You are a Christian and will always be one. You are a son of God and will always be one. You are a prince in the eyes of our Lord.
Repeat the words from the tasbeha as you pray: "I have gone astray like a lost sheep, seek Your servant for I do not forget Your commandments. Glory be to You O Lover of Mankind."
You say you haven't read the Bible or prayed the Agpeya in a long time. . . so, what are you waiting for? Pick them up NOW! Don't dwell on your shortcomings and sit in self-pity. Ask the Lord to move you to pray and read His words.
You aren't alone in the situation you described. I fall into this state MANY times. The way to get back in "shape" is to pray and ask our Lord for strength, confess and repent, and make small steps towards Him every day. Make a schedule (i.e. I will read one chapter of the Bible daily and pray the Thanksgiving prayer every morning). Stick to it and increase little by little.
This problem does relate to the one you had in another thread. You do need someone to encourage and inspire you spiritually. You need that friend who calls you to come pray tasbeha, who picks you up to go to a weekday liturgy, etc. Pray that God provides this person for you. Surely our Lord will not neglect this request for He cannot leave His children without a guide.
Are you an upperclassman in high school? I felt that exact same way my senior year, then when I went off to college, everything changed. It was only in the situation where I had to rely on God, away from my family and previous sins and bad habits, that radically shifted my outlook and grew to love God. My advice is just hang in there, just keep praying, even if you gotta force yourself. You need radical change in environment, and that will probably come when you go to college or if you go on an overseas mission or something. And then jump on it to really get close to God.
DEar DC, If you want to become CHRISTIAN again, spell the word right first. Secondly don't look for sympathy in an open forum like this. Go to a priest if you don't have a father of confession or if you're embarrassed to take spiritual guidance, and stand up for prayer. I'm saying this because personally I had many problems that I kept asking people for opinions and advice and forgot to ask God Himself. Obviously because the evil one makes use of such. May the Lord have mercy on us all... Oujai
[quote author=ophadece link=topic=12239.msg144000#msg144000 date=1314855123] If you want to become CHRISTIAN again, spell the word right first. Oujai
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. One should first perfect their own English spelling and grammar before being so critical of others.
DC,
The best thing to do is to speak with your FoC and ask him to guide you. Ask him to help you set up a rule of prayer as well as a schedule for reading the bible and try to follow up with him on a weekly basis so he sees how you're doing. This way, you will be accountable to someone who has your best spiritual interests at heart. Prayers of the saints be with you.
[quote author=ophadece link=topic=12239.msg144000#msg144000 date=1314855123] DEar DC, If you want to become CHRISTIAN again, spell the word right first. Secondly don't look for sympathy in an open forum like this. Go to a priest if you don't have a father of confession or if you're embarrassed to take spiritual guidance, and stand up for prayer. I'm saying this because personally I had many problems that I kept asking people for opinions and advice and forgot to ask God Himself. Obviously because the evil one makes use of such. May the Lord have mercy on us all... Oujai
I'm sorry, but no. This is the wrong attitude to have. It's sad that most of the people here only come here to increase in spiritual knowledge, which in and of itself is not a bad thing, but we must also have a spirit of companionship and fellowship. What I mean is, we can not simply ignore people who are here seeking for help in their personal lives, as Christians we must help our brethren, although it may sometimes become annoying, but then again we must become patient with people as God is with us. There is much more our faith than knowledge, it is a way of life. Sure, his Father of Confession will probably be of more benefit to him than us, but we must also try to help. What is upsetting me is that people here often think highly of themselves, and often insult people in various scenarios. Pray for me.
Dear Cephas, Not really sure what you mean when you quoted me. I hope you clarify please. Dear liftmyheart, I thought I was helping by stating my thoughts. Sorry it didn't agree with you; I just hope you are not offended. Oujai qen `P[C
Try to re-focas on God by seeing that there are other things distracting you. We become complacent with the comfort we get from those distractions. They leave us empty. It is God that truely fills us with life in truth.
[quote author=ophadece link=topic=12239.msg144043#msg144043 date=1314908962] Dear Cephas, Not really sure what you mean when you quoted me. I hope you clarify please. Oujai qen `P[C
DC I forgive you for missing the i as I'm sure it wasn't in your heart and mind to make a little mistake like that. The dept is next to nothing as it was innocent.
May God never turn his face from you and always to have his mercy.
[quote author=ophadece link=topic=12239.msg144106#msg144106 date=1314948238] Dear Cephas, I first thought you meant a spelling or grammatical mistake, so I'm still not sure what you're referring to... Oujai
I can't believe I have to actually spell this out for you. Your English is far from perfect, as anyone who has read your other posts can attest to. Yet, you have brought it upon yourself to be critical of someone else's spelling. Do you see the disconnect now? I thought a link explaining the idiom would have made it clear. Perhaps I expected too much by that. I hope I'm clear now.
DC,
The suggestion of visiting a monastery could also potentially be helpful. If I recall correctly, you are on the East Coast. There are two monasteries in the U.S. that you could try to visit (though I suspect with school around the corner, that may be difficult to do now). However, try getting your FoC more involved or someone older who is more spiritually advance who could be your spiritual adviser and who could also help guide you should your FoC ever be unavailable. What you need is accountability, and the only way to do that is if you have someone, who you see on a regular basis, that you can be accountable to.
Dear Cephas, I actually think it is not my English. I just guess you are not up to speed with my style of writing on forums. Anyway, I really don't see where my English caused you some kind of great concern as such - you still didn't clarify. Very briefly for some body to misspell the word CHRISTIAN to CHRSTIAN can sometimes mean to me that they are not too serious about the thread they are posting. I was meaning to check that out with DC, for him to reply to my post, but then you did, and as I said before I still don't get what you are on about in my very first post on this thread (apart from my weak English in general). Lastly, take it easy man. If my posts irk you that much, ignore them... hehe... don't worry yourself or torture yourself with my comments or opinions... God bless you... Oujai qen `P[C
Comments
Repeat the words from the tasbeha as you pray: "I have gone astray like a lost sheep, seek Your servant for I do not forget Your commandments. Glory be to You O Lover of Mankind."
You say you haven't read the Bible or prayed the Agpeya in a long time. . . so, what are you waiting for? Pick them up NOW! Don't dwell on your shortcomings and sit in self-pity. Ask the Lord to move you to pray and read His words.
You aren't alone in the situation you described. I fall into this state MANY times. The way to get back in "shape" is to pray and ask our Lord for strength, confess and repent, and make small steps towards Him every day. Make a schedule (i.e. I will read one chapter of the Bible daily and pray the Thanksgiving prayer every morning). Stick to it and increase little by little.
This problem does relate to the one you had in another thread. You do need someone to encourage and inspire you spiritually. You need that friend who calls you to come pray tasbeha, who picks you up to go to a weekday liturgy, etc. Pray that God provides this person for you. Surely our Lord will not neglect this request for He cannot leave His children without a guide.
If you want to become CHRISTIAN again, spell the word right first. Secondly don't look for sympathy in an open forum like this. Go to a priest if you don't have a father of confession or if you're embarrassed to take spiritual guidance, and stand up for prayer. I'm saying this because personally I had many problems that I kept asking people for opinions and advice and forgot to ask God Himself. Obviously because the evil one makes use of such. May the Lord have mercy on us all...
Oujai
[quote author=ophadece link=topic=12239.msg144000#msg144000 date=1314855123]
If you want to become CHRISTIAN again, spell the word right first.
Oujai
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. One should first perfect their own English spelling and grammar before being so critical of others.
DC,
The best thing to do is to speak with your FoC and ask him to guide you. Ask him to help you set up a rule of prayer as well as a schedule for reading the bible and try to follow up with him on a weekly basis so he sees how you're doing. This way, you will be accountable to someone who has your best spiritual interests at heart. Prayers of the saints be with you.
DEar DC,
If you want to become CHRISTIAN again, spell the word right first. Secondly don't look for sympathy in an open forum like this. Go to a priest if you don't have a father of confession or if you're embarrassed to take spiritual guidance, and stand up for prayer. I'm saying this because personally I had many problems that I kept asking people for opinions and advice and forgot to ask God Himself. Obviously because the evil one makes use of such. May the Lord have mercy on us all...
Oujai
I'm sorry, but no. This is the wrong attitude to have. It's sad that most of the people here only come here to increase in spiritual knowledge, which in and of itself is not a bad thing, but we must also have a spirit of companionship and fellowship. What I mean is, we can not simply ignore people who are here seeking for help in their personal lives, as Christians we must help our brethren, although it may sometimes become annoying, but then again we must become patient with people as God is with us. There is much more our faith than knowledge, it is a way of life. Sure, his Father of Confession will probably be of more benefit to him than us, but we must also try to help. What is upsetting me is that people here often think highly of themselves, and often insult people in various scenarios. Pray for me.
Not really sure what you mean when you quoted me. I hope you clarify please.
Dear liftmyheart,
I thought I was helping by stating my thoughts. Sorry it didn't agree with you; I just hope you are not offended.
Oujai qen `P[C
Try to re-focas on God by seeing that there are other things distracting you. We become complacent with the comfort we get from those distractions. They leave us empty. It is God that truely fills us with life in truth.
[quote author=ophadece link=topic=12239.msg144043#msg144043 date=1314908962]
Dear Cephas,
Not really sure what you mean when you quoted me. I hope you clarify please.
Oujai qen `P[C
The pot calling the kettle black.
DC I forgive you for missing the i as I'm sure it wasn't in your heart and mind to make a little mistake like that. The dept is next to nothing as it was innocent.
May God never turn his face from you and always to have his mercy.
I first thought you meant a spelling or grammatical mistake, so I'm still not sure what you're referring to...
Oujai
[quote author=ophadece link=topic=12239.msg144106#msg144106 date=1314948238]
Dear Cephas,
I first thought you meant a spelling or grammatical mistake, so I'm still not sure what you're referring to...
Oujai
I can't believe I have to actually spell this out for you. Your English is far from perfect, as anyone who has read your other posts can attest to. Yet, you have brought it upon yourself to be critical of someone else's spelling. Do you see the disconnect now? I thought a link explaining the idiom would have made it clear. Perhaps I expected too much by that. I hope I'm clear now.
DC,
The suggestion of visiting a monastery could also potentially be helpful. If I recall correctly, you are on the East Coast. There are two monasteries in the U.S. that you could try to visit (though I suspect with school around the corner, that may be difficult to do now). However, try getting your FoC more involved or someone older who is more spiritually advance who could be your spiritual adviser and who could also help guide you should your FoC ever be unavailable. What you need is accountability, and the only way to do that is if you have someone, who you see on a regular basis, that you can be accountable to.
I actually think it is not my English. I just guess you are not up to speed with my style of writing on forums. Anyway, I really don't see where my English caused you some kind of great concern as such - you still didn't clarify.
Very briefly for some body to misspell the word CHRISTIAN to CHRSTIAN can sometimes mean to me that they are not too serious about the thread they are posting. I was meaning to check that out with DC, for him to reply to my post, but then you did, and as I said before I still don't get what you are on about in my very first post on this thread (apart from my weak English in general).
Lastly, take it easy man. If my posts irk you that much, ignore them... hehe... don't worry yourself or torture yourself with my comments or opinions... God bless you...
Oujai qen `P[C