Introducing Me

[Jer2911]

I have already made several posts during the past couple of days. But I thought that I would take a moment to say Hi.

I guess you could call me a backslider...though I never quit going to church once a week... praise God I didn't get to that point. But I am at a point, where I am not convicted about many behavioral things, that 2 years ago would have shocked me to the core. (I will watch just about any movie or TV show, I may use inappropriate language when angered, temper tantrums, moderate alcohol consumption, and I have even given in a couple times and smoked...etc) Not to mention an inappropriate friendship that could have been serious trouble! (but which has been discontinued for 2 months now,)

So, basically, pretty bad off. I still "look" like an apostolic to the naked eye, at least when I go to church. (But the outward stuff has been discussed with my Pastor, because I am not the type to want to hide anything).

Why am I telling you all this? Because I need help. And those who have been backsliders themselves, can empathize with my situation.

The horrible thing is that I feel that I should be able to repent and immediately be able to fall into my old behavior. But I have found this is not the case! It's like I have to start all over from a new convert, and take it step by step. Does that sound right? Or am I decieving myself?

I have only been in church for 4 years...and I spent 2 of them growing in Holiness, and 2 of them, growing out of it.

As a side note, We moved in the last 6 months, and I am far from friends and family and the familiar. And I am definately lacking for fellowship. Church is hard to get to due to distance and transportation problems.

Anyone have any thoughts, testimonys, advice, prayers, admonitions...anything?

[Melody]

My recommendation is that you take all of this to God and take time to renew your relationship with Jesus.

Once you KNOW that you have put it all under the blood then the accuser has no weapon to use against you.

And yes, Satan will continue to use the same tactics to cause you to fall that were successful before and the only way to defeat these temptations is to resist them.

We all fall, but a righteous man gets back up again.

[ddc101]

Sister I am so glad you are posting here at the cafe.I want to welcome you.We can provide fellowship if you are far from familiar faces.But honestly you need to form friendships within the church.I am glad that you are truthful.That truthfulness is what is going to get you to the place in God that you so desire.Possibly what you are battling is your own flesh.What is seems like you did was allow the flesh to be fed and become stronger so prayer and fasting is in order to deny the flesh.Spend time in the word.Attend church services regularly.lv sis.c

[Esther]

I know your pain. I was praying for my High School Sunday School class early one morning and God showed me my first vision. And I ask Him what it meant. I saw people walking up a hill but it looked like glue or gum was stuck to the bottom of their shoes and they were struggling to get up the hill. He let me know that they had to much of the world attached to them therefore that is why they were stuggling just to walk.

He also told me in prayer one day that the reason people backslide is because they don't KNOW Him.

If you want to know Him, get in His Word and read and pray. You can't backslide if you faithfully and honestly do that.

And let me tell you something else. NO ONE can make you backslide. YOU decide for whatever reason you want to find. But the honest truth is they can not make you backslide.

A lady in the church I grew up in sent me a message by her son, "No one can make you backslide, if you backslide it is because "you" decide to."

I did not know I would backslide. I saw something happen in church I didn't understand and didn't think was of God and walked out. I didn't immediately backslide, but when you stay out of church, quit reading your bible and quit praying, you will. But again it is Your choice. I know a minister that did a survey of backsliders and they all said when they quit praying they backslide.

But you can make it if you make up your mind to. The battle is in your mind. You make your mind up you will serve God no matter what, you will read His Word and fast and pray, you will have the best relationship you ever had with God.

YOU CAN DO IT!

Love, Joy, Peace and Grace in Jesus

[Janice Alvear]

I have already made several posts during the past couple of days. But I thought that I would take a moment to say Hi.

I guess you could call me a backslider...though I never quit going to church once a week... praise God I didn't get to that point. But I am at a point, where I am not convicted about many behavioral things, that 2 years ago would have shocked me to the core. (I will watch just about any movie or TV show, I may use inappropriate language when angered, temper tantrums, moderate alcohol consumption, and I have even given in a couple times and smoked...etc) Not to mention an inappropriate friendship that could have been serious trouble! (but which has been discontinued for 2 months now,)

So, basically, pretty bad off. I still "look" like an apostolic to the naked eye, at least when I go to church. (But the outward stuff has been discussed with my Pastor, because I am not the type to want to hide anything).

Why am I telling you all this? Because I need help. And those who have been backsliders themselves, can empathize with my situation.

The horrible thing is that I feel that I should be able to repent and immediately be able to fall into my old behavior. But I have found this is not the case! It's like I have to start all over from a new convert, and take it step by step. Does that sound right? Or am I decieving myself?

I have only been in church for 4 years...and I spent 2 of them growing in Holiness, and 2 of them, growing out of it.

As a side note, We moved in the last 6 months, and I am far from friends and family and the familiar. And I am definately lacking for fellowship. Church is hard to get to due to distance and transportation problems.

Anyone have any thoughts, testimonys, advice, prayers, admonitions...anything?

Yes, my precious sister many of us here would love to help you and be assured we will be calling your name in prayer.
May God bless you for being so sincere. I just kept thinking "God is a present help in time of trouble' He even now is right beside you, maybe you cannot see Him or at times even feel Him but He is there.
He weeps when you sin and rejoices when you overcome. You have been a christian such a short time and now you are away from friends and church but God is nigh unto you and our steps are ordered by the Lord. Our small trials are only light affiction compared to the ones the lover of our souls went through for us. He knows, He cares. Remember you are not living for Jesus to please others it is for your own soul. The reason He requires so many things from us is that we are HIS people passing through this fallen world. No it is really not easy to follow Jesus fully for He demands our all. He is like a jealous husband He wants all of us BUT He loves us with an everlasting love and will not put more on us than we can bear.
May, at this moment you feel His presence that lingers near all those He loves.
Your friend: Sister Janice Alvear

[BurningforJesus]

Welcome to GNC Jer2911. You have come to a place full of different opinions and ways. BUT you will find sound advice here from the ladies that have posted already. Be encouraged. Be determined. Let God have His way in your life and you will once again walk into His Marvellous Light. Take one day at a time and get into the WORD!!!! Pray and fast. Just like everyone else has said. It is not how many times we fall, but how many times we GET UP!!!! Jesus wants a relationship with you and that requires you to do some things too.:)
Welcome once again. Enjoy and learn from this sight. :)

Burning

[witness4jesus]

The horrible thing is that I feel that I should be able to repent and immediately be able to fall into my old behavior. But I have found this is not the case! It's like I have to start all over from a new convert, and take it step by step. Does that sound right? Or am I decieving myself?

sis, i know exactly where you are coming from.
i stumbled because i didn't get control of certain things in my
life, and from listening to the wrong voice...my own. instead
of trusting God to work out my problems, i always wanted to
run a step ahead of Him and grow impatient.

It sounds as if you have moved away from the things that support
you. Fellowship is important, and being connected with the people
of God strengthens us. But this also might be a time where He wants
you to rely on Him. I got to a spot where I was all alone, no church,
no fellowship, no friends, no husband......no one but me and Jesus.
But He pulled me through that time.

This is a time for you to dig in, and worship Him, no matter how you
feel, or even whether you can feel Him. Tonight God spoke to my heart
and said, "Just worship me." When we fail, we focus so much upon
ourselves, and kick ourselves. Tonight the preacher preached about
the Syro-Phoenician woman. Jesus called her a dog, and yet she had
faith enough to ask for crumbs. He is greater than your weaknesses
and mine. Hallelujah!

btw, sis, i learned this: i'm not saved because i wear a dress, i wear
a dress because I am saved. I am not saved because I grow my hair;
I grow my hair because I am saved. I speak in tongues, have control
of my actions and my tongue because I have Jesus on the inside. And
He gives us the victory over our wretched SELF.


sis pam

[jhlent]

I have already made several posts during the past couple of days. But I thought that I would take a moment to say Hi.

I guess you could call me a backslider... Your user name is what drew my attention – before I realized that you posted in the Ladies forum.

When the Lord gave Jeremiah 29:11 it was for the MANY much like you, me and many others here….

Have you ever really read it out and Prayed it…??

PLEASE do so but including ver.12-14

Jer. 29:11-14 is one of the BEST selection of scriptures for restoration.
Pray it and believe it.

Please 2 two things with it…
(1) Memorize it
(2) Personalize it.

Jer 29:10-14

11 - For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

12 - Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

13 - You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

14 - I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity.

Jer 29:13 - Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me [as a vital necessity] and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart (AMP)

Sis… know that the plans that the Lord has for you were made before you were ever born…. And he still has them available for you today. Pray and seek Him – and He will answer you.

[Jer2911]

Thank you so much all of you, for your words and prayers. Yesterday I was reading in Hebrews 3:12-18,:

Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. You must warn each other every day, as long as it is called "today," so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ. But never forget the warning:

"Today you must listen to his voice.
Don't harden your hearts against him
as Israel did when they rebelled."

And who were those people who rebelled against God, even though they heard his voice? Weren't they the ones Moses led out of Egypt? And who made God angry for forty years? Wasn't it the people who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom was God speaking when he vowed that they would never enter his place of rest? He was speaking to those who disobeyed him. So we see that they were not allowed to enter his rest because of their unbelief.

And then later Hebrews 4:12-13:


For the word of God is full of living power. It is sharper than the sharpest knife, cutting deep into our innermost thoughts and desires. It exposes us for what we really are. Nothing in all creation can hide from him. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes. This is the God to whom we must explain all that we have done.


It really is true that my heart got hardened as I spent less time in the Word and more time in the flesh! I am so glad that I can once again hear his voice!

[Jer2911]

Your user name is what drew my attention – before I realized that you posted in the Ladies forum.

When the Lord gave Jeremiah 29:11 it was for the MANY much like you, me and many others here….

Have you ever really read it out and Prayed it…??

PLEASE do so but including ver.12-14

Jer. 29:11-14 is one of the BEST selection of scriptures for restoration.
Pray it and believe it.

Please 2 two things with it…
(1)Memorize it
(2)Personalize it.

Jer 29:10-14

11 - For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

12 - Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

13 - You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

14 - I will be found by you," declares the LORD, "and will bring you back from captivity.

Jer 29:13 - Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me [as a vital necessity] and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart (AMP)

Sis… know that the plans that the Lord has for you were made before you were ever born…. And he still has them available for you today. Pray and seek Him – and He will answer you.
Thank you so much for pointing this out to me. I guess I concentrated so much on verse 11 togive me hope, that I had forgotten the verses that came later. I am definately going to pray it and memorize it.

God Bless,
Sis. J

[NanaRenan]

Sister -- you're on the right track.

Try not to berate yourself for where you think you ought to be in God. "Backsliding" doesn't usually happen in one fell swoop, nor is it corrected instantly. Temptations come as whispers, not as a shout.....little by little we allow ourselves to be drawn away from the presence of God.

It's natural to want to be back at the same with Him where we last remember feeling His awesome power. But the experiences you've been thru have changed you -- it stands to reason that spot isn't as easily located as we might hope.

But, with prayer, fasting, studying the Word, fellowshipping with God's people -- you can move well BEYOND that place and grow closer to Him than you ever dreamed possible.

I know -- when He brought me back -- it was a long, slow process. But now I know I'm nearer to Him in ways I didn't know existed. And a lot of the little things I struggled with before are so inconsequential when compared to what I have in Him now!

Just remember -- He inhabits the praise of His people, so keep His praises on your lips.