What does it mean to reject God?

[HeChangedMyName]

I meant to say I changed a lot of my ways to please God. I had a lot of selfish, hateful, fornicating ways,and other issues. I thought by doing all of these things, I would please God more and so that he could bless me.

Romans 2:4 which says,

Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?(KJV)


He has been very kind and patient, waiting for you to change, but you think nothing of his kindness. Perhaps you do not understand that God is kind to you so you will change your hearts and lives. (NCV)

God loved you even before you made changes. Now that you have made changes, he will be there to help clear out the clutter that will take you back to your old ways.

Psalm 103
8 The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. 9 He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; 10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.


rest assured in the Word that you are not being punished.

 

[HeChangedMyName]

Hmm.... ok... well... it is pleasing to the Lord for us to show and be loving toward others.... I think you are on the right track toward the wrong outcome "so that He could bless me" versus "I want to please the Lord because I LOVE THE LORD".... Follow what I'm saying here?

..

I am just now beginning to free myself from this mentality. I had stopped asking God to bless me altogether because I began to recognize that my praises and prayers were all in response or requesting what God could do to make me look better and be more, but in a worldy way, not in a spiritual way. It is ok to ask God for blessings, but when the spirit behind it is just for us to get the honor, glory or credit, then that is where we block the blessing. Just as I was coming to a wall with this issue and how to fix it, I went to church and last Sunday, the sermon was entitled "It's not about you" and the Scripture came from psalm 115

 

[PaperClip]

I am just now beginning to free myself from this mentality. I had stopped asking God to bless me altogether because I began to recognize that my praises and prayers were all in response or requesting what God could do to make me look better and be more, but in a worldy way, not in a spiritual way. It is ok to ask God for blessings, but when the spirit behind it is just for us to get the honor, glory or credit, then that is where we block the blessing. Just as I was coming to a wall with this issue and how to fix it, I went to church and last Sunday, the sermon was entitled "It's not about you" and the Scripture came from psalm 115

Amen.... I'm also glad you said the bolded as well....

 

[kally]

Hmm.... ok... well... it is pleasing to the Lord for us to show and be loving toward others.... I think you are on the right track toward the wrong outcome "so that He could bless me" versus "I want to please the Lord because I LOVE THE LORD".... Follow what I'm saying here?

It brings to mind these scriptures:

Mark 7: 5 Then the Pharisees and scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?” 6 He answered and said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘ This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. 7 And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men."

Hebrews 9:11-15But when the Messiah arrived, high priest of the superior things of this new covenant, he bypassed the old tent and its trappings in this created world and went straight into heaven's "tent"—the true Holy Place—once and for all. He also bypassed the sacrifices consisting of goat and calf blood, instead using his own blood as the price to set us free once and for all. If that animal blood and the other rituals of purification were effective in cleaning up certain matters of our religion and behavior, think how much more the blood of Christ cleans up our whole lives, inside and out. Through the Spirit, Christ offered himself as an unblemished sacrifice, freeing us from all those dead-end efforts to make ourselves respectable, so that we can live all out for God. (The Message)
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The Lord knows our hearts. He recognizes sincere repentence and submission unto Him. I'm wanting to be careful what I say here because I don't want to seem as if I'm pointing my finger at you and accusing you of being fake toward the Lord. That is not my intention at all. What I want to encourage you to think about is to consider and revisit your desires for the Lord...like when you first knew Him...and what drew you to Him....

The Lord certainly wants to bless you...but He wants your HEART more. And when you get good in deep into the Lord, the blessings will come but you know what, it won't be the blessings that stir you. It will be the presenI donce of Almighty God that you will want even more....

I think I did it for both. I don't think you are pointing fingers at all.

 

[kweenameena]

Kally, first of all...((((hugs)))) to you my sister. I love you in Christ.

Your post has touched me and I will def. keep you in my prayers tonite. All of the advice you have been given is so on point. I was reading all of the responses like this .

RR, mentioned that there are a lot of testimonies from others who have "rejected" God. I'm not sure if she was alluding to mine or not but it's here. I had considered asking the mods to delete it because I posted at a very vulnerable point in my life but I decided that maybe it could help someone. And I get a lot of pms from others who have gone thru the same thing. So I hope that when you overcome this obstacle (because you WILL)...you will give your testimony of His goodness as well.

Supernova and RR gave you a lot of questions to ask yourself. And it's not easy being that honest but it's necessary. I once heard a preacher coax his congregation into putting more in the offering plate by telling them that God would bless them tenfold because they weren't stingy with their tithes and offering. It bothered me that this preacher (who is famous, btw) was misleading his flock. I don't think that doing what you should be doing in the first place automatically warrants a blessing. And I think that sometimes we go about our Christian lives with those thoughts/intentions.
By doing so, we are setting ourselves up for disappointment.

In all you do, remember that everything is in God's time. Continue to worship and thank him in the mist of your suffering/despair. Because this is the time where you are even more vulnerable to satan's tricks. Also if you find yourself being put in the same situations but with different people....you are probably there to learn a lesson. Someone close to me always starts these jobs with the same type of people. She calls me to complain about different things that have happened but it's always the same type of thing. Being on the outside of her situation....I can clearly see what God is trying to teach her. But because she is in the midst of it and not giving it to God.....she is cannot see her lesson. So I think that he will continue working with her in that area until she learns whatever it is that he's trying to teach her...and then she will be able to pass go.

I posted a poem on here called "waiting on the Lord" that really touched me. I tell everyone about it because it describes exactly how you feel when you are at your lowest low. You can do a search for it here or I'll pm it to you (and anyone else who would like it). But I hope that you learn whatever it is that he's trying to teach you. You might not be ready to handle what it is that you are asking him for. Be patient and wait on him. Spend some father-daughter time with him by reading, meditating or just talking to him. He'll give you peace soon enough.