Major faith roadblock

Hi Outlander,

That would be a very difficult time for you. Now, the main reason I see is that you do not understand God`s character and His purposes. You, (as many people) are reading God`s word as all about yourself instead of about it revealing Christ, His character and His purposes for - the Body of Christ, for Israel and for the Nations.

When Jesus was manifest on earth He came as Israel`s king, their Messiah. He proved this by many miracles, authority over demons etc. He was showing that His rule was already there if they would accept Him. We know they didn`t.

As to us in the Body of Christ, He is our Head, our Saviour and Lord. His purpose for us in NOT earthly but for heaven. We are to overcome our fleshly desires, the world`s system of self, and the enemy`s tricks. And a big trick is deceiving us by discouraging us and to make us think God does not care about us.

We put our health as the top priority whereas God has our eternal salvation as top. Yes, we go through pain and suffering, (as written in God`s word especially Paul). Jesus knew pain, suffering and torture. He knows what we go through however it is up to us to trust Him and ask for His comfort, His guidance as we go through this damaged life.

This life is damaged and all in it. That should humble us and be content that we have a blessed hope, and not just the grave.

The New Testament teaches water baptism, period. Whatever a person may believe about its significance, no one can deny it was taught and practiced. The forerunner taught it, Jesus was baptized, He commanded His disciples to baptize in His name, and the believers were water baptized. That somehow people have taught that water baptism is unnecessary and people actually believe it is a very sad commentary on the state of Christianity today.

Thanks RA,

I see your point. I am not making a case against baptism but trying to understand how it may play into answering my question. Is the power of prayer affected by one being baptised? I other words, if you have not been baptised, God Will not respond to your prayers but after baptism He will?

In my younger days I was tasked with troubleshooting and repairing extensive industrial safety interlock systems. I learned the hard way that after you dive into all of the plausible and complicated explanations for the malfunctions with no positive results you look instead for a simple explanation:

Have you been baptized?
[Mar 16:16 NKJV] 16 "He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.
[Act 2:38 NKJV] 38 Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Baptism seems to be a simple* thing that could easily be overlooked, however in addition to being an established ordinance of the church it is prescribed as a solution to the problem you are describing. The referenced passage does not describe Christian baptism, it does however emphasis my point.

*Please take a look at 2 Kings 5: 1 - 19 when you have a moment, the point is:
[2Ki 5:13-14 NKJV] 13 And his servants came near and spoke to him, and said, "My father, [if] the prophet had told you [to do] something great, would you not have done [it]? How much more then, when he says to you, 'Wash, and be clean'?" 14 So he went down and dipped seven times in the Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God; and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean.

The power of prayer if adversely affected if a person doesn't submit to the lordship and authority of Christ. Christ commanded His disciples to get water baptized. It's the very firs thing a believer should do. If a person knows they should obey the Lord and they refuse to, wouldn't you have to wonder how important Jesus is to that person?

I see your point. I was not raised in a religious environment and innitialy sought out biblical knowlege mostly on my own. I didn't even attend church until later in life and even then I joined the worship team because I wanted to be involved and didn't want to fall asleep in a pew. But I think you make a solid case and one I will take seriously, Thank you.

I believed in God before I knew what religion was and have considered myself a Christian, although reading but not Church going, for most of my life. Finally a church going Christian for years...but...

I am at a major faith roadblock.

I have been praying over some critical life issues for years. I won't go into the exact issues because that is irrelevant. The only answer or result to my prayer efforts has been nothing, silence, no change, no intuitions, no gut feelings or signs, just absolute nothingness.

This has shaken my faith. It is clear there is a creator. And possible I misunderstand scripture. For example, Christ talking about moving mountains may only be intended for the apostles in their mission to grow the church. Christs prayer example asks for daily bread, not help in life's big problems, or struggling with sin, or anything else.

However, it seems like there are many passages that promote the power of prayer. For example:

Philippians 4:6 - Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Mark 11:24 - Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Romans 8:26 - Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

Matthew 6:6 - But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

I am painfully aware of all the "excuses" people make for God not answering prayers but honestly, I don't think an all powerful God should need people to make excuses for Him.

I see only a few possibilities here.

1. Regardless of what I may have thought, I am not one of His people and therefore not listened to, or cared about at all. I am merely a fish in this aquarium called earth. I exist for a while, then gone for ever. Temporarily animated dirt that only existed for a time to add a little more depth and background to His great narrative, and nothing more

2. The bible is not inerrant and is wrong. God exists, the bible is a good effort at understanding God, but it is fiction. Perhaps highly valuable fiction but fiction none the less.

3. Another that I loath to believe but seems plausible. People pop into existence by an automated process He created. With a few possible exceptions, He doesn't especially care much for some or even most of us. I am certainly not the only person who feels like I am standing in the bottom of a well shouting towards the little opening hoping someone will hear and throw down a rope but it never comes. It is rational to come to the conclusion that nobody is up there. Nobody hears your shouts. Nobody is there. It is contradictory to think God "wants" you to believe and pray to an absolute zero feedback loop. Especially when it contradicts scripture.

This got me thinking, when people pray for a child who is perishing from a fatal illness, does healing ever come? Ever? or is is 1 out a 1,000? 1 out of 10,000? This is a million times more important that my problems and inflicted on innocents. Children who are supposedly especially loved. If their prayers cannot be answered, what hope is there for any of my prayers to be answered? None.

When I close my eyes and in the quiet and darkness call to the Holy Spirit, listening intently, waiting for His spirit to draw near, I can detect nothing other that perhaps a feeling that I now question isn't just my imagination.

I miss my friend. My friend who I can reveal my deepest feelings to. My friend whom I have been speaking too all my life only to realize I have only been speaking to myself because I am the only one who is there.

You are quick to judge and I don't think you read my full post. I believed as a child before I knew what "religion" was. Then I sought out the word and I believed. Then I sought out fellowship and community and church and community worship and I believed.

I believed until I came to realise that my most critical, most important prayers went unanswered for years. So I assumed the problem was not God, but was me. I posted on this forum asking how can I know if I was saved? I thought I was saved but I must have been wrong.

I believed, asked forgiveness, offered myself to Jesus, etc, but nothing changed. So I assumed I was just not invited to the party. I must not be in the book of life and there's nothing I can do about it. Except that contradicts my understanding of scripture.

So I thought perhaps my understanding of prayer was the issue. This seemed logical. Not all scripture is addressing the same audience and perhaps if I go back and take a new look I will realize where I got it wrong.

Unfortunately, many things I read contradicted my experience. Ask in the name of Jesus and believe and your prayers would be answered.

I read many articles on why God may not be answering prayers. I was careful to express a problem but ask that the problem be solved acording to God's will. No change.

I asked for understand regarding my prayers. No change.

I asked to be led to understanding of this problem. No change.

I used to talk to God a lot. Every single day. In the dark, eyes closed. Kneeling in prayer. In the car, etc. I felt close to God like He was there and I could tell Him anything.

Now I feel like it was wishful thinking. Nobody is there. Nobody is listening. I didn't come to this place easily, or quickly, and I hate it. I want to believe. I want it to be true. But I cannot get past the fact that my prayers are not heard or addressed in direct contradiction to what is promised in scripture. This has me at a point of crisis where everything I believed has been called into question.

Why would God lead me here?

I still believe in a creator. Anyone who claims there is no creator when we are surrounded on all sides by engineering that can only be accomished by a profoundly intelligent mind with the capability to implement and execute on that engineering is in denial of the obvious.

Understanding anything about that creator is the challange.

The Judeo-Christian religion is the only religion that rises to the level of being able to provide real answers to the big questions.

But is it just the greatest collection of fiction ever compiled, or is it the inerrant word of God?

The failure of prayer calls into question the bibles inerrancy. It cannot be true and not live up to its promises at the same time.

Hence my faith roadblock. I love so many of the wonderful responses by so many people here. People who understand the struggle and care and offer advice based on their own struggles.

God doesn't owe me anything. He could wipe me out anytime He wants. He can cast me into in a lake of fire, or smash me like a clay pot. What am I to Him? He is eternal and all powerful while I am animated dirt.

But if the Bible is truly His inerrant word then He would adhere to His own promises. If it is humans putting words into His mouth He has no obligation to live up to those promises.

According to my understanding of scripture, it is promises unfulfilled. An all powerful God should not need people to make excuses for why He doesn't live up to promises made in His name over 2 thousand years ago. If they were His words, they would be 100% without error and as real and reliable as the morning and the night.

But that has not been my experience.

I used to pray that I wanted my life to be a testimony of gratitude to Him. I believed that would be the one thing that I could give to God that could possibly have some small value to Him.

Now that has been destroyed. Do you know how disturbing that is?

This isn't faithlessness, or pompousness, or a rotten attitude. I am not here as an atheist trying to mock people for their belief. It is an existential crisis.

I came seeking answers to questions that may be unanswerable but I am listening. I am reading every post with an open mind and looking for alternatives to the path I regrettably find myself on.

Thanks Karlon,

I'm pretty sure I am not the first person to have doubts. Was it Isaiah or Jeremiah who proclaimed how stupid people were who believed in gods made of wood or stone. Dead gods that had no power to answer their prayers.

But what if prayer to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit is found to be powerless? Doesn't that say the same thing?

I'm not even going that far. I want to believe. I am just finding it awfully hard to get past the obvious contradiction.

Thanks BillyBob,

I appreciate your positive and uplifting thoughts on this. You are very perceptive. I was watching the Chosen. I do not get my biblical education from a TV show, however I struck by Jesus not raising Ramah, and choosing not to heal Little James. I admit, I can relate to their troubles.

I don't remember reading those events in the Bible. Is there a scripture reference?

I believed in God before I knew what religion was and have considered myself a Christian, although reading but not Church going, for most of my life. Finally a church going Christian for years...but...

I am at a major faith roadblock.

I have been praying over some critical life issues for years. I won't go into the exact issues because that is irrelevant. The only answer or result to my prayer efforts has been nothing, silence, no change, no intuitions, no gut feelings or signs, just absolute nothingness.

This has shaken my faith. It is clear there is a creator. And possible I misunderstand scripture. For example, Christ talking about moving mountains may only be intended for the apostles in their mission to grow the church. Christs prayer example asks for daily bread, not help in life's big problems, or struggling with sin, or anything else.

However, it seems like there are many passages that promote the power of prayer. For example:

Philippians 4:6 - Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Mark 11:24 - Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Romans 8:26 - Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

Matthew 6:6 - But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

I am painfully aware of all the "excuses" people make for God not answering prayers but honestly, I don't think an all powerful God should need people to make excuses for Him.

I see only a few possibilities here.

1. Regardless of what I may have thought, I am not one of His people and therefore not listened to, or cared about at all. I am merely a fish in this aquarium called earth. I exist for a while, then gone for ever. Temporarily animated dirt that only existed for a time to add a little more depth and background to His great narrative, and nothing more

2. The bible is not inerrant and is wrong. God exists, the bible is a good effort at understanding God, but it is fiction. Perhaps highly valuable fiction but fiction none the less.

3. Another that I loath to believe but seems plausible. People pop into existence by an automated process He created. With a few possible exceptions, He doesn't especially care much for some or even most of us. I am certainly not the only person who feels like I am standing in the bottom of a well shouting towards the little opening hoping someone will hear and throw down a rope but it never comes. It is rational to come to the conclusion that nobody is up there. Nobody hears your shouts. Nobody is there. It is contradictory to think God "wants" you to believe and pray to an absolute zero feedback loop. Especially when it contradicts scripture.

This got me thinking, when people pray for a child who is perishing from a fatal illness, does healing ever come? Ever? or is is 1 out a 1,000? 1 out of 10,000? This is a million times more important that my problems and inflicted on innocents. Children who are supposedly especially loved. If their prayers cannot be answered, what hope is there for any of my prayers to be answered? None.

When I close my eyes and in the quiet and darkness call to the Holy Spirit, listening intently, waiting for His spirit to draw near, I can detect nothing other that perhaps a feeling that I now question isn't just my imagination.

I miss my friend. My friend who I can reveal my deepest feelings to. My friend whom I have been speaking too all my life only to realize I have only been speaking to myself because I am the only one who is there.

You are quick to judge and I don't think you read my full post. I believed as a child before I knew what "religion" was. Then I sought out the word and I believed. Then I sought out fellowship and community and church and community worship and I believed.

I believed until I came to realise that my most critical, most important prayers went unanswered for years. So I assumed the problem was not God, but was me. I posted on this forum asking how can I know if I was saved? I thought I was saved but I must have been wrong.

I believed, asked forgiveness, offered myself to Jesus, etc, but nothing changed. So I assumed I was just not invited to the party. I must not be in the book of life and there's nothing I can do about it. Except that contradicts my understanding of scripture.

So I thought perhaps my understanding of prayer was the issue. This seemed logical. Not all scripture is addressing the same audience and perhaps if I go back and take a new look I will realize where I got it wrong.

Unfortunately, many things I read contradicted my experience. Ask in the name of Jesus and believe and your prayers would be answered.

I read many articles on why God may not be answering prayers. I was careful to express a problem but ask that the problem be solved acording to God's will. No change.

I asked for understand regarding my prayers. No change.

I asked to be led to understanding of this problem. No change.

I used to talk to God a lot. Every single day. In the dark, eyes closed. Kneeling in prayer. In the car, etc. I felt close to God like He was there and I could tell Him anything.

Now I feel like it was wishful thinking. Nobody is there. Nobody is listening. I didn't come to this place easily, or quickly, and I hate it. I want to believe. I want it to be true. But I cannot get past the fact that my prayers are not heard or addressed in direct contradiction to what is promised in scripture. This has me at a point of crisis where everything I believed has been called into question.

Why would God lead me here?

I still believe in a creator. Anyone who claims there is no creator when we are surrounded on all sides by engineering that can only be accomished by a profoundly intelligent mind with the capability to implement and execute on that engineering is in denial of the obvious.

Understanding anything about that creator is the challange.

The Judeo-Christian religion is the only religion that rises to the level of being able to provide real answers to the big questions.

But is it just the greatest collection of fiction ever compiled, or is it the inerrant word of God?

The failure of prayer calls into question the bibles inerrancy. It cannot be true and not live up to its promises at the same time.

Hence my faith roadblock. I love so many of the wonderful responses by so many people here. People who understand the struggle and care and offer advice based on their own struggles.

God doesn't owe me anything. He could wipe me out anytime He wants. He can cast me into in a lake of fire, or smash me like a clay pot. What am I to Him? He is eternal and all powerful while I am animated dirt.

But if the Bible is truly His inerrant word then He would adhere to His own promises. If it is humans putting words into His mouth He has no obligation to live up to those promises.

According to my understanding of scripture, it is promises unfulfilled. An all powerful God should not need people to make excuses for why He doesn't live up to promises made in His name over 2 thousand years ago. If they were His words, they would be 100% without error and as real and reliable as the morning and the night.

But that has not been my experience.

I used to pray that I wanted my life to be a testimony of gratitude to Him. I believed that would be the one thing that I could give to God that could possibly have some small value to Him.

Now that has been destroyed. Do you know how disturbing that is?

This isn't faithlessness, or pompousness, or a rotten attitude. I am not here as an atheist trying to mock people for their belief. It is an existential crisis.

I came seeking answers to questions that may be unanswerable but I am listening. I am reading every post with an open mind and looking for alternatives to the path I regrettably find myself on.

Though it is refreshing to see your honesty, sincerity, and passion to know the truth, I do not envy your position. For even as you are now, I was, years ago.
For years, I too used to question my salvation, and like you, I was confused and wondered why I wasn't seeing the same thing you are questioning now. And though our reasonings are similar, I never did question the inerrant word of God.
And I apologize if I came across as hard-hearted and judgmental. That was not my intent. Still working on my people and communication skills.
And I can assure you, if you continue desiring the truth, with all sincerity of heart, God will reveal that to you, even though you are hearing many voices right now.
So how did I get from, not knowing, to knowing that I was a born again child of God? Answer? Knowledge and understanding of God's word. However, this knowledge and understanding doesn't just apply to salvation only. It applies to answered prayers, healings, deliverances, and the like.
So if God can take me from where you are now, to receiving the things I pray for, he can and will do the same for you, if you don't quit seeking the truth with a pure, honest, and sincere heart
I would first like to assure you, God's promises are good. I don't mean in the sense of morally good, but faithfully good and true.
God is not only faithful to watch over his word, but he is equally faithful to perform it. But you will have to do exactly what is written.
I could give you story after story about how God did exactly what I prayed for and more, because he did, but for now, I will just tell you how to accomplish that which you are seeking to do.
So how do you get from doubting or questioning your salvation, to knowing you are?
I suppose it would help to state exactly how one is born again. So I'll start there.
Jesus said, except you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in you.

KJV+ King James Version
John 6:35: "And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst."

It is not only written that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, but it is also written and true, that Jesus himself IS the living Word of God.
Again, it is written, we are saved BY the Word of God.
We are not saved by repenting and confessing our sins, water baptism at any age, going to church, doing good deeds, reading the Bible, praying, or even just believing that not only God is, but even that Jesus is the savior of the world. Because believing only, is not good enough.
We are saved simply by faith in the work Jesus did on the cross, and accepting that for yourself, personally.
You probably already are saved and just don't know it, but if you're still wondering about whether you are or not, do the above mentioned, and you will need to, not only, believe in your heart what Jesus did for you on the cross, but also you will most certainly need to SAY it with your mouth.
If you don't do a corresponding work to what you believe in your heart, absolutely nothing will happen and God is not be obligated to fulfill his word because you did not fulfill every condition God has established in his word. Verbally speaking what you believe in your heart, is one form of a corresponding work.
If you have done this, according to the word of God, you are a born again, child of God.

zzzzzz

No scripture reference. If you don't know, The Chosen is a TV series about Jesus and the Apostles. They try to stay biblically correct while trying to give an idea of what it must have been like to be around Jesus, in those locations, in those times, trying to understand his teachings, etc. It is not intended to be biblical teaching and I would never treat it as such. It is a good show IMHO and it deals with some hot button issues, just like mine, why would Jesus heal perfect strangers while not healing his own followers? Not saying that is real or scriptural but it address my question, why not me? I am certainly not the only person to have asked that question before. You can find full episodes of the series on YouTube if you would like to see if you think the series is a good thing or not.

I believed in God before I knew what religion was and have considered myself a Christian, although reading but not Church going, for most of my life. Finally a church going Christian for years...but...

I am at a major faith roadblock.

I have been praying over some critical life issues for years. I won't go into the exact issues because that is irrelevant. The only answer or result to my prayer efforts has been nothing, silence, no change, no intuitions, no gut feelings or signs, just absolute nothingness.

This has shaken my faith. It is clear there is a creator. And possible I misunderstand scripture. For example, Christ talking about moving mountains may only be intended for the apostles in their mission to grow the church. Christs prayer example asks for daily bread, not help in life's big problems, or struggling with sin, or anything else.

However, it seems like there are many passages that promote the power of prayer. For example:

Philippians 4:6 - Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Mark 11:24 - Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Romans 8:26 - Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

Matthew 6:6 - But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

I am painfully aware of all the "excuses" people make for God not answering prayers but honestly, I don't think an all powerful God should need people to make excuses for Him.

I see only a few possibilities here.

1. Regardless of what I may have thought, I am not one of His people and therefore not listened to, or cared about at all. I am merely a fish in this aquarium called earth. I exist for a while, then gone for ever. Temporarily animated dirt that only existed for a time to add a little more depth and background to His great narrative, and nothing more

2. The bible is not inerrant and is wrong. God exists, the bible is a good effort at understanding God, but it is fiction. Perhaps highly valuable fiction but fiction none the less.

3. Another that I loath to believe but seems plausible. People pop into existence by an automated process He created. With a few possible exceptions, He doesn't especially care much for some or even most of us. I am certainly not the only person who feels like I am standing in the bottom of a well shouting towards the little opening hoping someone will hear and throw down a rope but it never comes. It is rational to come to the conclusion that nobody is up there. Nobody hears your shouts. Nobody is there. It is contradictory to think God "wants" you to believe and pray to an absolute zero feedback loop. Especially when it contradicts scripture.

This got me thinking, when people pray for a child who is perishing from a fatal illness, does healing ever come? Ever? or is is 1 out a 1,000? 1 out of 10,000? This is a million times more important that my problems and inflicted on innocents. Children who are supposedly especially loved. If their prayers cannot be answered, what hope is there for any of my prayers to be answered? None.

When I close my eyes and in the quiet and darkness call to the Holy Spirit, listening intently, waiting for His spirit to draw near, I can detect nothing other that perhaps a feeling that I now question isn't just my imagination.

I miss my friend. My friend who I can reveal my deepest feelings to. My friend whom I have been speaking too all my life only to realize I have only been speaking to myself because I am the only one who is there.