Hi there,
So I have languished for a long, long time that I departed from the faith, as a teen - having had a reborn experience when I was even younger. I would always scour the skies so to speak, looking for the inspiration that would bring my faith back to life. Again and again I would come under attack and not know how to respond to the Devil. I would feel miserable and say over and over again "Why didn't I just have faith?" I mean I knew what faith was, but it was broken, I couldn't use it anymore, without bringing up the memories of all the things I did without faith and all the longings to make a name for myself, without faith necessarily guiding any of it.
Then I found: faith. I found the faith that I could develop a second wind, of faith, to be precise. I realised that if I just kept building on the faith I had, I would get my faith back and even more. This was the second wind! I began to realise I didn't need to beat myself up, I could just look up and trust that greater faith would come, would be possible through the Holy Spirit. It is the Devil that binds us, over what our faith has been - but he doesn't actually know, not what only our soul and God in our soul knew. Imagine what would happen if all the believers of the world who had been struggling with their first faith, realised that it was possible to wait on God for a second wind! We would have revival overnight!
Now with greater faith, comes greater testing, but if we are wise, we can hold off launching into a second wind, straight away: what is important, is that to begin with, we know it is coming. We are able to make ready, to have the destination set and to not look back. Even knowing the second wind is coming, will have its own miraculous power. For a start, we will stop doubting ourselves; for another thing, we will have confidence in other believers; for a third thing, God's Will will start to make sense to us (over the longer term). We all have a good life to look forward to, Lord willing (that is if nothing interferes). It will be prudent to thank God from Day for the Second Wind that is coming, that He will use it mightily for His Work. Persecutions will manifest once we have this faith, but that is not the goal.
Now if you think this is some sort of cheat, that I want faith and I want backsliding to go with it, you don't really understand what its like to backslide - it is horrible! We never really enjoy our sin anymore, after Salvation, so to backslide is an awfully difficult thing to do, neither does it reward you at all - the idiom "there's no point in beating a dead horse" is apt (but that would be "beating a dead faith"). The point is that when we deal with the urgency that the Devil puts on us and have confidence in just remaining quiet in our soul, our strength will gradually grow. This reaches a critical mass - so to speak - where both the old faith and the new, take off together. That is something worth fighting for!
I hope this has been of some encouragement to you.
God bless.
So I have languished for a long, long time that I departed from the faith, as a teen - having had a reborn experience when I was even younger. I would always scour the skies so to speak, looking for the inspiration that would bring my faith back to life. Again and again I would come under attack and not know how to respond to the Devil. I would feel miserable and say over and over again "Why didn't I just have faith?" I mean I knew what faith was, but it was broken, I couldn't use it anymore, without bringing up the memories of all the things I did without faith and all the longings to make a name for myself, without faith necessarily guiding any of it.
Then I found: faith. I found the faith that I could develop a second wind, of faith, to be precise. I realised that if I just kept building on the faith I had, I would get my faith back and even more. This was the second wind! I began to realise I didn't need to beat myself up, I could just look up and trust that greater faith would come, would be possible through the Holy Spirit. It is the Devil that binds us, over what our faith has been - but he doesn't actually know, not what only our soul and God in our soul knew. Imagine what would happen if all the believers of the world who had been struggling with their first faith, realised that it was possible to wait on God for a second wind! We would have revival overnight!
Now with greater faith, comes greater testing, but if we are wise, we can hold off launching into a second wind, straight away: what is important, is that to begin with, we know it is coming. We are able to make ready, to have the destination set and to not look back. Even knowing the second wind is coming, will have its own miraculous power. For a start, we will stop doubting ourselves; for another thing, we will have confidence in other believers; for a third thing, God's Will will start to make sense to us (over the longer term). We all have a good life to look forward to, Lord willing (that is if nothing interferes). It will be prudent to thank God from Day for the Second Wind that is coming, that He will use it mightily for His Work. Persecutions will manifest once we have this faith, but that is not the goal.
Now if you think this is some sort of cheat, that I want faith and I want backsliding to go with it, you don't really understand what its like to backslide - it is horrible! We never really enjoy our sin anymore, after Salvation, so to backslide is an awfully difficult thing to do, neither does it reward you at all - the idiom "there's no point in beating a dead horse" is apt (but that would be "beating a dead faith"). The point is that when we deal with the urgency that the Devil puts on us and have confidence in just remaining quiet in our soul, our strength will gradually grow. This reaches a critical mass - so to speak - where both the old faith and the new, take off together. That is something worth fighting for!
I hope this has been of some encouragement to you.
God bless.
