Anyone else feel this way ever? (Christians predominately)

I caveat other Christians because it is a specific issue toward that. No discrimination intended.

Okay here is the deal. Lately I have been feeling "despondent" toward God. In other words, I feel as though I'm not doing enough for him, and getting complacent. I know it isn't about our works. He tells us that we are saved through grace by faith, and not that of works lest any man should boast. That being said, I have been wondering about my salvation. I run 2 full time ministries and I am getting to the point where it seems the satanic attacks are stronger. There is probably only a very select few people who can help me. I know of 2 verses that relate, I think- as I was talking to a friend last night. 2 Peter 1:5-8 tells us "For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:5-8 ESV) Knowing that, then since these things are active in my life, and increasing then I am an effective Christian? The other one is "Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. (John 3:18 ESV) I believe, therefore I'm not condemned and I am secure in my salvation, right?

I feel that the "Satanic attacks" are coming on stronger simply because I am doing well for God. Thoughts?

You can well be assured that the Holy Spirit is not putting these thoughts in your head.  The Bible also teaches that  the devil''s job is to steal, kill and destroy.  There is also scripture that says he is the father of all lies.  He wants us to believe that we are ineffective and useless as Christians.  We are not perfect, but if we recognize that we are sinners, believe that Jesus is the son of God, that he came and died on the cross to save us and if we ask him to forgive our sins we are saved.  Don't listen to the devil's lies.  Get your Bible and read all the scriptures that talk about how you are more than a conquerer, how your father owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and all the other things that the Bible says about the children of God.  You are a very effective Christian and the devil is waging war against you.  Christians sometimes lose sight of the fact that everything they face is a spiritual battle.  Congratulations.  God loves you, Jesus died for you and you are winning souls for him.  Praise God, you are not an ineffective Christian.  Thank you for this thread.  I pray that Christians will come here, post their thoughts and in the discussions be encouraged that they live their lives for Jesus.

Good post!

Do you mean satanic attacks literally? That's scary!!

ut0pia said:

Do you mean satanic attacks literally? That's scary!!

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spiritual, not actual physical

If your faith in God is solid, you have nothing to fear.  Sometimes I feel as if I'm not doing enough good in this world, but I think one has lulls in that, and something always comes along to get me back into the loop.  I think that God allows us "rest" periods between good works.  If you're a good person, I think it's natural to question yourself as you do. If you weren't good, it wouldn't occur to you in the first place.  It sounds as if you do have an unshakable faith in God, and are doing good (and plenty of that with the ministries!), so I wouldn't worry.  Just remember your beliefs, and pray to God for guidance.

Of course, I may not be the best person to ask, as I think I have a somewhat strange set of religious beliefs, and don't belong to a church! :-)

Satan puts these thoughts in your head because he is afraid of the good that you are doing for the Kingdom of God! He wants to thwart you in anyway he can. Remember what Jesus said in John 10:28 "And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand." You are a child of God and nothing, NOTHING can change that! Another verse that comes to mind is one of my hubby's favorite. Isaiah 41:10 says: "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness."
 

Hi Everyone

I appreciate the wisdom of all who replied, please don't mistake my lack of reply as ungratefullness. I have just been thinking through things, generally I can come to a conclusion, and when I do find that "solution" I write an article or blog about it. In this case, the answer came to me several nights ago while talking to Nick. I feel relief and so much better. I write about the things that haunt me, once I find the solution, I generally write an article about it so I can help others in the same situation.

Here is the gist of what I wrote, and hopefully it will help anyone else who may feel this way at times, I know I was preaching to myself in this- but getting it all out on paper, helped tremendously.

Taken from my devotional & Christian article site http://allthingsmel.com

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
(John 3:18 ESV)

Do you ever feel like something is lacking in your walk with God, do you feel ineffective, unrighteous, or worthless to him? Do you have times when you wonder about your Salvation? We hear a lot in the modern world about “security”. Security guards roam our malls and streets, we can invest in “secure” mutual funds, we can feel “secure” in fidelity and investments, but what about security in Christ?

If there is one thing in your Christian life that can prove to be the most difficult and frustrating, it is the question of your security in Christ. While I am not in the “once saved always saved” crowd, we can be sure of our Salvation, and while we can’t “lose” it, we can reject it.

The Bible is clear that there are plenty of ways to tell whether we are secure in him. Most notably, he addresses the issue in 2 Peter.

“For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1:5-11 ESV)”

These things can abound and increase in your life, and if they are- then you will be RICHLY PROVIDED entrance into the kingdom of God. He doesn’t say we will get there barely, but that we will be richly provided. This is powerful. When we forget where God brought us from, then this leaves a way for us to question our security in Christ. It says right there, that these qualities will keep us from being ineffective. If we are lacking these qualities, then evidently we have forgotten where God brought us from, and we need to realize and restore in our mind, what he did bring us out of.

The next verse that gives us our security is in John 3:18. This powerful little verse is often overlooked because the predecessor is “famous” (John 3:16), but he goes on to say that whoever believes is not condemned. Do you believe in Christ? Then you aren’t condemned, it is that simple.

1 John also has a plethora of scriptures pertaining to our security in Christ. The whole book is in essence, a “test” of the true Christian. Knowing we won’t match up completely, God gave us a way out. “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:1-2 ESV)”

This verse says we will sin, but we must remember we are not sinners, we are Saints who sin. In my experience, when you start doing something for God, that is when the attacks from Satan can come on the strongest, but this is a given. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. (1 Peter 5:8 ESV)

In conclusion, we must remember several things.

# 1- Attacks from Satan are inevitable, especially when we are pleasing God.

# 2- Jesus died on the cross for our sins. Period. When we forget that, then we are in for a world of frustration and sorrow. We can never be good enough for God. We can’t do enough or say enough of the right things, we just have to believe and accept his Salvation that is free for the asking.

Finally, we need to remember where he brought us from. We need to strive and walk daily in the characteristics specified in 2 Peter, as well as the entire book of 1 John. In doing so, we will be able to steadfastly stand on our own, and conquer Satan with no qualms.  If you are still questioning whether or not you are saved, ask yourself “Why do I not feel saved?” God will show you the answer, and chances are- if you can’t pinpoint the answer, then you are fine. If you can pinpoint it, then change the actions, attitudes, thoughts, or behaviors that are making you feel that way.

That was great!

It reminded me of my husband and when he feels unworthy. I need to tell him to sit back and look how far God has taken him. 3 years ago, he was a man who sat on the couch and was drunk by 10am. July 31st 2009 was the last day he had a drink. Aug 2 of that year, we walked through the doors of Higher Ground Church and never looked back. A couple of weeks later, he stopped smoking cigarettes. Just recently, God took chewing tobacco out of his life. We are very involved with our Church. Mike is an usher and I am a greeter. We try to help out in other ways as the Lord leads us. God has truly blessed us. Everyone needs to sit back and take stock of what God is doing in our lives.
 

I am probably not the best person to give advice on this but I have felt like you before....mostly when I was a child and had really strong faith.. But then i realized nothing in life is secure, we can choose what we believe but a belief is nothing but an opinion, a bias ....its not based on anything tangible so it's I other words it's all in my head and I can choose to believe only good things if I want to.

Anyway I also personally think doing all this good work for your community and following a righteous path should not be done as an exchange for salvation ...it should be done because its the right thing to do and because you believe it's the right thing to do. if you only do it to be saved, and thats all you care about, then are you really worthy or are you motivated by selfishness...I know in your previous post you basically said its all based on your belief and not the work you do, and that is a matter of interpretation but again, it's up to what you want to believe..

Christians realize they are not saved by their works.  In Nebula's last post she states that we can never do enough or say enough, that we accept salvation which is free for the asking.  This thread is a blessing.  The important thing to remember here is it is not our works or even our belonging to a church that gives us salvation.  It is just simply our belief that Jesus died for our sins and our asking his forgiveness.  The works that Christians do is because of the love of Jesus which is already in their hearts and they want to share it with other people.  The devil wants to convince us that it is all useless, that we are useless and ineffective in this world because he doesn't not want to see people get saved.

Yea, This post was never meant to be a debate or IMO, just a way to hopefully connect other Christians on here.

BTW- Does anyone know if a group can be set up based on religious views? I am nearing 700 posts and would like to start one.
 

blueyedgirl5946 said:

You can well be assured that the Holy Spirit is not putting these thoughts in your head.  The Bible also teaches that  the devil''s job is to steal, kill and destroy.  There is also scripture that says he is the father of all lies.  He wants us to believe that we are ineffective and useless as Christians.  We are not perfect, but if we recognize that we are sinners, believe that Jesus is the son of God, that he came and died on the cross to save us and if we ask him to forgive our sins we are saved.  Don't listen to the devil's lies.  Get your Bible and read all the scriptures that talk about how you are more than a conquerer, how your father owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and all the other things that the Bible says about the children of God.  You are a very effective Christian and the devil is waging war against you.  Christians sometimes lose sight of the fact that everything they face is a spiritual battle.  Congratulations.  God loves you, Jesus died for you and you are winning souls for him.  Praise God, you are not an ineffective Christian.  Thank you for this thread.  I pray that Christians will come here, post their thoughts and in the discussions be encouraged that they live their lives for Jesus.

Click to expand...

(I'm typing this fast because the baby is waking up so excuse any typos please!  And I didn't get to read all the other replies.)

I've always believe that when you feel under attack you must be doing something right!  Why else would he bother with you?  Do you ever watch Jesse Duplantis?  I remember in one of his messages he was talking about how busy he was.  How little sleep he got because he was on the go for God.  Then God gave a word for him to a young man I believe it was.  He basically told him that the devil realized because he couldn't get to him he was pushing him to do more more more...to burn himself out basically.  Physically, mentally, etc.  As long as you are doing what God has given you to do you have nothing to fear.  We are saved through faith and nothing else.  We are already bought and paid for so to speak.   This reminds me of Ephesians 6.  And remember; we know the end of the story.

Oh and satanic attacks/acts are nothing to fear when you know whose authority you have.  He is under your feet.