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MiniMoe
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Posted: Fri Mar 20th, 2009 02:53 am |
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I am glad I have found this forum. I have been searching for an outlet for a while now. I hope I can help and be helped here. I want to give a little background and let everyone know what I know to be true in the depths of my soul before I dive in. First, I know that sin is sin, and what you do is less important than the motivation behind it. All sin is the same in God's eyes and they have already been forgiven. Guilt for our sins is irrelevant. Second, all believers are at war with the one that knows our potential. For so long, I never realized why I struggled so much. It is because Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy. Until recently, I did not realize he knew my potential even when I was a young boy, and he started the offensive way back then. All the people I tried to get to help me never told me of the onslaught I was living through. I was led to believe it was my fault and I was in complete control and I was to blame.... I should be ashamed. That idealism hurt me far more than my sin ever did. I went to bible college believing that if I learned more about God, I could overcome my problems. Instead of helping me learn, they tried to get me to conform to their ideals. They wanted me to regurgitate what they taught to be biblical truths. That set me back almost 15 years. My anger toward God for not letting me know the truth further hindered my progress. Third... to overcome our struggles we have to change our vantage point. It is so easy to look up from the bottom of our struggles and not see any daylight. We have to look at our unique situations through God's eyes ..... look at our situations from above. Only when I looked at it from God's eyes did I lose the guilt. God does want us to overcome, but not from the place of a victim, but rather from a place of wounded in war. We have to get mad and fight back with a take no prisoners attitude. After all, that is how we have been defeated for this long.
The last thing I know to be true... God will deliver us in the time of trial. All we have to do is call out. O' God, protect me from myself and my thoughts. Deliver me from the hands of the evil one. Let's get pissed off and fight back.. once and for all.
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john
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Posted: Fri Mar 20th, 2009 12:07 pm |
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Hi MiniMoe, welcome to Blazing Grace.
I too went to Bible school and picked up some legalism that I later had to repent of. I still look at the experience as valuable. I learned a lot of scripture and a lot of truth. But you are right in that the Christian culture in that environment lends itself to fakery and behavior-centered religion, which is not authentic Christianity.
Where are you with your struggle with lust now?
Good to meet you!
John
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MiniMoe
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Posted: Sat Mar 21st, 2009 03:00 am |
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My weaknesses are the same as many other men. Some days I'm stronger, and some days I am not. I don't focus on my weaknesses, I am now trying to focus on God's strength. If I am having a hard time, I stop what I'm doing and say a simple prayer....."God I'm having a hard time right now, help me resist the evil one and fight this immediate battle". I dont care about the outcome, I keep my focus on God. If I fail, guilt no longer has a hold on me. I confess my sin and be done with it. There is freedom in forgiveness. I used to believe that my sins were the problem. I have just realized that there is a war for my potential. Satan wants to rob me of what God has in store for my life. It was only when I changed my perspective that I started to get a handle on my mind and attitudes. We have to look at our situations through God's eyes. We might be failures, we might be weak, but we are also children of God. We have righteousness on our side, we have the mighty warworer fighting on our behalf.... we are never alone.
For far too many years I let my guilt keep me from drawing closer to God. I wanted to grow, believing that if I grew enough, I could find the temtations. How wrong I was. Not until I realized guilt was irrelevant did I start to really understand the forgiveness of
God. God does not expect us to feel bad for our sins... He just wants us to asknowedge what we have done wrong. All we have to do is confess our sins and we are forgiven.... we don 't even have to say we are sorry. That feedom along with the realization that I am at war the one that knows my potential, has helped me be strong. Instead of being week and a victom of my struggles, I have gone on the offencive. I will always counter attack when my mind wonders and my desires betray the heart of God.
What more can I say... I have changed my mindset. I am no longer the victum. I am now the agressor in a war for my life and my future. I have finally started to see the stratagy Satan has used against me. It is easier to fight when I see things through God's eyes. I will admit I am not perfect, but that is not the issue. I don't see this as an addiction and recovery process. I see this as a war... a fight to the death of God's plan for my life. Win or lose, I am a child of God. My eternal future is secure... no matter what I do in the here and now.
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john
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Posted: Sat Mar 21st, 2009 02:07 pm |
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You have brought up some great points, MiniMoe! I completely agree with the notion that there is a war for our potential. That is a really good way to put it.
I usually use the term "shame" for what you have been describing rather than "guilt." When you say we shouldn't feel bad when we sin, I agree in the sense that we should not allow it to trigger shame; defined as the underlying feeling that we are worthless and have wicked hearts. That is categorically untrue for the Christian, our hearts have been made good by Christ through salvation.
I believe that the term guilt is still useful, but not in the sense that addicts usually describe it. That is why I think it is important to separate the feeling of shame (I am bad) from guilt (I have done something bad). Biblically, the Christian should experience guilt in the form of "godly sorrow which produces repentance."
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2%20Corinthians%207:8-11;&version=31;
Steve McVey in his book "Grace Walk" describes it as doing something against our nature. Our nature in Christ is righteousness, not sin. When we sin, we are acting in a way that is contrary to our nature and as such we should not feel good about it. He continues to say that what we should feel is foolish for acting in a way that is not reflective of who we are in Christ. This feeling of sorrow for being incongruent produces the desire to repent. It all flows from grace and a proper understanding of our true nature in Christ.
There is so much more to add...but I'll stop there for now! Great stuff!
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