Why can't I change...

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AnimAaron

Guest
#1
#1
Two Sundays ago in church, the pastor there prayed for me, and it was amazing and I really felt the presence of God there with me. I really enjoyed what happened and I felt healed and forgiven and even before then God had been doing even little things for me that He knew I'd notice.

So I know he cares for me and that he has forgiven me for what I've done. It's been going on for so long though and I've done it again, and I'm ashamed. I don't understand why I continue to do this stuff even after I know its wrong and God has forgiven me for it. I pray so much to be changed by God that, to be completely honest, I don't feel like I deserve any more chances. I've started thanking God for the breaths I take because He could decided that I'm not worth His time whenever He wanted to. I grew up in church but just like any normal human being I fell into sin and temptation and I haven't been able to come out of it. I don't understand why, after I was touched by God like this and I was forgiven, I continue to do this. It's really wearing on my mental health and I live in fear that if I died in any moment I wouldn't be in heaven with my family and friend and all those people who are important to me. Heaven seems so hard to get in to and.. I'm scared. I believe that God can do anything, he has already shown to me time and time again that he can heal anything that I ask for, or even that I don't, but I've asked for this and it hasn't happened. Do I not have enough faith? Am I doing something wrong? It hurts to be fearful like this and I just want to be able to live without it again, I want my problems to be relative to math, not my eternity.. I want to feel secure again... What's wrong with me?
 
Willie-T

Willie-T

Banned
#2
Feb 7, 2015
22,418
413
0
#2
Just remember none of this is your doing. Jesus did it all 2,000 years ago, and His continuing life is what will give you life.
 
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pwrnJC

Banned
#3
Dec 1, 2014
1,430
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#3
It's called being Human, AnimAaron...GOD knows your heart and your weaknesses..We all have them....You and JESUS CHRIST are now a team....but He, His WORD, the Holy Spirit and the Father are also part of your team. You need to utilize and enjoy all the benefits of understanding just who and what you are with all three of them. Living in the SpIRIT will help you to walk away and not touch or do what you've done in the past. There is not a single BIBLICAL hero in the BIBLE that did not have their faults hidden from us, the readers.
 
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AnimAaron

Guest
#4
#4
None of this is your doing
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So... Just keep praying and trying to change and things will just get better eventually??
 
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AnimAaron

Guest
#5
#5
Living in the SPIRIT will help you to walk away and noot to touch or do what you've done in the past.
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I appreciate your reply, pwrnJC, but for the sake of opinions, what does living in the spirit mean to you?
 
JesusLives

JesusLives

Senior Member
#6
Oct 11, 2013
14,551
2,171
113
#6
I don't know if you have heard the statement Let go and Let God? But I was agonizing over feeling as though I was lost all the time and headed to hell because I thought I was suppose to be perfect but felt like a hypocrite and kept sinning over and over. I would promise to do better and go back to church just to fail again and sin and drop out because I was a sinner and the cycle just kept going around and around driving me crazy...

So I cried out to God and said Lord I am not good enough and I'm never going to be good enough and He said Darlene you are right you aren't good enough, but that is why I sent My Son Jesus to die so that when you sin and then repent and ask for forgiveness I no longer look at the wrongs you have committed but I see the perfect life of My Son who's blood covers your sins. I said it is just that simple? and He said yes it is. I cried like a baby with gratitude to our Loving God who made a way to redeem us through His Son Jesus.

So my advise to you is pray to God and give Him your problem knowing that Jesus has covered your sin with His blood and then trust God to take this sin and problem away. Ask for the Holy Spirit to work in your life to make the changes needed and then trust God to do this for you knowing you are forgiven. If you fall again just continue to trust God and repent.

Psalm 103:~12As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us.

Micah 7:~…18Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity And passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in unchanging love. 19He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, You will cast all their sins Into the depths of the sea.

So it is nothing you can do except to ask for forgiveness and repent and allow God to work in your heart. Because it is what Jesus has already done for you by dying on the cross to save you and me...who at times feel so utterly lost, but we are found and saved by the blood of Jesus so lift your head up high and praise God for being delivered. Hugs to you I know how you feel.
 
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AuntieAnt

Guest
#7
#7
AnimAaron said:
So... Just keep praying and trying to change and things will just get better eventually??
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You're judging your outward man, which will never inherit the things of God. Your old man was crucified with Christ and you have been resurrected with Christ. You're focused on the wrong thing. God is the One at work within you making you more & more into the image of His Son Christ Jesus.

Rather than concentrate on sin, you can walk in faith, resting in the Lord and keeping your mind's eye on Him. He will teach you how to walk day by day and show you ways out of doubt & fear. Don't listen to the "logic" that says you have to deliver yourself from temptation.

Believe that Jesus Christ is within you and has made you free from the law of sin & death. You'll never see hell, dear because the Kingdom of God is within you. He is completing what He started in you. Nothing will ever separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
 
Willie-T

Willie-T

Banned
#8
Feb 7, 2015
22,418
413
0
#8
AnimAaron said:
So... Just keep praying and trying to change and things will just get better eventually??
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No, don't "try" to change. Just when a questionable option comes up, get calm and quiet, then ask God which path to take....... and take it.... without really thinking, just take it.
 
Willie-T

Willie-T

Banned
#9
Feb 7, 2015
22,418
413
0
#9
We don't live a life with Christ of "eventually getting there" and becoming something. We are told to take each step, each day, asking and accepting that God has us taking the steps He wants..... at that particular moment.
 
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Tinuviel

Guest
#10
#10
Hi Aaron.

Remember that you're forgiven. Remember that God is God, and that God is good. Remember that Christ loved you enough to die on the cross for you so that you could go to heaven. Stop focusing on you and your feelings, and focus on God. That is the only way I've found to pull myself out of the hole of sin, filth and despair that we work ourselves into. I am inclined to think it is the only way there is.

God loves you, my brother, and He has forgiven you your sin. Never for a moment forget that.
 
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AnimAaron

Guest
#11
#11
We don't live a life with Christ of "eventually getting there" and becoming something. We are told to take each step, each day, asking and accepting that God has us taking the steps He wants..... at that particular moment.
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Thank you, I appreciate everything you have said, and I will certainly try and look at days differently now... Everything has a place in God's plan even if I can't see it right? I am going to keep praying and I am going to look at the events that happen differently now. God will change me and I'll be ok.....

Believe that Jesus Christ is within you and has made you free from the law of sin & death. You'll never see hell, dear because the Kingdom of God is within you. He is completing what He started in you. Nothing will ever separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
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I keep reading this over and over again! I guess I find it hard to believe or.. I don't know. But thank you, either way, I really appreciate your reply. :) I will certainly do that, start to go each day focusing on God and what he has for me... It's just not easy ^-^" I've finally started doing a daily devotion and that's been helping a little bit. Actually that's why I ended up writing this, because of something I read.. I have to believe that the little bit it's been helping will lead to me being delivered from this entirely... right?
I don't know if you have heard the statement Let go and Let God?
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I have before, but I guess I never really thought about it and its meaning until now. Thank you a lot for your reply, and I appreciate it, and it really is nice to hear about someone else who went through something similar to me. I had been praying but I guess my problem was expecting instantaneous change, like all those stories where people say they can physically feel the sin come out of them and they never do it again. I need to keep a good mind set and keep believing......
 
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Perfect-lyBroken

Guest
#12
#12
Hi Aaron. I feel your pain. Oh what a disfunctional church family we are! Everyone falls and sins from time to time; you are no different. As weird as it sounds, have hope knowing that we all fail to meet the holiness of God. Even the early church fathers had their struggles. I would like to bring your attention to Romans 7:14-25.

"14 For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. 16 But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. 17 So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. 19 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. 20 But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. 21 I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. 22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, 23 but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin."

This was written by the Apostle Paul. Now if Paul had trouble, I think we would have trouble. That excerpt mentions something I think you'll find helpful. Notice verses 22 and 23.

"22 For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, 23 but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members."

There is a struggle between our body (members) and our minds (inner man). This struggle has been present since the Fall of Humanity. This struggle means that we are unstable and, because of our instability, we have a tendency to sin. Something we need to remember, though, is Jesus PAID THE PRICE of our sin in his body on the cross. The price HAS BEEN PAID IN FULL. No matter how bad of a person you or I can be, NOTHING can separate us from the love of God. Just remember, Jesus died for all of us. We are all broken puzzle pieces which God has taken and jammed into place and glued together in the body of Christ!

Also, If you ever doubt your salvation (I know I have), Christ has given us His Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit convicts us when we sin. I think you feeling bad about your sin is the Holy Spirit convicting you. I think that you really do believe and you are saved. If you weren't saved, you wouldn't think twice about your sin!

Take courage and resist this temptation and "the Devil will flee from you". THE PRICE GAS BEEN PAID!!! PRAISE THE LORD!!! HE KEPT HIS PROMISE ONCE MORE!!!

You aren't alone!!! Keep fighting the good fight!!!

Ricky :)
 
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Elijah19

Guest
#13
#13
Change is never an instant thing. Not that this is an excuse to keep sinning. Just know that no one changes in an instant except if they've been severely shaken (as with Paul on the Damascus road). Most change takes some serious time, usually years. Just keep vigilant, keep praying, keep striving, and trust in God. Seems simple, but ya know it's hard. Worth it all the way...
 
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