About ten years ago, I was struggling with gossip, a sin I couldn’t seem to kick, no matter how hard I tried. I had become convicted about it after living with a friend who didn’t gossip at all. Like, at all. She held her tongue and guarded confidences with patience and incredible grace. She was a wonderful example to me, and her integrity highlighted the cracks in my own. So, I decided to change.
At first, I simply tried to gossip less. I’d made up my mind and thought that would be enough. It wasn’t. Then, I decided to “fast” from gossip. Now, I know that’s not how fasting works; we aren’t supposed to fast from things we shouldn’t be doing in the first place. Even so, making the concerted effort really seemed to help. I limited the fast to forty days, cutting out gossip TV shows and magazines, and just trying to be more intentional. I took it one day at a time.
During those forty days, I was able to avoid gossip. And for the first time, I felt a sense of victory over this area of my life. Unfortunately, it didn’t stick. A decade later, I still fall prey to this sin. I still spread rumors under the guise of concern, I still ask for personal details I don’t need to hear, and I freely discuss the personal lives of famous people. I don’t like that I do it, but I do it nonetheless. I’ve come to realize I’ll struggle with it the rest of my life.
Ongoing struggles with sin are one of the great mysteries of the Christian life. On the one hand, following Christ means we put on our identity of Christ. In Him, we are set free from our sinful nature, and it no longer exercises unbridled power over us (Ephesians 4:22–24). On the other hand, we still sin. Even when we don’t want to sin, we do (Romans 7:15–16). In Christ we are victorious over our flesh, but we still do battle against it.
John alludes to this struggle, stating that we are victorious and should not continue to sin (1John 5:18), but he also encourages believers to pray for others while they’re in the midst of sinning. At first, it seems like John is contradicting himself. But what John is referring to is the tension between the “already, but not yet” of being a Christian. This concept means we have one foot in eternity and one foot here on earth. We already taste the victories of Christ’s resurrection, but we don’t yet possess them completely. We will continue to struggle with sin, but it will no longer define us.
This already-not-yet state of being can be frustrating, especially when you’re tired of struggling with sin. But even in that, God does not abandon us to struggle alone. We always have the help of prayer, which is why John encourages us to ask for anything “according to his will” (1John 5:14). When we ask God to deliver us from sin, He promises to hear us, and help us. He is the true God and our High Priest, and we can trust Him with our weaknesses (1John 5:20; Hebrews 4:15).
The struggle with our flesh is real, but take heart: God isn’t finished with us yet. We are already “in the true one—that is, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life” (1John 5:20). He is the only way to eternal life, and we are only just beginning to taste the fullness that awaits (Philippians 3:20).
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82 thoughts on "Effective Prayer"
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He promises to hear us & help us
We will continue to struggle with sin, but it will no longer define us.
This sentence can be defeating and victorious all at the same time. I struggle with food. I am a healthy weight but I seem to wake every morning with the devil in my head saying you’re just not quite good enough because you’re not skinny enough. I know that isn’t true but I dwell on that battle a lot of my day. I know if I didn’t consume my thoughts with that all day I could be a better tool for Jesus.
Lord help me know that you need to be at the forefront of my mind day in and day out so I am able to deflect the blazing darts of the evil one.
God is still working on me!❤️
I needed this today ❤️
I love this! That’s exactly what I needed to hear today!
Yes ! This was my exact feeling Leslie !
I hear you, and I understand, i have felt that too, kind of “put in a “single woman box”. I often feel unseen, and that was what I was saying in my reply. One day a friend said 3 words to me that ring in my ears all the time and changed everything for me, “God sees you”. I was looking to be seen when above it all God saw everything, knew every hurt, every sadness. The reality is, there are way more married women, with children in this world than single, so that will be pictured as the norm, because it is. But when you feel unseen, God sees every single bit of you and your life, He knows your heart and your hurts more than any human can ever know. He wants to comfort you and fill up that sadness with Himself. I say this because of your original post where you said it made you sad to see pictures of mother and child. God has very specific plans for your life and is working them out through His perfect timing and “refinement” goals. Have you ever looked at Michelangelo’s painting “creation”. Most people just see the part where God is depicted reaching out and touching Adams hand, but if you look at the whole picture, you see Gods other arm around a young woman. Many people say he is depicting Eve there, or, a symbol of Gods daughters, whom he cherishes and protects. When ever i feel unseen, I picture myself there. Praying for you.
Margaret, I do appreciate your thoughtful response. Perhaps I was not clear. I am not sitting in sadness reflection on what I do not have. I would, however, appreciate more of a focus on being a Christ-like woman. Not predominantly a mom. I’ve been a working woman for ten years and feel very unseen by the Christian community. That was more my point which I was unclear on.
Love how these Devos are always so relevant, even when I’m a day behind! He is faithful.
So thankful for this word today that God is not finished with me yet! I am in the midst of a struggle with my heaviest chain, the sin that weighs me down more than anything. It is my greatest idol – seeking the approval of man to validate my worth. I find myself in a struggle to trust God at the moment. I loved whoever commented “What would happen if I actually gave God a chance and ran to Him instead?” I needed to hear that. Something that has been on my heart recently is the word surrender. God I’m scared. I know you ways are higher than my ways and your thoughts are higher than my thoughts. Lead me to the cross of surrender, that I can trust in you. Lord I believe, help my unbelief. Amen
I understand this is a study for women and many women are mothers. I don’t want to complain-but as a 29 year old unmarried woman who has always longed for her own family this is a hard photo to look at. I think godly womanhood isn’t always motherhood and it’s a reason I don’t read many devotional for women as they almost always refer to being a mom. Just a thought.
Thanks for this great piece this morning. I have found Gossip to be the sin that other people can pull me into so easily, and it feels terrible, almost immediately. Its the sin that we are forced to demonstrate to others what our boundaries are, or else we are in the muck all of the time. The good news is that this is a perfect way to let our light shine among men too. I have started a thing with an atheist colleague of mine, where we come in to work and commit that we will only be positive and uplifting today, and if anything turns negative gossipy, we call each other out and back to the high ground. God is so good, glad he is not finished with me yet!
I’ve felt the same way throughout the last week. My biggest struggles have been described in ever so subtle ways here. The first day, I cried. A friend of mine asked me if I wanted to do this study with her, to try it out and see if it was something I liked. What she didn’t know was that I’ve been struggling with my mental health and she sent me the link here on a day I really needed it the most. Day 10 and I’m still here reading and praying! The lord brought me her friendship and brought me here. He answered my prayers.
This reading came at the perfect time. I love that sin doesn’t define us and that Christ is always there to help deliver us from sin. Exactly what I needed to hear.
Gossip has always bothered me, even as a child. Perhaps it’s because I was often the subject of gossip/being picked on. I wore glasses, was extremely poor, and severely broke my elbow in the fifth grade, leaving it permanently deformed. I have never been comfortable listening to others talk about “what they heard about so-and-so.” My mother-in-law is the worst gossiper I’ve ever encountered. She calls my husband at least 10 times a day to tell him whatever the latest gossip she’s heard. It drives him crazy, but she won’t listen when he tells her he doesn’t want to hear it. Thankfully, she doesn’t call me, but she’s a difficult person to be around. Unlike the author of the commentary today, she doesn’t seem to realize she has a problem. Certainly, I have other sins I struggle with, but I am aware, and I do make an effort. I pray every day for God to help me change my ways,
I find it funny that the things I’m struggling with are in this bible study. It continues to show me that I’m not alone in this and God will continue to heal what is needed
I love the fact that God isn’t finished with me yet:)
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Thank you for sharing, I have never considered myself someone who gossips but this helped open my eyes to how I am now gossiping about the virus. My opinions help no one when it is just between a friend and I, instead let the conversation be uplifting and encouraging. Not focused on what I think should be done.
This was just what I needed to hear today! Happy Wednesday everyone ❤️
This has nothing to do with the devotion but I just had to say this. I love the picture that went with our devotional today. I miss those days.
Today’s passages are again pressing us to look deeply at what is the writer’s true meaning and how do we think, believe, feel and act upon them. Sometimes it’s hard to express it all clearly and succinctly. The “already, but not yet” is a reality that I’ve seen over and over throughout the NT. And as we walk on this narrow path with our Lord, there are ditches on both sides with pot holes that need be be dodged.
As a couple of others have pointed out, we need to be careful about resigning to our sin, while knowing we are going to struggle with sin generally until the day we are complete in Christ. Yet, what is the means of grace God gives us to fight valiantly against sin? What is true repentance? One thing I see that needs to be the foundation to our beliefs about repentance is it is by God’s mercy and work in our lives that any of us are granted true repentance. Therefore, we have nothing to boast in, but the Lord himself. We are not saved or sanctified by the works of our flesh, but by the power of the Holy Spirit given to those who believe and receive the work of our Lord and Savior Jesus. Yet, on that foundation we are also called to be intentional about “putting off sin” and “putting sin to death”.
As I meditated on all of these passages this morning, I was reminded of the teachings which define repentance as a “change of mind”. And I agree this is true — in part. Isn’t it also a “change of heart”? And if so, doesn’t this involve our emotions?
A number of Scriptures came to mind. For example, Paul notes his gladness that the Corinthians’ “godly sorrow produced a repentance” (2 Corinthians 7:10). Jude tells us to “show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh” for others in deep sin (Jude 1:23). James urges his readers to “be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom” as we are convicted of our sin and double-mindedness (James 4:8-9). Such strong feelings seem to accompany repentance as the apostles wrote about it.
Sometimes I wonder if part of the reason we get stuck in our sin is because we don’t have this kind of deep heart change. I have been under teaching which seems to minimize lament and hatred of sin. From where did this idea come? Perhaps the prosperity gospel which seems so rooted in the “New Thought” ideas that only “positive thinking” is good? Don’t get me wrong, I very much believe there is to be joy and celebration over the victory Christ has had for us on the cross. But, I also believe that James reminds us that as we “humble yourself before the Lord,” it will be him who “will exalt you” (James 4:10). It’s the Lord who will bring us to a return of joy.
“Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning” (Psalm 30:4). Praying for us, sisters, that we may fight sin earnestly with our minds and our hearts with a hatred of sin that is grounded in knowing we are loved deeply by the one who has victory over it! I ask that he will grant us the joy that is truly fruit of the Spirit at work in us through our common faith in Christ Jesus.
Rebekah C. amen but I have one thing to add we need to make sure we don’t take just one verse and use it especially if we use it out of context.
God bless you, Tina, and may He continue to give you the strength and courage to share His love and word with those who do not know Him.
I know that I sin daily and sometimes I realize it and sometimes I don’t. I need to make better choices to pray about it when i feel weak and He will make me stronger.
Tamara it’s not an inability to trust that God is a loving God because I have been where your daughter is an I am and have been a Christian all my life. What it is is an imbalance in brain waves and an inability to know how to control the imbalance. Once I received helped my thoughts changed and I have not had problems since.
Thank you Rebekah C. Your comments were clarifying. And thank you Churchmouse for reminding me that praying for everyone to have life in Jesus is a good way to remind myself that He is God & I am not!
So grateful Jesus died for my sin so that there is no need to focus
I can remember my father saying “God hears all prayer but He may not answer all prayers the way we want Him to or as fast as we want Him to but He does answer all prayers.” My father was a Christian and knew the Bible fairly well. I can remember him praying for me at times and then I can remember, my last memory of being with him, when he was in the hospital. I asked him if he wanted me to read the Bible to him, thinking every hospital has Bibles in them, he of course said yes. Well the hospital had the New Testament with Psalm. When I told him that is what I had to read from he was a little disappointed but he told me what he wanted to read. I read Psalm 23 and 100 and several from the New Testament, as I read each one he recited them with me. He stumbled a little but all in all he did good. Right before I left I said a prayer, nothing like what he would say over me but it put a smile on his face.
Yesterday many of you commented about wanting to help loved ones who have strayed from Christ to return. Well I’m here to say leave it all in God and Christ’s hands and just pray about and continue to live your life the Christian way you live it. My niece who died earlier this month had strayed from Christ after my oldest son died, well about a month or so ago she reaffirmed her faith at her boy friend’s church in West Virginia. There is hope for everyone and all we have to do is pray.
“Satan has two lies. Before we sin, ‘It is a trifle. It won’t matter.’ After we sin, “This is awful. How could God forgive you?'” (paraphrased from Robert M. McCheyne).
Quick question: I love SRT and I like to respond with an ‘amen’, etc., to some of the comments but when I use the reply option below a comment my reply shows up in the main thread. How do I fix that? THANK YOU ALL for so freely sharing your faith and hope. Be safe and blessed!
Pat I experienced being gossiped about. It was so hurtful. I hate to admit, but especially from my church friends. And yet, I have gossiped myself. Over and over. My friend left flowers on my porch with a very heartfelt note. I will never forget that. I like what your mother said, “The wise old owl, the more he heard the less he spoke, the less he spoke the more he heard. Bless all of you.
Elene, links to daily Scriptures are located just below the lesson title. Hope this helps!
If I ask for God’s will to be done, I can be confident He will do it. So thankful He is God and I am not!
Praying for Nova Scotia, and everyone effected by this horrible tragedy. His love around it all. Praying also for all your loved ones who have been contemplating suicide. Healing for hearts and minds the ability to look outward and upward and feel the tremendous love of Jesus piercing the darkness they are in. Lord may your light overwhelm these loved ones and bring you glory.So much today in the scripture and the devotion. I had a teacher in high school that battled gossip, by saying only good things about the person being spoken about. And in his conversations about others only spread the joy, the good things others were doing. I have learned In this action all gossiping is quelched and respect for the person is put forward. I learned about this after I had said something about someone, only to turn and see them right behind me crushed by my thoughtless words. The realization that our words can speak life or death and the warnings in James of the evil in our tongue is clear. But God, Jesus, the Word, He is mighty, He is truth. May my mouth Lord be full of you to bless and not curse. Thankful to know the One who helps us overcome and makes us strong in our weakness. His Depth of Love and peace to all y’all.
Thank you SRT for this forum! I am so blessed by these devotions and comments! I praise the Lord for His amazing healings in so many comments.
But God…sometimrs doesn’t heal as we would see fit. Though I do so trust Him and His power, at least most days with most of my life, I believe sometimes His healing is not clear to us. As humans, we want earthly healing for earthly problems. As in healing for physical or mental illness. This us not always in His eternal plan. Its then that I still need to trust.
Several in my family suffer from depression. I do not believe it is a lack of prayer or a life of sin that is keeping them in its grip. The Lord is with us through this, but He may not heal this on this side of heaven. But God…will not abandon us or leave us. Holding His hand and praying may be all we are able to do. Resting in faith that He will never let go, even if we do not have the strength to hold on. Thank you, Lord, for Your firm grip! Thank you sisters for listening.
Lovely thoughts! I do agree! I suffer from depression from time to time, and the last time was last December. I made a point of praying, praising and singing praise songs through it and I definitely felt Gods tender care through that time and it’s actually a sweet memory now. I have to believe He allowed me to go through it to experience Him in a greater way. I fear it coming back sometimes but each time I come out of it I am stronger in the Lord so that gives me hope. I hope it will be the same for your loved one if they have to go through it going forward!
I love Sharon! I watched all your videos in the “Free of Me” series and they were SO good. I really recommend you ladies go watch! I’m so thankful for this word today. I’m so thankful for the foot that’s already in the door of eternity and the one that allows me access to Christ’s promises and communion with God on this side of Heaven. I’m also equally grateful that I can call on His name when I struggle with the foot I have still on this earth. I struggle with gossip too sometimes. My sin struggle takes the form of idols in my life that I run to to cope with stress. Food is a big one, calling my sister when I should call on God, just sitting in my faithlessness and throwing pity parties for myself. I’ve been asking the question… what would happen if I actually just gave God a chance and ran to Him instead? And recently I’ve been doing that. And even though the stress doesnt always go away, He has come through every. single. time. And the more I trust Him the more my heart is convinced that He is reliable for me to run to with my problems instead of my idols. Thank you Jesus for being so powerful that you have authority over my circumstances and emotions. You are always in control. Thank you Sharon for this word today!
Is there supposed to be scripture on the image at the bottom of the devotional?
“Already, but not yet..” I also find myself struggling with sins I thought I had worked through years ago. this is a good reminder that God has conquered sin and He hears our pleas to him. How convicting but also encouraging! Thank you SRT
All sin can be traced to two roots: not believing God and not loving others.
The one that ultimately leads to death, not believing God.
When we don’t believe God, we end up doing all kinds of things contrary to Gods word. We doubt constantly, we question the validity of God’s voice and wonder if Jesus ever walked the earth. In those initial kernels is the sin that leads to death. When we follow that thought line we end up far away from God. We paint Him a liar and even go so far to deny His existence. Without God, we are dead.
Initially, young Christians are like babies. They are selfish, self serving, manipulative, whiny, emotional, and totally self absorbed. But babies grow. If the Christian who is young believes God, they will grow up into the expressed image of the father, Christlike.
Arrested development occurs when the first sin happens: not believing God. That’s where death happens, death occurs. Oh, some children doubt their parents are their parents and siblings can be exceptionally cruel to each other, because they are selfish children and in different stages of development, and if you can learn to love family, even family that is rough around the edges, love becomes refined. Because we believe God and see how God loves others.
Imagine if your three year old child decided you weren’t their parent and they stopped growing. They stayed as a three year old. That’s essentially what happens when we believe God but not everything He says. When we pick and choose to believe what God says, we believe God loves *me* more than *you* or *others*. We believe the essentials, but we are beginning to walk into territories of unbelief. Where we only believe some of God.
When we believe all of the word of God, we will stumble, fall and sin, but acknowledge that we stumble, fall and sin and still believe that God forgives us if we confess our sin. But if we don’t believe the word, how can we trust it? How can we live in the light if we doubt the light?
How do you move from territories of unbelief into realms of faith?
Like marriage. You spend a lot of time with your husband. When you spend time with Him, you get to know Him. Read and reread the word of God. Spend time listening to the Holy Spirit, and asking God questions. Read your Bible and settle within yourself that what the Word of God says is true. Make that choice everyday.
Thank you for your honesty Churchmouse! I love that we have a God that doesn’t run from our questions and welcomes our honesty. I tell my daughters that all the time, never be afraid of your questions just because I nor anyone else has the answer, just keeping bringing them to God. There are passages I think I will wrestle with my whole life, but God has proven faithful over and over at giving me the wisdom I need when I need it. I love your approach, I’m going to keep praying with you and let God sort out the answer.
I’m always thinking about how I’m going to struggle with sin for all of my life because I am human, but always remind myself that He will always forgive me as long as I keep trying and being as kind and non-sinful as humanly possible. I try my best to avoid situations that inspire sin, but still find myself falling into the trap and asking Him for forgiveness. As I grow closer to him it gets easier to see these situations beforehand or say no to sin, but I still struggle like I’m sure we all do as humans.
What a great read this morning. I have found myself wondering in which ways I continue to sin, especially through this time of isolation. Today’s reading helped me understand that I might be in that halfway state.
Lord help me to know my sins and to have a desire to come to You and ask for deliverance in Jesus name Amen
What are some of your ongoing sins? Mine include: gossip, selfishness, gossip, fear of the future, not trusting in God, and having control. Praying for us that we lean in to Jesus and remember through prayer, God will help us! We are not alone and have a glorious future.
One sin that nobody really thinks about that I deal with everyday during this crisis is fear. It has gotten better as my trust in God’s plan continues to grow, but fear means there are times when I don’t trust God and that in itself does scare me as well.
Oh my gosh. What a devotional. I read yesterday’s and then this one. Thank you for speaking too my heart in both. Pray I can be bolderin sharing my faith and then knowing that he hears my prayers for forgivenes when I do not mean to do wrong. I knew all of this but was blessed how you laid it out. He is not finished with me yet!!Praise the Lord
Claudia, the words in red are the words of Jesus, highlighted for us to see.
I have so many thoughts. In my youth I was so close to take my own life but God, whom I really didn’t know had started to pursue me years earlier, stopped me. He spoke to me and I surrendered everything. I gradually became a completely different person, free from depression, anxiety and He healed my emtions tied to my memories.
And what I’ve learned since then about death and discernment is to set apart physical and spiritual death, our God is a God of reason and if something confuses us we have to figure out where it is coming from and remember that God brings peace and clarity and confusion and divison comes from the evil one. Also, God never does the same thing twice.
What I’ve learned about sinning throughout the 10 years I’ve been a christian is that we as christians cant continue to sin, but we can fall into it occasionally but get right back up again. In other words, we are able to stop sinning, 1 John 2:1-5 etc…
We can’t merely believe that someone is a christian by their word because faith in Jesus shows. We do life totally different. We are at peace and are learning to trust God.
He is a God of reason (Logos) and that’s why we only can look at the fruit in someones life to get confirmation that this is truly a godly woman or man and trust God in them. The Bible is clear about that. The outwardly represents the inwardly.
Hoping this gives you something as you all give me something, everyday.
Praying, Tamara!
My heart has been heavy the last few mornings. I currently live in New Brunswick, Canada, but I spent the first 25 years of my life in Nova Scotia…if you’ve not heard, there was a terrible, tragic and senseless mass shooting that happened there Saturday night and into Sunday. 23 lives were taken in multiple communities spread across central Nova Scotia…communities minutes from my home! People I grew up with are faced with dealing with the senseless loss of their loved ones, and all while still dealing with the quarantine due to Covid-19! It’s impossible to wrap my mind around the events of this past weekend. The thing that helps is knowing that God is right there in the sorrow. He did not want this. And these passages in 1 John have been speaking to the questions in my heart. I feel a little off topic today, but my heart is to love God and love His people and to live well. I feel like wrestling with these questions of “why” is important because the world is asking too…I want to stand firm, regardless of my ability to understand, in the confidence of Who God is and what His Word says. He is the only true God, and He is eternal life. (1 John 5:20b)
Angela, I’m from New Brunswick, but living in Manitoba now. What happened to our sister province is so deep and so tragic that I can feel my heart not allowing my head to go there. I can only look at the facts, my heart will not let me grieve because between that and Covid precautions I don’t know if I can handle it all. It seems like a dream. Between this and the Moncton shootings and the shooting in Fredericton I just don’t understand what is happening, but I think we probably need to be praying for the incredible hearts and souls that live in the Maritimes. So much tragedy for some of the kindest most wonderful people on earth. It makes my heart ache for home: both “down east” and heaven.
Standing firm in who I know Jesus is and praying for all those who are grieving. My heart is back home in Nova Scotia…praying that people will come to know Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.
Angela, dear sister,
Hey CLAUDIA! :) In a lot of versions, you’ll see the words in RED that indicate they were words spoken directly by Jesus and the black is anyone else (nobody else got their own personal color.. ;)) :) Hope that helps! And WELCOME! :) Enjoy your day!!
Hi! Can someone tell me why some text in the reading is black and some is red? Thank you! I am new here ☺️✝️
Hey, girl! Sure! The red lettering is direct speech from Jesus.
Hi, Claudia! Traditionally, text in red are words spoken by Jesus. You will see it in readings from the Gospels.
Hi! The red words in the text of your Bible are words Jesus has spoken. If you look throughout the New Testament (especially Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), you’ll see that there are many paragraphs and sentences written in red. I hope this helps!
Oh wow thank you so much!!
I realized I should’ve replied here! The words in red are the words of Jesus, highlighted for us to see.
This was great this morning. A simple reminder that we’re still in the battle but simultaneously we’ve won the war and can celebrate victory even in the midst of personal defeats that still come.
I did want to comment on the line “…I’ve come to realize I’ll struggle with it the rest of my life.” I can’t say that I agree… we will struggle with sinning the rest of our earthly lives, YES. We’re human and living in a broken world. However, we need to be really careful of getting to the point with ourselves where we just say “well, is what it is..” AND BEING CLEAR- I am NOT implying the author is being flippant or dismissive of her personal struggle. I’m just also saying that every decision we make has a motivation behind it. Most of the time, honestly, we don’t even know our motive anymore. Especially when it comes to lifelong sins. But when we can let God in on that and prayerfully (sometimes therapeutically with professional help) often we CAN find the motivation, gain healing from God and no longer have that desire for that sin we couldn’t even explain. And I say this from experience in my own sin. Since before the age of 8 years old, I have struggled with an eating disorder. I was told my whole life by professionals that “it’s like alcoholism- you can definitely get to a healed place where you no longer struggle, but neurologically speaking you will always have this tendency to go back to it…”. However in my early 30’s a change happened I can’t quite explain and I haven’t struggled even once. I’ve even tempted myself to test if I would go back (because to be clear, in my own sick way, I enjoyed parts of this disorder. I craved it and felt validated by it…) but I had/have zero desire. Even for the “good” parts. God revealed motivations in me and brought healing to spaces i didn’t realize even existed within me.
So it is possible. We will struggle with sin every day we live on this earth. AND- healing IS possible for so many of the struggles we have. :) So so grateful!!!
This is such am encouraging testimony, Heidi. Thank you! Nothing is impossible with God. He heals! He transforms!
Tamara, I am praying for your daughter and family. It hurts my heart to see those contemplating suicide, but now that you know, and she is reaching out, thats good! I lost my dad and a good friend and coworker to suicide. They never reached out, never let anyone in on their pain. I will continue to pray for your girl!! Love to you!
You are not the only one who has gotten caught up in gossip. When I was young, my mother spoke this adage to me – ‘The wise old owl, the more he heard the less he spoke, the less he spoke the more he heard’. I tried to follow those words (not perfectly), but about 20 years ago, a dear friend lost her husband and our group felt her actions after life returned to ‘normal’ were not on a good path. Rather than speak to her, we gossipped and ‘fixed’ the problems behind her back. She found out and was devastated. I was so ashamed when I looked at her face and heard the hurt in her voice. All I could say was how sorry I was. It was a painful lesson and one I have tried to learn from. I now try (not always successfully) to turn to God and ask for guidance in these types of situations. If I am a true friend,I should be going to the source of people’s gossip (if I can) and ask how I can help. That’s the only way we honor God and love one another. And then, hopefully, the world sees my Lord and Savior as I do NOT do as the world does, but as He would have me do. All honor and glory to our Lord! Have a blessed day all!
Churchmouse, yes, I struggle with that part too. And you are right, we just need to pray for people regardless and let God do the work.
My daughter has terrible anxiety and finds life painful. She wants to kill herself to lessen her torture but stops because she doesn’t want to hurt me or her dad, Thank God! Please pray that she will surrender to Jesus and call him her Savior. Please pray for all people with mental illness and an inability to trust Thst God is a loving God.
I’m praying for you and your family. My husband struggles with anxiety and depression as well. He gets so weighted down by the world. Constant negative thoughts sit on his shoulders weighing him down. It’s difficult to know how to support them without lessening how they feel or making the situation worse for them. Please keep us in your prayers too.
Tina, I love what you’ve shared. We can get caught up in our own sense of how someone should respond to our God work, & become discouraged when we don’t see our anticipated results. But God…
I knew a very godly man who suffered such emotional pain that he did take his life. He jumped from a well known bridge in our area, but not a bone was broken. I truly believe Jesus wrapped His loving arms around him & took him “home”-free for all eternity from every pain & able to rejoice in the presence of our Savior. Not the story we who loved him wanted to write, but God…
Seems like this bible study hits home with all that I’ve been feeling convicted of over the last 6 months or so. The Lord is working.
Brooke,
This was me for the past couple days. I was mostly grumpy about still being stuck at home. Just wanted you to know that you’re not alone!
Churchmouse I am with you I pray for all, first for their salvation and let Him sort it our. The rest is His
It was one of those mornings. The ones where you wake up in a foul mood. Maybe it’s a dream, maybe it’s cause you’re hot when you wake up, step on a LEGO, whatever. I almost didn’t read this morning. But, I’m glad I did.
Praying for a new attitude, for family, and to put away idols in my life helped. And the confidence that God’ll meet me there.
I woke up with a headache this morning which was not relieved by the dose of caffeine in my usual cup of coffee. The headache was compounded by 1 John 5:16-17. I hope it’s OK to say that sometimes the Bible gives me a headache. I love that we can confidently approach the Lord in prayer. I love that He is so familiar with our voice that, much like a mother with her babe, He is alert at our first cry. And I love that He desires to answer our prayers as we pray aligned to Who He is and what He wills. But then verses 16-17 follow and I’m befuddled. Here is the one place where God tells me what not to pray for: those who commit the sin that leads to death. Let me say that again: I should pray for life for my fellow believer who is committing a sin that doesn’t lead to death. But I need not pray for the one who is committing sin that leads to death. Huh? Perhaps it’s a little early in the day for me to tackle this one. And so Lord, I admit I don’t understand. The commentary I read had four potential explanations, all which compounded my headache. So if it’s OK with you, I will pray for everyone to have life in You and You can sort out their sin. You’re best at that anyway. Not my job. Amen.
I stopped at those words too, Churchmouse, then considered that He is referring to the sin that leads to eternal death & damnation-rejection of Christ as Lord & Savior. That makes perfect sense to me. I pray you are already feeling relief from your headache.
I thought they dealt with this um, alarming passage nicely in the podcast this week. Not that they wrapped up any definite conclusions, but it made me feel more ok with saying I’m not sure what this means! And I came to the same conclusion- how about I just pray and let God sort out the rest. I do believe he will make clear what needs to be clear. And I hope your headache improves!
Amen, Amen I am praying for you and your ministry, my heart aches for people who contemplate suicide. You, Greg and Tony are going on my prayer board today.
I work with a church, cooking for the disadvantaged in our community, from those on the street to those on the bread line.
On a Monday and Friday, there is an opportunity to worship, then sit in on a bible study for our guests..
The gentleman that takes most of the studies and I, often on a Friday, find ourselves in dialogue whilst I prepare the food, about God. I love our back and forth conversations.. Such a blessing!
This Monday was no different, (except the day) He asked me how long I had been doing the job I do? Which in turn led to a whole load of stuff he struggles with..ie seeing fruit etc
One of our guests, (whom my friend mentors), and who has given his life to the Lord, has threatened to take his own life… Tony, is struggling with this, but also, the fact that, though the guest has said yes to Jesus, he still takes drugs..
Our talk, went backwards and forwards for a while, I listened, I prayed, I heard what he said.. My friend worried that he wasn’t being effective.. that for all these years that he has been doing this, were the guests hearing.. were his words falling on deaf ears..
But God..
I love to say those two words..
But God..
I believe, He was in our conversation, He was right there in our midst, growing us both in His world and for the Kingdom..
We are all gifted. Every single one of us has a gift, unique to us, God given. Tony’s is to tell of the Lord and His gift of salvation. To tell of Jesus and what He has done for us. To be the spreader of the gospel, the Good News..
His is not to worry (though, that’s hard, as we want to see change) but to trust that his teaching is being taken in and chewed over.. that it is having an impact..
We all have choice, and for our marginalised, our seriously broken, our ‘have only known negative’ folk, it’s not something that can change overnight..
But God..
He moves, He moves in every truth from His Word that is spoken, by one who believes, one who trusts, one who’s heart is His.. He moves.
This guest I spoke of, reads his bible daily, prays daily,yet his threats of suicide is real, he says “Jesus tells me He loves me, that He died for me, that He forgives my sins, if I commit suicide, I will still be eternity, because my sin will be forgiven.
God knows His children, each and everyone of us.. He knows this guys heart.. He knows
I love this.. Sharon Hodder Miller.. In Christ we are victorious over our flesh, but still we battle against it. this is Greg’s story..
But God..
And for my friend Tony, God works all for good. He may not see it,
But God..
Amen.
Happy Wednesday with love across the pond.. Blessings..❤
But God indeed. Thanks for sharing this.
I am praying …