Please pray for me

[harina]

Hello.

I feel like I've lost my faith completely. It's kinda horrible, because I would want to believe in God and everything. When I lose my faith, I lose my hope to everything, I feel like nothing counts any more and there is no "destiny" any more because I'm the one leading my life.

I've started thinking about philosophical and theological issues in a new, probably more "mature" way, but I still only get confused. There are lots of questions I can't help thinking, although I know there isn't really need to think about them. I can't find peace in any way.

So would you please pray for finding faith to God again?

Also, there are times when I argue a lot with my mother. The last few days have been kinda peaceful, but I can't tell when it starts again.. Sometimes my hate for her is so great that I could almost harm her. When I feel that way I can comfort myself by saying to myself "well, I won't live in this house for the rest of my life and that's good.." but that doesn't wipe away the problem, of course. Could you please pray that my and mom could understand each other more?

Thank you~

[Nia-chan]

Girl, you're not alone, I'll pray for you

[Jingo Jaden]

I willl pray.

[Tenshi no Ai]

I've had a few times before where I really get wondering about stuff. And really, to dig in deep about thought and all that, it's interesting with what you might find^^ In some cases, I've heard of people having their faith strengthened by such a journey in discovery. I myself, am having a different time, thinking about many different things from different perspectives, jotting down notes here and there of my observations. It's all very interesting^^ But I have to be careful myself not to shake my faith. As I said before, I've had times where I've wondered about things myself, which is normal for many people, but like a boomerang, I keep coming back^^ If you'd like to discuss some issues by PM I'd be happy to. Lately, been talking on PM with people on here with varying ideas and discussing with different ideas/opinions/thoughts on things^^
Praying...

[c.t.,girl]

when you start to doubt...and start thinking "mature", go look for the answers in your bible. yeah...probably better said than done. when i get depressed and what not, i sometimes don't do anything at all expect lay there in my bed and start thinking about things. this road your taking...it's not an easy one...so when you ask for prayer...dont' expect things to be easy...the life of a christian is NOT an easy one...if things aren't going terribly wrong...then ask yourself if you're really doing anything for God at the moment...and if things are going terribly wrong...then yay! He's testing you and IS there for you.

...i hope i made SOME sense...or maybe i should just slink back away. anyway, i pray he shows you what you need to be shown. God bless.

[harina]

Thanks for everybody. *hugs* You're so kind.

There hasn't really been a change in the situation but I'll tell you if one comes..

[ChristianKitsune]

Just because bad things are going on doesn't necassarily mean you aren't growing in Christ...^^; Sure he uses bad things in our lives to help us grow but sometimes when good things happen then we are living for Christ. ^^

Harina, don't worry, we all wonder about our faith in God sometimes. But I will let you know, that no matter what you do, nothing will seperate you from the love of Christ.

Romans 28-38 says this:

28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,[j] who[k] have been called according to his purpose. 29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 33Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. 34Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 36As it is written:
"For your sake we face death all day long;
we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered."[l] 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[m] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The thing is, Harina to the world, Christianity DOESN't make sense. Science has been trying to disprove our faith for years. It had theories that sound good...but really, Christianity is based off of something science can never disprove, Faith.

Jesus said that those who think like Children will inherit the kingdom of heaven. When we are young, we believe in things easily, more easily than when we get older. We need to have faith like Children do, fully and completely depending on God. Children depend on their parents to live, as God's Children we need to depend on God to live to. ^_^

There are many tiems when I wonder what's going on...and the first place I go to is God. C. T,. Girl is probably right when she said that God wants to help you grow stronger. And believe me, if you take this matter to Him he will help you! ^_^

Here's something that I hve done that has helped me a lot. whenever I feel like I need a recheck on my faith, I start a new blank word document and just start free writing a prayer to God. The reason why I type it out, is because I can save it, and re read it later. It really helps put things into focus, plus it keeps me awake! when I do this, I pour out everything to Him. my problems, why I believe in him. and all that other cool stuff. I dunno, maybe it will help you too.

As for your relationship with your mother. I have been having problems with my little sister the same way. Last week I visited my grandparents and my grandfather showed me a great verse that really knocked me back into reality.

2 Timothy 2:20-24

22Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. 23Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels. 24And the Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful.

I will definately be praying for you! I am available through PM if you want to talk.

[Okami]

What I wanted to say was practically summed up by C.T. and Kitsune

I'll be praying for your faith and your relationship with your mom, nonetheless

God bless!

[Danderson]

What I wish to say has already been said....but you'll be in my prayers anyway....

[harina]

[quote="ChristianKitsune"]Just because bad things are going on doesn't necassarily mean you aren't growing in Christ...^^]

Oh, I didn't mean that the quarrels in our family had influence on my faith.. But of course it might be that my lack of faith is one of the causes of these disagreements. I dunno.

You see, my faith has never been really strong. But of course, I don't know what 'strong faith' means in my occasion. However, when I used to think about big issues some few years ago, I always thought that I might find the answers if I had enough faith. But that never happened. I feel like my natural way of thinking and solving problems isn't the Christian way. I honestly think that it should be, or otherwise I can't call myself Christian.

My thoughts are very close to naturalism nowadays. I just can't help it, even if it scares me. Naturalistic thinking leads me to atheism (you know, thoughts like all the religions are the same after all)
and when I'm there, I still don't feel like it's anything to do with truth.

Bah, you'll probably laugh at me. I do sound like a teenager who has found all the philosophic questions for the first time and is now all confused... It's not like that. I've thought about these things before, but not in this way.

ChristianKitsune, I know that the 'childish' faith in God is the whole idea of Christian faith (probably the whole Christianity?). I just can't help trying to solve all the questions in my head, you see.



Thanks for everybody. *hugs*

[ChristianKitsune]

Oh, I didn't mean that the quarrels in our family had influence on my faith.. But of course it might be that my lack of faith is one of the causes of these disagreements. I dunno.

I was refering to C.T., Girl's statement here. ^.^

You see, my faith has never been really strong. But of course, I don't know what 'strong faith' means in my occasion. However, when I used to think about big issues some few years ago, I always thought that I might find the answers if I had enough faith. But that never happened. I feel like my natural way of thinking and solving problems isn't the Christian way. I honestly think that it should be, or otherwise I can't call myself Christian.

I am not sure how anyone can define faith. For everyone it's different. I admire anyone who has faith that lasts even in hard times and struggles. It's amazing to me, and someday, I hope to have faith like that.

Jesus said, that all we need is the faith of a mustard seed. Which is VERY tiny.

My thoughts are very close to naturalism nowadays. I just can't help it, even if it scares me. Naturalistic thinking leads me to atheism (you know, thoughts like all the religions are the same after all)
and when I'm there, I still don't feel like it's anything to do with truth.

Hmm, this is understandable, lots of people feel this way. However, Jesus had an answer long before some religions came about:

John 14:6

Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life, no one goes to the father but by me.

I sorta paraphrased it a bit, But he didn't say that he was "A truth or A life or a WAY." he was "THE way, THE truth and THE life."

Also, the difference between Christianity and the others is this: In other religions, the people have to do so much in order to get to a certain level. Or whatever. Christianity is really the only religion out there that actually has a savior who took away our sins. In way, he serves us, as we serve him. It's amazing! Christianity isn't just another religion. It's a relationship with an amazing savior who cares about us! ^_^

Bah, you'll probably laugh at me. I do sound like a teenager who has found all the philosophic questions for the first time and is now all confused... It's not like that. I've thought about these things before, but not in this way.

I don't laugh, this is something that really has you stumped! I understand! :3

[Pinecone Tortoi]

Harina,

For a time I felt almost exactly the opposite. I had done a lot of thinking and researching and had come to the conclusion that God exists as Christianity says He does. I wanted to have some way out of that (and on bad days still do), but I couldn't and can't deny it any more. It all fitted together. Sure, I didn't have absolute proof, when set against atheism, it came out as the better hypothesis.

I know what you mean about trying to think things through naturalistically and finding atheistic answers. I used to do a lot of naturalistic reasoning myself before I became Christian. But I think you're doing what I did - assuming this world operates under naturalistic rules. Perhaps a good place to start is to question why you think that and whether, after recognising it as an assumption, you still agree with it. Why DO you choose that as a basis for your reasoning?

Once I found out that God is as the Bible says He is, I had to change a lot of the fundamental assumptions I'd based my reasoning on. Perhaps you should go back and try reasoning things through again with God in the equation. With reasoning, it tends to be that you get out what you put in. Put in a bunch of naturalistic assumptions and you get out a lot of naturalistic answers.

I have a lot of problems with doubt. And I have limited experience with 'feeling' God's presence or help. Just hasn't seemed to happen to me much. The times I think it might have are scarce and could just have been my own imagining or emotions. I didn't accept because I wanted to make sense of or put meaning into my life. What's the point of believing something just because you want to? That's like believing in the Easter Bunny because you like chocolate. I believe because I know, as much as I can know anything, that it's true.

I don't think there's much wrong with questioning. There's answers out there that can strengthen your faith as they strengthened mine. Might I recommend Lee Strobel's books 'The Case for Christ' and 'The Case for Faith'? I don't like his style of writing, but the people he interviews (the books are a series of interviews) have powerful answers to tough questions. I also like the answersingenesis.org site. Antagonistic and condescending as those folks can get, some of their articles are really helpful for showing atheism to be a hypothesis with a lot of problems.

Keep in mind that there is no philosophical or scientific proof for atheism or Christianity. You need faith to believe in either. And faith in Christ is a gift from God - you can't obtain it by yourself. But God does want you to believe. Ask Him to help you with this. Don't worry if you have questions. There's answers. Do you have mature Christians around you who you can ask for help with this?

I'll be praying for you. Some of the few 'experiences' of God working in my life have been extraordinarily powerful responses to prayer requests. I was in a hugely bad way mentally and physically and almost immediately after the prayers started rolling in, I had a few hours of blissful release. Sure the problems came back, but I was refreshed enough to face it again. Prayer is powerful. I know that. And that in itself is strong testimony to the One Who answers it.

Piney.

[freerock1]

Harina,

I'll be lifting you up in prayer.

Some good things have been said in this thread. I guess what I would add is, don't forget that your faith isn't based on how you feel. Often I think Satan will try to feed God's people lies and thoughts that contradict the Bible. And even if we know what the Bible says, sometimes it can be easy to let our thoughts and feelings get the best of us, even if we know that those thoughts go against the Word of God. This is a battle I deal with personally.

But what God has been teaching me is that our feelings can lie to us, and obviously Satan can lie to us. But as children of God, these lies don't apply to us, we're not bound to them, and we have no need to believe them. And any thoughts or feelings that would hinder us from walking in the freedom we have in Christ do not come from the One who calls us.

Of course when these thoughts of doubt start beating us down in our minds, it can be tough to totally trust in God's Word. That's why we need to have on the whole armor of God, especially the shield of faith (with which we can quench all the flaming arrows of the wicked one, according to Ephesians 6:16).

Anyway, I will be lifting you up in prayer, my sister. And if you need to talk more, feel free to PM me.

[itch]

Hi Harina. I forgot what it was you said that made me want to tell you this, but I'll say it anyway. I read this in a devotional a few weeks ago:

Are you tired of living in defeat? 'A Scripture a day keeps the devil away' is a cute slogan, but it'll take more than that. God's Word is like medicine. You don't have to know how it works, just keep taking it. Something amazing happens when you soak yourself in the Scriptures. Tempataion loses its power and overcoming strength replaces it. And each time a Scripture explodes in your understanding, your hunger for God's Word increases. So read your Bible even if you don't feel like it, or you don't have the time, or you don't seem to be getting much out of it. God says, "As the rain and snow come down from heaven and stay upon the ground to water the earth, and cause the grain to grow and to produce seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry, so also is my Word . . . it always produces what I want it to" (Isaiah 55:10-11). Sometimes we expect certain 'sensations' to know God's Word is working within us. But David said, "I have thought much about your words, and stored them in my heart so that they would hold me back from sin" (Psalm 119:11). Then he prayed, "Open my eyes to see wonderful things in your Word" (Psalm 119:18). Jesus said, "Now are ye clean through the word which I have spoken unto you" (John 15:3). To live clean, you must bathe your mind in God's Word, letting it flow over you until every vestige of carnality is swept away.

I'm sorry if this is off subject. It's just that I was also going through a time of uncertainty and I'm still asking questions that I can't answer. I've been trying to read the Bible more even if I don't seem to be getting anything out of it. But nevertheless, I always say a little prayer before I start reading a trusted devotional or God's Word. I say something like, "Dear Lord, please let me dissect your words and apply them to my life in a way that's pleasing to you." Faith is the evidence of things unseen.

[USSRGirl]

You're in my prayers, Harina. The best advice I can offer is to read the Bible (at least the NT) through on your own and just let God speak to you through it. He'll show you His way.