What Do You Do When You Start To Lose Faith?

[Anonymous]

Hey friends, what do you do when you start to lose faith in God? My problem is my prayers seem to never be answered, I never feel like I have the love of God surround me, I feel ignored by God, Praying is a struggle, and life just feels like s***. I mean I know there has to be a God, but is it the God of the Bible? Can we say that we can seperate God and the Bible? Does God really do what he says he will do as stated in the Bible, for me, NO! I know it is in His timing, but I feel like there maybe isn't a God. I'm contradicting myself . But seriously, what helps to know that things are in order and I can gain more faith back? I pray for guidence, love not hate, more faith, etc.. I also pray for others and I thank God for the life He has given me. Am I missing something?

[August]

I don't have a canned answer here, just personal experience...

Whenever doubt enters my mind, it is because I allow it to. We are all human and it sometimes happens to the best of us. So what I do when I start having these doubtful thoughts is to worship and honor God, not ask for anything, but just praising God non-stop, and invoking the name of Jesus. This leaves no room, so to speak, in my mind for any doubt. It has become so much ingrained in me now that it's the last thing I do before I go to sleep, and the first thing I do when I wake up. Yes, I still have my normal prayers too, but just worshipping God has made doubt so much less.

If you want to read a great book on prayer, get " The Power of Intercessory Prayer" by Dutch Sheets. This tells you how, what and why to pray better.

[Deborah]

hun you really need to make an effort to read more of the word of god. That and researching what it says gives more strenght to our faith, your faith has taken a knock and is shaky, you need to word to strenghten it so it doesn't knock so easy. Stop looking at material that is designed to confuse new christians or christians whose faith is shaky until your faith is ALOT stronger. Concentrate on building your faith in god.

[Deborah]

Oh and he always answers our prayers, just sometimes the answer is No.
I believe he answered you hun, you said it yourself, now you need to build your faith, if we don;t study his word we lose our faith, I should know it happined to me, and I so indanger of becoming a nonbeliever.
I believe untill 7 months ago I would have been a agnostic because I lost my faith because I did not study the word of god and hold it close to my heart. I wonder if I ever believed at all, surely if I had I would have studied his word and kept my faith.

[seedling]

Hi Jesus Freak,

You said "I mean I know there has to be a God, but is it the God of the Bible? Can we say that we can seperate God and the Bible?"

I love the bible, but it is very culturally biased, and God is culturally interpreted therein. So I do believe somewhat that "God" can be separated from the book we call the bible. He is too great to be limited or contained in a book written by men.

The verses "His ways are not our ways, and his thoughts are not our thoughts," or "And who has known the mind of the Lord, and who has been his councilor?" ring true to me.

"Be still and know that I am God." Don't worry so much about losing faith. You may never have had it ... you might have just "felt" that you did based on your feelings. Faith isn't produced by God answering your prayers but by our starting to realize who He is.

[August]

Seedling, quick question, the Bible was written by men, but inspired by God?

[Deborah]

"Be still and know that I am God." Don't worry so much about losing faith. You may never have had it ... you might have just "felt" that you did based on your feelings. Faith isn't produced by God answering your prayers but by our starting to realize who He is.

I do not agree. prayer is very important to faith, prayer for understanding of the knowledge God intrusted to us. prayer is our line to god how can you saay that is not important?

the bible was written by men who were inspired by god.
we need our faith, the word of god and prayer for our spiritual wellbeing.

[Mastermind]

The first step you should do when praying is to stop asking God for things. Maybe things will start falling into place then.

[Deborah]

only thing he asks for is to be forgiven

when I pray i ask for forgiveness and guidence to understand the knowledge he entrusted to us.

maybe you should include that in yoru prayer too jesusfreak

[Anonymous]

The first step you should do when praying is to stop asking God for things. Maybe things will start falling into place then.

Mastermind, I pray for others as well as me. I do admit I go on with praying for myself more often than for others, but I still prayer for others including the people on these forums. I pray for things that a christian should pray for, more faith, more love less hate, guidence, forgivness, a clear mind, etc.. I was at a point not to long ago that I was having faith problems, and I prayed to God several times and stronger faith came to me, I don't worry as much anymore, however I still feel that these could be phsycological things and not from God and that my prayers really do go unanswered.

[Kurieuo]

Hey friends, what do you do when you start to lose faith in God? My problem is my prayers seem to never be answered, I never feel like I have the love of God surround me, I feel ignored by God, Praying is a struggle, and life just feels like s***.

This is the importance of loving God with our minds. If we are all heart and soul, then eventually an imbalance occurs in those times we "feel" removed, and isolated as did Job and even I'm sure the Apostles. Just look at what Paul went through. Yet, if we have loved God with our minds, then one can have "faith" and know God is there without having that fuzzy feeling which can come in times of intimacy such as worship, sincere prayer and so forth.

As for prayer, remember, the kingdom to come is the time where all pain, tears and so forth will be done away with. The lives we live now aren't intended by God to be painless and all rosey. This runs across what many churches may teach, but then I'd believe such churches to be setting up a false hope and even selfishness in people taught to think if they come to God, then everything in their own lives will be all dandy. There are many good things we ask for in prayer, even in earnest and sincerity. Yet, we must also remember that our world was created in omniscience to be finite, and also to contain pain and suffering. If God intended our lives and world here to be everlasting and heaven, then it would have been. Such, however, is for when this world fully passes away.

Kurieuo.

[Anonymous]

Honestly, this is how my life went, I accepted Jesus Christ 10 years ago, a few years later I got baptized, after that I stopped going to church, didn't read the word, and even stopped believeing in God and this for almost 7 years. So I was distant from him. Now when I pray I find it hard to pray, I don't know why. People say they know what the heart feels like, well how do you know, I don't? Inside of me I feel hatered, probably towards myself, the Trinity, and everything, but I try to stay christian like the best I can. Whenever I go up to someone and say I am a Christian, I feel inside that I am not .

[Anonymous]

The problem you may be facing is likely similar to doubts many of us on occassion have in our minds because of so much bashing against the bible and we begin to question its validity. This is normal and as we look more closely at the Bible each time we realize that it is truely inspired by the Living God.

However if your not experiencing the problem above on a bigger scale then perhaps you should try to figure out what really is your problem.

Personally I find it hard to believe that prayer is what's affecting your faith because first off for God to answer your prayers, you need faith as stated by Jesus and secondly God is not here to serve us, but rather the other way around.

Also life isn't pleasant, but it can't hurt you in a significant way because in Christ we don't die.

[seedling]

"I was at a point not to long ago that I was having faith problems, and I prayed to God several times and stronger faith came to me, I don't worry as much anymore, however I still feel that these could be phsycological things and not from God and that my prayers really do go unanswered."

Jesus Freak, I came to a realization after 25 years of "praying to God outloud and in my head" that I was just talking to myself and it was more for my comfort and psychological release than anything else. Now my "prayers" are just the wordless Word that is in my heart ... my hope, my yearning. He knows what we need without asking. The important thing is, what is the condition of your heart? Our hearts can be deceitful, above all things. The bible says "Guard your heart with all vigilance, for from it flows the streams of life." I would rather be still than be babbling a bunch of desperate, begging prayers. I would rather look in complete, naked awe at a mountain scene with sun rising than be singing praise songs to him in church, trying to work up fuzzy feelings. One is pure, spontaneous, real ... the other is trying to work up emotions to feel love for God who you do not know. Many people claim to love God but do not properly love the members of their own family. If we cannot show love for what we know, how can we love what we don't know?

August, I believe the bible was written by men who were seeking God, who were inspired to seek a "god" because they were afraid in a hostile world, because they were puzzled by many things that they wanted explained, because some sought a deeper meaning to their existence. These writers realized pertinent human truths. They communicated their wisdom, hope and experiences. Over much time. In different languages. From a different culture. The essence is there. Do I believe every word of the bible is directly from God, or from men "inspired" by God? No.

[Kurieuo]

Honestly, this is how my life went, I accepted Jesus Christ 10 years ago, a few years later I got baptized, after that I stopped going to church, didn't read the word, and even stopped believeing in God and this for almost 7 years. So I was distant from him. Now when I pray I find it hard to pray, I don't know why. People say they know what the heart feels like, well how do you know, I don't? Inside of me I feel hatered, probably towards myself, the Trinity, and everything, but I try to stay christian like the best I can. Whenever I go up to someone and say I am a Christian, I feel inside that I am not

JF, I sincerely think you've based your belief strongly on an experience or feeling. Perhaps many doubts creeped up along the way, and as the doubts kept coming, perhaps some were resolved while the rest began eroding away. You might have prayed for faith, but faith becomes reinforced through nurturing your mind (something a lot of Christians don't seem to understand). The reason (which I can only assume) why you don't feel you are a Christian, is likely because your doubts became so many, and known strengths to Christianity so few, that you can no longer say with a clear conscience that Christianity is true, especially now you're doubting your experiences or relationship, and they have become diminished.

My judgement here is perhaps influenced by my own personal life experiences. So perhaps you can relate to what I've said, or perhaps I'm entirely inaccurate. If you can relate, then I'd recommend going to a Christian bookstore, going to the apologetic section, and getting out books on issues you find most challenging and that are of interest to you. If there is one book in particular I'd recommend, it would be Reasonable Faith. I read this a while ago, but it still stands out amongst many others I've read. For myself, I find books a good way to nurture my mind, though I know many people find reading a hard task. But I sincerely think if you begin nurturing your mind, and find Christian books on issues that interest you and reinforce your faith, you'll see a new side to Christianity you thought didn't exist.

Kurieuo.