Hi there!
So I have struggled a lot, with my relationship to Christ. Although I had faith at a young age (10?), I did not make it past puberty - in faith - before I started doubting the direction my faith was going. Our family stopped going to Church and I decided I would make my own way. This was a split from the Church, and from God.
What I have started to regret, even though I 'think' I have come back to the Church in my twenties, is that just as there is only one sacrifice for sin, so also there is only one Church to have joined. The two, to me, are linked. And I have started to realise I need to plead the blood of Christ, over the split.
Any one that has any degree of maturity, realises that you can't serve God, criticizing the Church through which you serve God. Maybe this is a timely message for anyone with doubts about the Church? The point is, you will get nowhere, without sanctification in the Church, which you can only succeed at, by returning to the blood of the Lamb that made you part of the Church. It's a first principles issue.
My initial thought was to just rejoin the Church, but it became clear that the Devil was coming with me! In and out, Sunday after Sunday I would struggle with the idea that once I was in the Church, I wasn't worthy to be in the Church. It's hard to explain; but I think I have hit the nail on the head, with this one: the blood of the Lamb covers all our sins, even sins against the Church!
So I guess I am at your mercy! I have pled the blood of the Lamb, over my place/my relationship in the Church, all I need is for the Church to remind me, where I stand and serving God will not be done in futility. I am sorry I left the Church - it is surprising how far we can wander, when we don't listen to our emotions (and not our feelings). I still feel like I am in a struggle with the Devil, but he was basically trying to argue that I don't understand the blood of the Lamb like I should do. The Devil simply has to go.
The coming days we will be tested with our allegiance to God and the Church, let's just hope we haven't forgotten the foundation in which our faith is given what it needs (testimony to the Lamb, not solely ourselves).
I hope this has been of some encouragement.
God bless (and bless again).
So I have struggled a lot, with my relationship to Christ. Although I had faith at a young age (10?), I did not make it past puberty - in faith - before I started doubting the direction my faith was going. Our family stopped going to Church and I decided I would make my own way. This was a split from the Church, and from God.
What I have started to regret, even though I 'think' I have come back to the Church in my twenties, is that just as there is only one sacrifice for sin, so also there is only one Church to have joined. The two, to me, are linked. And I have started to realise I need to plead the blood of Christ, over the split.
Any one that has any degree of maturity, realises that you can't serve God, criticizing the Church through which you serve God. Maybe this is a timely message for anyone with doubts about the Church? The point is, you will get nowhere, without sanctification in the Church, which you can only succeed at, by returning to the blood of the Lamb that made you part of the Church. It's a first principles issue.
My initial thought was to just rejoin the Church, but it became clear that the Devil was coming with me! In and out, Sunday after Sunday I would struggle with the idea that once I was in the Church, I wasn't worthy to be in the Church. It's hard to explain; but I think I have hit the nail on the head, with this one: the blood of the Lamb covers all our sins, even sins against the Church!
So I guess I am at your mercy! I have pled the blood of the Lamb, over my place/my relationship in the Church, all I need is for the Church to remind me, where I stand and serving God will not be done in futility. I am sorry I left the Church - it is surprising how far we can wander, when we don't listen to our emotions (and not our feelings). I still feel like I am in a struggle with the Devil, but he was basically trying to argue that I don't understand the blood of the Lamb like I should do. The Devil simply has to go.
The coming days we will be tested with our allegiance to God and the Church, let's just hope we haven't forgotten the foundation in which our faith is given what it needs (testimony to the Lamb, not solely ourselves).
I hope this has been of some encouragement.
God bless (and bless again).
