Losing my faith?

Question

I have tried to live a christian life. I was a devoted catholic, always attending mass and was an alter boy till I was 20 years old. I did not womanize or drink, I lived the way I thought Jesus wanted me to. At the age of 25, I met a woman and after a couple of weeks, I slept with her. She got pregnant so I married her. Basically from that point on, my life has been a living hell. I was a good husband and a great father. We are now divorced but she is still a problem and tries to use the kids against me. I have prayed and prayed to God but things still seem to be getting worse. Through out this ordeal, I feel like God has abandoned me. After going through this ordeal, my whole outlook on life has changed. With all the trouble going on in the world and people who are not living like christians getting all the rewards and when they die, allow to enter the house of God, is what the bible says true? Is there really a god? What is the purpose of living like a christian?

Answer 1

You are in a rut, it happens to the best of us. PLEASE do not think that God has "abandoned" you, that is the furthest thing from the truth!

How is your prayer life?
How is your worship life?
How is your study life?

My guess is one or more of the three above is in need of some vitalization. Here are some ways to do it:

Prayer: Do you journal? Give yourself at least a 3 hour window of alone time and find a very nice quiet place to sit down with your journal. (No cell phones, no people, no TV, etc). Start writing down all the things you are thankful for and all things you pray for (family, job, peace, security, non-believers, etc).

Worship: Again, find an "alone" place, somewhere like out in the woods or a in your car on a long drive, and then from memory, sing every worship song you can think of. Then put some music on and sing along to it. Actually listen to the words and make it a prayer to God.

Study: How much time do you spend in the Word of God? Make it a point to read at least one chapter from the New Testament and one from the Old everyday. (try). Do it in the morning time so that you can think about what you have read the entire day.
Begin memorizing scripture. Start small, just take a few verses you like and write them on a note card. Paste the note card somewhere prominent and start memorizing it. You would be surprised how often scripture you have just memorized comes up in conversation.

Lastly, how is your fellowship with other believers? Are you in a good, Bible-focused church? Do you attend Bible studies or Home groups that will help you connect with other believers? Do you have an accountability partner that you can share your thoughts with?

If you have any questions or would like to chat, drop me an email. God bless!

Answer 2

Jesus NEVER said that life would be easy and we would breeze through it without problems!! I'm here to tell you that satan is out to get us and will try every trick in the book to make us question 'why?' Try to get into a good BIBLE based church. Some of the Catholic churches are still stuck in teaching tradition instead of teaching the Bible. God is the ONLY one that can get you through this and also know that when we become saved (accepting the free gift that God gave us through His son Jesus Christ by believing and confessing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, was crucified for our sins, was raised on the third day and now sits at the right hand of God the Father) there is no way to lose our salvation EXCEPT through blasphemy of the Holy Spirit (which is knowing that He exists and then denying that He exists) Many times when satan comes against us we feel further from God but that is the time when we need to press in even closer to Him. My friend He loves you and to stay strong through these times of trouble will increase your reward when we are told by our Daddy God..."well done good and faithful servant" DON'T give up and don't think for a minute that people who are not living a Christian life will get the same reward that someone who is following Christ's example will get. Everyone will be rewarded...it's the same here on earth...there are natural consequences that accompany all behaviors. You touch a hot stove = you get burned.

Answer 3

well speaking from a former christians point of view I am sorry you feel this way. The mistakes you mad is not god punishing you its just a consequence of your actions we all have those we live we learn you will get past this i was a baptist and all organized religion tries to do is hold you back from being the real you i am agnostic now yes there could be a god and i hope there is but i dont agree with all the bible teaches or any other holy books for that matter i have an open mind to a god and spiritual things but lets be honest nobody or one group has all the answers there are flaws in every religion and look i would say stop feeling sorry for yourself and fix the probelms and move on and go with your heart and what religion tell us about sin is just natural human nature not sin

Answer 4

No, God has not abandoned you, although it may feel that way. As for the purpose of living like a Christian, the rewards for doing so are not enjoyed in this life, but in the next. The whole issue of the "wicked" seeming to get all the good stuff while the "righteous" suffer has been around for centuries, even before Christ. Check out Psalm 37 in its entirety, and here are some highlights:
1 Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong; 2 for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.
7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him, do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.
9 For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.
16 Better the little that the righteous have than the wealth of many wicked; 17 for the power of the wicked will be broken, but the Lord upholds the righteous. 18 The days of the blameless are known to the Lord, and their inheritance will endure forever.

Just hang in there and keep praying. Pray for the Lord to strengthen your faith and to give you hope. Remember, He doesn't always make things better, but He may give us strength to get through the tough times. That builds our character and our faith when we look back and see how He has upheld us through the hard times. (I know, sometimes I wish He wouldn't try so hard to build my character, LOL).

Answer 5

My friend, please don't lose your faith. You are still a devoted Christian. It is when you are having a hard time and it only seems to get worse, that you know Jesus is with you. Those are the times when he is most with you, as you need his strength to battle all that negativity. If you feel like you've been abandoned, Satan is probably doing his utmost at that time, and Jesus is fighting back just as hard, and even though it might not feel like it, he is. Because at that time, if Jesus wasn't there - it could have been a lot worse. Read the story in the bible called Job, at a time when I felt the lowest, I remembered someone telling me to read that. I did. It helped so so much. Take Care of Yourself.

Answer 6

My brother in Christ please be encouraged, and know that the testing of your faith produces patience. GOD is faithful, HE promised never to leave you nor forsake you. Don't look at others, remeber that we all have been given a measure of faith and GOD meets us where we are. That we can't ever get salvation confused. Salvation is a gift of GOD not of works so that no man can boast. There is a parable that JESUS talks about in the Bible, about the man who went out looking for workers, He left out at different times to get different workers, the agreement of pay was the same for the workers. But the ones who came on first at the end of the day were upset because the workers that came on last had the same pay. Though the first workers, made an agreement of pay before beginning work. (Matt. Chap. 20 vs 1-16) Though we live as CHRISTIANS, for all GOD"S children their is one reward. Remember that we don't have to try to be christians , but just allow CHRIST to live in us.

GOD Bless,
your sister in the LORD.

Answer 7

I think your problem lies in not finding any motivation and living by the "rules". Being a Christian isn't about being good or living a certain way, it is truly about a relationship with Christ (Jesus), thus the term "CHRISTian".

Try to spend time getting to know Christ. He is so much different and much more relatable to than God himself, even though they are one in the same. Jesus' personality is very peaceful and forgiving, and he has an odd sense of irony. Once you spend time getting to know Jesus, you start to feel like to want to live up to his expectations, that you really do want to "behave" and make him proud.

It's comparable to a parent-child relationship. After a certain age, kids have a choice whether or not to do what their parents tell them to. If the parent has established a relationship with the child, the child is more likely to respect the parent and follow in their steps. It is the same way once you establish a relationship with Christ. All of the sudden your motivation goes from following the rules to making Him proud, and it is a much more satisfying way to live. Plus, you always have Jesus' constant encouragement and support through the Bible.

Answer 8

Being Christian isn't easy, this you've seen first hand.
So many times people demand a magic show or personal satisfactions from associating with a god, ours included.

Do remember that belief in Christ is the ONLY thing that will get you into heaven.

Our God DOES love us and wants us to be with him. If he didn't, then God would not have sent his own Son to hang out with sinners and bear all of their sins in death.

Putting my comments here in Answers can't possibly give the full response I'd like to give. I invite you to go to my profile and click to contact me if you'd like to speak further.

If you're looking for someone who'll listen and understands, I can do that.

Have a great day, and remember that God loves you!

Answer 9

I feel your frustration, Many times in my life I felt "Whats the use?'
It came to me that I was not really praying with my heart and with true faith. When the times came I felt everything was falling apart, is when I realized I was not really putting my problems in God's hands. I believe I had the feeling I could "get by" with being a strong person. There are just times in our lives we realize we have to look to strength beyond ours.

I know God has not abandoned you, You need to take some time alone to meditate and talk to God and remember to ask him in Jesus name to help you with your burdens, that you cannot solve them by yourself. Pray the Lord's Prayer several times a day, do it in your head while you are going about your day, remember to give thanks for your blessings, your life, your children, this wonderful earth he has provided.

God loves you and will bless you, I believe this with all my heart. Do not despair, He is there and will give you strength and peace.

May God Bless you

Answer 10

Don't think of it as God abandoning you, think of it as a wake-up call and that God has never been there in the first place. Can you really lose something you never even had?

Does a person born without legs ever say, "Golly, sometimes I feel like my feet have abandoned me. No matter how often I try to walk, they're just not there!"

YOU made all the choices in life that have brought you to where you are now.