When I first joined nofap I was extremely motivated to stop, I took cold showers, meditated, exercised, but back then I viewed things from a self help perspective, I realize now as a Christian I need to rely fully on Christ for everything, but realizing this has left me more lost now then ever before. What does it mean to rely fully on Christ?, now I feel like all of my efforts are just shallow human attempts outside of God and now I do not even want to do anything because I have no clue what it means to rely on God, there is a difference between being sober and being free, and only Christ Jesus can set the captive free, but how do I realize that freedom and how do I know what is my own effort and will vs Gods?.
Psalm 1 1 Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. 2 But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. 2 Corinthians 10 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. John 15 4 "Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. 9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete." Do you see the pattern? God is our constant companion, and we find our hearts and minds turning to him all the time. Living in such a fashion is what it means to rely on him. As we come to trust him, we do so more and more. Living this way is the freedom we are promised in Christ (Galatians 5:1)! Here is a discipleship tool that has been helpful to me in learning to live this out. I hope it will be a help to you, too. I also highly recommend the book it comes from. I'd love to discuss further any time! https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zqVL11JjWICOHCRUDmqXr9TNC_gpb6yhRF1hKp-fxcc/edit
If you are God's, then you were once at enmity with Him and living in rebellion of His law. You have been raised to spiritual life and this is the will of God: to follow His commandments. If you want to do His will, do this. Clearly, although the heart of stone is replaced with a heart of flesh, the body remains in corruption. So, 'the good that you will, you don't do and the evil you hate you do', it is very frustrating living in sinful flesh as a redeemed believer. But remember that we have a wonderful hope in the fact that some day we will be resurrected with a perfect and redeemed body. We still sin because of the flesh, but the mark of the believer is that we recognize and hate the sin that we're in. If we didn't have an incredible hope in the work of Christ, then the conviction of sin would be very depressing indeed, but He is risen, and He will remember His flock. My advice to you is to live your life in pursuit of holiness desiring perfection, which you will attain but not in this life, because you recognize that Jesus is Lord and you love His law. Be responsible and prayerful living your life, but do not worry about personal wealth or the future, set your eyes toward the love of God and store up treasures in heaven, 'for where your treasures are your heart will be also'. Place your trust in God and the working of His Spirit as you do good. If you 'seek the truth you will find it', and if you truly desire against your own desire to do the will of God, He will not let His children go astray. God knows the number of hairs on your head, and He created both the righteous and the wicked for His glory, do not worry about falling outside of His will when you seek to live in harmony with Him. Regarding trusting God in matters like fighting lust, remember the promise and hope that we have in Christ. You must trust in God but remember that He will not necessarily take your lust away magically, I truly wish this were the case but it isn't. A real effort to fight your own lust must be made by your own will, but you should always remember the promise of God. That is, the promise of God and the hope that we have, but also the fact that 'God does not give us more than we can handle', and 'resist the devil and he will flee from you'. God has set aside a day of judgement where all sin will be answered for, we should live our lives in the joy of our redemption and the knowledge that even though we see evil in the world nothing and no one escapes God's justice. I hope this helps.
Hmm I believe this means that I must rely fully on God by keeping his commands and trusting he will look after and provide for me always, I simply need to obey his commands and live the best life honoring him I can, thank you for the reply and resource it really helped.
This helped me a lot, I feel like I really overthought all of this, the Bible is really clear when I think of it on what we must do, resist sin and seek the Lord God. Thank you for the response.
Being a Christian is a close personal relationship with Christ. When you get to know Him, through the word and preaching, you want to spend more time with Him. When you realize what he did for you, you love Him more. If you start focusing on and responding to God continuously, you will realize that he is guiding you. He is leading you. Your obedience and commitment to the relationship is required for success. You have to respond to Him. He still may prompt you to meditate on a verse or His presence, exercise, or take a cold shower if nothing else is working. Invite Christ into every part of your day and respond to his spirit in you. If you want to talk more PM me or reply to this thread.
Archbishop Fulton Sheen wrote " faith in God must never contradict reason. The unreasonable venture never has the assurance of Divine protection". He wrote this about the second temptation of Christ where the devil tempted Christ to throw himself off of the temple wall and rely on God to stop his fall. Christ, of course, did not succumb and replied "you shall not put the Lord your God to the test". Relying on God without bringing our own efforts of restraint is to put God to the test. God does perform miracles but at His time and His choosing. Each time I am tempted, I also see that God provides me with a way to avoid the sin but He does not revoke His gift of freewill to choose either good or evil.
Jesus was both human and God. Christ did not humble himself to take on human flesh for leisure but for battle; battle against sin. How could Our Precious Lord set an example for us if He didn't experience temptation and in response demonstrate that humans have the ability to resist sin? Also from Fulton Sheen's book, "The Life of Christ" “It is part of the discipline of God to make His loved ones perfect through trial and suffering. Only by carrying the Cross can one reach the Resurrection. It was precisely this part of Our Lord’s Mission that the devil attacked.” Christ was like us in every way except sin. He had the freewill that God has given all of us but He showed us that we can choose to resist just as He did.
I feel condemned a lot of the time because I constantly relapse and back to my sin, I say to myself how can I ever go to heaven when I am not doing Gods will and conquering my desires?.
Please reread Romans 6-8. What you are saying is not the Gospel of our Master, Jesus. We do not enter the Kingdom because of our good behavior.
Condemnation and shame are used by the devil to keep you trapped in sin. You have a new identity in Christ and He has a better way for you. When you leave immorality behind you will start to feel the assurance of the salvation that is yours as one who is trusting in Christ and His shed blood for forgiveness. Your mind will be renewed and you will discover a new life.
We are all trapped in that cycle until Christ sets us free. You are focused on the behavior, but in order to correct that, you must start at its root -- what you think. If we do not change what we think, our actions will never change. We must learn to think God's thoughts and not our own. This requires trust. Trust takes time to grow. The process of becoming his disciple is not complicated. It is outlined here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zqVL11JjWICOHCRUDmqXr9TNC_gpb6yhRF1hKp-fxcc/edit It will require everything we have, though. We must give ourselves to him completely in order to benefit from his life within us. But, when we know how miserable life is when we're in charge, what other choice do we have than to try something else?
I realize now as a Christian I need to relyfully on Christ for everything, but realizing this has left me more lost now then ever before. What does it mean to rely fully onChrist?, now I feel like all of my efforts are just shallow human attempts outside of God and now I do not even want to doanything because I have no clue what it means to rely on God, there is a differencebetween being sober and being free, and only Christ Jesus can set the captive free,but how do I realize that freedom and howdo I know what is my own effort and willvs Gods?. This is right where God wants you. Not relying on yourself. Your will know what is right when you are working with God toward His goal for your life. You find that out by spending time getting to know Him and what he wants for you. Then when your act in Gods will it will be affirmed by the hilt spirit and feel right.
I am trying to sign up for community service but I think because of covid it is shut down, I talk to my Chaplin a lot but I agree I need a church to go to.
