After we run out of options...that's when we turn to Jesus for help. OUCH!

[JesusReignsForever]

I just had a thought...All of us who have accepted Jesus Christ as our saviours...we have entered into a special sacred relationship with Jesus. We have accepted his proposal and now have married Jesus Christ...

Dont you think it hurts him when we do wrong?

Dont you think it hurts him when we run and chase after the lust of our flesh?

We cheat and rob Jesus for no good reason... we leave him...ignore him?

But how blessed are we that he is so forgiving! How blessed are we that his mercy endureth forever!

Now Im not saying all these things to condem anyone but how it must hurt him when we say we love him and then we leave him to chase after ( insert you stronghold here) then once we have run out of options and we can no longer run and hide....that is when we come back to him for forgiveness n renewal!

When will we get tired of hurting Jesus?? When will we just make the step to give him our all and all? When will we really forsake all and live for Jesus and ask him to lead us n guide us in every way?

JUST FOOD FOR THOUGHT these things just have come to my mind...I wanted to share.

Its not to late to stop hurting Jesus n turn to him and him alone. Forsake the world and just hope in Jesus...ofcourse it will hurt but whats a little pain compared to all Jesus has instore for us??

And if I suffer...I will gain Eternal Life!! <----- a snip of a song I love!

MOds if I have put this in a wrong category kindly put me on the right path!

[cheech]

Well...that is a darn good question and I'm going to give a darn good answer .

You have expressed what I've recently found out. Over the last year I've been through some really tough tests for several reasons. Over the last month or two (I'm sure more if I were to ask God ) my focus has been off of Christ and more on different situations that were happening around me. For one, a friendship of mine has been distant over the last year for different reasons, but over the last month or so it's really bothered me alot. We talk and do love each other as good friends but there were strains. In the past I kept people at an arms length due to past hurts. This friend I took a chance and opened up too, allowing her in. Trust me when I say the enemy was involved and I saw it but you know emotions . Well...my focus was so off of Christ I couldn't concentrate on Him. In the end, I felt the friendship was distant, I felt ignored, I listened but felt I wasn't listened too, etc. I have felt very hurt and I know she has too. It wasn't until over this weekend when I've had enough of carrying too much on my shoulders and began to surrender all to Christ that I realized something...the way I was feeling about my friendship was the same way Christ was feeling about me...I became distant to Him, ignoring Him sometimes when he'd try to get my attention, I wasn't listening to Him as much as He was listening to me and in all, He felt hurt because He has been there for me so many times and I wasn't fully there for Him giving Him my time and attention. As I prayed and all this came to mind I can't tell you how badly I felt! I prayed and apologized profusely and cried my heart out. But as usual, He was there as I surrendered all to Him and He took it from me, making me feel a whole lot better. I truly believe He had to put me in a place where I felt what He was feeling. Amazing, huh.

Now, let me tell you a bit more that He ministered to me. It's a thing called distractions and it's one of the best tools the enemy has to keep our focus off of Christ and onto other things. That was the problem...there were so many distractions keeping my mind off of Christ and what I was to do that I became blinded by hurt and pain. That is how the enemy keeps us chained and our eyes off Christ. Hurt, pain and lies that the enemy uses is nothing but a veil over our eyes to keep us from hearing and seeing the truth that Christ is trying to get through to us. The more hurt and pain we are in, the more the enemy is able to feed us lies and make us perceive things the way he wants us to perceive them instead of how they really are. When we surrender all to Christ...every hurt, pain, addiction, struggle, whatever, Christ takes it and removes the veil of lies and shines the light on the truth and THAT is what the enemy does not want to happen! Once we surrender all to Him, the truth is known and the enemy has no more hold over us, but as long as we continue to carry the burden of our problems on our shoulders and not turn it over to Christ, we just, as my husband says, make the enemy's job easier.

Sooooooooooo that is what I've learned. I'm not very good at surrendering but am learning quickly and I can't tell you how good I feel, but when I realized I was actually committing spiritual adultery by putting other things and people before God......I can't tell you how hard and bad it hit me .

We get our emotions from God...He created them so yes, He hurts tremendously when we hurt Him. I'm sure He has shed so many tears we just can't imagine.

Excellent question my dear!

We are constantly bombarded with distractions from computers, to alcohol, to other people. What people don't realize is that when we make a commitment to Christ, it is a marriage and we are committed to Him.

Jeremiah 3:14
"Return, faithless people," declares the LORD, "for I am your husband.

Jeremiah 3:20
But like a woman unfaithful to her husband, so you have been unfaithful to me, O house of Israel," declares the LORD.

When we allow these distractions to come and put everything else before Him, we are actually committing spiritual adultery:

Psalm 106:39
They defiled themselves by what they did; by their deeds they prostituted themselves.

Isaiah 57:7
You have made your bed on a high and lofty hill; there you went up to offer your sacrifices.

[Slug1]

Now Im not saying all these things to condem anyone but how it must hurt him when we say we love him and then we leave him to chase after ( insert you stronghold here) then once we have run out of options and we can no longer run and hide....that is when we come back to him for forgiveness n renewal!

For me it boils down to this... obedience and disobedience. Before my "marriage" to Christ I had the choice to do as I want, He still knocked but I didn't answer as I enjoyed my freewill.

Then when my freewill was leading me to the end of the road that if I was to look over the edge... I'd see no end to the fall... I turned around and answered the door.

Now that I do have a relationship with the Lord, who I love... I act in obedience to His will or in disobedience to His will. To me, freewill isn't in the equation anymore. One builds trust (both ways), confidence, maturity, stronger faith, draws you closer to Christ, etc. The other causes distance between us, lack of trust, no maturing in the relationship, etc.

Seems similar to the relationship a person has with their spouse and they experienced periods of being in obedience/disobedience to that marriage.

Obedience = joy and all forms of joy.
Disobedience = hurt and all forms of hurt.
Freewill = nothing but an excuse and we all know the max effective range of an excuse... ZERO meters

So, when we do face Jesus again and seek forgiveness, He gives it and in obedience we can rebuild the trust, faith, maturity etc.

[chad]

Interesting question. I think the more we turn to God, the more we llive our lives pleasing to God, the more we decide to walk with God and do things that please God, the more we are blessed and the more God blesses us.

God is faithful to us, even when we are unfaithful.

(2 Tim 2:11 NIV) Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him; (12) if we endure, we will also reign with him. If we disown him, he will also disown us; (13) if we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself.

[JesusReignsForever]

All excellent testimonies and knowledge here...thanks for sharing and opening up my eyes even more.

I was wondering if we could actually be the adulters and adultresses when we walk outside of our marraige with God.

Praise God.

[cheech]

All excellent testimonies and knowledge here...thanks for sharing and opening up my eyes even more.

I was wondering if we could actually be the adulters and adultresses when we walk outside of our marraige with God.

Praise God.

Very much so. The way God describes His relationship with the Israelites and how they turned away from Him due to idolatry...it is adultery in His eyes...they turned away from Him for something else.

[brakelite]

You mentioned JRF, that it is when we run out of options that we turn back to our Saviour. Not trying to be smart, but might I suggest that from the day we are born, we have no options? That the only real choice is Christ? The sad part is that it takes so long for so many of us to admit it. Some never do. But to come to the only conclusion, that "without Him we can do nothing", is the point of surrender.
I believe 'independence' is an enemy to the gospel. I think God desires that we become completely dependant upon Him. Marriage is an interesting metaphor. Could it be that we become spiritual adulterers when we cease to depend on our Husband and trust in ourselves ? Would that be like making ourselves the idol?
And as I duck for cover, what does that mean for the expression 'submitting yourselves to one another' in our earthly marriages?