hurts for Easter

[waterlilyoflife]

I have a problem. First, my parents and I do not go to church, but we are saved Christians. I watched a movie about Jesus last night that was not in order with the Bible, and I went to bed without taking a shower, thinking I would either shower early and get ready early to go to Easter Sunday at 11:00 at the Methodist church, or stay home and watch Rev. Dr. Stanley the preacher on Sunday morning, message is Biblical and loving. i woke up stiff and aching, in pain. I watched Dr. Stanley but I wasn't sure about gong to church. he preached about salvation, and mostly baptism, talking about correct baptism, that one must be saved before being baptized. He said in order to be saved you must believe in your heart that Jesus died on the cross to save you from your sins, was died and resurrected to life on Easter SUnday morning, repernt and ask God to forgive you of your sins, and confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord. But when I was reading the Bible it said that no one puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of heaven, enter by the narrow gate, take up your cross and follow me, you must be good soil for the seed to grow, I thought that getting saved for real was really dificult, we had to act like Christians and give a lot of our material things away. So I was thinking about my mom, and my dad, and my mom was waking up and 10:30 and I went to talk to her and questioned whether she was saved. She was really hurt, and really mad and me, then my dad was mad at me, and they thought it was my mental illness cming up again, I was going crazy again. I thought about it and I realized I was wrong, so I started crying. I took a shower, and I was miserable, I was crying all through my shower, and while getting dressed. Then my dad said mom wanted to go out to eat, we went out to eat, I put on nicer clothes when going out to eat. I felt better, but then I tripped up again, I spilled lemonad all over my skirt! I feel like I have messed up bad today. i should have gone to church.

 

[Wormwood]

waterlily,

I believe you put too much pressure on yourself. We are saved by grace for good works. We are not saved by good works (including going to church). What that means is, we do good things and attend church not so we can become saved, but because we are saved and we love being encouraged in our faith and worshipping God. God is not mad at you because you missed church. God loves you and sent his Son to die for you while you were a sinner. Jesus didn't die for you so you would go to church, he died for you because he loves you very very much. If you have not been baptized and you truly believe Jesus died for you, I would highly encourage you to do so. As for your parents, I wouldn't worry. I would just tell them you only asked because you love them and that you were not trying to question their faith or dedication to Christ.

Anyway, I am sorry you had a bad day. Just know that God loves you more than you can imagine and the good things we do are a response to his love, not an effort to try to make him love us. He already does!

 

[Josho]

I pretty much gave my response in the shoutbox, know that you haven't stuffed up, you did not sin by doing or not doing any of those things above, and if it were a sin, it would have been forgiven anyway, God is a God of love, his love is so great, greater than any of us can imagine. Sorry you had a bad day. God bless you with many great days ahead, know that Jesus is there for the poor, brokenhearted and beaten down, he wants to help you, he cares for you, Jesus loves you. And your salvation is safe in him, you are saved by grace, you were saved the very moment you asked Jesus into your heart, and when you asked him into your heart, he forgave you of every sin, you were washed in the blood and cleansed. All your sins are forgiven by the grace of God. Through Christ you are a victor, we have our bad days, but we can't be defeated if we have Jesus in our heart. And you don't have to be a Church-goer to worship God, you can worship God anywhere you like, when you find yourself in times of trouble, start praising Jesus, and you will find it will help you out a lot, when you are in times of joy, praise him. Thank Jesus for what he has done for you on the cross, thank Jesus for the wonderful things he has done for you in your life, thank Jesus for his love, for his grace, for his forgiveness, thank Jesus for giving you victory over Satan no matter what the situation, thank him for the roof over your head, fill your mouth with praise. And you will find yourself living a joyful life no matter what the situation.

I hope this has helped you, encouraged you, and made ya feel better, just because Easter Sunday is over, it isn't over, he is risen forever, and we can celebrate that everyday. Again God bless you greatly. Jesus loves you.

 

[waterlilyoflife]

Thank you both so much for your words of wisdom and truth. You really help me, I was so depressed, but now I feel much better. I have decided there are some things in my life that separate me from God. Like fantasy, unicorns, fairies, Santa Claus, etc. I guess it might be ok for children to believe in such things, but I am an adult, a grown woman and I must dedicate my life to the Lord. I think dragons, unicorns, fairies, mermaids and Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, are like the idols the ancient people of Israel worshipped, tried to worship them alongside God. That might be what made God so angry, with Old Testament Jews, they worshiped him half heartedly, thinking they could keep there idols and worship the true God as well. But I really like unicorns, fairies and angels, I draw them along with princesses, I am writing a story that Is getting long, it is about the romance of a Christian princess and the prince she loves who live in a semi-perfect fantasy land, the princess has a beautiful rose garden around her fancy palace. There was going to be good and evil fairies, and unicorns living in the forest. I am thinking I could write other stories, just make them short and simple. Maybe I short concentrate on art, just do some drawing and painting. .

 

[Wormwood]

I like unicorns and fantasy stories too. Some great Christian thinkers in the past also did....such as C.S. Lewis (Chronicles of Narnia) and JRR Tolkien (Lord of the Rings). Idolatry is when you start to replace God and worship other things instead of God. So, unless you are praying to the unicorns your draw, I think you are going to be okay

 

[Sword]

First thing I would like to say is. Jesus loves you including all your faults. Jesus saw value in you. and said yes to the Father I will lay down my life for you and everyone else. We think what we do wrong is what we are. Wrong. If you aksed Chrst to forgive you and for Him to become your savour the He did. And its done. He now dwells in you and the Father and the Holy Ghost. So the fulness of God dwells in you. satan came to stael kill and destroy whats he stealing the truth the word of God from you. You really need to get God loves you and sent His best for you. Because you were worth the blood. Most Christians have not been told this. You are not a sinner. You are a son . You are holy in His sight. You need to get this. He has already forgiven you the sins that you are going to do in the future. He sees what you do wrong and loves you. You need to stop looking at you and start looking at Him who loves you. I recommend Dan Mohler He in MO is the most Christ like man on the earth. You need to listen to him. and all he will do is tell you to go to the bedroom and spend time alone with God and Holy Ghost will teach you all things. But Dan does teach you roughly what to say and how to go about it, It s amazing. Be blessed He loves you more than you realise. Ps you dont need to go to church, They will get on fine with out you now and again. There is Now No Condemnation in Christ. . Thats NO NO No condemnation none. Hehe.

 

[JPPT1974]

I do fan fiction stories too. So it is relaxing and enjoying. Know the feeling. If you feel you like to write those, by all means go for it.

 

[Angelina]

Sorry to have missed this thread although it's seems that you have had some very wise advice. Hope you are well dear one!

 

[bbyrd009]

unicorns are a symbol for Christ, i guess

 

[Helen]

I am grown woman and I must dedicate my life to the Lord. I think dragons, unicorns, fairies, mermaids and Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, are like the idols the ancient people of Israel worshipped, tried to worship them alongside God. That might be what made God so angry, with Old Testament Jews, they worshiped him half heartedly, thinking they could keep there idols and worship the true God as well. But I really like unicorns, fairies and angels, I draw them along with princesses, I am writing a story that Is getting long, it is about the romance of a Christian princess and the prince she loves who live in a semi-perfect fantasy land, the princess has a beautiful rose garden around her fancy palace. There was going to be good and evil fairies, and unicorns living in the forest. I am thinking I could write other stories, just make them short and simple. Maybe I short concentrate on art, just do some drawing and painting. .

She hasn't been back since June, so hopefully some of the wise posts helped her.
The first scripture that popped into my mind was :-
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
I think that would cover dragons, unicorns, fairies, mermaids and Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny!!
As a child the books that greatly influenced me was C.S. Lewis "The Narnia Chronicles"...and I have read them many times since...he got the gospel message out in powerfully...and anyone who has read it knows it is full of Elves, Dwarfs , witches, .......also good talking trees and talking animals ( they are the 'saved ones) The talking Lion = Jesus.
My husband uses a phrase often, saying " Well , If God used a talking donkey to get His message across...He will use anything, even a trash can, just to speak to anyone. "
To the pure all things are pure.

 

[Helen]

PS. I am glad to see some older threads being bumped up again.
The site has got a little one sided...variety is good and healthy.
There are many good older threads that have been abandoned. I have been reading them.

 

[dev553344]

I have a problem. First, my parents and I do not go to church, but we are saved Christians. I watched a movie about Jesus last night that was not in order with the Bible, and I went to bed without taking a shower, thinking I would either shower early and get ready early to go to Easter Sunday at 11:00 at the Methodist church, or stay home and watch Rev. Dr. Stanley the preacher on Sunday morning, message is Biblical and loving. i woke up stiff and aching, in pain. I watched Dr. Stanley but I wasn't sure about gong to church. he preached about salvation, and mostly baptism, talking about correct baptism, that one must be saved before being baptized. He said in order to be saved you must believe in your heart that Jesus died on the cross to save you from your sins, was died and resurrected to life on Easter SUnday morning, repernt and ask God to forgive you of your sins, and confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord. But when I was reading the Bible it said that no one puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of heaven, enter by the narrow gate, take up your cross and follow me, you must be good soil for the seed to grow, I thought that getting saved for real was really dificult, we had to act like Christians and give a lot of our material things away. So I was thinking about my mom, and my dad, and my mom was waking up and 10:30 and I went to talk to her and questioned whether she was saved. She was really hurt, and really mad and me, then my dad was mad at me, and they thought it was my mental illness cming up again, I was going crazy again. I thought about it and I realized I was wrong, so I started crying. I took a shower, and I was miserable, I was crying all through my shower, and while getting dressed. Then my dad said mom wanted to go out to eat, we went out to eat, I put on nicer clothes when going out to eat. I felt better, but then I tripped up again, I spilled lemonad all over my skirt! I feel like I have messed up bad today. i should have gone to church.

Sometimes mentally ill people say things and don't know the implications of what they're saying. Don't be too hard on yourself.

I think church could be a positive experience for you. Mentally ill people benefit from being around other people. Cheers