Prayer

Good day everyone I'm new here it's my frist time posting. I have a question I dont know what my state is in christ right now, i was once spirit filled but because of disobedience and self will I'm now empty I once had assurance of faith reading my bible was wonderful prayer was sublime. But now everything is a work and hard I feel so far off from God I dont even know if I'm dead or alive. I pray but the inclinations to sin is still there and my mind can testify of this ive become a slave. My prayers seem to fall back in my face and dont go up to God anymore.

Welcome Dane.

The fact that you seem to care where you stand with Christ is a very good sign.

A pastor named Warren Wiersbe once preached a sermon called "taking a bath in Psalm 51.” It has always stuck with me and it is a pattern of confession and seeking after God. I encourage you to meditate on this Psalm.

brother Dane,

This is a place we all come to, some more oft than others, but we all have found ourselves to have been unfaithful to the Lord and (in my experience) this is often a result of our prayer life being neglected. By your words you clearly are grieved by this awareness which is evidence of His spirit being present in you 🙏🏻 else you’d make an excuse to justify it.

Personally I couldn’t agree more with brother Todd’s admonition and believe it in fact holds the key so to speak...

I’m sorry to say that it took many trips to this ditch before I "got it” and that came only because I had exhausted myself and all possibilities of a remedy
and had to ask the Lord for help... to my surprise He wasn’t disappointed that I couldn’t get myself out of the ditch (I had gotten myself into by disobedience) rather He rejoiced that I believed He loved me and that I acted in faith on that belief, humbled myself and sought deliverance from Him :)

Once He got me out of the ditch and got the wheels back on,.. off I went down the road He had marked tho now I realized that those road signs were there not to keep me from having fun but to assure me of His foreknowledge and provision, that He had indeed gone before me and prepared the way.
So (for me) He seems to expect me to take heed to the road signs (grace) in order to abide in the way He set forth, tho if/when I stray off-road, being lured by some enticing adventure, He wasn’t surprised by it and knew from the moment of conception how that idea would turn out and already knew He would have to come bail me out,...again-
(for me) His primary concern seemed not to be that the wheels had come off again, but that I may believe the lies of the enemy that the Lord would be ashamed of me, angry even, maybe even ready to punish me for making the same mistake- this, if believed, would keep me from seeking Him for mercy and effectively tricking me into forfeiting my salvation thru neglect. So He seemed to me as He currently does to you.... distant-

Brother that is a lie!
He is never further from you than your knees are from the floor ;)

Just like David, use the key, boldly come before the throne of grace so that you may obtain mercy, so that you can receive grace in your time of need.

confess that you have strayed and ask for forgiveness and that He would restore your prayer life (communion w/Him). Only He can restore you unto Himself, no man can restore himself unto the Lord, only by His spirit can this be done, so just ask Him, believing He wants to and will and you’ll soon discover that He’s been there all along and was in fact waiting on you...
but we can (and should) keep ourselves abiding in the vine by denying our fleshly desire to go off-road on every enticing adventure. But even if we get tricked again,... God is faithful and has new mercies every day 🙏🏻

Excellent counsel given in this thread, I would only add this; the enemy may be tempting you to just stay away. Of course, the Bible is exactly the opposite, we are to come into His presence with brokenness and thanksgiving. If you choose to trust God even though you are going through great temptations, God will save.

Remember not to elevate your faults over the cross. Don't make a bunch of promises that you'll do better but trust in His promises, appropriate them.

God is our defender. Brokenness is good, godly repentance is good, but let it bring you to Him and to rejoice in His embrace, there will be strength over temptation. Temptations will always be there but victory is in Jesus Christ our Lord!

In Christ,

Bro, I'm a woman but also a Spirit-filled sister in Christ and I back-slid in 2000 to approx 2004 or 5. Our spirit condition may be similar or may not.

Just like TMK said, the fact you are concerned is a wonderful sign!!! And I wish there was a magic button that each of us could press to get back where we once were in the Lord… but is that really where we want to be? Because where we were and our cold state led to disobedience and to back-sliding, where it led me anyway!

The inclination to sin is always there, it can lessen and lessen over the years but we will always have the ability to choose to one or the other and that never goes away. I told the Lord years ago, "I can’t fight some of these things, so I’m not fighting them anymore. If you want to help me then help me and if you won’t help me, then there is no help for me and that is contrary to Your word.”

You know what? He helped me! He tells us to come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. (Heb4:16). And that was true for me and I was able to start to focus on my relationship with the Lord and less on fighting.

Working in the flesh is definitely hard work, shame and guilt of sin does that to us... Do not let the lies of the enemy heap even more shame and guilt on you to keep you from starting over with Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Run boldly to the throne of grace where you WILL find mercy and help in time of need!

God bless you!!
Lisa