Hi everyone, from a lost soul

[PeterAU]

Hi everyone,

As someone overjoyed to find this forum, I will introduce myself, although this might not be a such a happy intro I guess. I'm quite poor at articulating my feelings, but I'll give it a try.

I've always had incredible difficulty with my faith, and now I am in my early 40's, its getting very painful to deal with. I’ve always wished dearly to know God, and have faith in him. But no matter how much I hope, and how desperately I pray, I remain sortof non-religious, if that makes any sense. And its terrible. I don't know how to describe it well, but its like a feeling of deep emptiness inside me, a coldness in my gut.

Sometimes I pray so hard to God just to give me faith… something, anything. I cry, and I pray, and try to give myself up completely, but I just can’t feel anything. I just want to break through whatever it is that is blocking me. When I was younger I'd join prayer groups but nothing ever helped. I used to read the Bible allot, and especially enjoyed the annotated ones. I even remember when I was a teenager and in my early twenties, I’d sometimes at night just hold my Bible to my chest after reading and, as I fell asleep, it gave me a real sense of comfort. I've always lived a healthy life and tried to keep my mind clear in the hope that I would understand things better, but it doesn't seem to have gotten me anywhere.

So, in the last few days I've really REALLY been praying hard. And I'm writing in the hope that I can get some advice on what else to try. Whatever happens, I can't give up, I know that for sure.

God bless you all ,
- Peter

 

[Rick W]

Hello Peter!!!
You're searching and that is a VERY good sign! It may be best to ask your questions in "Christian Talk and Advice" where the your questions can be better dealt with. I pray you find the support needed to persevere.

 

[Vic C.]

Hi Peter! I'm happy you're search has led you here. There are a few people here that would be more than thrilled to help you the best they can.

Yes, giving up is not an option any of us would recommend. :amen

 

[Blazin Bones]

Welcome to the forums, Peter. If there is anything I can do to help, just PM me. We're glad you've joined us.

 

[PeterAU]

Thank you everyone for reading my intro and for your replies. I certainly wont give up hope!

 

[jsnbrown]

Welcome to CF.net Peter!

 

[Tomlane]

Hi Peter, I have some verses of scripture for you that I believe you may be seeking. I know of others and including myself at one time have been where you are at in your life seeking God. I have had my life and others supernaturally changed and it is a work of God that anyone can have, provided we do it the Lord's way and not our own way. I would like to explain all of this to you and give you the proper scriptures to prove it all to you.

The first thing I want to share with you is that in order for us to have a relationship with christ to be with Him in this and the next life we have to be born again.

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter
John 3:3-4 (KJV)

5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
John 3:5-7 (KJV)

Please notice in verse six Christ stated that which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit

Being born again has nothing to with the physical such as water baptism. You have to have God's spirit put into you by God; for Christ only baptizes with spirit now and later with fire.

John the baptist knew his baptism of repentance was useless for salvation. For John asked Christ why He needed water baptism read before and after this next verse.

I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
Matt 3:11 (KJV)

But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
1 Cor 2:14 (KJV)

The only way any man is saved, is by simply believing God for what he has done for you, nothing more. God's simple plan of salvation is so simple it is a stumbling block for most. Most people want to do something to justify themselves before God by using the law as a stepladder into heaven or taking pride in their own good works.

Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
Romans 3:20 (KJV)

But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.
Gal 3:11 (KJV)

No man is saved bye just a head knowledge of Christ dying for your sins and going to hell in your place and tasting death for you. God demands blood for sin and blood comes from death. We all deserve to die because we are born sinners. We can't please God unless we are born again.

But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
Isaiah 64:6 (KJV)

If we simply believe from the heart and not the head only Christ will give you His Holy Spirit as a seal of redemption as His promise to you, to give you eternal life. Its that easy! The difficult part is putting your complete trust and faith in Jesus Christ only. Salvation is a free gift but you have to accept it on God's terms not yours. When you are born again, your load of sin will be gone in an instant and your life will be changed. God will diffidently let you know you now belong to him and you will not be of your own anymore but you will have been bought with a price.

For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
1 Cor 6:20 (KJV)

15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
16 And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.
17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
18 Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
Romans 5:15-18 (KJV)

In conclusion if you put all your trust in Christ you will receive His free gift of eternal life. If we don't believe what God has done for us we are in reality calling God a liar. No one has ever gone to hell for their sins. Because, Christ has paid for them. What we do go to hell for; is not having them forgiven on God's terms as found in his word. The more understanding we have of God work for us and we refuse His gift of love then we are heaping Goals over our head. We can not believe just what we want to believe. Its God's way or now way.

13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:
14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
Matt 7:13-14 (KJV)

I will close with one last verse.

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
Matt 7:15 (KJV)

Tomlane

 

[Free]

Welcome PeterAU! I am curious, why do you think you are not a Christian? Do you, or did you, feel true moral guilt? Have you repented? Do you believe that Jesus died and rose again to reconcile us to God?

 

[PeterAU]

Hi Tom, thank you very much for the scriptures and commentary you posted. The following felt especially meaningful to me:

Being born again has nothing to with the physical such as water baptism. You have to have God's spirit put into you by God; for Christ only baptizes with spirit now and later with fire.
...
The only way any man is saved, is by simply believing God for what he has done for you, nothing more. God's simple plan of salvation is so simple it is a stumbling block for most. Most people want to do something to justify themselves before God by using the law as a stepladder into heaven or taking pride in their own good works.
...
If we simply believe from the heart and not the head only Christ will give you His Holy Spirit as a seal of redemption as His promise to you, to give you eternal life. Its that easy! The difficult part is putting your complete trust and faith in Jesus Christ only. Salvation is a free gift but you have to accept it on God's terms not yours. When you are born again, your load of sin will be gone in an instant and your life will be changed. God will diffidently let you know you now belong to him and you will not be of your own anymore but you will have been bought with a price.

For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
1 Cor 6:20 (KJV)
...
In conclusion if you put all your trust in Christ you will receive His free gift of eternal life.

Believing and trusting in God with all my heart seems to be a stumbling block for me at the moment. This I have to overcome.

Thank you again,
Peter

 

[PeterAU]

Hello Free

Welcome PeterAU! I am curious, why do you think you are not a Christian? Do you, or did you, feel true moral guilt? Have you repented? Do you believe that Jesus died and rose again to reconcile us to God?

I just think I would not be honest if I said I was a Christian because I have such terrible problems with faith, and can't feel God's spirit within me. I feel like I am stuck in a place between faith and intellect. Sometimes I feel so close, but still a million miles away. I guess though I do have faith in the sense that I believe God will touch me once I overcome whatever it is I am not admitting to myself, or what I am being blocked from seeing due to my own selfishness.

 

[Tomlane]

Peter, your honesty is astounding to say the least. Believe me Peter you are not alone in wanting intellectualize God and his gift of eternal life for you. I'll give you some verses below to show you why our natural minds can not comprehend God in a correct manner. If we could then we would have no problem accepting what he has done for us.

For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

Romans 8:5-8 (KJV)

We are born in sin, each and everyone of us and as you said selfishness which comes from pride keeps us from allowing God into our lives. The thing is. when it comes to letting God saves us from our sins, He wants absolutely nothing from us. Nothing.

God's ways are beyond understanding so we can't intellectualize God at all. That is what man does even false teachers and preachers, they use the natural mind to explain God or to explain Him away.

And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.
1 Cor 3:20 (KJV)

For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.
1 Cor 2:11 (KJV)

O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
Romans 11:33 (KJV)

I hope the above verses show you, that you can not fathom God and his ways and that it takes child like faith and believe what The Lord Jesus Christ has done for you personally. Most everyone today has a head knowledge but God looks upon our hearts and deals with us on a very personal level. He is not a God in the cosmos who can't not be touched by our troubles, His Holy Spirit is here now, just waiting for you to bow your head and ask for forgiveness and it will come the second you do, no waiting, and God will have a very personal relationship with you. He even has the hairs on your head counted.

But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Matt 10:30 (KJV)

Again we can't rationalize God, but we can only believe what he has done for us.

2 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
Romans 3:22-24 (KJV)

That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved
Romans 10:9 (KJV)

I hope this helps.

TomLane

 

[lovesblue]

Lost Soul: I thought I would only be reading others postings, but you have touched my heart. I too sought the Lord earnestly for years, with sincere prayers to no avail. Seems He was saving everyone else, but not me. When I was just a little girl, I was aware of my sins. Stole a red shiny purse from a neighbor's yard. Ran and threw it back, fearing the gravity of my sin. Bored, I scratched the back of the pew in front of me with the toe of my little Mary Janes, in what I thought then was "God's House". Boy, now I've done it, Guilty, guilty, guilty. Later learned God's house is in our hearts, not a building. Anyway, I added more adult sins each year that passed.

So, prayed and prayed for forgiveness. Never believed he forgave me. Read the Bible. At about 10 years of age I remember saying to God, "You know if I die today and go to hell, it won't be fair because YOU KNOW I don't understand." Finally, at 28 years of age I finally understood. It was so simple all along. So, here is my salvation experience.

A co-worker handed me a little brochure after I had asked her the day before, "Katie, how do you know for sure if you're going to heaven?" I read the whole thing, same old boring religious stuff. Then on the last page, I struck PURE GOLD: Here is the Word that sank in, to which from the pit of my very being I exclaimed to Him: Oh no, I am so sorry, I UNDERSTAND! IJohn 5: 10-13

10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.
11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
12 He that hath the Son hath life: and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.
13 These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.

Yes, the "I am so sorry", so sorry as I understood I had CALLED HIM A LIAR. I had been for years begging for his forgiveness and then not believing his Word that He would forgive me. The deep sorrow I felt for having called Him a liar, not believing God's record of his son.

At that moment, I felt the heaviness of my sin lifted off my shoulders as he graciously shouldered my burden. From the top of my head to the tips of my toes He washed me clean. From that moment I knew and I know that I know that I know that I am His and He is mine. Note in chapter 13 of the above scripture, "that ye may KNOW that ye have eternal life..." If God says it, you can take it to the bank. He is not a liar. His Word is true and that scripture is straight up.

I pray your stumbling block, whatever it is, will be removed so that you too WILL UNDERSTAND.

Yours in Christ, lovesblue

 

[PeterAU]

Lovesblue, thank you so much for sharing that with me. I see allot of compassion in that passage from John 5.