The Inconsistent Christian Life

I had a fine young Christian man ask me "Why am I inconsistent in my Christian life?" I believe that's a relevant question we should often ask ourselves.I can state the obvious things (lack of prayer, study of the Word,etc.) but what other things can you think of that lead us to this place.

Well you pretty much hit it on the nail. Lack of Prayer and lack or reading the Word is what makes your walk inconsistant. I would say that following the lusts of the flesh would do it also. But that kind of connects with not reading and praying. If you aren't doing those things, then the flesh is more likely to get the best of you and your walk becomes inconsitant.

I know I sound redundant because this is my answer for most things, but i have found it to be true- SURRENDER.When i used to be inconsistant in my own walk with the Lord (and lukewarm most of the time) it was because I was still running parts of my own life. I had not yet surrendered every area and all rights and every bit of my heart and soul to Christ.Yes, I would do what was above "minimum" to look good to God and others- but I just didn't want to let go of some things- hence, I stumbled and went back and forth and back and forth between hot and cold and lukewarm.It is not about trying really hard to be good and trying really hard to be "consistant"- it's about letting Him run the whole show and when He is- then He is in control and He will not be "inconsistant" in you. :-) It is so simple- this christian life is so simple- yet everyone trys to make it more complicated by all of these do's and don'ts.My advice is -"surrender completely and let Him increase as you decrease". Actually, the whole of the christian life can be summed up in "He must increase, but I must decrease." More of Him=less of me. The more there is of Him in there- the less of us there will be to mess things up.So simple- yet not always easy for people to get a hold of.Reminds me so much of reading John Wesley's biography- he had all these rules and lists and things that he adhered to because this is the way his mother did things and he thought it would make him more holy and conquer sin- yet he still struggled mightely, especially in the area of women. Plus he was also afriad of death and knew he was not ready to meet his Maker. Not until he was 35 and started watching and participating in a Moravian prayer group- did he realize that it was such an "inner work". He admitted to not being converted until this time- even though all those years he had his holy club and visited the prisons and got up at 4 am and yadda, yadda, yadda.Until people are ready to surrender- to let go- lay it all down- they will struggle.In Him, Chanin

If you are struggling or being inconsistant, it is because you have not died today.

these are a few things i think will make an inconsistent Christian ... - our "old man" often throwing tantrums and causing us major depression because he's determined to get back down off that cross, and then often outright grief if he succeeds, with that dreaded feeling of now i've got to start all over again ... - our "natural man" becoming exasperated, fretful and tired because we can't make what we want to happen spiritually occur under our own power ... - wanting and expecting amiss from God, and then angrily chalking this Christian thing up to being one major excercise in futility ... - being double minded, wanting to have our world and His kingdom too, our heart toward Canaan while our head is still in Egypt ... - impatience with God's timing ...- attempting to form our walk around the world's/religion's definition of Christian consistency instead of Christ's, thereby taking on an impossible yoke ... - alternating between selflessness, and selfishness ...but sis Chanin summed it up best,((( Until people are ready to surrender- to let go- lay it all down- they will struggle. )))

I think that Chanin hit it on the nail. Surrender. Since that nail is pretty much pounded on in, I cant really elaborate on that.I think another thing is that bad company corrupts good character. Christians are told that they cannot do that which they MUST do... How then can they do it?The final thing, I have recently begun to believe, (I am pretty sure is the key out)is knowing your hardness of heart, which ties into surrender. The hardness of heart keeps us from being able to do it. We always have hardness of heart. We have to repent any time we cannot delight in the Lord. We cannot allow ourselves to go one moment where we do not delight, and revere the Lord. If we notice something off there, that is where it starts. We have to repent at that moment, and not stop pleading God to soften our treasonous rebellious hearts for His sake. He does it too. It is great. I would go into alarm mode the moment you realize you do not delight and revere God over all things in your life. We were not meant to live that way. It is the way of the world, and we are free from its craziness. When we delight in our God, his commands are not burdensome.All to and for HimJohn

I appreciate all of the comments. Keep them coming!Surrender. Yes, I've been focusing on that in my own life a lot here lately. Have I surrendered all or am I living under the illusion that I have? I believe as we grow in the Lord what we consider to be the "surrendered life" changes. It seems like the definition becomes broader as the Holy Spirit reveals things to us.The nexus between the hardened heart and lack of surrender is also a factor. I think a hardened heart would display a lack of surrender.I wonder aloud how much the "cotton candy" Gospel has contributed to this problem? I know some believers who truly believe they should never have any problems. It's rather amazing in light of the scriptures that speak of troubles, suffering, etc.I found this quote in a somewhat lengthy and great article written by Connie Giordano on this topic "What you are in public will never blind God to what you are in private." John Blanchard (Here's a link if anyone is interested in reading the article: http://www.gnic4u.com/inspirations/sin.shtml.)

Ed, I know what you mean about the term "surrender" changing over time. I remember singing "I surrender all" many times as a lukewarm christian and thinking I really meant it. I think i thought that i was saying "here I am Lord, take me as I am, I surrender what I am ready to surrender to you"- but also thinking "just don't ask me to do 'such and such'"(sell everything and go to a foreign land, or give up my nice car, etc...)You know, when the Lord speaks to you Himself and says I want you to surrender your mind, your thoughts, your body, your spirit, your tongue, your children, your time, your finances, etc...you know He means it and you can't go back on that. When He said you were bought with a price, He meant it. He is now owner of this whole lovely estate :-) .And yes, the "cotton candy" gospel has attributed to this- no doubt! I never remember anyone telling me in all my 20 years of supposedly being a Christian, that I was supposed to surrender everything to Him and that I was supposed to carry my cross and follow Him. I thought I just "invited Him into my heart, read the bible, went to church and tried really hard (with many failures) to be 'like Jesus'". I thought it was just one unending struggle and failure, up and down. :-( Here is Nancy DeMoss on this same subject:"Sadly, for the past 150 years or more, evangelicalism has developed a theology that offers assurance of salvation to almost anyone who prays a prayer or "makes a decision for Christ", even though he may still be clinging to his rights, holding on to his sin, and bent on running his own life. The scripture does not recognize such a profession as genuine. Jesus warned, "Not everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only He who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." (Matt.7:21) The person who has never acknowledged Christ's right to rule over His life has no basis for assurance of salvation. He may claim to be a Christian; he may have walked an aisle or prayed the sinners prayer; he may know how to speak "Christianese"; he may be heavily involved in Christian activities; but if he thinks he can have a relationship with God by retaining control over his life and somehow fit Jesus in with everything else, he is deceived and is still at war with God.The terms of our surrender to the Lord Jesus are non-negotiable and unconditional. What does He ask us to surrender? In a word, EVERYTHING. Christian surrender means that we come to Him and His terms, as the General of our soul, and say simply, "I surrender all." We lay down our arms, we hand over everything we have, everything we are, everything we hope to be.One of the challenges of complete surrender to Christ is that we don't know what lies ahead. Some of us might be more inclined to surrender if God would hand us a contract with all the details filled in. We'd like to know: "What will this cost me? Where will God expect me to go? What will He ask me to do?" We want to see all of the fine print, think it over, and then sign on the dotted line. But that's not God's way. God says "Here's a blank piece of paper. I want you to sign your name on the bottom line, hand it back and let Me fill in the details. Why? Because I am God; because I have bought you; because I am trustworthy; because you know how much I love you; because you live for my glory and not your own independant, self-promoting pleasure." "In Him, Chanin

I do also think that this "quiet time" that Greg mentioned is imperative to be able to surrender. If I had not had my quiet time to ask the Lord what and how He wanted me to surrender, to show me what it was in my heart that He wanted to work on or get rid of- then I would have ever known.The only key is- you have to be completely willing to "hear" even the things that you don't want to hear. Sometimes, and I have had to fight this myself- i might know there is something small that the Lord would probably want me to surrender to Him, yet, I come to Him and ask "lord, what do you want from me, what do you want me to surrender now to you" and my own mind will block that one thing from the Holy Spirit. It's kind of like I am saying "Lord, I'll surrender anything, ANYTHING, except that one thing, so let's just pass that one up today."That is not surrender- that is trying to make a deal.If we're are going to ask God about our hearts, we have to be willing to hear the unthinkable. Sometimes I even pray, Lord make me hear you, even though my flesh does not want to hear what you want to say. I have to pray against my flesh.I will be honest and say that there have been times when I have been in denial about something and I didn't want to hear from the Lord on that subject. Thank the Lord, He is patient and takes these things one or two at a time. But once that thing is revealed to my heart as something that does not please Him- even though I have not yet surrendered it completely, I feel a distance in our fellowship until I say, "ok, God, I surrender that."The other thing- and then I'll be done :-) - is that we are responsible for what is revealed to us. When I first started to surrender everything to Him, He did not shed light on some things yet, but as I surrendered more and more things, He just kept bringing more and more things to light over time. But it was the fact that I was willing to surrender what ever He asked.In Him, Chanin

In Freedom From Backslidding by Kieth Daniels, he sites three things that must be done to backslide:Not daily soaking yourself in scriptureNot daily soaking yourself in uninterupted communoin with GodNot witnessing to nonchristians at every available opportunityIf you're like me, the first two make perfect sence, but it's the last one that floored me above the others (Lord help us all):'-(.

For something truly inspirational in this area, listen to My Godly Father by Keith Daniel. This testimony shows the practical transformation from sinner to sold out believer.I listened to this today and all I can say is, that if Mr Daniel's testimony doesn't reduce you to a blubbering mess of tears, then consider a heart transplant.

I remember singing "I surrender all" many times as a lukewarm christian and thinking I really meant it. Hehe isnt that the truth. I love finding all those songs that I lied to [aka sang to] God when I was a lukewarm christian, and finding the meaning behind them. Sometimes it is so amazing to see that they are so meaningful. Its a wonder how I ever missed them in the first place... The christian life is an adventure. Its fun to see other people share the same convictions, and to know that those convictions come directly from God living in us.I remember Greg and I were talking the other day, and he said, "Where do we go from here?"I think that we need to work to help each other not to hold anything back from God, even if people we love and respect in the faith do. We have got to press past what we accept as okay, and move on to well surpass righteousness that the book of 1 John says is the bare minumum. We have got to abandon all the limitations that have ever been passed down to us from church members, pastors ect... I think that God has grace because of the weak state of the church, but those of us here are not weak. Together we can be strong with God living and working in us. Surrender, like you said Chanin, needs to be the only acceptable attitude. We have failed miserably if we dont surrender everything. The point of Christianity was to restore everything to the way it was supposed to be. Redemption from the curse. We are now once again aware that we are under the supreme authority of the soverign God. We must not hold anything back from him or consider it okay if anyone does, or that it is a weakness that "God will work on our hearts". Jesus said if someone cannot give up everything he has, he cannot be my disciple.But people have told us that it is bad, but not uncommon to not give everything up, or hold something back. Even though we know better, these people are affecting our Christian lives. How ashamed I am that I have allowed myself to let this affect me, when I knew better. I hate when I share and say "we" because it means I haven't been faithful to the revelation of God. I hate saying "we" because there should be people out there being biblical norms. It isnt encouraging for others to see nobody doing it. It makes us continue to be decieved that we cant do it. Our dreams, comforts, love, passions, desires, life and possessions, all of these belong to the soverign Lord. He alone is worthy, most worthy. You guys have been a great encouragement to me to help me maintain the eternal perspective just a bit clearer. I hope that we can all together weed out all the junk food that has polluted this beautiful Faith. God bless!All to and for HimJohn