especially gives attention to how I need to relate in love for any and all people, and how I need to become more like Jesus is pleasing to Him.

My experience has been He corrects me about things I do not want to admit are wrong, and they have to do with how I have been relating with others, and how I have been supposing I have been ministering when it has been for status and making a show. So, real problems, like hypocrisy . . . things I do not want to deal with . . . correction about what I treasure the most and so I don't want to let them go. There are things I am fine with correcting, since they don't make any big difference; I can be glad to confess to certain things, so I can show off how honest . . . dh . . . I am.

I do my best to listen to sermons, i really enjoy hearing the Word of God and often times that's when i feel most clarity.

I am encouraged that you have people who give God's word to you. And even in case a preacher is imperfect or not really with it, still we can get how God would have us understand what someone says. But have hope for someone who needs to mature more > love "hopes all things" (in 1 Corinthians 13:7).

 

[Lady O]

I really appreciate the advice and I'd like to.

I am trying to figure out how to send you a private message - I thought by clicking on your screen name, I would see a place to write something - but I do not see anything.