I thought god brought peace?

[ksmith]

What do you mean by "new to Christ"?

Every adult guy I've known who trusted in Christ as their Savior and submitted to him as Lord, immediately got "beat up" in all sorts of ways. Most lost some - if not all - of their friends; others, lost family; all of them began to struggle with sinful stuff in their life they'd never seen as sin before; stresses about all the do's and do not's of Christian living pressed down on them. It got pretty miserable!

Have you ever floated down a river on an inner tube, effortlessly swept along by the current? It's great, on a sunny, summer day! You just lie there on the tube, and enjoy the cool water below and the hot sun above, twirling slowly in the river's current. It's very relaxing. Imagine, though, that there's suddenly a shout of warning from the shore. Some guy is yelling at you that you're headed for a huge waterfall. You've got to stop going with the current or you'll be killed!

When you slide off your inner tube in alarm and drop your feet down to the riverbed - Wow! - suddenly that nice, powerful current that was sweeping you along so comfortably starts pushing on you with all of its force and its really hard to stay on your feet! Getting out of the current is just as difficult, the weight of the rushing water opposing you rather than carrying you along.

Well, this is a lot like what happens when you become a disciple of Jesus and stop going with the currents of your self-centered life. Those currents of selfishness and sin immediately oppose the life Jesus wants to take you into with himself. And they can feel very powerful, if you've been in them for a long time.

You've also got an Enemy, the devil, who usually ignores those he's got "going with the flow." When you step out of his kingdom of darkness and into God's light, though, he doesn't take it well and will begin to give you his unwanted attention. He'll start messing with your feelings and thoughts, causing you to doubt God, and to condemn yourself, and to feel fear and despair. And the devil will work really hard to keep you out of God's word, so that you never understand what it is to walk with God and how properly to do it. He'll also do all he can to isolate you from the Church, the community of believers. If he succeeds in these things, walking with God gets very miserable very quickly.

Just from what you've written, it's clear no one is discipling you. So, check out this website:

www.ttb.org

And remember: God doesn't save you only if you feel that He has. And He doesn't save you because you've shown Him enough faith, or sincerity, or enthusiasm. No, God only saves sinners because of their trust in Jesus, however small, and their genuine, though not necessarily large, desire to be changed by Him.

Also, God's peace is not first and foremost a feeling but is Himself. He is the Christian's Peace, not a feeling of inner calm which any Buddhist, or Hindu, or New Age Wiccan might feel. The more you know and enjoy God, the more of Himself will fill your life and flow out of it, including the peace that He is. So don't chase after a feeling; chase after God.

That was very well said, i feel all of that. Thank you! And no i have no one to talk to. I joined here and even asked for someone to text with to answer questions and help me understand the bible. No takers though. All i have is podcasts from people like isiah saldivar and cliffe knechtle.

 

[Tenchi]

Well, I'm willing to chat with you and help answer your questions. I've been discipling men for about twenty-five years now, so I may be of some use in encouraging you in your walk with God. But also do check out that link I sent you. It's among the best resources for spiritual growth I know of, outside of being directly discipled.

 

[kbmonday]

That was very well said, i feel all of that. Thank you! And no i have no one to talk to. I joined here and even asked for someone to text with to answer questions and help me understand the bible. No takers though. All i have is podcasts from people like isiah saldivar and cliffe knechtle.

Brother Smith, I am 42 as well. Everyone is different and God leads us all how He wills, though the path must always be through Jesus. I can only give you my experience, which is that I never received the Shalom of Yeshua until I decided to and began to live in obedience. Perhaps it was because of my extreme disobedience up to about 30. Maybe this would help you to? I began keeping all 10 commandments (though I'm not SDA) and once I started making Saturday Holy I started to receive peace in my life. My life was marked by lawlessness, and now the Holy Spirit has compelled me to keep it. This is what has helped me resist Satan and his snares. Following where the Holy Spirit has guided me. I am not trying to convert you to my way of doing things, but as you had said that your life was pretty disobedient too, maybe this might help. I started simply, just by not working on Saturday and resting. During my Saturday rests is when I really started focusing on God and is when He started drawing closer. My dear brother, you are not alone in this, though it can feel like it. We are all here for you.

 

[miamited]

I found God at 41. Basically i made some poor choices and lost myself. I lost my self respect, self esteem my happiness. I feel a war in my heart and i am unable to be genuinely happy anymore. I began drinking heavily, more than ever, fighting with my wife, i lost my relationship with my daughter. I hate my job, i hate my home life, im broke, i have no skills, ive realized the people i care about dont care about me at all. I truly beleive god saved my life thursday morning. I was staying with a friend after a fight with my wife. I ended up drinking all night on an empty stomach and i completely blacked out. I dont remember about 6 hours. Mostly what i remember is arguing with my friend, the truck bouncing off a couple curbs, and waking up at work with someone banging on my window to wake me up. That was 6 days ago and i havent drank since. Im 6 days sober for the first time in probably 10 years.

HI ksmith

Well, thanks for the testimony. You seem to be actually fighting a lot of demons and you aren't winning. But we can't blame it on others since most of your testimony seems to be pretty much your own self-destructive behavior. May I ask why you feel that you are a believer. I just ask because you claim that your drinking has gotten worse and you're fighting with your wife more than ever. It just sounds like you're pretty actively fighting against making the changes that God's going to want to provide for you... if you're going to be a child of His.

Why are you fighting with your wife? I mean, that's always going to make things difficult in one's life, that they are fighting with their spouse. Do you love God? Do you know Jesus?

And please, I'm not trying to attack in any way. But your opening testimony about finding faith about a year ago, and now your new testimony as to what your life is like now, don't seem to mesh well together. Heavy drinking, relationship arguments. And you believe God saved you because you finally woke up from a night of blackout drinking. I'd encourage more time on your knees if you really want what God has to offer. But yeah, I can tell you that the life you're living isn't ever going to find the peace that God offers. I would contend that your behavior is what is spoken of in the Scriptures as grieving the Spirit, if you are a child of God. We don't generally have the peace of God at the times that we're grieving the Spirit with some lifestyle that we're living.

Are you willing to tell me about what your 'finding God at 41' was about? What did you do that you found God. Were you baptized? Did you give a testimony of your faith to anyone?

God bless,
Ted

 

[Carry_Your_Name]

Im new to christ. About a year in. This has been without a doubt the worst year of my life. The inner turmoil, suicidal thoughts, self sabatoge loss of self respect self identity is all just awful. I cant lagh without bursting into tears. Ive lost friends, made poor choices and i cant help but think it was so much easier when i only answered to myself. I try to bury my mind in the gospels, i listen to christian music, christian podcasts, i pray, ive even heard god talking to me and i feel hes saved me at least twice now. I beleive but certainly dont feel the peace people talk about.

Just let go, forgive and forget. Cast all your doubt, hurt, anger and guilt onto Christ, don't let them ferment in your heart. There were several years when I was heavily addicted in gaming, I devoted all my time and energy into it, this fantasy world felt more real than the real world around me, and I was stuck in it until it faded away. I'm not very proud of this period, but I don't consider it a total waste of several best years in my life either, because it had reset my mind, it had purged almost all the trauma, confusion, regrets out of my mind, it left me with a clean slate and prepared me for the next stage of my life. The character I played was a priest, it was a healer, a critical role with very little strength of its own, but responsible to keep everybody in the group alive during intense battles with monsters, most of the spells were in religious terms, and ironically that was my first exposure to Christianity, from there I began to dig deeper and learn more about it, God was using every means possible and available to bring people to him. Now I've crossed the halfway point of my life, and the older I grow, the less I'm bothered by the world, and more peaceful and secure I feel in Christ.

 

[hishandmaiden]

God does bring peace, and guess what, Satan don't like that. Satan wanted you to lose your faith in God. Don't give in to him, persevere with God. Even if peace doesn't come to you in your whole life, you can be assured of a place in heaven. There, you will have complete peace.

 

[Prycejosh1987]

Im new to christ. About a year in. This has been without a doubt the worst year of my life. The inner turmoil, suicidal thoughts, self sabatoge loss of self respect self identity is all just awful. I cant lagh without bursting into tears. Ive lost friends, made poor choices and i cant help but think it was so much easier when i only answered to myself. I try to bury my mind in the gospels, i listen to christian music, christian podcasts, i pray, ive even heard god talking to me and i feel hes saved me at least twice now. I beleive but certainly dont feel the peace people talk about.

Listening is a part of the journey. The other part is reading and also another is experiencing. Experiences make us stronger believers, Apostle Paul and Peter says that faith is strengthened by experiencing problems. 2 Corinthians 1:8–9

2 Peter 1:5-8​