Does God abandon you if you sin after repentance?

QUESTION:

  I am 13 years old and some time ago I said the prayer that I receive Jesus as Savior, but I have not read the Bible. I thought that was enough. Now I have prayed again and I pray to God to give me the Holy Spirit and change me according to His will. I asked forgiveness for my sins, but I also sinned. Has the Lord left me? Can’t I do anything else?

My dear, I am glad that you have chosen to follow the Lord Jesus Christ and you have made this decision which is the most important, because on it depends not only how you will live your life on this earth, but also on where you will spend eternity. You have chosen a good place, you have chosen the Kingdom of God which can only be reached through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you have wholeheartedly chosen to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, He will not leave you or forsake you, but you too must seek to follow Him in all things. Now that you have just believed in God, you are spiritually like a newborn baby, and in order to learn to live in righteousness, you must feed on spiritual food, as it is written:

Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander, and like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation,  if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord. (1 Peter 2:1-3 NASB)

God has given you the Holy Spirit and with Him He has given you the power to renounce the old sinful habits of. You are required to make an effort, as it is written here, to dispel any wickedness, cunning, hypocrisy, and anything else that has made you fall into sin again. So, get rid of these things, and now you need spiritual and clean milk. This spiritual milk is the sound teaching of the Holy Scriptures. You need to read the Bible, not just a little, but read it all from start to finish. Start with the New Testament and then read the Old Testament. At the same time, begin to study, for reading is not study, and every Christian is required to study the Scriptures deeply. I recommend you take the course “God, Are You There?” by Kay Arthur. This is a study of the Gospel of John, and as you study, you will learn basic Bible study skills. Be sure to look for a true church, where people study the Bible and want to live as it is written in it, and join this church, for Jesus Christ commanded all the saints to be united in Him. There, in the church, you will meet people like you who love God and study the Bible to live a holy life, and they will help you, they will pray for you and the pastor will advise you. If you live in Chisinau, I invite you to the “Good News” Church that I pastor. Our address is 2/8 Ciocârliei Street and we gather every Sunday at 14:00, Tuesday is youth time at 18:00 and on Thursday we have Bible study and prayer at 17:30. We will be waiting for you there with joy and we will help you to grow spiritually.

Translated by Didina Vicliuc