Backsliding

                                     

                             

How can a backsliding child of God be restored?

                                                                     Remember Lots wife

Bear in mind, all the while, that the blessed Lord looks upon us with eyes of unchanging love. All our sinful wanderings have not produced the smallest diminution of His faithful love for us. Think of this. Turn the thought over in your mind, “He loves me, notwithstanding all,” and with the thought of that true, strong, tender, eternal love, carry our confession into the presence of God. “Take with us words, and turn to the Lord,” and He will heal our backsliding and fill our heart with joy once more.  

We must be sure not to offer any excuses.

Our greatest foe is ourselves, and in turn, to the Lord, we will do well.“Come,” they say, “and let us return unto the Lord:
He will heal us; 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness He hath smitten, and He will bind us up. After two days will He revive us: in the third day He will raise us up.” A period of time is thus anticipated between the turning of their souls to the Lord and the revival and raising up that will come from Him. This period of time allows the soul to pass through exercise, and of its reality being tested. 

God will not keep one waiting a longer time than is sufficient for the needful lessons to be learned. The Holy Spirit directs our hearts to His love, and in being engaged with Himself, the blessedness we longed for is ours once more.

Ecclesiastes 7:20 For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.

Romans 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;"

Ephesians 2:8-9 - For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9: Not of works, lest any man should boast.

To conquer backsliding, we must remember these things: 
· Whatever God is asking us to do, He doesn’t ask us to do it on our own. He only wants our willingness to let Him help us do it. 

 When faced with temptation, we must listen to GOD and not the devil, because the devil is a Liar   , we must focus on bible verses like, the wages of sin is death, and ask for God's intervention. Because we can do all things through Chri ho gives us strength. and we must screen our thoughts, Corinthians 10:4-5

 4.For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;

 5.Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

 With each new temptation when we fail, we must ask for God to forgive us and surrender the problem again to God so he can help us. The Bible says you have not because you ask not

· We must thank Him for the work He does for us. and in us,

. We must be willing to do His bidding, we must ask for strength and we must ask forgiveness when we fail. Most of all, we must thank Him for His love and the effort He puts into us. He is trying to make us like Christ and that is something to be thankful for.
         

Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;

  1 Peter 2:11

 Challenges will come and go through our entire lives. They are the things that shape us and mold us into God’s image if we let Him work on us. There will be successes and failures but the success and failure are not about the thing being asked, they are about the willingness to let God do them. we will move ahead sometimes and other times, we will slide back. What remains constant is God's will to forgive us and let us US, Try Again.

2 Corinthians 10:4-5 4.

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty 

through God to the pulling down of strong holds;

 5.Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

Philippians 4:8
  8. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

We must not focus on what would diminish an intimate walk with Christ, and things that would wear us down / We must Focus on Gods verses instead of thinking of the negative ways to search for lustful and sinful things. sin is like a violent beast that will turn on us and destroy us.

Also, pornography creates momentary intensely pleasurable experiences, it ends up leading to several negative lingering psychological experiences.

 We must learn to possess our body in holiness in other words have some self-discipline.
A soldier for Christ must have self discipline just like any other soldier.

For those involved, God can and will give the victory. Are you involved with pornography and desire freedom from it? Here are some steps to victory: 1) Confess your sin to God (1 John 1:9). 2) Ask God to cleanse, renew, and transform your mind (Romans 12:2)  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

 Ephesians 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

 When we grieve the Holy Spirit we disturb Him because he is a real person and a real guest within us. When we quench the Holy Spirit we interrupt the spiritual power in our inner being.  1 Thessalonians 5:19 Quench not the Spirit.






We must try not to disturb or quench the spiritual power that the guest or Holy Spirit has flowed through us because sin is death to our flesh being and our spirit being or both. So we must check ourselves before we wreck ourselves. Amen

   
2 Corinthians 10:4-5 4.

For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty 

through God to the pulling down of strong holds;

 5.Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

                                                                                                        

The Holy Spirit is a fire dwelling in each believer. He wants to express Himself in our actions and attitudes. When believers do not allow the Spirit to be seen in our actions, when we do what we know is wrong, we suppress or quench the Spirit. We do not allow the Spirit to reveal Himself the way that He wants to. To understand what it means to grieve the Spirit, we must first understand that this indicates the Spirit possesses personality. Only a person can be grieved; therefore, the Spirit must be a divine person in order to have this emotion. Once we understand this, we can better understand how He is grieved, mainly because we too are grieved. Ephesians 4:30 tells us that we should not grieve the Spirit. We grieve the Spirit by living like the pagans, by lying by being angry , by stealing , by cursing , by being bitter , by being unforgiving , and by being sexually immoral . To grieve the Spirit is to act out in a sinful manner, whether it is in thoughts only or in both thought and deed.

     

Both quenching and grieving the Spirit are similar in their effects. Both hinder a godly lifestyle. Both happen when a believer sins against God and follows his or her own worldly desires. The only correct road to follow is the road that leads the believer closer to God and purity, and farther away from the world and sin. Just as we do not like to be grieved, and just as we do not seek to quench what is good—so we should not grieve or quench the Holy Spirit by refusing to follow His leading.                         

                                                          

                                                        Another one of the Holy Spirit’s roles is that of gift-giver. First Corinthians 12 describes the spiritual gifts given to believers in order that we may function as the body of Christ on earth. All these gifts, both great and small, are given by the Spirit so that we may be His ambassadors to the world, showing forth His grace and glorifying Him.

The Spirit also functions as fruit-producer in our lives. When He indwells us, He begins the work of harvesting His fruit in our lives—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). These are not works of our flesh, which is incapable of producing such fruit, but they are products of the Spirit’s presence in our lives.

The knowledge that the Holy Spirit of God has taken up residence in our lives, that He performs all these miraculous functions, that He dwells with us forever, and that He will never leave or forsake us is cause for great joy and comfort. Thank God for this precious gift—the Holy Spirit and His work in our lives!

   Ephesians 6:10-17

10.Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.

 11.Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

 12.For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

 13.Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

 14.Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;

 15.And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;

 16.Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

 17.And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

God allows us to go through trials and tribulations?"

One of the most difficult parts of the Christian life is the fact that becoming a disciple of Christ does not make us immune to life’s trials and tribulations.Why would a good and loving God allow us to go through such things as the death of a child, disease and injury to ourselves and our loved ones, financial hardships, worry and fear? Surely, if  He loved us, He would take all these things away from us. After all, doesn’t loving us mean He wants our lives to be easy and comfortable? Well, no, it doesn’t.

 The Bible clearly teaches that God loves those who are His children and He “works all things together for good” (Romans 8:28) And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.So that means that the trials and tribulations He allows in our lives are part of the working together of all things for good. Therefore, for the believer, all trials and tribulations must have a divine purpose. GOD allows trouble,not to destroy us but to develop us. 

As in all things, God’s ultimate purpose for us is to grow more and more into the image of His Son  This is the goal of the Christian,(Romans 8:29) and everything in life, including the trials and tribulations are designed to enable us to reach that goal. It is part of the process of sanctification; that is, being set apart for God’s purposes and fitted to live for His glory. The way the trials accomplish this is explained in 1 Peter 1:6-7: "In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which perishes, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." The true believer’s faith will be made sure by the trials we experience so that we can rest in the knowledge that
it is real and will last forever.

Trials develop godly character, and that enables us to "rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; character; and, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us” (Romans 5:3-5). Jesus Christ set the perfect example. "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). These verses point out aspects of His divine purpose for both Jesus Christ's trials and tribulations and ours. Persevering proves our faith. "I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13).

At the same time, we must be careful never to make excuses for our "trials and tribulations" if they are a result of our own wrongdoing. "By no means let any of you suffer as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler" (1 Peter 4:15). God will forgive our sins because the eternal punishment for them has been paid by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. However, we still have to suffer the natural consequences in this life for our sins and bad choices. But God uses even those sufferings to mold and shape us for His purposes and our ultimate good.

Trials and tribulations come with both a purpose and a reward. "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

 And let endurance have its perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him" (James 1:2-4,12).

Through all of life’s trials and tribulations, we have the victory. "But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord, Jesus Christ."

 These verses encourage us to see that although we are in a spiritual battle, Satan has no authority over the believer in Christ.

 God has given us His Word to guide us, His Holy Spirit to enable us, and the privilege of coming to Him anywhere, at any time, to pray about anything. 


He has also assured us that no trial will test us beyond our ability to bear it, and “he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).

Revelation 12:12 Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. 

James 2:17-19.Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.18.Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. 19.Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe,and tremble.