Is it possible to get my faith back?

[dev553344]

For me these feelings don't come from unrepented sins, they come from the poor hand God has dealt me. Even if I were repented from my sins I would still feel like he hates me.

Interesting @PossibleThrowawayAccount. I turned my life to God at about 27 years old. After that I lost my car, apartment, wife and children in a nasty divorce. I have mental illness that developed in my 20's which is normal for that. I ended up homeless. The Lord was with me when I was homeless and I felt closest to him then. I was beaten down pretty bad. Today I'm doing much better.

Looking back at my life I realized that the Lord delivered me from many near death experiences and accidents. He has always been there protecting me. He let bad things happen to me though. I still love him and it hurts. I reflect on Job's experiences and that he still loved God thru it all. And that is encouraging.

Being Christian does not mean life will be all successful and pleasant. If we think Christianity means that then I think we need to keep reading the bible.

Christianity is about loving God and our neighbors. It's always been about that regardless of what happens to us. And it makes for a better world. It can be heaven on earth if enough people are involved. It is a life that we can believe in.

 

[dhh712]

Interesting @PossibleThrowawayAccount. I turned my life to God at about 27 years old. After that I lost my car, apartment, wife and children in a nasty divorce. I have mental illness that developed in my 20's which is normal for that. I ended up homeless. The Lord was with me when I was homeless and I felt closest to him then. I was beaten down pretty bad. Today I'm doing much better.

Looking back at my life I realized that the Lord delivered me from many near death experiences and accidents. He has always been there protecting me. He let bad things happen to me though. I still love him and it hurts. I reflect on Job's experiences and that he still loved God thru it all. And that is encouraging.

@PossibleThrowawayAccount , I hope you will consider these things that we have posted and take into account your own life in light of our experiences too. If you look at what happened to me (though not nearly as difficult as the experiences Devin has gone through or many other saints of the Lord who trusted upon Him no matter though it seemed --as Job describes it--He were killing them), you might say that God called me to Him just to have the most precious thing in my life (my husband) taken away from me. Please consider, ThrowAway, why would you say then that if God does not give you temporal relief from your troubles, that He doesn't love you?

I reflect on Job's experiences and that he still loved God thru it all. And that is encouraging.

I think the main thing that led me to Jesus was reading about D.H. Hill's Job-like experiences in losing his children (4 out of 9). He quoted Job's, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him." It wasn't a conscious thought, but I feel that I had the idea that I would love to have this kind of relationship, this kind of trust that is still there through all the miserable things that life can throw at you, that you can still believe in something no matter what happens to you. I somehow knew that that was real. That nothing in this world can make someone have that kind of faith. And that was what I wanted. It's the trials that show you who you really are. In the fluff of life you can be anything; nothing challenges the core of your being and you have all the comforts to imagine anything you want. When those things are stripped away, that is who you really are. And these people loved and trusted when everything they had was taken away from them. That alone is ultimate power. And that is what all believers have. Something that nothing in all the world can ever take away from them. It is an absolutely amazing comfort and the only thing that can truly bring us any kind of lasting peace in life. All other things will crumble and fall away and then we really will be left with nothing.

 

[stunnedbygrace]

Trigger warning: abuse, other themes

Sorry for the long read. I made an account on this forum specifically to ask my fellow Christians for help. I hope none of this comes off as rant-ish, I posted this because I need help with my faith.

My life has always been a mess and for the past ten years my problems have been tampering my faith.

My life has always been dismal. I grew up with an abusive father who I am still stuck with, I have no self worth, I spent my entire life in grinding poverty, I have no hope in having any kind of future and there is nothing I can do to make things better. I am just average looking, I am not smart, I have no charm and I wish God had made me almost anybody else.

I grew up an atheist but converted to Christianity at 16 after surviving an "accident" (not sure if we can discuss those kinds of things here, but you get the idea). Even to this day I have nightmares and flashbacks about being in the hospital and I feel horrified when I think too much about it.

As much as I hated to be prideful, I considered myself to be a great Christian. I wanted to go from country to country preaching the gospel even at risk of my own life. I set aside 30 minutes a day to listen to an audio Bible and 10 minutes for prayer. Then I suffered a series of tragedies...

I had a girlfriend who eventually cheated on me. She made a heart felt apology and said that it meant nothing. We stayed together even though she was expecting. We planned our future together thoroughly. Halfway through she suffered a miscarriage and we broke up a few months later as we grew cold with each other. As odd as it sounds the children who weren't even mine are what anchors me to Christianity, knowing that I will be able to meet them someday.

I left Christianity for the first of many times almost ten years ago. To keep a long story short my family lost a legal battle against a church group that was responsible for our dog's death. I lost my faith in God and converted to Hinduism.

Years later I came back to Christ despite still being unsure and angry about the lawsuit. I have a controlling father who can be abusive at times. A few years ago he tried throwing my brother out of the house just for getting a job. We fled to my grandparents' for a few days until we thought he cooled down. He didn't. He became abusive towards my mother for no reason and began threatening her with everything from financial terrorism to murder. He was even abusive to my brother sometimes and eventually ended up taking all the money he had earned.

I got my first job shortly after and promised to free my family from the abuse. I only worked a month after a knee injury forced me to quit as I did not earn enough time off to heal. I haven't been able to work since and me and my family are still stuck with an abuser. He made it known he will not take us getting work lightly anyway so if I found something it would have to be something I can live on, but there isn't anything around here that pays good.

I used to be the owner of a thriving message board but it got shut down when someone who was banned for bad behavior complained and made false accusations about us to our webmaster. Really, that board was all I had and I felt like I have nothing now. I was also bullied by a rival board leader who get away with it because he was a work friend of the webmaster. I made a close friend on my board but lost contact with her and I miss her every day.

I am frustrated by being single. I wonder why God didn't make me gorgeous or charismatic. Why did he make me just average looking and dull? I see these hot movie stars and people fawning over them and wonder why I am not good enough.

There is something else that bothers me but I won't mention it as it seems marginal. All the same it makes me bitter.

I find myself doubting God and sometimes I foolishly blame HIM for allowing my problems to happen. Sometimes I genuinely think HE hates me and that HE makes bad things happen to me out of spite. No matter how hard I try to remain a Christian, my problems usually cloud my mind and I feel angry at God. I don't even pray anymore as I don't think God cares about me and I only sometimes acknowledge the Bible. I have my moments of feeling religious but they usually fade within an hour.

Will I ever get my faith back? Is it even possible at this point? Is there a way I can try to keep my faith?

Thanks for your patience in reading this long post and thank you all in advance for the help.

Faith means trust. So when you say your problems over the past ten years have been tampering with your faith, you are saying your problems are preventing you from trusting God. Because you have problems and hard circumstances, you can’t trust God, don’t think He cares and are instead mad at God. I deeply understand that. I’ve been there. I was there for a long time.

How will God test and grow your trust if you have no problems and pressures? When you read about the great heroes of trust in Hebrews, they had pressures and problems. They are heroes of trust not because God removed their problems but because they trusted Him despite their problems. The men thrown into the burning oven didn’t say, I’ve lost trust in God because of this problem I find myself in. They said, God will save me from this problem, and even if He doesn’t and this is how I am to die, I will still trust Him.

Contrast those heroes of trust with the mistakes of Israel in the desert. They began their race of trust well. They trusted God to save them, so they stepped out under the wall of water that could kill them if it came crashing down on them. But then He tested their trust, gave them a “problem.” It says, God let them become very thirsty to see what they would do. Continue to trust despite the problem OR grumble, complain and not continue trusting?

I read every single one of your posts. I think you already know what I’m saying but just haven’t yet begun to practice trust fully yet and haven’t understood Gods testing of your trust. The cares and problems of this world are choking out the growing of your trust. Gods intent is to grow your trust through your problems and testing, not to decrease it. I hope this will help to get you unstuck from the rut you have fallen into. Our desire is usually a change in our circumstances. Gods desire is that we trust despite them.

 

[stunnedbygrace]

I am recalling listening to a friend speak about Amalek. How it was after Israel did all their grumbling and complaining in the place their trust was being tested in that it says, And then came Amalek. My friend said the surest way to get the spirit of Amalek to come and bother you is to complain when your trust is being tested.
You have the sword of Gods word but your hands get tired, your feet begin to slip, you get cranky, and others come to help steady your hands as you hold up the sword to run Amalek off. They help build up your trust/edify.

 

[Scott Downey]

You must repent of your sin and your unbelief.
Unrepentant sinners are what scripture calls the sons of disobedience, and this is wickedness.
If someone is unrepentant that shows their heart has been hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Luke 13

There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? 3 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem?

5 I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”

Colossians 3:5-7
New King James Version

5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, 7 in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.

 

[Scott Downey]

Unbelief in Christ is a sin, God commands all people, allover to repent and believe in His Son.

Matthew 17:4-6
New King James Version

4 Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

5 While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” 6 And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid.

Even the apostles had unbelief issues at times...
Mark 16:14
Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen.

Acts 17
30 Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, 31 because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”

Romans 3
New King James Version

God’s Judgment Defended
1 What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision? 2 Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God. 3 For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? 4 Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar. As it is written:

“That You may be justified in Your words,
And may overcome when You are judged.”

5 But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? (I speak as a man.) 6 Certainly not! For then how will God judge the world?

7 For if the truth of God has increased through my lie to His glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner? 8 And why not say, “Let us do evil that good may come”? —as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say. Their condemnation is just.

All Have Sinned
9 What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.

10 As it is written:

“There is none righteous, no, not one;
11 There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God.
12 They have all turned aside;
They have together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not one.”
13 “Their throat is an open tomb;
With their tongues they have practiced deceit”;
“The poison of asps is under their lips”;
14 “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 Destruction and misery are in their ways;
17 And the way of peace they have not known.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

God’s Righteousness Through Faith
21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Boasting Excluded
27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. 29 Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, 30 since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. 31 Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.

 

[PossibleThrowawayAccount]

I am willing to give God another chance, but one thing I cannot get past is my hate for my enemies. Even though we are supposed to forgive our enemies, I cannot and the lack of justice makes it hard.

 

[Sabertooth]

...one thing I cannot get past is my hate for my enemies.

No one can, in their own strength. That is why you need to be Born Again first.

 

[dhh712]

I am willing to give God another chance, but one thing I cannot get past is my hate for my enemies. Even though we are supposed to forgive our enemies, I cannot and the lack of justice makes it hard.

Hey Possible, I don't think very many believers have the grace to love their enemies. It's just not natural. That is why we have Jesus' righteousness and not our own. My friend was telling me yesterday about these scammers in another country and what they do to people and I really felt hatred toward them and I'll tell you honestly, though I said I hoped that they would repent in time, I really felt rather that they would instead see the justice of God for their crimes. That is wrong. I just can't help it. I wish I didn't feel that way, but I do. I just hate the injustice in the world and I want to see them punished for their crimes. Life is difficult enough and these evil people make it even more miserable.

I listen to some true crime stuff and often the author will go into the criminal's past and the most recent one went into the difficult life of the criminal; I did feel a small amount of compassion for him and wished that he would have come to God before he did the wickedness he had done. I don't know if that what it means to have compassion; it seems like it's way more than that. But when I hear about just the crimes and cruelty, I don't care; I just want them punished. I don't want to hear about the person, I just want them taken away so they can't do anything bad to other people.

We're supposed to forgive others because of the insurmountable debt that God has forgiven for us. It's just impossible though, for these really evil people--for me at least--to not want justice for them. I know that's placing my own moral standards above the command of forgiveness. That's why I have to trust God and definitely not that anything I do can amount to any merit before God because it is all tainted with sin (even the apparently "good" things I do). This stuff I hear about though, it just makes me hate this life more and more. Wish that Jesus will return sooner than later and save us all from this misery.

Possible, I do feel down a lot and really do identify with how you were talking about feeling that God hates you. I'll tell you it has just been so hard to lose my husband. Many times I feel exactly that way--that God hates me. I just can't trust my feelings though. I know in his word he says he loves me and that's what I must understand instead. Lots of times though--for me at least--it's an understanding of the mind, like acknowledging that, but I really don't feel that way. I feel more like you said, that he's really just some kind cosmic sadist that likes to ruin peoples' lives (I think C.S. Lewis felt that way too; his wife passed away whom he married later in life too. My husband and I watched that movie, Shadowlands, shortly after we met). Whatever our feelings tell us though, we have to realize that that is all they are: feelings. Only God's word is the truth and that is what we must hang on to as though our life depended on it.

It surely doesn't work for everyone and may not be much in your case, I don't know, but I think sometimes about how much worse it could be. God has taken all my earthly joy, but there are things that make life bearable. I'd really hate for those things to be taken away. He really could be truly a miserable tyrant, but--at least in my case--he hasn't done everything he could have done. He has shown me mercy and for that I am really grateful.

And time just flies by. The days seem long but the years just go by. It seems impossible to me that like almost 30 years ago I graduated from grade school and went into high-school. In a few short years it will be my 30 year high-school reunion. It may not seem like that now but one day you'll sit down and realize that you're pretty old, like in your 60s or 70s and it will seem like no time has passed at all. Yesterday was a rough night for me. I just cried and cried and told God I just hated being here, that I wish I never existed. Well, before long I won't be here. What is the point of trying to push God away for the rest of that time? I'll still be miserable.

Well, Possible, I don't have like a good closing line, but know that I'll be praying for you--not that my prayers mean very much in a sinner like I am; it is truly a great thing though to know that Jesus brings our prayers perfectly to our Heavenly Father though, so that they do mean very much. Best wishes for you, for brighter days ahead.

 

[Pearl]

Loving your enemies does not involve feeling it involves doing - being kind when they are cruel; wishing them well when they wish bad things for you; going the extra mile; keeping calm when they lose it. Those are things involved in loving our enemies. And we were all once enemies of God but look how He loved us!

 

[stunnedbygrace]

I am willing to give God another chance, but one thing I cannot get past is my hate for my enemies. Even though we are supposed to forgive our enemies, I cannot and the lack of justice makes it hard.

Yes, your flesh prevents it. Until He begins to change that. You trying to change that is like a leopard trying to remove his spots. The righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel and that’s the righteousness we want in ourselves but find we are not capable of it. That true righteousness that we hunger for comes to us by trust(faith).

You are not going to believe me on this but you are actually in a good place. When we begin to see more keenly what we lack, like you have seen regarding your lack of trust and of forgiveness, we see it BECAUSE we are actually closer to God. His working is like a bright light being shone on our heart and we begin to see every impurity and lack when He is actually working in us. John of the Cross describes it like a ray of sunshine coming through a window that shows all the dust motes swirling in the air. You don’t see the motes unless the beam of light is revealing them. He also says, of it seeming to us like sheer darkness when God is actually flooding us with MORE light, that it’s like how the sun, if we look at it, can actually blind us for some moments until our eyes adjust, because our eyes are weak when flooded with so much light.

You are not in an unusual or forsaken place. You are in a place many of us have been. I know it feels like a bad place but it isn’t. It’s literally a good place but you won’t see it until He pulls back on the light some. Then is when you get glimpses of what He has been working you toward, which is more and more trust in Him and less and less trust in self and other selves.

 

[Taken]

I need help with my faith.

You are not alone. Everyone needs HELP with their Faith.
Faith, IS a Gift from God, “FOR” hearing “HIS” Word.
Hearing (reading) “HIS” Word.....IS the “beginning” OF Faith.
Continuing Hearing (reading), Advances the “beginning” of Hearing;
TO BELIEVING what you Hear (read).

My life has always been a mess and for the past ten years my problems have been tampering my faith.

Your LIFE (BLOOD) is NATURAL.
Gods LIFE (SPIRIT) is SUPERNATURAL.
* Your LIFE IS: subject to it’s habitat, the world, the people thereof, the corruption, backstabbers, liars, cheats, thieves, slanderers, persecutors....
* God OFFERS “spiritual LIFE”......”with Him”....AND “for the Willing WHO freely Choose...LIFE “IN” Him.

My life has always been dismal. I grew up with an abusive father who I am still stuck with, I have no self worth, I spent my entire life in grinding poverty, I have no hope in having any kind of future and there is nothing I can do to make things better. I am just average looking, I am not smart, I have no charm and I wish God had made me almost anybody else.

“YOUR” natural Life IS temporary. Gods “offering” of supernatural Life, IS Permanent Life.

I grew up an atheist but converted to Christianity at 16 after surviving an "accident" (not sure if we can discuss those kinds of things here, but you get the idea). Even to this day I have nightmares and flashbacks about being in the hospital and I feel horrified when I think too much about it.
[/QUOTE]

Atheism, Christian, Hindu, Religious, etc. ARE association Tag indicators.

The WORLD IS Corrupt.My
The conundrum IS....We LIVE IN the WORLD.
POINT BLANK...there ARE two KINDS of people....
1) People “OF” the World.
2) People who have COME OUT “OF” the World, and ENTERED “INTO” The Spirit “OF” God.

** YOU have to “TRULY IN YOUR HEART’S THOUGHTS” DECIDE WHICH person YOU want to BE.

In all seriousness, You are focused on NEGATIVE behaviors of other people and situations that PLAGUE you, and wondering WHY God has MADE that YOUR FATE.

My FIRST advice to you would be...CHANGE WHAT “YOU” CAN CHANGE.
Decide WHAT “YOU WANT” to TRUST...
(Your dad, your family, your friends, a girl, strangers, multiple Hindu gods, money, a forever job, sciences, governments, man-made churches, etc,? )
OR DO YOU TRULY DESIRE to TRUST....GOD?
IF ^^ THAT BE YOUR TRUE DESIRE...
THEN...focus ON getting to KNOW HIM.

The KEY is “your true heartful desire”
AND
Gods Offering of an ADVOCATE for you; Christ the Lord Jesus.

In short what I am saying IS:
Hear, Read, Learn, WHO God IS; (creator)
Hear, Read, Learn, WHO Jesus IS; (maker)
Hear, Read, Learn, WHO the Holy Spirit IS: (all-mighty)

God IS NOT concerned, with YOUR looks, World Corruption YOU are exposed to.
God IS Concerned WITH YOUR soul...YOUR spirit.
Did you KNOW, a Saved soul, a Born Again spirit, a Body risen IN glory.........IS Gods Inheritance?

Do you think an Inheritance is a trifle thing, THAT God does NOT WANT to receive?
Meaning; Hear, Read, Learn.....ABOUT GOD.
Meaning; LEARNING ABOUT anything....IS HOW Believe IS established, IS; IS HOW TRUST IS established.

God has NOT let you DOWN.
Your “SURROUNDINGS HAVE” let you down; Disappointed You.

Back to the original point. CHANGE what you CAN Change.
IF you WANT a one on one Relationship with God...
Learn ABOUT Him.
Decide to Believe what you LEARN.
Belief, leads to TRUST.
TRUST, leads to a Relationship.
AND REMEMBER...You have 24-7 access to the ADVOCATE God provided......Praying TO: the Advocate (Christ Jesus) Asking for direction, Asking FOR Him to put IN YOUR PATH needs TO establish your relationship with God...

BECAUSE, the fact IS: Having a Relationship WITH GOD, IS serious business.
Men randomly calling OUT TO GOD...uh...He is NOT LISTENING!

Which means...God IS THE GOD OF THE LIVING.
Human men ARE DEAD, in their SINS.
Human men BECOME, DEAD in their FLESH, when, THEY have gone THROUGH the ADVOCATE Jesus (the Word of God)...
Heard, Learned, Accepted, Believed, Trusted....the Word of God.
FIRST STEP ^^
Confessed their Heartful Belief....of the Word of God.
SECOND STEP ^^
Then Does the ADVOCATE (Christ Jesus), notify God, YOU ARE PREPARED to be INCLUDED in having an “EXCLUSIVE one on one Relationship WITH God”.
AND...that one on one Relationship BECOMES EFFECTED, by, though, of.......the ADVOCATE (Christ the Lord Jesus)
....Until that TIME...God IS NOT Listening TO YOU.

Point being...Blaming who you DO NOT KNOW, and Who does not KNOW YOU...is fruitless, irrelevant.

No one can:
HEAR for you, READ for you, BELIEVE for you, TRUST for you.

Jesus IS all ears. Willing, Waiting, for you to Hear, Read, ABOUT God, Believe, Trust, Gods Word, and CALL ON JESUS NAME, to Direct you...
AWAY from your dismal, family, associations, circumstances that KEEP you in a repetitive, negative, vicious circle swirling downward to destruction.

Rev 18:
[4] And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

THAT ^ is a Directive TO: “Gods People”.
WHO ARE Gods “PEOPLE” ?
* ISRAEL....and all men IN Christ.
What IS “her”, they are being told to “COME OUT OF” ?
“HER” is the corruption “OF” the World, (lies, deceit, trickery, of men, of governments, of powers that advocate, promote, agree with abominations in direct contrast to Gods Word.)

Jas 4;
[4] Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.

CHANGE your Paradigm...
YOUR Surroundings...
YOUR Focus...hear, read, learn, Christ Jesus, decide to Believe, to Trust, and EXPECT your journey to COME OUT OF THE WORLD to Begin.

IF you continue to FOCUS on the NEGATIVE, expect the NEGATIVE to consume you.

Glory to God,
Taken

 

[Scott Downey]

I am willing to give God another chance, but one thing I cannot get past is my hate for my enemies. Even though we are supposed to forgive our enemies, I cannot and the lack of justice makes it hard.

Your enemies may also be God's enemies, God does have enemies.
Give place to wrath.
Romans 12:18-20
New King James Version

18 If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 Therefore

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
If he is thirsty, give him a drink;
For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.”

 

[Scott Downey]

The whole of Romans 12 is a good refresher on how to live the Christian life.

Romans 12
New King James Version

1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

3 For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

4 For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. 6 Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; 7 or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; 8 he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.

Behave Like a Christian
9 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good. 10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; 11 not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; 12 rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; 13 distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality.

14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. 16 Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.

17 Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. 18 If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 Therefore

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
If he is thirsty, give him a drink;
For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.”

21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

 

[PossibleThrowawayAccount]

Your enemies may also be God's enemies, God does have enemies.

I have actually thought of that. I think they may be atheists based on things they say or do. I know at least one of them is.

18 If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. 20 Therefore

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
If he is thirsty, give him a drink;
For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.”

This quote helps me sometimes yet at the same time I worry that it refers to enemies of Christianity. If my enemies happen to be Christians (despite my reasons to think otherwise) will God still avenge me for what they did?

 

[Scott Downey]

I have actually thought of that. I think they may be atheists based on things they say or do. I know at least one of them is.



This quote helps me sometimes yet at the same time I worry that it refers to enemies of Christianity. If my enemies happen to be Christians (despite my reasons to think otherwise) will God still avenge me for what they did?

Of course! But not in the same way. God disciplines His people so that they will not perish along with the world.
But there is always a reckoning for sins, but not unto eternal death. God is not mocked, people reap what they sow.
Christians have eternal life, but they all must come before the judgement seat of Christ and be judged.
You also will be judged, either by Christ if a believer, or by God at the final judgement if you are not.
Christians do not come under that judgement for those who believe have passed from death into life.

It is also possible they are false brethren.
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John 5:24
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.

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2 Corinthians 5
For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, 3 if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. 4 For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. 5 Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

6 So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. 7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.

The Judgment Seat of Christ
9 Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. 11 Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.

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1 Corinthians 3
5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, as the Lord gave to each one? 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. 7 So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. 8 Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.

9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. 10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. 11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.

16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.

In peril among false brethren

2 Corinthians 11
22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. 23 Are they ministers of Christ?—I speak as a fool—I am more: in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequently, in deaths often. 24 From the Jews five times I received forty stripes minus one. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods; once I was stoned; three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I have been in the deep; 26 in journeys often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; 27 in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness— 28 besides the other things, what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches. 29 Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to stumble, and I do not burn with indignation?

30 If I must boast, I will boast in the things which concern my infirmity. 31 The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is blessed forever, knows that I am not lying. 32 In Damascus the governor, under Aretas the king, was guarding the city of the Damascenes with a garrison, desiring to arrest me; 33 but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and escaped from his hands.

 

[PossibleThrowawayAccount]

kind of an update.

I realized that I need to learn how to forgive my enemies, how to keep from getting angry at God, and how to move past the bad things that have happened. Can anyone help with these?

 

[stunnedbygrace]

kind of an update.

I realized that I need to learn how to forgive my enemies, how to keep from getting angry at God, and how to move past the bad things that have happened. Can anyone help with these?

What a good place to have God to have brought you! You see your poverty of spirit and are now hungering for true righteousness in your inner man. You have already been blessed by God to have that hunger for righteousness for you will be filled. He has blessed you. One moment you did not see your poverty and in an instant you suddenly saw it!
Blessed are you who are poor in spirit and see that you are and recognize your need for Gods help. The kingdom of God belongs to you!

God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him,
for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
4 God blesses those who mourn,
for they will be comforted.
5 God blesses those who are humble,
for they will inherit the whole earth.
6 God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice,[righteousness]
for they will be satisfied.
7 God blesses those who are merciful,
for they will be shown mercy.
8 God blesses those whose hearts are pure,
for they will see God.
9 God blesses those who work for peace,
for they will be called the children of God.
10 God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right,
for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

 

[stunnedbygrace]

For me these feelings don't come from unrepented sins, they come from the poor hand God has dealt me. Even if I were repented from my sins I would still feel like he hates me.

Oh my gosh, you sound like Job…I mean, exactly like Job. You express yourself here like him. He’s definitely your brother.

 

[dhh712]

kind of an update.

I realized that I need to learn how to forgive my enemies, how to keep from getting angry at God, and how to move past the bad things that have happened. Can anyone help with these?

Bless you, brother! I am so happy to see that you are striving to know God. As I mentioned before, I have some experience with being angry with God. Prayer is difficult at those times. At times I wonder if I have actually moved past the bad things that have happened in my life. I will force myself to pray at those times when I am angry at God, even if it seems my prayers are useless. There is a quote from some dear brother or sister in Christ that I try to keep foremost in my mind at these times: "Satan trembles at the weakest saint on their knees". I consider myself at times to be a very weak saint.

Reading the Bible for some reason comes so much easier to me than praying. That could be because I naturally like to read and I naturally do not like to pray! I found John's gospel to be an amazing one where we can really get to know the character of our Lord. For me, it is being in Him and getting to know Him better that helps me to, by His strength, get back to the reality (which I cannot understand and in no way feel) of how God really does love me and that all things some how do ultimately work for good for those who love Him.

We must not trust our feelings ultimately--if I did that, I would have walked away from God years ago. We must understand what God speaks to us, in His word, in an objective way and trust in that and not lean upon our own understanding.

I trust there will be more brothers and sister here who will give you much better help than I can ever give. At times I'm in the same place--having anger at God. One thing to remember is that a Christian's walk with the Lord will often be a slow one. We often don't have amazing victories over the devil overnight--but we are victorious in the Lord! He has overcome our ultimate enemy: death. I remember hearing one pastor talking about how someone told him it wasn't until he was 50 until he finally figured out the right way to pray. I'm not sure how long that brother was walking with the Lord, but it may be some time for me yet.

Praying for you, brother.