Confused....?

Question

I understand the concept of asking God for forgiveness....it's the "repenting" part I'm having trouble with. As explained in church last Sunday, to repent means to change, to turn away from. In other words....don't do that anymore. My question is: As hard as I try not to commit the same sin again, sometimes I do. How can God continue to grant forgiveness for the same sin over & over? Or does he?

Answer 1

you have to WANT to change

God will call you when he is ready. Not when you want to be called. However, he may be working you up to being one of his children. When he calls you he will change you. If you are trying to do anything on your own, then you are trying to work your way into eternal life.

God's gift to us is eternal life, and nothing we have to do and nothing we can/will do will get us eternal life.

Read John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

When we truly believe that He is the ONLY way to receive that gift of everlasting life, (and to think about what He has done for us), we will welcome the changes in our life. We will WANT to change.

Have you heard of the verse that says "if God be for us, who can be against us"? Let's read before it.

Romans 8:28-31
And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified.

What shall we say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

According to this we are conformed to the image of his Son, we are called, justified, and glorified. It's all part of the overall design.

He is perfect and we are not. He knows he has given us the hurdles in life, and then continues to work in our lives so that our stumbling blocks become his glory. such as . . . look at them NOW . . . see what I did?? See what I can do?? He will forgive you as long as you want to be forgiven, and as long as you are truly WANTING to change.

The Bible says he will change us, and if God is for us, who can be against us?? He will forgive, because he knows the temptations he has allowed you to have.

Just keep asking and if you are being called, he will glorify, and justify you also. And you will be conformed to the image of his Son.

hope that helps.

Answer 2

He does continue to forgive. What your church left out was the concept of grace. That doesnt mean mercy. When we do something by grace we do it by Christ.

You cant change your heart to do the right thing, if you could, then the original law from the old testiment would work. You're completely dependant on Jesus to form that change in you.

If you cant stop lying, its because you need the Grace of God to do it for you. HIs mercy is where his forgiveness is, because you're human and you suck.

So you decide in your heart that you want to change, you ask forgiveness for your sin and your inability, and you ask for Him to change your heart so you can withstand the urge to lie.

Imagine a line, and points that reach that line, and points that do not. The points that do reach that line are standards we have that meet Gods standards, the points that do not are the points where we need Grace to fill the gap to reach Gods standards.

You wouldnt go out and shoot some one in the head, its not something you struggle with. It wouldnt even cross your mind. (assuming youre a normal person, but even crazies have things they wouldnt do) You wouldnt shoot someone because your character doesnt have that fault. Thats a strength you have. But maybe lying is a problem. its a fault in your personal human charater. You need Jesus to come fill in that space in your character so you can have that solidity to not lie, because you in all your ability cannot produce that strength.

Asking him, and allowing him to fix it is how you reach that goal. Otherwise all you're doing is asking for forgiveness for the same thing over and over and over and you're never making progress.

So you ask him to get rid of the things in your character that cause the sin, and to help strengthen you so you can please him. And then do what he shows you.

If he shows you to get rid of all your music, or to apologize to everyone you know, or to fast and pray for a day or two, or to give up a friend you have or whatever it is, do it. And pretty soon you find that you have strength in that area were you didnt have it before. When God takes away he always gives back better. The time and willingness without those things makes all the difference in the world, in your own person, not just to God.

Answer 3

Even after an initial period of successfully fighting an unwanted habit, it is essential that you keep using the strategies that helped you break the habit in the first place. These strategies can be used continuously, or in some cases it may be enough to revive them from time to time, as in periods of stress or strong temptation.
For example, you may have kept written records to monitor your progress, such as daily or weekly readings as you try to lose weight. This is useful in breaking a habit and should not be abandoned even when you believe the danger is past.
You may also have had some means of rewarding yourself whenever you successfully resisted the habit you were trying to overcome. A modified reward system may be helpful in preventing a relapse. Or, in breaking a habit, did you enlist the aid of a friend? Allow this one to help you keep free of your past bad habit.
replace your former bad habit with healthy activity. Remember, that habit likely gave you some measure of relief when life became stressful, so choose substitutes that will effectively serve the same purpose. You might read, exercise, play a musical instrument, paint, or visit with friends. Start now by writing down a list of potential substitute activities. Highlight those that you decide to follow through on. Practice these new activities over and over as you did your former habit. This will make it easier to resort to them when you are feeling stressed. In fact, these substitute activities will actually become habits—good habits!
Feelings of guilt often follow a setback. You might carry these feelings to an extreme by concluding that you are no good, that you are of weak character and do not deserve anything good. Do not allow yourself to indulge in such exaggerated guilt. It saps you of the strength that you need to resume the battle. And remember this: The greatest man ever to walk this earth, Jesus Christ, came to redeem sinners, not perfect people. So none of us will do things perfectly at this time.
Another point to consider is that guilt may be a convenient escape to allow us to do the same thing over again. In their book You Can’t Afford the Luxury of a Negative Thought, P. McWilliams and J. Roger explain this possible consequence: “Guilt . . . lets us do it again. When we’ve ‘paid the price’ for our ‘crime,’ we’re free to do it again as long as we’re willing to pay the price. The price? More guilt.”
You do not have to let a temporary setback turn into a full-scale avalanche of relapse. Keep in mind that, in the end, overcoming the habit is what counts, not whether you experienced a few regressions along the way.
In this regard it is wise to decide in advance what strategy you will use should you catch yourself slipping back to your old habit. Such a backup plan will equip you to fight the regression at the earliest moment.

Answer 4

Of course he forgives us. He is God and He created us. He knows exactly how weak we are in some areas.

Repent literally means to turn from and do no more. It is the grace and mercy of God that allows us to repent and do no more. He is more than willing to help.

Answer 5

There is only one sin that can not be forgiven... and its called the "blasphemy of the Holy Spirit"... what it means that if you've never made Jesus your personal savior & asked Him to forgive you... and to fill your heart with Him... If you've done that, and truely believe in your heart, you will know that you're forgiven... God knows we cannot be sinless on our own strength & will - This is why He sent His Son...

After you have accepted Jesus, you cannot lose what you cannot attain as a human being... Salvation! You'll be alright - He'll guide you through it, and know that you're not the only one who worries about this subject... Just believe that you're Heaven bound, no matter what the flesh says to you... Have faith, God bless.

Answer 6

I know exactly what you're saying. I'm having some issues in this area as well. However...what we need to remember is that regret is feeling bad about something...or feeling badly about being 'caught'. Repentance is the complete turning away from.

Everyone has issues...no one is excluded. Satan WANTS us to beat ourselves up over our sinning. Because as long as we beat ourselves to death over it, we're seperating ourselves further from God. Just keep praying to Him to help you...to walk with you and hold your hand..to carry you when you can't stand on your own and when you can't be trusted. This is what I do...and while I continue to struggle, it DEFINITELY helps! And yes, as long as you cry out to Him to help you, He will forgive you.

And PLEASE!! If you want to discuss this further....please contact me...I'd be more than happy to talk with you about this. Might even help BOTH of us. Have a beautiful, blessed day in the Lord!

Answer 7

In the Bible the Lord says we should forgive our brother seventy x seven times and if we should forgive our brother that many times how many times do you think the Lord will for give us many, many, many, etc...

And one thing you are doing wrong is trying to stop doing the sin. If we could stop on our own we wouldn't need Jesus. Pray that the Lord removes that sin from you and he will we can't do anyting on our own, it's thru the love of Jesus Christ that makes us able to do anything.

Good question.
God Bless!!!

Answer 8

sounds like an unpardonable sin ..... if you keep doing it , and know it how could he keep forgiving you for the same sin (crime) .... Well just do the best you can , is all he asks for . Or forget about it and live your life . Is he really gonna burn( kill and destroy) up every body that does not follow the way of the bible ? After all it says thou shalt not kill , So wouldn't he be breaking his own law ??

Answer 9

I feel the same way. I believe God knows in our heart we are trying and praying to do the right thing and trying our best to not sin. I believe He will forgive us if we are truly trying to do our best.

Answer 10

God is the Most Kind and Most Merciful and sure He forgives our sins if we ask forgiveness with sincerity.

Answer 11

i will answer your last question first. yes God forgives the self very same sin every single time u ask for forgiveness. the thing is He has a brand of love that just beats d imagination and its almost humanly impossible to comprehend. i think u have problems with this cos u are thinking like a every normal human being who has been hurt over and over again and d natural response is to push the people who keeps hurting us away. God loves the sinner but hates the sin. Jesus came bcos God loved the sinner so dearly and sent Jesus to deliver us from sin. we actually have problems with recurrent sin (and mind u, every body does) cos we try to get over it or do away with it on our own. i heard a teaching once that helped me in this regard and the teacher said that we are not supposed to try to live above sin, no, we are supposed to let Jesus thru the Holy Spirit that dwells in us, live the life of holiness in us, so we can live it out. so we fall and get up, fall again and get up and then learn to take responsibility of our actioins and make a stand. think about it, you've probably done much harder things than having to stay away from whatever sin u have a challenge with. be sincere in your heart. i say to God, LORD u know i really love doing this thing and i know its bad, and sometimes when i say i'm sorry, i really am not cos inwardly i sometimes look forward to doing it again (and this has particular relevance to sexual sins). i say to him that He has to help me cos in my heart of hearts i know i shldnt be doing such.
every time we go wrong, even though God loves us so unconditionally, we hurt the heart of God. sin is the enemy of God (romans 8) and its like bringing his enemy into His house, and u are God's house. until we feel really bad about our sin and think about how much we hurt God when we sin, we won't really stop doing it.
fianlly, when God forgives us, He blots out the record of that sin. He forgives u and its like u never ever did that wrong thing. He says He's buried our sins in the sea of forgetfulness and He's removed our transgressions away from us as far as the east is from the west (that distance is infinity).
so think about it.
make a strong decision to love the LORD with all your life and ask the holy Spirit to live the life of Christ in you and thru you and you will be ok
God has given us all we need to live our lives, and be godly in the process