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Question:
I have a problem in my family and in my soul: a gap appeared in our relationship with our heavenly Father…I do not have the same pleasure from reading the Bible. We say our prayers in our minds and on the go. I miss the moments of close fellowship with Him. I do not know how to renew that relationship, my first love. My husband has never had close conversations with God to know what it means to be strengthened by Him. I do not know how to help him while I am fallen myself… I stay at home with our little child and I often sing Christian songs to him. I do not want to complain that I have no time to pray or read the Bible, this will mean I deceive myself, but at the same time I cannot force myself to do it.I go to church but I feel a broken spirit there… We have friends who feel the same. We even think of going to another church, because we feel that we are sinking here. I need someone to give me a push and to light me up with the fire of faith. Besides, I would love to serve somehow, even if I am at home with a baby. Together with my husband, we try to donate money for missions, but I still feel there is more I could do. When I did not have our baby, I would often go in different camps and villages. I went there while being pregnant, too, but now I do not know what I could do?… I need some advice. I will really appreciate if you can advice me and pray for our family. Thank you very much!
Before writing my advice to you, I prayed for all the needs you mentioned and for you to receive my good advice entirely and to do everything as I suggested.
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness
In His famous Sermon on the Mount Lord Jesus said that blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, and also in respect to these people He also said that they hunger and thirst after righteousness and they will be filled. The fact that you shared about your situation and that you are aware of the gap that appeared demonstrates to me that you hunger and thirst after righteousness. Now, if you are ready to do everything God tells you to do, you will be filled with righteousness. You will be able to go back to your previous relationship with God, and God will definitely take you up to new spiritual heights, because this is His will for each of His children.
Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness
In the same Sermon on the Mount Lord Jesus shows the priorities of a man or a woman who hungers and thirsts for righteousness. He or she will not get caught in the worries of this life, but will make efforts of a different nature, as Jesus says:
But seek first His kingdom, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you.(Matthew 6:33)
God is capable to always fully satisfy our thirst and hunger for righteousness, but He wants to see efforts and passion on our behalf. The fulfillment of this need must be our personal choice and it will be seen in the efforts we make. The following are some specific things we can do while seeking His Kingdom and righteousness.
Stay away from people with an outward form of godliness
You didn’t mention anything about your family friends, but I suggest that you make an evaluation of who they are and what influence they have on your family. The Apostle Paul wrote in his 2 Epistle to Timothy:
You must realize, however, that in the last days difficult times will come. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,unfeeling, uncooperative, slanderous, degenerate, brutal, hateful of what is good,traitors, reckless, conceited, and lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. They will hold to an outward form of godliness but deny its power. Stay away from such people.
At first view, it may seem that the apostle refers to nonbelievers, outside the Church. But it’s not this way. He refers to those who pretend to be believers, but have an outward form of godliness. It means that they may come to church from time to time (or even regularly), greet like the believers, they may even sing, or give the tithe for the ministry of God, but do not have a personal relationship with Him. Why? Because they are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. When the time comes to choose between God and the pleasures of this world, they choose the last. They are those believers who say they do not have time to come to the Bible Study in the evenings, that they have families and are very busy and many other excuses. But when they get home from their work, they watch TV and do not even care about their children, or their spiritual well being, or the great calling of Christ to take the Gospel to the lost. Have you already identified them? The Bible says to stay away from them. How? To not spend too much time talking with them or going to their activities through which they follow their own pleasures, even if they name them ” fellowship time”. See if they did not go into that gap by themselves and took you with them. But do not stop just here…
Join the righteous
In the same Epistle, Paul says:
Flee from youthful passions. Instead, pursue righteousness, faithfulness, love, and peace together with those who call on the Lord with a pure heart (2 Timothy 2:22)
Find and join a group of believers who love God sincerely, study the Bible seriously, live according to the sound teaching and dedicated their lives to the preaching of the Gospel. See if there is such a group in your church, if not, find it in another church, but stay with such spiritual people, because their company is absolutely necessary to each holy man and woman. If you do not know such people, let us know in a private message and we will direct you to such a group.
Study the Holy Scriptures
Before going into eternity, apostle Paul wrote to Timothy the following:
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and found to be true, because you know from whom you learned it. From infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures that are able to give you the wisdom you need for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.All Scripture is God-breathedand is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,so that the man of God may be complete and thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:14-17)
Timothy has received teaching from the Holy Scriptures from infancy, from his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice. Then, he was with apostle Paul and continued to learn much from the Scriptures. Now, before going into eternity, Paul told Timothy to make the effort and continue in the spiritual things. Can you see this? He doesn’t simply rely on his passion and attraction, but Paul tells him to have a spiritual discipline to study the Word continuously. All the spiritual people from all times had this discipline. Come and study at the Precept Institute in Moldova where we train teachers to teach the Bible using the inductive method and materials. This is how we want to help them and those who will study in their groups to get in love with the Word of God and to develop a spiritual discipline without which no christian can grow in holiness and be pleasing to God. Invite other servants, teachers, preachers from your local church and other churches so that we will all stay in the Word and then build together the Church of Christ, since this is our calling. If we, who are responsible for the teaching, do not do our part well, then apathy and indifference will settle in our churches. >When we were born again, we received spiritual gifts to serve the saints in the Church of Christ and to reach out the lost with the Gospel. If we abandon this calling and responsibility, and if we neglect our spiritual gifts, we cannot be fulfilled as christians. May God bless the desire He has placed in your heart to get involved in His ministry. The same way you organized camps before, use your experience and join the project Camps 1678 to lead a camp or more in the villages of our country. Another need for participation is the project ” The right to live of the unborn child” by which christians go throughout the country to share with people the biblical perspective on abortion. This project aims at saving the lives of the unborn children and presenting the forgiveness of God to the men and women who have committed this crime. There are many more needs in the ministry that are waiting for the involvement of all the believers.
Thank God for showing you your condition and start doing your part so that you can experience the desired change and to have a fulfilled spiritual life. Seek for God’s Kingdom and His righteousness. Turn away from people with an outward form of godliness and stay with those who seek God with a sincere heart. Study the Scriptures and get involved in the great ministry of the Gospel. So help you God!
Translated by Natalia Boicu