Faith and Doubt - I need help!

[AndrewB]

Hello everyone. I have been raised Christian my entire life and love God. I believe with all my heart that Jesus died on the cross for my sins but latley I have noticed that my faith is slipping. I am under constant doubt and questioning and whenever I pray to God or think about Him I just dont feel the passion I used to. I know myself and know how dark my heart is and I seriously believe that If I were not raised Christian i would be 100% against Him so that leads me to the thought of my faith is misplaced; that I love Him only because my parents told me to.

I think I also fear God more than I love him. It seems that I try to be a beter person and truly trust in Him to go to Heaven, but more in the sense of not going to Hell. Even though my faith is failing me, I still trust in Him and pray for a dream of reassurance or guidance or something but it dosen't seem to come. I want to rebuild my faith but sometimes I feel He's not there. Thus leading to me quesioning Him and His authority, then leading to doubts of what I believe, and sometimes I have considered that maybe He isn't real. And then I hate myself for thinking such thoughts!

I am blessed with my parents for teaching me about God becuse if He hadn't of been apart of my life, then I would have done terrible, terrible things. But now its like I just pray and then go on my seperate ways and nothing changes. I have wanted to have more faith but the more I try the more it evades me.

I need guidance and help. I know what I want but with the constant stress of life and doubts of confusion, I may find myself not knowing what to believe.

 

[Prentis]

Hey AndrewB

I don't know your specific situation, and your relationship. But here's what the Lord's been showing me in my life. I went through a time not so long ago when I felt like you. I thought God had abandoned and I was afraid, fearful, freaking out. Only now in retrospect He's shown me that it was to grow my faith, and to also crucify my flesh.

The thing about faith is that the deeper it gets, the more it can go through without God having to make it easy. It's like the roots of a tree. You don't see them, but the deeper they are, the more of a dry period the tree can go through. We walk by faith and not by sight, that is what the Lord wants to make a reality in your life.

I failed my test, yet the Lord was faithfull and came back, and showed me and gave me understanding. Hang in there with whatever you have left, trust even when you don't see, there's a light at the end of this tunnel, a mountain after the valley of the shadow of death.

The Lord bless you, and may he work faith and his cross in you!

Go in peace!

 

[rockytopva]

Welcome AndrewB! I have a web site (link on the signature) dedicated to faith stuff. God's blessings!

 

[aspen]

Doubt is good. All the great men and women of faith in the past doubted God - sometimes for years! God doesn't need you to believe in Him to exist or work in your life. You need to give yourself a break and rest in God - watch how faithful He truly is!

Have you ever noticed how babies - human and other mammals cling to their mothers when they are infants, but when the start to grow up a bit, they start venturing out on their own? As they venture out, they reach a point where they doubt that their parents are with them and run back to check in and recharge......

We do the same thing with our Heavenly Father because that is how we were made. Every time you run back to God, He will always be there for you. The fact that you are venturing out and then doubting means that you are actually growing up in your relationship with God.

Always remember that you can never venture far without God being right there with you, like the good parent, He is.

blessings

 

[Prentis]

That's well said aspen! Be still, and know that He is God!

 

[Angelina]

Hi Andrew!

I'm glad that you have found us...welcome aboard!
Every Christian I know has struggled in this area at least one time in their life...even those who have been Christians for many years.

I know myself and know how dark my heart is and I seriously believe that If I were not raised Christian i would be 100% against Him so that leads me to the thought of my faith is misplaced; that I love Him only because my parents told me to.

Have you ever personally ask Jesus to be Lord of your life??? If you have not...then ask him now. I'm sure you've seen this many times in your Church. Perhaps you have not done that for yourself? I do not know. :huh:
All these things that you have grown up understanding in the body of Christ, like salvation, has got to be real to you...not just knowing about it like a process... but a heart thing...
If you have asked Jesus into your life to be your Lord and King, then he will not fail you. The bible says: 2 Timothy 2:11-13
... he remains faithful even when we are faithless.

I think I also fear God more than I love him. It seems that I try to be a beter person and truly trust in Him to go to Heaven, but more in the sense of not going to Hell. Even though my faith is failing me, I still trust in Him and pray for a dream of reassurance or guidance or something but it dosen't seem to come. I want to rebuild my faith but sometimes I feel He's not there. Thus leading to me quesioning Him and His authority, then leading to doubts of what I believe, and sometimes I have considered that maybe He isn't real. And then I hate myself for thinking such thoughts!

Heaven or Hell is the beginning and end of all things... What counts right now is your relationship with Jesus, our redeemer. Relationships are built on communication and getting to know each other by spending time with them. If you want to know more about God you need to read his word. His word gives us an indication of his character and that character gives us a solid foundation, in which we can build our faith upon. Eg: If he says that "he shall supply all our needs according to his riches in glory, in Jesus" believe it! because he is not a liar. Philippians 4:19

John 14:27
Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
If you want to build up your faith and your relationship with God...
1. Read his word daily,
2. Communicate regularly through prayer
3. Fellowship with other believers.

Btw...great posts everyone!

Blessings!!!

 

[7angels]

hi andrew

welcome aboard

everyone goes through their own trials. many new christians get tempted with the same things you are going through so do not lose heart. we are all here to help you grow in the the Lord. each one of us is still growing in the Lord and going through our own trials so we can grow closer to the Lord. because we are carnal and need God to rid us of being carnal and become more spiritual. trials are tough because carnal and spiritual are opposites so we need to unlearn being carnal and start learning to be spiritual. the transition between carnal to spiritual is not easy but once you have done it you can look back and say 'i don't know what took me so long to understand what God was teaching because it is so simple.' john 5:19 jesus says he could do nothing by himself. if jesus cannot do things by himself why do we think we can. every trial looks difficult but if we just follow God we will conquer and come out on top every time. if you slip and lose faith or make a mistake then according to 1 joh 1:9 all we need to do is ask forgiveness and God will cleanse us of all our sins and make as righteous. then just start again where you left off because God has already provided you with enough grace to cover any and all sin.
i suggest you get a bible promise book or go through your bible and find promises on on the areas you need help. take those promises on faith, guidance, and direction and keep quoting them. at first it may not seem to do anything but faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God(rom 10:17). so keep quoting and sooner or later you will see that your efforts are not going to be in vain. God be with you all

 

[Comm.Arnold]

I think the devil is definitely trying to turn you off of Jesus and the christian walk. Be aware of your surroundings and this may sound terrible but even when you think someone is being nice to you they can be trying to pump some evil spirit into you. Stay in the spirit as my best friend Prentis would say it is easy to get off course because of shallow surroundings.

 

[brionne]

Hi Andrew, I can guarantee you that you are not alone in how you feel. I think most of us have been there are some time in our life.

Even Jesus apostles felt they lacked faith for they asked Jesus:
Luke 17:5 Now the apostles said to the Lord: “Give us more faith". So lack of faith is common to all of us. But there may be a reason why we are prone to doubt and fear and it has to do with the world and society itself rather then God. We live in a world that is wasting away, a world where there is very little good positive news, a world that is constantly pulling us down. So we naturally feel doubt about the future, doubt and fear about what is coming, we face anxieties of life, we have to struggle in this life and all these things cause us to loose our focus on good positive uplifting things such as the promises of God.


So what we need to do is really study and mediate on the good things that God is offering us. We know this world is bad and we cannot speak to God directly to be reassured, but indirectly he speaks to us through the pages of his word the bible. If we read it every day, we will be filling our minds with good positive uplifting things and this will help us in maintaining our faith in a dark world.

for example, mediating on the following scriptures will encourage us as to what life will be like in the future when he is ruling the nations:

Psalm 46: 9 He is making wars to cease to the extremity of the earth
Psalm 37;10 And just a little while longer, and the wicked one will be no more; And you will certainly give attention to his place, and he will not be. 11 But the meek ones themselves will possess the earth, And they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace
Revelation 21:3 With that I heard a loud voice from the throne say: “Look! The tent of God is with mankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his peoples. And God himself will be with them. 4 And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.
The promises of God are assured to us. We WILL see Gods saving power and his great acts the way the Isrealites saw him. We should never loose sight of the power of God and his desire to see these things through..

Isaiah 55:11 so my word that goes forth from my mouth will prove to be. It will not return to me without results, but it will certainly do that in which I have delighted, and it will have certain success in that for which I have sent it.
Read and study the bible and your faith will grow and your doubts will subside.

 

[Perspectives]

Hello everyone. I have been raised Christian my entire life and love God. I believe with all my heart that Jesus died on the cross for my sins but latley I have noticed that my faith is slipping. I am under constant doubt and questioning and whenever I pray to God or think about Him I just dont feel the passion I used to. I know myself and know how dark my heart is and I seriously believe that If I were not raised Christian i would be 100% against Him so that leads me to the thought of my faith is misplaced; that I love Him only because my parents told me to.

I think I also fear God more than I love him. It seems that I try to be a beter person and truly trust in Him to go to Heaven, but more in the sense of not going to Hell. Even though my faith is failing me, I still trust in Him and pray for a dream of reassurance or guidance or something but it dosen't seem to come. I want to rebuild my faith but sometimes I feel He's not there. Thus leading to me quesioning Him and His authority, then leading to doubts of what I believe, and sometimes I have considered that maybe He isn't real. And then I hate myself for thinking such thoughts!

I am blessed with my parents for teaching me about God becuse if He hadn't of been apart of my life, then I would have done terrible, terrible things. But now its like I just pray and then go on my seperate ways and nothing changes. I have wanted to have more faith but the more I try the more it evades me.

I need guidance and help. I know what I want but with the constant stress of life and doubts of confusion, I may find myself not knowing what to believe.

Your trying to fit God in your head, can't be done. The double edged Sword of the Lord always cuts at least two ways, natural and spiritual.Think about how water relates to spirit, how Jesus relates to rock, why things in the Bible are laid out in three's. Search for the types, shadows and patterns found in the Old Testament that point to and open the New Testament. Keep the Faith and trust Him to lead you in your study. Example, Gen. 22:17 He tells the father of the faith Abraham that his decendants will be AS the stars of the heaven(spiritual, Saints) and AS the sand upon the shore (natural, Hebrews). We all have struggled at times, press in.

 

[lightning63]

A lot of people struggle with doubt, I do too. You can keep praying and asking God for the gift of faith, as you have been doing. Whether it's desire to go to Heaven or fear of going to hell, either motivation is perfectly fine. Yes, the love of God as well as the fear of God (or of not being with Him) are plenty good enough motivation for you being Christian. I am not exactly sure of your situation, but I thought I would include three quotes from the Bible that I feel help me when I am having a struggle of faith.

this quote explains that faith is a gift

1 Corinthians 12:4-11
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties off activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.

this quote explains that getting some things require following the world, and that being a Christian, to an extent, means a little bit of self-sacrifice

Galatians 5:17
For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.

this quote explains that even if something I think horrible happens, it may be entirely of God's will

2 Kings 2:11-14
And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. And Elisha saw it and he cried, "My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!" And he saw no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them in two pieces. And he took up the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. Then he took the cloak of Elijah that had fallen from him and struck the water, saying, "Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?" And when he had struck the water, the water was parted to the one side and to the other, and Elisha went over.