If you deny Christ or lose your faith, is that it?
- Thread starter littlesheep
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Brad Huber
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I fully agree!
Daniel Symmons
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It's really good to hear about the positive steps you've been taking and it sounds some how that you are a little more determined to press forward (though fearful of the future).
I thank God that you are cautiously opening up to His grace and allowing Him to work n your life..Amen!
As to feeling daunted abut the challenges ahead, well that just proves your very human. Feeling that things are too big for us is a good place to start; it is only in realising our limitations that we start relying on God's grace. This is where faith grows, trusting Our Father in His promise that he 'Will never leave us and forsake us'.
It has taken me more than 20 years to grow into a place of greater trust (and I still have many struggles and insecurities) but He is patient and kind to those who hold to Him.
I empathise with your talk of 'head knowledge'. That has been my experience too. I came to believe intellectually first. No matter, God made us as we are and leads us from there. My problem was (and is) cold feet. Putting believe into action requires faith and builds faith. I have longed for road maps but these deny faith. He gives us the guidance we need for the day.
Briefly my own journey has been partly a battle with the illness of depression which has impacted my work and private life but has left me the richer in both. Finding and keeping work was a struggle for many years but I think the key has been those little steps of faith (leading to greater trust and bigger steps) and the knowledge that failing is okay because Jesus picks us up and puts us on our feet again a little stronger than before.
One practical suggestion. Had you considered voluntary work as a way into the world of paid employment. It's perhaps a more manageable first step and really good for CVs.
I pray for you to be aware of God's love surrounding you and His grace strengthening you day by day!!
I thank God that you are cautiously opening up to His grace and allowing Him to work n your life..Amen!
As to feeling daunted abut the challenges ahead, well that just proves your very human. Feeling that things are too big for us is a good place to start; it is only in realising our limitations that we start relying on God's grace. This is where faith grows, trusting Our Father in His promise that he 'Will never leave us and forsake us'.
It has taken me more than 20 years to grow into a place of greater trust (and I still have many struggles and insecurities) but He is patient and kind to those who hold to Him.
I empathise with your talk of 'head knowledge'. That has been my experience too. I came to believe intellectually first. No matter, God made us as we are and leads us from there. My problem was (and is) cold feet. Putting believe into action requires faith and builds faith. I have longed for road maps but these deny faith. He gives us the guidance we need for the day.
Briefly my own journey has been partly a battle with the illness of depression which has impacted my work and private life but has left me the richer in both. Finding and keeping work was a struggle for many years but I think the key has been those little steps of faith (leading to greater trust and bigger steps) and the knowledge that failing is okay because Jesus picks us up and puts us on our feet again a little stronger than before.
One practical suggestion. Had you considered voluntary work as a way into the world of paid employment. It's perhaps a more manageable first step and really good for CVs.
I pray for you to be aware of God's love surrounding you and His grace strengthening you day by day!!
littlesheep
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Just writing to ask please for prayer for myself and loved ones - have been in a battle since coming back to faith. Realise that I have been foolish and have not been resisting as much as I ought to have and have had some nights without sleep. Hearing voices that speak back to me sometimes in my mind. Please can you pray for deliverance and cleansing from any defilement or foothold, and that I would stand firm in faith and be deeply rooted in the love of God. Thank you very much to those who have already prayed for me.
Hope this helps: The scripture tells us to keep our minds on the things that are good etc. Phil.4.8 It is hard to do at times.
I try to stay in praises and songs of joy for the joy of the Lord is our strength. Neh 8.10 Psalm 136 has about 26 verses every verse says His Mercy endures forever. God is not worried so much about our sins but does come alive for us through praises and song. Learning to (live the word) is the thing we need the most.
(The Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.) 1 Thessalonians 3.3
I try to stay in praises and songs of joy for the joy of the Lord is our strength. Neh 8.10 Psalm 136 has about 26 verses every verse says His Mercy endures forever. God is not worried so much about our sins but does come alive for us through praises and song. Learning to (live the word) is the thing we need the most.
(The Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.) 1 Thessalonians 3.3
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Brad Huber
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Praying for Christs strength for you lilyofthevalley!
Daniel Symmons
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My prayers go out to you! I pray that in your struggles you may seek and find all the help you need.
Help comes straight from God.
Help comes from those around us we can trust.
(and I pray that you have friends or find friends close at hand as well as here that can fill that need. I found help like this from a local Christian counselling service and a good home church is essential for us all. I pray He may lead you to one. I know you have mention unhelpful experiences in the past but it is worth persevering with the knowledge that the rest of us christians are only human too! )
Help comes from doctors and the NHS
(I mention this because you talk of sleepless nights and have mentioned other ills in the past. I'm familiar with sleepless nights and know these can be a real added burden. Anything the Doctors can do to help is also God's provision!)
You talk of 'not resisting enough' , but I would invite you to look at that from a slightly different perspective.
Then rain falls on us all, and it seems to have been raining hard in your life for a long time. Your family, who should have been your shelter have been the reverse from what you've said in the past. You need the help and shelter of Our Father, who knows how to shelter and love you perfectly. In fact it is completely foreign for Him to do anything less.
Perhaps it is not a question of resisting badly but not knowing how to draw close to God through Jesus to receive the help He longs to give you.
In the book "The Father Heart of God" by Floyd McClung, He talks of the difficulty if getting to know God as Father especially if we have had bad experiences with our own fathers. With two abusive fathers, who can blame you for finding it hard to relate to the idea of a loving Father!
I pray that you may find a way to draw close to God and feel his love envelope you and then gradually you may find, in the security of this perfect relationship, a sense of wholeness and healing. And if I read you aright, your desire to forgive, that you find so difficult to realise, may grow into an ability to do this actually. In this there is freedom from past hurts, but I suspect it may be a while before you can get there. Don't worry, God takes is step by step and everything happens by degrees (and many things are shifting together).
God bless and sleep well,
Daniel
Help comes straight from God.
Help comes from those around us we can trust.
(and I pray that you have friends or find friends close at hand as well as here that can fill that need. I found help like this from a local Christian counselling service and a good home church is essential for us all. I pray He may lead you to one. I know you have mention unhelpful experiences in the past but it is worth persevering with the knowledge that the rest of us christians are only human too! )
Help comes from doctors and the NHS
(I mention this because you talk of sleepless nights and have mentioned other ills in the past. I'm familiar with sleepless nights and know these can be a real added burden. Anything the Doctors can do to help is also God's provision!)
You talk of 'not resisting enough' , but I would invite you to look at that from a slightly different perspective.
Then rain falls on us all, and it seems to have been raining hard in your life for a long time. Your family, who should have been your shelter have been the reverse from what you've said in the past. You need the help and shelter of Our Father, who knows how to shelter and love you perfectly. In fact it is completely foreign for Him to do anything less.
Perhaps it is not a question of resisting badly but not knowing how to draw close to God through Jesus to receive the help He longs to give you.
In the book "The Father Heart of God" by Floyd McClung, He talks of the difficulty if getting to know God as Father especially if we have had bad experiences with our own fathers. With two abusive fathers, who can blame you for finding it hard to relate to the idea of a loving Father!
I pray that you may find a way to draw close to God and feel his love envelope you and then gradually you may find, in the security of this perfect relationship, a sense of wholeness and healing. And if I read you aright, your desire to forgive, that you find so difficult to realise, may grow into an ability to do this actually. In this there is freedom from past hurts, but I suspect it may be a while before you can get there. Don't worry, God takes is step by step and everything happens by degrees (and many things are shifting together).
God bless and sleep well,
Daniel
