Requesting prayer support...feeling condemned

[Fervent]

Lately I've been feeling something that used to crop up fairly frequently in that I am feeling like I am destined for hell because I am a coward. I am full of intellectual confidence in the gospel, but so often I lack the faith to act when I feel an impulse to ask to pray for someone or to start a conversation about the gospel when I'm going about my business and I begin to feel like my love is growing cold. I begin to feel like the only just action God could take with me is to condemn me for my living in fear and failure. I feel like my heart must be stony ground and that the gospel in my heart has no root and it will quickly be abandoned should persecution or difficulty come my way. On the other hand, I have long since resolved that whatever my eternal fate may be I leave it entirely in the hands of God because I know that He is the just judge. And so if I am to be condemned, it is to His glory and so it is better to accept my fate. Whatever my fate may be, I know I must continue to tell people of the goodness of Jesus...but how can I do so when I lack the sense of peace and presence that He promises? So yeah..prayers are greatly appreciated.

 

[d taylor]

Lately I've been feeling something that used to crop up fairly frequently in that I am feeling like I am destined for hell because I am a coward. I am full of intellectual confidence in the gospel, but so often I lack the faith to act when I feel an impulse to ask to pray for someone or to start a conversation about the gospel when I'm going about my business and I begin to feel like my love is growing cold. I begin to feel like the only just action God could take with me is to condemn me for my living in fear and failure. I feel like my heart must be stony ground and that the gospel in my heart has no root and it will quickly be abandoned should persecution or difficulty come my way. On the other hand, I have long since resolved that whatever my eternal fate may be I leave it entirely in the hands of God because I know that He is the just judge. And so if I am to be condemned, it is to His glory and so it is better to accept my fate. Whatever my fate may be, I know I must continue to tell people of the goodness of Jesus...but how can I do so when I lack the sense of peace and presence that He promises? So yeah..prayers are greatly appreciated.

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I will pray for you, but your problem is not you and what you are doing. Your problem is you doubt God (or do not believe God) and God's promise that all who believe in Jesus (That Jesus is who He says He is The Son of God, the resurrection and the life) cross over from death to life and will not come into judgment.


I (J. Wilbur Chapman ) was studying for the ministry, and I heard that D.L. Moody was to preach in Chicago. I went to hear him. Finally I got into his after meeting. I shall never forget the thrill that went through me when he came and sat down beside me as an inquirer. He asked me if I was a Christian (believer). I said, “Mr. Moody, I am not sure whether I am a Christian (believer) or not.’
He very kindly took his Bible and opened it to the fifth chapter of John, and the twenty-fourth verse, which reads as follows: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

Suppose you had read it through for the first time, wouldn’t you think it was wonderful? I read it through, and he said, “Do you believe it?” I said, “Yes.” “Do you accept it?” I said, “Yes.” “Well, are you a Christian?”
“Mr. Moody, I sometimes think I am, and sometimes I am afraid I am not.”
He very kindly said, “Read it again.”
So I read it again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. ”Then he said, “Do you believe it?” I said, “Yes.” “Do you receive Him?” I said, “Yes.” “Well,” he said, “are you a Christian?”
I just started to say over again that sometimes I was afraid I was not, when the only time in all the years I knew him and loved him, he was sharp with me. He turned on me with his eyes flashing and said, “See here, whom are you doubting?”
Then I saw it for the first time, that when I was afraid I was not a Christian I was doubting God’s Word. I read it again with my eyes overflowing with tears.
Since that day I have had many sorrows and many joys, but never have I doubted for a moment that I was a Christian, because God said it.

 

[Leaf473]

Lately I've been feeling something that used to crop up fairly frequently in that I am feeling like I am destined for hell because I am a coward. I am full of intellectual confidence in the gospel, but so often I lack the faith to act when I feel an impulse to ask to pray for someone or to start a conversation about the gospel when I'm going about my business and I begin to feel like my love is growing cold. I begin to feel like the only just action God could take with me is to condemn me for my living in fear and failure. I feel like my heart must be stony ground and that the gospel in my heart has no root and it will quickly be abandoned should persecution or difficulty come my way. On the other hand, I have long since resolved that whatever my eternal fate may be I leave it entirely in the hands of God because I know that He is the just judge. And so if I am to be condemned, it is to His glory and so it is better to accept my fate. Whatever my fate may be, I know I must continue to tell people of the goodness of Jesus...but how can I do so when I lack the sense of peace and presence that He promises? So yeah..prayers are greatly appreciated.

May the Lord Jesus be with you and give you wisdom, strength, and joy

 

[Fervent]

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​

I will pray for you, but your problem is not you and what you are doing. Your problem is you doubt God (or do not believe God) and God's promise that all who believe in Jesus (That Jesus is who He says He is The Son of God, the resurrection and the life) cross over from death to life and will not come into judgment.


I (J. Wilbur Chapman ) was studying for the ministry, and I heard that D.L. Moody was to preach in Chicago. I went to hear him. Finally I got into his after meeting. I shall never forget the thrill that went through me when he came and sat down beside me as an inquirer. He asked me if I was a Christian (believer). I said, “Mr. Moody, I am not sure whether I am a Christian (believer) or not.’
He very kindly took his Bible and opened it to the fifth chapter of John, and the twenty-fourth verse, which reads as follows: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

Suppose you had read it through for the first time, wouldn’t you think it was wonderful? I read it through, and he said, “Do you believe it?” I said, “Yes.” “Do you accept it?” I said, “Yes.” “Well, are you a Christian?”
“Mr. Moody, I sometimes think I am, and sometimes I am afraid I am not.”
He very kindly said, “Read it again.”
So I read it again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. ”Then he said, “Do you believe it?” I said, “Yes.” “Do you receive Him?” I said, “Yes.” “Well,” he said, “are you a Christian?”
I just started to say over again that sometimes I was afraid I was not, when the only time in all the years I knew him and loved him, he was sharp with me. He turned on me with his eyes flashing and said, “See here, whom are you doubting?”
Then I saw it for the first time, that when I was afraid I was not a Christian I was doubting God’s Word. I read it again with my eyes overflowing with tears.
Since that day I have had many sorrows and many joys, but never have I doubted for a moment that I was a Christian, because God said it.

Thank you for this...you're right, but it's not an intellectual doubt but an emotional one. As far as Scriptural questions are involved, my feeling of condemnation comes from verses like Hebrews 10:26-31. So while I recognize the truth of the promise and do continue to trust it, I have no inward sense of it. It sits in my brain, but not in my heart.

 

[d taylor]

Thank you for this...you're right, but it's not an intellectual doubt but an emotional one. As far as Scriptural questions are involved, my feeling of condemnation comes from verses like Hebrews 10:26-31. So while I recognize the truth of the promise and do continue to trust it, I have no inward sense of it. It sits in my brain, but not in my heart.

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Condemnation is being read into Hebrews by you, i am guessing from being taught this incorrect view.

 

[Fervent]

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Condemnation is being read into Hebrews by you, i am guessing from being taught this incorrect view.

Nah, but this isn't the time or place for such discussions.

 

[tturt]

Our heart condition is so important. It's our free will to accept Him, be repentant, want to please Him, and love Him.

Asking the Lord to help you, reveal to you,, every area of concern and guide you to His truth.

 

[tturt]

"And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit." (II Cor 3:18)