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Discussion Forum : Miracles that follow the plow : Stuggling ... need prayer

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notmyown
Member



Joined: 2007/10/1
Posts: 83


 Stuggling ... need prayer

I need prayer as I currently feel a million miles away from living the victorious christian life.

I have many times tried to surrender all to Christ and receive all that He has for me and at times have been strengthened and used to some degree but I do not feel like a new creation and always return to struggling against the flesh and seeing no results. I come out of prayer meetings where people say there is nowhere they would rather be - and I feel that I am a fraud as I sense nothing and would rather be at home.

this is not abundant life - this constant loop of battling, failure and repentance. I have received Godly counsel from many including Keith Daniel whom I prayed with. I prayed in faith that God would take all and use me from that day on. Prior to that I had stood in front of meetings and declared my surrender and claimed the anointing/filled/enduement in faith as many have said to do, ignoring my dead feelings. This has been my story for years now many times when God has led myself and others to pray for certain things nothing ever seems to happen. My previous church didnt understand my desire for more of God and I ended up leaving in late last year. There are those who understand and are an encouragement but i still dont see abundant life and the power of God in this area at all.

Please pray for me that God will come. I can do no more and have tried all, claimed all, worked all and waited but still I find deadness and no reality to show my kids of the Power of God.

I know I cant put it all into words but hopefully someone will understand the general vibe of all the ramblings above.

 2010/3/15 11:06Profile
sojourner7
Member



Joined: 2007/6/27
Posts: 1573
Omaha, NE

 Re: Stuggling ... need prayer

Jesus Christ lived by the presence, purpose, and
power of GOD. HE abided in GOD'S presence, sought
GOD'S purpose for His life, and GOD gave Him the
power to do His Will. This is the gospel truth;
plain and simple. It is Christ in you, working
within to accomplish His purpose and will!! His
Holy Spirit empowers and enables you to follow
and serve Christ!!


_________________
Martin G. Smith

 2010/3/15 12:46Profile
notmyown
Member



Joined: 2007/10/1
Posts: 83


 Re:

Thanks for the reply but was kinda expecting something like that. I know all this in my head but my experience doesn't equate to the knowledge.

To quote Oswald Chambers,'either Christianity is a fraud or I have got hold of the wrong end of the stick.'

Somethings wrong with modern Christianity. We're supposed to have power and all i get told is to plod on and hold on.

And yes I know it's all done in Christ's power but I have told God I can't do it and want Christ to control but no change. I cannot teach others if I have no vital reality myself.

 2010/3/15 13:01Profile
HeedWatchmen
Member



Joined: 2010/1/25
Posts: 15
Southeastern PA

 Re: Stuggling ... need prayer

Notmyown,

I am praying for you. That the Holy Spirit would move more powerfully in your life.

The church likes to make the Christian life sound like it is all peaches and cream. They teach that everything will be better (easier) and you will no longer be so tempted by sin when following Christ. This is NOT true. Everything is better, because you have God leading you and giving you strength for each day, but Satan HATES when we truly want to serve Christ. He will do anything to tempt us to sin and to cause us to feel discouraged.

We see the apostles and how the Holy Spirit moved in their lives and we think "God can do that in me." The question is: Are you ministering to others in a way that necessitates Him moving in that way? The miracles we see the apostles do were for the sake of leading others to Christ. I believe as we minister more to others we will see the Holy Spirit moving more strongly in our own lives.

If you have never done so, I would encourage you to read The Baptism with the Holy Spirit by R.A. Torrey. This is a powerful book.

I also want to share the words to a favorite song of mine titled Have Faith in God by B.B. McKinney:

V1 Have faith in God when you pathway is lonely
He sees and knows all the way you have trod
Never alone are the least of His children
Have faith in God, have faith in God

V2 Have faith in God when you pray'rs are unanswered
Your earnest plea He will never forget
Wait on the Lord, trust His Word and be patient
Have faith in God, He'll answer yet

V3 Have faith in God in your pain and your sorrow
His heart is touched with your grief and despair
Cast all your cares and your burdens upon Him
And leave them there, oh, leave them there

V4 Have faith in God tho' all else fail about you
Have faith in God He provides for His own
He cannot fail tho' all kingdoms shall perish
He rules He reigns upon His throne

Chorus:Have faith in God, Hes on His throne
Have faith in God, He watches oer his own
He cannont fail, He must prevail
Have faith in God, have faith in God

We can live victoriously in Christ! We just need to know what that means.

David Brainerd was an incredible missionary to American Indians in the 1700s. Many people think of him as a very depressed man, because the closer he grew to Christ the more vile he viewed his own life. He many times thought there is no reason anyone should do anything for him (lodge him or feed him), because he was so vile. He was actually one of the most righteous men I can think of.

I am sharing all this to try to encourage you. The fact that God is convicting you of your sins and you are repenting as He reveals them is a sign that you are in right relationship with Him.

I would encourage you to keep pressing on. Keep reading and meditating on the Word of God.

Everything we need in the Christian life for growth we can find in the Bible and through prayer. As we make more time for personal time with our Lord, He will reveal Himself more powerfully to us.


_________________
Jamie Schwankl

 2010/3/15 13:08Profile
notmyown
Member



Joined: 2007/10/1
Posts: 83


 Re:

thanlyou for your post. I remember listening to Brainards story. It was interesting his attitude,for sure.

 2010/3/15 14:51Profile









 Re: Stuggling ... need prayer

1 John 2:14 I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and you have overcome the wicked one.

This always comes as a slap in the face when I say this and I certainly am not coming off as unfeeling because I have been where you are many many times and am there myself in some aspects. Lets face it we turn to our sin because we like it. Lets not all become so holy and hate our sin when in fact we love it why else do we keep going back to it. There is pleasure in sin for a season.

There has to be a desire to overcome sin, regardless if you feel anything at all, we must have a desire to overcome sin period, else we will desire to go back and do the same sin over and over again.

God has given every provision for us to succeed in Christ Jesus.

The abundant life in Jesus comes with a cost. We can't do our own thing throughout the week and give God 5 minutes of prayer and expect to live in that abundant life, it won't happen. The great men that lived in that realm gave their lives to the word of God and prayer. The only reason my brother, and this is the only reason why we feel that disconnection from God is because of sin that we have not yet surrendered.

Now, let me tell you how to surrender. We have heard many ministers tell us to surrender without giving us the application in "how". The how to surrender is very simple. It's so simple, when we are tempted CALL OUT TO GOD FOR HELP. Stand your ground in the finish work of Christ and that devil will run away. You keep calling out to God every time your tempted and you will be established. The devil will see that you mean business with God and he will go away for a season and will come back with another set of temptations. If you eyed something on the internet or you increased the time of looking at a guy or a girl, ask the LORD to forgive you, so that the devil isn't given a right to have his way with you again. We must be alert all the time for that devil wants to destroy us, he hates us with a passion. We can't let our guard down for a moment, when we do, watch out, all hell is waiting for that moment.

We can pray for you, but it's up to you to make the choice.

I have been a Christian for many many years now, and I rarely feel God. It's not what I am looking for. I am looking to know Him in the power of His resurrection. Settle it in your mind that you will not always feel God, but when you least expect it and when your not looking for it, you'll sense Him. He is like a warm blanket that shrouds you when you least expect it.

 2010/3/15 21:08









 Re: Stuggling ... need prayer

notmyown

If you read the testimonies of some of the choicest servants of the Lord you will see that many of them had years of dryness, unanswered prayer, failure and desperation before the Lord did come to them in presence and power so that they could live the life of victory. And those who have sold out to Christ are a threat to Satan and so will be at the battle front.

Surrendering involves accepting the will of God in your life - all of the things that He has allowed in and all of the people who make your life difficult are there because the Lord has deemed it to work for your good and to prepare you for His annointing. Do not fight against it, thank Him instead. Thank Him for the deadness and for the struggle. The flesh will fight to the death - it does not want to surrender but the Lord will come one day and you will hate it so much that you will be glad to be crucified. I am praying for you.

blessings
Brenda

 2010/3/15 22:37
hoohoou
Member



Joined: 2009/12/11
Posts: 212
Texas

 Re: Stuggling ... need prayer

I know that you've heard everything, and tried everything. I think that's your problem. I say that because it was my life until about a year ago. Without going into too much detail I almost lost my family do to sin. I was a yo-yo. I knew what to do, I knew what to say, I just didn't know how to be what I knew and said. I wanted to and I prayed and prayed that I could be the man I knew I should have been.

On my birthday last year it all blew up in my face. All the years of lying came to a head and, as I said, I almost lost my family through it.

One evening I was hanging a shirt up in my closet and feeling so guilty and dirty and rotten. My wife was still deciding what to do and I was just broken. In my closet, hanging up a shirt, I finally had to let go and allow the blood of Christ to wash over all my sin and shame. I went in that closet a monster and came out a new creation. Why? How? I don't know exactly. What I do know is that I wasn't going back. People say to seek the face of Jesus and I never knew what that meant. I read my Bible, prayed some and went to Bible studies and was never changed. I responded to alter call after alter call and was never changed. I had pastor after pastor pray for me and I was never changed. I began to seek Jesus. How did I seek Jesus? I STOPPED seeking the world. Let go and let God? No, no, no! Let go and cling to Jesus! Cling to Jesus for He is the only way.

I fasted and prayed like never before for 3 days. I turned off the TV for the next 30 days. I read no book other than the Bible for 30 days. I looked at nothing on the internet for 30 days. I separated myself to God because I had messed it all up and only He could fix it.

At the end of that 30 days my marriage was well on the way to being mended and I had been called to pastor and preach. God changed me, not a pastor at an alter call, not a perfectly worded prayer. God changed me because I turned off the enemy. It's amazing what He can do when we study and pray instead of tune out and watch TV.

There is a remedy and we do have the victory. Stop seeking anything that does not point directly to Christ and focus all your attention on Him, for you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

Please be encouraged and know that if our earthly fathers know how to give good gifts, how much more our heavenly Father. Keep knocking, keep knocking, and keep knocking for He WILL answer. Don't give up, just believe. My prayers are with you.

Because of Christ, Matt


_________________
Matt Smith

 2010/3/15 23:23Profile
Lysa
Member



Joined: 2008/10/25
Posts: 3699
East TN for now!

 Re: Stuggling ... need prayer


Here's an interesting article...
[url=http://www.unionlife.org/two_natures.htm]Does Man have Two Natures?[/url]
Click on "The Fallacy of Having Two Natures" by Norman Grubb.

Someone posted an article on Norman Grubb and when I have time, I've been checking out what he's written.

Hey, if it doesn't help you, then so be it! If it does, praise God!!

God bless you,


_________________
Lisa

 2010/3/16 6:59Profile









 Re: Stuggling ... need prayer


Hello notmyown,

Quote:
ignoring my dead feelings

Dear, dear brother or sister, this is not the way forward.

Please do not receive this comment from me as condemnation against yourself. It very much is not. If anything, it is condemnation of the general attitude within charismatic and evangelical circles, which implies that anything that's wrong with you rests entirely on the sinful nature, and in your case, on [i]your[/i] sinful nature; adding that therefore, [u]all[/u] healing is in the Atonement, and by now you [i]should[/i] be okay.

Your 'dead feelings' are trying to get your attention. There will be a reason for them, and for this other thing which you said:
Quote:
I ... would rather be at home.

I believe, from my own experience of God's great patience and His generosity towards me, that there has been a great disservice done to many seekers-of-God who come to church with genuine needs, because of the gospel's true claim that a relationship with God through Christ, is the answer to every person's heart. But once inside the doors, the new (and old) believer finds there is an impenetrable corporate denial of those very real issues brought by seekers-of-God to the body of Christ.

Many busy Christians have no time or patience for these. Rightly, they believe in miracles, but if God wants to take longer, they don't see it as an opportunity to learn from Him of His intricate knowledge of how a human being is constructed, and how best to support someone who requires inner reconstruction; rather, they find labels for the person's situation, which merely perpetuate the circumstance of the believer not being able to find within the church fellowship, a place to interact honestly with God over however many years it takes for God to lead them out of their distress. In a way, this leads to the person-in-need recommitting their life to God time and time again, without ever receiving permission within the local body, to simply 'be' who they are, confident (and being helpfully reassured by brethren) in the belief that God has a plan which He fully intends to bring to pass in their life.

Without the general consensus of the local body in favour of a [i]long haul[/i] restoration of a soul, the soul in need of restoration continues to hope for that one big zap from God which will fix everything. That's what I hoped for, for twenty years. During that time, God did what He could. He changed me in many ways, and a learned a great deal about how to pray. But in the end, the 'dying to self' which had not worked, was one of the biggest signs to me that God Himself did not recognise that dogma as the solution to my needs.

As a result, I stepped back from the theology with which I had become familiar, and dug into scripture for Christ's own behaviour towards people who were unable to fix themselves within the theology of their day. Two things stood out to me. The first was that He did not put conditions on offering healing to people. He did not even expect them all to remain as disciples, even if they hung around for a while after that. Secondly, by the time He was saying 'take up your cross daily', He was speaking to people who had had their demons cast out, and, had been fully healed. Some of them - even without the Holy Spirit within them - had been told to 'sin no more'. Amen.

It took a while before I realised that Christ had said 'I am the Resurrection and the Life', [i]before[/i] He died. Nevertheless, when preparing to die, He had asked His Father how things would work when He died (John 10:18), and Paul tells us in Eph 1:19, 20, that He was raised to life by the Father. His power to heal before He became the Atonement, was therefore, His Life, and that He is the Truth, and, the Way. He is the [i]living[/i] God.

Therefore, your 'dead feelings' are of great interest to Him, and I am totally certain there is an honest reason for them, which God will be willing to help you understand, if you take them as seriously as He does.

I have, through my journey, come to realise that when God made man in His own image, the physical creation which we are, tells us a great deal we need to know about how God Himself 'is' (and therefore, intended us to be). In other words, there are parts of 'you' which actually do not need to be 'put to death', but rather, which need to be raised back to life by His resurrection power. These can be physical, related to the inner man (soul - Eph 3:16), or the spirit: Prov 18:14. Only God can heal the spirit of man, restore His soul (Psa 23:3), and straighten out his body back into line with health.

Eventually, I began to understand that, having been baptised into His death (That is, grafted, like an old branch onto new root stock - Rom 6:5), I had to lay hold of the spiritual truth of what that means, which is best defined in Heb 10:14. From that place of safety 'in' God, I could begin to bring to Him the parts of my life I could not reach by thinking about them, or applying my will to either trying to be different, or, to ignoring them.

I commend you to God, and exhort you not to be afraid. The word of life is able to restore you, but it will come directly from Him, as you spend time in His presence. God [i]intends[/i] to restore His image in man - in men - in believers. He is not [i]only[/i] all about service or giving, as we see in Acts 3:5, 6.

Furthermore, I have found no end of people in churches who are hurting, who are being advised by people who have never even stood in their shoes, let alone tried to walk in them; sometimes there are outward similarities in circumstances, but the person who thinks they are okay, got by on their own resources. They didn't ever open themselves up to God for His dealings. These are people in pulpits, as well as some who lead smaller ministries within a local church situation. Everyone is looking for performance, but God is looking on the real inner man; I suspect He [i]has[/i] given you His Spirit, and like Samuel, you are not sure who He is speaking to; but actually, He is speaking to [i]you[/i], and pointing you in the right direction for making real spiritual progress.

Don't give up on either God, or your ability to make sense of this situation. There [i]will[/i] be an explanation and it will, necessarily, be rooted in absolute Truth.

God bless you.


 2010/3/16 9:04





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