Prayer Request

[StephenDM]

Hi everyone,

I have a specific request

I have been without a job for about 5 months now and am mulling over a job offer I have just been given.

The job pays well, draws from my past experience/qualifications and the company president is a Christian who goes to the same church I have been going to. However, I am leery about taking the job because of my propensity towards anxiety and also my need for a positive social environment (I would be working with just one guy in a small warehouse). I have found from previous jobs that I feed off of other people's energy and if I don't get along with this one guy I am really in a bad place! Hard rock music can also really stress me out and this seems to be what my potential co-worker listens to.

I am also worried that even if I make a fair bit of money, I worry that I will always feel guilty about needing to give it all away to pay for the things I "damage" whenever I go out in public (my OCD).

I don't need a job money-wise right away because I live with my parents. I have been debating future career paths but I don't know what else to do - this seems to be the best I can find for the present.

I asked the boss for one or days to think about it and in the mean time would really appreciate if people here would pray to God that if this job would be good for me overall (particularly emotionally) that I would take it. If I don't take it, I will assume that God does not want me there.

Thank-you

 

[jenzbugrulz1978]

I will be praying for you and I am sure God will help you make the decision that He wants you to make.

 

[Liftyourhand7]

Hi Stephen, I also will be praying for God's will in this matter. Let us know how it goes. Blessings Jan

 

[StephenDM]

Thank you for your prayers

I have just phoned the boss and told him I was not comfortable taking the job.

My faith is not strong right now at all and I have been especially anxious the past little while.

I know God condemned Israel for lack of faith in claiming the promised land in the O.T. but isn't God supposed to lead by the gentleness of the Holy Spirit in the new covenant?

At any rate, I am seriously doubting some of the stuff the Bible says right now (like Mark 11:23,24).

I sometimes succomb to bitterness towards God when I hear about or read certain parts of the Bible

ie. where it says "be of good courage and
He will strengthen your heart" - wouldn't I already have a strong heart if I was able to be of good courage? - to me this verse smacks of "God helps those who help themselves" which is obviously not true.

Also, Ephesians 6 where it says we should obey our parents so that we "may live long on the earth" What if I don't want to live long on the earth? I hate life as it is, why would I want to extend it? What kind of motivation is this? Is not the "goodness of God to lead me to repentance"?

There is probably valid explanations for these verses but these are some of the things that bother me when I am really depressed.

 

[StephenDM]

I hope no one here starts to worry about the same passages that I have brought up here since to be totally honest they don't really bother me.

The verse in which God tells us to be of good courage so that He will strenghten our hearts I think probably makes more sense in the Hebrew than in English. This is because our hearts having courage and then being strengthened sounds like the same thing in English but in Hebrew are actually two different words with probably two different connotations. I believe translation between languages causes the text to lose some of the potency it originally had.

The passage in Ephesians 6 was obviously directed at people who are in love with their lives and therefore very concerned about the length of their lives. Granted, the principle message of the verse applies to all of us (honoring parents), the promise of long life was/is added motivation for those to whom depression is not as big a deal. I should not apply every part of every verse in every context directly to me while I may be living in a different context.

I was really concerned about Mark 11:23,24 but then studied it some more and found something which helped to overcome my bitterness towards God. I think one reason why God may let me fret over these difficult passages is to pressure me to study the Bible more and find its hidden secrets. There are some passages I still find difficult but I choose to believe there is a logical explanation for them.

 

[BeccaLynn]

I have felt bitterness toward God as well. Sometimes certain verses seem so harsh. I've pretty much always felt that if I had faith as I should then I wouldn't even be dealing with this OCD stuff. Mark 11:23-24 has pretty much bothered me in the past as well, and still does to an extent. I've wanted faith as it speaks about without doubt, but it has seemed impossible for me. It can lead to a hopeless feeling. Yet, I just have to go by what I know. Sometimes I'm comforted by the fact that Thomas was a doubter, yet he was still a follower of Jesus. Maybe he had that doubting nature and the Bible speaks quite plainly about his doubt because God wanted us to know that some followers of Him will still have their doubts. Often times I skip certain verses because I feel so hopeless when I read them. Sometimes the "good news" has seemed more condemning than "good". Yet, when I'm in a better frame of mind, sometimes I look at scpritures differently. I've decided that God is my only hope, so even if I don't understand why certain scriptures are in the Bible, God understands and loves me. We have that to hold on to. It does sound as if you are dealing with some depression right now. I know that the OCD can cause that. I also know that, although we will not be free from struggles in this life, God desires us to have joy and hope until He calls us home. I don't think that he delights in our misery unless it is a misery He allows a person that leads them to know Him. God has a purpose and plan for your life. He thinks thoughts of good and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. I don't think He just wants us to exist because, unless we have a testimony about how He brought us out if it, it is of no avail and doesn't further His Kindgom. Honestly, if we are to be bitter toward anyone, it really should be the enemy of our souls who tries to twist our thinking to make God out as "the bad guy". At times when things have seemed at their worst, there's seemed to have been a ray of hope around the corner. It's the OCD that you are having trouble dealing with and the effects it has on your life I think, but not life itself. Please don't devalue your life. If our lives were so valuable to Him that He gave up His, we must surely be worth a lot. And if you are blessed with a long life on this earth, it is to bring Him glory, not to be a torment for you. Maybe we need to ask God to change our thinking to where we see who the real enemy is here.

Rebecca

 

[BeccaLynn]

Stephen,

I was just wondering if you struggle with the verses in James 1:6-8 where it talks about asking God in faith, without doubt, and about being double-minded. I know we struggle in different ways, mine being with my personal salvation mostly, but these verses have bothered me for quite a while now. What are your views on these scriptures?

Rebecca

 

[StephenDM]

BeccaLynn, thank you for the understanding nature of your response to my previous posting.

I have not looked into James 1:6-8 in detail yet but I will explain what I have found/been taught concerning Mark 11:23,24.

"truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says is going to happen, it shall be granted him.
Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they shall be granted you."​

- Mark 11:23,24 (NASB)​

I actually took the above verses out of context by leaving out the latter part of verse 22 in which Jesus begins by saying, "Have faith in God". I left this out intentially to demonstrate a point which some people ignore (ie. some "faith healers"). The object of our faith is not faith itself but God. Some may say having faith is what answers our prayers, it is not, however, since ultimately we are helpless and our faith must have an object higher than ourselves. God is the one who performs the actual act in our lives.

I once went to a church where I think I heard of someone who had diabeties and then, contrary to the advice of elders in the church, went off medication to demonstrate his faith in God for healing. The guy subsequently died (don't feal too bad though, he's probably in a much better place now). What I just said might be true it or it might not be true but it addresses something that we all with "unanswered prayers" can relate to. This demonstrates that just having "faith" is not enough. Other verses say we must ask for things in "Jesus' name". This means we must pray for things according to His nature. People in the Old Testament were saved by Jesus' name, though by faith, since they had not actually yet heard the literal name of Yeshua. This means that in the context of the Bible, "name" means a whole lot more than a few arranged letters. See Proverbs 30:4 for a really cool verse relating to this.

The context of Mark 11 can be explained by what Jesus says just three chapters later in Mark 14:36 where He prays to the Father in the garden.

"And He was saying, 'Abba Father! all things are possible for Thee; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what Thou wilt.' " (NASB)​

I can't read Greek but I looked it up on www.blueletterbible.com / Strongs Concordance. The term "all things" in Mark 14:36 uses the same Greek word as refers to the "things" we pray for in Mark 11. This may show that Jesus is directly clarifying what He said in chapter 11 - it means that what Jesus meant about asking for and granting anything in Mark 11 is not that He WILL give us anything but that He is ABLE to give us anything - no request is beyond His ability to fulfill. God could have answered Jesus' prayer to save Him from the suffering of the cross but chose not to. Jesus' disciples wanted/expected Jesus to physically overthrow the Romans but instead He suffered and died. This shows that while we suffer with whatever (ie diabeties, OCD etc...), that suffering is defined as success by God since Jesus' death was very successful for us all!

The world defines success differently than God. This shows why the true Jesus of the Bible is such a mind boggling paradigm shift and stumbling block to people!

All this said, however, I don't believe that any of us can attain that perfect confidence and faith in this life that God admonishes to have. We probably doubt in proportion to our confused beliefs. This still leaves open the possibilty that we could perhaps experience a lot more physical healings than we presently do. This is not the only thing at play though since God lets some be afflicted to His glory and some to be healed to His glory.

I hope this explanation also helps with James 1:6-8. I think we are all guilty of being "tossed" around by the winds of doubt to a certain extent. However, a Christian is one who has an anchor (even if he or she cannot see it) and can only stray so far in the storm before Jesus will bring him or her back.

I recently heard Dr. David Hocking explain Hebrews 2:1-3 which may also help those of us worried about losing our salvation and the "warning" parts of the Bible. This is one of the several "warning" passages in Hebrews. Hebrews was written to both believing and unbelieving Jews.

Verse 1: For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.

The "we" is refering to both Christians and non-Christians. The connotation in the Greek is of a ship that has never been brought into shore (therefore allowed to drift). If someone has never accepted Christ, their drifting is fatal. I believe, however, that those that have been brought to shore (are saved) also experience some turbulence of waves but it is not fatal. Life may be so foggy that we cannot see our anchor or land! Someone can get close to the saving knowledge of Christ (ie. going to church) but then drift away again before accepting Christ. They could waffle back and forth time and again.

Verse 2 For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense,

The condemnation of the law was proven accurate and Jesus fufilled it all by receiving the punishment himself (death)

Verse 3 (beginning) how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation?

Neglecting salvation would be neglecting the finished work of Christ

 

[BeccaLynn]

I can tell you really enjoy studying scripture in depth. I wish I did. Thanks for your response. I would love to LOVE God's word. I seem to like it when if speaks gently to me, like in 1 John 1:9, but as soon as I begin reading verses that seem to convict me, I feel like I'm running inside. I don't want to, but it seems a natural response in my inner being. When I'm afraid, I can't seem to get anywhere with scripture. It's strange, the very way to get freedom seems to be the very thing that makes me feel burdened. I could question myself over and over about who my faith is in, myself or God. I fear it's not in the right place, and maybe that's why I struggle as I do. I try to build my own faith up. Lately I've told myself to read scripture because I want a relationship with my Creator, not to "show Him" that I'm trying to get it right, which is the reason I've pretty much done it in the past. As if I'm driven to read to make myself have faith. Thanks for your compassion for people and taking the time to minister to me.

Rebecca