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IWantAnguish
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Joined: 2006/6/15
Posts: 343


 I Can Not Pray

When I get on my knees to pray, my heart condemns me before God... I still have many sins against my brothers that I have not made amends for...

Is this of God or of Satan... ?

Any input would be thoroughly appreciated.

- Sam


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Sba

 2006/7/14 2:10Profile
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 Re: I Can Not Pray

Go to your brother and make restitution. Obedience to the scriptures is paramount. We are accepted in the beloved. God is greater then our hearts brother.


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SI Moderator - Greg Gordon

 2006/7/14 3:32Profile
Compton
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Joined: 2005/2/24
Posts: 2732


 Re: I Can Not Pray

HI there IWantAnguish,

Listen brother, you seem like someone who is convicted by the truth of God's Word against your sin. Good enough, but if you are going to be convicted by God's word then be humble enough to be convicted by all of it...if you believe the law then believe all of it including the promise!

Have you considered these scriptures?

1 John 1. 7. " The blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin."

Acts 13. 39. " By him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses."

He did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance, Matt. 9. 13

Rom. 5. 20. " Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound."

John 6. 37. " Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out."

There are many more that point the way to Christ for the repentent soul. What is you greatest sin brother? Self-righteousness? Ah, this is perhaps the deepest rooted weed in the soil of our hearts!

For some blessed weed killer, consider this brief section from Jonathan Edwards sermon "[url=http://www.jonathanedwards.com/sermons/Doctrine/pardon.htm]Pardon for the Greatest of Sinners[/url]." Here he anticipates the fearful objections of the condemned sinner, voices those objections, and then answers those objections according to God's prescribed salvation as revealed in His word.

"III. But had I not better stay till I shall have made myself better, before I presume to come to Christ. I have been, and see myself to be very wicked now; but am in hopes of mending myself, and rendering myself at least not so wicked: then I shall have more courage to come to God for mercy.—In answer to this,

1. Consider how unreasonably you act. You are striving to set up yourselves for your own saviours; you are striving to get something of your own, on the account of which you may the more readily be accepted. So that by this it appears that you do not seek to be accepted only on Christ's account. And is not this to rob Christ of the glory of being your only Saviour? Yet this is the way in which you are hoping to make Christ willing to save you.

2. You can never come to Christ at all, unless you first see that he will not accept of you the more readily for any thing that you can do. You must first see, that it is utterly in vain for you to try to make yourselves better on any such account. You must see that you can never make yourselves any more worthy, or less unworthy, by any thing which you can perform.

3. If ever you truly come to Christ, you must see that there is enough in him for your pardon, though you be no better than you are. If you see not the sufficiency of Christ to pardon you, without any righteousness of your own to recommend you, you never will come so as to be accepted of him. The way to be accepted is to come—not on any such encouragement, that now you have made yourselves better, and more worthy, or not so unworthy, but—on the mere encouragement of Christ's worthiness, and God's mercy.

4. If ever you truly come to Christ, you must come to him to make you better. You must come as a patient comes to his physician, with his diseases or wounds to be cured. Spread all your wickedness before him, and do not plead your goodness; but plead your badness, and your necessity on that account: and say, as the psalmist in the text, not Pardon mine iniquity, for it is not so great as it was, but, " Pardon mine iniquity, for it is Great."

By the way dear brother, you might consider changing your name to IWantMercy...or better yet IWantGod. God is much more able to sanctify us then our anguish. It is not sorrow, but Christ's blood, that cleanses us from sin and it's power over us.

Do you believe that?

(edit: Greg's word to you is a faithful reminder...and a deep blessing to me! God is greater then our hearts!)

Blessings!

MC

(BTW...I graduated from VCU. Lived in the fan district...never saw so many cockroaches in my life!)




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Mike Compton

 2006/7/14 3:34Profile
IWantAnguish
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Joined: 2006/6/15
Posts: 343


 Re:

I'll take all into consideration...

( yeah.. the cockroaches behind the engineering building are of tremendous proportions from what I've heard... :\ )

p.s. driving down to north carolina to visit south eastern baptist theo. sem. school until sunday. pray for me please !


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Sba

 2006/7/14 9:49Profile









 Re: I Can Not Pray

Hi Sam,

Actually, you can pray. I fear you crave an audience..... You need only that Audience of One, of which Jesse Morrell speaks ..... the Lord Himself.

Try praying out loud. Listen to the cries of your own heart.

Do you believe you want God ..... really .......?

Are you prepared for Him to answer you ..... ? ....... really........ ?


Do you [i]believe[/i] Jesus died to release you from the power of sin ...... really .....?

How does that work then?

By faith ...... ! Really ..... ! Is this what you believe ....... ? Really....... ?


If so, here is my favourite verse ....... the one which held me while I put all the things on the surface of my life, right, even though I couldn't 'feel' any of it working in my spirit. That's right, I believed it, and God honoured my faith, by bringing me through to a place where I can testify that He did not let me down once, and now I know I'm free from bondage to sins [i][b]which are past[/i][/b]....... Really....... !

Now, I have to live as if I believe ..... that is, still believe ...... all that I just wrote above ....... and I have to let everything which needs to be touched by the same faith and the same hope as I exercised before, be touched by it now.

Hebrews 10
14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.

15 [Whereof] the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,

16 This [is] the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, [u]I will[/u] put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds [u]will I write them[/u];

17 [u]And[/u] [b][color=006699]their sins and iniquities[/color][/b] [b]will I remember no more[/b].

 2006/7/14 10:51
Logic
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Joined: 2005/7/17
Posts: 1791


 Re: I Can Not Pray

IWantAnguish wrote:

Quote:
When I get on my knees to pray, my heart condemns me before God... I still have many sins against my brothers that I have not made amends for...



[b]1John 3::20[/b] [color=990000]because if our heart [fig., conscience] is condemning us, God is greater than our heart, and He knows all things.[/color]

I like to put this verse in here: [b]Jer 17:9[/b] The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

[b]1John 3:21[/b] [color=990000]Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have perfect confidence towards God;[/color]

In other words:
If our heart is condemning us. Don't always believe it because God is more and wiser than our heart, He knows better.

[b]1John 3:19[/b] [color=990000]And in this we shall know that we are of the truth, and shall persuade our hearts before Him,[/color]

What is the "[b]this[/b]" John is talking about that we shall know that we are of the truth, and shall persuade our hearts before Him?

The verses before it:
[b]1John 3:16-18[/b] [color=990000]We know what love is--through Christ's having laid down His life on our behalf; and in the same way we ought to lay down our lives for our brother men.
[b]:17[/b] But if any one has this world's wealth and sees that his brother man is in need, and yet hardens his heart against him--how can such a one continue to love God?
[b]:18[/b] Dear children, [b]let us not love in words only nor with the lips, but in deed and in truth.[/b][/color]

So, if you are loveing in deed and in truth for a fact, don't listen to your haert, it is fooling you when it condemns you!

 2006/7/14 11:21Profile
dohzman
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Joined: 2004/10/13
Posts: 2132


 I own the T-Shirt

Sometimes the only thing we can do is to sit quietly before God and wait.


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D.Miller

 2006/7/14 15:00Profile
beenblake
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Joined: 2005/7/26
Posts: 524
Tennessee, USA

 Re: I Can Not Pray

Dear Sam,

What do you mean by "condemn"?

When you say "condemns", do you mean to say that God is judging you as though He is warning you of Hell or impending doom? Or, when you say "condemns," are you referring to the pushing of God's Word on your heart to act?

The difference between these two is simply this: guilt or repentence?

If you are feeling guilt, then this is from the Devil. The Devil accuses you of sin before the Lord. However, if you feel like something inside of you is making you feel as though you should turn from your sin, then this is from the Lord.

When a person sins, the Lord has forgiven them by the cross. All sin has been forgiven accept one, and that one sin is simply rejecting the Jesus Christ. Jesus is offering forgiveness to whomever accepts Him.

A person can reject the cross by clenching to their sin in guilt. They hang onto this sin sulking in self-pity. They do not goto the Lord in repentance (giving their sin to Jesus), but instead they feel a need to be punished. They feel bad for their sin, and seek punishment. They refuse to give their sin to the Lord. They refuse to accept forgiveness. They hold onto it, constantly going to the Lord saying, "I am sorry, I am sorry" but always keeping their sin. I have met people like this (including myself), who appear humble, but instead bask in self-pity. This is the worst sort of pride.

There is no reason you should feel condemned in prayer before the Lord. If this is the case, then for some reason you are rejecting the Lord. Jesus will not reject you. We reject the Lord by not allowing Him to forgive us and help us.

Now, it could very well be that the Lord is calling you to action and to repentance. The Lord may be saying, "Sam, I want you to make amends with your brothers." This pushing and pulling on the heart is different. Even still, if this is true, then you should not feel condemned, you should feel pushed. And if you are saying, "No Lord, I am afraid." Then you are rejecting the Lord. The Lord will always give you the provisions to fulfill His every request. If the Lord tells you to make amends with your brothers, He will certainly go with you and help you. However, if you say, "No", then you are rejecting the Lord. Or worse, you might say, "I will do it without you." Even then, this is rejecting the Lord.

Find this sin within you that is causing you to reject the Lord. Jesus said that He did not come to condemn anyone. The Lord is certainly not condemning you. He came to save people. He wishes only to help you. However, it is pride that keeps people from seeking Him. If you are feeling condemned, then you need to repent. Condemnation comes from rejecting forgiveness. What sin are you refusing to give up and turn from? What sin are you keeping in your heart?

Give your heart to the Lord sincerely and honestly. Take up your cross and follow Him. Make your entire life, including sin an offering to the Lord. Offer it to Him, and then follow His leading.

In Christ,

Blake


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Blake Kidney

 2006/7/14 17:15Profile
beenblake
Member



Joined: 2005/7/26
Posts: 524
Tennessee, USA

 Re: I Can Not Pray

Dear Sam,

What do you mean by "condemn"?

When you say "condemns", do you mean to say that God is judging you as though He is warning you of Hell or impending doom? Or, when you say "condemns," are you referring to the pushing of God's Word on your heart to act?

The difference between these two is simply this: guilt or repentence?

If you are feeling guilt, then this is from the Devil. The Devil accuses you of sin before the Lord. However, if you feel like something inside of you is making you feel as though you should turn from your sin, then this is from the Lord.

When a person sins, the Lord has forgiven them by the cross. All sin has been forgiven accept one, and that one sin is simply rejecting the Jesus Christ. Jesus is offering forgiveness to whomever accepts Him.

A person can reject the cross by clenching to their sin in guilt. They hang onto this sin sulking in self-pity. They do not goto the Lord in repentance (giving their sin to Jesus), but instead they feel a need to be punished. They feel bad for their sin, and seek punishment. They refuse to give their sin to the Lord. They refuse to accept forgiveness. They hold onto it, constantly going to the Lord saying, "I am sorry, I am sorry" but always keeping their sin. I have met people like this (including myself), who appear humble, but instead bask in self-pity. This is the worst sort of pride.

There is no reason you should feel condemned in prayer before the Lord. If this is the case, then for some reason you are rejecting the Lord. Jesus will not reject you. We reject the Lord by not allowing Him to forgive us and help us.

Now, it could very well be that the Lord is calling you to action and to repentance. The Lord may be saying, "Sam, I want you to make amends with your brothers." This pushing and pulling on the heart is different. Even still, if this is true, then you should not feel condemned, you should feel pushed. And if you are saying, "No Lord, I am afraid." Then you are rejecting the Lord. The Lord will always give you the provisions to fulfill His every request. If the Lord tells you to make amends with your brothers, He will certainly go with you and help you. However, if you say, "No", then you are rejecting the Lord. Or worse, you might say, "I will do it without you." Even then, this is rejecting the Lord.

Find this sin within you that is causing you to reject the Lord. Jesus said that He did not come to condemn anyone. The Lord is certainly not condemning you. He came to save people. He wishes only to help you. However, it is pride that keeps people from seeking Him. If you are feeling condemned, then you need to repent. Condemnation comes from rejecting forgiveness. What sin are you refusing to give up and turn from? What sin are you keeping in your heart?

Give your heart to the Lord sincerely and honestly. Take up your cross and follow Him. Make your entire life, including sin an offering to the Lord. Offer it to Him, and then follow His leading.

In Christ,

Blake


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Blake Kidney

 2006/7/14 17:15Profile
beenblake
Member



Joined: 2005/7/26
Posts: 524
Tennessee, USA

 Re:

I do not know why it posted twice. I am sorry about that. I would delete but do not know how??

Blake


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Blake Kidney

 2006/7/14 17:17Profile





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