When I get on my knees to pray, my heart condemns me before God... I still have many sins against my brothers that I have not made amends for...
Is this of God or of Satan... ?
Any input would be thoroughly appreciated.
- Sam
Go to your brother and make restitution. Obedience to the scriptures is paramount. We are accepted in the beloved. God is greater then our hearts brother.
HI there IWantAnguish,
Listen brother, you seem like someone who is convicted by the truth of God's Word against your sin. Good enough, but if you are going to be convicted by God's word then be humble enough to be convicted by all of it...if you believe the law then believe all of it including the promise!
Have you considered these scriptures?
1 John 1. 7. " The blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin."
Acts 13. 39. " By him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses."
He did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance, Matt. 9. 13
Rom. 5. 20. " Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound."
John 6. 37. " Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out."
There are many more that point the way to Christ for the repentent soul. What is you greatest sin brother? Self-righteousness? Ah, this is perhaps the deepest rooted weed in the soil of our hearts!
For some blessed weed killer, consider this brief section from Jonathan Edwards sermon "[url=http://www.jonathanedwards.com/sermons/Doctrine/pardon.htm]Pardon for the Greatest of Sinners
"III. But had I not better stay till I shall have made myself better, before I presume to come to Christ. I have been, and see myself to be very wicked now; but am in hopes of mending myself, and rendering myself at least not so wicked: then I shall have more courage to come to God for mercy.—In answer to this,
1. Consider how unreasonably you act. You are striving to set up yourselves for your own saviours; you are striving to get something of your own, on the account of which you may the more readily be accepted. So that by this it appears that you do not seek to be accepted only on Christ's account. And is not this to rob Christ of the glory of being your only Saviour? Yet this is the way in which you are hoping to make Christ willing to save you.
2. You can never come to Christ at all, unless you first see that he will not accept of you the more readily for any thing that you can do. You must first see, that it is utterly in vain for you to try to make yourselves better on any such account. You must see that you can never make yourselves any more worthy, or less unworthy, by any thing which you can perform.
3. If ever you truly come to Christ, you must see that there is enough in him for your pardon, though you be no better than you are. If you see not the sufficiency of Christ to pardon you, without any righteousness of your own to recommend you, you never will come so as to be accepted of him. The way to be accepted is to come—not on any such encouragement, that now you have made yourselves better, and more worthy, or not so unworthy, but—on the mere encouragement of Christ's worthiness, and God's mercy.
4. If ever you truly come to Christ, you must come to him to make you better. You must come as a patient comes to his physician, with his diseases or wounds to be cured. Spread all your wickedness before him, and do not plead your goodness; but plead your badness, and your necessity on that account: and say, as the psalmist in the text, not Pardon mine iniquity, for it is not so great as it was, but, " Pardon mine iniquity, for it is Great."
By the way dear brother, you might consider changing your name to IWantMercy...or better yet IWantGod. God is much more able to sanctify us then our anguish. It is not sorrow, but Christ's blood, that cleanses us from sin and it's power over us.
Do you believe that?
(edit: Greg's word to you is a faithful reminder...and a deep blessing to me! God is greater then our hearts!)
Blessings!
MC
(BTW...I graduated from VCU. Lived in the fan district...never saw so many cockroaches in my life!)
I'll take all into consideration...
( yeah.. the cockroaches behind the engineering building are of tremendous proportions from what I've heard... :\\ )
p.s. driving down to north carolina to visit south eastern baptist theo. sem. school until sunday. pray for me please !
Hi Sam,
Actually, you can pray. I fear you crave an audience..... You need only that Audience of One, of which Jesse Morrell speaks ..... the Lord Himself.
Try praying out loud. Listen to the cries of your own heart.
Do you believe you want God ..... really .......?
Are you prepared for Him to answer you ..... ? ....... really........ ?
Do you [i]believe
How does that work then?
By faith ...... ! Really ..... ! Is this what you believe ....... ? Really....... ?
If so, here is my favourite verse ....... the one which held me while I put all the things on the surface of my life, right, even though I couldn't 'feel' any of it working in my spirit. That's right, I believed it, and God honoured my faith, by bringing me through to a place where I can testify that He did not let me down once, and now I know I'm free from bondage to sins [i][b]which are past
Now, I have to live as if I believe ..... that is, still believe ...... all that I just wrote above ....... and I have to let everything which needs to be touched by the same faith and the same hope as I exercised before, be touched by it now.
Hebrews 10
14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
15 [Whereof] the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,
16 This [is] the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, [u]I will[u]will I write them
17 [u]And[b][color=006699]their sins and iniquities[/color][b]will I remember no more
IWantAnguish wrote:
When I get on my knees to pray, my heart condemns me before God... I still have many sins against my brothers that I have not made amends for...
[b]1John 3::20
I like to put this verse in here: [b]Jer 17:9
[b]1John 3:21
In other words:
If our heart is condemning us. Don't always believe it because God is more and wiser than our heart, He knows better.
[b]1John 3:19
What is the "[b]this
The verses before it:[b]1John 3:16-18[b]:17[b]:18[b]let us not love in words only nor with the lips, but in deed and in truth.
So, if you are loveing in deed and in truth for a fact, don't listen to your haert, it is fooling you when it condemns you!
Sometimes the only thing we can do is to sit quietly before God and wait.
Dear Sam,
What do you mean by "condemn"?
When you say "condemns", do you mean to say that God is judging you as though He is warning you of Hell or impending doom? Or, when you say "condemns," are you referring to the pushing of God's Word on your heart to act?
The difference between these two is simply this: guilt or repentence?
If you are feeling guilt, then this is from the Devil. The Devil accuses you of sin before the Lord. However, if you feel like something inside of you is making you feel as though you should turn from your sin, then this is from the Lord.
When a person sins, the Lord has forgiven them by the cross. All sin has been forgiven accept one, and that one sin is simply rejecting the Jesus Christ. Jesus is offering forgiveness to whomever accepts Him.
A person can reject the cross by clenching to their sin in guilt. They hang onto this sin sulking in self-pity. They do not goto the Lord in repentance (giving their sin to Jesus), but instead they feel a need to be punished. They feel bad for their sin, and seek punishment. They refuse to give their sin to the Lord. They refuse to accept forgiveness. They hold onto it, constantly going to the Lord saying, "I am sorry, I am sorry" but always keeping their sin. I have met people like this (including myself), who appear humble, but instead bask in self-pity. This is the worst sort of pride.
There is no reason you should feel condemned in prayer before the Lord. If this is the case, then for some reason you are rejecting the Lord. Jesus will not reject you. We reject the Lord by not allowing Him to forgive us and help us.
Now, it could very well be that the Lord is calling you to action and to repentance. The Lord may be saying, "Sam, I want you to make amends with your brothers." This pushing and pulling on the heart is different. Even still, if this is true, then you should not feel condemned, you should feel pushed. And if you are saying, "No Lord, I am afraid." Then you are rejecting the Lord. The Lord will always give you the provisions to fulfill His every request. If the Lord tells you to make amends with your brothers, He will certainly go with you and help you. However, if you say, "No", then you are rejecting the Lord. Or worse, you might say, "I will do it without you." Even then, this is rejecting the Lord.
Find this sin within you that is causing you to reject the Lord. Jesus said that He did not come to condemn anyone. The Lord is certainly not condemning you. He came to save people. He wishes only to help you. However, it is pride that keeps people from seeking Him. If you are feeling condemned, then you need to repent. Condemnation comes from rejecting forgiveness. What sin are you refusing to give up and turn from? What sin are you keeping in your heart?
Give your heart to the Lord sincerely and honestly. Take up your cross and follow Him. Make your entire life, including sin an offering to the Lord. Offer it to Him, and then follow His leading.
In Christ,
Blake
Dear Sam,
What do you mean by "condemn"?
When you say "condemns", do you mean to say that God is judging you as though He is warning you of Hell or impending doom? Or, when you say "condemns," are you referring to the pushing of God's Word on your heart to act?
The difference between these two is simply this: guilt or repentence?
If you are feeling guilt, then this is from the Devil. The Devil accuses you of sin before the Lord. However, if you feel like something inside of you is making you feel as though you should turn from your sin, then this is from the Lord.
When a person sins, the Lord has forgiven them by the cross. All sin has been forgiven accept one, and that one sin is simply rejecting the Jesus Christ. Jesus is offering forgiveness to whomever accepts Him.
A person can reject the cross by clenching to their sin in guilt. They hang onto this sin sulking in self-pity. They do not goto the Lord in repentance (giving their sin to Jesus), but instead they feel a need to be punished. They feel bad for their sin, and seek punishment. They refuse to give their sin to the Lord. They refuse to accept forgiveness. They hold onto it, constantly going to the Lord saying, "I am sorry, I am sorry" but always keeping their sin. I have met people like this (including myself), who appear humble, but instead bask in self-pity. This is the worst sort of pride.
There is no reason you should feel condemned in prayer before the Lord. If this is the case, then for some reason you are rejecting the Lord. Jesus will not reject you. We reject the Lord by not allowing Him to forgive us and help us.
Now, it could very well be that the Lord is calling you to action and to repentance. The Lord may be saying, "Sam, I want you to make amends with your brothers." This pushing and pulling on the heart is different. Even still, if this is true, then you should not feel condemned, you should feel pushed. And if you are saying, "No Lord, I am afraid." Then you are rejecting the Lord. The Lord will always give you the provisions to fulfill His every request. If the Lord tells you to make amends with your brothers, He will certainly go with you and help you. However, if you say, "No", then you are rejecting the Lord. Or worse, you might say, "I will do it without you." Even then, this is rejecting the Lord.
Find this sin within you that is causing you to reject the Lord. Jesus said that He did not come to condemn anyone. The Lord is certainly not condemning you. He came to save people. He wishes only to help you. However, it is pride that keeps people from seeking Him. If you are feeling condemned, then you need to repent. Condemnation comes from rejecting forgiveness. What sin are you refusing to give up and turn from? What sin are you keeping in your heart?
Give your heart to the Lord sincerely and honestly. Take up your cross and follow Him. Make your entire life, including sin an offering to the Lord. Offer it to Him, and then follow His leading.
In Christ,
Blake
I do not know why it posted twice. I am sorry about that. I would delete but do not know how??
Blake
Hi all,
I read a book from Jeanne Guyon, on the subject of prayer. It's called "experiencing the inner dephts of Jesus Christ". It's really an excellent book on prayer. I think most of us struggle to pray at stages of our Christian walk. Sometimes it is because we feel condemed and sometimes it is because we just cannot focus and break through in prayer. Maybe because we are carnal or for whatever reason.
In any ways Jeanne Guyon focusses in her book on being still before the Lord and turing to Christ as our center and allowing Him to do the work and speak to us. We just have to be honest. If you are sad and depressed and feel condemed, be honest about it and tell God. He is the One that can change it!.
One last thought. We have to realize that prayer is so important! because God originally made man to have a relationship with him. Genesis says that God came down in the cool of the evening to have fellowship with Adam and Eve. Our evengelism and Christian efforts is not so much important as is prayer! The efforts and works should flow from the prayer.
Yes, that is an awesome prayer instruction also available for free from CCEL [url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/guyon/prayer.html]HERE
I try to re-read it annually to keep the lines of communication clear.
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