I've turned away from God again and I want to be right with Him now and forever
- Thread starter Karierton
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Silas
Beloved of All
Your honesty before God is precious and He has heard your cry. You are not too deep for His mercy and you have not gone beyond His reach. The Lord Himself calls to those who have turned away and promises that if you return to Him, He will heal your backsliding. He desires that you would call Him Father and walk with Him without turning away again. Though His people have often dealt treacherously with Him as a spouse who leaves a faithful partner, His invitation remains to come back and be restored to fellowship with Him.
God is listening for true repentance. There is a difference between sorrow over the consequences of sin and a real turning away from sin. Many feel regret but continue in the same path, and that is not repentance. What God seeks is a heart that says, what have I done, and then turns from wickedness. His word says to wash your heart from wickedness that you may be saved, and asks how long vain thoughts will lodge within you. Those lustful thoughts and images that have followed you since childhood have found a lodging place in your mind, and the Lord wants to cleanse your heart at the source, not only your outward actions. He sees not only what you do but what you allow to remain in your thoughts.
Repentance means a change. When John preached a baptism of repentance, it was a picture of death to the old life and rising to walk in newness of life. That is what your baptism was meant to signify, a break with the past and a new life in Christ. The proof of that change is fruit. Bring forth fruit that shows repentance is real. The axe is laid at the root of the tree, and a life without the fruit of a changed heart will not stand. Tears alone are not enough if the heart still seeks the blessing without forsaking the sin. True repentance turns from the sin itself and turns to Christ.
Salvation is found in the Lord alone. It is vain to hope for deliverance from any other hill or human effort. Waking early or fasting can be good disciplines, but they cannot save you or keep you if the heart is still divided. Only Jesus Christ saves, and only by His grace can you be kept. You are kept by keeping yourself in the love of God, staying close to Him in His word, in prayer, in honest confession, and in fleeing what tempts you. Like the son who left his father's house for riotous living and ended up empty and feeding on what was meant for pigs, you may feel the famine and emptiness of that far country. Yet when he came to himself and returned home, his father received him. That is the path for you now, to come to yourself, to see the emptiness of sin, and to return home without reserve.
God's design for purity is for your good. He made us to honor Him with our bodies, and sexual intimacy belongs only within the lifelong covenant of marriage between one man and one woman. Outside of that, lust will always promise much and leave you empty. Ask God not only to forgive but to renew your mind, to teach you to take every thought captive to Christ, and to give you a hatred for what once enticed you.
I am praying for you.
Father, I bring this dear one before Your throne of grace through Jesus Christ alone. Thank You that You keep us alive by Your mercy and that Your right hand upholds us. You know the long battle with lustful thoughts and habits, the many times of turning away and returning. Lord, wash this heart from wickedness and heal this backsliding. Grant true repentance, not only sorrow, but a decisive turning from sin to You. Create a clean heart and renew a right spirit. Help this child to call You Father and not turn away again. Keep him in Your love, lead him into Your word daily, teach him to flee temptation, and surround him with faithful help and accountability. Fill him with Your Holy Spirit and bring forth fruit that shows a changed life. Let him know he is forgiven and restored through the blood of Jesus, and give him strength to walk faithfully until the day he hears You say well done. In the name of Jesus, amen.
God is listening for true repentance. There is a difference between sorrow over the consequences of sin and a real turning away from sin. Many feel regret but continue in the same path, and that is not repentance. What God seeks is a heart that says, what have I done, and then turns from wickedness. His word says to wash your heart from wickedness that you may be saved, and asks how long vain thoughts will lodge within you. Those lustful thoughts and images that have followed you since childhood have found a lodging place in your mind, and the Lord wants to cleanse your heart at the source, not only your outward actions. He sees not only what you do but what you allow to remain in your thoughts.
Repentance means a change. When John preached a baptism of repentance, it was a picture of death to the old life and rising to walk in newness of life. That is what your baptism was meant to signify, a break with the past and a new life in Christ. The proof of that change is fruit. Bring forth fruit that shows repentance is real. The axe is laid at the root of the tree, and a life without the fruit of a changed heart will not stand. Tears alone are not enough if the heart still seeks the blessing without forsaking the sin. True repentance turns from the sin itself and turns to Christ.
Salvation is found in the Lord alone. It is vain to hope for deliverance from any other hill or human effort. Waking early or fasting can be good disciplines, but they cannot save you or keep you if the heart is still divided. Only Jesus Christ saves, and only by His grace can you be kept. You are kept by keeping yourself in the love of God, staying close to Him in His word, in prayer, in honest confession, and in fleeing what tempts you. Like the son who left his father's house for riotous living and ended up empty and feeding on what was meant for pigs, you may feel the famine and emptiness of that far country. Yet when he came to himself and returned home, his father received him. That is the path for you now, to come to yourself, to see the emptiness of sin, and to return home without reserve.
God's design for purity is for your good. He made us to honor Him with our bodies, and sexual intimacy belongs only within the lifelong covenant of marriage between one man and one woman. Outside of that, lust will always promise much and leave you empty. Ask God not only to forgive but to renew your mind, to teach you to take every thought captive to Christ, and to give you a hatred for what once enticed you.
I am praying for you.
Father, I bring this dear one before Your throne of grace through Jesus Christ alone. Thank You that You keep us alive by Your mercy and that Your right hand upholds us. You know the long battle with lustful thoughts and habits, the many times of turning away and returning. Lord, wash this heart from wickedness and heal this backsliding. Grant true repentance, not only sorrow, but a decisive turning from sin to You. Create a clean heart and renew a right spirit. Help this child to call You Father and not turn away again. Keep him in Your love, lead him into Your word daily, teach him to flee temptation, and surround him with faithful help and accountability. Fill him with Your Holy Spirit and bring forth fruit that shows a changed life. Let him know he is forgiven and restored through the blood of Jesus, and give him strength to walk faithfully until the day he hears You say well done. In the name of Jesus, amen.
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