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Everybody strays away from God at some point in their life. Why?

We tend to be SO focused on what we would like to do, rather than what HE would like us to do. Why? Because it is EASIER. When we focus on the things we would like to do, we are in our COMFORT zone. It is not entirely our fault, it is the evil spirits of this world that are making you stray away. 

Someone told me the story about what the evil spirits like to do with their time. The Satan felt so defeated that people are turning more and more to God. One day, Satan and his minions had a meeting. 

“How can we lure these stupid beings into our hands?!”

One suggested, “Keep them busy!” 

And that is what they have done. You may think, ‘What, school work?’ No, not school work.

Technology. Social life. Drugs. Materialistic things. Pornography.

Technology isn’t ALL bad. But when you’re sitting in front of a computer 24/7, or perhaps checking your facebook status every second, or maybe even obsessed with your new iPad, playing games on it, and oh - don’t forget the PS3, or Wii, or those iPhones ——— Technology isn’t ALL bad. But when you spend so much time on it, you tend to be lured into the traps! You spend all your time on technology, and your brain goes eventually tired, and you end up with no time to read your Bible that is sitting on your bookshelf, gathering dust. 

Perhaps technology is not what you’re spending your time on, perhaps it’s your friends, or drugs, or the strive to gain money, or even —— Pornography. 

What is it different in your life now, in comparison to when you were in the summer break? Is it school? Is it your new friends?

What are these bad decisions? Are these bad decisions you can control (i.e. externally influenced)? 

Remember that God does not judge. God always love. God is love. Do not be afraid to ask for forgiveness when you have done something wrong, because that is what God wants. God will forever forgive you. Remember that Jesus had died for a reason! So that we may be forgiven! 

No one is perfect. 

Remember the story of the lost sheep? 

“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does he not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbours, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me! For I have found my sheep which was lost” … “I say to you, that likewise there will be more joy in heavien over one sinner who repents than over ninte-nine just persons who need no repentance.”  -  Luke 15:4-7.

Perhaps you’re a lost sheep right now, maybe all this time you’ve been spending all your time for YOURSELF. We all tend to do that. “Me me me me, what I want… What I need…” Most of the time, we live for OURSELVES. 

But do not worry, for our Father knows you well. The Lord knows what you are going through, and that you are having a hard time to live for Him. 

But He just wants you to know, that whatever you do - He loves you very much. He loves you so much, that He wants you to be saved and live with Him when the time comes. 

Maybe right now, you think that you’re not good enough to live for Christ. Because of your bad decisions in the past, and so on. But God does not judge you. 

He wants you to leave your past behind, and go with Him to a land filled of promises. 

Sometimes we need to take a note that this world that we live in is only TEMPORARY. We must realise that our wants (materialistic, etc) are temporary. But our need for God, our Father, our Saviour, is not. 

Don’t tell yourself that you’re going to change. Accept the fact that you HAVE changed. You have accepted Christ in your life, and you just need to do this little thing! Which is, pray more and give the steering wheel of your life to Jesus. 

Believe that you are no longer the lost sheep, you are being CARRIED by God, and you’re on His shoulders. The Heavens are rejoicing for you have been found! 

What do you do now? 

Tell God your thoughts. Everything. What you’ve done. What you haven’t done. What you want to do, that may lead you astray from God’s plan. Tell Him  EVERYTHING. Because He wants to know! He wants to know what goes on in your life. Afterall, He is our Father. And once you’ve told Him everything - Ask Him. Ask Him for forgiveness, for strength so that you may resist these evil spirits, for wisdom so that you may know what to do when you encounter certain situations that may tempt you and also guidance so that He may guide you to the right paths.

Of course, when you ask God something - You expect to get an answer. You may expect Him to say something audible in your ear. This may not happen, and if it does not - Do not feel hopeless or think that you are not good enough. It is because God’s spirit is so gentle and soft, we tend to not realise His presence. 

Another thing you should do is pick that Bible up from the shelf, and read it. Start from the New Testament. Reading the Bible may be difficult, but take one step at a time. Perhaps the first day you’d like to read one verse. And the next day another.

Or maybe find some daily devotion on the internet that emails you new bible verses of the day every day. So that when you check your email, there is a reminder for you to read the Godly words of the day. 

Find excuses to know more about Him. Following Christ believers on Tumblr is great too. :)

God bless,

-cs.

Prayer:

God,

Today we want to tell You our thoughts. Today we want to tell You what we have done. Today we want to ask You for forgiveness. Lord, we realise that we are not worthy. We are nothing compared to You. But we want to thank You for everything that You have done for us.

Dear Lord Jesus, we understand that sometimes we are lead astray from Your love, and that we tend to focus on ourselves - But Lord, teach us to seek Your paths, teach us to be more like You, teach us to love and care. 

We don’t want to make bad decisions anymore. We don’t want to do something that displeases You, we want to bring something forward as an offering, we want to put forward our lives so that we may live for You, and You alone.

Thank You Lord for the forgiveness, thank You for taking away our burdens, thank You for everything.

Amen.

It is true, sometimes we feel lost. It is true, sometimes we make the wrong choices and sometimes we are tempted by the evil spirits of this world. We must remember that we do not belong in this world, for we belong in God’s Kingdom - and sometimes, it is difficult to remember that due to the earthly entertainment we may encounter.

This is why we pray, this is why we read the gospel, this is why we go to church so that we may be intimate with God and also our neighbours that love Him the way that we do. It is important to do these things, because it is a way to make MORE time for HIM and LESS time for US. It is important to be more intimate with our siblings of Christ, because  THEY are the ones that will support you in prayer when times are difficult — and also that they need YOU to support them in prayer, when times are difficult for them. It is also important for you to be intimate with your siblings of Christ, because they are LIVING testimonies! They are a type of resource and bodies that God will use to give you advice, support, etc. Christ is in each and everyone of us, and we need to understand that our Father may use different people to get messages through to us. 

Giving up our time for God… At first, it will feel like it’s a kind of sacrifice. And we know, sacrifices aren’t easy. For example, sometimes we are STILL finding it hard to sacrifice our time for simple earthly things, like physical exercise or doing our homework. And sacrificing our time for HIM, sacrificing our life for HIM — sometimes is just as difficult. Most of the time, we are probably afraid of what God’s plan for us are — This is because we don’t tend to have a sense of control when we give our full lives to HIM. As humans, we LOVE being in control, because being in CONTROL means that everything is PREDICTABLE to our own understandings. Sometimes it is very hard for us to let go of that ‘control’ and give our Father the permission to steer our life. Sometimes we only let Him guide us when times are being difficult for US, or when a dear friend or family member is at the verge of death, or in some kind of disaster. 

Yes, it is alright to seek for God’s word in these matters - But as a true believer, we want to do MORE than that. 

At first, it will feel  like it’s a kind of sacrifice — But when you are used to spending your time with our Father, when you spend more time with Him - it will no longer feel like it is a sacrifice. It will feel like it is meant to be, that you talk to Him all the time. It is meant to be that you read the bible more, to know more about Him. 

What is it that you’re doing with your own strength? Is it something that you love? Is it something that God hates?

If you know that God doesn’t like you doing something, i.e. Getting drunk, etc - Then pray. Pray that may your bad habits go away. Not because God wants you to — Clearly, He does want you to give up your bad habits, but He is such a GREAT Father that He doesn’t FORCE you to give it up for Him. Pray to Him, talk to Him, that you want to give up these bad habits because you LOVE Him. Ask Him also that He may guide you in this.

We were once lost, but due to our Father’s love being so great - We are found! As it is said in Luke 15: 4-7 ; “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.” 

At times we are lost in our paths, confused on where to go next, which turn we should take. We are vulnerable as humans, vulnerable towards the spirits of this world. You said that you “are looking for a path, somewhere you can go”. Search no more, for by sending this prayer today, know that God has already found you. He is carrying you with His righteous right hand, He will never leave you or let you fall into the pits of darkness. 

You may not realise it now, that you are found. Pray that you may open your heart fully to God and that you give Him permission to guide you in your life, that you NEED His guidance, for we do not know what is the best for us. Only HE does. Pray that you may also avoid the temptations and the trickery of the evil spirits, pray that you may not worry anymore - For God has your life in His amazing hands. 

God bless.

-cs

Prayer:

Almighty God,

At this moment we want to pray for your son/daughter, for they are feeling lost. Feeling lost in their life, feeling lost in their journey, feeling lost without you. We understand sometimes as humans, we are lead astray from your love by the spirits that do not work for YOU - But Jesus, with this prayer, we want you to takeover once again - Takeover our life, so that You may guide us to the perfect path that is YOURS. For we know, that there is no other PERFECT God other than YOU, and Your plans have no flaw and that it is the BEST for us.

If we feel that our life is at a standstill, if we feel that we have lost YOU - Jesus, please come into our hearts, please touch our hearts with your love once again — For we want to be intimate with You, Lord. We want to be intimate with You, Your people, and we want to be more like You. For there is no other God in this earth, that is like You. You are one of a kind, dear Jesus, that will pick us up when we FALL — You are the one that wipes our tears away, You are the one who takes our worries away, You are the most powerful KING.

Jesus, today, we want to go back into your love. Jesus, today, we want to give our lives unto you. Today, we want you to change us. We want you to guide us. We want you to take the steering wheel of our lives, and change us. We don’t want to be tricked by the earthly spirits, because we know that they only give us TEMPORARY happiness. We want to go back into Your love, Lord, so that we may be closer to You - And we know, that Your love is forever. 

Lord, we put this prayer into Your hands. We want to give our whole hearts for you.

In Your name, we pray.

Amen.

My sibling in Christ, do not worry for the Lord hears your prayer.

Sometimes it is difficult to hear His voice, especially when we need Him the most. But it is at those times that our Lord carries you, through your troubles and to His plan that was created especially for you. 

We believe in the power of prayer, and we, as a team will be praying for you. However, you must also pray for yourself as it is your personal need to hear God and feel closer to Him. Pray about whatever you want to. Talk to God like He is your friend, because He IS your friend! Remember, that we have been promoted over the hundreds and thousands of years from a humbled slave of God, to a friend of God - and also to CHILDREN of God! 

Remember also that our Father wants us to have a relationship with Him, that He is forever loving and forever forgiving - And that He wants you to come as you are, and He will love you for who you are. 

God knows your heart, and its contents. God knows more than we do, more than you know yourself. Sometimes it’s just a bit too overwhelming to think of Him like that, but that’s because He is so powerful - He is so amazing! :)

You said that you want to balance your life, and that you don’t want to perform any ‘sinful’ nature. God wants you to do this as well! Although, sometimes we tend to focus on what we “SHOULDN’T” do - especially according to the hundreds of commandments!! (Did you know there are about 600+ commandments in the New Testament?! - These commandments were MAN made!!) Sometimes we just need to focus on what we CAN do! 

Here we can refer to Matthew 22:36-40: When an expert of the law tested Jesus! He questioned Jesus which was the greatest commandment in the Law - Because there are SO MANY! These hundreds of laws tend to tell us that “We shall not sin”. But Jesus is so GOOD, God is so GOOD :) 

Jesus said: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” 

These two laws are the laws that we CAN do! Sometimes it is not easy to do the second one, and much more easier to LOVE OUR GOD - But Jesus said, we must LOVE our neighbours, as we love ourselves! 

You may ask: But what about the other commandments? Does that mean I can do “sinful” acts?

Of course sometimes you may sin - We are humans, we are so weak! That is why we LOVE our God first, and ask and pray for STRENGTH and COURAGE so that we may not fall into any TEMPTATIONS. Pray that we may seek Him and love Him TRULY with our mind, soul and body. Pray so that our the spirit within us will be STRONGER than our flesh! Because our flesh is NOTHING - but the spirit of GOD, the love of GOD, our GOD is infinite! 

God knows your worries. He knows your troubles. He knows that you hurt, and long for Him. Go back to prayer, go back to basic things, go back into loving Him again - Like the first time you loved Him. Find excuses just to be with Him, to listen to His word - To read His gospel, and to talk to Him. 

Come as you are, with your love for God. Slowly, in time, He will change you. But you must let Him change you. Do not worry, my sibling in Christ. Sometimes, as humans, we do think a bit too much. 

There is light at the end of the tunnel, it may be far - But there is light. Being “in too deep” is never too deep for God to pull you out. It’s just a matter of you praying and asking Him.

God bless.

-cs

Prayer:

Dear Lord Jesus

We understand that our sibling of Christ has the longing to go back into your love. We believe that you will bless him/her abundantly in whatever she/he does today, tomorrow, forever - for we believe that only you, Lord Jesus, have the greatest plan each and everyone of us. Whatever she/he may feeling right now, Jesus, if it is sadness, sorrow, lost, pain, distress, worry, may that feeling GO AWAY, Jesus. May she/he feel NO MORE of this, because we BELIEVE that she/he has LOVE in their hearts - For we BELIEVE that YOU - Jesus - Is in her/his heart. 

If she/he is feeling stuck, or in too deep of something - Too sinful, or ashamed to even love You, too sinful or ashamed to belong to You, let her/him understand Your word, Lord - That You are a great God, that you will pick them up with Your right hand when they fall, and forgive them of their sins. 

Jesus, we believe that from today onwards, that there will be a change in his/her life. That TODAY she/he will CHANGE. When they speak, walk, talk, look, touch, smell, run, — whatever they do, they will see it from a different perspective, for YOU are with them, along side them, and never leaving them. 

And we believe, through your name, anything is possible.

In your name, we pray. Amen.