Comments

HEY, GIRLS! We love hearing from you, but feel limited in the ways we can help. For one thing, we’re not trained counselors. If you’re seeking counsel, we encourage you to talk to your pastor or a godly woman in your life as they’ll know more details and can provide you with ongoing accountability and help. Also, the following comments do not necessarily reflect the views of Revive Our Hearts. We reserve the right to remove comments which might be unhelpful, unsuitable, or inappropriate.

christian cults
cults
on Tuesday, November 23, 2010 at 1:14 am
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Hey Erin + Paula,
Can y'all do a series on false doctrines? Im a college student and I have been a faithful servant of God but I was almost dragged into a church that claimed to be the only way and that baptism at their church was necessary for salvation. I dont want to see any of the ladies who read this blog to believe lies from a particular church.
LindseyV
?
on Tuesday, November 23, 2010 at 9:37 am
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How do you know God really wants a personal relationship with ME? The Bible always seems to be written to someone else and I'm just a spectator reading someone else's mail. Maybe this is an irrational feeling, but it keeps bothering me.
Darby
disconnect between words and personal experience
on Tuesday, November 23, 2010 at 9:46 am
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i read that God loves me a lot in his word. and that he is watching over me and caring and protecting me but i have a hard time actually BELIEVING it...
cowgirl
amen
on Tuesday, November 23, 2010 at 2:18 pm
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they need to see that God is ALL to me. How can they believe it, when I don't act like it.
Ashlee
RE: LindseyV
on Tuesday, November 23, 2010 at 4:56 pm
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Hey Lindsey,
God REALLY DOES want a personal relationship with YOU. Deutoronomy 14:2-'Out of all the people on the face of the earth, the Lord chose YOU to be His treasured possession.' That is really talking to you :) If you were the only person on earth, God still would have sent his Son to die for you. Ask Him to make Himself and His Word real to you. God loves you!
Ashlee
Chloe
I Have Grown Closer To God
on Tuesday, November 23, 2010 at 5:07 pm
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I think that I have grown much closer to God over the past few weeks. For a while there I was wondering whether or not God is real and if he is whether or not I believe in him. For a while there I was thinking that I didn't believe in Him but then there was one night at church when he became real to me all over again. And now I am proud to say that he is my Lord and I am his Princess.
Cupcake
In Need of prayer
on Tuesday, November 23, 2010 at 6:40 pm
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I have a wedge in my relationship with God at the moment becuase of sins i have done,

Even tho God has forgiven me, i still feel embarrassed in front of him coz hes seen everything i have done, im really struggling to accept his forgiveness and love and to believe his love is stronger than the sins that ive done

therefore i try to avoid getting close to him coz im too ashamed, can someone please pray that i get set free from this as it has bound me for so long :(
Brittany Lee
Re:
on Wednesday, November 24, 2010 at 8:15 am
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Austin Bevere said something a few months ago that really stuck with me that lines up with this relatively well. It was, "I can't be all that God wants me to be if I don't first let Him be all He is to me."

It's seeking God and KNOWING Him that then leads us to know His will for our lives. We can't be who God wants us to be until we let him be all who he is to us.

Great post! thanks so much!
LindseyV
RE Ashlee
on Wednesday, November 24, 2010 at 1:00 pm
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See, that's what I mean. That verse was written to the Hebrew people, not to me. How can it apply to me??
Paula Hendricks
Hey, girls!
on Wednesday, November 24, 2010 at 1:45 pm
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Great idea, ChristianCults. I’ve been there, too. Made a note for a future post . . .

To the rest of you, GREAT questions! I’ve asked my friend, Sarah, who I work with, to respond to you. She’s much wiser than I am. :) Check for her answers soon.

Happy Thanksgiving!
Ashlee
RE: Lindsey
on Wednesday, November 24, 2010 at 2:53 pm
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Hey Lindsey,
God is omnipotent, beyond our wildest imaginations :) I believe that, while God meant that for the Israelites specifically, He meant it for YOU specifically. For ME specifically. For every one of His Children specifically. He is not limited to speaking directly to one person, or one group of people, with something(even if it is directed to them, at first) . It's hard to grasp, but He knew when He spoke that verse, that several thousand years later a girl named LindseyV would need to hear it. He said it to the Israelites, but as He did He thought of YOU, and spoke it for YOU to someday hear. Just as He thought of ME and spoke it for ME to someday hear. He is soooooo huge that He can speak PERSONALLY to each and every person through the same thing, to each and every person. Remember: ask GOD to show His Love to you and to open your eyes to REALIZE it :)
Ashlee
Sarah
Cupcake
on Wednesday, November 24, 2010 at 2:59 pm
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Cupcake…

You can be assured that you have been prayed for.

Your feelings come from an incomplete understanding of what Christ did on the cross. John makes it clear that Christ died so our sins could be forgiven. He writes: If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

The Bible testifies again and again to the fact that what Christ did on the cross is more than sufficient to forgive all our sins. But John doesn’t stop with forgiveness; he gives a complete picture of what Christ did. Here’s how he puts it…if we confess, He forgives us …AND cleanses us from all unrighteousness. You have accepted the first part of the verse…He forgives…but you have not accepted the cleansing which takes away the shame. The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin to draw us to God to deal with our sin; Satan uses shame to separate us from God. Don’t let Satan do that!

So, what you want to do is ask God to take the Scriptures and make it clear to you that He sees you through the eyes of Christ. And like David, you have been washed completely clean. Take time today to read and make these verses your own…Psalm 51, Psalm 103, and Acts 3:19.

Accept His forgiveness…AND His cleansing!
Sarah
Sarah
Lindsey V
on Wednesday, November 24, 2010 at 3:03 pm
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Lindsey…

The cross is God’s answer to the question: Does God really love me? And to the question: Does God really want a personal relationship with me?

These Scriptures will help you come to a point of assurance that He wants a personal relationship with you:

1. John 6:44 says: No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.

This verse tells you that even your wanting to know if God really wants a relationship with you is God’s love in action drawing you

2.John 3:16 says:"For God so loved the world, that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.”

These verses speak to you as an individual and to every person. Does that not bring a great deal of joy to you?!

3.John 20:30-31 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.

These verses tell you that God has provided in a way that you cannot misunderstand or be uncertain of the fact He wrote the message in these verses for YOU, Lindsey!

God bless you as you seek Him!
Sarah
Darby
on Wednesday, November 24, 2010 at 3:10 pm
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Darby…

The deeper issue seems to be with trust. If God is God, and He says something, why would you not believe it? Do you question His love; do you question His sovereignty: do you question His power?

Two things might be helpful to you. First, spend time getting to know God through these two Scriptures—Psalm 139 and John 3. Second, journal about the times you have experienced God’s care and have seen His hand in your life, and begin to record your prayers for His help and how He answers those prayers. He’s a great and awesome God; you can trust Him, Darby. Live by faith (Heb. 10:38).

No matter how much you want to know He loves and cares for you, He wants you to know that even more.
cupcake
Thank you Sarah
on Thursday, November 25, 2010 at 8:30 pm
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You don't know how much those words have helped me, thank you so much, i will meditate on those versus, and you are right i need to accept the second part of that verse which i always seem to not read over properly, thank you for making it clear to me, God bless xoxoxooxox
LindseyV
RE
on Friday, November 26, 2010 at 2:26 pm
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Thanks, Sarah, those verses were helpful. Maybe it's just I don't feel close to Him sometimes and it's a lot easier to believe that it's exclusive to others.....

Thanks for your input too, Ashlee.
savvy
sarah
on Saturday, November 27, 2010 at 9:39 pm
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Hello girls i don't really comment alot but i just wanted to say that Sarah, girl right on:)
darby
thanks sarah
on Tuesday, November 30, 2010 at 8:59 am
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yeah i have a big trust issue.. so sometimes i find myslef doubting God's ability, his care, and his protection... i have a friend who is a wiser christian than i am who is helping me with my trust problem. i'll try to do what you said. thanks
Abigail
believing it
on Thursday, December 2, 2010 at 9:54 pm
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I have never though about this before but some days ago I was reading Marcus and all the miracles Jesus did and I started thinking that I KNOW all those stories. But maybe Im not BELIEVING them... Sometimes I don't live by that...I just tell myself that those things were true but I find it kinda hard to imagine them like something that really happened. If u get what I mean:s
Sometimes I think that by saying God is real ten thousand times in my head will make it real ...
Its like, since I was a baby everybody tells me that God is real... but how can I know for sure??? Ive reserched and taken clases about how do we know that the Bible is real and everything but sometimes I have doubts.
Great post! thx!!
Sarah
Abigail
on Saturday, December 4, 2010 at 2:16 am
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Abigail,

It’s not the Bible you have a problem with; it’s your trust in God and believing in His power and care. God is great enough to do miracles and loving enough to write about them in the Bible so that you will know His greatness and will trust Him for His strength and help in your personal life.

You don’t need to KNOW more as much as have faith in what you already know. It’s not so much intellectual, but spiritual—so commit to staying in the Word and in prayer, asking the Lord to make His presence and His Word real to you. In seeking Him, you WILL find Him:
And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13

Blessings on an incredible journey!
Heather
phendricks
on Friday, December 10, 2010 at 11:06 am
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I'm looking forward to that post on Christian cults. I don't know how to detect them b/c I'm so unknowledgeable, so I could really use the help. (Like in the first post- I didn't know that if a church says you need to be baptised to be saved means that they are a cult). Actually, my friends thought that this site was trying to suck me into a cult!! I didn't know what to believe, so I was stand-offish on this site for a while...but I'd like to avoid that period of suspicion next time the occasion arises.
Dee
Re:
on Sunday, December 12, 2010 at 1:12 am
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Thank you so much for this article! This is exactly what I needed to hear right now. =)
jesus freak
Teens
on Sunday, January 9, 2011 at 11:47 am
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hey...
i know i'm very young but it bothers me that when our pastor preaches, he only talk about men. don't women also play an important role. it makes me feel unworthy 2 serve God because i'm not a man.
Kami
jesus freak
on Friday, February 4, 2011 at 12:42 am
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i understand how you feel. Sometimes Christianity can become very man centered however God made women with a purpose the same as men and that is to glorify Him. Sites like these are made to help that also you should read yourself on women of the bible there may no be many details about them but they play a vital role. Also you pastor may preach so much about men because he is a man. it takes a man to raise a man and likewise. DO NOT EVER feel like you should not serve God because you are a woman because if you were not meant to serve God you would not exist