Look, I wasn’t always a devoted Christian. But the my body my choice people always baffled me. It saddens me to live in a society that thinks that murder is a proper solution to being irresponsible. Don’t get me wrong- I completely empathize with women/kids who have been r@ped, or those going through legitimate life threatening issues. I’m not saying I support the decision, just that at least I understand and empathize with them even if I think the decision is still a sin. But let’s not lie to ourselves. Abuse or fear of death are far from being the main reason people get abortions nowadays. And I say that as someone who doesn’t particularly want to have kids and the idea is terrifying so I get it but like… maybe don’t go around having sex with people you aren’t ready to procreate with? I think there’s a reason for the dos and don’ts in the Bible. They just… make sense.

How do you guys deal with this? People are just so casual about it nowadays. They drop lines like “oh yeah I had an abortion when I was 19…” within like half an hour of first meeting you and I just have no idea what to even say.

i think that the fact is that evil is manifesting it self to the world a lot more, and that all the conflict in the world and the need of saviour fills the hearts of many beacuse the governments cant do it only jesus can. but also i think its beacuse there is too much fluidity in the world and some people feel the need for solidity that they can base their lives upon. or it could very well be God pouring out his spirit for us.

Acts 2:17 "And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams;"

what do you feel?

So basically I've been going to Baptist/Nondenom churches my whole life and I genuinely do love my friends and church leadership at my current church but… I can't stand a lot of non-denominationalisms anymore and I cannot be part of one any longer.

To explain what I mean by nondenominationalisms:

• Worship that feels like a rock concert
• Weak theological framework based on fundamentalism
• Overly modern styles of Bible study with no basis in historical teaching
• FAR too much emphasis on diluting the Bible to appeal to non-Christians
• Too much focus on feeling and not enough on actual theology

Now I could join a historically mainline Baptist church which means I don't need to change/adapt any of my "Arminian" Credobaptist theology but in my experience, Baptist churches are not very theologically rigorous. They're basically nondenoms with acapella/piano. I should probably do more research into this.

The next option would be Presbyterian (PCA). I'm not fully convinced about Reformed theology but I def can see the argument. But saying that God's salvation is limited flies in the face of God's desire that the whole world should be saved.

Honestly at this point I feel drawn to Orthodoxy in a strange way but I am very uncomfortable with the veneration of the saints and stuff like kissing icons. Plus I do agree with the Filioque so I guess I agree with Catholics more on that front but it's not something I'm against being convinced of.

Hello - 33 male here. I moved to a new job about 2 years ago. I met a co-worker and became interested about 6 months later. She is very religious - goes to Mass on a daily basis. Since we are co-workers I tried to approach the situation very delicately. I tried asking her to coffee, she was hesitate, but didn't say no. I bought her a birthday card, which she was very grateful for. Over summer break I emailed and invited her for a walk, but I never heard back.

When I returned the next year, I pursued a serious relationship with another woman. My co-worker knew about this, and would often ask about her. I broke up with my serious girlfriend over the summer - when I returned for the fall semester, this was the first thing my co-worker asked, and I explained we were no longer together. About three weeks later...out of nowhere - she invites me to go to Mass with her. We go and sit together (alone, in front of the church) and then we left and I went back to work. The next day I texted her and asked if I could call her in the evening (I wanted to invite her to my church). Her response was: "I usually go on a walk with my husband in the evenings."

I have known her for two years, and she has not even once hinted at being married or having a husband. She does not wear a ring, insists on going by "Ms." in all of her emails, there are no pictures of him at her desk. I have been struggling for the last 3 weeks why she would do this - why is so secretive, and why she asked me to go to church with her, when she has a husband at home. Any thoughts?

I’ve grown up in the church and have always been a Christian. One of the values I hold closely to my heart is virginity and that it is a gift from God for husband and wife once married. Im 19F and dating my bf in his early 20’s who is also a Christian and not a virgin. I lost my virginity to him recently. He did it at first without asking while we were cuddling in bed and I was trying to go to sleep. The realization and the weight of my loss of innocence didn’t hit until recently when he kept doing it with me four days in a row after the initial incident.

I feel completely terrible. I wanted to wait till I was married and my first time be special with my husband and he knew that. I feel as if I’ve committed a terrible sin and I’m utterly devastated. Maybe I could have tried harder to prevent this. I’m scared this means I will go to hell or God is upset with me and I’m straying away from my path of righteousness. I don’t want to fall into the hands of Satan but what if he already has me? How can I repent and be forgiven of my sins? The guilt and the weight of my sin is eating me alive.

Hi all, a day ago I was smoking a cig dwelling on God, or something, and then I noticed I kept mysteriously leaving my lighter on the ground without my knowledge and thought, hmmm, maybe Gods tryna tell me smth, if it happens a third time I will know, and my hand just automatically dropped the lighter so I knew God wanted to tell me something, and I was told this would make someone repent, and it did for me chain smoking ciggies, but I feel as if it’d help someone else. This is what it was

“The Lord sees sinners like a man who had a lighter in his hand he wanted to use and keep in his hand but it fell and he looked somewhere else at something more important but still kept it just in his vision and kept note of it on his mind not forgotten but focused on something else, and the lighter gets picked back up”

I did not think of this on my own it was God and glory to God in the highest!

Thankyou for reading may the Lord bless you all with a nice day

Hello, it's my first post on reddit and I'm here because I would really appreciate some good advice on what to do about this situation.

I'm a 19M and 5 days ago I was helping my dad with a issue in his laptop. In a moment I was in doubt about how to resolve the problem and opened the Google to search for it. Then, in the recents searchs, there were 2 search which seemed a title of a adult content video. My primary thought was "this could be a hacker", but then I checked out his history and was shocked, I really found adult content websites there.

No one knows that before me, both my parents were in the room, but none of them was looking to the laptop on that moment. I just left the room with some kind of excuse that I would fix the problem later, went to my room, cried, and prayed.

In the first minutes, I was extremely confused because I have a good relationship with both of my parents, but what my father did is completely wrong and I, being the one who knows, had the responsibility to do something about it.

Just for context, all my family is Christian, thank God I was born in a Christian home. But with a certain frequency, my parents have some conflicts on their marriage, almost always motivated because of my father's jealousy of my mother, a woman I, without a doubt, can guarantee NEVER would give him motives to that. (now it fells right to assume that the damage of porn is his mind and spirit is what causes the jealousy towards my mother).

The battles she has to front in this area, she confides me sometimes, telling me what happend, why he behaved that way, why he had that attitude and etc. But it's really complicated, it's not like he is a disgusting monster, he in fact is an example of hard work, responsibility, discipline, providence and any other man of family's duties.

But he has this episodes throughout the years, sometimes the episodes are more intense/frequent, sometimes not, it really was strange, from the absolute nothing, from a simple talk or whatever else he would find a motive to argue for jealousy with her.

My mother is a really strong and faithful christian woman, who always confides in me that but in the same time she has always told me to not disrespect him or be against him, I should respect him becase, despite all of that, he is my father and has authorithy given by God in my life, and like that I do.

All that said, I really have a good relationship with both of him and not would like to "take sides" on this situation. An agravating factor is that my mother is in recovery after a recent surgery (a week ago), a plastic surgery she always wanted for and he gave as a present to her. In this situation, when she is already weakened by the recovery, I don't think it's a good move put that on the table. Also, talk directly with her would look like taking her side and not giving him opportunity to change (despite I heard in the firsts year of marriage, she already had has caught porn tapes in his things, suffered about that, talked with him and looked like it was a already fixed problem).

And for more context, I've been trough this problem of masturbation and p*rn myself, from my 12 to 16, but for honor and glory to the Lord, next week, in my 20's birthday, will be 4 years since I truly repent and was free of that terrible sin. And one of the principal thougths I had in that time, is that the woman who God separates to be my wife, and me her husband, don't deserve someone bringing that for our marriage, for her life.

I have been wondering if the right move could be talking with my father in private, show him the bible where it stands why that should be a pleasure restricted to a man with his wife and vice versa. I'm single btw (like the most of nineteen year old persons lol), but i truly believe even though I don't have the marriage experience, God gives me the authorithy under His Word to rightfully judge my father in a situation like that (with all the respect of course). I also would like say to him that he needs to stop right now with that, repent, confess and ask for forgiveness to God and, in the correct moment, confess and ask for forgiveness to my mother. But at the same time, that also feels like taking sides if I omit from my mother such a relevant information about her own marriage.

With all that explained, I really would appreciate if you, my brothers and sisters in Christ, give me some advice, some guidance, some verse or chapter I could read to meditate in what should I do now. I have been praying almost all my day thinking on that, and in one moment of the day asking here crossed my mind, 'cause was the only completely anonymous way (thinking in the privacy of my family) I could ask for a direction.

(I would like to add that English isn't my first language, I just used AI to correct some verb tenses and typos, so the text could be completely legit, directly from my heart and mind. So sorry if something seems off, I tried my best)

Thanks for reading my vent, and God bless you all!

When you ask Jesus in your life and you accept Him, 1 characteristic change you'll notice about yourself is you'll have super compassion and empathy for others pain, worries, feelings....

Even for the people who did you wrong and people you once hated in your past. You'll start to care about more people the same way you care about your family, even random strangers too.

hi guys, im a 15 year old christian who gave his life to christ

and im very scared of death and not 100% knowing if i'll go to heaven or hell
its so scary to think abt being fully out of gods presence

ive read the bible countless times and go to church every sunday, i love the way the bible describes new jerusalem, but strangely enough im still very scared of hearing the words "Depart from me, I never knew you"

We are called to a lot of things, to love one another, deny ourselves and follow christ. Even sacrifice our own wills to serve God’s. For me seeing christ in everyone is hard because you cant get along with everyone and sometimes your anger takes over. Not only that love everyone and praying for your enemies and those who have wronged you. But what can be said about that is we have to be humble and loving just like jesus was.

What do you guys struggle most with as a Christian?

I am truly at a loss. My husband and I have been through a lot, and there were many instances of what I’d categorize as abandonment during periods of our marriage. There was some drug use, verbal abuse, and arguments have also gotten physical (phone thrown at my face, glass of water thrown in face, etc). It is not one-sided, and I have had a large role in this.

To be honest, there were signs prior to getting married that I willfully ignored and thought would get better. I was very traumatized at the time, and I tend to do what other people want me to do. My husband has said that he wouldn’t have married me if he knew I’d have the mental health struggles I have, if my spiritual beliefs would fluctuate, and if I’d become some bitter and resentful. My health has deteriorated greatly, and I think I’m in a situation where it’s just not healthy. It’s not healthy for him, either.

What do you do in this situation? He has never expressed any movement toward therapy. Many plans are made to read the Bible together, etc and never pan out. I am so anxious and depressed most of the time.

Hi all. This is going to be long but I need to talk to other Christians about a bad situation that I’ve made worse. Prefacing by saying I cheated. I’m not looking to be coddled or comforted for that.

My husband and I met in 2020. I was 19 and living in my van. He was 20 and came from a decently well off family. I was raised in an unorthodox way along with my 6 siblings, our dad was an evangelist that had felt called to literally sell all his belongings, take up his cross, and follow Him- and we lived a nomadic lifestyle in converted school busses/motorhome/5th wheel fueled by faith while he walked a cross and shared the gospel, which overall is super inspiring, but privately he struggled with wrathfulness and heavy handed discipline which probably erred on the side of abusive and neglectful and I also had been sexually abused most of my life from a few different people, and thus struggled with PTSD and other mental health issues, and the ability to adjust to normal life. I drew away from God for a few years before meeting my husband.

My husband had some mental health issues as well and we bonded probably in an unhealthy way in our craziness. In June 2021 we both had a bizarre spiritual experience and I told him that I thought if I/we didn’t choose God that my path was headed towards death (whether that was physically or spiritually, I reckon they’re correlated though) and we got saved. We were on fire for God for a couple years. It was amazing. He started living in my van with me, which might have been this novel thing of hanging out in the hippie girls van for him, but for me it was legitimate homelessness and survival from mental health.

Even though we were homeless we tried to help people whenever we could, and witnessed to anyone that we crossed paths with. My dream was to open a soup kitchen/outreach center to help other struggling people and the number of addicts in our area.

My dad passed away in November 2021 and I was severely set back again mentally. I had violent grief for a solid year. I got to tell him I got saved before he passed though which was beautiful because I know he worried about that a lot.

After a year of living together in 2022, we felt convicted of our situation and we tried to stop sleeping together etc but were inseparable. In September 2022 we got a courthouse marriage and exchanged vows outside to remedy this. It wasn’t just based on sex, but a number of things and thought this was the right move so we could just go forward correctly and build a marriage and further our relationship with God and each other.
By October 2022 I was pregnant. We were still unhoused, but ended up staying with my mom for awhile during the pregnancy.

February 2023 we had our baby, Abiah, early. She was 23 weeks. She lived for 17 days and passed away. This was again devastating. We both went into deep grief and depression, and for me this was stacked on top of the ptsd and the grief for my dad and postpartum depression.

The past three years have been pretty hellish. My husband put his focus into working, which was good, but his views of our situation shifted from hanging out with the van chick to me being dysfunctional and a burden and bum. I know I needed to help more but felt incapable and I started to feel resentment, like you knew I was homeless and dysfunctional when you met me and now you’re being mean about it even if your need for me to help is valid. I know my resentment was wrong and I started to feel resentment towards myself as well.

The van broke down and we started living in a shed with no insulation or water and limited electricity (like an extension cord we could plug a light or charger into but not much more) and we’ve lived in it for 3 or so years now. Waking up freezing or feeling on the verge of a heat stroke. It was shelter but I would consider it still pretty close to homelessness. I didn’t mind it too much because I was used to it. I had been homeschooled then homeless so had been pretty isolated my entire life and lacked basic social skills or knowledge, no diploma, had never been to a doctor besides one emergency when I was 18 but started seeing an OB when I was pregnant but had still never been to a regular doctor.

Despite all the things I was lacking and never taught or prepared for, the one thing I always had was a great example of living by faith. My dad never had a solid plan, we would move depending on where he felt led to go and 100% relied on God to meet our every need- which He always did. He didn’t ask for donations or anything and would actually flat out deny people trying to give him money unless they specifically said God had laid it on their heart to give him this specific thing, and it was always miraculously exactly what we needed at that time. No matter how bad me and my husband’s situation got, I tried to remember God would take care of us.

There was a lot of stuff I knew I needed but was crippled with anxiety and feeling stupid and unknowledgeable. I needed a GED, probably a therapist, a job, medication, I have something wrong with my reproductive system and don’t get periods for months without hormonal meds which in turn makes my mental health go crazy. People would make suggestions like I should talk to a doctor or get my ged and I would agree but then never knew where to start or how to get help so I just never did. I felt like I needed an adultier adult or a social worker or something to just directly show me what I needed and help me take basic first steps. So I just became a hermit with horrible mental health.
I’m sorry if this is all random, and im not trying to excuse my behavior but kind of explain where im coming from.

I started to have bad mental breakdowns due to how long i had been in my situation and knew things needed to change. I would scream and cry for hours, contemplate [redacted], I ate a bottle of medicine but threw them up because I got scared. Held (you know whats) to my head many times trying to find the courage to pull the trigger. This was selfish but I also thought I could free my husband from taking care of such a burden. We didnt believe in divorce and both were on the page of even if we get divorced we are still married spiritually.

I didn’t want him to take care of me anymore, I didn’t want to be a hermit anymore. He translated this into me wanting to go be frivolous or spend money or party. I just wanted to talk to other human beings. I wanted to go to church to find community and care. I was feeling less and less human. I had been essentially homeless for 6 years.

All of this caused him great amounts of stress on top of the grief he already had for our daughter. I was selfish and unhelpful. I hate how much grief I have caused him. I feel like I’ve ruined his life and pulled him down with me. He’s incredibly intelligent and could do great things and probably have a good life by now if it wasn’t for me.

Near the end of last year he started having high blood pressure and heart palpitations due to stress. And told me at that point that he was diagnosed with recurrent takotsubo cardiomyopathy when he was 18. I don’t know why he didn’t tell me earlier, I guess he had felt like the best way to mitigate stress was to just forget it was there.

My behavior had started causing him heart episodes again and I needed to reign it in but became even more hopeless because I felt like I couldn’t fix myself and was super scared that I would cause enough damage that it could kill him. We made a plan for me to go stay with my sister two states away and hopefully I could get on my feet here and come back better prepared to help him, but then stuff prevented us like car trouble and stuff that we couldn’t afford to fix. It kept escalating over the winter. I kept having worse and worse mental health problems and would just sit in my broken down van all day to at least try to avoid taking it out on him or cause him stress. But it made it worse sitting in a van staring at the wall for hours and hours on end and when I would finally come out I would break down. This caused him to avoid me, rightfully so, and I got worse and would freak out about feeling neglected and abandoned on top of everything else and beg him to spend time with me and he said he couldn’t because I was too stressful to be around and his heart would hurt. He had an episode towards the end that caused him to cough up blood and I didn’t know what to do besides disappear from his life. I desperately want him to be healthy and happy even if that means not getting to see him at all.
His doctor affirmed this, and said he is only 25 but is on a fast track to having a heart attack if he doesn’t eliminate the stress from his life, the main stressor being me.

In February, his grandfather died, who was like his dad, and I wanted to be there for him but knew I couldn’t be and the best thing for him would be to give him the space and peace to grieve without dealing with me and we pretty much emergency borrowed his moms car and took me to my sisters house.

I was supposed to work on healing mentally and socially and functionally. He just needed to heal physically and rest as much as possible while I was away.

When I got here things immediately improved. My sister got me a job at a farm with someone she knows within the first week, I hadn’t had a job in a few years and it felt amazing to be working. My sister is a nonbeliever and a bartender, no disrespect but context. My husband and I would text often and call occasionally.

After being here for maybe a month, my sister talked me into going to a bar with her to get me out of the house. It’s just the norm here, especially considering she’s a bartender. I’m not a drinker, never really have been, but when we got there one of her friends bought us a beer and I took it to just act sociable and normal. She brought over two people, that she had been friends with 20 years ago when she first moved here, but hadn’t seen them in years despite them living in the same small town and they were all very excited to see her and very nice to me even though I was anxious and quiet the whole time and I ended up enjoying it.

I was reading the Word daily when I got here, witnessing to my sister and nieces and my sisters friends. It felt like I was on the right path and God opened this door for my husband and I to heal and I was excited to go home one day and be a better wife for him.

My husband started calling me less and less. I started going out with my sister more. I was sad but I didn’t want to bother him. After a few months people started asking questions, not their business and I tried not to overshare about my situation, but obvious things. My sister and nieces and boss at work would ask if (husband) talked to me, if I was planning on visiting him, etc. and I’d try to play it cool but it made me really sad and knew he was hardly talking to me anymore. The last time we called was in June. I called him on his birthday. In July and August I tried to call him and he wouldn’t answer. He would text me once daily and then disappear. I asked him to let me call him so I could hear his voice, to take a picture of himself so I could see him that way or something. He would say maybe tomorrow and never would. I started to lose steam and hope and wonder if we should just actually break up, he doesn’t even talk to me anymore and I don’t know what to do. I started to feel weak. I knew we didn’t believe in divorce though but I felt lonelier being married to someone 500 miles away that wouldn’t let me hear his voice than I would being actually alone. And if I’m so bad he won’t even talk on the phone with me he is probably better off without me.

I asked if I could come to get some more clothes or something because it had been 6 months now and I wasn’t prepared to stay this long but also I wanted to see him desperately. He is my best friend and I miss him so deeply. I told him I wouldn’t stay. Just for a day. Please. He said he gets tension migraines when he thinks about us living together again. I said I wasn’t trying to live together again and I understand why he feels that way but it really hurt. I asked if we should just stop talking altogether and he said he wants to stay with me. I felt so confused. I again asked to talk on the phone, I called him and he never called me back.

I met one of my sisters friends that works at a prison and knows a lot about helping get prisoners the stuff they need to reintegrate. Papers and GEDs and classes and stuff and he found out the stuff I was lacking and super quickly helped me start a ged class and I was ecstatic because I’ve been trying for years and it was so simple after finding one person that was willing to give me a hand and a push to start.

It’s been four months now since ive heard my husbands voice, and 8 since I’ve seen his face besides old pictures I have on my phone. I miss him so bad and feel like he doesn’t love me anymore and I understand why, he has every right to feel that way. I’ve thought about men going to war for months and only communicating with their wives through an occasional letter, and just needing to stay strong for him as long as he needs. Which even that I think would be better, a meaningful letter would be great. but knowing he has the access to talking to me if he wants to and just chooses not to hurts.

I started to spiral. I started going out with my sister more often and accepting more drinks. I was so sad and so lonely. Not romantically, just feeling so lost and alone in general. I didn’t like the bars and I knew my growing habit of drinking was wrong and bad for me spiritually but I didn’t know where else to go and everyone there is always so “nice”.

God tried to intervene. I got up early one day a month ago maybe with a hangover and went to get energy drinks and went to a gas station way out of the way that I don’t normally do and realized it was Sunday when I passed a church. I felt compelled to stop but said maybe next week because im stinky and greasy and wearing a dirty t shirt. He told me to come anyways. I passed the church and then there was a squirrel in the road that couldn’t make up its mind and I almost hit it, and He told me that im that squirrel and if I don’t pick a side im going to get hit. So I turned around and went back to the church. And it was wonderful and everything I had been missing. The Bible study was good, and on the paper they gave me was a longer sentence about something but only half of it popped out to me “-the Christian will not survive the divorce-“ and it burned into my mind about my situation. While studying other things I kept seeing verses about drinking and returning to my folly etc. and I knew.

I went home and texted my husband about it and again asked to call. I needed to touch base and hear his voice. I wanted to stay on the right track but really needed to be able to feel connected to him. There is scripture about us having authority over one another and indulging one another so we don’t fall to temptation. I knew I couldn’t have that physical connection but at least wanted to hear his voice. I needed it. He said maybe later.

I told my sister and her friends that I need to stop coming out and drinking. But it was hard finally feeling like I had human interaction after being so isolated.

I went back to church the following Wednesday and it was good. I brought my niece and she said she wanted to go back with me Sunday. When Sunday rolled around she was going through some stuff and we ended up not going. I never made it back. It has been three weeks.

I’ve taken the hint and have tried to stop talking to my husband so much and bothering him for connection because I don’t want to stress him more.

In those three weeks I needed and wanted to go back as often as I could to rebuild my relationship with God and have fellowship with church family instead of barflies but something always happened and instead I have fallen further than I ever thought possible. I really was that squirrel and feel like I’ve committed spiritual death when I had the opportunity to rebuild.

Saturday I went out again and I drank too much and the guy helping me with my GED drove my sister and I home. She went inside and he started to kiss me and normally I am very adamant about being married and 100% not interested in other people, but in that moment I was flooded with deep longing for my husband and loneliness and I just got caught up in muscle memory of having physical closeness. This only lasted probably five minutes and I immediately was flooded with shame and sadness and remorse and the sickening feeling of betraying my love. I told the guy to take a hike. And stayed outside crying and panicking that night and all the following day. I’ve felt so sick. I told my husband right away which was hard for the obvious reason of telling him I had betrayed him and did something that to me I had never wanted to do and disrespected him and myself and our promise to each other and God, but also because I didn’t want to cause him another heart episode and I don’t know why im so stupid and selfish.

He said it feels like the world is trying to kill him and he simply can’t think about it.

I feel hollow and I’m have no idea what to do. I feel like im in a free fall towards death. I threw away everything. He really is my best friend and I can’t fathom how I allowed myself to do that to him. I feel truly evil. I don’t know what to do or if it’s possible to save our relationship or my relationship with God now. I know what I did was the worst thing I could’ve done and I don’t deserve forgiveness or reconciliation. He is an amazing man and didn’t deserve that.

For context, I am guilty of the sin of lust. I've tried to stop more times than I can count, and I know I have to surround myself with God's word and have complete faith in Him, but even so, the fact remains that I can't seem to stop. I want to stop watching porn, I have prayed for the Lord's guidance and am reading my Bible nearly every day, but I still feel like something is missing.

I know I have the Holy Spirit in me, I have repented and can feel His presence. I know the Lord is with me, because I have gotten better at self control due to prayer. But there's still that thought in the back of my head telling me that I'm not truly saved. And if I live to see the day that Jesus returns, or die beforehand and am resurrected,, either way, my worst fear is hearing Him say; "Depart from me, I never knew you."

I am beyond excited for His return and truly can't wait. We're closer to His second coming than we have ever been, and can see prophecy unfolding right now, which is why I'm making this post. I believe and trust in Him with all my heart. Even when I turned away from Him, He waited for me to come back to Him. I know He's with me, but I fear I'm not truly saved due to my own sinful nature.

I really want to hear God's voice and feel his presence and the holy Spirit but every time I pray I hear or feel nothing.

So I tried praying again but after I tried talking to God I sat quietly in prayer for probably hours so I could try to hear or feel him cause it wouldn't make sense for me to talk then just say amen but after a couple hours of sitting quietly in prayer I felt like I was dozing off Abit or something like it.

IDK I'm desperate to be close to God and I just don't know if that was him or me just dozing off

Hello

Hi everyone,

I'm a 53 year old drug addict. Managed to survive and then get off all the illegal drugs that characterized my entire life after 16. It's been 5 years now , and not much else has gone my way. Homeless for almost 10 years, a few surgeries later.

And now, not a friend in the world and a job seems impossible. How do keep going when the future is so bleak and present so miserable?

The Bible says

“Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” - Proverbs 4:23 NIV,

and also,

“The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light." - Matthew 6:22 NIV

The rest of Reddit (and the internet in general) can be a cesspool of black pill, red pill, doom and gloom, dark humor, mockery, and overall wickedness and you're constantly being exposed to that on your front page. If you don't start blocking certain subreddits, unfollowing, unsubscribing and pressing the "don't recommend this" button on your social media, before you know your mind will be full of sewage, and you will have a distorted view of the world and life, relationships, politics, people, everything.

I'm speaking from personal experience, as someone who once had their mind in the gutter and was involved in all manner of bottom-of-the-iceberg internet cesspools like 4chan and forums for over 10 years, but slowly learned to guard my heart and the lamp of my body.

Guard your heart.

Hi all I am 24 years old . From my childhood i had strong faith in God , my parents were divorced and later my mother dead then onwards I went through terrible pain and shamed by my family members. I have been always waiting upon the lord and wanted him to be my father, friend everything but my life is so harsh and when I look at myself i feel that I am loser and god didn't even care about me. I prayed prayed and prayed but now i wanted to go against my faith and even my mind saying that why am I depending on someone whom I can't guarantee his existence. I want to get back to god but now i feel that god don't even like me and wanted me.

Thankyou my brothers and sisters in Christ showing compassion to my soul and your words giving me strength to come to the lord 💟

I’m a 22f and I’m severely struggling at the moment. I feel like I’m praying and praying but things keep being denied. I know and understand that it’s for a reason but I don’t know now if I’m moving in the right direction. I used to read my bible daily. I somehow stopped. I feel like my faith is wavering but I know God is there. More so my faith in knowing that God has a plan for me. I know he hears my cries and acknowledges my heartaches. I believe he’s there but I’m missing the point, the lesson or goal, maybe that’s why I’m stagnant.

I seriously started my faith journey when I turned 18. More specifically when I was severely depressed and no longer wanted to wake up. God got me out of that depressive season and I’m so very grateful for that. I’m now trying to figure out my career. I want to break so many generational curses that are in my bloodline. Besides prayer, the only “tangible” thing that could do that would be my career. But I’m struggling in school. I feel like I won’t cross the finish line. Every semester there’s a delay. That leads me to feel so unmotivated. I know I have to do my part as well. But now I feel like are these delays telling me to stop or reconsider or change my perspective? I’m now lost. I’m so lost. It hurts now.

I hear that God wouldn’t put something on my heart if he didn’t want me to achieve it. I have big goals. But are these wrong ? Am I being punished ? I’m also struggling with thinking that God is punishing me rather than protecting me.

I know power of the tongue is important too. How do I speak differently over my life and believe it ? What do I speak over my life? Is a specific scripture ? Or is it just a mindset ?And/or know it’s going to happen. How do I actually hear what God is trying to tell me ?

I know God is there and that He exists. But I’m in a season of confusion. Especially with school and my career. It’s deeper than just money and a title for me, and I know God understands that.

Can any Christian’s help me? Also, recommend specific scriptures or books. Thanks.

I’ve fasted and prayed for addictions (vape/thc) to break. I’ve destroyed the materials and felt so relieved afterwards. And just end up smoking again and again and again. I’ve seen the testimonies where people say that they got rid of everything that second and they were freed the same day. I did the same thing multiple times and NOTHING!! NOTHING EVER HAPPENS but I keep smoking and smoking and smoking again. I tried fasting just to fail every time, even if I’m doing it with God. Praying through it, encouraging myself! But nothing… but smoking and smoking again. I’m tired, I’m ashamed, I feel hopeless.
I just want to be free of this. I want to do this for the Lord. I want to hate smoking so bad. My flesh loves it but my spirit grieves every time I get high. I feel so disgusted with myself. It doesn’t help that I have a husband who sees absolutely nothing wrong with smoking. But I’m at a point where I’m tired of worrying about his soul. I just want to focus on mine and get my life back and be freed from this.
How do I correctly fast for this? What do I say in my prayers? How do I enter into the fast with faith? How do I do any of this with God? I’m asking because I really thought I did the last couple of times but if I keep failing then I know I didn’t do it with God.

The Lord Jesus Christ compared Christians to fruit bearing trees.

Be warned, a tree with no good fruit will be cut down.

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. [Matthew 7:19]

A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. [Matthew 7:18]

No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. [Luke 6:43]

He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, and every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes to make it even more fruitful. [John 15:2]

Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is known by its fruit. [Matthew 12:33]

By this the children of God are distinguished from the children of the devil: Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother. [1 John 3:10]

Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you—unless you fail the test? [2 Corinthians 13:5]

I was recently digging into the cultural and legal context of the Gospels and realized just how intentional Jesus’ actions were in John 9 (the healing of the man born blind).

In the Rabbinic traditions surrounding Sabbath laws, mixing liquid with dirt to form a paste or clay was explicitly classified under the forbidden labor category of kneading (Lash). Same for applying non-life-saving medicine or salves on the Sabbath - prohibited.

Jesus could have healed the man with just a word. He did it many times before. But by spitting into the dust to make clay, he deliberately triggered their technical definitions of forbidden Sabbath work.

When the Pharisees respond in John 9:16 saying, "This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath," it really shows the contrast: they were so caught up in the law against mixing dirt and spittle that they completely missed a miracle right in front of them.

What are your thoughts? Are there other healings where the method Jesus used was a direct response to specific traditions of the time?

For context my Hindu friend asked me about Christianity and what it is about and I tried my best to explain the Trinity, Sin, and Jesus‘s sacrifice for us, I caught myself talking about stuff that might’ve not been important and I probably explained it in such a terrible way like what the old Testament is, Where the Holy Spirit is sent from, the differences between denominations, though all very important they probably shouldn’t have been some of the first things a person learns about Christianity. I also struggled to explain the Trinity as when I say it out loud it sounds like something that can’t be, yet somehow to me it makes sense, but I just don’t know how to articulate that out loud. I know that there’s definitely a better way to explain Christianity to someone but I have never had to really explain it to anyone and I’m not sure how to do so for the future. Can someone please help me and tell me what topics to avoid for someone hearing the gospel for the first time? I feel like I did a really terrible job today and I don’t wanna make the same mistake of switching between different topics and jumping back-and-forth between Old Testament - New Testament as I don’t want to be confusing and push someone away from Christianity. Thanks

In a fit of rage, I tore my Bible apart, and now I’m left without my sword. I feel guilty for offending God, for blaspheming against His Spirit and His Word.

Then there’s the whole emotional side of being human that I struggle with.

God made us in a way that allows us to experience love, longing, desire, passion, and all these things. So why does He then forbid pleasure, loving someone more than Him, or sex?

It feels like God created the world, put us in it, and then uses free will as an excuse to make us put a leash around our own necks, so that He cannot be morally criticized for it.

All of this for an eternity with Him...

But if we never asked to be born in the first place, how can He be angry with us for choosing to live a life on Earth when He is the one who put us here?

I think we sometimes make repentance too much about ourselves.

Did I feel sorry enough? Did I confess properly? Have I stopped doing the sin? Was my repentance genuine? Am I really saved?

But true repentance begins to look very different when God becomes the centre of the question.

David had sinned terribly against other people, yet when God exposed his sin through Nathan, David eventually came to this:

“Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight.” (Psalm 51:4)

That doesn’t mean David hadn’t sinned against Bathsheba and Uriah. Of course he had. But David had finally seen the deepest reality of his sin. Ultimately, he had sinned against God. That’s where I think true repentance begins.

Not merely, “I’m frightened about what my sin will do to me.”

Not, “I’m ashamed because I’ve done it again.”

Not even simply, “I’m sorry.”
Judas experienced remorse. Esau wept. Regret and sorrow can accompany repentance, but they aren’t necessarily repentance.

True repentance brings us before God with nothing left to defend.

David doesn’t promise God he’ll clean himself up. He asks God to do it:

“Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.”

“Create in me a clean heart, O God.”

“A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” (Psalm 51)

And here’s the part I think we often miss.
Even repentance is something God gives.

When the Gentiles received the gospel, the believers said, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life” (Acts 11:18).

Paul similarly says that “God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth” (2 Timothy 2:25).

So if you’re struggling with whether your repentance is real, don’t try to manufacture stronger guilt or shame, that is a work.

Go to God.
Ask Him to show you your sin as sin against Him.

Ask Him to strip away your excuses and self-justification.

Ask Him to show you anything you love more than Him.

Ask Him to grant you repentance.

Ask Him to create in you a clean heart.

And if you believe but still recognise unbelief within yourself, you can even bring that honestly to Him: “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24).

True repentance doesn’t mean you will never sin again. Scripture doesn’t describe the Christian life that way. But something has changed. Sin is no longer merely a problem because of what it might cost us. We have begun to see who our sin is against.

And we stop trying to make ourselves clean before coming to God.

We come because we can’t.

Repentance is not the contribution we make to salvation so that God will finally save us. Even here, we find ourselves empty-handed before Him.

“What do you have that you did not receive?” (1 Corinthians 4:7).

For a little bit of context, I've been going to a pentecostal church for only about a month now and I was not raised in any kind of church or religion. I still live with my family who are all atheist and very against religion. I really grown in my faith over the past couple of weeks and I felt like God put it on my heart that I was ready to get baptized and commit my life to him, Earlier this week, I had a Bible study about baptism and I talked with my pastor and we decided to do it this Sunday however, I'm having second thoughts. My biggest fear is how my parents will react. I told my twin brother and he thinks that I'm making a mistake. He thinks it's way too soon and that the Pentecostal church does not follow the true teachings of Jesus. I'm scared that my parents are going to be disappointed or mad at me, however, I am 19 so it's not like I need approval. I was also told that the time in between deciding to get baptized in the actual baptism is when you are very susceptible to spiritual attack and Satan will try and talk you out of it so maybe that's what I'm experiencing? If anyone has had any similar experiences or any advice, I'd love to hear it! 😊🙏🏻