God lead me to write this post. Knowing that His Word does not return void, I can only imagine that there is someone out there who needs to read this. Is it you?
Many believers, at one time or another during their walk with the Lord, lose sight of their faith and walk away from His presence. Some for a short while and others for a very long time. It may have been because life got busy and you unwittingly pushed Jesus aside. Or a deep hurt by another believer caused you to not trust in God anymore. Or a mistake you made has now snowballed into a life of sin and regret.
My dear sister, let me encourage you today, it’s not too late, you’re not too far gone, He’s waiting for you to come home.
The Lost Sheep
In His Word, Jesus refers to his followers as sheep. So we know that in the following scripture, He is referring to believers.
“What man among you having a hundred sheep and losing one of them does 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 places it on his shoulders, rejoicing. Then when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.’ Likewise, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous men who need no repentance.” Luke 15:4-7
The enemy wants you to believe that your Heavenly Father is so disappointed and angry with you that you can’t call upon Him in prayer and restore your relationship with Him. This is nothing more than a big fat lie straight from the pit of hell! As you can see by the verses above, He loves you. He wants you to let go of your guilt and shame and return to His loving arms. When you do, there will be great rejoicing in heaven.
Christ Love For You
Since I’m sure Satan has been feeding you lies about how the Lord feels about you. Here’s the truth.
“But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Romans 5:8
“We love Him because He first loved us.”
1 John 4:19
Jesus did not start to love you because of anything you did or didn’t do. He loved you before you were born, before the first time you repented of your sin and became a child of grace and He loves you now!
“No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities nor powers, neither things present nor things to come, neither height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to
separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:37-39
“My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life. They shall never perish, nor shall anyone snatch them from My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them from My Father’s hand.” John 10:27-29
God's Word is very clear. No matter what you have done, no matter how long or how far you have been away from His presence, you are still His child. Absolutely nothing and no one can separate you from your Heavenly Father!
As a parent, if my child was missing, nothing else would matter but to have them safe in my arms again. Your Heavenly Father feels the same way about you.
How to Get Back
1. Pray to the Father.
Pour your heart out to Him, tell Him that you are sorry for whatever it is that caused you to walk away, and ask for His forgiveness. He is ready and waiting to forgive you.
2. Be in the Word daily.
Even if it’s only for 10 or 15 minutes a day, read the Word of God every single day. You may want to start in the book of Matthew or the book of John. If there is a particular book of the Bible that you like, go ahead and start there. The enemy is going to fight you on this, but as we know, Jesus is more powerful than anything Satan or the world can throw at you, so persevere.
3. Consider Writing in a Journal.
This can help to really clear the air between you and God, as you write to Him your thoughts and fears. Some journals also have prompts to help you go a little deeper and get more out of the scriptures you are reading.
4. Find a Bible Teaching Church.
One of the things that helps us stay strong in the Lord when temptations come or when life gets hard, is having faithful believers around us. Either go back to the church you left or find a new one close by. I strongly recommend checking their statement of faith to be sure they are teaching solid biblical doctrine.
5. Join a Women’s Bible Study.
Having that strong Christian fellowship and sisters in Christ coming along aside you as you learn the Word of God is priceless.
Optional ~ Fast and Pray.
I put this in here only because it’s something that helped me to heal the relationship between me and the Lord when I felt I needed it.
It was a time in my life when I had been fervently praying God’s promises, but nothing was changing. When the final straw hit, I was so angry at God, that when my husband handed me my Bible to put it away, I looked at him and said: “I don’t want anything to do with that. As far as I’m concerned, you can throw it away." And I walked out of the room.
That following Sunday we went to church as we always did, but I was determined to stay angry at God through the entire service. Of course, the first song that we sang that morning was “Standing on the Promises of God “.
I stood there thinking, really Lord. This is the song that we’re going to sing this morning? With my arms crossed in front of me and a scowl on my face, I was determined to not sing and not give in. But God reached down and touched my heart. By the end of the song, I was singing through my tears and thanking the Lord for His kindness, His love, and His goodness.
For me, this left a sort of emptiness or distance between the Lord and me that I didn’t like. I just felt that there was something more that I needed to do to repair our relationship and to show Him, and maybe myself, that I trusted in Him again. So I chose to fast and pray for a day.
From that time on, our relationship has been just as good as it ever was, maybe even better. Because now, I trust in Him more and I know that even when I mess up or get frustrated, He still loves me.
As I said at the beginning, the Lord placed this on my heart to share with you. He wants you to know it’s time to come home. If you want help with this, or someone to pray with you, or if you want to know more about fasting? Then please write a comment below or send me an email. I would love to walk through this with you.
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