I Have been gone for a while

[ChristsCourage]

Hello, my fellow Christians. I have been away for a long time, and, I want to come back, but, do not know how. I have stopped believing in the lord, then decided that it is wrong to do that. So, the other day I came back, and, decided to start believing in Him again. I feel weird for doing that. So, besides praying, reading the bible, reading The Purpose Driven Life, and, trying to act like Jesus, what can I do to be a better christian? I know going to church, and, witnessing to people is the thing to do, but there is some other stuff that I can do to be a better person. Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:cry::cry:

[Tanya~]

Hi Dana,

It's good that you want to come back to the Lord! The most important thing that you need to do is grow in your faith. Prayer every day, and learning from God's word is the best way to do that. Have you found a good church?

[ServantofTruth]

Find the love and forgiveness, that you have for others, and personalise it. Don't think you have to do so much to earn God's Salvation.

Perhaps we can talk further about the rest of your post over a few more posts. I don't want to offend a brother, but faith isn't just something we can float in and out of. One day decide yes it's true, the next not, then oh no that's wrong - i better believe again.

When you find faith, in my opinion, there is no going back. When the Holy Spirit lives in you and begins that change and guides your life. I can fight God's stated Will/ Wisdom and the Holy Spirit within, i can sin - but i could never not believe. (i know people will disagree from past experience)

Peace, SofTy.

[turtledove]

Hello, my fellow christians. I have been away for a long time, and, I want to come back, but, do not know how. I have stopped believing in the lord, then decided that it is wrong to do that. So, the other day I came back, and, decided to start believing in Him again. I feel weird for doing that. So, besides praying, reading the bible, reading The Purpose Driven Life, and, trying to act like Jesus, what can I do to be a better christian? I know going to church, and, wittnessing to people is the thing to do, but there is some other stuff that I can do to be a better person. Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:cry::cry:

Hello Dana, I see you posted the same thing in July and before that you had been here in March.

http://bibleforums.org/forum/showthread.php?p=1712324#post1712324

Seems like you are like a swinging door regarding being a Christian.

You asked what you can do..Do this...

Make up your mind once and for all and then determine to follow Jesus and not go back and forth between Christianity and atheism. And pray every day.

And as Tanya says..get in a church. Get in the Word. Get consistant.

My prayers that God may continue to have mercy.

[Pinewoods]

You say that you are achristian, but how do you know that you are. I am a christian but I turned away from him, I let thing that other Christians say put sought in my mind. I can back to him years latter, and I then had to find out how I knew I was saved. I am not questioning your salvation, but it seem that you aren't shure yourself, so I thought I would ask.

[ChristsCourage]

Hello Dana, I see you posted the same thing in July and before that you had been here in March.

http://bibleforums.org/forum/showthr...24#post1712324 (http://bibleforums.org/forum/showthread.php?p=1712324#post1712324)

Seems like you are like a swinging door regarding being a Christian.




I am once, and, for all becoming a Christian. I felt bad when I left that I could not bring myself back to Christianity just yet. I am willing to do what you all are suggesting for me. I want to be a shining example to the world that I can, and, will be a servant of GOD. He is my rock, my foundation. So, I have to show not only Him, but, myself that I can, and, will do this.

Pinewoods: I know I am a Christian because I have been taught to live by the book, and, that I have gone to church off, and, on for years. I know that we need to go to church all the time, but, life gets in the way. And, I have found a church that has accepted me as a member, and, I am going to go sometime soon.

ServantOfTruth: I would love to talk about this topic off, and, on throughout people posting. So, if you want to know something, please feel free to ask anything, and, I will try, and, answer your questions to the best oif my ability.

[Pinewoods]

Living by the Bible, and going to church does not make you a Christian. If you have not personally met God as your savior, then I would tell you to seek out God. Pray for God to become real in your life. I am a chemist and many times I have questioned my faith, but every time I do I come back to the day I was Baptized and received the Holy Sprit. I know that was real I know because the quite, the pain, and the sadness for the things I had done were instantly gone the moment I came out of the water. Even now think back I can not brink up the guilt I felt before I went into the water. Do you have a moment like this, I ask because we are to work out or salvation with fear and trembling.

[ChristsCourage]

I did forget to tell you guys that I was baptized a Christian whenj I was a little kid, so, I do know the LORD, but, maybe not as well as some of you do. But, that's okay. I will get to know Him even better as my life goes on. I am going to start praying, and, reading my bible once a day. I am reading The Purpose Driven Life, and, am only on day 3, but, have learned a lot sso far.

[Sold Out]

I did forget to tell you guys that I was baptized a Christian whenj I was a little kid, so, I do know the LORD, but, maybe not as well as some of you do.

What Pinewoods is getting at is if you can nail down a specific day that you personally called on Christ to save you? Getting baptized as a kid and going to church does not make one a Christian, unless you accepted Christ as a child and were subsequently baptized.

I have a physical birthday - Dec 8. That is the day recorded on my birth certificate stating I was physically born on that day. I also have a spiritual birthday - June 6, 1977. That is the day I was BORN AGAIN into God's family. Just like you have a physical birthday here on earth, you must have a spiritual birthday to be in God's family.

Just believing is not enough.....head knowledge. I can believe that a parachute will save me if I jump out of a plane, but unless I reach over, grab it, and put it on, it has no power to save me. The same is true for being saved. Jesus paid for the gift of salvation, but it is not your until you reach out and take it. You can believe that it exists, but unless you personally accept the gift, it is not yours.

Does that make sense?

[ConqueredbyLove]

I did forget to tell you guys that I was baptized a Christian whenj I was a little kid, so, I do know the LORD, but, maybe not as well as some of you do. But, that's okay. I will get to know Him even better as my life goes on. I am going to start praying, and, reading my bible once a day. I am reading The Purpose Driven Life, and, am only on day 3, but, have learned a lot sso far.

Can you tell me, dear soul, a little about your relationship with the Lord?

[livingwaters]

This is it in a nutshell!!!! Only you and God know your heart. Don't forget that!!!!! You can fool the people most of the time, but you CANNOT fool GOD any of the time. AMEN!!!

If you are a born-again Christian, you should be willing to shout it from the Rooftops. ALLELUIA See, you just know in your "knower" that you are saved and indwelled with the HOLY SPIRIT!!! There is no other feeling like that feeling. Amen

Hope to see you seek first the kingdom of God, then everything else will be added. This is not a game.

God Bless.:)

[Revinius]

What is life? God is the giver of life. I keep hearing people grumbling about their priorities, their lack of time for Jesus. Is he worth so little to them that he never makes the top priority? If so, then they are further from Christ than they can possibly know:

The Parable of the Wedding Banquet

1Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2"The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. 3He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. 4"Then he sent some more servants and said, 'Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet.'
5"But they paid no attention and went off—one to his field, another to his business. 6The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. 7The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.
8"Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.' 10So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
11"But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. 12'Friend,' he asked, 'how did you get in here without wedding clothes?' The man was speechless.
13"Then the king told the attendants, 'Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
14"For many are invited, but few are chosen."


Think long and hard about what you are doing, about who and what you are living for. Are you the person that is to be thrown into the darkness? Or are you going to put the Lord as number 1?

[crossnote]

Hello, my fellow Christians. I have been away for a long time, and, I want to come back, but, do not know how. I have stopped believing in the lord, then decided that it is wrong to do that. So, the other day I came back, and, decided to start believing in Him again. I feel weird for doing that. So, besides praying, reading the bible, reading The Purpose Driven Life, and, trying to act like Jesus, what can I do to be a better christian? I know going to church, and, witnessing to people is the thing to do, but there is some other stuff that I can do to be a better person. Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:cry::cry:

Just a note:
I have been away...
... I want to come back
but, do not know how...
I have stopped believing ...
then [I] decided that it is wrong...
So, the other day I came back..
[I] decided to start believing in Him again.
I feel weird for doing that.
besides [I] praying,
[I] reading the bible,
[I]reading The Purpose Driven Life, and,
[I]trying to act like Jesus
...what can I do to be a better christian?
I know going to church..
[I] witnessing to people is the thing to do,
...is some other stuff that I can do ...

I hope you have gotten the picture.
Let me leave two verses with you in opposite order they appear.

Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?
(Gal 3:3) (The 'flesh' includes our own human strength)

The antidote?

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
(Gal 2:20)

Ok one more for good measure...
For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of [I]his good pleasure.
(Php 2:13)

Remember Peter was full of I's also until his great fall. But it is the Lord who purges us and causes us to see our complete reliance on Him.

[ServantofTruth]

Sometimes i want to write something that i know might upset the moderators. Also it might actually 'hurt' the reciever. But my aim would be to break through their present way of thinking and hit their heart.

My thought is this. I think you want our approval. Up to a point that is good, because we are a family and we should encourage eachother when we see need and support where we see weakness. But it is Jesus Christ who you need to impress. This needs to be done in the Matthew chapter 6 kind of way - in secret/ private.

I am also worried that if enough people give you a negative reaction, you will decide Christianity isn't 'worth it' again. Infact this doesn't worry me much, because if someone has true faith - a negative reaction wouldn't matter. But as we read in the parable of the farmer in Mark 4:16-19, there are those without roots on rocky ground and those amoung thorn bushes. Those who when life gets hard or the worries of this life get too big - give up.

Times of trouble, really seperate true believers from those who praise with their mouths but Jesus will say he doesn't/ has not ever known them. Trouble makes the true believe get on their knees in prayer, worship our Lord for all the wonderful things and people around them, and get into his Word for daily comfort.

I believe each of the members who has replied, your brothers/ sisters, just wants to hit you straight in the heart and make you think deeper than you ever had before. I said on a topic once before - the military have a phrase - we don't leave a man behind. Today you are that man. SofTy.

[ChristsCourage]

May 6,1996 is my spiritual bitrthday. I feel ready to accept Him into my heart, and, have started reading my bible again. I am doing a study of Hebrews, and, I like what I am reading so far. Now, are you guys gonna help me to understand things if I come, and, ask?

[Tanya~]

We will be happy to help you understand!

[ServantofTruth]

May 6,1996 is my spiritual bitrthday. I feel ready to accept Him into my heart, and, have started reading my bible again. I am doing a study of Hebrews, and, I like what I am reading so far. Now, are you guys gonna help me to understand things if I come, and, ask?

Whether you believe me or not, i don't believe anyone who has replied has done anything except try and help you.

Please could you keep your messages to me on the public forum, not private, unless you genuinely want my confidential help.

Anything i have to say will only direct you back to God's stated Wisdom/ Will in the bible. If you want personal opinion - please ask someone else. SofTy.

[ChristsCourage]

Whether you believe me or not, i don't believe anyone who has replied has done anything except try and help you.

Please could you keep your messages to me on the public forum, not private, unless you genuinely want my confidential help.

Anything i have to say will only direct you back to God's stated Wisdom/ Will in the bible. If you want personal opinion - please ask someone else. SofTy.


I am sorry that I made it sound like I was being demanding/mean when I was asking people if they would be willing to hel;p me. I always want the opinions of others, and, that inclydes you. It is taking me a while to get used to being on the boards. I will let my attitude go. Thanks all for helping me so far. If there is any other information you may have, please feel free ro share for all to read. I think we all can benefit from what God is leading you to say. Thanks, and, GOD Bless!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Tanya~]

We'll be looking forward to questions you have about Scripture Dana. :) Why don't you start a new thread on Hebrews, where you can ask questions you have about Hebrews here as you go along?

[My heart's Desire]

I am once, and, for all becoming a Christian. I felt bad when I left that I could not bring myself back to Christianity just yet. I am willing to do what you all are suggesting for me. I want to be a shining example to the world that I can, and, will be a servant of GOD. He is my rock, my foundation. So, I have to show not only Him, but, myself that I can, and, will do this.

Pinewoods: I know I am a Christian because I have been taught to live by the book, and, that I have gone to church off, and, on for years. I know that we need to go to church all the time, but, life gets in the way. And, I have found a church that has accepted me as a member, and, I am going to go sometime soon.

ServantOfTruth: I would love to talk about this topic off, and, on throughout people posting. So, if you want to know something, please feel free to ask anything, and, I will try, and, answer your questions to the best oif my ability.
I'll be blunt. Your words concern me as I feel it does others. There seem to be contradictions. One either is a Christian or they are not.
For example, quoting what you've said.
"I know I am a Christian because I have been taught to live by the book, and, that I have gone to church off, and, on for years. I know that we need to go to church all the time, but, life gets in the way. And, I have found a church that has accepted me as a member, and, I am going to go sometime soon."

I'll use myself as an example:
I do not know that I'm a Christian because I live by the book, I know I'm a Christian because Christ died for me as my substitute on the Cross, paying the price for the sin that I committed, taking my place where I should have been.
How do I know this? I know this because Christ said so and I believe His words.
It is by faith that we are saved. Faith is to simply take God at His Word. You must believe HIM.

You've also said " I am once and for all becoming a Christian. May not be meant that way but it looks to me as if you may as well say, I'm not sure I'm a Christian, but I'm once and for all trying to become a Christian.

When I was saved I didn't try to become a Christian, I became one and I didn't do it myself. Christ saved me and I knew I was one.

One can also not be a servant of God until one becomes a child of God and the only way to do that is to believe God and to be saved by Christ.

I'd love to encourage you, but your words seem to me to still be words of doubt and I know for I once sounded like that. Then I chose to believe God and it is then that as someone above said, your knower just knows it.
And you will receive rest for your soul. I personally believe that the book of Hebrews is strong meat for someone who is already a believer, but regardless you may find value in it as I did when I finally knew what it was to rest from my labors, trust Christ alone and I entered into His spiritual rest.
God bless.

[ServantofTruth]

I was sitting outside the children's school at picking up time and flicking through the bible. I read a little of the book of Ecclesiastes. The writer is obviously a little mixed up/ confused. I think he would have been an interesting person to know/ meet.

It's clear for all to see earlier on this topic, i was a little hard on ChristsCourage, when all of us have times of doubt or say things in a way that is easy to critise. I hope when i post badly, as i have many times in the past and no doubt will again at some point - the first few people to reply, do better than i did on this topic. What i said may be correct, but i'm finding my new friendship with ChristsCourage quite a blessing.

Why don't you join his group - Encouragement central - and there we can all follow his lead of over looking eachothers minor faults and building our faith.


Romans 14:4 And who are you to sit in judgement over someone elses servant? Whether he deserves to be upheld or to fall is for his own master to decide; and he shall be upheld, for the Lord has power to uphold him.

I believe this thread took a certain negative course, due to my earlier post. That scripture is aimed at ME and i would ask readers and posters, to try to be more positive. Sorry ChristsCourage, i love you as one of my family in Christ, SofTy. :hug:

[tt1106]

Welcome Back. The devil wants you to feel weird about believing in the Lord.
That's how he keeps us away. He stirs up our pride. Poeple hate to change their minds, it reminds them that they didn't have it right the first time. We hate to fail.
It's good to recognize that as humans all we ever do is fail and fall short. The Lord always welcomes us with open arms. You've already welcomed him back (although he never left) through his word. Read it, believe the promise and worship the god who made you. What could be better than that. May you continue to grow.
-Blessings.

[My heart's Desire]

Welcome Back. The devil wants you to feel weird about believing in the Lord.
That's how he keeps us away.Yes and a short cut of what I posted. We all have doubt occasionally, especially when we've walked outside of God's will for us, but the first part is to get salvation settled in one's heart and all the rest will follow. :) Oh, if I could only recount all my times of doubt for one reason or the other, I could write a book, but fortunately when I pinned down my belief in what God says, the doubts became much fewer. I have to literally stand on God's promises despite what everything else around me feels or looks like.

[Sold Out]

May 6,1996 is my spiritual bitrthday. I feel ready to accept Him into my heart, and, have started reading my bible again. I am doing a study of Hebrews, and, I like what I am reading so far. Now, are you guys gonna help me to understand things if I come, and, ask?

Awesome....now that we have that covered:pp

Most Christians experience frustration because of a lack of knowledge. Hosea 4:6 says "My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge." This is so true! I spent many years of my Christian life frustrated and making mistakes over and over.

You need to mature as a Christian. Some Christians never leave infancy, some never leave adolescence....very few become grown up Christians.

It's interesting that you are in the book of Hebrews. Hebrews 5:10-12 & 6:1-4 tell you what you need to do to mature. The Word of God is compared to four types of food: milk, honey, bread & meat. Most Christians never get off the 'ba-ba' spiritually. They suck down milk and never move onto meat. There are 6 doctrines that you need to learn to get out of elementary school spiritually:

1 - Doctrine of Christ
2 - Doctrine of Repentance
3 - Doctrine of Baptisms
4 - Doctrine of Power (laying on of hands)
5 - Doctrine of Hell
6 - Doctrine of Resurrections and Rewards

I have study guides for all these if you are interested. I really feel like I grew up after studying all these in depth. Just PM me your email address.

[BattleStance]

I know you might want to jump right into it with long prayers and reading the bible for a long time or fasting and what not, and oyu might be able to, but I would suggest you build up to all that.

I will give you an example, I stopped praying for about 2 months or so, and I would always try to pray again for like an hour or so and all of a sudden I would fall back out of pray because I was putting too much on myself. take it slow, build yourself up to doing this so that it becomes a habit and not just something you do or force yourself to do. Ofcourse someone might say praying for 5 mins a day isnt enough, but when you have been out of God for a long time or stopped doing something for a while, it can be hard to fully return to that thing. So building yourself up to where you can handle that is the best way to go. But dont get me wrong, God may put on someones heart to pray longer even if they have been away for a long time, but in most cases we need to start slow so it becomes a habit and not a phase.