When Following God Feels Like Losing

We are all in great need to have new desires, new thinking, new purposes, new habits, new joy and a new heart.

This is something only God can do. When God creates this new nature in us, it is at times undetectable, making it seem as though God never changed us.

This is what Paul was talking about when he said in Romans 7:18, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find.”

The new nature is not easily noticeable because it is in competition with the old nature, but its existence is evident by the desire you have to be closer to Jesus. It is also evident by your yearning to be like Jesus.

When you fall, remember this: you do not have to go any further than you already have. The simple prayer you would say for a small sin, you can say it for any other sin and expect complete pardon.

What can I do?

Keep talking to God, I could not tell you any other practical way that has helped me more. I have heard in relationships; communication is the key to maintaining a healthy love life.

I am a gardener, and I can tell you also that keeping the weeds out of the garden fixes 90% of all issues. In the same way, by continual communing with God, we sustain a relationship that is not interfered by another. Communication helps to uproot the weeds of doubt that rob our joy in God.

This quote from Ellen G. White perfectly summarises it all.

“The soul that loves God loves to draw strength from Him by constant communion with Him.  When it becomes the habit of the soul to converse with God, the power of the evil one is broken; for Satan cannot abide near the soul that draws near to God.” (Our High Calling, March 24)

We do not talk to God to inform Him of what He does not know, but because we are weak. It is not long after someone has had mountaintop experience with God that they shortly find themselves in the valley of despair. But by continual talking to Him it distracts us from our failures and reminds us of His power to forgive and to sustain us in our new nature.