My faith is weak, please help.

[Christinme]

Dear Christian friends,
Lately I have found myself not wanting to, and having an aversion to praying and reading my bible. I have to make myself go to church. I want to have a closer relationship to the Lord. I want to feel his leading in my life.
Can someone please give me the direction I need? I was in the Christian bookstore and could not find a book on the subject. I know I need to turn to God's word for the answers, but I would also like a book to read from someone who has wisdom and insight to people like me.
Thank you for listening, and I hope to hear back from some of you.

 

[Christinme]

help

 

[Drew]

Hi:

Sorry to hear about your plight. At the risk of sounding "preachy", I would recommend that you act in spite of your aversion. True, you do not want to read the Bible, and perhaps you feel a powerful aversion against doing so. Well, you (and me) can choose to do what we know we need to do in spite of how we feel.

I wonder whether you (like me in my time) have fallen victim to the unhealthy notion that one can "let Jesus do it all" and therefore avoid the hard work of cultivating the disciplines of prayer and Bible reading. I have come to believe there is no "shortcut" - no path forward that does not involve the developing of the appropriate disciplines.

Now lest this seem patronizing (like I am simply suggesting that you 'gut it out'), there is, I believe, great news.

When I started to get serious about Bible reading, I discovered an incredibly rich, sophisticated, and compelling account of God's redemptive work in the world. I politely suggest that much of modern evangelicalism has carved up the Scriptures into little bits and has also not respected its deep complexity and connection to history and the relevant culture (i.e. the culture of Jews in Palestine and other places, not the culture of the 21st century west). My experience has been this: I discovered the Bible to be a kind of "tantalizing puzzle" with many interesting sub-themes that are connected to one another in a rich variety of ways.

I would highly recommend the writing of NT Wright if you wish to get a sense of the Bible's deep, complex, and fascinating "story" of the redemption of creation by God.

 

[cunningw]

Hello Christinme.

What Drew said is very true and so important in any relationship (I call it doing something out of knowledge, i.e., because it is the right thing to do). Let me add more based on my own similar experience. First of all your relationship with the Lord is not based on church attendance, bible study, or prayer. Consider your best friend. Is your relationship with him or her based on you going to meetings about friendship with him or her? Is it based on reading about friendships?

Consider those people in the bible. None of them had bibles to read. They just interacted with God the same way we interact with other people. Don't treat God as a theological entity. Treat hiim as a person that you can communicate with. Just start talking to him during the day. Ask questions of him during the day. Tell him you love him during the night. Do you see? Be straight with him. You could start by telling him how you feel right now. I don't mean bowing down on your knees and closing your eyes and pray. Honestly you really don't see prayer like that in the bible. Just go someplace alone and start talking to the Lord. Treat him like a person realizing of course that he is the Lord. You'll come to the point where you can't wait for your next conversation with the Lord.

God loves you. Not because you go to church, read your bible, or say your prayers. He loved you long before that. The bible says that while we were still sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). So just as Drew said, do it even though you don't feel like it. Do it out of knowledge. Just start treating God as if he is someone with you not someone to study. Just do it.

Another thing that you should incorporate is listening to other ministers especially since there are so many available online. You can learn a lot from others. I like Andrew Wommack because he has his teachings for free (www.awmi.net). The bible says faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God (Romans 10:17). It doesn't say that faith comes by hearing and hearing by reading your bible exclusively (The early church didn't have a New Testament bible for a few hundred years--though letters were circulating).

You described a situation that I was in a few years ago and it was scary to me. At the same time I just kept talking to God and telling him how I felt until revelation came. Now the cloud is gone. Your cloud won't stay there long my friend. You don't need a book. You simply need to enhance your relationship with the Lord so that it is intimate and personal. A book won't get you that. However, a book or teaching in general will help you deal and resolve some of the things that may be hindering that good relationship such as feeling unworthy, etc. God bless you always. I hope this helps.

 

[Sparkey]

Greetings!

Let us consider some of the things that the bible says about the subject, yes?
We're talking about the prayer, "Lord, help me. I believe, help me in my unbelief." Here is the quote from Mark 9:

"Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief."

Consider that you are not alone in this - Paul, an apostle of Christ also prayed about his weakness and celebrated the strength that Christ provided:

"For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."

The Lord wasn't speaking only to Paul when he said, "My strength is made perfect in weakness." I would encourage you to Magnify your God and look for His answer to your need for we do not serve a God who is indifferent to our plight and knows that we are weak. He is the one who chooses earthen vessels to better show the Glory that is His. Our God purposefully works with the lowly (beggerly) elements of this earth like us! It is done by design. I constantly marvel and it has become the question of my lifetime that He should choose the rejected to be His chosen.

Consider those who became the army of King David found in 1Sam 22-24. The story of David’s soldiers ought to encourage you to serve now. They were an Army of Rejects and were distressed, disunited and in debt at the beginning. They stayed by their Captain, fought the "Battles of the Lord," and took on the character of their leader.

When a man goes fishing he looks for keepers. He may say, “oh well that one is too small†or there may be some other problem and he will throw it back. Our Lord is not so for when He goes fishing He sees the problem but says I’ll keep it anyway. Christ did not save you to exclude you from serving Him. I know you’ve got problems, you know you’ve got problems and He knows you’ve got problems. Serve Him anyway. The battles that you go through and the time spent close to the captain of our salvation will transform you. We each have a right to become sons of God.

"He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

Even to them that believe on His name. This is our common heritage: The very Name of our Messiah, the name above all names - unto Him is subject all that was made. He shares His peace with us and His confidence has stood the test to openly triumph over all that would oppose.

This is the one who has said, "Whenever two or more of you agree as touching I am there," and "Ask, and it shall be answered, seek and ye shall find, knock and the door will be opened." I add my amen to your prayer, that your faith be bolstered by the Holy One upon whom we all depend, in the Name of Jesus: Amen.

 

[Christinme]

Thank you all for your replies and thoughtful answers. I will take all of these things to heart and begin again my journey with the Lord.
I appreciate so much you all taking the time to write me.
Take care, and may we all have a closer walk with Him.
Christinme