Sinning after becoming a christian

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Permalink Reply by Leonard T on March 31, 2009 at 7:40am

I have one question to start with. This is not meant to sound condemning, but to evaluate the root of your Christianity, is it healthy or malnourished. How much time do you give to prayer and reading God's Word. You need not answer, it is meant as a reflective question. Too often people want the best of God and His help but never take the time, or give much time, to spend time with God in prayer and being fed by His Word.

Lord Bless,
LT

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Permalink Reply by James harrow Bartlett on March 31, 2009 at 8:42am

Hi,
Yes I read bible and pray regularly.

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Permalink Reply by Leonard T on March 31, 2009 at 8:55am

Toby,

You state that you fell back into many sins. The next question is have you found victory over those sins or are you still trapped by them?

Praying for you,
LT

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Permalink Reply by James harrow Bartlett on March 31, 2009 at 9:41am

Yes, I feel victory, but I can't stop thinking about how many times I failed...

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Permalink Reply by Leonard T on March 31, 2009 at 11:33am

Toby,

In order to forgive ourselves we have to accept that Jesus' work on the cross and through His resurrection bring complete eternal forgiveness. Nothing can be added to it, nor can anything take away from it. We need to begin to view ourselves as God views us in Christ. Below is an article I wrote two years ago taht I think may help.

_____________

How God Sees You
March 28, 2007

(Note: Today’s article cannot be separated into “IN A MINUTE” and “GOING DEEPER.” This subject is too important and wonderful to condense beyond what is in the article today.)

Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. (Colossians 3:12-14 NIV)

We find powerful words of encouragement in these verses. God makes four proclamations about the believer in Jesus Christ. Father God proclaims that the believer in Jesus is viewed by Him as forgiven, chosen, holy and dearly loved. Let us take a closer look at these proclamations.

How often do we beat ourselves up unnecessarily over our past sin? We revisit the very things that Jesus came to pay for by dying in our place. When we accept Jesus as Savior, we are covered by His blood and totally changed. We are no longer children of this world. We become the children of God. Galatians 3:26-27 says, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” and 1 John 3:1, How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

God loves us as a father loves his child. The difference is that God’s love is perfect and greater than the love found in man. His love is an enduring love that never ceases or fails. Jeremiah 33:11 says, “Give thanks to the LORD Almighty, for the LORD is good; his love endures forever.” (For further encouragement read Psalm 136)

The covering of Jesus and the love of the Father enables the Father to see us as forgiven, chosen, holy and dearly loved. What we must realize is that when He sees us this way it is not as if God were blinded to our past sins or even overlooks them. God does not put on blinders or turn the other way to be able to tolerate us. He sees us this way because we are truly changed in Christ. The past is no longer there to be viewed by God. The sin and its guilt are gone. Psalm 103:12 says, “as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us” and Isaiah 1:18 says, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.” The enemy may accuse you before God the Father, but God’s response can only be “What sin? I see no record of sin.” The enemy may accuse you in your thoughts, but you too can respond with “What sin?” In Christ, we are completely forgiven. Can you give praise to God for His great love and forgiveness?

This forgiveness brings about a great change in us. The change is wrought in us by Jesus. What is this change? When Jesus comes in and removes our sin by washing us in His blood the result is a holy individual. The reason is that when sin is removed only that which is pure can be found. There are no impurities. The blood of Jesus fully cleanses. Two verses exemplify this truth well. Hebrews 10:19 says, “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus,” If we were not truly holy we could never be granted access to the Most Holy Place. This invitation to enter affirms our new condition. Hebrews 13:12 says, “Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood.” We are a holy people set apart for God by God through the blood of Jesus. Do not misunderstand. This is not a holiness that we accomplish on our own. This holiness comes through Jesus. Due to this change, we become holy in Christ. The spirit is completely changed at salvation. The flesh will be changed at the rapture. Regarding this change, we need to be reminded that the change is so radical that it is called being “born again.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”

What does it mean to be chosen? We will address two points. 1) It is God Who sought us out. He is the one that makes it all possible. 2) We could not have overcome our sin nor been able to find Him if not for the fact that He sought us out. Our whole life, present and eternal, are wholly dependant upon Him. If you know Jesus as your Savior, then, praise God that He chose you!!!

If you have not come to Jesus for salvation, then Father God still sees you as lost in your sins. You do not have to remain there. You do not have to face an eternity apart from God. You do not have to experience the torment of eternal existence in the Lake of Fire. You need only to come to Jesus and find forgiveness and new life.

In Christ, we are blessed. We are God's chosen people, holy, dearly loved and fully forgiven.

Take time to reflect on this truth. Take time to give glory, honor and praise to Him Who has done so much for you.

Lord Bless,
Rev. Leonard R. Traina
Principles for Life

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Permalink Reply by Leonard T on March 31, 2009 at 11:38am

One futher thing at this point. We do need to repent, which I assume you have. This is not for restoration to salvation, for that is eternally secure when we accept Him as Savior. It is for the removal of things that would cause us to be unusable for the Father's glory. The account of Jesus washing the disciples feet gives us a great picture of this. Those who have already had a bath (been saved) do not need another bath, but only the dust on their feet washed away.

Lord Bless,
LT

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Permalink Reply by Mercy777 on March 31, 2009 at 12:06pm

Hello Toby,
All of us have been there, it is very hard to forgive ourselves for hurting God, however what is most important is through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, our wonderful God has forgiven us and will show us His salvation day by day.
Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
We know sin causes death and separation from God.
James 1: 5 If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. In Jesus Name. Amen.
Where does sin come from? James 1:13 When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14 but each of you is tempted when you are dragged away by your own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. So now we have knowledge and we can pray for God's desire to work in us instead of our own.

Only the devil says your guilty and the devil has "NO" power for Jesus came to destroy the devil's work and He did by His beautiful resurrection. This may be conviction by the Holy Spirit trying to work in you. Remember
Genesis 8:21
The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of human beings, even though [ Or human beings, for] every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done. Every day I will fail, but Jesus in me is my Victory! He will save me with His right arm and sustain me in His will.
Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, so there is nothing good in us, only Jesus in us is good. Know that God started a good work in you and He will complete it.

The Holy Spirit lead me as I was reading scripture, I did not have the knowledge or understanding of each sin and it's repercussions in my walk with Christ. So the Spirit lead me to study each sin, prayer and healing of each, some needed more prayer than others and every time I prayed I surrendered that sin to Jesus which the Spirit still leads me to. Over God's time, Praise Jesus they are falling away and I am becoming less and Jesus is so much more.
Friend, I hope this helps, most of all it is about God forgiving you and He proved it by giving you His only Son, Jesus to pay our debt. It's is PAID IN FULL! God doesn't see you sinful or guilty. He looks at you through the Precious blood of Jesus and sees perfection! You are His and He is Yours!
Another thought is I remember feeling so sorry and remorseful for my sins against God. Godly sorrow is good. Love drew me closer to Him.
God Bless you and heal you, in the Mighty name Of Jesus. Amen.
Mercy

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Permalink Reply by Chas Jones on July 13, 2009 at 8:07am

Rely upon God's WORD. When you accepted Christ as Savior and Lord you became a new person. Your original nature (sin nature) wasn't eliminated. However, you obtained a new nature, one empowered by the Holy Spirit that enables you to overcome our old natures. In Christ we become perfected, however, daily we must still decide many things. Satan tempts us by any and every means he believes will trip us up. Find a local Bible-believing, Bible-teaching body of believers. Worship and fellowship with those folks as much as possible. You will grow in God's Grace over time as you spend more time thinking, studying, and praying. When you know you have sinned, been convicted of that sin...confess it to God, repent of it and ask His forgiveness. Christ didn't pay only for our past sins when He died upon the cross. He died to pay for all my sin. Never allow satan to distract you to the fact Christ already bought you with His precious blood. Nothing can ever alter that fact. You are Christ's now, indwelt by God's Holy Spirit. Be mindful of that, and sin less.

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Permalink Reply by Carolyn Duplissey on July 14, 2009 at 8:14am

Becoming is what you are doing but now in God as a covenant servant receiving all Christ is and has done for you. If you have been born again then you have a new man inside of you. It will take time to see that man come first and respond to God's love and forgiveness. But first when you miss the mark you have Jesus' s grace to receive and be thankful for and the more you understand His love for you and that He knows everything about you and His love and grace is enough to carry you through the trials because you will have some. Keep thanking Him and praising Him for His love, forgiveness, and mercy you will walk a different walk and talk a different talk. He is not condemming you but Satan uses our missed marks to remind us we have failed. Don't let the dark win but remember you are in the Light and Jesus has already secured it for you. Sin has no place in the Light. Forgiveness is a gift from our Lord Jesus receive it always because He will never change. We must change because we are becoming. God bless you on your journey of falling and getting right back up and giving God praise for His love, grace and mercy. From a sister who falls but stands in the Light of Jesus,

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Permalink Reply by Gayla on July 14, 2009 at 4:10pm

God sees the end from the beginning, and he declares it to be so, in our lives. Many places in the word, you will see scriptures that pertain to you, and how God sees you, the first one that comes to mind is the word holy.....

God sees you as holy.

How can that be?

We see our selves, and know ourselves, and most times, we don't feel holy.

But, we have Gods word that declares us holy.

What we have to do is to come into agreement with Gods word.

We simply have to take God, at his word, and believe what he says, about us.

We have to learn how to receive it.

We have to think on it and meditate upon it until we can and do believe it.

The next word that comes to mind is righteous.

God sees us a righteous.

Now, we may not feel righteous, and sometimes we may not act righteous, but, God still calls us righteous.

so, if we are going to learn of God, we must first be willing to believe what he says.

And if he says we are righteous, then, we must take him at his word.

The enemy of our soul, is the accuser of the bretheren, or Satan himself, and he is adept at accusing us..... even if we are not guilty, he still brings his charges to our minds, making us think it is God himself doing the accusing.... however, we must know the difference, in the nature and character of the two, Satan accuses..... God excuses.....

Jesus makes intercession for us, and declares us Not Guilty..... all he asks of us, is to confess to him, if and when we sin. If we have a certain sin that is very stubborn, sometimes called a stronghold, then, we may need to do some fasting, along with prayer, and time alone with God, to be able to overcome this particular sin, but, normally all we need to do is to confess our sin, and he begins the process of removing our sin from us.

Can you think back on any one thing that you used to do, that you no loinger do? Or perhaps, you are slower, to do something than you once were? If so,, it is the Holy spirit, working that in you, to bring deliverance from it.

God sees the work as done.... even though it is an ongoing process.

Our joy comes from the fact, that God declares us righteous, while we are yet sinners.

This is a gift, that he is giving, and one which we are not worthy of, however, our unworthiness only serves to make us greatful for this wonderful thing that God is doing within us.

When Satan comes to accuse us, just say, Yes, Satan you are right, there is no good thing within me, however, I have accepted the grace and mercy and forgiveness that Jesus Christ purchased for me, with his own blood, now be gone.... looser. I am righteous because of what has been done for me, and there is nothing you can do about it.

Believe the word, seek the word, stand on the word, and declare the word.

It is all about him.... and what he has already done... all we do is receive what he so graciously gives.

God be with you. brother..... (((9hugs)))

shake off condemnation....it is not from God, but, from Satan.

If we are wrong, God will gently bring conviction to us, but, that only serves to cause us to want to change, and do better, he never accuses us, or condemns us, because he knew exactly who we were, what we were, before he called us, and he knew exactly what it would take to bring us from where we were, to where he wants us to be, and that is his total, unconditional forgiveness... and love. Go with it !!!!!

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Permalink Reply by RoxChelseaGilmore on October 25, 2009 at 3:22am

I have done so many bad things I don`t think that God loves me anymore I don`t think that he will let me into heaven either what can I do????? Please give me ideas Please Please

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