praying

thank you guys for your concern for me it is hard to type out everything i am experiencing, but I believe that might be my problem is focusing on my sins and myself and not on Christ, but i do think their some spirituals forces keeping me from seeing that truth.

Paul said he did not judge himself - good or bad.

When we are SO focused on our Self, we know Satan has the upper hand, because he is the accuser of the brethren

When we are SO focused on our Self, we know we squeeze Christ out, there is no room to have His mind.

Forget about your Self, focus on the Love and commands of Christ. Find someone who needs help, any kind of help, go out and help them in whatever way you can.

A major element of depression is that constant broken record in your mind in which you constantly review YOUR problems. Find someone and wear yourself out in helping them and focusing on their SOLUTIONS.

Find Peace through Love

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Robert Sands

Some great truths to meditate upon (it's taken from a Neil Anderson book, mildly modified):

Somebody is thinking of you
Somebody is caring about you
Somebody is caring for you
Somebody longs for you
Somebody wants to talk to you
Somebody wants to be with you
Somebody wants to listen to you
Somebody wants to hold your hand
Somebody is protecting you
Somebody is working for your good
Somebody is celebrating your successes
Somebody wants to give you a gift
Somebody thinks you are a gift
Somebody wants to hold you in His arms
Somebody wants to make you the best you can be
Somebody is on your side and is pulling for you today
Somebody loves you
Somebody wants to laugh with you
Somebody wants to cry with you
Somebody wants to tell you how much He cares
Somebody wants to share His life with you
Somebody wants to be your friend
Somebody died to make that friendship possible
Somebody loves you as His wonderful creation
Somebody wants you to know that He is there for you
Somebody is always thinking about you
Somebody wants you to trust Him... today

armranger wrote: "I would strongly recommend NOT reading the article linked to by Finney. It is focusing on sin and self, not on Christ and will most likely lead to greater despair and condemnation. Bible4life, you need realize what Christ has already done for you, he's already forgiven all your trespasses and sins! If you haven't accepted Christ then do it! But if you have, then give no place to the devil! He will constantly work to get you to doubt your salvation. Resist the devil and he will flee from you!

Accepting Christ means you no longer rely on your own righteousness or lack thereof, you are justified in God's sight by Jesus!"

I have to strongly rebuke you for this, armranger. It is not a sin to doubt that you are saved. If someone is struggling with this question, the best thing to do is examine yourself to see if you are in the faith. 1 John says "If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things." It is quite evident that this man's conscience is condemning him, therefore the best thing to do is remove the barriers of unrepented sin by confession and restitution. This is the only way to peace with God, not "accepting Jesus", a term which, incidentally, cannot be found in the Bible. It is true a person must have faith, but as God said to me quite some time ago, "faith requires obedience". As I see it, Finney had 500,000 people truly born again from his preaching alone, and he preached repentance. In our day and age, people are told to just "accept Jesus" and their lives are by and large no different than before. They struggle with guilt and condemnation, fruitlessness and confusion. You MUST repent.

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Nigel Holland

Thanks guys again. it is kind of funny it was Charles Finney's preaching that started my doubting my salvation or that i lost it a few years back. Whether or not i agree with him or not I do agree that we should examine ourselves. But, I see also that I could misunderstand obedience to the Lord and look to what i am doing as my basis of my salvation. So for me and even my study of scripture i believe salvation is by trusting in Christ's atonement on the cross in my place and in his resurrection from the dead. That is what justifies us before God and his has to be in Christ and nothing else. Now the issues of good works in a true believer is because regeneration and salvation taken place or a new creature, that is the fruit of being saved. Their was a time in my life where was looking unto Jesus it was as if my mind was always focused on him in everything i did and i think that one of my struggles is i am not trusting like i use to.

From observation of churches and people, I see little evidence of true conversion in most peoples lives. There are whole churches I have been in with no born again people. Today we are taught to "just believe". And you see widespread apostasy, true seekers struggling for acceptance by God, and not finding it because they are told they already have it. Under Finney's preaching, people got truly born again. He might have had some sour medicine, but it worked. Can you see Peter or Paul telling someone who has just asked them the desperate question "what must I do to be saved?!" "Oh, just read this book about your identity in Christ." ?

Here is another article by William Booth you might find helpful:
http://www.lastdaysministries.org/Groups/1000087839/Last_Days_Ministries/Articles/Other_Authors/How_To_Find/How_To_Find.aspx

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Nigel Holland

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Andrew

I came across this gem today, which is in perfect agreement with what amranger shared earlier. From Charles Spurgeon:

Now I will give the poor sinner a means of detecting Satan, so that he may know whether his convictions are from the Holy Spirit, or merely the bellowing of hell in his ears. In the first place, you may be always sure that that which comes from the devil will make you look at yourselves and not at Christ. The Holy Spirit's work is to turn our eyes from ourselves to Jesus Christ, but the enemy's work is the very opposite.

Nine out of ten of the insinuations of the devil have to do with ourselves. "You are guilty," says the devil — that is self. "You have not faith" — that is self. "You do not repent enough" — that is self. "You have got such a wavering hold of Christ" — that is self. "You have none of the joy of the Spirit, and therefore cannot be one of His" — that is self. Thus the devil begins picking holes in us; whereas the Holy Spirit takes self entirely away, and tells us that we are "nothing at all", but that "Jesus Christ is all in all."