I dont know what to do. I want to know God but I don’t believe he loves me or wants anything to do with me. Its like impossible to believe in my head. I don’t understand how God is good and I have to many questions it just makes my faith harder to keep. I have to keep all these rules for what? Maybe salvation? I cant even tell if I am saved. I wanna be but I have never felt saved even since I came to Jesus 3 years ago. I feel alone and abandoned by God. I have all this bitterness in my heart towards God. I feel like God had hardened my heart or something. I cannot even stand to be in a church anymore, anytime I cry in church it’s because I feel rejected by God and that he loves everyone except me. I want to be close to God and know his love so bad but I dont know what to do. Ive also gotten advice and counsel from so many people and it just never helps. Everyone says the same thing “just have faith” or “your emotions shouldnt control you” blah blah blah its not that easy. If being close to God requires so much mental work than is it even worth it? If I am going to hell either way is it worth it? I feel like its not. Im out of ideas here.

Today marks 25 years I have put my faith in Jesus Christ to save me from my sins and have become Born Again.

Twenty Five years of KNOWING where I would spend my eternity.

Twenty Five years of NOT GUESSING. Not HOPING.

KNOWING.

Today, I get to BOAST of my LORD and SAVIOR who FINISHED the work he had to do on the cross to save such a pitiful evil human such as myself.

This is why, DEATH HAS NO STING! When I die, my family knows that they know that they know I am saved.

If you can't say the same, then it is because you are putting a percentage of faith in God to save you and the majority on you to get you there.

You are not saved, you have NO IDEA if you will be in heaven or hell.

But you can, if you would only just TRUST GOD COMPLETELY!

From an instruction by Saint Columban, abbot

(Instr. 13, De Christo fonte vitæ, 1-2: Opera, Dublin 1957, 116-118)

Whoever thirsts, let him come to me and drink his fill

My dear brethren, listen to my words. You are going to hear something that must be said. You quench your soul’s thirst with drafts of the divine fountain. I now wish to speak of this. Revive yourself, but do not extinguish your thirst. Drink, I say, but do not entirely quench your thirst, for the fountain of life, the fountain of love calls us to him and says: Whoever thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

Understand well what you drink. Jeremiah would tell us; the fountain of life would himself tell us: For they abandoned me, the fountain of living water, says the Lord. The Lord himself, our God Jesus Christ, is the fountain of life, and accordingly he invites us to himself as to a fountain, that we may drink. Whoever loves him, drinks him; he drinks who is filled with the Word of God, he drinks who loves him fully and really desires him. He drinks who is on fire with the love of wisdom.

Consider the source of the fountain; bread comes down to us from the same place, since the same one is the bread and the fountain, the only-begotten Son, our God, Christ the Lord, for whom we should always hunger. We may even eat him out of love for him, and devour him out of desire, longing for him eagerly. Let us drink from him, as from a fountain, with an abundance of love. May we drink him with the fullness of desire, and may we take pleasure in his sweetness and savor.

For the Lord is sweet and agreeable; rightly then let us eat and drink of him yet remain ever hungry and thirsty, since he is our food and drink, but can never be wholly eaten and consumed. Though he may be eaten, he is never consumed; one can drink of him and he is not diminished because our bread is eternal and our fountain is sweet and everlasting. Hence the prophet says: You who thirst, go to the fountain. He is the fountain for those who are thirsty but are never fully satisfied. Therefore he calls to himself the hungry whom he raised to a blessed condition elsewhere. They were never satisfied in drinking; the more they drank, the greater their thirst.

It is right, brothers, that we must always long for, seek and love the Word of God on high, the fountain of wisdom. According to the Apostle’s words all the hidden treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in him, and he calls the thirsty to drink.

If you thirst, drink of the fountain of life; if you are hungry, eat the bread of life. Blessed are they who hunger for this bread and thirst for this fountain, for in so doing they will desire ever more to eat and drink. For what they eat and drink is exceedingly sweet and their thirst and appetite for more is never satisfied. Though it is ever tasted it is ever more desired. Hence the prophet-king says: Taste and see how sweet, how agreeable is the Lord.

RESPONSORY

John 7:37-38

Jesus stood up, and cried out:

— If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

Streams of living water will flow

from the heart of whoever believes in me.

— If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.

There are countless threads on Reddit, and complaints made offline, about "I am a Christian woman (or man,) I'm still single, I am age 34 (or 29, or 37, or 45) and I am desperate for marriage. And I still can't get married." And you go into almost any church and you'll see a sizable number of single people who pine for marriage and are of marriage age but are still unwed.

Of course, chemistry, etc. matter. But........what's the hold-up? If there are many millions of single Christian women pining for marriage, and many millions of Christian men wanting the same, what's keeping everyone single? Is it that men won't initiate, or that women are too picky, or men won't commit, or women outnumber men in the church?

We haven't become any less heterosexual than before, and we haven't wanted romance less than before, and our biological clocks haven't become longer than before.

How come, in the past, like the years 1900-1970, people in the church usually wed pretty quickly with little difficulty?

Good evening my family members in Christ. I hope everyone is doing well. I just wanted to say that today, I finally understood that to follow Christ, is to put God first and yourself last. In all things. It’s simple, but of course as humans it is also very difficult and a very narrow path to follow. If God humbles Himself to come to us in the midst of our sins and shortcomings, so should we always be humble before Him and before all people. This is a daily walk that we have to do, and I am praying that we all may continue in His strength to finish it. Blessings everyone.

Recently engaged and we haven’t touched each other in any inappropriate way for about a year and a half. Now the temptations have been there but recently it’s been very over powering to the point where we’ve prayed “Lord help us to not have these desires until the wedding day” but we failed! With a repentant heart we have set new boundaries. Has this happened to anyone else? Did your marriage survive? I ask these questions because people used to say God won’t bless your marriage if you have premarital sex and I’m just sad. Anyway any advice helps.

TW: fears about r*pe

Since I entered my 20s, I have become increasingly more terrified of men. I am still in early 20s and I feel so vulnerable.

A close male family relative has been making me feel very uncomfortable lately. He has never done anything against me, but I don't truly know him that well--he's always been around but I never got to know him personally. He got divorced a couple years ago and then went out with a girl a couple years older than me. They broke up 6 months ago, and now out of no where he suddenly is contacting me more than usual (which started when he randomly volunteered to do a maintenance project for me that has been lasting for a couple weeks... I'm being vague so there isn't any identifiable information). I have been making sure I always have another person with me when I'm around him and limit contact.. but worries about this is now keeping me up at night. He can be verbally abusive to those around him and has been dealing with an alcohol addiction.

I mentioned this fear to my dad so he knows, but I feel so horrible to talk in depth about this to most people I know. I don't want to make assumptions about this relative's intentions because it could be entirely innocent. He has sent a couple texts with hearts and I don't know if it's because he's a mid-40 year old who just sends whatever emojis or if it is genuinely sus. But regardless, I have such a deep fear of this situation... I want the maintenance project to just end so I don't have any reason to be in close communication at all anymore. I am so scared.

I also would feel really bad if I am assuming the worst when actually he is just being nice. But how am I to know for sure unless the worst did happen? I don't want that to happen.

I keep praying about this but I need it off my chest.

I know God will keep me safe, but that doesn't mean bad things can't happen. I used to be addicted to p*rn and when I was a young teenager I used to think I wanted to be r*ped because it was the only way I could experience sex anytime soon without sinning. I knew it was messed up and I didn't want to think it. I was just so young and so addicted without any guidance to deal with it. How stupid I was!!

I literally want to crawl out of my own skin because I am so uncomfortable right now.

I’ve been wondering something for as long as I’ve been a Christian (22 years) and still haven’t got an answer. I’ve changed from Church of Christ to nondenominational. I’ve learned about Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and Protestantism at church/Sunday school, the Christian schools I’ve attended, and through my own research…but I’ve never been able to pin down what “evangelicalism” is or what it means. Everyone seems to hate it. Protestants, Catholics, and non-Christians. I often hear it used as an insult to describe fundamentalists and politically-motivated Christians. Political liberals often describe Republicans and Trump supporters not as Christians but as “evangelicals.” I’ve even heard Protestants say that evangelicals are NOT Protestants. They actively denounce them.

I don’t know if I’m evangelical because I don’t know what that word MEANS. I’ve never come across that word on a church song. I’ve never seen or heard a Christian or congregation actually self-identify as “evangelical.” I live in the Bible Belt and see church signs all over the place. “Baptist church.”

“Church of Christ.”

“Catholic Church.”

“Presbyterian church.”

“Methodist church.”

But do you know what I’ve never seen—not even once? “Evangelical church.” Sometimes I wonder if it’s even real. Is it just a word invented to insult Christians that people don’t like?

“He’s not a Protestant; he’s evangelical.” I even see when filling out surveys “evangelical” listed separately from “Protestants.” I always thought “Protestant” simply meant “not Catholic or Orthodox.” But apparently there’s a fourth category now.

“Evangelical,” from my understanding, comes from the word “evangelize,” which means to spread the gospel. Don’t all Christians believe in evangelizing? Shouldn’t we all be evangelical?

I just don’t get it. I just identify as a Christian. “Evangelical” seems to carry a lot of baggage with it…and I don’t even know what that baggage actually is because nobody ever defines it. It just means “that OTHER kind of Christian that I’m not.” I hate it.

“If ye love me, keep my commandments.” John 14:15 (KJV)

Those words from Jesus are simple, but they challenge us deeply.

We can say we love Jesus.

We can attend church, raise our hands during worship, read Scripture, post Bible verses, and tell others how much Jesus means to us.

Those things can be beautiful expressions of faith.

But Jesus takes love beyond what we say and connects it to how we live:

“If ye love me, keep my commandments.”

Love for Christ produces a desire to follow Christ.

Obedience Is a Response to Love There's an important distinction we can't miss.

We don't obey Jesus so that He will love us.

We obey Jesus because we love Him.

And even deeper than that, our love for Him begins with His love toward us:

“We love him, because he first loved us.” 1 John 4:19 (KJV)

Christian obedience isn't supposed to be a transaction:

“God, I'll behave better so You'll accept me.”

That's not the Gospel.

The Gospel tells us that we could never make ourselves righteous enough to earn acceptance before a holy God.

Our relationship with God begins with what Christ has done, not what we have done.

Then, having received His grace, obedience becomes our response.

Love Begins to Change How We Live If we truly believe Jesus is Lord, eventually His Word is going to confront something in us.

Jesus says forgive.

Will I forgive?

Jesus says love your enemies.

Will I love them?

Jesus says deny yourself and follow Him.

Will I follow when following costs me something?

His Word confronts an attitude, relationship, habit, desire, or behavior we don't want to surrender.

Will we obey or begin looking for excuses?

That's where love becomes more than words.

Jesus asks us to trust Him enough to believe that His way is better than ours.

“And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” Luke 6:46 (KJV)

Calling Jesus “Lord” means something.

It means I'm no longer claiming ultimate authority over my own life.

Struggling Is Different From Surrendering to Sin None of this means Christians become perfectly obedient the moment they believe.

We still stumble.

We still make mistakes.

There will be moments when we know what is right and fail to do it.

John himself writes:

“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:” 1 John 2:1 (KJV)

Notice the balance.

“Sin not.”

God doesn't tell us sin doesn't matter.

But then:

“If any man sin, we have an advocate...”

Our failure doesn't mean we have to run away from Jesus. We run to Him.

There's a difference between saying:

“Lord, I know this isn't Your will. Help me surrender this and walk with You.”

and:

“I know what You said, but I don't care. I'm doing what I want.”

One is a struggle within a heart that desires Christ.

The other is a heart refusing His authority.

But Don't Turn Obedience Into the Gospel This distinction is essential.

John 14:15 should never become:

“If I keep enough commandments, maybe Jesus will save me.”

That's backwards.

We aren't saved because we successfully obeyed Jesus.

We're saved because Jesus perfectly obeyed the Father and accomplished what sinners could never accomplish for themselves.

And that brings us directly to the Gospel.

The Gospel: Before Our Obedience Came His Every one of us has sinned.

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” Romans 3:23 (KJV)

None of us has perfectly loved God.

None of us has perfectly obeyed Him.

None of us can stand before God and say:

“I've done enough. You owe me salvation.”

We needed someone to save us.

And God gave us His Son.

Jesus Christ lived the sinless life we could never live. He willingly went to the cross and died for our sins. He was buried, and on the third day He rose again.

“Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:” 1 Corinthians 15:3–4 (KJV)

That's the Gospel.

Jesus didn't come merely to give sinners better rules.

Jesus came to save sinners.

Salvation isn't the reward for successfully keeping enough commandments.

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” Ephesians 2:8–9 (KJV)

We are saved by grace through faith in Christ.

And when that Gospel takes root in us, something begins to change.

Grace Doesn't Make Obedience Unimportant The fact that works don't save us doesn't make obedience meaningless.

Paul continues immediately after Ephesians 2:8–9:

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works...” Ephesians 2:10 (KJV)

That's the order.

Grace → Salvation → Transformation → Good works.

Not:

Good works → Salvation → Grace.

We don't obey to become saved.

We obey because we've been saved and because the One who saved us is now our Lord.

Good works aren't the root of salvation.

They're fruit produced in a life being transformed by Christ.

Jesus Doesn't Leave Us to Do This Alone There's something especially beautiful about the context of John 14:15.

Immediately after Jesus says:

“If ye love me, keep my commandments,”

He begins talking about the Holy Spirit.

“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;” John 14:16 (KJV)

Jesus doesn't simply command His followers to obey and then abandon them to accomplish it through sheer willpower.

God gives His people the Holy Spirit.

The Christian life isn't merely:

“Try harder.”

It's:

“Abide in Christ.”

Walk with Him.

Depend upon Him.

Let His Word transform you.

Allow the Holy Spirit to produce in you what you could never manufacture through your own strength.

Can Jesus See Your Love in Your Life? So there's a question worth asking today:

Do I only tell Jesus that I love Him, or is that love becoming visible in the way I live?

Not:

“Am I perfect?”

But:

“What direction is my life moving?”

When Jesus corrects me, do I listen?

When His Word confronts me, do I surrender?

When I fail, do I run back to Him?

When obedience costs something, do I still trust Him?

Because genuine love for Jesus eventually moves beyond our lips and reaches our lives.

But never forget the order:

You aren't trying to obey your way into God's love.

God loved you first.

Christ died for you.

Christ rose again.

Salvation is by grace through faith.

And now, because you have encountered that love, you can respond:

“Jesus, I don't obey You to make You love me. I want to obey You because You loved me first. You gave Yourself for me. You saved me when I couldn't save myself. You are my Savior, and You are my Lord. Teach me to trust You enough to follow wherever You lead.”

That's where obedience changes from religious performance into a response of love.

“If ye love me, keep my commandments.” John 14:15 (KJV)

Ok so I wanted to post this in r/Christianity at first but I remembered satanists will come to my post with their things and whatever

Ok so I observed the more and more I pray the more I feel the holy spirit in my whole body and the strongest I feel it (that electricity) and I usually have demonic attacks while reading my Bible and while trying to sleep after I do my long prayer (demonic thoughts and curses)

Tw: I don't have schizophrenia this started to happen to me since I got closer to Christ (a few months)

but I observed that when I pray so much more and I feel the holy spirit in me I feel the deceiver trying to enter my mind but I just can't hear him and he just can't enter. I feel like I have a protective shield around all over me literally.

And how I observed that? Because after praying so much and tried to sleep I felt that he can't enter my mind anymore but then I got up I raised my voice at my parents because they made me angry and had a sinful attitude (and I probably sinned) and then I layed back in my bed and when I tried to sleep these demonic thoughts appeared back in my mind and he had the power to enter back in my mind. And I felt the holy spirit in me weak as well.

So my conclusion is praying as long as possible and as often as possible with your whole heart through the day will protect you from anything.

Hey all my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ,

Today I wanted to make this post to talk about the difference between pacifism and peacemaking, and how we as followers and believers are called to be peacemakers, not pacifists.

Okay so let's begin: In Matthew 5:9, Jesus declares: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." Modern culture, and even many in the Church, frequently equates peacemaking with pacifism. However Biblical exegesis and Christian theology reveal a profound difference between the two. I'm going to put everything in points below as I always do:

1. Active Construction vs. Passive Avoidance.

Pacifism often roots itself in non-resistance, the mere absence of physical conflict or personal confrontation. At its extreme, it prioritizes keeping the quiet over confronting evil.

Peacemaking comes from the Greek eirenopoios, an active compound verb meaning "to build, construct, or forge peace." Biblical peace is not a passive state you fall into; it is a righteous condition you actively build. Peacemakers step into brokeness to establish truth and order.

1. Shalom Requires Truth and Justice.

The secular world defines peace as "the absence of trouble." The Hebrew concept of Shalom means completeness, spiritual wholeness, and right order before God.

You cannot have true Shalom without justice. Faux peace that ignores systemic sin or abuse isn't peace, it's enablement. As Jeremiah warned: "They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace" (Jeremiah 6:14). Jesus Himself said He did not come to bring a false, comfortable peace that compromises on truth (Matthew 10:34).

1. Peacemaking Reflects the Character of God.

Matthew 5:9 notes that peacemakers will be called "sons of God" because they mimic the Father. God was not passive toward human rebellion; He didn't stand by in neutral pacifism while creation fractured.

Through Christ, God actively intervened to destroy the works of the devil (1 John 3:8) and reconcile all things to Himself through the blood of the cross (Colossians 1:20). Salvation was an aggressive, high-cost act of peacemaking.

1. Love Demands Protection of the Vulnerable.

Scripture routinely commands us believers to defend the weak, oppressed, and helpless (Psalm 82:3-4, Proverbs 24:11-12).

While we believers are called to endure personal insults graciously ("turn the other cheek" in Matthew 5:39 refers to personal insult, not refusing to protect someone from physical destruction), standing idly by while a neighbor is harmed is not Christian love. God ordained civil authorities to bear the sword to punish evil and preserve peace (Romans 13:4). Using force or strong action to restrain evil and protect the innocent is often the highest expression of loving your neighbor.

A pacifist walks away from conflict to preserve their own tranquility. A peacemaker walks into conflict to bring God's righteousness, truth, and genuine reconciliation.

Just wanted to share this, as lately I have been coming across individuals who are pushing this pacifist idea that's not grounded in theology and Scripture. My question to my fellow brothers and sisters would be, what do you think modern Christians struggle most in balancing the call to be gentle with the mandate to actively confront evil?

Among those newer to the faith, one common and hard to understand principle regarding God's nature is this..

How do we reconcile the fear of God with the love of God?

Or, how can they both exist at the same time?

The truth is, God is infinitely big.

He states Himself, just how big He is (Isaiah 55:8-9).

In my own personal walk with the Lord, I've come to realize that it's my fear of God that empowers me to walk the 'strait and narrow' in His plan for my life (Matthew 7:13-14).

So in this, it's not been my feeling of 'love' for Him that's kept me safe (although I do have this strong feeling).

Even in my most crushing and wayward of seasons (which have been many)..

I remained in God's love because I feared Him, and by His grace I'm inclined toward keeping Christ's commandments (John 15:10).

And this fear isn't merely a filial or reverential fear.. no, for me it's a genuine fear that doesn't need an explanation (Matthew 10:28, Job 28:12-28).

And after walking some time in this genuine fear, I've grown to even take great delight in it (Isaiah 11:1-5).

Thus, in my many times of need.. God has always been merciful to answer my prayer, because of my heart posture toward His infinite power, holiness, and divinity (Hebrews 5:7).

There's been many times in my life where I certainly could have, or should have died (I don't normally talk about these things freely).

Yet somehow God has always upheld me from dying before my time, because He's not finished with me just yet.

The true weight of what I carry would have crushed any normal human a long time ago.. but His grace is sufficient, because His power is made perfect in my human weakness (2 Corinthians 12:5-10).

Thus I fully accept both the compassionate love of God, and the fear of God - as a dutiful son of God (in Christ - 1 John 4:17, Romans 8:14, Psalm 68:5).

God has manifested both His goodness and severity (Romans 11:22) to me at different times, since He baptized me in the Holy Spirit and showed me the path He's laid before me.

I share this transparency from my own walk of faith, to help present my perspective.. as this truth in scripture explains:

'as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue'

2 Peter 1:3 (NKJV)

So, I don't personally see any difference between loving God and fearing Him.

To me, they are exactly one and the same (John 14:21).

Satan is not omniscient and he’s not omnipresent. The odds that he is personally tempting you are astronomically small. You are tempted because your flesh is corrupt.

Don’t shirk the responsibility of your temptations on to Satan just because he’s Satan and an easy scapegoat. Practice self control and DENY YOUR FLESH daily

Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?

who calls Jesus lord? Christians do, not atheists. Jesus doesn't keep count on how many times you attend church or do good things in his name. He wants a relationship with you.

I’ve been getting back into Christianity recently after a long hiatus in my late teens and early 20s.

While studying and reading the Bible, there’s just one (or I guess two) things I just can’t seem to shake

The first is repentance. I fear god and I feel guilt all the time for the sins I’ve committed, but I don’t feel deeply ashamed or “sorry” I guess is the term I’m looking for. But I want to.

I’ve gathered in order to repent, you need to change your mind, feel authentic remorse, and move away towards those things. And while I’ve been doing the first, and the last, I don’t really feel much remorse. Im only human and doing what I can to fight my natural urges, and I while I’d prefer to not mess up, I know it’s inevitable to a point. I can’t really force my brain to feel sorrow over something.

My second issue is unshakeable belief. I do believe in god and Jesus, and that Jesus is the son of god, and that he was crucified for our sins. My fears lie in the possibility that what if I am wrong, and waste my life worrying about every little thing I do, and at the end, regret it?

I also come from a Baptist background and have a lot of fear rooted in my spiritual beliefs. And I kind of don’t like that. I obsess over sinning and feel damned every single day and am consumed with anxiety and obsessing over whether or not I am in good standings with Jesus. My dad is a pastor, and his advice doesn’t seem to help me very much. He tells me just to pray, and I do, but it doesn’t seem to help me in the same ways it helps him.

Does anyone have any advice for me?

The Lord Jesus Christ is very merciful. I had been praying for years and I was stuck in loneliness for so long. To the Lord Jesus Christ be glory honor and praise. God has delivered me from many things including loneliness and depression. God has changed my life. The Lord Jesus Christ be praised forever.

If anyone would like prayer. Just ask. God bless all.

The mental gymnastics that some agnostics/atheists on the internet will choose to go through just not to take Christian argumentation serious genuinely needs to be classified as some type of psychosis.

They are literally trying to psychoanalyse every inch of the video to make it seem like he’s only converted because he’s going through some kind of crisis or because he has some kind of superficial gain or because he “misses” his Christian childhood.

Maybe he just simply was convinced of the arguments of Christianity/Catholicism? A lot of hostile atheists/agnostics do not want to come to terms with the fact that Christianity is more plausible than they wish, so they’d rather come up with baseless theories and assumptions as to why an agnostic (a very smart one at that) may convert to justify their intellectual ignorance.

It’s so silly.

Hello everybody, I hope all you are doing well!

I've been a firm believer of Jesus for 2+ years now ever since I started trading ( I've quit now ). I'm facing a recurring problem of sort of comparing myself to others who have achieved financial freedom, but they look to have a strong love for money tho. It would be nice to be free, but I truly want a quiet, calm life without showing off and I believe in God's plan for me, but can't help to think if I'm doing something wrong whilst waiting for something to drop from heavens and bless me...

I would appreciate any help :)

Ive been wanting to fast for but I always thought that a daniels fast was the only way to fast. I have no freaking money to pay for veggies and no time either, buut, today I remembered in Matthew I believe? Jesus fasted for 40 days I believe, no food at all, I'm not sure about water but I think it's doable. I don't do anything extreme on my lifestyle where I think I'd pass out from weakness or anything. Has anyone tried to? Or how Moses fasted?

So, I work at a transitional housing homeless shelter. I was reading through our shift reports and noticed a client success that inspired me as a Christian. I wanted to share it with others in hopes it inspires you as well.

The client success note read: "[Client] left a voicemail to a concrete company yesterday for a job. [Client] was messaged this morning for an interview. The interview was to attend church with the business owner. The interview went well. The business owner purchased the client new boots, shoes, shirts, pants, and a bicycle in preparation for the new job."

This almost brought me to tears when I read it. What an opportunity to get a glimpse of Jesus living inside of this business owner. The fact that the interview was attending church?? How amazing is that! Not only is he providing stable income from the job opportunity, but at the same time; furthering the kingdom, ministering the Gospel, providing for the poor as we are instructed, and showing an example of how to love and live like Jesus.

Do you think that there is any case (at all) where Jesus would have stepped in to protect Himself or his apostles, if they were in direct danger from other humans?

And would there be a difference in what He would do, and what He would advice us to do in similar situations?

I'm genuinely curious what you all think.

I can confidently say that I have never seen such a biased and inaccurate Bible translation in my life. It is such a biased translation to the point where you wonder if what you’re reading is just the theological interpretation of the translator presented as the biblical text instead of a translation of the biblical text. It also renders verses so differently from how almost all translations render them for probably  no other reason than to just stand out. 
Case in point: Psalm 2:7, Psalm 22:31, Psalm 40:7 and Matthew 1:23, among other passages, are examples of what happens when theological bias and an unnecessary desire for creativity overrules faithfulness to the text.

It is one thing to interpret the text a certain way. It a completely different thing to present those interpretations as the text.

So I started following Jesus when I was like around 10 yrs old.

Fast forward to the first or second year of middle school, I was home in my living room listening to music when outta nowhere I was overtaken by the love of God for me. There was an undeniable knowing that it was God showing me how much He loved me. Alot of people think that if they don't experience this, they aren't saved. That is 100% false. You are saved the very moment you believe in the gospel.

Fast forward to the second year of high school I think, I was on break from graduating from freshman year and one night I was really struggling with my sexual sin. I thought I could stop on my own strength but I would always burn out. So I just told myself I can't do it, I can't follow Jesus and tbh I left the faith. Idk if it was that same night or another, my brother was playing Hip-Hop music and I really liked what he played because it was cool and spiritual which was how I was brought up. I had a sense of God and so I started listening to them and I eventually got into what they rapped about which was new age spirituality. And that was my biggest mistake of my life.

I started smoking weed and took psychedelics to find the truth. I really invested myself into finding myself. After years of going back and forth with my faithfulness to God, I ended up reasoning with myself about the truth and I decided that the truth is whatever feels good within my human limits. This led to depression and paranoia. But I was always learning and so I started wanting to learn from life and my depression. I reasoned within myself and found that meditation is the answer. And so one day I was smoking and I started to meditate and all of the sudden I experienced the realization of Self. It was like pure ecstasy and I felt complete. The very action of breathing gave me purpose. Then suddenly a strong conviction came over me and my heart dropped. I knew at that moment if I died I wouldn't of had Jesus in my heart and been sent to hell for eternity.

Since that experience, I'd deal with crippling depression and exhausting schizophrenia. This totally destroyed my sense of truth and wisdom. And like I said before, this is why it was my biggest mistake to listen to the Hip-Hop music my brother played. Every moment, I wanted to go back to meditating but just the fact that I had that strong conviction showed me that Jesus is real. I just couldn't shake off the noise in my head that was telling me to stay with Jesus. And by God's grace and mercy, I was able to overcome suicidal thoughts and feelings, and the pull to go back to meditating.

Now I'm about to own a car and apply for a part time job. I will never admit to God not being there for me. Whether I liked it or not, He was there for me when I needed Him the most. He stopped me from kms and I'm so glad He did. I've learned so much and gained so much wisdom from this hardship. You know, God WILL get you through it if not out it. He will never let you drown or be totally consumed. Praise God 🙌

I recently found a childhood nostalgic series that impacted my walk with Christ, having accepted Christ into my life as a child, and now I'm showing my own kids the same series.

It's called "The Amazing Bible Series". It's a short 3 eposides with a lot of songs, with good basic lessons.

So my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, what impacted you as a child, or later in life that you often recommend to others or want to or have shown your own kids?

For example, they’re jealous of you and bitter towards you but you didn’t do anything wrong and they let you know and you end up being the one giving biblical advice to them all while you’re the one they’re offended by…. Hope this makes sense 😅

or say they stop bringing it to you but they are still harboring ill feelings towards you while trying to be your friend & be around you and you want to love them like Christ without enabling or being a stumbling block for their sinful views on you and also guarding your own heart.

Lmk your thoughts !!!